Laboratory Information Management System RFP

The Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) and Department of Public Health (IDPH) are procuring a comprehensive Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to replace their current STARLIMS and paper-based systems across three laboratory sites in Springfield, Chicago, and Carbondale. The procurement seeks a modernized Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that will support and automate laboratory tasks for processing over one million samples annually across multiple testing departments including Arbovirus, Blood Lead, Enteric, Whole Genome Sequencing, Influenza, Tuberculosis, and other specialized testing areas. Key deliverables include project management, requirements validation, solution design/configuration, data migration, testing, user training, solution provisioning, deployment, and ongoing maintenance and operations. The evaluation criteria will be comprehensive, comprising 850 points for technical requirements, 270 points for commitment to diversity, 500 points for presentations, and 324 points for pricing, totaling 1,944 possible points. The pre-submission conference is scheduled for October 24, 2024, with questions due by October 31, 2024, and proposals due 8 weeks after posting, with a final submission deadline of December 5, 2024, at 2:00 PM CST. The proposed contract term is 5 years with one optional 5-year renewal period, for a maximum potential term of 10 years.

The procurement includes a 10% Business Enterprise Program (BEP) goal for minorities, women, and persons with disabilities, requiring vendors to either meet the goal through self-performance, subcontracting, or demonstrate good faith efforts to obtain BEP participation. Vendors must submit a complete Utilization Plan and meet various responsiveness requirements, including financial disclosures and good standing with state agencies. The current system interfaces with approximately 20 existing scripts and must integrate with the state's Okta identity management solution, supporting various file formats including HL7, XML, CSV, and PDF. The solution must interface with over 30 different pieces of laboratory equipment from manufacturers such as Abbott, Bio-Rad, Illumina, and PerkinElmer, supporting bi-directional and uni-directional interfaces for 66 clinical laboratory tests, 13 environmental laboratory tests, and 17 newborn screening tests. While specific budget ranges are not explicitly stated, the comprehensive nature of the procurement and the requirement for a full-featured LIMS solution suggests a significant investment in modernizing the state's laboratory information management capabilities.