Closed Captioning Services Ky. Board & Dept. of Ed Meetings.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet issued Request for Bid (RFB) 758 1900000462 on behalf of the Kentucky Board of Education and Department of Education to procure closed captioning services for state education meetings. The procurement seeks a single vendor to provide real-time and offline closed captioning services compliant with FCC standards, including real-time onsite captioning for six annual Kentucky Board of Education meetings (four in Frankfort and two at remote Commonwealth locations) lasting approximately 48 hours annually, plus potential special meetings, as well as real-time or offline captioning for monthly recurring Kentucky Department of Education district, public, and administrative meetings. Deliverables must include caption files in SubRip subtitle format (.srt) suitable for social media uploads, with real-time onsite services requiring personnel at meeting locations and adherence to 98 percent minimum accuracy standards, while offline services permit remote work utilizing speech recognition software with human review and standard five business day turnaround. The contract will be awarded on a best value basis with pricing as the sole evaluation criterion, with the lowest-priced conforming bid receiving maximum points and other bids scored proportionally. All proposed pricing must remain valid for a minimum of 60 calendar days following the bid due date. Bidders could submit written questions until February 15, 2019, at 3:30 p.m. EST, with bid submissions required by February 27, 2019, at 1:30 p.m. EST to the Finance Office of Procurement Services at 702 Capitol Avenue, Capitol Annex Room 095, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601; online bidding was prohibited.

All bidders must execute the Annual Required Affidavit certifying compliance with Kentucky campaign finance laws, sales and use tax registration, state tax payment obligations, and non-involvement in boycotts of jurisdictions with which Kentucky maintains open trade relationships. Qualified bidders are eligible for additional preferences, including Kentucky Correctional Industries (20 percent preference) and certain nonprofit organizations (15 percent preference), while Kentucky resident bidders are eligible for reciprocal preference equal to the preference their state gives to its own residents if the nonresident bidder is from a preference state. No incumbent contractor or existing technology integration requirements were specified in the solicitation documents. The contract will have an initial term of one year from the award date with four optional one-year renewal periods subject to written approval and potential renegotiation of terms; price increases are prohibited during the first 12 months, thereafter requiring 30 days' notice and industry-wide justification. No specific budget range or award value was disclosed in the solicitation documents provided, though the Commonwealth reserved the right to cancel the RFB if responses exceeded available funding.