The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) may have a requirement for an Enterprise Data Management Cataloging Solution.

The following information is sourced from the Request for Information (RFI) document and is subject to change upon the release of a formal solicitation.

INTRODUCTION

The State of Oregon, acting by and through the Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA or Agency) issues this Request for Information (RFI) to solicit information from vendors regarding Enterprise Data Management Cataloging solutions. The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to gather market intelligence on available solutions that can support OHA’s data governance and management needs. This RFI is for information purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation for bids, proposals, or contractual commitments.

Participation in this RFI is voluntary, and no contract will be awarded based on responses submitted. The information gained in this RFI, may be used by the Agency to inform development of a future competitive solicitation process. However, the Agency reserves the right to modify, delay, or cancel any future procurement efforts based on it’s needs and available resources.

Respondents acknowledge and agree that the Agency is not responsible for any expenses or costs incurred by any Respondent in submitting a Response to this RFI. Each Respondent does so solely at the Respondent’s own expense. All costs incurred in preparing and submitting a Response will be the responsibility of the Respondent and will not be reimbursed by Agency.

BACKGROUND

The OHA serves as Oregon’s single State Medicaid agency, responsible for ensuring equitable access to health services is available to Oregonians. As part of it’s mission, OHA is committed to enhancing data accessibility, governance, and transparency across the agency’s operational framework. The Office of Data Strategy and Operations (ODSO) is responsible for coordinating data management efforts across multiple stakeholders, including behavioral health, Medicaid, policy analysis, and IT services.

OHA currently lacks a unified data catalog, creating challenges for internal and external stakeholders to discover, understand, and manage data assets effectively. OHA maintains a diverse portfolio of over 700 data repositories, many of which contain overlapping, redundant, or inconsistent information. This fragmentation inhibits efficient data utilization and governance. Through this RFI, OHA seeks to identify the necessary capabilities, features and attributes of a comprehensive data catalog solution that enables metadata management, data discovery, data governance, and, where available, data indexing and mastering capabilities.

The information obtained through this RFI will serve as a foundational resource for shaping the Agency’s approach to data catalog implementation and future procurement initiatives.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION PURPOSE

OHA has initiated this RFI to obtain a better understanding of the marketplace for data management and cataloging solutions. Specifically, OHA seeks information about tools that can enhance our ability to govern, organize, and utilize data effectively across the agency. This includes, but is not limited to, solutions that provides:

• Robust metadata management;
• Enterprise search and data discovery;
• Data lineage and impact analysis;
• Access control and role-based permissions;
• Governance and stewardship workflows;
• Data indexing and mastering capabilities;
• Data quality profiling and monitoring; and
• Integration with existing data sources and systems.

This RFI is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) and does not constitute a commitment by OHA to procure any solution. Rather, information gathered will inform future decision-making and potential procurement strategies. Responses may contribute to the development of a more detailed RFP, ensuring alignment with current market capabilities, integration feasibility, and lessons learned from similar successful implementations from other state efforts. The Agency reserves the right to modify it’s approach based on the information obtained through this RFI.

WHO MAY RESPOND?

The OHA invites responses from a diverse range of qualified vendors with expertise in data cataloging and broader data management solutions.

The Agency seeks information from Vendors providing:

• Standalone solutions that specialize in data cataloging, metadata management, governance, and data discovery.
• Comprehensive data management platforms that include a data catalog as part of a broader suite of capabilities (e.g. data indexing and mastering, data quality, and data lineage, etc.).

At a minimum, all respondents must offer a data cataloging solution that includes the following core functionalities:

• Metadata management – Ability to collect, manage, and enrich metadata from various sources.
• Data discovery and search – Intuitive browsing and search capabilities for users to find data assets.
• Data Quality – Assessment and monitoring of data to ensure accuracy, consistency, and reliability. Data lineage & provenance – Tracking and visualization of the data’s origins, transformations, and movement across systems.
• Basic governance and stewardship support – Role definitions, glossary management, and visibility into data ownership.
• Integration potential – APIs or other mechanisms that support interoperability within a broader data ecosystem.

Vendors offering broader platforms may also address additional features such as:

• Data mastering & entity resolution
• Master Data Management (MDM)
• Data preparation and transformation tools
• Advanced policy-based access and security controls
• Automation and AI-driven features

OHA welcomes responses from vendors offering either standalone or integrated solutions, including those that support modular or phased implementation. Solutions should be deployable in cloud, on-premises, or hybrid environments, with a preference for platforms compatible with a multi-cloud data ecosystem.

Respondents should highlight any relevant experience in healthcare or government environments, particularly as it pertains to compliance with privacy, security, and regulatory requirements applicable to state and federal data governance standards.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

OHA is committed to enhancing data governance and accessibility to support informed decision-making, improve service delivery, and foster collaboration across programs. A foundational component of this effort is the implementation of an Enterprise Data Catalog, which will enable OHA to efficiently organize, manage, and discover data assets efficiently, thus improving data transparency, compliance, and usability. This effort is designed to ensure that stakeholders can access reliable data and trust the data they need while maintaining appropriate security and governance controls.

OHA is seeking information on data catalog solutions that provide centralized metadata management, facilitate Enterprise search and data discovery, and robust data governance functionalities. The capabilities of the solution should demonstrate the ability to enhance interoperability, integrate with existing platforms, and offer robust search and security features.

This RFI serves as an exploratory step in evaluating available technologies that align with OHA’s long-term data strategy. The insights gathered through this process will inform OHA’s future procurement strategy and investment in data infrastructure.

The following information is sourced from the Request for Information (RFI) document and is subject to change upon the release of a formal solicitation.

SCOPE

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is seeking information on data catalog solutions designed to support metadata driven data governance and data discovery across the Agency’s complex data ecosystem. Responses to this RFI will guide future procurement strategies and help in defining the capabilities required to enhance enterprise data transparency, accessibility, and stewardship.

This RFI is structured around four key areas of interest, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of solutions that align with OHA’s long-term data management strategy.

RFI RESPONSE QUESTIONS

Vendors are asked to respond to the following questions and topic areas. Responses should clearly indicate whether the solution is a standalone data catalog or part of a broader data management platform.

General Solution Overview (Required)

1. Provide a general overview of your solution, including its primary functions, architecture, and deployment options (e.g., on-premises, cloud, hybrid)
2. Describe whether your solution is delivered as a standalone product focused on data cataloging, metadata management, governance, and discovery, or as a broader data management platform.
3. Outline the typical customer profile for your solution, including industries, organization size, and key use cases.
4. Describe your solution’s scalability capabilities in terms of users, datasets, and performance across different environments
5. Provide examples of innovation, emerging features, or best practices you offer that may not be widely adopted elsewhere.

Core Data Catalog Capabilities (Required)

1. Metadata Management
   • Describe how your solutions collects, manages, and enriches metadata. Please address all of the following:
     • Manual Metadata Entry
     • Automated Metadata Entry
     • AI-Driven Metadata Enrichment
   • What metadata types does your catalog support?
   • Please describe supported types, including:
     • Descriptive, structural, administrative, operational, reference metadata
     • Support for data models such as conceptual, logical, and physical models
   • What automated metadata tagging and classification capabilities does your system provide?
   • Does your catalog allow user-defined automation as part of the classification process?
   • Does your catalog allow for user-defined metadata attributes and custom tagging?
   • Can users create and manage custom metadata attributes or business glossaries?
   • Can users browse metadata hierarchically (e.g., by dataset, domain, data owner, source system)?
   • Describe the frequency and scheduling capabilities for metadata harvesting (eg., real-time, scheduled batch updates).
   • Does your solution support active metadata (real-time change detection)?
   • Describe metadata versioning capabilities, including support for rollback, audit trails, and change impact analysis.
2. Data Discovery & Search
   • Describe the discovery features supported by your solution, including intelligent search, filtering, and categorization.
   • How does your solution support semantic search, natural language search, or AI-assisted discovery?
   • How does your solution handle synonyms, acronyms, and common business terminology to improve searchability?
   • Does your solution provide search analytics capabilities (e.g., tracking popular searches, measuring discovery effectiveness)?
   • Are visual navigation aids (e.g., knowledge graphs, relationship maps) available in addition to text-based interfaces?
   • Does your solution allow stewards to flag or promote canonical datasets for easier discovery?
3. Data Lineage & Provenance
   • Describe how your solution captures and presents data lineage, including source systems, transformations, joins, aggregations, and consumption endpoints.
   • Describe how lineage validation across systems is performed.
   • How does your platform capture transformations, joins, and aggregations along the data pipeline?
   • If this process includes automation, what types of permissions are required to enable this automation?
   • Can your solution capture lineage and transformations occurring outside of structured data pipelines, such as in spreadsheets or isolated data repositories?
   • Describe lineage access controls, including role-based breakdowns (e.g., read-only, write, system-level).
4. Data Governance & Stewardship
   • How has your solution been used to facilitate data governance policy enforcement?
   • Does your solution enable the definition of roles, responsibilities, and workflows for data governance?
   • Is workflow automation supported for governance tasks such as approvals, escalations, and notifications?
   • Can your solution integrate with external tools or systems already in use?
   • How does your platform help with data quality monitoring and issue resolution?
5. Data Quality
   • Describe how your solution supports data quality assessment and monitoring.
   • How are data quality rules authored? (GUI, code-based, policy-driven, etc.)
   • Does your solution provide dashboards or reports showing historical data quality trends over time?
   • Describe how your solution supports data quality issue identification, notification, and resolution tracking.

Extended Capabilities (Optional)

1. Data Mastering & Entity Resolution
   • For solutions with data mastering capabilities, please respond to the following:
     • How does your solution identify duplicate records and create a “golden record” for entities?
     • What matching algorithms or machine learning models does your platform use for record linkage and deduplication?
     • How does your system integrate mastered records with the data catalog to enhance searchability and governance?
     • Describe a use case where your solution has been used to successfully index and master large-scale datasets.
2. Additional Capabilities
   • Describe the additional relevant capabilities beyond the core catalog functions that your solution offers. (e.g. Master data management, Data preparation, Policy enforcement, and Automation & AI driven features, etc.)

Universal System Capabilities (Required)

1. Security & Access Controls
   • Describe the role-based access control (RBAC) features of your solution.
   • Does your solution support fine-grained access controls such as Row-Level Security (RLS) for sensitive metadata?
   • How does your solution enforce security policies for metadata and cataloged datasets?
   • How does your solution meet security standards such as FedRAMP, HIPAA, or others?
   • Does your solution support the identification and classification of PHI/PII metadata?
   • How can access be restricted based on user roles, organizational hierarchy, and metadata attributes?
   • How does your solution integrate with enterprise authentication standards such as SAML, LDAP, OAuth, and Active Directory?
   • What mechanisms are available for audit logging, including tracking user interactions with the catalog?
   • Does your company certify that it is in full compliance with Oregon’s Statewide Security Standards, as outlined in Attachment D?
2. Integration & Interoperability
   • Describe the standard APIs, connectors, or adapters available to integrate your solution with other enterprise systems.
   • Does your solution provide RESTful APIs or other mechanisms for programmatic interaction?
   • Describe how your platform handles schema evolution and data model changes.
   • How does your solution support interoperability across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments?
   • Are ingestion connectors maintained regularly by your team, and is there support for custom connector development?
   • For hybrid environments, does your solution support metadata harvesting across firewalled or on-premises sources?
3. User Experience, Onboarding & Training
   • Describe the user interface design principles used and how they support different user personas (e.g., business users, data stewards, technical users).
   • What customization options are available for dashboards, search filters, and UI components?
   • Does your platform offer accessibility features or other standards?
   • What onboarding tools, tutorials, and user assistance mechanisms are available?
   • Do you offer customer training programs, certification opportunities, or learning paths?
   • Describe any community forums, knowledge bases, or user groups available for peer support.
4. Implementation & Scalability
   • Provide typical implementation timelines and key milestones for deploying your solution.
   • Describe your approach to scaling across growing user bases, datasets, and organizational units.
   • What professional services (e.g., consulting, integration assistance) are available to support implementation?
   • What are the main technical and operational challenges customers face when deploying your solution, and how do you address them?
   • Describe how your platform scales to accommodate increasing data volumes and users.
   • What ongoing support, maintenance, and upgrade services do you offer?
   • Is your solution offered as a SaaS platform, self-hosted on premises, or hybrid?
   • If self-hosted what resources will we need to support the environment?
   • If self-hosted on premises what are the infrastructure (hosting) requirements and specifications?
   • If self-hosted in a Cloud environment, which cloud environments are supported (Azure, AWS, etc.)?