RFI 1218 SCR Automated Decision Making Tool FINAL.pdf

RFI 1218 Development of Automated Child Protective Intake Decision-Making Tool

Request for Information (RFI)

New York State Office of Children and Family Services Division of Child Welfare and Community Services

RFI 1218

Development of Automated Child Protective Intake Decision-Making Tool

Issued: 7/14/2025

Responses Due: 8/12/2025 by 4:00 PM ET

Purpose

The New York State (NYS) Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), Division of Child Welfare and Community Services (CWCS), is seeking information and collecting input from interested parties regarding the development of an automated decision-making tool to support the mission of the New York Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) to register child protective intake reports in compliance with NYS statute and OCFS policies and procedures1.

The goals of this RFI are to:

• Ascertain vendor interest in developing an automated child protective intake decision-making tool to support hotline specialists with making decisions to register child protective reports in alignment with NYS statute and OCFS policies and procedures.

• Promote consistent decision-making among staff and strengthen objectivity during the intake process.

• Identify improvements to the child protective intake process while remaining in compliance with NYS statute and OCFS policies and procedures.

• Obtain information on a method to evaluate the use of an automated decision-making tool through qualitative and quantitative measures.

• Obtain information on a shareable format of the tool and a process to provide data for stakeholders inquiring about how the SCR makes consistent, accurate, and equitable decisions during the intake process.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an Invitation for Bid (IFB) or a promise to issue an RFP or an IFB. This RFI does not commit OCFS, or CWCS, to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Vendors are advised that OCFS will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI;

all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP or IFB, if any are issued.

1 The NYS Child Protective Services Manual includes the laws, regulations, and policies: 2025-CPS-Manual.pdf https://ocfs.ny.gov/programs/cps/manual/2025/2025-CPS-Manual.pdf

Project Background

New York State’s child welfare system is supervised by the state Office of Children and Family Services and the provision of child welfare services is locally administered by 58 counties statewide. OCFS maintains a centralized 24/7 child abuse hotline called the New York Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR). The mission of the SCR is to promote the safety of NYS’s children by involving local child protective services (LCPS) when intervention is legally required.

The SCR operates per NYS Social Services Law (SSL), the Family Court Act (FCA), and policies and procedures created by OCFS. SCR specialists who answer hotline calls are trained to evaluate a caller’s concerns and determine if the information provided meets the legal standards for registering a child protective intake report.

OCFS has an ongoing commitment to reduce gaps in outcomes across diverse groups and build a fair and effective child welfare system by identifying and reforming policies and practices.

OCFS has explored with other states their use of an automated decision-making tool to support consistency of child protective intake decisions and enhance objectivity during the intake decision-making process. These states have found this type of tool to be effective in promoting these goals with scientifically measurable success.

OCFS would like to ascertain vendor interest in developing an automated decision-making tool for NYS to support hotline specialists with making intake decisions to register child protective intake reports in alignment with NYS statute and OCFS policies and procedures.

OCFS is also interested in understanding what a prospective vendor can provide regarding the development of the application and its integration with the system and platform on which it will function.

Guidance to Respondents

OCFS may use information obtained from responses to this RFI to make programmatic decisions and/or to develop a competitive procurement.

Any content that is proprietary and/or confidential must be clearly marked as such in the response. Failure to mark content as proprietary and/or confidential may result in its disclosure in the event a response is the subject of a Freedom of Information request under Public Officers Law Section 87. In any event, OCFS will determine, in its sole discretion, appropriate FOIL disclosure in accordance with Public Officers Law Section 87. All materials submitted by a respondent shall become the property of OCFS and may or may not be returned to the respondent, at the sole discretion of OCFS.

OCFS may issue announcements amending this RFI in response to questions. Any revisions to the RFI will be posted to the New York State Contract Reporter website (http:///www.nyscr.ny.gov) and to the OCFS public website funding opportunities page (https://ocfs.ny.gov/main/contracts/funding/).

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OCFS may communicate with any and all third parties, about this RFI or otherwise, during the pendency of this RFI and/or following the receipt and consideration of RFI responses.

This may be through email exchanges, phone discussions, meetings, demonstrations, and/or correspondence, and may be with an individual respondent, a subset of respondents, or all respondents. As RFI responses are reviewed, OCFS reserves the right to send follow-up clarification questions to respondents of further interest.

Requested Information

Please provide the following information electronically. You may provide the requested information as a completed Attachment 1 – Vendor Response or in the body of an email.

1) Contact Information:

a. Name of individual responding

b. Name of agency/organization

c. Mailing address

d. Email address

e. Phone number

2) Describe your (or your organization’s) mission statement or goal in providing social welfare related services, specifically related to Child Protective Services and measuring trends and consistency within a hotline receiving calls of child abuse and maltreatment.

3) Please provide, if applicable, a brief history of your background and/or experience providing similar requests relating to the development of an automated child protective intake decision-making tool.

4) What is your experience in delivering services, specifically in the development of an automated decision-making tool for child protective intake, that is user-friendly, can be implemented within an established child welfare information system, that controls for confidentiality of information, and provides data that highlights key indicators of consistency, equity, and accuracy in the decision-making process for intake calls based on set parameters?

5) What specific services have you offered previously that are similar to this request for information? Please provide dates of development and/or implementation.

6) What are your thoughts regarding this request for information, and the level of complexity needed?

7) Please describe how an automated child protective intake decision-making tool can be created/implemented that captures the main goals of the request, that is easily implemented, user-friendly, provides different levels of complexity, and is cost-effective, depending on the agreed upon final product.

8) Describe your proposed design ideas for an automated child protective intake decision-making tool and/or recommendations. Note challenges that may arise when creating a tool of this type that measures consistency, equity, and accuracy among

150 intake staff handling approximately 300,000 calls per year that are similar but presented differently by mandated and public callers. Please provide an action plan regarding how you would effectively meet the requirements.

9) Please indicate whether you have ever received funding from OCFS or other public sources to provide any of the above services.

10) Please provide a cost estimate for developing an automated tool, implementation, and post-implementation analysis.

Questions

Questions regarding this RFI should be submitted via email to the OCFS Procurement Unit at funding@ocfs.ny.gov prior to the due date and time noted above. Please submit your question with adequate time for response. OCFS recommends allowing at least five (5) business days. Be sure to put “RFI 1218 Automated Decision Making Tool” in the subject line.

Deadline for Responses

All respondents should respond to this RFI with the information requested in the section entitled “Requested Information” no later than the deadline indicated on the first page of this announcement. Responses to this RFI must be made via email.

Method: Send to: Subject Line:

Email funding@ocfs.ny.gov RFI 1218 Automated Decision-Making Tool mailto:funding@ocfs.ny.gov mailto:funding@ocfs.ny.gov