CASAS Tests - Adult Education and Literacy Testing

The State of Michigan Workforce Development Agency issued an Invitation to Negotiate on April 4, 2018, to procure Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems (CASAS) Life and Work Listening Assessments for English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. The procurement seeks a vendor to provide startup and support services for up to 20 agencies administering the tests, with delivery of approximately 9,000 pre- and post-tests suitable for the National Reporting System for Adult Education. The assessments must measure participants' educational functional levels across six ESL proficiency levels, evaluating skills in reading, writing, numeracy, speaking, listening, and functional and workplace areas. Key deliverables include a software program that tracks student assessment results, aggregates demographic data, learning gains, competencies, and test scores, along with assessment resources and webinars. The vendor must be capable of providing both online format assessments and support services to multiple adult education providers. Written questions regarding the procurement must be submitted by April 10, 2018, through the Michigan SIGMA VSS portal, with a final response deadline of April 11, 2018, for any parties disputing the single-source designation and wishing to propose equivalent products or services.

The State of Michigan has determined that CASAS is the sole provider of online format assessments for Adult Education/ESL programs, as validated by Federal Register final regulations for 34 CFR part 462, which specifically approved CASAS for use in both paper and computer-based delivery formats for all Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and ESL levels of the National Reporting System until February 2, 2019. The intended source for this new contract is CASAS, located at 5151 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 220, San Diego, California. No specific set-aside designations, disadvantaged enterprise restrictions, or contract duration details are specified in the notice. The solicitation does not disclose pricing terms, budget ranges, or award values. This Invitation to Negotiate represents a single-source procurement seeking to identify viable alternatives to justify the award before finalizing the contract with the intended vendor.