SAP

State of South Carolina

Amendment 1

Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400025715 08/23/2023 Daniel W. Covey 803 898-8176 Daniel.covey@dss.sc.gov SC Department of Social Services Attn: Procurement Office - Room 421/3 PO Box 1520 Columbia SC 29202-1520

DESCRIPTION: SaaS Foster Parent Licensure Solution

USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: SOCIAL SERVICES DEPT

SUBMIT YOUR OFFER ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 9/5/2023 2:00 PM EDT (See "Deadline for Submission Of Offer" provision) QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: 8/14/2023 5:00 PM EDT (See "Questions from Offerors" provision) NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: One (1) on-line submission and One (1) Redacted Copy submitted online, (See “Submitting Redacted Offers” provision Section IV & “Submitting Confidential Information” Section II.A.)

Initial here if NO redacted copy is necessary_______________

CONFERENCE TYPE: N/A

DATE & TIME: N/A

(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions)

LOCATION: N/A

AWARD &

AMENDMENTS

Award will be posted on 10/06/2023. The award, this solicitation, any amendments, and any related notices will be posted at the following web address: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

You must submit a signed copy of this form with Your Offer. By signing, You agree to be bound by the terms of the Solicitation. You agree to hold Your Offer open for a minimum of ninety (90) calendar days after the Opening Date. (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

NAME OF OFFEROR

(full legal name of business submitting the offer)

Any award issued will be issued to, and the contract will be formed with, the entity identified as the Offeror. The entity named as the offeror must be a single and distinct legal entity. Do not use the name of a branch office or a division of a larger entity if the branch or division is not a separate legal entity, i.e., a separate corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, etc.

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE

(Person must be authorized to submit binding offer to contract on behalf of Offeror.)

DATE SIGNED

TITLE

(business title of person signing above)

STATE VENDOR NO.

(Register to Obtain S.C. Vendor No. at www.procurement.sc.gov)

PRINTED NAME

(printed name of person signing above)

STATE OF INCORPORATION

(If you are a corporation, identify the state of incorporation.)

OFFEROR'S TYPE OF ENTITY: (Check one) (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

___ Sole Proprietorship ___ Partnership ___ Other_____________________________

___ Corporate entity (not tax-exempt) ___ Corporation (tax-exempt) ___ Government entity (federal, state, or local)

COVER PAGE - ON-LINE ONLY (MAR. 2015)

mailto:Daniel.covey@dss.sc.gov http://www.procurement.sc.gov/

SAP

SAP

PAGE TWO

(Return Page Two with Your Offer)

HOME OFFICE ADDRESS (Address for offeror's home office / principal place of business)

NOTICE ADDRESS (Address to which all procurement and contract related notices should be sent.) (See "Notice" clause)

_________________________________________________ Area Code - Number - Extension Facsimile

_________________________________________________ E-mail Address

PAYMENT ADDRESS (Address to which payments will be sent.)

(See "Payment" clause)

____Payment Address same as Home Office Address ____Payment Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

ORDER ADDRESS (Address to which purchase orders will be sent) (See "Purchase Orders and "Contract Documents" clauses)

____Order Address same as Home Office Address ____Order Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF AMENDMENTS

Offerors acknowledges receipt of amendments by indicating amendment number and its date of issue. (See "Amendments to Solicitation" Provision) Amendment No. Amendment Issue

Date Amendment No. Amendment Issue

Date Amendment No. Amendment Issue

Date Amendment No. Amendment Issue

Date

DISCOUNT FOR

PROMPT PAYMENT

(See "Discount for Prompt

Payment" clause)

10 Calendar Days (%) 20 Calendar Days (%) 30 Calendar Days (%) _____Calendar Days (%)

PREFERENCES - A NOTICE TO VENDORS (SEP. 2009): On June 16, 2009, the South Carolina General Assembly rewrote the law governing preferences available to in-state vendors, vendors using in-state subcontractors, and vendors selling in-state or US end products. This law appears in Section 11-35-1524 of the South Carolina Code of Laws. A summary of the new preferences is available at Procurement Services (sc.gov). PREFERENCES DO NOT APPLY TO REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PER SOUTH CAROLINA PROCUREMENT CODE SECTION [§11-35-1524(E)(5)(b)] PREFERENCES - ADDRESS AND PHONE OF IN-STATE OFFICE: Please provide the address and phone number for your in-state office in the space provided below. An in-state office is necessary to claim either the Resident Vendor Preference (11-35-1524(C)(1)(i)&(ii)) or the Resident Contractor Preference (11-35-1524(C)(1)(iii)). Accordingly, you must provide this information to qualify for the preference. An in-state office is not required, but can be beneficial, if you are claiming the Resident Subcontractor Preference (11-35-1524(D)). )). PREFERENCES DO NOT APPLY TO REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PER SOUTH CAROLINA PROCUREMENT CODE SECTION [§11-35-1524(E)(5)(b)]

PAGE TWO (SEP 2009) End of PAGE TWO https://procurement.sc.gov/osp/preferences

AMENDMENT ONE: AMENDMENT ONE

RFP# 5400025715: SAAS FOSTER PARENT LICENSURE SOLUTION

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JANUARY 2006) (a) The Solicitation may be amended at any time prior to opening. All actual and prospective Offerors should monitor the following web site for the issuance of Amendments: www.procurement.sc.gov . (b) Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation (1) by signing and returning the amendment, (2) by identifying the amendment number and date in the space provided for this purpose on Page Two, (3) by letter, or (4) by submitting a bid that indicates in some way that the bidder received the amendment. (c) If this solicitation is amended, then all terms and conditions which are not modified remain unchanged.

THE SOLICITATION IS AMENDED AS PROVIDED HEREIN. INFORMATION OR CHANGES

RESULTING FROM QUESTIONS WILL BE SHOWN IN A QUESTION-AND-ANSWER FORMAT. ALL

QUESTIONS RECEIVED HAVE BEEN REPRINTED BELOW. THE “STATE’S RESPONSE” SHOULD BE

READ WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THE QUESTIONS. THE QUESTIONS ARE INCLUDED SOLELY TO

PROVIDE A CROSS-REFERENCE TO THE POTENTIAL OFFEROR THAT SUBMITTED THE

QUESTION. QUESTIONS DO NOT FORM A PART OF THE CONTRACT; THE “STATE’S RESPONSE”

DOES. ANY RESTATEMENT OF PART OR ALL OF AN EXISTING PROVISION OF THE

SOLICITATION IN AN ANSWER DOES NOT MODIFY THE ORIGINAL PROVISION EXCEPT AS

FOLLOWS: UNDERLINED TEXT IS ADDED TO THE ORIGINAL PROVISION. STRICKEN TEXT IS

DELETED.

Page 16, “Section II – B. Special Instructions #(c): The contents of offer must be divided into two parts, the technical proposal and the business proposal.” “Page 24 Section IV – Info for Offerors to Submit – Evaluations: Submit a Technical Proposal and a Price Proposal in separate distinct documents.

Question: Are we to submit a Technical and Price proposal only?

State’s Response Offerors must submit all the information requested in sections IV. INFORMATION FOR OFFERORS TO SUBMIT – GENERAL (p. 24), INFORMATION FOR OFFERORS TO SUBMIT -- EVALUATION (pp. 24,25) and section V. QUALIFICATIONS of the RFP document. (pp. 27, 28)

Page 23, 3.7.4 Scheduled Maintenance Downtime. RFP “states 10 pm – 4 am PST.”

Question: Please clarify that the State is open to scheduled downtime until 7 am EST.

State’s Response Change: SCDSS has amended 3.7.4 (p. 23)

Contractor will schedule maintenance between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM Pacific Standard time. ET

Page 18, Section 3.3 Licensing Requirements states “the solution must support Foster Parent, Kinship Foster Parent, Group Home Licensing…” Then section 3.3.1 describes “Licensing process – Families.

Question: There is no further information on how the Group Home Licensing will be used in the solution. Would the State describe how they want to use the contractor solution for Group Home Licensing?

State’s Response Group homes should be able to complete the full licensing process through the portal including submission of required documents.

Page 20, Section 3.4.1 (K) Provide Customer support with Live chat functionality.

Question Is it the intention of the State to allow all 8,000 users access to the live chat including foster parents, prospective foster parents? Or will it be a limited subset of users and if so who / how many?

State’s Response Yes, it is the intention of the State to allow all 8,000 users access to live chat including foster parents, and prospective foster parents.

Page 25, “Service Provider Assessment Questionnaire – Required (FEB 2015)” If you have a properly qualified third-party report or certification, you believe we should accept in lieu of those identified in item (5), submit a question identifying same pursuant to the clause titled Questions from Offerors.

Question Can we submit a copy of our SOC 2 Type 2 Audit performed by our third-party auditing firm in lieu of those items listed on Attachment C?

State’s Response Yes, SOC 2 Type 2 is acceptable.

Page 55, Attachment “Service Provider Security Assessment Questionnaire”, Item 5.

List any reports or certifications that you have from properly accredited third parties that demonstrate that adequate security controls and assurance requirements are in place to adequately provide for the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information systems used to process, store, transmit, and access all government information. (For example, an ISO/IEC 27001 compliance certificate, an AICPA SOC 2 (Type 2) report, or perhaps an AICPA SOC 3 report (i.e., a SysTrust or WebTrust seal)). For each certification, describe the scope of the assessment performed. Will these reports / certifications remain in place for the duration of the contract? Will you provide the state with most recent and future versions of the applicable compliance certificate / audit report?

Question Similar to other States and local governments deploying Child Welfare systems, is the State of South Carolina requiring proof of SOC2 compliance at bid submission or the contract start date for security purposes?

State’s Response Note, there are other 3rd party accreditations other SOC (e.g., HITRUST, NIST, ISO 27001, even PUB 1075).

What the assessment questionnaire is asking for is that offerors list any 3rd party security accreditations and describe the scope of those assessments. SCDSS would prefer that offerors submit proof of compliance with their offers; however, offerors may submit the proof—if SCDSS requests it—after bid submission provided that the Service Provider Assessment Questionnaire is completed in full. Regardless, SCDSS cannot enter into a contract with any offeror until they have verified offeror’ proof of accreditation.

Pg. No. – 6, RFP Section – “ACQUIRE SERVICES (MODIFIED)” The five-year, not-to-exceed budget for this solution is $5,000,000. Offers greater than this amount will be rejected as non-responsive and not considered for award.

Question – Does the budget include or exclude the software licensing cost?

States Response Five million dollars is the five-year budget for the entire project including any software licensing and all other costs.

Pg. No. – 18, RFP Section – 3.2 b RFP Language – “Congregate care providers will have access to the solution.”

Question – To clarify when you say, 'Congregate care providers', do you mean Residential Facilities or something else?

State’s Response Congregate care and group homes are synonymous

RFP Section – 3.2, RFP Language While it is not possible to adequately estimate the total number of users, DSS expects a minimum of 8,000 individual users. This number is subject to change during the life of the contract.

Question – Are Congregate care providers included in expected minimum 8,000 individual users, or they will be added to 8,000?

States Response Yes, the expected minimum 8,000 individual users include congregate care providers.

Pg. No. – 18, RFP Section – 3.2 RFP Language – “Congregate care providers will have access to the solution.”

Question – How do you see congregate care users using the solution? Will they update the information or just read?

States Response Congregate care/group homes should be able to complete the full licensing process via the portal in addition to posting information on available beds, receiving, and accepting applications for placements via the portal including having access to upload, view, etc. required documents.

Pg. No. – 18, RFP Section – 3.2, RFP Language – Private Foster Care agencies will not submit their request to be licensed in South Carolina through the proposed solution; however, individual foster homes will.

Question – We understand that Privat Foster Care Agencies will not submit their request to be licensed via solution, but after they receive their licenses will they have access to the solution? If yes, in what capacity will they use the solution? Will they need write, read, or search capabilities?

States Response CPAs—once licensed to be a child placing agencies—will have access to the portal to license their individual families under the umbrella of the CPA. Meaning they will have access to all information related to foster parents licensed under/through their individual child placing agency umbrella.

Pg. No. – 18, RFP Section – 3.2 Question – Will the individual foster homes working with Private Foster Care agencies use the solution?

States Response Private Foster Care agencies will not submit their request to be licensed in South Carolina through the proposed solution; however, individual foster homes will.

Pg. No. – 19, RFP Section – 3.3 Question – Can you share sample for the Group Home Assessment?

States Response SCDSS will supply this information to the successful offeror.

With less than 3 weeks between the questions and submission dues date, and with the Labor Day weekend occurring right before the due date, would the state please be willing to extend the due date an additional week or two to allow the state ample time to reply to questions and vendors ample time to adjust and finalize submissions?

States Response No change, the state will not extend the submission date.

In relation to section 3.2 of the RFP, will the placement module be used by foster and kinship parents, or is the placement module only for state employees?

States Response The placement module will be used by state agency employees, child placing agencies, and group home provider staff.

Since the state is seeking for these modules to be used by 2,600 state employees and possibly an additional 5,400 others (users), or as described in section 3.4.1 “an unlimited number of users”, and the five year budget cannot exceed $5 million, with enterprise cloud-platforms essential for a complete, secure, and safe CCWIS in the future to provide advanced mobile-friendly and cloud-based case management, is the state open to a technology licensing approach for these first few modules that reduces cost by providing a smaller amount of state employees truly needing administrative user licenses but also allows the “unlimited number of users” to access the modules via a secure password driven website login approach?

State’s Response No, the state is not interested in a technology licensing approach for these first few modules.

In relation to section 3.6.2 and other parts, can the state please provide more details on the CAPSS database technology, roles, and functions?

State’s Response The CAPSS Application is an intranet Windows application with a MS-SQL server Database backend. Solution interfacing with CAPSS is up 24/7 as DSS build redundancy around it (e.g., Primary and Secondary servers with real time replication.) SCDSS will provide more technical details and DB schemas, roles, and functions to the successful offeror.

Can the state provide a schematic or details of the exact current and possibly different future processes they wish to accomplish with the application, licensing and placement features sought?

State’s Response See response to question 17

Is DSS open to a phased implementation approach? If a phased implementation approach is acceptable, what is the desired order for which DSS Programs are to be implemented?

State’s Response Yes, the state is open to a phased implementation approach; the required order is the licensing part of the system followed by placement. Both must be fully operational by the go live date.

When ideally does DSS want this new system to “go live”?

State’s Response The state requires the solution to be complete and fully operational within 12 months of the contract start date including all integration, customization, user training, and deployment.

What costs has DSS incurred for the initial setup, ongoing maintenance, hosting, software licensing, support, and enhancements (i.e., “change orders”) over the lifetime of the current systems to be replaced by the new solution?

State’s Response This is a request for a new system. Current documentation is maintained in the agency’s in-house system.

What presentations, software demonstrations, and/or estimates / quotes have DSS programs received related to the SaaS Solution project, and from whom?

State’s Response SCDSS is aware of Binti’s solution because some foster care agencies in South Carolina already use the system and has received a software demonstration from the company.

For data conversion requirements, please inventory all data sources, file formats, and size of the current data sets to be converted and migrated into the new system.

State’s Response The new system must integrate with the existing case management system, CAPSS. The CAPSS data source is SQL Server 2019.

What is DSS’ budget for the initial system implementation?

State’s Response See page 6 of the RFP document

What, if any, amount of the budget is subject to expire by a certain timeframe and when? Please elaborate.

State’s Response See page 6 of the RFP document

What amount is being budgeted for ongoing support, software licensing, hosting, and support of the new system?

State’s Response See page 6 of the RFP document

Is DSS desiring the option for staff to be trained on application administration to make changes, updates and add new capabilities to the system after go-live? Or is DSS anticipating the vendor to perform future updates and changes (such as addition of new license types, form configuration, business rule changes, etc.) to the system?

State’s Response The vendor must provide all training (on-line, virtual, and pre-recorded training is acceptable) customer service, technical support, maintenance and operations, and regular updates as available. The vendor is expected to perform future updates and changes to the system.

Please provide an approximate number of standard email/letter templates that will be used by DSS to be integrated and automated by the system.

SCDSS cannot quantify this number at this time.

How many different or distinct inspection and license application types will be supported in this solution?

Please provide a comprehensive list.

State’s Response Foster Parent, Kinship Foster Parent, and Group Home Licensing.

Please identify ALL other systems that the new solution will need to integrate with (i.e., payment processor, other systems such as financial, etc.) along with an inventory of which interfaces will need to be, whether a one-way (import or export) or two-way data exchange?

State’s Response The new solution only needs to integrate with the Case Management System of record, the Child and Adult Information System (CAPSS), to allow a bi-directional interface of offerors Licensing and Placement modules to existing licensing and placement modules in CAPSS.

Please provide the annual number of applications / renewals and inspections processed by DSS.

State’s Response SCDSS cannot quantify this number because foster parents come to the agency through a variety of pathways and through private agencies. SCDSS does not have information about foster parents who start the process through a private agency but do not complete the process. This not an uncommon situation.

Is DSS expecting the vendor to incorporate a payment processor within the proposal or provide recommendations?

State’s Response No, SCDSS is not expecting the vendor to incorporate a payment processor within the proposal or provide recommendations.

Please provide a breakdown of the number of DSS employees that will be using the new solution by DSS Program, role, as well as which ones will be performing mobile inspections.

State’s Response At minimum, 2,600 State employees will need access to the system at any given time, in addition to the Child Placing Agencies and their staff, foster parents, prospective foster parents, kinship parents and prospective kinship foster parents, and all group care providers and their staff.

Given the complexity of the RFP, extensive requirements, etc., can the State extend the proposal due date by at least 2-4 weeks?

State’s Response See answer to question 14.

Will the selected vendor have the opportunity to provide exceptions and/or alternative contract language during contract negotiations, or will vendors need to provide those within their respective proposals?

State’s Response While the state is likely to engage in negotiations during this procurement process, it cannot guarantee that negotiations will take place. Pursuant to the DISCUSSIONS AND NEGOTIATIONS – OPTIONS clause on page 29 of the RFP document, “Your proposal may be evaluated, and your offer accepted without any discussions, negotiations….”

Will the State consider lower cyber-security insurance limitations (i.e., S1M per, $5M in aggregate)?

See response to question 35.

Can DSS provide an inventory of all the reports that need to be replicated within the new system?

State’s Response DSS does not have this information; however, sub-section 3.3 of the RFP under the heading “Specific functions of the software” contains information about the required reporting capabilities of the system.

For comprehensive reporting capabilities, does DSS desire to utilize data analysis platforms such as Power BI, Tableau, etc., to fulfill data reporting needs? And if so, can vendors assume the State will have / obtain licensing for the desired data analytics platform to be integrated with the solution?

State’s Response Reporting capabilities for requested reports will need to be available within the system and integrated into the solution under the overall cost.

What is a contracted home study? Please elaborate on the process and what functionalities DSS requires to support it in the system.

State’s Response A home study is the overall review of a potential family's home that is pursuing licensure to make sure it is up to all standards consistent with the foster home licensing standards.

Regarding full-time customer support, what is the expectation on who can contact the vendor? Would this just be DSS staff?

State’s Response SCDSS requires all users including DSS staff, provider staff, and potential applicants (foster, kinship, group home etc.) be able to contact customer support.

Based on the extensiveness of this RFP and vendors whose answers could impact the proposal, would the State allow for another round of Q&A after answers are provided for the first round?

State’s Response No, state will not offer an added Question and Answer Period.

Regarding Child Placing Agencies and other private agency placement entities, please elaborate on what actions they take during the licensing process and if they submit or manage applications on behalf of foster care homes.

State's Response See responses to questions 10,11, and 12.

Will proposals from offerors who do not have direct experience supporting foster care licensing and placement systems but do possess significant experience supporting regulatory software management systems still be deemed unqualified and precluded from evaluation?

State’s Response Please refer to QUALIFICATIONS - SPECIAL STANDARDS OF RESPONSIBILITY (MAR 2015) on page 27 of the RFP, parts (a) and (b).

Will offerors who currently do not support foster care licensing and child placement not meet the qualification of having performed services substantially similar to scope and size of this project?

State’s Response Please refer to QUALIFICATIONS - SPECIAL STANDARDS OF RESPONSIBILITY (MAR 2015) on page 27 of the RFP, parts (a) and (b).

Is minority participation a requirement for this project? If so, is there a desired minority business goal for this project?

State’s Response No, minority participation is not required for this project.

(a) For item 3.4.1. (L.), does the system have to have the ability to be configured in English and Spanish?

Or is DSS requiring that the system be deployed in both English and Spanish as a part of this project?

(b) Can you please describe the type of information access or use case needed for all DSS employees to have access to the application? that volume of total internal state users could become price prohibitive

State’s Response

(a) At minimum, the application must be configured in English and Spanish.

(b) Access for up to 2600 state agency staff in addition to Child Placing Agency staff among 80 agencies and Group Care entity staff. Access will vary by level but at minimum will include updating information, accessing, and uploading documentation for each of these categories.

END OF AMENDMENT ONE