Here are five noteworthy developments Techwire is tracking as 2015 comes to a close.
1. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) released on Dec. 10 an RFP for a data backup, restore and disaster recovery solution. According to the bid document, respondents are encouraged to “consider all options” in delivering a cost-effective system that provides offsite recovery and real-time access. CalPERS plans to award a five-year contract for this bid. The solicitation will be done in two phases. Qualifying bidders under this first phase will be invited to phase two, which will include a vendor questionnaire. Responses to the phase one RFP are due Dec. 28. Also due Dec. 18 from CalPERS is an RFI on cloud solutions for a secure data warehouse.
2. An RFP for the State Hearings Appeals Case Management System was set to be released Dec. 7, state CIO Carlos Ramos told the vendor community. The $12.3 million project within the Department of Social Services will “create a single case management database to combine intake, scheduling and reporting functionalities into a single workflow.” The work will consolidate the existing four-decade-old mainframe database housed at the Office of Technology Services, and more than 20 ad-hoc applications. California statute provides dissatisfied applicants or recipients of public social services the right to request a state hearing in order to pursue a formal decision.
3. The Department of Technology is looking to add cloud-based software for human resource functions to its service catalog available to state agencies and departments. An invitation for bid (IFB) seeks “multiple Vendor Hosted Software Solutions (VHSS) for human resources tools such that customer state departments can select from various manufacturers based on individual needs.” The final day to submit bids has been extended to Feb. 1, 2016. Ramos said the state might choose to use existing contract vehicles for future VHSS solicitations.
4. Vendors, bidders and suppliers that do business with the state of California will now be able to register online with the launch of Cal eProcure, California’s new online marketplace for businesses wishing to sell goods and services to the state. As Techwire reported, the new website launched Dec. 9 is “designed to improve the experience of businesses selling products and services to the state of California” and replaces the previous system known as BidSync. The system will give users a one-stop shop for bidding and contracting resources. A letter explaining how to register will be delivered to qualifying businesses via U.S. mail by Dec. 18, the state said. As of Dec. 9, all bidders can set up their registration, with Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (SB/DVBE) firms that have already been preregistered in the system.
5. As Techwire first reported, the Child Welfare Services — New System (CWS-NS), one of California’s largest IT modernization efforts, will be divided into multiple bid opportunities with the intent of making the project less risky and more agile, officials have announced. The first RFP is expected to be released later this month, and the Department of Social Services and Office of Systems Integration expect the project’s first deliverable will be completed during the 2016-17 fiscal year. California’s child welfare system is expansive. There are about 20,000 end users among child welfare, social workers and juvenile probation workers at the county level; the system itself received almost 500,000 referrals in 2014
For more information about these and other California bid opportunities, go to Techwire’s Bid Tracker.
