Statewide Knowledge Platform

IOLA seeks to fund the development of a Statewide Knowledge Platform of legal services resources and available assistance throughout New York State. Infrastructure, process, and collaboration is needed so the collective knowledge of legal aid lawyers can help the public, even if they are not able to interact with the lawyer directly. Recent advancements in technology, and those advancements on the horizon, provide new opportunities to create scalable, collaborative knowledge management solutions that can improve referrals to legal aid organizations and provide accessible, interactive, guided information to people who are seeking help but are not able to access a lawyer. Such a “knowledge backbone”—accessible by legal aid providers, advocates, and the public, with varied interfaces customized to the different user types—would improve the efficiency of legal aid service delivery and enable the development of legal information tools to serve the public at scale.

IOLA has incorporated the findings and recommendations derived from the stakeholder engagements and Consulting Groups into this Request for Proposals (RFP).

The IOLA Fund plans to award one grant to one nonprofit organization to plan, build, implement, and scale a statewide knowledge platform to make reliable and consistent legal information accessible and available across New York State, including for all IOLA grantees, which would include the Training Center, Comprehensive & Dynamic Legal Services Directory, and the Justice Infrastructure Project Governance. Content may include diagnosis of legal problems, legal subject-matter information, guidance on court filing and procedures, and updates to federal, state, and local laws. The grant recipient must actively engage the legal services community in this project and may have existing or planned partnership arrangements. Grant funds may be used to compensate such partners.

The IOLA Fund plans to award one Simplified Renewal Agreement which includes a one-year initial period for up to $2,500,000 plus two, one-year optional renewals for up to $1,000,000 each year for a total amount of $4,500,000, if the options are exercised. Awards are subject to available IOLA funding, the State of New York Contract for Grants, and the IOLA Fund’s appropriation under the NYS Budget.

Applications and instructions can be found on IOLA's website (www.iola.org) and in the Statewide Financial System (Event ID: IOL-KP27).

Business enterprises awarded an identical or substantially similar procurement contract within the past five years:

NONE

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB)

SDVOB Goal: 0.00%

Minority / Women Business Enterprise contracting goals (MWBE)

MBE Goal: 0.00%

WBE Goal: 0.00%

Disadvantaged Business Enterprise contracting goals (DBE)

DBE Goal: 0.00%

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