KY Dept. of Education & KY Board of Education Closed Caption

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) are seeking a qualified vendor to provide closed captioning services for their meetings and events. The procurement involves real-time on-site and remote closed captioning, as well as offline captioning services, specifically for six annual KBE meetings lasting approximately eight hours each and various KDE monthly and special meetings. Vendors must demonstrate a minimum 98% accuracy rate for captioning that conforms to FCC standards, delivering captions in American English with transcripts in SubRip subtitle format (.srt) or Microsoft-compatible files. The Request for Quotation (RFQ) 540 1900000102 was originally posted on April 8, 2019, with responses initially due April 10, 2019, and subsequently extended to April 16, 2019, at 2:30 PM EST. Evaluation will be based on a 95-point price assessment and 5-point experience review, with hardcopy proposals submitted to Tonya S. Hartley at the KDE Division of Budgets & Financial Management in Frankfort, Kentucky. Vendors are required to provide on-site captioning services at their own expense and maintain reliable communication infrastructure.

The solicitation includes preference provisions for Kentucky-based businesses, with reciprocal preference for Kentucky resident bidders and additional preference points for specific organizations. Kentucky Correctional Industries can receive a 20% preference, while Kentucky Industries for the Blind and eligible nonprofit agencies can receive a 15% preference. The contract period will run from May 1, 2019, through April 30, 2020, with an option for a one-year renewal, and total vendor compensation shall not exceed $20,000 per fiscal year. Vendors must submit detailed cost proposals and demonstrate years of experience, with a maximum of 10 years being evaluated. Invoicing will occur monthly, with invoices due by the 10th of the month following service delivery and payment processed within 30 working days of invoice approval. Vendors with poor performance records in the preceding 12 months may be deemed non-responsible and ineligible for award. No specific incumbent vendors were identified in the procurement documents, and the solicitation does not indicate any existing technological infrastructure requirements beyond the specified captioning file formats.