Some of our consultants are well versed in some of the applications, but no single consultant is thoroughly versed in all of them. This causes friction internally and also prevents us from seamlessly interacting with our clients in whichever application the client prefers.
Goals
Our first goal is to have each consultant thoroughly versed in the three core office applications by August 2009 and the productivity tools by December 2009.
Our second goal is to ensure that all education must be flexible and available on demand so the consultant can fit it into his or her schedule. NDIT Consultants maintain highly active calendars including travel, on-site work, and home office work.
Lastly, our final goal is that the management and implementation required to execute the project have minimal impact on our resources.
Services Requested
The successful bidder will provide the following services as the scope of the project:
- Project Management
- Initial and revised Project Plans
- Management Reporting on student progress and overall program success (weekly)
- Needs Analysis (detailed by participant)
- Individualized course schedule (by participant)
- Course materials for each class including
- Courseware, collateral, workbooks, etc.
- All applicable licenses for materials used
- Certificates to each participant for each completed class
- No specific customization to the courseware for NDIT are required
- Course facilitation (depending upon delivery method proposed)
- LMS (Learning Management System) to track participant progress
- Provide all IT resources required to deliver the content and track its use (servers, content delivery network (CDN), web sites, LMS, etc.)
- Phone support and “over the phone” tutoring for the duration of the project and for 2 months afterwards
Audience
This is the breakdown by location of participants. The skills have been rated on a scale of 1-5, where 1 is inexperience and 5 is very experienced. Note, though, that the experience listed is with previous versions of the applications.
Delivery Specifications
Because of the dispersed nature of our organization, we feel it is not feasible to have formal on-site instruction in the applications.
We would prefer, then, that training be made available in one (or more) of the following formats:
- IBT (Internet Based Training) – viewing videos, conducting interactive assessments, etc. over the internet.
- CBT (Computer Based Training) sending the courses out on media (like DVD or CD-ROM)
- Webinar (Facilitator led IBT) – participating jointly with participants and a facilitator in real time over the Internet.
- In all cases we would want the education organization to provide the LMS (learning management system) to track course enrollments, course completions, and learning assessments.
For reference, each consultant has the following minimum specifications on his or her laptop or desktop.
- Local Broadband internet access (DSL, Cable, or Fiber)
- Windows® XP or Vista
- Internet Explorer® 6.0 or newer, or Mozilla® Firefox® 2.0 or newer (JavaScript™ and Java™ enabled)
- Pentium® class 1GHz CPU with 2 GB of RAM
- Microphone and Speakers (USB headset)
- SXGA+ (1400×1050 at 32-bit color)
- DVD-R/W, with CD/ROM
Required Project Deliverables
The following minimum deliverables should be included in your proposal:
- Initial and revised Project Plans
- Management Reporting on student progress and overall program success (weekly)
- A weekly report of expenses including a budget to actual analysis.
- Overall Needs analysis summary
- Individualized course schedule (by participant)
- Course materials for each class for each participant
- LMS (Learning Management System) to track participant progress
Course Content/Description
We are requesting standard education (i.e. not customized to NDIT) for the industry standard office applications. We are looking for beginner and intermediate course offerings for the following applications:
Select components of Microsoft® Office 2007 (Office 12.0) as released in 2007
Select Microsoft® Productivity Tools
- Visio
- Infopath
- Sharepoint
Submission of Proposal and Supplemental Materials
This section discusses how our RFP process works, and what you need to do in order to successfully tender a proposal.
Our RFP Process
Our RFP process is designed to be fair to all vendors / bidders and help us reach a decision in a timely manner. Here is the rough calendar of events for this RFP process.
NDIT vendor selection criteria
The proposals will be evaluated on multiple criteria, with the following being the most important.
- Does the vendor understand our needs?
- Is the vendor capable of meeting our needs?
- Is the price competitive? (we will not be selecting solely on price)
- Is the scope of the services proposed comprehensive?
- Can the vendor meet our timeline as set forth in our goals?
- Does the quality of the vendor’s education appear adequate to our needs?
How to submit your proposal
To be considered, proposals must be submitted no later than 5:00pm PST on April 30, 2009.
Please submit proposal in a single PDF file suitable for distributing via email internally and printing.
Submit final proposals via email with cover letter to or YouSendIt.com (for proposals exceeding 2 MB in total size)
If your proposal is too large to send via Yousendit.com (exceeds 100MB) you may send it on a USB thumb drive to the contact address below. Please be sure to send it to arrive no later than the proposal due date.
Please do not archive, ZIP, or otherwise compress your proposal.
Please use the directions below for formatting your proposal.
Contact Information
If you have questions, concerns, comments please contact ONLY:
Hal Stiles
P.O. Box 69, Porter Ranch, CA 91326
(818) 445-3406
Proposal format
You may use any format for your proposal you prefer, but the final version must be submitted as a single .PDF file, suitable for emailing or printing.
Your proposal MUST include the following elements:
- Your company background.
- Your value proposition relative to delivering education.
- Your understanding of NDIT’s needs.
- Definition of Scope for the project.
- Project plan detailing all tasks to be performed including time estimates.
- Deliverables list with dates.
- MSA (Master Services Agreement) boilerplate agreement with all of your standard terms and conditions.
- Suggested SOW (statement of work) for the project.
- List of specific resources you require from NDIT to accomplish the project.
- Your estimate of the time each NDIT participant will be required to spend in the training programs and the project itself.
- Your list of project assumptions.
- Your comprehensive budget estimate, including all costs for all services proposed – be sure to indicate whether you are proposing a fixed bid agreement, a time and materials agreement, or some combination. Also include travel and entertainment expenses as a line item in your budget.
- Your warranty for your services.
- A statement regarding your compliance with all applicable laws and regulations related to the project, particularly licensing.
- Biographies of your team members and their background.
- Samples of your courseware (screen shot or video OK).
- Samples of your LMS (screen shots).
If you think it will help sway us to your proposal, you may also (optionally) include:
- Your most recent published financial statement
- 2 references for whom you have done similar engagements (please include contact information)
You should also prepare a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the elements of your proposal for the eventual vendor meeting (should you make the short list of 3)
NDIT Standard Terms and Conditions
NDIT has established the following guidelines for vendors. Where possible, please incorporate these concepts into your proposal, MSA (master services agreement), or SOW(statement of work).
Fees, Invoices and Payments
Invoices should be submitted monthly and must reference a signed SOW. Invoices will be paid within 30 days of receipt. All invoices must be submitted and paid in U.S. dollars.
Ownership of Deliverables
NDIT assumes that it will own work product created as a result of this project - needs assessment documentation, project plans, etc. Standard classes and courseware will remain the property of the vendor. The vendor will grant NDIT participants the right to use the courseware, the LMS, etc.
Non-Solicitation of resources
NDIT will not solicit to hire employees of the vendor during the project or for a period of 1 year after the end of the project. We expect that the vendor will mutually agree not to do the same with our resources.
Relationship of Parties
The parties relationship is strictly business to business. No agent, consultant, employee status will be created, and neither party will be authorized to commit the other or be liable for the actions of the other.
Proprietary Information
NDIT considers all of its information to be proprietary and confidential and vendor must agree to keep such information confidential and not disclose NDIT’s information to any party excepting as required to do so by law.
Publicity
Vendor may not release to the press any information regarding services performed as part of this project.
Travel expenses
NDIT will be responsible for reasonable travel and entertainment expenses for the vendor in addition to professional services. However, those expenses may not exceed 15% of the total project budget.
Conclusion
Thank you for your interest in providing educational services to NDIT. We are grateful for your time and attention to helping us meet our educational goals. You have our commitment that your proposal will be fairly reviewed and kept in confidence. Also, rest assured that our RFP will be conducted in a fair manner and you will know our decision in a timely fashion.
