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

The Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Education and Kentucky Board of Education issued a Request for Quotation (RFQ 540 1900000102) to procure closed captioning services for departmental and board meetings. The solicitation sought vendors capable of providing both real-time and offline closed captioning services for Kentucky Board of Education meetings held six times annually (four onsite in Frankfort, Kentucky and two at remote Commonwealth locations), totaling approximately 48 hours per year, as well as for various Kentucky Department of Education meetings including monthly recurring district and public meetings. All closed captioning services must comply with FCC standards for accuracy, synchronicity, completeness, and placement, with a minimum 98% accuracy requirement. Deliverables include reviewed closed caption files in SubRip Subtitle Format (.srt) and Microsoft-compatible transcripts submitted via email within one business day of the captioning event for real-time services or within five business days for offline services. Vendors must be available for onsite services in Kentucky when required, though remote captioning services are acceptable for KDE meetings; vendors from outside the United States must be able to travel to Kentucky at their own expense with no Commonwealth reimbursement. The solicitation closed on April 16, 2019, with responses having been due by 2:30 PM EST on April 10, 2019. The contract period runs from May 1, 2019 to April 30, 2020, with an option to extend for one additional one-year period. Evaluation criteria consisted of 95 points for price and 5 points for years of experience (not to exceed 10 years for evaluation purposes), with award going to the lowest evaluated responsive and responsible best value offeror.

Kentucky resident bidders are eligible for reciprocal preference consideration, and qualified bidders including Kentucky Correctional Industries, Kentucky Industries for the Blind, and certain nonprofits serving individuals with disabilities may receive additional preference points. The Commonwealth made no specific mention of incumbent vendors or current contractors in the solicitation documents. The solicitation documents provided indicate that meetings are streamed live via YouTube and Skype and conducted both onsite and remotely, requiring vendor compatibility with these existing platforms for content delivery. The total maximum contract cost is $20,000 per fiscal year, with pricing structured according to service duration tiers of 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes, plus additional charges for 15-minute increments beyond the 90-minute threshold. Payment shall be made within 30 working days of approved invoice receipt in accordance with Kentucky Revised Statutes, and the selected vendor must accept the Commonwealth Procurement Card (MasterCard) for payment.