Public Health Informatics

Application: Request for Proposal (RFP)

As you have seen throughout this week, the requirements document is an important part of IT planning, regardless of the strategy you are going to employ. This week, you will create a plan for developing a request for proposal document, which relies upon the requirements you create.

Take a look at thissample RFP, released in April of 2008 by the State of California. Consider the needs that had to go into the creation of requirements for this RFP: the need for data standards and the integration of records, patient data security and privacy considerations, the creation of new procedures and technologies, and more. This RFP does not limit the technological solutions by cost or buy vs.build. Consider the following questions:

• How did the writer(s) of this RFP assemble the information it contains?
• Who were the collaborators and informants with whom the writer(s) might have worked?
• And, what criteria outside his or her own institution did the writer(s) have to consider?

Create a plan for developing a Request for Proposal document for an immunization database in your state. Include the following information:

• An outline of the sections and subsections the RFP should contain.
  
• A general statement of the various requirements for the project.
• Any special considerations that must be taken into account, and why (i.e., patient data security and privacy).

For further reference, you may wish to review Chapters 7, 8, 11, 22, and 32 of your O'Carroll course textbook. You may also visit http://www.rfpdb.com/ or search the Web for other freely posted RFPs for additional examples of RFP documents.