Project Information

Bid Title

6878 RFP Website Search Software

Issuing Agency

Washtenaw Community College

Location

Michigan

Published Date

Jul 7, 2026

Closing Date

Jul 16, 2026

Government Level

State & Local

Status

Closed

Original Source

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Bid Documents

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Project Description

6878 RFP Website Search Software

6878 RFP - Instructions & Specifications 213.99 KB 07/02/2026 Attachment A - Minimum Security Standards 180.61 KB 07/12/2024

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WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC 326

RFP # 6878 – Website Search Software

RFP Due Date: 07/16/2026 @ 2p.m. EST

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

PHONE: (734) 973-3553

FAX: (734)-677-5414

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Request for Proposal #6878

Website Search Software

Submit proposals electronically via email to:

Lydia Scheets

Washtenaw Community College

pur@wccnet.edu

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC 326

RFP # 6878 – Website Search Software

RFP Due Date: 07/16/2026 @ 2p.m. EST

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

PHONE: (734) 973-3553

FAX: (734)-677-5414

1.0 Proposal Invitation

Washtenaw Community College (“College” and/or “WCC”) seeks proposals from qualified site search

providers with experience delivering search solutions for higher education institutions. The primary

objective is to implement a robust search platform that enhances content discoverability, addresses user

needs, delivers relevant results, and elevates users’ digital experience within the institution’s digital

ecosystem. The selected supplier will be able to provide all deliverables outlined in the RFP.

Response to this RFP confirms an understanding that this is not a contract or offer of business by the

College. This request for proposal in no manner obligates the College to the eventual purchase of any

products or services described, implied, or which may be proposed, until confirmed by written agreement,

and may be terminated by the College without penalty or obligation at any time prior to the signing of an

agreement, contract, or purchase order. In submitting a proposal, Supplier agrees that all materials

associated with, attached to, or referenced by the submitted proposal will become the property of the

College and may be incorporated into a subsequent contractual agreement between the successful

Supplier and the College.

The College is not liable in any manner or to any extent for any cost or expense incurred by the Supplier

in the preparation, submission, presentation, or any other action connected with proposing or otherwise

responding to this RFP. Such exemption from liability applies whether such costs are incurred directly by

the Supplier or indirectly through the Supplier’s agents, employees, assigns, or others, whether related or

not to the Supplier.

The College reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and waive any irregularities. Proposals which

fail to comply fully with any provisions of this document may be considered invalid and may not receive

consideration. The College also reserves the right to negotiate terms and conditions of a contract with the

chosen Supplier. The College reserves the right to award a contract based on any combination of the

specifications described herein.

The awarded Supplier’s proposal response shall be subject to and governed by the College’s Terms and

Conditions for services located at Terms and Conditions for Services Provided to WCC as a condition of

award and are hereby incorporated herein as a substantive part of the solicitation documents. In the

event there is any conflict or inconsistency between the Terms & Conditions referenced in the RFP

documents and those included in a Supplier’s Proposal response, Supplier’s quote, or listed on the

Supplier’s website, the Terms & Conditions of the RFP documents shall govern. Proposal submissions

must include all exceptions to the College’s terms and conditions of purchase. A purchase order signed

by an authorized agent of the College is required to constitute acceptance of Proposal offer and offer

terms and conditions of service. This RFP and any subsequently offered contracts will be governed by

the laws of the State of Michigan. Any and all applicable valid executive orders, Federal, State or local

laws, ordinances or rules or regulations shall apply to any contract if and when offered and are deemed

incorporated herein.

As a public institution, the College is subject to the terms and conditions of the Freedom of Information

Act. As required by law, any information submitted in response to this request for proposal could become

public information. Suppliers responding to this proposal are cautioned not to include any proprietary

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC 326

RFP # 6878 – Website Search Software

RFP Due Date: 07/16/2026 @ 2p.m. EST

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

PHONE: (734) 973-3553

FAX: (734)-677-5414

information as part of their proposal unless such proprietary information is carefully identified in writing

as such and accepted by the College as proprietary. Any documents submitted may be reviewed and

evaluated by any person at the discretion of the College, including non-allied and independent Suppliers

retained by the College now or in the future.

Proposals must be comprehensive by including all services and costs necessary to meet the business and

technical requirements of the College as outlined in this RFP. In addition, the proposal must specify a

detailed approach/methodology, Supplier and College staffing requirements, and any other assumptions

to achieve the goal of this RFP.

Proposals received in response to this Request for Proposals (RFP) will be evaluated using numerically

weighted totals in accordance with the criteria and process described herein. At its sole discretion, the

College may require supplementary presentations and/or interviews from select vendors; criteria may

include but is not limited to:

• Accordance with the specifications

contained herein

• Quality and clarity of responses

• Methodology/Approach to meet the

objectives of this RFP

• Scope of services/project capabilities

• Experience, references, & portfolio

samples

• Organizational Project Team and

Qualifications

• Relevant and Comparable Experience

• Collaboration & working relationship

• Understanding of the College’s Needs and

Environment

• Vendor’s image, reputation, and

professionalism

• Functionality, user experience (look, feel,

etc.), and configurability of products,

platforms, and software

• Product performance

• Compatibility & Portability of software

• Samples (if required)

• Price Proposal

The College intends to award a contract to the vendor whose proposal is determined to represent the

best overall value to the College, taking into consideration both qualitative and cost-related factors.

Award of a contract will be based on the highest-rated proposal, contingent on a determination of price

reasonableness at the sole discretion of the College. The College may enter negotiations with the highest-

ranked vendor to finalize contract terms and pricing. The College reserves the right not to select the

highest-scoring vendor if pricing is deemed excessive, unbalanced, or outside of market expectations. If

negotiations are unsuccessful, the College may choose to enter negotiations with the next highest-ranked

vendor. The award of this RFP will follow the term of final contract with the selected vendor and may be

renewed at the College’s discretion.

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC 326

RFP # 6878 – Website Search Software

RFP Due Date: 07/16/2026 @ 2p.m. EST

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

PHONE: (734) 973-3553

FAX: (734)-677-5414

2.0 Planned RFP Schedule

RFP issued – 07/02/2026

Deadline to submit questions – 07/09/2026 by 2:00 p.m. EST Questions shall be addressed to Lydia

Scheets, Purchasing Agent, at pur@wccnet.edu

College response to questions – 07/10/2026 by 2:00 p.m. EST posted on the WCC Purchasing website

https://www.wccnet.edu/about/purchasing/bids-rfp.php

RFP due date – 07/16/2026 at 2 p.m. EST

3.0 Submission Directions

Submit 1 PDF of vendor proposal with Signature Page and Attachment A – Minimum Security

Standards form to: PUR@wccnet.edu Attn: Lydia Scheets – Purchasing Agent; RFP #6878

Submit one (1) electronic proposal, including the required Signature Page in PDF format. Faxed and

mailed replies are not acceptable and will be rejected. Supplier assumes all responsibility for delivery to

the location given above on or before the due date and time.

4.0 Project Objectives & Goals

The primary objective is to improve the user site search experience of the College’s website for all site

visitors and identify a site search solution that the College’s internal team, in partnership with external

vendors and support, can implement on a new Drupal build as part of an institutional web refresh

project.

The College expects the site search tool to be scalable for subdomains, indexing the academic catalog

website, and the main wccnet.edu site; the tool must be adaptable to the latest technologies in site

search functionality.

The plan will support the following broad goals:

• Improve web content discoverability across WCC’s website and subdomains.

• Use intelligent technologies (may include AI, vector or semantic search, natural language

processing, or machine learning) that are scalable to anticipate and adapt to evolving user needs

and future platform integrations.

• Develop an ecosystem that can unite content across academic catalogs, news and marketing

pages to create a unified user search experience.

• Deliver an interface that is fully accessible by WCAG standards and is customizable for branding.

• Deliver an intelligent, robust search platform that enhances and expands user access to services

and resources via fast and relevant search results.

• Provide a solution that is intuitive and requires little to no manual overhead and engineering.

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC 326

RFP # 6878 – Website Search Software

RFP Due Date: 07/16/2026 @ 2p.m. EST

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

PHONE: (734) 973-3553

FAX: (734)-677-5414

5.0 Project Requirements

1. Approach to Technical Architecture, Search Capabilities and AI Functionality – Describe the

architecture and capabilities of your search platform, including keyword, semantic, vector, hybrid,

natural language processing, machine learning, generative AI, and/or other intelligent search

technologies utilized by your solution. Explain how search relevance is determined and how the

platform supports natural language queries and evolving user needs.

Describe your platform's ability to integrate with Drupal and other content sources, including

websites, subdomains, academic catalogs, PDFs, documents, and future systems. Include details

regarding indexing methods, indexing frequency, APIs, extensibility, and implementation

requirements.

Describe the administrative tools available to College staff for managing and optimizing search

results, including relevance tuning, synonym management, promoted results, search rules, content

boosting, and reporting capabilities.

If AI technologies are utilized, describe how customer content and data are used, retained,

protected, and governed, including whether customer content is used to train public or shared AI

models.

2. Security, Privacy and Compliance - Describe your organization's information security program and

provide details regarding relevant certifications, audits, and compliance frameworks, including SOC

2 Type II, ISO certifications, or comparable third-party assessments, if applicable.

Describe your data privacy practices, including data ownership, retention, residency, backup,

recovery, and deletion procedures. Clearly identify how College data is protected and any third-

party services utilized in delivering the solution.

Describe how the solution supports accessibility requirements, including compliance with WCAG

standards and other applicable accessibility guidelines.

3. Analytics and Reporting - Describe the analytics and reporting capabilities included with the

platform. Include information regarding search trends, user behavior insights, failed searches, zero-

result searches, content performance, reporting dashboards, export capabilities, and any tools

available to support ongoing optimization of the user search experience.

4. Implementation and Support - Describe your implementation methodology, anticipated project

timeline, staffing requirements, and the level of effort expected from College personnel. Include

information regarding onboarding, training, documentation, and knowledge transfer.

Describe your ongoing support model, including support hours, service level commitments,

escalation procedures, customer success resources, and product roadmap considerations relevant

to higher education institutions.

Commodity Codes

• NAICS 511210Software Publishers
• NAICS 541511Custom Computer Programming Services
• NAICS 541512Computer Systems Design Services

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