The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) have released the K-12 Community Vendor Assessment Tool Lite-V4.1 (K-12CVAT), a questionnaire framework specifically designed for K-12 schools, districts, and education service districts to measure vendor risk.
In a press release, CoSN and SETDA said the new tool is a “vital resource for ensuring the protection of sensitive school system information and constituents’ personal identifiable information (PII) during procurement processes.”
The organizations explained that the K-12CVAT simplifies the evaluation of solution providers by offering a standardized questionnaire framework, adding that the tool helps facilitate comprehensive assessments of vendors’ information, data, and cybersecurity policies. CoSN and SETDA believe that by completing the K-12CVAT, solution providers enable K-12 clients to make well-informed decisions, streamline procurement processes, and enhance overall security measures.
“The K-12CVAT offers a consistent and single questionnaire for solution providers to complete for potential and current K-12 organization clients to support evaluation and understanding of the risks and opportunities of your product,” said Keith Krueger, CEO, CoSN. “The advantage of the K-12CVAT is that, once completed, your assessment can be used by multiple K-12 organizations to streamline procurement processes with your K-12 clients. And for school districts, it provides consistent information to do a risk assessment of all bidding companies.”
The tool is based off a similar application intended for higher education institutions, the Educause Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Tool – Lite (HECVAT-Lite).
