HOT & SPICY or RFP in New Mexico Mary Houdek, IT and GIS Manager Kym Peters, Statistical Research Director Office of New Mexico Vital Records & Health Statistics June 8, 2004
EDR in NM DOH funding request to legislature. DENIED by DOH. 2002 – Requested again. DENIED, but given $ for requirements document. 2003 – Applied for SSA grant. GRANTED ~ $500,000. RECEIVED $300,000 from bioterrorism. APPROVED as part of the DOH legislative request. 2004 – RECEIVED $1,000,000 from legislature.
Got $, Need a Vendor 4 Options 1. Sole Source. 2. Hire off GSA Schedule. 3. Write a Direct, Specialized RFP. 4. Write a Software and Services RFP.
RFP Timeline Contract with SSA began October Began writing RFP for Death System in December Notified of legislative funding February 2004; revised RFP. RFP out for bid June 2004.
Why so long? Recent changes in administration. Approval of funds from legislature required adding birth, fetal death, and ITOPS modules. Due to staffing and nature of IT RFP, one person wrote most of RFP. Program re-org and IT re-org.
3-Parts to an RFP (in NM) Standard IT Template (required for software services in NM). Requirements. Strategic Alignment.
Issues with Template Older model. Needed to change sections. Needed legal approval to make changes. Requirements template very poor model.
RFP Successes Support of Department Support of DOH and State CIOs. Support from Department Legal Office. Solid RFP.
How to Get State Support Met with State CIO months before the process began – Early Spring of Met with Department CIO as soon as she got on Board – Summer of Met with Legislative Finance Committee Members. Met regularly with Division CIO. Met regularly with Project Steering Committee. Had support of other stakeholders: funeral industry & medical examiners.
Get the Right Support Good Steering Committee Composition – Department CIO Division CIO Deputy Division Director Department Chief Medical Officer Legal Counsel Key Vital Records Staff Newly added: State CIO Representative PHIN Coordinator
Vital Records & Health Statistics Project Team State Registrar IT Manager Statistics Manager Fraud Manager Natality and Mortality data processing supervisors 2 epidemiologists (one retired after 27 years as Statistics Manager)
Find RFP Angels Division CIO provided RFP writing strategy. Has: - good knowledge base of RFPs - experience from government and private sector. Another IT Project Manager provided process strategy.
Don’t Reinvent the RFP Used State IT template. Used examples from other states and NAPHSIS, especially for the requirements section. Used model from Environment Department. Used recently completed Requirements Document.
It Takes a Community to Build an RFP.