Description
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Office of Education, is seeking a vendor to design, develop, implement, and support a new, secure, student‑centered web portal for the Department of Higher Education. The project is limited to vendors already on the statewide software contract RFR ITS81 (Category 3) and must be delivered as a firm‑fixed‑price solution not exceeding a $650,000 not‑to‑exceed budget. The portal must be hosted in Commonwealth AWS, comply with WCAG 2.1/2.2 accessibility standards, use the Massachusetts Design System, and incorporate AI‑assisted development practices. Key deliverables include discovery, UX design, solution architecture, development, integration with MyMassGov and institutional systems, QA, deployment, documentation, knowledge transfer, and a future‑state roadmap. The contract will run from the award (expected early 2027) through a target MVP release in June 2027, with additional work billed at fixed hourly rates for three years.
• Scope: end‑to‑end design, development, and support of a secure student portal (MVP) plus post‑MVP enhancements.
• Budget: maximum $650,000 fixed‑price for MVP; hourly rates for future work must be provided.
• Requirements: must be on RFR ITS81 contract, use Commonwealth AWS, meet WCAG accessibility, follow AI‑DLC policy, and retain full IP ownership for the Commonwealth.
• Timeline: RFQ posted Oct 26 2026, questions due Nov 4 2026, response due Nov 13 2026, MVP release targeted for June 2027.