Project Update 12_19_2017 First Award Announced!

It's been some time since our last update because we've been focused on the formal procurement process for our first RFP - Integrated Search.

Our work this sprint was focused on conducting oral interviews of the vendors that submitted a proposal in response to our first RFP. We interviewed six firms from all over the country, and a Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC) conducted evaluations of their written proposals.

At the conclusion of this process, the PEC selected Resource Data, Inc. - an Alaska firm with experience in both agile practices and with past state projects - to work on the unified search module. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be reaching out to vendors that asked questions during our RFP development process, or that expressed an interest, to learn more about their impressions of our process, and to keep them engaged for future RFPs.

We also focused our work on setting up the next modular acquisition for this project, using the product roadmap we have been refining over the past several months. Planning for the next module and associated acquisitions in our project began in earnest this sprint.

Completed:

• Conducted oral interviews with firms responding to initial RFP.
• Selected a vendor to work on the first module in our current ARIES project work.
• Identified process and tools that will need to be in place for vendor to begin work.
• Completed development of a planning and work submission process to guide work with our new vendor.

To do:

• Finalize contract, onboard new vendor, and begin work on unified search module.
• Continue to plan work on next module outlined in product roadmap.
• Conduct retrospective on initial RFP process to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Engage with interested vendors for future RFPs.

We are excited about the level of quality competition for our first module and look forward to continuing to build on what we've learned in future procurements. Many thanks to all who participated and assisted us in shaping our first RFP!