Electronic surveillance system for the early notification of community epidemics

The State of Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health is soliciting professional services proposals to develop and implement an Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community Epidemics (ESSENCE), a comprehensive Software as a Service solution designed to enhance public health surveillance through advanced anomaly detection and real-time monitoring capabilities. The project seeks to integrate multiple data sources including hospital electronic medical records, the Delaware Health Information Network, the infectious disease surveillance system (Delaware EpiLab Insight), school absenteeism data, poison control reports, environmental data, substance use data, and mortality data to detect emerging health trends and potential outbreaks. The contractor must manage the project across five distinct lifecycle phases—Planning, Configuration and Customization, Testing and Deployment, Operations and Support, and Project Transition-Out—and deliver mandatory project documentation including a Project Schedule, Change Management Plan, Continuity of Operations Plan, Data Conversion Plan, Training Plan, Test Plan, Product Deployment Plan, Interface Control Documents, User Guide, and Data Element Dictionary. Key requirements include demonstrated expertise in syndromic surveillance program processes, successful implementation of similar technical solutions in two or more sites, HL7 message processing, SaaS hosting for state or equivalent jurisdictions, and the ability to provide 24/7/365 help desk support with response times of five minutes for email inquiries and two-hour resolution targets. The system must be web-based, hosted in a Tier 3 data center with 99.5 percent uptime, include FISMA-Moderate and HIPAA-compliant security controls with 256-bit SSL encryption and multi-factor authentication, and comply with all HIPAA regulations through a Business Associate Agreement. Evaluation criteria are weighted as follows: vendor qualifications and administrative oversight (25 points), proposed methodology and workplan adequacy (25 points), responses to scope of services (20 points), ability to recruit and train qualified personnel (15 points), proposed costs relative to service delivery (12 points), and ACA Safe Harbor fees (3 points). A mandatory pre-bid meeting is scheduled for April 10, 2026 at 1:00 PM EDT via Microsoft Teams; written questions must be submitted by March 27, 2026 at 4:30 PM EDT with responses posted by April 24, 2026. Proposals are due by May 8, 2026 at 1:00 PM EDT through the Euna Procurement portal, with estimated award notification on June 1, 2026 and a project start date of July 1, 2027.

The procurement contains no specific set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises, though vendors must provide proof of Delaware business licensure and are required to provide a minimum of three business references from current or previous customers of similar scope and value. Vendors must maintain minimum insurance coverage including $1,000,000 in commercial general liability per occurrence with $3,000,000 aggregate and equivalent workers' compensation coverage, and all contractor staff are subject to criminal background checks at the contractor's expense. The State reserves the right to award multiple vendors and will select the proposal most advantageous to Delaware rather than necessarily the lowest-priced proposal. The contract term is three years with seven optional one-year extensions, allowing for a potential contract duration of up to ten years, with pricing proposals required to remain fixed and binding through June 30, 2028. Subscription license costs are charged at the individual license level only as utilized within a fully functioning solution and are not applicable during implementation and development phases prior to state acceptance. No specific budget range or award value is disclosed in the solicitation materials; however, vendors must complete the Project Cost Proposal appendix detailing firm fixed costs for Phases 1 through 3 and annual Operations and Support costs across the entire contract period including Years 1-3, Years 4-5, Years 6-7, Years 8-9, and Year 10 to establish the total project cost and payment schedule.