SLED Opportunity · MARYLAND · FREDERICK COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
AI Summary
Solicitation for printing, bindery, pre-press, and graphic services for Frederick County Public Schools, including labor, materials, equipment, and delivery.
General work description: The intent of this solicitation is to establish a contract with firms for printing, bindery, pre-press and related printing and graphic services as specified by FCPS. This contract shall include all labor, materials and equipment, and delivery required to complete printing projects.
Addendum #2
The FCPS is accepting electronic bid submissions. Bidders shall create a FREE account with OpenGov Procurement by signing up at https://secure.procurenow.com/signup. Once you have completed account registration, browse back to this page, click on "Draft Response", and follow the instructions to submit the electronic bid.
Each bid shall be accompanied by a certified cashier’s check, or bid bond, in the amount of NO VALUE of the total bid price, payable to Frederick County Public Schools, as a guarantee that the bidder, if its bid is accepted, will promptly execute the Agreement. The bidder shall guarantee the total bid price for a period of 60 days from the date of the bid opening.
Please scan and upload a copy of your bid bond/cashier's check. Bidder must also MAIL bid guarantee with a postmarked date no later thanThursday, April 2, 2026 to FCPS 191 South East Street, Frederick, MD 21701, Attn:Roy McHaffa. Please have the Bidder Name, Contract Title ("26MISC7, Printing Services for Frederick County Public Schools"), and Contract Number ("TBD") listed clearly on the outside of the envelope.
The contract shall be executed by the successful bidder and shall be returned, together with the Payment Bond, Performance Bond and Certificate(s) of Insurance to the County so that it is received within 10 working daysafter the bidder has received the contract for execution. Failure to do so shall be just cause for forfeiture of the proposal guaranty.
Please Upload your COMPLETE Proposal with Signature Page here.
Please Upload your Proposal here, excluding the Fee/Cost Proposal
Confirm that your fee proposal is not attached in your Proposal and is attached separately here.
Complete and upload Statutory Affidavit and Non-Collusion Form
Complete and upload Certificate of Compliance Form
Complete and upload Vendor Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form
Please upload your completed MBE Attachment "A" Form here.
Please upload your completed MBE Attachment "B" Form here
Complete and upload a current W9 (dated within the last year)
Complete and upload the Proprietary Information Form
Would you like to have bidders respond to an electronic pricing table through ProcureNow? Answer no here if you are attaching your own pricing spreadsheet that you want them to fill out and upload or if the RFP has the vendor including their own formated cost proposal response.
Do you need to separate the Vendor's Fee Proposal from the rest of the Response?
Q (No subject): Please confirm whether the required Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) and Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) apply to this printing-services solicitation, or whether those documents are only required for vendors offering digital platforms, software, or other technology-based products.
A: ACR and VPAT n/a
Q (No subject): The Vendor Questionnaire asks about “users,” school systems using our “product,” staff with education backgrounds, and references for learning management systems products and services. Please confirm whether this questionnaire is a template carryover and advise how a print vendor should answer those sections for this solicitation.
A: See addendum #2. Vendor Questionnaire has been replaced with Technical Proposal.
Q (No subject): For the references section, may vendors provide references for commercial printing / bindery / pre-press services for school systems or public-sector clients, rather than LMS-related references? If so, please confirm whether three school-district printing references are preferred.
A: See addendum #2. Vendor Questionnaire has been replaced with Technical Proposal.
Q (No subject): Since the RFP states that sample pricing will be used for future like jobs and quantities are not guaranteed, can FCPS provide historical annual volumes, estimated annual spend, or estimated order frequency by major product category to support more accurate pricing?
A: FCPS intentionally structured this RFP around sample pricing applied to like jobs because annual volumes vary and cannot be guaranteed. Vendors should price competitively based on their own cost structures and capabilities. Historical volume data will not be provided, as it would not reflect future commitments and could disadvantage both parties in a dynamic pricing relationship.
Q (No subject): The RFP says vendors may bid all or part of the work and FCPS may make partial awards, while larger projects over $25,000 may be requoted among awarded vendors. Please confirm whether awards will be made by line item, product family, or multiple-vendor pool, and how partial bidders will be considered for future quote requests.
A: Multiple -vendor pool.
Q (No subject): For projects expected to exceed $25,000, please clarify the quote process after award: Will all awarded vendors be invited to quote, what response time will be required, and will award be based strictly on lowest price or on best value / turnaround / capacity as well?
A: Awarded vendors be invited to quote. Best value and turnaround.
Q (No subject): Section II says no separate costs for travel, mileage, overhead, or miscellaneous are acceptable and that all costs must be included in the hourly rates on the Cost Proposal; however, the Cost Proposal itself appears to request unit prices by quantity break, not hourly rates. Please confirm the intended pricing method.
A: Unit prices by quantity break.
Q (No subject): Please confirm whether routine orders under this contract will be delivered only to the FCPS warehouse, or whether some jobs may require direct delivery to schools or other FCPS locations. If direct-to-school delivery may occur, please confirm whether pricing should include that distribution.
A: All orders will ship to the FCPS warehouse.
Q (No subject): For items such as the calendar handbook that reference a distribution list (bundled and labeled by recipient and quantity), please clarify whether FCPS will provide the final distribution file in a standard format and whether similar kitting / labeling requirements may apply to other products under the contract.
A: For projects requiring multi‑line distribution, FCPS will provide detailed distribution lists specifying locations, recipients, and required quantities. While certain jobs may involve multi‑line distribution, this requirement will not apply to all jobs.
Q (No subject): Please provide expected standard turnaround times for typical jobs, rush jobs, proofs, reprints, and large orders, since delivery, response time, and performance are part of vendor evaluation.
A: 2 weeks for typical/routine jobs. 3-4 weeks for large jobs such as high quantity, multi-page bound books. Less than 1 week for rush jobs.
Q (No subject): Because pricing is based on customer-supplied digital files, please confirm whether vendors are expected to provide preflight, file correction, proofing, and revision cycles, and if so, how many rounds of proofs/revisions should be assumed in pricing.
A: All artwork will be provided in final, press‑ready format and will have undergone a full prepress review by our in‑house design department. Digital proofs may be requested as needed. Hard‑copy proofs are typically required for the Calendar Handbook.
Q (No subject): The general terms state that samples may be requested for testing and evaluation. Please clarify whether FCPS anticipates requiring physical print samples for this RFP, what products would be sampled, and when samples would be due.
A: FCPS does not anticipate requiring physical samples at this time.
Q (No subject): Please confirm the minimum insurance coverages and limits expected for this solicitation, since the technical proposal requires insurance certificates but the extracted sections do not clearly state the required thresholds.
A: see Section II Specific Terms and conditions, 15. CONTRACTOR'S AND SUBCONTRACTOR'S INSURANCE, pgs. 44-46
Q (No subject): Please confirm whether the required notarized bank or accountant letter verifying good financial standing and liquidity is mandatory for all proposers, and whether a CPA letter is acceptable in lieu of a bank letter.
A: A CPA letter is acceptable.
Q (No subject): The RFP notes that some printing work may be confidential and must not allow student, staff, or testing information to be released or compromised. Please clarify whether FCPS requires any specific security controls, NDA form, chain-of-custody procedures, restricted-access production protocols, or destruction certificates for confidential print jobs.
A: No specific security controls are required for routine orders. If a job involves confidential information, appropriate security controls may be requested on an as‑needed basis. Please note that the school system is generally not permitted to transmit files via vendor‑provided FTP.
Q (No subject): Please confirm whether subcontracting portions of production is permitted and, if so, whether all subcontractors must be identified in the proposal and held to the same confidentiality, delivery, and quality requirements as the prime vendor.
A: See Section II Specific Terms and Conditions, 8. MATERIAL, WORKMANSHIP, AND SUBCONTRACTING, PG. 42. If approved the subcontractors would be held to the same confidentiality, delivery, and quality requirements as the prime vendor.
Q (No subject): Please clarify how FCPS expects vendors to handle the contract language requiring year-over-year cost reduction recommendations, renewal-time price adjustment requests, and tariff-based adjustments. Specifically, should vendors assume fixed pricing through the base term except for approved renewal or tariff adjustments?
A: Yes, fixed pricing through the base term except for approved renewals and tariff adjustments.
Q (No subject): If a print vendor cannot meaningfully answer software-oriented questions in the Vendor Questionnaire, will FCPS confirm that those items will not be scored against the vendor provided the vendor addresses them with an explanatory note?
A: See addendum #2. Vendor Questionnaire has been replaced with Technical Proposal.
Q (Item #4 Distribution List): Regarding Item #4 (Calendars), the bid indicates there is a distribution list. Could we obtain that list to better understand the shipping requirements?
A: See page 6 of proposal, Directory of Schools.
Q (No subject): Is this an appropriate place for a Yearbook bid, or would that be a separate RFP?
A: Separate RFP.
Q (No subject): Who is the incumbent vendor.
A: We have mulitple vendors.
Q (No subject): Who are the vendors bidding on this RFP?
A: I wouldn't know the number of vendors bidding until the day the bids are opened.
Q (Item #4 Calendar Handbook ): Will these be delivered to the warehouse or will the distribution list be provided when orders are placed?
A: Delivered to warehouse.
Q (Item #5 Brochure): Is the flat sheet size 11" x 25.5"
A: Most common brochure flat sheet size is 8.5 x 11"
Q (Item #7 CRES Test): Will these be delivered to the warehouse or will the distribution list be provided when orders are placed?
A: For jobs requiring distribution to multiple sites, a distribution list will be provided when order is placed. All orders ship to the warehouse.
Q (No subject): Please confirm if in this proposal there is a Confidentiality Agreement to be signed and submitted.
A: An addendum will be forthcoming to add the Confidentiality Agreement.
SLED stands for State, Local, and Education. These are solicitations issued by state governments, counties, cities, school districts, utilities, and higher education institutions — as opposed to federal agencies.
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