DHHS - Client Consent Income Verification Service RFP

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), through the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) Procurement office, is requesting proposals for a contractor-hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) solution providing real-time, secure, and automated income and employment verification services, with proposals due July 28, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern and a question deadline of July 10, 2026 (passed).

A 20 percent Goods and Services Business Enterprise (GDBE) subcontracting threshold applies based on contract dollar value. Qualified disabled veteran-owned business status under MCL 18.1261 is a best-value consideration factor.

The scope is a 24/7 secure, automated web-based portal enabling clients to access real-time or near real-time payroll and employment data verification compatible with the State's MI Bridges and Bridges systems. The solution must support income and employment verification across SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid programs, with verification requests generated through nightly API processes and real-time on-demand lookups. Integration must use secure REST or SOAP APIs with two-second maximum response times and 30-minute minimum session inactivity timeouts. Historical data access must span 30 days to 72 months. The contractor must deliver comprehensive income verification reports, tool-free support Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST with emergency contact availability outside scheduled hours, tiered service level agreements ranging from four-hour resolution for critical errors to ten business days for medium errors, and initial virtual training for fewer than 20 subject matter experts. Compliance with SOC 2 Type II reporting and NIST 800-53 control mapping is mandatory. The contractor must support state-approved cloud environments (Azure, AWS, or Google) and maintain key personnel including a Project Manager, Security Officer, and Technical Specialist. Offshore resources with access to State data are prohibited.

The contract term is three base years plus three one-year renewal options, totaling six years, with an anticipated start date of September 30, 2026. Pricing is detailed in Schedule B with fixed fees that will not increase during the contract term; the State accepts flat fixed-rate models with potential volume-based tiered discounts calculated per 100,000 individuals submitted for verification.

Evaluation criteria are vendor questions (10%), Statement of Work (30%), Business Specifications Worksheet (30%), Service Level Agreement (10%), and Data Security Requirements (20%), with proposals scoring 80 or above eligible for pricing evaluation. The State will conduct cost evaluation considering both price and system capabilities to determine best value, including total cost of ownership and economic impact to Michigan including job creation and local employment.