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The Awarded Vendor will be responsible for all components of the EBT-3 to EBT-4 conversion, including all areas described below. The Conversion Period will include two major milestones: 1) conversion of all state-supported retailers to the Awarded Vendor’s TPP system for EBT-3 and 2) the EBT-4 system Cutover. As described below, the retailer conversion must be completed before the EBT-4 system Cutover.

EBT-4 system Cutover shall take place overnight on a Sunday to Monday after the benefit issuance cycle ends on the 15th day of the month. Cutover is the period during which the EBT-3 system is shut down, final data is loaded onto the EBT-4 system, and transaction processing begins on the EBT-4 system. HHSC and FNS will analyze monthly transaction volumes and select a weekend when the least number of retailers and clients would be impacted. The entire Cutover must be completed in ten (10) hours or less. During Cutover, no stand-in of clients’ transactions will be required.

The Respondent must include a contingency plan to be implemented in case HHSC determines that a fallback to the EBT-3 transaction processing system is necessary due to issues identified immediately after Cutover to the EBT-4 system.

(A) Retailer Conversion

The Awarded Vendor will be responsible for securing new retailer agreements with existing retailers and any newly authorized retailers. A minimum of 85% of state-

supported retailers must sign retailer agreements with the Awarded Vendor no later than six (6) months after the contract start date. A minimum of 95% of the retailers with signed agreements must successfully complete conversion of their POS devices and process EBT-4 transactions through EBT-only terminals no later than seven (7) months after the contract start date. The Awarded Vendor must ensure client access to benefits throughout the state. All remaining state-supported retailers must be converted no later than eight (8) months after the contract start date. The above minimum standards will be measured against a baseline number of retailers that will be determined at the beginning of the retailer conversion. The Awarded Vendor must track its progress in attaining these standards and report progress to the HHSC Project Manager in weekly status meetings, or more frequently during implementation.

To ensure a smooth conversion for state-supported retailers, the Awarded Vendor must become a certified TPP on the existing EBT-3 system. The Awarded Vendor will be required to become a certified TPP within two (2) months after the contract start date. After certification, the Awarded Vendor will be required to convert state-supported retailers from the current EBT-3 vendor’s TPP system to the Awarded Vendor’s TPP system. The Awarded Vendor shall begin the conversion of state-supported retailers no later than three (3) months after the contract start date. The retailer conversion date will be determined as part of HHSC's approval of the implementation project work plan. (B) EBT-only POS Terminals and PIN Pads

Due to implementation of the Farm Bill, as of October 2014, HHSC anticipates that approximately 50 POS terminals and 5 PIN pads will be deployed at approximately 50 exempt state-supported retailer locations. The Respondent must describe its strategy for conversion of the state-supported retailer POS terminals and PIN pads from the current EBT-3 vendor. Also see RFP Sections 2.6.1.1 (B) and (F).

During the conversion of EBT-only equipment it is critical that clients not be negatively impacted in their ability to redeem their benefits due to conversion and that business operations of stores using EBT-only terminals not be negatively impacted due to the conversion to new terminals. The Awarded Vendor will be responsible for providing all related conversion activities.

The Awarded Vendor shall send no fewer than four outreach notices to retailers. At least two notices must be sent to inform retailers of the steps that will be taken during the retailer conversion and provide any needed instructions. FNS will review the notices prior to release and will mail them if asked to do so. Sending the notices should be timed to allow the Awarded Vendor time to make telephone calls and visits, as

The Awarded Vendor shall also mail two notices to inform all state-supported retailers about the transaction system outage window that will occur during the Cutover from EBT-3 to EBT-4. The notices shall be mailed approximately thirty (30) days and ten (10) days prior to the Cutover to EBT-4.

(C) System Interfaces

In RFP Section 2.4.4, HHSC lists a number of batch interface files and a real-time interface with TIERS that must be supported in EBT-4. All of the listed interfaces must be developed and fully tested prior to Cutover. All interfaces must be fully supported (including all error handling and abeyance file processing) beginning immediately after the Cutover from EBT-3 to EBT-4. All procedures related to interface file production processing must be appropriately included in the operational documentation for the Texas EBT-4 system prior to Cutover.

(D) EBT Database Conversion

The EBT-3 database currently maintains records for approximately 2 million households. All required historical data must be successfully migrated from the EBT-3 database to the EBT-4 database prior to the Cutover to the EBT-4 system. HHSC anticipates that at least two (2) Trial Runs will be conducted by the Awarded Vendor prior to EBT-4 system User Acceptance Testing in order to ensure a smooth Cutover and minimize the amount of time either system is down. The EBT-4 database resulting from each Trial Run, beginning with Trial Run 2 shall be made available to HHSC staff to perform conversion testing as described in RFP Section 2.3.5.

The current EBT-3 database is approximately 100GB in size and is comprised of roughly 200 tables that include approximately 10,000 data elements. The 4 largest tables each contain more than 100,000,000 rows, and there are 7 tables with between 10,000,000 and 30,000,000 rows. This documentation will permit the Awarded Vendor to

understand the structure of the current EBT-3 database and allow the Awarded Vendor to map EBT-3 data into a new EBT-4 database structure. Data will be provided to the Awarded Vendor in a mutually agreed upon format. Database documentation is available for review at the HHSC office specified in RFP Section 1.2 prior to the proposal due date (see RFP Section 1.3). To schedule a review, prospective Respondents must contact the HHSC Point of Contact specified in RFP Section 1.2. Upon contract award, HHSC will provide database documentation consisting of a data dictionary for every data element of the EBT-3 database along with documentation of primary and secondary keys for all database tables in the current EBT-3 database. The Awarded Vendor must convert and store in EBT-4, a minimum of three years of transaction history data from the current EBT-3 database. The converted data must include all financial and non-financial transactions that were performed through EBT-3, POS devices, the Administrative Terminal application, and the EBT-3 interface file processing software. Not less than the most recent six (6) months of the converted data must be stored on line in the EBT-4 system. The data to be converted also includes attributes related to EBT-3 Administrative Terminal application users and the HHSC organizational structure, such as HHSC offices and regions. These attributes are primarily used for user access security and report distribution and for linking users to transactions that were performed in the Administrative Terminal application. All active

user identification codes and associated passwords must be available for use with the EBT-4 system immediately after Cutover.

The Awarded Vendor must:

1. Perform comprehensive, thorough testing of the conversion process, including (at a minimum) performing test POS and administrative transactions against the converted database, generating and validating settlement and other key financial reports, and generating EBT-4 operational reports for comparison with similar reports created in EBT-3.

2. Validate that PINs have been converted successfully.

3. Perform at least two Trial Runs and make Trial Run results available to HHSC. 4. Perform additional Trial Runs, if necessary, based on results of previous Trial

Runs.

5. Have checkpoints and reconciliation procedures built into the conversion process to ensure that no benefits or records are dropped.

The Awarded Vendor shall assume all liability for any financial losses relating to transactions that are processed in EBT-4 if and when a fallback to EBT-3 is initiated. (E) IVR

Modify the Awarded Vendor’s IVR to use approved Texas EBT IVR scripts. (F) Reporting

Modify the Awarded Vendor’s outputs to meet Texas EBT report requirements. (G) Testing

The Awarded Vendor is responsible for all aspects of testing, including development and execution of test plans, procedures, and scenarios and recording and analysis of testing results.

(H) Training

Training during implementation must be performed in accordance with the Awarded Vendor’s approved Training Plan. Emphasis during implementation will be on the Awarded Vendor’s delivery of training to retailers, employees at HHSC local offices that determine eligibility for SNAP and TANF benefits, investigative staff, and other

designated HHSC and federal staff. In its proposal, the Respondent shall describe its approach and methodology for training HHSC staff and retailers.

During implementation, approximately 1,700 staff must be trained by the Awarded Vendor at HHSC-provided training sites throughout Texas or through WBT. The HHSC Office of Eligibility Services Support is responsible for training its staff on HHSC agency policy. Also, during implementation the Awarded Vendor must train HHSC security personnel how to administer the Administrative Terminal security system.

(I) Cards

Although the Awarded Vendor is required to change and produce the Lone Star Card as specified in RFP Section 2.5.2.2 (G), HHSC does not wish to replace any cards already issued to clients with new card stock. The Awarded Vendor’s system must have the capability to operate without replacing the existing cards that have been previously produced and/or distributed by the current EBT-3 vendor. The Awarded Vendor must deplete existing Lone Star Card inventories prior to issuing cards produced in the new format. In order to accomplish this, the inventory of cards held by the EBT-3 vendor and HHSC offices at the time of Cutover must be loaded in the new EBT-4 system and available for distribution to clients either over the counter or by mail immediately upon startup of the EBT-4 system.

Replacement of lost, stolen or damaged Lone Star cards must be handled in the EBT-4 system in the same manner as in EBT-3, including the requirement that a cardholder’s PIN must be automatically transferred from the old card to the new (replacement) card. When a replacement EBT card is issued, the old card must be immediately deactivated. (J) TPP Conversion and Certification

The Awarded Vendor must certify the current EBT-3 TPPs (including self-processing retailers) and new TPPs to the EBT-4 System. The Awarded Vendor will mail a

minimum of three notices of the outage window to these EBT-4 TPPs approximately 90, 30, and 10 days prior to the Cutover to EBT-4. Respondents must describe their

process and procedures for TPP certification.

The Awarded Vendor will coordinate and schedule all testing and review with the TPP. If problems are encountered in testing, the Awarded Vendor will notify both the TPP and HHSC. The certification cycle will continue until the TPP is certified per FNS regulations. All current TPPs and self-processing retailers must be certified before the live date of the new EBT-4 System. HHSC will have the oversight authority during the TPP certification. This will include monitoring of scheduling, testing, quality assurance, and acceptance. See RFP Appendix 6.8 for the list of current Third-Party Processors.