RFP UCA-26-032 Online Learning Content Platform

Location:	Arkansas
Posted:	Nov 10, 2025
Due:	Dec 10, 2025
Agency:	University of Central Arkansas
Type of Government:	State & Local
Category:	70 - General Purpose Information Technology Equipment (including software). D - Automatic Data Processing and Telecommunication Services U - Education and Training Services
Solicitation No:	UCA-26-032
Publication URL:	To access bid details, please log in.

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Bid Number:

Description:

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS

PROCUREMENT OFFICE

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

SOLICITATION INFORMATION

RFP #UCA-26-032

Solicitation Issued: November 10, 2025

Online Learning Content Platform

Bid Submission Deadline:

SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR RESPONSE

December 10, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. central standard time

Bid Opening Date and Time: December 10, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. central standard time

Deliver proposal submissions for this Request for Proposal to the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) on or before the

designated bid opening date and time. In accordance with Arkansas Procurement Law and Rules, it is the responsibility

of Prospective Contractors to submit proposals at the designated location on or before the bid opening date and time.

Proposals received after the designated bid opening date and time may be considered late and may be returned to the

Prospective Contractor without further review. It is not necessary to return "no bids" to UCA.

Delivery Address:

Proposal’s Outer

Packaging:

DELIVERY OF RESPONSE DOCUMENTS

University of Central Arkansas

ATTN: Meghan Cowan

201 Donaghey Avenue

Wingo Hall 113

Conway, AR 72035

Delivery providers, USPS, UPS, and FedEx deliver mail to UCA on a schedule determined by each

individual provider. Prospective Vendors assume all risk for timely, properly submitted

deliveries.

Seal outer packaging and properly mark with the following information. If outer packaging of

proposal submission is not properly marked, the package may be opened for bid identification

purposes.

● Bid number

● Date and time of bid opening

● Prospective Contractor's name and return address

University’s Buyer:

Email Address:

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS

Meghan Cowan

Buyer’s Direct Phone

Number:

501-450-5013

meghanp@uca.edu

Procurement’s Main Number: 501-450-3173

Contract

Administrator

Dr. Tim Bisping

Phone Number: 501-852-2950

Email address: tbisping@uca.edu

Bid Solicitation Document

RFP #UCA-26-032

SECTION 1 - GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION

1.1 PURPOSE

The University is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide an Online Learning Content Platform. A more

complete description of the solution and services sought is provided later in this RFP.

1.2 CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

The current workforce environment makes it best for business graduates to have opportunities to graduate with multiple

industry certifications in order to be competitive in the job market. It is especially important that students have the

opportunity to pursue multiple certifications designed and offered by corporate entities, and that faculty have

opportunities to incorporate materials associated with such certifications in full, or in part, in courses. As workplace

demands change over time, and we are committed to the long-term success of our students and to lifelong learning, we

also seek opportunities for alumni to engage in this system. In January of 2026 the university will begin transitioning to the

Brightspace (D2L) LMS, and this migration away from Blackboard is expected to be complete by Summer of 2026.

Seamless integration into in Brightspace is preferred, and the ability to work through SSO is required.

1.2.1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS/CAPABILITIES

1) A platform through which all business students and select others taking business courses can engage in earning

multiple professional certifications and individual courses, developed and offered by a wide-variety of major companies,

and in various relevant professional fields. Ideally, this would also provide credentialing options for alumni. 2) A platform

through which these certifications/courses can be pursued both independently by students and incorporated fully, or in

part, by faculty into courses/curricula. 3) A platform with additional abilities to assist in the development of custom courses

which incorporate its content with the content of faculty courses, preferably with generative AI assistance and focus, and

available for 125 learners.

1.2.2 SYSTEM MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT

The proposal shall also describe how the proposed solution, or the awarded contractor, will provide the following

requirements. If the requirements are not to be met by the solution or the contractor, the proposals should explain the

proposer’s solution to meet the perceived need.

i. Describe all levels of support that will be provided throughout the contract term.

ii. Provide on-going support and service, including technical support 24 hours per day, 7 days

per week, and any needed system upgrades, fixes, data recovery assistance, and

enhancements to the items installed.

iii. Describe the product maintenance and software support plan.

iv. Identify and explain the process through which institution is notified when new functionality is

provided, or other enhancements are made to the proposed solution.

v. Provide institution with enhancements and updates to the proposed solution as they are

made generally available.

vi. Discuss the responsibility and/or process for initial system setup versus ongoing

administration of day-to-day operations. Vendor should include as part of the description a

discussion of the administrative functions that will be performed by institution as opposed to

the Vendor.

1.2.3 VOLUNTARY PRODUCT ACCESSIBILITY TEMPLATE

Provide your VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) for accessibility or your WCAG 2.2 Conformance

Statement. Include specific information regarding the accessibility of platform, keyboard navigation, and screen

reader accessibility.

Bid Solicitation Document

RFP #UCA-26-032

1.2.4 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

a) Implementation Plan/Timeline

Provide a detailed implementation plan that includes a timeline with dates of initiation and completion.

Include all requirements, if any, for university resources that must be used for each step of implementation.

Explicitly detail the integration to Brightspace.

b) Detailed Work Plan

Provide a detailed work plan that should include all tasks, clear deliverables, target dates for each task, and

any on-site visits required to perform the services, if required.

c) Maintenance/Support Agreement

Provide maintenance and support agreement that must include, but not limited to, any upgrades, updates,

enhancements, new releases, etc., to the product released during the term of the contract. Must detail what

is contained in the maintenance/support agreement, to include descriptions of service level offerings and

licensing considerations as well as what if any downtime is needed for maintenance and upgrades.

d) Training Plan

Provide a training plan and initial technical training on the proper use of the software solution. Training must

be sufficient to enable technical individuals designated by UCA to fully understand, test, validate, use tools

for, and operate and instruct others as to the features, functions, capabilities, and maintenance of the

software. Clarify training provided onsite and/or via Zoom for faculty that is included in the proposal and is not

an extra cost.

e) Quality Assurance Plan

Submit a Quality Assurance Plan that supports all core responsibilities of the RFP describing how the

respondent will ensure the quality of services being provided, how it will identify inappropriate service, how it

will correct identified problems, and how it will respond to issues of service and quality.

f) Additional Functionality Services

Additional enhancements that may benefit the application., i.e., any specifications for future expansion, or for

features or capabilities that will likely be needed by the university at some time in the future may be

submitted. Products under development to meet these future needs should be referenced with anticipated

release dates.

The “base solution” must describe/identify/include all products/services to fulfill the scope of this RFP. However, there

may be additional products/services/ enhancements/add-ons that have not been requested in the scope of the RFP but

will be required for respondent’s product or service to fulfill the scope of the RFP. If so, the respondent must identify and

describe these additional products/services in their technical proposal as the “base solution.” Any additional products/

services/ enhancements/add-on components that are not required to fulfill the scope of the RFP, these products/services

must be identified and described in your technical proposal as well as your cost proposal documents and labeled in each

proposal so that the university can easily and clearly identify what is included in your technical base solution and what is

included in your cost base solution. This information will aid in the evaluation process along with providing a complete

understanding of your offer contents.

1.3 TYPE OF CONTRACT

A. As a result of this RFP, UCA intends to award a contract to a single vendor.

B. The anticipated starting date for any resulting contract is January 2026 dependent on the Arkansas Legislative

Council review date and approval. By submitting a signed proposal in response to the RFP, the Prospective

Contractor represents and warrants that it will honor its proposal as being held open as irrevocable for this

period.

C. The initial term of a resulting contract shall be for three (3) years. Upon mutual agreement by the Awarded

Contractor and UCA, the contract may be renewed by UCA for up to four (4) additional years or portions

thereof, not to exceed a total aggregate contract term of seven (7) consecutive years or a total aggregate

contract term allowable by Arkansas law.

Bid Solicitation Document

RFP #UCA-26-032

1.4 ISSUING UNIVERSITY

UCA’s Procurement Office, is the issuing office, and the sole point of contact throughout this solicitation. All

questions, comments, submissions, or other contact during the solicitation schedule period. shall be directed to the

university buyer ONLY, as listed on page one (1) of this solicitation.

1.5 BID OPENING LOCATION

Proposals will be opened at the following location:

University of Central Arkansas

Procurement Office

201 Donaghey Avenue

Wingo Hall 113

Conway, AR 72035

1.6 ACCEPTANCE OF REQUIREMENTS

A Prospective Contractor must unconditionally accept all Requirements in the Requirements Section(s) of this RFP

to be considered a responsive Prospective Contractor.

A Prospective Contractor’s proposal shall be disqualified if a Prospective Contractor takes exceptions to any

Requirements in the Requirements Section(s) of this RFP.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

A. The University has made every effort to use industry-accepted terminology in this Bid Solicitation and will

attempt to further clarify any point of an item in question as indicated in Clarification of Bid Solicitation.

B. Unless otherwise defined herein, all terms defined in Arkansas Procurement Law and used herein have the

same definitions herein as specified therein.

C. “Prospective Contractor” means a person who submits a proposal in response to this solicitation.

D. “Contractor” means a person who sells or contracts to sell commodities and/or services.

E. The terms “Request for Proposal”, “RFP,” “Bid Solicitation,” and “Solicitation” are used synonymously in this

document.

F. “Responsive proposal” means a proposal submitted in response to this solicitation that conforms in all material

respects to this RFP.

G. “Proposal Submission Requirement” means a task a Contractor must complete when submitting a proposal

response. These requirements will be distinguished by using the term “shall” or “must” in the requirement.

H. “Requirement” means a specification that a Contractor’s product and/or service must perform during the term

of the contract. These specifications will be distinguished by using the term “shall” or “must” in the

requirement.

Bid Solicitation Document

RFP #UCA-26-032

1.8 RESPONSE DOCUMENTS

The following (10) questions must be addressed and submitted with your proposal.

1) Which companies offer professional certifications and/or courses through your platform?

2) How many distinct certifications are offered through your platform? How many individual courses?

3) Which other universities do you partner with in a program such as the one proposed, especially in the state of

Arkansas?

4) What experience and/or recommendations do you have regarding the integration by faculty of your

certifications/courses into courses/curricula?

5) Is generative AI addressed in your courses/certifications and/or employed to assist faculty in integration of these

materials into courses?

6) Are faculty able to create custom courses that will integrate materials from your courses into their own? If so, how is

this done?

7) Who is responsible for updating certifications/courses on your platform?

8) How are records of completions recorded and verified for students?

9) Which, if any, of your courses/certifications developed internally, by your company?

10) Are faculty able to use individual assignments in their courses, rather than the entire course/certificates?

A. Original Technical Proposal Packet

1. The following items are Proposal Submission Requirements and must be submitted in the original

Technical Proposal Packet.

a. Original signed Proposal Signature Page.

b. One (1) original hard copy of the proposal response which includes:

i. Technical Proposal response to Section 1.2 - 1.2.4, 1.8 and the Information for Requirements and

Evaluation sections. Proposal response must be in the English language. Proposal shall not

exceed 50 pages.

ii. Response to the Official Bid Price Sheet. Pricing must be proposed in U.S. dollars and cents

● The Official Bid Price Sheet, including the hard copy and electronic copy, must be separately

sealed from the Technical Proposal Packet and should be clearly marked as “Pricing”. A

Prospective Contractor shall not include any pricing in the hard copies or electronic copies of

their Technical Proposal Packet.

iii. Response to the Deliverables sheet.

2. DO NOT include any other documents or ancillary information, such as a cover letter or

promotional/marketing information.

B. Additional Copies and Redacted Copy of the Technical Proposal Packet and Official Bid Price Sheet

In addition to the original Technical Proposal Packet, the Official Bid Price Sheet, and the Deliverables sheet,

the following items should be submitted via mail:

1. Additional Copies of the Technical Proposal Packet

a. One (1) complete hard copy (marked "COPY") of the Technical Proposal Packet.

b. Two (2) electronic copies of the Technical Proposal Packet, preferably on flash drives. Electronic

copies must clearly identify the company name and project. Do not send electronic copies via email

or fax.

This is the opportunity summary page. It provides an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation.