RFI_Innovative Technology Solutions and Services for Child Welfare to Advance A Home for Every Child_rev 09022026.pdf

Request for Information (RFI) ONLY

Title: Innovative Technology Solutions and Services for Child Welfare to Advance a Home for Every Child for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children & Families (ACF)

Response Due: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 at 5:00 PM ET

DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for marketing information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation.

This posting is not a Request for Proposals or a Request for Quotations, and it is not considered to be a commitment by the Government to award a contract nor is the Government responsible for any costs incurred in furnishing information provided under this RFI. No basis for claim against the Government shall arise as a result from a response to this RFI or Government use of any information provided. Nonetheless, submitters should clearly mark their responses if the information is “CONFIDENTIAL” or “PROPRIETARY” on every sheet containing such information and segregate the proprietary information to the maximum extent practical from other portions of your response (e.g., use an attachment or exhibit). No classified or sensitive information should be included in vendor responses to this RFI. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this request.

Updates to this RFI are highlighted below.

ISSUED BY: This RFI is being issued by the U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Mission Acquisition Solutions (OMAS), on behalf of the Administration for Children & Families (ACF).

PURPOSE: The Government is seeking information for innovative, modular, and interoperable solutions that support child welfare technology modernization for title IV-E agencies at the state level. Through this RFI, ACF seeks input from vendors on standards – aligned technologies and services that can assist states, territories, and tribes in exploring, planning, implementing, and maintaining child welfare technology solutions.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION: All responses with the knowledge and/or experience to provide information referenced in this RFI and Statement of Objectives (SOO) are invited to submit, in writing, sufficient information within the page limitation (see RFI Administration and Response section).

Please submit one (1) solution per response with a maximum of six (6) responses per vendor organization. This limit applies across all submissions made by the vendor organization. If a vendor organization submits more than six solutions or services, only the first six submissions will be reviewed and considered.

ATTACHMENT:

• Statement of Objectives (SOO)

RESPONSES DUE:

All responses must be received no later than Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at 5:00 PM

ET.

RFI Activity/Event Date

Vendor Questions Submission August 26, 2026, by 5:00 pm ET

RFI Response Submission September 2, 2026, by 5:00 pm ET

I. RFI ADMINISTRATION AND RESPONSE

A. RFI Questions:

• Link to Question Submission Form Here

• Responses to submitted questions will be available on the announcement page linked here once the questions have been answered.

B. RFI Response Instructions

The following instructions guide Respondents in preparing clear, organized, and complete submissions to this RFI. These instructions establish a consistent format for all responses to support ACF’s review of submitted information.

The Administration for Children and Families will not review submissions that do not meet the following requirements. Each vendor organization may submit a maximum of six (6) total submissions in response to this RFI. This limit applies across all submissions made by the vendor organization. If a Respondent offers more than six solutions or services, the Respondent should select the six offerings that best represent its strongest, most mature, and most relevant capabilities for consideration. If a vendor organization submits more than six solutions or services, only the first six submissions will be reviewed.

B1. RFI Responses:

Responses to this RFI will be submitted through the RFI Response form found here:

• Link to RFI Response Form Here

Please submit one solution per response. Respondents may submit no more than six (6) total solutions or services, with each submission identifying and ranking up to five (5) applicable https://app.smartsheetgov.com/b/form/0d4e432ed0ca4bf6bb031104d0f82111 https://acf.gov/cb/news/child-welfare-systems-rfi https://acf.gov/cb/news/child-welfare-systems-rfi https://app.smartsheetgov.com/b/form/bd2880d92bed446888afc63a34443879

Response Areas. RFI responses should fill out all the required responses in the response form and include a Microsoft Word or PDF document with the following format:

• Page size: 8.5 by 11 inches

• Font: Times New Roman, Size 12

• Page Count: Five (5) pages exclusive of cover page and appendices

• Appendices may only include examples of relevant past experience. Each submitted appendices is limited to three (3) total examples, no more than two (2) pages per example.

B2. The Response should include the following:

Overview: Provide a concise overview of the Respondent’s proposed solutions or services and their relevance to child welfare technology modernization. At a minimum, the summary shall include:

• Describe the Respondents understanding of child welfare modernization goals and federal requirements,

• Summarize the key capabilities and differentiators of the proposed solutions and/or services,

• Explain how the Respondent’s approach supports modularity, interoperability, regulatory alignment, data quality, and non-disruptive vendor transitions, and

• Identify which Response Areas the Respondent is addressing and summarize the Respondent’s capabilities in those areas.

Organization Background: The organization background section should provide a clear and accurate description of the Respondent organization to help ACF understand the organization’s experience, capability, and alignment with child welfare technology modernization needs. This section, at a minimum, should include:

• Organizational Qualifications: Core competencies relevant to the solution being provided to states in your response,

• Experience and Footprint: Operating capacity, and experience working with state, territorial, and Tribal government agencies,

• Relevant Certifications: FedRAMP designations, CMMI levels, ISO certifications, accessibility expertise, or other qualifications demonstrating maturity and operational readiness, and

• Federal Government Designation (if applicable): Small business (e.g., Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB), Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)).

Solution, Approach, and Methodology for the Response Area: For each submitted solution or service, Respondents should provide a detailed description of the proposed solution, service, module, platform, managed service, advisory service, accelerator, template, or reusable asset aligned to the Response Areas presented in Section 3.

Responses should clearly explain how the proposed offering supports states, territories, and tribes in modernizing child welfare information systems through modular, standards-aligned technology solutions or services. For each submitted solution or service, Respondents should identify and rank up to five (5) applicable Response Areas and provide a narrative defense for the chosen Response Areas. Descriptions should demonstrate how the proposed solution or service improves flexibility, strengthens interoperability, supports modularity and reuse, and advances state, territorial, or tribal progress across the applicable lifecycle phases of Planning, Implementation, and/or Maintenance and Operations. Responses should also provide information on the typical implementation approach for the proposed solution or service.

Relevant Experience: Respondents shall provide relevant past experience in their response. This section should demonstrate the Respondent’s ability to deliver the proposed solution or service.

Each example should clearly describe the project objectives, scope of work, period of performance, outcomes achieved, and lessons learned relevant to the solution proposed. This may be included in the appendices, as stated above; each submission may include up to three (3) examples, limited to two (2) pages per example.

Respondents are encouraged to include examples that illustrate successful execution of:

• Modular system design

• Interoperability and data exchange

• Data quality improvement initiatives

• Program compliance support

• APD-supported initiatives

• Multi-phase system delivery

• Program/project management, change management, organizational readiness and workforce adoption, governance, performance management, and continuous improvement

• On-schedule or timely delivery.

Each example should include the following information:

• Customer Name

• Customer/Client Point of Contact Email

• Respondent Role (Prime contractor, subcontractor/or teaming partner)

• Period of Performance

• Scope of Work

• Outcomes Achieved.

C. POST RFI ACTION

ACF will review RFI responses to understand the range, maturity, relevance, and readiness of submitted solutions and services that may support child welfare technology. Responses will be reviewed by submitted solution or service, rather than by Respondent as a whole. Each submitted solution or service will be considered in relation to the Response Areas ranked by the Respondent and the lifecycle phase or phases identified for the offering. Priority may be given to offerings that demonstrate strong alignment with their top-ranked Response Areas and provide a clear narrative defense explaining why those areas best represent the offering’s primary value, maturity, and relevance to child welfare technology modernization.

Furthermore, ACF will use the categories below to evaluate and prioritize submitted solutions and services for catalog consideration, and other future planning activities. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation, and ACF’s review of responses will not result in award, contract selection, or a formal competitive evaluation. This RFI does not constitute any intention of future procurement by ACF.

ACF is particularly interested in responses that address the following areas, where applicable.

The topics below are not listed in order of priority or importance.

• Technology Capabilities: If applicable, clearly identify and describe a distinct product, service, module, platform, managed service, advisory service, accelerator, template, reusable asset, or other specific offering. Responses that provide solution-specific information, including the offering's purpose, capabilities, maturity, delivery approach, and applicability to the ACF’s requirements, will be more useful in assessing the vendor's technology capabilities than responses consisting primarily of general corporate capability statements or broad descriptions of organizational experience. If applicable, responses should also clearly describe data management, analytics, reporting, artificial intelligence, automation, or predictive capabilities supported by the proposed solution or service. This may include solution-specific information related to data governance, data quality, master data management, data conversion, operational reporting, business intelligence, predictive analytics, predictive risk modeling, risk scoring, artificial intelligence, automation, and the intended use of these capabilities to support decision-making, program administration, or service delivery.

• Program Delivery, Governance, and Organizational Enablement: Clearly describe how the proposed solution or service supports program delivery, governance, quality assurance, organizational readiness, and successful adoption throughout the child welfare technology modernization lifecycle, as applicable. Responses should provide solution-specific information, including project, program, and vendor management; independent verification and validation; quality assurance and oversight; business process redesign;

human-centered design; requirements development and management; organizational change management; training; stakeholder engagement; and workforce adoption strategies.

• Lifecycle Phase Support: Clearly identify the child welfare technology lifecycle phase or phases (see SOO, Section 3.3) supported by the proposed solution or service, including Planning, Implementation, Maintenance and Operations (M&O), or any combination of these phases. Responses should provide lifecycle-specific information, including how the offering is used during each identified phase and how it supports states, territories, and tribes throughout child welfare technology modernization.

• Modularity, Interoperability, and Reuse: Clearly describe how the proposed solution or service supports modularity, interoperability, incremental implementation, reuse, and non-disruptive vendor transition. Responses should provide solution-specific information, including the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data exchange standards, configurable components, documented integration points, clear entry and exit points, data portability, and the ability to procure, implement, operate, or replace components independently.

• Standards and Federal Alignment: Clearly describe how the proposed solution or service aligns with applicable federal regulations, ACF guidance, federal reporting requirements, security, privacy, confidentiality, accessibility, and interoperability standards. Responses should clearly distinguish between capabilities directly supported by the offering and responsibilities that remain with the state, territory, tribe, system integrator, or other implementation partners.

• Maturity and Readiness for Reuse: Clearly describe the maturity and readiness of the proposed solution or service for adoption, adaptation, and reuse by multiple states, territories, or tribes. Responses should provide solution-specific information, including production use, reuse across jurisdictions, configurability, available documentation, implementation dependencies, validation artifacts, pricing transparency, and known limitations.

• Implementation Approach and Resource Requirements: Clearly describe the implementation approach and resource requirements associated with the proposed solution or service. Responses should provide implementation-specific information, including typical sequencing, estimated timelines, staffing models, respondent responsibilities, agency responsibilities, assumptions, risks, dependencies, and resource requirements needed to plan, implement, operate, or transition the offering.

• Maintenance, Operations, and Continuous Improvement: For offerings that support M&O, clearly describe the services and capabilities available following implementation.

Responses should provide operational information, including help desk or service desk support, monitoring, incident management, patching, release management, enhancement management, compliance updates, user feedback mechanisms, continuous improvement practices, and transition-out support.

• Security, Privacy, Accessibility, and Compliance: Clearly describe how the proposed solution or service addresses security, privacy, confidentiality, accessibility, and compliance requirements. Responses should provide solution-specific information, including the types of data supported, access controls, audit logging, encryption, authorization approaches, vulnerability management, incident response, records retention, Section 508 support, and available compliance documentation or artifacts.

• Relevant Past Performance: Clearly describe relevant experience implementing or supporting the proposed solution or service within child welfare, Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS), human services, Health and Human Services Programs, or comparable mission-critical public-sector environments. Responses should provide examples aligned with the applicable Response Areas and supported lifecycle phases, including measurable outcomes and lessons learned where available.

C. POST RFI ACTION