ITS approves TCS contract increase and selects IBM for ReEmployUSA application support

On June 19 the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services Board approved two related actions for the ReEmployUSA consortium supporting Mississippi Department of Employment Security systems: a staff-recommended increase to the existing agreement with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd. for support, enhancements and upgrades in an amount not to exceed $6,375,000, and the selection of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) as the lowest and best vendor responding to a separate RFP for application support, corrective and preventive maintenance at an estimated five-year lifecycle cost of $163,835,978. ITS and MDES staffs jointly presented the requests. The board approved the TCS increase on a motion by Bill Cook, seconded by Keith Van Camp, and recorded the revised total not-to-exceed lifecycle cost for the TCS-managed project as $260,500,687.69. The board separately voted to select IBM for RFP No. 4609-45732 on a motion by Mark Henderson, seconded by Bill Cook; the recommendation described IBM as "lowest and best" responding to the RFP and noted the estimated five-year lifecycle cost in the staff recommendation. The minutes present the approvals as procurement decisions that will fund ongoing support and maintenance work for ReEmployUSA. The record does not include implementation schedules, contract start dates, or details on how responsibilities will be divided between TCS and IBM following the selections. The motions carried unanimously and no abstentions or conditions were recorded in the minutes.