12-Specifications.pdf

SPECIFICATIONS

SCOPE

Harris County is soliciting proposals from qualified vendors to provide Election Poll Worker Management Software for the Harris County Clerk’s Office for one (1) year beginning approximately December 1, 2025.

PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE

A pre-proposal conference is scheduled on September 30, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. CDT. Attendance is not mandatory, but all vendors should attend in order to have a better understanding of the requirements of this RFP.

Should you wish to attend, you must RSVP to Amber Seastrunk at Amber.Seastrunk@pur.hctx.net by September 26, 2025, no later than 12:00 p.m. CDT. By RSVP request, you will be provided with the conference line number and access code to dial in to attend the meeting. Persons with disabilities requiring special accommodations should contact the Office of the Purchasing Agent at (713) 274-4400 at least two (2) days prior to the conference.

It is the responsibility of each firm to examine the entire RFP, seek clarification in writing, and review their submittal for accuracy before submitting. Once the submission deadline has passed, all submissions will be final. Questions relating to the RFP must be submitted in through Bonfire. The deadline for submission of questions relating to this RFP is detailed in the Event Details in Bonfire. All questions submitted in writing prior to the deadline will be compiled and answered in writing.

M/WBE’s Harris County strives to engage with prime contractors and subcontractors that represent the diverse businesses of the County. We will ensure that historically underutilized minority- and woman-owned businesses (M/WBEs) receive a fair and equal opportunity to participate in the County's procurement process. The County expects Vendors to make a good faith effort and the Vendor agrees to reasonably assist the County to meet or exceed goals for awarding contracts associated with a project the County procures, operates, maintains, or constructs to M/WBEs.

RENEWAL OPTIONS (MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT ONLY)

Harris County may consider four (4) one-year renewal options, renewable one (1) year at a time, based upon the same terms, conditions and pricing as the original year. Renewal is subject to approval by Harris County Commissioners Court. Once renewal options are exhausted, the contract must be rebid. Harris County reserves the right to rebid at any time as is in its best interest and is not automatically bound to renew.

CERTIFICATE OF INTERESTED PARTIES (FORM 1295)

Texas law requires all parties who enter into any contract with the County which must be approved by Commissioners Court to disclose all interested parties. Form 1295 must be completed in its entirety at the following website: https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/filinginfo/1295/ prior to submitting your response. Failure to do so may result in disqualification of your response.

BACKGROUND

The Elections Department of the Harris County Clerk’s Office is responsible for coordinating, recording, maintaining and supporting placements and relationships of election workers at all Early Voting and Election Day vote centers for every Harris County conducted election. Examples of activities performed for election worker placement are receiving applications, identifying workers who are nominated by political parties, tracking appointment dates from Commissioners Court, tracking work history and Precinct chair officers, identifying

Election Poll Worker Management Software for the Harris County Clerk’s Office mailto:Amber.Seastrunk@pur.hctx.net https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/filinginfo/1295/

SPECIFICATIONS (CONTINUED)

placement based on appointment and historic work assignments, notating performance elements to consider in placements, assigning judges and workers to specific sites, sending placement letters with all relevant information needed for their assignment (equipment and clerk allocations, Vote Center where assigned, facility contact information, opposite party judge also assigned, drop-off locations, assigned recruitment coordinator, training class information and much more). The Elections Department also coordinates and tracks acceptance of assignments, communication on questions and assignment details, training registrations and attendance, supply handout appointments, equipment pick-up completion times, Vote center setup times and completion and more.

The solution shall be capable of performing the activities mentioned above. Strong preference is given to solutions that have outward facing components so that political parties can evaluate placement process, election workers can sign up for and reschedule training, judges can assign clerks to the locations where they are placed and communication methods exist to incorporate merge fields for reminders on specific items (i.e. “you are scheduled to pick-up supplies at 7:00 pm and will be setting up twenty-four (24) DUO voting devices, two (2) Scans, and three (3) Controllers.”)

SPECIFICATION

The County Clerk’s Office is seeking proposals from qualified vendors for an election poll worker management software system to streamline the management of election workers. This system shall be responsible for managing training, scheduling, communication, and election-day logistics, ensuring a seamless process from start to finish.

The system shall be capable of supporting up to 15,000 active election workers per election, with scalability for future growth to tens of thousands of workers over time.

The election poll worker management software is a critical tool for ensuring the efficient management of election workers, from training and scheduling to election-day operations. The selected vendor shall be responsible for delivering a scalable, secure, and user-friendly system that meets the outlined requirements, providing ongoing support, and ensuring that the County Clerk’s Office can effectively manage all aspects of election worker coordination.

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

The vendor must provide a detailed narrative response that fully discusses and describes how vendor can meet or exceed expectations and scope of services for the election poll worker management software. The response must specifically address the County's unique needs. The services to be performed by the vendor include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Training Schedule Management The system shall provide a sophisticated training management module that streamlines the entire process of organizing and conducting training sessions for election workers. This module shall:

• Provide a user-friendly interface for the County Clerk’s Office to create and manage detailed training events with custom fields for dates, times, locations, and curriculum for each role,

• Facilitate efficient scheduling and communication of training sessions,

• Implement a robust tracking system for attendance and registration,

• Empower election workers to select their preferred training sessions,

• Generate detailed reports on registration status and attendance,

• Automate the sending of reminders and follow-ups to ensure maximum participation via email and short message service (SMS),

• Ensure that communication is customized based on worker role and training event,

• Record and track attendance and curriculum completion for each participant, and

• Provide the capability to track training attendance by specific election events.

2. Election Schedule Management An advanced election schedule management feature is essential for coordinating the complex logistics of early voting and election day activities. This component shall:

• Enable administrators to create and manage comprehensive early voting and election day schedules,

• Implement an efficient system for tracking shift fulfillment across all voting centers,

• Automate the sending of confirmations and reminders to election workers via email and SMS,

• Provide a reliable method for recording attendance at each voting location,

• Incorporate a feature to identify and track party representation at each voting center, and

• Allow for real-time adjustments to schedules as needed.

3. Sign-Up Module The sign-up module shall offer a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process for election workers to select and manage their roles and responsibilities. Key features include:

• Providing clear visibility into training options specific to assigned roles,

• Allowing election workers to easily select and modify their training choices,

• Enabling Presiding Judges to efficiently submit and manage their election clerks,

• Implementing customizable deadlines for self-directed changes and edits; and

• Offering a simple and intuitive process for workers to update their availability and preferences.

4. Survey Module An integrated survey module will be crucial for gathering important information from election workers. This module shall

• Facilitate the creation and distribution of surveys to assess election worker availability,

• Allow targeting of the full election worker base or specific subsets as needed,

• Seamlessly integrate survey responses directly into the personnel scheduling system,

• Enable the creation of customizable survey questions for different election types and purposes, and

• Provide analytical tools to interpret survey results and inform decision-making.

5. Election Worker Portal A centralized election worker portal will serve as a hub for all worker-related activities and information. This portal shall:

• Allow workers to view and edit their personal profiles with ease,

• Provide a secure platform for document uploads related to human resources (HR) requirements,

• Offer clear visibility into available training class options and schedules,

• Enable workers to select and modify their course choices as needed,

• Display comprehensive election schedules for each worker,

• Implement a user-friendly interface that ensures easy navigation and access to all features, and

• Provide a dashboard with at-a-glance information on upcoming events, trainings, and assignments.

6. User Capacity The system must be designed to handle a large and growing user base efficiently:

• Support up to 15,000 users (election workers) per election event,

• Provide secure individual login credentials for each user,

• Allow for expansion to accommodate tens of thousands of users over time,

• Maintain comprehensive historical data for all users,

• Ensure scalability to accommodate future growth without compromising performance, and

• Implement efficient data management practices to handle large volumes of user information.

7. Voting Center Management Effective management of voting centers is crucial for successful elections. The system shall:

• Enable efficient scheduling of election workers for specific locations,

• Provide secure storage for critical site documents and information,

• Facilitate easy sharing of voting center staff and contact information with relevant judges,

• Implement a robust system for tracking equipment allocation and inventory for each voting center, and

• Allow for real-time updates and adjustments to voting center information as needed.

8. Voter Identification Confirmation (VIC) To ensure the integrity of the election process, the system shall:

• Integrate a reliable application programming interface (API) to check voter registration for each election worker,

• Ensure real-time updates and synchronization with the voter registration database,

• Provide clear alerts for any discrepancies or issues with voter registration status, and

• Maintain a log of all voter identification confirmations for auditing purposes.

9. Communication Features Effective communication is vital for coordinating election activities. The system shall offer:

• Integrated text and email services for efficient communication,

• Capability to send specific and unique information to each judge automatically,

• Customizable form fields for including details such as equipment allocation,

• Mass communication capabilities for urgent updates and announcements, and

• Templates for common communications to ensure consistency and save time.

10. Platform and Hosting The system shall be built on a secure and reliable platform. Key aspects include:

• Secure GovCloud hosting to ensure data protection and compliance,

• Regular maintenance, upgrades, and patches to keep the system up to date,

• Full compliance with local, state, and federal data protection regulations,

• Robust backup and disaster recovery procedures to safeguard against data loss, and

• Scalable infrastructure to accommodate growing data and user needs.

11. Reporting and Analytics Comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities are essential for informed decision-making. The system shall:

• Generate detailed reports on various aspects of election management,

• Provide customizable dashboards for real-time insights into key metrics,

• Enable data export functionality for further analysis and integration with other tools,

• Offer predictive analytics to help forecast needs and potential issues, and

• Allow for the creation of custom reports to meet specific organizational requirements.

12. Integration Capabilities To maximize efficiency and data consistency, the system shall:

• Ensure seamless integration with existing Harris County systems (Vemacs), Oracle, and future acquired systems,

• Provide robust APIs for potential future integrations with other relevant platforms,

• Support data exchange with other government agencies as required, and

• Allow for easy import and export of data in various formats.

13. Mobile Accessibility In today's mobile-first world, the system shall offer:

• A mobile-responsive design for access on various devices including smartphones and tablets,

• Dedicated mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms with core functionality,

• Offline capabilities for certain features to ensure accessibility in areas with limited connectivity, and

• Push notifications for important updates and reminders.

14. Security Features Given the sensitive nature of election data, the system must implement stringent security measures, including:

• Multi-factor authentication for user access to prevent unauthorized entry,

• End-to-end encryption for all data transmissions to protect sensitive information,

• Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments to identify and address potential risks,

• Role-based access controls to ensure users only have access to necessary information, and

• Comprehensive audit trails to track all system activities and changes.

15. Performance Requirements Performance requirements shall include but not be limited to:

• Delivery – Delivering solution on mutually agreed to timeframes.

• The following support services and service level agreements (SLA) are required at a minimum:

o 24x7, 365 days a year standard phone support coverage, o Thirty (30) minute response time for severity one (1) issues with critical business impact, o Two (2) hour response time for severity two (2) issues with significant business impact, o Four (4) hour response time for severity three (3) issues with some to minimal business impact, and o Escalation options and enhanced support for critical issues.

• Performance Guarantee - Vendor phone support personnel response time shall be less than thirty (30) minutes to four (4) hours.

• Uptime Guarantee - Proposed solution shall provide a minimum 99.99% uptime for Software as a Solution (SaaS).

16. Additional Requirements To ensure successful implementation and ongoing operation, the system shall include:

• A comprehensive testing plan to validate all system functionalities,

• A detailed post-go-live support plan to address any issues that arise after implementation,

• A thorough training plan for system users at all levels of the organization,

• Ongoing technical support and system maintenance to ensure optimal performance, and

• Documentation and user guides for all system features and processes.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

The technical requirements are constructed to correlate to the Harris County Universal Services Reference Architecture (USRA) and to determine a vendor’s ability to provide technical capabilities. When proposing a response to this RFP, the vendor shall address all subsections of the Technical Requirements for the proposed solutions and services supporting US needs.

The USRA is a compact, comprehensive, abstract illustration of the technology components and business processes supporting County operations, see attachment titled – Harris County Universal Service Reference Architecture (USRA). The USRA has been developed to provide guidance on how solutions shall deploy and operate within the County’s IT environment. The USRA serves as a reference for the specific architectures that vendors may implement to solve County business objectives.

1. The USRA is composed of Six (6) Interrelated Domains:

• Data Services

• Digital Services

• Enterprise Technology Infrastructure Services

• Information Security Services

• IT Service Management

• Technology Optimization

2. USRA Requirements Checklist Questionnaire:

Vendors shall complete the questionnaire as part of vendor’s proposal response. "Complete” is defined as responding to all questions. A response is still required for non-applicable questions. The questionnaire will assist the County in understanding the scope, capabilities, technical implementation, and deployment features of the proposed solution.

3. Technical Requirements Domain:

Vendors shall respond to technical requirements pertaining to the domains of:

• Data Management

• Application Management

• Infrastructure Management (including Server and Network Services)

• Security Management

• Service Management

• Program Management

• Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Management

4. Methods of Delivery:

Vendors shall provide the County information on each of the following delivery options for the considered solutions and other possible methods of delivery:

• Premise-based

A premise-based solution; all servers shall be provided by the vendor, installed at County location(s) and maintained as part of the enterprise solution. The solution (all hardware and software) is owned by County and is often viewed as a capital expense. County will maintain control of the servers and maintain their security.

• SaaS A SaaS, an on-demand, and a hosted model. In this case the vendor licenses an application that is hosted at a remote location (i.e., Network Operations Center) to customers through a subscription model, generally a monthly or yearly fee. This approach can also take into consideration a “cloud computing” model where all the technology is in the “cloud” and accessed over the Internet as a service.

• Hybrid Model

A hybrid model in which the solution (hardware/ software) is hosted at the County location and the vendor shall perform the day-to-day responsibility of managing (maintain and support) the software/hardware for the County. The managing of the solution could be either through onsite presence or remote. The vendor’s expertise and experience in this subject area is important for more efficient operations.

Vendor shall provide details on all three (3) approaches and other additional approaches that will meet the County’s functional needs. All proposed approaches shall meet the County’s technical requirements and the data centric architecture approach. At all points the County will have ownership of its data and shall be able to access or be provided the required data to support the proposed service or other services deemed necessary to access the information. If otherwise the vendor shall state the reasons (functional and technical), as to why they cannot meet the County’s requirements.

5. Platform Administration/Professional Service:

Vendor shall provide the County with platform administration (maintain & run), system administration, and maintenance of implemented platform, as well as the addition of new software components if needed.

Platform Administration/Professional Service shall be based on the method of delivery adopted.

6. Data Management:

Vendor shall provide the County with details on vendor’s approach to the following Data Management areas.

• Data Governance

• Data Quality

• Data Security

• Data Operation

Information regarding proposed technical requirements, shall be included in the Scope of Service/Narrative of Proposed Services of vendor’s response.

TRAINING

The vendor must describe the types of implementations and ongoing training that will be available throughout the contract term. Vendor shall detail the training options available for administrators of the system. Vendor shall also include information regarding how training will be provided (i.e. on-site, other vendor facilities, web-based, etc.), the number of people the training sessions can accommodate, time allocation recommendations and any other relevant information regarding training.

FINAL ACCEPTANCE

Harris County may require completion of an acceptance test after the installation of the proposed software/hardware. The acceptance test will involve the achievement of Harris County’s standard availability and performance goals during a period of thirty (30) consecutive calendar days.

Availability on all proposed software must be at least 99.99% during the period, with availability defined as follows:

Availability = 100 * (SMO-DT) / SMO where SMO ________ = the total scheduled minutes of operation for the software/hardware during the period and where DT = the total minutes during the period when the software is scheduled to be in operation but is not, due to a failure of the software/hardware

The acceptance test will start on the date that Harris County receives a written notice from the vendor that the software/hardware is installed and ready for production usage. If the software does not achieve availability during the first thirty (30) days following the installation date, the acceptance test will continue on a day-to-day basis until availability is achieved for thirty (30) consecutive calendar days.

PRICING (SECTION III)

Due to the complexity of this project Harris County understands that vendors must have the flexibility to customize pricing. Harris County anticipates time and materials (T&M) for some services while fixed price for others. Vendor shall define and provide a T&M Fee Schedule for services and fixed price where applicable with a total “not-to-exceed” project price. Total not-to-exceed fees shall be all-inclusive, no additional fees including but not limited to travel, per diem and or transportation shall be billed separately.

Vendors are encouraged to submit a Fee Schedule for all Service Offering(s) vendor possesses the capabilities to perform and available resource. Pricing must be all inclusive. At a minimum, vendor Fee Schedule shall clearly identify the following:

a. Proposed turn-key solution,

b. Project Management

c. Implementation Services

d. Training/Documentation for all purchased modules

e. Third party software

f. Additional Interfaces

g. Software Licenses (if applicable)

h. Post Go-Live Maintenance and Support

i. Customization (to fit specific business processes)

Information regarding proposed fee schedule, shall be included in Section III of the vendor’s response (BidTable BT-34PT).

VENDOR RESOURCES

Vendor warrants it shall provide qualified personnel who will perform in a professional manner. “Professional manner” means the personnel performing shall possess the skill, license(s) and competence consistent with the prevailing business standards within the State of Texas. Vendor shall provide Harris County with a Staffing Plan that identifies the staffing levels, types and any applicable certifications required to meet the technical requirements of this RFP.

Vendor shall dedicate a Project Lead to act as the vendor’s representative for all communications and activities with Harris County. The Project Lead shall be the prime point of contact for Harris County for project matters.

The Project Lead shall develop a Project Management Plan that provides guidance and direction for the project development and shall maintain a detailed and accurate project schedule at all times.

Project Lead shall possess the following minimum qualifications:

• Certified Project Manager with ten (10) years of project management experience with organizational structure and management reviews

• Five (5) years managing large, multi-discipline projects within the public sector.

• Demonstrated experience creating detailed dependency-driven schedules tasks required to implement recommended changes.

• Demonstrated experience facilitating and supporting formal review sessions with executive stakeholders.

Vendor shall provide resumes for all Key Personnel for Harris County to review and approve including all management and executive level staff to be assigned to the contract resulting from this RFP with Staffing Levels Competency. Key Personnel is defined as all SMEs to be utilized in functional and technical areas of the project. The resumes shall indicate the Key Personnel knowledge and experience specific to requirements, background, years of experience and skill sets to ensure project success. Changes to Key Personnel, anticipated or unforeseen, shall be immediately relayed to Harris County.

Key Personnel shall be fully dedicated to the Project as necessary during the appropriate Project phases for those resources to perform their assigned or specified Project duties. Vendor(s) shall not arbitrarily reassign Key Personnel to other projects, or terminate (except for cause), without providing Harris County with appropriate notification.

Vendor may not replace any management or executive level staff nor Key Personnel (except for cause) without the prior written consent of Harris County. In the event of an anticipated or unforeseen change to Key Personnel;

vendor shall notify Harris County immediately for its consideration and approval of replacement of Key Personnel, which shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. All key personnel shall be identified with percentage of time to be dedicated to this project. If personnel must be shared with other projects, indicated exactly how much time will be devoted to other projects. If a subcontractor will be utilized to provide any portion of services, clearly indicate qualifications of subcontractor, describe the role, duties and percentage of work to be performed by said subcontractor as well as previous experience working together.

At no time shall vendor permit or allow vendor personnel or subcontractors to have present at any Harris County worksite alcohol, controlled substances, or firearms. Smoking is not permitted in any area of any facility which is enclosed or in the finish-out stage of construction.

Any person employed by vendor or any subcontractor who, in the reasonable opinion of a Harris County Project Manager, does not perform in a professional or skillful manner, or is disrespectful, intemperate, disorderly or otherwise objectionable, shall, at the written request of Harris County, be removed from the jobsite by the MC or any subcontractor employing such person. Any such person who is removed shall not be assigned again to any Harris County facility without the prior written consent of Harris County.

Should vendor fail to remove such person(s), Harris County may withhold all monies which are, or may become, due that are allocable to the portion of the services on which such person(s) is working or may suspend that portion of the services. Upon suspension, vendor shall provide an acceptable substitute. Such person shall perform the services in the manner prescribed herein at no additional cost to Harris County.

Resources Firm warrants it shall provide qualified personnel who will perform in a professional manner. “Professional manner” means the personnel performing shall possess the skill, license(s) and competence consistent with the prevailing business standards within the State of Texas.

Firm shall have available key personnel with a combined minimum work force that can meet the requirements described herein. All key personnel shall be identified with percentage of time to be dedicated to this project.

If personnel must be shared with other projects, indicate exactly how much time will be devoted to other projects.

If a subcontractor will be utilized to provide any portion of services, clearly indicate qualifications of subcontractor, describe the role, duties and percentage of work to be performed by said subcontractor as well as previous experience working together.

At no time shall Firm permit or allow Firm personnel or subcontractors to have present at any Harris County worksite alcohol, controlled substances, or firearms. Smoking is not permitted in any area of any facility which is enclosed or in the finish-out stage of construction.

Any person employed by Firm or any subcontractor who, in the reasonable opinion of a Harris County Project Manager, does not perform in a professional or skillful manner, or is disrespectful, intemperate, disorderly or otherwise objectionable, shall, at the written request of Harris County, be removed from the jobsite by the Firm or any subcontractor employing such person. Any such person who is removed shall not be assigned again to any Harris County facility without the prior written consent of Harris County.

Should Firm fail to remove such person(s), Harris County may withhold all monies which are, or may become, due that are allocable to the portion of the services on which such person(s) is working or may suspend that portion of the services. Upon suspension, Firm shall provide an acceptable substitute. Such person shall perform the services in the manner prescribed herein at no additional cost to Harris County.

OPTIONAL/VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS AND/OR SERVICES

Vendor may propose optional/value-added products and/or services. Vendor must identify the use, functionality and purpose of the optional/value-added item(s), and how Harris County would benefit from electing to procure those item(s). Pricing for proposed item(s) shall be clearly labeled as optional/value-added. Optional/Value- Added Fee Schedule shall be uploaded to Bonfire in an Excel format under the Requested Information section of this solicitation.