Company Overview

CalmForce Federal Services is a leading web development firm specializing in crafting high-performance, scalable, and secure digital platforms. With a focus on open-source technologies, we leverage the power of Drupal for flexible content management and integrate Apache Solr for advanced search and discovery, empowering organizations to deliver exceptional user experiences and manage complex data efficiently.

Core Competencies

• Drupal Web Development:
  • Custom Drupal theme and module development
  • Drupal site building and architecture
  • Headless Drupal implementations
  • API integrations with third-party systems
  • Performance optimization and security hardening for Drupal sites
     
• Migration from earlier Drupal versions (e.g. Drupal 7) and non-Drupal CMS to Drupal 10 and 11:
  • Migrating Drupal 7 backend structures, users, taxonomy terms and content
  • Experience migrating from Django, Python + PostgreSQL based CMS, ASP.NET + MS SQL based Umbraco CMS to Drupal 10
  • Using custom Migrate Process Plugins to transform taxonomy vocabularies, content types and fields to new entities when required
     
• AI-assisted content migration and search:
  • Using Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate content summaries, SEO-friendly titles and categories (taxonomy terms) during migration from any source or during update of the current Drupal content in bulk. See details on the page of a new AI Migrate Content module built by CalmForce: AI Migrate Content
  • Using AI-generated Vector DB Embeddings for Semantic Search and Similarity Matching
  • Using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) based on the website's knowledge base of records and documents to significantly enhance the search functionality by combining the strengths of traditional information retrieval with the generative power of Large Language Models (LLMs).
  • Using the natural language form of questions to execute the search instead of a set of content-based keywords.
     
• Apache Solr Integration & Optimization:
  • Deep expertise in Search API Solr module configuration and customization
  • Advanced faceted search implementation (filters, sorting, dynamic facets)
  • Full-text search with relevance tuning and custom ranking
  • Autocomplete, spell check, and "did you mean" functionalities
  • Real-time indexing and near real-time search capabilities
  • Scalable Solr deployments for large datasets and high traffic
     
• User Experience (UX) & User Interface (UI) Design:
  • Intuitive and engaging user interface design
  • Responsive web design for all devices: developing designs that adapt seamlessly to various screen sizes and devices, ensuring consistent user experience across desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
  • Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliant UI: ensuring that all designs meet accessibility standards, making them usable for individuals with disabilities
     
• Digital Strategy & Consulting:
  • Web strategy development and roadmap planning
  • Technical architecture consulting
  • Content strategy and information architecture
     
• Maintenance & Support:
  • Ongoing security updates and patches
  • Performance monitoring and optimization
  • 24/7 technical support and emergency response
     

Differentiators

• Specialized Expertise: Our team possesses deep, proven expertise in Drupal, Apache Solr and AI-assisted search, ensuring seamless integration and optimal performance for complex search-driven applications.
• Performance-Driven Solutions: We prioritize site speed, scalability, and search efficiency, leveraging Solr's power to handle massive amounts of data and provide lightning-fast results.
• Customization & Flexibility: We tailor every solution to meet unique client requirements, extending Drupal and Solr capabilities to deliver truly bespoke digital platforms.
• Agile Development Methodology: Our iterative approach ensures transparency, collaboration, and rapid delivery of high-quality web solutions.
• Commitment to Open Source: We are active contributors to the Drupal community, staying at the forefront of technological advancements and best practices.

Recent engagements:

IRS (Department of Treasury):

 Successfully migrated the Picklists PUP Application to a contemporary Solr-based search application leveraging advanced Solr stemming and tokenization features. Within the IRS’s Development, Modernization, and Enhancement (DME) Search Modernization initiative, CalmForce Federal Services contributed to enhancements of the primary search functionality on IRS.gov, and developed new features including Search Autocomplete and People Also Search For links generation. These efforts significantly enhanced the IRS.gov site’s search efficiency and greatly reduced the number of false positives (irrelevant search results).

Specifically, these search pages were built by CalmForce Federal Services from the ground up by developing custom Search API facets, processors and dynamic filters:

• https://www.irs.gov/tax-pros-index-search?search=tax (dynamic – depending on the keywords - taxonomy filter)
• https://www.irs.gov/newsroom-index-search?search=tax (dynamic taxonomy and date filters)
• https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications (natural sorting by Product Number, AJAX response)
• https://www.irs.gov/prior-year-forms-and-instructions (natural sorting by Product Number, AJAX response)
• https://www.irs.gov/instructions-and-publications-xml-source-files (custom Search API Processors)

Also greatly improved functionality of the main IRS search page:

https://www.irs.gov/site-index-search?search=tax (removed hundreds of false positives by using search  query Regular Expressions and Solr custom configurations, fixed taxonomy-based facets) 

Agricultural Research Service (USDA):

Migrated multiple outdated legacy systems based on ASP.NET Umbraco platform to Drupal 10, integrating Apache Solr for enterprise-wide document search.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID):

• Successfully undertook a significant modernization initiative for the USAID, focusing on their intranet application, ProgramNet. This project involved a comprehensive re-engineering and migration of the application's underlying data structures, specifically content types, fields, and entities, from the legacy Drupal 7 platform to the more robust and feature-rich Drupal 8. This migration was critical for ensuring the long-term scalability, security, and maintainability of ProgramNet.
• Migrated USAID Learning Lab platform from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9