Job Description

The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) is dedicated to providing services to those in

need by optimizing all available resources to sustain family units and encourage traditional family values,

thereby promoting self-sufficiency and personal responsibility for all Mississippians. MDCPS manages protective

programs for Mississippi's children, youth, and their families by offering a wide range of family-centered services

aimed at strengthening the family system.

The State is facing several challenges in preparation for the Pathways implementation, including but not limited

to, a lack of confidence in the system capabilities, significant delays in development for interfaces along with the

financial engine, and multiple schedule changes. A pre-SIT cycle performed by the Solution Provider highlighted

key concerns regarding insufficient pass rates for tests (60%), deficiencies in regression testing, a lack of

automated testing and the potential for performance issues at go-live. Additionally, the current Pathways

schedule does not include a buffer for possible development slippage, thereby increasing the potential risk for

lower quality testing in SIT or a possible compression of the UAT schedule if entrance criteria is not met on time.

The risks identified above highlight the criticality for comprehensive and focused User Acceptance Testing.

Project Overview

The purpose of the Pathways project is to implement a fully functional and responsive CCWIS solution aligned

with the six components of the Mississippi Child Welfare Practice Model, fostering productive and empowered

staff. As a COTS solution, Pathways will enable financial and administrative operations, interface with external

state and federal systems, and comply with federal CCWIS requirements.

UAT testing is a critical component of the Pathways project’s success. The mission of the testing team is to

ensure that Pathways functions effectively and intuitively, free of significant issues, so end users can fully utilize

its capabilities. The quality assurance provided by UAT helps mitigate risks and enhances the project’s ROI by

identifying and resolving deficiencies early, reducing post-production maintenance costs, and boosting user

confidence and system adoption.

Currently, MDCPS has a UAT Lead resource actively monitoring SIT and preparing for UAT. This resource will

oversee the UAT Master Test Plan and manage the UAT Testing Team. Additional MDCPS resources will be

assigned to provide a clinical perspective during user acceptance testing.

To maintain positive momentum with Organizational Change Management (OCM) and prevent disillusionment,

the UAT testing team will perform initial testing of Pathways independently before involving MDCPS staff and

SMEs. This phased approach will allow the team to identify and resolve bugs and usability issues, ensuring the

system is more stable and less prone to errors by the time SMEs begin their testing. This strategy not only

improves the testing experience for MDCPS staff but also strengthens the likelihood of successful adoption by

delivering a more refined and reliable system that meets functionality, usability, security, and real-world

applicability requirements.

Acceptance Criteria

Milestones/Deliverables must be submitted for approval into the VMS dotStaff upon completion. Email, hand

delivery, postal service submittals are considered incomplete.

Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) will have 10 working days to review/validate the

deliverable and either notify Vendor of acceptance in writing or provide Vendor a detailed list of deficiencies that

must be remedied prior to approval of the deliverable. MDCPS reserves the right to take additional time to review

submitted deliverables if it’s in the best interest of the department to do so.

In the event MDCPS notifies the Vendor of deficiencies, the Vendor shall make necessary corrections within five

working days unless MDCPS consents in writing to a longer period of time. MDCPS has 10 working days to review

and accept or reject the corrected deliverable. If MDCPS deems the corrected deliverable(s) as not acceptable

MDCPS reserves the right to terminate the SOW contract with the selected vendor and payment for the

unacceptable deliverable(s) will not be authorized. While this procedure allows a Vendor two opportunities to

correct deliverable deficiencies, MDCPS, at its sole discretion, may choose to allow the Vendor an additional

correction cycle if the deficiencies are not substantial or if it is in MDCPS best interest to do so.

Pricing Model

Hourly Billing Price Model.

REFERENCES

1. Must provide three References for which your company provided a similar project and/or services being

requested.

Requirements

PROJECT TIMELINE

Pre-Bid Conference: 12/19/24 @ 9am CST see attachments section for call details

Questions from Vendors: 12/27/24 3pm CST

Response from Agency: 01/03/25

Proposals Due: 01/17/25 @ 3pm CST

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