RFP 2026-097 Student Virtual Orientation Solution

Administered by University of Maine System
Office of Strategic Procurement
Request for Proposal (RFP)
Student Virtual Orientation Solution
RFP #2026-097
Issued Date: August 4, 2026
Response Deadline Date/Time: August 31, 2026, 11:59 p.m. EDT
Response Submission Information:
Submitted electronically to UMSResponses@maine.edu
Email Subject Line - Student Virtual Orientation Solution:
RFP#2026-097
Response Contact Information:
Email: UMSResponses@maine.edu

Request for Proposal (IT) - Student Virtual Orientation Solution Dated: August 4, 2026
Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION 3
1.1 Definitions, Background, Purpose and Specifications 3
1.2 General Information 7
1.3 General Submission Provisions 11
2.0 EVALUATION AND AWARD PROCESS 14
2.1 Evaluation Criteria 14
2.2 Award 16
2.3 Tie Bids 16
2.4 Negotiations 16
2.5 Award Protest 17
3.0 RESPONSE FORMAT REQUIREMENTS 17
3.1 General Format Instructions 17
3.2 Response Format Instructions 18
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Definitions, Background, Purpose and Specifications
1.1.1 Definitions
The University of Maine System will hereinafter be referred to as the "University."
Respondents to the document shall be referred to as "Respondent(s)" or
"Respondent".
The Respondent to whom the Agreement is awarded shall be referred to as the
"Contractor."
The University of Maine System and other components of the University shall be
referred to as "Multi-Institution".
1.1.2 Background
Overview
Established in 1968, the University of Maine System (UMS) unites six distinctive
public universities, comprising seven campuses and numerous centers, in the
common purpose of providing quality higher education while delivering on its
traditional tripartite mission of teaching, research, and public service.
A comprehensive public institution of higher education, UMS serves more than
30,000 students annually and is supported by the efforts of more than 2,000 full-
time and part-time faculty, more than 3,000 regular full-time and part-time staff,
and a complement of part-time temporary (adjunct) faculty.
Reaching more than 500,000 people annually through educational and cultural
offerings, the University of Maine System also benefits from more than two-thirds
of its alumni population residing within the state; more than 123,000 individuals.
The System consists of six universities: The University of Maine (UMaine),
including its regional campus the University of Maine at Machias (UMM); the
University of Maine at Augusta (UMA); the University of Maine at Farmington
(UMF); the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK), the University of Maine at
Presque Isle (UMPI); and the University of Southern Maine (USM). The System
also includes the University of Maine School of Law and the University of Maine
Graduate and Professional Center.
Campus thumbnails
University of Maine at Augusta
Founded in 1965, the University of Maine at Augusta transforms the lives of
students of every age and background across the State of Maine and beyond
through access to high-quality distance and on-site education, excellence in
student support, civic engagement, and professional and liberal arts programs.
UMA is the third largest public university in Maine. A leader in distance education,
UMA has a statewide presence with two campuses in Augusta and Bangor, eight
UMA Centers from Saco to Houlton, and 32 course receive sites across Maine.
Flexible modalities, with classes onsite, online, through video conference,
Interactive Television, and at UMA Centers allow its students to take classes, while
keeping work and family commitments. While UMA has a traditional-aged cohort,
two-thirds of its students are over 25 years old. Over 50% of UMA's students are
first generation and 72% are Pell Grant eligible. These students are motivated to
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make a positive change in their lives by pursuing a college degree. With its multiple
locations and long-term expertise in online and distance learning, UMA is generally
considered the university of choice for Mainers of all ages who want to attend
college without uprooting their lives.
University of Maine at Farmington
The University of Maine at Farmington is the birthplace of public higher education
in Maine and has earned a national reputation for excellence. Established in 1864,
it is a small, selective public liberal arts college, serving primarily full-time,
traditional-age undergraduates in a residential setting. UMF offers quality
programs in teacher education, human services, arts and sciences and
professional studies. At Farmington, students feel connected, deeply woven in the
roots of the community. Through hands-on learning, the sharing of ideas, debating
of issues and pursuit of research, our professors become an active part of their
student's lives helping them engage and succeed in a place where they are valued,
inspired and empowered. Located in the foothills of the mountains of western
Maine, UMF offers the perfect mix of the active outdoor lifestyle with the
quintessential New England college town. With enrollment at around 1,800 full-
time students, UMF is about the same size as many of New England's most
selective private colleges and offers many of the same advantages, yet at a very
affordable price-providing a tremendous college value in a spectacular natural
setting.
University of Maine at Fort Kent
Founded in 1878, the University of Maine at Fort Kent is a unique learning
institution perfect for people seeking a rural scholastic atmosphere of modern
academic standards combined with an eclectic mix of rugged outdoor vistas and
access to cosmopolitan epicenters across two countries. The learning
opportunities at UMFK have become a model of a "destination university" that
other New England campuses attempt to emulate. Strong academic programs
include associate and bachelor's degrees in disciplines such as nursing, business,
biology, forestry and cybersecurity among others. The student body at UMFK
numbering 1,500, has a higher percentage of international students than any other
university in New England, allowing immersion in a cultural opportunity that is
unique in the world. UMFK enjoys national recognition for quality and value as well
as championships in men's and women's soccer.
University of Maine
The University of Maine, founded in Orono in 1865, is the state's land grant and
sea grant university. As the state's only public research university, UMaine has a
statewide mission of teaching, research and economic development, and
community service. UMaine is among the most comprehensive higher education
institutions in the Northeast with nearly 100 majors and academic programs. It
attracts students from Maine and 49 other states, and more than 60 countries. It
currently enrolls more than 11,400 undergraduate and graduate students who can
directly participate in research, working with world-class scholars. UMaine offers
more than 100 degree programs through which students can earn graduate
certificates, master's, doctoral or professional science master's degrees. The
university promotes environmental stewardship, with substantial efforts campus
wide aimed at conserving energy, recycling and adhering to green building
standards in new construction.
University of Maine at Machias
The University of Maine at Machias is a regional campus of the University of Maine.
With its environmental liberal arts core, distinctive baccalaureate programs and
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student-centered community, UMM creates enriching educational opportunities
that prepare graduates for professional success and lifelong engagement. It offers
15 undergraduate degree programs that serve approximately 800 students. Small
class sizes and hands-on learning define the academic experience at Maine's
coastal university, where there is a shared commitment to exploration, leadership,
collaboration and interdisciplinary problem solving. UMM's applied research and
community outreach contribute to the quality of life and economic development in
Down East Maine and beyond.
University of Maine at Presque Isle
For more than a century, the University of Maine at Presque Isle has been helping
students find their path to great professional careers, providing its 1,100 traditional
and non-traditional students from all areas of the state, country, and world with life-
changing opportunities in a caring, small-university environment. UMPI combines
liberal arts and selected professional programs and serves as a cultural and
educational resource for the entire region. The campus sits on 150 acres
surrounded by the rolling hills and potato fields of northern Maine and strives to be
the region's premier learning institution while helping to stimulate cultural and
economic development in Aroostook County and the State of Maine. The
University serves as an educational and cultural center for the area and its facilities
are utilized for lectures, programs, concerts, dance performances, exhibits, and
plays that benefit the entire region.
University of Southern Maine
Known for its academic excellence and student focus, the University of Southern
Maine (USM) is a community-engaged university taking advantage of its three-
campus location in the economic and cultural heart of Maine to provide unmatched,
authentic, hands-on learning experiences. This gives our graduates a leg up in
launching their careers while at the same time meeting the workplace needs of our
region and state.
Our significant financial and academic support provides our students access to a
high quality education, helps ensure their success once they are here and enables
them to pursue and realize their dreams upon graduation.
Reflecting the community it serves, USM has become known as "the University of
Everyone," welcoming a diverse mix of ages, backgrounds and income levels to
our 8,000 plus student body. Ranging from traditional high school graduates to
adults completing their degree, from high achievers to those who may not have
seen a college education in their future, from new Mainers to veterans who have
served our nation, the University of Southern Maine supports their academic
pursuits and encourages their advancement.
University of Maine School of Law
The University of Maine School of Law is the state's public and only law school, a
vital resource serving our local, regional, national, and global community. Maine
Law is an institutional public servant committed to providing an accessible and
affordable student-focused program of legal education and achieving the highest
standards of ethical behavior. Our rigorous doctrinal and experiential curriculum,
influential scholarship, and signature programming prepare students to practice
law, promote respect for the rule of law, and advance justice for all members of
society.
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University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center
Located in Portland but serving students and employers statewide, the University
of Maine Graduate and Professional Center (the Maine Center) brings together
academic programs in law, business, and public policy to train the workforce of the
future and grow Maine's economy. The Maine Center is an academic consortium
composed of the University of Maine School of Law, the University of Maine
Graduate School of Business, the graduate programs of the Muskie School of
Public Service, and the Cutler Institute of Health and Social Policy. This consortium
develops cross-disciplinary, experiential, and market-driven programming for
graduate students in the Maine Center's three focus areas. The Maine Center also
delivers programming for members of Maine's civic, business, and legal
communities, including executive education, certificates, workshops, externship
placements, and a startup incubator/accelerator. The Maine Center is supported
by a challenge grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation.
1.1.3 Purpose
The University of Maine System acting on behalf of the University of Maine is
seeking a comprehensive, multimedia rich online orientation and onboarding
platform specifically designed to support an institution's recruitment, welcome, and
transition processes. The institution seeks a solution that goes beyond the
capabilities of traditional learning management systems by delivering a visually
engaging, highly structured, and user-friendly experience tailored to diverse
audiences, including first time online learners and adult learners, who often
struggle with generic or course oriented platforms.
The desired solution must offer a configurable, accessible interface that fully
reflects University of Maine branding; interactive multimedia content; personalized
learning pathways for multiple user groups; and integrated tools such as progress
tracking, checklists, resource hubs, and search-enabled FAQs to ensure clarity,
motivation, and completion. It must also support multilingual delivery. The solution
must conform to WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA.
In addition, the platform must provide robust administrative controls, real-time
analytics, and enterprise integrations limited to single sign on and Salesforce
TargetX customer relationship management data delivery, to streamline
operations, reduce staff workload, and deliver actionable insights into user
engagement. Given the importance of reliability and domain expertise, the
institution seeks a vendor with a demonstrated track record of delivering virtual
orientation solutions within higher education, evidenced by at least 10 named
higher education clients currently using the proposed solution in production.
Through this procurement, the institution aims to implement an engaging, scalable,
and modern digital experience that supports recruitment, onboarding, student
success, and organizational efficiency.
Respondents should review 1.1.4 Specifications / Scope of Work of this
document to see the full Scope of Services/Products required.
This document provides instructions for submitting responses, the procedure and
criteria by which the Respondent(s) will be selected, and the contractual terms
which will govern the relationship between the University and the awarded
Respondent(s). Licensing for this RFP is scoped to the University of Maine
System, undergraduate students.
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1.1.4 Specifications / Scope of Work
Online Orientation Services
Specific requirements are specified for the solution. The University of Maine
System encourages vendors to specify all additional functionalities beyond
the stated requirements when responding to the questions in the appendices.
The selected vendor will be one that can deliver a completely asynchronous
online orientation platform that will allow the University of Maine to transition
away from its more traditional in-person experience. Scope of work will be
providing support to deliver all traditional information and "next steps" to students
that are normally provided in person at a traditional New Student Orientation.
Subject matters include but are not limited to academic advising as it pertains to
facilitation of class schedules, welcome sessions, peer to peer engagement,
counseling service appointments, financial aid support, campus tour(s), etc.
Integration and Technical Requirements
The Contractor is responsible for the development, configuration, testing, and
ongoing maintenance of all integrations on the Contractor's side, including file
ingestion, change detection, error handling, and identity matching. University
responsibilities are limited to exchanging single sign on, including metadata, and
receiving and ingesting orientation status data. The solution must allow
authorized University staff to integrate or upload and manage participant lists
through the administrative interface without technical assistance.
No integration with the University's student information system or other
Enterprise Resource Planning systems is required or desired. Solutions that
depend on such integration, require vendor specific middleware, or install
Contractor software within University enterprise systems are not acceptable.
The solution must support Microsoft Entra SAML 2.0 or Microsoft Entra OpenID
Connect Single Sign On (SSO). SAML SSO through the InCommon federation
will be considered as a fallback. The use of an opaque, non-email identifier as
the unique user ID for SSO is desired where applicable. UMS prefers that service
providers accept eduPersonUniqueID as the unique identifier for each user. UMS
prefers service providers that support SCIM 2.0 for automated account creation,
update, and deactivation.
At minimum, the solution must provide a daily completion report containing
institutional identifier, pathway, and completion date, deliverable by download
and by secure file transfer. Automated updates to Salesforce TargetX are highly
desired.
Customer relationship management integration requirements and questions are
provided in Appendix J: Information Technology.
1.1.5 Minimum Eligibility Requirements
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No Development-Dependent Solutions: Respondents must demonstrate that
the solution is currently built and deployable. A solution is considered currently
built and deployable if the proposed functionality is in production use by 10 or
more higher education clients as of the date this document is issued. Proposals
that contemplate significant new development, beta functionality, or functionality
dependent upon future product releases or development efforts will be deemed
non-responsive and disqualified.
Details and the required demonstration and documentation regarding minimum
eligibility requirements are provided in Appendix E.
1.2 General Information
1.2.1 Contract Administration and Conditions
1.2.1.1 The winning Respondent will be required to execute a contract in the
form of a University of Maine System Master Agreement, which is
attached to this document as Appendix D. The Master Agreement
initial term and renewal periods are reflected in Section 2 of Appendix
D, Master Agreement, and are subject to continued availability of
funding and satisfactory performance.
The Master Agreement entered into by the parties shall consist of the
University of Maine System Master Agreement (attached to this
document), the RFP, the selected Respondent's submission, including
all appendices or attachments and clarifications, the specifications
including all modifications thereof, and a Purchase Order or Letter of
Agreement requiring signatures of the University and the Contractor,
all of which shall be referred to collectively as the Agreement
Documents.
In the event of a conflict of terms the following precedence will apply:
1. University of Maine System Master Agreement
2. Agreement Riders as required
3. Contract Amendments (as required)
4. The University's RFP
5. Respondent's Submission
6. Purchase Order or Letter of Agreement
1.2.1.2 Modification of Agreement terms and conditions is permitted except
that the University, due to its public nature, will not:
a. Provide any defense, hold harmless or indemnity;
b. Waive any statutory or constitutional immunity;
c. Apply the law of a state other than Maine;
d. Procure types or amounts of insurance beyond those UMS
already maintains or waive any rights of subrogation.
e. Add any entity as an additional insured to UMS policies of
insurance;
f. Pay attorneys' fees, costs, expenses or liquidated damages;
g. Promise confidentiality in a manner contrary to Maine's
Freedom of Access Act;
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h. Permit an entity to change unilaterally any term or condition
once the contract is signed;
i. Accept any references to terms and conditions, privacy
policies or any other websites, documents or conditions
referenced outside of the contract; or
j. Agree to automatic renewals for term(s) greater than month-
to-month.
1.2.1.3 By submitting a response to a Request for Proposal, bid or other offer
to do business with the University your entity understands and agrees
that:
a. The above Agreement provisions (Section 1.2.1.2) will not be
modified and are thereby incorporated into any agreement
entered into between University and your entity; that such
terms and conditions shall control in the event of any conflict
with such agreement; and that your entity will not propose or
demand any contrary terms;
b. The above Agreement provisions (Section 1.2.1.2) will
govern the interpretation of such agreement notwithstanding
the expression of any other term and/or condition to the
contrary;
c. Your entity agrees that the resulting Agreement will be the
entire agreement between the University (including
University's employees and other End Users) and
Respondent and in the event that the Respondent requires
terms of use agreements or other agreements, policies or
understanding, whether on an order form, invoice, website,
electronic, click-through, verbal or in writing, with University's
employees or other End Users, such agreements shall be null,
void and without effect, and the terms of the Agreement shall
apply.
d. Your entity will identify at the time of submission which, if any,
portion or your submitted materials are entitled to ''trade
secret" exemption from disclosure under Maine's Freedom of
Access Act; that failure to so identify will authorize UMS to
conclude that no portions are so exempt; and that your entity
will defend, indemnify and hold harmless UMS in any and all
legal actions that seek to compel UMS to disclose under
Maine's Freedom of Access Act some or all of your submitted
materials and/or contract, if any, executed between UMS and
your entity.
1.2.2 Communication with the University
It is the responsibility of the Respondent to inquire about any requirement of this
document that is not understood. Responses to inquiries, if they change or clarify
the document in a substantial manner, will be forwarded by addenda to all parties
that have received a copy of the document. Addenda will also be posted on our
web site, www.maine.edu/strategic/upcoming_bids.php
It is the responsibility of all Respondents to check the web site before submitting a
response to ensure that they have all pertinent documents. The University will not
be bound by oral responses to inquiries or written responses other than addenda.
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Inquiries must be made using the Response Contact Information provided on
the cover sheet of this document. Refer to table in Section 1.3.1 Timeline of Key
Events for deadline requirements.
1.2.3 Confidentiality
The University must adhere to the provisions of the Maine Freedom of Access Act
(FOAA), 1 MRSA 401 et seq. As a condition of submitting a response under this
section, a respondent must accept that, to the extent required by the Maine FOAA,
responses to this solicitation, and any ensuing contractual documents, are
considered public records and therefore are subject to freedom of access requests.
The information contained in responses submitted for the University's
consideration will be held in confidence until all evaluations are concluded and a
Respondent selected (the successful Respondent). At that time the University will
issue award notice letters to all participating Respondents and all Respondents'
responses may be made available to participating Respondents upon request.
Such requests must be made by submitting a written request to the individual noted
in the Response Contact Information shown on the cover sheet of this document,
with a copy of the request provided to the other Respondents. Such requests are
public records.
After the protest period has passed and the Agreement is fully executed,
responses will be available for public inspection upon request.
Pricing and other information that is an integral part of the offer cannot be
considered confidential after an award has been made. The University will honor
requests for confidentiality for information that meets the definition of "trade secret"
under Maine law. Clearly mark any portion of your submitted materials which are
entitled to "trade secret" exemption from disclosure under Maine's Freedom of
Access Act. Failure to so identify as trade secret will authorize the University to
conclude that no portions are so exempt; and that your entity will defend, indemnify
and hold harmless the University in any and all legal actions that seek to compel
the University to disclose under Maine's Freedom of Access Act some or all of your
submitted materials and/or contract, if any, executed between the University and
your entity.
1.2.4 Costs of Preparation
Respondent assumes all costs of preparation of the response and any
presentations necessary to the response process.
1.2.5 Authorization
Any contract or agreement for services that will, or may, result in the expenditure
by the University of $50,000 or more must be approved in writing by the Executive
Director of Strategic Procurement & Services / Chief Procurement Officer and it is
not approved, valid or effective until such written approval is granted.
Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration approval is required of any
University of Maine System agreement of $50,000 or more, and it is not approved,
valid or effective until such written approval is granted.
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