HOT & SPICY
or RFP in New Mexico
Mary Houdek, IT and GIS Manager
Kym Peters, Statistical Research Director
Office of New Mexico Vital Records
& Health Statistics
June 8, 2004
EDR in NM
2001 - DOH funding request to legislature.
DENIED by DOH.
 2002 – Requested again.
DENIED, but given $ for requirements document.
 2003 – Applied for SSA grant.
GRANTED ~ $500,000.
RECEIVED $300,000 from bioterrorism.
APPROVED as part of the DOH legislative
request.
 2004 – RECEIVED $1,000,000 from legislature.

Got $, Need a Vendor
4 Options
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sole Source.
Hire off GSA Schedule.
Write a Direct, Specialized RFP.
Write a Software and Services RFP.
RFP Timeline
 Contract with SSA began October 2004.
 Began writing RFP for Death System in December 2003.
 Notified of legislative funding February 2004; revised RFP.
 RFP out for bid June 2004.
Why so long?
 Recent
changes in administration.
 Approval of funds from legislature required
adding birth, fetal death, and ITOPS modules.
 Due to staffing and nature of IT RFP, one
person wrote most of RFP.
 Program re-org and IT re-org.
3-Parts to an RFP
(in NM)
 Standard
IT Template (required for software
services in NM).
 Requirements.
 Strategic Alignment.
Issues with Template
 Older
model.
 Needed to change sections.
 Needed legal approval to make changes.
 Requirements template very poor model.
RFP Successes
 Support
of Department
 Support of DOH and State CIOs.
 Support from Department Legal Office.
 Solid RFP.
How to Get State Support
Met with State CIO months before the process
began – Early Spring of 2003.
 Met with Department CIO as soon as she got on
Board – Summer of 2003.
 Met with Legislative Finance Committee Members.
 Met regularly with Division CIO.
 Met regularly with Project Steering Committee.
 Had support of other stakeholders: funeral industry
& medical examiners.

Get the Right Support
Good Steering Committee Composition –
Department CIO
Division CIO
Deputy Division Director
Department Chief Medical Officer
Legal Counsel
Key Vital Records Staff
Newly added:
State CIO Representative
PHIN Coordinator
Vital Records & Health Statistics Project Team
State Registrar
IT Manager
Statistics Manager
Fraud Manager
Natality and Mortality data processing supervisors
2 epidemiologists (one retired after 27 years as
Statistics Manager)
Find RFP Angels

Division CIO provided RFP writing strategy.
Has:
- good knowledge base of RFPs
- experience from government and private
sector.

Another IT Project Manager provided process
strategy.
Don’t Reinvent the RFP
 Used
State IT template.
 Used examples from other states and
NAPHSIS, especially for the requirements
section.
 Used model from Environment Department.
 Used recently completed Requirements
Document.
It Takes a Community to Build an RFP.