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 2001 - 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 Vendor4 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 2004.

Began writing RFP for Death System in December 2003.

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 2003. Met with Department CIO as soon as she got on

Board – Summer of 2003. 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 SupportGood 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.