COMPANY NAME

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

SCHOOL BOARD OF LAKE COUNTY

PURCAHSING DEPARTMENT

29529 COUNTY ROAD 561

TAVARES, FLORIDA 32778-2496

The school Board of Lake County, Tavares, Florida solicits your company to submit a proposal on our RFP #3170DB Synchronous Online Learning, Web Conferencing and Collaboration Tool.

All terms and conditions below are part of this request for proposal and no proposal will be accepted unless all conditions have been complied with. Rights are reserved by the School Board of Lake County to accept or reject any and all proposals and to waive all technicalities and award in the best interest of the Board. The Board does not sign contract forms provide by vendors. The bid, request for proposal, or invitation to negotiate with the vendor’s signature will constitute an offer to see to the Board under the stated terms and conditions. A sample contract is attached (Attachment B) for your review of general terms and conditions. A final contract will be developed after negotiations.

All prospective proposers are herby cautioned not to contact any Board member or employee of the School Board of Lake County nor attempt to persuade or promote through other channels. All requests for additional information must be submitted in accordance with instructions contained in this Request for Proposal. Failure to comply with these procedures shall be cause for disqualification of firm’s submittal.

INSTRUCTIONS TO VENDORS:

1.  All proposals shall be filed in the Purchasing Department of the Lake County School Board , 29529 County Road 561, Tavares, Florida 32778, prior to 2:00 PM, local time, Thursday, March 11, 2010 and clearly marked “RFP #3170DB to be opened on March 11, 2010”. Proposals received after this time will not be considered. All proposals shall be submitted, in a sealed package or envelope, and all required documents submitted at that time. Faxed or e-mailed proposals will not be accepted. From the notice or publication until 72 hours after the posting of the recommendation of award only the Purchasing Department should be contacted concerning any questions concerning this RFP. No other employee, officer, staff or agent of the School Board should be contacted during this period. All questions/concerns shall be directed, in writing , to:

Diane Bennett, Certified Assistant Purchasing Agent

E-mail:

Fax: 352-742-8516

Address: 29529 CR 561

Tavares, FL 32778

All other forms included in the request must be completed and submitted with the proposal.

2.  Recommended awards will be posted for review by interested parties on or about April 13, 2010 and will remain posted for a period of 72 hours in the Purchasing Department located at 29529 County Road 51, Tavares, Florida and on our website @ http://lake.k12.fl.us. To access information our website click on Departments, scroll to Purchasing to “Bid/RFP/RFQ Opportunities” and click on title of bid and recommendation of award. Since this information is available as outlined above, the Purchasing department will not mail or fax recommendation of award notices to all bidders. Failure to file a protest within the time prescribes in Section 120.57 (3), Florida Statutes, shall constitute a waiver of proceedings under Chapter 120, Florida statutes. Any person who is affected adversely by the decision or intended decision shall file with the Board a written notice of protest within 72 hours after the posting or notification. A formal written protest shall be filed within 10 calendar days after filing the notice of protest. With respect to a protest of the specification contained in an invitation to bid or in a request for proposal, the notice of protest shall be filed in writing within 72 hours after the receipt of the project plans and specification or intended project plans and specification in an invitation to bid or request for proposal (but no later than the time when the bids or responses must be received in order to be considered), and the formal writing protest shall be filed within 10 calendar days after the date the notice of protest is filed. The 72 hours period referred to herein shall not include Saturday, Sundays, or holidays. The work “holiday” shall mean any weekday on which the School Board’s Administrative Offices are closed. Failure to file a timely formal written protest shall constitute a waiver of proceedings under Chapter 120, Florida Statutes. The formal written protest shall state with particularity the facts and law upon which protest is based. Any person who files an action protesting a decision or intended decision person pertaining to a bid pursuant to FS 120.7(3)(b), shall post at the time of filing the formal written protest, a bond payable to the School Board of Lake County in an amount equal to one percent (1%) of the total estimated contract value, but not less than $500 nor more than $5,000,which bond shall be conditioned upon the payment of all costs which may be adjudged against the protester in the administrative hearing in which the action is brought and in any subsequent appellate court proceeding. In lieu of a bond, a cashier’s check, certified bank cheek, bank certified company check, or money order will be an acceptable form of security. If after completion of the administrative hearing process and any appellate court proceedings, the district prevails, it shall recover all coast and charges which shall be included in the final order or judgment, including charges made by the Division of Administrative Hearings, but excluding attorney’s fees. Upon payment of such coasts and charges by the protester, the protest security shall be returned. If the protester prevails, he or she shall recover from the district all costs and charges which shall be include in the final order of judgment, excluding attorney’s fees. Upon receipt of the formal written protest and protest bond which has been timely filed, the district shall stop the bid solicitation process or the contract award process until the subject of the protest is resolved by final district action, unless the Superintendent sets forth in writing particular facts and circumstances which require the continuance of the bid solicitation process or the contract award process without delay in order to avoid an immediate and serious danger to the public health, safety, or welfare.

3.  An entity or affiliate who has been placed on the discriminatory vendor list, a list published by the State of Florida, may not submit a bid on a contract to provide goods or services to a public entity, may not submit a bid on a contract with a public entity for the construction or repair of a public building or public work, may not submit bids on leases of real property to a public entity, may not award or perform work as a contractor, supplier, subcontractor, or consultant under contract with any public entity, and may not transact business with any public entity.

4.  Public Entity Crimes Disclosure: A person or affiliate who has been placed on the convicted vendor list following a conviction for a public entity crime may not submit a bid on a contract to provide any goods or services to a public entity, may not submit a bid on a contract with a public entity for the construction or repair of a public building or public work, may not submit bids on leases of real property to a public entity, may not be awarded or perform work as a contractor, supplier, subcontractor, or consultant under a contract with any public entity and may not transact business with any public entity in excess of the threshold amount provided in Section 287.017, for CATEGORY TWO for a period of 36 months from the date of being placed on the convicted vendor list.

5.  Bidder warrants that he/she has not employed or retained any company or person other than a bona fide employee working solely for bidder, to solicit or secure this RFP and that he/she has not paid or agreed to pay any person, company, corporation, individual, or firm, other than a bona fide employee working solely for proposer, any fee, commission, percentage, gift or any other consideration contingent upon, or resulting, from the award of making of this RFP.

6.  In case of exact tie bids, awards will be made at the discretion of the board. Conformity to specifications, price, quality, and time of guaranteed delivery will be determining factors in the awarding of the bid.

7.  In the event of an error in extending the total cost for an item, the unit price submitted will prevail.

8.  The successful bidder will be required to submit invoices and reference purchase order numbers on all requests for payment. All statements must reference valid purchase order numbers. A separate invoice must be received for each purchase order number.

9.  Bidders unable to submit a bid are requested to supply their business name and address and complete the NO BID section at the bottom of this page and return to the Purchasing Agent of the Lake County School Board, 29529 County Road 561, Tavares, FL 32778.

RFP REPONSE FORM

We have reviewed in its entirety this Request for Proposal and agree to adhere to all of the terms and conditions included herein.

Yes No, a list of exceptions that we would like to be considered is attached.

We submit our prices and agree to adhere to all terms and conditions and to make delivery within days after receipt of orders or continuous delivery as specified.

Company:

Mailing Address:

Signature: ______

Type name: Title:

Telephone#: Date:

Fax #: E-Mail:

NO BID:
I HEREBY SUBMIT THIS AS A “NO BID” FOR THE REASONS CHECKED BELOW:

Insufficient time to respond

We do not offer the product or service requested

Our schedule will not permit us to respond to this bid

Keep our company on this bid list for future bids

Remove our company name from this bid list for future bids

Other (describe briefly)

SPECIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

INTENT: / The intent of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to evaluate and select a provider of a single synchronous online learning, web conferencing, collaboration tool or framework which will support our entire instructional cycle permitting our instructors, students, and staff to interact and collaborate in real time at the greatest savings and the greatest benefit to the Lake County Public Schools’ 45,000 + staff and students. Licensing for 3,000 staff members is being requested throughout the district at various locations.
IMPORTANT: To be considered as responsive, respondent shall confirm that the technical requirements listed on Attachment B, in the Scope of Work are met in their proposal. If a respondent does not meet the minimum technical requirements their RFP may be rejected and not considered for further evaluation.
KEY EVENTS: / February 25, 2010 / Deadline for Questions: 2:00 PM
March 2, 2010 / Last date for Addendums.
March 11, 2010 / Public Bid Opening: Proposals due @ 2: 00 PM
March 22, 2010 / Evaluate proposals and make selection.
March 29, 2010 / Presentations, if needed.
TBA / Negotiations
April 13, 2010 / Posting of Committee Recommendation
April 26, 2010 / Board Action on Recommendation
AWARD METHOD: / A contract will be recommended for award to the responsive and responsible bidder who achieves the highest point score through the proposal evaluation process as outlined later in this document under the Method of Evaluation section. LCSB reserves the right to negotiate with the highest ranked proposer regarding proposal scope, quality, price and any other issues it considers relevant to successful performance of the services. If an agreement cannot be reached with the highest ranked proposer, LCSB reserves the right to negotiate and recommend award to the next highest proposer or subsequent proposers until an agreement is reached. The district intends to award one vendor for this RFP.
CONTRACT PERIOD: / The term of this contract shall be for one year beginning immediately after Board approval with the option to renew for two additional one year periods upon the mutual agreement of both parties. Any renewals shall be in writing and signed by both parties.
CANCELLATION: / This Agreement may be terminated by the SCHOOL BOARD, with or without cause, for its convenience, upon no less than fifteen (15) days written notice to the CONTRACTOR of such intent to terminate. In such event, the CONTRACTOR will be entitled to compensation for services competently performed up to the date of termination.
ACCEPTANCE OF VENDOR RESPONSES: / The District reserves the right to accept proposals and to accept or reject portions of a proposal based upon the information requested. Vendors may be excluded from further consideration for failure to fully comply with the requirements of this RFP solely at the District’s discretion.
METHOD OF EVALUATION: / An Evaluation Committee, using an Evaluation Form shown in Attachment A, will evaluate the proposals received. Each Committee member will independently score each proposal using a predetermined point system following the set of evaluation criteria listed in Attachment A to determine each member’s top three rated proposals. Each Committee member’s proposal scores will be ranked with the firm receiving the highest score also receiving the highest # of composite points (i.e. if 10 firms submitted proposals, the highest scored firm would receive 10 composite points, the second highest would receive 9 composite points, etc…). These composite points will then be added together and the proposals with the highest overall composite points will be placed on a short-list.
The short-listed respondents may be invited to make an oral presentation to further explain their proposal. If this is required, the Committee members will assign each presentation one, two, or three points (three being the highest) to indicate their ranking. These points will be added together to determine the Committee’s final, ranked, short-list.