Today, the National Association of State CIO's (NASCIO) held an innovation forum on the topic of the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM). Chris Traver of the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance; and Paul Wormelli of the IJIS Institute both presented on NIEM, what it is, and where it is going. Currently, NIEM adoption has come within the justice/public safety market as agencies begin to develop and deploy information sharing networks. Development of such networks requires that multiple agencies agree to certain data standards and common language. Not only does NIEM provide common language standards, but it also provides common governance and interoperability standards which are essential to a successful information exchange.

Currently, 60% of major IT programs within the Department of Homeland Security are using the NIEM model. In the Department of Justice, most programs utilize the Federal Bureau of Identification's N-DEx program, which uses NIEM standards. The Department of Defense, Maritime Domain Awareness Program also utilizes the help of NIEM. On the state and local level, NIEM has been used by many agencies in their American Recovery and Reinvestment Act reporting standards. Also, the Colorado Criminal Justice Information System leverages NIEM.

As stated, NIEM is currently in use primarily by justice and public safety agencies/programs. However, there has been a big push to incorporate NIEM into the health care and social services market. Programs such as the Nationwide Health Information Network out of the Office of the National Coordinator within the Department of Health and Human Services are planning to use NIEM. In general, the CIO's office within DHHS has been very supportive of NIEM and the benefits it can bring, such as cost savings and risk reduction.

As for the future, NIEM will most likely extend into the area of health care and social services as those markets begin to develop the framework for information exchange networks. One can argue that NIEM will be the catalyst for market expansion. Vendors should begin to align their solutions with NIEM so as to not be surprised when agencies demand service orientated architecture built around NIEM standards. Vendors should also begin to network and get involved in NIEM industry support groups and domain committees.

For most of us a UFO is something for science fiction movies or supermarket tabloids. No so for Jerry Davis, the NASA Deputy CIO for IT Security. At INPUT's Federal Executive Breakfast event this morning, Mr. Davis shared with us how UFOs will have a direct impact on NASA's IT spend between now and the end of the 2010 fiscal year come October. And nobody saw this coming. Who says IT is not central to an agency's mission?!

But believe it or not, UFOs inside NASA actually stands for "Unfunded Opportunities" and these opportunities are the result of some brand new appropriations guidance NASA has received which now precludes the agency from carrying over 25% of its IT budget into the next fiscal year as it has traditionally done to ease the impact of continuing resolutions. Translation: NASA has IT money to spend between now and October that it did not plan to spend until after then. Davis highlighted roughly $35 million in the CIO's office alone, but that NASA-wide UFO spending (not just on IT) could be close to $19 billion.

But managing and executing on these UFOs presents a challenge, Davis noted. To meet the UFO challenge the CIO's office and the IT shops at the various NASA centers have been preparing a list of IT priorities for which they could apply the funds and once the list is finalized they would begin procurements. The one requirement for an item to make the list is that it has no out-year costs associated with it. NASA wants these buys to have no multi-year budget ramifications.

Davis said that these purchases will go through existing contract vehicles since there will be no time to stand up new vehicles. So if you do not currently hold one of NASA's preferred contracts then you may need to be creative to win business.

Finally, Davis had an unofficial prediction that come June, areas of NASA that may have lagged in teeing-up specific purchases may see the September 30th end-of-fiscal-year train heading toward them and look to IT purchases as a means to spend their remaining funds. So look for a flurry of UFOs come summer.

After over a year of delays, the City of Portland, Oregon Department of Procurement Services has released the RFP for a new Law Enforcement Records Management System (RMS) and Associated Interfaces. This multijurisdictional RMS system will serve Portland and the Regional Partner Agencies, composed of 2 states, 5 counties and 35 local agencies.

This project will allow the City of Portland to retire its mainframe computer, enhance the capabilities of the Portland Police Data System (PPDS), increase the geographic reach of the PPDS to fully cover the Portland metropolitan area and effectively utilize the available funding to minimize the need for extensive system customization while still delivering high levels of user satisfaction. It is the expectation of the City that the desired system serve as a platform that can be built upon for the next 20 years.

A Pre-proposal Conference will be held April 14, 2010, Questions are due May 18, 2010 and Proposals are due May 28, 2010.

INPUT is currently tracking a multitude of Records Management and Computer Aided Dispatch across the country and has been reporting on this project (Opp ID 38755) for the past four years. As the bidding process heats up, interested INPUT members are advised to mark this Opportunity Report to receive automatic updates.

Today the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the second round of health information exchange (HIE) grant funding which totaled $162 million. Awardees include:

• Agency of Health Care Administration (FL) - $20,738,582
• The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene - $9,313,924
• New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority - $11,408,594
• South Carolina Department of Health & Human Services - $9,576,408
• Iowa Department of Public Health - $8,375,000
• Idaho Health Data Exchange - $5,940,500
• State of North Dakota, Information Technology Department - $5,343,733
• State of Alaska - $4,963,063
• Nebraska Department of Administrative Services - $6,837,180
• South Dakota Department of Health - $6,081,750
• Department of Public Health, State of CT - $7,297,930
• State of Mississippi - $10,387,000
• Indiana Health Information Technology, Inc. -$10,300,000
• HealthShare Montana - $5,767,926
• Texas Health and Human Services Commission - $28,810,208
• Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum - $10,583,000

With this funding the HIE market will see significant activity in the next year as states release solicitations and develop their approaches for technical services to enable health information sharing. As always, there isn't a commonality to what states are looking for. Some may look to utilize their established HIEs as building blocks for connection and others are looking to build single statewide architectures. We are not in a "nice to have" environment so vendors need to map their solutions directly to states' strategic and operational plans.

A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to sit in on PTI's 2010 CIO & Leadership Summit in San Diego. Toward the end of the event, PTI director, Dr. Alan Shark, offered up some great advice, compiled from his interactions with city and county CIOs nationwide. His advice took the form of ten steps for surviving and succeeding during the current fiscal crisis. I'll paraphrase as best I can below.

1. Remember, the fiscal crisis is not your fault--IT is more a part of the solution than the problem.
2. Remember, it's not your responsibility to fix it. The political leaders have to make tough choices that go well beyond IT.
3. Be creative. The same old way of thinking won't get it done.
4. Consider attacking problems that you couldn't fix during the good times--particularly in the areas of funding and governance.
5. Be an innovator--a strategic visionary. Don't settle for playing defense.
6. Maintain a positive outlook. The boss hears enough bad news already.
7. Pursue peer networking. Pick up the phone. Find out what others are doing.
8. Don't wait for budget cuts to be handed down from on high. Decide your own fate now.
9. Don't let the decision makers believe you can do more with less. (They'll just wonder why they didn't cut your budget before.) Ask them what they want you to turn off. Let them know that black-and-white choices must be made.
10. Plan for a brighter day. Will you be ready?

A great example regarding point #9 was made by one of the CIO attendees. He had to ask his sheriff's department whether they wanted to continue to have their video records backed up on a mirror server or go without because the IT department could not provide this service based on cost reductions being sought by the sheriff. The sheriff considered his options and chose to go without. They hadn't been backed up for most of the past and they didn't need to be backed up now. Both the sheriff and the CIO could walk away knowing that the remaining service level agreements (SLAs) could be maintained in good conscience rather than diluted by wishful thinking.

The sorts of CIOs who attend summits like these in a time of constrained travel budgets tend to be among the most motivated in terms of thinking innovatively and executing effectively. Vendors might find these insights useful when dealing with IT leaders who aren't as proactive in seeking ways to overcome their fiscal circumstances. You might have to give them Alan's pep talk.

It took over 13 months to award a contract, but finally the State of New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles awarded the Enhanced Digital Drivers License (EDDL) and Central Issuance contract to L-1 Secure Credentialing. The contract, valued over $6 million, will span 7 years and will put New Jersey at the forefront of digital driver's license systems. The first year of the contract will include the planning and implementation of the new licensing system, while the subsequent six years will consist of card production and equipment/software maintenance.

The state began this process in September 2008 when they released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the EDDL system. Proposals were due December 2008. The previous driver's license contract was held by Digimarc, now a part of L-1 Identity Solutions.

New Jersey is changing its pre-existing workflow process for driver's license issuance to incorporate photo-first capabilities as part of the State's effort to curb identity-related fraud. In addition, the State is implementing a secure card production solution as part of its over-the-counter system that will exceed the recommended standards set by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, making the cards compliant with proposed standards set forth in the REAL ID Act.

More information on what other states are doing in regards to REAL ID and driver's license systems please see INPUT's REAL ID vertical profile.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) appropriated $17.2 billion for Medicare and Medicaid providers to adopt certified electronic health record (EHR) technology. Industry estimates of the actual total cost of incentive payments for providers demonstrating meaningful use range from $20 billion to $36.4 billion. As the meaningful use criteria is still being hashed out at the federal level, states are beginning to move forward by partnering with banks and establishing loan programs to provide financial assistance. These loan programs are another way to encourage providers to purchase and implement health information technologies (HIT) and then seek federal incentive payments down the road. Additional government support will be provided through the Regional Extension Centers (REC). Meanwhile, some vendors such as GE Healthcare have opted to offer interest free, deferred payment plans to alleviate concerns over IT costs.

One example is the North Dakota HIT Revolving Loan Fund recently establish via Senate Bill 2332. The state is partnering with the Bank of North Dakota to offer low-interest loans to health care entities looking to make investments in health IT. The process includes submitting an application for review and approval by the HIT Director and the HIT Advisory Committee. Approved applicants are required to complete an on-site readiness assessment then the next step is to complete the Bank's loan application for final approval.

Will states seek vendor support? Yes, it does appear that some states will be seeking vendor assistance, particularly for operations support and quality assurance (QA) services. New York recently completed a HIT Planning Advanced Planning Document (HIT P-APD) which indicated plans to obtain contract services through the New York State Technology Enterprise Corporation (NYSTEC) for planning services. NYSTEC staff will then assist the Department of Health with developing Request for Proposals(s) and procurement(s) to obtain contractors for operational support and program auditing/QA services.

HIT vendors should continue to consider offering financing options to assist providers with purchasing EHR solutions and to streamline purchases with a given states loan program and partnering bank to make the process simple and efficient. In addition, while meaningful use criteria will be the essential guideline for a system, don't forget to be innovative within those confines. Professional services HIT vendors should expect to see more states following New York's lead; as states begin to roll out plans for loan programs over the next couple of months they will have a better idea of where they will be seeking vendor's assistance.

Currently, the State of Maryland and the City of Boston, Massachusetts have Request for Proposals (RFPs) on the street for Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management Systems. Both projects are very large in scope and will include multi-million dollar contracts for vendors and subcontractors. Given their size, I thought it would be interesting to compare the list of vendors who attended the pre-proposal conferences for both of these projects.

First, the vendors who attended the pre-proposal conference for the State of Maryland CAD/RMS RFP include: Gantech, NetApp, SONA Networks, ARINC, CapWIN, Morcom, ACS, Communications Electronics, Trilogy, Frequentis, Young Enterprise Systems, Oracle, Denali Solutions, TriTech, Ciber, DataWorks Plus, FDM Software, Tiburon, Intergraph, Unisys, Capegemini, InterAct Public Safety Systems, Telecommunications Development Group, Bio-Key, Verizon Business, Cisco, and Motorola.

Secondly, the vendors who attended the pre-proposal conference for the Boston, MA CAD/RMS RFP include: ACS, Brandon Associates LLC, Capgemini Government Solutions, Comtronics, Datamaxx, Denali Solutions, ESRI, Galain Solutions, GovCentric, IBM, ICA Consulting LLC, Interact Public Safety Systems, Intergraph, Motorola, New World Systems, Northrop Grumman, Tiburon, TriTech Software Systems, Verizon Business, and Versaterm.

Looking at the two lists, it is clear that these two projects are popular among the big names in the CAD/RMS market. Northrop Grumman currently holds the CAD contract for the City of Boston, so it could be tough for vendors to compete with the incumbent contractor. As for the State of Maryland, it is really up in the air as far as who has the advantage given that this is a totally new endeavor for the state and involves multiple departments. More information and updates can be found within these two opportunity reports.

For a short month February sure packed in a lot of activity, especially for the health care market. Reports from last month continued to make headlines that health care spending reached $2.5 trillion in 2009 and is projected to be $4.7 trillion in 2019. The recession gets the blame for this largest one-year increase on health care spending in 50 years. Since there is much money being spent on healthcare it is no wonder it is front and center as an industry for opportunities to drive vendors' revenue. February found Maximus adding DeltaWares' electronic health record (EHR) technology to its repertoire. EHRs have likewise spurred a partnership between NextGen and Ingram Micro. Microsoft and Eclipsys announced they will combine certain Eclipsys health care IT applications with Microsoft's Amalga Unified Intelligence System. In addition, IBM is expanding its analytics business by acquiring Initiate Systems and ACS now has its new position in the marketplace branded as "ACS, A Xerox Company". Expect to see more activity in months to come.

A whole lot of spending money
Forty states agencies and State Designated Entities received awards in the first round of health information exchange (HIE) grant funding which totaled $386 million. Plenty of participants are happy to receive the HIE funds but they are still trying to figure out their strategies. Providing matching investments will be no small matter for most states and some are still looking for information on how the HIE will work and exactly what it will provide. There are concerns that there may not be enough done to ensure that the money isn't being wasted. Some states are finding it difficult to become invested when they don't ultimately understand the HIEs and how they will be self-sufficient once the money is gone. Despite some concerns, states are detailing their statewide planning approaches to determine where they are, what is needed and ways to get there. This will help states determine how they will need to utilize vendors. Here's a sample of state activities:

Pennsylvania wants to piggyback on the Delaware Health Information Network's existing contract because they feel it is a proven platform based on interoperable standard, is scalable to meet their needs and would satisfy the Office of the National Coordinator's request for states to look into multi-state collaboration to make the best use of federal incentive funds. INPUT is tracking the opportunity under INPUT ID # 57863.

Missouri plans on releasing a Request for Information (RFI) to help gather more information on the technical approach and financing assumptions of their HIE. Missouri has their eye on submitting their plans to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) by May 31st. INPUT is tracking the opportunity under INPUT ID # 60207.

Illinois intends to release a solicitation soon for HIE technical planning services. They will be looking for project management and planning assistance, including the development of strategic and operational plans as well as the state HIE roadmap to help determine next steps for the procurement process of the HIE system. INPUT is tracking the opportunity under ID # 59517.

Massachusetts released a draft Health IT plan in January. They are looking at a statewide HIE with collaborative governance and sustainable funding model. Their strategy is to leverage existing electronic health record and HIE efforts. INPUT is tracking the opportunity under ID # 59998.

Also in February, the Health and Human Services announced $100 million in grant funds from the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) to 10 states to improve health care quality and delivery systems for children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. These states will use the grants to utilize health IT for quality improvement initiatives.

On a path towards interoperable health information exchange
During February's State Alliance for e-Health meeting, presentations focused on ways to improve the adoption of health IT and operations states should take in order to jumpstart the process. Representatives from various departments and states facilitated conversation pertaining to HIE deployment, sustainability and future activities for the State Alliance. Farzad Mostashari, MD, MSc., the deputy national coordinator for Programs and Policy from ONC explained how states need to focus on incremental changes for the HIEs, by first working on simple exchanges and focusing on factors such as authentication and validity. For further insight into the meeting check out INPUT's Analyst Recap report.

Google's plans to tackle broadband
A notable first this month is Google's plan to experiment with providing super high-speed Internet service. One of their visions is to "allow rural health clinics to send 3D medical images over the Internet". This could be a big step if any medical communities actually get involved in the experiment, potentially stimulating their digital records efforts.

INPUT's Take
I think last month's hodgepodge of activity is a good indicator of what is to come this year as states flesh out their strategies for operations and sustainability of statewide HIEs. They will be looking to leverage existing capabilities and lessons learned from already developed HIEs. Vendors should understand that states are at all different levels of maturity and even if a state had previously developed a Health IT roadmap, they will likely have to revisit plans to ensure they align with national requirements. Consultants should look to those HIE planning initiatives for opportunities as states are setting aside funds for environmental scans, cost benefit analyses, project management, advanced planning documents and so forth. Those that have already made investments will begin to develop plans on how to connect pilot projects and regional efforts. Broadband offers great promise in the medical area and Google's innovations offer a glimpse at the future as we wait to hear more about the federal government's national plans for broadband networks in the next couple of weeks.

The State of Colorado recently announced their intention to pursue a contract for an eProcurement system on behalf of Colorado and the Western States Contracting Alliance WSCA in an upcoming RFI and RFP.

This will extend WSCA's offerings of procurement related offerings beyond its current procurement analysis and consulting services contracts established by the State of Washington.

Stakeholders at WSCA ( state procurement officials primarily) establish cooperative contracts based on demand, they therefore must see a sizable need for a cooperative contract serving state and local government eProcurement needs. This need is no doubt driven by increased attention to efficiency and transparency in spending, combined with staffing challenges in most procurement offices.

The state and local eProcurement landscape seems to be dominated by a couple different types of governments. Those that were early adopters of eProcurement systems are now looking to upgrade to more robust, enterprise wide purchasing solutions, often integrated with other financial applications. Another group of states and locals are still limping along on legacy or in-house purchasing solutions. So while eProcurement is not new to them, they are considering their first foray into vendor solutions. A third set of primarily locals with little experience in ePurchasing or eGov, stand to benefit from web-based or SaaS purchasing solutions. This last group is likely not who the WSCA contract will target and will likely attract a different set of solution providers also.

So, enterprise eProcurement providers need to keep eye on the upcoming Colorado procurement and remember that Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, and North Carolina may also be looking for eProcurement solutions. And you cloud computing eProcuement folks hit the streets with the locals, they may finally be ready to streamline.