Service maintenance of palmetto software

The State of South Carolina, through the State Fiscal Accountability Authority on behalf of the Emergency Management Division and Office of the Adjutant General, is seeking a contractor to provide comprehensive service maintenance for the Palmetto software system. This Request for Proposal (RFP 5400021456) requires a qualified vendor to maintain, enhance, and manage a complex emergency management information platform used by all 46 South Carolina counties and most state agencies. The system encompasses multiple integrated sites including Common Operating Picture, Local Emergency Management Assistance Grant programs, Damage Assessment, Mitigation, Training, Patient Tracking, Entry and Egress, Call Down, SC Highway Patrol operations, and Radiological Emergency Program. The selected contractor must provide one full-time onsite staff member working 40 hours per week at SCEMD headquarters, with 24/7 emergency support capabilities, system maintenance, mobile application development, widget development, web services integration, and customized programming services. Evaluation criteria include technical proposal (50 points), experience and qualifications (30 points), and annual pricing (20 points), with a Phase II demonstration required for top-ranked offerors. Key dates include a pre-proposal conference on October 7, 2021, question submission deadline of October 14, 2021, and proposal due date of November 1, 2021, with award notification scheduled for February 21, 2022.

The contract term is five years, comprising one initial year and four one-year renewal options, with an estimated start date of March 3, 2022. The contractor must maintain a secret security clearance due to access to National Guard Joint Operations Center information and comply with NIST 800 framework information security requirements. Insurance requirements include comprehensive liability coverage with cyber security and privacy protection, with limits of $5 million per occurrence and $10 million aggregate. The pricing structure requires a comprehensive annual "turnkey" fee covering all implementation, technical support, maintenance, and project expenses, with the contractor responsible for all Amazon Web Services (AWS) licensing and infrastructure costs. Price adjustments are permitted only upon renewal, limited to the Consumer Price Index for "Other Goods and Services." All code, applications, and data will exclusively belong to SCEMD upon contract completion. The contractor must also provide an initial 7-day ramp-up period from the contract award date before being required to provide full phone support, code changes, and site training. While no specific set-aside designations are mentioned, the comprehensive technical and security requirements suggest a need for an experienced, technically sophisticated vendor with specific emergency management software expertise.