NetHope Mobile Health Platform (MHP) Shared Services Offering Request for Proposal Functional and Systems Requirements Summary January 2011

Transcription

1 NetHope Mobile Health Platform (MHP) Shared Services Offering Request for Proposal Functional and Systems Requirements Summary January 2011 MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 4 Invitation to Bid... 4 NetHope... 4 NetHope Member statistics... 4 The Need... 5 Project Background... 5 NetHope and USAID Global Broadband Innovation (GBI)... 6 The Mobile + Cloud Computing Application Framework... 7 Functional Requirements... 9 High Level Technical/Systems Requirements Approach Industry Alignment Existing technologies Roadmap to a NetHope Mobile Shared Service offering Evaluation/Assessment lab Pilots and Phase 1 Deployments NetHope MHP Shared Service as Software as a Service offering Transition to local stakeholders Roles and Responsibilities Costs Next steps RFP Timetable NetHope Contacts Instructions for Intent to Respond and Submitting Proposals Required Written Response Company Information Core Competencies & Industry Expertise Project Work Plan and Timeline References Staffing Resources MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

3 6 Pricing Methodology Functional Requirements Non-Functional System Requirements Evaluation and Agreement Formation Evaluation Criteria Agreement Formation Appendix 1 - Intent to Respond Form Appendix 2 Technologies for building mobile + cloud products used in CARE/NetHope field trial Appendix 3 USAID GBI Program MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

4 Introduction Invitation to Bid NetHope invites your organization to submit a proposal for the Mobile Health Platform (MHP) Shared Services Offering based on the specifications, requirements, full four steps in implementation roadmap and terms and conditions set forth in this Request For Proposal (RFP). It is envisioned the MHP Shared Service Offering will be used to provide NetHope Members a sustained capacity to utilize mobile communication technologies to more efficiently execute their field based development and emergency response activities. This RFP is intended to enable NetHope to identify a vendor or collection of vendors to supply the technical resources and services to develop and deliver the MHP Shared Services Offering. This RFP describes our current understanding of our global needs; however these needs are subject to change. NetHope NetHope facilitates collaboration among its member agencies to improve their productivity. Our 32 Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) members seek humanitarian solutions, leveraging replicable and sustainable Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). By collaborating via NetHope, these organizations are able to share tools, programs and solutions that can be used across the NGO community. The NetHope Innovation for Development (I4D) Program was launched in January 2008 as a way to design ICT solutions that could be replicated across NetHope membership organizations. The value proposition is simple: By sharing existing Best Practices across members, aggregating common needs, and conducting proof of concepts, NetHope can scale solutions that can have a broad impact on the developing world. A key component of the Innovation for Development initiative is building strong partnerships between NetHope members and providers of technology such as hardware, software and services to accelerate the design and implementation of replicable ICT solutions. NetHope's I4D mandate is to partner with technology providers that are focusing on solutions for the developing world and collaborate with them on the design, prototype development, and deployment of these technologies. NetHope believes that I4D is critical to extending the impact, reach, and scale of humanitarian programs in the international development community. The I4D Portfolio is comprised of innovative, technologyenabled ideas organized into five Impact Areas: Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, Microfinance, and Natural Resource Management. Several I4D platform solutions also have the potential to cross these areas. NetHope Member statistics A list of the names of NetHope members can be found here. Collectively, the NetHope membership represents an annual total spending of over $30 billion on development projects in over 180 countries. The 32 members employ hundreds of thousands of employees across the world and work with additional tens of millions of extension workers. These extension workers can be volunteers, government employees, or employees associated with local non-profit agencies engaged in project work. A significant portion of project spending is associated with Healthcare programs of one sort or another. On average, NetHope members spend ~0.5% of their project spending on ICT. Today, this spending is focused on enterprise and back-office systems such as internal HQ and country office staff support. Currently there is great interest and growing momentum toward implementing ICT solutions targeted at field and extension workers. In the healthcare verticals this includes community and facility-based workers. Collecting inquiries from and providing information to patients, their families, and other beneficiaries further expands the scope of the task at hand. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

5 The Need This document outlines the NetHope vision for a Mobile Health Platform (MHP) Shared Service offering for its member organizations. NetHope is seeking a technology partner to implement such a service based on an architecture framework, a set of functional and systems requirements, a roadmap to scalability, and the need for transitioning technology capacity to local stakeholders. It will be important for NetHope to gain an early understanding of the capacity of candidate SIs/Service Providers in the following areas: a. Expertise and prior experience in mobile application development and field deployment b. Back-end solution integration and application hosting including the use of commercial and/or open-source components c. Application and services maintenance, enhancements and release management d. Software as a Service (SaaS) offering and multi-tenant Cloud-Based Computing solutions hosting e. Ongoing services support Six Pilots or Phase 1 Deployments have been identified for initial field deployment of the NetHope MHP, mainly for relatively simple health-related data collection, analysis, and reporting purposes. The identified pilots have a combined initial community health worker population of around 2,500. Individually, the deployments have between participants, with those numbers doubling or tripling within months. Within a three to five year planning horizon and as a result of a successful roll-out of MHP, it would be safe to assume tens of thousands of mobile handsets served across hundreds of programs, with further rapid growth thereafter. Outlining our vision of broader industry alignment, this document describes an approach for creating and operationalizing the MHP: NetHope s goal is to offer a shared service to its member organizations for a scalable, low-cost, sustainable, and standardized data collection and patient management solution for a variety of health interventions. A successful mobile application platform and service offering targeting the healthcare vertical would be easily adapted to similar needs in areas such as education, agriculture, microfinance, and beyond! Project Background Organizations have been addressing public health issues and promoting the prevention and care of disease in developing countries for many years, but the quality of public health data and statistics is still very poor. NetHope believes the application of ICT has a major role to play and will go a long way in improving the quality of healthcare for hundreds of millions of people. Without timely and reliable figures on the population or health patterns of a region, or the number of people receiving a range of services, it is difficult for aid organizations to help on a broader scale or to focus their program effectiveness. Today most organizations collect health data by pen and paper. This type of data collection is inefficient and does not allow for easy exchange of information between beneficiaries, facility and community health workers, health centers, hospitals, or agency organizations, including national health authorities. On the other hand, mobile technology is moving forward rapidly, and the percentage of people living in areas with mobile phone coverage has dramatically increased. This makes it possible to use mobile phones to collect and transmit health data. Systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of health-related data is important for a variety of healthcare situations, for example: Facilitate patient care and follow-up Tracking Public Health and outbreak detection Estimating the impact of a disease Managing of public health commodities Evaluating prevention and control measures Logistics and inventory control Sharing health knowledge and improving guidelines Measuring statistics, metrics and progress Reporting to health ministries and donors Presenting the history of public health concerns Generating hypotheses and stimulating research Disseminating reminders and information updates MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

6 The objective of MHP is to replace traditional pen-and-paper methods for collecting health-related data with mobile-phone based collection. Gathering this data using a mobile, device-independent and scalable standards-based platform will allow for analysis to occur in within minutes of data collection rather than weeks. It will also introduce the opportunity provide information to healthcare practitioners much more efficiently, thereby improving overall capacities, health outcomes, and reducing mortality and morbidity. NetHope and USAID Global Broadband Innovation (GBI) Together with NetHope, USAID has established a Global Broadband Innovation alliance. In this alliance, USAID is relying on NetHope to consolidate global approaches, eliminate duplication of effort, and leverage its broad IT industry support. To illustrate, the following quotes are offered from the alliance description: the GBI Program has sought out, and has put into place, a new GBI Alliance with NetHope. NetHope is a consortium of 32 of the largest international NGOs that have projects in over 180 countries. NetHope has pulled these leading NGOs together for a specific focus--leveraging ICTs in international development. It has also secured the support of U.S. based high tech firms such as Intel, Cisco, Microsoft, etc. The dominant focus of this new GBI Alliance is to engage this rich NetHope consortium of NGOs and high tech firms to develop a series of rich ICT-based solutions that can be scaled and replicated across USAID s development portfolio. By focusing on building shared solutions, and locating these on the Internet cloud, the GBI Program seeks to make a growing inventory of solution sets available across the international development community as a low-cost, high value-add service (Software as a Service or SaaS). The alliance description and outcome vision documents can be found in Appendix 3 USAID GBI Program. The MHP Shared Service Offering will be one of the NetHope flagship initiatives within the GBI alliance with USAID. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

7 The Mobile + Cloud Computing Application Framework NetHope asserts that, by combining the ubiquity of mobile handsets with the capabilities of Cloud Computing, sustainable solutions can be provided at lower costs and on a greater scale than previously possible. The range of implementation options for such Mobile + Cloud computing is illustrated below: Mobile + Cloud Application Framework # of phones by project x10,000 s x1,000 s x100 s x10 s Appl. mode Handset Type Text J2ME Apps Smart Phone Apps SMS Only Feature phone Smart phone Network Voice/SMS SMS GW IP: GPRS 4G/ Internet Back-end Platform Android Phone Svr Phone+PC / Laptop Private Servers Hosted Cloud Services Back-end Svcs/Apps examples Security/ Authent. Data Storage Horizontal Solutions Vertical Solutions. Etc. 14 While in the developed world smartphones seem to be dominating the handset sales growth figures, this is far from the case in emerging markets and areas where NetHope member organizations are active. As an example, in Kenya in 2009 it was estimated that more than half of the adult population either owned or had access to a mobile handset, a statistic representative of the situation in many of the NetHope members service areas. The vast majority of these phones are simple handsets with monochrome screens capable of voice and SMS/text messaging only. In many cases these handsets are priced at below $35. Professionals such as NGO employees, and to some extent their extension field worker colleagues, will own feature phones in the price range of $50 to $150, capable of accessing the Internet and running simple Java/J2ME applications. A small set of people will own higher-end smartphones. As has been the case in developed nations, it is expected that more technologically advanced phones will fall in price and that increasingly sophisticated handsets will be available to a broad range of the population. Until handset penetration reaches levels closer to 100%, however, it is reasonable to expect the majority of first-time phone users to acquire basic Voice+SMS phones first. Thus a broad range of phones capabilities is expected to remain in these markets for at least 3-5 years. Accordingly, the user experience will continue to range from (a) Voice and simple SMS/Text messaging for the vast majority of users to (b) feature-rich smart phone-based applications for a select few. Between these two modes, feature phones can run relatively simple (Java-based) applications on the handset and, when communicating with back-end services, they can access various sophisticated functions for a modest initial investment and with limited ongoing communications costs. The vast majority of mobile networks also provide data plans or IP (Internet Protocol) network access wherever basic voice and SMS services are offered. Integrating communications between the IP network MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

8 and the traditional Voice & SMS network is now commonplace this enables back-end applications to allow higher-end, data-connected phones and other devices (PCs, tablets, slates) to initiate SMS communication through SMS Gateways (& SMS aggregation services) relatively inexpensively. Many very promising SMS broadcast and notification/alert solutions have been deployed using this integration capability allowing phone users with the most basic handsets to access to lifesaving information such as health tips and medication reminders. With this IP communication availability to inexpensive handsets, back-end computing platforms and applications/services running on them can now effectively be extended to audiences previously unreachable. Such back-end platforms can range from small IP devices such as Android phones through private and hosted servers to the most scalable, secure and to cost effective cloud service offerings (e.g. Google Apps, Microsoft Azure and Amazon s cloud service). Depending on specific scenario requirements, this framework provides a flexible platform for deploying and operating just about any application. Requirements for scale can easily be accommodated at affordable prices, offering the prospect of new and exciting solutions. In this model, computing resources can be deployed anywhere there is infrastructure (power, connectivity, physical security) available and personnel skilled to operate at high levels of availability. If privacy and data security are priorities, accommodations for physical control of the data must also be provided e.g. by using private servers containing personally identifiable medical records running in local government controlled data centers. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

9 Functional Requirements Reviewing current ehealth and mhealth initiatives, NetHope has found that the greatest needs fall in the following highest level categories: Survey Tools, Line of Business health care applications (such as Patient Management, Logistics and Insurance) and National Health Information Systems. The figure below provides additional detail: Healthcare Requirements Categories We re seeing requirements converge around 3 key categories; the requirement for integration between them will rapidly emerge Survey tools Line of Bus : Patient Mgmt Logistics Insurance National HIS Form Authoring Data Collection & Validation Data Export and Reporting Notifications Registration; Prevention; Diagnosis; Treatment; Follow-up Stock levels; delivery Eligibility; premiums; claims; finance Cradle to grave scope Large number of stakeholders National directives Data types: Non Personally Identifiable Data Free form: Any program driven data collection requirements, potential overlap with M&E requirements To existing data repositories: Part of existing line of business applications e.g. OpenMRS Simple workflow: E.g. Test results reporting Data types: Standardized registration of Personally Identifiable direct beneficiary Information patient record management Scenario actions: Appointment scheduling and followup, notifications, reminders and alerting Clinical applications: Medical screening and diagnostics for maternal health, TB, HIV, Malaria Health tips & education: Treatment advise and decease reference materials Above integration with NHISs National Registration: National ID Integration: Treatment facilities, test labs, insurance Multi-purpose: E.g. patient focus, national statistics and epidemiology purpose Comprehensive: Cross specialist disciplines 16 MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

10 Further descriptions of these requirement categories are outlined in the following tables: CATEGORY: Survey Tools/Data Collection Sub-category Requirements - (each identified NetHope member project requires 80%+ of below) Form authoring Accessible through web browser Ability for subject matter expert to author/edit data collection form (e.g. replicate existing paper forms) Support for broad range of form data types: text, numbers, dates, pictures, GPS, audio and other media Data validation: Ability validate data types, min/max values, input length, text masks, etc. Support for multiple choice (single and multi-select) and/or drop-down lists Question branching logic within the form Required question Ability to specify default answers and answers that will be remembered on the form from session to session Alerts/ Reminders/ Notifications Ability to send alerts/notifications via SMS or Alerts/notifications to be triggered by: Predefined conditions in single data entry submission Aggregate threshold in data collected e.g. number of cases of Diarrhea in a certain geography Scheduled/calendar based events From Publication Save/Export/import form description: Xforms supported Automated data structure (table) creation or binding to existing data store Data entry (user experience) SMS and Form based (J2ME or SmartPhones) Online & offline data entry Access to existing form submissions (data records) for data updates; record management IVR (Voice) support for menu driven data entry via DTMF (Dial-Tone) Allow questions on forms to be provided as sound clip to user Data entry directly to designated data store Data Storage Support for hosted or cloud-based services storage Ability to store data on private server Analysis and reporting Simple workflow/ protocols Direct real-time (authenticated) access to collected data via web browser Simple data extraction via CSV files Live data feed to 3rd party reporting & analysis tools (e.g. Excel, SharePoint and other reporting tools) Access to data via Web Services API Information dissemination of summary data to mobile phone Support of sub-forms (e.g. collect data and household and multiple household members) Ability to conditionally link forms Ability to map data values between linked forms MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

11 CATEGORY: Patient Management Sub-category Requirement (Need for projects where Personal Identifiable Data is collected and treatment protocols performed) Patient Registration Ability to create and maintain Patient Record / Electronic Medical Records Individual patient registration, household registration, HH members. Support for sub-forms for special medical conditions or demographics (age, gender, living conditions, etc.) Interface with OpenMRS or other EMR systems Scheduling and reminders Patient management Diagnostics Setting up and maintaining appointment schedules Medication reminders Scheduled healthcare tips and reminders based on specified date (e.g. due date for pregnant mother) Demand based disseminated health advice to beneficiaries via SMS and/or Outbound IVR Ability to specify treatment protocols/follow-up based on diagnosis or treatment/situation scenario (e.g. TB case, maternal health, infant nutrition & development, HIV ARV, etc.); form based data collection on protocols to ensure compliance. E.g. to enforce WHO treatment standards Store treatment history for patient history for access and audit purposes Support for OpenMRS PatientService, ConceptService, EncounterService, ObservationService, etc Guided diagnostics based on patient complaints or health workers observations Treatment advise Simple health advice to phone; based on inquiry plus personal health record information Access to medical reference materials by health workers Treatment advise based on diagnosis provided through guided diagnostics CATEGORY: Integration with National Health Information Systems Sub-category Requirements (In geographies with mature MoH and where existing systems are in place) Patient Registration Lookup and Update national ID or patient registry Epidemiology M&E + National Policies Provide input to early warning systems National analysis and reporting Decision & policy support MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

12 High Level Technical/Systems Requirements In addition to the above listed functional requirements, the following high level Systems/Services Technical requirements are provided: CATEGORY: Additional Technical Systems Requirements Sub-category Requirements - (each identified NetHope member project requires 80%+ of below) Provisioning & Administration Ability to install end-to-end system on in-house infrastructure ; Linux/Windows + RDBMS or Ability to host end-to-end for members to subscribe to multi-tenant system Self-provisioning of system services by organization / project Multiple administrators per organization / project; self-administration Support of prepaid billing model (along with other billing options) SMS GW SMS Gateway (aggregator) embedded in solution Support for local long codes Support for local short codes Incoming SMS Outbound SMS Security Systems Administrator authentication Forms author authentication Handset user authentication (allow multiple users per handset) Data stored securely on handset Secure data transmission/encrypted data transmission Authentication required to access & export collected data Data storage server located in private secure data center (if required) Localization/ Language support Administration in English, French, Spanish Client application and forms localizable in any language supported on local handsets Support Call center support provided by hosting provider to key contact(s) with subscribing organization (not targeted at users of mobile handsets) possibly project based. Remote management for internal/local server deployments Needs to be 24/7 to accommodate projects across most time zones Local NGO and user support through local Systems Integrator partner The above is an initial needs assessment and is not meant to be an exhaustive list of feature and systems requirements. It is hoped that this list would be used to guide discussions and offer a framework for careful consideration by prospective SIs/Service Providers. Feedback and suggestions are encouraged. A formal RFP response is requested for a service offering that would satisfy all of these requirements, support the identified Pilots/Phase 1 Deployments, support a sustained service offering, take into account service transition to local stakeholders and have a vision for future innovations. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

13 Approach Industry Alignment As mentioned above, several technologies and solutions are emerging in the ehealth and mhealth arenas. It is important the MHP aligns with emerging standards and has the ability to seamlessly integrate with complementary implementations. Today a few emerging standards should be carefully considered: XForms for authoring electronic forms, for rendering them on mobile and other devices, as well as collecting, transmitting, and storing rich data content. OpenMRS for establishing and storing electronic patient data records to document patient observations as well as administering treatment protocols and processes. Additional standards are emerging in the areas of logistic, supply chain and insurance. Existing technologies There are a sizeable number of emerging mobile solutions designed for NGO field work. Some of the technologies that may be considered are listed below and mapped against the functional requirements categories introduced above (NOTE: Work in progress): Techn. Req. Category Survey Tools Patient Management National HIS (integration) Dimagi & DTree; CommCare? w/javarosa/openrosa 2Paths; MoTech OpenMRS Planned OpenXdata, DHIS2 DataDyne; EpiSurveyor OpenXData; EMIT by CellLife FrontlineSMS RapidSMS UW ODK w/openmrs Technologies used in CARE/NetHope field trial* EpiCollect AED GATHERdata Robertson Health; RHealth Advisor + OpenMRS * see Appendix 2 - Technologies for building mobile + cloud products used in CARE/NetHope field trial A subset of the technologies listed may provide a starting point for assembling the MHP. With further input from a selected SI we would expect the highlighted technologies to be part of an initial technology assessment lab. Guidance from the SI/Hoster is encouraged and welcomed. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

14 Roadmap to a NetHope Mobile Shared Service offering The figure below illustrates an envisioned four-step approach to allowing NetHope member organizations to evaluate, select, pilot, run, and ultimately turn over mobile technical solutions to local governments, ministries or other local stakeholders. NetHope MHP Shared Services Roadmap Evaluation & Assessment lab Technology for Phase 1 deployments Showcase Evaluation and Demonstration Available to members for evaluation and trial Available to ISVs & SPs to showcase solutions Hosted service for identified MHP Phase 1 deployments Subset of assessed technologies Multi-tenancy Main focus: Survey tools Local deployment/hosting as required NetHope Shared Service Integrate with emerging standards & industry initiatives Main focus: Patient Management Eye on local innovation Transition to local parties for sustained operations (2012+) Main focus: Sustainability & expansion Local innovation Timeline: *Q H / * Apply seed resources from partners & members to get started 30 Evaluation/Assessment lab It is envisioned that this initial evaluation stage of the roadmap will be a short, one to four month effort which will arrive at a narrowed list of applied technologies. NetHope expects that this stage will focus mainly on the Survey Tool category, but ongoing requirement analysis with members may redirect this focus toward exploration of tools aimed at the Patient Management category. Physical hosting implementation will occur on a small number of servers in a single data center. This center will provide worldwide PC Web Browser access to administration and form/solution design tools and mobile handset access to hosted applications. Additionally an integrated SMS Gateway (possibly via SMS GW Aggregator) needs to be available for the testing, evaluation, and demonstration purposes, again with worldwide reach. As subsequent stages on the roadmap are executed, an assessment capacity should be maintained to evaluate new technologies as we learn about them and new solutions evolve Pilots and Phase 1 Deployments This phase is likely to last a minimum of months and involve thousands of handsets. NetHope will need to have a production-grade hosted service that satisfies the vast majority of requirements listed above. Significant development work may be required to deliver a multi-tenant subscription service offering e.g. an interface to offer self-service provisioning. In order to provide services to several thousand phones, PCs, and other devices, the back-end infrastructure may consist of cloud service platforms, servers hosted in centralized data centers or remotely managed private servers located within project host countries. The initial pilot projects will be located in Zambia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and it is reasonable to expect that additional projects beyond the six initial pilots will be onboarded during this time period. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

15 Financing the first two stages of the MHP deployment would be provided by a combination of SI social responsibility contributions and/or investments based on perceived long-term business opportunities. These investments would be in addition to NetHope Supporters cash or in-kind contributions, as well as a project grant for the first one or two Phase 1 Deployments. While such a grant request will be sought with the explicit purpose of funding the platform required for the particular deployments, it will be clear that the service infrastructure will be assembled for a shared service supporting numerous future projects. This would dramatically reduce the infrastructure costs for subsequent projects. At the very outset, the design of MHP must take into considerations the acceptability and ultimate ownership by, or subscription to, these services by local governments and other stakeholders. Each deployment may require partnering with local Systems Integrator(s) for assistance with implementation of local infrastructure, handset configuration, training, local development etc. A natural starting point for transition to local stakeholders would be partnerships with such a network of local SIs. NetHope MHP Shared Service as Software as a Service offering The environment supporting identified member Pilots or Phase 1 Deployments is envisioned to mature into a commercial set of mobile healthcare application services available to all NetHope members. These services shall be provided with national scale on mind (i.e. in countries in Sub-Sahara Africa and state level health systems in India) and with Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) much lower than any one member could obtain by building and operating the service on its own. While it is expected that a Software as a Services (SaaS) model will produce the lowest TCO, in this stage of the Roadmap, as for the Pilots and Phase 1 Deployments, flexible deployment models must be supported. I.e. the back-end infrastructure may consist of (a) cloud service platforms services, (b) servers hosted in centralized data centers or (c) remotely or privately managed servers located within project host countries. It is expected that the MHP will be a dynamic and evolving service offering with ever-improving features and capabilities. It will be expected and encouraged that the SI take advantage of improved capabilities of the underlying technical components (e.g. Open Source and proprietary solutions alike) and rely on open interoperability standards between such solution components. The SI should also be prepared to make enhancements and introduce innovations to the platform in order to remain viable competitively. As with any development project, involving local participation in the efforts is crucial. The service platform should be built in a way that local value creation is encouraged and accommodated. This may take form in partnerships with local startups or established ISVs, academia, Mobile Network Operators, and other local innovators. It is expected that at this third stage the service offering should be financially self-sustaining through a subscription revenue model. Subscription fees would be paid by NetHope members as part of individual project operation expenses. In order to minimize such subscription fees, contributions from NetHope supporters (software licenses, hardware, connectivity, communications costs, etc.) could contribute to a lower underlying cost structure for the SI. This in turn would be passed on in the form of lowered subscription fees. A commercial offering to a non-ngo market (e.g. pharmaceutical and multi-national consumer companies expanding to emerging markets) may also be considered to ensure further incentive to produce a sustainable and competitive service offering. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

16 Transition to local stakeholders Once NGO-driven development projects have concluded, the resulting capacities will need to transition to local owners. This will also be the case for any technology services introduced throughout the course of the projects. As a consequence, an integral part of the MHP Shared Services Roadmap will be the transition of the provided MHP services to local government or private-sector based stakeholders; This transition can take the form of simply shifting existing services to a new customer relationship or might resemble a wholesale transfer of the operation of the services provided, along with the required physical infrastructure, to local hands. Favorable subscription fees shall, to the extent possible, be maintained for such transitioned services. Additional services offered to local stakeholders should be offered priced according to local and global competitive markets. The last stage of the roadmap offers a significant business opportunity to the selected Service Provider(s): The opportunity to get in on the ground to work with national-scale computing solutions represents an excellent springboard with which these companies could grow their emerging markets presence. In this light, stages one through three could be viewed as potential investment stages, and might allow a pricing structure reflecting such a business upside. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

17 Roles and Responsibilities Roles and responsibilities will be outlined for each of the service implementation stages discussed above. As these roles may depend on the SI s service delivery approach, only a preliminary list and description will be provided here: Stakeholder Name Role Examples The Beneficiary The Data Collection Worker The Treatment Worker Program Manager Local NGO Agency/ Implementation Partner Auxiliary/Partner Participant (Aux) Local Government/ Ministry of Health Multi-National NGO / NGO HQ The person or group that ultimately benefits from program activities Field worker exclusively engaged in data collection Trained health care professional in the community or at a facility who will collect and use data in the context of their role Defines data collection requirements, workflows and processes to support program outcomes. Performs data analysis for local purposes. Country level NGO agency responsible for implementing funded development or emergency response projects Provides core functional activities, but not affiliated directly with Program Implementer Government affiliated or assigned stakeholder Contracting entity of MHP Shared Service NetHope Facilitator of cross-agency requirements NetHope A TB patient, a disaster relief victim, HIV/AIDS patient, pregnant mother, Infant, etc. Patient registrant, census taker, volunteer, etc. Community or facility health care worker, midwife, nurse, birthing assistant, etc. NGO program director/coordinator, M&E specialist, CDC program manager, etc. CARE Kenya, PATH Tanzania, Pakistan Red Crescent Society National Lab Technician, delivery/truck driver, fulfillment point worker. Rwanda Ministry of Health World Vision, CARE International, Relief International, IFRC Sponsors/Donors Define desired project outcomes, utilize project information USAID, BMGF, Rockefeller Foundation, J&J Foundation, CDC, UN, WHO, etc. Costs The figure below outlines main categories of the Total Cost of Ownership of deploying and operating the MHP from the perspective of an NGO: Component Cost Driver Examples Notes Phone Hardware, Handset Devices (Field) Training, Support & Consulting (Field) Basic: Voice/SMS only to reach beneficiaries Feature: Symbian, Java/J2ME/Data enabled <$125 for data collection by CHWs and agency staff Smart Phones: Android, RIM/BlackBerry, others Program Manager/Subj Matter Expert/Field staff training Local Agency staff, Community and Facility Health Workers and Beneficiaries if required Minimize need for on-the-ground device support Based on desired functionality and number of handsets to be deployed Transportation and training facility expenses, food and lodging expenses MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

18 Component Cost Driver Examples Notes Data Transmission (Field & Hosted) Field Operations and Support (Field) SMS and Data/IP: GPRS/Edge/3G+ Alternate data sync models: BlueTooth, WiFi (?) Data center, server & SMS GW connectivity costs Mobile phone software installation and upgrades: Push model preferred, pull if required Local SI partner(s) to be engaged for services Explore deals with local MNOs Minimize need for physically handling individual handsets - automate Locally/Globally Hosted Server Hardware in Data Centers (Hosted) SMS Gateways, database servers, line of business Check viability of global vs. local application servers, ISP relationships for connectivity. SMS GW aggregator To accommodate data ownership / sovereignty requirements; offer remote application management services on locally hosted servers Other server infrastructure Software License or Service Subscription Fees (Hosted) TBD Open Source and Proprietary where appropriate Take advantage of service based/subscription solution to reduce costs In a Software as a Service offering any software license and maintenance costs are assumed to be included in service fee It is expected that for any MHP deployment, expenses will occur in each of the categories listed. SI advice about how to minimize these costs is expected. As indicated, these categories are broken down into Field and Hosted. The former Field cost categories (e.g. handsets, local training, etc.) would be expected to be funded locally as part of a given project implementation. The latter indicates where infrastructure investments are, as much as possible, shared across several organizations and numerous projects. NetHope expects that the hosted MHP deployment and services costs be facilitated as part of the shared service and charged to individual projects as a service subscription fee. In-country remote management of private servers would be provided through partnerships with local Systems Integrator or service provider organizations recruited, trained and managed by the selected SI vendor. Any effort to make the deployment efforts as seamless as possible to allow the NGO in question to focus on the business problem at hand and minimize technological and logistical challenges will be highly valued. Alternate billing models are to be explored. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

19 Next steps NetHope expects rapid turnaround on this process, and intends to start assessment lab setup in January/February RFP Timetable EVENT DATE RFP Release January 28, 2011 RFP Clarification Questions (Please ensure all questions are submitted via to the contact persons below on or before the end of business day) February 4, 2011 Responses To Vendor Questions (A conference call maybe arrange via WebEx to address questions) February 11, 2011 Vendor s Proposal Submission February 25, 2011 Vendor Selection March 11, 2011 NetHope Contacts Vendors will submit any inquiries, responses of intent to bid, clarification requests and submissions related to this RFP to the following NetHope contacts: Mr. Fredrik Winsnes MHP and M&E Working Group Lead NetHope fredrik.winsnes@nethope.org Mobile: Skype: fredrikw Mr. Jack Levy Global Program Director NetHope jacklevy@nethope.org Vendors may not enter into communications with other NetHope staff about this RFP without the prior written permission of one of the individuals listed above. Instructions for Intent to Respond and Submitting Proposals 1. It is requested that vendors notify in writing one of the individual listed in above either accepting NetHope s invitation to participate in this RFP process or expressing your intention not to participate. It is encouraged that for vendors to do so by ing the Intent to Respond Form set forth in Appendix I to the addresses of the two contacts listed above no later than close of business on January 28, The person listed in the Intent to Respond Form will be treated as the main contact for this process. The RFP and the matters described therein are confidential and should be treated accordingly. 2. An exploratory conference call may be arranged to assist in the preparation of your written response and presentation/demonstration, provided that you will bear any out-of-pocket costs MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

20 incurred in so doing. Please contact one of the individuals listed in the NetHope Contacts section should you need such a conference call. To ensure that the same level of information is conveyed equally to all vendors, NetHope reserves the right to share questions and responses with all other vendors. Written questions should be sent to appropriate contacts no later than February 4, Questions will be answered by February 11, 2011 or as soon as commercially practicable thereafter. 3. You must submit electronic copy of your response in either Microsoft Word or Adobe PFD format. Any extensive cost financial representation should be submitted as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. All documentation shall be submitted by close of business on February 18, 2011 to the two contacts listed above. Any response received after this date will be considered non-responsive, and NetHope will not be obligated to engage your organization any further in our RFP process. 4. All responses and supporting documentation become the property of NetHope and will not be returned. 5. NetHope ultimately reserves the right throughout this process to select any servicing option that best meets its business requirements and to hold discussions with any and all respondents. 6. You must agree to the following conditions if you submit a response to NetHope regarding this RFP: a. Neither issuance of this RFP nor receipt of proposals represents a commitment on the part of NetHope or any affiliate, subsidiary or local office. Any obligation of NetHope to proceed with any party is conditioned upon the negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement between the parties. b. If NetHope selects your organization to advance in the RFP process, a definitive agreement will be negotiated between NetHope or any NetHope member organization and you, subject to such other terms and conditions as NetHope or NetHope member organization may propose and you may agree. c. You will bear any and all costs and expenses incurred by you in the preparation of any responses or presentations relating to this RFP. 7. This document is provided for the exclusive use of your organization and copies shall not be made available to any other party or person, without written consent from the individual listed in the NetHope Contacts section. Both you and NetHope acknowledge that they may come in contact with non-public information, which is considered confidential or proprietary to the other, including this document itself. Each party agrees not to use such information for its own benefit or allow it to be released to or used by others. Each party agrees to exercise reasonable care to prevent disclosure to any third party. 8. Neither party shall use the name of the other in publicity releases, referrals, advertising, or similar activity without the prior written consent of the other. Required Written Response Vendors need to respond in a format that refers to the following sections and numbered items and must specifically address each and every request for information contained herein. If you are unable to comply with any information requested, an explanation must be provided as part of the response. We ask that the written responses are limited to 15 pages or less. 1 Company Information (i) List your company s full name, corporate address, telephone number and fax number. (ii) List your company s primary contact and back-up contact for this RFP process. Please include title, address, telephone number, fax number and address. (iii) Describe your company s philosophy, vision, mission and long-term strategy. Describe how this vision would benefit NetHope and our members. (iv) Describe your company s position on forming strategic relationship with their clients. (v) Describe your experience in partnering with other global NGO clients (if any). (vi) Provide your company s audited financial statements for the current year and the last three fiscal years MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

21 (vii) (viii) (ix) Provide a list of your major customers, with contact information, that are similar in size and culture as NetHope members and have contracted with your company for similar requirements. NetHope may choose to contact them for reference purposes. Provide a list of any subcontractors that your company uses or will use to provide the goods and/ or services requested by NetHope or a member organization. Describe any conflicts of interest that your company may have in entering into a relationship with NetHope or a NetHope member organization. 2 Core Competencies & Industry Expertise (i) Describe your company s Core Competencies. Describe how these competencies would be optimal for the build and testing of the MHP Shared Service Offering. (ii) Describe your company s competencies with systems Integration of both Open Source and Proprietary software solutions (iii) Describe your company s competencies with mobile devices applications development (iv) Describe your company s competencies with hosting cloud based solutions including providing Software as a Service (SaaS) and multi-tenant service offerings (v) Describe your experience in partnering on other similar projects. (vi) Describe your existing worldwide partner network including with local Systems Integrators in developing markets. 3 Project Work Plan and Timeline (i) Please provide your project plan and timeline. (ii) Outline the tasks, people to perform them and activity start and end dates. (iii) The project plan should include any opportunities to reduce project duration or cost. 4 References Describe at a minimum two or three recent (within the last 3 years) projects in which you produced from design and deployed a product similar to the MHP Shared Service Offering. For each reference, please provide: (i) (ii) (iii) Company name, industry, and address Summary of project scope and deliverables Contact person at the company, title, and role on project, address, and telephone number 5 Staffing Resources (Include 1 page resume per named individual) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Provide the surname of each of your staff resources identified for this project, with the exception of administrative staff names which are not required. Name where and at what named location the named staff resources will reside in performing services, and identify the activities/functions and number of all other unnamed staff and where they will reside in performing services. Identify the work hours of a calendar day each staff resource will perform services (using standard Pacific Time as basis). Identify any country holidays or planned period of time that any named individual will need away from the project during the estimated engagement period. Provide a comprehensive resume for each named staff resource that is in chronological order for at least the last 10 full years that describes the individual s work history and key projects and functions the individual performed on the projects. 6 Pricing Methodology Please provide your pricing proposal based in US$. Pricing methodology and proposed service offering business model(s) may differ between the four project steps outlined in the Roadmap to a NetHope Mobile Shared Service offering section. If so, please provide description of each. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

22 You may provide incentive options for meeting budget and/or project timeline and exceeding budget and/or project timeline. Hourly rates are to be described by activity or function along with the named staff resource. Staff resource names are not required for administrative activities or functions. All subcontractor rates are to be embedded in your rate card. Changes in project scope are to be priced the same as above. If in the case of any requested advance, indicate the reason for the advance and respective amount, which needs to be paid to any subcontractor before a deliverable is provided. Please outline in your response if there are any specific Donations or other similar programs that will need to be addressed/discussed as part of MHP Shared Service Offering. 7 Functional Requirements Functionality will be assessed based on ability to address the business needs documented in the following sections of this document: The Mobile + Cloud Computing Application Framework Functional Requirements Address all four steps in the Roadmap to a NetHope Mobile Shared Service offering section Vendors should provide a proposed design as to how they plan to address each of these areas. Proposed technical use cases may be used to along with architectural designs to demonstrate the approach. Functional requirements will be validated through demonstrations and reference calls. Where relevant, third party solution providers will be required to demonstrate their portion of the overall solution during vendor presentations. 8 Non-Functional System Requirements Non-functional Requirements are outlined in the following sections of this document: High Level Technical/Systems Requirements Approach Roles and Responsibilities Costs Additionally, generic nonfunctional requirements include things items like the following: Configurability the ability to have a variety of choices for each business decision / requirement. Scalability the ability to start small, as a single site, grow into regional and global operations while supporting the right level of functional complexity. Extensibility the ability to add functionality without impacting source code. Flexibility the ability to support multiple diverse businesses within the same system installation. System Response Time the ability ensure consistent response times as the scope of the service offering grows. Security and Privacy the ability to ensure a secure service offering with data privacy standards like the Sarbanes-Oxley and SAS 70 Type II audit certification. Also the ability to ensure security of privately identifiable data along standards such as HIPAA or similar. Backup and recovery ability to ensure service offering integrity by data mirroring, backup & restore procedures. Service Level Agreements expectations on performance, service availability and support between the system and the users. Please include reference to any industry standard SLA approach (e.g. The Software and Information Industry Association- SIIA) and discuss any qualityof-service guarantees proposed. Please provide descriptions of how the proposed solution will address each of the sections and generic requirements above. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

23 Evaluation and Agreement Formation Evaluation Criteria NetHope will evaluate proposals and select a vendor, at its sole discretion. A few criteria it may use, include, but are not limited to the following: 1. Quality, reputation and performance of providing technical architecture, development, and implementation of service offering 2. Quality and thoroughness of the recommended project approach, architectural design, and development methodologies. 3. Thoroughness of proposal preparation. 4. Flexibility and willingness to collaborate with the NetHope team 5. Demonstrated excellence in service, support and extended warranties on a global basis. 6. Competitive pricing with the capacity to provide advance and locked global pricing as part of a very demanding marketing schedule. Proposed cost and our confidence in your assumptions and estimations. 7. Demonstrated ability to work with local Systems Integrators in developing markets, particularly as it related to enabling local innovation and long term solution ownership. 8. Ability to deliver the requested goods/and or services by the required dates. NetHope may require an oral presentation by vendors after written proposals are received and reviewed by NetHope. If we require such a presentation, we will schedule a time and place. Each vendor should be prepared to discuss and substantiate any of the areas of the proposal that is submitted, its qualifications for the services required and any other area of interest relative to its proposal. Agreement Formation All proposals received will be carefully evaluated by NetHope. NetHope will then select two or more firms deemed to be fully qualified and best suited among those submitting proposals, on the basis of evaluation criteria described above. NetHope will then conduct negotiations with the selected vendors. After negotiations have been conducted, NetHope will select the vendor or vendors that, in its opinion, have made the best overall proposal and execute a written agreement based on this RFP, the proposal submitted, and the negotiations concerning these. Such negotiated terms will form the basis for a Concept Paper and funding request for the MHP Shared Services build-out to USAID and other funders. Issuance of this RFP, the preparation and submission of responses by vendors and the subsequent receipt and evaluation of responses by NetHope shall not commit NetHope or any NetHope member organization to award a contract to any vendor. Furthermore, in no event shall choosing a specific vendor for presentation, negotiations or otherwise be construed to create any legal obligations on the part of NetHope. Only the execution of a written agreement by NetHope or a NetHope member organization and a vendor will be binding on the relevant parties in accordance with the terms and conditions contained in such agreement. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

24 Appendix 1 - Intent to Respond Form To: RFP: NetHope MHP Shared Service Offering Mr. Fredrik Winsnes MHP and M&E Working Group Lead NetHope fredrik.winsnes@nethope.org Mobile: Skype: fredrikw Mr. Jack Levy Global Program Director NetHope jacklevy@nethope.org From: Company Name: Contact Name: Address: Telephone: Fax: Please state your intentions with regard to this RFP by checking one of the boxes below: We intend to respond to this RFP by February 25, 2011 We are not responding to this RFP and will destroy all associated materials by February 11, 2011 the reason we have decided not to respond is: Signature of Contact Person Date MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

25 Appendix 2 Technologies for building mobile + cloud products used in CARE/NetHope field trial In 2010 NetHope and Care conducted field trials in Kenya and Mozambique of a mobile + cloud solution based on prototype code. A core part of the solution was a J2ME thin client that runs on many popular mid-range feature phones paired to cloud based back end services. Together this mobile applications framework code provided an end-to-end system for developing apps (in simple JavaScript) and offering centralized app deployment, distribution, and management. The prototype solution was cost effective to operate and offered globally scalable deployment options. In operation, products built with such code could offer unlimited powerful apps to users of affordable feature phones greatly reducing the cost and complexity of app management across a distributed workforce. Also tested in the trials was a generic app and cloud based service written for the mobile apps framework. The prototype provided browser-based survey form authoring and mobile phone data collection, and featured simple workflow, notifications and alerts. Options for licensing these technologies (including source code) are currently being investigated. Once such decision has been made and communicated, and NetHope has selected RFP vendor finalists; implementation options will be negotiated & evaluated. At that stage, an assessment of the use of this prototype code will be helpful to NetHope. The impact of using these technologies should be discussed in the context of: Timeframe for service ability Ease of application development, deployment, service operations, management and support Services Total Cost of Ownership implications Facilitation of local innovation on the service platform Efforts to transition technical services and capabilities to local stakeholders In order to establish comprehensive understanding of the prototype technologies and related business issues, prospective SI partner candidates are asked to consider the following: A code review with engineering team responsible for the prototype (introductions and contacts will be made through NetHope) Willingness to license the source code and to accept obligations under a source code license agreement. Include in an extension to the RFP response, the cost of such enhancements, maintenance, operations and support.. MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

26 Appendix 3 USAID GBI Program MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope

27 MHP Requirements Copyright NetHope