SEALED BID REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Transcription

1 Department of Buildings and General Services Purchasing & Contract Administration 10 Baldwin St. Agency of Administration Montpelier VT [phone] [Fax] SEALED BID REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Contract/ Grant/ Vendor Performance Management System DATE: December 7, 2015 RFI DUE DATE: QUESTIONS DUE: January 8, :00PM EST December 16, :30PM EST LOCATION FOR RFI RETURN: 10 Baldwin St, Montpelier, VT PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT ALL NOTIFICATIONS, RELEASES, AND AMENDMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS RFI WILL BE POSTED AT: THE STATE WILL MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO CONTACT VENDORS WITH UPDATED INFORMATION. IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EACH VENDOR TO PERIODICALLY CHECK FOR ANY AND ALL NOTIFICATIONS, RELEASES AND AMENDMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE RFI. PURCHASING AGENT: Stephen Fazekas TELEPHONE: (802) FAX: (802)

2 Contents 1 PURPOSE LIABILITY CONFIDENTIALITY BACKGROUND INFORMATION RFI DESCRIPTION CURRENT STATE STATEMENT OF WORK ANTICIPATED REQUIREMENTS Business Requirements On Going Maintenance /Service Level Requirements Technical Requirements Documentation Requirements REQUESTED INFORMATION COVER PAGE VENDOR QUESTIONNAIRE CONTACT INFORMATION RFI RESPONSE SUBMISSION EXPLANATION OF EVENTS VENDOR QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX A: COST ESTIMATE WORKSHEET : COST ESTIMATE TABLE ADDITIONAL MATERIALS... 14

3 1 PURPOSE This Request for Information (RFI) is issued for the Agency of Human Services (AHS) to gather input and obtain information and cost estimates in proceeding with proposals to implement a Contract, Grant and Vendor Management System. AHS intends to evaluate the submissions by respondents to explore how they would meet their needs and understand the cost associated with proposed solutions. AHS shall not be held liable for any costs incurred by the vendors in the preparation of their submission, or for any work performed prior to contract issuance. For the remained of this document Agreement will encompass contracts, grants and other legal binding work items. 1.1 LIABILITY THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the State to contract for any materials or service whatsoever. Further, the State is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondents are advised that the State will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If an RFP is released, it will be posted on the BGS bid opportunities web site: It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor this site for additional information. 1.2 CONFIDENTIALITY AHS retains the right to promote transparency and to place this RFI into the public domain, and to make a copy of the RFI available as a provision of the Vermont access to public records laws. Please do not include any information in your RFI response that is confidential or proprietary, as AHS assumes no responsibility for excluding information in response to records requests. Any request for information made by a third party will be examined in light of the exemptions provided in the Vermont access to public records laws. The solicitation of this RFI does not commit AHS or the State of Vermont to award a contract. This RFI is for information gathering purposes only and no vendor will be selected, pre-qualified, or exempted based upon their RFI participation. 2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION AHS currently lacks automation to track and manage contract, grants and vendors. AHS does have a Microsoft SharePoint site that allows logging and storage of contracts, but it lacks the ability to catalogue specific details/attributes of contracts and grants, including performance measures over time. AHS is moving toward results based accountability (RBA) in contracting and grants, in accordance with Sec V.S.A and Sec V.S.A.(a). Sec V.S.A The Chief Performance Officer shall report to the General Assembly on the progress by rate or percent of how many State contracts and grants have performance accountability requirements and the rate or percent of contractors and grantees compliance with those requirements. Sec. 4. V.S.A.(a) Annually, on or before July 30 and as part of any other report requirement to the General Assembly set forth in Sec. 2 of this act, 3 V.S.A. chapter 45, subchapter 5 (Chief Performance Officer), the Chief Performance Officer shall submit to the General Assembly a report on the Department of Finance and Management s Performance Measure Pilot Program. The report shall include: (1) the performance measure data collected by the pilot participants; and (2) the progress of all programs in the Executive Branch and how many of those programs

4 have and are using performance measures. AHS processes hundreds of grants and contracts through its Central Office and six departments. There are staff in each department that manually oversee contracts and grants with a mix of spreadsheets and staff built software systems. These methods do not allow for proper monitoring of vendors or grantee s performance. This year, the State legislature has mandated new reporting for contracts and grants. AHS has no choice but to manually go back through all contracts and grants to gather the information to provide these reports. 3 RFI DESCRIPTION The State is seeking to obtain information on existing solutions that most closely meet AHS requirements and the associated cost of those solutions. Solution s information should include technical requirements, any third party tool requirements and all solution features. The RFI has three key objectives: Provide prospective respondents with information regarding the business need, and; Solicit respondent information to assist the State in determining if identified requirements can be met in a cost effective manner. Solicit respondent information to assist the State in determining if identified requirements can be met by available software/hardware COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) alternatives. The State is seeking feedback on the information in this RFI and will consider any information, including partial responses, received in response to this RFI. If the State moves forward in the development of an RFP, the RFP process will be open to all respondents regardless of their decision to participate in this RFI. The State envisions that the solution will support the following high-level goals: Allows for the tracking, auditing and reporting of contracts that AHS and its departments have entered into with vendors and grantees. This includes tasks that need to be completed either by the vendor, grantee or AHS staff, and includes storing performance measure data and targets over time. Produces reports to fulfill legislative requirements and management of the performance of vendors or grantees over time and across departments. Allows for the tracking and reporting on vendors or grantees, including disputes, over all interaction experience and basic contact information. 4 CURRENT STATE Current state, with the exception of one department, is a manual process using spreadsheets and filing cabinets. Department for Children and Families uses an in-house developed application to review and approve contracts. AHS and its departments do have access to a software called esilinas for final signatures/ approvals of contracts and grants. AHS also has limited access (limited number of users) to the Result Scorecard web based tool, which enables presentation of data over time in a trend line via manual entry and is structured according to the RBA framework. The State of Vermont has a license agreement with Oracle that includes an unlimited application user count of Siebel CRM w/siebel Contracts. Bidders are encouraged to use this software in their solutions.

5 5 STATEMENT OF WORK 5.1 ANTICIPATED REQUIREMENTS The purpose of this RFI is to determine if there are solutions capable of meeting the State s anticipated requirements and to determine alternatives for meeting those requirements that are consistent with the overall vision for AHS and the State. The State s discovery efforts to date have resulted in a desire to obtain access to solutions with the following attributes: Business Requirements FEAT1 Track Agreements Tracking contract and grants requirements that the solution shall meet are: FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 1.1 Basic Agreement Information The solution shall track the following information fields about agreements (this list is not exhaustive): Title used to identify agreement Agreement Classification (contract or grant) Type of Agreement (Service OBO, Design & Development, Maintain & Operations) Sub type of agreement/ program type (Early Childhood, Tobacco) Identifying Number Contract Phase Purpose/ goal Start Date End Date Administrator Name and contact information HIPAA concerns PHI concerns Breach Notification Insurance Breach Notification comments Escrow Type Escrow Bank Name If Money, Amount Awarded Vendor/ Grantee Name (link to tables of vendors and grantees) Risk Status Lead Department Key AHS Contacts Name and Contact Information (multiples) Estimated Amount of Agreement Actual/ Final Amount of Agreement Agreement Administrator name and

6 FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, Allocation Method Recommendations Executive Decision Percent complete Comments 1.2 Agreement Approvals 1.3 Agreement Performance Measures Agreement Tasks 1.4 Contract Funding Specific Fields 1.6 Agreement Notifications The solution shall be able to track multiple approvals per agreement including the name, title, approved as (CIO, CFO, AAG, etc.) and date of approval. The solution will have the capability to track performance measures and store data over time including but not limited to: Description (text of measure) Type (quality, quantity, impact) Target (improve services, encounters, responses) Frequency of Reporting (Bimonthly, every 3 months) Legislative Outcomes (Act 186) The solution will have the capability to task including but not limited to: Description Type of Deliverable Date Due Date Finished Date Accepted The solution will have the capability to configure for various "funding types". Funding types include but are not limited to: 1) Federal Funds 2) Operating Funds 3) Mixed Funds (or department specific funds?) The funding designation must 1) have the ability to distinguish between federal / non federal and capital / operating funds. 2) have the ability to store amounts and percentages of funds The solution will have the ability to store notifications sent to awarded vendor. 1.7 Agreement Amendments The solution will have the ability to track amendments to signed agreements.

7 FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 1.8 Agreement Change Request The solution will have the ability to track change requests for the signed agreement. 1.9 Signed Agreements The solution will have the ability to store the final signed agreement with the agreement records Agreement Invoices The solution will have the ability to track invoice include but not limited to date submitted, amount, date approved, date paid and amount paid Agreement Closeout The solution will have the ability to close out agreements and archive the records Agreement The solution will have the ability to share pertinent information through Agreement Management 1.15 Access based on User Level Pertinent Information can include but is not limited to: Source/sponsor Aware amount Duration of contract Contract Manger Copy of contract The solution will provide a view to review Vendor activities, the status of existing contract and associated deliverables and performance measure data over time, access the contract account to determine the status of the contract and progress made on fulfilling contract deliverables (e.g. determine burn rate, forecast remaining funds for the contract, determine the percent of deliverables completed per contract, project deliverable completion date, view contract phase, etc/tbd). The solution will provide specific views based on user role. The solution will allow the System Admin to set up which fields a user role can maintain versus simply view. FEAT2 Track Vendors/ Grantees Tracking vendor and grantees requirements that the solution shall meet are: FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 2.1 Vendor and Grantee Information The solution shall track the following information fields about vendors (this list is not exhaustive):

8 FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, Company Name (could be multiple with corresponding details below) Company Address Company Phone Contact Name Contact Certificate of Insurance o Date of expiration Comments 2.2 Subcontractor Information 2.3 Report Card Vendor or Grantee The solution shall track the following information fields about vendors (this list is not exhaustive): Company Name (could be multiple with corresponding details below) Company Address Company Phone Contact Name Contact Certificate of Insurance (could have multiples) o Date of expiration Comments The solution will have the ability to store evaluation reports on vendors and grantees. FEAT3 Reporting/ Querying Reporting/ Querying requirements that the solution shall meet are: FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 3.1 Searching Agreements The solution will provide querying capabilities across contract attributes (e.g., outcomes, program/ sub type, contract number, contract type, vendor name, etc.) with the ability to search contracts for monthly and quarterly compliance reporting. 3.2 Dashboard The solution will have a dashboard that is configurable by the user for agreements they are vested in. 3.3 Agreement Deliverables The solution will provide a view of deliverables status, which are due and when including performance measures over time. When the System recognizes a deliverable is due within a predetermined number of days, then the System will notify the applicable Vendor Manager and Project Manager of the

9 FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, upcoming deliverable(s) and due date(s). 3.4 Agreement Summaries The solution will provide a view of the status of all contracts, a summary of multiple Vendor activities so that a determination can be made of progress made on multiple contracts (e.g. determine burn rate, forecast remaining funds for the contract, determine the percent of deliverables completed per contract, project deliverable completion date, view contract phase, etc/tbd). FEAT4 Integration Integration requirements that the solution shall meet are: FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 4.1 Various AHS systems The solution will integrate with VISION, future e Procurement solution, E signature, SharePoint Word, Adobe, AHS Result Scorecard system. 4.2 Import of MS Excel The solution will have the ability to import from a defined MS Excel spreadsheet form. 4.3 API to Results Scorecard The solution will have the ability to share data with the tool Results Scorecard using API. FEAT5 Security Security requirements that the solution shall meet. FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 5.1 Permissions The solution shall allow user to see specific information about agreements without having access to the entire solution. 5.2 Auditing The solution shall be able to audit all agreements. The solution shall also audit who has permissions to the solution, which users have which specific permissions and what each individual does within the solution at any given time.

10 FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 5.3 Compliance The solution shall at all times be in compliance with all Federal (including HIPAA), State of Vermont and Agency of Human Services rules and regulations pertaining to IT systems that may hold protected, private or privileged information. The solution shall also be in compliance with Federal 508 standards. 5.4 User Levels The levels of users shall be: System Admins, Agreement Admins and Users. This must comply with all other FEAT s so it may be tracked who is granting access, who has access, what they have access to and why they need a specific level of access. The roles will inherit all permissions of the level roles below; roles are listed in order of lowest to highest below: Users will have access to enter and maintain data. Agreements Admins will have access to manage specific contracts as assigned by the System Admin. This role will be responsible for assigning the users to draft contracts. 5.5 User Access to Agreements System Admins will be the only level that is allowed to assign the above roles to users in the system. This role will also be responsible for assigning the Agreement Admins for agreements. The system will ensure that users access only draft contracts assigned to them. All users may have read access to contracts in a status of executed. Agreement Admins have access to contracts assigned to them by the System Admin. If the Agreement Admin cancels the agreement, they will lose access to that record. System Admins will have access to all contracts regardless of the status. Only System Admins will have access to cancelled agreements. FEAT6 User Experience How the user shall feel when using the solution.

11 FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 6.1 Visual Appeal The solution shall be visually appealing and not tax the user s eyes. The solution shall limit scrolling as much as possible. 6.2 Ease of Use The solution shall be easy to use and not be redundant or overly complex. The solution shall be intuitively designed and not feel clunky or overly difficult to use or navigate. 6.3 Maintenance The solution shall need minimal maintenance and be available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the exception of scheduled maintenance and variables outside vendor control. FEAT7 Functionality Functionalities that the solution shall deliver. FEAT Title Description Vendor Response (out of box, 7.1 Manageable Values The solution shall have values that are manageable by Administrator level users. These users should be able to edit which values are shown and remove others from screens based on their permissions. Values that are removed must retain the data for data integrity; however, the field would no longer be shown to allow for it to be selected. 7.2 System Backups The solution shall be backed up daily On Going Maintenance /Service Level Requirements The Contractor will provide the following communication mechanisms for the State to use when asking for support: (a) Telephone Support (preferred toll free). Contractor shall maintain a telephone hotline during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday Friday EST) to assist State in reporting errors and in providing first line support in the use and operation of the Software. (b) Internet . Contractor shall maintain an address for the express purpose of providing contracted support. Ability to add or remove licenses when requested. Provide estimated pricing for license for initial year and five years out for approximately 95 users in the following categories: o Admins approximately 2 staff

12 o Agreement Admins approximately 14 o Users this covers approximately 79 staff NOTE: Include estimated pricing for adding users in blocks of 10, in the initial year and during the five following years. Provide estimated pricing for support and maintenance for initial year and five years out Technical Requirements Provide estimated pricing for Software as a Service when dealing with approximately 7000 active contracts and grants in a year. Must be able to operate on the existing LAN. Provider hands on training for key staff Provide estimated pricing for cost of implementation in hosted environment versus being responsible for ensure state IT staff deployment solution in state network. Solution must be scalable to meet growing demands of the Agency Documentation Requirements Provide user manuals for various levels of users (administrators and users) 6 REQUESTED INFORMATION Each submission prepared in response to this RFI must include the elements listed below, in the order indicated. The vendor, when presenting the response, must use the following outline: Cover Page Vendor Information Cost Estimates Business and Technical Requirements 6.1 COVER PAGE The first page of the vendor s RFI Response must be a cover page displaying at least the following: Response of RFI Title Vendor s Name Contact Person Telephone Number Address Fax Number Address All subsequent pages of the RFI Response must be numbered. 6.2 VENDOR QUESTIONNAIRE Please provide your answers to the stated questions related to the project. Additional information may supplement your answers and must be attached to the RFI response.

13 6.3 CONTACT INFORMATION All communications concerning this Request for Information (RFI) are to be addressed in writing to the attention of: Stephen Fazekas, State of Vermont, Office of Purchasing & Contracting, 10 Baldwin St, Montpelier VT Stephen Fazekas is the sole contact for this RFI Response. Attempts by RFI Responders to contact any other party could result in the rejection of their RFI Response. 6.4 RFI RESPONSE SUBMISSION CLOSING DATE: The closing date for the receipt of RFI Responses is 3:00 PM January 8, Responses must be delivered To: Stephen Fazekas, State of Vermont, Office of Purchasing & Contracting, 10 Baldwin St, Montpelier, VT prior to that time. RFI Responses or unsolicited amendments submitted after that time will not be accepted and will be returned to the vendor. The responses will be received by purchasing at 10 Baldwin St, Montpelier, VT and will be passed on Agency of Human Services Central Office for review. RFI responses must include one (1) electronic copy on Compact Disc (CD) and Three (3) Paper (hard copy) responses must also be submitted. Paper copies must be bound with a staple, binder or other appropriate means such that pages are not submitted loosely. Three (3) copies of the RFI must be delivered to the Purchase Agent. The electronic response made to the narrative portion of this RFI must be in Microsoft Word version 2007 compatible format. At least one copy of the Cost Table and Business and Technical Requirements must be made in Microsoft Excel Version 2007 or higher. 6.5 EXPLANATION OF EVENTS 1. Issuance of RFI This RFI is being issued by the Office of Purchasing & Contracting, Department of Buildings and General Services Department. Additional copies of the RFI can be obtained from the State Purchasing Division web site or directly from the State Purchasing Agent. 4. Submission of Responses Three (3) paper copies of the RFI response and one (1) electronic copy on CD should be delivered to the Purchasing Agent no later than 3:00 PM Eastern Time on January 8, Responses received after the due date and time may not be considered. Responses should be labeled, "Response to RFI# AHSCGVPerformanceManagement. 5. Review and Evaluation of Responses The review and evaluation of responses to the RFI will be performed by Agency of Human Services and their designees. The evaluation process will take place the week following the response due date. During this time, the RFI Manager or other Agency of Human Services representatives may, at their option, initiate discussion with respondents for the purpose of clarifying aspects of their responses. 6. Vendor Demonstration of Their Product Vendors chosen from the review process may be called on to demonstrate their products and/or service offering. These select vendors will make arrangements with Agency of Human Services to demonstrate their products and/or service offering. The Agency of Human Services shall not be liable for any costs incurred by the vendor in preparation of its demonstration. All costs occurred are the vendor s sole responsibility. All demonstrations are for planning purposes only and do not constitute a legal bid. 7. Vendor Product Test Trial Certain Vendor products and/or service offering may be selected after review process to be trialed by Agency of Human Services if this is an option allowable by the vendor. The test trial can last up to 90 days. Up to 2 vendors products selected will be involved with the test trial. The Agency of Human Services staff will provide feedback to the RFI Manager. The selection of vendor products for a test trial does not commit the Agency of Human Services or the State of Vermont to award a contract. This test trial is for information gathering purposes only and no vendor will be selected, pre-qualified, or exempted based upon their RFI / test trial participation. All costs occurred are the

14 vendor s sole responsibility. All product test trials are for planning purposes only and do not constitute a legal bid. 7 VENDOR QUESTIONNAIRE We are asking for a total cost estimate (low and high estimates) comprised of software, hardware, and necessary implementation services. We understand that the cost figures provided are for planning purposes only and will not be binding in any way. 8 APPENDIX A: COST ESTIMATE WORKSHEET 8.1: COST ESTIMATE TABLE Item General Requirements Description Cost 1 XXX 2 XXX 3 XXX 4 XXX 5 XXX 8.2 ADDITIONAL MATERIALS Please provide any other materials, suggestions, cost, and discussion you deem appropriate.