Notice End Date: July 30, 2026

Vendor Name: CORE Higher Education Group LLC

Contract Amount: 98150.00

Agency Procurement Manager: Leigh Gileno

Agency Procurement Manager Email: gileno@musc.edu

Agency Procurement Manager Telephone#: 843-876-8843

The Agency hereby provides notice that it intends to enter into a sole source contract per S.C. Code Ann. §11-35-1560 with Vendor for the following supplies, services, information technology, or construction:

In accordance with §11-35-1560(A) of the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code, it is the intent of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to award without competition a sole source contract in accordance with Regulation 19-445.2105(B)(5) to CORE Higher Education Group for the annual software license and support fees associated with the CORE ELMS Clinical Education Management Platform for the College of Health Professions. The annual fee is a continuation of the licensing agreement established in 2025.

Purpose and Objectives: The Medical University of South Carolina College of Health Professions requires a comprehensive, centralized clinical education management platform to support the administration of clinical placements, student onboarding, affiliation agreements, documentation management, accreditation compliance, evaluations, preceptor management, and reporting functions across multiple health profession programs. The CORE ELMS platform serves as the College's primary system for managing clinical education activities and supports more than 1,500 students and over 3,500 clinical rotation assignments annually. The requested procurement is for the continuation of the annual software licensing agreement established in 2025 to maintain uninterrupted access to CORE ELMS and associated functionality necessary to support clinical education operations and accreditation requirements across the College of Health Professions. 
Sole Source Justification: The College of Health Professions utilizes CORE ELMS as its enterprise clinical education management platform supporting more than 1,500 students and over 3,500 annual clinical rotation assignments. The system provides centralized management of affiliation agreements, onboarding requirements, student documentation, clinical schedules, evaluations, surveys, preceptor management, field encounters, accreditation tracking, and reporting.

CORE ELMS has supported multiple College of Health Professions programs since 2013 and has been expanded across additional programs since 2022 due to its flexibility, reporting capabilities, and ability to accommodate unique accreditation and operational requirements. The platform allows program-specific customization, custom reporting fields, and management of multiple programs within a single clinical site environment.

Alternative systems reviewed by the College did not demonstrate equivalent functionality, flexibility, customization capabilities, or integrated reporting necessary to support the College's diverse clinical education requirements. Replacement of the existing platform would require significant operational disruption, data migration, retraining efforts, and potential accreditation compliance risks. Based on previous evaluations and ongoing use, CORE ELMS remains the only solution capable of fully meeting the College's clinical education management needs.

QUESTIONS/ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Shall be addressed to the email address of the Procurement Officer indicated below.
PROTESTS (MAY 2019): If you are aggrieved in connection with the intended award of this contract, you may be entitled to protest, but only as provided in §11-35-4210. To protest an intended award of a contract pursuant to §11-35-1560, you shall (i) notify the chief procurement officer in writing of your intent to protest within five (5) business days of the date this intent to award is posted, and (ii) if the appropriate chief procurement officer has been timely notified of your intent to protest, you may submit your actual protest within fifteen days of the date this notice of intent to award is posted. Days are calculated as provided in §11-35-310(13). Both protests and notices of intent to protest must be in writing and must be received by the appropriate Chief Procurement Officer within the time provided. The grounds of the protest and the relief requested must be set forth with enough particularity to give notice of the issues to be decided. 

Any protest or notice of intent to protest must be addressed to the Chief Procurement Officer, Materials Management Office, and submitted in writing (a) by email to: protest-mmo@mmo.sc.gov or (b) by post or delivery to: 1201 Main Street, Suite 600, Columbia, SC 29201

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. Any responsible sources who wish to identify their interest and capability to provide these services must notify this Contracting Specialist at gileno@musc.edu prior to the contact deadline:  July 30, 2026, at 12:00 AM EST. Telephone responses will not be accepted. Upon receipt of the interested parties’ notification, the Contracting Officer will determine whether to conduct a competitive procurement or proceed with sole source negotiations.
 

Agency's justification for a sole source procurement may be viewed or immediately obtained at: Agency Procurement Manager (Listed Above)

PROTESTS:
Any actual or prospective bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor aggrieved in connection with the intended award or award of this sole source contract, shall notify the appropriate chief Procurement officer in writing of its intent to protest within five (5) business days of the date this notice is posted. Any actual or prospective bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor who is aggrieved in connection with the intended award or award of this sole source contract and has timely notified the appropriate chief procurement officer of its intent to protest, may protest to the appropriate chief procurement officer in the manner set forth below within fifteen days of the date this notice is posted; except that a matter that could have been raised as a protest of the solicitation may not be raised as a protest of the award or intended award of a contract.
A protest must be in writing, filed with the appropriate chief procurement officer, and set forth the grounds of the protest and the relief requested with enough particularity to give notice of the issues to be decided. The protest must be received by the appropriate chief procurement officer within the time provided above. Days are calculated as provided in S.C. Code Ann. § 11-35-310(13).

Any Notice Of Intent To Protest And Protest Must Be Addressed To: Materials Management Officer