ZenDesk Customer Service Ticketing System for Office of Professions (OP) and Office of Teaching Initiatives (OTI)

Procurement 154: ZenDesk Customer Service Ticketing System for Office of Professions (OP) and Office of Teaching Initiatives (OTI)

Award Method: To the responsive and responsible bidder who submits the Lowest Cost bid and meets all requirements outlined in the Description section below.

License Term: 24 months (anticipated April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2027)

Description: The New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of Teaching Initiatives (OTI) intends to procure under State Finance Law §163(6) a Discretionary Purchase for a qualified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOB) or a qualified Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) vendor to provide a Zendesk customer service ticketing service. This procurement opportunity is limited to New York State businesses certified pursuant to Article 3 of the Veterans’ Services Law or pursuant to Article 15-A of the New York State Executive Law.

Subscription for OP:

100 annual user licenses:

• Zendesk Suite Enterprise Subscription including:
  • Guide Professional Software Subscription
  • Explore Lite Software Subscription
  • Support: Data Center Location (US) Software Subscription
  • Sunshine Lite Software Subscription
  • Support Enterprise Software Subscription

Subscription for OTI:

100 annual user licenses:

• Zendesk Suite Enterprise Subscription including:
  • Guide Professional Software Subscription
  • Explore Lite Software Subscription
  • Sunshine Lite Software Subscription
  • Support Enterprise Software Subscription
  • Support: Data Center Location (US) Software Subscription

For both offices, the following features and functionality must be included:

• Self-Service Frequently Asked Questions/Article External User Interface
• User Accounts for External Users and Internal Users
• Article Curation with Workflows, including Publish/Unpublish/Review
• Ability for External Users to “Like” Articles
• Content Management Internal User Interface for Creating Frequently Asked Questions/Articles
• Forms for Collecting Specific Data from Customers
• Automatic Delivery to Specific Customer Service Groups
• Ability to Create Folders and Views
• Reporting
• Configurable Customer Ticketing Fields
• Configurable Dashboard Views
• Ability to integrate with phone service

Payment: Annual purchase orders will be issued to the winning bidder for the periods of April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026 and April 1, 2026 – March 31, 2027.

Questions and Answers: All questions from potential bidders should be submitted via online form no later than the close of business on March 14, 2025. A Questions and Answers Summary will be posted to this advertisement on the Contract Reporter no later than March 21, 2025.

Attachments: A Cost Proposal form and a Submission Documents package are posted with this Contract Reporter advertisement. These documents should be completed and submitted with your bid.

Submitting a Bid: Bidders are requested to submit their bids electronically. The following documents should be submitted via online form no later than March 28, 2025, by 3:00 PM Eastern Time:

1. Submission Documents labeled [name of bidder] Submission Documents Procurement 154
2. Cost Proposal labeled [name of bidder] Cost Proposal Procurement 154

Please be sure to enter 154 for Procurement No. in the first field of the online application form.

Please ensure you receive the following confirmation. If this confirmation does not appear, the application has not been received. If you are experiencing any technical difficulties, please contact cauhighqsupport@nysed.gov .