Preferred Partners for Custom Application Development and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Services

The Institute of International Education (IIE) is seeking to establish a pool of three “Preferred Partners” that can deliver end‑to‑end custom software development and advanced AI services over a five‑year horizon. The work will span the full software lifecycle—requirements gathering, architecture, cloud‑native development (primarily Microsoft Azure), integration, DevOps, QA, documentation, and ongoing support—as well as AI/ML capabilities such as large‑language‑model integration, enterprise Copilot solutions, retrieval‑augmented generation, and responsible‑AI governance. Vendors must demonstrate strong security posture (ISO 27001 and/or SOC 2 Type II with NIST CSF assessment), provide a role‑based rate card, and be prepared for virtual demos and interviews. The contract is indefinite‑delivery‑indefinite‑quantity, with task orders awarded on a direct‑assignment or mini‑RFP basis, and no guaranteed minimum spend. • Full‑stack modern application development (React/Angular, .NET, Java, Python, Node.js) on Azure with CI/CD and IaC. • AI services including LLM‑based assistants, Copilot, RAG, model lifecycle management, and AI governance. • Security/compliance requirements: ISO 27001 or SOC 2 Type II, NIST CSF, GDPR, FedRAMP‑Medium where applicable. • Pricing via role‑based rate card (hourly rates) with optional fixed‑price options; cost weight 20 % in evaluation. • Evaluation emphasizes depth of skills (30 %), financial stability (25 %), presentation (15 %), references (10 %).