Specifications include, but are not limited to: The state of North Dakota, acting through its Department of Health and Human Services, Early Childhood Section (the STATE) is soliciting proposals for a contractor to both develop a technical strategy and complete Phase 1 implementation of the North Dakota Early Childhood Integrated Data Set (ECIDS). ECIDS will offer an opportunity to connect core elements of disparate datasets related to early childhood with core data elements from other integrated datasets like the State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS), as well as large transactional systems like the Integrated Eligibility System (SPACES) and Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS). STATE is building an ECIDS to integrate data from multiple state agencies to promote greater collaboration and alignment, improve efficiency, and maximize resources available to meet the needs of North Dakota’s children birth through age five. When pursuing new information technology (IT) projects, cloud-based platforms and applications are evaluated equally with on-premise solutions. Cloud-based options are considered viable options for acquiring new technology to benefit the STATE missions and increase speed to delivery for fast-paced response to changing needs. In recognition of the extensive catalogue of existing on-premise solutions in the STATE’s portfolio, future solutions can outright replace, or in a hybrid model extend, these existing investments as guided by total cost of ownership, increased capability, configurability, responsive scalability, redundancy, time to deliver, software development, and overall administrative overhead.
