TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF DECEMBER 16, 2010
COMMITTEE ON PROCUREMENT
Mr. Richard Lanyon, Executive Director
Title
Issue purchase order and enter into agreement for Contract 10-RFP-12, furnish and deliver a vendor-hosted E-Learning Management System with ePath Learning, Inc. for a five-year period January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2015, in an amount not to exceed $107,219.00, Account 101-25000-612820, Requisition 1313698
Body
Dear Sir:
Authorization is requested to issue a purchase order and enter into an agreement with ePath Learning Inc., to furnish and deliver a vendor-hosted Learning Management System (LMS) to provide online courses to employees in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The LMS is the software platform that will be used for the administration, documentation, tracking and reporting of online and instructor-led training programs. It has the capability to generate learning plans for individual employees and groups of employees, monitor training performance and collect assessment data. The LMS can integrate online classes from third-party providers and also can be used to develop online training materials specific to the District.
Two-hundred seven (207) firms were invited to submit proposals in response to Request for Proposal 10-RFP-12, which was advertised on June 23, 2010. The District received five proposals on July 16, 2010, as follows: Trivantis Corporation; Reflection Software, Inc.; ePath Learning, Inc.; Lake Forest Graduate School of Management; and Meridian Knowledge Solutions, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Visionary Integration Professionals, LLC.
Staff from the Departments of Procurement and Materials Management, Information Technology and Human Resources independently evaluated each proposal on a number of criteria, including understanding of requested work, implementation plan and responses to a vendor questionnaire. As part of the selection process, each of the finalists gave a demonstration of its LMS.
The recommended vendor is one of the pioneers in E-learning with eleven years in business and continuous profitability throughout this period. Its LMS system is fully hosted and supports all learning activity in an organization. The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards program recognizes the best in innovative learning content, technology and initiatives in workplace learning; it awarded ePath Learning, Inc. a Bronze Medal for “Best Advance in Learning Management Technology” in 2009. ePath Learning, Inc. is a certified minority-owned business enterprise; its proposal had the highest overall rating.
The Affirmative Action Section reviewed the request for proposal and concluded Appendix A should not be included because this is a furnish-and-deliver request for proposal.
In view of the foregoing, it is requested that the Director of Procurement and Materials Management be authorized to issue a purchase order and enter into an agreement as per Section 11.4 of the Purchasing Act, with ePath Learning, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $107,219.00.
Funds for the 2011 expenditure in the amount of $17,675.00 are available in Account 101-25000-612820. The estimated expenditure for 2012 is $17,220.00; for 2013 is $24,108.00; for 2014 is $24,108.00 and for 2015 is $24,108.00. Funds for the expenditures for the years 2012 through 2015 are contingent on the Board of Commissioners’ approval of the District’s budget for those years.
Requested, Denice E. Korcal, Director of Human Resources, DEK:ADM
Recommended, Darlene A. LoCascio, Director of Procurement and Materials Management
Respectfully Submitted, Barbara J. McGowan, Chairman Committee on Procurement
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for December 16, 2010