Emergency Notice - Illinois Vital Records System Maintenance

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) issued an emergency procurement notice on May 21, 2026, for maintenance and operational support services for the Illinois Vital Records System (IVRS-NX), a proprietary system serving approximately 6,000 statewide users and processing approximately 500,000 vital records annually. The procurement covers a comprehensive range of services including system maintenance, licensing, and operational support for the IVRS-NX platform and its related modules, which encompass birth registration, universal newborn screening, death registration, fetal death registration, customization services, security applications, adverse pregnancy outcomes reporting, medical death investigation case management, and various Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) interfaces. The emergency contract was necessitated by timing constraints that prevented completion of the competitive procurement process prior to contract expiration, creating risk of service interruption to hospitals, funeral directors, physicians, coroners, local registrars, and other authorized stakeholders. The contract was awarded on May 19, 2026, with authorization dated May 21, 2026, with a proposal due date of August 16, 2026. Key evaluation criteria for vendor selection included the vendor's exclusive ownership and control of the proprietary source code, technical capability to maintain the existing customized application, and ability to ensure continuity of operations. The primary objective is to maintain uninterrupted operational support until a replacement solicitation and full competitive procurement process can be completed.

The procurement was restricted to Netsmart Technologies Inc., located at 11100 Nall Avenue, Overland Park, Kansas 66211, as the sole vendor capable of providing the required services due to its exclusive ownership of the IVRS-NX proprietary source code and customized application. The IDPH determined that no certified Business Enterprise Program vendors could provide the required services due to the proprietary and specialized nature of the system, and no active state contract was available to meet these requirements. The emergency contract was awarded to Netsmart Technologies Inc. as the incumbent vendor and sole provider capable of delivering the necessary maintenance and operational support. The total contract value for this emergency procurement is $150,029.10, funded through a combination of federal funds and state appropriated funds. This emergency procurement is intended to serve as a temporary measure to maintain system continuity while the state pursues a broader competitive solicitation and procurement process for potential replacement or continued services.