State of Iowa REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. RFI # State of Iowa ERP System Maintenance, Upgrades and Services

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1 State of Iowa REQUEST FOR INFORMATION RFI # State of Iowa ERP System Maintenance, Upgrades and Services

2 Section 1- Background and Objectives 1.1 Purpose The objective of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit responses from potential IT vendors which will provide information about the availability of certified maintenance, upgrades, patches and support services as well as certified installation, implementation, and consulting services related to any new or required upgrades or modules for the State of Iowa s current enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This RFI is issued solely for the State s benefit and intended to obtain general information for planning purposes it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), bid opportunity, nor an intent or promise to issue either at a future date. Issuance of the RFI in no way constitutes a commitment to the project, to any supplier, or to obligate the State in any manner. This RFI is intended to provide vendors with information necessary for the preparation of informative responses. The RFI process does not constitute a means to pre-select specific vendor solutions. Further, the State will not accept unsolicited proposals. 1.2 Background Information The following background information provides a description of the current technology infrastructure deployed by the State. The description is not intended to be all-inclusive, it is provided only as an example of the current infrastructure. The State of Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS) operates, supports, and maintains the State s ERP system. The State utilizes CGI s Advantage ERP suite of products Advantage Financial, Advantage Procurement/Vendor Self Service, Advantage Performance Budgeting, and Advantage Business Intelligence. Approximately 1,500 internal state staff located throughout the State of Iowa use the financial, budgeting and procurement systems. In addition, public users can view and external vendors can review and respond to online solicitations and request for bids in the procurement application. Existing Applications: CGI Advantage Financial Management CGI Advantage Procurement (Vendor Self Service) CGI Advantage Performance Budgeting CGI Advantage Business Intelligence An Overview of the Applications: CGI Advantage Financial CGI Advantage Financial provides accounting functionality. The system integrates with our mainframe for warrant processing and a copy of the database is provided to our data warehouse on a daily basis for financial reporting. The current version deployed is 3.9. CGI Advantage Procurement/Vendor Self Service CGI Advantage Procurement provides solicitation management, contract administration and allows vendors to register with the State of Iowa to conduct business. Vendors may review and respond to solicitations and bids published by the State s procurement enterprise and various state agencies. The current version deployed is 3.9. CGI Advantage Performance Budgeting CGI Advantage Performance Budgeting provides agencies a complete budget solution from preparation of the budget to review and execution. The current version deployed is CGI Advantage Business Intelligence CGI Advantage Business Intelligence provides access to financial, procurement, budgeting and payroll information to meet reporting needs.

3 1.3 Questions and Requests for Clarification Vendors interested in responding to this RFI may submit questions or requests for clarification. All questions or requests must be submitted by to and received NO LATER than 12:00 PM Central Time, Thursday, July 7, The subject line should state: Questions for DAS RFI # Responses to vendor questions will be provided for all participants and will be posted as part of the RFI on the State of Iowa Bid Opportunities web site ( The anticipated date for State to provide answers to vendor questions is July 13, (Any amendments or changes to the RFI will also be posted on the State of Iowa Bid Opportunities web site.) 1.4 Vendor Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) Responses to this RFI must be provided NO LATER THAN 3PM Central Time, on Wednesday, July 27, Vendors are ENCOURAGED TO their written responses to The subject line should state: Response to DAS RFI # If unable to provide an response, vendors may send or deliver their response to the location denoted below no later than the above stated date and time: Attn: Ken Discher, Procurement Services Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS) Hoover State Office Building Level East Walnut Street Des Moines, Iowa Copy Rights A vendor submitting a response to the RFI agrees the state may copy the response contents for the purpose of facilitating review or responding to public record requests. The vendor consents to such copying by submitting a response and warrants that such copying will not violate the rights of any third party. The State will have the right to use ideas or adaptations of ideas which are presented in the response. 1.6 Gratuities The laws of Iowa provide that it is a felony to offer, promise, or give anything of value or benefit to a state employee with the intent to influence that employee s acts, opinion, judgment or excise of discretion with respect to that employee s duties. Evidence of violation of this statute will be turned over to the proper prosecuting attorney. 1.7 Costs to Vendors The costs of preparation and delivery of the response are solely the responsibility of the vendor. 1.8 Response Property of the State All responses become the property of the State of Iowa and shall not be returned to the vendor. At the conclusion of the project, the content of the responses will be placed in the public domain and available to inspection by interested parties. Do not include confidential or proprietary information as part of your RFI submittal. 1.9 Source of Information Used in Addition to Responses The State reserves the right to contact vendors as needed throughout the RFI process, including after the final response deadline, for clarification of RFI content State s Obligations The issuance of this RFI does not obligate the State in any way to the project, or to accept and implement any solution offered in any vendor response.

4 1.11 System Objectives & Vendor Solution The State of Iowa is interested in a vendor that can provide certified full and complete maintenance and support for the CGI Advantage ERP Suite, including but not limited to CGI Advantage Financial, CGI Advantage Procurement (Vendor Self Service), CGI Advantage Performance Budgeting and CGI Advantage Business Intelligence. The vendor must have the ability to provide certified patches, fix packs, upgrades, automated testing services; participate in product specific discussion and focus groups, implementation services and support. The State of Iowa is also interested in vendors that have the ability to provide certified installation, implementation, and consulting services related to any new or required upgrades or modules for the CGI system and to provide full and complete maintenance and support for such upgrades and modules. Vendor requirements, experience and capabilities to meet the above include, but are not limited to: A work history demonstrating dependability. Extensive experience with CGI Advantage ERP Suite 3.9.x, including CGI Advantage Performance Budgeting, CGI Advantage Financial, CGI Advantage Procurement (Vendor Self Service) and CGI Advantage Business Intelligence Experience performing upgrades of applications from one release to another Ability to provide and support fixes for issues IBM DB2 database management system (DBMS) exposure Experience converting application DBMS from IBM DB2 to Microsoft SQL or Oracle Ability to write complex SQL queries Business Objects exposure Experience working with the CGI Advantage Customer Support Group Intermediate knowledge of XML Intermediate knowledge of Java Basic understanding of networking (required for troubleshooting). Strong analytical skills including troubleshooting and problem solving. Ability to gather technical requirements and work with technical staff to define requirements. Strong communications skills. Ability to work on multiple concurrent projects. Ability to work within the State s project management and SDLC processes. Superior soft skills including the ability to: work with clients, negotiate requirements between stakeholders, work on a team, to lead and facilitate meetings, and the ability to adapt to existing processes. Ability to complete assignments timely and submit weekly status reports indicating progress on assigned tasks, performance against assigned project due dates, and identification and suggested resolution for issues having a potential to adversely impact performance and/or the project. Ability to maintain a positive working relationship with coworkers, supervisors and customers and present a positive team environment and customer focus. Adherence to State (DAS and/or OCIO) work rules. Vendor proposal responses should also address the following items: 2.0 Company Background 1. Provide the name and principal location of your business. Identify the type of business entity such as corporation or partnership. Include any parent, subsidiary and affiliate companies you feel may be relevant to the presentation. 2. Provide the name, address, telephone number and address of the vendor representative to contact regarding all matters concerning this RFI. 3. How many years of experience does your business have in the field of ERP system support in general and specifically with the CGI Advantage ERP Suite?

5 2.1 Application Licenses, Maintenance, and Support 4. Describe your company s ability and authority to sell CGI application licenses, maintenance, and support. 5. Describe your company s ability and authorization to provide warranty on the CGI licenses, maintenance, and support. If able and authorized to provide warranty, provide specific details about what that warranty covers. 2.2 Support Services 2.3 Security 6. Describe your company s ability to provide technical support services for code changes and modifications to the CGI Advantage ERP software, including implementation services for upgrades, automated testing services and support services on an as needed basis. 7. Describe your company s ability to provide warranty on the technical support services provided in support of the CGI Advantage ERP Suite. 8. Describe your company s ability to respond to questions related to functionality, analyze current functionality and provide solutions which could be configuration, alternate solutions and/or code changes. 9. Describe your company s ability to participate in product specific discussion and focus groups. 10. Describe your compliance process with applicable federal, state and industry policies. Vendors, subcontractors and workers will be required to submit to background screenings, confidentiality agreements and security training prior to performing work on State of Iowa systems. As the requirements change, solutions must include sufficient flexibility to accommodate ongoing changes for compliance requirements. 11. Describe your background screening process for employees, contractors and any third-party which may be used to provide services. 2.4 Staffing/Capabilities/Training 2.5 Cost 12. Provide the name of a government entity in the United States, preferably a state government, to whom you currently or previously provided services similar to those described herein. Provide a description of the services you provide or provided and contact information for the entity. 13. Describe how you provide technical support. 14. Describe how you provide functional support. 15. Explain how you provide user assistance for questions, support, inquiries and problems related to the database. USE ONLY YOUR PUBLICALLY AVAILABLE PRICING WHEN RESPONDING TO THE BELOW ITEMS. WE MUST BE ABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE PRICING IS GENERALLY AVAILABLE AND NOT SPECIFIC TO THE STATE. 16. Provide an idea/estimate of a yearly annual maintenance cost that includes: software maintenance, license fees, 1,500 hours of support/enhancements/upgrades per DAS direction, on-going support, training, testing, and server administration. Detail the billing metrics used to determine the costing, whether per license user, per licenses, per system module, etc. 17. a. What billing metric is used for consulting services consumed on an as needed basis? b. What billing metric is used for consulting services consumed as part of an implementation or upgrade project?

6 Relevant Dates Date/Time June 23, 2016 July 7, 2016, 12PM Central Approximately July 13, 2016 July 27, 2016, 3PM Central Event Issue RFI Vendor Questions Due State Response to Vendor Questions Vendor RFI Responses Due