Upgrade of Exchange Environment Request for Proposal August 2014
Contents 1. Introduction... 4 1.1. Purpose of document... 4 1.2. Why this document is being issued... 4 1.3. Overview... 4 1.4. Introduction to the IFRS Foundation... 4 2. Instructions for Completion... 5 2.1. Overall selection timetable... 5 2.2. Contact... 5 2.3. Additional information... 5 2.4. Responses... 6 2.5. Clarification... 6 2.6. Contractual Issues... 6 2.7. Next steps... 7 2.7.1. RFP Workshops... 7 2.7.2. Presentations... 7 2.7.3. Client Reference visits... 7 2.7.4. Selection of Preferred Supplier... 7 2.7.5. Transition Period... 7 2.7.6. Commencement of Project... 7 3. Guiding Principles... 7 3.1. General... 7 4. Company Profile... 8 4.1. General Information... 8 4.2. Company Structure... 8 4.3. Reference Sites... 9 4.4. Accreditation... 9 5. General... 9 5.1. Costs... 9 5.2. Additional items... 9 6. Transition... 10 6.1. Overview... 10 Appendix A Overview of Current Exchange Environment...Error! Bookmark not defined. 2 P a g e
A.1 Desktop Provision...Error! Bookmark not defined. A.2 Remote Access...Error! Bookmark not defined. A.3 Mail Gateway...Error! Bookmark not defined. A.4 Blackberry Services...Error! Bookmark not defined. A.5 Additional Services Using the Exchange Environment...Error! Bookmark not defined. A.6 Servers...Error! Bookmark not defined. A.7 Mailbox sizes...error! Bookmark not defined. A.8 Removal of Microsoft Exchange 2003...Error! Bookmark not defined. A.9 DR and Business continuity...error! Bookmark not defined. 3 P a g e
1. Introduction 1.1. Purpose of document This document is a Request for Proposal (RFP) to determine IT partner options for the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS Foundation) to work with to deliver upgrades to their Microsoft Exchange environment. The organisation intending to respond to this RFP is referred to throughout as the Supplier. This document is intended to provide the Supplier with sufficient information to allow them to produce and deliver a formal proposal to the IFRS Foundation. The document is structured so that the Supplier is provided with the following information: Background; Why this document is being issued; The process for review and selection; Detailed requirements. 1.2. Why this document is being issued The IFRS Foundation is undertaking a review to determine the most effective way of upgrading its Exchange environment. Any contract for the provision of IT services will be between the IFRS Foundation and the selected Supplier. This document sets out our requirements in detail and asks Suppliers to outline how they can meet these requirements, and to provide associated time scales and costs. The RFP is intended to provide the Supplier with sufficient information to allow them to produce and deliver a formal proposal that is acceptable to the IFRS Foundation for the purposes of comparison and evaluation. Following the evaluation of responses, the IFRS Foundation will select a shortlist of Suppliers to move to the next stage in the process. 1.3. Overview The IFRS Foundation wishes to upgrade its entire Exchange environment. A solution is required that: uses Exchange 2013 on a virtualised Server 2012 OS platform. increases the resiliency of the email service and its ability to recovery from failure. improves the security of access to messaging services from the Internet. fully integrates with SharePoint 2013. The IFRS Foundation wishes to take advantage of the benefits that Exchange 2013 integration with the SharePoint 2013 ediscovery tool can provide. 1.4. Introduction to the IFRS Foundation The IFRS Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Its primary mission is to develop, in the public interest, a single set of high quality, understandable, enforceable and globally accepted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) based upon clearly articulated principles. IFRS are developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the independent standard-setting body of the IFRS Foundation. The main IFRS Foundation office is in Cannon Street, London and it also has a small office in Tokyo which is connected to IFRS Foundation IT services through a VPN. Staff are mainly office-based. 4 P a g e
2. Instructions for Completion 2.1. Overall selection timetable Key stages in the selection process are as follows. At all stages the IFRS Foundation is seeking to reduce the number of Suppliers to reach a final preferred selection. Issue RFP (this document). This stage sets out the IFRS Foundation s detailed requirements and the responses will allow a detailed analysis of the Supplier s suitability as a partner. RFP Workshops any RFP workshops requested by Suppliers will be held at the IFRS Foundation s Cannon Street office. The purpose of the workshops is to allow Suppliers to ask any necessary questions to obtain any further information they require in order to respond to this RFP. Technical staff from the IFRS Foundation will be available. Workshops are not compulsory and brief questions can be dealt with by contacting the primary and secondary contacts as noted in Section 2.2. Return RFP responses are to be returned as per the instructions in Section 2.4. Presentations for Supplies that are selected to move to the next stage, the IFRS Foundation will ask Suppliers to make presentations to the IFRS Foundation selection team and management. The presentations are expected to be held in week commencing 22 September. Client references. Selected Suppliers will be asked to put forward client references that the IFRS Foundation evaluation team can contact. We do not expect Suppliers to be present during these conversations. Selection of Preferred Supplier: deadlines for the overall selection process are to be finalised. It is anticipated that a preferred supplier will be identified and informed in early October 2014. Transition. This period is to allow the preferred Supplier to get ready for the start date of the Project. Start date for IT service provision: Estimated to be 014 October 2014. 2.2. Contact All queries and responses to this RFP must be to the following contacts: Primary Contact Secondary Contact Jonathan Lewis jlewis@ifrs.org David Ramsey dramsey@ifrs.org No other contact should be made to members of staff of the IFRS Foundation, without express permission from either the primary or secondary contact named above. 2.3. Additional information You may attach additional items that may provide clarification or material information, but this should be in addition to the presentation. Please do not embed files but provide instead a reference to attached information. 5 P a g e
2.4. Responses Responses must be returned at the latest by 12:00 on Friday 12 September 2014. Copies should be sent via email to both the primary and secondary contacts at the email addresses shown in Section 2.2. Your document should include answers to all questions in all sections of this document. Diagrams and schedules should be included as required. Please respond with clear, concise, complete answers and ensure that all points are addressed. You should specify any assumptions you make when answering the questions. A full breakdown of the costs of providing the solution should be provided. 2.5. Clarification If clarification of any aspect of this document is required, queries should be directed to the contacts as set out in Section 2.2. Suppliers should be aware that the IFRS Foundation reserves the right to circulate any such queries and answers to all prospective Suppliers on a Supplier-confidential basis. Questions for clarification of process or requirements should be made in writing by email to both the primary and secondary contacts. 2.6. Contractual Issues The successful Supplier shall be deemed to be contractually bound to the responses to this RFP and any accompanying schedules and to have accepted all of the provisions and the principles contained in this RFP. To the extent that any replies to this RFP derogate from the terms that potential Suppliers are required to accept under this RFP process then such derogations shall be considered in evaluating the applicable Supplier s response. The IFRS Foundation reserves the right to suspend or abandon this procurement exercise at any time. The existence of this RFP does not indicate or imply an intention by the IFRS Foundation to enter into a contract with any Supplier. The IFRS Foundation shall have entire discretion with regard to the decision to conduct a competitive exercise in relation to all or any of the subject matter in this document. In responding to this document, each potential Supplier shall accept that it shall bear the costs of responding to the document and of engaging in the next phase of this procurement process. All proposals must be valid for a period of no less than 120 days from the submission date. No obligation to contract The IFRS Foundation is not obliged to accept any of the proposals it receives relating to this RFP. The IFRS Foundation may negotiate further with any or some of the Suppliers during the course of this process. In the event that a particular Supplier is selected for further negotiation, and those subsequent negotiations result in a failure to reach full agreement, the IFRS Foundation reserves the right to resume negotiations with other Suppliers who have submitted proposals. The IFRS Foundation may, upon receipt of any proposal, decide to contract for either the entire project, or only for portions of it, depending on the suggestions made and the budget available to the IFRS Foundation. All costs of preparing proposals in response to this RFP will be borne by the Supplier and will not be reimbursed, regardless of whether the Supplier is subsequently awarded any contract as a result of this process. 6 P a g e
In recognition of this, the Supplier will retain all IP rights in their proposal documents and the IFRS Foundation will not reuse Supplier documents for any other purpose, although noting that there are no IP rights accrued in ideas, only in their specific form as presented in Supplier proposal documents. 2.7. Next steps 2.7.1. RFP workshops Any RFP workshops will be held at the IFRS Foundation s London offices. The purpose of the workshops is to allow Suppliers to ask any necessary questions to obtain further information to respond to the RFP. Technical staff from the IFRS Foundation will be available. Workshops are not compulsory and brief questions can be dealt with by contacting the primary and secondary contacts listed in Section 2.2. It is for Suppliers to determine whether they wish to ask the IFRS Foundation for an RFP workshop and to contact the IFRS Foundation to agree a date and to discuss their information and resource requirements from the IFRS Foundation. 2.7.2. Presentations If you are selected to move to the next stage, we will ask you to make a presentation to the IFRS Foundation selection team and management. The presentations are scheduled to be held in week commencing 22 September. 2.7.3. Client reference visits We will seek to contact one or more of your existing clients to receive comments on your project delivery. 2.7.4. Selection of preferred Supplier The IFRS Foundation expects to select a preferred Supplier in early October 2014. 2.7.5. Transition period The transition period is to allow the preferred Supplier to ensure that they are ready to commence the Project on the agreed start date. 2.7.6. Commencement of Project Project activity is estimated to commence on 14 October 2014. 3. Guiding principles The following principles are provided to assist the Supplier in understanding the overall objectives of this RFP. Suppliers should abide by the following guiding principles when using this document. 3.1. General 1. The IFRS Foundation has made every effort to ensure that the information in this RFP is complete, relevant and unambiguous, and allows the Supplier to respond with the most effective solution for the IFRS Foundation. 2. The IFRS Foundation wants to work closely with the Supplier in all stages of the procurement process to ensure that the highest quality response is provided. The Supplier must tell us about any areas in the RFP that require clarification or more details as soon as possible in the process. 7 P a g e
3. The successful Supplier(s) should be available to commence the implementation phase immediately following successful completion of contracts. 4. This document includes details of the current service, in the appendices. This is intended as information for the Supplier to help them to understand the IFRS Foundation s current position. Suppliers should not seek to replicate this position directly, but should set out solutions for addressing the requirements of the IFRS Foundation. 5. It is not the IFRS Foundation s intention to provide solutions for the project. The Supplier will advise the IFRS Foundation on the most effective solution for its requirements. The IFRS Foundation is happy to discuss options during the RFP process and to provide guidance as required. If there are valid options that could reduce costs, but with only a minor impact on service, then these should be highlighted in the response in addition to the recommended proposal. 6. The presentation must provide costs for project delivery and show the costs for hardware separately from those for licensing. The IFRS Foundation will make every effort to answer any questions that ensure the accuracy of Supplier costs. 7. The RFP response must provide the IFRS Foundation with a clear picture of project delivery proposals and costs. 8. If there is more than one solution that may meet the requirement, you may set out these alternative options, but you must state which option you recommend for the IFRS Foundation, and why. You should clearly identify any instance for which a requirement cannot be met. 9. If a service is provided through a third-party please clearly set out where this is the case and how the arrangement will operate. 4. Company profile 4.1. General information Please provide the following details: Required Information 1. Company name. 2. Corporate web site address. 3. Registered address. 4. Primary contact name/email/telephone. 5. Secondary contact name/email/telephone. 4.2. Company structure Required Information 1. Provide information on your email and messaging division showing staff numbers and roles. Indicate numbers of permanent staff and contract staff. 8 P a g e
2. What are the core skill-sets of your company? 4.3. Reference sites Required information 1. Please provide examples of live implementations by your company of Microsoft Exchange 2013 services in the UK similar to those required. Please state in each case the date of live operation and the service offered. 2. Please provide the following details for the five most recent Microsoft Exchange-related projects you have completed: scope of services. the outline approach to migration. time from contract signature to go-live. was this as planned or were there delays? challenges faced. 3. Please provide details of three clients that the IFRS Foundation can contact for references. 4.4. Accreditation Required information 1. Please provide details of all accreditation you have and industry standards you follow (eg ISO, ITIL etc) and how they apply to the various areas of this RFP. 2. What relevant memberships of industry groups do you have? 5. General 5.1. Costs Please provide the following cost information: Required information 1. Show the costs for project delivery, licensing and hardware separately. 5.2. Additional items Required information 1. How do you measure customer satisfaction and what processes have you in place to improve satisfaction? 2. Please explain your standard project management methodology and approach to this project. 3. Please explain your standard processes for reporting performance to clients. 9 P a g e
Required information 4. The response should include a proposal on support to address any project-specific issues arising post-implementation. 5. Please describe any additional services you can provide to the IFRS Foundation, that are not included in the fee for the delivery of the project. Please provide information on the costs associated with any such additional services. 6. Please provide any other information relevant to this RFP that has not been covered in any other section. 6. Transition 6.1. Overview Required Information 1. Please set out in detail your proposed Target Operating Model for the IFRS Foundation Microsoft Exchange environment. Explain your guiding principles and why this is your recommendation. Please provide as appropriate architecture diagrams and technical specifications. 2. Migration Plan. Please set out the overall project plan to migrate the services from Microsoft Exchange 2010 to 2013. You should include: a list of activities required. time scales. resource requirements for yourself and the IFRS Foundation. any contingency measures. 3. Please set out the key dependencies of your plan. 4. Please advise what office space and facility requirements you will require at IFRS Foundation locations during the project. 5. Please list the key risks to successful migration and how you would mitigate them. 6. Please set out your project governance approach, as it will apply to the IFRS Foundation. 7. Please identify the key members of your transition team and provide brief CVs for each. 8. Please set out your approach to liaison and collaboration with the internal IFRS IT team. 9. Describe how your change control process during the transition phase would operate. 10. Please set out how you have controlled and minimised costs within your transition plans. 7. Detailed Environment information Appendices containing extended detail on the IFRS Foundation s current email environment are available on request to companies wishing to submit a proposal. 10 P a g e