Customer Service Ticketing System

CRAD 24-001: Customer Service Ticketing System for Office of Teaching Initiatives (OTI)

Award Method: To the responsive and responsible bidder who submits the Lowest Cost bid and meets all requirements outlined in the Description section below and listed on the checklist posted with this Contract Reporter ad.

Term: 12 months (Dec. 1, 2024 – Nov. 30, 2025)

Email Address to submit a bid: CRAD-24-001@nysed.gov

Description: The New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of Teaching Initiatives (OTI) intends to procure under State Finance Law §163(6) a Discretionary Purchase for a qualified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOB) or a qualified Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) vendor to provide a Zendesk or equivalent customer service ticketing service. This procurement opportunity is limited to New York State businesses certified pursuant to Article 3 of the Veterans’ Services Law or pursuant to Article 15-A of the New York State Executive Law.

We are seeking response bids that meet the following specifications for 60 licenses:

• Zendesk Suite Enterprise Subscription or comparable product, including:
  • Guide Professional Software Subscription
  • Explore Lite Software Subscription
  • Sunshine Lite Software Subscription
  • Support Enterprise Software Subscription
• Support: Data Center Location (US) Software Subscription

Additionally, the following features and functionality must be included:

• Self-Service Frequently Asked Questions/Article External User Interface
• User Accounts for External Users and Internal Users
• Article Curation with Workflows, including Publish/Unpublish/Review
• Ability for External Users to “Like” Articles
• Content Management Internal User Interface for Creating Frequently Asked Questions/Articles
• Forms for Collecting Specific Data from Customers
• Automatic Delivery to Specific Customer Service Groups
• Ability to Create Folders and Views
• Reporting
• Configurable Customer Ticketing Fields
• Configurable Dashboard Views
• Ability to integrate with phone service

Attachments: A Cost Proposal form, Checklist containing all requirements, and a Submission Documents package are posted with this Contract Reporter advertisement. These documents should be completed and submitted with your bid.

Questions and Answers: All questions from potential bidders should be submitted to CRAD-24-001@nysed.gov by October 18, 2024. A questions and answers summary will be attached to this Contract Reporter ad by October 23, 2024.

Submitting a Bid: Bidders are requested to submit their bids electronically. The following documents should be submitted as email attachments to CRAD-24-001@nysed.gov by November 1, 2024. Bids are due by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

1. Submission Documents labeled [name of bidder] Submission Documents CRAD #24-001
2. Cost Proposal labeled [name of bidder] Cost Proposal CRAD #24-001
3. Checklist [name of bidder] Checklist CRAD #24-001

Payment: A one-time purchase order covering a 12-month period (Dec. 1, 2024 – Nov. 30, 2025) will be issued to the winning bidder for submission of invoice for licenses.