DOI_PERMIT_Solution_Request_for_Information.pdf

DOI PERMIT Solution

1. Purpose and Objective The purpose of this requirement is to explore solutions for a single DOI enterprise permit system aimed at consolidating the ecosystem of permitting systems and processes that exist today within the Department. The primary measures of success are to: reduce permitting and authorizations time-to-deliver (TTD), reduce economic impact of DOI permitting activities, enhance operational efficiency, streamline processes, and increase transparency in permitting activities.

Solutions can include both commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) as well as solution specific builds. A successful effort will result in a flexible, scalable, and reusable system that does not require continuous or perpetual contract support to remain effective, evolve with new requirements, or maintain viability. The target initial total lifecycle of the resultant system will be 12 years from launch. To support this, the vendor must include comprehensive user, technical, and codebase training prior to completion of the effort. This will support the goal of the government’s staff owning, operating, supporting, and enhancing the system post-launch. DOI wants to standardize, consolidate and eliminate any unnecessary duplication of products across the enterprise and ensure tools support processes versus tools driving the process.

For this document, any reference to the term “permit” or “permitting” is defined as “any process or workflow that supports the authorization of external (to government) entities to conduct or perform activities and projects (“Activities”) as required by statute, regulation, or rules”.

2. Background and Functionality Needed

The Department of the Interior (DOI) plays a crucial role in the daily lives of all Americans. As the caretaker of 20 percent of the nation’s land, the DOI serves as the primary agency for managing the country’s lands, waters, natural resources, and cultural heritage. The Department oversees and conserves the nation’s energy resources, including access to the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS); fulfills federal obligations to Indian Tribes, Alaska Natives, the Native Hawaiian Community, and insular areas;

supplies and distributes water in the Western states; collaborates with other federal agencies to safeguard our borders; and manages national parks, historic sites, and wildlife.

The Department of the Interior is complex with many and varied mission responsibilities. Permits across the Department exist in support of a wide range of functions and serve a wide range of stakeholder interests. The vast majority are related to some aspect of natural or cultural resources, land use, recreation, or related commercial purposes. Permitting requirements are based on many different legal authorities. Permitting in the Department can be simple and straightforward or can be highly specialized and complex.

Below find a listing, that is not considered to be final or inclusive, of permits/authorization categories that have been identified for possible consolidation into the Department’s enterprise solution. It is important to note that these categories are currently served by multiple systems across multiple bureaus):

1. Access and Entry Permits

2. Archaeological and Paleontological Permits (ARPA/PRPA)

3. Backcountry and Wilderness Use Permits

4. Birds of Prey Permits and Authorizations (Falconry, Bird Banding, Eagle, Tribal feather use)

5. Commercial Use Authorizations (CUA) and Special Recreation Permits (SRP)

6. Cultural Resource Permits

7. Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 and “Incidental Take” Authorizations and Reporting

8. Energy Permitting (Oil and Gas Leasing, Mining, Geothermal Leasing and Drilling, Kinetic

Hydropower, Biofuels)

9. Forest Product and Resource Permits

10. General Land Use Permits/Authorizations (Mining Claims, grazing, harvesting, and other land use)

11. General Recreational Permits (Camping, fishing, hunting, etc.)

12. Historical Preservation Activities Authorizations (NPS)

13. National Environmental Policy Act Permitting (NEPA)

14. National Mall Use Authorization (NAMA Permits)

15. Paleontological & Scientific Research Permits

16. Realty Permits (NPS, FWS, and BLM Land Acquisition, Trust Land Leasing, and Park Realty)

17. Reclamation Permits and Authorization (Coal, CIMS)

18. Renewable Energy Rule and Western Solar Plan Authorizations

19. Right of Way (ROW) Permits

20. Special Use Permits (NPS, FWS, BLM)

21. Subsistence Permits (Alaska Subsistence/Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act)

22. Water Development & Discharge Permits (including water well and infrastructure)

23. Wildlife and Plant Permits (FWS ePermits and Ecosphere ~ multiple permitting workflows)

Below find links to view some of the DOI publicly available sites that process permits:

Permits | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/rangelands-and-grazing/livestock-grazing https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/oil-and-gas/operations-and-production/permitting/applications-permits-drill

Government is looking for solutions that include system functions including, but not limited to the following:

1. Authorization workflows. The system must be able to support complex authorization workflows and automations that include sequential and parallel reviews/steps. Examples of “authorizations” include Permitting, Licensing, Registrations, and Certifications. (Note: Workflows typically begin with an external applicant applying to perform some activity that is regulated either by rule or statute by the Department of Interior. Most workflows require fees and then move into a review process. The government is looking to optimize these review processes and greatly reduce the Time-To-Authorization/Delivery (TTD).

2. Post-Authorization Monitoring, Governance, Reporting, Revocation, and Renewal workflows.

3. AI optimization and support: The system must include the capability for applicant submissions to be immediately reviewed by AI to provide the applicant with actionable feedback prior to any final submissions. Further, the system must provide subsequent workflow steps with AI review/summaries to support decreased Time-to-Delivery (TTD) of authorization tasks (reviews, approvals, collections).

https://www.fws.gov/service/permits https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/rangelands-and-grazing/livestock-grazing https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/oil-and-gas/operations-and-production/permitting/applications-permits-drill https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/oil-and-gas/operations-and-production/permitting/applications-permits-drill

4. Solution must be able to detect and apply for any dependent authorizations without applicant needing to enter any data twice and without review cycles being unnecessarily impacted. Ideally, a multi-authorization workflow would kick off parallel authorization paths that delivered all necessary authorizations to the applicant without further unnecessary applicant interactions.

5. Solution must be securely interoperable for authentication (oAuth, SASE/SAML, etc), payments (pay.gov), data exchange/interchange, and other interoperability requirements.

6. Any proposed solution must include security documentation (FedRAMP for SaaS, ATO’s for others).

7. Solution must be capable of storing persistent data on core authorization entities/objects/tables.

This includes People, Organizations, Locations, Activity being Authorized, Files/Documents/Media, Relevant Regulations/Laws, Violations, and Transactional Ledger(s)

8. Solution must be able to be “skinned” on DOI Website using that site’s look and feel, domain (e.g.

headless systems, proxy with stylesheets, node), and be transparent to the end user.

9. Reports and dashboards must be included on state/status, time to delivery, optimization/bottleneck highlights/opportunities, and other key KPIs for authorization workflows

10. Solution must be based on modern technology stack that will be market-relevant for a minimum of 12 years

11. Solution must integrate with the Federal Register

12. Solution must integrate with or provide a solution that complies with public commentary, review, and analysis processes/procedures and that optimizes them (e.g. moves them forward, does other processes in parallel) with the goal of improving TTD of authorizations.

RFI OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this RFI is part of the acquisition planning and market research phase for acquisition related to large enterprise permitting solution and the input received from this RFI will be considered in preparing future related official acquisition packages.

The RFI is for information and planning purposes only. It is not a commitment by the Government and does not constitute a solicitation. Responses to this notice are not and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. A Request for Proposal is not a part of this RFI, and a task order/contract will not be awarded from this announcement. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement and/or any follow-up information requested.

HOW TO RESPOND

Written Responses to the questions are due no later than August 7, 2025 @ 2PM Eastern Time (ET).

Interested parties are advised to email their responses directly to the Contracting Officer Heather Watroba at heather_watroba@ibc.doi.gov. The Government will acknowledge receipt of your response.

Written responses should be submitted in two different files. The first is limited to not more than 8 pages single sided and addresses all questions, other than pricing. The second is pricing information and there is no page limit on the pricing file and this file should only include pricing information. Product videos may also be submitted to demonstrate tool capability, and an upload link will be provided by the Contracting Officer if vendors choose to augment their written responses with a video.

In addition to written responses, there will be a limited number of opportunities to provide an in-person or virtual capabilities briefing that should include a product demo and responses provided to this RFI. In person briefings will be held at the Main Interior Building in Washington DC. Tentative dates for the capability briefings are likely to be the week of August 11, 2025.

If you would like to schedule a capability briefing, email your request to the Contracting Officer identified above. If availability exists for the presentation, confirmation will be provided. Once the vendor receives confirmation, presenters will have 2 days to submit a high-level response, not to exceed two-pages single sided, highlighting your expertise to deliver a solution of this magnitude as well as highlighting the solution you would propose to meet the objectives of this RFI. If the vendor response is not received and verified, the capabilities briefing will be canceled and the time slot will be provided to another waitlisted vendor.

Capability briefings will be scheduled with a 2-hour time slot. The first 30 minutes will be an introductory demo on the vendor’s solution. This demo will be virtual and can be broadcast from the vendor’s location and attendance for the virtual demo will be expanded to a large DOI audience in listen only mode. Once the demo is concluded, the virtual session will end, and the vendor will continue by providing their responses to the questions in the RFI to those Government in-person attendees. The vendor should plan for 30 minutes to answer questions at the end of their presentation. In summary, this is how the 2-hour block will be used: Demo for 30 minutes, Vendor presentation for 60 minutes, and Question/answer session with questions presented from government for 30 minutes. Vendors should limit company highlights to less than 7 minutes of the presentation and focus the briefing on responses to the questions, including demonstration of the solution. The capabilities briefings will need to address the following questions within the timeframe specified.

1. Provide an overview of your proposed solution capabilities and how that it meets or exceeds the requirements in this RFI.

2. Provide details regarding the expertise you have in delivering your identified solution at the magnitude of this requirement.

3. Provide an overview of your implementation approach to include major phases, incremental delivery of useful functionality, and timeline for roll out. Highlight the operations and maintenance required for your solution. Identify the necessary skills and numbers of personnel necessary for ongoing solution maintenance as well as how the transition from development to operations and maintenance would be orchestrated.

4. Describe how you will ensure that a prospective solution will conform with all applicable laws and regulations including security, privacy, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and NARA compliance capabilities.

5. Highlight potential solution capabilities that may be available for reuse for other systems or processes as well as any constraints associated with those opportunities.

6. Considering the goals of DOI as stated above, what additional information that we didn’t request do you believe would help the government meet these objectives? The government looks forward to hearing about alternative, modified, or innovative ideas, solutions, or approaches.

7. Provide pricing information – including the initial acquisition of the solution, implementation cost including training, as well as long-term operations and maintenance. Reminder that most of these permit solutions are public facing.