Deltek Pulse: Education month in review, March 2019

March 2019 experienced a fairly significant drop in bid releases as we close out the first quarter of the year. This comes after a huge increase in February of 61 percent. February also marks the month where the Education market sees a lot of bid releases so March experiencing a decrease is not a surprise.

When breaking down the two verticals, the Primary/Secondary Education market saw 93% of bids where the Higher Education market had only 7% of the total. This month’s numbers come after a record breaking month in February for Higher Education bids. In regards to the primary requirements of bids, March had the 2018 trend of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction leading with 43% of Education bids, and then Professional Services following with 12%, which is the same percentage as last month, and Information Technology rolling in at a low of 3 percent.

As for Education procurement data by state, the top three states continued to be Texas, New York, and California for the highest number of solicitation releases for March. Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania also sustained with being the next 3 states at the top. The fewest releases this month came from DC followed by Vermont, North Dakota and West Virginia, and finally New Hampshire and South Dakota. Overall, March did experience a 38% decrease in solicitations issued for the month but the numbers are still higher than the final months of 2018, thus keeping 2019 on par with predictions of a strong uptick in education procurement.

Notable Solicitation Releases

The Education vertical saw a number of noteworthy solicitations released this month with the following to highlight:

• The Florida Department of Education issued a solicitation for School Readiness Child Assessments. The State is seeking a vendor to provide observation-based child assessments that are valid, reliable, and developmentally appropriate for use at least three times a year for the ages of Birth to Kindergarten. Final proposals are due by April 18, 2019.
• The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) has a requirement for Education Information Technology Products and Related Services. The purpose of this RFO is to aid DIR eligible customers in effectively procuring hardware, software and related services for Education Information Technology through multiple vendors. Final proposals are due April 25, 2019.
• The Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services has a requirement for access to a list of Learning Management Systems and Student Information Systems. The selection of Suppliers will include software, licensing, technical support, migration services (consulting), and hosting options. Suppliers may bid on either LMS or SIS solutions or both. Final proposals are due May 2, 2019.

You can learn more about current procurement opportunities in the GovWin IQ State, Local and Education Opportunities database. Not a Deltek subscriber? Click here to learn more about Deltek's GovWin IQ service and gain access to a free trial.