Attach1_DOHR_Talent_Acquisition_and_Talent_Management_Suite_RFI_31907-24001_5.24.24.docx

STATE OF TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR

TALENT ACQUISITION AND TALENT MANAGEMENT SUITE

RFI # 31907-24001

May 10, 2024

1. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

The State of Tennessee, DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES (DOHR) issues this Request for Information (“RFI”) for the purpose of discovering a robust, all-encompassing talent acquisition and talent management suite. DOHR seeks a single, modern solution to manage the full lifecycle or their business beginning with talent marketing, recruiting, applicant tracking, and through the onboarding process. We appreciate your input and participation in this process.

Through this RFI, DOHR seeks information on software solutions that currently exist in a cloud- based production environment to support an enterprise-wide talent management and talent acquisition process. DOHR will review responses to questions contained within this RFI and intends to observe the functionality of the vendor solutions in up to four (4) demonstrations. In planning its future procurement strategy, DOHR will consider all options available which meet the current and future needs of the fully integrated talent acquisition and talent management suite.

BACKGROUND:

The mission of DOHR is to lead enterprise human capital management for the optimal customer experience. The Recruiting Division’s goal is to match open jobs with candidate skills and experience. The team supports DOHR’s vision of being a top workplace in the Southeast.

Recruiting helps build Tennessee State Government one successful hire at a time. The Recruiting Division posts nearly 13,000 jobs and holds over 30 career events annually.

An excellent applicant experience is imperative as DOHR seeks to enhance the enterprise recruiting process, talent acquisition, and retention strategies. DOHR expects the cloud-based solution to enable seamless job postings across various platforms, source candidates, leverage modern communication tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and text messaging, enhance the candidate experience, streamline candidate screening, automate interview scheduling, analyze data, and forecast trends. The solution must integrate with the State’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) and human capital management (HCM) software.

2. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS: DOHR is requesting to review cloud-based software applications available to meet the needs addressed in the Statement of Purpose above and List of Business Needs (Table 3.1) below.

Table 3.1: List of Business Needs

Attachment 1

*All items in this table are required unless indicated by “N” below.

REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION

REQUIRED?*

("N" indicates Not Required)

TALENT ACQUISITION - PLAN

Provide advanced analytics for labor market intelligence on job postings, publicly available resumes or talent profiles, census data, or dynamic skills ontologies. Provide insight on labor (compensation, unemployment, size/composition of available workforce) and skills trends (supply, demand, availability by location and disappearing or emerging skills).

Provide advanced analytics for operational workforce planning to determine the right number and types of workforce resources to hit projected business targets and execute on that plan.

Provides advanced analytics to strategic workforce planning to model impacts of digital transformation, shifts in workforce preferences and skills, automation, demographics, and other macro trends impacting the organization.

TALENT ACQUISITION - ATTRACT

Provides automated job search capabilities like predict the intent of what candidate is searching for, helps find jobs with spelling errors, etc.

Ability to display dynamic content based on the candidate's interested agencies. Dynamic content could include but is not limited to career progression, associate spotlight, videos, etc.

Provide ability to post resources to assist candidates including but not limited to Frequently Asked Questions, information about State agencies, benefits, the hiring process, etc.

Provides job board aggregation as a one-stop-shop for programmatic advertising to target interested/capable talent.

TALENT ACQUISITION - APPLY

If candidates abandoned their application, provides auto-generated emails to remind candidates to complete their application.

Delivery/timing of the emails should be configurable by the business.

Must be able to integrate first round interview questions (single choice, multiple choice, open ended) within the application process and capture candidates’ responses.

Provide applicants the ability to scroll through what jobs are available when they are reviewing the contents of the job postings (i.e., qualifications, skills, abilities, etc.).

TALENT ACQUISITION - ENGAGE

Ability to configure notifications to the agency and DOHR recruiter, within 5 days of a job posting closing, to alert users if the list has not reached the minimum of 3 candidates with options to alter the posting (Extend, Cancel, Create a Recruiting Plan, etc.)

Ability to sequence auto generated messages to candidates. For example, if candidates attend a recruitment event it auto generates messages like "Thanks for attending our event, would you like to learn more?" If no action is taken by candidate, it auto-remind the candidate to act. Example: 5 days later send a message like: "We know you're busy, would you like to learn more?" If candidates no longer want to be notified, they should be able to opt out.

Ability for the chatbot to provide solutions to frequently asked questions and learn new responses from the questions posed by candidates.

TALENT ACQUISITION - SELECT

TALENT ACQUISITION - PREBOARD

Provide a variety of background checks for various types of positions (depending on what position candidates apply for determine what type of background check is conducted).

Provide automation to streamline the reference checking process by automating the collection and analysis of feedback, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual outreach.

TALENT ACQUISITION - TRANSITION MANAGEMENT/MOBILIZE

HUMAN CAPTIAL MANAGEMENT/APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM (ATS)

Configurable approval workflow stages for processing of job approvals.

Ability to configure/send auto reminders to agency recruiters and hiring managers to fill vacant positions within expiration date (30 days from posting job).

Ability to configure intuitive user-friendly low code activity dashboards for varying user roles (e.g., DOHR recruiter dashboard with number of jobs posted, number of applicants by agency, etc.).

Must be able to automatically route eligible candidates when a job posting closes. The job type determines the routing workflow (executive, non-competitive, preferred service). Agency recruiters should only see candidates when they are routed to them.

SOFTWARE - INTERFACING/INTEROPERABILITY

Please specify all out-of-the-box integrations currently available, including but not limited to, with and between ERP systems, reporting software, electronic signature, email, and other applications.

MIGRATION AND SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

USER TRAINING, MAINTENANCE, AND SUPPORT

Ongoing maintenance and support of the system throughout the contract cycle, including established Service Level Agreements (SLA's) requiring response times, status reporting, and target resolution times. SLA's should consider impact, urgency, and priority.

VENDOR DOCUMENTATION/ASSISTANCE

AUDIT AND SECURITY

Security that meets all the requirements listed at the following location: https://www.tn.gov/finance/strategic-technology-solutions/strategic- technology-solutions/sts-security-policies.html.

Confidential data encrypted at rest and in transit, using the current version of Federal Information Process Standard (“FIPS”) 140-3 or higher, specifically designed to safeguard FTI and PII.

Does not allow state data to be consumed by a vendor large language model and all inputs and outputs will be reviewed by a human to verify accuracy.

Meets all provisions in the Generative Artificial Intelligence ISC Policy: https://www.tn.gov/lawsandpolicies/policies/information-systems- council--isc--policies/information-systems-council--isc--policies-main- redirect/isc-information-resources-policies/isc-policy-3-00--generative-artificial-intelligence--ai-.html

COMPATIBILITY

Provides integration with Microsoft Office applications, supporting 'cut and paste' functionality between Office application and system applications/modules.

REPORTING

Describe reporting solutions you have implemented to integrate and report aggregate data from your systems. Include the tools, software, etc. used to implement the reporting solution and types of State resources that would be needed.

Data management system that is designed to enable and support business intelligence (BI), dashboards, and data analytics without negatively affecting the transaction system (s).

Reporting which integrates with the State's suite of tools that can query and conduct analysis on the data contained in the system, including real- time or near real-time reporting.

GENERAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Administration, which allows users with administration rights to configure system security, roles, data sources, profiles, data elements, workflows, manage user accounts, and perform other necessary configurations.

Automated features must be controlled by system administrators. For example, the State must be able to opt out of using specific automated features.

3. COMMUNICATIONS:

3.1. Please submit your response to this RFI to:

Cherie L. Graves, Contract Manager Tennessee Tower,17th, Floor 312 Rosa L. Parks Ave, Nashville, TN 37243 (615) 253-2275 Cherie.L.Graves@tn.gov

3.2. Please feel free to contact DOHR with any questions regarding this RFI. The main point of contact will be:

Cherie L. Graves, Contract Manager Tennessee Tower,17th, Floor 312 Rosa L. Parks Ave, Nashville, TN 37243 (615) 253-2275 Cherie.L.Graves@tn.gov

3.3. Please reference RFI # 31907-24001 with all communications to this RFI.

4. RFI SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

(Central Time Zone)

DATE

(all dates are State business days)

May 10, 2024

3.

State Response to Written Questions & Comments

May 24, 2024

4.

RFI Response Deadline

2:00 p.m.

May 31, 2024

5.

State Completes Review of Responses and Schedules Demonstrations

June 21, 2024

6.

Demonstrations for Selected Vendors 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

July 11, 2024

5. GENERAL INFORMATION:

5.1. Please note that responding to this RFI is not a prerequisite for responding to any future solicitations related to this project and a response to this RFI will not create any contract rights. Responses to this RFI will become property of the State.

5.2. The information gathered during this RFI is part of an ongoing procurement. In order to prevent an unfair advantage among potential respondents, the RFI responses will not be available until after the completion of evaluation of any responses, proposals, or bids resulting from a Request for Qualifications, Request for Proposals, Invitation to Bid or other procurement method. In the event that the state chooses not to go further in the procurement process and responses are never evaluated, the responses to the procurement including the responses to the RFI, will be considered confidential by the State.

5.3. The RFI Coordinator will invite up to four (4) Respondents, who are apparently responsive and responsible, to provide a demonstration of relevant functionality. Presentations will be held according to the Schedule of Events in Section 5 above at the following location:

TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES

WILLIAM R. SNODGRASS TENNESSEE TOWER, CONFERENCE ROOM TBD 312 ROSA L. PARKS AVENUE

NASHVILLE, TN 37243-1102

5.4. Demonstrations provide an opportunity for Respondents to explain and clarify their responses. Respondent pricing shall not be discussed during demonstration presentations.

5.5. RFI Responses become property of DOHR and shall remain confidential unless a formal solicitation is completed. If a formal solicitation is completed, all RFI response materials will become part of the procurement file and will be available for public inspection.

5.6. The RFI Coordinator will schedule Respondent presentations during the period indicated by the RFI Schedule of Events in Section 5 above. When the Respondent presentation schedule has been determined, the RFI Coordinator will contact Respondents with the relevant information during the period indicated by the RFI Schedule of Events in Section 5 above.

5.7. DOHR intends to invite up to four (4) vendors for demonstration. Demonstrations will be limited to three 1 hour 50 minutes and will follow the agenda outlined below:

Presentation set-up

5 minutes

Introduction:

Respondent background information, including description of projects completed in similar scope and size.

10 minutes

List of Business Needs:

Tailor a demonstration to DOHR business practices showing how the Respondent meets the most significant business needs described in Table 3.1. Ensure this demonstration follows the entire talent acquisition and talent management process.

40 Minutes

Break

10 minutes

Best-in-class Solutions, Product Roadmap, & Product Support:

Demonstrate new and upcoming features that the Respondent’s solution offers, which sets the software application apart from others in the industry. Discuss product support method and strategy.

25 minutes

Questions & Answers:

DOHR and Strategic Technology Solutions (“STS”) will present any questions based on the demonstration.

20 minutes

5.8. The State will not pay for any costs associated with responding to this RFI.

6. INFORMATIONAL FORMS:

The State is requesting the following information from all interested parties. Please fill out the following forms:

RFI #31907-24001

TECHNICAL INFORMATIONAL FORM

1. RESPONDENT LEGAL ENTITY NAME:

2. RESPONDENT CONTACT PERSON:

Name, Title: Address: Phone Number: Email:

3. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EXPERIENCE PROVIDING SIMILAR SCOPE OF SERVICES/PRODUCTS

4. Vendor background experience and implementation of similar projects:

Describe three (3) projects in which your company has implemented, maintained, and hosted a talent acquisition and talent management suite solution:

For each project, please describe:

a) Client Name and Industry.

b) Name of the project.

c) Brief description of the project.

d) Size of the project in terms of: # of external users, # jobs posted annually, candidate to job ratio, # agency recruiters, etc.

e) Technology platform and architecture.

f) Interfaces/interoperability with other applications or organizations.

g) Length of the project and implementation date.

h) The services and activities that your company performed for the project and the activities that the customer performed.

i) Is the system still in use today? If yes, who is providing maintenance, support, and hosting services?

j) Can DOHR contact this entity for reference? If yes, please provide the contact information.

k) What standards or best practices are met by the implemented solution(s)?

5. Business needs assessment:

a) Provide a detailed analysis of the critical business needs identified by this RFI.

b) Clearly outline how the proposed solution addresses each identified business need in Table

3.1 above.

6. Solution impact on business operations

a) Describe how the proposed solution will impact various aspects of business operations, including application abandonment and completion rates, time to fill, candidate sourcing, and customer satisfaction.

b) Provide specific examples or case studies demonstrating how this your solution has positively impacted businesses in similar contexts.

7. Alignment with strategic objectives:

a) Explain how the proposed solution aligns with DOHR’s strategic objectives to improve the enterprise recruiting process and enhance the enterprise talent acquisition and retention strategies.

b) Highlight any synergies between the solution and DOHR’s strategic objectives.

8. Scalability and flexibility:

a) Assess the scalability and flexibility of the proposed solution to adapt to changing business needs and growth opportunities.

b) Discuss any customization or configuration options available to tailor the solution to specific business requirements.

9. Risk mitigation:

a) Identify potential risks or challenges associated with implementing the proposed solution.

b) Present strategies or measures to mitigate these risks and ensure successful deployment and adoption.

10. Infrastructure and Technology:

a) Describe the recommended cloud computing service for your technology.

b) Does the cloud computing service meet the International Standards Organization (ISO) 27001 or Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)? If yes, please detail requirements.

c) Does the vendor engage in an annual System and Organization Controls (SOC) Type II audit?

d) Describe how your system(s) meets security requirements listed at the following location: https://www.tn.gov/finance/strategic-technology-solutions/strategic-technology- solutions/sts-security-policies.html

e) Describe the process for Penetration Tests and Vulnerability Assessments against its Processing Environment.

f) Describe the audit process within the product, including disaster recovery testing.

g) Describe how Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is secured.

h) Is the data encrypted at rest and in transit?

i) What is the encryption level?

11. Provide promotional and other materials, which include details on the software, including, but not limited to, key features, screenshots, workflows, and information flow diagrams.

12. Describe your project management methodology, including resources necessary for an implementation of this scope and size. Will you use business partners and/or subcontractors during implementation? Provide an example of an implementation plan. Describe how milestones will be established and typical timeframes for each.

13. Data conversion and file migration: Describe your company’s approach to data conversion and file migration. Explain how your company will address the following:

a) Scope definition – explain how your company will identify the scope of data conversion and file migration, including the types pf data (structured, and unstructured).

b) Data and file inventory, including their types, sizes, and locations.

c) Data mapping

d) Data cleansing

e) Conversion Tools and Techniques

f) Data Security and Privacy – adhere to all regulatory requirements including encryption in transit and at rest.

j) Data Validation and Testing

k) Error Handling and Rollback Procedures

l) Documentation and Training of the data and file migration process for future reference.

m) Timeline and Milestones – establish clear timeline for each phase of data and file migration process

n) Post-Migration Support

o) Compliance and Governance

p) Feedback and Continuous Improvement:

14. Describe your User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and training approach, including resources necessary for an implementation of this scope and size. What are the recommended State resources needed to assist in UAT and training?

15. How do you make sure business operations are not impacted during roll-out of the solution?

16. Describe your methods and strategy in providing maintenance and support of the solution.

17. Describe your release management process for updates, current releases, maintenance, and customizations required for compliance with federal and state law. What are your communication methods for maintenance, support, and system updates? Will you use business partners for maintenance and support?

18. Describe your approach to the sustainability and ongoing maintenance of your solution.

19. Describe how you approach organizational change management for a solution of this type.

20. Describe any resources, capabilities, or features not included in Table 3.1 that differentiate you from others who provide a similar service.

21. Do you have a partnership with a public sector cooperative purchasing organization (e.g., NASPO, GSA, etc.)?

COST INFORMATIONAL FORM

1. Describe what pricing units you typically utilize for similar services or goods (e.g., per hour, each, etc.:

2. Describe the typical price range for similar services or goods

3. Describe the typical price range for implementation.

4. Describe the typical price range for annual maintenance and support.

5. Describe the typical price range for SaaS cloud hosting.

6. Describe the typical price range for hourly/daily services outside the scope of implementation, maintenance, and support,

i) Describe which services are billed hourly/daily (e.g., project change requests, customizations, configuration management)

ii) Describe the typical range for hourly/daily rates by resource (e.g., database administrator, business analyst, project manager.

7. Outline your tiered pricing for services and support, including specific information provided in each tier.

8. Describe any alternate payment methodology for the solution.

1. Please provide input on alternative approaches or additional things to consider that might benefit the State:

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

GLOSSARY

AI

Artificial Intelligence of machines or software which use robust datasets to enable problem- solving

BI

Business intelligence

ETL

The import of data or Extract, Transform, Load

FedRAMP

Security standards by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program

FIPS

Federal Information Processing Standard, validated encryption technologies for data at rest and in transit

ISO

Security standards by the International Standards Organization (ISO) 27001

PII

Personal Identifying Information data used to confirm a specific person’s identify

RFI

Request for Information

RFP

Request for Proposals

SaaS

Software as a service, a web-based centrally hosted software

SLA

Service Level Agreement

SFTP

Secure File Transfer Protocol

SOC

System and Organization Controls for service organizations Type II audit

State

State of Tennessee, including all agencies involved with this RFI and RFP

STS

Strategic Technology Solutions, a division of F&A image1.png