Overview
The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is the state's primary human-services agency, responsible for child welfare (abuse and neglect intake, investigations, and case management), mental health and substance-abuse services, and public-benefits eligibility through the ACCESS Florida program (SNAP, Temporary Cash Assistance, and Medicaid eligibility determination).
It is one of Florida's most data-intensive agencies: it operates statewide eligibility and case-management systems, the MyACCESS self-service portal, and the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN) child-welfare case system. DCF processes very high transaction volumes — by its own public figures it handles, on average, hundreds of thousands of Medicaid applications, redeterminations, and assistance requests each month.
The agency is in the middle of a multi-year modernization to a federally compliant CCWIS (Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System), making it an active modernization account where data integration, cloud, and security work all surface. For a Dell SLG seller, DCF is a large, infrastructure- and modernization-driven buyer reached primarily through Florida's central procurement vehicles rather than agency-only RFPs.
- DCF's Office of Information Technology / CIO owns FSFN and the CCWIS modernization program — the core technical buying center
- Deputy Secretary Kathryn Williams and ESS Assistant Secretary Bridget Royster shape funding priorities across child-welfare and ACCESS Florida/benefits programs
- DMS State Term Contracts cover most commodity IT — the default path for routine buys
- MyFloridaMarketplace (MFMP) is the transaction/eProcurement layer; vendors must be VIP-registered to sell to DCF
- CCWIS and other large modernization programs run as dedicated competitive solicitations with separate IV&V oversight
Where Dell Can Play
- Confirm Dell's coverage on DMS State Term Contracts and active VIP/MyFloridaMarketplace registration — these are the access path for routine DCF IT buys.
- Engage the CCWIS modernization as the lead motion: position data-platform, storage, and integration infrastructure plus security around the phased child-welfare rebuild.
- Tie ACCESS Florida / MyACCESS capacity and reliability to compute, storage, and cloud infrastructure — a benefits-modernization play at very high transaction volume.
- Lead with cybersecurity and data protection given DCF's highly sensitive child-welfare, behavioral-health, and benefits data and cross-agency data sharing.
- Watch the leadership transition: Secretary Hatch is resigning (June 2026) with no named successor — anchor near-term relationships on the stable layer (Deputy Secretary Williams, ESS Assistant Secretary Royster, and the CIO/IT office) and confirm the new/acting Secretary and current CIO before forecasting.
Budget & Fiscal
DCF is a large direct spender funded through Florida's annual General Appropriations Act, with a substantial federal match flowing through SNAP, Medicaid eligibility, and Title IV-E child-welfare funding. Governor DeSantis signed the $117.6B FY2026–27 budget on June 29, 2026 (after ~$1.6B in vetoes); the Governor's proposal had earmarked more than $4.8B for the Department. Confirm DCF's final line items in the enacted General Appropriations Act — including any technology appropriations and vetoes — before forecasting.
- DCF's appropriation mixes state general revenue with large federal streams (SNAP/Medicaid administration, Title IV-E) — funding for IT and modernization often rides federal cost-allocation rules.
- SNAP caseloads fell sharply across Florida in 2025–2026 following federal program changes (H.R. 1); shifting caseloads affect eligibility-system load and modernization priorities.
- The FY2026–27 state budget was signed June 29, 2026; the $4.8B+ cited here is the Governor's earlier proposed DCF number — confirm the enacted General Appropriations Act line items and any DCF vetoes before committing to a forecast.
Initiatives & Priorities
DCF is replacing/modernizing its child-welfare technology toward a federally compliant CCWIS, in a modular, phased approach starting with intake, investigations, and case management, and building new enterprise-architecture foundations. Independent IV&V oversight is in place. A multi-year program — strong surface for data, cloud, and integration infrastructure.
Modernization Child Welfare DataThe ACCESS Florida eligibility engine and the MyACCESS self-service portal determine SNAP, cash-assistance, and Medicaid eligibility at very high volume. Reliability, capacity, and customer-facing digital experience are recurring priorities — an infrastructure and benefits-modernization play.
Benefits Cloud Citizen ExperienceDCF holds highly sensitive child-welfare, behavioral-health, and benefits data and shares it across agencies (e.g., Medicaid, juvenile justice). Data integration, identity, and security controls are persistent requirements alongside the CCWIS rebuild.
Cybersecurity DataRecent budgets emphasize expanding mental-health and substance-abuse capacity and modernizing the continuum of care. Supporting systems, data, and reporting follow these program expansions.
Behavioral Health ModernizationProcurement
DCF buys through Florida's centralized procurement framework, administered by the Department of Management Services (DMS). Confirm the right vehicle before pursuing a deal: vendors must register in the Vendor Information Portal, and most commodity IT flows through State Term Contracts and MyFloridaMarketplace; larger or specialized programs (like CCWIS) run as dedicated solicitations.
| Vehicle / gate | What it means for Dell |
|---|---|
| DMS State Term Contracts | Pre-competed statewide contracts administered by the Department of Management Services for commodity hardware, software, and services — the default path for routine IT buys by agencies including DCF. |
| MyFloridaMarketplace (MFMP) | Florida's eProcurement and purchase-order/invoicing system. Vendors must register in the Vendor Information Portal (VIP) to do business with the state; agencies transact through MFMP. |
| Agency / program solicitations | Large or specialized programs — notably CCWIS modernization and eligibility systems — run as their own competitive solicitations, often with separate IV&V oversight contracts. |
Spend Signals
GovSpend · as of Aug 5, 2026Dell vs. competitors (spend, payee)
Brand footprint — all channels (est.)
Higher of two conservative lenses: product-name match · manufacturer tag. Both undercount — treat as floors.
Expiring contracts (re-compete)
| Contract | Vendor | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud-hosted web-based solution services | Unite Usa Inc | Nov 30, 2026 |
Open bids / RFPs
| Solicitation | Due |
|---|---|
| Digital Privacy Protection Services Florida Department of Children and Families | Aug 12, 2026 |
| Implementation and Evaluation of the Key Indicator Differential Monitoring System Florida Department of Children and Families | Aug 19, 2026 |
- Window follows Florida's July–June fiscal year (FY2023 = Jul 2022–Jun 2023 ... FY2025 = Jul 2024–Jun 2025).
- "Dell" and "Brand footprint" use product-name text matching (dell, poweredge, optiplex, latitude, precision, powerstore, wyse, isilon; cisco/meraki/catalyst; apple/macbook/ipad). Excluded false positives: Precision Tree Care And Removal, Unique Security, Concordance Healthcare Solutions, Henry Schein Medical, B H Foto and Electronics, Darby Dental Supply, Stones Home Center (precision/latitude collisions with landscaping/security/medical/home-improvement vendors).
- Apple excludes Cheney Brothers, US Foods, Seineyard At Wildwood, and Osceola Supply — DCF's institutional food-service purchasing collides on the word "apple" (fruit).
- HPE and Lenovo product-text totals were negligible (well under $100K) and are omitted. LineItem.Category returned no data for this agency, so "categories" is omitted.
- Competitor brand figures on this page were recomputed on 2026-08-05 after the same measurement error found in the Dell totals: the earlier method summed per-keyword buckets, so a line item naming two matched terms (e.g. “HPE ProLiant” or “Apple iPad”) was counted twice. Values here come from a single de-duplicated match over the same keyword set and supersede the earlier, overstated totals.
Power Structure
| Decision-maker | Why they matter |
|---|---|
| Taylor N. Hatch Secretary, DCF — resigning (June 2026) | Confirmed by the full Senate 33-4 in March 2026, but announced her resignation on ~June 30, 2026; no successor named as of this update and her last day was not confirmed by the Governor's office. Treat the top of the DCF account as in transition and confirm the new Secretary (likely an interim/acting leader first) before engaging. |
| Kathryn 'Kate' Williams Deputy Secretary | Operational and policy leadership across child & family well-being, economic self-sufficiency, behavioral health, and quality/innovation — a key cross-program decision-maker. |
| Bridget Royster Assistant Secretary, Economic Self-Sufficiency (ESS) | Owns the ACCESS Florida / MyACCESS benefits-eligibility program — the buying center for eligibility-system and benefits-modernization work. |
| Office of Information Technology / CIO DCF technology leadership | Owns DCF's systems including FSFN and the CCWIS modernization; the agency CIO role has shown recent turnover, so confirm the current officeholder before engaging. |
News & Signals
Sources
- Florida DCF — Executive Leadership
- Florida Phoenix — Comings, goings: healthcare secretary resigns (incl. Hatch DCF resignation)
- WUSF — Senate confirms DCF, AHCA chiefs (Hatch 33-4)
- Executive Office of the Governor — DeSantis signs FY2026–27 budget
- Florida Phoenix — Senate panel OKs Taylor Hatch to lead DCF
- Florida DCF — Governor's Floridians First budget for DCF (FY2026–27)
- Florida DCF — Public Benefits & Services (ACCESS Florida)
- MyACCESS self-service portal
- CSG — IV&V for Florida's CCWIS modernization
- Florida DMS — State Purchasing (State Contracts & MyFloridaMarketplace)
- Florida Policy Institute — SNAP participation falls sharply across Florida