This just came down the wire.  Our apologies for the cross-posting, but we
thought it might be of interest to many people on this lists.

Attached is the Texas Register Notice, dated Friday 13, 1998, which
announces publication of an RFP for production of accessible electronic
textbooks.

 Gregg



Texas Education Agency

Request for Proposals Concerning Investigating the Feasibility and
Cost-Effectiveness of
Producing Electronic Textbooks for Students Who are Blind or Have Other
Disabilities

Eligible Proposers. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is requesting
proposals under Request for Proposals (RFP) #701-98-008 from nonprofit
organizations (i.e., exempt under ?501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code)
and institutions of higher education for the development and implementation
of a project to investigate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of
producing electronic textbooks for Texas public-school students who are
blind or who have other disabilities. For-profit businesses are not
eligible to submit a proposal but are
eligible to participate in the project as subcontractors as necessary to
carry out the objectives of the project.

Description. The selected contractor will carry out the following four main
tasks:

(1) develop accessibility demonstration projects by: (a) producing two
directly accessible CD-ROM textbooks for use by students who are blind or
who have visual or other disabilities; and (b)
producing two fully accessible computer network-based textbooks for use on
an internal Texas
Intranet or on the World Wide Web.

(2) update, expand, and refine the January 1997 Report to the Texas
Legislature: Accessibility of
Information in Electronic Textbooks for Students Who are Blind or Visually
Impaired and assist the
Computer Network Study Advisory Committee in integrating the updated
accessibility report into
the main report on the Computer Network Study Project due to the Texas
Legislature by February
1999;

(3) coordinate and administer two meetings of the accessibility
subcommittee of the Computer
Network Study Project Advisory Committee that include reimbursement of
travel expenses to
subcommittee members; and

(4) prepare an interim and a final Lessons Learned report on the
feasibility andcost-effectiveness of producing electronic textbooks for
students who are blind or who have otherdisabilities.

Dates of Project. All services and activities related to this proposal will
be conducted within
specified dates. Proposers should plan for a starting date of no earlier
than May 4, 1998, and an
ending date of no later than August 1, 2000.

Project Amount. One contractor will be selected to receive a maximum of
$200,000 during the
contract period. This project is funded 100% from Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) federal funds.

Selection Criteria. Proposals will be selected based on the ability of each
proposer to carry out all
requirements contained in this RFP. The TEA will base its selection on,
among other things, the
demonstrated competence and qualifications of the proposer and upon the
reasonableness of the
proposed fee. The TEA reserves the right to select from the highest-ranking
proposals those that
address all requirements in this RFP and that are most advantageous to the
project.

The TEA is not obligated to execute a resulting contract, provide funds, or
endorse any proposal
submitted in response to this RFP. This RFP does not commit TEA to pay any
costs incurred before a contract is executed. The issuance of this RFP does
not obligate TEA to award a contract or pay any costs incurred in preparing
a response.


Requesting the Proposal. A complete copy of RFP #701-98-008 may be obtained
by writing the:
Document Control Center, Room 6-108, Texas Education Agency, William B.
Travis Building,
1701 North Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701, or by calling (512)
463-9304. Please refer to
the RFP number in your request.

Further Information. For clarifying information about this RFP, contact
Robert Leos or Charles
Mayo, Division of Textbook Administration, Texas Education Agency, (512)
463-9601.

Deadline for Receipt of Proposals. Proposals must be received in the
Document Control Center of
the Texas Education Agency by 5:00 p.m. (Central Time), Tuesday, April 7,
1998, to be
considered.

TRD-9801571

Criss Cloudt
Associate Commissioner for Policy Planning and Research
Texas Education Agency

Filed: February 4, 1998