Florida Department of Education Issues ITN for E-Commerce Platform

The Florida Department of Education has issued an invitation to negotiate (ITN) to select a vendor to develop and operate an e-commerce platform to support its Florida Teacher Classroom Supply Assistance Program (TCSAP).

The program “empowers eligible educators serving pre-K through grade 12 students to purchase essential classroom materials and supplies for their assigned students,” the ITN states.

Currently, there are approximately 184,062 classroom teachers, guidance counselors and library and media specialists across Florida’s 76 school districts, according to the ITN.

The department seeks a new platform with a user-friendly interface, streamlined account and payment management, and comprehensive reporting capabilities.

To achieve this, however, the chosen vendor would need to provide the following services:

PLATFORM DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION

• Design, develop and provide a secure, scalable and user-friendly platform accessible to all eligible educators in Florida 
• Ensure platform compliance with all applicable state and federal regulations regarding data, security, privacy and accessibility 
• Provide ongoing maintenance and support for the platform 
• Facilitate payments to authorized marketplace vendors 
• Facilitate reimbursements to users' marketplace accounts for returned and undelivered products 

MARKETPLACE FUNCTIONALITY

• Allow eligible educators to browse, select and purchase pre-approved classroom supplies from a comprehensive range of vendors  
• Offer efficient account management tools for eligible educators, districts and the state 
• Generate comprehensive reporting capabilities to track program utilization and measure impact 
• Implement clear and efficient product search, browsing and ordering functionalities 

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING

• Implement user-friendly account creation, management and access control for eligible educators, school districts and the department 
• Allow system users (including individual schools and school districts) to generate comprehensive reports on system utilization 
• Provide data dashboards and visualization tools for informed decision-making 

More detailed information about ITN 2024-86, including all submission requirements and requests, can be found online. The deadline for proposals is 10 a.m. April 18.