IVRS-NX Maintenance - Sole Source

The Illinois Department of Public Health is announcing its intent to award a sole-source contract to Netsmart Technologies, Inc. for licensing and maintenance of the Illinois Vital Records System (IVRS NX), with a public hearing on October 2, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. via Webex and written comments due by 4:00 p.m. that same day; the procurement notice was posted September 18 with an October 7 hearing deadline.

This is a sole-source procurement justified on economic feasibility grounds. IDPH determined that Netsmart Technologies is the sole economically feasible source because it owns and controls the proprietary IVRS NX software and no other vendor is capable of providing the required licensing and maintenance services for the existing production environment. While alternative vital records systems exist, procuring a replacement system would constitute a new implementation requiring substantial additional State expenditures beyond the current maintenance requirement.

The scope covers ongoing software licensing, system maintenance, technical support, security updates, software corrections, and maintenance and enhancement services for the production vital records environment. IVRS NX supports birth, death, and fetal death registration; amendment processing; certified copy issuance; accounting functions; and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Reporting System case management, serving more than 6,000 users statewide including hospitals, physicians, funeral directors, coroners, medical examiners, local registrars, county clerks, and State personnel.

The contract value is $600,116.39 for a one-year term beginning September 25, 2026 and ending September 24, 2027, with no renewals included. Funding comes from State and federal sources. IDPH validated this pricing against the annualized cost of the competitively awarded original contract renewal ($600,117.06 per year) and the immediately preceding 90-day emergency procurement rate. The State has invested $5,141,846 in IVRS NX since the original competitively awarded contract in 2022. The Chief Procurement Officer for General Services, Dianne Richman (217-622-1857, Dianne.Richman@illinois.gov), retains authority to approve or deny the agency's sole-source request following the hearing.