RFQ 27-05430 for AWS Hosting and Related Services Final 07.17.26.docx

Web Hosting and Related Services

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Executive Office of Technology Services and Security

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Technology Services and Security

Request for Quotation EOTSS RFQ 27-05430 for AWS Hosting and Related Services

COMMBUYS Bid Number (ITS88 Category 1): BD-27-1060-ITD00-ITD00-131372 COMMBUYS Bid Number (ITS88 Category 2): BD-27-1060-ITD00-ITD00-131373

July 17, 2026

IN ACCORDANCE WITH M.G.L. C. 66 AND M.G.L. C. 4, § 7 (26), THIS RFQ AND ALL RESPONSES HERETO INCLUDING THE WINNING BID SHALL BECOME PUBLIC RECORD, AND CAN BE OBTAINED FROM THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY SERVICES AND SECURITY BY SUBMITTING A REQUEST AT https://www.mass.gov/executive-office-of-technology-services-and-security-prr. ANY PORTIONS OF A RESPONSE THAT ARE LABELED AS CONFIDENTIAL WILL STILL BE CONSIDERED PUBLIC RECORD.

General Procurement Information

General Information

Purchasing Entity: Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (“EOTSS”) or (“Agency”)

Address: One Ashburton Place, Eighth Floor, Boston, MA 02108

Procurement Contact: Nelson Wong

Telephone: 617-626-04553

E-Mail Address: nelson.wong@mass.gov

RFQ File Number and Title: EOTSS RFQ 27-05430 for AWS Hosting and Related Services

Attachments: Attachment A – COMMBUYS Instructions

This Request for Quotes (“RFQ”) does not commit the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (“Commonwealth”) or Agency to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a Bidder’s response to this RFQ or to purchase any products or services. The Agency may: (i) accept or reject any and all bids received as a result of this RFQ; (ii) contract for some, all, or none of the products and services offered by Bidders in response to this RFQ; (iii) negotiate with one or more qualified Bidders; or (iv) cancel, in part or in its entirety, this RFQ if it is in the best interest of the Commonwealth to do so.

The Agency may amend this RFQ at any time prior to the date the responses are due. Any such amendment will be posted to the Commonwealth’s procurement website, CommBUYS (www.commbuys.com).

Bidders must submit their bids through the Commonwealth’s online procurement system, COMMBUYS, as detailed in Attachment A. Bidders are advised to check this site regularly, as this will be the sole method used for notification of changes.

Eligible Bidders

This RFQ is restricted to Bidders on the following Statewide Contracts:

· ITS88: IaaS, PaaS, and Related Services (Category 1 and 2)

Event Calendar

All times in this RFQ are in prevailing Eastern Time. Responses must be received no later than the response due date and time indicated below or they will not be evaluated. Bidders must have their responses fully loaded and accepted in COMMBUYS prior to the RFQ Response Due date and time listed below. Bidders are urged to allow sufficient time to upload their entire response.

* EOTSS reserves the right to invite selected Bidders to deliver oral presentations. Key Bidder personnel must be available to present on short notice.

Purchasing Agency

The Executive Office of Technology Services and Security is responsible for the development of IT policy and implementation and oversight of all information technology investments for the Commonwealth and its respective agencies. EOTSS has broad statutory authority to effectuate the goals prompting IT consolidation in Chapter 64 of the Acts of 2017, as memorialized and articulated in M.G.L. c. 6A, s. 7A and M.G.L. c. 7D. As the lead enterprise IT and cybersecurity organization for the Executive Branch, EOTSS provides responsive digital and security services, and oversees and manages the enterprise technology and digital infrastructure and services for over 125 state agencies and over 43,000 state employees. EOTSS provides Enterprise Cybersecurity and Risk Management services, Infrastructure and Network services, End-User Support and IT services, Digital and Data services, Strategy Management and Consulting services, and additional IT-focused services to the Executive Branch and other Commonwealth users.

☒ If checked, the contract resulting from this RFQ will be made available to other Executive Department entities for the purchase of products or services. EOTSS may, in its option, require its prior approval for such entities to purchase products or services.

Description and Purpose of Procurement

Background

EOTSS currently maintains multiple Master Services Agreements (“MSAs”) under RFR 16-21 for resale of AWS hosting, managed services, support and training, and professional services offerings. The current agreements are scheduled to expire on June 30, 2027. These MSAs provide AWS cloud services and professional services across the Executive Branch, numerous independent state entities, and certain municipalities. Through the existing MSAs, EOTSS and participating entities are actively undertaking and supporting migrations of applications, infrastructure, and workloads from on-premises environments to the AWS cloud. Given the Commonwealth’s continuing cloud modernization strategy and the substantial volume of migration, optimization, and related cloud services work currently underway, EOTSS anticipates that such migration, cloud transformation activities, and additional implementation of new technologies will continue throughout the remaining term of the current agreements and beyond.

Through this RFQ, EOTSS intends to reprocure these services for continued use by Eligible Entities authorized under statewide contract ITS88.

Specifically, EOTSS anticipates awarding:

· one (1) Contractor to provide resale of AWS hosting and managed services under ITS88 Category 1 (“AWS Hosting and Managed Services”);

· up to four (4) Contractors to provide managed services only under ITS88 Category 1 (“Managed Services”); and

· up to five (5) Contractors to provide professional services under ITS88 Category 2 (“Professional Services”.

The resulting agreements will be established as Master Services Agreements (“MSAs”) for use by Eligible Entities identified under ITS88. EOTSS reserves the right to make fewer awards, no awards, or awards by service category or capability, as determined to be in the best interest of the Commonwealth.

Description of Solution and Services

The Agency is issuing this RFQ to purchase the following:

☒ Public Cloud Services and Managed Services ☒ Cloud Professional Services ☐ Co-location and Private Cloud Services

1. AWS Hosting as a combined offering with Managed Services and Managed Services as a standalone offering

EOTSS intends to enter into a Private Pricing Addendum (“PPA”) with the selected Contractor for the resale of AWS hosting and managed services. EOTSS anticipates making an aggregate spend commitment of approximately $36.98 million annually over the term of the 4-year term of the PPA in exchange for discounted pricing and other value-added benefits for the Commonwealth. The PPA shall not preclude the Commonwealth from participating in or receiving the benefit of any new or enhanced AWS pricing programs, discount mechanisms, incentive offerings, or purchasing models introduced during the PPA term that provide greater value to the Commonwealth. The Contractor shall proactively notify the Commonwealth of any AWS pricing programs, discount opportunities, incentive offerings, or purchasing models for which the Commonwealth may be eligible during the term of the PPA and shall reasonably assist the Commonwealth in obtaining such benefits.

EOTSS currently anticipates a four (4) year PPA term; however, Respondents may propose alternative PPA structures, term lengths, pricing models, or discount percentages where such alternatives provide greater value, cost savings, flexibility, or other benefits to the Commonwealth. EOTSS reserves the right to negotiate final PPA terms, including commitment levels, duration, pricing protections, discount structures, and associated incentives, as part of the award process.

Statewide Contract Administrative Fee Reminder: Bidders are reminded that, although purchases under Statewide Contracts are generally subject to a 1% Contract Administration Fee pursuant to M.G.L. c. 7, § 3B and 801 CMR 4.02, OSD has waived the fee for Executive Department purchases under ITS88 for the first seven (7) years of the contract term. Accordingly, bidders are expected to reflect this cost savings in the pricing submitted in response to this RFQ.

Respondents bidding on AWS Hosting and Managed Services must describe in detail their proposed transition and onboarding approach for transferring existing AWS accounts and related managed services from the current vendor environment to the Respondent’s operational control. EOTSS is open to creative transition strategies and alternative approaches that minimize operational disruption, reduce transition risk, improve efficiencies, and provide additional value to the Commonwealth. Respondents are encouraged to propose competitive pricing models for transition activities, including proposals that provide transition and onboarding services at no additional cost to the Commonwealth.

For the AWS Hosting and Managed Services award, EOTSS expects the selected Contractor to support the purchase and management of eligible Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) offerings through the AWS Marketplace where licensing the software in connection with Infrastructure-as-a-Service (“IaaS”) or Platform-as-a-Service (“PaaS”) provides a technical advantage, operational efficiency, procurement efficiency, or better overall value to the Commonwealth. Better value may include, but is not limited to, materially reduced pricing as compared to other available Commonwealth Statewide Contracts, consolidated billing and management capabilities, improved integration with AWS environments, or flexible pay-as-you-go consumption models. Before recommending AWS Marketplace purchases, replacement licensing, or other new software acquisitions, Respondents should describe their approach to assessing and optimizing the Commonwealth's existing software licenses, subscription agreements, and licensing entitlements to avoid unnecessary duplication and maximize the value of existing investments. Respondents should demonstrate how their proposed methodology evaluates available licensing options and ensures that any recommendation for Marketplace or replacement licensing represents the best overall value to the Commonwealth based on technical, operational, and financial considerations. Respondents should also describe their AWS Marketplace capabilities, including the ability to facilitate, administer, govern, report on, and optimize Marketplace purchases on behalf of Eligible Entities.

Respondents proposing AWS Hosting and Managed Services must clearly identify all applicable service level agreements (“SLAs”) associated with both AWS-provided services and any managed services provided directly by the Respondent. At a minimum, EOTSS expects all applicable AWS SLAs, remedies, and service credits to be fully passed through to the Commonwealth without limitation or reduction. Preference may be given to Respondents that offer enhanced SLA commitments and/or service credits that exceed standard AWS service credit offerings.

Respondents must also provide commercially competitive SLAs for all Managed Services within their control, including but not limited to availability, response times, incident resolution, escalation management, operational support, and service restoration. Responses should clearly identify all associated service credits, remedies, exclusions, and exceptions applicable to each SLA. Preference may be given to Respondents that offer measurable, easy-to-administer SLAs with limited exclusions and minimal circumstances under which SLA remedies would not apply.

EOTSS expects SLA performance metrics and reporting to be transparent, easy to track, and regularly monitored by the Respondent. Respondents should describe their proposed SLA monitoring and reporting processes, including any automated dashboards, self-reporting mechanisms, periodic reporting cadence, and processes for identifying, documenting, and proactively issuing applicable service credits. Respondents should also describe how the Commonwealth will be able to independently view, export, and retain SLA performance data for contract oversight and performance management at both the Commonwealth-wide and individual Agency level, if possible.

Transition-In Commitment Upon Contract Award

The response must clearly identify: (i) the estimated transition timeline required to transition approximately seven (7) payers and their sub-accounts and associated services; (ii) key transition phases and milestones; (iii) any assumptions, dependencies, or required cooperation from the current vendor and/or the Commonwealth; and (iv) the level of support, access, documentation, or coordination necessary to complete a successful transition. Respondents should also identify any anticipated risks or constraints associated with the transition process and describe proposed mitigation strategies.

Transition-Out Commitment Upon Contract Expiration or Termination If awarded a contract under this RFQ, the Respondent shall support an orderly transition of services upon contract expiration, termination, or non-renewal. The Response to this RFQ must identify: (i) the estimated transition timeline; (ii) key transition phases and milestones; (iii) any assumptions, dependencies, or required cooperation from the Commonwealth and/or a successor contractor; and (iv) the level of support, documentation, knowledge transfer, access, and coordination necessary to complete a successful transition.

Respondents shall describe their approach to maintaining current transition documentation, operational procedures, architecture and service inventories, transition roadmaps, and knowledge transfer materials throughout the contract term. Respondents shall also identify any anticipated transition risks or constraints and describe proposed mitigation strategies to ensure continuity of services and a successful transfer of responsibilities.

EOTSS currently has access to CloudHealth at no additional cost to the Commonwealth through existing vendor arrangements. EOTSS seeks to continue receiving access to CloudHealth or a substantially similar cloud management, reporting, and optimization platform as part of the resulting agreement at no additional cost to the Commonwealth. The platform shall provide capabilities for cloud cost visibility, utilization, monitoring, governance, reporting, and optimization, including detailed cost reporting that reconciles to the invoices, configurable views of list of net costs (including committed-use savings, enterprise discounts, credits, and other pricing adjustments), flexible roll-up and drill-down reporting, documented APIs to access AWS cost and usage data and reports, support for data-driven optimization recommendations, and support for the current FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) standard maintained by the FinOps Foundation. Preference may be given to Respondents that continue to provide no cost access to CloudHealth.

EOTSS intends to award up to four (4) additional Contractors to provide managed services in order to ensure that Eligible Entities have access to a broad range of technical capabilities, specialized expertise, service delivery models, and competitive pricing options. EOTSS recognizes that managed service needs may vary significantly across Eligible Entities based on operational requirements, cloud maturity, security needs, application environments, staffing models, and project complexity. Establishing multiple managed services vendors will promote flexibility, resiliency, scalability, and competition, while reducing dependency on a single provider and enabling Eligible Entities to select the Contractor best suited to their specific business and technical requirements.

Respondents should clearly describe their proposed managed services pricing methodology, including whether pricing is based on a percentage of AWS spend, fixed monthly fees, resource or account counts, ticket volumes, staffing levels, service tiers, consumption metrics, or a hybrid pricing structure. Responses should also identify all included and excluded services, assumptions underlying the pricing model, minimum commitments, variable pricing components, and any additional fees that may apply for onboarding, transition, after-hours support, project-based work, or specialized services. Respondents should also provide their proposed markup for the resale of managed services provided by AWS.

EOTSS strongly prefers transparent, predictable, and easy-to-administer pricing structures that align costs with actual service consumption and provide flexibility for varying Commonwealth workloads and cloud usage patterns. Preference may be given to Respondents that offer competitive pricing models with clear cost controls, scalable service options, and pricing structures that avoid unnecessary complexity or hidden fees.

2. Professional Services

EOTSS intends to award up to five (5) Contractors to provide professional services related to cloud computing, including but not limited to strategy and architecture, application migration and modernization, implementation of cloud solutions, cloud-native application development, application integration, data migration and integration, platform engineering, DevSecOps and automation, infrastructure as code (IaC), cloud operations, security and compliance, performance and cost optimization, management of cloud environments, disaster recovery and resilience, artificial intelligence and machine learning enablement, and training and knowledge transfer services. EOTSS recognizes that cloud-related professional services encompass a broad range of technical capabilities, service methodologies, and platform specializations that may vary significantly among Eligible Entities and projects. Establishing multiple professional services vendors will provide Eligible Entities with access to diverse technical expertise, scalable staffing resources, and competitive service offerings necessary to support varying cloud modernization, optimization, and ongoing operational needs across the Commonwealth.

Respondents are expected to demonstrate the ability to provide highly qualified personnel with relevant technical experience, certifications, and subject matter expertise necessary to support Commonwealth cloud initiatives. The titles and roles identified in this solicitation represent the Commonwealth’s current anticipated staffing needs; however, the Commonwealth reserves the right to request additional roles, skill sets, or labor categories during the term of the Contract as business needs, technology priorities, or project requirements evolve. EOTSS encourages Respondents to propose flexible staffing models that may include onshore and offshore resources, where appropriate and permissible, in order to provide the Commonwealth with access to the best available resources, operational flexibility, and competitive pricing. Responses should clearly identify proposed labor categories, qualifications, certifications, staffing locations, rate structures, and any distinctions between onshore and offshore service delivery models. Preference may be given to Respondents that demonstrate the ability to provide highly qualified resources at competitive rates while maintaining strong service quality, continuity, and responsiveness.

Respondents should provide examples of prior AWS cloud migration and modernization projects of similar size, scope, and complexity, particularly projects involving public sector, healthcare, highly regulated, or large enterprise environments. Responses should include a summary of the services provided, the scale and complexity of the migration, relevant AWS technologies utilized, transition and implementation timelines, staffing model, and measurable outcomes achieved, including operational improvements, cost savings, performance enhancements, or risk reductions.

Preference may be given to Respondents that demonstrate successful experience managing large-scale AWS government migrations with minimal operational disruption, effective governance and project management practices, and strong customer satisfaction. EOTSS may also consider the Respondent’s demonstrated ability to provide knowledge transfer, training, and long-term operational support following migration activities.

The labor categories listed below reflect potential resource requirements for cloud-related initiatives; The Commonwealth may or may not engage resources in each category. Respondents must demonstrate the capability to provide personnel with the requisite experience, certifications, and subject matter expertise for these roles and for other related roles that may be required during the term of the Contract.

Cloud & Platform Engineering:

Principal Cloud Architect Cloud Solutions Architect Platform Architect Cloud Platform Engineer Senior Platform Engineer AWS Infrastructure Engineer Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) DevOps Engineer Platform Reliability Engineer

Cloud-Native Application Development:

Cloud Application Architect Serverless Architect Cloud-Native Developer Container Platform Engineer/Kubernetes Engineer (EKS) API Integration Architect

Artificial Intelligence:

AI Architect AI/ML Solutions Architect AI Platform Engineer Prompt Engineer LLM Engineer AI Engineer Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Engineer AI Security Architect Responsible AI Consultant AWS Bedrock Specialist

Data & Analytics:

Data Architect Cloud Data Engineer Analytics Engineer Data Platform Engineer Lakehouse Architect Data Governance Consultant DataOps Engineer

Security:

Cloud Security Architect Zero Trust Architect Security Automation Engineer Cloud Detection & Response Engineer DevSecOps Engineer Identity & Access Management (IAM) Architect AWS Security Specialist

Operations & Automation:

Site Reliability Engineer Cloud Operations Engineer Automation Engineer Observability Engineer Incident Response Engineer Platform Operations Engineer

FinOps & Governance:

FinOps Architect Cloud Cost Optimization Consultant Cloud Governance Architect Cloud Compliance Consultant AWS Well-Architected Specialist

Innovation and Continuous Learning The Commonwealth recognizes that cloud technologies and AWS services continue to evolve. Respondents are encouraged to support the Commonwealth's ongoing learning and innovation efforts by providing, at no additional cost, opportunities for Commonwealth personnel to attend AWS Innovation Days, AWS-sponsored events, workshops, briefings, conferences, and similar technology or cloud innovation events offered by AWS, the Respondent, or other industry organizations.

Respondents should describe any such offerings in their response.

Known Assumptions, Constraints, and Dependencies

Respondents must identify and disclose all known assumptions, dependencies, constraints, prerequisites, and third-party requirements associated with the proposed solution and service delivery model. Responses should clearly describe any operational, technical, contractual, staffing, transition, security, access, licensing, or infrastructure assumptions that may impact pricing, implementation timelines, service delivery, transition activities, SLA performance, or the Commonwealth’s ongoing use of the services. Respondents must also identify any required participation, approvals, information, documentation, access, or coordination expected from the Commonwealth and/or the incumbent vendor in order to successfully transition, implement, or support the proposed services.

EOTSS expects Respondents to provide transparent and comprehensive disclosures regarding any known limitations, exclusions, risks, or dependencies associated with their proposal. Preference may be given to Respondents that identify and proactively address potential risks and constraints, provide practical mitigation strategies, and minimize operational, contractual, or technical dependencies on the Commonwealth.

Estimated Term

The estimated term of any contract entered into under this RFQ shall consist of 7 years and may be renewed or extended upon written agreement by the awarded Bidder and the Agency. The initial term and all renewals or extensions shall be referred to collectively as the “Term.” The maximum Term length will be governed by the applicable Statewide Contract.

Order of Precedence

The agreement resulting from this RFQ shall consist of the following documents in the following order of precedence:

Data Classification and the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)

Data Classification

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts collects, manages, and stores information to support its business operations. The Commonwealth is committed to preserving the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its information assets. Such information assets may include, without limitation, personal information, confidential information, and information protected under applicable law. Bidder agrees and acknowledges that its access, or potential access, to certain information assets may require certifications, background checks, or other additional requirements. Agency anticipates that the awarded Bidder will have access, or potential access, to the following data types as a result of providing services/products to Agency under this RFQ.

M. G. L. c. 66A

-Commonwealth of Massachusetts Dept. of Revenue background check

NCIC 2000 Operating Manual CJIS Security Policy Title 28, CFR Part 20 -Dept. of Criminal Justice Information certification -background check

NCIC 2000 Operating Manual CJIS Security Policy Title 28, CFR Part 20 -Dept. of Criminal Justice Information certification -background check

5 U.S.C. 552a s. 1106 -background check

Bidder certifies that its products or services, as offered in its RFQ response, meet all applicable legal and regulatory requirements pertaining to the identified data types indicated above. Bidder also agrees to enter into additional agreement(s), as reasonably requested by the Commonwealth prior to gaining access, or potential access, to Commonwealth information assets. Bidder acknowledges that the list above is not exhaustive, and Agency may designate additional data types, applicable laws and regulations, and additional required documentation in the contract resulting from this RFQ or any amendment thereto.

Use of Generative AI

The following provisions apply both to Generative AI (“GenAI”) that the Contractor proposes to use or will use to fulfill its obligations under a contract, and to GenAI tools that Contractor will provide directly to the Agency for its own use.

Use of GenAI Conditioned on Compliance with these Terms Contractor shall not use GenAI to fulfill any obligations under the contract with the Agency or provide any GenAI tools to the Agency unless the contract includes terms consistent with this section, “Use of Generative AI”.

Use and Deletion of Agency Data Contractor shall not use Agency Data (defined as data provided by Agency and any data derived therefrom, including metadata (collectively, the “Agency Data”) for training, tuning, or testing the GenAI model unless required for the performance of Services and where the Agency has provided written consent for both the use of the GenAI tool and the Agency Data. Any permitted Agency Data inputs will be strictly limited to the data and inputs provided under this Agreement and will not extend to other Agency intellectual property. If the GenAI system/solution or Contractor’s provision of other services under the Contract require the use of Agency Data as GenAI training data, Contractor shall only use Agency Data as strictly necessary to provide the Services. Both the Contractor and Agency shall retain control over their data and have the ability to delete their data. Contractor shall delete all Agency Data within 30 days of receiving written notification from the Agency and shall confirm in writing that all Agency Data has been deleted.

Intellectual Property, Accuracy, Bias, Discrimination, Mitigation and Quality Control of GenAI Contractor’s use of GenAI will be specifically limited to the automated creation of the material expressly defined in this Agreement’s scope. All GenAI usage will be configured to strictly align with the Agency’s brand guidelines. Contractor will implement robust quality control measures to review and approve, through non-automated means, all content generated by the GenAI tool before it is published, distributed or used in any business context. The review process must occur prior to any content being deployed or utilized in business operations, and every month thereafter, and must ensure that the content aligns with all the relevant policies, regulations and quality expectations. Additionally, the Contractor must identify, document and mitigate any biases, discrimination or otherwise unlawful outcomes based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law in the AI solution or services.

Breach and Termination Notwithstanding any other terms to the contrary in the Solicitation, or any contract entered by Contractor, Contractor’s failure to meet any of the obligations set forth in this provision “Use of Generative AI” will constitute a breach of the contract entitling the Commonwealth to terminate the contract for cause and without penalty and to pursue damages and any other legal or equitable remedies to which it may be entitled.

Amendments to GenAI Terms The Commonwealth reserves the right to negotiate an amendment incorporating additional GenAI contract provisions into the contract or terminate in whole or in part any contract that, in the sole determination of the Commonwealth, presents an unacceptable level of risk to the Commonwealth with respect to GenAI.

Provision of Evaluative Information Contractor shall regularly monitor the performance of the GenAI system to detect and rectify system behavior that violates any of these provisions. Contractor shall promptly communicate the discovery of system behavior that violates any of the requirements in this ‘Use of Generative AI’ section to the Commonwealth, including the potential impact to the services.

Order of Precedence This section “Use of Generative AI” will take precedence over any conflicting GenAI contract terms provided by the Contractor to the Agency.

Updates to the Model/Platform Contractor shall provide reasonable notice to the Agency of any updates to the GenAI model/platform that substantially impact the services prior to the updates taking place.

Audit Contractor certifies that on an annual basis, or upon request of the Agency, its GenAI systems, models, or platforms, and related processes, training materials, training data sets, and its use and management of synthetic data, comply with the requirements of the Agreement. Contractor further certifies that it retains GenAI audit logs consistent with the terms of Schedule F of the Commonwealth’s Records in Common Schedule. Such certification shall be made in writing by an authorized officer of the Contractor and shall be subject to the same confidentiality protections as set forth in the Agreement, except as disclosure is required by law.

Control For GenAI solutions/systems/models developed for the Agency, Contractor shall provide mechanisms through which the Agency can oversee the development and testing of the GenAI and where necessary override its functionality through human intervention.

Disentanglement As of the termination date of the contract, or other date agreed upon by the Parties or determined by the Commonwealth, the Contractor shall cease the use of Generative AI in service delivery to the Agency; disengage Generative AI components; and comply with the transition/termination assistance obligations set forth in the contract.

Right to Use During the term of the contract, Contractor shall ensure that the Agency has access to the full functionality offered by the GenAI systems/solutions used in the scope of services, including without limitation the ability to use the system, develop and test solutions, and make copies (with appropriate commercial mechanisms) without any limitations or restrictions. This clause shall survive the term of the contract if, in the contract, the Agency identifies the use of the Generative AI system as of strategic importance.

Localization GenAI systems/solutions and data shall be hosted and stored in a cloud location controlled or approved by the Agency.

Representations Each representation and warranty set forth in the contract applicable to information technology shall apply with equal force to GenAI solutions/systems. In addition, Contractor warrants that the GenAI that is part of the system/solution shall be accurate and generate unbiased results and, should Contractor fail to deliver on this warranty, it shall remedy, at no cost to the Agency, any such defects in the GenAI system/solution.

Additional Requirements

Enterprise Information Security Standards and Policies

All products and services provided to the Commonwealth must comply with all applicable policies adopted by the Agency, which shall be made available to Bidder prior to contract execution. At a minimum, all goods and services provided to the Commonwealth must comply with the Enterprise Information Security Standards and Policies (https://www.mass.gov/handbook/enterprise-information-security-policies-and-standards). Bidders shall provide information that demonstrates that their security practices meet the requirements detailed in these policies.

Accessibility for IT Solutions Contract Language

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Enterprise Digital Accessibility Policy drives ongoing efforts to make Massachusetts’ Digital Assets, including those delivered by a third-party, accessible and usable by all persons as required by state and federal laws. Where a Deliverable includes a Digital Asset, such Deliverable must meet the Commonwealth’s Digital Accessibility Standards.

The Commonwealth’s Digital Accessibility Standards include the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 level A and AA developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Bidder must comply with the digital accessibility obligations set forth in the Vendor Digital Accessibility Contract Language and Vendor Digital Accessibility Testing Obligations and any subsequent versions or amendments.

During the bidding process and upon request, Bidder shall cooperate and provide the Commonwealth, or any third-party digital accessibility service provider procured by the Commonwealth, access to test its digital products for accessibility at no additional cost to the Commonwealth. The digital products must be available to the Commonwealth for evaluation prior to purchase and on an ongoing basis.

Contract Negotiation and Amendments

The Agency may negotiate changes to the original performance measures, quantities, Term length, and requirements identified in this RFQ at any time, provided that such changes are consistent with the scope of this RFQ. The Agency may negotiate and execute contract amendments with the awarded Bidder(s) which the Agency reasonably determines are within the scope of this RFQ and necessary to result in best value to the Commonwealth.

Promotional Materials

Bidder must not reference the Agency or the Commonwealth in any promotional or marketing materials, including but not limited to use of the Agency’s or the Commonwealth’s name or logo, without first obtaining the Agency’s prior written approval for such use. Bidder must not use the Commonwealth’s seal in any promotional or marketing materials.

Bidders are discouraged from including extraneous promotional or marketing materials in their responses to this RFQ and excessive promotional or marketing materials may detract from the Bidders’ overall score.

Pending Litigation

Bidder must affirm that there is no pending litigation involving the Bidder, Provider, or the Solution provided in the response, that may impair or interfere with the Agency’s right to use the Solution. Bidder must warrant that there are no actual or threatened actions arising from, or alleged under, any intellectual property rights of any third party.

Oral Presentations and Demonstrations

In its discretion, the Agency may invite one or more Bidders whose responses have been judged competitive and responsive in the course of the evaluation to participate in a facilitated oral presentation, including a demonstration of the proposed Solution. The Agency may use these demonstrations and oral presentations to clarify aspects of the Bidder’s response or to inquire as to the Bidder’s approach, recommendations, and experience. The Agency may adjust its scoring of a prospective Bidder based on the Bidder’s performance during production demonstration and/or oral presentation.

The Agency reserves the right to apply restrictions to the structure and content of Bidder’s product demonstrations and oral presentations. Demonstrations and oral presentations shall not be open to the public nor to any competitors. The schedule of the demonstrations and oral presentations will be arranged directly with the Bidders selected by the Agency. Failure of a Bidder to agree to a date and time may result in rejection of the Bidder’s response.

Bidders must use publicly released products and operating systems in their demonstration. No pre-production products (e.g., “beta”) should be demonstrated. All Bidder-owned products used in the course of the demonstration must be listed and priced in the Cost Response (Form 3).

Review Rights

Responses to this RFQ may be reviewed and evaluated by any person(s) at the discretion of the Agency including non-allied and independent consultants retained by the Agency for the sole purpose of evaluating and analyzing responses.

Permitted Copies

At no additional cost, Bidders must authorize the Agency to make, keep and retain a reasonable number of machine-readable copies of all core software components included in the Bidder’s Solution for testing, backup or archival purposes (the “Permitted Copies”).

At no additional cost, Bidders must include the Agency licenses to implement a second instance of all core software components included in the Bidder’s Solution for disaster recovery purposes. In the event of a disaster recovery scenario, Bidder must authorize the Agency to run such second instance without requiring any additional licenses or fees. Bidder must authorize the Agency to make the Permitted Copies available to personnel at its disaster recovery site(s) who require use of such Solution to assist the Agency with disaster recovery exercises.

Risk Management

Bidder must indicate the types of system audits or assessments (e.g. SOC 2) it conducts or engages third parties to conduct on its behalf, pertaining to the quoted products or services, and the frequency of such audits or assessments. Any time after submitting its Bid, upon Agency's request, Bidder shall provide audit or assessment reports to the Agency.

Warranties

Bidder shall provide all warranties listed below. Additional warranties may be agreed to in the contract resulting from this RFQ.

i. Bidder must provide all warranties required by the applicable Statewide Contract.

ii. Bidder warrants that all software, software as a service, infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and related services (collectively, the “Solution”) shall be provided in accordance with applicable State and Federal laws and in accordance with industry standards.

iii. Bidder warrants that all personnel performing services shall act with due diligence and care and are qualified to perform such services in accordance with industry standards. Bidder warrants that it shall be responsible for the actions and omissions of all subcontractors and shall ensure all subcontractors’ compliance with the terms of an agreement resulting from this RFQ.

iv. Bidder warrants that for a minimum of six (6) months (the “Warranty Period”) after the Agency accepts any Solution, or for the entire duration of the subscription term to such Solution, the Solution delivered by Bidder under this RFQ will substantially conform to the applicable Specifications. As used in this RFQ, “Specifications” means (i) the requirements for the Solution set forth in this RFQ, (ii) the Solution’s functional, performance, and interoperability requirements set forth in any agreement entered hereunder; (iii) the Solution functionality and description provided in Bidder’s response to this RFQ, and (iv) to the extent not inconsistent with the foregoing, the Bidder’s published specifications and documentation for the Solution. If Agency discovers a non-conformity in the Solution during the Warranty Period, then Bidder shall use commercially reasonable efforts to, at its option, (1) correct the non-conformity, (2) provide a work around or patch that is acceptable to the Agency (a “Fix”), or (3) replace the Solution. If Bidder is unable to remedy a non-conformity within a reasonable period of time, Agency may terminate any agreement related to the Solution effective immediately upon written notice to Bidder. In this event, Bidder shall promptly pay to Agency an amount equivalent to all amounts paid by Agency for (i) Solution license fees; (ii) maintenance, support and service fees; and (iii) all amounts already paid and not yet rendered for the Solution and/or services not yet delivered to and accepted by Agency. Any replacement or error correction will not extend the original Warranty Period. During the Warranty Period, Bidder will not charge Agency for services, parts, labor or transportation.

v. Bidder warrants that all applicable agreements and terms will be provided in Bidder’s response. Bidder further warrants that the sale of the Solution and services, and the Agency’s use of the Solution, will not be subject to any shrink-wrap, click-through, online terms, or similar agreements. Any terms or agreements that are not executed by an authorized signatory of the Agency will be void.

vi. Bidder warrants that the Solution does not infringe on any existing intellectual property rights of any third party and that the Bidder has obtained all rights, grants, assignments, conveyances, licenses, permissions and authorizations necessary or incidental to any materials owned by third parties, supplied or specified by Bidder for incorporation into the Solution, including, but not limited to, data used to train GenAI models.

vii. Bidder warrants that it has made commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that the licensed copy of the Solution provided to Agency does not contain any virus, Trojan horse, worm or other software routines or equipment components designed to permit unauthorized access, to disable, erase, or otherwise harm software, equipment, or data (“Unauthorized Code”).

viii. Bidder warrants that it shall provide all necessary authorization codes necessary for successful installation of the Solution. Bidder also must also provide reauthorization codes to Agency should such codes be necessary for the Solution to remain functional during the Term.

ix. All content that may be created by GenAI is a work made for hire under U.S. Copyright law. To the extent any GenAI content may not be considered a work made for hire under applicable law, as part of the Contract, Contractor assigns to Agency, in perpetuity, all right and interest to such GenAI content without the need for further consideration. In addition, content created from the Commonwealth provided prompt is not a derivative work of the GenAI training data. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, in the event a court of competent jurisdiction determines that content created from a Commonwealth-provided prompt constitutes a derivative work of the GenAI training data, Contractor agrees to grant the Commonwealth unlimited, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive right, and license to use, modify, reproduce, perform, release, display, create derivative works from, and disclose the content for any Commonwealth business.

EOTSS GenAI Policy

The Commonwealth consistently seeks to realize the benefits of new technology, in particular generative artificial intelligence (AI). Contractor must comply with the Enterprise Use and Development of Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy issued by EOTSS on January 31, 2025, as it may be amended from time to time. Please follow this link to the policy: www.mass.gov/doc/enterprise-use-and-development-of-generative-artificial-intelligence-policy/download.

Bidder Responses

Bidders must complete the attached RFQ Response Form (Form 1) and return the Master Services Agreement (Form 2), a Cloud Terms Table (Form 3), and a Risk Management Terms (Form 4).

The responses to this RFQ will be evaluated based on the criteria listed below, in descending order of importance with the most important criteria listed first. The procurement management team may remove from further consideration non-responsive bids and bids that do not include all required items listed in Section VII (Bidder Responses). Prior to such an exclusion, the Agency may request one or more clarification(s) from Bidder. A Bidder’s response may be excluded for failure to meet the Agency’s budgetary thresholds. Should this RFQ result in a contract with an annual spend amount of less than $250,000, bids from certified small businesses are highly desired, in accordance with ReOrg Plan S.2937 “An Act to Elevate the Supplier Diversity Office to Ensure Equal Opportunity in State Contracting,” and Agency will follow guidance provided by the Supplier Diversity Office in evaluating Bidder responses.

Any remaining responses will be evaluated based upon:

1. Fit to Requirements of the RFQ

2. Technical Capability and Experience: demonstrated experience reselling AWS hosting, providing managed service and/or cloud professional services of similar size, scope, and complexity, including experience supporting government, public sector or highly regulated environments

3. Transition and Implementation Approach: quality, feasibility, and completeness of the Respondent’s proposed transition plan, including estimated timeline, staffing approach, risk mitigation strategies, required coordination with the current vendor and the Commonwealth, and ability to minimize operational disruption during transition.

4. Price as provided in the Cost Table: Competitiveness and transparency of proposed pricing, including AWS discount structures, proposed Private Pricing Agreement terms, managed services pricing, transition costs, professional services rates and any value-added offerings or no-cost services provided to the Commonwealth. Statewide Contract Administrative Fee Reminder: Bidders are reminded that, although purchases under Statewide Contracts are generally subject to a 1% Contract Administration Fee pursuant to M.G.L. c. 7, § 3B and 801 CMR 4.02, OSD has waived the fee for Executive Department purchases under ITS88 for the first seven (7) years of the contract term. Accordingly, bidders are expected to reflect this cost savings in the pricing submitted in response to this RFQ.

5. Acceptance of Commonwealth Terms and Conditions:

Degree to which the Respondent accepts the Commonwealth’s contractual, legal, security, and operational requirements, including the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions for Information Technology Contracts, with minimal requested clarifications. Preference may be given to Respondents requiring the least impactful substantive contractual changes and demonstrating willingness to comply with Commonwealth standard terms and policies.

ATTACHMENT A – COMMBUYS Instructions

Interested Bidders must submit their response using COMMBUYS.

Useful links:

1. Job aid on how to submit a quote: https://www.mass.gov/doc/instructions-for-vendors-responding-to-bids/download

1. Webcast: How to Locate and Respond to a Bid in CommBuys, which will familiarize bidders with CommBuys terminology, basic navigation, and provide guidance for locating bid opportunities in CommBuys and submitting an online quote.

1. Bidders MUST have their complete bid fully loaded and submitted…