School Choice Program Management System (FY26-FY31)-UPDATED

The State of Tennessee, Department of Education is seeking a comprehensive School Choice Program Management System through a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP #33101-26013FAS5) to support three school choice programs: Education Savings Account (ESA), Individualized Education Account (IEA), and Education Freedom Scholarship (EFS). The procurement requires a secure, web-based electronic system capable of handling interactive applications, fiscal management, and payment processing for up to 700 schools, 70,000 students, and 100 state staff members. Key deliverables include a scalable platform with application processing, account holder management, fiscal management, payment functionality, support and training resources, and comprehensive reporting capabilities. The system must meet rigorous technical requirements, including SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, 99.95% system uptime, data encryption using FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 standards, and comprehensive security protocols. Critical procurement dates include a Pre-response Conference on November 6, 2025, at 10:30 a.m., a written questions deadline of November 14, 2025, at 2:00 p.m., and a response deadline of December 19, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. The State will conduct technical evaluations by January 9, 2026, score cost proposals on January 12, 2026, and issue a Notice of Intent to Award on January 15, 2026.

The contract requires vendors to be registered with the Tennessee Department of Revenue and hold all necessary business and professional licenses. No specific set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises are mentioned in the procurement documents. The system must be housed and processed exclusively in the continental United States, with data access limited to US-based resources. Contractors must comply with the State's Enterprise Information Security Policies and Artificial Intelligence usage restrictions. The contract term spans sixty-four months, from fiscal year 2026 to fiscal year 2031, with system implementation required by May 1, 2026. The estimated maximum contract liability is $9,750,000.00 for the full term, with cost proposals including line items for requirements gathering, development, testing, pilot and training, rollout phases, annual system hosting, subscription/license fees, system maintenance, technical support, and change order provisions. Liquidated damages clauses are included for potential failures in user access, platform errors, data backup, system availability, and disaster recovery objectives.