RFI 25-0166 Legacy Systems Refresh Market Research Initiative

The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is requesting information on enterprise system replacement solutions to support its core program activities under RFI 25-0166, with responses due June 30, 2026. This is a market research initiative in early-stage project planning; responses do not constitute a formal procurement or pricing evaluation and will inform the department's subsequent procurement strategy.

ABC seeks vendor input on technical approaches, implementation strategies, timelines, and resource requirements for modernizing legacy systems that currently support licensing, enforcement, and compliance functions. The department operates 545.75 authorized positions across five divisions and manages 93,385 total licenses across retail and non-retail categories. Current system pain points include heavy reliance on paper-based processes, manual reconciliation, and spreadsheet-driven workflows. The department processes approximately 95,000 renewal notices annually, issues 9,000 initial licenses, generates 85,000 renewed license certificates, and manages approximately 250,000 investigation-related communications.

The modernization vision—documented as the "North Star" strategic framework—prioritizes elimination of paper-based processes, online applications and license renewals, real-time workload visibility for supervisors, seamless integration of field tools and partner agency communications, unified payment processing, standardized data definitions, and improved public access to licensing information and complaint tracking.

Responses should address available technologies, vendor capabilities, implementation approaches, cost considerations, and industry best practices. The RFI attachments include organizational charts, current operational documentation, system workflows, license category listings, application processes, and enforcement procedures that characterize ABC's existing environment and constraints. This market research phase will directly inform ABC's formal procurement timeline and solicitation strategy going forward.