Women s Business Development Center (WBDC) Request for Proposals (RFP) for Online/On-Demand Learning Project

Transcription

1 Women s Business Development Center (WBDC) Request for Proposals (RFP) for Online/On-Demand Learning Project RFP SUMMARY The WBDC is seeking responses from certified Women s Business Enterprises (WBEs) to lead the development of a technical environment to 1) support online/on-demand learning and 2) convert two traditional manual based workshops into dynamic, interactive online education opportunities. The WBDC will entertain responses from contractors that can satisfy either or both of these deliverables. WBEs being able to satisfy only one deliverable are encouraged to team with other WBEs to offer the complete solution. ABOUT THE WOMEN S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER The WBDC is a nationally recognized leader in the field of women s economic development. It was founded in 1986 to provide services and programs to support and accelerate women s business ownership, strengthening the impact of women on the economy and their ability to create jobs and fuel economic growth. The WBDC is headquartered in Chicago, has a satellite office in Minneapolis and provides WBE certification to a nine state Midwestern region which includes Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The WBDC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, has 26 full time employees and an annual budget of $3.3 million. The WBDC provides a continuum of business development services for every stage of the business lifecycle. Specifically, the organization offers entrepreneurial training; individualized business counseling; financing assistance including direct loans for newly-formed and established businesses, loan packaging and micro-loan technical assistance; business development and procurement assistance with corporations and government entities; WBE certification; advocacy on women's economic and business development policy issues; targeted programs such as the Latina Business Program offering business development training and technical and financial assistance in Spanish; Child Care Business Program, which provides industry-specific training for home and center-based child care providers, and a Women Veterans Program which combines business development with social and health services. The WBDC has a proven track record of successfully working with women of every ethnicity and demographic and has developed an acute understanding of the unique problems women face in the marketplace. Currently, 51% of all WBDC clients are low to moderate income with household incomes below $45,000, 92% are female and 51% are minorities. In 2011, the WBDC helped small businesses create 960 new jobs and retain 225 jobs. Since its inception, the WBDC has assisted over 66,000 entrepreneurs. For further information on the WBDC, please visit OPPORTUNITY The WBDC has been strategically preparing for growth in the years ahead, and understands that expanded and enhanced internal and external use of technology is a critical component for that growth. Initially, in an effort to maximize our online presence and reach to current and prospective clients, the

2 WBDC delivers webinars on a variety of small business topics and is now developing online/on-demand business education classes. Virtual classes and training will enable the WBDC to extend its capacity and reach to serve women small business owners who, because of time, financial and other constraints, cannot participate in-person. Current and prospective women business owners and other users will need to be provided with an experience as good as or better than in-person classroom training- and be able to take the classes on their own time with the ability to bookmark and return as needed. As with all of the WBDC s in-person entrepreneurial business education opportunities, the online offerings will be bilingual. Specifically, the WBDC is requesting proposals from certified WBE companies for the following project, which has 2 distinct aspects: 1. Evaluation, recommendation for and, with WBDC approval, purchase and installation of a Learning Management System (LMS) that would enable the WBDC to effectively manage courses and course attendees. We are seeking an innovative, cost-effective and sustainable solution that has the ability to expand and accommodate future needs as the WBDC expands online programming. It is our preference to use a commercial off the shelf (COTS) product and customize to meet our specific needs rather than a proprietary solution 2. Conversion of 2 (one English, one Spanish) manual based trainings courses into dynamic, online, interactive educational experiences by Spring These courses are currently offered as inperson workshops by WBDC business counselors and subject matter experts. Responses may address one or both aspects of the RFP. We recognize that a single contractor may not possess the skills to fulfill both aspects of the RFP, and we encourage WBEs to form teams and submit joint proposals that address both aspects of the RFP Our business requirements are included in the RFP Project Scope. We realize that there may be best practices and alternative solutions to achieve the same results. Therefore, we encourage respondents to include a section in your responses to present other options if you believe what we are suggesting may not be the best, most cost-effective, way to achieve our stated goals. These other options must align with the information laid out in this RFP. REQUIREMENTS Collaborate with WBDC staff on specifications outlined in Project Scope successful contractor must be available to meet with appropriate WBDC staff at the Chicago office on an ongoing basis. Manage all aspects of project to ensure LMS and online classes are delivered within specified timeframe. Prior to conclusion of the project, perform knowledge transfer on all aspects of back-end management and course development to appropriate WBDC staff. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE Friday, October 26, 2012 by 5:00 p.m. CST PROPOSAL SUBMISSION SHOULD INCLUDE Description of company(s), including services offered, years in business and client list Samples of company s previous work and list of client references that the WBDC can contact

3 If teaming, a copy of the teaming agreement delineating the responsibilities of each party toward fulfilling the requirements of the RFP Budget estimate for initial set-up and ongoing maintenance of the selected LMS, costs related for conversion of classes to an interactive environment, proposed fees and any discounts and/or pro-bono commitments Please note that the WBDC is a 501c3 non-profit organization, thus we rely upon the generous support and accommodation from the various consultants and companies with whom we work. In your proposal please indicate if you would be willing to donate some of your services pro-bono. Please submit a soft copy of the completed proposal to egirma@wbdc.org and forward 4 hard copies to: Ellenie Girma Systems/Network Administrator Women s Business Development Center 8 S. Michigan Avenue, 4 th floor Chicago, IL For questions, please contact Ellenie Girma at ex. 540 or by at egirma@wbdc.org. The WBDC will host a Q&A session related to this RFP on Tuesday, October 9 th from 9:00-10:30 a.m. Participation may either be in person at the WBDC office, 8 S. Michigan Avenue, 4 th floor, Chicago, IL or by phone by calling , Guest Code: #. We highly recommend interested contractors forward their questions to egirma@wbdc.org by October 5th so we can ensure the most succinct responses during the Q&A session. All questions and responses will be posted on the WBDC website no later than October 12 th. TIMELINE RFP issued September 28, Questions due for Q&A Session on October 5, Q&A session at WBDC and by phone on October 9, Questions and responses posted on WBDC website by COB October 12, RFP finalists notified and scheduled for in-person interviews no later than Monday, November 26, In-person finalist interviews scheduled for Thursday or Friday, December 6 or 7, 2012 at the WBDC s office. Final vendor selection and notification completed by Friday, December 14, In-person project kick-off meeting at the WBDC during the week of December 17. Online/on-demand courses available to the public Spring SCOPE OF WORK (Learning Management System) The LMS should be easily accessible and user friendly to learners with varying levels of both technological skill and access to cutting-edge technology. Must integrate with WBDC website to provide a seamless user experience for learners. Additional ability to integrate directly with social networking sites desired. Must possess multiple languages support Identify the languages that come with the basic system.

4 Identify additional languages available. Must possess the ability to track learner registration and progress through coursework. Must allow learners to pause/bookmark during asynchronous courses and return on future logins to where they last left off. Registration for learners must integrate with online payment gateway or WBDC online registration system to be able to charge fees. Self-registration should be available for learners with the ability for the WBDC to manually close registration if necessary. The registration system should be equipped to send registration confirmations and notifications to learners by . Must have the ability to create assessment and testing materials and distribute them to learners. Please specify whether these evaluations methods can be pushed to learners automatically: o As a group and/or individually. o Based on program completion. Please specify whether these elements are reportable. Must have the ability to generate automatic reminders. Must possess reporting capabilities for tracking learner registration, course completion, outstanding training and renewal dates. Must have the ability to create and manage numerous courses at once. Must be able to disable courses and make unavailable; and archive courses. Must contain a utility for course template building. Must be able to support the embedding of hyperlinks, multimedia, video, audio, files, etc. SPECIFICATIONS Describe how the LMS will integrate with the WBDC s website, built on Dot Net Nuke. Describe the infrastructure in place at the hosting data center including redundancy technologies. Describe how the solution scales to meet our stated growth. Describe your backup and restoration capabilities. Describe your failover capabilities and any disaster recovery options. Describe how the infrastructure is monitored and kept optimized. Describe the measures taken to ensure system security and data security. Identify your required maintenance schedule and impact to our system availability. Provide a network diagram that represents the infrastructure that should be in place to implement the solution. Provide information on technical support including hours, level of access, etc. Describe the level of training that is provided to the WBDC LMS administrators. Identify any hardware and software requirements, including supported browsers, for learners to run the LMS. SCOPE OF WORK (Course Conversion and Development) The WBDC is seeking to convert 2 in-person workshops (one English, one Spanish) to online courses by Spring The WBDC has the workshop materials and subject matter experts and is seeking expertise and guidance on how to best convert in-person workshops to online learning courses that are engaging and interactive.

5 Successful development may lead to the opportunity to assist with future course conversion and development as the WBDC expands programming in the future. Course design should be consistent with WBDC branding. Course design should be user friendly for learners with varying levels of both technological skill and access to cutting-edge technology. Courses design should include, but not be limited to, professional visual design, audio synchronization, development of supporting documentation and pre/post assessments. Successful contractor must work with WBDC subject matter experts to ensure course learning objectives are realized. Courses must be able to be viewed on both PC and Apple products. Course files must be created to SCORM or AICC standards for input into LMS. SPECIFICATIONS Include a short description of the approach to the Scope of Work indicated. Include a description of deliverables and work plan to complete the requirements according to the timeline. Include a brief description of the approach used to manage the overall project. Describe e-learning design and course structure elements that have proven successful with adult learners. Provide example(s) of similar online courses that have been successfully designed and implemented for adult learners. Include a fee breakdown of the project expenses.