CAL_FIRE_RFI_26-0052_Web_Intranet_Platform.pdf

RFI No. 26-0052 CAL FIRE — Enterprise Web Content, Intranet & Portal Platform

STATE OF CALIFORNIA — NATURAL RESOURCES AGENCY

DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY AND FIRE PROTECTION

P.O. Box 944246, Sacramento, CA 94244-2460 • (916) 653-7772 • www.fire.ca.gov

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Enterprise Web Content, Intranet & Portal Platform

RFI No. 26-0052 Released on August 5, 2026

You are invited to review and respond to this Request for Information (RFI). This RFI is issued for market research and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation.

Read the attached document carefully. The RFI due date is August 28, 2026, at 5:00 PM PT.

Responses must be submitted via email to the contact listed in Section D.

A. Introduction

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Technology Services Division, is releasing this Request for Information (RFI) to gather feedback on draft requirements and survey potential market offerings for an enterprise Content Management System (CMS) capable of supporting CAL FIRE's public-facing websites and internal intranet from a single platform.

This RFI is for information and planning purposes only. It does not constitute a solicitation, and a response is not an offer that can be accepted by the State to form a binding contract.

B. Objective

The objective of this RFI is to obtain information from prospective vendors about the draft requirements described below and the impact they may have on potential technology solutions in the marketplace. Information received may be used to develop and finalize requirements for a subsequent Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quote (RFQ), or other solicitation.

CAL FIRE currently operates two separate CMS platforms — Sitecore for its primary public web presence, and Umbraco (supported by a third-party integrator) for its intranet — along with related custom database-driven applications. It is the State's primary objective to reduce technical debt and platform fragmentation by identifying whether a single platform can reliably support both public content and intranet/portal needs, while excluding custom transactional/database applications from that scope.

C. Key Action Dates

Key Action Date Time

Release of the RFI Aug 5, 2026

Intent to Respond (Optional) Aug 12, 2026

Last Day to Submit Questions Aug 14, 2026 12:00 PM PT

Release of Response to Questions Aug 19, 2026 4:00 PM PT

RFI Response Due Aug 28, 2026 5:00 PM PT

Informal Meetings / Vendor Demonstrations (if applicable) Sept 1–3, 2026

Dates confirmed with CAL FIRE procurement (7/31/26). Note: informal meeting dates were shifted earlier than originally proposed to avoid a scheduling conflict — see internal note. If CAL FIRE finds it necessary to change any of these dates, an addendum to this RFI will be posted through the applicable State eProcurement channel (Cal eProcure).

D. Procurement Official / Point of Contact

All correspondence and questions related to this RFI shall be directed to:

Attn: Chuck Jackson-Kirkpatrick, IT Specialist II CAL FIRE — Information Technology, Administration, Planning & Procurement 710 Riverpoint Court, Suite 150, West Sacramento, CA 95605 Phone: (279) 220-5639 Email: Charles.Jackson-Kirkpatrick@fire.ca.gov

E. Background

CAL FIRE's current web/intranet environment consists of the following:

• Sitecore is CAL FIRE's enterprise CMS/DXP for its public-facing website family (www.fire.ca.gov and related sites). CAL FIRE's public websites were originally hosted on Umbraco (awarded 2018) and have since been migrated to Sitecore.

• Umbraco CMS today hosts three remaining workloads that were not carried over in that migration: the CAL FIRE intranet, the Incident Database, and two OSFM (Office of the State Fire Marshal) databases — a Hired Vendor Database and an Instructor Database. The OSFM databases are presented publicly through pages hosted on the Sitecore site, while the underlying data continues to reside in Umbraco.

• These databases were kept on Umbraco because rebuilding them natively in Sitecore was assessed as more difficult and costly at the time; the decision not to migrate the Incident Database during the original site migration was made due to cost and time constraints.

• Umbraco support is currently provided under a contract with Proworks Corporation. That contract is approaching expiration (~10 months remaining); retaining it beyond the current term would require a new competitive procurement.

• Separately, and on a more urgent timeline: CAL FIRE's Sitecore agreement is set to automatically renew for a new five-year term beginning February 2027 unless CAL FIRE notifies Sitecore of a change by approximately September–October 2026. This effectively sets the outer boundary for when CAL FIRE needs enough information to make an informed renew/replace decision, independent of the Umbraco/Proworks timeline.

• Existing contract terms require contractor staff to reside in the U.S. or Canada, and all electronic data storage (primary and secondary) to remain within continental U.S. cloud data centers.

CAL FIRE is using this window to evaluate whether continuing to operate two separate CMS platforms remains necessary, or whether consolidating public content and intranet functionality onto a single platform would reduce licensing, security, and maintenance overhead without sacrificing capability. The Incident Database and OSFM databases are treated as a separate question — CAL FIRE wants market feedback on the feasibility and cost of migrating them, but is not assuming they belong in the same platform as content/intranet by default.

The table below summarizes current and desired future state by workload:

Workload Current state Desired future state

Public website / content

Hosted on Sitecore (enterprise CMS/DXP); fully migrated from Umbraco

Single platform for public content, capable of scaling to intranet/portal use cases

Intranet Hosted on Umbraco, supported via the Proworks contract nearing expiration

Consolidated onto the same platform selected for public content

Incident Database

Transactional database hosted in Umbraco; kept there during the original Sitecore migration due to cost/time constraints

Not assumed in-scope for consolidation by default; RFI seeks feasibility/cost information from vendors

OSFM Databases (Hired Vendor DB, Instructor

DB)

Data hosted in Umbraco; presented to the public through pages on the Sitecore site (hybrid architecture)

Not assumed in-scope for consolidation by default; RFI seeks feasibility/cost information from vendors

F. Project Requirements

The following are draft requirements only and are subject to change based on feedback received through this RFI process.

1. Business Objectives

• Reduce the number of distinct CMS platforms CAL FIRE operates and supports.

• Maintain or improve current public website capability and performance, while achieving accessibility compliance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA (or the most current published version) and California AB 434, applied to both external (public-facing) and internal (intranet) content.

• Provide a modern, secure intranet experience for CAL FIRE employees, supporting internal communications, policy libraries, and department news.

• Minimize migration risk and total cost of ownership relative to maintaining separate platforms.

2. Functional Requirements

• Current system: Sitecore (public web) and Umbraco (intranet), operated as separate platforms with separate content models and governance.

• Proposed system: A single platform (or a validated composable/headless architecture) capable of serving both public content and intranet/portal needs, with role-based publishing workflows and multi-site management.

3. Technical Requirements

• Deployment model: cloud-hosted (State-approved cloud) or on-premises, with a preference for California-jurisdiction data residency.

• Integration capability with existing State/CAL FIRE identity management (single sign-on) and, where applicable, ServiceNow.

• Accessibility compliance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA (or subsequent version) and California AB 434 as a baseline, not an add-on — required for both external/public-facing content and internal/intranet content.

• Migration tooling or methodology for moving existing Sitecore and Umbraco content into the proposed platform.

• Software solution type: COTS, MOTS, SaaS, or custom — respondents should identify which applies.

4. Licensing

• Describe available licensing models (perpetual, subscription, per-seat, per-site, unlimited-user) and how each would apply to an organization CAL FIRE's size.

5. Out of Scope (Default Assumption)

• The Incident Database and the two OSFM databases (Hired Vendor Database, Instructor Database) are, by default, not assumed to be part of the CMS consolidation scope, as they are transactional, database-driven applications rather than content/publishing workloads.

CAL FIRE is not committing to migrate them as part of this effort. However, because these applications were originally kept on Umbraco due to migration cost and complexity, CAL FIRE is separately requesting feasibility and rough cost information from respondents (see Section G) to inform whether migrating them alongside the CMS consolidation would be worthwhile.

G. Information Being Requested

CAL FIRE requests feedback, comments, and questions on the draft requirements above, including feedback on requirements themselves, risks and cost drivers implied by the requirements, and experience with projects of similar size and scope. Specifically, respondents are asked to address:

6. Company & Experience

• Company overview and relevant experience with public-sector or government clients, particularly at the state or local level.

• Experience consolidating multiple CMS platforms (e.g., a public site and an intranet) onto a single platform for an organization of comparable size.

7. Platform Capability

• Ability to support both public-facing web content and an internal intranet/portal from the same platform, including any licensing or architectural distinctions between the two use cases.

• Approach to accessibility compliance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA and California AB 434, for both public-facing and internal/intranet content, including testing/certification methodology.

• Approach to content migration from Sitecore and Umbraco, including estimated effort and risk factors.

8. Project Delivery

• Project management methodology, tools, and procedures for managing this type of engagement.

• Proposed project staffing, key roles, and expected key deliverables.

• Typical implementation timeline for an organization of CAL FIRE's size and content volume.

9. Cost & Licensing

• Cost drivers and licensing structure (subscription vs. perpetual, per-seat vs. unlimited, etc.).

• Ongoing support/maintenance cost structure (annual, monthly, in advance vs. in arrears).

10. Database Application Feasibility (Informational Only)

• Although the Incident Database (including the Incident Portal data-entry application and its GraphQL pipelines) and the OSFM databases (Hired Vendor DB, Instructor DB) are not assumed in-scope for this consolidation, CAL FIRE requests respondents' rough, non-binding feedback on the feasibility, approach, and cost order-of-magnitude of migrating these systems into the proposed platform — including experience re-platforming GraphQL-based integrations — for planning purposes only.

11. Implementation Resourcing

• CAL FIRE's current web services staff are operating at full capacity. Respondents should describe their typical staffing model for a project of this type, including the extent to which the vendor/implementation team — versus CAL FIRE staff — carries day-to-day migration and configuration work.

Please note these are only draft requirements that are subject to change.

H. Additional Information

Any additional information not specifically requested, but which the respondent deems important and relevant, may also be submitted. This includes lessons learned from similar consolidation or migration projects. Although respondent comments are encouraged, the State makes no commitment to change requirements based on input received.

I. Risk Mitigation Mechanisms (if applicable)

CAL FIRE will identify applicable risk mitigation criteria, if any, in a future solicitation.

Respondents may comment on risk factors they would expect CAL FIRE to consider for a migration/consolidation project of this nature.

J. RFI Response Format and Content

Respondents must include a cover page identifying: company name; company mailing address;

point of contact (name, phone, email); references to the specific requirements or sections addressed; and whether the respondent is considering competing in a future procurement as a prime solution provider, subcontractor, or systems integrator.

One (1) electronic response (PDF or current Microsoft Word/Office format) is requested, submitted to the contact listed in Section D by the date and time listed in Section C.

Respondents are not required to submit a response to this RFI in order to participate in any future RFP.

K. Response Review

CAL FIRE will review all RFI responses to inform draft requirements and, if applicable, identify respondents for optional informal meetings or tailored demonstrations. Responding to this RFI is not a prerequisite for participating in any future competitive solicitation.

L. Informal Meetings / Demonstrations (if applicable)

CAL FIRE may, at its discretion, invite selected respondents to informal meetings or a tailored product demonstration to clarify their response or demonstrate relevant platform capability.

Any such meetings will be scheduled consistent with the Key Action Dates in Section C.

M. Disclaimer

This RFI is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. A response to this RFI is not an offer and cannot be accepted by the State to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Any information provided in response to this RFI related to costing should be estimated pricing only, for information and planning purposes, and is not to be represented as a bid. Documents submitted in response to this RFI become the property of the State of California and are subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code section 7920.000, et seq.). Do not include confidential or proprietary information in your response unless clearly marked as such.

Attachment 1 — Respondent Information

Our firm is responding to RFI No. 26-0052 for the CAL FIRE Enterprise Web Content, Intranet & Portal Platform. We (select one):

• □ Would be interested in providing a tailored product demonstration.

• □ Would not be interested in providing a tailored product demonstration, for the reason(s) stated below.

Comment(s) / Explanation(s): _______________________________________________

Contact Information

Company Name: ____________________________________________________________

Contact Name: _____________________________________________________________

Contact Title: ______________________________________________________________

Mailing Address: ___________________________________________________________

Telephone: ________________________________________________________________

Email Address: ____________________________________________________________

Signature: _________________________________________________________________