NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 1 July 17, 2019

NH e-Court Program Initiative e-Court 2.0 – Request for Information

Issue Date Version Number Description

7/03/2019 FINAL Final draft posted

7/17/2019 FINAL 1.1 Introduction updated to reflect new RFI schedule

Table of Contents I. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 2

II. Background ............................................................................................................................... 3

III. Scope ........................................................................................................................................ 5

IV. Information Requested .............................................................................................................. 8

A. Company Description .................................................................................................. 8 B. Electronic Filing Manager/Enterprise Review Queue .................................................. 8 C. Enterprise Document Management System ............................................................. 10 D. Identity Management System ................................................................................... 12 E. Integration/Architecture ............................................................................................ 12

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 2 July 17, 2019

I. Introduction The New Hampshire Judicial Branch (NHJB) seeks to explore marketplace options as a

component of the discovery phase of NH e-Court 2.0. This is a NH e-Court Program-level effort,

working in conjunction with NHJB Information Technology, and the primary objective is to find

new software solutions that will further develop the current NH e-Court platform as e-filing

demands evolve. The intent of this Request for Information (RFI) is to provide vendors an

opportunity to showcase innovative court technology solutions that leverage a component-

based, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and to recommend best-practices gleaned from their

experience implementing Electronic Filing Managers (EFM), Document Management Systems

(DMS), and Identity Management Systems (IdM). The NHJB primarily seeks solutions that

incorporate an SOA’s major design philosophies of loose coupling, autonomy, abstraction,

service contract, reusability, composability, statelessness, and discoverability.

Request for Information Procedure

Re-Issue Date: July 17, 2019

Questions Due By: August 7, 2019 at 4:30 PM

RFI Due Date: August 16, 2019 at 12:00 PM

RFI Must Be Received At: NHeCourt20@courts.state.nh.us

Please be advised that all notifications, releases, and amendments associated with this RFI will

be posted at:

https://www.courts.state.nh.us/aoc/rfps/index.htm

They will not be emailed directly to any vendor. Vendors are encouraged to periodically check

this location for updates.

This is a Request for Information only. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning

purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the

future. This RFI does not commit the NHJB to contract for any materials or services whatsoever.

Respondents are advised that NHJB will not pay for any information or administrative costs

incurred in responding to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely

at the interested party’s expense. No vendor will be selected, pre-qualified, or exempted from

any potential related RFPs based on their response to this RFI or lack thereof.

Vendors should also be aware that all content provided to the NHJB in response to this RFI

should be construed as public information and that it may be made available to others without

prior consent from the respondent.

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 3 July 17, 2019

Any vendor requiring clarification of any section of this RFI or wishing to comment on any

requirements or other portion of the RFI must submit specific questions in writing no later than

July 24, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. Questions may be emailed to NHeCourt20@courts.state.nh.us. Any

objection to the RFI that is not raised in writing on or before the last day of the question period

is waived. Responses to questions will be posted at:

https://www.courts.state.nh.us/aoc/rfps/index.htm

Responses will be made available as soon as possible after the question period ends, contingent

on the number and complexity of the questions.

Vendors are asked to submit the RFI responses using the provided NH e-Court 2.0 Response

Template. Additional documentation supporting responses is welcome. Not every question

requires an answer; however, minimal responses must include a response to A. Company

Information in section IV Information Requested as well as a description of how your company’s

EFM/ERQ, DMS and/or IdM products and services align with NHJB’s SOA objectives.

II. Background Since inception, the NH e-Court Program has endeavored to build infrastructure in line with an

SOA model. With the recent purchase and implementation of a robust SOA software suite

featuring an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) to serve as an e-Court Service Broker, the NHJB is now

in a position to leverage SOA best practices. The NHJB is keenly interested in creative SOA

solutions in support of NH e-Court 2.0.

In 2014, NHJB implemented mandatory statewide e-filing for both attorneys and self-

represented litigants for Small Claims cases. Since then, it is fulfilling its Mission and Vision with

several e-filing projects1 having been implemented in production as follows:

e-Filing of Guardianship and Estate cases in the NH Circuit Court (2015-2017)

Case Party Access Portal (2017)

e-Filing Civil cases in the NH Superior Court (2018)

e-Filing in the NH Supreme Court (2018)

Judge’s bench (2018)

In 2019, e-filing for Superior Court Criminal cases and other civil case types in the Circuit Court

(Landlord/tenant, Name Change, Civil Complaint, and Foreign Judgment, among others) will go

into production.

1 With certain exceptions, e-Filing is mandatory statewide for both attorneys and SRLs for all case types.

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 4 July 17, 2019

Looking ahead, the NH e-Court Program is seeking new capabilities that will support several of

the Program’s most challenging goals2:

Ability to implement secure e-filing into confidential case types

Ability to provide case parties with secure access to confidential documents via the

Internet

Ability to easily integrate justice partners’ disparate systems with the NHJB e-Filing/Case

Management System (CMS)

Improve case processing efficiency by streamlining court and judicial staff workflows

(using one or more applications) for a variety of tasks such as reviewing proposed

orders, signing arraignment packets, and processing appointment of counsel requests,

among others

Simplify login and access while increasing security and control; Eliminate the need for

maintaining individual user accounts for each of the components requiring

login/authentication

This RFI begins the NH e-Court Program’s exploration of new technologies that will:

Update the current infrastructure to align with a principle requirement to use SOA

solutions whenever possible to build out business services such as:

o Filing Services

o Document Services

o Notification Services

o Case Inquiry Services

o Payment Services

o Scheduling Services

o Help Services

Expand the e-Court Service Broker architectural component

Improve the rules engine, automated workflow, message queues/translation between

e-filing and case management system queues, and systems integration with justice

partners such as NH state agencies, county attorneys, public defenders, etc.

Provide a higher-level security by controlling access using multi-factor authentication to

certain applications

Utilize Single Sign On and streamline user navigation with an intuitive user interface that

offers role based access to applications, data, content, and other functionality available

in the NH e-Court platform

Begin building a platform for the Court Component Model3

2 The NH e-Court Program roadmap for 2020 and beyond includes e-filing for highly sensitive and confidential case

types such as DV/Stalking and family matters (juvenile, marital, adoption, etc.).

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 5 July 17, 2019

III. Scope The current NHJB CMSs are explicitly out of scope for this RFI. The NHJB has no interest in re-

procuring either of its CMSs. Vendors should not propose a new CMS for either the trial or

appellate courts, Odyssey and C-Track respectively. Furthermore, the Electronic Filing Service

Provider (EFSP) for self-represented litigants (TurboCourt) and C-Track, the EFSP for the NH

Supreme Court, are both out of scope. The NHJB is not considering replacement of these EFSPs.

Vendors are encouraged to respond even if they do not offer all components for which

information is being requested. As previously stated, NHJB’s primary objective of this RFI is to

learn about creative solutions and ideas, and “outside the box” approaches to solving some of

the most complex aspects of transforming courts into a nearly-paperless environment. With that

in mind, vendors are encouraged to fully describe their ideas for best practices and innovative

products without limiting responses to just the RFI questions in section IV.

The following items are in scope:

Electronic Filing Manager/Enterprise Review Queue (ERQ)

An EFM capable of integrating with the Odyssey CMS utilizing the e-Court Service Broker

(specifically, the ESB) and ECF 4.01 standards. The EFM should also provide:

o A secure, full-featured Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP) to deliver

documents in a variety of formats

o Acceptance of filings from multiple EFSPs

o Support of e-filing statewide for all litigation types

o The ability for filers to deliver document in a variety of formats

o Fully automated, secure notification via email and SMS text message

o Integration with an enterprise-level document management system

o A means for case party read access to case information and documents filed in

their case

o Support for applications that enable court and judicial staff to process

electronically filed documents “outside” of the CMS so that the CMS DMS is

used exclusively for docketing

o Payment processing for court fees, fines, and other common financial

transactions processed by the court

o The flexibility of receiving payment information from EFSP or performing

payment processing inherently in the EFM

3 See Joint Technology Committee Next-Generation Court Technology Standards Application Component Model:

https://www.ncsc.org/~/media/Files/PDF/About%20Us/Committees/JTC/JTC%20Resource%20Bulletins/NextGen%20Court%20Component%20Model%202017-12-08%20FINAL.ashx

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 6 July 17, 2019

o A secure document delivery tool providing service through either e-mail or SMS

as a link to an encrypted document source

o The ability to enable data exchanges between the CMSs of other state agencies

and the NH e-Court ecosystem. Examples include:

Karpel – CMS for NH County Attorneys

DefenderData for NH public defenders

NECSES for NH Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Bureau of

Child Support Services (BCSS)

NH Bridges for NH DHHS, Division of Children, Youth and Family (DCYF)

An ERQ that accepts transactions from multiple EFSPs and other filing based

applications, and presents them for review and approval.4

o Examples of filing based applications include:

Judicial CMS interface to facilitate simple or more robust workflows for

judges on the bench, in chambers, or elsewhere inside or outside the

courthouse

Manage hearings involving high-volume, complex pleadings, including

the ability to review, privately or publically annotate, and electronically

sign electronic documents

Adjudicate ex parte matters

Review and signing queues with automated workflow among all case

parties (attorneys, plaintiffs, defendants, and judges

Signing or vacating warrants; arraignment; appointment of counsel ;

financial affidavits; and other automated workflow applications

Document Management System

An enterprise-level DMS that will integrate with the NH e-Court 2.0 components utilizing

the existing NHJB SOA platform. Ideally, the DMS will:

o Act as a storage and retrieval system for all case materials (documents, audio,

video, etc.)

o Support robust, configurable workflows for filing review, acceptance, judicial

review and signature

o Offer full-featured records management functions for expungement of case files

according to a retention schedule

o Be extensible in order to provide document management for documents from

source systems other than the components of NH e-Court 2.0 such as Human

Resources, Accounting, etc.

4 NHJB would also entertain the concept of an ERQ as a separate component.

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 7 July 17, 2019

Identity Management System

An enterprise-level IdM to manage the customer identity needs for all NH e-Court 2.0

components.

o Users attempting to access e-Court systems are redirected through the e-Court

Service Broker or application API to a sign on server and back again, for

authentication and system/component access level based on the user’s assigned

role

o Response mechanisms to anomalous login behavior

Other desired features include:

o Multi-Factor authentication based on user knowledge or possession factors

o Single sign on to NH e-Court 2.0 components and other enterprise applications

with a customizable user experience

o Centralized administration and monitoring

o User Management tools to manage profiles and self-service registration

procedures

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 8 July 17, 2019

IV. Information Requested

A. Company Description

A1 Please provide a brief description of your company.

A2

Company Name

Company Web Site

Account Executive Name

email Address

Phone Number

US Office Locations

Number of Regular Full Time Employees

Number of Contracted Employees

A3

Provide a description of the products or services offered by your company that are applicable

to the electronic filing of court documents including DMS, EFM/ERQ and IdM. The NHJB is

particularly interested in your firm’s approach to SOA and the National Center for State Courts

Court Component Model.

A4 How long has your organization provided court technology solutions? Who is your primary

customer base? Please list all courts where your system has been installed or piloted.

B. Electronic Filing Manager/Enterprise Review Queue

B1

Please describe your experience in providing judicial eFiling solutions on a statewide or

equivalent basis.

If your organization does not have experience in the courts and justice domain, please

describe your experience working in other domains, particularly in state government.

B2 Is there a review queue for filings in your solution? How are filings approved? Can the

queue accept filings from other applications?

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 9 July 17, 2019

B3 Please describe your EFM architecture

B4

Please provide a high-level functional design description of how your EFM provides the

following services:

Review Queues

Automated Workflow

e-Signatures

e-Service

e-Service Contacts Management

Document annotation (private and public notes, stamps, etc.)

B5 How is your EFM integrated into the Odyssey CMS? C-Track CMS?

B6

If your EFM/ERQ is bundled with an enterprise-level DMS, please describe the product

features and functionality in detail. Advise why it may be a superior solution to unbundled

products.

B7 Describe solutions you have implemented using multiple vendors and/or integration

providers.

B8

Does your system incorporate the use of a rules engine and/or a process design and

workflow solution? If so, are these components ‘built into’ your system or can they

integrate with industry standard platforms? Does the rules engine use any international

or industry standards to accomplish its functionality? If so, please describe.

B9

Have you implemented a system that provides for a “paperless” court operation utilizing

review queues and automated workflow? If so, describe how court staff and judges use

the system.

B10 How does your system comply with existing standards, e.g. OASIS LegalXML ECF 4.01, for

electronic filing?

B11

What are your plans to comply with ECF 5.x specification? Are you prepared to conform

within 90 days of its release by the Oasis consortium? If not, what is your timeline to be

ECF 5.x conformant?

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 10 July 17, 2019

B12 What types of court cases does your system handle (i.e., civil, criminal, municipal, family,

etc.)?

B13 Is your solution limited to any specific case types? If so, what are they?

B14 Describe the various cloud models your EFM supports.

B15 Describe the e-Service capabilities of your system.

B16 Identify all file formats that can be e-filed.

B17 Describe any unique features of your EFM/ERQ that differentiates it from competitors, is

particularly innovative or otherwise offers strategic and operational benefits to the NHJB.

C. Enterprise Document Management System

C1 What document/content format(s) does your DMS support?

C2 How is associated filing or other metadata captured and utilized with your DMS?

Please list and describe metadata elements your system captures.

C3 Describe the DMS’ search features, including basic and advanced. How is Optical

Character Recognition supported?

C4

Describe workflows and queues functionality in your DMS. Useful business process

examples include automated routing to approve, reject, revise, finalize, and

electronically sign documents by a variety of party types (plaintiffs, defendants,

attorneys, clerks, judges, and court staff) is of particular interest. How are workflows

configured?

C5 How does your DMS support fee collection for records research services? Are bulk-

download capabilities available?

C6

Is there public access to non-confidential court documents (either generic or

registered user)? How is role-based access handled (i.e., elevated access to case

documents, including confidential documents, for self-represented litigants,

attorneys, and other parties to a case)?

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 11 July 17, 2019

C7 Are electronically filed and any other documents in the DMS date and time stamped?

Is there a hash document verification capability?

C8 Describe the DMS’ capabilities to provide configurable workflow for filing review,

acceptance, judicial review, and electronic signatures from multiple case parties.

C9 Who maintains ownership of the data and documents that are electronically filed and

stored in the DMS?

C10

Describe how scanned documents are incorporated into the DMS. Is batch scanning

supported? If so, please describe. Is this included or is it an “add-on” for additional

cost?

C11 Describe your solution’s electronic document retention and archiving capabilities.

Please describe any best practices or innovated solutions that you have implemented.

C12

Can the DMS can be used for other NHJB document management needs such as

Human Resources, Accounting, Management and Operations, etc.? Please describe

an enterprise-wide DMS implementation currently in production. Case studies in the

courts and justice domain are preferred; however, NHJB is interested in successful

enterprise-level DMS implementations in any domain.

C13 Can documents be stored in encrypted format either as submitted or later by the

court?

C14 Describe the DMS’s audit trail and compliance capabilities.

C15

Does your DMS provide manual or automated redaction capabilities? If so, please

describe.

C16 Do you offer a Mobile DMS (for smartphones or tablets?)

C17

Please describe the technical data storage environment that your system supports.

Please list any tools or capabilities provided for storage management.

C18

Please describe the document management technical environment including any

relational database or EDMS applications (for example, On-Base, File-Net)

C19 Does your solution provide “vendor provided-cloud” Document Management System

capabilities?

C20 List additional features that your court customers have found useful.

NH e-Court 2.0 RFI – FINAL 1.1 12 July 17, 2019

C21 Describe the SOA capabilities of your DMS to allow other enterprise applications

inbound and outbound access via APIs, XML, etc.

D. Identity Management System Please describe the features and functionality in your IdM that supports the

following:

D1 Single Sign On

D2 Multi-Factor Authentication

D3 Role-based Access Control

D4 Administrative tools to manage profiles, policies, users, groups, and devices

D5 User Experience customization capabilities for registration, authentication, and

authorization.

D6 Does the proposed IdM operate in the cloud, on premises, or both? Please describe

all options available.

D7 Does the proposed IdM support both web and mobile access?

E. Integration/Architecture

E1

The e-Court Service Broker utilizes Mule ESB, leverages JMS message queues and

topics, Soap Web Services, and RESTful Web Services. Describe your experience

integrating with this type of service layer.

E2 Describe the open integration points of your system.

E3 Please provide a description/blueprint for the recommended technical architecture of

your system.

E4 Describe the scalability of your architecture for future growth.