RFP Announcement
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RFP Announcement National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) Center for Employment Security Education and Research (CESER) Information Technology Support Center (ITSC) Request for Proposal: Unemployment Insurance/Workforce System Connectivity Project: Integrated Workforce Registration (IWR) System The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) and Information Technology Support Center (ITSC)NASWA and the ITSC are seeking to procure the services of a contractor through a firm fixed price contract to develop and implement a fully integrated Unemployment Insurance (UI)/ Employment Services (ES)/ Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Integrated Workforce Registration System(IWR). The IWR system will become the point of entry into the state system for unemployed individuals/jobseekers in the three pilot states (Mississippi, Oregon and New York) that have partnered with NASWA/ITSC for this project. The technology solution is required to be built using open source technologies. The development effort will be overseen by ITSC, in partnership with the three pilot states and the United States Department of Labor (USDOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The RFP consists of the following documents: RFP: Unemployment Insurance/Workforce System Connectivity Project: Integrated Workforce Registration System Appendix A: NASWA Actual “To-Be” Processes and Use Cases Appendix B: Data Model with Data Flow Mapping Appendix C: Registration Data Flow Appendix D: Connectivity Reference System Architecture Appendix E: IWR System Requirements Appendix F: CESER General Terms and Conditions Appendix G: A National Call For Innovation Appendix H: Profile Page Description Appendix I: ITSC Project Management Template Appendix J: ITSC Project Schedule Template Important Dates: RFP Publication Date: September 25, 2012 Bidders Webinar/Teleconference: October 5, 2012; 1:00 PM EDT - http://naswa.webex.com - Keyword Search: “RFP” - Click “Register” Proposal Due Date: October 26, 2012, by 5:00 p.m. EDT to: [email protected] September 25, 2012 Request for Proposals (RFP) For: Unemployment Insurance/Workforce System Connectivity Project: Integrated Workforce Registration (IWR) System Issued By: National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) Center for Employment Security Education and Research (CESER) Information Technology Support Center (ITSC) Circulation Date September 25, 2012 Bidders Webinar/Teleconference October 5, 2012 – 1:00 PM EDT http://naswa.webex.com Keyword Search: “RFP” Click “Register” Proposal Submission Date October 26, 2012; 5:00 PM EDT [email protected] RFP Version 2.0 Page | 1 September 25, 2012 Integrated Workforce Registration System Development 1. Project Description NASWA and the ITSC are seeking to procure the services of a contractor through a firm fixed price contract to develop and implement a fully integrated Unemployment Insurance (UI)/ Employment Services (ES)/ Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Integrated Workforce Registration System. The Integrated Workforce Registration (IWR) system will become the point of entry into the state system for unemployed individuals/jobseekers in the three pilot states (Mississippi, Oregon and New York) that have partnered with NASWA/ITSC for this project. The technology solution is required to be built using open source technologies. The development effort will be overseen by ITSC, in partnership with the three pilot states and the United States Department of Labor (USDOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Office of Unemployment Insurance. Although this system is being developed and implemented in conjunction with these pilot states, all intellectual property will be owned and maintained by USDOL, and will be made available for implementation to other interested states. The IWR system will become the “front door” to a user/ job-seeker profile page. The profile page will act as the hub of information that is collected during the registration process, and information imported from existing workforce systems. It is expected that a job seeker profile page will be developed as part of the overall Connectivity Project outside the scope of this RFP, however its integration with the IWR system is in scope as a requirement for this RFP. There will be two types of profile pages that the IWR system will need to be integrated with: (1.) A state built profile page customized to handle the information that is being passed by IWR; and (2.) A generic profile page that will be available to all states. A diagram illustrating Data Flow and Navigation of the IWR is below: State Portal Customer Profile Page Login Credentials (SSO, etc.) LOGIN Personalized Service Content Selected Services: UI ES WIA DATA Recommendations and Next Steps Link to Services: UI ES WIA DATA Integrated Workforce Registration DATA State Data DATA State Systems Unemployment Insurance (UI) DATA Job Seeker Navigation Employment Services (ES) DATA Data Profile Data Flow DATA WIA / Case Management DATA NASWA/ITSC RFP Version 2.0 Page | 2 September 25, 2012 Integrated Workforce Registration System Development Integrated Workforce Registration (IWR) The Integrated Workforce Registration (IWR) system is a web based system designed to capture a set of data elements that will be shared amongst the implementing states’ workforce (UI/ES/WIA) systems. The unemployed individual or job seeker will answer questions designed to capture demographic and other pertinent data common to all of the state workforce systems supporting UI, ES and/or WIA. The IWR will be required to have an open architecture based API (Application Programming Interface) for the sharing of data collected in the IWR process with the state production UI, ES and WIA systems. This interface will enable the extraction of data entered by the individual into the IWR system for input or uploading into the state’s production system(s) UI, ES and WIA. Basically data entered into the IWR will be able to be dynamically posted and updated in multiple state workforce production systems. This API will remove cross-system dependencies between IWR and the state systems, thus allowing IWR to be transferable to any state infrastructure. When the unemployed individual job seeker arrives at the state workforce agency website, they will view general workforce information about UI, ES, WIA, and labor market information (LMI). At that time they will also be given the opportunity to search anonymously for jobs based on the states’ local, multistate or national job bank search criteria such as geographic area, (Zip code), job title or other relevant criteria. The unemployed individual /job seeker will also be provided the opportunity to register for additional services through the IWR. This initial registration step will be required as a first step in filing an initial UI Claim, or registering for employment services, or job training assistance. The vendor will be required to work directly with participating states’ staff, USDOL and ITSC. The pilot states will provide both subject matter experts (SMEs) and state system technical expertise to assist in the development and implementation of IWR. ITSC anticipates the IWR and User Profile Page solutions to be developed in tandem over a six (6) to nine (9) month period, with full production implementation to occur no later than July 31, 2013. All vendor proposals in response to this RFP for the IWR component are not to exceed $800,000.00. It is expected that vendor proposals in response to this RFP will meet the IWR requirements as outlined in this RFP for application development, software and hardware products, training and training materials, implementation and system integration. User Profile Page The Integrated Workforce Registration (IWR) User Profile Page was originally conceived of and defined during the Pilot state requirements development process. The User Profile Page was designed as a description of a registered unemployed individual/job-seeker, containing detailed information gathered from multiple state workforce systems. In essence the User Profile Page operates like a personal “Workforce Webpage,” meant to be viewed by the individual and workforce staff providing counseling or other related services and approved for access by the NASWA/ITSC RFP Version 2.0 Page | 3 September 25, 2012 Integrated Workforce Registration System Development individual. In short, the User Profile Page organizes in one web based location the information contained within the state workforce systems (UI, WIA, and ES) as well as information gathered from the unemployed individual/ job seeker during the IWR process. A two way communication channel is established between the User Profile Page and the various state Workforce Systems to keep the User Profile Page up to date with the latest real time information and activities about the unemployed individual/jobseeker. Pilot states may or may not implement the User Profile Page in conjunction with the IWR system. The profile page will serve as an interface between the jobseeker and workforce systems, dynamically populated with information about and for the jobseeker, based on information collected during the IWR process and from the workforce systems. The development of the User Profile Page is outside the scope of this RFP. Integration of the IWR with the User Profile Page is a requirement within the scope of this RFP. For more information on the Profile Page and its functionality, please see Appendix H. Integrated Workforce Registration System (IWR) Requirements The