College and Career Readiness Tool

The Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) is issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a comprehensive, web-based College and Career Readiness (CCR) platform designed to serve as the primary tool for student self-discovery, academic planning, career and college exploration, document submission, and tracking of CCR milestones as defined by Maryland's Blueprint for Maryland's Future. Qualified vendors with established solutions and proven implementation history in school systems of similar scale are eligible to respond. The platform must support middle and high school students, comply with WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards, maintain 99.8% uptime with pro-rated credits for unscheduled downtime, and integrate bi-directionally with the Synergy Student Information System, Common App, and Parchment. Required deliverables include sandbox environment setup and training during winter/spring 2027, live rollout in July 2027, unlimited technical support during school business hours, annual reporting disaggregated by student subgroups, and user acceptance testing before go-live. The evaluation will consist of 150 total points: 80 points for the technical proposal (with a mandatory 70% minimum score to advance), 20 points for the price proposal, and 50 points for product demonstration. Offerors will be evaluated on functional requirements meeting all mandatory specifications, experience and qualifications, proposal quality and clarity, and overall value. The question deadline is March 29, 2026, at 2:00 P.M. EST, with proposals due electronically through the Bonfire procurement portal by April 7, 2026, at 2:00 P.M. EST. The resulting contract will have an initial three-year term with one optional two-year renewal pending successful performance and funding availability.

The RFP documents do not indicate specific set-aside designations or restrictions limiting responses to particular types of organizations such as disadvantaged enterprises or minority-owned businesses. No incumbent vendor or current contractor is identified in the available solicitation materials. The platform must integrate with existing HCPSS infrastructure, specifically supporting single sign-on authentication via Active Directory, Synergy, and Clever, and maintaining secure data storage within the United States only. Contractors must comply with extensive data security and privacy requirements, including SOC 2 Type 2 audit reports, encryption standards, and breach notification within 48 hours. Pricing proposals must be submitted separately and include base packages for middle school and high school students, add-on features with per-student pricing, optional tiered structures detailing included features, and all associated fees such as training, implementation, and data transfer, with all pricing inclusive and requiring prior written HCPSS approval for any additional taxes or fees. The specific contract award value or budget range is not disclosed in the posted solicitation materials.