Central Repository For Pls Academic Records

RFA #6100061572

Central Repository for PLS Academic Records

TECHNICAL SUBMITTAL

The State Board of Private Licensed Schools (the Board) seeks to contract with a vendor to serve as the central repository for student transcripts for all closed and currently operating schools licensed/registered by the Board. The Division of Postsecondary Proprietary Education, within the Pennsylvania Department of Education, will serve as the point of contact for this contract.

Private Licensed Schools, schools licensed/registered by the Board, are mandated to store records for a period of 50 years. The vendor will serve as the central repository for the schools to store and service the records for the schools and students.

The central repository will receive both paper and electronic student transcripts, the repository will accept and safeguard received transcripts for students attending State Board of Private Licensed Schools for the past 50 years, including the transcripts of schools that have closed during this time.  The repository currently holds approximately 700,000 transcripts belonging to students at closed schools for the past 50 years and transcripts belonging to students who have attended open schools in the past 5 years. There are currently 186 licensed schools. Open schools who have been operating for longer than 5 years will be submitting historical records over the next year, with an anticipated addition of 300,000 transcripts.  It is estimated that open schools will annually upload an additional 65,000 transcripts.

The repository will also store the student records for over 180 open Private Licensed Schools who served 126,900 students in the 23-24 SY. Schools will begin uploading current transcripts annually after each school year as of September 2025. Open schools have the option to only store transcripts with the repository, or to additionally have the repository service the transcripts for the school. All closed school transcripts are to be stored and serviced.

The central repository is responsible for ingesting paper records and PDF documents. Paper transcripts may require extra care if the paper stock has aged or has otherwise been damaged. PDF documents may contain numerous student records. In both instances there may be unnecessary documents that may need to be purged. There is no required template format for transcripts, so each school will have its own unique template. Each school may also present transcripts under former or alternative names, as well as in different template formats. Historical transcripts may also lack common unique student identifiers, such as student identification number or date of birth. Transcripts may also have faded or text that is otherwise difficult to read. Transcripts may also be handwritten.

The central repository is responsible for tracking the ingestion of transcripts by school, by student, and by academic year for open institutions. This is to enable Department staff to track the historical and on-going required Private Licensed School submissions.

The central repository is responsible for providing a process for schools to upload PDF documents directly to the repository for ingestion. The central repository is responsible for establishing the required protocol for schools to upload transcripts. The repository shall clearly communicate the upload requirements and provide necessary technical support directly to schools.

The central repository is responsible for providing a process for students to be able to request their transcripts. The repository is responsible for providing a process to facilitate third-party transcript requests and education verifications. The process must provide for the student’s identity verification and authorization and a secure and timely delivery method.

The central repository is responsible for establishing a broadly accepted method of payment for students to pay the cost of obtaining their transcripts. The central repository will establish the costs of identity verification, transcript request, third-party request, and education verifications. However, at no time should the cost exceed the average costs reasonably charged by similar transcript service providers. Any changes in the costs being charged to students are to be reported to the Department in advance.

The central repository will operate at no cost to the Commonwealth, Department, or the schools. Rather, the central repository will earn revenue from the student cost of obtaining transcripts. The proposal should include a five-year budget plan that demonstrates how it will recover the costs of this work and the itemized costs to be charged to students. The plan should further identify the costs expected to be incurred for collecting records, ingesting records, implementing processes and protocols, software coding and development, storage and security, and servicing of the records for the length of the contract.

The central repository must provide to the Department itemized financial and service reporting every six months that demonstrates: 1) a breakdown of costs incurred; 2) income related to successful requests; 3) number of unsuccessful requests by name of school; and 4) a breakdown by name of the schools ingested and the total number of records for each.

The central repository must refer students and third parties to the Department when a student requests a record, and it is not found.

The central repository must provide a secure storage system with an appropriate backup method to safeguard student records in full compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other federal and state rules regarding privacy, records and data breach protection. The central repository must develop and maintain a plan to safeguard the storage of the records in its custody in the case of a catastrophic event, bankruptcy, or dissolution. This plan is to be shared with the Department. If the current plan changes, the Department is to be provided with a copy of the revised plan in advance.

The central repository must maintain adequate security to protect student data and prevent unauthorized access or data breaches. The central repository will monitor, prevent and deter unauthorized system access. In addition, pertaining to the unauthorized access, use, release, or disclosure of data, the repository shall comply with state and federal data breach notification statutes and regulations, and shall promptly report security incidents to the Department. The offeror’s response must include a third-party review of the existing security protocols.

The central repository must provide responsive technical support for schools seeking to upload transcripts, for Department staff seeking to confirm information, and for students and third-party services requesting transcripts. Tech support will be sufficiently staffed and trained to provide timely support.

The central repository must provide a means for Department staff to search and review student-level transcripts and related information. Additionally, staff must be able to review the number of records uploaded for each school, by academic year. Department staff must be able to school contact and user information and account activity.

The contract with the repository shall be valid for five years and eligible for renewal. The central repository must develop and maintain a plan for transition to another vendor in the case of termination or non-renewal of the contract. This plan is to be shared with the Department. If the current plan changes, the Department is to be provided with a copy of the revised plan in advance.

I-1. Statement of the Project. State in succinct terms your understanding of the project presented, or the service required by this RFA.

Offeror Response

I-2. Qualifications.

A. Company Overview. A minimum of two years of experience serving as a transcript storage and service provider with demonstrated positive customer service experiences.

Offeror Response

B. Prior Experience. Demonstrated experience protecting, storing, and servicing of over one million transcripts. Demonstrate not only the company’s achievements, but also the work done by the individuals assigned to this project. Information should demonstrate the actual customer, including their name, address, and contact information.

Offeror Response

C. Personnel. Describe in narrative form the number of executive and professional personnel who will be engaged in the work and indicate where these personnel will be physically located during the time they are engaged in the Project. For key personnel, including the project leadership team and those assigned to this project, provide the employee’s name, and through a resume or similar document, the employee’s education and experience in safeguarding, storing, and servicing student transcripts. Additionally, indicate the responsibilities each employee will have on the project, their working position title, and how long they have been with your company.

Offeror Response

D. Subcontractors: Provide a subcontracting plan for all subcontractors, including small diverse business and small business subcontractors, who will be assigned to the Project. The selected Offeror is prohibited from subcontracting or outsourcing any part of this Project without the express written approval from the Commonwealth. Upon awarding the contract resulting from this RFA, subcontractors included in the proposal submission are deemed approved. For each position included in your subcontracting plan provide:

1. Name of subcontractor;

2. Primary contact name and email;

3. Address of subcontractor;

4. Description of services to be performed;

5. Number of employees by job category assigned to this project; and

6. Resumes (if appropriate and available).

Offeror Response

E. Budget: The central repository will operate at no cost to the Department or to the institutions of higher education. Rather, the central repository will earn revenue from the student cost of obtaining transcripts. The vendor’s proposal should include a five-year budget plan that demonstrates how it will recover the costs of this work and the itemized costs to be charged to students. The plan should further identify the costs expected to be incurred for collecting records, ingesting records, implementing processes and protocols, software coding and development, storage and security, and servicing of the records for the length of the contract.

5-Year Budget Plan
	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
Revenue Item(s)
Revenue Item(s)
Revenue Item(s)
Total Revenue
Expense Item(s)
Expense Item(s)
Expense Item(s)
Total Expenses

The central repository must provide itemized financial and service reporting every six months that demonstrates: 1) a breakdown of the respective costs incurred; 2) income related to successful requests; 3) number of unsuccessful requests by name of school; and 4) a breakdown by name of the schools ingested and the total number of records for each.

6-Month Financial and Service Reporting
Revenue Item(s)
Revenue Item(s)
Revenue Item(s)
Total Revenue
Expense Item(s)
Expense Item(s)
Expense Item(s)
Total Expenses
Number of Requests
Number of Successful Requests
Newly ingested school + number of records
Total number of transcripts ingested/available

Offeror Response

I-3. Training. If appropriate, indicate recommended training for Department staff and school personnel. Include recommendations for training by assigned responsibility, the number to be trained, duration of the training, place of the training, curricula, training materials to be used, number and frequency of sessions, and number and level of instructors recommended.

Offeror Response

I-4. Financial Capability. Describe your company’s financial stability and economic capability to fulfil the contract requirements. Include the company’s 2023 and 2024 audited financial statements, along with a year-to-date income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Disclose whether the company or the principals have filed for personal bankruptcy or served as an officer in a company or business that has filed for bankruptcy. Disclose whether any of the principal officers or the project manager have been employed by Pennsylvania institution of higher education that has closed. The Commonwealth reserves the right to request additional information to evaluate an Offeror’s financial capability.

Offeror Response

I-5. Tasks. Describe in narrative form your technical plan for accomplishing the work using the task descriptions set forth below as your reference point. Modifications of the task descriptions are permitted; however, reasons for changes should be fully explained. Indicate the number of personnel hours allocated to each task. Include a Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) or similar type display, time related, showing each event. If more than one approach is apparent, comment on why you chose this approach.

1. The central repository will receive and ingest paper records and PDF documents from open and closed institutions of higher education authorized the Department. The processes for ingestion must allow for potential poor quality or extraneous documents to be included. The process for ingestion must allow for varied transcript formatting.

2. Ingestion, Storage, and Service

a. Store and service over 900,000 existing closed Private Licensed Schools transcripts

b. Receive and ingest all historical transcripts for open Private Licensed Schools

c. Receive and ingest annually transcripts for open Private Licensed Schools

d. Store historical and future transcripts for open Private Licensed Schools

e. Service open Private Licensed Schools transcripts, upon school request

f. Receive, ingest, store, and service closed college, university, or seminary transcripts, upon school request

3. The central repository will track all transcripts received by awarding school name and location, as well as academic year.

4. The central repository is responsible for the process in which schools upload PDF documents directly to the repository for ingestion. The central repository is responsible for establishing the required protocol for schools to upload transcripts. The repository shall clearly communicate the upload requirements and provide necessary technical support directly to schools.

5. The central repository will implement a process in which schools may upload a more current transcript and have the old transcript overwritten.

6. The central repository will receive annual transcript uploads from open Private Licensed Schools, generally between July 1 and September 30.

7. The central repository is responsible for the process and system development necessary in which students and third parties may request transcripts.

a. The process must provide for the student’s identity verification and authorization

b. The process must provide for secure delivery of the transcript

c. Broadly accepted methods of payment must be offered

d. Fees to be charged shall not exceed the average costs reasonably charged by similar transcript service providers – changes in fees must be reported to the Department in advance

e. The repository will provide transcripts within 5 business days of the date of transcript request and payment of fees

f. The repository will refer all unsuccessful requests to the Department for further assistance

8. The central repository will safeguard, store, and service transcripts for 50 years following the date of the student’s graduation or withdrawal.

9. The central repository will implement a secure procedure for destroying transcripts after 50 years following the date of graduation or withdrawal.

10. The central repository will provide a secure storage system with an appropriate backup method to safeguard student records in full compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other federal and state rules regarding privacy, records and data breach protection.

11. The central repository will provide a plan to safeguard the storage of the records in its custody in the case of a catastrophic event, bankruptcy, or dissolution. This plan is to be shared with the Department. If the current plan changes, the Department is to be provided with a copy of the revised plan in advance.

12. The central repository will maintain adequate security to protect student data and prevent unauthorized access or data breaches. The central repository will monitor, prevent and deter unauthorized system access. All known attempts must be reported to the Commonwealth within two (2) business days. In addition, pertaining to the unauthorized access, use, release, or disclosure of data, the repository shall comply with state and federal data breach notification statutes and regulations, and shall promptly report security incidents to the Commonwealth.

13. The central repository will provide responsive technical support for schools seeking to upload transcripts, for Department staff seeking to confirm information, and for students and third-party services requesting transcripts. Tech support will be sufficiently staffed and trained to provide support within two (2) business days.

14. The central repository will provide a means for Department staff to search for and review student-level transcripts and related information. Additionally, staff must be able to review the number of records uploaded for each school, by academic year. Department staff must be able to view school contact and user information, as well as school activity.

15. The contract shall be valid for five years. The central repository will develop and maintain a plan for transition to another vendor in the case of termination or non-renewal of the contract. This plan is to be shared with the Department. If the current plan changes, the Department is to be provided with a copy of the revised plan in advance,

16. The repository will provide a minimum of two years’ notice prior to discontinuing this service.

17. The repository will maintain a service website for receiving and sending transcripts that is ADA compliant

Offeror Response

I-6. Reports and Project Control.

A. Status Report. The central repository will provide itemized financial and service reporting every six (6) months that demonstrate: 1) a breakdown of the respective costs incurred; 2) income related to successful requests; 3) number of unsuccessful requests by name of school; and 4) a breakdown by name of the schools ingested and the total number of records for each.

Offeror Response

B. Problem Identification Report. An “as required” report, identifying problem areas. The report should describe the problem and its impact on the project overall and on each affected task. It should list possible courses of action with advantages and disadvantages of each, and include Offeror recommendations with supporting rationale.

Offeror Response

C. Final Report. In lieu of a final report, itemized financial and service reporting will be provided every six (6) months.

Offeror Response

I-7. Requirements. The central repository will receive, ingest, safeguard, and service transcripts for all closed Private Licensed Schools and service-contracted operating Private Licensed Schools.

The central repository currently stores approximately 900,000 records, with additional historical records forthcoming, as well as current and future transcripts to be uploaded. It is estimated an additional 500,000 transcripts will be uploaded by 12/31/2027. The repository will serve over 180 open Private Licensed Schools who served 126,900 students in the 23-24 SY.

The central repository must be able to receive and ingest both paper and PDF documents. Transcript ingestion is to be tracked by school, student, and academic year. Student data will be protected from unauthorized access, data breaches, catastrophic events, bankruptcy, or dissolution. Technical support will be provided to schools and Department staff. Department staff shall have access to school-level and student-level data.

The central repository will provide a means for students and third parties to request transcripts. Transcripts will be transmitted securely to requestors. Student identity and authorization will be confirmed prior to the release of transcripts. Technical support will be provided to students and third-party requestors.

A. Emergency Preparedness. To support continuity of operations during an emergency, including a pandemic, the Commonwealth needs a strategy for maintaining operations for an extended period of time. One part of this strategy is to ensure that essential contracts that provide critical business services to the Commonwealth have planned for such an emergency and put contingencies in place to provide the contracted goods and services.

1. Describe how you anticipate such a crisis will impact your operations.

2. Describe your emergency response continuity of operations plan. Please attach a copy of your plan, or at a minimum, summarize how your plan addresses the following aspects of pandemic preparedness:

a. Employee training (describe your organization’s training plan, and how frequently your plan will be shared with employees);

b. Identified essential business functions and key employees (within your organization) necessary to carry them out;

c. Contingency plans for:

i. How your organization will handle staffing issues when a portion of key employees are incapacitated due to illness; and.

ii. How employees in your organization will carry out the essential functions if contagion control measures prevent them from coming to the primary workplace.

d. How your organization will communicate with staff and suppliers when primary communications systems are overloaded or otherwise fail, including key contacts, chain of communications (including suppliers), etc. and;

e. How and when your emergency plan will be tested, and if the plan will be tested by a third party.

Offeror Response

I-8. Objections and Additions to IT Contract Terms and Conditions. The Offeror will identify which, if any, of the terms and conditions it would like to negotiate and what additional terms and conditions the Offeror would like to add to the standard contract terms and conditions. The Offeror’s failure to make a submission under this paragraph will result in its waiving its right to do so later, but the Issuing Office may consider late objections and requests for additions if to do so, in the Issuing Office’s sole discretion, would be in the best interest of the Commonwealth. The Issuing Office may, in its sole discretion, accept or reject any requested changes to the standard contract terms and conditions. The Offeror shall not request changes to the other provisions of the RFA, nor shall the Offeror request to completely substitute its own terms and conditions for this RFA. All terms and conditions must appear in one integrated contract. The Issuing Office will not accept references to the Offeror’s, or any other, online guides or online terms and conditions contained in any proposal.

Regardless of any objections set out in its proposal, the Offeror must submit its proposal, including the cost proposal, based on the terms and conditions set out in the IT Contract Terms and Conditions. The Issuing Office will reject any proposal that is conditioned on the negotiation of the terms and conditions set out in the IT Contract Terms and Conditions or to other provisions of the RFA.

The requirement for the ingestion, safeguarding, and servicing of academic transcripts for a minimum of 50 years following graduation or withdrawal is a non-negotiable requirement in this RFP because this is a mandate of the Private Licensed Schools Act.

Offeror Response

I-9. Questions and Answers: The Commonwealth requests that questions be submitted by email no later than February 20, 2026, 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time so that staff can adequately address all questions. Questions may be sent to our Procurement Office at: jamdomen@pa.gov. Please include the following in the subject line: “RFA #6100061572 - Central Repository for PLS Academic Records”

A listing of the written questions submitted, and the Commonwealth's responses will be made available on February 25, 2026. An addendum to the RFA will be posted at eMarketplace (http://www.emarketplace.state.pa.us).

I-10. Due Date: RFA responses must be received by March 11, 2026, at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. To be considered for this solicitation, the vendor must submit an electronic copy email to the PDE's Procurement Office. Email submissions should be sent to: Jim Domen, Procurement Specialist, who will serve as Point of Contact on this RFA at: jamdomen@pa.gov.

Once the Commonwealth has received the RFA, it will contact all respondents determined to be reasonably responsive and may require additional points of clarification at that time.

Responses should be succinct but must include all information requested.