Request for Proposal: Simmons Law School Academic Support Program

Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School seeks to increase the percentage of law students passing the bar exam on the first attempt as required by our accrediting agency, the American Bar Association. A comprehensive program that begins prior to the start of law school (post admission) and continues throughout three years of law school and culminates in a post-graduate bar prep program will provide the curriculum reinforcement to engage our students and increase the bar passage rate.

A pre-submission Teams call will be held January 17, 2025 at 2:00 PM. Meeting ID: 279 080 249 298 Passcode: M3gF328s Questions regarding technical requirements will not be answered during this call and should be submitted as directed in Section 1.10. This conference call is to discuss BEP requirements and other 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/business_services/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://ppb.illinois.gov/reports/procurement-communications-reporting.html

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.

This solicitation contains a goal of 30% to include businesses owned and controlled by minorities, females and persons with disabilities in the States procurement and contracting / subcontracting processes. All questions regarding any subcontracting goal must be directed to the Solicitation Contact. Failure to submit a Utilization Plan as instructed, if required, may render the response non-responsive. Please note, the Utilization Plan is a separate requirement from the Commitment to Diversity as set forth in Section 3.

This solicitation contains a goal of 3% to include businesses owned and controlled by veteran small business certified vendors in the States procurement and contracting / subcontracting processes. If a VBP goal is identified, vendor must complete and attach the Utilization Plan, which is a separate requirement from the Commitment to Diversity as set forth in Section 4.

Please note the following shipping/mailing information. USPS mail will only be delivered to Procurement Services on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, however, FedEx and UPS shipments will be delivered directly to Procurement Services Monday through Friday. Therefore, please send your response to us either by UPS or by FedEx, so it does not have to go through Campus Mail before being delivered to Procurement Services. Your response MUST be delivered to Procurement Services by January 30, 2025 at 2:00 PM.

Submit 4 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 a 30 percent BEP goal for this procurement. See solicitation documentation for details.
There is a 3 percent Veteran-owned business goal for this procurement. See solicitation documentation for details.
The contract(s) for this solicitation could exceed $50,000 annually.