SOI Online Nutrition Education.pdf

SOLICITATION OF INTEREST

(follows the NYS Contract Reporter Advertisement page)

Title: Solicitation of Interest – 20838 – NYS WIC Online Nutrition

Education

Agency: NYS Department of Health, Division of Nutrition, Bureau of

Supplemental Food Programs

Contract Number: TBD

Contract Term: 10/1/2027-9/30/2032

Date of Issue: 8/25/26

Due Date/Time: 9/29/26 4:00PM Eastern Standard Time

County(ies): All NYS Counties

Location: Statewide

Classification: Medical & Health Care – Consulting & Other Services

Opportunity Type: Grant or notice of funds availability

Description:

The New York State (NYS) Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program seeks a qualified organization to provide an online nutrition education platform. This platform must be a web-based, secure, customer portal service to be offered as an additional option to the in-person and virtual nutrition education provided at WIC local agencies.

Nutrition education is a Federally mandated benefit of the WIC Program and is vital to the Program’s success. The NYS WIC Program serves approximately 464,000 participants each month through 85 local providers (hospitals, local health departments and community-based organizations) at over 300 service sites.

The online nutrition education platform will provide participant-centered interactive lessons tailored to the individual needs of WIC participants to meet nutrition education requirements and meet standards necessary for compatibility with the NYS WIC Management Information System (MIS), currently NYWIC.

Funding

Funding is contingent upon the availability of Federal funds from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It is anticipated that approximately $140,000 annually of WIC funding will be available to implement this program for the five-year period of 10/1/2027 through 9/30/2032, with a total of approximately $700,000 for the life of the grant

Qualifications

Eligibility

Eligible applicants must meet all of the following minimum requirements:

• The organization is a public or private not-for-profit organization (e.g., tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code)

• A minimum of three (3) years of experience developing and maintaining an online nutrition education platform

• A minimum of three (3) years of experience working with administrative aspects of state government programs

• A minimum of three (3) years of experience developing and updating online nutrition education lessons

Experience acquired concurrently is considered acceptable.

Expectations

The organization will develop, implement, and manage an online nutrition education platform for NYS WIC participants, NYS Department of Health (Department) staff and WIC local agency (LA) staff that provides:

• The ability to provide different levels of access depending on staff roles (i.e., Department staff and LA staff). Department staff have access to all agency information and LA staff only have access to their assigned agency.

• 24/7 round-the-clock access to participant-centered nutrition education lessons, videos, and resources for WIC participants, Department staff, and LA staff

• Lessons which include a variety of current, up-to-date health and nutrition topics including but not limited to the following audiences: prenatal, breastfeeding, and postpartum WIC participants, caregivers of infants and children to age 5

• Participant-centered nutrition education which supports USDA’s Value Enhanced Nutrition Assessment (VENA) guidance to recreate the human experience, personalize to the individual, motivate participants through conversation-based education, engage participants with interactive features, and build upon behavior change models

• Nutrition education lessons which are o culturally diverse o written at an 8th grade literacy level or below o available in multiple languages, including but not limited to English and

Spanish

• Lessons that include interactive tools to demonstrate competency and verification of completion

• The ability to tailor or modify lessons to be applicable to NYS at no additional cost

• Access to recipes which incorporate NYS WIC approved foods

• Downloadable nutrition education resources for participants and staff such as articles, videos, infographics, kid activities, meal plans, research, and recipes

• On-demand access to technical assistance to Department staff, LA staff, and participants within 24 hours of inquiry

• Access through iOS, Android, and Microsoft operating systems on phone, tablet, and personal computer

• WIC participant access using a unique login. The login must be able to be connected to a specific WIC Household ID

• Roles with configurable access to different system functionality to include

Department staff, LA staff, WIC participant, and other roles as needed

• The ability for Department staff and LA staff to utilize their personal staff account and have access to the participant experience within the platform

• Department staff ability to test all system functionality; results of testing will not be included within the system

• Availability for 500,000+ users (WIC participants, Department staff, and LA staff)

• The ability for the NYS WIC MIS to interface with the system and request completed lesson information at least every five minutes.

• The ability of the system to align to the expected XML payload structure and request format of the NYS WIC MIS o The interface must accept the following parameters

Start date - A date and time indicating the lower bound of the range of completed trainings being requested

End date - A date and time indicating the upper bound of the range of completed trainings being requested o The interface must be able to return the following fields:

The date and time when the participant began a lesson The date and time when the participant ended a lesson A unique ID number for the lesson The name of the lesson The WIC Household ID The participant’s responses to the specific questions asked at the end of a lesson

• Secure access to WIC participant data that allows Department staff and LA staff to query all completed lessons during a provided date and time range

• Ability to produce data and/or reports for both Department staff and LA staff based on the platforms usage and performance such as lessons completed, completion per lesson, accounts created, etc.

• Monitoring and evaluating tools including but not limited to:

o The ability for Department staff, LA staff, and WIC participants to view/review the status of WIC participants’ lessons (completed and in progress) o Ability for users to evaluate lessons and for the system to generate summary reports of those evaluations

• Department’s ability to add specific questions at the end of the lesson to obtain additional information such as changes to participant benefits and food package as well as the participants understanding of the WIC Rights and Responsibilities

• Marketing materials to communicate the features, functions, and utilizing the platform included with online nutrition education for ~85 local agencies (i.e., posters, videos, tutorials, social media resources, etc.)

• Training to approximately 1,700 staff on use of the online nutrition education platform

How to Apply

Interested organizations must submit a cover sheet, checklist, Attachment A (available under the “Documents” tab), and an optional additional document (not to exceed 5 pages) that demonstrates their ability to meet the minimum qualifications listed above and provide online nutrition education services as outlined in this Solicitation of Interest.

These documents should be submitted electronically as one PDF document to the email address BSFP-FMS.Procure@health.ny.gov with the subject line “SOI #20838 - NYS WIC Online Nutrition Education” no later then 4 pm ET on 9/29/2026. Responses should not exceed 5 pages inclusive of attachments, appendices, or other supplemental material.

Funding for this project is contingent on the availability of funding and the number of eligible applicants that respond to the advertisement. Available funding to support this initiative will be limited to the amount(s) appropriated in the enacted State Fiscal Year budgets for this purpose. This advertisement is not a guarantee or promise of funding.

The Department reserves the right to withdraw this solicitation and/or issue a competitive procurement for this project if the number of interested and eligible parties exceed that which can be reasonably accommodated by available funds.

Written questions will be accepted until 4 pm, 9/1/2026. All questions should be submitted electronically to the email address: BSFP-FMS.Procure@health.ny.gov. All questions should be submitted with the subject line “SOI #20838 - NYS WIC Online Nutrition Education”. All questions, answers, and requests for clarification, exception or change will be published by the Department at SFS Public Portal Homepage and the mailto:BSFP-FMS.Procure@health.ny.gov mailto:BSFP-FMS.Procure@health.ny.gov https://esupplier.sfs.ny.gov/psp/fscm/SUPPLIER/ERP/c/NY_SUPPUB_FL.AUC_RESP_INQ_AUC.GBL?

Contract Reporter under the tab “Documents” for this announcement as well as the New York State Department of Health website at the following address:

https://www.health.ny.gov/funding/soi/. Responses to questions received by 9/1/26 will be posted on or about 9/15/2026.

Freedom of Information Law

All Applications may be disclosed or used by the Department to the extent permitted by law. The Department may disclose an Application to any person for the purpose of assisting in evaluating the Application or for any other lawful purpose. All Applications will become State agency records, and will be available to the public in accordance with the New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Any portion of an Application that an Applicant believes constitutes proprietary information entitled to confidential handling, as an exception to the general rule regarding the availability to the public of State agency records under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Law, must be clearly and specifically designated in the Application. If the Department agrees with the Applicant’s claim regarding the proprietary nature of any portion of an Application, the designated portion of the Application will be withheld from public disclosure. Blanket assertions of proprietary material will not be accepted, and failure to specifically designate proprietary material may be deemed a waiver of any right to confidential handling of such material.

Minority Owned Sub-Contracting Goal: 15% Women Owned Sub-Contracting Goal: 15% Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Contracting Goal: 0% Disadvantaged Owned Sub-Contracting Goal: 0%

Contact Information

Primary contact: Danielle Bunney Bureau of Supplemental Food Programs Division of Nutrition New York State Department of Health Riverview Center 150 Broadway – Suite 600 Albany, New York 12204 Telephone (518)-402-7093 E-mail: BSFP-FMS.Procure@health.ny.gov

Submit to contact: Elizabeth Antini Bureau of Supplemental Food Programs Division of Nutrition New York State Department of Health Riverview Center 150 Broadway – Suite 600 Albany, New York 12204 https://www.health.ny.gov/funding/soi/

Telephone (518)-402-7093 E-mail: BSFP-FMS.Procure@health.ny.gov

Solicitation of Interest Cover Sheet

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Online Nutrition Education Services

SOI No.

Applicant Information:

Organization Name

NYS Vendor ID No.

Federal Employer ID No.

Contact Name

Title

Address

Telephone No.

Fax No.

Email Address

Signature of Authorized Official:

Signature

Name

Title

Date

SOLICITATION OF INTEREST #: The New York State Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children

Online Nutrition Education

Checklist for Organizations

Description:

The New York State (NYS) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) announces the opportunity for qualified organizations to provide an online nutrition education platform to be offered as an additional option to the in-person and virtual nutrition education provided at WIC local agencies.

WIC provides breastfeeding support, nutrition counseling, health education, health care referrals, referrals to other services, and nutritious foods to women, infants and children. The fundamental purpose of the program is to ensure the health and well-being of income eligible families with young children. WIC provides individually tailored food prescriptions issued to each participant for specific types and brands of foods that meet strict federal nutrition requirements.

Please check yes or no to the following statements that best reflect your organization:

☐ Yes |☐ No The organization is a public or private not-for-profit organization (e.g., tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code).

☐ Yes |☐ No The organization has three (3) years of experience developing and maintaining an online nutrition education platform.

☐ Yes |☐ No The organization has three (3) years of experience working with administrative aspects of state government programs.

☐ Yes |☐ No The organization has three (3) years of experience developing and updating online nutrition education lessons.

Interested organizations must submit this completed checklist, cover sheet, Attachment A (available under the “Documents” tab), and an optional additional document (not to exceed 5 pages) that demonstrates their ability to meet the minimum qualifications listed above and provide online nutrition education services as outline in this Solicitation of Interest. Information submitted using the checklist may be subject to verification.

Please submit these documents via email to BSFP-FMS.Procure@health.ny.gov with the subject line “SOI # – WIC Online Nutrition Ed” no later than 4:00 pm ET on.

ATTACHMENT A: Minimum Qualifications Verification

Please provide verification of three (3) years of experience in the development and maintenance of online nutrition education platform, administrative aspects of state government, and development and updates of online nutrition education lessons.

Bidder Name:

Requirements Period of Engagement Brief Description of Engagement Describe Qualifying Experience Developing and Maintaining an Online Nutrition Education Platform

Administrative Aspects of State Government Programs

Developing and Updating Online Nutrition Education Lessons

Bidder's Authorized Signature and Date

Printed Name and Title