VENDOR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR RFP Req# BUDGET DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE

Transcription

1 VENDOR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR RFP Req# BUDGET DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE NOTE: TO ALLOW ADEQUTE TIME TO ADDRESS AND POST EACH QUESTION IN TIME FOR THIS RFP, NO ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER 12:00 PM (CT), FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, Is the District open to multiple potential software solutions in a single response? Answer: Shelby County Schools is not open to multiple potential software solutions in a single response 2. Will the District accept a primary respondent who is not software vendor, but is partnering with a software vendor? Answer: Shelby County Schools will not accept a primary respondent who is not the software vendor. Shelby County Schools will accept a solution from a software vendor who distributes their solution through an Authorized Reseller. 3. Does the District have a pre disposed software solution in mind? Answer: Shelby County Schools does not have a pre disposed software solution. 4. What is the budget for the total solution (services & software)? Answer: Budgetary figure not available. 5. What is the target implementation date for the system ( go live )? Answer: Requested implementation timeline be provided by vendor, but the district wants to utilized system for FY2015 Budget Development and start the process around December 1, Our company is preparing to respond to an RFP for the SCS and we have a couple of questions about the Fair Business Program: A. Are companies that are not located in Shelby County eligible for the program? B. If companies not located in Shelby County are eligible, what is the process for participating in the Fair Business Program? I understand that there are a number of forms that must be submitted with proposals, but are there any steps we need to take prior to responding to RFPs to become a designated participant of the Fair Business Program? Answer: The Fair Business Program refers to any business that is minority or woman owned (M/WBE). Shelby County Schools encourages participation of M/WBE as business partners in the best way that fits your business and the needs as stated in our proposal. You only have to complete the documents in the Far Business Program and include them in the RFP in order to participate. There are no special measures that must be taken prior to the submission of your proposal. The local preference program refers only to those vendors who are located in Shelby County.

2 7. Is there an electronic copy of this RFP? Answer: In addition to the PDF format, a Microsoft Word *.docx has been posted. 8. Is this a typo? (One day to decide) Page 7 Proposals will be accepted until 2:00 P.M. on August 30, PROPOSALS RECEIVED AFTER THIS TIME WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. One (1) original, one (1) CD/ USB (with Proposal formatted into a single pdf file), and seven (7) copies of your Proposal must be submitted. SCS expects to award a contract to the successful contractor not later than September 1, Answer: An addendum has been posted indicating that the contract will be processed as soon as possible after the approval of the Board Commissioners. 9. What is the approximate annual operating budget of the SCS? Answer: $1.5B 10. On page 20 under the heading Evaluation Criteria it allocates 5% for the Fair Business Program. On Page 34 it states SCS applies a five percent (5%) bid preference to Respondents, which qualify as local businesses. Are these the same thing or different things? (5% or 10%) Answer: The weight for the Fair Business Program credit, which would be an instance in which a business partners with or is a minority or woman owned business, is 5%. The local preference program gives a 5% preference to a local business if that business is in contention with a non local business. 11. There seems to be a conflict between the Proposal Requirements as detailed on Page 21, and the Format of the proposal as detailed on Page 27. Can you clarify please? What is the specific format you would like to see? Answer: There is no conflict. Page 21 gives the order in which we can to see the information submitted. Page 27 offers additional direction as to the type of information and how we would like to see it, therefore the reference to description of services, a table of contents, company background, etc. 12. If a Canadian proponent cannot meet any of The SCS Fair Business Program requirements, will their proposal still be considered (granted at a 5% reduction). Answer: All proposals will be considered. Some proposals will carry more weight according to what is submitted. Even if a proposal cannot meet the Fair Business Program criteria the content may be such that it is superior to other proposals submitted. 13. Item 7 on page 22 is partially cut off and not readable. Kindly restate this and any other requirement that may be unreadable. Answer: The Word version of this document is offered for review on our website under Bids and RFP s. Please see the entire version for any clarifications. 14. Page 15 states: The software shall support Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or later. Can you be more specific? Microsoft stopped supporting SQL 2005 in April of What specific later versions of SQL does SCS support? Answer: We prefer to only install SQL 2008 R2 SP2 on up, but will install other versions down to SQL 2008 with an advisory.

3 15. In APPENDIX 1 BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS item 43 states: Compatible with Microsoft Windows Server technology. If browser based must be compatible with Internet Explorer 7 or later versions. Is this a typo? Internet Explorer 7 is very dated. If this is not a typo, are their other (or newer) browsers SCS supports, such as Chrome or Firefox? Please provide as much detail as possible. Answer: IE8/IE9 are supported in the district IE9 won t run on XP machines Firefox 3,9,12,22 is supported on both PC and Mac they release a new version regularly Safari is supported on Mac Chrome is NOT supported 16. Has the SCS viewed budget solutions before the release of the RFP document? (Within the last 2 years). If so, which solutions? Answer: No 17. Has a budget been set aside for this project? If so, how much? Answer: SCS does not offer budget information during bid or RFP advertisement and evaluation. Please offer the lowest and best price. 18. Can the RFP be provided in an editable format, such as MS Word? If not, can we reproduce (manually type/create) duplicate document? Answer: The RFP is provided in Word format see the Procurement website for this version. 19. Can you provide an overview your general organizational structure as it relates to budgeting? For example, below is a common organization structure: >10 Divisions >50 Departments >200 Cost Centers (budgeting done at this level, then rolled up) Answer: The Account Code Structure was designed for State of Tennessee compliance reporting as well as to provide information to users of District financial information. To see the State of Tennessee Department of Education Accounting Manual with a listing and description of state account codes, please go to the following link: Department structure is based upon the District s Organization. For example, for the Department Academic Office all General Education Staffing for Schools and School Leadership falls under this Cabinet Head, such as 1025XX for Librarians, 106XXX for School Leadership and 19XXXX for General Education. For the Departments of Information Technology, all Departmental codes are within the 34XXXX scheme. For example, Information Technology s departmental code is ; Relationships and Customer Service is ; Educational Technology is and Technical Services is In addition, all of these IT departments are under the leadership of the Cabinet Head, which in this case is the Chief Information Officer.

4 20. Can you describe your organizational structure in this manner? Fund Function Object Department Location Project XX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXX XXXX The departmental organizational structure is illustrated below: Based upon the illustration above, each Cabinet is broken out further by departments. Reporting Hierarchy / Cabinet Department Description Department Rollup BOARD OF EDUCATION BOARD OF EDUCATION SUPERINTENDENT SUPERINTENDENT GENERAL COUNSEL GENERAL COUNSEL GENERAL COUNSEL LABOR RELATIONS GENERAL COUNSEL POLICY INTERNAL AUDIT INTERNAL AUDIT ACADEMIC OFFICE ACADEMIC OFFICE ACADEMIC OFFICE CURRICULUM

5 ACADEMIC OFFICE ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE ACADEMIC OFFICE ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE ELEMENTARY ACADEMIC OFFICE ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE MIDDLE ACADEMIC OFFICE ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE K ACADEMIC OFFICE ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE HIGH ACADEMIC OFFICE STEM ACADEMIC OFFICE LITERACY ACADEMIC OFFICE MATHEMATICS ACADEMIC OFFICE SCIENCE ACADEMIC OFFICE SOCIAL STUDIES ACADEMIC OFFICE ELEMENTARY MUSIC AND ART ACADEMIC OFFICE SUMMER SCHOOL ACADEMIC OFFICE PRE K ACADEMIC OFFICE ELEMENTARY PHYSICAL EDUCATION ACADEMIC OFFICE TEXTBOOKS ACADEMIC OFFICE WORLD LANGUAGES ACADEMIC OFFICE BAND AND STRINGS ACADEMIC OFFICE BAND INSTRUMENT REPAIR HUMAN CAPITAL AND TALENT SUBSTITUTES ACADEMIC OFFICE LIBRARIANS ACADEMIC OFFICE LIBRARIANS ELEMENTARY ACADEMIC OFFICE LIBRARIANS MIDDLE ACADEMIC OFFICE LIBRARIANS K ACADEMIC OFFICE LIBRARIANS HIGH ACADEMIC OFFICE EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT ACADEMIC OFFICE DISTRICT INITIATIVES ACADEMIC OFFICE CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION ACADEMIC OFFICE ADULT EDUCATION ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN ELEMENTARY ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN MIDDLE ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN K ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN HIGH ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN HOMEBOUND & HOSPITAL ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN GIFTED ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN SCHOOLS ADMIN

6 ACADEMIC OFFICE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN ADMINISTRATION ACADEMIC OFFICE FEDERAL PROGRAMS ACADEMIC OFFICE REGIONAL SUPERINTENDENTS ACADEMIC OFFICE NORTHWEST REGION ACADEMIC OFFICE NORTHEAST REGION ACADEMIC OFFICE SOUTHWEST REGION ACADEMIC OFFICE SOUTHEAST REGION ACADEMIC OFFICE SHELBY REGION ACADEMIC OFFICE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP ACADEMIC OFFICE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP ELEMENTARY ACADEMIC OFFICE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP MIDDLE ACADEMIC OFFICE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP K ACADEMIC OFFICE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP HIGH ACADEMIC OFFICE OPTIONAL SCHOOLS ACADEMIC OFFICE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS ACADEMIC OFFICE ADOLESCENT PARENTING ACADEMIC OFFICE MCS PREP NORTHWEST ACADEMIC OFFICE MCS PREP NORTHEAST ACADEMIC OFFICE MCS PREP SOUTHWEST ACADEMIC OFFICE MCS PREP SOUTHEAST ACADEMIC OFFICE IDA B WELLS ACADEMY ACADEMIC OFFICE MEMPHIS JOB CORP ACADEMY ACADEMIC OFFICE SCHOOL OPERATIONS ACADEMIC OFFICE SCHOOLS ACADEMIC OFFICE GENERAL EDUCATION ELEMENTARY ACADEMIC OFFICE GENERAL EDUCATION MIDDLE ACADEMIC OFFICE GENERAL EDUCATION K ACADEMIC OFFICE GENERAL EDUCATION HIGH ACADEMIC OFFICE HOLLIS F PRICE ACADEMIC OFFICE MIDDLE COLLEGE ACADEMIC OFFICE CAREER LADDER ACADEMIC OFFICE EXTENDED CONTRACT ACADEMIC OFFICE GENERAL EDUCATION OTHER STUDENT SERVICES STUDENT SERVICES STUDENT SERVICES ATTENDANCE & DISCIPLINE STUDENT SERVICES SAFETY & SECURITY STUDENT SERVICES STUDENT SUPPORT STUDENT SERVICES STUDENT SUPPORT ELEMENTARY STUDENT SERVICES STUDENT SUPPORT MIDDLE

7 STUDENT SERVICES STUDENT SUPPORT K STUDENT SERVICES STUDENT SUPPORT HIGH STUDENT SERVICES ATHLETICS STUDENT SERVICES ROTC STUDENT SERVICES DRIVERS ED STUDENT SERVICES GUIDANCE COUNSELING STUDENT SERVICES GUIDANCE COUNSELING ELEMENTARY STUDENT SERVICES GUIDANCE COUNSELING MIDDLE STUDENT SERVICES GUIDANCE COUNSELING K STUDENT SERVICES GUIDANCE COUNSELING HIGH STUDENT SERVICES MONEY DUE BOARD(SCHOOL REIMBURSEMENT) STUDENT SERVICES COORDINATED SCHOOL HEALTH INNOVATION INNOVATION OFFICE INNOVATION CHARTER SCHOOLS INNOVATION DISTRICT INNOVATIONS INNOVATION PERFORMANCE PLANNING INNOVATION K 16 INNOVATIONS INNOVATION ASD RELATIONS PLANNING AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLANNING AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLANNING AND ACCOUNTABILITY STUDENT INFO PLANNING AND ACCOUNTABILITY ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLANNING AND ACCOUNTABILITY RESEARCH PLANNING AND IMPROVEMENT CHIEF OF STAFF CHIEF OF STAFF CHIEF OF STAFF COMMUNICATIONS CHIEF OF STAFF INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION CHIEF OF STAFF COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT HUMAN CAPITAL AND TALENT TALENT HUMAN CAPITAL AND TALENT PERFORMANCE HUMAN CAPITAL AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT HUMAN CAPITAL AND TALENT RECRUITMENT AND STAFFING HUMAN CAPITAL AND TALENT EMPLOYEE SERVICES HUMAN CAPITAL AND TALENT COMPENSATION FINANCE FINANCE

8 FINANCE ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING FINANCE BUDGET AND FISCAL PLANNING FINANCE PAYROLL FINANCE CONTRACTS FINANCE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HUMAN CAPITAL AND TALENT BENEFITS FINANCE BENEFITS RETIREES BUSINESS OPERATIONS RISK BUSINESS OPERATIONS BUSINESS OPERATIONS ADMIN BUSINESS OPERATIONS TRANSPORTATION Business Operations SPECIAL EDUCATION TRANSPORTATION Business Operations PROCUREMENT Business Operations FACILITIES Business Operations FACILITIES PLANNING AND PROPERTY Business Operations NUTRITION SERVICES Business Operations WAREHOUSING Information Technology INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Information Technology RELATIONSHIPS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE Information Technology EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY Information Technology TECHNICAL SERVICES Finance DEBT SERVICE Finance OTHER POTENTIAL USES Finance REGULAR CAPITAL OUTLAY

9 21. Are Departmental Allocations needed? For example, some Departments (Cost Centers) allocate all of their expenses to other Departments or Cost Centers in the budgeting process. These are often referred to as Internal Service Providers or ISPs. A common example of an ISP can be the Information Technology (IT) department. ISP budgets are developed in detail just like any other department, and then their expenses are allocated out to other budget elements other departments. Do you require this functionality? Answer: For schools, a site based budget is provided to the schools by location which will need to be allocated. An example of the site based allocation is included below as illustration. There are four parts of the calculation: (1) an allocation amount per student; (2) principal travel; (3) assistant principal travel based on the number of assistant principals at a school; and (4) a teacher allocation for supplies based on the number of teachers at each school. (1) Apply the school enrollment number x the allotment per pupil amount. (2) Each principal has a travel allotment. (3) Each assistant or vice principal at each school has a travel allotment. (4) Lastly, each teacher has the supplies allocation of $200. So each teacher x $200 is figured into each site based budget. The allocation amounts are subject to change annually. For more detail, see the calculation below: SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS SITE-BASED ALLOCATION AND TEACHER SUPPLIES CALCULATION FISCAL YEAR Department Object Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Admin Property Maintenance , , or $ 0.69 $ 0.69 $ 0.69 School Printing and Postage , , or Admin Printing and Postage , , or School Supplies and Materials , , or Admin Supplies and Materials , , or Guidance Supplies and Materials , , or Library Services Supplies and Materials , , or School Furniture and Equipment , , or Admin Furniture and Equipment , , or Total amount per pupil $ $ $ Principal Travel (Out of Town and Local) , , or or $ 1, $ 1, $ 1, Assistant Principal T ravel (Out of T own and Local) - Allocation times number of VP and APs , , or or $ $ $ Allocation per Teacher $ $ $ Number of General Education Teachers 3,028 1,349 1, Can you describe your user / licensing requirements using this breakdown? How many Capital module budgeting licenses (full use) are required? ~6 How many Operating module budgeting licenses (full use) are required? ~160 How many Salary/Position module budgeting licenses (full use) are required? ~160

10 23. Do department managers (or the equivalent) manage all budgeting data for each position s costs (salary, wages, benefits, etc.) within their department?. Or alternatively, is the salary & benefit budgeting done by a smaller group (maybe within Finance or HR) on behalf of the departmental users? Answer: For teacher type positions (Teachers, Professional Guidance Counselors and Librarians, Principals, Assistant Principals, Social Workers, Psychologists), the salary schedule will simply be rolled to the next step if steps are allowed in the next fiscal year. This can be done centrally. For other positions, it depends on the annual salary adjustment and how the percentages will be applied. For example, there may be an amount based upon performance for each employee or there may be a specific percentage applied to all non teacher type employees, or there may be no increase at all. We do not have a definitive answer at this time. 24. What is the total number of positions (staff) at the SCS expressed as FTE s? Answer: ~18, What number of these positions are unionized? Answer: Currently none of the positions are unionized. 26. For the majority of positions, are staffing costs calculated based on Steps and Grades (a matrix)? If not, can you explain how position costs are calculated? Answer: Most school based positions (Teachers, Professional Guidance Counselors and Librarians, Principals, Assistant Principals, Social Workers, Psychologists) are on Salary Grades and Steps. All other staff members are on pay codes. Annual salary adjustments will be based upon percentages that may not be consistent. 27. During the implementation process, how many years of historical data does the SCS wish to convert from the existing solution into the new solution? Answer: Current year data Fiscal Year 2014 only 28. Please specify the number of people to be trained initially. Answer: The Division of Budget and Fiscal Planning, which consists of six employees, requires training. 29. Do you want training to be performed onsite or done remotely? Remote (internet conferencing) is becoming more common and is more economical. Answer: On site training is required. 30. For the Professional Services component of the bid, are you requesting a fixed price or time & material? Answer: We are asking for a fixed price. 31. Is your preference to have the software installed on your premise (your network, your server) or, in a hosted environment? Answer: This depends upon the cost. Please provide both.

11 32. Will SCS consider the solution to be delivered via SaaS (Software as a Service)? Answer: This depends upon the cost. 33. For the below statement in the RFP, can more information be provided into what security elements you are looking for ( ie login security, audit control, etc?) Contractor shall have evidence of a Security Incident Response Plan that includes customer notification and priority levels. Answer: Incidents such as virus infections, hacker attempts and break ins, which lead to improper disclosure of confidential information to others, system service interruptions, breach of personal information, and/or other events with serious information security implications. 34. For the below statement in the RFP, is the Board looking for a testing phase that is in addition to the user acceptance testing (UAT) that is part of virtually all development life cycle processes? The Proposer shall propose a testing phase for the proposed budget software. The actual phase shall be determined by the SCS. Answer: Yes we are looking for a testing phase in addition to the UAT. 35. How many named users of the system should we provide software license pricing for in the response? The RFP states the system must ultimately support 150 named and 300 concurrent users, but we were unsure how many licenses would be needed in the near term. Answer: 160 licenses