Solicitation-Formal_Texting_Solution_BPM054169.docx

Request for Proposals - Emergency and Important Notification Texting Solution eMMA: BPM054169 Date: November 17, 2025

Background:

The Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE) requires texting solution to use in the statewide 2026 elections. We are requesting a solution that meets relevant Maryland State laws and regulations and can be acquired, integrated, and fully implemented for the 2026 elections and beyond. The solution must provide the elements critical to a successful emergency and informational texting solution for the election community and general public across all 24 local election jurisdictions in Maryland (which are collaboratively administrated by both the State and the localities). Before every election, the local boards of elections (LBE’s) across the State must recruit and train thousands of registered voters to operate polling locations in accordance with Maryland laws and procedures. These individuals are known as election judges. These election judges are trained to operate a polling location during early voting and on election day. While they are required to attend training and to review an instruction manual to familiarize themselves with equipment and procedures, they need a simple means of communication with State and local boards of elections during times of in person voting particularly in the event of an emergency, urgent or evolving situation.

Additionally, there are many considerations, reminders, and alerts that the local and State Boards may need to communicate with voters as soon as possible. Heavy call and email volume builds up as we get closer to elections. Emergency situations arise that may prevent voters from using their original plan to vote, e.g., natural disaster, threat, polling place down due to power outages, etc. Therefore, we believe texting is the most commonly used communication tool that can instantaneously assist the general voting public with emergent issues and situational awareness.

The State Board of Elections (SBE) is requesting a technical proposal and pricing for a texting system to allow for general updates and messaging with the general public. This would be in addition to the services that were acquired and used last election cycle that allowed election judges who are working in the field to receive and report emergency instructions, information, threats or concerning activities at their polling locations with 24 local boards of elections and State Board of Elections for the 2026 election cycle.

This system will support the needs of emergency situational awareness and resource management during crisis and emergent events as well as respond to general concerns and inquiries. The goal is for the general public and all election personnel to have real-time intelligence and communication between each of the state’s 24 jurisdictions, so the responsible parties can get the information to the right people efficiently and effectively. A smart texting solution that uses key words would be an ideal solution.

In summary, the ideal texting solution would have three capabilities: (1) the ability to communicate with election officials in times of emergency; (2) the ability to communicate with election judges; (3) the ability to communicate with voters.

SBE requests a solution that has:

· Two-way texting solution for emergency communications for election personnel during elections during the 2026 Gubernatorial Election cycle;

· Two-way solution to communicate with voters during elections during 2026 Gubernatorial Election.

· Configuration of the program to suit the needs of the State and local boards; including but not limited to the ability of the local board of election to text only those judges working in a specific jurisdiction, group(s) or individual voters;

· Training for State and local officials on how to use the platform beginning within one month of receiving the award;

· Support provided to send messages and respond to them as needed for the State and local boards; especially during the hours of the election events (including set up and closing);

· Advertising materials for the local boards, and election personnel, and the general public.

· Local phone numbers to which texts can be sent by election judges;

· Short code number for opting in to messaging; and

· Online data storage.

Projected Term for Future Contract:

January 1- December 31, 2026. Election judge training may tentatively begin as early as February. All local boards will need to train and test prior to using the solution. Election event dates:

Primary Election - June 23, 2026, 7 am until 8 pm Early Voting for the Primary Election - Thursday, June 11, 2026 through Thursday, June 18, 2026, 7 am until 8 pm.

General Election - November 3, 2026, 7 am until 8 pm Early Voting for the General Election - Thursday, October 22, 2026 through Thursday, October 29, 2026, 7 am until 8 pm.

Information Requested in your Submission: SBE requests that responses to this solicitation include the following information:

A. Your company’s full name and headquarters location (Country, County, City, and State) and the country and location(s) where the texting solution is designed, developed, and manufactured;

B. The solution’s full name, version number, whether it is currently in production or under development, and the latest or planned production release date;

C. The location(s) where the solution is or has been used. It is important to include the jurisdiction name, the type of jurisdiction (state, county, municipality), the number of registered voters per election that used the solution there, when and for how long it has been used there, and for how many elections. Also, please include a description of the scope of its use, i.e. whether it was used throughout the entire jurisdiction (statewide, countywide), across multiple sites, or if its use was more limited;

D. A description of how the solution is implemented and its capabilities, including but not limited to:

(1) Ability to provide a texting solution must have the ability to host and deliver content to statewide concurrent users;

(2) Ability for the service to work on any device that can text (without downloading);

(3) Ability to record/track requests (create a work order) until the State or local board determines the request is complete; and

(4) Ability to use the program without having to learn coding.

(5) Whether and how a QR code or similar technologies that may be used to help with accessing the solution can be utilized.

E. A description of any online storage and auditing capability including encryption of all stored and transmitted data using FIPS 140-2 validated encryption standards and how compliance will be met for MPIA and FOIA requests.

F. If applicable, a description of the solution’s platform, whether it is a stand alone application, cloud based (AWS GovCloud or Azure Government Authorized environment) or uses other third party services to access it, including if any additional software or hardware installation would be necessary for it to run.

G. A description of the solution’s flexibility in accommodating technology advancements, security updates, and new regulations; including but not limited to all MFA methods, safeguards to prevent abuse of keyword-based automation, and high availability infrastructure recommendations.

H. A description of the types of training and documentation available with your system.

I. An estimate of how long the solution takes to implement.

J. A description of technical and customer support.

K. Total pricing for your solution for a yearly term. This is for our procurement timeline planning due to different processes required for various cost thresholds. Please include separate pricing for each of the three texting components - (1) emergency texting to local election officials; (2) texting to and from election judges; (3) texting to and from voters.

L. A description of data protection; how does the solution protect our data and privacy needs.

M. A description of a data retention and disposal schedule if the data is stored on a cloud based system.

SBE may invite vendors to make presentations and/or demonstrate their systems to advance Maryland’s understanding of available solutions and increase its knowledge about currently deployed and future solutions that may be considered for the State of Maryland’s texting solution. Susceptible respondees to the solicitation would be requested to present/demonstrate their solutions. If presentations or demonstrations are given, SBE requests the presentations include any hardware, software, and/or services required for the solution or solutions.

All responses must be emailed to whitney.leroux@maryland.gov and received by Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025 at 2:00 pm. Questions may be emailed to the same address.

Jared DeMarinis State Administrator

Katherine Berry Deputy Administrator Michael Summers, Chairman Jim Shalleck, Vice Chairman

Diane Butler Victoria Jackson-Stanley

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