Education scholarship trust fund system

The South Carolina Department of Education is seeking a contractor to develop and implement a comprehensive Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) system through a Request for Proposal (RFP) focused on Richland County. The primary objective is to create an integrated online platform managing a $6,000 scholarship program for eligible South Carolina students. The system must encompass five key components: an Application System, Account Holder Management System, Fiscal Management and Payment System, Support and Training System, and a Reporting System. Mandatory minimum qualifications require the software solution to be fully developed with previous fund disbursement implementation, and the offeror must demonstrate a minimum three-year business history with successful comparable implementations. Proposal submission deadlines include questions due by October 24, 2023, at 5:00 PM EST, a mandatory pre-proposal conference on October 24, 2023, at 10:00 AM EST via Microsoft Teams, and proposal submissions due November 21, 2023, at 11:00 AM EST. The evaluation will prioritize vendor qualifications and experience, followed by technical proposal quality and methodology, and finally price proposal realism, with award notification scheduled for December 9, 2023.

The procurement does not specify explicit set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises. The initial contract period will commence December 21, 2023, and extend through June 30, 2027, with automatic one-year renewal options thereafter. The system must be publicly operational by January 15, 2024, with scalable enrollment projections: 5,000 scholarships in 2024-2025, 10,000 in 2025-2026, and 15,000 in 2026-2027 and beyond. The contractor must procure comprehensive cyber liability and privacy insurance with minimum limits of $5,000,000 per occurrence and $10,000,000 aggregate through an A.M. Best-rated carrier. All system data must remain within the continental United States and be subject to strict safeguarding protocols. The State Budget has authorized $2,000,000 in start-up costs, with the law limiting administrative overhead to 2% of total funds. Vendors are prohibited from charging processing fees to families or service providers, though alternative performance-based pricing models are permissible within the administrative cap.