Submission Due Date: 06/04/2025

Client  - State of PA

Dauphin County, Candidates must reside within a commutable distance to Harrisburg, PA.

ISSUING OFFICE

This request is issued from the Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) within Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS).

Executive Order issued on July 31, 2019 to procure a statewide child welfare case management system. Current IT systems must be supported until OCYF makes a full transition to the new system, which is expected to occur in 2025. Business Process Alignment (BPA) and User Stories with CW CM stakeholders are planned to conclude in early January of 2024, and all work products from these sessions are scheduled to be finalized the month following this conclusion. Following the finalization of the process flows and user stories, OCYF is expected to engage in subsequent activities such as data clean-up and conversion, discovery, system design/configuration, etc.

BACKGROUND/PROBLEM STATEMENT

OCYF has a specific need for highly skilled staff augmentation to support current IT system development and maintenance while also transitioning to a new statewide Child Welfare Case Management System (CW CM) in alignment with the Governor’s Exehe Office of Children, Youth and Families, Systems and Data Management Division will oversee the work assignment.

INCURRING COSTS

DHS is not responsible for any costs or expenses incurred by the service providers in the preparation of their quotes.

RESOURCES

DHS shall provide office space within the SDMU office at the Harrisburg Uptown Building, Harrisburg PA 17110. In addition, DHS will supply all necessary hardware, software, network connection, phone and fax for daily use as needed to complete assigned work items.

TRAVEL

IT System planning, implementation and testing activities for current applications and the CW CM may require travel outside the Harrisburg area. OCYF provides assistance to the 67 County Children and Youth Agencies (CCYA) and four OCYF Regional Offices in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Scranton.

CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS

1. Points of contact

2.  Criminal History Background Check

3.  Security access

OBJECTIVES OF ENGAGEMENT

The contractor’s primary responsibilities will be to manage specific components and/or initiatives that support OCYF IT systems and users. While this contractor will be playing a significant role in the support of subject matter experts for the future Child Welfare Case Management (CW CM) System, this contractor will also in the help the Systems Section within the Systems and Data Management Division to manage functionality of IT systems which are currently overseen by this unit, and are anticipated to become part of the future CW CM solution. This includes but is not limited to, the Chile Welfare Information System (CWIS), the data collection system utilized for providing data for the Federal Adoption and Foster Care Reporting System (AFCARS) requirements, and the Title IV-E QA Invoicing System. The contractor is responsible for supporting subject matter experts in development user requirements, reviewing project deliverable and performing user acceptance testing as it pertains to legacy systems and the future CW CM system, as a thorough understanding of the current IT systems that will be replaced by CW CM will be essential to the success of the CW CM effort. 

TASKS TO BE PERFORMED

Specific tasks for the contractor are:

Plan, organize, prioritize, and manage multiple initiatives across the OCYF project team.

Manages submission and tracking of system defects and change requests related to assigned system components.

Manages processes and timelines in a manner necessary to meet program office specifications, and/or state or federal compliance requirements.

Provides regular status reports for projects and/or tasks as assigned. 

Manages work associated with addressing data quality needs identified by the program office, federal compliance needs, and/or those identified within the CCWIS data quality plan.

Reviews user requirements/user stories and functional specifications for system development, enhancements or configuration and supports associated system user acceptance testing, deployment, problem resolution, and end-user support activities.

Responsible for compliance with standards and procedures specific to assigned initiatives.

Manage and track progress against the project schedule and scope.

Anticipate issues and proactively address them. Identify and track issues, and report issues using the appropriate chain of command.

Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders and customer representatives.

Provide support to business operations and end users for OCYF and/or DHS software applications regarding business operations and technical issue evaluations and resolutions.

Investigates and resolves business operational and software issues identified and reported by users.

Communicate effectively with customers and software / hardware suppliers supporting the commonwealth as appropriate.

Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with the network of county children and youth agencies, other Department staff, and other contractors.

Uses Microsoft programs (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook) for documentation and communication purposes. Uses Team Foundation Server (TFS), Microsoft Azure (projects currently managed using TFS are anticipated to be migrated to Azure in the near future), and Microsoft Test Manager (MTM).

Conducts meetings and/or follow-up sessions with stakeholders as needed in order to gain necessary detailed understanding of relevant business processes.

Assists the Data Management Section of the SDMU as needed with tasks relevant to the CW CM initiative.

Able to use the Commonwealth Service Now incident reporting system for incident and request tracking and processing.

Able to lead/facilitate meetings or workgroups in-person and/or virtually as assigned.

Able to develop and facilitate presentations in-person and/or virtually as assigned.

Able to develop responses to public/media/stakeholder/federal inquiries as assigned.

Able to work in a team environment.

Travels as needed.

CONTRACTOR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

·    7 years’ experience in developing business, functional and user requirements for IT systems.

7 years’ knowledge of business analysis process, principles, practices, and techniques.

Knowledge of software development lifecycle with focus on the user requirements and UAT.

Contractor must have excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Contractor must demonstrate good interpersonal skills and the ability to work with diverse user groups.

·    Contractor must be fluent in English and be able to be clearly understood over the phone.

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships.

Highly Desired – 2 years’ experience performing similar work in the Child Welfare or other Human Services Field.

Highly Desirable – IIBA certification.