SyS Consulting Agreement

***Notice of Intent to Award posted 1/6/2026***
***Scorecard posted 1/6/2026***
***Addendum 4 posted 11/10/2025***
***Questions and Answers posted 11/4/2025***
***Addenda 1-3 posted 11/4/2025***

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is soliciting proposals from firms that have extensive demonstrated knowledge and experience that would enable them to provide specialized services to support the statewide launch of the new California Syndromic Surveillance Program (CalSyS). The Contractor is primarily responsible for:

a.        Contributing to the CalSyS program launch, including leading strategic planning and the development of program roadmaps and timelines; supporting the development of program staffing structures, the delineation of duties and responsibilities, and new team member onboarding protocols, trainings, and supportive materials; developing program budget analyses and tracking and monitoring processes; adhering to state legislative and regulatory requirements; and creating standard operating procedures (SOPs) for specified program efforts (e.g., administration and maintenance of California's chosen syndromic surveillance system); and developing program evaluation plans, goals, objectives, metrics, and processes;
b.        Supporting the onboarding of hospital facilities to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Syndromic Surveillance Programs (NSSPs) BioSense platform through quality control and report validation to ensure adherence to reporting requirements; querying, mining, and manipulating syndromic surveillance (SyS) data to support the development of customized research data queries and canned research data sets; and provisioning SyS user access and trainings; and
c.        Researching the capabilities, resources, requirements, and structures of SyS programs/systems in other states and jurisdictions to draft recommendations and requirements for the CalSyS program's future expansion potential within a comprehensive CalSyS interoperability feasibility plan and report; provide high-level technical consultation regarding syndromic surveillance, informatics, and tools and resources that can be used to achieve CalSyS program goals (i.e., having a cost-effective statewide system that can be used to meet related reporting requirements and monitor emerging public health threats so that data-driven actions can be implemented as needed to promote health and wellness throughout communities in California).

This support will help facilitate the launch and establishment of the new CalSyS program and will facilitate the necessary accelerated onboarding of hospital emergency departments statewide to the CDC NSSP BioSense Platform and/or California's identified syndromic surveillance system, enabling these facilities to meet new California legislation and regulation requirements, and providing CDPH and local health departments (LHDs) with timely access to critical comprehensive emergency department data and analytical tools that will increase state and local situational awareness; enhance preparedness and response efforts; and inform the program design, implementation, and evaluation of public health initiatives. Proposals must address all the services described in Exhibit A entitled, "Scope of Work".

CDPH intends to make a single contract award to the most responsive and responsible firm offering the highest scoring bid. This procurement is open to all eligible firms and/or individuals that meet the qualification requirements, including commercial businesses, nonprofit organizations, State or public universities (including auxiliary organizations) and other entities.