Developing Opportunities: Emergency Services, Public Health and More

Government technology procurements don’t reach solicitation or proposal stage in a vacuum; before that happens, public-sector organizations have likely spent months in earlier-stage explorations like those below.

Industry Insider — California regularly spotlights such endeavors in its Opportunities section. Here’s a look at several public-sector governmental entities with early-stage technology or innovation-related initiatives:

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has issued a request for information for replacing the state’s warehouse management system, which is legacy. The statewide system delivers logistical and commodity movement support in response to disasters and emergencies, which can include procurement and distribution of a variety of resources ranging from cots and water to personal protective equipment and durable medical equipment. The system runs two main warehouses; and, at times, temporary staging locations to provide ordering, receiving, storing, and shipping resources. Issues include the need for manual, human data entry and/or paper processes to connect disparate workflows; outdated processes; quantity mismatches; and inaccurate inventories. Questions are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday; a virtual question and answer session will be held from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Thursday, with answers to questions released Oct. 17. Responses to the RFI are due by 5 p.m. Oct. 23.

The California Department of Public Health has issued a request for information to get feedback on draft requirements, anticipated vendor tasks, and estimates on costs and effort for a Receiving, Staging and Storing Warehouse Supply Chain Management Solution. The solution is CDPH’s supply chain management system for its emergency pharmaceutical warehouse, which stores and distributes temperature-controlled medical supplies and pharmaceuticals in public health emergencies and disasters. The market research will let the department’s team understand viable alternatives to the solution and how they can meet business and technology needs. CalOES has told CDPH it has to move on from the current system; this project would implement a modern supply chain management solution to manage operations and logistics at the emergency pharmaceutical warehouse. Responses are due by 3 p.m. Oct. 16.

The Oakland Unified School District has issued a request for qualifications to provide design-build services at Fremont High School, to construct a single-story, modular, five-classroom building and do related site work. The expected cost range of the contract is $1 million to $1.25 million. Statements of qualification are due by Oct. 26. A notice of the district’s decision on pre-qualifications and a request for proposals are both tentatively set for Nov. 1 with proposals tentatively due Nov. 22 and a contract award likely on Jan. 24.

Rural portions of three Sacramento Valley counties — Butte, Colusa and Sutter — are the beneficiaries of a $65,410 collaborative grant from the federal Library Services and Technology Act. The funding, as the Appeal-Democrat first reported, will pay to create dialogues with residents in these areas to learn more about the impact libraries can have and which programs may be most effective. At its Sept. 12 meeting, the Sutter County Board of Supervisors approved the Sutter County Library participating as the lead agency in the grant.