The vendor is required to provide to maintain a computerized system for campaign finance reporting.
- This system must facilitate the storage, retrieval, analysis, and public disclosure of financial statements filed by campaign committees, political action committees, legislative campaign funds, political parties, and political contributing entities.
- Three campaign finance interfaces are being utilized to carry out the statutory and administrative functions, which include: the campaign finance public disclosure website; the campaign finance online filing system; and the campaign finance examiners system.
- The campaign finance public disclosure website is outdated and does not adequately support transparency or accessibility for the public, filers, and regulatory staff.
1. Campaign finance data portal requirements
• Data visualization – the system shall display campaign finance data using dynamic charts and graphs to provide visual insights into financial transactions.
• Basic search functionality – the system shall provide a modernized search interface, enabling users to find campaign finance data using keyword-based queries.
• Advanced search functionality – the system shall support advanced search capabilities, allowing users to filter campaign finance data based on search terms, dates, and amounts.
• The system shall generate unique identifiers for contributors and recipients to facilitate accurate data retrieval and association.
• Miscellaneous reports access – the system shall allow users to search and review both paper-filed and electronically submitted "miscellaneous" reports uploaded by the secretary of state’s team.
• Bulk data access – the system shall enable users to search, access, and download bulk campaign finance data sets in machine-readable formats for analysis and reporting.
• Report printing – the system shall provide functionality for users to print individually filed campaign finance reports in a user-friendly format.
• Public records requests – the system shall allow users to electronically submit public records requests directly through the portal.
• Domain hosting – the system shall be hosted under the “data.ohiosos.gov” domain to ensure consistency with the secretary of state’s data platforms.
2. Campaign finance online filing system (CFOFS)
• Template and document upload – the system shall allow users to easily upload templates and supporting documentation for campaign finance filings.
• User-friendly data entry – the system shall provide intuitive prompts and guided data entry options to ensure ease of use for filers.
• Entity profile management – the system shall allow users to create and manage entity profiles online, ensuring accurate reporting for various filing entities.
• Filing options – the system shall support both electronic and manual filing of all required campaign finance reports.
• Paper form templates shall be available for download, allowing users to submit filings via mail or email in pdf format.
• Designation of treasurer (dot) filing
• The system shall allow users to electronically submit designation of treasurer (dot) forms for all applicable reporting entities.
• The system shall support manual dot submissions via paper, which the secretary of state’s office shall scan or enter into the system.
• Error handling and notifications
• The system shall display clear and understandable error messages when incorrect or incomplete information is entered.
• The system shall include a notification mechanism to alert committees when required information is missing in a filed report.
• Standalone form upload – the system shall allow users to upload standalone forms, such as independent expenditure forms, which are standard and infrequently updated.
• Federal entity reporting – the system shall enable federal entities conducting financial activity in state to electronically file required campaign finance reports.
• Board of elections (BOE) transfers a. The system shall accept both manual (paper) and electronic submissions from BOEs.
• Print and save reports – the system shall allow committees to print or save filed reports in a user-friendly format.
• Committee account management – the system shall provide committee-specific accounts with restricted access based on user roles.
• It shall support approximately 1,200 – 1,600 active committees that make campaign contributions statewide.
• Termination notice submission – the system shall allow filing entities to submit termination notices for account closure.
• Integrated learning center – the system shall include a connected learning center that provides guidance based on the type of report an entity needs to file.
• Contact information collection – the system shall allow users to enter email addresses and phone numbers as non-required fields.
• During data conversion, the secretary of state shall migrate approximately 50% of existing user email and phone records into the new system.
3. Campaign finance examiners system requirements
• System integration with microsoft entera id authentication and providing application administrator ability to authorize system users (system roles/permissions).
• Audit checklist integration – the system shall incorporate an automated web-based audit checklist to guide examiners through the review process.
• Automated letter generation – the system shall assist in generating standardized letters based on audit checklist notations, with the ability for examiners to modify the content as needed.
• Report navigation and sorting – the system shall allow examiners to easily navigate reports, ensuring sortable and paginated report views for efficiency.
• Contribution limit checks – the system shall include automated contribution limit checks to flag potential violations during the examination process.
• Document review and comparison – the system shall provide a streamlined method for examiners to review attached supporting documents and compare them to filed reports.
• Cross-checking contributions and expenditures – the system shall enable automated cross-checking of contributions and expenditures reported by different committees to identify discrepancies.
• Error notification system – the system shall feature a robust error notification mechanism to assist examiners in identifying potential reporting issues.
• Manual entry and document attachment – the system shall allow examiners to manually enter paper-filed reports and attach supporting documentation received by the office.
• Manual entity creation – the system shall allow for the manual creation of committee entities if a designation of treasurer (DOT) is submitted via paper filing.
• The system shall allow boards of elections to transfer dot forms that were improperly filed in local systems to the statewide campaign finance examiner system.
4. Committee data retrieval – the system shall enable the office to efficiently pull committee data for auditing and review purposes.
• Examiner progress tracking – the system shall provide a dashboard or report to track examiner progress, including reports not examined, reports examined, and reports currently under review.
• Daily examiner notifications – the system shall notify examiners daily of new documentation or amendments submitted for previously filed reports.
• Automated notice and letter generation – the system shall allow the secretary of state to generate lists of committees requiring notices, send required emails, and merge data into standardized forms or letters for mailing.
• State ethics commission referral tracking – the system shall include a dedicated tracking system for referrals made to the state ethics commission.
• Non-examination activity tracking – the system shall allow tracking of nonexamination activities, generating weekly system reports of all tracked examiner activities.
- Functional and technical requirements
1. Configuration over customization
• The proposed solution should prioritize configuration over customization to minimize long-term maintenance costs and ensure quicker deployment.
• Any customization proposed must include a justification, its impact on maintenance, and an estimate of additional costs.
2. Integration with existing state systems
• The solution must provide standardized API endpoints and interoperability mechanisms to seamlessly integrate with:
o State secretary of state’s platforms
o Microsoft Entra id (formerly azure ad) for authentication
o Financial auditing tools used by the agency
• Vendors must document their API and data exchange capabilities, including support for restful apis and webhooks. 3. Data migration strategy
• The vendor must provide a structured data migration plan that aligns the existing oracle database records with the new system’s data structure.
• A proof-of-concept migration involving 10,000 sample records must be demonstrated before full migration.
• Vendors must describe their approach to:
o Data mapping and transformation
o Validation and integrity checks
o Incremental and full data loads
o Post-migration testing and reconciliation
4. Scalability and hosting options
• The system must handle traffic spikes efficiently, especially during campaign finance filing deadlines, and scale for a 5% annual growth in data processing needs.
• System performance expectations:
o Normal response times must be less than 3 seconds for all major functionalities.
o System must handle up to 41,000 page views during peak filing periods.
5. Data management
• Data hosting – the vendor must specify where data will be hosted, ensuring compliance with all applicable state and federal security regulations.
• Daily data backup – the system must have an automated daily backup process to ensure data integrity and disaster recovery readiness.
• Data export and storage – the vendor is responsible for exporting all system data daily and securely transmitting it to the state secretary of state’s storage infrastructure for archival and redundancy.
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: June 06, 2025