Library Web Services

The City University of New York is requesting proposals for a comprehensive web-based library services platform to serve over 250,000 students, faculty, and staff across 26 campuses under RFP UCO 1004-1, with proposals due November 5, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The solicitation requires a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product in continuous commercial production for a minimum of five years and in active production use at three or more U.S. higher education institutions — a mandatory qualification that filters bidders. CUNY has established supplier diversity participation goals of 30% for minority-owned and women-owned businesses and 6% for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. The Procurement Lobbying Act applies to this solicitation; the restricted period began with publication of the advertisement.

The Solution must integrate with CUNY's enterprise systems including CUNY Login, Brightspace, and Ex Libris Alma/Primo VE. Mandatory functionality includes content management, virtual reference services, scheduling and booking, e-reserves, forms and surveys, and usage reporting. Configuration, integration, data migration, and training are in scope; net-new software development is not, and proposals relying on post-award development do not meet this mandatory requirement. The contractor must migrate data from CUNY's current Springshare platform (guides, database lists, calendars, chat transcripts, FAQs, forms, surveys, and e-reserves records) if directed, with separate pricing for migration services. All services must comply with WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards, SOC 2 Type II attestation, FERPA compliance, U.S. data residency requirements, and service level agreements guaranteeing 99.5% uptime.

Pricing is structured as a one-time implementation fee plus annual subscription/license fees for five years, with milestone-based invoicing for implementation and separate data migration pricing. The contract term is five years, contingent on approval by the Attorney General and the New York State or New York City Comptroller. CUNY anticipates awarding up to one contract. Proposal scoring allocates 55 points to technical merit, 30 points to price, 5 points to diversity practices, and up to 10 points for oral presentations by short-listed proposers. Written questions are due October 23 and October 30, 2026. Proposals must be submitted via email to Karen Pinckney, Purchasing Manager (karen.pinckney@cuny.edu), at 205 East 42nd Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10017.