Opportunity Overview
New Hanover County Schools (NHCS) is soliciting Nursing Services under solicitation 218-8-27 for the 2026-2027 school year. The scope covers school-based nursing and personal-care support for students with disabilities, including Registered Nurse (RN), licensed practical nursing, Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), and Personal Care Assistant (PCA) services. The North Carolina eVP notice identifies the procurement as an RFP, and the current NHCS Purchasing Department page lists the solicitation under Bidding Opportunities. Atlas also notes a portal-status discrepancy: the eVP metadata currently displays “Pending Selection” even though the eVP description states sealed proposals are due September 17, 2026 and the live NHCS page continues to list the bid with three addenda. Bidders should rely on the current district-issued package and confirm status directly with NHCS Purchasing before submission.
Deadline and Submission
Sealed proposals are due September 17, 2026 by 2:00 p.m. The accessible official eVP notice and NHCS purchasing page do not separately state a time zone, so Atlas does not infer one. Proposal documents are available from the NHCS Purchasing Department at 2814 Carolina Beach Road, Wilmington, NC 28412 and may be requested from Brad Lackey at brad.lackey@nhcs.net. Indexed copies of the RFP describe separate sealed technical and cost proposals, with the technical submission requiring an original plus five copies and the cost proposal requiring a signed original. Bidders should verify these mechanics against the latest district-issued package and addenda before delivery.
Amendments
The current official NHCS Purchasing Department page lists three amendments: Nursing Addendum #1, Addendum #2, and Addendum #3. The district’s public page confirms their existence, but the linked amendment files were not retrievable through Atlas’s current read-only web interface during verification. The public eVP attachment/addenda panes also return a permission error. Accordingly, Atlas does not claim the original RFP remains unchanged. Every bidder should obtain and review all three district-issued addenda and acknowledge them as required before submitting.
Scope and Eligibility
The procurement seeks qualified organizations capable of providing licensed or certified school-health personnel for students with disabilities in school settings. Indexed solicitation materials describe students ages 3 through 21 and services tied to Individualized Education Programs and health-care plans, including nursing assessment and direct care, medication administration, health monitoring, emergency response, personal-care assistance, care coordination, and one-to-one support where required. Personnel must carry applicable North Carolina licensure or certification, CPR credentials, complete background checks, and comply with student-health and confidentiality requirements including FERPA and HIPAA. Minority participation is encouraged by NHCS.
Contract Term and Value
No authoritative contract ceiling was located in the controlling public sources, so Atlas does not publish a speculative dollar value. Indexed RFP materials describe a term from award through June 30, 2027, with options for up to two additional one-year renewals. This is a service procurement rather than a grant, so grant-style match or cost share is not applicable. Pricing is requested on an hourly-service basis by staffing category.
Required Response Elements
Indexed solicitation materials indicate that the response includes a technical proposal and a separately sealed signed cost proposal, information on the firm’s experience and staffing capacity, qualifications of proposed personnel, references, required insurance, and applicable certifications. Contractors must be prepared to provide required certificates of insurance promptly after award. Because NHCS has posted three addenda, bidders should treat the current district-issued addendum set as controlling over any earlier indexed copy of the RFP.
Atlas Fit Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 81/100. This is a significant districtwide student-health procurement with multiple clinical staffing categories and potential renewal years. The score is tempered by the absence of a published contract ceiling and the current inability to independently inspect all three addendum files.
N9+ Fit Score: 8/100. The procurement is primarily for direct, in-person school nursing and personal-care staffing, not remote physical-examination equipment or a telehealth platform. N9+ could conceivably support clinician escalation in a broader school-health model, but that is not a stated procurement requirement and Atlas will not force a technology fit.
Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare direct-vendor assessment: Current available records do not establish the North Carolina school-nursing staffing infrastructure, licensed RN/LPN/CNA/PCA workforce, special-education nursing track record, or district-scale personnel deployment capability needed to represent Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare as a qualified prime. No direct submission should be advanced on current evidence.
Realistic Qualified Organizations
IntelliChoice Home Care publicly describes education staffing solutions for public, private, and charter schools in North Carolina in addition to private-duty nursing and IDD services, making it a realistic organization to evaluate this solicitation. Ro Health is actively recruiting RNs and LPNs for school-health, pediatrics, and special-education assignments in North Carolina, also indicating relevant school-nursing staffing capability. Any bidder must still satisfy the complete NHCS RFP and all three addenda.
Next Action
Qualified school-health staffing vendors should obtain the complete current proposal package directly from NHCS Purchasing, review and acknowledge Addenda #1 through #3, reconcile any changes to staffing, pricing, insurance, forms, or submission instructions, and deliver the sealed response before September 17, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare should not pursue as prime absent independently verified staffing qualifications.
Controlling sources: New Hanover County Schools Purchasing Department — Bidding Opportunities; North Carolina eVP Solicitation Details.