DES - Sole Source - Fast WS Sole Source Justification FY27 B-52374 .pdf

Sole Source Justification Form

Version 7.01 Page 1 of 8

Bulletin Reference Number 27-427DES-FINAN-B-52374

Requesting Agency/University Illinois Department of Employment Security

Sole Source Justification Form - Part I Section I - General Information

Department/Bureau/Section: Business Services

Need Identified Date: Apr 1, 2026 Supply/Service Need By Date: Jul 1, 2026

Project Title: Fast Work Share (Short Term Compensation)

Vendor: FAST Enterprises LLC.

Provide a description of the supplies or services required:

Hosted services include infrastructure management, routing and firewall services, security services and compliance, and a high-speed network backbone for virtual hosts and database servers; Employer Demographic Interface of valid employers; Employer Wage Interface of employer wages for claimants included in a work share plan; Incoming Claim Summary Interface of claims from the Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims system; Employer Charging Interface of charges applied to each employer; Print file for correspondence; Automated Clearing House (ACH) Payments; Software Maintenance and Monitoring and data and firmware backups for FY 2027

Value: Estimated Value of Initial Term, this Change Order or Amendment: 349,000

Will this Sole Source amend a Professional or Artistic Services contract? Yes No

*Sole Source may not be used for amendments for Professional or Artistic Services if the amendment would increase the value by more than 5% of the initial award or extend the term by more than 60 days.

Type: New Sole Economically Feasible Source

Section II - Proposed Term

One-Time Purchase Term Contract

Estimated Contract Begin Date: Jul 1, 2026

Estimated Contract End Date: Jun 30, 2027

Number of Potential Renewals: 0

Length of Each Renewal in Months: 0

Total Value of All Renewals: 0

If a Term Contract, does the term, including renewals, exceed 12 months? Yes No

Section III - Funding Source Select the type of funding to be used (Check all that apply): State Appropriate Funds Federal Funds Other (Explain):

Section IV - Sole Source Justification

This purchase is economically only available from a single source primarily because it is: (If "Other" explain in one sentence)

Software License/Upgrade/Maintenance

Are there secondary justification(s) for this sole source? Yes No

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Bulletin Reference Number 27-427DES-FINAN-B-52374

Requesting Agency/University Illinois Department of Employment Security

Another justification that this purchase is only available from a sole source is because it is:

Items are Copyrighted or Patented and the Items are Only Available from the Holder

Another justification that this purchase is only available from a sole source is because it is:

Compatibility of Equipment, Accessories, Replacement Parts or Service

Section V - Purchase History

Has the Agency or University Purchased these supplies or services in the past? Yes No

Term Term From Term To Value Description Contract Number Type

1 12/15/2020 6/30/2022 4,171,480 UI Short Term Compensation - Covid 4100135938 Exemption

2 7/1/2022 6/30/2023 300,000 UI Short Term Compensation 4100156753 Sole Source

3 7/1/2023 6/30/2024 321,625 UI Short Term Compensation 4100174548 Sole Source

4 7/1/2024 6/30/2025 345,100 UI Short Term Compensation 4100194035 Sole Source

5 7/1/2025 6/30/2026 347,580 UI Short Term Compensation 4100194035 Sole Source

If more than 10, or if other comments, explain:

Section VI - Business Rationale

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Bulletin Reference Number 27-427DES-FINAN-B-52374

Requesting Agency/University Illinois Department of Employment Security

1. Provide a detailed explanation of the need for the supplies or services:

IDES needs to continue the Short-Time Compensation (STC) program (aka WorkShare IL). Under Section 502 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, IDES was authorized to establish an STC program to assist employers in preventing layoffs and in 2021 IDES was awarded dedicated funding from the U.S. Department of Labor to help with the implementation of the new program. STC programs provide a way for employers to temporarily reduce the hours of their employees during economic downturns as an alternative to laying them off permanently. Under an approved STC plan, employees experiencing a reduction in hours are allowed to collect a percentage of their unemployment compensation benefits to replace a portion of their lost wages. The STC program is an alternative to layoffs that saves jobs, helps retain skilled workers until economic conditions improve, and enables workers to keep their jobs and collect reduced unemployment benefits.

Continuing Illinois’ STC program as an alternative to permanent layoffs saves jobs, increases total worker income, reduces turnover costs, and saves the State of Illinois in unemployment insurance costs. By retaining skilled workers, reducing employee turnover, and boosting company morale, STC programs help ensure that Illinois’ businesses can maintain consistent levels of productivity, efficiency, and profit margins both during and after the current economic recession.

To implement Illinois' STC program, WorkShare IL, IDES contracted with FAST Enterprises LLC, a company that both had familiarity with IDES' UI system and had a track record implementing short-time compensation programs in other states. In less than 6 months, FAST worked with IDES to: develop an easy-to-use web platform for employers who apply; implement the program; and develop and deliver comprehensive training for IDES staff.

Opting for a new vendor will result in additional costs to the state as more time and expenses will be involved in setting up an entirely new program with a new vendor. IDES has benefited from FAST's knowledge of IDES systems. If another vendor is selected, IDES will lose access to that existing knowledge base.

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Bulletin Reference Number 27-427DES-FINAN-B-52374

Requesting Agency/University Illinois Department of Employment Security

2. Provide a list and describe in detail the specifications required to satisfy the need:

The Contractor is providing a hosted, stand-alone system called “FastWS” to enable the processing of short-time compensation (STC) plans. Illinois' STC program is also known as WorkShare IL. The contractor will continue to provide hosting, maintenance, and support under the FY2027 Statement of Work.

Hosted Services: the Contractor will continue to host the hardware, software, and infrastructure for the solution. This includes hosting for the primary and disaster recovery sites. The Contractor is responsible for developing and supporting the server‐side infrastructure required to host the application. The provided hardware and software are designed to meet the agency’s service level requirements.

The Contractor’s data centers are currently located in Colorado (primary data center) and Illinois (disaster recovery data center). The architecture has been designed with redundancy to maximize system uptime.

Hosted services include infrastructure management, routing, and firewall services, security services and compliance, and a high‐speed network backbone for virtual hosts and database servers. Contractor personnel is responsible for building, maintaining, and managing the hardware and software for the solution at our data centers. Contractor hosting support staff are available 24x7.

The following hosted services are also provided:

• Maintain and monitor data backups

• Firmware updates to hardware

• Server updates and critical patches

• Database administration

• Batch monitoring

• Virtualization management and security updates

• SSL certificate management

• Rack space and power for hosted hardware

• Network services (routing, security, VLANs, zoning, and so on)

• Data replication management

• Infrastructure access control

• Third‐party penetration testing for major application versions

• Secure file transfer

• Redundant primary internet feeds

• Party penetration testing for major application versions, Secure file transfer, and Redundant primary Internet feeds.

Software Maintenance to include: Access to Service Packs; new versions of FastWS software; updates and/or enhancements to existing software; new and revised program and operations documentation (program designs, program logic, testing cases, user training materials, and operations procedures); and professional services to support the software maintenance, including Phone Support and Defect Repair.

Professional Services for FAST personnel to provide support for the system either on a short-term or long-term basis. These personnel assist with the following tasks:

a. Prioritization and management of solution requests

b. Defect repair

c. On-call production support

d. Coordination with the FAST Development Center

e. Configuration assistance

f. Application development

g. Best practices recommendations

h. Implementation of legislative/business changes

i. Implementation of system modifications and enhancements

j. Implementation of FastWS hot fixes, service packs, and new versions

k. Supplemental user, developer, or operator training I. Other consulting and services as requested

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Bulletin Reference Number 27-427DES-FINAN-B-52374

Requesting Agency/University Illinois Department of Employment Security

3. Provide detail explaining the justification selected in Section IV to explain why the requested supplies or services are the only ones available that can satisfy the agency or university requirements?

IDES procured the FASTWS software as a sole source under the COVID exemption. It provided the simplest interface possible with IBIS to accept employer plans, process UI claims and certifications, and make appropriate UI payments. It would cost IDES at least the amount of the initial cost of implementation to change to a new vendor. Because there is no funding source for implementing a new system, there is no vendor that can provide a new system for the cost of this maintenance contract.

The FASTWS software is proprietary to FAST Enterprises LLC.

In addition, the FASTWS platform is compatible with and integrates with the other systems for administering unemployment insurance:

Gen-Tax and Illinois Benefit Information System (IBIS).

4. What are the unique features of the supplies or services that are not available in any other product or by any other vendor? Provide specific quantifiable factors/qualifications:

The Short Term Compensation program uses the FASTWS software, which is copyrighted and trademarked. As a result, only FAST is allowed to provide the required services, including application hosting, monitoring and response, data backup and recovery, schedule maintenance, technical support, and issue resolution. Due to the software's copyright, trademark, and licensing, only FAST can update the application with new programming and enhancements when the federal government requires IDES to make changes.

The FAST platform also integrates with Gen-Tax and the Illinois Benefit Information System (IBIS). IDES has an ongoing STC program and services contract in place, which is currently in use in the employer community. It takes a significant amount of time to develop and configure a new system, including integrating it with Gen-Tax and IBIS. Therefore, if the agency were to obtain services from another vendor, it would result in a considerable development lead time. The program cannot be suspended while the new vendor is on-boarded, because services would be disrupted to both employers and workers who are already enrolled in the program.

5. Has the Agency or University considered alternative supplies or services to satisfy their need? Yes No

5a. If no, why weren't alternatives evaluated?

IDES did not evaluate alternative supplies or services because this request is specifically for the continued maintenance, hosting, and support of the existing FAST WS proprietary software system currently utilized for the administration of the WorkShare program. The FAST WS software is proprietary to FAST Enterprises LLC, and no other vendor is authorized or technically capable of providing maintenance, support, updates, or modifications to the software. As a result, there are no equivalent third-party vendors that can legally or operationally provide these services for the existing system environment.

The FAST WS software was originally procured by IDES as a sole source under the COVID exemption due to the urgent need to rapidly implement an operational WorkShare solution integrated with the State’s existing unemployment insurance benefits systems. The software was specifically configured to interface directly with IBIS and related IDES benefit processing systems to accept employer plans, process unemployment insurance claims and certifications, and issue appropriate UI payments.

If IDES were required to competitively bid this procurement, the solicitation would not be for software maintenance services, but instead for the development and implementation of an entirely new WorkShare e-services platform from the ground up. The original FAST WS implementation and integration project cost the State more than $4 million approximately five years ago. IDES estimates that replacing the existing system with a new vendor solution would require at minimum a comparable financial investment, in addition to significant implementation timelines, system integration efforts, testing, staff training, and operational transition risks.

Additionally, there is currently no identified funding source available to procure and implement a replacement system. Because no alternative vendor can provide maintenance services for the existing proprietary FAST WS software at the cost of the requested maintenance agreement, requiring a competitive procurement would likely result in the inability to maintain system operations.

Without an approved maintenance agreement with FAST Enterprises LLC, IDES would be forced to discontinue operation of the WorkShare program due to the lack of technical support, system maintenance, and operational continuity necessary to sustain the program.

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Bulletin Reference Number 27-427DES-FINAN-B-52374

Requesting Agency/University Illinois Department of Employment Security

6. Are there resellers or distributors?

Yes No N/A

7. What efforts were made to get the best possible price (i.e. did the agency/university negotiate) and how did you determine the price for this purchase is considered fair and reasonable?

IDES considers the price to be fair and reasonable. The initial program expenses for FY 2020 and FY 2021, including implementation, were $4,006,000.00.

The projected cost for this program is $300,000.00 per year for FAST Hosting and Software Maintenance and $245.00 per hour for Professional Services. DES intends to utilize 200 hours of professional services at the $245.00 rate, making the total for Professional services $49000.00. Therefore, the total cost for FAST Hosting, Software Maintenance, and Professional Services for fiscal year 2027 is $349,000.00.

The cost for maintenance and hosting has remained steady at $300,000.00 per year. The only increase in cost has been the price of professional services, which rises annually by approximately 4%. The annual maintenance contract is approximately 8.3% of the implementation cost is low for software maintenance which can often cost over 10% of the original implementation cost.

8. Will this purchase obligate the State to this vendor for future purchases such as maintenance, licensing or continuing need?

Yes No

9. What will be the financial or other impact to the State if this sole source is not approved and a competitive bid is required?

If the agency were to required to competitively bid this purchase, then IDES and the State would incur new additional costs related to:

(1) staff time and resources to rebid, select, on-board, and work through the product development again with another vendor. This would strain current staff who already manage multiple UI programs. Recreating a program that was successfully created and launched would not be reasonable from a service delivery perspective as it took four (4) months to implement the current system. And, (2) duplicating the spending of funds for developing the product and training for IDES staff which was already done successfully with the current product would not be reasonable from a business perspective as it cost $4,006,000.00 to implement the current system.

Although the Illinois labor market remains strong and layoffs have been stable, analysts are paying close attention to national and international supply chain disruptions, inflation concerns, and the potential for downturns in employment. The Fast STC program is designed to assist Illinois citizens during situations such as this. As a result any disruption to the operations of IDES’ STC program would weaken its ability to assist employers who experience those downturns.

10. Is there any additional information you would like to add to justify this sole source?

If the Sole Source is not approved, IDES would not be able to provide the WorkShare program to employers until funding was provided to implement another system. There are no existing funding sources at this time. Any future procurement to select a new vendor would result in additional time and costs to implement a new system. IDES also benefits from the vendor's existing knowledge base, as Fast has a good understanding of IDES systems. Opting for a new vendor would lead to IDES losing the advantage of that existing knowledge base.

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Bulletin Reference Number 27-427DES-FINAN-B-52374

Requesting Agency/University Illinois Department of Employment Security

Section VII

Requesting Department Representative

Requesting Department Signature Required

I know and understand the contents of this Sole Source Justification and attest that all statements are true and correct and the fairness and reasonableness of the price was adequately confirmed.

Date 5/21/2026

Printed Name Carrie Thomas E-mail Address Carrie.Thomas@illinois.gov

Phone Number 312-636-4005

State Agency Bureau/Division Head or University Purchasing Director Approval and Signature Required

I know and understand the contents of this Sole Source Justification and attest that all statements are true and correct and the fairness and reasonableness of the price was adequately confirmed. (All prior form fields will lock once this e-signature is completed)

E-mail Address jared.w.walkowitz@illinois.gov

Phone Number 312.636.7669 Date May 21, 2026

Printed Name Jared Walkowitz

Agency Bureau/Division Head or University Purchasing Director and Not a Designee

SPO Approval and Signature Required

I have reviewed and understand the contents of this Sole Source Justification and agree with the State Agency or University determination.

I have reviewed and understand the contents of this Sole Source Justification and do not agree with the State Agency or University determination. As a result, the State Agency or University must explore other sourcing methods to satisfy their need.

State Purchasing Officer Signature Phone Number 217-836-3618 Date May 21, 2026

Printed Name Alyson Moore E-mail Address alyson.r.moore@illinois.gov

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Bulletin Reference Number 27-427DES-FINAN-B-52374

Requesting Agency/University Illinois Department of Employment Security

Sole Source Justification Form - Part II Section I - General Information

Project Title DES-Sole Source-Fast WS(STC) FY27

Vendor Fast Enterprises, LLC

Initial Date of Procurement Bulletin Posting

Was a Sole Source hearing held per 30 ILCS 500/20-25?

Yes - Complete Section II and III below (Section II will only be visible when this option is selected)

No - Section II not required, go to Section III below Section III - CPO Approval and Signature Required

Based on my review, I authorize the Agency/University to proceed in accordance with the published Notice referenced above.

Based upon my review, I authorize the Agency/University to proceed with the following Changes.

Based on my review, the Agency/University is not authorized to proceed with this sole source as presented and my recommendation is that it be cancelled.

Other

CPO Signature CPO Phone

Printed Name Date

CPO E-mail

Version 7.01 Page of Sole Source Justification Form - Part I Section I - General Information Will this Sole Source amend a Professional or Artistic Services contract?

If yes, what was the original contract value?

*Sole Source may not be used for amendments for Professional or Artistic Services if the amendment would increase the value by more than 5% of the initial award or extend the term by more than 60 days.

Section II - Proposed Term If a Term Contract, does the term, including renewals, exceed 12 months?

If yes, provide a detailed justification including any economic benefit received for agreeing to a multi-year term:

Section III - Funding Source Select the type of funding to be used (Check all that apply):

Section IV - Sole Source Justification Are there secondary justification(s) for this sole source?

Section V - Purchase History Has the Agency or University Purchased these supplies or services in the past?

Term Term From Term To Value Description Contract Number Type Section VI - Business Rationale

1. Provide a detailed explanation of the need for the supplies or services:

2. Provide a list and describe in detail the specifications required to satisfy the need:

3. Provide detail explaining the justification selected in Section IV to explain why the requested supplies or services are the only ones available that can satisfy the agency or university requirements?

4. What are the unique features of the supplies or services that are not available in any other product or by any other vendor? Provide specific quantifiable factors/qualifications:

5. Has the Agency or University considered alternative supplies or services to satisfy their need?

5a. If yes, name the alternative vendors whose supplies or services were evaluated:

5b. If yes, what were the alternatives for each vendor and why were they unacceptable? Be specific with regard to features, characteristics, requirements, capabilities and compatibility:

5c. Explain how the market evaluation was conducted?

*This evaluation is to determine available options within a market. If the evaluation is to determine quality or best suited option, this is not the appropriate source selection. Under no circumstances shall the evaluation consist of testing alternative options. These activities must be conducted in a competitive transparent environment (i.e. IFB or RFP).

5a. If no, why weren't alternatives evaluated?

6. Are there resellers or distributors?

7. What efforts were made to get the best possible price (i.e. did the agency/university negotiate) and how did you determine the price for this purchase is considered fair and reasonable?

8. Will this purchase obligate the State to this vendor for future purchases such as maintenance, licensing or continuing need?

8a. If yes, please provide details regarding future obligations and/or needs:

9. What will be the financial or other impact to the State if this sole source is not approved and a competitive bid is required?

10. Is there any additional information you would like to add to justify this sole source?

Section VII Requesting Department Signature Required I know and understand the contents of this Sole Source Justification and attest that all statements are true and correct and the fairness and reasonableness of the price was adequately confirmed.

State Agency Bureau/Division Head or University Purchasing Director Approval and Signature Required I know and understand the contents of this Sole Source Justification and attest that all statements are true and correct and the fairness and reasonableness of the price was adequately confirmed. (All prior form fields will lock once this e-signature is completed) SPO Approval and Signature Required Sole Source Justification Form - Part II Section I - General Information Was a Sole Source hearing held per 30 ILCS 500/20-25?

Section II - Sole Source Hearing Details The State posted to the Illinois Procurement Bulletin a description of the State's need, the justification for the sole source decision, and information regarding the opportunity to submit comments and testify at a public hearing. Notice of the hearing was also posted outside of the hearing room 48 hours prior to the hearing.

The public hearing was conducted for the purpose of receiving testimony regarding the sole source determination. The Hearing Officer recommends the following:

The following relevant documents are attached:

Section III - CPO Approval and Signature Required 9.0.0.2.20101008.1.734229

services, security services and compliance, and a high-speed network backbone for virtual hosts and database servers; Employer Demographic Interface of valid employers; Employer Wage Interface of employer wages for claimants included in a work share plan; Incoming Claim Summary Interface of claims from the Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims system; Employer Charging Interface of charges applied to each employer; Print file for correspondence; Automated Clearing House (ACH) Payments; Software Maintenance and Monitoring and data and firmware backups for FY 2027

Continuing Illinois’ STC program as an alternative to permanent layoffs saves jobs, increases total worker income, reduces turnover costs, and saves the State of Illinois in unemployment insurance costs. By retaining skilled workers, reducing employee turnover, and boosting company morale, STC programs help ensure that Illinois’ businesses can maintain consistent levels of productivity, efficiency, and profit margins both during and after the current economic recession.

To implement Illinois' STC program, WorkShare IL, IDES contracted with FAST Enterprises LLC, a company that both had familiarity with IDES' UI system and had a track record implementing short-time compensation programs in other states. In less than 6 months, FAST worked with IDES to: develop an easy-to-use web platform for employers who apply; implement the program; and develop and deliver comprehensive training for IDES staff.

Opting for a new vendor will result in additional costs to the state as more time and expenses will be involved in setting up an entirely new program with a new vendor. IDES has benefited from FAST's knowledge of IDES systems. If another vendor is selected, IDES will lose access to that existing knowledge base.

Q2Answer: The Contractor is providing a hosted, stand-alone system called “FastWS” to enable the processing of short-time compensation (STC) plans. Illinois' STC program is also known as WorkShare IL. The contractor will continue to provide hosting, maintenance, and support under the FY2027 Statement of Work.

Hosted Services: the Contractor will continue to host the hardware, software, and infrastructure for the solution. This includes hosting for the primary and disaster recovery sites. The Contractor is responsible for developing and supporting the server‐side infrastructure required to host the application. The provided hardware and software are designed to meet the agency’s service level requirements.

The Contractor’s data centers are currently located in Colorado (primary data center) and Illinois (disaster recovery data center). The architecture has been designed with redundancy to maximize system uptime.

Hosted services include infrastructure management, routing, and firewall services, security services and compliance, and a high‐speed network backbone for virtual hosts and database servers. Contractor personnel is responsible for building, maintaining, and managing the hardware and software for the solution at our data centers. Contractor hosting support staff are available 24x7.

The following hosted services are also provided:

• Maintain and monitor data backups

• Firmware updates to hardware

• Server updates and critical patches

• Database administration

• Batch monitoring

• Virtualization management and security updates

• SSL certificate management

• Rack space and power for hosted hardware

• Network services (routing, security, VLANs, zoning, and so on)

• Data replication management

• Infrastructure access control

• Third‐party penetration testing for major application versions

• Secure file transfer

• Redundant primary internet feeds

• Party penetration testing for major application versions, Secure file transfer, and Redundant primary Internet feeds.

Software Maintenance to include: Access to Service Packs; new versions of FastWS software; updates and/or enhancements to existing software; new and revised program and operations documentation (program designs, program logic, testing cases, user training materials, and operations procedures); and professional services to support the software maintenance, including Phone Support and Defect Repair.

Professional Services for FAST personnel to provide support for the system either on a short-term or long-term basis. These personnel assist with the following tasks:

a. Prioritization and management of solution requests

b. Defect repair

c. On-call production support

d. Coordination with the FAST Development Center

e. Configuration assistance

f. Application development

g. Best practices recommendations

h. Implementation of legislative/business changes

i. Implementation of system modifications and enhancements

j. Implementation of FastWS hot fixes, service packs, and new versions

k. Supplemental user, developer, or operator training I. Other consulting and services as requested Q3Answer: IDES procured the FASTWS software as a sole source under the COVID exemption. It provided the simplest interface possible with IBIS to accept employer plans, process UI claims and certifications, and make appropriate UI payments. It would cost IDES at least the amount of the initial cost of implementation to change to a new vendor. Because there is no funding source for implementing a new system, there is no vendor that can provide a new system for the cost of this maintenance contract.

The FASTWS software is proprietary to FAST Enterprises LLC.

In addition, the FASTWS platform is compatible with and integrates with the other systems for administering unemployment insurance: Gen-Tax and Illinois Benefit Information System (IBIS).

Q4Answer: The Short Term Compensation program uses the FASTWS software, which is copyrighted and trademarked. As a result, only FAST is allowed to provide the required services, including application hosting, monitoring and response, data backup and recovery, schedule maintenance, technical support, and issue resolution. Due to the software's copyright, trademark, and licensing, only FAST can update the application with new programming and enhancements when the federal government requires IDES to make changes.

The FAST platform also integrates with Gen-Tax and the Illinois Benefit Information System (IBIS). IDES has an ongoing STC program and services contract in place, which is currently in use in the employer community. It takes a significant amount of time to develop and configure a new system, including integrating it with Gen-Tax and IBIS. Therefore, if the agency were to obtain services from another vendor, it would result in a considerable development lead time. The program cannot be suspended while the new vendor is on-boarded, because services would be disrupted to both employers and workers who are already enrolled in the program.

The FAST WS software was originally procured by IDES as a sole source under the COVID exemption due to the urgent need to rapidly implement an operational WorkShare solution integrated with the State’s existing unemployment insurance benefits systems. The software was specifically configured to interface directly with IBIS and related IDES benefit processing systems to accept employer plans, process unemployment insurance claims and certifications, and issue appropriate UI payments.

If IDES were required to competitively bid this procurement, the solicitation would not be for software maintenance services, but instead for the development and implementation of an entirely new WorkShare e-services platform from the ground up. The original FAST WS implementation and integration project cost the State more than $4 million approximately five years ago. IDES estimates that replacing the existing system with a new vendor solution would require at minimum a comparable financial investment, in addition to significant implementation timelines, system integration efforts, testing, staff training, and operational transition risks.

Additionally, there is currently no identified funding source available to procure and implement a replacement system. Because no alternative vendor can provide maintenance services for the existing proprietary FAST WS software at the cost of the requested maintenance agreement, requiring a competitive procurement would likely result in the inability to maintain system operations. Without an approved maintenance agreement with FAST Enterprises LLC, IDES would be forced to discontinue operation of the WorkShare program due to the lack of technical support, system maintenance, and operational continuity necessary to sustain the program.

The projected cost for this program is $300,000.00 per year for FAST Hosting and Software Maintenance and $245.00 per hour for Professional Services. DES intends to utilize 200 hours of professional services at the $245.00 rate, making the total for Professional services $49000.00. Therefore, the total cost for FAST Hosting, Software Maintenance, and Professional Services for fiscal year 2027 is $349,000.00.

The cost for maintenance and hosting has remained steady at $300,000.00 per year. The only increase in cost has been the price of professional services, which rises annually by approximately 4%. The annual maintenance contract is approximately 8.3% of the implementation cost is low for software maintenance which can often cost over 10% of the original implementation cost.

The system was specifically designed, configured, and integrated with IDES’ existing unemployment insurance benefits infrastructure, including interfaces with IBIS and related claims processing systems. As a result, ongoing maintenance and operational continuity require continued engagement with FAST Enterprises to ensure system functionality, security updates, software patches, technical support, compliance modifications, and operational enhancements.

If the State elected to discontinue use of FAST Enterprises in the future, IDES would be required to procure and implement an entirely new WorkShare e-services platform and perform a full system replacement, including software development, integration, testing, data migration, staff training, and operational transition activities. The original implementation cost exceeded $4 million, and IDES anticipates that replacement costs would be at least comparable, if not greater, under current market conditions. Annual future obligations are expected to include fixed costs associated with hosting and software maintenance, as well as variable professional services costs based on operational and technical support needs. These services are necessary to maintain uninterrupted operation of the WorkShare program and ensure continued compatibility with IDES benefits systems and program requirements.