The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has added two rural health technology grant opportunities to its procurement forecast while delaying the anticipated posting dates for three planned technology solicitations.
The commission’s procurement forecast, updated July 31, includes new grant opportunities focused on artificial intelligence and telehealth, as well as rural healthcare cybersecurity. A comparison with the previous version, dated July 24, also shows revised schedules for laboratory software, public health electronic health records and data broker services.
One new entry, the Rural Texas Strong Initiative 3: Lone Star Advanced AI and Telehealth, is scheduled to be posted in October. The request for applications would support provider-facing AI and telehealth technologies intended to improve clinical and administrative workflows, care coordination, telehealth infrastructure and access to specialty care in rural communities. The forecast also identifies analytics and virtual care among the technologies covered by the initiative.
The second addition, the Rural Texas Strong Initiative 5: Unified Care Infrastructure and Rural Cyber Protection, is scheduled to be posted in November. The initiative would support managed security services, endpoint detection and response, continuous security operations center monitoring, cybersecurity training and threat detection for rural healthcare organizations.
Neither initiative appeared in the July 24 version of the forecast.
The latest update also moves the anticipated posting date for the commission’s laboratory information system maintenance solicitation from July to August. The planned procurement covers software licenses, support, maintenance and training for the system used by the Regional Clinical Laboratory at Austin State Hospital. The solicitation number and description remained the same between the two versions.
A Department of State Health Services procurement for a public health electronic health record system moved from September 2026 to January 2027. The department is seeking a single vendor to provide a hosted, cloud-based and interoperable software as a service system for its public health regions.
The forecast also moved the anticipated posting date for data broker services from August 2026 to January 2027. That procurement would cover the acquisition and delivery of information used by the state to determine eligibility and recertify benefits for public assistance programs. The commission said the services are intended to support accuracy and efficiency in administering those programs.
The July 31 document labels the three procurements as updated but does not explain the reasons for the schedule changes. It also does not provide estimated values for the solicitations or the two newly listed grant opportunities.
Other technology-related procurements remain unchanged on the forecast, including enterprise software licensing, IT service desk support, human resources and payroll services and continued operation of the Texas Medicaid Management Information System.
HHSC Adds Rural AI, Cyber Grants to Procurement Forecast
What to Know:
- Two rural health grant opportunities focus on AI, telehealth and cybersecurity services.
- Three technology procurements were pushed back, including data broker services and a public health electronic health record system.
- HHSC did not provide estimated values for the newly listed grant opportunities.
