Benefit Decision Support Tool

The State of South Dakota, specifically the Bureau of Human Resources, is seeking a Benefit Decision Support Tool through RFP #25RFP18343 to assist state employees in selecting optimal health and flexible benefit plans. The web-based tool must leverage claims data from Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield to provide decision tree logic across the state's self-funded health plan, which includes four coverage options and multiple benefits such as health insurance, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, and health savings accounts. The tool must be fully operational by April 15, 2026, in preparation for the fiscal year 2027 open enrollment period, and must be accessible 24/7 with the capability to generate utilization reports and communication materials. Offerors must submit questions by November 14, 2025, with state responses due by November 25, 2025, and complete proposals must be electronically submitted to Peggy.Canter@state.sd.us by 5:00 p.m. CDT on December 15, 2025. Evaluation criteria are comprehensive, including specialized expertise (200 points), available resources (150 points), past performance (150 points), project management techniques (100 points), familiarity with South Dakota (100 points), availability to project locale (50 points), special project constraints capability (50 points), and cost (200 points).

The RFP does not specify explicit set-aside designations or restrictions on responding organizations. Proposing vendors must provide separate technical proposals for different hosting options, including vendor-hosted, state on-premise, or state cloud-hosted PaaS configurations, with corresponding system and solution diagrams. Vendors are required to carry commercial general liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and professional liability insurance of at least $1,000,000. The contract term is three years, from April 1, 2026, through April 30, 2029, with potential options for two one-year extensions, bringing the maximum contract duration to five years. While specific budget ranges are not explicitly stated, the RFP requires all-inclusive lump sum pricing for core services, with hourly billing rates for additional work and a maximum fee guarantee for the initial three-year term. The proposed solution must integrate with existing state infrastructure, including single sign-on capabilities, Microsoft Power BI data access, and compliance with South Dakota's stringent IT security standards outlined in the accompanying contract terms and security acknowledgement documents.