RFP 202608127 Q
26 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- RFP - 10A - 202608127
- Issued by
- Maine
About this file
This file contains responses to bidder questions for RFP #202608127, issued by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services for the Maine WIC Mobile Application Software and Support Services. The RFP seeks a fully developed smartphone-based application available on current app stores (Android, iOS, Google Play) at no cost to participants, with proposals due September 28, 2026, and questions due August 31, 2026. The scope requires core functionality including WIC-approved product lists with barcode scanning, benefit balance display, clinic locators, authorized store and farmer market directories, food calculators, appointment reminders, missed appointment notifications, push notifications, and support in a minimum of 21 languages. The application must interface with Maine's existing MIS system (SpiritWeb), which provides batch file updates on varying schedules (nightly for APL and appointment data, hourly for benefit balances, and ad hoc for vendor and clinic files). The contract term runs from January 1, 2027 through September 30, 2028 (21 months initially), with four optional two-year renewal periods extending through September 30, 2036. Demonstrations for qualified bidders are scheduled for the week of October 26, 2026, and proposals are scored on a 100-point scale: 40 points for Organization Qualifications and Experience, 25 points for Proposed Services, and 35 points for Cost.
Bidders must provide all costs as firm fixed pricing for both the initial period and all renewal periods, which will be used for cost evaluation. All production data must reside in the Continental United States, with no overseas entity permitted access to production data or the production platform. Bidders must demonstrate that a configurable mobile application has been implemented within the last five years and is currently in post-production use for a minimum of three years with at least one Federal or State governmental agency within the Continental United States. Production support must be provided Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, with confirmation of requests within four hours and production support issues confirmed within one hour. The Department's WIC Program will provide all required translations at no additional cost to the contractor. No two-way response capability with participants is expected, and all 22 required languages must be implemented prior to go-live. Bidders must submit three years of financial statements, a comprehensive Bill of Materials with product URLs, an Architecture Diagram, and complete Technical Assessment Forms. The application must comply with NIST 800-171 and NIST SP 800-53 Revision 5 Moderate controls, Maine Freedom of Access Act, and breach notification laws.
Text of this file
RFP 202608127
| RFP 202608127 Maine WIC Mobile Application Software and Support Services | |||
| Question | Answer | ||
| 1 | Item 5 Under Section II - "Financial Viability" - will financials be treated confidentially or excluded from public disclosure post-award? | Bidders may mark some portion of their proposal as confidential. If a Bidder marks some portion of their proposal as confidential then the Department will provide the Bidder with a reasonable opportunity to object to public disclosure of the proposal. The Department, however, provides no assurance regarding whether any portion of the proposal will ultimately be determined to be confidential and not publicly disclosed. | |
| 2 | Please provide the interface specifications for each data feed the application is expected to consume from SpiritWeb, including file layouts, record types, delivery method, and frequency for participant/account, appointment, benefit, clinic, vendor, and APL data. Is any real-time or API-based access available, or are all feeds batch? | All files sent are batch updates on a schedule. The APL, missed and appointment reminder are sent nightly. Vendors (grocery stores and farmer sale sites/markets) and Clinic files are sent on an adhoc basis. Participant food benefit balances are on an hourly schedule. File formats are based on the current vendors and cannot be shared. There are no real time APIs currently in place. In the future or based on the proposed solution real time API could be desirable. | |
| 3 | Will vendor and clinic data include geolocation information? | Yes, mapping with driving directions published is required for vendors (grocery stores and farmer sale sites/markets) and clinics. | |
| 4 | Does Maine expect offline capabilities for APL lookup in low-connectivity areas or is this capability expected to be online only? | Offline capabilities is expected. | |
| 5 | How frequently is appointment data produced by SpiritWeb, and what timeliness does Maine expect between a missed appointment and the notification? | Appointment requests/missed appointment notifictions are sent nightly. | |
| 6 | Should the displayed benefit balance be sourced from the EBT processor (real-time remaining balance) or from SpiritWeb issuance files (issued amounts)? The SOW language "as made available by Maine WIC" is ambiguous, and the two have very different cost and latency implications. | Bidders should describe and provide pricing for batch and real time updates. Currently, food benefit balances are sent hourly and does not include any redemption deductions until the nightly process with the EBT processor completes each day. | |
| 7 | Will the Department facilitate the connection between the awarded Bidder and the State's eWIC EBT processor necessary to display an accurate benefit balance? | No, there is not a direct interface to the EBT processor to incur costs of this nature. | |
| 8 | If the processor charges interface, access, or per-transaction fees for third-party balance inquiry, which party bears those costs, and where should they be reflected in the Cost Proposal Form? | There is not a direct interface to the EBT processor to incur costs of this nature. | |
| 9 | What is the current term end date of the State's eWIC EBT processing contract, and does the Department anticipate an EBT reprocurement or processor conversion during the contract period? | The current EBT processing contract ends 3/31/2027. The Department is in the process of executing a new EBT contract with FIS/CDP. | |
| 10 | Should the cost of supporting that transition be included in the base proposal or handled as a change request? | No, the services under this RFP will not begin until the new EBT contract is in place. | |
| 11 | a. What data elements does Maine expect a participant to supply to register an eWIC card (card number, DOB, household ID)? | ||
| b. Does the State have an existing standard it wants matched? | a. Only the eWIC Card Number. |
b. The current assigned BIN and card number.
12 For the 22 required languages:
a. Does Maine expect professionally translated content for all languages at go-live, or a phased rollout?
b. Who reviews and approves translations? a. Yes, at go-live.
b. The Department's WIC Program will provide the translations to the awarded Bidder to configure.
| 13 | Who are the expected management portal users (State office only, or local agency staff), approximately how many, and what role-based permissions are needed? | Currently there are no managmeent portal users. It is at the Bidder's discretion to propose management portal users, how many, and what role-based permissions make sense for the proposed solution. |
| 14 | What targeting does Maine expect for push notifications (all users, by clinic, by language, by participant category, by benefit status)? Targeting by participant attributes requires MIS data beyond what's implied today. | Push notifications are sent to all participants when used. Languages must be managed by user settings in the mobile application. |
| 15 | Control CSP2 requires all proposed products to authenticate natively with Microsoft Active Directory and Okta. Does this apply only to State-staff access to the management portal, or is it also intended to apply to participant logins to the mobile app? Participants are not State directory users. | The Department does not intend for State-staff to have access to the mangement portal. Future vision for the launch of the State's MyMaine.gov may require Participants to authenticate if they are entering their eWIC EBT card number into the application. To date, there is not an anticipated launch date for MyMaine.gov. |
| 16 | a. Will social media logins be allowed for the mobile app? |
b. What other login mechanisms are expected?
c. Is MFA expected for participant logins? a. No.
b. None.
c. No.
| 17 | The app must let participants send product requests, suggestions, and problem reports to Maine WIC. Where should those route (State office inbox, stay in the portal, or into SpiritWeb)? | Maine WIC has a designated generic email address that will be provided to the awarded Bidder for this purpose. Mobile application users will use a feature in the mobile application that will send an email to the Maine WIC designated email address. Log in will not be required to use this feature. Users may send anonymously or request confirmation/contact from Maine WIC. | |
| 18 | Does Maine expect two-way response capability, and is there a response-time expectation? | Two-way response capabilities with participants is not expected. | |
| 19 | a. Does the Department expect the application to provide built-in nutrition education functionality; or | ||
| b. To integrate with an external nutrition education provider such as wichealth.org? | a. No. |
b. Links to other helpful resources are expected as mentioned in the RFP such as Learn the Signs Act Early.
| 20 | a. Does Maine WIC have an existing nutrition education contract in place; and | |
| b. Is completion tracking expected to be written back to SpiritWeb? | a. No. |
b. No.
| 21 | a. Will the Department provide the recipe and lifestyle content to be displayed; or | |
| b. Does the Department expect the awarded Bidder to source or author this content? | a. No. |
b. Yes.
| 22 | Who holds editorial approval, and is this content expected to be professionally translated into all languages required under Part II, B.? | Maine WIC will provide final approval and translations. | |
| 23 | Schedule 4 is headed "Initial Period of Performance 10/1/2026-9/30/2028," but the row labels read 1/1/2027-9/30/2027 and 10/1/2027-9/30/2028, and Part I, D states the initial period is 1/1/2027-9/30/2028. Which dates govern? | The initial period of performance is 1/1/2027 - 9/30/2028; total of 21 months. | |
| 24 | The cost form has no schedule for change requests or the optional future features listed in the SOW (farmer market transactions, secure document uploads, online ordering). Should bidders include hourly rates, a blended rate card, or a pool of hours? If so, where? | Bidders must include all cost costs necessary, as a firm fixed cost, for the Bidder to fully comply with the contract terms, conditions, and RFP requirements, including the cost of the option of introducing new features outlined in Part II, B.19. of the RFP. | |
| 25 | a. What invoicing basis does the State anticipate for Schedules 2 and 3 (milestone/deliverable acceptance). | ||
| b. Can monthly invoices be assumed for Schedules 4 and 5? | a. Milestones and deliverables met will be included on a monthly invoice post acceptance. |
b. Yes.
| 26 | Please confirm the Total Cost used for scoring includes all four renewal periods, i.e., roughly ten years of pricing. | The Total Cost on Schedule 1, which includes the Initial Period of Performance and all Renewal Periods, will be used to score the cost proposal as defined in Part V, B.3. of the RFP. | |
| 27 | The contract effective date is 1/1/2027, but the SOW contains no implementation schedule. What production go-live date is Maine targeting? Bidders need this to align the required work plan and Schedule 2 milestones. | The expectation is that the mobile application is built and available immediately for use without an extensive "implementation schedule" other than what is needed to complete translations and one way file exchange testing in the awarded Bidder's expected file format. Bidder should propose an implementation schedule in their proposal response/Work Plan. | |
| 28 | a. Can the State provide the current versions of the GenAI Policy and Prohibited Technologies Policy referenced in CSP16 and CSP19; and | ||
| b. Confirm whether any AI-assisted features (for example, translation) would be permitted? | a. Refer to the two links below. |
b. Bidders may propose AI features. All AI features, if any must, comply with MaineIT policies. Translaitons will not be generated by AI.
| https://www.maine.gov/oit/sites/maine.gov.oit/files/inline-files/GenAIPolicy.pdf | |||
| https://www.maine.gov/oit/prohibited-technologies | |||
| 29 | Schedule 3 instructs bidders to bid a Firm Fixed Price while also requesting the number of hours per task. Please confirm that bidders should provide both and clarify how the hours will be used in evaluation. | Bidders must provide a firm fixed price including the number of hours per task. Only the firm fixed price for the Initial Period of Performance and all Renewal Periods will be used to score the cost proposal as defined in Part V, B.3. of the RFP. The estimated number of hours per task provides the Department with the Bidder's justification for the proposed cost, but is not used in the evalution process. | |
| 30 | Part II requires timely and responsive application production support, but does not define service levels. What help desk hours, coverage days, and response and resolution times does the Department expect? | Production support must be provided Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. Response must include confirmation of a reqeust (banner, push notification or document/button or link update) within 4 hours. Production support issues must be confirmed within one hour and updates provided regularly until resolved. | |
| 31 | Is the awarded Bidder's help desk expected to be Participant-facing, and if so, in which languages? | No. | |
| 32 | Schedule 6 of the Cost Proposal Form includes a Training line item, but Part II does not state a training requirement. Please describe the Department's training expectations, including audience, delivery method, and frequency. | Maine WIC expects the WIC mobile application to enhance and improve the WIC Participant shopping experience. It is necessary for Maine WIC State employees to be informed of functionality so it may be shared with clinic staff Statewide as a tool for WIC participants. Training should be a one time event with training materials prepared or recorded that may be reused and enhanced during the life of the contract as features and content evolves. | |
| 33 | Schedule 6 states costs should be provided "if this is not part of the price of the core system." please confirm that bidders should enter zero on Schedule 6 rather than pricing it separately, so that proposals are directly comparable. | It is at the Bidder's discretion to determine where the cost of training is provided within the Cost Form; either provided as part of the core system requirement on Schedules 2 or 3 or provided on Schedule 6. The Total Cost on Schedule 1 is considered the Proposed Cost and will be used to score the cost proposal as defined in Part V, B.3. of the RFP. | |
| 34 | Part VI, A | ||
| Please confirm the required insurance limits for general liability, professional liability, and cyber or technology errors and omissions coverage. | Bidders should consult with their insurance agent to discuss reasonable insurance limits. | ||
| 35 | For the demonstration the week of October 26, 2026: will the State provide a script or scenario list in advance, and is a Maine-configured environment expected, or is a demonstration of an existing state's production app acceptable? | Demonstration presentations will be at the discretion of each Bidder invited to demonstrate their proposed mobile application. | |
| 36 | Would the State consider allowing languages beyond English, Spanish, and Somali to be added after the initial application rollout, providing sufficient time to integrate translations as they become available? | No, all languages must be implemented prior to go-live. | |
| 37 | Section IIB, paragraph 5, page 9 | ||
| Will the state be providing translations, or is it the contractor's responsibility to provide translations for each requested language? | The Department's WIC Program will provide the translations to the awarded Bidder to configure. | ||
| 38 | If a state implements another language, will Maine accept the approved translations from the other state? (Section IIB, paragraph 5a, page 9) | The Department is open to implementing other translations at no additional fee or charge. | |
| 39 | Will the State considering extending the submission deadline? | Refer to Amendment #1 in VSS. | |
| 40 | Would the State allow all "Contact Us" requests to be directed to the State, with requests requiring contractor assistance then escalated to the contractor, to avoid requiring participants to determine which party to contact? | Yes. | |
| 41 | Could you please confirm whether a Pakistan-based development firm may participate as a disclosed subcontractor to a qualifying U.S. prime, and whether overseas personnel may perform development, QA or integration work under the State’s security and data-residency requirements? | All interested parties who meet the eligibility requirements outline in Part I, C. may submit a bid. However, all production data must reside in the Continental United States. No overseas entity can have access to production data or the production platform. Any awarded Bidder and/or their subcontractor who resides outside of the Continental United States would be required to create Synthetic or Obfuscated Data and the processes and workflows to support the separation of duties. | |
| 42 | a. Are Canadian vendors eligible to submit, assuming all technical, security and contractual requirements can be met? |
b. Is registration in Maine’s Vendor Self Service system available to a Canadian corporation, and are there any U.S.-specific registrations that must already be in place before proposal submission?
c. For the requested three years of financial statements, will equivalent Canadian corporate financial records be accepted?
d. Are any required hosting/data-residency components restricted to U.S.-based infrastructure or U.S.-only personnel? a. All interested parties who meet the eligibility requirements outline in Part I, C. may submit a bid.
b. Questions related to the State's VSS should be directed to Maine's Office of State Procurement Services at 207-624-7340.
c. Yes.
d. All production data must reside in the Continental United States. No overseas entity can have access to production data or the production platform. Any awarded Bidder and/or their subcontractor who resides outside of the Continental United States would be required to create Synthetic or Obfuscated Data and the processes and workflows to support the separation of duties.
https://www.maine.gov/oit/prohibited-technologieshttps://www.maine.gov/oit/sites/maine.gov.oit/files/inline-files/GenAIPolicy.pdf
Other files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| AMD#1 RFP 202608127.docx | DOCX document | |
| AMD#2 RFP 202608127.docx | DOCX document | |
| WIC Mobile App Technical Assessment Form.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| WIC Mobile App Cost Form- Final.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| WIC Mobile App Response Form.docx | DOCX document | |
| RFP# 202608127 - Maine WIC Mobile Application Software and Support Services_Final.docx | DOCX document |
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