Request for Information for Document Management System Software Issue Date: January 6, 2016 Closing Date: February 4, 2016 Closing Time: Location: Attention: 2:00 pm local time Town of The Blue Mountains Finance Department, 1st Floor 32 Mill Street Thornbury, ON, N0H 2P0 Manager of Purchasing & Risk Management
1. Introduction The Town of The Blue Mountains ( the Town ) is requesting information from interested parties for the supply of a Document Management System (DMS). This Request for Information ( RFI ) is intended to gather information that will assist the Town in the development of a future procurement process. In the event that sufficient information is received, the Town may, but is not obligated to, initiate a competitive bidding opportunity. 2. Background Town staff currently use The Ontario Municipal Records Management System (TOMRMS) to classify and index documents, as well as to define retention schedules. They currently use a series of Excel spreadsheets to maintain the TOMRMS classification system and electronic documents are stored on Windows server shares. The Town is interested in information regarding a DMS that would manage the creation, searching, distribution, storage, retrieval, archival and destruction of all Town documents and records, including all forms of physical and electronic documents. The Town is interested in systems that conform to the Town s record retention bylaw as well as the Ontario Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). 3. Purpose of the Request for Information The purpose of this RFI is to: Obtain high level cost estimates for budget purposes; Obtain information on potential new technologies or approaches; Obtain recommendations that would enhance the success of a future procurement opportunity for this project; Understand the time commitment of in-house staff time, and their level of expertise, for this project; Determine the level of market interest; Provide the industry with an opportunity to comment on the potential procurement opportunity. 4. Instructions to Respondents Responses should be delivered by hand, regular mail or email to the following location on or before 2:00 pm, local time, Thursday, February 4, 2016. Town of The Blue Mountains 1 st Floor Finance 32 Mill Street Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0 purchasing@thebluemountains.ca Page 2 of 6
If the respondent is sending a response by email, the maximum size accepted is 50 Megabytes (MB). If the response is larger than 50 MB, then arrangements can be made to send the response via FTP site. Inquiries regarding this RFI should be directed to: purchasing@thebluemountains.ca 519-599-3131 x 278 Any addenda, if required, will be posted to the Town s website. Questions should be received by 4:30 pm, no later than 3 days before the closing date. Please note submissions received after 2:00 pm, local time, Thursday, February 4, 2016 will not be accepted. Respondents are specifically requested NOT to submit detailed price proposals or information about the qualifications or experience of their firm or individuals in their firm. 5. Submission Requirements The Town welcomes the submission from interested and qualified firms that can provide DMS software and associated implementation services. Responses should include ideas, information and recommendations that could result in clarification of the requirements and potential challenges with this initiative. The following sections outline the information to be provided in your response. 5.1 General Information Company and General Information: a. Company legal business name. b. Company background, including, but not limited to history, size, location. c. Company legal entity, for example, is this a corporation or sole proprietorship? d. Mailing address, telephone number and email address. e. Name, title and email address of primary contact for the submission. f. Number of years in the business. g. Areas of expertise. Product Information: a. The name of the proposed product. b. A general overview (or product brochure). c. Knowledge and experience in the industry, in particular, as it applies to the type of work expected under this project. d. Briefly detail recent experience with doing similar work. e. Briefly detail the ability and capacity to handle the specific project. f. Provide general list pricing (excluding tax) for: Page 3 of 6
software licensing for approximately 100 users (please specify if this is concurrent, unlimited or per user licensing) typical setup and configuration charges for a project of this size annual support costs annual product update costs initial training costs any additional product or service costs required from a third party any incremental costs for more users All pricing information is to be in Canadian funds. Relevant Experience and References: a. Provide three municipal references for relevant projects of a similar size and scope completed in the last five years. We are especially interested in municipal customers using the TOMRMS classification system and your software. 5.2 General System Inquiries a. Will your system allow the Town to continue using the TOMRMS classification system? Is it already setup to accommodate this? b. Will the system allow us to track the disposition of physical records? c. Will the system recognize the current file number system currently in place, and will the system assign new file numbers as files are opened? d. Will the system allow us to create TOMRMS labels on Dymo label printers? e. Does the system address the entire life cycle, or continuum, of a record from its creation/receipt, through its active use, distribution and maintenance, to its final disposition (destruction, archival preservation or permanent retention)? f. Record retention classifications need to be configured based on the Town s record retention bylaw. These classifications need to be updated by the Clerk s office. Whenever retention schedules are updated, does the system have the ability to globally update and recalculate disposition dates for all affected records? g. When a document is created can the user select a record retention classification which will calculate the disposition date for that document? h. Does the system protect documents from being deleted before their assigned records retention date? Does the system allow for staff to override the assigned destruction date of a document? i. Does the system allow for checking out files for edit and does it keep a revision history of document changes? j. Are there options for security classification for documents, for example contains personal information, confidential, highly restricted access and restricted access? Can multiple security classifications be assigned to a document? k. Are there extensive search capabilities? Will it allow for ad hoc Boolean searches (AND, OR, NOT etc.)? Can users save these ad hoc searches for subsequent use? Please explain in detail the search capabilities of the system. l. Will the system search the content of documents? Page 4 of 6
m. Suggest options for public visibility of documents. n. Is there a method for certain users to override the security classification? o. Suggest how to deal with restricted files. p. What types of canned reports does the system come with? q. Can we create ad hoc reports? r. What happens when a document is destroyed? Is it actually deleted? Is it just marked as deleted? Is it searchable? Can we block reading it? Can we see the history of the document still? Is it blocked from an FOI search? s. Does the system allow for the automation of the creation of document retention schedules and document destruction dates? t. Does the system have advanced search tools that allow for quick searches and assignment of key words for documents and projects? u. Does the system contain workflow options to allow for more efficient maintenance of documents? v. Does the system recognize duplication of documents and manage/ provide suggestions accordingly to ensure that excess duplication (of correspondence particularly), is not happening within the DMS? w. Suggest options for training approximately 120 staff members and approximately 6 system administrators. 5.3 Technical Inquiries a. Will it be possible to load the Town s TOMRMS spreadsheets into the system from Excel? b. Is the DMS searchable by Encase from Guidance Software for Freedom of Information requests? If not, does the system have it have its own ediscovery and forensics capability built in? c. Can you provide us with guidance from previous projects on moving all the Town s current electronic and physical documents into the system? d. Can you suggest implementation strategies that would make sense for a project of this size? e. Does the system support Microsoft SQL Server, as well as the latest versions of Windows Server, Windows and all popular browsers? f. Does the software support Active Directory integration? g. If the software does not integrate to Active Directory, does it allow for the creation of multiple user groups with different levels of security that the Town can define? h. Does the software support integration to the most recent versions of Microsoft Office (Word; Outlook; Excel; Publisher; PowerPoint) and Adobe Acrobat Professional? Can we browse the DMS from within Word or Adobe Acrobat (like you browse for files in Windows), then check out the file, edit it and check it back into the DMS right from Word? Will the system email Town staff when the disposition status of a document needs to be addressed? Will the system create a file destruction report or an equivalent process? i. What options are there for the location of the database? Does the Town have a choice as to whether the data is located on internal or cloud servers? The Town would prefer a system that is located on an internal server, but we are interested to see what the trends are in the industry. Page 5 of 6
j. Are there options for Outlook/Exchange integration for classification of email messages as Town records? k. The Town uses CityView database software for tracking information regarding properties, including many documents. Can you suggest strategies for integrating CityView to the DMS and for classifying CityView property documents as Town records? l. The Town uses primarily Kyocera and Xerox multi-function devices for scanning. Does the software integrate to these devices to automate scanning directly to the database? m. Will the system automatically OCR scanned documents that are entered into the database? n. What types of support plans are available - 24x7, business hours? o. Will the software run on a Virtual Machine (VM) or does it require physical hardware? 6 Rights of the Town a. This RFI will not be used to evaluate, rank or select vendors, nor will it be used to prequalify or screen vendors for a subsequent competitive bidding process, if any. b. If a subsequent competitive procurement process ensues, the Town is under no obligation to advise any vendor responding to this RFI. Vendors are advised to register as a vendor on the Town s Tender and Bid Opportunities website at http://www.thebluemountains.ca/bid-opportunities.cfm for any such opportunities, which will be open to all vendors regardless of whether or not a response to this RFI has been submitted. c. Vendors shall agree that the information requested in the RFI will be supplied on condition that the Town is under no obligation to proceed further with this project after receiving and evaluating responses and that under no condition will vendors receive payment of any kind for submitting information in response to this RFI. d. This RFI is not an agreement to solicit or purchase goods or services. The Town is not bound to enter into a contract with any vendor that submits a response to this RFI. The Town shall be under no obligation to receive further information, whether written or oral, from any vendor or provide any feedback. e. Submissions shall become the property of the Town and are subject to the provisions of MFIPPA. Submissions shall not be returned to the vendor and may be used for the purpose of preparing a future formal procurement document. Page 6 of 6