The Client
The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools (ASBCS) is a charter authorizer responsible for overseeing public charter schools that operate in Arizona. Overseeing more than 500 charter schools, the agency is the largest charter school authorizer in the state and is the second largest authorizer in the nation. The agency’s stated mission is “To improve public education in Arizona by sponsoring charter schools that provide quality educational choices”.
Their Challenge
ASBCS was finding it increasingly difficult to scale and deliver services effectively, due to an antiquated technology platform that performed poorly and lacked much-needed functionality. Additionally, the Arizona legislature regularly released mandates requiring the agency to implement changes, which the platform was unable to accommodate.
The agency staff had developed a significant number of time and resource intensive workarounds to deal with the system’s shortcomings. Over time, this led to poor customer satisfaction and raised questions about the agency’s transparency and competence in delivering on its mandate.
Agency leadership, including Mary Ellen Lee (President of the Board) and Ashley Berg (Executive Director), knew they needed to replace or overhaul the system but were unsure on how to articulate their needs and secure the needed investment in a difficult funding environment. Additionally, they had limited insight into what options might be available and what it would cost to replace or overhaul the system.
Our Solution
This project is the third phase of the Online Platform Modernization journey at ASBCS.
Prior to this, MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) conducted an evaluation of the current platform, performed a comprehensive needs assessment, created a business case with preliminary vendor estimates, and developed a Decision Package to be delivered to the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB).
Almost a year after the decision package was delivered, ASBCS received budget approval from the Governor’s Office and the Arizona Legislature to move ahead with implementing a replacement solution.
The focus of this current effort (Phase 3) was to develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the replacement solution, solicit bids, review vendor proposals, assist in scoring the bids, help with contract negotiations, and provide support in selecting the vendor and awarding the contract.
Working closely with ASBCS and the State Procurement Office (SPO), MSSBTA created the vendor selection criteria and weightings, identified members of the proposal evaluation team, finalized the decision process to be used, developed the RFP, and invited vendors to respond to the RFP.
Once vendor proposals were received, MSSBTA facilitated conversations with the evaluation team members, provided guidance on matters related to technology and transformation, scheduled vendor demos, and captured scoring/evaluation decisions in the vendor scorecard. MSSBTA also conducted market research to substantiate vendor claims and helped in checking vendor references.
Once the evaluation team narrowed the list of vendors to four finalists, MSSBTA scheduled 1:1 negotiations to discuss pricing and fine-tune the approach based on a deeper dive into the requirements, assumptions and risks/issues identified by each vendor.
The SPO team invited the finalists to the Best and Final Offer (BAFO) round. Based on the updated approach and pricing from the BAFO bids, MSSBTA helped the evaluation team finalize scoring and select a vendor. MSSBTA provided input into the final negotiations on milestones, payment schedules, etc. with the selected vendor, and supported the agency in awarding the contract.
In addition to the core activities above, MSSBTA provided timely status communications to the agency leadership team and ensured that risks and issues were addressed.
Their Results
“MSSBTA has been great to work with. They provide us the knowledge that our agency lacks in order for our project to be successful now and in the future” – Ashley Berg, Executive Director and Sponsor
With MSSBTA’s support, ASBCS was able to select the best proposal and awarded the contract. The implementation is currently underway. During this project, MSSBTA diligently followed applicable procurement statutes, regulations, the Arizona Procurement Code, and other standard procedures, to ensure transparency and avoid litigation post-award. The evaluation process and scoring criteria employed were very successful in ensuring the evaluation team was able to conduct their analysis efficiently and accurately.
With their deep expertise and previous experience, MSSBTA consultants were able to help the agency quickly eliminate proposals that had little chance of success or were priced unreasonably. MSSBTA was also able to negotiate significantly better terms and prices.
Deliverables
Vendor Selection Scorecard and Decision Process
Request for Proposal (RFP)
Vendor Bids Analysis and Comparative Scorecard
Contract amendments for selected vendor
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