The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation released a Request for Quotation for IT services Thursday, seeking an “expert senior technical consultant” to assist the department in implementing new “application features” and/or modifications and upgrades to existing apps that are “requested and/or prioritized” by its Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO). Among the takeaways:
• The individual chosen will be tasked with helping DAPO in “analyzing, designing, programming and testing” apps supporting “a modern Web browser and mobile devices,” under the direction of the contract manager or the Enterprise Information Services (EIS) Information Technology Manager I for Offender Management for Parole Operations (EIS OMPO Manager). Also per the RFQ, EIS OMPO is charged with “development and support of all applications utilized to manage the CDCR’s offender population including mobile and Progressive Web Applications (PWAs).”
CDCR highlights no fewer than eight projects either planned or underway:
• Enhancements to its Virtual Integrated Mobile Office (VIMO), an app “running in production” for Parole, on mobile phones. It gives parole field agents access to parolee data and lets them document supervision contact notes from their device and update inmates’ Strategic Offender Management System (SOMS) records.
• Effective Communication and Supervision Contacts.
• New Write APIs for adding records on parolees’ residence, employment and photographs to the electronic Offender Management Information System (eOMIS).
• Submission of related electronic documents to eOMIS via Web Services.
• Additional DAPO Work Requests for Adding Scar/Mark/Tattoo, Parolee Name, Alias/Moniker, and Parolee Vehicle records to eOMIS.
• Transition VIMO to the EIS Middle Tier. EIS, per the RFQ, is in the process of deploying a so-called middle tier to offer high-performance Web services in support of customers internally and externally who need “access to multiple data sources” at CDCR. This is intended to become “the standard data transport mechanism.”
• Agent Mobile Office (AMO). This is a project that will need mobile hardware to connect parole agents in the field with access to electronic forms and documents.
• Azure Dev Ops Services, Git Hub Enterprise. Going forward, all EIS application development will make use of these tools, as well as the “CI/CD automation pipeline.”
Contractor duties will include maintenance, support and enhancements to VIMO to improve its associated automated processes and support for new DAPO initiatives. Working with CDCR EIS OMPO, the contractor will offer “programming services” that follow the Agile methodology. Work will be divided into four-week sprints for:
• Mobile Development Infrastructure, for which the contractor will offer “advice on best practices recommendations for tools and techniques” and support creating “progressive Web application mobile development architecture, tools (including Docker), and test environments.”
• VIMO Support and Enhancements, for which the contractor must work with CDCR’s business analyst and its mobile application development team on preserving the VIMO production release, developing new PWA functionality, and updating “application and user documentation, training materials and job aids.”
• Knowledge Transfer, working closely with OMPO programming staff in development/coding, testing and implementation of mobile apps using PWA technologies to transfer knowledge and skills.
Qualifications include:
• For the company, demonstrated success in “development and support services for progressive Web applications and native mobile computing applications”; at least seven years’ experience with projects of similar size and scope, with government programs and entities, within the last decade; and experience with Agile projects and Azure Dev-Ops Server/Services development tools.
• For the contractor programmer, experience as a full stack developer on “native mobile and progressive” Web apps for mobile devices; with Xamarin, Java, JavaScript, HTML5, NodeJS, Objective-C, C++, C#, Docker, F5 and AirWatch; with the Vue JS framework; and at least seven years’ experience “programming, troubleshooting and implementing solutions in complex progressive Web applications.”
• The contract will be for about one year beginning on or around Dec. 1. Its maximum funding is $249,000. Questions on the RFQ are due by 2 p.m. Wednesday; responses will be provided by 2 p.m. Thursday. Responses to the RFQ are due by 2 p.m. Nov. 13 and will be evaluated the following week. The proposed award date is Nov. 19.
