APPOINTMENT OF SERVICE PROVIDERS TO PROVIDE AN ENTERPRISE PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT (EPPM) SOLUTION

Transcription

1 Questions and Answers RFP NUMBER: RAF/2014/00020 DESCRIPTION: APPOINTMENT OF SERVICE PROVIDERS TO PROVIDE AN ENTERPRISE PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT (EPPM) SOLUTION PUBLISH DATE: 04 July 2014 VALIDIY PERIOD: 90 Days from the closing date CLOSING DATE: 29 July 2014 CLOSING TIME: COMPULSORY BRIEFING SESSION 11:00 AM THE CLOSING TIME WILL BE AS PER THE CLOCK AT THE RAF RECEPTION Date: 15 July 2014 Time: 11h00 to 12h00 Venue: Road Accident Fund 2 Eco Glades Office Park 420 Witch-Hazel Avenue Centurion BID RESPONSES MUST BE HAND DELIVERED / COURIERED TO: Road Accident Fund (RAF) Head Office Eco Glades Office Park, 420 Witch-Hazel Avenue CENTURION (at the reception) ATTENTION: Steve van Huyssteen NB: Bidders must ensure that they sign the register at the reception when delivering their bids BIDDER NAME:

2 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS QUESTION 1. Referring to pg. 72 par 4.1: The bidder offering the EPPM Solution must: Supply, install, configure, customize and license the EPPM Solution for the RAF. Does RAF have an Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft? Yes, licensing must be done through RAF EA. QUESTION 2. Referring to pg. 72 par 4.1: The bidder offering the EPPM Solution must: Supply, install, configure, customize and license the EPPM Solution for the RAF. If so, should we include Microsoft Licensing costs of our proposed solution? Licensing costs should still be included yes. Additional licensing requirements will have to be added to our EA and costed accordingly. QUESTION 3. Referring to pg. 72 par 3.2: The following are attributes of the required solution: An EPPM solution that is able to seamlessly integrate with the existing database, with SharePoint and MS Projects. What version of SharePoint and MS Project does RAF make use of? SharePoint 2010, and Project 2010 QUESTION 4. Referring to pg. 72 par 3.2: The following are attributes of the required solution: An EPPM solution that is able to seamlessly integrate with the existing database, with SharePoint and MS Projects. What existing database is RAF referring to please provide details of this database and functionality? There is no database besides the cost center data in SAP and project documentation on SharePoint.

3 QUESTION 5. Referring to pg. 72 par 3.2: The following are attributes of the required solution: An EPPM solution that is able to seamlessly integrate with the existing database, with SharePoint and MS Projects. If the existing version of SharePoint is not SharePoint 2013 Enterprise will it be acceptable for the solution to be installed on a separate SharePoint 2013 farm? ANSWER Yes, this will have to be licensed and separately costed. (Including hardware requirements and costs) QUESTION 6. Are all the SAP ERP systems hosted in Midrand? No, plans are in place to move entire SAP environment to Midrand but only GRC and BI hosted in Midrand. ECC, FM, HCM still in Menlyn. QUESTION 7. Can we make the assumption that all required hardware and software licenses are outside of the scope of this proposal and will be provided by RAF? This is in line with the point of integrating to the current environment; my assumption is that RAF already has the relevant licenses and hardware? No, licenses and hardware need to be accounted for in the proposed cost of the solution. If the solution requires storage, hardware or licensing (additional to what RAF currently has in place), this needs to be considered as within scope of this proposal. QUESTION 8. Please confirm if RAF has a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that covers the following licenses: a. Project Server 2013 b. SharePoint Server Enterprise 2013 c. Project Web App (PWA) Client Access Licenses (CAL s) d. SharePoint CAL s e. Who is the service provider for Microsoft Licenses for RAF?

4 a. Yes b. Yes c. No d. Yes e. External service provider (not Microsoft) Please note that we do have an existing EA, however the cost of additional licenses will form part of the costing for this solution, provision has not been made for this. QUESTION 9. Kindly confirm the version of the following: a. Microsoft Project 2010 or 2013 b. SharePoint 2010 or 2013 c. Microsoft Project Server 2010 or 2013? a. Project b. SharePoint 2010 c. We are not running project server QUESTION 10. Can RAF IT provide a topology of the current environment (Development, Staging, UAT, Production) in which the EPPM needs to be integrated to? a. The above will assist with licensing and sizing of the architecture. For the SAP environment, Dev., QA and prod is in place. QUESTION 11. Hardware Requirements: a. If a topology/current architecture diagram be made available then this will assist with the sizing, pricing of licensing and overall bid price. Architecture diagrams can only be shared once a contract has been entered into, this information cannot be shared outside of a contractual agreement.

5 QUESTION 12. Would notification and alerts and reminders be a requirement as this would entail integration to Exchange? a. What version of Microsoft Exchange Server does RAF utilize? Yes, exchange QUESTION 13. Environmental and Project Office a. Does RAF have an established project office? b. What is the structure of this project office if it exists? c. How many active projects? d. How many Project Managers, Administrators and Team members within this Project Office? e. How many people will need access to the EPPM Solution? The bid document mentioned 30 at first. Of this 30 please indicate number for each specific role: i.) Project Managers ii.) Team members iii.) Administrators iv.) Executives The above number provided will impact the training prices. f. What is the level of skill of the project managers, administrators and team members? i.) Can it be assumed that project managers, administrators and team members, have project management skills relevant to their roles or should this be included in the training? a. Yes b. This information will be provided to the successful bidder. c. This varies. d. At present we have 22 staff members. e. Project Managers: 8 Business Analysts: 6 Coordinators: 4 Executives: All Regional Managers: 5 f. Project Management Skills is not part of the Specification.

6 QUESTION 14. It was mentioned in the briefing that the project should be completed 3 months after awarding/signing the bid to the service provider. What if there are delays from RAF IT with regard to Procurement of hardware and software licenses or any delays from RAF that would impact the schedule? Is the service provider allowed to add penalty clauses for such delays incurred by the bidder/client? Delays by RAF IT emanating from requests that has been submitted in writing and providing reasonable timeframes to submit required information cannot be attributed to the successful service provider. However, I believe these concerns can be addressed via the Contracting process. QUESTION 15. There are other components which extend past the 3 month duration. We see these as: a. Support and Maintenance and b. Ongoing customization Are there any others that we need to take into consideration? ANSWERS: None other than what was specified in the Specification published. QUESTION 16. If the response must be in the format as published how do bidders deal with instances where the space provided for a response is too small? Bidders should print the bid document as provided on the website to preserve page numbering, i.e. do not modify the document as evaluators will expect to find certain information on particular pages. Where there is insufficient space and an additional page must be inserted or where attachments are required these should be placed at the relevant point in the document as additional pages. If attachments are placed in different sections please note where the information may be found at the relevant point in the bid document. QUESTION 17. The document refers to two sets of people to be trained: Skills transfer (on-the-job training) of 15 nominated RAF staff members that will provide first and second line support for a period of three (3) years before go live User training (train-the-trainer) of 30 nominated RAF staff members including provision of training materials for RAF staff to undertake User training before the system go live. What is the actual user base?

7 The user base is the 30 users in the second item. The 15 staff in the first item is IT support staff. QUESTION 18. Does the three-month implementation window include migration of data or will the solution be applied afresh? Data is currently a relatively small amount, held in MS SharePoint, so there should be no difficulty in migrating it within this window. QUESTION 19. Please give further information regarding the functionality required by the Project Management Office (PMO), such as an approved document. What metrics are required by RAF? Is there documentation on the requirements? There is a Board approved document (Framework) that will be made available to the successful bidder. This is a confidential document and cannot be shared during bidding. An approved framework exists, which documents how reporting is done to EXCO. The RAF will consider whether any further information may be made available to bidders. QUESTION 20. The specification calls for SAP integration. For what purpose? What is required? Is this also related to resourcing of projects? The RAF holds financial and HR information in SAP, which must be integrated. QUESTION 21. The specification calls for SAP integration. For what purpose? What is required? Is this also related to resourcing of projects? The RAF holds financial and HR information in SAP, which must be integrated. QUESTION 22. Must cost/time information developed in the solution be pushed back to SAP? RAF would expect this information to be pulled and pushed back, i.e. to perform reconciliations.

8 QUESTION 23. Does the specification assume the future continued use of MS Project and MS SharePoint? Is a MS solution predetermined? Bidders should not assume that RAF will continue in the MS Project / MS SharePoint environment. This is not predetermined. The solution would, however, need to be MS compatible. QUESTION 24. Regarding the 30 system users identified for training, will the solution be rolled out further? What is the location of users? No. The 30 is the total users. These are located at Head Office (Centurion) where the core of users is located, but also at satellite offices throughout South Africa (regional offices and customer service centers). QUESTION 25. Is a multi-platform or a desktop solution required? RAF would prefer a multiplatform solution as the use of tablets is the trend for the PMO staff. QUESTION 26. What is the number of projects being undertaken? RAF is not able to answer this currently. There are a number of projects ranging from values of R100k to several million Rand; some are limited in scope while others are transversal across many departments/regions. QUESTION 27. What auto dashboard reporting is required? There is no information currently available on the requirement. Bidders should frame what is possible and indicate how customization may be allowed. QUESTION 28. If a bidder can provide more than one solution, how should multiple offers be made?

9 Bidders should provide a single submission that outlines the options available. QUESTION 29. Must the solution integrate to MS and SAP? Yes. QUESTION 30. Regarding governance, must this be automated? Is this in reference to governance or compliance? Is this at a macro or micro level? RAF requires an audit trail and workflows. QUESTION 31. Must the solution be able to handle sub-contractor management? Sub-contracting is not usual in this environment however, this functionality will be utilized in certain instances. QUESTION 32. The specification requires customization on an as-and-when-required basis over a period of three years. What is the extent of customization? Bidders should make provision for possible large changes. QUESTION 33. Would RAF consider a Software as a Service model or is the solution to be implemented at RAF datacenters? The solution must be implemented at the RAF datacenter. QUESTION 34. Is the three months implementation window for implementation only or must integration also be undertaken in this three months?

10 Full implementation and integration must be undertaken in three months. QUESTION 35. The response must be in a PDF format but the solution description might be a lot bigger. Can we attach an addendum for that? If you need to attach additional information just attach where it make sense in the document. If files are used just add separates where you can indicate where the contents can be found.where we ask for the substantiation in the technical criteria a place where we say substantiate just annotate there where it can be found in the proposal. QUESTION 36. With regards to the implementation window, do you see that part of that is to migrate all your information from the existing the systems that you use within the new solution as well or will you start out afresh with the new system? The sum total that we use at present is MS Projects in terms of our project scheduling and SharePoint where we currently save or store our documents. In terms of the transfer of data yes the database is not that big. QUESTION 37. Regarding the functionality application methodology etc. that is being used within the PMO, is it available for bidders? RAF does have a Board approved PMO framework which details our processes in terms of the different sizes of projects and we do change request that would be available to the successful bidder. QUESTION 38. What will be your single source of truth by extracting data from SAP financial data into your EPPM solution? Are you looking at then capturing cost time in that solution and then pushing it back into SAP the actual cost or to have SAP as your single source of truth and reflecting the data only in the EPPM solution? Both ways because your budgets sits in SAP but the actual cost is captured somewhere else then we need to do a reconciliation to be able to understand where we at. QUESTION 39. And the recon will it be in the EPPM and then push up?

11 Yes.