Virginia Statewide K-12 Student Assessment Program (SOL)

The Virginia Department of Education is requesting proposals for a supplier-hosted cloud solution to develop, deliver in dual-mode (online and paper with comparable scores), score, administer, and report Virginia's statewide K-12 student assessment program under RFP 201-26-045, with proposals due September 15, 2026.

The supplier must have successfully implemented substantially similar statewide K-12 summative assessment systems with at least two state clients, with at least one having minimum K-12 student enrollment of 400,000 students. This prior-experience prerequisite is the central capability filter. Dual-mode delivery capability providing comparable scores across online and paper formats is mandatory. All vendor staff, including subcontractors, must be physically located in the United States.

The scope encompasses comprehensive test item development, field testing, psychometric analysis, standard setting, equating and scaling, and technical reporting for Virginia's Standards of Learning assessments across grades 3–8 and end-of-course exams in Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Writing. The supplier must also manage support for the Virginia Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) through September 2029. Annual test administration must span three windows (fall, spring, summer) with production and distribution of secure and non-secure test materials in multiple formats including online, paper, Braille, large print, and text-to-speech. Reporting must include individual score reports and statewide data release within 45 days of assessment window conclusion, with a new 100-point scale added to existing 0–600 scales effective July 1, 2026. The supplier must archive all committee proceedings per Library of Virginia retention schedules and provide annual technical reports meeting U.S. Department of Education peer review standards within 180 days of the final assessment window.

The solution must comply with Commonwealth of Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) policies and standards, including SEC530 and SEC514 security standards, Multi-Factor Authentication using application-based authenticators, Okta Single Sign-On compatibility, FedRAMP authorization, FERPA and HIPAA compliance, and encryption of data in transit and at rest. Data must be stored exclusively within the United States. The supplier must provide 99 percent monthly uptime (excluding excusable downtime), 24/7 support at no additional charge, and maintain cyber security liability insurance of at least $20 million per occurrence. The supplier must sign the Virginia Standard Student Data Privacy Agreement, prohibiting use of Commonwealth data for artificial intelligence model training. All responses are subject to the Commonwealth's NDA, security questionnaire assessment, and proprietary information protection procedures outlined in the administrative appendices.