Folsom, Calif.-based Taborda Solutions has won the first agile contract attached to the state's child welfare system modernization project, the state announced on Thursday.
Under the scope of work, Taborda Solutions will develop an Application Programming Interface (API) for the current Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS). The modernized system will be called CWS/NS — denoting a "new system."
"This contract is the first step towards our goal of creating, with county child welfare workers, a simpler, clearer, user-centered digital service to better serve the families who depend on our services,” CHHSA Undersecretary Michael Wilkening said in a statement.
Late last year California adopted agile for the child welfare system after deciding a monolithic procurement using traditional "waterfall" design could be unsuccessful. The state consulted with outside experts and the federal government before making the switch.
Officials hope that splitting up the project's procurement and development into smaller parts will improve competition among contractors, avoid risk, make the design and development process more flexible, and reduce the amount of time it takes to push out new functionality to users.
End to end, it took six months to procure a contractor for the API module. The RFP was released in December 2015. California received seven qualified bids, and three eventually advanced to the Best Final Offer process.
The maximum amount for the contract is about $643,000. Accenture, Deloitte, EAM Software, EngagePoint, IBM and Unisys also submitted bids.
Other contracts for a case intake module and intake implementation module will be awarded later this year. Code that's developed during the project will be put in the public domain.
Several state and federal agencies are involved in the child welfare system's move into agile: the California Health and Human Services Agency, the state's Child Welfare Digital Services organization, the federal Administration for Children Youth and Families, the California Department of Social Services, the Office of Systems Integration, Department of Technology and the federal government's 18F group and digital service.
