CDCR Publishes RFP for New Inmate Tablet Contract

On July 15, 2024, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) published a Request for Proposals (RFP) for bids on the department's next generation of its ever evolving program to provide electronic services to its incarcerated population via vendor-supplied tablets.

Like the program itself, the program's name continues to evolve. The program that began as the Enterprise Inmate Communication Project and later became the Offender Communication and Technology Solution (OCTS) and then more simple Communications and Technology Solution (CTS) is now known by the less informative but catchier name I-Connect+ (I+).

According to the RFP, I+ will expand wireless coverage beyond housing units to libraries, classrooms, and visiting rooms and beyond adult prisons to adult camps and juvenile facilities. It will also require kiosks instead of docking stations for all video calls and allow incarcerated individuals to purchase auxiliary keyboards.

The RFP also requires I+ to provide a suite of ADA accommodations such as voice commands, live captions, speech-to-text, optical character recognition (OCR), a voice-powered notes app, and WCAG-compliant content. Finally, I+ provides new services such as receiving voicemail messages and accessing medical records and services.