CARES SPOCs, Technical Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, and State Leadership:
Dear County Partners,
As our project team continues converting CWS/CMS county forms from Word into AEM templates, we are writing to share a critical timeline for your review and validation activities.
Vendor support for form development and modifications under the current engagement with IBM will conclude on August 7, 2026. Beyond this date, the project team will not have vendor resources available to make edits, corrections, or adjustments to your forms.
31 counties have not begun their forms validation. To date, 911 forms have been converted and delivered by IBM. Currently, 14 forms are accepted, 10 have reported issues, and 887 forms remain pending county upload, configuration, and validation.
To ensure all requested updates can be completed before contract closeout, all form validations must be completed no later than August 7, 2026. Any forms that remain unvalidated after this date will be deemed accepted as-is due to the end date of vendor support. We will be unable to make further adjustments once this window closes.
Action Required
For Staff with access, please check the 
CWS CARES UAT Tracking.xlsx sheet in the CARES Forms Teams Channel. New converted forms are uploaded daily as development finishes so we ask that you review this sheet on an ongoing, daily basis.
Please test and validate these forms by August 7, 2026 to confirm they meet the operational needs. Any necessary changes or fixes must be identified right away to allow adequate time for IBM to process them before August 7.
We understand your teams are balancing multiple competing priorities. If you need access to the CARES Forms Teams Channel, the CWS CARES UAT Tracking.xlsx sheet, assistance prioritizing your pending forms, navigating the tracker, or organizing your review process, please reach out to us immediately at the County Forms Conversion mailbox.
Thank you for your ongoing partnership and dedication to ensuring these forms are ready and effective for your county.