The Employment Development Department (EDD) is seeking seeking a firm that will collectively possess extensive expertise and expert-level knowledge in IV&V Services. The team will provide a service to ensure that all in-scope systems meets requirements, specifications and satisfies their intended purposes. A comprehensive review, analysis, and testing of all solution components will be performed to validate that all requirements are correctly defined and to confirm that all systems are correctly implemented based on functionality, performance, and security requirements. The IV&V team will perform detailed assessments and identify any discrepancies in the product quality and specifications and will assist product developers to build and/or configure products, to meet all the approved requirements. The IV&V team will ensure that developers and solution providers are adhering to all regulations (required by SAM 4940.3) and are delivering their products and services within budget constraints. The intent is to ensure that all solutions meet all targeted requirements for for our EDDNext project.

The Employment Development Department (EDD) in California has one of the nation's largest public benefit systems with over 21 million claimants and 63 million claims being filed for Unemployment Insurance (UI), Disability Insurance (DI), and Paid Family Leave (PFL) over the past decade.  The EDD organization also supports many auxiliary business functions for hundreds of thousands of employers, medical providers, and other stake holders. Through the EDDnext project, the state will engage with communities across California to help design and implement systems and services that are easier to use and adapt to changing circumstances. 

Given scope and mandates, EDD programs largely operate independently of each other, and programs have different channels and platforms where customers input their information. Each program has its own distinct set of technologies, databases, and interfaces, which has led to each program developing its own policies, regulations, rules that manifest in unique eligibility requirements and processes. Various EDD programs are in different stages of automation, from manual processes and paper-based ones to a more seamless digital experience. One of the primary goals of EDDNext is to eliminate barriers to create a cohesive and consistent experience for customers across all programs and channels.

IV&V vendor is required by SAM 4940.3. The IV&V ensures that a system meets requirements and specifications and fulfills its intended purpose. 

As part of the modernization effort, we foresee the following challenges:

1. Management of numerous vendor contracts with varying deliverables and requirements
2. Multitudes of project activities and workstreams being managed and tracked
3. The lack of a unified traceability matrix tool to map and correlate all requirements
4. Difficulties in identifying and managing all risks in a timely manner
5. Anticipated increases in volume and complexity of EDDNext workstreams
6. Prioritization of high-profile project activities that require an elevated degree of visibility
7. Ability to allocate requisite resources -to EDDNext project
8. Need to communicate overall project and individual workstream status and progress to sponsors, stakeholders, and executives

The EDDNext project team is seeking responses from proposers that can meet the following requirements:

1. Extensive experience and success with large and complex public agencies.​
2. Ability to manage and operate on complex and diverse projects with multiple concurrent workstreams.​
3. Experience working in a technical capacity on IT enterprise projects.​
4. Experience working in IT projects which were subject to the California Department of Technology Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL) process for California state agencies or departments​
5. Knowledge and experience utilizing the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Standard 1012 (System and Software Verification and Validation) or other similar/equal standards.​
6. Experience performing IV&V services for implementation of a commercial off the shelf solution (COTS), modifiable off the shelf solution (MOTS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and/or cloud technology product.​
7. Experience performing IV&V services for a system integration project for a governmental agency which included validating functional and non-functional requirements, interfaces, traceability, and acceptance testing.

​The project will improve the service by focusing on the following strategic objectives:

1. Detailed assessments and identification of any discrepancies in the product quality and specifications.​
2. Provide assistance to product developers to build and/or configure products, to meet all the approved requirements.​
3. Comprehensive review, analysis, and testing of all solution components to validate that all requirements are correctly defined.​
4. Confirmation that all systems will be correctly implemented based on functionality, performance, and security requirements.