Southern Illinois University requests proposals from responsible vendors to meet its needs. A brief description is set forth below, with detailed requirements in subsequent sections of this solicitation. If you are interested and able to meet these requirements, the University appreciates and welcomes a response. Brief Description: Vendor shall provide all labor, material, equipment, services, coordination, and whatever else may be required to: (i) Market and create SIU Carbondale brand awareness on a global basis via activities online, at events, via their global offices, via own counselling staff, and using the vendors agent network to recruit, advise, and assist prospective international students into being enrolled full time in SIU undergraduate or graduate programs. (ii) Promote the undergraduate and postgraduate programs offered by SIU Carbondale by ensuring all students recruited meets or exceeds the quality expectation and entry requirements of SIU Carbondale. (iii) Vendor will supply admission services to SIU Carbondale. This will entail the vendor counselling students and collecting all necessary documentation to make an application packet suitable for admissions decisions by SIU Carbondale. There is a high possibility that the University may issue the award to multiple vendors in order to establish a pool of qualified vendors.

A pre-submission conference call will be held January 14, 2021 at 2 PM CST. The call in number is 877-937-7966, passcode 1398794. Questions regarding technical requirements will not be answered during this call and should be submitted as directed in Section 1.4. This conference call is to discuss State of Illinois requirements for submission of the solicitation only. Please have the solicitation document available for reference purposes. Attendance is highly recommended.

Registration for conducting business with the State of Illinois: (30 ILCS 500/20-43) Sec. 20-43. Bidder or offeror authorized to do business in Illinois. In addition to meeting any other requirement of law or rule, a person (other than an individual acting as a sole proprietor) may qualify as a bidder or offeror under this Code only if the person is a legal entity authorized to do business in Illinois prior to submitting the bid, offer, or proposal. The legal entity must be authorized to transact business or conduct affairs in Illinois prior to execution of the contract. Do not confuse this requirement with the Board of Elections certification. You may register to do business at http://cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/businessservices/howdoi.html

If you do $50,000 worth of business annually with the State of Illinois, including the state universities, you are required to register with the State Board of Elections and obtain from them a certificate confirming your registration. If it is discovered that the vendor is non-compliant, but made a good faith effort to comply with registration efforts prior to the date the bid or offer is due, a chief procurement officer may provide the bidder 5 business days to achieve compliance. A chief procurement officer may extend the time to prove compliance by as long as necessary in the event that there is a failure within the State Board of Electionss registration system. Responses to Invitations to Bid, Requests for Proposals, Requests for Information, and all other types of procurement solicitations are included in the calculation of this $50,000 annual amount, whether you receive a resulting award or not. If you do less than $50,000 worth of business annually, you may be exempt from the registration requirement.

Effective January 1, 2011 communications regarding the specifications of this solicitation, which are not given in a public forum, are subject to public reporting. Questions regarding where the bid is to be mailed, the date and time of the opening or how to obtain a copy of the solicitation or any other procedural question will not need to be reported. The disclosure of the inquiries that need to be reported will include the name, address, phone number and email address of the person and firm making the inquiry. The reporting of this information will be published on the Procurement Policy Board website: https://www.illinois.gov/ppb/Pages/procurement-communications-reporting.aspx

Please include your Illinois Procurement Gateway registration number. If you are not registered, it is highly recommended that you do so. You may register at https://ipg.vendorreg.com. You do not have to be registered at the time of bid opening to be in compliance.

Please note that vendors must submit their responses electronically. Please email them to siupurch@siu.edu prior to February 11, 2021 at 2 PM Central Standard Time and mail one hard copy for our files. As long as the electronic submission is received by the opening date and time, the hard copy can arrive any time. Since this is a Request for Proposal, no prices will be read at the opening. If you wish to attend the opening by phone, please email me at tlogan@siu.edu by noon on February 10, 2021 in order to get the phone number and passcode.

Submit 1 copies of the response as defined in the specifications.
The University reserves the right to accept or reject any and all responses or parts thereof.
This procurement may be contingent on Board of Trustees approval.
Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) eligibility number is required on all proposals, if applicable.
There is no BEP goal for this procurement.
The contract(s) for this solicitation could exceed $50,000 annually.