VITA-RFP 2026-03 - 01.2 Exh (Governance Framework).docx

RFP 2026-03: End User Computing (EUC) Services Exhibit 1.2: Governance Structure

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM)

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Exhibit 1.2 Governance Framework

RFP 2026-03: End User Computing (EUC) Services

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA IT AGENCY (VITA)

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM)

7325 BEAUFONT SPRINGS DR

RICHMOND, VA 23225

Contents

Introduction Purpose and Guiding Principles The purpose of the Platform governance framework is to protect, enhance, and evolve the Integrated Services Platform (Platform). The governance framework will manage the contractual requirements and performance of suppliers, maintain relationships with Customers, and monitor the ability of VITA and the suppliers to meet the objectives outlined above. This framework will provide forums for participants to understand each other’s objectives, to ensure commitments are being met, and to implement changes as needed by the parties.

Guiding principles used to formulate the governance framework include:

Strong and effective Customer engagement Resolving issues at lowest possible level Establishing representative groups to resolve issues Regularly validating and updating Operational Documents Monitoring contractual requirements Managing interparty relationships among all Integrated Suppliers Evolving service options and supporting innovation Formalizing roles and responsibilities for strategy and issue management among VITA, Customers, and Integrated Suppliers Aligning management of IT-related risk with overall risk management VITA anticipates that all Integrated Suppliers will collaborate with VITA to establish and improve governance processes, particularly at the operational layer. This model will continue to evolve as the Parties identify opportunities to enhance and grow the Platform.

Governance Policy and Approach Governance must include more than meetings and escalations, and stakeholders must understand the role they play within a governance framework. The Commonwealth has applied a framework consisting of Relational and Operational governance to help stakeholders understand their role within the Platform as shown in the figure below. Traits of Relational vs. Operational Governance

Simply put, Relational Forums will be led by VITA; they will provide strategic oversight and seek to resolve escalated issues. The Operational Forums noted below, and other such forums as needed, will be established and led by the Multisourcing Service Integrator (MSI) and overseen by VITA; they will be grounded in ITIL processes and align with the MSI’s core functions.

Governance Framework Overview To ensure accountability and to preserve the decision rights of the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth (CIO), VITA sits at the center of the governance model. VITA retains all decision rights.

VITA’s Platform Governance establishes and leads the Relational Governance forums, and participates with the MSI in the Operational Governance forums. Relational Governance focuses on strategic issues, including the relationships among stakeholders, the ability of the Platform to meet changing customer needs, risk management, and support from the enterprise for changes to the Platform. It also manages cases that escalate beyond the Service Tower Forum due to scope or timing.

MSI manages operational governance forums, coordinates across forums, and drives the decisions made in these forums. Operational components will be defined by the Customers (Agencies), Service Tower Suppliers, and VITA Subject Matter Experts. In alignment with the processes defined in the Service Management Manual (SMM). Examples include issue resolution, service level management, change management, risk management, and reporting. The figure below provides a framework for the governance model.

The application of this framework to the Commonwealth’s future state is discussed in the next section. The governance model described in this Exhibit 1.2 (Governance Framework) reflects the current governance model. Supplier recognizes that the governance model has evolved and will evolve by necessity and choice. Supplier agrees that changes to the governance model will be reflected in the Service Management Manual without the need for future amendments to this Exhibit 1.2 (Governance Framework).

Governance Framework The Platform Governance structure is depicted in the figure below. It is designed to balance VITA’s need to manage the daily outcomes of the Managed Environment, with the Customers’ need to understand the effectiveness of the Platform and provide input into its future development.

Governance Forums Each forum has a purpose and scope that is defined in this Exhibit.

As depicted in Table 1 and 2 below, each forum fits into one of two levels: relational or operational. Each level is distinguished by the level of focus: overall strategy, or platform-centric engagement and accountability. The operational level reflects the initial Operational Governance Forums.

Although each forum has its own unique purpose and scope, there are interrelationships among them, including information sharing and escalation. In general, information sharing and escalation begins at the operational level, then to the management level, and finally to the strategic level. The specific information sharing and escalation relationships is defined in a more detailed governance processes in the Service Management Manual (SMM).

Table 1, Relational Governance:

Executive Alignment Meeting

Strategic oversight and alignment of the VITA program to the VITA and Customer business needs.

Chaired by CIO; supplier executives are primary participants.

Customers attend as invited.

· CIO

· Supplier Executives Quarterly, or as needed

· Promote broad and effective Customer and Supplier engagement

· Ensure quality of service and cross functional integration

· Foster Customer and Supplier accountability

· Identify new services to address enterprise and Customer needs

· Manage and resolve escalated issues

· Provide oversight of organizational change management and transition activities Meeting topics include:

· Escalated issue resolution

· Identification of new services

· Communication with and feedback from customer groups

· VITA Platform Governance representatives

· VITA CX representatives

· Agency representatives

· MSI and Service Tower Suppliers Monthly

· Promote enterprise risk management comprised of business and IT risks

· Maintain risk register including mitigation and compensating controls,

· Review and approve risk level and impact of identified changes

· Review risk mitigation progress and estimated resources

· Review Key Risk Indicators

· Foster integrated risk management at the agency level

· Opportunity to communicate back to agencies on risks that affect them

· Evaluate new technology risks

· Report risks and impacts to governance committees

· Raise issues to the CIO as needed

· CISO

· Commonwealth business and IT leaders as identified by CISO

· Suppliers as required Monthly

· MSI and Tower Service Provider Performance Management, Review and Resolve Service Level Management Issues, including RCDs

· Review and mitigate risks that would impact OLAs between suppliers

· Resolve escalated issues (operational, financial, etc.)

· Review and mitigate risks that would impact agencies technology roadmap

· Prioritize proposals and review updates from major/transformational projects

· Prioritize proposals and review updates from Service Portfolio Life Cycle Management (SPLM) process for new services and service changes

· Review Continuous Improvement efforts

· Review updates and issues on the Supplier Scorecard

· VITA Chair

· VITA representatives as required

· MSI Supplier Relationship Manager

· Supplier representatives Monthly

Table 2, Operational Governance Forums:

Operational Forums will serve as the key meetings for service delivery oversight and issue resolution. If issues cannot be resolved at this level in the timeframes established in the SMM, then they will be escalated to the Platform Relationship Meeting.

· MSI

· VITA Platform Governance representatives

· Service Tower Suppliers as needed

· Customer representatives as needed Bi-Weekly

· The oversight, review, and management of service operation and integration for each function.

There will be a separate meeting for each cross-functional topic, as defined by VITA and the MSI.

The overall purpose of the Cross- Functional Forums may be defined as:

· Provide general management, oversight, and review of the service delivery for each individual function

· Confirm compliance of VITA and Commonwealth standards

· Approve any exceptions to VITA/Commonwealth standards

· MSI

· VITA Platform Governance representatives

· Service Tower Suppliers as needed

· Customer representatives as needed Monthly OR Bi-Weekly depending on Charter

Relational Governance Forums Relationship Management Committee While Customers are engaged at each level of the Commonwealth’s governance framework, the Relationship Management Committee (RMC) is the cornerstone of Customer involvement. Customer participation in this Committee has been defined by VITA’s CIO Advisory Council based on groupings of Customers sharing common business functions. The RMC is a leadership body providing general management and oversight to ensure the VITA program services, processes, and practices are meeting Customer IT and business requirements. It will conduct a monthly Customer-oriented review of the performance of the Services, customer experience, and related governance program activities across the ITISP. In addition, plans and status of active Integrated Services Platform initiatives and on-going programs will be reviewed.

The RMC’s scope is to ensure quality of service and cross functional integration, foster Customer and Supplier accountability, Identify new services to address enterprise and Customer needs and manage and resolve escalated issues.Customer representatives on the Relationship Management Committee

The Committee reflects (6) groups of roughly (10) executive branch agency Customers grouped by common business functions. The Customer Advisory Council aligned the names of the groups and the common business functions with the COV Enterprise Business Architecture Line of Business Report. The six groups will facilitate a small group environment, and encourage collaboration and candid feedback on service delivery concerns. Each agency selects their advocate for their agency to participate in the group. Each group will also select one representative to represent their group of agencies on the RMC. The composition of the RMC is depicted in the figure.

The RMC’s responsibilities include:

Promote broad and effective agency and service provider engagement Foster agency and service provider accountability Manage and resolve escalated issues Provide oversight of organizational change management and transition activities Ensure quality of service and cross functional integration Review the Integrated Services Platform’s performance from Customer perspective, including:

· Service performance

· Financial management

· Risk management

· Services consumption

· Customer experience

· Projects Review Integrated Services Platform initiatives Identify new services to address enterprise and agency needs The topics to be addressed by the Relationship Management Committee include:

Service performance Customer satisfaction and experience Financial and services consumption summaries Project performance Issues, risks, and resolutions VITA program initiatives Identification of new services Communication with agency groups VITA will chair the Committee, and the MSI and all Service Tower Suppliers will be required to attend as needed.

Executive Alignment Meeting The Executive Alignment Meeting is the forum through which the CIO will conduct formal engagements with integrated Supplier executives on issues important to the overall health of the Platform. This Meeting, to be held separately with each supplier, will provide business oversight, ensure that the Commonwealth’s Service delivery objectives are achieved, and serve as the final point of escalation for issues unresolved at lower levels. Ultimately the CIO has responsibility for oversight of the strategic direction of the Platform.

The Executive Alignment Meeting supports:

Strategic business alignment between the CIO and supplier executives Strategic relationship and executive contractual agreements with service providers Oversight and formal CIO escalation with service providers Optimal use of the VITA program and its alignment to broader strategic initiatives.

Alignment of the strategic direction of the VITA Program to the VITA customer’s business outcomes Fostering of strategic partnerships that are aligned to the contractual agreements and meet customer experience expectations Strategic decisions for the VITA Program Strategic risk management for VITA program The topics to be addressed by the Executive Alignment Meeting include:

Business alignment among VITA, Customer and Supplier business plans, and oversight of new or modified Services during the Term Strategic requirements and plans associated with the Services or New Services during the Term VITA program overview Quality; Service Level performance Innovation, continuous improvement and quality assurance measures Reset of Critical Service Levels Financial performance Customer Experience including customer satisfaction surveys Audit results Escalated unresolved issues Changes to the Agreement Quarterly review and outlook Overall health of the various Service Tower Supplier and VITA relationships

While the Executive Alignment Meeting is a critical element of the Commonwealth’s governance framework, it is not intended to serve as the only forum in which the Commonwealth CIO engages with Supplier executives. It is expected that the Commonwealth CIO will have clear lines of escalation within Supplier organizations and will establish and maintain relationships with Supplier executives with responsibility for their respective accounts and lines of business.

Risk Management Committee The purpose of the Risk Management Committee is to provide enterprise risk management and governance of business and IT risks identified within the Commonwealth enterprise information technology (IT) environment. The Risk Management Committee will promote a risk based approach to identifying and mitigating risks and issues identified within the Commonwealth enterprise.

The scope of this committee includes the review, recommendations, and general management of business, IT and security risks identified within the Commonwealth enterprise IT environment, to include, but not limited to, risks and issues identified and escalated by VITA Platform Governance Bodies that will not be remediated within 90 days. Additionally, the scope of this committee includes:

Maintaining a risk register including mitigating/compensating controls

· Review and approve risk levels and impact of identified changes

· Review risk mitigation progress and estimated resource needs

· Review key risk indicators

· Foster integrated risk management at the agency level

· Communicate to agencies on the enterprise risks that affect them

· Evaluate new technology risks The actions of this committee will be considered part of the relational governance of the Platform, facilitated on VITA’s behalf by the Platform Relationship Office.

Platform Relationship Forums Platform Relationship Forums are chaired by VITA and are a component of VITA’s standard operating cadence. Participants in this meeting are responsible for reviewing the platform operations and customers experience for the VITA services program for all Customers. They are the first point of escalation for issues that cannot be resolved in the operational forums and will include participation of all Suppliers in the integrated platform. In addition to the topics outlined in Table 2 above, Platform Relationship Forums topics will address:

Issue escalation and resolutions Risks and Risk Management Contract and Finance Integration of new suppliers and services into the platform Reporting across SLAs and operational metrics OLA status Technology Roadmap SLAs and Service performance Customer experience Services consumption Opportunities / potential new projects Working relationship among Customers, VITA, the MSI and the Service Tower Suppliers The Relationship Management Committee chair will consult with the MSI, Service Tower Suppliers and Customers in order to identify issues and escalations for the Relationship Management Committee. Agendas for the Relationship Management Committee will be distributed to Committee participants at least 3 days prior to any scheduled meeting.

Operational Governance Forums Operational governance consists of day-to-day management of the Services, issue resolution, and Customer-specific technology decisions. Success of the governance model rests largely on managing operational governance, including resolving issues and making decisions, at the lowest possible level. Thus, the vast majority of issues are resolved through interaction between VITA, the MSI, and the Service Tower Suppliers; Customers are included as appropriate. This approach provides good management practice, with individuals who have the greatest knowledge of the situation empowered to act, and enables the governance committees to focus on escalated issues and strategic decision-making. These forums will provide transparency into Platform operations, provide VITA with insight into issues that require escalation, and provide the MSI and Service Tower Suppliers with needed information about agency business operations and requirements.

To enable VITA’s role in overseeing the Agreement, VITA interfaces with Customers and Integrated Suppliers on a variety of enterprise issues. On a daily basis, VITA management and technical staff interface with VITA Customers and Integrated Suppliers to answer questions about services, understand and resolve issues, and facilitate communication and coordination. VITA will also have regular enterprise operations meetings with the MSI and appropriate Service Tower Supplier staff to manage the Agreement. The meeting topics will include the following topic areas:

Service delivery and operations performance Problem Management Availability and Capacity Management Finance, invoices, and chargeback Contract administration and Deliverables On-Going Programs Service Portfolio Review Process Evaluation and Currency Service Management Manual (SMM) and Operating Level Agreement (OLA) Currency Continual Service Improvement Technical Currency and Innovation Knowledge Management Technology standards and long-range planning Service level and performance management Security and disaster recovery management Transition management Stabilization management Consolidation management Customer Satisfaction Customer Relationship management Issues Management and Governance Complaint Management Risk Management Asset Management and License Compliance Services Management Manual currency Solution Request management The MSI will be responsible for managing the cadence and reporting of these forums as documented in the SMM, unless directed otherwise by VITA. Operational Governance Forums are described below.

Service Tower Operational Forums The Service Tower Operational Forums will perform a Service Tower-specific review of the performance of the Integrated Services Platform. There will be a separate meeting for each Service Tower Supplier (for the purposes of these meetings, MSI services are considered a separate “Service Tower”).

The overall scope of the Service Tower Operational Forums is defined as the oversight, review, and management of service operations for each Service Tower.

The overall purpose of the Service Tower Meetings may be defined as:

Provide general management, oversight, and review of the service delivery for each individual Service Tower (and separately, the MSI) Manage operational and customer experience risks and issues Monitor in flight projects Review proposed project activity Review resource consumption, as applicable Review proposed and planned technology changes The topics to be addressed by the Service Tower Meetings include:

Service performance Significant projects – in flight Significant projects – proposed Services consumption Issues, Risks, Actions and Decisions Proposed and planned technology changes The Service Tower Meetings will be initially comprised as follows:

· VITA

Platform Governance member (“service owner”) Other VITA personnel as required (i.e. supplier relationship management, finance, etc.)

Service Tower Supplier MSI Supplier Manager (Chair), (except for the MSI meeting, where the MSI Supplier Manager will attend and the VITA MSI Service Owner will Chair Service Tower Supplier Service Delivery Owner (Co-Chair), (except for the MSI Meeting) Other Supplier personnel as required MSI Operational subject-Matter Experts, as required Other VITA personnel as required (i.e. supplier relationship management, finance, etc.)

Customers Customer representatives – optional, at VITA’s discretion Service Tower Meetings will occur bi- weekly or as defined in the Service Management Manual, and at other times as agreed by the VITA and the supplier.

Cross-Functional Operational Forums The other defined operational forums will perform a cross functional review of the performance of the Integrated Services Platform, such as project management, security, architecture, financial management, integration and innovation. The overall scope of the cross functional reviews is defined as: the oversight, review, and management of service operation and integration for each function. There will be a separate meeting for each cross-functional topic, as defined by VITA and the MSI.

The overall purpose of the Cross- Functional Forums may be defined as:

Provide general management, oversight, and review of the service delivery for each individual function Confirm compliance of VITA and Commonwealth standards Approve any exceptions to VITA/Commonwealth standards The topics to be addressed by the cross-functional Meetings include:

Compliance to standards (i.e. architecture, project management, change control, etc.)

Exception requests to standards Cross-Functional Project Status, if applicable Proposed Cross-functional project status, if applicable General attendees for Cross-Functional Operational Forums include the following:

VITA

Platform Governance member (“service owner”) Other VITA personnel as required (i.e. architecture, program management, security, etc.)

Service Tower Supplier MSI Service Delivery Lead (Chair) Other MSI Supplier personnel as required Other Supplier personnel as required Customers Customer representatives – optional, at VITA’s discretion Cross Functional Operational Forums will occur bi-weekly-to-monthly or as defined in the Service Management Manual and at other times as agreed by the VITA and the supplier.

The overall scope of the Cross- Functional Operational Forums are to perform the oversight, review, and management of service operation and integration for each function (between suppliers and VITA functional areas).

Cross –Functional Operational Forums are listed below:

Architecture and Innovation Forum (SMM 2.2.5.8): The Architecture and Innovation Forum is a collaborative board to promote future IT strategy, architecture and technology planning, Service Portfolio management, Demand Management, availability and capacity planning and continual service improvement.

Change Advisory Board (SMM 2.2.5.3): The Change Advisory Board/Emergency Change Advisory Board is responsible for managing, approving and controlling system wide environmental changes. Major and Emergency Changes are only presented to the CAB. Monitoring the quality of changes and communicating across the Service Tower Suppliers (STSs) and VITA the impact of those changes.

Customer Relationship Management Forum (SMM 2.2.5.13a): The Customer Relationship Management Forum is a forum with the scope and objective of enabling active interaction between all BRMs and CAMs. This collaboration will focus on sharing trends, issues, resolutions and information sharing across customer environments. This forum will seek continual feedback from across the platform customer base, to maintain alignment and transparent understanding of roles and responsibilities of the BRMs and the CAMs. This forum will enable the BRMs and the CAMs to continue to add the customer perspective to the Commonwealth platform and build enduring relationships between the MSI and VITA.

Cyber Security Operations Forum (SMM 2.2.5.10): This Cyber Security Operations Forum is a collaborative forum which proposes security technology and architecture standards across service providers in a manner supporting risk-based decision making at all levels. It makes recommendations to the VITA CIO/CISO regarding current risk and compliance levels and sufficiency of mitigating conditions.

IT Financial Management Forum (SMM 2.2.5.9): The IT Financial Management Forum(s) are made up of stakeholders and/or SMEs who provide guidance on key issues and initiatives impacting the ITFM program and system.

IT Service Continuity Management Forum (SMM 2.2.5.11): IT service continuity management governance forum is a collaborative governance body that oversees development of policies, procedures, and standards for design, construction, and maintenance of IT CoS/DR and coordinates execution of the ITSCM program.

Platform Service Delivery Forum (SMM 2.2.5.4): The scope of the Platform Service Delivery Forum includes the operational review of the day-to-day service and project performance, services and suppliers within the Platform in the following areas:

· Manage operational and tactical issues and risks

· Review and solve MSI/STS integration issues

· Resolve operational and Customer experience issues

· Review resource consumption, as applicable

· Review Key Platform Health Indicators (operational reports)

· Review Platform Calendar

· Review business requirements

· Manage the Customer experience

· Forward strategic discussions

· Identify new services or improvements that could enhance agency operations The scope of this forum enables all STSs, the MSI and VITA to work in collaboration across the Platform; as well as providing timely resolution to escalated programmatic issues and risks.

Service Integration and Interoperability Forum (SMM 2.2.5.7): The Service Integration and Interoperability Forum (SIIF) is a collaborative forum to define, oversee, and maintain the technologies and related processes and procedures that support integration among VITA, the MSI and STSs.

Technical Review Board (SMM 2.2.5.2): The Technical Review Board (TRB) is responsible for reviewing proposed technical Major Changes to the VITA production infrastructure and providing authorization to move forward to the next step as appropriate.

Decision Making Governance committees address two types of decisions:

Issue resolution Strategic decisions Issues may be Customer issues or enterprise issues identified by VITA, Customers, or Integrated Suppliers. Issues are escalated following the escalation process described in SMM 2.1 WMM Case Management Process. Strategic decisions may be identified by VITA, VITA Customers, the MSI or Service Tower Suppliers.

Escalation Process As noted above, the governance model strives to resolve the vast majority of issues at the operational level. The MSI is expected to facilitate these resolution processes, in accordance with other processes in the Agreement and the applicable SMMs such as SMM 2.1 WMM Case Management Process. Supplier personnel participating in forums are expected to be able to make decisions and resolve issues as appropriate for the level and purpose of that forum. However, not all issues will be resolved at the operational level, so the governance model includes an escalation process designed to promptly and efficiently escalate the issue for resolution. Cross-functional operational issues are escalated to the Platform Service Delivery Forum. Other operational issues for a single supplier will be routed to the Platform Relationship Forum; however, in some cases high profile business, technology, and financial issues will be routed to the Relationship Management Committee (RMC). Ultimately, the CIO of the Commonwealth retains decision-making authority. When issues cannot be resolved in one of the other forums, they may rise to the CIO.

VITA coordinates with the Customer, Supplier and Service Tower Suppliers involved in the issue to complete the required documentation. The Work Management Module within Keystone Edge is utilized to track and maintain all issues. All authorized users have the ability to update issues. Issues are discussed in the appropriate forums and closed when acceptance criteria have been met.

Platform Decision Process Platform decisions may be required by the Agreement (e.g. Annual Technology Plan, technology standards, changes to governance framework) and, thus, follow a prescribed timing cycle or they may arise from a technical constraint, opportunity or business need. Regardless of the source, Platform decisions follow a similar process to escalated issues:

MSI coordinates efforts in the decision process for operational forums. VITA coordinates efforts for relational forums. Background materials are developed to explain the decision, implications for the enterprise, and any technical considerations that are relevant. This coordination may include the engagement of Customers, Supplier or Service Tower Supplier subject matter experts to create materials and complete technical analysis.

VITA develops a format for Customer input appropriate for the decision.

For relational forums, VITA coordinates the distribution of the issue material with the meeting agenda to the Platform Relationship Forum participants for review.

Documentation Reports In the case of all meetings, minutes will be prepared by the meeting Chair, or designated record-keeper and will include topics discussed, issues resolved and open action items with responsible person’s name and date to close action.

Decision Documentation After all committee meetings, VITA documents decisions made and completes any follow up tasks such as updates to associated artifacts (e.g., Agreement, Service Management Manual). Decisions are posted to a common repository for visibility by all Users as authorized by VITA.

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