Pre solicitation RFP 74050233 EBT services

The California Department of Technology, on behalf of the California Health and Human Services Office of Technology and Solutions Integration, is soliciting vendor feedback on a forthcoming RFP for electronic benefit transfer (EBT) services, with pre-solicitation feedback due June 19, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. PST. This is a pre-solicitation process designed to refine RFP language before formal release; submission of feedback is voluntary and does not obligate vendors to bid on the eventual RFP.

The scope encompasses comprehensive EBT services supporting Food and Cash benefits (including SUN Bucks) and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) benefits for approximately 5.5 million monthly Food and Cash beneficiaries and nearly 1 million WIC participants. Deliverables include card issuance and management, benefit redemption and settlement, 24/7 cardholder and retailer call centers, mobile applications, data warehousing, fraud detection, and disaster services. The system must interface with the statewide CalSAWS eligibility system and support primary and backup data center operations.

The incumbent contractor is FIS (Fiserv), which has operated California's EBT system since June 2016. The current contract is in year ten of an eleven-year term. The formal RFP will follow a competitive negotiation process under California Public Contract Code section 6611, incorporating preliminary evaluation, negotiations, and a best and final offer phase.

Bidders must obtain CDT eVAQ (Electronic Vendor Assessment and Qualification) approval prior to formal proposal submission and demonstrate financial stability, relevant experience with similar EBT or payment systems, and adequate staffing and resources. Cost worksheets provided in the pre-solicitation materials identify transition-in services capped at $7 million for Food and Cash EBT and $2 million for WIC EBT, transition-out services not to exceed $3 million, ongoing Cost-Per-Case-Month and Cost-Per-Benefit-Load rates, equipment costs, paycard cardholder fees, and labor rates capped at $175 per hour for Project Managers and $100 per hour for Programmers and Business Analysts.

The formal RFP Intent to Bid deadline is November 2, 2026, questions due November 24, 2026, and proposal submission deadline December 18, 2026, with contract award anticipated May 19, 2027. Feedback should be submitted using the State's template to Procurement Officer Leanne Nguyen or secondary Tien Le. The State makes no commitment to implement suggested changes and will not provide formal responses to comments.