RFP #26-001 Funding for Public High School Equivalency (HSE) Test Administration

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) High School Equivalency (HSE) office is seeking proposals for the Funding for Public High School Equivalency (HSE) Test Administration i.e., descriptive applications that respond to the questions asked, from approved HSE test centers that seek to receive reimbursement for administering the state’s HSE exam. The terms - proposal and application - will be used interchangeably throughout this request for proposals (RFP).

The HSE exam, which is the GED® Test, is provided to age-eligible state residents at approved HSE test centers. NYSED contracts with GED Testing Service (GEDTS) for the development, delivery and scoring of the GED.  While there is no charge to test takers, there are limitations on how frequently individual subject tests can be repeated if failed. To be eligible to apply for test reimbursement under this RFP, HSE test centers must be delivering the GED to eligible state residents in public settings and approved alternate sites.

The goal of this RFP is to allocate and distribute public funds to not-for-profit test centers, i.e., approved vendors that administer the HSE exam to the public. The funding distributed under this RFP may not fully compensate all test centers administering the GED Test but rather will at least partially support the cost of testing. Most vendors dedicate additional agency resources to HSE testing that align with their organizational mission. All vendors are either educational institutions, including school districts, BOCES, and colleges, or community agencies. The list of eligible applicants can be found in the Official Public HSE Test Center Eligibility Criteria section of this RFP.

The contract period is January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2028.

The test center should calculate an informed projection of testing to be delivered over the next three-year contract period based on the current frequency and quantity of testing. Alternate additional sites may be included such as testing provided in alternate (secure) settings by public HSE test centers.

The Regional Adult Education Network (RAEN) will serve as the statewide system for organizing test centers and distributing reimbursement funds allocated for delivering the GED Test. There are seven geographic regions of the state represented by the RAENs: New York City, Long Island, Hudson Valley, Capital/North Country, Central/Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, and West.

Public test centers must be located within the geographic boundaries of the RAEN under which they are applying. NYSED will award at least one contract(s) within each RAEN pursuant to this RFP. The contract(s) resulting from this RFP will be for a three-calendar year period, anticipated to begin January 1, 2026, and continue through December 31, 2028. Contracts awarded will be for the purpose of reimbursing test centers for administering the GED to the public and may include additional alternate approved public, private, or correctional sites that operate under the same organization as the main testing site described in the proposal. Contract amounts awarded will be commensurate with the demonstrated need for public testing as conveyed by prior public testing delivered.  Preference will be given to test centers that deliver the GED utilizing computer-based testing (CBT). Paper-based testing (PBT) is largely reserved for incarcerated settings where CBT cannot be provided or as an approved testing accommodation. Only test centers that offer CBT may apply to this RFP. Test centers that deliver PBT only are not eligible to apply.  There is no subcontracting allowed under this RFP.

NYSED will award multiple contracts pursuant to this RFP. The contracts resulting from this RFP will be for a term anticipated to begin January 1, 2026 and to end December 31, 2028.

Mandatory Requirements: See Mandatory Requirements section of the RFP.

Components contained in RFP #26-001 are as follows:

  1. Description of Services to Be Performed
  2. Submission
  3. Evaluation Criteria and Method of Award
  4. Assurances
  5. Submission Documents (separate document)

Questions regarding the request must be submitted via online form no later than the close of business May 23, 2025. A Questions and Answers Summary will be posted to NYSED’s Procurement website no later than June 6, 2025. The following are the designated contacts for this procurement:

Program Matters: Ruth Singer

Fiscal Matters: Tara Wildove

Bidders are requested to submit their bids electronically. The following documents, as detailed in the Submission section of this RFP, must be received via online form no later than June 27, 2025:

  1. Submission Documents labeled <name of bidder> Submission Documents RFP 26-001
  2. Technical Proposal labeled <name of bidder> Technical Proposal RFP 26-001

Instructions for Submitting an Electronic Bid: 

  1. The technical proposal documents should be submitted in Microsoft Office. PDF files that are editable and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) searchable are acceptable. Please do not submit the technical proposal as a scanned PDF. 
  2. Submission documents requiring a signature must be signed using one of the methods listed below and may be submitted as a Microsoft Office, PDF, or JPG document. A scanned PDF is acceptable for these documents.
  3. The following forms of e-signatures are acceptable:
    1. handwritten signatures on faxed or scanned documents
    2. e-signatures that have been authenticated by a third-party digital software, such as DocuSign and Adobe Sign
    3. stored copies of the images of signatures that are placed on a document by copying and pasting or otherwise inserting them into the documents 
  4. Unacceptable forms of e-signatures include:
    1. a typed name, including a signature created by selecting a script or calligraphy font for the typed name of the person “signing”
  5. To identify the signer and indicate that the signer understood and intended to agree to the terms of the signed document, the signer will sign beside or provide by email the following attestation: “I agree, and it is my intent, to sign this document by <describe the signature solution used> and by electronically submitting this document to <name of recipient individual or entity>. I understand that my signing and submitting this document is the legal equivalent of having placed my handwritten signature on the submitted document and this attestation. I understand and agree that by electronically signing and submitting this document I am affirming to the truth of the information contained therein.”
  6. To ensure receipt of your bid, please ensure that the RFP number and title listed on page 1 are accurately entered into the fields “Procurement No” and “Procurement Title/Name” on the online form. Failure to include this information may result in the bid not being received by the deadline or considered for award.