The Office of Data and Innovation held a Vendor Information Forum on July 30, 2026.
The forum was for the Making Housing Permitting Legible Across California’s Jurisdictions challenge.
You can download the slides from the Forum.
We also share some questions and answers from the vendor Q&A.
About the showcase
Why is this an open showcase rather than targeted vendor outreach?
These events allow state government teams to conduct market research, explore technologies (such as AI-enabled services), and learn what is possible without immediately committing to procurement.
What’s driving the timeline?
The work sits under Executive Order N-30-25 and the administration’s housing production priorities. Permitting is administered by 540 cities and counties with widely varying staffing and capacity, and the partner agencies want a qualified set of options in front of those jurisdictions this year.
What is the state’s role, and what systems or data can we build against?
The state’s role is validation and curation, not development. ODI runs the process. Partner departments, agencies and their subject-matter experts assess capability against the scenarios. At the state level, the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) publishes housing-law guidance, technical-assistance letters, and data tools; the California Open Data Portal carries relevant datasets; and legislative history sits on leginfo.ca.gov. Integration targets otherwise sit at the local level and vary by jurisdiction, so describe what your solution needs in terms of data and integration and identify where those needs typically create bottlenecks.
The challenge and scenarios
What is the current business process, and what problems are we solving?
Across 540 varied jurisdictions, applicants are often confused about which documents and permits are required and lack transparency once an application is submitted, while staff must adapt across the pre-application, application, entitlement, and post-entitlement stages. Processes vary significantly by jurisdiction, with different terminology (variance, conditional use permit, site plan/architectural review) and no full standardization. HCD tracks common milestones via annual progress reports.
Is this about replacing permitting systems, and which scenario matters most?
It is not about replacing local permitting systems — the challenge statement prefers solutions that fit into existing permitting software over standalone portals, and starting small at modest cost matters more than breadth. Scenarios A and B (applicant guidance and internal review support) form the core and carry equal weight. Scenario C is a valued addition rather than a core requirement. A strong response to a single scenario is a complete submission; addressing all three carries no advantage. Housing is viewed as the umbrella solution to homelessness, so there’s no need to distinguish housing types (market rate, affordable, exiting homelessness), though some streamlining measures exist by income eligibility.
Preparing and submitting
Where do we register and submit?
On the Innovation Showcase page find and click the Submit your intent to showcase button.
Is there a page limit, and can we use our own template?
No — the submission is an online form with five short sections rather than a document upload, so page count doesn’t apply, and you can’t substitute your own template. Each field carries its own word guidance. Section 5 accepts up to two annotated screenshots and an optional video under two minutes, and you can attach supporting materials. Preview the full question set through the submission-instructions PDF on the Innovation Showcase page before you log in. Use anonymized or dummy data wherever possible, since production data belongs to and must be protected by the jurisdiction.
Will prototype- or roadmap-stage solutions be considered, and is synthetic data acceptable?
Yes. There’s no strict maturity requirement — the form asks about your level of development mainly to understand timelines. Synthetic or AI-generated data is acceptable for this round as long as it demonstrates the solution’s capability.
Are custom AI-assisted solutions acceptable, or only established products?
No gatekeeping either way. What matters is fit with the challenge-statement criteria, whether the solution is established or newly built.
Can vendors team up or appear on more than one submission?
Yes — a vendor can be a partner on one submission and lead on another; disclose the overlap on each form. ODI is procurement-vehicle agnostic (it asks which vehicles you hold for informational purposes only, not as a requirement).
Current systems and data
Can you share documentation or screen recordings of the current permitting systems?
No single current platform exists to demonstrate. Permitting authority sits with 540 cities and counties, each running its own systems, and the state has no permitting system of record. ODI is not releasing jurisdiction documentation, recordings, or individual profiles during the submission window, so every vendor works from the same information. Public sources go further: the challenge statement describes the workflow and where it breaks down. HCD’s data tools publish annual progress-report data (entitlement applications, decisions, building-permit submittals, and approvals), and HCD’s accountability unit publishes a technical-assistance dashboard by topic.
What visibility does the state have into local permit timelines?
Government Code section 65400 requires every city and county to file an annual progress report with HCD by April 1 covering the prior calendar year, capturing housing-development applications, entitlements, building permits, and completions; HCD publishes the data by jurisdiction and year on the California Open Data Portal. Because permitting is administered locally, the state has no real-time visibility into an individual application’s status — a gap reflected in Scenario B. Separately, housing legislation is tracked publicly via leginfo.ca.gov; HCD and other departments determine authority once bills pass, and may provide technical assistance through letters and the public dashboard.
Evaluation
How are submissions assessed, and does existing state use of our product matter?
This is informational market research, not a procurement — there’s no numeric scoring, ranking, or award, and no hard minimum or maximum on how many vendors advance; selection is based strictly on submissions and their relevance to the challenge. Review is qualitative, based on how well a submission fits the challenge scenarios, with criteria visible in the challenge statement and the structure of the application form. Existing use of your product by ODI or a partner agency confers no advantage and no penalty, and there’s no separate path for tools already in use. Every vendor gets the same format, time, and questions.
Showcase format and timeline
What happens after the August 11 deadline, and what’s the showcase format?
August 11 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time is when the full application closes (not a registration step). The showcase team reviews every submission and notifies selected vendors within about two weeks of the portal closing — roughly mid-to-late August — then schedules demos for late August into early September. Each demo runs about 40 minutes: 30 minutes for your presentation and demonstration and 10 minutes of questions from the state team. Demos are encouraged (a mix of presentation and live demo is typical), and you may also use pre-recorded video, slides, or images. You present in your own slot to the state team, not to other vendors; every session is virtual and not recorded.
Will the presentation slides be shared after the call?
Yes — the slides will be shared.
After the showcase
What happens to the results, and how will local jurisdictions hear about them?
The process results in referral/onboarding to the Software License Program (SLP), and ODI will provide consultation to both local jurisdictions and the state’s housing departments. There’s no statewide funding through this process — the goal is market research that jurisdictions and the state housing department can use for their own further investigation and procurement, with jurisdictions making their own purchasing decisions. Local practitioners shaped the challenge, and the three scenarios reflect needs they raised. ODI will confirm how the findings and guidance reach local agencies as the process concludes. Until then, route all questions through showcase@innovation.ca.gov rather than contacting agency or jurisdiction staff.