USBE College Readiness Assessment - ACT

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) is publishing this notice in accordance with the Utah Procurement Code and, as authorized by U.C.A. § 63G-6a-802, intends to award a contract without engaging in a standard procurement process if it is determined by the Head of the Procurement Unit for USBE, in writing, that:

• There is only one source for the procurement item;
• Transitional costs are a significant consideration in selecting a procurement item and the transitional costs are unreasonable or cost-prohibitive; or
• The award of a contract is under circumstances, described in rules adopted by the board, that make awarding the contract through a standard procurement process impractical and not in the best interest of USBE.

Utah code 53E-4-305. College readiness assessments currently specifies that the college readiness assessment be the one that is most commonly submitted to Utah universities. This is the ACT assessment.

ACT Education Corp. (“ACT”) owns or has license for the ACT® assessments, including but not limited to, the skill definitions on which assessments are based, paper-based or online assessment documents, testing materials, test questions, answer choices, administration and registration materials, publications, data, the score resulting from the assessment, reports, documentation, related materials, and any and all derivatives or modifications thereof (collectively, the “ACT Materials”). ACT is the sole source and owner of the ACT Materials. These ACT Materials are protected by copyright and trademark and must be ordered directly from ACT.

Data from the 2025-2026 school year, received annually from ACT, demonstrates that of the 53,851 ACT score reports sent to colleges and universities around the world, 45,073, or 83.7% of them were sent to Utah colleges and universities.

Identification of Other Qualified and Interested Vendors

The purpose of this notice is to determine if there are any other interested and qualified vendors that meet the specifications of this notice. Any such vendors wishing to challenge the proposed award must submit to the purchasing agent identified in this notice the following information:

• The name of the contesting person; and
• A detailed explanation of the challenge, including documentation showing that there are other competing sources for the procurement item.

**ALL CHALLENGES TO THE PROPOSED CONTRACT AWARD MUST BE SUBMITTED THROUGH THE UTAH PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PLACE PORTAL**, and any questions regarding this notice, including requests for additional information, must be submitted through the Public Procurement Place Portal during the public notice period. No action is required if you have no objections to the proposed award.

If, after the public notice period has passed, the Head of the Procurement Unit determines that there are other interested and qualified vendors that meet the specifications of this notice, USBE will not award a contract pursuant to this notice; otherwise, if no valid challenges are received, then USBE may award a contract to the identified vendor without engaging in a standard procurement process.