Contract Services and Procurement
401 Golden Shore, 5th Floor Long Beach, CA 90802-4210
www.calstate.edu CSU Campuses Bakersfield Channel Islands Chico Dominguez Hills East Bay Fresno Fullerton Humboldt Long Beach Los Angeles Maritime Academy Monterey Bay Northridge Pomona Sacramento San Bernardino San Diego San Francisco San José San Luis Obispo San Marcos Sonoma Stanislaus Request for Information
RFI Number: 3790
Title: Online Employee Training Program
Issue Date: October 8, 2012
Proposal Due Date: October 22, 2012, 2:00 p.m. (PT) Questions Due Date: October 15, 2012, 11:00 a.m. (PT)
Contact Information: Mary Carrillo, Contract Management Specialist Phone: 562-951-4639
Email: mcarrillo@calstate.edu
Note: Any updates, changes, amendments, or notifications to this RFI will be posted at
http://vendors.planetbids.com/csuco/bidsearchform. Please visit this link for any changes.
Introduction
The California State University (CSU) is seeking information from qualified online e-learning providers that have comprehensive curriculums of e-learning courses, reference libraries, and a learning management system (LMS) that supports their courses and libraries. It is the goal of the CSU to provide content to employees that will improve skills, acquire readiness for increase responsibility and to assist employees that are affected by change in business practices and work consolidation. Content areas should be compliance topics, supervisor/leadership/management subjects, and business and technical skills. It is the preference of the CSU that the courses and reference materials are hosted by the provider and are available on demand to the 44,000 employees of the CSU campuses and Chancellor’s Office.
This RFI is an outline of the needs of the CSU. Providers are encouraged to provide creative and innovative solution options. Functional, technical, and economic solutions beyond the confines of this RFI may be considered too. Providers should indicate any value-added arrangements, special services, discounts, terms and conditions, or combination of such that provide creative answers to the CSU RFI.
Background
The California State University (CSU) is the largest system of higher education in the nation, the most diverse, and one of the most affordable. The CSU system is comprised of twenty-three (23) campuses statewide and the Office of the Chancellor. The Office of the Chancellor (CO) is the systemwide executive office. The CSU is governed by a 25-member Board of Trustees, the majority of which are appointed by the Governor. For more information about the CSU please visit http://www.calstate.edu/datastore/quick_facts.shtml.
Project Overview
The CSU seeks an online learning curriculum that will provide training and development tools to every CSU employee. Curriculums must: provide just-in-time training, provide preparation for professional and certification exams, meet continuing professional education requirements, offer learning and mastering new work-related topics, provide remedies in knowledge deficiencies, provide aid in meeting performance management goals, and to help employees prepare for career advancement. Although individual campuses offer classroom style training, it is the CSU’s intention to level the playing field by offering online learning to assure that every employee is given the opportunity to improve, gain new knowledge and skills, to meet demands linked to new technology, and to maximize his/her potential in the workplace.
Purpose
The purpose of this RFI is to gather information. The RFI shall not be construed as a formal solicitation for services. Response to this RFI is not a prerequisite to participation in any subsequent procurement action related to this project.
Response
Responding providers shall submit five (5) hard copies in binder format with tabbed indexes and one (1) copy on flash drive. Responses should be prepared in such a way as to provide
straightforward, concise delineation of capabilities to satisfy the requirements of this RFI. Responses should emphasize the responder’s capability to perform this type of work. Expensive bindings, colored displays, promotional material, graphics, etc. are not necessary or desired. Do not include additional graphics in the electronic copy that are not otherwise in the original hard copy. Do not include animation of any kind in the response. Emphasis should be
concentrated on conformance of instructions, responsiveness, completeness and clarity. The response to this RFI, as well as any in-person demonstrations by selected respondent(s), shall be at no charge to the CSU. Responses are due in the CSU Office of the Chancellor PRIOR to the time specified in this RFI.
Responses are to be sent to the attention of Mary Carrillo, Contract Services & Procurement, CSU Office of the Chancellor, 401 Golden Shore, Long Beach, CA 90802.
Questions
Questions concerning this RFI are to be emailed to Mary Carrillo at mcarrillo@calstate.edu. Answers will be posted to http://vendors.planetbids.com/csuco/bidsearchform after October 15.
Section 1
Cost and Pricing Options
Pricing should be based on an unlimited number of seats. Please provide pricing on a per seat scale and for three (3) consecutive years and one renewal option with a per person cost breakdown. Any cost saving incentives should be included in this section of your response. Please include a breakdown of the purchase of your product, implementation/rollout costs to 24 locations, marketing support, and any annual maintenance/subscription costs, etc.
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 (renewal option) Product Cost
Rollout Cost Marketing Annual renewal
Section II Solution Description
In this section the CSU would like you to describe your product and services. Your response should be tailored to demonstrate an understanding of the CSU project requirements and address our need for content and environmental customization taking into consideration the differing needs of the various campuses. Examples: local administrators (campus based) will need to assign coursework, track completions, run reports, etc.; campus participants should have access to a HELP link that provides further support in navigation. Provide examples of your solution when appropriate.
Your response shall:
• Demonstrate how your employee training solution will provide uniform delivery and content.
• List courses and tools and a discussion of the ease with which established courses are modifiable to meet CSU requirements.
• Address how the administration of the solution can be managed at the campus level but hosted by you.
• Provide information on administrator training of campus personnel.
• Provide details of your Learning Management System (LMS). The CSU wants the
capability to automate the uploading of employee data from Oracle based PeopleSoft into your LMS with an integrated single sign-on in the Shibboleth environment.
• InCommon Federation membership, support for Shibboleth authentication, and both real-time and bulk user provisioning is strongly preferred. The CSU minimally requires a web-based API (Application Programming Interface) that provides the ability to create, manage, and generate user authentication tokens for the purposes of enabling SSO (Single Sign-On). Discuss your method for SSO.
• Discuss the tracking capability of your solution. Tracking would be utilized by campus administrators.
• Discuss the implications of employee use of your solution; specifically, employee reduction in errors, reduction of employee complaints, improvement of employee skills, and a basis to prepare the employee for increased responsibility.
• Discuss how your solution/coursework will assist employees who are affected by the changes in business practices and possible consolidation of transactional work.
• Discuss how the CSU can customize your solution, the ease of turning courses off or on as needed.
• Describe how the CSU, who has courses already available, may be incorporated into your solution.
• Provide information on how your solution is housed. The CSU wants the capability to create and store CSU content in your Learning Management System (the CSU would retain ownership of CSU created content, regardless where stored).
• Discuss and provide contact information of other university systems you have provided a solution to. Contact information should include: Name, University, Phone number, and email address.
• Contain additional learning resources available with the online courses.
• Discuss your marketing strategies for the roll out to all the CSU campuses located throughout the state of California.
• Describe the marketing tools available to use for implementation.
• Discuss your experience with previous rollouts you have implemented that were similar size and scope to the CSU. Broadly describe what the CSU should expect for a roll out of this size and scope (use a timeline: 3 months, 6 months, etc.).
Section III
Minimum Requirements
The following are the minimum requirements of the CSU. The provider shall address each area and provide information on how these requirements are met.
Minimum Course Requirements
The contractor shall provide the minimum AICC and SCORM certified online courses in e-learning format, available 24/7.
1. IT Professional curriculum shall be comprehensive, including but not limited to current versions of applications. Online certification exam mentoring, practice certification exams, Express Guide manuals, and simulated practice sessions.
2. Desktop application curriculum that includes but is not limited to all current and
commonly-used software applications. Desktop application shall include office, creative, and web studio environments.
3. Comprehensive curriculum of courses in environmental, health, and safety including driver training.
4. Online course in the prevention of workplace harassment for individual contributors (does not need to meet California AB 1825 requirements.
5. Management and leadership courses covering all facets of workforce management and leadership essentials.
6. Professional effectiveness courses to include all elements of written and oral communications and personal development for career advancement.
7. Team building curriculum for leaders.
8. Customer Service curriculum for frontline and management. 9. Legal compliance courses for the workplace.
10.Library of wellness resources for employees.
The contractor shall provide certification preparation curriculum including but not limited to: 1. Business strategy and operations curriculum including process improvement, Six Sigma,
LEAN, operations management, and strategic planning. Coursework shall include preparation for the Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence exam.
2. Finance, Human Resources, and Administration curriculum including preparation courses for the HRCI professional and senior certification exam.
3. Project management curriculum for preparation for the Project Management Institute’s certificate exam. Coursework shall include project management elements for human resources, communication, risk management, procurement, ethics, and managing IT projects.
4. Applicable coursework for the preparation of the Certified Business Analysis exam.
Minimum Reference Resources Requirements
1. Comprehensive library of searchable books that can be accessed by mobile devices. 2. Job aids and reference tools that accompany the courses and can be online and/or
Customization Requirements
The CSU is seeking courses that are customizable by the CSU to suit CSU’s needs.
Customization would take place in the areas of graphics, audio, interface, content, and additional learning resources.
Learning Management System (LMS) Requirements
The CSU is seeking a hosted LMS environment that has a customizable interface. The offered LMS shall be for an unlimited number of seats so that multiple individuals at any of the 24 CSU locations can access the reporting and assignment capabilities of the LMS.
The offered LMS shall:
• Provide a variety of reports using a simple to navigate interface.
• Be compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Vendors must submit a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) for each unique product/service offered (i.e. applications running on multiple platforms)
1. Complete Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) submitted for each unique product/service offered (i.e. applications running on multiple platforms) VPAT’s submitted should meet the following criteria:
a. Include all applicable sections of the Section 508 standards for technical conformance (1194.21 through 1194.26 based on product type), functional conformance (1194.31), and documentation (1194.41).
b. Correspond to the current version of the IT product/service being offered.
c. Address all user interfaces (e.g. user-facing, administrative, and reporting). Where appropriate furnish separate VPATS for each interface.
d. See CSU Guide to Completing the Voluntary Product Evaluation Template
(VPAT), Page 5 Typical Scenario for Completing a Voluntary Product Evaluation
Template (VPAT) follow instructions 1 – 8. 2. Testing
a. Product testing documentation which validates the accessibility information contained in the product VPAT.
3. Accessibility Roadmap
a. A description of the specific steps and timelines by which known accessibility gaps will be remediated.
b. A list of any workarounds for product accessibility gaps including:
i. Use of alternative business processes (e.g. offering phone support until your web-based support tools are accessible).
ii. Use of a third-party product to replace or supplement functionality in your product (e.g. providing a programming interface which allows other applications to interact with content in your product).
c. An Accessibility Roadmap form is provided at:
Vendor Support
The CSU is seeking a vendor that shall provide consulting and technical services for all aspects of implementation (including the upload of employee data from Human Resources PeopleSoft module into your system and the integration of CSU-created online learning courses). The vendor shall provide tools and permissions for the creation and customization of provided courses. The vendor shall provide technical support to the users.
