Rhode Island State Alert Warning and Notification System

The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA) is soliciting proposals for a comprehensive, cloud-based statewide Alert, Warning, and Notification (AWN) system, with questions due November 16, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. and proposals due December 2, 2026. Bidders must submit the ISBE participation plan (RFP Appendix B) at bid time, documenting commitments to Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Women Business Enterprise (WBE), and Disability Business Enterprise subcontractors and suppliers. MBE and WBE firms must be certified by the Division of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion MBE Compliance Office at bid submission, and Disability Business Enterprises must be certified by the Governor's Commission on Disabilities. Participation credit requires a detailed description of work for each subcontractor, with zero percent MBE credit where descriptions are omitted. MBE/WBE and Disability Business Enterprise subcontractors must self-perform 100 percent of their work or subcontract exclusively to another Rhode Island-certified MBE. Vendors may count 60 percent of expenditures with MBE-certified regular dealers and 100 percent with MBE-certified manufacturers.

The system must deliver critical alerts to Rhode Island residents and stakeholders across multiple channels and geographic regions during emergencies, integrate with existing state emergency management infrastructure, and meet performance standards with service level agreements negotiated upon award. The IT Requirements Addendum (Appendix D, effective September 2026) requires compliance with Rhode Island information security standards, encryption, access controls, data storage location requirements, backup and failover capabilities, disaster recovery procedures, and defined uptime and response-time benchmarks. Vendors must document IT security certifications, compliance with federal and state cybersecurity frameworks, and third-party security audit results. The ETSS Policy checklist (Appendix E) governs compliance verification throughout evaluation and award.

Pricing must follow the Cost Proposal Template (Appendix C), which structures costs for implementation, licensing, maintenance, and support services, and cost impacts of the IT requirements must be reflected in pricing. Place of performance is Rhode Island. Jonathan Nadeau is the buyer. The solicitation was posted November 4, 2026.