Establish an overarching strategic Technology Master Plan
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) is the State agency charged with
implementing the State's public school laws and the State Board of Education's policies and procedures
governing pre-kindergarten through 12th grade public education. The guiding mission of the North
Carolina State Board of Education is that every public school student will graduate from high school,
globally competitive for work and post-secondary education and prepared for life in the 21st Century.
Specific goals include:
NC public schools will produce globally competitive students
NC public schools will be led by 21st Century professionals
NC public school students will be healthy and responsible
Leadership will guide innovation in NC public schools
NC public schools will be governed by and supported by 21st Century systems
The North Carolina legislature requires that a state school technology plan be in place. The most recent
one was completed by NCDPI in November 2006, and it focused on instructional technology capabilities.
This plan, while well-crafted and comprehensive in its coverage of instructional technologies, does not
include the wide variety of IT initiatives underway throughout the Department of Public Instruction. As a
result, there is a need to understand and document these separate efforts and develop a unified strategy to further enable their success. In addition, the Department of Public Instruction Division of Instructional Technology is changing the services it provides to state agencies, further driving the need to establish a broader Technology Master Plan, and understand the implications this has for funding and managing IT within NCDPI.
The purpose of this RFP and any resulting contract award is to solicit proposals and contract with a
Vendor to assist NCDPI to establish an overarching strategic Technology Master Plan that provides an
enterprise wide perspective on the North Carolina supported K-12 technology initiatives and links them to
the goals and objectives defined in the State Board of Education's document, "Future-Ready Students for
the 21st Century," http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbe_meetings/revisions/2006/pdfs/0608futurereadystudents.pdf
This Technology Master Plan will be a reference point and road map for NCDPI to identify core services
for the North Carolina K-12 School Connectivity Initiative. The NC General Assembly appropriated $6M
in Senate Bill 1741 to fund School Connectivity as an initial investment for FY07. The 2007-2009
Governors recommended Budget, House Bill H174, and Senate Bill S135 recommend recurring funds for
the School Connectivity Initiative. Pursuant to the SB1741 School Connectivity legislation the State
Board of Education, the Lieutenant Governor's Office and the Office of the Governor initiated a School
Connectivity Planning Project. The Friday Institute delivered the School Connectivity Initiative
Implementation and Operating Plan. The plan was accepted and NCDPI was directed to create additional
projects to implement the School Connectivity Plan. This project will be called the School Connectivity
Initiative - Technology Master Plan.
