BPM002442 Talx Initial Proposal.pdf

This proposal includes data that shall not be disclosed outside State of Arizona , Department of Economic Security and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed—in whole or in part—for any purpose other than to evaluate this proposal in response to RFP # BPM002442, Income and Employment Verification Services. If, however, a contract is awarded to this offeror as a result of—or in connection with—the submission of this data, the Government shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose the data to the extent provided in the resulting contract. This restriction does not limit the Government's right to use information contained in this data if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to this restriction are contained on all pages.

This proposal contains trade secret and confidential business or financial information exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Copyright 2019. Equifax Workforce Solutions. All rights reserved.

Income and Employment Verification Services (Solicitation # BPM002442)

Response for Request for Proposal (RFP):

State of Arizona

Department of Economic Security

September 29, 2020

RFP# BPM002442

RFP Response for State of Arizona, Department of Economic Security

September 29, 2020 | Proprietary

Proprietary Notice and Disclaimer

The information provided in Equifax’s Response to the Request for Proposal and all accompanying materials are confidential and proprietary information of Equifax Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, “Equifax”) and are intended to be viewed only by employees with a need to know in order to evaluate the information provided to the State of Arizona, Department of Economic Security. Unauthorized use or disclosure is prohibited. No information contained herein may be reproduced or communicated to any third party without the express written consent of Equifax. Nor shall any of the information, ideas, concepts, or other intellectual property provided herein be used, modified, or shared in any way, regardless of any statements to the contrary contained in the Request for Information. Equifax will not be liable for any claims, third party or otherwise, related to the information provided herein.

While provided in good faith, this proposal is intended to be a framework for discussion and is nonbinding. The terms of any final agreement must be reviewed and approved by Equifax’s legal department prior to execution. Neither the proposal recipient nor Equifax shall be legally bound unless and until the parties execute a definitive written agreement.

Equifax reserves the right to adjust its initial proposal after completion of its due diligence and credit review. All information contained in our response will remain effective for 120 days from September 29, 2020.

RFP Response for State of Arizona, Department of Economic Security

September 29, 2020 Part IA - Technical Proposal | Proprietary i

September 29, 2020

Kelli Engelhart, Sr. Procurement Specialist KEngelhart@azdes.gov

Subject: Response to RFP BPM002442– Income and Employment Verification

Dear Ms. Engelhart:

Families facing an urgent need often turn to their communities for help. For many, this comes in the form of access to food, health care, employment, and other social services programs. Due to COVID-19, today, more than ever before, it is critical that human services agencies are well positioned to provide an effective safety net, reduce poverty, connect individuals to work, strengthen families, and increase opportunities for low-income residents and their children. However, human services agencies across the country are grappling not only with a new wave of customers seeking help—many for the first time—but with the subsequent economic downturn that is already projected to reduce Arizona’s budget by 8%. In order get an accurate picture of applicants’ and program participants’ economic and life situations, the use of our current, authoritative data is the most important element of the equation. With the use of our data, we ensure the right people get the right benefits to at the right time.

Similar to ADES’s mission to help Arizonans reach their potential, Equifax’s purpose is to help people live their financial best. We strive to create economically healthy individuals and communities everywhere we do business. We do that in Arizona by partnering with the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES) and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) to provide real time, authoritative employment and income verifications, helping ensure that Arizonans have access to benefits as soon as possible.

On behalf of TALX Corporation, a provider of Equifax Verification Services, (“Equifax”), I would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide ADES and AHCCCS a response for the Request for Proposal BPM002442. Our response provides a comprehensive view of our capabilities to meet ADES’s needs for income and employment verification services along with our ability to provide fraud services, asset verification, incarceration data match services, and training services. As you will see in our response, Equifax is the only vendor capable of complying with the requirements listed for income and employment services and to be the single point for all Additional Services.

Since Equifax is the only vendor capable of providing these services, we are currently contracted for similar, large-scale solutions for CMS, the Social Security Administration, and more than 35 states, and the District of Columbia. We have the data, expertise, solution, and the overall understanding of The State’s mission to help us meet and exceed the goals and objectives as stated in the RFP. As the industry leader in income and employment verifications, we have over 108 million active pay-period-current employment records and a unique ability to help ADES’s Child Support Services program locate non-custodial parents, establish orders, and monitor orders for material changes. This experience and expertise enables us to deliver world-class capabilities to support ADES’s and AHCCCS’s SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, and Child Care programs in ensuring cost savings and operational efficiencies. These capabilities will reduce your total cost by eliminating increased manual processes, shortening the application cycle, and reducing improper payments.

Additionally, by choosing Equifax, ADES and AHCCCS will benefit from:

▪ Leveraging the industry’s best practice to promote the accurate and efficient processing of benefits applications and child support orders.

▪ Existing, proven technology platform to deliver the highest value and lowest total cost of operations by providing the most authoritative data available in the industry on Day One without requiring development or changes to existing systems and system interfaces or disrupting the

RFP Response for State of Arizona, Department of Economic Security

September 29, 2020 | Proprietary state’s workflow during this unprecedented time.

▪ Adopting Equifax’s flexible technology platform, Instant Client Insights (ICI), that will deliver a single integrated hub to support income and employment verifications, multiple benefits inquiries, home address verifications, incarceration verifications, deceased participant indicators, and asset verifications.

▪ Authoritative current data sources reducing total costs by eliminating false positives that result in improper payments and decreasing or eliminating costly manual processes that impact the state’s ability to deliver the right service to its citizens. The value added by accurate and timely data in turn helps our state customers with a bigger return on investment.

▪ An experienced solutions provider with a proven track record of delivering income and employment solutions that accelerate the benefits verification through integrated, web portal, and batch capabilities. Our technology is utilized by the largest single solution, the CMS HUB, and supports more than 35 states and 100s of state agencies and is the only commercial income data source that is endorsed by USDA as Verified Upon Receipt.

▪ Our expandable ICI platform which is capable of integrating state, federal, and additional commercial data sources, as The State’s needs evolve, to deliver the most comprehensive and accurate solution available in the industry without hidden costs incurred by the State to be compliant with state and federal guidelines, such as FCRA, for verification of income, employment, assets, and identity.

Having worked with ADES and AHCCCS for over a decade, the Equifax Team is confident we are submitting the only response capable of providing the enhanced data and delivery channels for all viable categories outlined in the RFP and that the outcome of our solution will result in millions of dollars in savings for the state. Our team is distinctly positioned to leverage Equifax’s superior and unique data sources coupled with our existing partnerships to provide asset and incarceration verification solutions to meet the requirements of all categories of the RFP under a single contract.

We acknowledge Amendment One and have included the signed amendments in the Attachments section.

During your evaluation process, I will be your point of contact for questions and clarification. Please contact me via email at Thomas.Jayne@Equifax.com or via phone at (314) 941-4283. Equifax looks forward to building a very successful, long-term partnership with ADES.

We are confident that Equifax will exceed all of the business needs and requirements posed by ADES and I look forward to the opportunity to work with you on this program.

Sincerely, Thomas Jayne Thomas Jayne Director of Sales - Public Sector| Equifax Workforce Solutions

RFP Response for State of Arizona, Department of Economic Security

September 29, 2020 | Proprietary

Table of Contents

Proprietary Notice and Disclaimer ................................................................................................................ ii

Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... iii

Offer’s Checklist

Attachment 1 - Offer and Acceptance

Executive Summary

Questionnaire

References (Attachment 3)

ATTACHMENTS

Amendments

Attachment 4 - Certification Regarding Lobbying

Attachment 5 - Certification Regarding: Debarment, Suspension, Ineligibility and Voluntary Exclusion (Lower Tier Covered Transactions)

Attachment 6 - Designation of Confidential, Trade Secret & Proprietary Information

Attachment 7 - Certification of Insurability

Attachment 8 - Deviations and Exceptions Form

Attachment 9 - Participation in Boycott of Israel

Attachment 10 - Price Sheet

Attachment 11 - Data Sharing Agreement

Attachment 12 - Business Associate Agreement

Contact Us

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Offer’s Checklist

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Attachment 1 - Offer and Acceptance

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Executive Summary As the incumbent contractor successfully delivering our proven integrated eligibility solution for child support and benefits programs to the State, Equifax’s proposal provides the highest value solution at the lowest total cost. We believe our proposal is the only one that is fully compliant with all requirements and that no other vendor can claim they are able to provide an individual’s payroll data accurately, in real-time, and direct from an employer. In our proposal, we provide an overview of our solution that is in production today within AZTECS and HEAplus supporting access to more income and employment customers than all of our competitors combined. Our current solution supports ADES’s and AHCCCS’s programs to assist in determining eligibility for receipt of aid or assistance, prevention and identification of fraud, overpayments associated with the receipt of aid or assistance, and collecting child support obligations. Our solution and our professional services provide ADES and AHCCCS with the ability, on Day One, to move forward with no risk and no interruption to the new contract. We describe our next generation Instant Client Insights (ICI) platform that today supports the delivery of services including:

3.2.1.1 Fraud Services

3.2.1.1.1 Multiple Benefits Inquiries

3.2.1.1.2 Home Address Verification

3.2.1.1.3 Incarceration

3.2.1.1.4 Deceased participants

3.2.1.2 Asset Verification

3.2.1.3 Incarceration Data Match

Finally, perhaps most important in today’s climate, we offer The State the ability to continue prioritizing its focus on serving its citizens and addressing the challenges brought upon by COVID-19 – challenges we know will continue into 2021 and beyond – without interruptions that would otherwise be brought about to implement alternative solutions.

Understanding the challenges and needs of benefits & child support systems, the Equifax Team has the technology and partnerships required to deliver the Actual Service Description and Additional Services that comprise a complete value-driven solution. The Equifax Government Solutions Team also includes experts in both Benefits and Child Support programs to help us identify areas where changes in process can yield near and long-term benefits. Without question, we have the best team to meet the challenges you face today while positioning the agency and state to address the challenges that are coming. Knowing that managing an agency is a balance, our team will deliver to you a proven solution at the lowest total cost of any vendor. Our proposed solution includes the best the industry has to offer in four key areas: Data, Technology, Analytics, and Expertise to deliver the most cost-effective and compliant solution.

Data: As a solutions provider, and not just an integrator, Equifax’s goal is to deliver the best data available to optimize our client’s processes and ensure the highest degree of accuracy. Equifax has proven the value of our data at ADES and AHCCCS over the past two decades. The current production solution provided by Equifax delivers Employment and Income data from the only database in the industry that meets The State’s requirements as outlined in the RFP. Equifax is already fully compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which promotes accuracy, fairness, and privacy of consumer information.

September 29, 2020 | Proprietary 4

Equifax is the only vendor that maintains a database with a demonstrated market share capable of providing real-time access to employment and earnings payroll information (RFP requirement 5.4.5 - Provide an individual’s most recent payroll Data that has been updated within ten (10) business days of the individual’s last pay day). Not only are we the only company able to deliver on this requirement but we are able to do so for over 50% of the non-farm U.S. Workforce. The Work Number (TWN), with over 1 million Small (0-10), Medium (11 – 499) and Large (500+) employers that update our database every pay period, is the only single source currently able to deliver a report that includes: employee rate of pay, weekly hours, vacation and sick pay, historical wages, date information was updated, and pay period detail. Equifax has not authorized any vendor to include this data in their solution and the use of the Federal Data Services HUB prohibits the storage of the data by any 3rd party and use for any programs other than Medicaid/CHIP and APTC. Thus, any vendor solution that requires the use of the Federal Data Services HUB would violate the State’s Data Matching Agreement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Analytics: Equifax delivers more than raw data – we deliver analytics-driven client insights.

Equifax’s solutions transform authoritative, current, and accurate income and employment data to provide insights for determining eligibility for receipt of aid or assistance, prevention or identification of fraud, overpayments associated with the receipt of aid or assistance, or collecting child support obligations. In contrast, our competitors do not leverage authoritative or current data sources, and, instead, use estimated models based on unrelated data sources (e.g. credit payment history) to produce their outputs. Equifax has these same models for use cases where accuracy of income is not paramount. These models are derived for marketing use cases – where a decision is not being made a company wants to advertise to a demographic based on a consumer’s propensity to pay for a prospective loan. We don’t use these models for human services – or any level of decisioning – because they are statistically invalid and negatively impact the agency and those for whom they administer benefits. Our analytics are based on sound and authoritative, current data and not from modeled or estimated data sources. Current and accurate data are the drivers behind all of our analytics.

Expertise: Equifax has proven experience delivering systems and services to the State of Arizona. What makes our solution unique is our understanding of not only your needs but the value that current and authoritative data can deliver to help streamline processes and reduce work related to pended cases caused by solutions that lack real-time, authoritative data. Our team includes our systems delivery experts as well as our program and project management teams and the support of an IT organization with over 3,000 employees. Our IT organization alone is larger than many of the integrators in the market. Integrators often approach projects – not from the perspective of what is best for The State – but based on how many points of integration they can include to implement solutions that are actually just repurposing of state data. Because Equifax’s solution is already implemented, our implementation strategy focuses on conducting a gap analysis to identify any required documentation or system artifacts that may

September 29, 2020 | Proprietary 5 need to be created or updated in accordance with the requirements of the RFP and state policy.

Our implementation approach reduces risk, eliminates unnecessary costs, and ensures smooth continuity of operations.

Our solution

As the incumbent, Equifax is able to deliver The Work Number to fulfill the Actual Service Description, without development, on Day One. As The State’s needs evolve, Equifax will partner with ADES and AHCCCS to implement our ICI solution which will deliver The Work Number and all Additional Services through a single integrated Hub. At a time when state and federal budgets are stretched, the ability to leverage a proven commercial platform that is integrated with The State’s systems today, delivers all required technical requirements, and is providing services based on the most authoritative and current payroll data is even more important. ICI, and our underlying data, is based on a commercially available platform rather than an integration project that would require multiple third-party state and federal agencies to commit to integrating. The Equifax ICI-based solution includes, among other key features, an enterprise-class data services hub and rules engine for integration of Equifax, partner, client, state, and federal data services, and connections to future planned capabilities that will deliver continuous monitoring for life changes - monitoring services that will further enhance our offering and will allow us to help deliver to The State’s ever-increasing methods to detect and eliminate fraud.

As new capabilities focused on enhancing the user’s experience and detecting fraud are released, Equifax will work with the state and its stakeholders to implement these capabilities in a manner that provides increased value to ADES and AHCCCS.

These may include Multiple Benefits Inquiries, Home Address Verification, Incarceration, Deceased Participants, Asset Verification, and Incarceration Data Match. Equifax already includes all training services as part of our offering and would include training for any additional data sources and services that are added. Our offering is configured to support the unique differences between benefits programs and Child Support Enforcement so that each program can leverage these data and services to optimize their needs. This means that the Division of Child Support Services can leverage one set of rules to locate non-custodial parents and provide needed data in support of establishing and enforcing orders while Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and Child Care programs can each have their own set of distinctive business rules to support their unique needs. ICI is also configured to allow customization for other programs under DES, such as Unemployment Insurance, to satisfy their challenging requirements.

Moving Forward Together

Equifax is committed to continuing to deliver the only solution that is fully compliant with the RFP and the lowest total cost of ownership on the market, with analytics-driven insights derived from current, authoritative data. We have the only commercially available income verification solution that allows AHCCCS to support real-time eligibility and that is approved by FNS as being Verified Upon Receipt since we serve directly as an agent of the employer. We are committed to working with The State to identify ways we can continue to improve processes and support the important missions of your programs.

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ADES will certainly receive proposals from vendor that appear to have a lower price. It’s important for ADES and AHCCCS to know that no other vendor is capable of delivering the current, authoritative data and insights that Equifax is offering. The end result of choosing another vendor will be a higher total cost since the offering will not meet the needs of The State or your constituents. One vendor in particular will promote the work they have done in another large state which chose to move away from Equifax. ADES and AHCCCS should know that this vendor’s solution has resulted in significantly decreased SNAP timeliness rates. Since we are partnered with the nation’s largest employers, we also know that this state agency is manually requesting verifications from employers en masse, undoubtedly resulting in increased cases pended and longer times to decision – raising the total overall cost of this project significantly.

We look forward to the opportunity to partner with The State to continue to provide actionable insights through real time, authoritative data. This data allows your teams to fulfill your missions and for your constituents to receive the services they need when they need them. As we have discussed, and will highlight throughout our response, current and authoritative data is the most important element of the equation. Without the right data, your teams cannot make the timeliest and best decision for your applicants and your taxpayers.

September 29, 2020 | Proprietary 7

Questionnaire

1. Describe your organization’s experience in providing an API and web portal solution that is comparable in magnitude, nature, complexity, and scope. (SOW 5.1- 5.2)

Equifax Response:

As the incumbent, Equifax is uniquely qualified to provide ADES and AHCCCS with a low risk, proven solution that is currently in production meeting the State’s needs, is in full compliance with the State’s requirements, and has the lowest total cost.

The

Equifax solution is based upon our proven delivery platforms which are currently integrated into AZTECS and HEAplus systems. Equifax is able to continue to deliver The Work Number payroll data on Day One without requiring any development or changes to existing state systems and system interfaces.

Equifax has extensive experience in offering identity & verification solutions tailored to State & Local Government supported by real-time API, web, and batch services. We will adhere to Contractor Requirement 5.1 by providing API & Web services which provides real-time accurate verification of Income and Employment Data to assist in determining eligibility for receipt of aid or assistance, prevention or identification of fraud, overpayments associated with the receipt of aid or assistance, or collecting child support obligations that are in effect and valid. The solution that Equifax currently delivers to Arizona, and will continue to support, uses The Work Number (TWN) database which is the largest single real-time record of employer paychecks (see Question 3).

ote that the key included in this figure are bold red for the components that are included for this specific proposal.

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Configured to support the ADES’ and AHCCCS’ requirements, the ICI will deliver eligibility data verifications across multiple state-administered benefits programs, in real time and batch. Currently in use at state and federal agencies the platform will support various programs and help streamline the application and verification process.

3.2.1.1 Fraud Services

3.2.1.1.1 Multiple Benefits Inquiries

3.2.1.1.2 Home Address Verification

3.2.1.1.3 Incarceration

3.2.1.1.4 Deceased participants

3.2.1.2 Asset Verification

3.2.1.3 Incarceration Data Match

September 29, 2020 | Proprietary 9

With our many Government clients, Equifax has experience in providing these API & web solutions which, while often times are part of complex State systems that include a diverse set of eligibility requirements, are easiest for our clients to deploy due to our multiple delivery options, well documented technical guides, and access to an Equifax support team. Our solutions are used across the nation for eligibility determination, recertification, and quality assurance processes and we are the only provider of Income & Employment data that is actual and authoritative – taken directly from the employer’s payroll – representing both a current paystub as well as a historical record. For specific examples of our experience, see Questionnaire #2 for references and stories about our clients’ successes in using Equifax’s technology and data.

Support of Current Platform & Future Direction

For Arizona, we will continue to support the current API services that are provided to State agencies today. By continuing to support the existing TWN system Arizona uses today, while also allowing access to ICI when additional services are needed, Equifax provides Arizona the ultimate flexibility, future proofing the state’s investments. Equifax services are established through practices leveraging our industry-standard API access with the ability to support high-traffic web & citizen applications.

To reiterate, ADES and AHCCCS already use Equifax’s The Work Number (TWN) to verify employment and income for more than 1.4 million Arizona residents during the 2020 Fiscal Year. We recognize and will continue to support the existing integration and web portal access of The Work Number. All of Arizona’s current services will continue to be supported with no interruption of service. We will offer the upgrade to our ICI services only when additional services are requested.

About Our Ability to Scale Out Based on Usage (Adherence to Requirement 5.2)

What is The Work Number (TWN)?

TWN is Equifax’s direct-from-employer database of Income & Employment Data which has grown from 22,000 Employers in 2018 to over 1M today, representing the largest single database employment in Arizona and the nation. TWN includes all fields represented by an actual paycheck including income, personal, and withholding and benefit details. TWN also serves as a historic record of pay with over 403M historical records. TWN is the only authoritative source of data reflecting

September 29, 2020 | Proprietary 10

Unique Data & Our Data Services Hub

The current AZ API and ICI both deliver Equifax’s verification services, including The Work Number which has grown in the past 12 months from roughly 500,000 employers to now including over 1 million employers ranging from small 10-person companies to larger fortune 500 companies. This tremendous growth is attributed to Equifax’s core mission to grow database coverage of employers and this was accomplished by adding some of the nation’s largest payroll providers who provide services directly to small & medium businesses. Not only does the growth of our data mean that we can deliver more real-time results to our clients, but that we at Equifax reengineered our systems to ensure that greater demands placed on verification could meet a higher level of satisfaction with our clients.

Our solutions have been implemented in many states to streamline, centralize, and automate application and verification processes across the various programs and enables faster and more efficient customer service ultimately reducing caseload backlogs.

About the Industry & Equifax Government Services

Other competitors may claim they have access to Income, Employment, and general real-time systems but the combination of our experience, unique data and our Government specific ICI platform offer the best solution for eligibility at the lowest total cost of ownership. As mentioned, Equifax has unique direct relationships with employers who furnish paycheck information each time an individual is paid no matter the job, industry, or arrangement of pay (salary vs. commission, frequency of pay, etc). With this real-time data we are able to provide real-time services to ensure that the Government is able to see each field of pay, withholdings, job details, hours worked and any other information instantly. While others may provide real-time systems, the data is often times aggregated, taken from stale government data exchanges, or even estimated. Due to these differences, not all real-time systems are created equal because these systems lack the complete real-time data Equifax provides. When data isn’t authoritative, or it is too old, it does a disservice to the receiving agency that still needs to meet handbook policy by conducting a timely manual verification. Without quality data, other systems are not able to match the stringent handbook requirements needed for eligibility determinations across ADES and AHCCCS.

Recently, we have seen the use of modeled data, which while providing valuable services outside of Government use-cases such as in marketing, are not authoritative. For example, modeled income cannot be used in decisioning processes because it is not FCRA compliant and is often based on the credit file – which is not representative of ADES’s and AHCCCS’s populations – and results in many applicants not being found. Ultimately, modeled income is only an estimate of income range which is created with anonymized data and focused on demographics with higher earnings. A model doesn’t reflect a person’s earnings or specific financial health but rather is a statistical probability estimating an income, liquid balance, etc. Using a model can be useful in different studies determining poverty and the impact of policy but it is not suitable when actual eligibility determinations need to be made.

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2. Provide a description of any projects in which your organization has successfully integrated its solution with other States or government agency systems without requiring any modifications by the State or agency. Include in your response, a discussion of the challenges and success of this integration and name the State or agency among the references required in Attachment 3 of this RFP.

(SOW 5.3 and Attachment 3)

Equifax Response:

As the incumbent provider of employment and income eligibility verifications delivered from The Work Number, Equifax is the only vendor capable of providing a compliant solution on Day One that does not require modifications to ADES’s or AHCCC’s current systems. Our solution has been proposed with the understanding that modifications are not required to Arizona’s systems and it meets all requirements stated in Section 5.3 of the SOW.

Equifax has a successful track record of working with Government and Social Service agencies to deliver our solutions on budget, on time, and without requiring modifications. Our web-portal and API-based income eligibility verification solutions are currently deployed to support thousands of federal, state, and local government entities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

These states benefit from the integration of our income and employment services not only to support eligibility but to reduce error rates and preserve program integrity and quality control through the detection and elimination of fraud. Use of The Work Number as part of our clients’ initiatives is helping reduce improper payments, improve caseworker efficiency, and expedite the proper provision of benefits to those in need.

As a solutions provider, Equifax focuses on delivering solutions that minimize impact on our clients through delivery of best in class data and data driven insights. Our solutions are proven and have been deployed to support income and employment eligibility verification across all benefits programs and child support enforcement agencies. Figure 2 below provides a snapshot of our state clients and the core services our solutions provide. No other vendor can claim production experience with more than two (2) customers without including experience not related to income and employment, the core requirements of this RFP. In fact, many of our competitors will make claims that they have more customer experience than any other vendor but will fail to identify that their experience is not in the delivery of employment and income data but rather other verification services such as financial assets. Further, our competitors cannot claim experience in delivering solutions that include payroll level data without claiming work that Equifax has supported. As a result, we do not believe any other vendor is compliant with the requirement to provide three (3) references where they can show integrated experience meeting the requirements pursuant to the Scope of Work – requirements such as those presented under section 5.4.2 of the RFP that call for solutions capable of delivering:

▪ 5.4.2.1 Employee rate of pay;

▪ 5.4.2.2 Employee weekly hour of employment;

▪ 5.4.2.3 Employee vacation and sick pay;

▪ 5.4.2.4 Employee gross earnings;

▪ 5.4.2.5 Third party employee medical insurance providers (if available);

▪ 5.4.2.6 Current and historical wage information;

▪ 5.4.2.7 Date information was updated;

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▪ 5.4.2.8 Data Match shall include up to five (5) years, including base salary, overtime, commissions, and bonus payments.

▪ 5.4.2.9 Pay period detail for most recent period, including gross income, net income and withholdings.

It is common practice for our competitors to claim the use of the CMS Federal Data Services HUB as a source for the above attributes. Use of the Federal Data Services HUB is limited to Medicaid, CHIP, and APTC programs and storage of the data by any vendor to utilize it in support of any other program (e.g.

SNAP, TANF, WIC) or for Child Support Enforcement is in violation of the CMS and State Computer Data Matching Agreement. Violations by a vendor could result in an audit of a State’s use of CMS provided data. Specifically, the Data Match Agreement states:

▪ Computer Matching Agreement between the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and State Based Administering Entities (AEs) for Determining Eligibility for Enrollment in Applicable State Health Subsidy Programs under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

▪ AE will not use or re-disclose matching data received from the Hub to any entity or individual for any purpose other than making Eligibility Determinations (defined in the agreement).

▪ The AE and CMS will retain the electronic files received from the other Party only for the period of time required for any processing related to the matching program and will then destroy all such data by electronic purging, unless the AE or CMS are required to retain the information for enrollment, billing, payment, program audit purposes, or legal evidentiary purposes or where they are required by law to retain the information.

Figure 2: Equifax’s extensive state experience

State TANF SNAP Medicaid CSE State TANF SNAP Medicaid CSE

Alabama Minnesota

Arizona Montana

California Nebraska

Colorado New Jersey

Connecticut New Mexico Delaware New York

District of Columbia

North Carolina

Florida Ohio

Georgia Oregon

Hawaii Pennsylvania

Idaho South Dakota

Illinois Tennessee

Indiana Utah Kansas Virginia

Kentucky Washington

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State TANF SNAP Medicaid CSE State TANF SNAP Medicaid CSE

Louisiana Wisconsin

Maryland West Virginia Massachusetts Wyoming

Michigan

TOTAL 34 34 27 18

In addition to supporting our direct customers Equifax supports 31 State Medicaid programs through the CMS Federal Data Services HUB (HUB), including those that pull data from both the HUB and Equifax direct, such as AHCCCS, to obtain the most complete coverage of current income.

Provided below are summaries of projects that meet the requirements pursuant to the Scope of Work delivered on-time and within the budget. In addition, these projects are similar in scope to The State of Arizona project request of income and employment eligibility verification solutions, including API and Web-Based Portal Access. The requisite Attachment 3 forms have been submitted to the states to complete.

- Employment and Income Verification Services

July 1998 – Present

The Division of Benefit Programs administers many of the State’s low-income, public assistance programs including SNAP and TANF.

Similar to ADES’ and AHCCCS’ requirements, each of these programs has unique income guidelines that must be constantly validated and verified throughout the year to ensure they comply with Federal and State rules. Equifax’s off-the-shelf income verification tool, The Work Number, has consistently validated wages with employer-direct data in a timely manner, which assists the State in reducing improper payments, improves customer service metrics, and reduces administrative burden on caseworkers across the State.

Equifax has consistently met the s expectations and goals and provided best-in-class service over the course of the last ten years. Equifax has achieved this by working closely with the State to understand its business requirements, and by becoming fully immersed in the daily processes and activities of the State.

currently connects to Equifax through a real-time system to system XML integration and uses The Work Number daily to verify and validate income for eligibility and annual program redeterminations across many programs including Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF through their eligibility system.

Caseworkers across the State query our system for both initial eligibility and annual redeterminations and the responses from The Work Number are synchronous and real-time, usually within 1 second.

Each month, Equifax works with the State on customized reporting and invoicing so that the State can track their ROI and maximize the system’s effectiveness. Equifax and the have had a long-standing relationship since 1998. Use of The Work Number by integrating directly with The Work Number database has created efficiencies and reduced time spent by caseworkers who would otherwise have to depend on a time-consuming, manual process. Additionally, numerous state SNAP and Medicaid programs have now adopted an integration model with The Work Number as their de facto source of current employment and income, because of its ROI. was one of the first states to use our real-time web-based verification system, and in 2016 they renewed their contract to ensure continued service for many years to come.

Equifax has Similar Experience currently connects to Equifax through a real-time system to system XML integration and uses The Work Number daily to verify and validate income for eligibility and annual program redeterminations across many programs including Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF through their SPIDER eligibility system.

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In 2019, Equifax’s Account Executive responsible for supporting DBP and Equifax’s Government Data & Analytics Leader met with the DBP team to review the account. During that meeting, Equifax’s D&A leader reviewed data anomalies that she was seeing and dove deeper into their system’s business rules. In collaboration with DBP’s technical team, Equifax was able to identify filters that were inadvertently being applied by the system. Equifax and DBP’s technical teams worked together to remove those filters and allow , and the DBP caseworkers, to receive all of the relevant and important verifications to support eligibility determinations.

– Human Services Department

February 2016 – Present

In 2016, Equifax partnered with the Human Services Department’s Income Support Division (ISD) to integrate The Work Number into their system. Equifax successfully delivered on time and within budget. The system supports SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, and LIHEAP programs and interacts directly with The Work Number’s OFX platform to deliver real time employment and income verifications for applicants and benefits recipients.

Through database growth, and increased automation, ISD has been able to grow the number of verifications received annually from 115,000 in 2016 to over 360,000 today. As ISD’s needs have evolved, Equifax has partnered with the State to meet those challenges head on. In 2019, as

Medicaid program implemented Real Time Eligibility (RTE), Equifax worked with ISD and to develop, test, and implement The Work Number into their new processes. Our Services team worked closely with the customer and their integrator to provide support and successfully completed this integration project in a few short months.

As you can see, Equifax’s Project Management team works closely with our customers and our internal teams to ensure that projects are delivered on time and under budget. Our team has highly skilled technicians that work closely with our clients at all phases of the contract to help integrate, enhance, and support our solution. We leverage an Agile methodology to allow us to deliver value quickly. Our technical and project management teams will work with ADES, AHCCCS, and your contractors to coordinate all changes and minimize disruption.

Following implementation, we establish an ongoing cadence to help us jointly evaluate performance of our solutions, make modifications to configurations, and optimize use of our data. Our team provides 24x7 technical assistance and monitor real-time system performance. For any system incident we deliver Root Cause Analysis (RCAs).

To further support the State’s needs, our overall technical support team and our dedicated customer support team will provide unparalleled support to the State for the following:

▪ Outages, maintenance periods or system degradation issues. Equifax leverage an established communication protocol to alert the State.

▪ For all issues identified, Equifax will provide State support staff with tracking capability.

▪ For API password updates, Equifax will alert the State in a timely manner to ensure continuity of service.

▪ In the event that there are API updates, Equifax will coordinate with the State’s technical support staff to ensure that the State has ample time to incorporate the required updates in to a future release that minimizes any disruption in services or impacts any of the State’s future releases.

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▪ Equifax will work with the State to provide a technology roadmap that provides the AZTECS and HEAplus staff with a complete understanding of future planned updates or maintenance periods. Equifax will provide the State with advanced notice (at least 24 hours) prior to any scheduled maintenance.

Additional Large-Scale Project

Equifax is also the only provider capable of supporting large scale solutions delivering millions of transactions per month. Two examples of these solutions, have been included below and are illustrate our extensive experience and technical capabilities delivering integrated real-time payroll income solutions, sourced directly from employers, to the government agencies. In both project our integration teams worked with the client to facilitate the implementation of our real-time income service.

April 2013 – Present

The project demonstrates Equifax’s ability to develop code, a custom service interface, and delivery of data in a timely and reliable manner.

Execution on these fronts was critical to the success of this program, as Equifax was tasked by to develop a custom Income Data Service (IDS) just months before the Healthcare.gov launch in 2013. This program currently provides the complex analytics necessary to provide decision support services for business areas operating under the purview of the Affordability Care Act (ACA). Under this program, Equifax generates both standard and ad hoc reports to support decision-making within and provides a mechanism for monitoring and reporting on numerous state and federal insurance exchanges as they are implemented.

The Program is a complex project that implements Equifax’s technology, requiring flexibility in gathering and building systems requirements. There is intense integration and collaboration among all the contractors that are currently building the The Equifax team currently supports and provides with up-to-date income and employment verifications as well as complex analytical analyses and reporting. Equifax and have been working together since the launch of Healthcare.gov and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). utilizes The Work Number to ensure that Advanced Premium Tax Credits (APTC) and Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments are accurate and proper. Over the past two years, has expanded their use of The Work Number by over 50% which helped reduce the number of income inconsistencies by over 33%.

Additionally, numerous state Medicaid programs, including AHCCCS, and state-based marketplaces have now adopted The Work Number through the as their de facto source of current employment and income, because of its return on investment (ROI). A number of additional states are integrating the technology at this time, which will work through the to receive account transfers from the Hub to their own programs.

One of the challenges of Equifax’s partnership with was a low fulfillment rate due to s strict data filters and The Work Number’s focus on primarily partnering with large employers. applies strict data filters in order for Equifax to be able to return an income verification through the .

Amongst these filters, requires that The Work Number has the Federal Employer Identification Number in order for a verification to be returned. Starting in 2013, Equifax worked diligently with many of our existing Employer clients to populate the FEIN in their employees’ verifications. Subsequently, we have also worked with new Employer clients and payroll partners to ensure that FEIN is populated so that the majority of our verification records are available through the

As mentioned above, also approached Equifax about expanding the demographics of the Employers available via The Work Number. The Work Number initially focused on partnering with large

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Employers to outsource their employment and income verifications. However, as a result of the Affordable Care Act and the Advanced Premium Tax Credit, there was an immediate need to be able to verify employment and income for small employers as well. Over the past several years, Equifax has begun partnering with large payroll providers in order to fulfill employment and income verification requests for small employers. In Arizona alone, 14% of the verifications we returned in May 2020 were from employers with under 500 employees. This is up from 3% in June 2019.

Employment and Income Verification Service

June 2012 –Present

Equifax Workforce Solutions was awarded a contract to supply current and real time employment and income verifications to the to assist in reducing improper payments, improving program integrity, and automating verifications which have reduced the administrative burden within their 13 regional offices. By implementing our verifications, has seen cost reductions per transaction and has provided applicants with an enhanced customer experience. Today, over 40,000 individual staff in over 100 offices nationwide access The Work Number daily to verify and validate income for eligibility and annual program redetermination. is averaging over 5 million web portal inquiries today. Furthermore, Equifax has the capacity to accept and handle millions of additional verifications, allowing it to easily scale and grow as requirements increase.

is a federal program administered by that provides benefits to low-income individuals who are either 65 years or older, blind, or disabled. The program provides benefits to approximately 8 million Americans. One of the requirements to receive is that applicants’ income must be below certain limits. Equifax was chosen to validate individual wages in real time by pay period, ensuring that field staff has current, employer-provided data at their fingertips when making eligibility decisions.

Equifax has met and exceeded ’s goals, and we believe this reference is particularly relevant to the State with regard to the following areas:

Data Performance: We return employer direct employment and income verifications to over 40,000 field staff on a daily basis. is on pace to pull over 1.2 million verifications annually through The Work Number system. All data is returned through our existing and secure system.

Data Refresh: All data returned to from The Work Number are refreshed in real-time according to the contributing employers’ payroll cycle. selected EWS because no other company has this quality of data and processing power.

Analytical System Reports: Our standard reports include: verifier properties, employer properties,…