Request for Information - Grants Management System

Introduction:

The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (DEED) provides an online grants management system that is accessed by State users, subgrantees, and the public. The current online grants management system (GMS) streamlines the federal grant application and payment processing for subgrantees seeking funding opportunities made available through the State. DEED has been using a system originally implemented in 2012 with enhancements deployed overtime to accommodate new levels of functionality. The current DEED system interfaces with automation to the online State accounting system, IRIS, to distribute funds from nineteen funding applications from 34 grants to over 800 subgrantees in the State of Alaska.

Background and Project Information:

The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development is seeking a full-service vendor to provide an online grants management system. The system will need to facilitate the large number of federal and state grants. The current system not only provides a place for a grant application, a budget and narrative, as well as place for the department to provide feedback on a grant application before approving, but also allows grantees to submit reimbursement requests. This interactive system is also public facing once the application is approved. This transparency allows the public to view individual district grant applications and budgets. In addition, the current system provides a planning tool for districts to add information regarding goals, action steps, and tasks. This system interfaces with the state’s accounting system reducing the amount of time needed to manually transfer information from one system to the other.

Project Specifications:

• Web based system that can be accessed anywhere that has an internet connection,
• Cloud-hosted solution so no local IT infrastructure is required,
• Migrate existing grant data into new platform (applicable to a new vendor),
• Streamlined and automated grant application processes with validation controls,
• Application and budgeting in a consolidated application with multiple funding sources or as a single grant,
• Budget revisions (amendments),
• Ability for the state to build and customize reports,
• Data extraction capabilities to aggregate any data collected through the system,
• Automated workflows,
• Workflow for application creation and approval with the ability to return/reject application or reimbursement request at each level,
• Customizable business rules (errors),
• Interface with the state accounting system (iris) to initiate payment disbursement to the grantee,
• Ability to establish and track fund sources and phases,
• Payment processing through an automated fund request process,
• Final expenditure and automated carryover process with ability to set carryover limitations,
• Award amount caps on budgeting and payment processing to ensure only the appropriate funds are distributed,
• Automated grant award notifications,
• Automated workflow notification emails as grant applications progress through the process,
• Ability to bulk email all or specific users based on role,
• Ability to add homepage notifications so users can view upon login,
• Email and homepage message archive,
• Ability to allocate grant awards,
• Ability for state-level users to bulk load allocations to applications,
• Comprehensive planning tool that is customizable to align school plans with a single district plan,
• Documented application version history for audit purposes,
• Change log, or similar feature, that allows users to easily view all changes made to an application, including budgets,
• Real-time status information for grant applications, payments, and expenditure reports,
• Document upload for all applications,
• Area for state to upload document for individual subgrantees,
• Ability to run competitive and formula grants,
• Online work ticket system to decrease probability of lost requests,
• Support team to troubleshoot issues such as a help desk,
• Annual maintenance and enhancements,
• Vendor experience with federal grants compliance,
• Ability for state-level users to provide feedback to subgrantees when rejecting/returning an application or reimbursement request,
• Area for state to provide resources for users to access and review,
• Local user management at both subgrantee and state levels,
• Ability to assign applications and/or subgrantees to specific state users,
• Public access for approved applications, and
• Secure user accounts (e.g., password protected, strong password requirements, mandated password updates, deactivation of inactive accounts).
  

Experience Required:

The experience statement should include the following information:

• Company Overview: Provide an overview of your organization, including legal name, organizational structure, core values and activities, and geographic scope.
• Expertise: Detail the specific services your organization offers.
• Relevant Experience: Describe your organization’s experience working with a State Educational Agency in grant management for K-12 funding. Highlight any projects or contracts you have managed for government agencies or similar entities. Include the number of years you have been in business and the number of similar projects you have managed.
• Key Personnel: Identify the key personnel who will be directly involved in managing and overseeing this project.
• Quality Assurance: Explain your organization’s quality assurance processes and methodologies to ensure the delivery of high-quality products and services.
• Pricing Structure: Provide an outline of the pricing for the services you can provide related to this project.
• Additional Information: Respondents are welcome to provide any additional information you believe showcases your organization’s ability to fulfill the requirements of this RFI.

Response Information:

Interested parties are invited to submit responses to the following:

1. Offeror shall describe in detail how they meet the minimum experience required, their background, financial viability, including size and resources, and details of similar/relevant projects.
2. Offeror shall describe their understanding of the project and provide as many details as possible on their proposed methodology and management plan for the project and provide a timeline for completion.
3.Offeror shall provide an estimated budget for an initial year of services and subsequent years of maintenance and services up to 5 years.
4. Name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail of the designated point of contact.

Important Notice:

This RFI does not extend any rights to prospective vendors or obligate the state to conduct a solicitation or purchase any goods or services, nor will the State be financially responsible for any costs associated with the preparation of any response for the requested information. This RFI is issued for the sole purpose of obtaining information as described in this notice. However, the information obtained from this request may be used to prepare a purchase or solicitation in the future.

Procurement Officer contact information:

Interested parties must submit a written response by January 04, 2024 3:00 p.m. ADT . Responses may be sent to the e-mail below:

All questions must be directed to the person listed below in writing via email.

Disney Ramos
Procurement Officer
Email: eed.procurement@alaska.gov

Please note : The State does not accept responsibility for failed U.S. mail or e-mailed response deliveries. It is the responsibility of the interested party to follow up with the individual listed above to ensure your response was received prior to the deadline specified above.