/RFP-Search-Unification

RFP #180000022: Develop a search tool that finds program applications across multiple benefits systems.

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State of Alaska RFP for a Unified Search Interface

Instructions

The documents in this repository are posted in Alaska's Vendor Self Service (VSS) portal under RFP # 180000022. The documents in VSS should always be considered the documents of record. Please submit any questions as GitHub issues in this repository by November 15, 2017 at 4:00 pm Alaska prevailing time.

Offers are due by November 27, 2017, at 4:00 pm Alaska prevailing time.

Important note about referenced documentation

You'll notice that we link to a number of working documents in our RFP and related materials. Interested vendors should be aware that all of these documents are subject to change because Alaska and 18F are continuing to learn more as we continue prototyping and working with various elements of the existing system to build out our DevSecOps capabilities. We encourage interested vendors to "Watch" what's going on in the main DHSS Modernization repo and in the DevSecOps repo to be aware of what we're learning. However, we don't anticipate anything that we learn or change in this environment to alter how an interested vendor would staff up their proposed teams. As discussed throughout the RFP, we are interested in vendors that are open to such changes without requiring a static set of requirements at the time of the RFP.

Background

The background for this project as a whole is detailed in the README from the main Alaska Modernization repo. We've been updating vendors on our acquisition strategy and progress in a file dedicated to vendor outreach and communication. This is the first of many procurements associated with the broader need to modernize Alaska's DHSS Eligibility Information System. Our response to previous questions about our approach can be found in the issues tab of the main repo.

For this first acquisition, we want to focus on providing value to our beneficiaries and constituents and provide a means to transition to a modular procurement model and agile development methodology. The product team has decided that building a robust person search would create a positive impact in a way that introduces the least risk to existing systems. We will learn a lot during this first acquisition that will help us tackle more invasive and risky acquisitions later on.

Important note - Questions about this RFP should be posted here - and not to the main DHSS project repo.

What we're hoping to achieve as a result of this acquistion

Provide a single view of a client or applicant between the two places that information currently resides

Decreased burden on Division of Public Assistance (DPA) field staff as they process incoming applications for program benefits

Give DPA Field Staff a better sense of the nature of pending work by revealing all unworked applications for a given person or household

Increase the number of applications processed per worker, per day, so that potential beneficiaries can get their benefits sooner

Decrease time necessary for DPA field staff to get critical information on outstanding applications or ongoing assistance cases

Build the foundation for a performant and flexible search API that can be reused throughout the application for any view

How to respond

We've made every effort to allow for less burden in what we require from interested vendors. Although the RFP might seem to be pretty extensive, we're asking for limited written proposal responses and believe we'll learn more about your team's approach and offer as part of your verbal presentation. As discussed in the RFP, we see this presentation to be free flowing vs. formal so that our technical evaluation team can ask questions based on what they've read or heard from your team.

Budget

We have a budget of $300,000 dollars for completion of this project. Proposals priced at more than this amount will be considered non-responsive. This will be a time and materials contract.

Contract Term

This contract will last approximately four months from the date of award - approximately December 15, 2017 through April 15, 2018.

Contents

  1. Request for Proposals
  2. Quality Assurance Plan
  3. A discussion of how we work
  4. A discussion of what we've learned so far in our prototyping
  5. Alaska's IT Requirements for Agile Acquisition
  6. Alaska's IT Standards
  7. Alaska's Person Services
  8. Data Destruction Information and References

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING for additional information.

Public domain

This project is in the worldwide public domain. As stated in CONTRIBUTING:

This project is in the public domain within the United States, and copyright and related rights in the work worldwide are waived through the CC0 1.0 Universal public domain dedication.

All contributions to this project will be released under the CC0 dedication. By submitting a pull request, you are agreeing to comply with this waiver of copyright interest.