College and Career Navigation Solution

The Vendor is required to provide commercial software-as-a-service solutions to implement a new college and career navigation solution (“CCNS”) for the office.
- The College and Career Navigation Solution will be a statewide, AI-enabled platform and integrated system designed to serve as state comprehensive career navigation resource.
- This system will support students, job seekers, and adults re-entering the workforce or seeking a career change in identifying, planning, and pursuing career paths aligned with their unique strengths and goals.
- By integrating labor market data, credentialing options, financial aid, application support, mentorship, and real-time guidance, the college and career navigation solution simplifies and personalizes the career planning experience for users and advisors/navigators working with them.
- The state agency responsible for managing and overseeing information technology infrastructure, cybersecurity, and digital services for many of state executive-branch agencies and numerous local governments.
- Top objectives for the college and career navigation solution
•    Deliver personalized, lifelong career guidance. Provide AI-assisted, age appropriate tools that support users from middle school through adulthood. Enable exploration, education, training, and career transitions using user profiles and data driven insights.
•    Ensure seamless integration across education and workforce systems for data
•    Access. Connect with multiple education agencies to streamline access to k-12, postsecondary, workforce, and financial aid data.
•    Offer an accessible, user-friendly platform. Provide a mobile solution that is ADA compliant and inclusive for students, adult learners, veterans, rural users, and underserved populations.
•    Provide robust career and education exploration tools. Include interactive personality, aptitude, and interest assessments, labor market data, and career pathway maps aligned with all occupations, including the ability to highlight careers on state high-demand career list and job opportunities.
•    Enable actionable college and career planning. Support creation and revision of individual college and career plans (ICCPS), comparison of postsecondary programs, enrollment navigation, financial aid options, and integration with the state many programs, including match, hope, military, and more.
•    Facilitate real-time human support. Offer chat, messaging, and appointment systems to connect users with trained career coaches, advisors, or mentors at critical milestones (e.g., 9th-grade entry, graduation, career changes).
•    Track progress at individual and system levels. Provide dashboards for monitoring user milestones and backend analytics to measure impact, credential attainment, workforce entry, and ROI.
•    Embed wraparound support services and resources. Provide links to essential services such as childcare, transportation, and upskilling opportunities, including workforce innovation and opportunity act (WIOA)-eligible programs and statewide support networks.
•    Enable cross-agency data sharing and decision-making. Deliver secure, real-time data visualization and customizable reporting for agencies, districts, boards, and legislators to support policy alignment and resource planning. 
•    Build a modular, scalable, and future-proof platform. Utilize flexible architecture and open data standards (e.g., LERS, case, CTDL) to enable expansion, integration of emerging technologies, and adaptation to evolving educational and workforce needs. 
- The applications must be accessible through standard client interfaces, including web browsers and application programming interfaces (APIs). The State does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.
- The system should include a comprehensive suite of career exploration tools, such as interest assessments, work values sorting, skills matching, and pathway identification. It should provide detailed information on training requirements and available funding resources tailored for individuals of all ages, from students to adults.
- The program must enable users to document and store their exploration results and interests, incorporating steps for effective college and career planning, and include a budgeting tool to help users assess projected earnings in various areas of the state, ensuring they have a realistic understanding of their financial needs.
- The system should function as a one-stop toolkit, providing access to high-demand job data, event calendars, application tools, and connections to mentors. Additionally, it should equip job counselors and career navigators with essential tools, enable employers to search for and match with future employees, and facilitate internship matching.
- The system should foster an advisement culture by providing educators and workforce professionals with tools and training to support modern advisement practices.