Amendment_1_Business_Gateway_AI_Agent_RFI_31701-03814_State_Response_to_Questions_12_2_25.pdf

Agency Tracking# 31701-03814 Page 1 of 16

STATE OF TENNESSEE

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION, STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

SOLUTIONS

Request for Information #31701-03814 Amendment 1

FOR BUSINESS GATEWAY AI AGENT

DATE: December 2, 2025

REQUEST# 31701-03814 IS AMENDED AS FOLLOWS:

1. This RFI Schedule of Events updates and confirms scheduled dates. Any event, time, or date containing revised or new text is highlighted.

EVENT

TIME

(Central Time Zone)

DATE

(All dates are State business days)

1. RFI Issued 11/13/2025

2. Vendor Written Questions and Comments Deadline

2:00 p.m.

Central 11/20/2025

3. State Response to Written Questions and Comments 12/2/2025

4. RFI Response Deadline 2:00 p.m.

Central 12/10/2025

2. State responses to questions and comments in the table below amend and clarify this

RFI.

Any restatement of RFI text in the Question/Comment column shall NOT be construed as a change in the actual wording of the RFI document.

# Page # SOW Section Vendor Questions State Response

1 General

Is there an incumbent vendor providing these services? Or is this an entirely new requirement?

There is no incumbent vendor as this is a RFI for a new initiative.

2 General

I know that this project is currently only in the RFI stage, but I was curious if the state had an estimated value of a potential contract that would be awarded if this project were to move past the RFI stage?

One purpose of this is to evaluate solutions and cost estimates for this project.

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3 1 Section 1.

Statement of Purpose

Can the State define what is meant by “avatar”? What features/functions does the State expect? Is the intent to produce a persona-based chatbot or a more robust 2D animated helper or 3D video-enabled solution?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

4 3

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality

What are the primary objectives or pain points driving the decision to enhance the Business Gateway Portal with an AI-powered avatar assistant?

Please refer to Section 3, Table 1 in this RFI.

5 3 &

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language Barriers & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

What are the third-party state systems that need to be integrated?

These will be agency (Revenue, Secretary of State, Labor, etc.) systems that are core transactional-based systems.

1, 2, 3 &

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Is there an existing state knowledge base or content management system that the AI agent must integrate with for real-time information delivery?

Yes, AEM and other repositories to be determined.

1, 2, 3 &

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background, Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language

What are the expectations regarding multilingual capability, especially the number of languages and dialects to support?

For the initial implementation, there are five languages (other than English) to be supported - Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Kurdish (Kurmanji and Sorani), and Somali.

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Barriers & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 5 and 9

8 1, 2 & 3

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background & Section 3.

Project Requirements

How many types of business registrations are expected to be handled by the desired system?

More than 73K new businesses formed in Tennessee during Fiscal year 2024. Please reference the following document for a breakdown by industry – Tennessee 2024 Small Business Profile

9 2

Section 2.

Background - Integrated Registration Flow

Will the business registration process also include payments?

Is there any payment gateway the system needs to integrate with?

It is a long-term goal to have this solution be a single source solution for our business community. Payment integration has been discussed as a future enhancement, but no specific solution has been defined. The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

10 1, 2 & 3

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background & Section 3.

Project Requirements

Can you elaborate on the specific functionalities and user flows that the AI avatar must support during the business registration process?

An interactive conversational guide to lead a person through the process; flows will be dependent on type of business.

11 5, 6 & 7

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 6, the Cost Informational Form and Additional Considerations.

Can the State share any insights into budgetary, timeline, or risk considerations influencing the design and deployment approach for this project?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI as requested in Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 6, the Cost Informational Form and Additional Considerations.

12 General

What are the primary evaluation criteria and main factors for assessing vendor responses?

Best fit solution and cost.

13 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 11 & 12

Could you clarify the expected volume of users and interactions to better estimate scalability and performance requirements?

See State response to Question 8.

https://advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Tennessee.pdf

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14 4 Section 6.

General Information, 6.4

Can we propose a Global delivery model with both US-based and India resources, or does the state prefer only US-based resources?

Please refer to Section 6.4 of this RFI: Access to State data shall be limited to US-based (onshore) resources only.

15 2

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Multiple Agency Websites and Forms

What is the current rate of successful business launches?

Based on current statistics, Tennessee businesses have a survival rate of approximately 78.3% in their first year.

16 2 &

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Multiple Agency Websites and Forms & Repetitive Data Entry

How long does it currently take for an end user to register a business?

It currently takes about 5 to 15 working days to complete the registration.

17 2

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Multiple Agency Websites and Forms

What is the current percentage of incomplete business submissions?

This information is not currently available.

18 3

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Accessibility and Inclusion

What are the current adoption rates for online business registration?

There is currently no guided online process for business registration.

19 3

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality -

How does the State measure user satisfaction? What are the current rates?

There is currently no joint solution for measuring user satisfaction associated with the processes that we are hoping to combine with this initiative. All of these processes are currently managed by multiple stakeholders.

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Accessibility and Inclusion

20 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 11 & 12

What is the expected volume and concurrency of traffic for a prospective solution?

See State response to Question 13 and Question 8.

21 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 6

When does the State expect to have a fully functional solution?

A phase one implementation is planned for November 2026.

22 3

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Missed Regulatory Steps

What is the nature of the “legal oversights” mentioned in Table

1. Missed regulatory steps?

Missed steps due to lack of process step sequencing in flow. The purpose of this project would be to guide a user through all the steps and ensure compliance and completeness with registrations.

23 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does the State have any preference on where a solution is hosted (on premises using State supplied hardware or off premises using cloud hardware)?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI as requested in Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 12.

24 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does the State currently use a cloud solutions provider? Yes.

25 6

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does the State have a preference on whether a solution is integrated into an existing user interface? Or would the State prefer a new, standalone solution?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI as requested in Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 16; however, the State will review a standalone solution, if available.

26 Security & Access

What third parties do the State currently use to accommodate multilingual support?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

1, 2, 3 &

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background, Section 3.

Project Requirements, What are the priority languages for multilingual support? See State response to Question 7.

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Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language Barriers & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 5 and 9

28 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

What authentication/authorization systems are in place across State agencies?

We have several for internal users, but this solution is for citizens. The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

29 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Should the solution leverage existing role-based access controls?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI as requested in Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 10. We are asking vendors to describe their solution.

2, 3, 5 &

Section 2.

Background, Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language Barriers & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 9, 15 and 12

Are there any additional accessibility requirements apart from multilingual support?

All requirements mandated under WCAG 2.1 AA must be met.

31 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 5

What are the most frequent data input errors today?

It is unclear how many data input errors there are across the disparate systems that are currently in place.

32 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 5

What is the most common reason for data errors?

It is unclear how many data input errors there are across the disparate systems that are currently in place.

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33 5

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does the State organize their data into a single database/repository?

No.

34 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does each agency have their own database?

How is cross-agency data matched today?

Yes. It is not matched so you must have separate credentials for each.

35 2 &

Section 2.

Background & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does the State leverage APIs for system communication? Yes.

36 2 &

Section 2.

Background & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does the State have a standard API gateway or event bus pattern the vendor should use?

No.

37 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

What is the preferred logging mechanism? Will logs be consumed by other services?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

38 2 Section 2.

Background

Who will serve as the product owner and agency subject matter experts?

This will be identified at a later time.

39 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 10 and General - Resourcing

Will the State provide the vendor access to agency employees, data, and systems?

Yes.

40 5 &

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational

Will the vendor have access to entrepreneurs for moderated testing?

Yes.

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Form, Questions 10 & 15

41 General - Resourcing

Will the vendor have access to call center staff for escalation design?

Yes.

42 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

What audiences require training?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

43 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Are there preferred formats or platforms for training (in-person, virtual, self-paced)?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

44 6

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Cost Informational Form, Questions 1, 2, & 5

What ongoing support and services are expected from the vendor and for how long?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

45 6

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Cost Informational Form, Questions 1, 2, & 5

Will STS staff support and maintain the solution? See State response to Question 44.

46 General

Please expand on any prep work done regarding this project at the State or any State vendor demos that you have viewed which drove the decision to incorporate agentic AI in this process?

There has been research performed as to solutions implemented in other states, as well as demos of said solutions in several of those states.

47 General

Can you expand on recent successes at the State (in beta or production) to create a chatbot that answers questions using a curated, safe-guarded, and governed set of content documents (RAG architecture)?

Under Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-504(i) vendor identity or a description of the goods or services provided by a vendor shall be confidential.

48 General

How is the data currently set up? How have you currently tried to solve integrating user-provided business license data being input into legacy systems?

Under Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-504(i) vendor identity or a description of the goods or services provided by a vendor shall be confidential.

Agency Tracking# 31701-03814 Page 9 of 16

a. This helps us understand the amount of data work needed to be done to solve for data quality, appropriate infrastructure, and interoperability, which are necessary prerequisites for getting good results.

49 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Will the LLM run on: public or private cloud? See State response to Question 23.

50 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does the project require a private hosted model? See State response to Question 23.

1, 2, 3 &

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background, Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language Barriers & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 5 and 9

What languages are required to be supported with the AI interface? If reasonable, please provide a list.

See State response to Question 7.

52 1 Section 1.

Statement of Purpose

Does the State of TN require a 2D or 3D avatar? See State response to Question 3.

53 1 Section 1.

Statement of Purpose

What processes will the avatar prompt for within the registration process?

Please refer to Section 1. Statement of Purpose, "...to guide users through every required step of state and federal registration processes. It integrates across all relevant Tennessee state agency systems to automate, simplify, and personalize the business registration journey."

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54 General

What is the primary success metric for this initiative—speed of registration, user satisfaction, compliance, or cost savings?

Yes, all of these success metrics should be included. We are trying to improve and simplify the citizen experience.

55 5 &

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 6 and the Cost Informational Form Question 1

Is the State envisioning this as a phased rollout (e.g., start with core agencies) or a big-bang deployment?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI as requested in Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 6 and the Cost Informational Form, Question 1.

56 Technical

Which state systems and databases must be integrated first? Are APIs already available?

• Where are the systems and state knowledge databases and content shared and hosted?

• How is data being communicated today between LLCs, corporations, etc. (ex. Is it blockchain communication?)

This will be determined in your solution approach. There may be API's available, and some may need to be created. State knowledge databases and shared content are a mix of on-premises and cloud hosted. Data is being communicated by various means; not blockchain communication.

57 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 11 & 12

What is the expected volume of users and peak concurrency for the portal?

See State response to Question 13 and Question 8.

58 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Are there any preferred hosting models (on-prem, cloud, hybrid) or restrictions beyond U.S. data residency?

See State response to Question 23 and Question 56.

1, 2, 3 &

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background, Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language

How many languages must be supported initially? Any dialect-specific requirements?

See State response to Question 7.

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Barriers &

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 5 and 9

60 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 9

What level of avatar customization is expected (appearance, voice, personality, 3D visual)?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI as requested in Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 9.

61 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 9

Are there specific accessibility standards beyond WCAG 2.1 AA (e.g., Section 508)?

No.

62 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Which state cybersecurity frameworks must be adhered to? Any additional compliance mandates (e.g., NIST, FedRAMP)?

We are asking vendors which State cybersecurity frameworks your solution adheres to.

63 5 &

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 10, 12 & 16

Will the State require integration with existing identity providers or a new CIAM solution?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

64 6

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Cost Informational Form, Questions 1, 2, & 5

What is the expected support model—does the State want the vendor to manage ongoing operations or hand off to internal teams?

See State response to Question 44.

65 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Are there training requirements for state administrators and content managers?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

66 1 Section 1.

Statement of Purpose

Is the State looking for a custom built or SAAS solution?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

67 2 Section 2.

Background

Is there a requirement to migrate databases into the proposed framework to support the solution?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

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68 2

Section 2.

Background, Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality

What is the data size in the source database/knowledge base?

Unknown.

69 3 &

Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language Barriers & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

What external systems can we expect? See State response to Question 5.

70 1 &

Section 2.

Background & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

What is the infrastructure for all of those agencies? How are they integrated with the system? (e.g. API, Connector, External Database Link)

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

71 2, 3 & 6

Section 3.

Project Requirements & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

What is the current data infrastructure?

Can the State provide a detailed inventory or description of the types of data currently stored in its knowledge bases and content management systems?

Specifically, what categories, formats, and sources of data are available for integration or use by the proposed solution?

See State response to Question 56.

72 2, 3 & 5

Section 3.

Project Requirements & Section 7.

Informational

What is the expected number of users and what is the expected traffic?

See State response to Question 13 and Question 8.

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Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 11 & 12

73 2 &

Section 3.

Project Requirements

What are the expected input formats for the portal? e.g.

PDF, JPEG, PNG

The State is looking to evaluate proposed solutions based on vendor proposal responses.

74 Technical What is the real time inference latency expected from the proposed solution?

This has not been stated. The State is looking for the best solution.

75 5 &

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 11, 14, 17 & 19

Could the State provide a preferred list of target performance metrics for the proposed AI solution, including preferred benchmarks for accuracy, latency, user satisfaction, and error rates?

Additionally, does the State have an ideal or acceptable threshold for model drift over time?

No, we are looking for the best possible metric outcomes with the ability to change models over time with updates.

76 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Is there a cloud provider preference? E.g. AWS, GCP, Azure

See State response to Question 23 and Question 56.

77 2 &

Section 2.

Background & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 5

Can the State confirm if there is a pre-existing or preferred framework to support the AI/ML lifecycle-build/deploy/monitor?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

78 2, 3 & 6

Section 3.

Project Requirements & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Can the state share any existing or planned infrastructure to support integration and workflow (e.g. data warehouse / lake, workflow technology, integration)? Specifically, what APIs or integrations patterns exist to integrate the avatar with each agency system?

Under Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-504(i) vendor identity or a description of the goods or services provided by a vendor shall be confidential.

1, 2, 3 &

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background, Section 3.

What languages are in scope for multi-lingual support? See State response to Question 7.

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Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language Barriers & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 5 and 9

80 2 &

Section 2.

Background & Section 3.

Project Requirements

What is the approximate number of existing forms in scope?

Please refer to Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this RFI.

81 1 &

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose & Section 2.

Background

Will any other agencies be considered in scope beyond Revenue, Secretary of State, Commerce & Insurance, and Labor?

Yes. Integration will be required "across all relevant Tennessee state agency systems to automate, simplify, and personalize the business registration journey" as noted in Section 1. Statement of Purpose.

82 5, 6 & 7

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 6, the Cost Informational Form and Additional Considerations.

Do you have an estimated target completion date? See State response to Question 11.

83 6

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Does the State currently have any AI or virtual-assistant tools in place that it would like vendors to consider using or integrating?

Under Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-504(i) vendor identity or a description of the goods or services provided by a vendor shall be confidential.

84 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 11 & 12

What are the expected user volumes or usage levels once the Business Gateway AI Agent solution is deployed?

See State response to Question 13 and Question 8.

1, 2, 3 &

Section 1.

Statement of Purpose, Section

2. Background, Which specific languages does the State want the multilingual assistant to support at launch?

See State response to Question 7.

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Section 3.

Project Requirements, Table 1: Desired Features & Functionality - Language Barriers & Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 5 and 9

86 General - Technical

Would the State be open to the use of vendor provided AI-enabled design, programming, or testing tools to accelerate prototyping and development?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

87 5 &

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Questions 10 & 14

Does the State have a policy regarding vendors’ internal use of AI technologies for development, documentation, or testing purposes?

Yes, please refer to the State's Enterprise AI policy:

200-POL-007 Enterprise Artificial Intelligence Policy.pdf

88 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Should vendors assume State-hosted infrastructure, or may we propose a vendor-hosted or hybrid managed-service model?

See State response to Question 23 and Question 56.

89 2 Section 2.

Background

Which of the participating agencies (Secretary of State, Revenue, Labor & Workforce Development, Commerce & Insurance) currently provide API endpoints or integration layers for registration data exchange?

Will the State provide sandbox or test environments for each agency during integration and implementation?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI.

90 1 &

Section 2.

Background

Does the State currently operate a master data system for business entities and interactions across agencies?

No.

https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/finance/artificial-intelligence/200-POL-007%20Enterprise%20Artificial%20Intelligence%20Policy.pdf https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/finance/artificial-intelligence/200-POL-007%20Enterprise%20Artificial%20Intelligence%20Policy.pdf

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91 1 &

Section 2.

Background

Does the initial implementation focus solely on new business registration, or should vendors anticipate ongoing compliance and renewal use cases as well?

Though the initial implementation will center around new business registration, the long-term goal for the solution is to provide all services to business owners.

92 General

Does the State have existing digital style or persona guidelines that the avatar should align with? If not, should creating those personas be part of the engagement?

This is currently being discussed internally; we welcome recommendations.

93 5, 6 & 7

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question 6, the Cost Informational Form and Additional Considerations.

Is there a specific timeline or target date by which the State intends to implement this project?

See State response to Question 11.

94 5

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

Should vendors include analytics dashboards for internal State users to monitor performance, or just citizen-facing components?

Both.

95 6

Section 7.

Informational Forms: Technical Informational Form, Question

How will the State evaluate ethical AI practices, is there an existing framework, or should vendors propose their own governance model?

This is currently being discussed internally, we welcome recommendations.

96 General

Can more information be provided around if there is already a landing page being used or if TN intends to configure a new page as it relates to this RFI?

Under Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-504(i) vendor identity or a description of the goods or services provided by a vendor shall be confidential.

97 General

Can further clarification be provided around how TN intends to augment their current process?

The State is seeking recommendations through this RFI. See State response to Question 10.

3. RFI Amendment Effective Date. The revisions set forth herein shall be effective upon release. All other terms and conditions of this RFI not expressly amended herein shall remain in full force and effect.