Request for Vendor Proposals (RFP):

Enterprise (ERP) Software and Related Services

Palo Verde College

Blythe, CA

January 2007
 Request for Vendor Proposals (RFP):
Enterprise (ERP) Software and Related Services

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Profile of the Palo Verde College 3

The Intent of the Palo Verde College 3

Procurement Process 4

RFP Instructions and Requirements 5

Existing Enterprise Systems 8

Critical Criteria for Proposed Software 10

Dates and Timeframes 11

Supplementary Questions 12

General Technical Information 13

Appendix A: Required Format for RFP Responses 14

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 Request for Vendor Proposals (RFP):

Enterprise (ERP) Software and Related Services

Introduction:

The purpose of this document is to invite vendors to participate in the Palo Verde College’s
procurement process for acquiring enterprise (ERP) software and related services. In
particular, the goal is to solicit proposals for products and services that address the College’s
ERP needs.

Profile of the Palo Verde College:

Palo Verde College is one of California's smaller community colleges--a fact we share with
pride. Students at Palo Verde College have all the advantages of a comprehensive community
college and of a small college that is able to provide its students with personalized services.

Our faculty members are all well qualified in their fields. Equally important, they are here
because they enjoy teaching and the rewards that good teaching provides. Likewise, our
support staff are enthusiastic and here to serve our students.

Palo Verde College is a dynamic institution. We serve our District in numerous ways. Our Small
Business Economic Development Center has offices in Blythe and Needles. It provides support
for business development in the District. Our growing center in Needles complements our
home campus in Blythe by providing a variety of credit and non-credit programs for the
citizens of Needles. In Blythe we recently completed the second phase of an entirely new
campus situated on the mesa at the edge of the City of Blythe and overlooking the Palo Verde
Valley.

Work is in Progress on Phase III of the new campus. At the same time, we are renovating a
26,000 square-foot facility for our center in Needles, CA. Our Distance Education program,
which makes us available to students who, for whatever reason, cannot attend classes in
Blythe or Needles, has grown exponentially in the past several years and will continue to
expand in the future. Our goal is to take the College to students who cannot bring themselves
to College.

The Intent of the Palo Verde College:

Palo Verde College is seeking vendor proposals for the procurement, implementation, and
ongoing success of enterprise application software. In addition, the College seeks a system
that includes ancillary products (e.g., relational database management systems) and
professional services.

The Palo Verde College is eager to enhance its efforts in the following areas:

• Administrative support for instruction

• Streamlined business processes
• Improved services for students, faculty and staff
• Greater access to important resources
• Improved productivity through the use of web-enabled applications
• Responsiveness to state/federal/internal reporting requirements
• Efficient access to data, information and transaction processing

At a minimum, this RFP is aimed at the procurement of a student/instructional information

system, financial aid system, human resource/payroll system and finance system along with a
Portal application that will provide a common point of entry to all applications. The proposed
modules should share the use of an integrated, relational database management system.

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This RFP includes a presentation of general system and technical requirements. Vendors are
encouraged to be as responsive as possible to each item within this document.

As needed, the College will acquire related software products (e.g., compilers, report writers).
Finally, Palo Verde College will procure as needed services for training, functional consulting,
project management, data conversion, software customization, maintenance, etc.

Procurement Process:

This RFP and any resulting contract or awards shall be governed by the Section 81645 of the
State of California Education Code. As such, the following shall apply:

“The governing board of any community college District may contract with a party who has
submitted one of the three lowest responsible competitive proposals or competitive bids, for
the acquisition, procurement, or maintenance of electronic data processing systems and
equipment, electronic telecommunications equipment, supporting software, and related
materials, goods, and services, in accordance with procedures, and criteria established by the
governing board.”

The College’s procurement process will entail four major steps:

Step One:
Vendors will be invited to submit proposals in response to this RFP. Proposals must meet the
College’s mandatory requirements and should focus on products and services that best satisfy
the College’s needs, as presented in this RFP. No cost information is desired from vendors in
Step One of the procurement process.

Step Two:
The Palo Verde College selection committee will evaluate vendors’ written responses with
respect to the College’s needs and critical criteria, as presented in this RFP. Qualified vendors
will be invited to continue in the procurement process.

Step Three:
Qualified vendors will be asked to perform in-depth product demonstrations. Such
demonstrations will be based upon the College’s specific functional needs and requirements.

Step Four:
Based upon a thorough evaluation of vendors’ proposals and onsite demonstrations, the
College will solicit proposed pricing. Furthermore, the College may ask qualified vendors to
refine their proposals for various products and services. At the conclusion of such a process,
the College will make a final recommendation to the College’s Governing Board to authorize a
contract.

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RFP Instructions and Requirements:
Below are instructions and requirements for all vendors. The College will not consider a
vendor’s proposal unless it is consistent with all material instructions and requirements.

• Palo Verde College has engaged the services of Strata Information Group (SIG) to assist in
this procurement process. All vendors shall use Harold George of SIG as sole point of
contact for all communication throughout the entire RFP process. Harold can be reached
at:

Harold George
Senior Consultant
Strata Information Group
3935 Harney St, Suite 203
San Diego, CA 92110
210-364-1349 – Cell
george@sigcorp.com - Email

• One original and two hardcopies of the vendor’s proposal, each with accompanying
documentation, must be sealed and delivered to Business Services, Palo Verde College, no
later than 3:00 PM, PDT, February 9, 2007. An electronic copy in MS-Wordtm format on
CD-ROM must also be provided. Vendors are encouraged to submit a CD-ROM that
contains a single document rather than a collection of multiple files.

Russi Egan’s contact information is given below. She is best reached by email or
telephone. She should only be contacted for information about proposal submission.

Russi Egan
Fiscal Services Manager
Palo Verde Community College District
One College Drive
Blythe, CA 92225
(760) 921-5524
russi.egan@paloverde.edu

• Vendors’ proposals will be opened at 3:15 PM, local time, February 9, 2007 in room
CL108. Each proposal shall conform to the format presented in Appendix A.

• Each proposal shall be signed by the vendor with his/her usual longhand signature.
Proposals by partnerships must include the names of all partners and be signed in the
partnership name by a general partner with the authority to bind the partnership in all
relevant matters. Proposals by corporations must include the legal name of the
corporation followed by the signature of a person who is authorized to bind the
corporation. The name of each signatory shall be typed or printed below the signature.
When requested by the College, satisfactory evidence of the authority of all those who
signed the proposal shall be furnished.

• Proposals may be withdrawn by a vendor prior to February 9, 2007, but not thereafter. A
vendor shall not be relieved of the proposal submitted without the College’s consent or
vendor’s recourse to Public Contract Code 5100 et. seq.

• All addenda and bulletins issued prior to February 9, 2007 shall form a part of the
specifications issued to vendors for the preparation of their proposals.

• The College reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, or any portion or combination
thereof, or make an award on the basis of the total proposal. In addition, the College
reserves the right to waive any irregularity or informality within the proposal or
procurement process.

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• Section 508 Compliance statement: Vendors bidding on this proposal must be willing to
accept the following statement as part of any agreements that may be entered into with
the College: “Vendor hereby warrants that the products or services to be provided under
this agreement comply with the accessibility requirements of section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. § 794d), and its implementing
regulations set forth at Tile 36, Code of Federal Regulations, part 1194. Vendor agrees to
promptly respond to and resolve any complaint regarding accessibility of its products or
services, which is brought to its attention. Vendor further agrees to indemnify and hold
harmless the Palo Verde College, the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community
Colleges, and any California community college using the vendor ’s products or services
from any claim rising out of its failure to comply with the aforesaid requirements. Failure
to comply with these requirements shall constitute a breach and be grounds for
termination of this agreement.”

• The award of a contract to a qualified vendor, if made by the College, will be based upon a
comprehensive review and analysis of each proposal. The College shall be the sole judge
of the merits of proposed products and services. The College, alone, shall determine its
best interests and act accordingly. All vendors shall abide by the decisions of the College.

• Upon the College’s request, a vendor shall submit satisfactory documentation of its
financial resources, experience in providing relevant products/services, personnel who are
available to perform with respect to the proposed contract and any other desired evidence
of the vendor’s qualifications.

• Vendors are entirely responsible for any expenses that are associated with their
participation in the procurement process. The College shall have no responsibility.

• The College reserves the right to perform whatever research it deems appropriate in order
to assess the merits of any vendor’s proposal. Such research may include, but not
necessarily be limited to, discussions with outside consultants, interviews with the
vendor’s existing clients and analysis of industry reports.

• The College reserves the right to seek clarifications and follow-up information from
vendors.

• Vendors are hereby advised that the College is bound by open records laws and policies
when it receives vendor-submitted materials. Any information that constitutes a trade
secret and that a vendor wishes to declare confidential should be expressly noted as such
at the top of each relevant page.

• If a vendor defaults in its obligation to enter into a contract with Palo Verde College, the
College may procure products and services from other sources and may recover the loss
occasioned thereby from any unpaid balance claimed due by the vendor or by proceeding
against a vendor’s bonds, if any, or by suit against the vendor. The prices paid by the
College shall be considered the prevailing market prices at the time such purchase is
made.

• In the event of litigation, the related matters shall be governed by and construed in
accordance with the law of the State of California. The venue shall be with the appropriate
state or federal court located in Palo Verde County.

• The vendor selected by the College will be required to execute a formal contractual
agreement based upon the terms and conditions included in this RFP. Such a contract and
other documents are subject to the approval of the College and its legal counsel.

• Each vendor and subcontractor, if any, must possess all appropriate and required licenses
or other permits to perform the work as identified in the contract documents. Upon
request, each vendor shall furnish the College with evidence demonstrating possession of
required licenses and/or permits.

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• The vendor shall not discriminate against any prospective or active employee engaged to
perform any work because of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religious creed, sex,
age, disability or marital status. The vendor agrees to comply with applicable federal and
State laws including, but not limited to, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act,
beginning with Government Code Section 12900, and Labor Code Section 1735. In
addition, the vendor agrees to require compliance with this provision by any
subcontractor.

• No interest in the contract shall be transferred to any other party without the permission
of the College’s Governing Board.

• Any award that arises out of the procurement process shall be governed by the laws of the
State of California. In particular, this RFP and any resulting contract or awards shall be
governed by the Section 81645. As such, the following shall apply:

“The governing board of any community college District may contract with a party who
has submitted one of the three lowest responsible competitive proposals or
competitive bids, for the acquisition, procurement, or maintenance of electronic data
processing systems and equipment, electronic telecommunications equipment,
supporting software, and related materials, goods, and services, in accordance with
procedures, and criteria established by the governing board.”

• The vendor agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the College from any claim that arises
out of its failure to comply with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

• In accordance with the provisions of Section 3700 of the Labor Code, the successful
vendor shall secure the payment of compensation to its employees. The vendor hereby
acknowledges, and by submitting a proposal agrees, to the following statement:

"I am aware of the provisions of Section 3700 of the Labor Code which require every
employer to be insured against liability for worker's compensation or to undertake self-
insurance in accordance with the provisions of that code, and I will comply with such
provisions before commencing the performance of the work of this contract documents.”

• The successful vendor, and all primary/secondary subcontractors shall procure and
maintain the following:

o Public liability insurance for injuries, including accidental death, to any one person in
an amount not less than $1,000,000.00
o Subject to the same limit for each person on account of one accident, in an amount
not less than $1,000,000.00
o Property damage insurance in an amount not less than $500,000.00
o Worker's compensation insurance in an amount adequate to cover all employees

• The successful vendor shall neither commence work nor allow any subcontractor to
commence work until all required insurance certificates have been delivered in duplicate
to, and approved by, the College.

• The College does not discriminate with regard to race, color, gender, national origin,
or disability in the awarding of contracts. The College encourages the submission of
proposals from all vendors who can meet the mandatory requirements set forth in this
RFP.

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Existing Palo Verde College Applications:

Network/Server Infrastructure

Palo Verde College has three primary locations in two cities. Each location runs a Cisco
Catalyst backbone with Cisco VoIP Call Manager phone system. Desktops are connected to
the LAN at a minimum of 100mb Ethernet with some desktops at 1GB Ethernet. All Servers
are connected using 1GB Ethernet ports. The buildings at the main campus are connected
using dual 1GB fiber connections.

The primary campus is connected to the Internet via a dual T1 connection provided through
The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC). This connection is
currently being upgraded to a DS3 connection, but progress is being slowed by regulatory and
other issues. The non-credit facility in Blythe is connected to the main campus via a point-to-
point T1 connection. The Center in Needles is connected to the Internet via a DSL connection
and to the main campus via a VPN connection, but will transition to a point-to-point T1
connection in the coming year.

Until the DS3 upgrade is complete, campus networks can experience bandwidth congestion
causing performance issues with inbound and outbound Internet traffic. Packeteer traffic
shaping appliances have been installed to classify traffic and provide QoS levels. This has
alleviated some problems, but a full solution will not occur until the DS3 installation is
complete.

The network perimeter is secured using redundant PIX 515 firewall units with DMZ capability.
Internal and external security scans are performed using GualysGuard.

District-wide there are approximately 500 desktop and 50 server nodes. Desktops are
predominantly Intel boxes running Windows 2000 and XP. Servers are predominantly HP or
Dell rack mount servers running Windows Server 2000 or 2003. The Active Directory domain
is running at a Windows 2000 structure level. A minority of servers are running Linux. The
current public website is run on both Linux and Windows 2003 servers.

District email is hosted on Exchange 2003. Email traffic is protected from spam and security
threats using MailFrontier and GFI MailSecurity running a number of anti-virus engines.
Desktops are protected with Norton Anti-virus.

Where workloads permit all new server installations are virtualized using VMWare GSX 3.2
virtualization software. Production virtual server images reside either on local RAID storage or
on SAN volumes.

Exchange data is protected using DigiVault. SQL Server, Server and Desktop data backups
are performed using EMC Retrospect Multi-server, and LTO-2 and LTO-3 robotic libraries.

A small SAN with 4 server connection is utilized with VMWare GSX. This setup consists of a
Dell AX100 SAN with fiber connections to servers using dual HBAs and dual fiber switches.
Other servers utilize local SCSI RAID storage.

ERP Systems

The District operates the Jenzabar EX system using the Common, Registration and Advising
Modules. This system users InfoMaker as a bundled reporting tool and a number of
customized reports have been developed in InfoMaker. Jenzabar EX is running on SQL Server
2000. The District is not currently running any portal or web registration modules. The
District is also not currently interfacing with the cccapply.org online admissions site.

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Customized InfoMaker forms and reports provide reporting capabilities for the CCFS320, MIS
data collection and reporting, and the Probation and Dismissal report. CalGrant GPA and
enrollment data is generated using custom scripts.

Business Office/HR functions are handled via software hosted at the Riverside County Office of
Education (RCOE). RCOE provides the Galaxy system to process payroll, budgets, AR, and AP.
The Galaxy system is accessed remotely using JRunner. The District is not currently a fiscally
independent entity, so check printing and disbursement is handled by RCOE.

Financial Aid data is tracked using PowerFAIDS 8.3 running on SQL Server 2000. PowerFAIDS
and Jenzabar do not automatically exchange data. The data from PowerFAIDS is utilized for
1098T reporting as well as MIS report generation using custom scripts and manual processes.

Ad Astra Schedule by Ad Astra Information Systems, LLC is utilized to build the course
schedule and schedule room assignments.

1098T reporting is processed using custom reporting scripts and form printing is done by
importing this data into IRS Reporter by Data Systems Design, Inc.

SARS-GRID is used to schedule counseling appointments in Student Services. Student data is

exported from the Jenzabar database and imported to the SARS database using custom
scripts.

TutorTrac/LabTrac from RedRock Software Corporation is utilized to track computer lab usage
in conjunction with tutoring contact hours. Student and Course data is exported from the
Jenzabar database and imported into the LabTrac database using custom scripts.

The District is currently investigating online course management systems, but has not selected
a standard system to use District-wide. The District operates an expanding distance learning
program with a delivery mechanism predominantly based on the transportation of paper and
video tapes. These courses are offered throughout the state, but primarily to residents of the
local service area and inmates incarcerated in several state prison facilities. The nature of the
program allows operation within the prison facilities and this method of delivery will be
retained as a delivery option even as courses are expand into online versions.

A need exists within the District for a document imaging solution, but no district standard
currently exists. In addition to the common needs of digital document archiving, the District
handles a large volume of paper forms due to off-campus contract education courses and the
nature of the current distance learning program. This may have special implications in terms
of actively processing paper forms into any future ERP system as well as ensuring there is still
a manual process available to handle student service functions for incarcerated students.

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Critical Criteria for Proposed Software:

The vendor’s proposed enterprise software should meet all of the following critical criteria:

1. Include modules for Student (including catalog and schedule development), Financial
Aid, Student Finance, HR/Payroll and Portal systems. Vendors must demonstrate that
their systems are able to integrate all areas of the College and encompass all of the
existing systems. Vendors must demonstrate that their systems reduce/eliminate
redundant entry of data
2. Be web-enabled and include self-service applications for students, faculty, and staff.
Including online web self-service applications.
3. Provide an integrated Portal application from which all applications can be accessed
and support a single sign-on.
4. Uses current RDBMS Technology as the foundation of system.
5. Vendors must demonstrate the ability of their systems to provide for multiple levels of
data security and demonstrate how the system insures the integrity of the data being
entered.
6. Vendors need to describe how their systems provide for the automation of business
processes through the use of a Workflow engine, workflow modeling and workflow
definition tool that will allow the college to automate many multi-step processes.
7. Vendors must describe the various levels of reporting capabilities and demonstrate
that they are able to easily access data for daily transaction reporting as well as
complex multi-level reporting.
8. Presently have all of the above modules in full production at a community college in
California. Proposal should demonstrate a commitment to the California Community
College market. Please provide a list of the existing California Community College
customer base for the Proposed Software, detailing the version that is currently in
production, the modules that are in production and contact information for each
customer.
9. Of particular interest is the vendor's commitment to the standards and requirements
of California Community Colleges for Matriculation, CCFS 320 reporting and MIS
reporting. Please list all California Community Colleges where these features are in
production status.
- Are the reporting requirements part of your “Baseline” product?
- Are they considered custom modifications?
- Are they priced separately?
- Are updates included in your annual maintenance agreement?
10. Provide a list of other similar higher education clients, detailing the version that is
currently in production and contact information for each customer. Please do not
include customers of software other than the Proposed Software.
11. Provide information regarding the long term viability of the products that are part of
your proposed solution.

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Dates and Timeframes:

Event Date/Timeframe

Release of RFP January 18, 2007

Deadline for vendors’ questions to College January 29, 2007

Deadline for College to respond to vendor questions January 31, 2007

Deadline for vendors’ submission of proposals February 9, 2007

Selection of vendors who will be invited to give onsite demonstrations and February 13, 2007
presentations

Onsite vendor demonstrations and presentations March-April 2007

Finalization of contract terms and pricing May-June 2007

Approval of contract award by the College’s Board June-July 2007

All questions should be submitted to Harold George of SIG in writing by the deadline indicated
above. Written answers to questions will be distributed to all vendors on January 31, 2007.

Vendors are strongly encouraged to schedule their resources according to the above dates and
timeframes.

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Supplementary Questions:

The following questions are important with respect to the evaluation of proposals. Vendors
should provide clear and detailed responses to each item.

1. Please indicate whether the proposed software includes the following ERP
applications/modules:

• Student (including registration, records, transcripts, catalog and schedule

development)
• Student Finance
• Financial Aid
• Integrated Portal
• Finance (including General Ledger, Budgeting, Requisitioning/Purchasing, Accounts
Payable)
• HR/Payroll
• Community Services (self-supporting, non-credit, short courses, etc.)
• Student Health Center

2. Please provide detailed information about reference sites. We are specifically interested
in your most recent implementations. Please include the following:

a. Names of institutions
b. Contact names, titles, telephone numbers, and email addresses
c. List of installed software products and the production status of each, when they
were implemented and which release.

Please organize the information about reference sites with respect to the following
categories:

• California community college(s)

• Other colleges/universities within California

3. It is increasingly important for the College to effectively manage its enrollment,

curricula, instructional facilities and assignment of faculty. Please describe how the
proposed software supports various instructional management functions.

4. The College desires an integrated system that enables self-service functions. Students,
faculty, and staff should be able to perform a variety of transactions online, 24 x 7,
through a web interface. Examples of such transactions include admissions,
registration, including registration by permission code, fee payment, transcript requests,
academic history queries and student program evaluations, grade entry and changes,
positive attendance hour entry, change of demographic information (e.g., mailing
address), viewing of financial aid awards, viewing of class rosters, etc. It is assumed
that security mechanisms enable the protection of data from unauthorized users. Please
describe, in detail, the self-service functionality that is included with the proposed
software.

5. For each of the following items, please provide specific information about how the
proposed software supports the College’s reporting functions.

• MIS (including staff file data. e.g., EB, EJ)

• CCFS320
• PERS
• STRS
• 1098T reporting
• Other state and federal reports

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6. Is the proposed software web-enabled? If so, please describe. What browsers and
versions do you support?

7. Please describe how your solution meets Section 508 accessibility requirements.

8. Please describe how your solution meets California law related to Social Security
numbers. (SB 25)

9. Please describe all available report writers, query tools, and other ancillary software.

10. Please describe the workflow technology that is associated with the proposed software, if
any.

11. Please describe any relevant portal technologies that the College should consider
including interfaces to open source software such as uPortal.

12. Please describe how your solution interfaces with available commercial online course
management providers such as BlackBoard, WebCT or other open-source systems such
as Moodle.

13. Please describe any online training materials that the College should consider.

14. Please describe data migration API’s.

General Technical Information:

Please answer the following technical questions with respect to the proposed system:

1. Please describe in details the options available regarding Relational Database

Management Systems Software that the vendor’s solution is available to run on? Please
indicate the number of clients currently running on each RDBMS platform.

2. What hardware platforms (e.g., application servers, mass storage devices) can be used
to support the proposed system? How should such platforms be sized? What operating
system(s) can be used to support the proposed system?

3. Please present a physical topology and logical topology (both in graphical form) that
describe an appropriate hardware and software environment.

4. Please describe the recommended specifications for client platforms, including operating
systems, amount of memory, processor speed, etc.

5. What programming languages are inherent within the proposed system? What
compilers, if any, need to be acquired by the College?

6. What kind of middleware, if any, is recommended or required?

7. Does your applications run on a variety of client workstations, e.g., PC’s, Mac’s

8. Does your solution support a completely browser-based work environment? If not, is

such an environment planned? If planned, when it is scheduled to be released?

9. Please describe a typical technical and support staff structure to maintain and support
your solution for a campus of our size (e.g., database administrators, system
administrations, programmers, help desk, etc.)

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 Appendix A: Required Format for RFP Responses

Section 1: Executive Summary

Provide an executive summary that summarizes the proposal.

Section 2: Vendor Profile

Provide the following information:

(a) Name of vendor
(b) Vendor’s mailing address, telephone number, FAX number, and web site address
(c) Vendor’s primary contact person
(d) Primary contact person’s title, mailing address, telephone number(s), FAX number, and email
address
(e) Brief overview of the vendor’s company, products and services

Section 3: Vendor’s Understanding of the RFP

(a) Provide a statement that acknowledges the vendor’s understanding of the “Procurement Process” as
presented in the RFP.
(b) Provide a statement that acknowledges the vendor’s understanding of the “RFP Instructions and
Requirements” as presented in the RFP.

Section 4: Critical Criteria for Proposed Software

Provide responses to each of the items within the “Critical Criteria for Proposed Software” section of the
RFP.

Section 5: Proposed Software Products

(a) Identify all application software that is proposed or required.

(b) Identify all database technologies and/or file management systems that are proposed or required.
(c) Identify all required ancillary software (e.g., middleware, compilers, and report writers) that the
College should consider.
(d) Identify all optional ancillary software (e.g., middleware, compilers, and report writers) that the
College should consider.
(e) Summarize the features, functionality and characteristics associated with each software product.

Section 6: Supplementary Questions

Provide a response to each of the items within the “Supplementary Questions” section of the RFP.

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Section 7: State/Federal Reporting Requirements

For each major application (e.g., Student, Financial Aid, Human Resources/Payroll, Finance) summarize
the functionality that enables support for state and federal reporting. In particular, such a summary
should address the following questions:
(a) Is the vendor’s current software already compliant? If not, how will compliance be achieved?
(b) What product commitments, if any, is the vendor making with respect to reporting functions? How
will such commitments unfold?
(c) How does the vendor ensure ongoing compliance with the release of software upgrades?

Section 8: General Technical Information

Provide a response to each of the items within the “General Technical Information” section of the RFP.

Section 9: Proposed Training and Implementation Services

(a) Describe the training and implementation support that is required, recommended, available or
provided for each proposed software product, including the database management system.
(b) Provide a suggested 18-month implementation schedule, including major milestones.
(c) For each major system implementation activity, estimate the number of hours of vendor-provided
professional services that are needed.

Section 10: Additional Services

(a) Describe all additional services (e.g., remote technical support) that are required, recommended,
available or provided for each proposed product.
(b) Provide information about the internal staffing requirements that the College will encounter with the
proposed system.
(c) Provide information about National, Regional and State specific Users Groups that are supported by
your company. Include contact information for Officers of those Users Groups.

Section 11: Data Conversion and System Interfaces

(a) Describe the products, utilities, processes and services that are recommended or needed for the
conversion of the College’s existing data.
(b) Identify a means of developing and maintaining interfaces between Palo Verde College’s existing
enterprise systems and the College’s future enterprise systems during the implementation process.
(c) Identify a means of developing and maintaining interfaces between the proposed ERP applications
and the College’s existing ancillary systems (e.g., attendance tracking, document imaging, library
and bookstore), some of which are web-enabled.

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Section 12: Software Maintenance and Enhancements

(a) Describe the benefits, impacts, and schedules of new releases and modules. State the
circumstances under which such releases are mandatory or optional.
(b) Describe, both during and after the warranty period, the procedures for obtaining product support.
(c) Describe, in detail, how gaps between the vendor’s baseline product and the College’s functional
needs will be identified, analyzed and resolved. Given the College’s requirement to preserve
existing functionality (but not necessarily present business processes); it is important for vendors
to present a strategy that enables the College to maintain the capabilities that are inherent within
its existing enterprise solutions.
(d) Explain how custom modifications can be made by the vendor and/or College. In addition, describe
the alternative mechanisms for maintaining such modifications over time.

Section 13: Vendor’s Corporate Strength

Describe the vendor’s corporate history, market segment(s), client base, employee base, research and
development programs and financial well-being.

Section 14: Optional Products and Services

Describe, in detail, all optional products and services. Vendors are hereby advised that the College may
want to procure an optional item, but might not be able to do so if it is not formally declared in this
section. Optional products might include query tools, workflow systems, IVR solutions, utilities,
documentation, training materials, data warehouses, database technologies, security mechanisms, etc.

Section 15: Additional Information

Provide any additional information that the College should consider in its evaluation of proposals. This
would include a list of whether your company is currently involved in litigation with any of your clients.

Section 16: Acknowledgement of Addenda

Provide a statement that acknowledges the issuance and receipt of any RFP addenda, if applicable.

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Section 17: Signature Page

The person whose signature appears below is legally empowered to bind the company in whose name
the proposal is entered.
Company Name:
Mailing Address:
City, State, and Zip Code:
Telephone Number:
FAX Number:
Email Address:
By (Actual Signature):
By (Typed Name of Signatory):
Title of Signatory:
Date of Signature:

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