This Request for Information (“RFI”) is issued by the City of Calgary (“The City”) for the purposes of gathering information about the marketplace to assist in the determination of future purchasing options or requirements. Respondents are asked to respond to The City and provide the information requested below.
No commitment exists under this RFI and no award will be granted. This opportunity is published solely for the purpose of collecting market information on technology.
The City is seeking information and details from organizations that can provide a solution (products or services) for a coordinated application and intake system for non-market rental housing.
Please note that this RFI is separate from the previously issued RFI and Request for Proposal (RFP) from Calgary Housing Company for its Enterprise System Solution (ESS).
The One Window initiative is a transformation project with the objective to create a coordinated intake process across over 60 independent organizations operating non-market rental housing in Calgary. The long-term project goal of One Window is to improve the experience for Calgarians needing access to affordable housing so that more people can be efficiently and successfully housed. One Window is identified as a priority in The City of Calgary’s Corporate Affordable Housing Strategy and the Government of Alberta’s Provincial Affordable Housing Strategy. The current (design) phase of this project is funded jointly by The City of Calgary and the Government of Alberta.
For the last six months, the One Window project team has been designing the One Window model to advance the project to the point of implementation. A Core Design Team has been established, comprising a group of 10-20 non-market Housing Providers who collaborate with The City of Calgary’s project team to co-design the future state One Window solution.
These organizations constitute a broadly representative sample of the larger community of Housing Providers who may eventually adopt the One Window system. The Core Design Team organizations participate through three channels: an executive level Steering Committee, staff working groups that performed the bulk of the work to review business processes and capture requirements for a future state coordinated system, and a Client Advisory Panel to represent the needs and preferences of affordable housing Applicants. Working with the project team, the Core Design Team has collective authority to make substantive decisions over One Window project matters related to the design and operating model of a future coordinated housing intake system. The decisions made by this group of organizations will form the substance of an implementation recommendation that Calgary Housing will present to City Council for approval in 2019 March.
For the implementation phase of this project, The City of Calgary is seeking a solution to ensure that one system can handle the technical, business and functional requirements for a coordinated intake process related to applying for non-market housing. The coordinated process will encompass applications for a wide variety of housing programs (for example, rent-geared-to-income housing, near-market housing, seniors housing, etc.), which all have different eligibility criteria and are offered by different Housing Providers.
Ownership of the One Window system has not yet been confirmed and may be the City of Calgary or an independent, separate non-profit organization. The entity that owns the One Window system will employ staff to handle certain components of the business processes. All references to One Window staff throughout this document refer to employees of the system owner. (See pricing section).
The One Window system will be used for intake, assessment, applications, and waitlist management only. The One Window system will not be used for property management, maintenance, or other housing services; however, it may be required to integrate with other technology systems that individual housing providers are using to perform these functions.
The One Window system will need to comply (or be configurable to comply) with government legislation. For example, the Alberta Social Housing Accommodation Regulation, and Alberta’s Freedom of Information Act.
The system will manage four high-level processes and activities:
- Enter application – here, the Applicant gathers information, answers triage questions, provides consent, enters their information, and uploads supporting documentation.
- Manage application – here, the user updates their information, information is validated (automatically and manually), the Applicant receives a score based on the information provided, and communication is provided to the Applicant regarding the status of their application.
- Match Applicant to a housing unit – Here, a Housing Provider who has a vacancy selects an Applicant and an offer is or is not made to the Applicant. Additionally, for some housing units, a Housing Provider can post a vacancy online (choice-based rentals), and the Applicant can apply for the unit.
- Other processes include: Housing Providers and Agencies viewing the waitlist and managing the waitlist.
