The Organization for Educational Technology and Curriculum (“OETC”) is issuing an Invitation to Bid for Interactive Displays as a Joint Cooperative Procurement on behalf of its public K-12 and higher education member institutions. The purpose of this ITB is to solicit proposals from qualified providers to provide OETC’s members with interactive displays.
Proposals should be mailed to the address below or delivered in person to Zach Jensen and must arrive no later than 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on January 31, 2020. (new deadline!)
Deliver Sealed Bids to:
OETC
Attn: Zach Jensen / OETC-19I-InteractiveDisplays-Insert Respondent Company Name
471 High Street SE
Suite 10-Creekside
Salem, OR 97301
The following files are required for this solicitation:
- OETC-19I-InteractiveDisplays: ITB Document
- OETC-19I-InteractiveDisplays: Exhibit 1
- OETC-19I-InteractiveDisplays: Exhibit 2 – Questions
Questions and Answers:
| Section Reference | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Section II, 9c, References, Page 6 | Form C - References. Respondents must submit five (5) examples of current OETC Members that have or are currently receiving the products and services being proposed by the Respondent. In the event Respondent does not have current OETC Members as a reference, Respondent must provide references from other accredited educational institutions or contracts where the Respondent has been awarded a statewide price agreement. Because we are unable to provide current OETC members as references, Please confirm that we may list (5) K-12 School District Customers as references. | Confirmed. As per Section II(9)(c) of the ITB Document: "In the event Respondent does not have current OETC Members as a reference, Respondent must provide references from other accredited educational institutions or contracts where the Respondent has been awarded a statewide price agreement. |
| Section III, B, Page 9 | OETC will evaluate whether the Respondent has the resources itself, or through designated Fulfillment Agents, to support the entire OETC Consortium which primarily covers Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Can you please identify all states that the OETC Contract covers? | The OETC contract should be made available to as many accredited educational institutions as possible. Roughly 80% of OETC's members are located in OR, WA, and ID with additional members located in AK, HI, NV, CA, WY, and MT. |
| Section V, A, 4b, Admin Fee, Page 13 | For OETC Member orders placed directly by OETC, the OETC Administrative Fee will be collected by OETC at the time of sale. Because we do not sell our products directly to the end user, but instead sell through a Channel of Resellers, we need you to provide more information of how this process of ordering directly from OETC would work? Will the customer submit the PO to OETC? If not specified on the PO, how will OETC know which fulfillment agent (reseller) the order should go to? | A contract awardee may list as many fulfillment agents/resellers as they would like in order to service OETC members in varying geographies. If there are multiple fulfillment agents/resellers servicing one area, OETC does not make the decision as to which one will fulfill the order - this is left up to the OETC Member and/or the contract awardee. |
| Section V, A, 4a-b Admin Fee, Page 13 | For OETC Member orders placed directly with Contractor or its Fulfillment Agents, the OETC Administrative Fee shall be submitted quarterly by the Contractor and is based on sales of products and services (less any charges for taxes or shipping) resulting from this Contract. The quarterly submission must include the OETC Member name, date of purchase, and amount purchased. For OETC Member orders placed directly by OETC, the OETC Administrative Fee will be collected by OETC at the time of sale. Regardless of whether or not the order is placed with a fulfillment agent, or through the OETC website, does the Contractor (Contract Award Owner), pay the admin fee? | This is decided by the contract award owners and their named resellers/fulfillment agents. OETC currently has both types of arrangements with contract award owners and their named resellers/fulfillment agents. |
| Section V, A, C – Admin Fee, Page 13 | Contract Awardee and/or its Fulfillment Agents may apply to the OETC Contract Administrator for a one-time OETC Administrative Fee reduction for large orders with a dollar value over $1,000,000. Please identify the reduced administrative fee rate for orders over 1 million dollars. | Any reduction in administrative fees will be negotiated and agreed upon in Phase Four of the bid evaluation phase. |
| Section V, B, 1 a-c, Pricing and Products, Page 13 | Lowest Possible Price. OETC or an OETC Member shall pay the lower of the prices contained in Exhibit 1, and any subsequent pricing updates. Any pricing promotions, General Price Reduction, or Per Transaction Multiple Unit Discount offered by Contractor or its Fulfillment Agents must be offered to OETC Members on the OETC Contract. Only General Price Reduction price decreases will apply to all subsequent OETC Member orders. If Contractor or its Fulfillment Agents fails to offer a pricing promotion, General Pricing Reduction, or Per Transaction Multiple Unit Discount, or if pricing is found to not be the lowest possible price for Consortium Members as offered by Contractor and its Fulfillment Agents, this agreement may be immediately suspended, re-bid, or pricing adjusted to affirm this requirement. This section uses multiple defined terms that are not defined in the document. Please provide definitions for the following defined terms; General Price/Pricing Reduction Per Transaction Multiple Discount We are unclear with what items 1a, 1b, and 1c cover. We need clarification on the scope of these sections. For example, is 1a intended to mean that if a Fulfillment Agent offers a promotion to a non-OETC member, that same promotion must be offered to OETC members? If so, this requirement is not feasible because the Terms of this contract (e.g. free shipping, free returns, etc.) may not be part of the promotion being offered by the Fulfillment Agent. | General Price Reduction - This term is used to describe the permanent or temporary lowering of the cost of any product offered by a vendor or fulfillment agent. Generally these price reductions occur when a newer model is offered by the vendor, an item goes on sale, etc. Per Transaction Multiple Discount - This term refers to any quantity-based discounts. If a vendor wishes to offer a discount on orders over 'x' amount, this should be noted in Exhibit 1, "% off of MSRP). To clarify 1a, 1b, and 1c under Section V(1-c): 1a - The purpose of this is to ensure that vendors do not incentivize OETC members to not utilize the contract arising from this solicitation. If a vendor or reseller offers a quantity discount as a result of a large order, that discount does not immediately apply to all OETC members. 1b - The purpose of this is to explain that only general price reductions must be made available to all OETC members. If a vendor or reseller wants to give a discount to an OETC member based on the size of the order, the resulting pricing/discount does not need to be given to all OETC members. 1c - As a nonprofit EdTech buying consortium, it is the goal of OETC to combine the purchasing power of more than 3,000 schools in order to negotiate better pricing than a single school or school district may be able to obtain on their own. This point aims to ensure vendors and/or resellers responding to this solicitation are providing a discount off of MSRP to OETC members. The % off of MSRP should be listed on the last tab Exhibit 1 ("% off of MSRP). |
| Section 1, C. Page 4 | Newline as a Manufacturer would like to be a respondent to the bid and assign selling agents (resellers) to sell on our behalf, but us being the ultimate bid holder and allowing multiple partners to help support the Newline brand under OETC. That said there is an area of the contract information that states “Bids that do not include both interactive flat panel displays and interactive whiteboards utilizing projection technology will not be considered for award of contract.” Newline is a manufacturer of only Interactive flat panels and not interactive whiteboard projectors, so does that mean we cannot submit for bid? Or was the line supposed to say IFP or IWB? Can you please help clarify? | Manufacturers of any type of interactive display may submit bids despite only offering one of the requested items (interactive flat panels and other interactive displays utilizing projection technology). Bids submitting both options may score higher during the evaluation phase. |
| Pages 4 and 5 Specifications | Can the Projection/Whiteboard technology and Display technology be supplied by different manufacturers? Meaning the projector and whiteboard may be supplied by different manufacturers than the Interactive displays would be. | Yes |
| Page 4, Paragraph | Paragraph indicates you must bid both an interactive display solution as well as an interactive projector solution to be considered. It this accurate that you cannot submit only one of the categories for consideration? | Manufacturers of any type of interactive display may submit bids despite only offering one of the requested items (interactive flat panels and other interactive displays utilizing projection technology). Bids submitting both options may score higher during the evaluation phase. |
| Page 5: On-board Computing | Should we assume that the Interactive Display being proposed must come with an OPS PC included in the price of the overall solution? Or can we make the OPS PC an option to be added to the Interactive Display price and solution? | The OPS PC may be an option added to the interactive display price and solution. |
| Unspecified | How should we manage the FOB shipping rates asked to be included in the pricing of the solutions, based on school district locations within the states and proximity to larger metropolitan areas? Do we need to simply come up with the best cost average to apply to the single solution FOB price? | Please submit the most appropriate approximation of shipping rates in the pricing (exclusive of AK and HI which will include real shipping costs unless an order qualifies for free shipping) portion of Exhibit 1. |
| Page 7, Section G | Should pricing include taxes in states where applicable? If yes, how do we include and accommodate the multiple tax rates per districts/counties within states? | Taxes do not need to be incorporated into your bid. |
| Page 9, B1 | There is a scoring matrix listed with Corporate Competency: 45 Points, Past Performance: 20 points. Are the Past Performance and Corporate Competency score going to be based on reference checks? | Yes. References will be utilized in the final stages of the evaluation process. |
| Page 11, Section 10 | There is reference in Section 10 where contents of the bid will not be disclosed until all bids have been evaluated, negotiated, and awarded. Is it to be assumed that all bid submittals will be public entity after the bid award? | That is correct. Each bid received will be posted on the solicitation URL and shortly before the intent to award is posted. |
| Page 15 – Section E, Number 5/6 | he wording on Returns indicates “in original packaging”. Can we ask that this wording be modified to read “in original SEALED packaging?” As if boxes are opened, and then returned within the 60-day requested period, we as resellers cannot get full return value for the product if the packaging is open. | Please utilize Exhibit 1, Form D for all requested changes to the Terms and Conditions of the ITB. In the event of a contract award, negotiations regarding changes to the original Terms and Conditions will be conducted, as per Section III(D. Phase Four - Contract Negotiations) of the ITB document. |
| Form A – Respondent Info | “Respondent is the ‘sole’ provider…” Is this question intended for Manufacturers and not resellers like Neurilink as we cannot guarantee that there are no other providers providing similar manufacturers? | Yes - this question is intended for manufacturers. |
| OETC-191- Interactive Displays Bid Invitation, Cover Page and Page 3 | Cover Page says Proposal Due Date is November 21st and Page 3 says the due date is November 22nd. Which is date is the correct due date? | Submissions are due no later than 5:00 PM PST on November 22, 2019. |
Responses Received
| Respondent | Bid Received | Bid Opened |
|---|---|---|
| Troxell | 11/22/2019 10:30a PST | 11/25/2019 12:00p PST |
| Neurilink | 11/22/2019 9:55a PST | 11/25/2019 11:55a PST |
| CDW-G | 11/21/2019 10:33s PST | 11/25/2019 12:20p PST |
| Newline | 11/21/2019 10:05a PST | 11/25/2019 12:15p PST |
| Clevertouch | 11/18/2019 10:35a PST | 11/25/2019 12:05p PST |
| Promethean | 11/11/2019 11:48a PST | 11/25/2019 12:08p PST |
| Clear Touch Interactive | 11/22/2019 9:26a PST | 11/25/2019 12:13p PST |
| ViewSonic | 1/31/2020 9:35a PST | 1/31/2020 12:46p PST |
Intent to Award
- Clear Touch Interactive
- Clevertouch
- Newline Interactive
- Promethean
- ViewSonic
As provided in the ITB, this Notice of Intent to Award is subject to execution of a written contract and, as a result, this Notice does not constitute the formation of a contract between OETC and the apparent successful vendors.
The vendor shall not acquire any legal or equitable rights relative to the scope of service until a contract containing terms and conditions acceptable to OETC is executed. Issuance of this Notice of Intent to Award Letter begins the seven (7)-day protest period in which any unsuccessful vendor may file a vendor appeal.