RFP Online Virtual Courses

GUILFORD COUNTY SCHOOLS
Request for Proposals
Purchasing Department
714 Green Valley Rd
Greensboro, NC 27408
Direct all inquiries to: Request for Proposals: 6820
Velicia Gaddy Proposal due date: April 16, 2026
gaddyv@gcsnc.com Commodity: Online Virtual Courses
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
Proposals, subject to the conditions made a part hereof, will be received at this office 714 Green
Valley Rd Greensboro NC 27408, until 2:00 PM EDT on the day of opening for furnishing and
delivering the commodity as described herein. Proposals submitted via facsimile (FAX) machine in
response to this Request for Proposals will not be accepted.
EXECUTION
In compliance with this Request for Proposals (RFP), and subject to all the conditions herein, the
undersigned Vendor offers and agrees to furnish and deliver any or all items upon which prices are
bid, at the prices set opposite each item within the time specified herein. By executing this proposal,
the undersigned Vendor certifies that this proposal is submitted competitively and without collusion
(G.S. 143-54), that none of its officers, directors, or owners of an unincorporated business entity has
been convicted of any violations of Chapter 78A of the General Statutes, the Securities Act of 1933,
or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (G.S. 143-59.2), and that it is not an ineligible Vendor as set
forth in G.S. 143-59.1. False certification is a Class I felony. Furthermore, by executing this proposal,
the undersigned certifies to the best of Vendor's knowledge and belief, that it and its principals are
not presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible or voluntarily
excluded from covered transactions by any Federal or State department or agency. As required by
G.S. 143-48.5, the undersigned Vendor certifies that it, and each of its sub-Contractors for any
Contract awarded as a result of this RFP, complies with the requirements of Article 2 of Chapter 64
of the NC General Statutes, including the requirement for each employer with more than 25 employees
in North Carolina to verify the work authorization of its employees through the federal E-Verify
system.
Failure to execute/sign proposal prior to submittal shall render proposal invalid and it WILL BE
REJECTED. Late proposals will not be accepted.
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BIDDER: FEDERAL ID OR SOCIAL SECURITY
NO.
STREET ADDRESS: P.O. BOX: ZIP:
CITY & STATE & ZIP: TELEPHONE FAX NUMBER:
NUMBER:
TYPE OR PRINT NAME & TITLE OF PERSON SIGNING: TITLE
AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE: DATE: E-MAIL:
Proposal valid for 120 days from date of bid opening, unless otherwise stated. After this time, any
withdrawal of offer shall be made in writing, effective upon receipt by the agency issuing this RFP.
1.0 PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND
Guilford County Schools, the third largest school district in North Carolina and among the largest of
more than 14,000 in the United States, serves nearly 70,000 PK-12 students at 121 schools.
Guilford County Schools (GCS) is seeking proposals from qualified vendors who will provide online
content in a synchronous and/or asynchronous format for initial credit courses, credit recovery, and
remediation/acceleration. The selected vendor must meet all requirements in the proposal, as well
as all applicable Federal and State laws, regulations, and contract requirements. In using this method
for solicitation, we are requesting your best effort in seeking the best value for our requirements. To
be eligible for consideration, sealed proposals shall be presented in accordance with the instructions
of this solicitation and within the timeframe specified. It shall be the responsibility of the selected
vendor to meet all specifications and guidelines set forth herein. GCS, at its discretion, determines
the criteria and process whereby proposals are evaluated and awarded. No damages shall be
recoverable by any challenger as a result of these determinations or decisions by GCS.
2.0 GENERAL INFORMATION
This RFP is comprised of the base bid document, any attachments, and any addenda released
before contract award. All attachments and addenda released for this RFP in advance of any contract
award are incorporated herein by reference. Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the
terms and conditions of this RFP and any addenda issued hereto.
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TAXES
Guilford County Schools is NOT tax-exempt. Unless otherwise indicated, tax must be computed and
added to your bid. Any itemized shipping charges are also subject to tax. When invoiced, tax should
be invoiced as a separate line item.
MINORITY AND WOMEN OWNED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE (MWBE)
The Board of Education awards public contracts without regard to race, religion, color, creed,
national origin, sex, age or handicapped condition as defined by North Carolina General Statutes,
168A-3. GCS Board of Education promotes full and equal access to business opportunities with
Guilford County Schools. Minority businesses are encouraged to submit bids for this project. All
vendors shall have a fair and reasonable opportunity to participate in GCS business opportunities.
INSURANCE
Certificate of Insurance
Each vendor shall furnish GCS a certificate of insurance showing that the required workmen's
compensation and public liability insurance are carried by the Contractor. The certificate of
insurance should show that it is issued to or at the request of the Guilford County Board of
Education, Greensboro, North Carolina. All insurance carriers shall be licensed to do business in
North Carolina or approved to issue insurance coverage by the Commission of Insurance of North
Carolina.
The certificate of insurance shall include substantially the following provision: The insurance policies
to which this certificate refers shall not be altered or canceled until after ten (10) days' written notice
of such cancellation or alteration has been sent by certified mail to the Guilford County Board of
Education, Greensboro, North Carolina.
Public Liability Insurance
The vendor shall maintain public liability insurance covering his liability for bodily injury and property
damage which may arise from his operations, contractual obligations, products and completed
operations, as well as operations performed by independent contractors, in not less than the
following amounts:
1.A combined single limit (CSL) of $1,000,000 each occurrence, or
2.A $1,000,000 limit for Bodily Injury Liability, and $1,000,000 limit for Property Damage
Liability.
An occurrence form of policy will be required, and the certificate of insurance submitted by the
Contractor must be personally signed by a resident licensed agent of each of the companies listed
on that form.
Worker's Compensation Insurance
The Contractor shall maintain during the life of his contract all such workmen's compensation
insurance as is or may be required by the laws of North Carolina.
Terms and Conditions
It shall be the vendor's responsibility to read the instructions, terms and conditions, all relevant
exhibits and attachments, and any other components made a part of this RFP and comply with all
requirements and specifications herein. Vendors also are responsible for obtaining and complying
with all Addenda and other changes that may be issued relating to this RFP.
All bidders are hereby notified that they must have the proper license as required under the North
Carolina laws. The award of a contract under this solicitation may be paid with federal
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funding. Funding is contingent upon compliance with all terms and conditions of funding award. All
prospective contractors shall comply with all applicable federal laws, regulations, executive orders,
FEMA requirements and the terms and conditions of the funding award. In addition, contractors
providing submittals shall be responsible for complying with state law and local ordinances.
3.0 SPECIFIC INFORMATION
PROPOSAL QUESTIONS
Upon review of the RFP documents, vendors may have questions to clarify or interpret the RFP to
submit the best proposal possible. To accommodate the proposal questions process, vendors shall
submit any such questions by 2:00pm ET on April 6, 2026. Answers to such questions will be
posted by April 10, 2026, at 12:00 pm EST.
Instructions:
Written questions shall be emailed to Velicia Gaddy gaddyv@gcsnc.com the date and time specified
above. Vendors will enter "RFP #6820- Questions" as the subject for the email. Question submittals
will include a reference to the applicable RFP section and be submitted in a format shown below:
Reference Vendor Question
RFP Section, Page Number Vendor question...?
Questions received prior to the submission deadline date, GCS's response, and any additional terms
deemed necessary by GCS will be posted in the form of an addendum. No information, instruction
or advice provided orally or informally by any GCS personnel, whether made in response to a
question or otherwise regarding this RFP, shall be considered authoritative or binding. Vendors shall
be entitled to rely only on written material contained in an addendum to this RFP.
BID SUBMITTAL
Sealed proposals, subject to the conditions made a part hereof and the receipt requirements
described below, shall be received at the address indicated below, as described herein. One (1)
Original, hard copy & and an emailed (digital copy) of the proposal response to be labeled
'RFP 6820 Response' as the subject of the email, shall be received in the GCS Purchasing
Department but the close date and time. The original hard copy should be addressed in an
envelope with the RFP number as shown below in the mailing instructions. It is the
responsibility of the bidder to have the bid in the Guilford County Schools Purchasing office
by the specified time and date of opening.
*Please be advised that if the original, hard copy of the proposal response is not received in
the Guilford County Schools Purchasing Department before the due date and time, regardless
of receiving the email version, the bid will not be considered. We are only asking for an email
version to have a digital copy for our records. *
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Proposals shall be marked on the outside of the sealed envelope with the Vendor's name, quote
number and date and time of opening. If Vendor submits more than one proposal, each proposal
shall be submitted in separate sealed envelopes and marked accordingly. For delivery purposes,
separate sealed proposals from a single Vendor may be included in the same outer package.
Attempts to submit a proposal via facsimile (FAX) machine in response to this Request for Proposals
will not be accepted. Proposals are subject to rejection unless submitted with the information above
included on the outside of the sealed proposal package.
MAILING INSTRUCTIONS
DELIVERED BY US POSTAL SERVICE OR ANY OTHER MEANS:
RFP No. 6820
Velicia Gaddy
Director of Purchasing
Guilford County Schools
Purchasing Department
714 Green Valley Road
Greensboro, NC 27408
REFERENCES
Guilford County Schools reserves the right to require upon request a list of references from other
school districts or similar service agencies for which the company has provided the services or
goods solicited in this RFP. GCS may contact these users to determine quality level. Such
information may be considered in the evaluation of the bid.
WARRANTY
The vendor warrants to the owner that all equipment furnished under these specifications will be
new, of good material and workmanship, and agrees to replace promptly any part or parts which by
reason of defective material or workmanship shall fail under normal use, free of negligence or
accident, for a minimum period of 12 months from date put in operation. Such replacement shall
include all parts, labor, and transportation cost to the location where equipment is down, free of any
charge to the owner or his representative.
If applicable, please be sure to describe your best warranty offering, any special training or special
benefits at no charge that may be available, and any unique benefits you may offer. Award may be
determined by best value analysis-not necessarily the lowest price received.
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TRANSPORTATION CHARGES
Free on board (FOB) to designated sites in Guilford County, NC, with all transportation charges
prepaid and included in the bid price.
4.0 AWARD AND BID EVALUATION
REVIEW AND AWARD
It is the intent of Guilford County Schools (GCS) to award this Request for Proposals to the
responsible bidder(s) who best matches the needs of the Blended Learning Department.
Guilford County Schools reserves the right to reject any or all proposals presented and to waive
any informalities and irregularities. Award of this RFP may be in whole or in part as deemed to
be in the best interest of GCS. All projects are awarded contingent upon funding.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
All qualified proposals will be evaluated, and an award will be made based on consideration of the
criteria outlined in 5.0 Request for Proposal Document.
5.0 Request for Proposal Document
The selected partner will work with GCS through a comprehensive approach to tailor the work to fit
our unique needs, as well as the context of the district and state.
A. The selected partner will need to provide:
1. Online Course Opportunities: This program will provide middle and high school students
with the opportunity to enroll in online courses as an alternative method to take general
or advanced placement courses to earn credit towards graduation. Students will have
access to high quality asynchronous courses aligned with NC and GCS standards.
These courses will not be for our virtual school but as supplemental
courses, primarily at our comprehensive high schools and early/middle colleges. We
utilize, on average, 1500 courses of a full academic year including summer.
2. Credit Recovery: This program is for students who have not received course credit and
need the opportunity to make up this credit online during the regular day and after
school with teacher support. In addition to credit recovery, students may also need to
complete lesson modules and retake teacher assigned tests or units for grade recovery
purposes only. The goal of this program is to increase graduation rates and reduce
dropouts. We typically need 1200 revolving seats.
3. Student Acceleration and Remediation: This program will provide opportunities for
students to extend their learning beyond the regular school day and school year.
Students will have access to supplemental, acceleration, and remediation content that
provides test-preparation for End of Course Test, Scholastic Aptitude Test, and
American College Testing. It will also provide students with access to face-to-face and
blended learning programs that engage students in acceleration in Literacy and Math.
4. Development of Implementation Plan: Provider will develop comprehensive district
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implementation plan. A plan should include key milestones for implementation and
training of district leadership and school-based staff prior to the 2026-27 school year.
B. Curriculum and Instruction Requirements
1. Provides current, comprehensive standards and mastery-based curriculum that is relevant
and appropriate for all learners and aligned to North Carolina performance standards.
2. Provides a diagnostic curriculum function to test students' pre-and-post knowledge of
content to provide individual prescribed curriculum if needed based on diagnostic test
results.
3. Courses developed to be used in both traditional yearlong and block semesters, as well as
summer.
4. Provides a customizable content library that allows district and program administrators to
create custom courses and the ability to use pull-out modules for flexible differentiation
of instruction in a variety of classroom models.
5. Access to virtual and/or mobile student academic support during the traditional school day
and after hours.
C. Courseware Requirements
1. Courseware features shall be standards-based and comply with the most recent version of
the guidelines of:
a. SCORM - Sharable Content Object Reference Model provides a technical
architecture for learning objects to be easily shared across multiple learning
delivery environments.
b. IMS - Instructional Management System is a system of defining and distributing open
architecture interoperability specifications for e-learning products.
c. QTI - Question and Test Interoperability is designed to make it easier to transfer
information such as questions, tests and results between different software
applications.
d. IMS Enterprise - IMS Enterprise is a specification for transferring data about people
and groups.
e. IMS LIP - Learner Information Package is a specification for a standard means of
recording information about learners.
f. IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is an organization concerned
with developing technical standards, recommended practices, and guides for
computer implementations of education and training systems.
g. LOM - Learning Object Metadata is data about an object which has a specified
educational purpose or context.
h. INACOL - International Association for K-12 Online Learning
2. Clear specifications of how importation/creation and delivery of instructional content,
courses and programs shall be provided.
3. Clear specifications of how duplication and revision of instructional content shall be
supported.
4. Automated processes such as assigning grades, supporting collaboration, user
authentication, document management, assessment, displaying syllabi, calendars and
other course information.
5. Curriculum courseware that will do the following:
a. Create assessments in multiple formats which may include rubrics, multimedia and
timed and/or dated elements.
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b. Use applications without requiring users to obtain software or viewers.
c. Export grade book to multiple formats.
d. Asynchronous tools such as e-mail, discussion threads, drop-box, journal, and
document sharing.
e. Synchronous tools such as whiteboard, polling, live video/audio streaming, and
archiving.
f. Provide access to supporting tools (dictionaries, calculators, encyclopedias, etc.).
g. Translation ability for English Language Leaners (ELL) and English as a Second
Language (ESL) students.
h. Provide text to speech language capabilities.
i. Full range of interactive content (some textual, mostly multimedia, kinesthetic, and
laboratory simulations) that includes audio and visual support for students with
learning disabilities and ELL/ESL students.
j. Provides timed randomized tests with large test banks for assessment questions. This
should include the ability to customize and add test items if necessary and
lock assessments that allow for management of assessments in a
proctored environment.
6. Courseware that will interoperate with academic and data systems currently used by GCS.
These include and will remain so for the 2026-2027 school year:
a. Infinite Campus - Capability of Integration with the North Carolina Department of
Public Instruction implementation of Infinite Campus for assigning final grades.
b. Canvas Learning Management System
7. Processes are available for maintenance, upgrades, customizations, migration, and
integration with other academic and administrative systems.
8. Administrative support/tools which shall include:
a. Ability to upload/batch-add registrants.
b. User group, newsletters, and other communication from vendor to user.
c. Support from client services department.
d. 24-hour technical support for end users.
e. Access to manage academic content areas of courses (for facilitators and
administrators)
f. Ability to amend student prescriptions (from diagnostics).
g. Role-based access to designated individuals.
h. Monitor access of student participation, enrollment, and status changes (for registrar,
administrator, or other designated individuals).
i. GCS anticipates they will need training for at least two representatives from each
middle school, high school, and alternative school and approximately 30 district
leaders. We would want a minimum of one representative from each middle
school (25), each high school (27), and each alternative school (4).
9. Portal management features to include:
a. Enrollment support for online registration.
b. Customization of portal.
c. Easy management of text via e-mail and upload features.
d. Availability of multi-semester course catalogs, continuously updated, extended and
enhanced to respond to district needs, searchable by audience, subject, and
grade level.
10. Course assessment tools to include:
b. Anonymity and confidentiality of evaluations.
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c. Reports at different levels of aggregation with the ability to benchmark.
d. Availability of evaluations after grades are submitted (for facilitators and
administrators).
11. Academic services for course development and training which will include:
a. Flexible instructional design support.
b. Flexible course development support.
c. Multimedia support.
d. Importation of courseware built on other platforms.
e. Conformance to Section 508 accessibility guidelines.
i. Section 508 is the section of the 1998 Rehabilitation Act that states that all
electronic and Information technology procured, used, or developed by the
federal government after June 25, 2001, must be accessible to people
with disabilities. Affected technology includes hardware such as copiers,
fax machines, telephones, and other electronic devices as well as
application software and websites.
12. Reporting features to include:
a. Tracking system includes notification of completed coursework, attendance, student
work history, and student assistance needs.
b. Tracking system tracking teacher interaction with students and student data.
c. Parent/Student environment that allows view of student progress.
d. Customizable reports that provide the following:
i. Data that ties into North Carolina and GCS standards
ii. Ability to produce reports that show student deficiencies and strengths
iii. Ability to export/import reporting to state systems
iv. Ability to create assessments tied to standards
v. Ability to plan instruction with alignment to state and district standards and
online resources
vi. Query functions
e. Technical support for reporting features
13. Technical Requirements:
a. The vendor's system will support user single sign-on capability.
i. This can be accomplished through ADFS or LDAP synchronization.
Synchronization must be automated.
b. The vendor's system must be executable on a Windows-based platform.
c. GCS requires that the proposed system is compatible with multiple browsers. The
system must be compatible with, but not limited to:
i. Google Chrome
ii. Safari
iii. Microsoft Edge
14. The vendor will provide a curriculum alignment map with the proposal submittal to validate
compatibility with North Carolina State Standards.
15. The proposed system is compatible with Windows, Macintosh and Linux endpoints.
Minimum compatibility requirements include:
a. Windows 10 and higher
b. MAC OS 10.5x and higher
c. Chrome OS
d. Linux Red Hat 5.4 and higher
16. The vendor will develop system-wide, role-based security and user access security
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specifically to the online learning management system.
17. The system must provide HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) support in all
functions where usernames and/or passwords, and/or student or employee data are
transmitted.
18. The vendor will propose and provide GCS with full documentation of the system approved
by and provided to GCS (i.e., provide complete technical architecture diagram).
19. Hardware/Network Requirements:
a. Vendor will implement a system that is scalable from 50,000 to 75,000 students.
b. Vendors should provide supportive data which gives data transfer statistics and band-
width requirements for optimum use of the application based on proven
concurrent users.
c. Vendors should provide mobile access technology and security. System should be on
most mobile devices, (i.e. smart phones, tablets, etc.).
d. Vendors system should provide the ability to maintain a log of who logged into the
software and accessed the records for a particular student, including what date
and time, and changes made and audit trail capabilities.
e. Multiple levels of security - down to the record and/or field level.
20. Import/Export Requirements:
a. GCS utilizes Infinite Campus as its student information system and the system may
be required to support an automated interface with the district's impending data
warehouse
b. The system must provide GCS with the ability to import data from the district-level
data system. Imports should be automated on a nightly basis. Types of data
include student demographic data, scheduling data, roster information, teacher
assignment information, HR data, and performance/observations.
21. Service Level and Customer Relations Management (CRM) Requirements:
a. The system's environment must be Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
compliant.
b. GCS requires that all data collected, analyzed and/or disseminated by the
instructional management system remain the sole property of and for the
exclusive use of GCS.
c. The data must be fully accessible (exportable in .pdf, .txt and .csv) to the district upon
installation and throughout the term of the agreement.
22. Technical Support and Services to include:
a. Integrity of data if server goes down.
b. Server down time less than .03%.
c. Adequate servers and backup to prevent database corruption and to provide
restoration within two hours of data loss.
d. Product updates for the period of the contract.
23. Help Desk Support that will include:
a. 24-hour assistance and availability.
b. Reliable help desk statistics.
c. Online web-based and email support.
d. Phone support.
e. It is easy to locate up-to-date training resources available online and in hard copy
formats.
f. Training materials utilizing multimedia (images, video, audio, etc.)
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