Current Request for Proposals

Request for Quotation: Streaming Service

Release Date: Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Deadline: Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Overview

Who Are We?

The Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI), a project of the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio, is an organization that serves families, educators, and professionals working with students with autism and low-incidence disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, and traumatic brain injuries.

Based on a respect for individuals with autism and low-incidence disabilities and our belief in their right, need, and desire to achieve their full potential, OCALI's mission is to build state and system-wide capacity to improve their outcomes through leadership, training, and professional development, technical assistance, collaboration, and technology.

Further, we believe that families, as well as professionals, play a critical role in promoting the highest possible achievement of each child. To that end, we see connection and partnership with families as vital to the success of each individual at school and in the community.

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this Request for Quote (RFQ) is to obtain competitive offers and qualifications from companies interested in providing streaming video service for OCALI’s various websites.

Intellectual Property

The Educational Service Center of Central Ohio (ESCCO) is the sole owner of all content and materials developed under this RFQ. OCALI retains the distribution rights to any content or materials to exercise as it deems appropriate. Selected evaluators may not use, reuse, distribute, publish, or base derivative works upon such materials without the express, prior written consent of the ESCCO.

Request for Quote

The ESCCO, on behalf of OCALI, seeks a quote for a video streaming service. The services would be required to complete the following requirements:

1. Streaming and storage. (Approximately six (6) terabytes of storage [3,000 videos]. With approximately 1.2 million plays a year.
2. Closed Captioning.
3. Read-along and searchable text, i.e., interactive transcript. Download and edit transcript.
4. Ability to turn on/off download videos.
5. The capability of customizing embedded player via a Javascript API. Examples: pop-up questions appear at timed intervals throughout video; completion of video tracked.
6. Capture from uploaded video and/or upload thumbnails and/or keyframes.
7. Videos must be able to play on mobile devices.
8. A comprehensive reporting system that provides us with the capability of getting reports from the system on usage, plays, and geographic information on where played. Not just basic stats.

Optional Features

Below is a list of optional features we are looking for in this quote.

1. Secondary audio channel
2. Live streaming
3. Playlist
4. Sharing of videos with social media
5. Transcription services
6. In/out queue points
7. Interactive video features (i.e., Quizzing, branching, video overlays)
8. Interpreter window and other unique accessibility features
9. Other features available with your system not listed in this RFQ

Requirements for Proposal Quote

Please submit the following as part of the official quote:

• Pricing structure- outlining pricing for software and services required to meet the requirements and optional features if available. Include the total costs that would be incurred related to the implementation and use.
• Contract Agreement
• Proposed timeline of implementation and support

Please Note:

• Responses must include all the above sections, or they shall be deemed non-responsive. Incomplete or late responses may be removed from consideration.
• The cover page must be signed by the respondent.;
• Proposals should be prepared simply and economically, avoiding the use of elaborate promotional materials beyond those sufficient to provide complete presentation.
• Any proprietary material submitted with the proposal that is considered confidential by the bidder must specifically be so identified, and the basis for such confidentiality must be specifically set forth in the proposal.
• Submission of quote does not constitute any type of binding Agreement or Contract between ESCCO/OCALI and respondent.
• ESCCO/OCALI assumes no responsibility for any cost incurred in developing a response to this RFQ.
• ESCCO/OCALI reserves the right to accept or reject responses to this RFQ at its sole discretion.
• ESCCO/OCALI’s decision is final with respect to the awarding of this Contract.

Proposal Submission

Email electronic copies of the quote to Nathan Ticknor, nathan_ticknor@ocali.org. Please label it clearly in the subject line to clarify if it is a response to the RFQ. The quote must be received by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

After reviewing proposals OCALI may request a demonstration with question-and-answer sessions with selected vendors.

Questions about this RFQ should be submitted in writing to Nathan Ticknor, nathan_ticknor@ocali.org by 3:00 PM on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Please use the subject line Streaming Service RFQ.

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RFQ Process Schedule

Activity	Date
Release of RFQ	Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Final Date for Receipt of Questions by 3:00 pm	Thursday, March 9, 2023
Final Date for Official Responses to Questions	Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Proposals Due by 5:00 pm EDT	Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Demonstrations and live Q&A, if needed	Monday, March 27 through Friday March 31
RFQ Award Announced	Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Duties

The contractor shall hold himself/herself/itself available to render, and shall render at the request of the ESCCO/OCALI, the services set forth in the scope of work above for the benefit of the ESCCO/OCALI. The contractor shall devote such time as may be reasonably required to perform Contractor’s duties under the contract. The contractor will maintain, for the duration of the Contract, any certificate or license required by law to perform the services required by this RFQ.

The contractor shall perform all services with reasonable care, skill, and diligence as would normally be provided by an experienced consultant and in accordance with industry standards.

Other Requirements Include

The contractor must provide a W-9 with a valid EIN or be registered with the Ohio Secretary of State.

The contractor must complete the Standard Affirmation & Disclosure Form to abide with Executive Order 2011-12K affirming no services of the contractor or its subcontractors under this Contract will be performed outside the United States.

The contractor shall secure professional liability insurance and any other insurances required by law.

At the Contractors' sole cost, the Contractor shall maintain a comprehensive knowledge regarding streaming services. The contractor shall, at all times during the term of this Contract and at Contractor’s own expense, comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations, and shall maintain in force all licenses and permits required for performance under this Contract.

Contractor shall be responsible for the purchase and use of all equipment necessary to perform the Services, except that ESCCO/OCALI may elect to provide Contractor access to a computer and/or computer network in order to facilitate Contractor’s secure access to, and provision of, information related to the performance of Contractor’s duties and to facilitate communication with ESCCO/OCALI. Any access to or use of ESCCO/OCALI computers or computer networks shall be subject to all ESCCO/OCALI policies governing such use by ESCCO/OCALI employees.

Finding for Recovery

Contractor represents that he/she/it is not subject to any unresolved findings for recovery resulting from an audit conducted by the Auditor of State between January 1, 2001, and the present time. Contractor further represents that neither the Contractor nor any of its principal officers are listed in the Auditor of State’s database of persons’ subject to such findings.

Evaluation

At its discretion, the ESCCO/OCALI is not required to select the Contractor that submits the lowest cost proposal for providing the services. Instead, the ESCCO/OCALI intends to select the Contractor submitting the proposal deemed by the ESCCO/OCALI to be in the ESCCO/OCALI’s best interest. In making its selection, the ESCCO/OCALI may consider any other information, including information not requested in this RFQ or not included in the proposals received.

In the event the ESCCO/OCALI is unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the top ranked Contractor, the ESCCO/OCALI may terminate negotiations with that Contractor and enter into negotiations with the Contractor submitting the proposal ranked next best. This RFQ is not and shall not be construed as an offer of a contract by the ESCCO/OCALI. Any contractual arrangement will be evidenced solely by a Contract authorized by the ESCCO/OCALI.

Notification

All applicants will receive notification of the awarded contract by Wednesday, April 5, 2023. Notification will be sent to the primary contact by email.

The ESCCO/OCALI reserves the right to reject any and all proposals where the contractor takes exception to the terms and conditions of the RFQ or fails to meet the terms and conditions, including but not limited to, standards, specifications, and requirements as specified in the RFQ.

The ESCCO/OCALI reserves the right to reject, in whole or in part, any and all proposals where the ESCCO/OCALI, taking into consideration factors including but not limited to, price and the results of the evaluation process, has determined that award of a contract would not be in the best interest of the ESCCO/OCALI or the state.

• Past performances as reflected by the evaluations of previous clients with respect to factors such as control of costs, quality of work and meeting of deadlines; and other similar factors
• The supplies and/or services offered are not in compliance with the requirements, specifications, and terms and conditions set forth in the RFQ; or
• Pricing offered is considered to be excessive in comparison with existing market conditions or exceeds the available funds of the state; or
• It is determined that award of a contract would not be in the best interests of the state

The ESCCO/OCALI may award a contract in whole or in part to one or multiple contractors. Notice of any potential partial and/or multiple party award(s) shall be provided in the RFQ.

Q & A

Questions	Answers
Are the captions used for video on-demand (VOD) and Live video? For VOD captions, are you seeking auto-generated captions, or will Ocali create/upload them?	The basic service is for VOD with intergration with 3rd party provider i.e. 3playmedia. Optional service would be autogenerated captions for live streaming.
Will you elaborate on the need for customizing via API? Will customization through a visual editor be acceptable?	We currently use a Javascript API to listen for timestamp/endof-video events from the video player. We also use the Javascript API to switch between non-audio-described and audio-described versions of videos. So, we would be looking for a similar Javascript API from your player.
Are there needs for auto report generation?	No need for auto-generation.
Is there a need for viewer-level tracking and reporting?	We are looking for as much detail as possible to improve our understanding of who is watching and what they are watching, and for how long.
Will the secondary audio channel be used primarily for accessiblity support (video descriptions), or will you focus on alternate language tracks as well?	Secondary audio channel is for altenate language tracks.
Is OCALI looking for a live streaming solution (encoder to player workflow), or a full live stream solution include site portal, moderated Q&A, agenda builder, etc.?	Our basic flow would be encoder to player. If you have a full live stream solution please provide cost and information.
Which social media platforms are you interested in supporting?	YouTube, Twitter, facebook. Instagram.
Similar to the above response about captions, is OCALI looking for a transcription team, or are AI-generated captions acceptable? Additionally, Live streaming workflow requires a live transcriptioner creating the captions as they happen. Is OCALI seeking live transcriptioning service?	We are looking for a transcription team. We will not need a transcriptioning service for live streaming.
For what purpose specifically do you need the In/out queue points?	We want the abiitly to show only a portion of the uploaded video.
Are you looking for interactive features for VOD and Live video?	VOD
Does a video square on a corner of the video player suit your need for an interpreter window?	Yes, it does.
If custom develepment becomes a requirement, will OCALI seek professional services, or will the vendor provide support for OCALI's develpment team?	Depending on what services you are offering would prefer vendor, but could be a combination of both.
Can you describe or clarify optional feature # 6 in/out queue points?	We want the ability to show only a portion of the uploaded video.
How long of a contract term are you interested in? 1 year or 3 year?	2 year preferred
Are most of the videos available for public viewing or are you looking to have them behind a login for access?	99 percent of our videos would be public facing i.e., embedded in our different websites. But it would be nice to have logins for some of the videos.
Approximately how long on average are your current videos?	No set averages. The majority are between 1 to 30 minutes, with a fair about of videos that are recorded webinars that average about 1 hour.
Is the W-9, Standard Affirmation & Disclosure Form, and liability insurance to be included in our response or is this collected after the award?	They need to be available, but proof will not be required until after the award.
What are the current solutions you use to meet these requirements?	All our content is stored in the cloud with a provider much like yourself, with content tied with an API to a closed caption provider.
What are the use cases supported by these current solutions and would be supported by the new solution?	All our content, as stated above, is stored in the cloud and the content is accessed by embed codes in our websites the api is tied to the caption provider for closed captions, and for the new solution, we would like at least the same results.
What are you trying to solve with this RFP or what new opportunities are you trying to create?	We are looking for a more cost-effective solution, with the possibility of other features or solutions to enhance our present service to our viewers.
Would you need migration services for these existing 3000 videos?	We would like if cost-effective.
If yes, where are they currently stored today? (i.e., on prem, cloud etc.)	In the cloud and backups on premise.
What type of metadata would you want migrated?	No migration of meta-data.
Are these current videos captioned today? If yes, would you want caption files migrated?	Yes, we want to migrate the captions, or the provider could possibly tie them to 3Play Media for the captions.
For your request for In/Out queue points, can you describe in more detail the functionality or outcome you are seeking?	We want the ability to show only a portion of the uploaded video.
Under optional features you mention Live streaming – Can you elaborate on what types of live experiences you would like supported by the new platform? Would this include a synchronous option for meetings or interactive classroom experiences?	We would be looking at hosting live events with 3000 people embedded into a webpage with no interactivity.
With a wide range of accessibility tools, can you explain further the workflow regarding interpreter windows? Is this for Live or VOD content? Are you implying sign-language interpreters or other types? How is this currently supported today?	For VOD content for sign language interpreters.
In the context of Standard Affirmation & Disclosure Form would a platform is hosted in the United States by a US-based company; with globally based customer support be acceptable?	Yes, this is acceptable.
For the contract, – is there a preferred term you would like us to propose?	2 year contract preferred