The California Secretary of State is planning to restart an IT project that will enable businesses to submit filings and retrieve records online.
The Business Connect project was suspended in 2015 after the effort fell behind schedule. Planning for the initiative has now been redone, according to state documents, with a new project schedule, scope and proposed budget.
The new project budget is $53.3 million — about double the previous $26.9 million budget. The Secretary of State also proposes to focus on about 100 "higher-volume" filing types instead of the more than 500 types that were originally included in the scope. The estimated completion date has been moved to 2022 — an additional five years — in part to allow the Secretary of State Office to re-engineer business processes prior to the procurement.
"Functionality will focus on the largest volume of paper filings/documents to obtain the maximum possible benefit to the public and cost avoidances to the state. The Business Programs Division will add the low-volume niche filings to the system after the initial system implementation, but are outside the scope of this project."
Business Connect was conceptually approved in 2011, under former Secretary of State Debra Bowen. The project’s aim is to put all Statement of Interest business filings online and move the Secretary of State’s Office to a paperless records environment, enabling the organization to turn around business filings in a matter of days instead of weeks. The new system aims to replace and consolidate nearly two dozen existing systems.
There will be significant contract opportunities for vendors. In its Special Project Report, the Secretary of State proposes to spend $11 million on contract services for software customization; $1.2 million for project management; $1.2 million for IV&V; $4.5 million on "other" contract services; and $1.2 million to purchase software and licenses.
The Secretary of State plans to release an RFP for the project in summer 2017. In fall 2015 the state released an RFI seeking input from vendors on a new approach.
