OUTCOMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY DATA SYSTEM

The South Carolina Department of Education First Steps is seeking a comprehensive Outcomes and Accountability Data System through solicitation number 5400020491, targeting the replacement of three existing systems (ChildPlus, TeachingStrategies GOLD, and First Steps Data Collection System). The procurement requires a child-centric, vendor-hosted software solution capable of supporting approximately 36 state office staff, over 850 local agency members, and managing around 60,000 active clients with 200-400 concurrent users. Critical system requirements include online data entry for demographic information, attendance tracking, professional development logging, evaluations, assessments, and referral management, with robust reporting capabilities across multiple organizational levels. The non-mandatory pre-proposal conference was held on December 10, 2020, with proposal submissions due January 5, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. The contract term spans one year with four potential one-year renewals, totaling a maximum five-year duration, with an estimated start date of February 16, 2021, and full system implementation required by August 2021. The system must comply with federal requirements including FERPA and HIPAA, support current browsers and multiple devices, provide 99.9% annual availability, and maintain geographically distributed backups.

The procurement does not explicitly outline specific set-aside designations or restrictions for disadvantaged enterprises. The one-time budget for system development, training, documentation, testing, and historical data conversion is $595,000, exclusive of annual recurring costs for hosting, maintenance, help desk support, and licensing. Vendors must provide a minimum of nine hours daily support (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday) with 24/7 critical issue reporting capabilities. Mandatory requirements include software licensing arrangements, cybersecurity insurance with $5 million per occurrence and $10 million aggregate coverage, and completion of a comprehensive Service Provider Security Assessment Questionnaire. The project is partially funded through the Preschool Development Grant, which expires on April 29, 2021, necessitating strict adherence to the proposed timeline. Data migration responsibilities include transferring approximately 30,000 records from ChildPlus and 500,000 records from the First Steps Data Collection System, with vendors required to provide detailed project timelines covering system architecture, pilot system development, data conversion, quality assurance testing, training, technical documentation, and full deployment.