Description
The Florida Department of Education is seeking information from qualified vendors about cloud‑based, commercial‑off‑the‑shelf (COTS) solutions that can automate the state’s current manual cross‑checking process for the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program. The goal is to replace manual data exchanges with a secure, standards‑based interoperability platform that can reconcile scholarship payment files with public‑school attendance records, provide real‑time duplicate‑funding alerts, and comply with FERPA and Florida privacy laws. This RFI is purely informational; no contract will be awarded at this stage, but responses will shape a future competitive solicitation.
• Desired solution: cloud‑hosted platform using national education data standards.
• Core functions: automatic record reconciliation, complex matching (including near‑matches), real‑time notifications, duplicate‑funding resolution, eligibility list generation before quarterly payments.
• Compliance requirements: FERPA, state data‑privacy statutes, data‑governance controls, district authority over data.
• Information requested: vendor experience, solution architecture, implementation approach, cost estimates (development, deployment, migration, maintenance).
• Timeline: RFI issued 2026‑09‑01, questions due 2026‑09‑11, answers posted 2026‑09‑22, responses due 2026‑10‑12.