Lee College District Purchasing Dept. Sealed Solicitation

Title: Inclusive Access Textbook Program

Deadline: 4/13/2022 10:00 AM   (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)

Status: Awarded

Solicitation Number: 220413-01

Description:

NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

The Lee College District (“Lee College” or the “College”) is requesting Sealed Proposals for an Inclusive Access Textbook Program. The Proposer shall provide Lee College students with access to electronic textbooks courseware and may include printed textbooks as well.

All proposals must be uploaded to Vendor Registry by Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 10:00 AM.  Questions regarding this solicitation must be submitted via Vendor Registry.

For questions related to using Vendor Registry, use the help option/chat for assistance on their website. If you need further assistance, please contact lcsolicitations@lee.edu . Emailed, faxed, or hard copy proposals will not be accepted and will be disqualified and/or returned unopened. Vendors will receive confirmation from Vendor Registry when their proposal is successfully received. For scoring purposes, mail or hand deliver two (2) hard copy proposals and one (1) flash/USB drive with pricing, by the due date and time to: Purchasing Department, c/o Lee College, Inclusive Access Textbook Program, 511 S. Whiting Baytown, Texas 77520.

Upon recommendation of the proposal(s), the College Board of Regents plans to award a Contract; however, the College reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to waive any and all irregularities and technicalities, and to accept any proposal(s) which it deems beneficial to it.

Due Date for Written Questions - April 5, 2022 - 5:00 PM
Due Date for Written Answers Addendum - April 6, 2022
Opening Proposal Conference - April 13th - 10:00 AM Click here to join WebEx Bid Opening




Documents:

Documents as of 3/24/2022
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Addition 1

Posted: 4/6/2022

Type of Addition: Addendum No.: One (1)

Overview: The following clarifications, amendments, deletions, additions, revision and/or modifications are made a part of the contract documents and change the original documents only in the manner and to the extent hereinafter stated and shall be incorporated in the contract documents.
Provisions of this addendum shall take precedence over requirements of the original contract documents and all PROPOSERS ARE REQUESTED TO ACKNOWLEDGE SAID PROVISIONS IN THEIR SUBMISSION.

Solicitation #: RFP # 220413-01

Documents:

Addition 2

Posted: 4/25/2022

Type of Addition: Award Information

Overview: The college received six proposals. The textbook committee selected BibliU as the preferred vendor.

Question 1

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: Please provide the annual sales for the current inclusive access textbook program.

Response: The annual sales for the current inclusive access program is approximately $2M.

Question 2

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: In order for eCampus.com to determine a flat rate per credit hour quote for our equitable access solution, we will also need a list of credit hours of each enrolled student for both the Spring 2022 and Fall 2021 Semester. For example, if the Fall 2021 semester had 1,000 enrolled students, we would need 1,000 individual entries noting how many credit hours each student has taken. We do not need any student data (ie: name, student ID, etc.), just the number of credit hours for each student enrolled. We encourage you to contact Barry Kern at 812-290-4502 if you have any questions in populating the credit hours.

Response: A spreadsheet with the requested information will be provided in an addendum.

Question 3

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: Would Lee College be interested in a per credit hour quote that includes commissions to the college?

Response: No, Lee College is not interested in a per credit hour quote that includes a commission.

Question 4

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: Would Lee College be interested in a per credit hour quote at a base fee in which the college can determine the final amount to charge it's students?

Response: Yes, Lee College would like a per credit hour quote at a base fee and the college will determine what we charge students.

Question 5

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: Page 1 states "For scoring purposes only, mail or hand deliver two (2) hard copy proposals and one (1) flash drive/USB, with pricing, by the due date and time..." Page 5 states "For scoring purposes, mail or hand deliver four (4) hard copy proposals, without pricing, by the due date and time..." Can you please clarify if the copies should or should not have pricing and how many hard copies and USB copies are preferred?

Response: I apologize for the oversight. Please follow the instructions from page 1. A correction will be made in an addendum #1.

Question 6

Posted: 3/31/2022

Question: The first page of the RFP asks for 2 hard copied proposals with 1 flash drive containing pricing while page 5 asks for 4 hard copies without pricing. Please confirm the number of hard copies requested, whether it should include pricing, and if a flash drive is required.

Response: I apologize for the oversight. Please follow the instructions from page 1. A correction will be made in an addendum #1.

Question 7

Posted: 4/4/2022

Question: The RFP refers to a “Pricing Sheet/Response Form”, but it does not appear that this form was included in the RFP. Can you provide? BibliU’s Universal Learning solution enables institutions to pay a flat per student per book fee. For pricing, may we quote one flat fee instead of pricing the items line by line? Can we quote a subset of the adoption list: we feel that the adoptions from AY2021 will be representative of our pricing, so would prefer to price just the 2021 titles? Page 7, Item 13 says: “All items shall be new, in first class condition and manufacturer’s latest model and design, including container suitable for shipment and storage, unless otherwise indicated in response. [A1] Verbal agreements to the contrary will not be recognized.” This restriction doesn’t seem relevant to digital content, which is in electronic form. Can you clarify the requirement? For the List of Subcontractors and Suppliers, is your intention to have us include publisher names as suppliers, or exclude this as it would be represented in your adoptions list already? Will federal funds be used to pay for the items in this RFP?

Response: 1. Our solution enables institutions to pay a flat per student per book fee. For pricing, may we quote one flat fee instead of pricing the items line by line? Yes, you can quote a flat per-book per-student fee instead of pricing items line by line. 2. Can we quote a subset of the adoption list: we feel that the adoptions from AY2021 will be representative of our pricing, so would prefer to price just the 2021 titles? Yes, the 2021 titles are representative, so pricing them will be sufficient for the RFP. Other questions asked here were responded to in subsequent questions. See all questions.

Question 8

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Your RFP provides your duplicated student enrollment; however, can you provide your annual full time equivalent enrollment (IPEDS has your full time student enrollment listed at 7,487). Also, how many credits does the average full time student take annually? 24 credit hours?

Response: In general, we have about 4,500 regular admission students, 2,000 dual credit students and 1,000 students in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system. The only students who will participate in the inclusive access program are our regular admission students. Regular admission students average 9 SCH per semester, so we have about 3,375 FTE per regular semester (fall and spring).

Question 9

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: In your provided adoption list spreadsheet, the enrollments are missing for all of FALL 2021, all of Spring 22, and most of Summer 21. Please provide the corresponding enrollments for your SU21,FA21, and SP22 adoptions. If you are unable to provide, please provide the average enrollment per section so that we may provide an estimate cost of books in tuition per credit hour.

Response: An updated adoption list will be provided that includes enrollment for Summer, 2021, Fall, 2021 and Spring, 2022.

Question 10

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: When providing a quote for an Inclusive Access Textbook program, should the dual credit courses be factored into the program cost?

Response: No. Dual credit students will not participate in the inclusive access program.

Question 11

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: What is your Student Information System (SIS)?

Response: Our SIS is PeopleSoft.

Question 12

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Could you clarify what you mean by College's SSO? Is there a specific platform or way for SSO, or are you just indicating the ability for students to SSO from your system into the IA platform? "The System will provide secure access for authorized users via the College’s Single-Sign-On (SSO) and may employ Multi-factor Authentication."

Response: We use OneLogin for our SSO: https://leecollege.onelogin.com/ We expect that students will authenticate against our server so that they can use the same credentials for the Inclusive Access system as they use to access other college systems.

Question 13

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: How is the campus billing students for their IA program, and is the expectation to bill based on the cost of the materials or a standard fee across all courses?

Response: We plan to bill students on a per-credit-hour basis, so it is a standard fee across all courses.

Question 14

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: To confirm, Lee College would like to have the proposal submitted both electronically via the registry AND have 2 physical copies/ 1 flash drive hand delivered or mailed? Electronic only proposal submitted via the registry is not sufficient? Lee College is requiring physical copies for scoring purposes as well?

Response: Correct. Lee College is requesting, in addition to your submittal on Vendor Registry, one (1) electronic version (flash drive/ USB) and two (2) sealed proposals, with pricing.

Question 15

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Are the standard forms counted as a part of the 30 page max for this RFP?

Response: No, the standard forms would not be considered part of the 30 page max of the RFP.

Question 16

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Are there any binding/presentation requirements for the RFP response (example stapled, delivered in an envelope, notebook, etc...

Response: There are no binding/presentation requirements for this RFP response.

Question 17

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: On page 1, instructions for submission state that proposals must be uploaded to the vendor registry, but also states that 2 hard copies and 1 electronic copy is needed for scoring. Can you clarify that we need to submit via the vendor registry AND send hard copies?

Response: Correct. Lee College is requesting, in addition to your submittal on Vendor Registry, one (1) electronic version (flash drive/ USB) and two (2) sealed proposals, with pricing.

Question 18

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: The RFP refers to a “Pricing Sheet/Response Form”, but it does not appear that this form was included in the RFP. Can you provide?

Response: A pricing sheet will be added to Vendor Registry.

Question 19

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Page 7, Item 13 says: “All items shall be new, in first class condition and manufacturer’s latest model and design, including container suitable for shipment and storage, unless otherwise indicated in response. [A1] Verbal agreements to the contrary will not be recognized.” This restriction doesn’t seem relevant to digital content, which is in electronic form. Can you clarify the requirement?

Response: This is only a requirement if applicable. Please disregard the request for this request for proposals.

Question 20

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: For the List of Subcontractors and Suppliers, is your intention to have us include publisher names as suppliers, or exclude this as it would be represented in your adoptions list already?

Response: You may exclude the list from your proposal submission.

Question 21

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Will federal funds be used to pay for the items in this RFP?

Response: No federal funds will be used.

Posted: 4/6/2022

Type of Addition: Addendum No.: One (1)

Overview: The following clarifications, amendments, deletions, additions, revision and/or modifications are made a part of the contract documents and change the original documents only in the manner and to the extent hereinafter stated and shall be incorporated in the contract documents.
Provisions of this addendum shall take precedence over requirements of the original contract documents and all PROPOSERS ARE REQUESTED TO ACKNOWLEDGE SAID PROVISIONS IN THEIR SUBMISSION.

Solicitation #: RFP # 220413-01

Documents:

Posted: 4/25/2022

Type of Addition: Award Information

Overview: The college received six proposals. The textbook committee selected BibliU as the preferred vendor.

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: Please provide the annual sales for the current inclusive access textbook program.

Response: The annual sales for the current inclusive access program is approximately $2M.

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: In order for eCampus.com to determine a flat rate per credit hour quote for our equitable access solution, we will also need a list of credit hours of each enrolled student for both the Spring 2022 and Fall 2021 Semester. For example, if the Fall 2021 semester had 1,000 enrolled students, we would need 1,000 individual entries noting how many credit hours each student has taken. We do not need any student data (ie: name, student ID, etc.), just the number of credit hours for each student enrolled. We encourage you to contact Barry Kern at 812-290-4502 if you have any questions in populating the credit hours.

Response: A spreadsheet with the requested information will be provided in an addendum.

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: Would Lee College be interested in a per credit hour quote that includes commissions to the college?

Response: No, Lee College is not interested in a per credit hour quote that includes a commission.

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: Would Lee College be interested in a per credit hour quote at a base fee in which the college can determine the final amount to charge it's students?

Response: Yes, Lee College would like a per credit hour quote at a base fee and the college will determine what we charge students.

Posted: 3/28/2022

Question: Page 1 states "For scoring purposes only, mail or hand deliver two (2) hard copy proposals and one (1) flash drive/USB, with pricing, by the due date and time..." Page 5 states "For scoring purposes, mail or hand deliver four (4) hard copy proposals, without pricing, by the due date and time..." Can you please clarify if the copies should or should not have pricing and how many hard copies and USB copies are preferred?

Response: I apologize for the oversight. Please follow the instructions from page 1. A correction will be made in an addendum #1.

Posted: 3/31/2022

Question: The first page of the RFP asks for 2 hard copied proposals with 1 flash drive containing pricing while page 5 asks for 4 hard copies without pricing. Please confirm the number of hard copies requested, whether it should include pricing, and if a flash drive is required.

Response: I apologize for the oversight. Please follow the instructions from page 1. A correction will be made in an addendum #1.

Posted: 4/4/2022

Question: The RFP refers to a “Pricing Sheet/Response Form”, but it does not appear that this form was included in the RFP. Can you provide? BibliU’s Universal Learning solution enables institutions to pay a flat per student per book fee. For pricing, may we quote one flat fee instead of pricing the items line by line? Can we quote a subset of the adoption list: we feel that the adoptions from AY2021 will be representative of our pricing, so would prefer to price just the 2021 titles? Page 7, Item 13 says: “All items shall be new, in first class condition and manufacturer’s latest model and design, including container suitable for shipment and storage, unless otherwise indicated in response. [A1] Verbal agreements to the contrary will not be recognized.” This restriction doesn’t seem relevant to digital content, which is in electronic form. Can you clarify the requirement? For the List of Subcontractors and Suppliers, is your intention to have us include publisher names as suppliers, or exclude this as it would be represented in your adoptions list already? Will federal funds be used to pay for the items in this RFP?

Response: 1. Our solution enables institutions to pay a flat per student per book fee. For pricing, may we quote one flat fee instead of pricing the items line by line? Yes, you can quote a flat per-book per-student fee instead of pricing items line by line. 2. Can we quote a subset of the adoption list: we feel that the adoptions from AY2021 will be representative of our pricing, so would prefer to price just the 2021 titles? Yes, the 2021 titles are representative, so pricing them will be sufficient for the RFP. Other questions asked here were responded to in subsequent questions. See all questions.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Your RFP provides your duplicated student enrollment; however, can you provide your annual full time equivalent enrollment (IPEDS has your full time student enrollment listed at 7,487). Also, how many credits does the average full time student take annually? 24 credit hours?

Response: In general, we have about 4,500 regular admission students, 2,000 dual credit students and 1,000 students in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system. The only students who will participate in the inclusive access program are our regular admission students. Regular admission students average 9 SCH per semester, so we have about 3,375 FTE per regular semester (fall and spring).

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: In your provided adoption list spreadsheet, the enrollments are missing for all of FALL 2021, all of Spring 22, and most of Summer 21. Please provide the corresponding enrollments for your SU21,FA21, and SP22 adoptions. If you are unable to provide, please provide the average enrollment per section so that we may provide an estimate cost of books in tuition per credit hour.

Response: An updated adoption list will be provided that includes enrollment for Summer, 2021, Fall, 2021 and Spring, 2022.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: When providing a quote for an Inclusive Access Textbook program, should the dual credit courses be factored into the program cost?

Response: No. Dual credit students will not participate in the inclusive access program.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: What is your Student Information System (SIS)?

Response: Our SIS is PeopleSoft.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Could you clarify what you mean by College's SSO? Is there a specific platform or way for SSO, or are you just indicating the ability for students to SSO from your system into the IA platform? "The System will provide secure access for authorized users via the College’s Single-Sign-On (SSO) and may employ Multi-factor Authentication."

Response: We use OneLogin for our SSO: https://leecollege.onelogin.com/ We expect that students will authenticate against our server so that they can use the same credentials for the Inclusive Access system as they use to access other college systems.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: How is the campus billing students for their IA program, and is the expectation to bill based on the cost of the materials or a standard fee across all courses?

Response: We plan to bill students on a per-credit-hour basis, so it is a standard fee across all courses.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: To confirm, Lee College would like to have the proposal submitted both electronically via the registry AND have 2 physical copies/ 1 flash drive hand delivered or mailed? Electronic only proposal submitted via the registry is not sufficient? Lee College is requiring physical copies for scoring purposes as well?

Response: Correct. Lee College is requesting, in addition to your submittal on Vendor Registry, one (1) electronic version (flash drive/ USB) and two (2) sealed proposals, with pricing.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Are the standard forms counted as a part of the 30 page max for this RFP?

Response: No, the standard forms would not be considered part of the 30 page max of the RFP.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Are there any binding/presentation requirements for the RFP response (example stapled, delivered in an envelope, notebook, etc...

Response: There are no binding/presentation requirements for this RFP response.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: On page 1, instructions for submission state that proposals must be uploaded to the vendor registry, but also states that 2 hard copies and 1 electronic copy is needed for scoring. Can you clarify that we need to submit via the vendor registry AND send hard copies?

Response: Correct. Lee College is requesting, in addition to your submittal on Vendor Registry, one (1) electronic version (flash drive/ USB) and two (2) sealed proposals, with pricing.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: The RFP refers to a “Pricing Sheet/Response Form”, but it does not appear that this form was included in the RFP. Can you provide?

Response: A pricing sheet will be added to Vendor Registry.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Page 7, Item 13 says: “All items shall be new, in first class condition and manufacturer’s latest model and design, including container suitable for shipment and storage, unless otherwise indicated in response. [A1] Verbal agreements to the contrary will not be recognized.” This restriction doesn’t seem relevant to digital content, which is in electronic form. Can you clarify the requirement?

Response: This is only a requirement if applicable. Please disregard the request for this request for proposals.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: For the List of Subcontractors and Suppliers, is your intention to have us include publisher names as suppliers, or exclude this as it would be represented in your adoptions list already?

Response: You may exclude the list from your proposal submission.

Posted: 4/5/2022

Question: Will federal funds be used to pay for the items in this RFP?

Response: No federal funds will be used.