Comprehensive Serials Services

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) is issuing Request for Proposal (RFP) #904552601 on behalf of itself and The Virginia Association of State College and University Purchasing Professionals (VASCUPP), a consortium of fourteen public higher education institutions including George Mason University, James Madison University, Old Dominion University, Radford University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, William and Mary, and Virginia Tech. This comprehensive serials services procurement seeks proposals for print, online, and other format periodicals, continuations, e-journal packages, databases, and electronic resources for all VASCUPP member institutions and other Commonwealth of Virginia agencies. Deliverables include orders, renewals, cancellations, claims handling, invoicing, and online serials management services. Required qualifications include demonstrated financial stability for the preceding three years, four references from educational or governmental clients, comprehensive quality control and electronic resource management capabilities, reporting functionality, invoicing procedures, conversion plans for existing subscriptions, and qualified assigned account personnel. Proposals must be submitted electronically through Virginia Tech's Jaggaer-hosted procurement portal by April 14, 2026, at 3:00 PM EST, with inquiries due by March 25, 2026, at 5:00 PM EST directed to Roger Gupta at ragupta@vt.edu or (540) 231-7953. Evaluation criteria allocate 25 points each for quality and qualifications, 20 points for methodology, 20 points for price, and 10 points for SWaM participation. The contract term is five years with two optional five-year renewals, and multiple vendors may be awarded contracts with no guaranteed minimum volume of business specified.

Offerors must be registered with Virginia's eVA electronic procurement system, and the RFP emphasizes Small, Women-owned, and Minority-owned (SWaM) business participation, with offerors unable to qualify as SWaM required to describe subcontracting plans. No incumbent vendor is identified in the solicitation. Pricing proposals must be submitted in USD for 2026 subscriptions and should represent the offeror's best pricing for a multi-year, multi-institution consortial contract, with offerors indicating any title fee discounts or waivers, service charge terms, prepayment discounts, and special rates applicable to the contract period. Addendum No. 1, issued on April 1, 2026, clarifies that management reports may be submitted as separate Excel files, Virginia Tech will accept additional invoices annually to cover publisher price increases (typically not exceeding two invoices per title), and pricing submissions should include total amounts charged for each title encompassing all service charges and discounts. The procurement encompasses a large portfolio of periodicals, journals, databases, and other serials across multiple disciplines and formats, with each VASCUPP institution selecting the contractor(s) best suited to its needs. No specific contract award value or budget range is disclosed in the RFP documents.