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| |State of South Carolina |Solicitation |: 99-S744 | |

| | |Run Date |: | |

| |Request for Proposal | | | |

| | |Buyer |: Mike Spicer | |

| | |Phone |: (803) 737-0632 | |

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|* Deliver all items to: - |

|PLEASE SEE DELIVERY |

|INSTRUCTIONS BELOW |

|-, SC 00000 |

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Requested Delivery Date: 30 Days ARO Bidder’s Best Delivery: ______________days After Receipt of Order (ARO)

Bidder’s Discount Terms:______________%______________Days.

Return Bid No Later Than…(Opening Date/Time): 02/25/1999 02:30 pm Posting Date: 03/24/1999

Return Bid To: Materials Management Office Express / Hand-Carry To: 1201 Main St. - Suite 600

P.O. Box 101103 Capitol Center - Affinity Bldg.

Columbia, S.C. 29211 Columbia, S.C. 29201

Description: Administrative Software System for the State of SC's Technical Colleges -

MUST BE SIGNED TO BE VALID

By signing this bid, I certify, under Penalties of Perjury, that we have complied with Section 12-54-1020(B)

of the S.C. Code of Laws 1976 as amended, relating to payment of taxes. I also certify that we will comply with all

requirements of Section 44-107-10, Et Seq., relating to the S.C. Drug-Free Workplace Act.

*** Solicitation Number and Opening Date must be shown on sealed envelope ***

*Award will be posted at Express/Hand-Carry to: address listed above *

|AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE |PRINTED NAME |DATE |

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|COMPANY |STATE VENDOR NO. (IF KNOWN) |

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|MAILING ADDRESS |SOCIAL SECURITY OR FEDERAL TAX NO. |

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|CITY |STATE |ZIP CODE |PHONE |

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|NOTICE OF AWARD (STATE USE ONLY) |CONTRACT NO. |

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|ACCEPTED BY STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA AS FOLLOWS: |

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|BUYER |DATE |

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MMO NO. 001 (REV 6/95)

|Conference Type : Pre-Proposal Location:Materials Management Office |

|Start Time : 02/04/1999 10:00 am 1201 Main Street |

|Suite 600 |

|Columbia, SC 29201 |

GENERAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

PREPARATION OF PROPOSAL

All proposals should be complete and carefully worded and must convey all the information requested by the State. If significant errors are found in the OFFEROR’S proposal, or if the proposal fails to conform to the essential requirements of the RFP, the State, and the State alone, will be the judge as to whether that variance is significant enough to require MMO to reject the proposal.

RECEIPT OF PROPOSALS: TIMELINESS

State Law requires that a copy of the proposal be submitted to and received by MMO no later than the date and time specified in this RFP. OFFERORS mailing proposals should allow a sufficient mail delivery period to insure timely receipt (i.e. receipt by that date and time) of their proposals by the issuing office MMO. Any proposals received after the scheduled opening date and time will be immediately disqualified in accordance with the S. C. Consolidated Procurement Code and Regulations.

NUMBER OF PROPOSALS TO BE SUBMITTED, UNDER SEAL, ETC.

Each OFFEROR must is to submit (as indicated in the Key Event Dates) the requested number of copies of the proposal, under seal, to the MMO Information Technology Management Office, as indicated below the Key Events Dates in this proposal. Post Office Box 101103, Columbia, South Carolina 29211. Each copy of the proposal should be bound in a single volume where practical. All documentation submitted with the proposal should be bound in that single volume where practical. The OFFEROR must is required to havemarkd on the envelope or wrapping containing the proposal the RFP identification number specified in the RFP.

PROPOSALS SIGNED

All proposals must be signed by a representative of the company authorized to commit to the provisions of this proposal.Unsigned proposals will be rejected. However, unless an authorized representative is present at the proposal opening may and provides the needed signature, provided that the discovery is made prior to the reading of the name of the first offeror.

PUBLIC OPENING

MMO will open aAll proposals received in response to this RFP will be opened publicly at the time and place specified in the schedule of Key Event Dates, and will list . Aat that time, the name of each OFFEROR will be listed and made make the list available for public inspection.

NUMBER AND FORMAT FOR PROPOSALS

Offerors must submit 20 copies of each proposal. Offerors may choose to submit to submit responses in hard copy or on CD-R complying with the following guidelines:

HARD COPY -- Offerors may submit traditional hard copy versions of its response. Because the State may have to be reproduce copies of the responses, it is requested that the proposals be submitted in three ring binders with a table of contents and tab correlated numbered pages. All information should be on 8.5 x 11 paper suitable for reproduction on a black and white copier. Color brochures, large format documents, bound manuals or other material not easily reproduced should be submitted as separate attachments.

CD-R -- OFFERORS may submit their responses to this RFP on Compact Disk (CD) recorded in CD-R format. Other formats such as CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, or DVIX are not acceptable and will result in the Offeror’s proposal being rejected. CD-R submissions must be accompanied by a hard copy cover letter signed by an official authorized to bind the OFFEROR and indicating the OFFEROR’S intent to be bound by the contents of its submission for a period not less than the time stipulated in this RFP and containing the business proposal password. A textual response must be included that provides the Offeror’s response to each numbered paragraph in the RFP. Textual responses must be in MS Word format. If necessary, OFFERORS may submit their response on multiple CD sets provided that each CD in the set is appropriately identified as to its relationship to the set, e.g., 1 of 2. OFFERORS may include a demonstration of the proposed solution. Demonstrations must not require interaction by the evaluator other than starting the program. Demonstrations may utilize the following formats: Power Point, .qt, .mpeg, .mpg, .miv, .asf, .asx, .ra, .ram, .rm, .rmm, .aif, .aifc., aiff, .mov, .avi, .au, .snd, or .wav formats. If the OFFEROR desires to utilize another format, it must include a self executing viewer or player as part of the submission.

ProposalsProposals are to be submitted proposals in two parts. The first part is to be comprised of the OFFEROR’S technical proposal. Technical Proposals are to be prepared and in a manner designed to provide the State with a straightforward presentation of the OFFEROR’S capability to satisfy the requirements of this RFP. Each response shall clearly indicate whether the OFFEROR’S proposal complies or does not comply with the requirements of this RFP. OFFERORS shall explain in detail the method used to meet each requirement. Elaborate brochures and other promotional materials are not desired.

The second part is to be the OFFEROR’S Business Proposal. The Business proposal must be bound separately or contained in a separate, “Read” password protected, file. OFFEROR shall not include any cost information in the Technical Proposal. The OFFEROR shall not include any technical information in the Cost Proposal.

ALTERNATE PROPOSALS

Offerors may submit more than one proposal, each of which must satisfy the requirements of this RFP in order to be considered. The alternative proposal(s) must should be labeled “Alternate Proposal”, should address all the requirements described in the RFP, or specify those portions that the alternate proposal would address, signifying that all other requirements would be accomplished as set forth in the RFP; and should include a separate business proposal reflecting the total cost to the State for this solution.

SPECIFICATIONS MATERIAL AND ESSENTIAL

The OFFEROR must meet all of the material and essential specifications and requirements set forth in this RFP. By incorporating said specifications into the OFFEROR’S proposal, subject to acceptance by the State of any amendments hereto as submitted by the OFFEROR, the OFFEROR is agreeing to comply with said specifications- and promising to do so if awarded the contract.

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

MMO will not present, or otherwise make available, any No documents relating to this procurement will be presented or made otherwise available to any other person, agency or organization other than those evaluating proposals for purpose of award until notification of intent to award. Commercial or financial information obtained in response to this RFP which is privileged and confidential and clearly marked as such will not be disclosed. Such privileged and confidential information includes information which, if disclosed, might cause harm to the competitive position of the OFFEROR supplying the information. All OFFERORS, therefore, must visibly mark as "CONFIDENTIAL" each part of their proposal which they consider to contain proprietary information.

CONTACT LIMITATION

By submission of a response to this RFP, vendor agrees that during the period following issuance of the proposal and prior to the statement of intent to award, vendor shall not discuss this procurement with any party except members of the MMO Information Technology Management Office or other parties designated in this solicitation. OFFERORS shall not attempt to discuss or attempt to negotiate with the using Agency, any aspects of the procurement without the prior approval of the Information Technology Buyer responsible for the procurement.

PROPOSAL CONSTITUTES OFFER

By submitting a proposal, the OFFEROR agrees to be governed by the terms and conditions as set forth in this document and any subsequent amendment.

QUALITY OF PRODUCT

Unless otherwise specified in this solicitation, it is understood and agreed that any item offered or shipped shall be new and in first class condition, that all containers shall be new and suitable for storage or shipment, and that prices include standard commercial packaging.

COMPETITION

It is shall be the OFFEROR’S responsibility to advise the Information Technology Management Office if any language, requirements, etc., or any combination thereof, inadvertently restricts or limits the requirements stated in this RFP to a single source. The OFFEROR must submit Ssuch notification must be submitted in accordance with the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code Section 11-35-4210.

OFFEROR’S DUTY TO INSPECT AND ADVISE

Each OFFEROR shall fully acquaint himself with the scope and of this RFP. The failure of an OFFEROR to acquaint himself with existing pre-contract conditions or post-contract consequences shall in no way relieve such OFFEROR of any obligation with respect to the this proposal or to any contract resulting hereof from.

Any contractual language (including that in license, maintenance, and service agreements, etc.) the OFFEROR proposes to include with its proposal and in any contract upon award, that differs from and/or supplements the contractual language contained in this solicitation, MUST be submitted to the Information Technology Management Office within the time period allowed for questions and answers (see Key Events Dates) in order to be considered by the State for inclusion as an amendment to this solicitation and any ultimate contract. The submission of any contractual language that has not been so approved by the ITMO will result in rejection of the OFFEROR’S proposal.

OFFERORS must notify the State of all costs reasonably expected. OFFERORS are notified that their failure to inspect, familiarize itself with, or otherwise gather information as to the total cost to the State, will, in addition to any and all other remedies available, create cost difference liabilities and claims against the ultimately successful OFFEROR. OFFERORS must notify the State of all costs reasonably expected.

QUESTIONS

Every effort has been made to insure that all information needed by the OFFEROR is included herein. If an OFFEROR finds that ithe cannot complete a proposal without additional information, ithe may submit written questions to the person designated herein on or before the deadline set forth in the schedule of "Key Event Dates". No questions will be accepted by the State after this date. All replies to questions will be in writing. When a question received by the State is found to be already sufficiently answered sufficiently in the RFP, that question will be returned to the OFFEROR with a reference to the part of the RFP containing the answer. All questions and written replies will be distributed to all OFFERORS and will be regarded as a part of this solicitation hereof.

AMENDMENTS

If it becomes necessary to revise any part of the RFP, MMO will provide all amendments will be provided in writing to all OFFERORS. ALL AMENDMENTS TO AND INTERPRETATIONS OF THIS SOLICITATION SHALL BE IN WRITING. THE PROCUREMENT OFFICER SHALL NOT BE LEGALLY BOUND BY ANY AMENDMENT OR INTERPRETATION THAT IS NOT IN WRITING.

OTHER WRITTEN BASIS FOR PROPOSAL

If any of the OFFEROR’S proposal has as its basis written statements (other than the RFP) provided to him by the State (such as notification of a change in the specifications), the OFFEROR is to identify and include those statements in his proposal at the place or places applicable.

OFFEROR QUALIFICATIONS

The State reserves the right to request any information it deems necessary to make the final determination as to the OFFEROR’S ability to provide the services requested herein before entering into any contract. OFFEROR must, upon the request of the State, furnish any and all information requested to determine its ability to furnish the services requested in accordance with the terms and conditions of this RFP. . The State reserves the right to request any information it deems necessary to make the final determination as to the OFFEROR'S ability to provide the services requested herein before entering into any contract. The unreasonable failure of a bidder or OFFEROR to supply information promptly in connection with an inquiry with respect to responsibility may be declared non responsible and its proposal rejected.

CLARIFICATIONS

The State reserves the right, at any time, after opening and prior to award, to request clarification from any OFFEROR clarification, address technical questions, or to seek, or provide, other information regarding the OFFEROR’S proposal. Such a process may be used for such purposes as providing an opportunity for the OFFERORS to clarify their proposals in order to assure mutual understanding and/or aid in determinations of responsiveness or responsibility.

NEGOTIATIONS

In accordance with Section 11-35-1530 of the S. C. Consolidated Procurement Code, the State, following evaluations, may conduct negotiations with offerors. In conducting negotiations, the State will not there will be no discloseure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors.

NOTICE AND POSTING OF AWARD

Notice of Award or Intent to Award will be posted at and at 1201 Main Street, Suite 600, Columbia, SC 29201. If the total value of the contract resulting from this solicitation is less than $50,000.00, Offerors who desire to receive a copy of the Statement of Award must include a self-addressed stamped envelope. All Offerors will receive a "Statement of Intent to Award" if the total value of any contract resulting is greater than $50,000.00.

RIGHT TO PROTEST

Any prospective bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor who is aggrieved in connection with the solicitation of a contract shall protest to the Chief Procurement Officer within fifteen days of the date of issuance of the Request for Proposals or other solicitation documents whichever is applicable or any amendment thereto, if the Request for Proposal, other solicitation document or amendment is at issue. Any actual bidder, offeror, bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor who is aggrieved in connection with the intended award or award of a contract shall protest to the Chief Procurement Officer within fifteen days of the date theof notification of award or intent to award is posted.

Any protest mustshall be submitted in writing to the Chief Procurement Officer , Division of General Services, 1201 Main Street, Suite 600, Columbia, SC 29201, and mustshall set forth the grounds of the protest and the relief requested with enough particularity to give notice of the issues to be decided.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS

THE CONTRACT DOCUMENT

Any contract resulting from this solicitation shall consist of the following documents which are listed in order of precedence: (1) aAny amendment required to resolve any difference between the remaining documents,. (2) aAny amendments to the original solicitation in reverse order of issuance, .(3) tThe solicitation as issued by the ITMO, (4) aAny amendments to the successful vendor's proposal accepted by the Materials Management Office,. (5) tThe successful vendor's proposal.

PURCHASING LIABILITY

The Materials Management Office is acting under the authority given to it in the Consolidated Procurement Code to procure contracts on behalf of governmental agencies and acts only as their agent in this respect. The resulting contract is between the agency and the successful vendor or OFFEROR and the Materials Management Office bears no liability for any damages that any party may incur in the execution or enforcement of the contract.

PATENT AND COPYRIGHT LIABILITY

If notified promptly in writing by the State of any actions (and all prior claims relating to such action) brought against the State, based on a claim that the State's use of the services or any products offered, including software, infringes a United States patent or copyright, the CONTRACTOR will defend such action at its expense and will pay the costs and damages awarded in any such action, provided that the CONTRACTOR shall have sole control of the defense of any such action and all negotiations for its settlement or compromise. The State shall give the CONTRACTOR prompt written notice of such claim and full right and opportunity to conduct the defense thereof, together with full information and reasonable cooperation. No cost or expenses shall be incurred for the account of the CONTRACTOR without its written consent. If principles of government or public law are involved, the State may participate in the defense of any action. If, in the opinion of the CONTRACTOR, the products furnished hereunder are likely to, or do become, the subject of a claim of infringement of a United States patent or copyright, then, without diminishing its obligation to satisfy a final award, the CONTRACTOR may, at its option and expense, (a) obtain the right for the State to continue to use such goods; or (b) substitute for the alleged infringing products other equally suitable products that are satisfactory to the State; or (c) take back such products,; provided however, that the CONTRACTOR will not exercise option (c) until the CONTRACTOR and the State have evaluated options (a) and (b). In such event, CONTRACTOR will reimburse the State for the purchase price of any goods removed pursuant to option (c).

OWNERSHIP OF DATA

All data and other records entered into any database of the State or supplied to the CONTRACTOR by the State are, and shall remain, the sole property of the State. CONTRACTOR shall not, copy or use such records without the State's written consent except to carry out contracted work; and will not transfer such records to any other party not involved in the performance of this Agreement; and will return submitted records to the State upon completion of the work hereunder.

FORCE MAJEURE

CONTRACTOR shall not be liable for any damages resulting from any delay in delivery, or failure to give notice of delay, which directly or indirectly results from the elements, acts of God, delays in transportation, or delays in delivery by any cause beyond the reasonable control of the CONTRACTOR. The delivery schedule shall be extended by a period of time equal to the time lost because of such delay.

TAXES

Prices are to be exclusive of all sales, use, and like taxes. Any tax CONTRACTOR may be required to collect or pay upon the sale, use or delivery of the products shall be paid by the State, and such sums shall be due and payable to the CONTRACTOR upon acceptance. Any personal property taxes levied after delivery shall be paid by the State. It shall be solely the State's obligation, after payment to CONTRACTOR, to challenge the applicability of any tax by negotiation with, or action against, the taxing authority. CONTRACTOR agrees to refund any tax collected which is subsequently determined not to be proper and for which a refund has been paid to CONTRACTOR by the taxing authority. In the event that the CONTRACTOR fails to pay, or delays in paying, to any taxing authorities, sums paid by the State to CONTRACTOR, CONTRACTOR shall be liable to the State for any loss (such as the assessment of additional interest) caused by virtue of this failure or delay. Taxes based on Contractor’s net income or assets shall be the sole responsibility of the CONTRACTOR.

WAIVERS

No waiver of right, obligation, or default shall be implied, but must be in writing, signed by the party against whom the waiver is sought to be enforced. One or more waivers of any right, obligation, or default shall not be construed to as a waiver of any subsequent right, obligation, or default.

GOVERNING LAW

The CONTRACTOR must comply with the laws of the State of South Carolina which require that it be authorized and/or licensed to do business in said State. Notwithstanding the fact that applicable statutes may exempt or exclude the successful OFFEROR from requirements that it be authorized and/or licensed to do business in said state, by signing of this Agreement, CONTRACTOR agrees to subject itself to the jurisdiction and process of the courts of the State of South Carolina or federal courts as to all matters and disputes arising or to arise under the Agreement and the performance thereof, including any questions as to the liability for taxes, licenses or fees levied by the State.

APPLICABILITY OF UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE

Except to the extent the provisions of the contract are clearly inconsistent therewith, this contract shall be governed by the applicable provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code. To the extent the contract entails both the supply of "goods" and "services," such shall be deemed "goods" within the meaning of the Uniform Commercial Code, except when deeming such services as "goods" would result in a clearly unreasonable interpretation.

ATTORNEYS FEES

In the event that the State is required to and shall bring suit or action to compel performance of, or recover for any breach of, any stipulation, covenant, term or condition of this Agreement, the State may seek attorneys fees from the CONTRACTOR, and the CONTRACTOR will pay to the State such attorneys fees as the court may award. Otherwise, attorneys fees in connection with any suit or action hereunder will be borne by the parties experiencing said expenses.

RECORDS RETENTION & RIGHT TO AUDIT

The State shall have the right to audit the books and records of the CONTRACTOR as they pertain to this contract, both independent of. and pursuant to, S.C. Code Section 11-35-2220. Such books and records shall be maintained for a period of three (3) years from the date of final payment under the contract. The State may conduct, or have conducted, performance audits of the CONTRACTOR. The State may conduct, or have conducted, audits of specific requirements of this RFP (i.e., application development cost), as determined necessary by the State. Pertaining to all audits, CONTRACTOR shall make available to the State access to itstheir computer files containing the history of contract performance and all other documents related to the audit. Additionally, any software used by the CONTRACTOR shall be made available for auditing purposes at no cost to the State.

APPROVAL OF PUBLICITY RELEASES

The CONTRACTOR shall not have the right to include the State's name in its published list of customers, without the prior approval of the State. With regard to news releases, only the name of the State and the , type and duration of contract may be used, and then only with prior approval of the State. The CONTRACTOR agrees not to publish or cite in any form any comments or quotes from State agency staff. The CONTRACTOR further agrees not to refer to the award of this contract in commercial advertising in such a manner as to state or imply that the products or services provided are endorsed or preferred by the State.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

CONTRACTOR shall comply with all federal and state requirements concerning fair employment and employment of the handicapped, and concerning the treatment of all employees, without regard to, or discrimination by reason of, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or physical handicap.

LATENT DEFECTS

Contractor warrants that, upon notification by the STATE of a latent defect in design, material or workmanship, or a latent nonconformity of the services, material, or equipment to the specifications as herein set forth which would have constituted a basis for rejection if discovered prior to acceptance, it will repair or replace or otherwise correct the defect to the level of performance specified in this RFP.

YEAR 2000 WARRANTY

Bidder/Offeror represents and warrants that the equipment is designed to be used prior to, during, and after the calendar year 2000 A.D., and that the equipment will operate during each such time period without error relating to date data, specifically including any error relating to, or the product of, date data which represents or references different centuries or more than one century.

APPLICABILITY OF UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE

Except to the extent the provisions of the contract are clearly inconsistent therewith, this contract shall be governed by the applicable provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code. To the extent the contract entails both the supply of "goods" and "services," such shall be deemed "goods" within the meaning of the Uniform Commercial Code, except when deeming such services as "goods" would result in a clearly unreasonable interpretation.

INDEMNIFICATION

The State of South Carolina, its officers, agents, and employees shall be held harmless from liability from any claims, damages, and actions of any nature arising from the use of any materials furnished by the Contractor, provided that such liability is not attributable to negligence on the part of the using agency or failure of the using agency to use the materials in the manner outlined by the Contractor in descriptive literature or specifications submitted with the Contractor’s proposal.

LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES

In all situations involving performance or nonperformance of hardware and/or software furnished hereunder, the State’s remedy is:

repair or replacement by CONTRACTOR (as agreed to by the State and CONTRACTOR) of defective equipment or software.

If CONTRACTOR fails to perform its warranty or service responsibilities, the State shall be entitled to recover damages up to the limits set forth in the following paragraphs.

CONTRACTOR’S liability to the State for any cause whatsoever shall be limited to the purchase price paid to the CONTRACTOR for the products and services that are the subject of this State’s claim and any additional cost associated with purchasing a replacement system. The foregoing limitation does not apply to damages resulting from personal injury caused by CONTRACTOR’S negligence or property damage as the result of CONTRACTOR’S negligence or intentional harm.

CONTRACTOR will not be liable for any damages resulting from loss of data or use, losst profits, or any incidental or consequential damages unless said damages are the result of the CONTRACTOR’S negligence or willful misconduct.

The State will not be liable for any damages to the CONTRACTOR resulting from loss of data or use, losst profits, or any incidental or consequential damages unless said damages are the result of the State’s gross negligence or willful misconduct.

COMPLIANCE WITH CODES, ORDINANCES, INDUSTRY STANDARDS

During the term of the contract, it shall be the Contractor's responsibility to ensure compliance with all applicable provisions of laws, codes, ordinances, rules and regulations, tariffs, and industry standards.

INSURANCE

CONTRACTOR shall maintain, throughout the performance of its obligations under this Agreement, a policy or policies of Worker's Compensation insurance with such limits as may be required by law, and a policy or policies of general liability insurance insuring against liability for injury to, and death of, persons, and damage to, and destruction of, property arising out of, or based upon, any act or omission of the CONTRACTOR or any of its subcontractors or their respective officers, directors, employees or agents. Such general liability insurance shall have limits sufficient to cover any loss or potential loss resulting from this contract.

LICENSES AND PERMITS

During the term of the contract, the Contractor shall be responsible for obtaining, and maintaining in good standing, all licenses (including professional licenses, if any), permits, inspections and related fees for each or any such licenses, permits and /or inspections required by the State, county, city or other government entity or unit to accomplish the work specified in this solicitation document and the contract.

RISK OF LOSS

The CONTRACTOR shall assume all risk of loss, and shall maintain insurance coverage on all items installed, up to the time of final acceptance.

TAX CREDIT AVAILABILITY

CONTRACTORS interested in income tax credit availability by subcontracting with certified minority firms should contact the Office of Small and Minority Business Assistance, 1205 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC 29201 (803)734-0562).

CONTRACTOR SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR PERFORMANCE

CONTRACTOR will be solely responsible for performance under this agreement. tThe STATE will rely upon the CONTRACTOR for full, complete, and satisfactory performance under the terms and conditions of this agreement, and and for any relief, satisfying any or judgment which may be requested by the STATE of the CONTRACTOR or which may be entered against the CONTRACTOR in any litigation which may arise under this Agreement or the relationship between the parties.

If the CONTRACTOR'S services provided for hereunder include services, equipment, or materials supplied by a subcontractor, the CONTRACTOR must act as the prime CONTRACTOR for these items and assume full responsibility for performance hereunder. Thus, the CONTRACTOR will be considered the sole point of contact with regard to all situations, including payment of all charges and the meeting of all other requirements.

In the event CONTRACTOR is unable for any reason to provide any material, services, supplies, products or other items of any type or variety to the STATE under this agreement, including but not limited to any such materials, services, supplies, etc. available from any other party (such as subcontractors) supplying said materials, services, etc. to CONTRACTOR, the STATE will have the right to deal directly with the other supplier without penalty or interference from CONTRACTOR. Further, any additional cost to the State arising as a result shall be borne by CONTRACTOR.

SUBCONTRACTORS

Areas where subcontractors will be used and the subcontractors to be used must be identified prior to contract award. Subcontractors are subject to same security, licensing, taxes and employment requirements as the OFFEROR.

ASSIGNMENT

No contract or its provisions may be assigned, sublet, or transferred without the written consent of the Materials Management Office.

ITEM SUBSTITUTION

No substitutes will be allowed on purchase orders received from agencies without permission of the Materials Management Office.

CONTRACT AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS & CHANGE ORDERS

Any change orders, alterations, amendments or other modifications hereunder shall not be effective unless reduced to writing- , and approved by the Information Technology Buyer responsible for this solicitation and the CONTRACTOR. All questions, or problems or changes arising after award of this contract shall be directed to the Information Technology Buyer responsible for this solicitation, at 1201 Main Street, Suite 600, Columbia, SC 29201.

MULTI TERM CONTRACTS

TERM OF CONTRACT/OPTION TO RENEW

The initial term of this agreement is one (1) year. Unless terminated by either party at the end of the initial term, at the end of successive “Contracted” terms, or as otherwise allowed within this document, (see termination clause), the contract will automatically extend at the prices, terms and conditions as approved by the Materials Management Office. Said extension may be less than, but will not exceed, four (4) additional, one year periods.

PRICE ADJUSTMENT

Any request for price increase must be submitted to the Materials Management Office at least ninety (90) days prior to the automatic extension (A Pprice increase will only become effective if agreed to in writing by the Materials Management Office). The maximum increase will not exceed the unadjusted percent change from the previous year shown in the Producers Price Index (PPI) table 6 for all commodities or in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers (CPI-U) under “Other Goods and Services”.

CONTRACT VIOLATION

Vendors who violate this contract with the State will be considered in default and subject to cancellation for cause. Vendors may be suspended or debarred from doing business with the State. Examples of vendor violations include, but are not limited to :

Vendor adding items to the contract without approval.

Vendor increasing contract price without approval.

Vendor making any change to a contract page without approval.

Misrepresentation of the contract to any using agency.

The State will make regular reviews of the contract information vendors are passing on to using agencies.

TERMINATION BY STATE

TERMINATION FOR NON-APPROPRIATIONS

Funds for this contract are payable from State and/or Federal appropriations. In the event no funds or insufficient funds are appropriated and budgeted in any fiscal year for payments due under this contract, or there is no further need for the equipment and program products to satisfy the need for which same were acquired hereunder, then the State shall immediately notify CONTRACTOR or its Aassignee, of such occurrence, and this contract shall create no further obligation of the State as to such current or succeeding fiscal year, and shall be null and void, except asAS to the portions of payments herein agreed upon for funds which shall have been appropriated and budgeted. In such event, this contract shall terminate on the last day of the year for which appropriations were received without penalty or expense to the State of any kind whatsoever. Subsequent to such termination of this Ccontract, the State shall have no continuing obligation to make purchases under this contract. No right of action or damages shall accrue to the benefit of the CONTRACTOR or its assignee as to that portion of this contract which may so terminate.

TERMINATION FOR NONCOMPLIANCE WITH THE DRUG FREE WORKPLACE ACT

In accordance with S. C. Code Ann §4s10740 (1976, as amended), this contract is subject to immediate termination, suspension of payment, or both if the CONTRACTOR fails to comply with the terms of the Drug Free Workplace Act.

TERMINATION FOR CAUSE

This contract may be canceled and terminated by the State at any time within the contract period whenever it is determined by the State that the CONTRACTOR has materially breached or otherwise materially failed to comply with its obligations hereunder. In the event of termination by the State for cause, default, or negligence on the part of the CONTRACTOR, the State will not be liable for any termination costs;, if any, shall not apply. the thirty (30) days advance notice requirement is waived, and the default provisions shall apply. In case of default byon CONTRACTOR, the State reserves the right to purchase any or all items in default on the open market, charging CONTRACTOR with any excessive costs. Should such charge be assessed, no subsequent bids or proposals of the defaulting CONTRACTOR will be considered until the assessed charge has been satisfied.

INSOLVENCY

This contract is voidable and subject to immediate termination by the State upon the CONTRACTOR’S insolvency, including the filing of proceedings in bankruptcy.

TERMINATION FOR CONVENIENCE

In the event that this contract is terminated or canceled upon request and for the convenience of the State without the thirty (30) day advance written notice, then the State shall negotiate reasonable termination costs, if applicable.

NOTICE OF TERMINATION

In the event of any termination of the contract, the State shall give notice of such termination in writing to the CONTRACTOR. Notice of termination shall be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested.

ORDERLY TRANSFER OF MATERIALS

Upon termination of the contract for any reason, the State shall have the right, immediately upon demand, to obtain access to, and possession of, all Stateits properties, including, but not limited to, current copies of all State application programs and necessary documentation, all files, intermediate materials and supplies held by the CONTRACTOR.

TERMINATION BY CONTRACTOR

Requests for termination of this contract by the contractor must be received in writing by the Materials Management Office at least sixty (90) days prior to the requested contract termination date.

SOFTWARE LICENSES

PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE

Definition

Proprietary software is defined as computer programs non-custom written, non-made for hire software supplied by the CONTRACTOR on a magnetic tape, disk, semiconductor device or other memory device; or system memory including hard wired logic instructions, microcode; and documentation used to describe, maintain and use the programs.

License

The State is hereby granted a non-exclusive, fully paid perpetual license to use Contractor's proprietary software.

Title

Title to any proprietary software, provided by the Contractor to the State will remain with the Contractor.

Trade Secrets

The State agrees that the proprietary software is a trade secret of the CONTRACTOR. The State agrees to take reasonable precautions to protect the trade secret nature of the proprietary software and to prevent its disclosure to unauthorized personnel. The license herein granted cannot be transferred, assigned, or made available by the State for use by any other individual, firm, partnership, or legal entity not affiliated, associated, or connected with the State without the prior express written consent of the CONTRACTOR, which consent will not be unreasonably withheld. Such transfer shall also be conditioned upon the execution by the transferee of a written declaration agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of confidentiality provided for in this section.

Source Code

In the event the CONTRACTOR, at any point during the continued installation and operation of the equipment herein acquired, discontinues the conduct of business, or for any reason fails to continue to support the proprietary software, the State will be provided a copy of the source code for said proprietary software, at no expense to the State.

Export Control

The State acknowledges that the equipment and its spare parts are licensable by the U. S. Government. It further acknowledges that a valid export license must be obtained from the Department of Commerce prior to export.

CUSTOMIZED SOFTWARE

Definition

Customized software is defined as made-for-hire, custom written and customer specific computer programs developed for the State by CONTRACTOR or by employees or agents of the State on magnetic tape, disk, semiconductor device or their memory device; or system memory including hard wired logic instructions, microcode; and documentation used to describe, maintain and use the programs, and any and all of the foregoing created in conjunction with this contract.

Title

Title to the customized software vests in the State as set forth herein. Contractor shall thereafter have no right, title or interest in any customized software. As herein used, title includes providing to the State all intellectual elements of the customized software including, but not limited to, developmental, work product, notes, object and source codes, documentation, and any other items which would aid the State in understanding, using, maintaining, and enhancing said customized software.

Software Tools

The CONTRACTOR shall provide to the STATE, simultaneous with its initial installation, and any subsequent enhancements, upgrades, fixes, etc., software tools (including, but not limited to compilers, editors, etc.) that the STATE would require to maintain or enhance the customized software. The price for said tools and the cost to train State personnel to maintain and/or to enhance the customized software shall be noted separately and included in the CONTRACTOR'S cost proposal submitted to the State in response to the State's RFP.

A. GENERAL INFORMATION

The State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education and the 16 technical colleges that comprise the South Carolina Technical Education system intend to solicit proposals from qualified Prospective Offerors to provide an integrated, enterprise solution for the system’s financial, human resources, payroll and student records, registration, admissions, financial aid, student billing, receivables, research, tracking, academic management, course scheduling, student tracking, resource development system, which will include software, testing, training and implementation services.

The Technical College system includes sixteen (16) two-year technical colleges and the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education

| |Student FTE |Faculty/ Staff FTE |

| |Fall, 1998 | |

|Aiken TC |1350 |142.65 |

|Central Carolina TC |1398 |178.82 |

|Chesterfield-Marlboro TC | 657 |78.89 |

|Denmark TC | 829 |138.14 |

|Florence-Darlington TC |2400 |202.56 |

|Greenville TC |5701 |559.08 |

|Horry-Georgetown TC |2341 |219.13 |

|Midlands TC |5999 |544.62 |

|Orangeburg-Calhoun TC |1304 |175.00 |

|Piedmont TC |2194 |255.11 |

|Spartanburg TC |2007 |198.25 |

|TC of the Lowcountry | 906 |125.61 |

|Tri-Country TC |2417 |225.88 |

|Trident TC |5329 |497.45 |

|Williamsburg TC | 343 | 60.25 |

|York TC |2073 |241.67 |

|SBTCE |N/A |147.90 |

These colleges represent:

27 Campuses

3,873 Full time equivalent employees

60,000 Unduplicated Headcount - Fall Term Credit Programs

85,000 Unduplicated Headcount - Fall/Spring/Summer

115,000 Annual Continuing Education Enrollment

40,000 Full time equivalent students

$60,161,311 Non-salary, non-capital budget (1996-97)

$56,677,741 Capital budget (1996-97)

B. BACKGROUND

The South Carolina technical education system is comprised of 16 two-year technical colleges with respective gubernatorially appointed governing boards. Each college is legislated to serve a specifically defined service area comprised of South Carolina counties. In addition to the individual technical colleges, there is a State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education that supervises the activities of Special Schools (the pre-employment training services of the technical education system that serves new and expanding industries) and formulates state policy that governs the system of 16 colleges. The system enrolls approximately 60,000 undergraduate students in the Fall, annually employs approximately 3,500 full-time employees, employs several thousand part-time employees and serves over 110,000 continuing education students throughout the year. Special Schools trains over 10,000 individuals a year.

The colleges specialize in providing students with the practical knowledge and the technical competencies necessary to transition to a modern work environment. The colleges offer associate degree and diploma programs in several cluster areas: engineering technology, industrial technology, allied health, agricultural technology, business technology, and arts and science. The colleges are mandated through legislation to maintain an open admissions policy and low tuition and fees in order to provide access to post secondary education and ensure that educational opportunities are not denied to anyone. The third, fifth and sixth largest colleges in the state are technical colleges. Many of the colleges within the system operate multiple sites or campuses. Many, if not all of the colleges, are involved in some aspect of distance learning.

Each college maintains its own hardware platform to support financial and student records. The State Board office maintains the resident Human Resources/Payroll software with allowances for individual college access to its respective data for inquiry and update purposes. All data input is done remotely, however immediate, unlimited access to data by colleges is a necessity. Each college is responsible for maintaining its own human resource data. Although most colleges pay their employees by means of various executions and combinations of monthly payrolls, some colleges utilize semi-monthly payroll frequencies.

All student record maintenance associated with enrollment is the responsibility of each college as well as all aspects associated with the financial record keeping requirements mandated by public funding and higher education practices. In addition, the colleges maintain an array of auxiliary services to include food provision and bookstore services. One college in the system maintains student resident quarters. The colleges also conduct a variety of development and alumni affairs activities.

C. GENERAL SCOPE REQUIREMENTS

The technical colleges expect to select a vendor who will be able to provide and install a functioning system, convert and migrate existing data to the new system, provide training for users of the system and for the enterprise system staff, and that will provide continuing support and upgrades to the system. The individual technical colleges do not intend to hire additional staff or consultants to perform some or a1l of these functions.

Although decentralization is an expected outcome of this RFP process and strategic planning, data must be sent to the South Carolina Budget and Control Board. In addition the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education requires certain data uploads and with the advent of performance funding, there is a continual increase in data collection. The successful vendor must be able to provide and/or facilitate data uploads to requesting agencies.

To minimize cost and facilitate the enterprise system implementation the individual technical colleges intend to cooperate as much as possible both in their choice of system and in sharing information and resources during implementation. Therefore it is very important that the vendors demonstrate their capability to service technical colleges of varying size and infrastructure and to work cooperatively with multiple colleges during implementation.

In undertaking to replace its administrative information systems, the colleges may be making a significant investment in terms of hardware and software replacement, staff training, conversion of information and other financial and human resources. To protect that investment, the selected system will have to meet the needs of the technical college system administrative operations for the next 10 years and beyond. In particular, the new system should have the following:

1. Open system architecture for hardware, software, and databases-allows for nonproprietary access to information. The ability to integrate and work with the widespread number of personal computers, local software applications and local area networks currently and planned to be in use at the technical colleges;

2. Integrated database --- reduces or eliminates inconsistent or duplicate information in the system;

3. Electronic commerce — allows for financial and administrative transactions and access from the Internet (credit card transactions, registration, student and staff access to information, EDI, electronic purchasing, etc.);

4. Enterprise System -- addresses all functional requirements needed to meet a state-of-the-art information system;

5. Contains data warehousing and decision support capabilities -- allows for discovery of important patterns and relationships in data with easy to use information query tools;

6. Limited customization -- the system should meet needs without modifying the core system;

7. Provides State and Federal information requirements;

8. Customer focused — staff and students closest to the data enter the data and the system is oriented toward their needs;

9. Leverages existing investments in technology;

10. Vendor commitment to service, enhancements and ongoing relationships;

11. Provides productivity enhancements in terms of direct labor to perform functions;

12. Any system selected will provide for anytime, anywhere, any kind of instruction including the ability to handle "open" enrollment procedures and educational programs that allow multiple entry/exit points along with the ability to link administrative and instructional systems;

13. Provides the ability for staff and students to access appropriate systems and information from remote sites, preferably through the Internet while maintaining adequate security to prevent unauthorized access.

D. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

1. A Prospective Offeror will be required to provide, ship, install, configure, test and make operational, a fully integrated, enterprise client/server software solution for a Financial, Human Resources, Payroll, Student Records, College Development system. The proposed enterprise solution will satisfy the core functional requirements and designated additional functions of those areas mentioned above, and would also included integrated workflow. The system must be capable of supporting the volume of transactions generated by each college and the State Board office. All modules of the system would run on the same computer platform(s), and would use a common database management system, tool set and user interface.

1.1 A Prospective Offeror’s proposed solution must use an enterprise/server relational data base software

solution and/or an object oriented data base, and provide a method of access for multiple platforms;

1.2 A Prospective Offeror will be required to provide for user and technical training, maintenance and

support, and documentation for the software solution;

1.3 A Prospective Offeror will be required to provide for actual migration implementation services;

1.4 While it is planned at this time that equipment will be purchased by the individual colleges, a

Prospective Offeror will be required to provide, identify and specify all required equipment to operate

the software;

1.5 Common code tables will be required so that all system components reference the same code set that

would reflect as the database for the system (tables need to be standardized and shared throughout the

database);

1.6 The proposed solution must provide for the ability of customers to access information with query

languages and report generators; flexible user customizable queries and sorts of data for both on-line

viewing and reports.

2. The expected requirements for the Finance Accounting module include, but are not limited to:

2.1 General ledger, journal entry processing; asset accounting (to include future provision for depreciation

issues); budget; cost sharing; encumbrance accounting; accounts payable; travel processing; accounts

receivable; billing; receipting; project tracking; allotments; available funds checking; contract and

grant accounting; and purchase requisition; cash transaction to and from multiple funds; roll-up

reporting of budget versus actual or revenue versus expense; generation of automatic journal entries;

2.2 On-line entry of purchase requisitions by any authorized user with approval routing; budget

management forecasting and modeling;

2.3 Purchase order processing and tracking including EDI, e.g., integration with inventory records;

2.4 Vendor history tracking including bid/quote system;

2.5 Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT);

2.6 Automated aging of purchase orders and invoices;

2.7 Point of sale interface to general ledger for cash transactions from student registrations and other cash

systems, to include Continuing Education and auxiliary enterprise components of the individual

college;

2.8 Ability to handle fiscal agency accounts, credit card transactions, fixed asset and inventory accounting;

2.9 Universal financial fund accounting system (UFFAS) reporting for both Federal and State;

2.10 Cash transactions to and from multiple funds;

2.11 Automated bank reconciliations;

2.12 Student billing and receivables;

2.13 Ability to generate comprehensive, standardized financial reports required by GAAP.

3. The expected requirements for HR/Payroll module include, but are not limited to:

3.1 Position requisition; applicant tracking; recruitment; position management and budgeting; salary

administration; pay basis;

3.2 Payroll system with activity based costing for teaching and non-teaching staff assignments that can be

tracked and analyzed at the course, program and higher levels of aggregation;

3.3 Payroll disbursement through EFT; compensation administration including integrated benefits,

vacation, sick and disability leave, pension benefits;

3.4 Open enrollment; time, attendance and effort reporting; payroll management and processing.

3.5 Automated time sheet processing; processing by exception and/or data entry;

3.6 Ability for staff to access vacation, sick, personal day information;

3.7 Application evaluation, employee tracking, professional growth and planning, certification tracking;

3.8 Federal and State reporting;

3.9 Extraction and electronic transfer of data to outside agencies, e.g., South Carolina Office of Human

Resources, intra technical colleges;

3.10 Automated bank reconciliations;

3.11 Tracking professional development.

4. The expected requirements for the Student Records/Registration/Admissions/Research/Tracking module include, but are not limited to:

4.1 Recruitment and admissions tracking that is fully integrated with the registration system (to avoid

repeated data entries);

4.2 Registration with entrance requirements, prerequisite and co-requisite checking and waiting lists;

4.3 Telephone/Internet access to include, but not be limited to, admissions, registration, fee assessment,

payment, etc.; attendance, grades and academic progress tracking with voice and WEB access;

4.4 Assessment and entrance testing results;

4.5 Financial aid must be fully integrated with student records, admissions, accounts (4.11), the Finance

Accounting Module, and integrated with Title IV WAN software (EDConnect, EDExpress,

PELLPAY, NSLDS, etc.; must be maintained by the vendor to comply with regulatory changes and

updates;

4.6 Health, disability and other special needs tracking;

4.7 Comprehensive and multiple student demographic reporting options;

4.8 Multiple methods for data entry of grades, attendance and other student information;

4.9 Longitudinal tracking of student progress and outcome assessment; degree audit;

4.10 Graduate/alumni tracking;

4.11 Fee payment and student accounts receivable and billing systems for multiple payment methods with

refunds available for each method;

4.12 Integration with private vendor(s), e.g., third parties and bookstores

4.13 Student authentication system, e.g., pin number validation;

4.14 Ability to transfer student information by EDI, using national standards (SPEEDE).

5. The expected requirements for the Academic/Management/Course Scheduling/Tracking module include, but are not limited to:

5.1 On-line course catalog with course descriptions, course substitutions, recommended text with WEB

interface;

5.2 Enrollment management, waiting lists, pre-requisites, entrance requirements;

5.3 Course offerings with timetable information;

5.4 Program curriculum and course sequencing by degree program;

5.5 Cross walk for courses that are found in multiple programs;

5.6 On-line course and room scheduling with room utilization reporting;

5.7 Software should provide for the use of Kiosks to provide, for example, up-to-date course and

registration information;

5.8 Student access control;

5.9 Instructor workloads (teaching and non teaching activities, e.g., Internet courses, two-way multiple

campus video courses, etc.), including part-time, maintained on an on-line inquiry system;

5.10 Instructor certification tracking;

5.11 Non-credit program activity;

5.12 Accommodate extensive distance learning activities.

6. Although the Resource Development module is not required, it is desirable and should include, but not be limited to:

6.1 Correspondence and mailings associated with all phases of constituent management;

6.2 All phases of solicitation management, to include but not be limited to, gift transactions, pledge

management, matching gifts;

6.3 Form origination required by various types of fund raising activity, e.g., phonathons, capital

campaigns;

6.4 Financial reports, pledge reports, analytical reports, demographic and statistical reports, action reports,

campaigns, funds and appeals reports.

6.5 Possible interface to satisfy financial reporting standards.

7. Common elements required for all functional areas are:

7.1 Secure access to systems and databases via personal computers and the ability to transfer data to and

from personal computer systems; ability of customers to access information with query languages and

report generators; on-line viewing;

7.2 Secure access to systems and databases via the Internet, preferably via a web-browser;

7.3 Use of electronic data interchange tools for routing of standard forms and reports;

7.4 Integration with electronic image storage and retrieval systems;

7.5 E-mail system integrated with work flow;

7.6 Integration of data across all functional areas; common code tables so that all system components

reference the same code set that would reflect as the database system (tables need to be standardized

and shared through out the database);

7.7 Full security control and access for individuals down to the field level;

7.8 Audit trails of all transactions including who has updated information and when;

7.9 Standard reports distributed on computer network rather than paper;

7.10 End-user reporting system with ability to use report generation languages and/or transfer files for use

in personal computer spreadsheets or databases;

7.11 Data import/export capabilities through LAN, WAN and Internet;

7.12 Access to appropriate systems and data by staff and students from remote sites , e.g., through the

Internet or kiosks while maintaining necessary security;

7.13 Ability to develop job workflows.

E. GENERAL CONDITIONS

• Any proposal received that does not properly and clearly follow the guidelines specified in Section K, Organization of Vendor Response, will be rejected.

• Proposals received after the date and time specified will be rejected.

• A fully completed and signed Proposal Form must be included with the proposal.

• All information requested should be given in order for the proposal to be considered. Failure to meet any of the requirements may be sufficient cause for rejection of the proposal. Inability to meet any of owner's requirements should be explained on an attached addendum.

• Neither the technical colleges nor the system is responsible for any costs incurred in preparing proposals or presenting demonstrations.

• All prices and conditions referenced in the proposals shall be valid for at least a period of one hundred eighty (180) days from the date the sealed proposals are officially opened.

• Any restrictions on the use of information contained within a proposal must be clearly stated in the proposal itself. Proprietary information submitted will be handled in accordance with appropriate procurement regulations. Proprietary restrictions normally are not accepted, however when accepted, it is the vendor's responsibility to defend the determination in the event of an appeal or litigation. Pricing information can never be held confidential.

F. EVALUATION PROCESS

1. Written proposals: The written proposals and the information provided at the demonstrations for end users and administrative personnel and the information provided at the technical information session described below demonstrations will be used in the evaluation of vendors.. The sites and times for the demonstrations will be in Columbia, South Carolina, and vendors will be given specific locations and times two weeks prior to the scheduled demonstrations. The demonstrations will be done in alphabetical order (by vendor company title) in coordination with the Chairperson of the Software Task force or designee(s).

2. End User/Administrative Demonstrations: The information provided in these demonstrations should primarily address the questions and specifications in Section G, Subsections 1-3 of this RFP in conjunction with the specifications detailed in Sections C and D of this RFP. Other relevant information may be provided if appropriate. The demonstration for end users and administrative personnel should be sufficient to allow staff to gain an understanding of capabilities of the system and how it would operate in "real world" situations. There should be opportunities for selected staff from all of the technical colleges to view and evaluate specific operating characteristics of all the proposed system applications through actual demonstration of the systems including: user interfaces, data entry, system and data integration, report generation, sort and query capabilities, adaptability of the system to allow for variability in process and procedures among the colleges and to adapt to new State and Federal reporting requirements, data import/export capabilities through LAN,WAN or Internet, on-line help or tutorials available, the ability to provide remote access to students and staff through the Internet, and any other information that would be useful in fully evaluating the use and functionality of the system should be provided. Time should be allowed and knowledgeable vendor staff should be available to answer specific questions from the participants.

3. Technical Information Demonstration: The information provided in the technical information demonstration should primarily address the specifications in Section G, Subsections 3-6 of this RFP. Other relevant information may be provided if appropriate to include Section G, Subsection 7. In addition the technical information session should address the technical aspects of the system(s) and its implementation that would be of interest to the technical colleges’ Information Processing staff including the following:

• General Corporate Information

• Direction/Focus

• Industry Standard (Mainstream Software)

• WEB Enabled (Multiple Browser Support)

• Support Services

• Project Management During Installation/Conversion

• Help Desk

• Maintenance/Support Agreements

• Documentation (Customizable/On-Line?)

• Training (Initial & Ongoing)

• System Requirements/Options

• Server

• Application Software

• Operating Software

• Database Management Software

• System Capacity Modeling

• Network Traffic (Performance Model)

• Backup (Workstations/Servers)

• SQL Compliant database

• 3rd party Products used/recommended

• Integration with Other Applications (office suite, groupware)

• Security

• By Individual, by access point (internal vs. Internet access)

• Built-in "Customization' ' Options/Facilities

XXV. Reporting Tools

XXVI. Screen Builders

XXVII. Database Elements, Labels

• Recommended Long Term ISM Staffing Model

G. EVALUATION CRITERIA (referenced in previous Section F: Evaluation Process)

The evaluation criteria are ranked and listed in the order of importance with the first numbered criterion the most important:.

1. Application software: How well the proposed application system will meet the total needs of the technical colleges as specified in the RFP. How easily the software can be modified to accommodate the changing requirements of the technical colleges.

2. Support: Software and hardware support, training plan, quality of documentation, transition, conversion, migration and installation support.

3. Business Proposal: The impact of the proposed systems on the business and financial operations of the individual colleges and the TEC system as a whole.

4. Vendor Reliability: Both Software and Hardware vendor's track record, growth pattern of company, experience in installing the proposed system (software and hardware) in comparable institutions, company organization and staffing, etc.

5. Database Management System: Database Management System and associated tools for on-line queries and ad hoc report generation.

6. Hardware and Operating System: The ability of the software to run on multiple hardware/operating system platforms. Preference is that it run on the existing hardware/operating system platforms currently used by the technical colleges.

7. References: Information received from other client schools relative to the performance of the application software and the support received from the vendor.

H. FINAL SELECTION OF A VENDOR BY THE TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

The selection of the successful vendor will be conducted by an Evaluation Team consisting of technical education personnel representing all 16 technical colleges and the State Board. All evaluation activities will be done in consultation with MMO personnel under their advisement and in conjunction with appropriate state procurement guidelines.

I. ORGANIZATION VENDOR RESPONSE

Vendor proposals must be submitted in one of the formats outlined below, taking into account assumptions in Section C, general scope of needs to be addressed, and Section D.. The technical college system does not intend to limit the proposal content; however, completeness, clarity, and brevity of presentation should be stressed.

Offerors must submit 20 copies of each proposal. Offerors may choose to submit to submit responses in hard copy or on CD-R complying with the following guidelines:

HARD COPY -- Offerors may submit traditional hard copy versions of its response. Because the State may have to be reproduce copies of the responses, it is requested that the proposals be submitted in three ring binders with a table of contents and tab correlated numbered pages. All information should be on 8.5 x 11 paper suitable for reproduction on a black and white copier. Color brochures, large format documents, bound manuals or other material not easily reproduced should be submitted as separate attachments.

CD-R -- OFFERORS may submit their responses to this RFP on Compact Disk (CD) recorded in CD-R format. Other formats such as CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, or DVIX are not acceptable and will result in the Offeror’s proposal being rejected. CD-R submissions must be accompanied by a hard copy cover letter signed by an official authorized to bind the OFFEROR and indicating the OFFEROR’S intent to be bound by the contents of its submission for a period not less than the time stipulated in this RFP and contain the Business Proposal password. A textual response must be included that provides the Offeror’s response to each numbered paragraph in the RFP. Textual responses must be in MS Word format. If necessary, OFFERORS may submit their response on multiple CD sets provided that each CD in the set is appropriately identified as to its relationship to the set, e.g., 1 of 2. OFFERORS may include a demonstration of the proposed solution. Demonstrations must not require interaction by the evaluator other than starting the program. Demonstrations may utilize the following formats: Power Point, .qt, .mpeg, .mpg, .miv, .asf, .asx, .ra, .ram, .rm, .rmm, .aif, .aifc., aiff, .mov, .avi, .au, .snd, or .wav formats. If the OFFEROR desires to utilize another format, it must include a self executing viewer or player as part of the submission.

ProposalsProposals are to be submitted proposals in two parts. The first part is to be comprised of the OFFEROR’S technical proposal. Technical Proposals are to be prepared and in a manner designed to provide the State with a straightforward presentation of the OFFEROR’S capability to satisfy the requirements of this RFP. Each response shall clearly indicate whether the OFFEROR’S proposal complies or does not comply with the requirements of this RFP. OFFERORS shall explain in detail the method used to meet each requirement. Elaborate brochures and other promotional materials are not desired.

The second part is to be the OFFEROR’S Business Proposal. The Business proposal must be bound separately or contained in a separate, “Read” password protected, file. OFFEROR shall not include any cost information in the Technical Proposal. The OFFEROR shall not include any technical information in the Cost Proposal.

1. Management Summary/Vendor Profile

This section must include, at a minimum, a brief history of the company, location

of home office and training centers, corporate name (and any other names used),

years in business, financial statements for the most recently completed fiscal year,

description of all products and markets currently served, description and present

status of past products offered to the education marketplace, and the relationship

of the system software, and application software vendors along with all company

names that are involved in providing hardware, software, and/or service warranty

for systems included. The vendor must disclose the existence and nature of any

legal actions currently outstanding. This section should also include information

on the proposed configuration and the benefits of the system for the South Carolina

Technical Education system.

2. Application Software

This section must address the features and capabilities of each application

module being proposed. The primary functional areas of the College supported by

administrative information systems are described in this section. Other relevant

functions or features within a function not specifically mentioned here, but

supported by the vendor's product should be included in the proposal. In

particular it must address the features in the functional areas described in Section

D of this RFP.

3. Support

This section must address the services provided by the vendor for ongoing support and upgrading of the systems including software applications. The following areas must be addressed:

a. Telephone “help-desk” support;

b. On-site support options;

c. System error reporting methods;

d. Customer training options;

e. On-site implementation support/Project management services

f. Turn-key data conversion.

4. Database Management System

This section must contain pertinent information about the proposed database management system. Preference will be given to those systems using an industry standard database system using ANSI compliant SQL. Identify the release level of the system proposed.

5. Conversion and Migration of Existing Systems

This section must contain pertinent information about the conversion and migration of existing data files and systems, a best estimate of the time required for conversion and the vendor’s strategy in doing the conversion must be included in the proposal. In addition, the proposal must address the ability of the vendor to convert:

a. Student transcript data;

b. Human resources data;

c. Historical financial data;

d. Course catalog data.

6. Security

This section must address the security features of the proposed system. Security must be addressed down to the level of allowing authorized users access and appropriate inquiry/update authority to their own, and no other, information.

7. Hardware

This section must contain the hardware configuration(s) on which the software is designed to run and specifically note any hardware configurations on which it will not run. If particular configurations are preferred or discouraged a discussion of the rationale must be provided. Suggested configurations must at a minimum include the following: host computer(s); disk drive(s); printer(s); tape drive(s); communication server or front-end; minimum workstation requirements.

8. Operating System

This section must contain pertinent information about the operating system and utility software. Preference will be given to those systems running in an open system environment. At a minimum, the following items must be identified: operating system name and release level; compiler type and release level; text editor; LAN/WAN software; other utilities (tape backup/restore, printer spooler, etc.).

9. Business Proposal

This section must detail all costs and cost options associated with the proposal. Itemized costs for individual applications as well as total costs for an entire system should be provided. In addition, costs for straight purchase, installment purchase, lease as well as multi-year upgrade/maintenance agreements if available, must be provided. The individual technical colleges vary widely in both size and infrastructure. Cost information provided must be sufficient to allow the various colleges to evaluate the cost of procurement for their individual needs and must provide for a multi-year (5 year) term contract. Alternative options such as the possibility of volume discounts if multiple colleges purchase similar packages or coordinate implementation must be discussed.

10. Vendor Addendum

This section must contain any vendor information pertinent to the proposal, but not included in the other sections. Include brochures, sample reports and documentation as desired. In addition the vendor’s sample contracts should be included in this section.

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