The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has an open procurement for 27SEPRLS2 | Special Education – Audiobook Lending service | RFR, COMMBUYS BD-27-1026-DOE02-DOE01-133020. DESE seeks a vendor to produce audio versions of textbooks and provide an audiobook lending service to K-12 schools for students with print disabilities.
Deadline and procurement method
COMMBUYS lists the bid opening/response deadline as October 13, 2026 at 12:00 PM. The public header does not separately state a timezone, so Atlas does not infer one. The solicitation is OPEN, Open Market, WTO-covered, and allows electronic quotes through COMMBUYS. No pre-bid conference is listed.
Value, forms, and requirements
The public COMMBUYS header does not publish a controlling contract value, so Atlas does not substitute a third-party estimate. Listed solicitation materials include the RFR, Attachment A – Scope, Performance Measures, Evaluation Criteria Scorecard, Attachment B – Contact Form, Prompt Pay Discount Form, Small Business Program Plan Language, DESE Required Language, required OSD specifications, State Forms updated April 2026, and read-only IT/IP language that may or may not apply. The posting marks the procurement as eligible for the Small Business Purchasing Program.
Mandatory qualifications, references, pricing structure, insurance, accessibility deliverables, background-check requirements, and other detailed contractual obligations must be verified from the complete RFR and attachments before any bid decision. Atlas does not fabricate those requirements from the public header. No amendment text is exposed on the public page as of this verification.
Contacts
The listed information contact is Renee Labrecque Simon at Renee.Simon@mass.gov. The purchaser is Jonna Willis at Jonna.t.willis@mass.gov and 781-338-3000.
Atlas assessment
Atlas Opportunity Score: 58/100. School Procurement Relevance: 88/100. N9+ Fit: 0/100. QC Healthcare Fit: 0/100. Dr. Miltie direct-vendor fit: 0/100 based on currently verified qualifications. Dr. Miltie’s specialized audiobook production, lending-platform, and print-disability accessibility qualifications have not been established, so no direct bid posture is advanced.
COMMBUYS also states that an unfinished Quote already exists for this bid. Atlas therefore will not create a duplicate quote or response.
Official source: COMMBUYS — BD-27-1026-DOE02-DOE01-133020.