Institute of International Education (IIE) 1800 West Loop South, Suite 250 Houston, TX Request for Proposal

Transcription

1 Institute of International Education (IIE) 1800 West Loop South, Suite 250 Houston, TX Request for Proposal Gilman Scholarship Online System & Database Prepared: December 17, 2015 Closing Date: January 20, 2016

2 1. Introduction and Background A. Background i. Institute of International Education The Institute of International Education ( IIE ) is a New York not-for-profit corporation that is among the world s largest and most experienced international education and training organizations. Founded in 1919, IIE promotes educational exchange around the world through a wealth of programs and services including Fellowship and Scholarship Management, Higher Education Institutional Development, Emergency Student and Scholar Assistance, and Leadership Development. For more than 90 years, IIE has promoted educational exchange around the world. The Institute currently implements more than 250 programs benefiting 25,000 men and women from 175 nations. Foremost among these programs is the world-renowned Fulbright Program, which IIE has had the honor to administer on behalf of the U.S. Department of State since the program s inception in In addition to the U.S. Department of State, program sponsors include: the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); World Bank; major philanthropic foundations; private and public corporations; foreign governments; and individuals. With IIE s global headquarters in New York City, IIE has offices around the world, including offices in the United States (Washington D.C., Chicago, Denver, Houston and San Francisco) and in other countries (China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam). ii. Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program broadens the student population that studies abroad by supporting U.S. undergraduates who might not otherwise participate due to financial constraints. The Gilman Scholarship Program aims to support students who have been traditionally underrepresented in study abroad, including but not limited to, students with high financial need, community college students, students in underrepresented fields such as the sciences and engineering, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds, and students with disabilities. The program also aims to encourage students to choose nontraditional study abroad destinations, especially those outside of Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Gilman Scholarship Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. B. Purpose of Request for Proposal IIE is seeking a qualified information technology vendor to maintain and further develop an existing, comprehensive online application system and database for students and higher education advisors in the United States. The purpose of this Request for Proposal ( RFP ) is to invite bidders to submit a proposal for the maintenance and continued development of the Gilman Scholarship Online System & Database. This includes the following: Submitted by the Institute of International Education on December 14, 2015 Page 2 of 9

3 Transition maintenance and operation of Gilman International Scholarship Online System & Database in early 2016 Continual backend maintenance and security monitoring of online system Implementation of changes and updates to online system as needed Development of administrative reporting function within system The remainder of this RFP provides additional information that will allow a bidder to understand the scope of the effort and develop a proposal in the format desired by IIE. The information presented in this RFP is furnished solely for the purpose of assisting the bidder in making its own evaluation of the Scope of Work and does not purport to be all-inclusive or to contain all the information you may require. This RFP is not an offer by IIE to contract, but rather an attempt to establish a common framework for IIE to evaluate potential suppliers. The bidder should make its own investigations, projections and conclusions to verify independently the information contained in this RFP, and to obtain any additional information that it may require, prior to submitting a proposal. 2. Contact Information A. Bidder s Inquiries Any questions regarding the terms or specifications of this RFP or the conditions or proposed format of responses should be directed to: Ace Relingado Institute of International Education 1800 West Loop South, Suite 250 Houston, TX Telephone: arelingado@iie.org IIE will endeavor to respond to bidder inquiries or requests for clarification by the date indicated below. No oral answers will be provided. Answers to all questions will be published in writing and supplied to all interested bidders as well as posted on IIE s public website. B. Proposal Submission An electronic copy of the proposal including any attachments (limited to 6MB) should be sent to: arelingado@iie.org. Be sure to include in the subject line: Gilman Online System & Database Proposal. The proposal narrative must be in either MS Word or PDF formats. The document Bidder Response Document to RFP Specifications and Technical Requirements must be submitted in MS Excel format. Submitted by the Institute of International Education on December 14, 2015 Page 3 of 9

4 3. Schedule and Due Dates Proposals: All proposals are due by 5:00 PM CST on January 20, Any proposal received after the required time and date specified for receipt shall be considered late and non-responsive. Any late proposals will not be evaluated for contract award. Once received, you will be notified of receipt. Event Date of Completion RFP Distribution to Bidders 12/17/2015 Questions from Bidders due 12/22/2015 Responses to Bidders questions due 01/08/2016 Proposal Due Date 01/20/2016 References will be contacted 01/21-29/2016 Anticipated decision and selection of Bidder 02/12/2016 Anticipated commencement date of work 03/01/2016 IIE will consider submitted proposals as your best response and valid for 120 days. 4. Guidelines for Proposal Submission Award of the contract resulting from this RFP will be based upon the most responsive bidder whose offer will be the most advantageous to IIE in terms of cost, functionality, and other factors as specified in this RFP. Under no circumstances will IIE be responsible for your costs and expenses in connection with this RFP including reviewing this RFP and/or submitting a Proposal. IIE reserves the right to: Reject any or all offers and discontinue this RFP process without obligation or liability to any potential vendor. Accept other than the lowest price offered. Award a contract on the basis of initial offers received, without discussions or requests for best and final offers. Award more than one contract. Nothing in this RFP is, or should be relied on by the bidder as, a promise or representation by IIE. Neither does IIE make any representation or warranty as to the completeness of this RFP nor have any liability for any representations (express or implied) contained in, or omissions from, this RFP. This RFP and any replies to any written notifications are transmitted to the bidder solely for the purposes of the vendor preparing and submitting a Proposal. Each bidder shall keep the RFP and its contents confidential and shall destroy any copies of the RFP (without keeping copies) to IIE if the bidder elects not to submit a proposal, or upon being requested to do so by IIE. Any information or materials submitted as a response to this RFP and/or as a proposal (whether successful or unsuccessful) shall become the property of IIE and will not be returned. Submitted by the Institute of International Education on December 14, 2015 Page 4 of 9

5 5. Proposal Preparation Instructions Proposals are expected to be comprehensive and include the information set forth below. Bidders also are invited to send any additional information or supplemental material they feel will aid IIE in properly evaluating their product offerings. All proposals must be no more than 20 pages, submitted in English, single-spaced, and typed with one-inch margins. Font size may be 11-point or 12-point and font type must be Calibri. Complete proposals will include responses to each of the elements outlined below. Please make your answers in direct response to the information being sought. In summary, proposals should address the following: A. General Questions i. Market presence ii. Prior experience iii. General information about your organization and the services it offers iv. Description of relevant partnerships and business relationships v. References B. Planning i. Project Plan ii. Risk assessment and mitigation associated with the work iii. Whether you will utilize subcontractors C. Implementation i. Project communication plan ii. Describe your training process, including: a. Approach for training IIE s staff (e.g., Administrators, End-Users, etc.) b. Description of fee structure for training and materials c. Description of training documentation and materials iii. Software Migration D. Maintenance Support Requirements i. Describe your Technical support ii. Where is your primary support location and what are the hours of service? a. What is your timeframe for callbacks? iii. What is the problem escalation procedure available to a client such as IIE? iv. What are your fees associated with off-hour support (if needed)? E. Server Hosting IIE currently has a server hosting vendor. However, if information provided by bidder is competitive, it will be considered in evaluation of the RFP submission. i. Can bidder provide server hosting capabilities for IIE? If able, also provide any related costs for hosting the web facing application and database into two separate servers. If bidder does Submitted by the Institute of International Education on December 14, 2015 Page 5 of 9

6 not offer serving hosting capabilities for IIE, can bidder speak and serve as liaison to server host vendor? a. Where is your primary support location? b. What are the hours of service? c. What is the problem escalation procedure? d. What has been the average uptime in production for the past 3 years? e. Explain any unscheduled outages. ii. Describe your system s ability to handle load balancing, redundancy and fault tolerance? iii. In the event of a system outage; what are the standards of your Service Level Agreement? Specifically, in what timeframe can IIE expect issue resolution, full data restoration and 100% system functionality in order to be able to perform all business functions associated with the system? iv. What discounts are given for downtime? v. How will IIE be notified of an outage? vi. Disaster Recovery (DR) How and where is DR performed? What is the expected recovery time? F. Data Center and Security i. Does your data center have SAS 70/SSAE 16 certification? a. Who audits your data center? ii. How will Personal Identifiable Information (PII) data be controlled and maintained? a. Who in the datacenter will have access to PII data? b. If the contract with IIE is terminated for any reason, how will the data be returned to IIE, and how will they (vendor and hosting facility) purge IIE data? Including any backup data. iii. How do you ensure secure transmission of our data? What data encryption mechanisms are employed by the System? iv. Will the vendor provide security reviews, preventive maintenance, backup and recovery for the website and all the associated databases? Describe the following: a. Antivirus/Anti-Spam Software installed and update schedule b. Hardware Monitoring (CPU, RAM, Disks) - Do you provide 24/7 system monitoring? c. Support: 1. Do you provide 24 7 x 365 technical support? 2. Provide a copy of the Service Level Agreement, (SLA) detailing all aspects of support and costs (for hosting as well as the development project) 3. What is the schedule for hardware and system software refreshes? G. Post-Implementation Services i. Describe your strategy for post-implementation application support. Include your recommendations for IIE - (e.g., support structure, process for reviewing, approving and prioritizing suggested changes and enhancements, handling and resolving bugs, etc.) H. Budget & Estimated Pricing i. In submitting a quotation, you must agree that your offer shall remain firm for a period of no less than 120 days from the date of such quotation. Submitted by the Institute of International Education on December 14, 2015 Page 6 of 9

7 ii. Include a breakdown for maintenance/support of existing application and a separate one for the requested enhancements as outlined within the Scope of Work. iii. Include the cost for hosting, if bidder can provide this service to IIE. I. Organization Structure i. General information on the number of employees specifically dedicated to project management and customer support. J. Payment Terms i. Will bidder be able to provide a monthly detailed invoice summarizing all of the work completed for IIE by number of hours worked? If not, provide information on how the billing would be structured (i.e. based on projects completed, number of hours worked, etc.). K. Warranty Period i. Confirm if a warranty period is provided to cover correction of any software bugs within the system. L. Vendor Certification By submitting this proposal, a duly authorized employee of the bidder agrees and certifies as follows: i. Bidder has read the RFP and agrees to comply with its terms, conditions and provisions, and any addenda thereto in the event of an award. ii. Bidder has the necessary experience, knowledge, abilities, skills and resources to perform the services it offers. iii. All statements, information and representations contained in the proposal are current, complete, true and accurate. Bidder acknowledges that IIE will rely on such statements, information and representations in selecting the successful bidder. iv. The bidder is not currently debarred, suspended, or proposed for debarment by any U.S. federal entity. Failure by any bidder to follow the specifications and requirements provided in this RFP may result in disqualification. 6. Criteria for Selection Any award made pursuant to this RFP will be based upon the proposal with appropriate consideration given to operational, technical, cost and management requirements. Evaluation of offers will be based upon the bidder s responsiveness to the RFP, including the proposal s format and organization, the bidder s demonstrated competence, and overall compliance. The following elements will be the primary considerations for evaluating all submitted proposals and the selection of a bidder or bidders: A. Bidder s ability to meet IIE s mandatory requirements and objectives. B. Overall cost of bidder s proposal. Submitted by the Institute of International Education on December 14, 2015 Page 7 of 9

8 C. An assessment of the bidder s ability to deliver high-quality service and timely in accordance with the specifications set forth in the RFP. D. Completion of all required responses in the correct format. E. The bidder s stability, experiences, and record of past performance in delivering the services. F. Must not be suspended or debarred by the U.S. Government. While the aforementioned criteria will be taken into consideration, the overall cost of the bidder s proposal will be significantly more important than all of the other factors combined. Bidders determined by IIE to possess the capacity to compete for this contract will be selected to move into the negotiation phase of this process. Written notification will be sent to these bidders via . Once a bidder has been selected, bidders not selected will be notified. 7. Scope of Work & Requirements The Gilman Scholarship Online System and Database currently consists of five custom built sections. Applicant Portal: In the applicant portal, students create an account, complete and submit application information, including data, essays and uploading transcripts. Recipient Portal: Selected applicants will have access to this section, also connected to their account and application. Students will complete data and upload documentation. Alumni Portal: Upon completion of their program abroad, students gain access to this section. Students will complete data and essays. Advisor Portal: Institutional advisors and representatives create an account and have access to select information regarding students at their respective institutions. Select advisors have access to a tool to participate in the online selection process of applications. Admin Dashboard: This dashboard allows program staff to monitor and evaluate applicant, recipient, alumni and advisor data, as well as communicate and administer the application, selection and awarding processes. Existing system software: ASP.NET 4.0 (Microsoft) SQL Server 2012 (Microsoft) Telerik Components (written in.net) Telerik Reporting (written in.net) All data submitted through the online system is encrypted using SHA256 CA Level 1 protocols and a Firewall is in place to prevent unwanted access to the server. Logic is also built into the site to prevent users from accessing the applications without HTTPS. The web and database servers are currently housed on the same machine to prevent the risk of access via the internet. Submitted by the Institute of International Education on December 14, 2015 Page 8 of 9

9 The selected vendor would transition to the maintenance and operation of this existing website for service of 1 year with the option to renew after a thorough evaluation of services performed is completed or requested by IIE. The vendor would also be responsible for the following: A. Develop an administrative reporting function within the system a. Transition from an Access-based reporting feature to allow for user capabilities to run and extract reports based on the information available in the online database system and based on user access granted (i.e. internal users/iie staff, external users). b. Include encryption at rest for Access database c. Allow for set up of reports to be auto-generated on time-based intervals and designated to be delivered to specific IIE staff B. Transition the Gilman web facing application and database into two separate servers a. Install a firewall to ensure security of the data C. Improve accessibility for PC, tablet and mobile device users a. Ensure that the online application system is accessible even when using the different types of devices and web browsers available particularly but not limited to, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Microsoft Edge. b. Develop or enhance communication system, including both individual and mass s, notifications and alerts, as well as administrative audit trail. D. Develop file upload capability a. Allow IIE staff to directly upload files to be available to other users in the online system (i.e. PDF, Word, Excel, image and video files) b. Develop ways to allow users to upload files (i.e. PDF, Word, image and video files) at limited file sizes c. Secure upload methods E. Develop the interface for automated s directed to applicants, award recipients, advisors, selection panelists and alumni F. Perform weekly security checks of the website (i.e. review of database and any logs backup) a. Ensure that the security of the online application system has not been compromised and the flow of data to the Access database is not delayed. G. Ensure continued functionality and implementation of changes and updates to the online application system, as needed H. Ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Section 508 Standards Submitted by the Institute of International Education on December 14, 2015 Page 9 of 9