Student Information System (SIS) Implementation and Maintenance

Purchasing Department
P. O. Box 13145 * Roanoke, VA 24031
(540) 853-1348 * Fax (540) 853-2836
March 5, 2026
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
RFP 3191
Notice is hereby given of the intention of the School Board for the City of Roanoke, Virginia, to contract for:
STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM ("SIS") IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTENANCE
Proposal Submission Requirements
Proposals must be received by the Due Date and Time at bids.purchasing@rcps.info.
Due Date and Time: March 26, 2026; 3:00 P.M. (EST)
Announcement of Award: Upon the award or the announcement of the decision to award a contract
as a result of this Request for Proposal ("RFP"), the Director of Purchasing will publicly post such notice on the
Roanoke City Public School's website (https://www.rcps.info/departments/fiscal-services/purchasing) (Click on
"Current Opportunities") for a minimum 10-day period.
ROANOKE CITY SCHOOL BOARD
Eric Thornton
Purchasing Director
******************************************************************************************
Electronic Invitation to Bid/RFP Retrieval Instructions: Full copies of Requests for Proposals, Bids, and
Addenda must be retrieved over the Internet at the following address:
https://www.rcps.info/departments/fiscal-services/purchasing.
Click on "Current Opportunities"
***********************************************************************************************
This Public Body does not discriminate against Faith-Based Organizations
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
RFP 3191
STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM ("SIS") IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTENANCE
PAGE
I. PURPOSE 3
II. BACKGROUND 3
III. SCOPE OF SERVICES AND FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS 3
IV. TECHNICAL AND INTEROPERABILITY REQUIREMENTS 4
V. IMPLEMENTATION, TRAINING, AND SUPPORT 5
VI. CONTRACT PERIOD 6
VII. CALENDAR OF EVENTS 6
VIII. PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS AND PREPARATION 6
IX. EVALUATION AND AWARD OF CONTRACT 7
X. COOPERATIVE PROCUREMENT 9
XI. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS 9
XII. SPECIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS 12
XIII. ADDITIONAL FORMS 16
ATTACHMENT A - FUNCTION CHECKLIST 24
ATTACHMENT B - DATA PRIVACY ADDENDUM 25
ATTACHMENT C - WEB ACCESSIBILITY COMPLIANCE ADDENDUM 33
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RFP 3191
STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM ("SIS") IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTENANCE
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this Request for Proposal ("RFP") is to solicit sealed proposals through competitive
negotiation and enter into a contract for the purchase of a comprehensive, web-based Student
Information System ("SIS") for the School Board of the City of Roanoke, more commonly known as
Roanoke City Public Schools. Roanoke City Public Schools ("RCPS", "Owner", or "Division") intends
to retain a qualified firm ("Contractor"," Offeror") to provide these services for the Division. The
selected system must be fully operational and ready for use for the 2026-2027 School Year.
RCPS will select the Contractor who, in the aggregate, best meets the Division's needs.
This document establishes the anticipated services to be performed and outlines the evaluation and
selection process. However, this document does not guarantee a contract.
II. BACKGROUND
Roanoke City Public Schools ("RCPS") is a progressive urban school Division serving the City of
Roanoke, Virginia. The Division is comprised of seventeen elementary schools, five middle schools,
two high schools, the Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology, the Noel C.
Taylor Learning Academy, Forest Park Academy (which serves overage and under-credited middle
school and high school students), adult education programs, career and technical education
programs, preschool programs for low-income families, and after-school programs to assist
students needing additional instruction.
RCPS has approximately 13,700 students and approximately 2,200 employees.
III. SCOPE OF SERVICES AND FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Offerors must provide a detailed response to each requirement below, indicating if the
feature/function is "Native/Included," "Third-Party Integration," or "Not Available" (Attachment A).
A. Core Functional Modules
1. Teacher & Student Portals: The system must provide a robust gradebook and portal interface
for teachers and students (comparable in functionality and user experience to
"TeacherVUE/StudentVUE/ParentVUE" or functional equivalent).
2. Mobile Accessibility: Dedicated iOS and Android mobile applications for Parents, Students,
Teachers, and Administrators with push notification capabilities.
3. Real-Time Grading: Instant synchronization between teacher gradebooks and student/parent
portals.
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4. Attendance & Discipline: Comprehensive attendance tracking, including Kiosk late check-in
functionality for front offices.
5. Mass Scheduling: Automated and manual master scheduling tools capable of handling complex
district logic.
6. Online Registration: A paperless, secure, and mobile-friendly online registration and
enrollment system for new and returning students.
7. Training: Offeror must provide a "Distance/Training portal" providing on-demand video
tutorials, manuals, and certification paths for staff.
B. Operations & Safety Integration
1. Hall Pass Integration: Digital hall pass management or seamless integration with leading
electronic hall pass systems.
2. Visitor Management: Integrated Visitor Check-in module or verified compatibility with
standard visitor management hardware/software.
3. Incident Response: Vendor must guarantee a 24-hour response time to critical incidents
(system outages, security breaches, or data corruption).
4. Badges: Use of student badges with attendance, events, hall pass, and other applicable
systems.
C. Data Management & Reporting
1. Database Architecture: The system must utilize a standard SQL Database structure, allowing for
direct data access when necessary.
2. Data Ownership & Exit: The Division retains all rights, title, and interest in Division data. Offeror
shall provide complete, machine-readable exports at no additional cost upon request and at
contract termination. Offeror shall provide reasonable cooperation to transition services,
subject to agreed project hours.
3. Custom Reporting: Built-in "Create your own query" functionality allowing non-technical staff
to generate ad-hoc reports.
4. Custom Fields: Ability for the district to create and manage custom data fields without vendor
intervention.
5. State & Federal Reporting:
A. Full compliance with Virginia Department of Education ("VDOE") reporting standards.
B. Vendor must affirmatively agree to monitor and update the system based on frequent
VDOE regulatory changes at no additional cost.
IV. TECHNICAL AND INTEROPERABILITY REQUIREMENTS
A. Integrations
The solution must support real-time data transfer and single sign-on ("SSO") via:
1. Ed-Fi Alliance: Certified Ed-Fi integration for real-time data transfer with VDOE.
2. ClassLink: Full rostering and SSO integration.
3. Canvas LMS: Deep integration including grade pass-back and roster synchronization.
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4. Azure AD: SSO for user sign-on.
5. All other 3rd party vendors used by the Division, or document why this is not possible.
B. Accessibility, Hosting, Privacy, & Security
1. Hosting:
a. Fully managed cloud hosting ("SaaS") with redundancy and high availability (99.9%
uptime SLA).
b. Testing and training environments.
2. Security Record:
a. Offeror must demonstrate a security and breach-free track record. Proposals must
include recent SOC 2 Type II reports or equivalent security audits, as well as annual
penetration test summaries under NDA.
b. Offeror shall attest to FERPA compliance; encrypt data in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest
(AES-256 or equivalent); implement role-based access controls and MFA for admin roles.
c. Offeror must notify the Division within 72 hours of any security incident affecting
Division data, with root-cause analysis and a corrective action plan within 10 business
days.
3. Data Migration: Offeror shall migrate historical data plus full transcript history for
Demographics, Attendance, Grades, Discipline, Scheduling, and Programs. Proposal
must include mapping, test migration, validation criteria, and two remediation cycles
prior to go-live.
4. Privacy: Offeror must agree to the RCPS Data Privacy Addendum ("DPA") (Attachment
B).
5. Accessibility: Offeror must agree to the RCPS Web Accessibility Compliance Addendum
(Attachment C).
V. IMPLEMENTATION, TRAINING, AND SUPPORT
A. Timeline: System MUST be fully implemented, tested, and live for the 2026-2027 School Year.
B. Training: Vendor must provide detailed training for RCPS SIS staff for all setups and modules.
Responding vendors should include all proposed services for this project in their responses.
The final scope of services will be determined during contract negotiation and within the contract.
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VI. CONTRACT PERIOD
The contract period will be from the execution of the contract until June 30, 2031. RCPS may order
Contractor to immediately stop work on this Contract or terminate this Contract with ninety (90)
days' written notice, with or without cause, in whole or in part, at any time.
VII. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Date
Release RFP March 5, 2026
Receive Written Inquiries (no later than) March 13, 2026* | 5:00 P.M.
Answer Written Inquiries (no later than) March 20, 2026 | 5:00 P.M.
Receive Proposals March 26, 2026 | 3:00 P.M.
*Written inquiries should be sent to bids.purchasing@rcps.info.
VIII. PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS AND PREPARATION
In order to be considered for selection, Offerors must electronically submit a complete response to
this RFP. Specifically, Offerors must provide one (1) original and one (1) redacted copy that omits
any proprietary or confidential information that the Offeror requests to be withheld from public
view.
Proposals shall be signed by an authorized representative of the Offeror. All information requested
should be submitted. Failure to submit all information requested may result in RCPS requiring
prompt submission of missing information and/or giving a lowered evaluation of the proposal.
Proposals should be prepared simply and economically, providing a straightforward, concise
description of capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. Emphasis should be placed on
completeness and clarity of content. Proposals should be organized in the order in which the
requirements are presented in the RFP. All pages of the proposal should be numbered. Each
paragraph in the proposal should reference the paragraph number of the corresponding section of
the RFP. It is also helpful to cite the paragraph number, sub letter, and repeat the text of the
requirements as it appears in the RFP. If a response covers more than one page, the proposal
should contain a table of contents which cross references the RFP requirements. Information
which the Offeror desires to present that does not fall within any of the requirements of the RFP
should be inserted at an appropriate place or be attached at the end of the proposal and
designated as additional material.
Responses must be delivered not later than 3:00 P.M. on March 26, 2026, to:
bids.purchasing@rcps.info.
Interested firms should submit a proposal that responds to the items listed below. Proposals should be
concise and address each item in the order outlined below.
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A typed response describing:
1. Offeror's organization data, including company history, experience with Virginia school divisions,
and statement of security track record.
2. A line-by-line response to every requirement listed in Sections III and IV of this RFP.
3. Detailed project schedule ("Gantt chart)" showing milestones to meet the 2026-2027 go-live
deadline and data migration strategy.
4. Itemized pricing including one-time implementation fees, annual licensing/subscription fees,
hosting costs, and training costs. Annual increases during the initial term should be capped at the
lesser of 3% or CPI-U.
5. Minimum of three (3) public school division references of similar size to RCPS, preferably within
Virginia.
6. Any other information that is believed to be relevant in evaluating the proposal.
7. Indicate the firm's qualifications as a locally owned business enterprise ("LBE"), minority business
enterprise ("MBE"), and/or women business enterprise ("WBE") as defined in this RFP.
IX. EVALUATION AND AWARD OF CONTRACT
A. Evaluation Criteria: Proposals shall be evaluated using the following criteria.
Criteria:
1. Functional Fit & Requirements Compliance
a. Core SIS Features (gradebook, portals, mobile apps, attendance, discipline,
scheduling, registration) - 10 points.
b. Data & Reporting (ad-hoc reporting, custom fields, transcript history,
SQL access) - 6 points.
c. Interoperability (Ed-Fi, ClassLink, Canvas, Azure AD compliance) - 7 points.
d. Security & Hosting (SOC 2, MFA, encryption, RBAC, hosting SLA ) - 7 points.
e. Virginia Reporting (VDOE compliance updates) - 5 points.
2. Past Performance & Experience
a. References and Virginia Experience (quality of references and experience
working with VA divisions and VDOE reporting) - 13 points.
b. Company Stability (financial and organizational stability) - 3 points.
c. Security Track Record (documented breach history and maturity) - 3 points.
3. Cost (Total Cost of Ownership)
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a. Five-Year Total Cost of Ownership (implementation, licensing, hosting,
training, support) - 15 points.
b. Cost Transparency (clarity and completeness of pricing details) - 5 points.
c. Cost Reasonableness (comparison to industry norms) - 5 points.
4. Implementation & Training Plan
a. Project Schedule (feasibility of meeting 2026-27 go-live date) - 5 points.
b. Data Migration (mapping, test cycles, transcript/historical data
migration) - 4 points.
c. Training Plan (training quantity and quality for all roles) - 3 points.
d. Support Model (post-go-live support and SLAs) - 3 points.
5. Certified locally owned business enterprise (LBE) - 2 points.
6. Certified minority business enterprise (MBE) - 2 points.
7. Certified women business enterprise (WBE) - 2 points.
Total Points 100
B. Award:
Selection shall be made of one or more Offeror(s) deemed to be fully qualified and best suited
among those submitting proposals on the basis of the evaluation factors included in the
Request for Proposal, including price, if so stated in the Request for Proposal. Negotiations
shall be conducted with the Offeror(s) selected. Price shall be considered but need not be the
sole determining factor. After negotiations have been conducted with each Offeror(s) so
selected, RCPS shall select the Offeror(s) which, in its opinion, has made the best proposal, and
shall award the contract to that Offeror(s). RCPS may cancel this Request for Proposal or
reject proposals at any time prior to an award and is not required to furnish a statement of the
reason why a particular proposal was not deemed to be the most advantageous (Section 2.2-
4319 and Section 2.2-4359, Code of Virginia).
Oral Presentations: Offerors who submit a proposal in response to this RFP may be required
to give an oral presentation of their proposal to RCPS. This provides an opportunity for the
Offeror to clarify or elaborate on the proposal.
The oral presentation is a fact finding and explanation session only and does not include
negotiations. RCPS will schedule the time and location of these presentations. Oral
presentations are an option of RCPS and may, or may, not be conducted.
C. Definitions: LBE, MBE, WBE.
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"Local owner" - an individual who has an ownership interest in a business enterprise and
whose primary residence is within the Roanoke Metropolitan Area. For the purposes of this
policy, the Roanoke Metropolitan Area shall include all cities, counties, and towns within the
Commonwealth of Virginia that are within a 50-mile radius of the City of Roanoke.
"Locally-owned business enterprise (LBE)" - a business that(i) is privately held, (ii) has Local
Owners that own at least fifty-one percent of the business, (iii) has Local Owners that control
the management and daily operations of the business, (iv) is registered in Virginia with no
corporate headquarters outside of the Commonwealth, and (v) has completed the certification
steps set forth below.
In order to be placed on the Purchasing Division's list as a LBE, a business must provide the
Purchasing Director with (i) a copy of its local business license, (ii) a copy of the businesses
articles of incorporation or partnership agreement, and (iii) a completed sworn certification
form (found in the "Additional Forms" section of this RFP).
"Minority business enterprise (MBE)" - a business that has been certified by the Virginia
Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (www.sbsd.virginia.gov) as a business
that is both owned and controlled by minorities.
"Women business enterprise (WBE)" - a business that has been certified by the Virginia
Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (www.sbsd.virginia.gov) as a business
that is both owned and controlled by women.
X. COOPERATIVE PROCUREMENT
The procurement of goods and/or services provided for in this Bid is being conducted pursuant to
Virginia Code Section 2.2-4304. Therefore, the Offeror or Bidder is advised, and by submitting a
response to this procurement, such Offeror or Bidder agrees that any resulting contract from this
procurement may be extended to other public bodies in the State of Virginia. The successful
Offeror or Bidder shall deal directly with each public agency or body seeking to obtain any goods
and/or services pursuant to any contract that may result from this procurement and in accordance
with Virginia Code Section 2.2-4304. The Roanoke City School Board shall not be responsible or
liable for any costs, expenses, or any other matters of any type to either the successful Offeror or
Bidder or the public agency or body seeking to obtain any goods and/or services pursuant to this
cooperative procurement provision.
XI. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1. Taxes: State sales and use tax certificate of exemption, Form ST-12 will be issued upon request, if
you do not have same on file. Deliveries against this proposal shall be free of excise or transportation
taxes.
2. Mandatory use of RCPS Forms and Terms and Conditions: Failure to submit a proposal on the official
forms provided for that purpose shall be a cause for rejection of the proposal. Return of the
completed document is required. Modification of or additions to any portion of the solicitation may
be cause for rejection of the proposal; however, RCPS reserves the right to decide, on a case-by-case
basis, in its sole discretion, whether or not to reject such a proposal as non-responsive.
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Supplementary data and information which respond to inquiries, demonstrate qualifications and
expertise, etc., may be attached to the proposal forms.
3. Precedence of Terms: Except for Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the General Terms and Conditions for
Professional Services, which shall apply in all instances, in the event there is a conflict between the
Generals Terms and Conditions for Professional Services and any Special Terms and Conditions used
in a particular procurement, the Special Terms and Conditions shall apply.
4. Default: In case of failure to deliver the reports, documents or services in accordance with the
contract terms and conditions, RCPS, after due oral and written notice, may procure from other
sources and hold Vendor responsible for any resulting additional procurement and administrative.
This remedy shall be in addition to any other remedies which RCPS may have incurred.
5. Assignment of Contract: A contract shall not be assignable by the Contractor in whole or in part
without the written consent of RCPS.
6. Antitrust: By entering into a contract, the Offeror conveys, sells, assigns, and transfers to RCPS all
rights, title, and interest in and to all causes of the action it may now or hereafter acquire under the
antitrust laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia, relating to the particular
goods or services purchased or acquired by RCPS under said contract.
7. Ethics in Public Contracting: By submitting the proposal, all Offerors certify and warrant that their
proposals are made without collusion or fraud and that they have not offered or received any
kickbacks or inducements from any other Offeror, supplier, manufacturer, or subcontractor in
connection with their proposal, and that they have not conferred with any public employee having
official responsibility for this procurement transaction any payment, loan, subscription, advance,
deposit of money, services or anything, present or promised, unless consideration of substantially
equal or greater value is exchanged.
8. Anti-Discrimination: By submitting their proposal, all Offerors certify to RCPS that they will conform
to the provisions of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, as well as the Virginia Fair
Employment Act of 1975, as amended, where applicable, and Section 11-51 of the Virginia Public
Procurement Act which provides:
a. In every contract over $10,000, the provisions 1 and 2 below apply:
i. During the performance of this contract, the contractor agrees as follows:
1. The contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment
because of race, religion, color, sex or national origin, except where religion, sex or
national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the
normal operation of the contractor. The contractor agrees to post in conspicuous places,
available to employees and applicants for employment, notices setting forth the
provisions of this nondiscrimination clause. The contractor, in all solicitations or
advertisements for employees placed by or on behalf of the contractor, will state that
such contractor is an equal opportunity employer. Notices, advertisements, and
solicitations placed in accordance with federal law, rule or regulation shall be deemed
sufficient for the purpose of meeting the requirements of this section.
2. The contractor will include the provisions of paragraphs 1, above, in every subcontract or
purchase order over $10,000 so that the provisions will be binding upon each
subcontractor or Contractor.
9. Debarment Status: By submitting a proposal, all Offerors certify that they are not currently debarred
from submitting proposals on contracts by any agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, nor are they
an agent of any person or entity that is currently debarred from submitting proposals on contracts
by any agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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