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11 Vendors Qualify for Pool of Agile Developers

The California Health and Human Services Agency has selected 11 vendors for a prequalified pool of agile developers eligible to work on the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System replacement and other projects, officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

The California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) has selected 11 vendors for a prequalified pool of agile developers eligible to work on the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System replacement and other projects, officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

The 11 vendors "all received assessments of highly qualified based upon their submission of a functioning prototype, working source code, and a narrative description of the technical approach used to create the prototype," the agency said.

The selected vendors are Accenture, Binti Inc., Cambria Solutions, Case Commons, CivicActions, Deloitte, EngagePoint, Exygy, Oliver Wyman, Portland Webworks, and Taborda Solutions.

These firms will provide user-centered design and agile software development services, according to the state. Officials believe establishing the pool will help reduce the amount of time it takes to complete a solicitation and deliver working software.

"With the establishment of the ADPQ vendor pool, all CHHS departments are now able to develop and release ADPQ Request for Offers (RFOs) to the pre-qualified vendors," the agency explained.

The state expects the first RFO under this new vehicle to be released in August for design and development services of the Certification, Approval, and Licensing Services (CALS) of the Child Welfare Services – New System (CWS-NS).

"CHHSA intends to review the work of contractors via this method and refresh the pool at the beginning of 2017," the agency said.

California's vendor be modeled after a purchasing agreement for agile development the federal government established in 2015. Last year the Federal Acquisition Service and 18F announced that 17 vendors qualified through its prequalified pool.

Some firms shared resources as they attempted to qualify in California. Berkeley-based CivicActions, which is one of the 11 selected firms, invited other agile developers to use a group of California foster parents it knew who would be prospective users of the software prototype and posted its open source code for the prototype on GitHub as well as transcripts from its interviews with parents.

In order to be considered, companies had to develop a working prototype of open source software that enables parents of foster children to manage profiles online, view children's residential facilities in their ZIP code and communicate through a private inbox. The entries were due in June.

Matt Williams was Managing Editor of Techwire from June 2014 through May 2017.