SSN Doc Mgt and Graphic Design Softw_Rev1.docx

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

BUREAU OF DIPLOMATIC TECHNOLOGY (DT)

OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITIONS (ITA)

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

for

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AND GRAPHIC DESIGN SOFTWARE

1.0 PURPOSE

This Sources Sought Notice (SSN) is issued as market research to determine industry’s capabilities to provide a Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) integrated suite of software tools to support document creation and management workflows and graphic design and creative tools support Department of State (“State”) communications and eLearning objectives. Document management tools must enable users to create/edit/transfer/sign documents in a portable document format (PDF) and facilitate document routing, editing, tracking, and eSignature. The integrated creative suite must support a broad range of visual content development and graphic design capabilities enabling collaborative creation across desktop and mobile platforms and easy integration across both web and social media distribution channels. State requires access to a single solution offering these capabilities to continue to support its Information Technology Strategic Plan (ITSP) which includes implementing and modernizing digital workflows to enhance collaboration and knowledge management across State’s globally distributed workforce.

The Government does not commit to award a contract on the basis of this SSN or reimburse any costs associated with the preparation of responses. This SSN is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this SSN that is marked “Proprietary” will be handled accordingly. Responses to the SSN will not be returned. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this SSN are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responses to this SSN will assist the State in determining the potential level of interest, competition adequacy, and technical capabilities of commercial vendors to provide the required products and services. The Government does not guarantee any action beyond this SSN.

An acquisition that may result from responses to this SSN is initially intended as a 100% small business set-aside. The NAICS code for the anticipated acquisition is 541519: size standard of $34M; 150 employees for IT Value Added Resellers. The PSC is 7A21. A lack of responses or inability to support the scope of an enterprise-level procurement as defined in the following Sections 2 and 3 by small business concerns may result in an unrestricted solicitation. This SSN is also being posted within the NASA SEWP V RFQ Tool for additional market research information.

2.0 BACKGROUND

State’s mission is to advance the interests of the American people, their safety, and economic prosperity by leading America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance. The mission of DT is to rapidly and securely deliver anytime, anywhere, the knowledge resources and Information Technology (IT) services needed to support the over 300 sites and 275 missions it services worldwide.

DT is seeking input from industry regarding their capability to provide market-leading solutions capable of meeting the full breadth of functional requirements outlined in this notice. State requires access to a platform that is compliant with current Federal security requirements, is easy to use, flexible, and scalable, with the ability to configure the system to meet specific State requirements as further detailed below.

3.0 SOURCES SOUGHT OVERVIEW

As further detailed in Section 4, the government is seeking to identify capable and interested partners able to provide the products and services to meet State requirements. Viable partners shall have demonstrated experience deploying the solutions and delivering the ongoing support required to maintain, expand, and upgrade the solution over time for an organization of similar size, scope, and complexity as State.

Information requested in this Notice includes the following categories:

· Company Information (Section 1) – Identification of interested vendors, socio-economic status, and potential acquisition vehicles to inform State acquisition strategy.

· Capability Assessment Against Functional Requirements (Section 2) – Description of vendor’s proposed technical solution and its ability to fully meet all stated functional requirements.

· Past Experience (Section 3) – Past project example(s) demonstrating vendor’s experience implementing their proposed solution to address use cases similar to those of State for an organization of similar size, global scope, and complexity to State.

4.0 SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

All written responses should be submitted in Microsoft compatible formats (e.g., Word) or PDF.

Responses are limited to a maximum of 18 pages using 12-point font and 1-inch margins, including all text, tables, and graphics. Additional attachments, brochures, or other marketing materials are not requested and will not be considered as part of the response.

Please submit all materials to John Warner at WarnerJ1@state.gov by Friday, August 2 at 12:00pm/ET.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL ANY RESPONDENT CONTACT ANY STATE PERSONNEL REGARDING THIS NOTICE.

SOURCES SOUGHT REQUESTED INFORMATION

Respondents are asked to provide the information requested below in accordance with the instructions outlined in Section 4.0 above. Submissions not adhering to the instructions may be deemed non-responsive and may receive no further consideration.

Section 1 – Company Information Please provide the following details regarding your organization:

· Company name

· Company’s point of contact (POC) name

· Company’s point of contact (POC) phone number

· Company’s point of contact (POC) email address

· Company’s URL/web address

· Company’s Cage Code

· Company’s UEI Number

· Company business size in terms of revenue and number of employees

· Company Federal socioeconomic classification(s), if any, based on North American Industry Classification (NAICS) Code NAICS 511210, Software Licenses

· List GSA schedule and/or GWACs or other Federal IDIQs or contracts the vendor holds that are relevant to this requirement, including corresponding schedule number/contract number.

Section 2 – Functional Requirements Assessment State’s functional requirements for the contemplated solution are outlined below. Respondents are asked to complete a narrative providing sufficient details regarding the solution’s technical capabilities to demonstrate that the solution is capable of satisfying each stated requirement.

Please ensure responses are clearly structured and mapped back to the requirements listed in this notice to facilitate review of your response relative to the stated requirements. Responses that do not clearly map information to the stated requirements below or are otherwise unclear may be deemed non-responsive and may not receive further consideration. State’s core requirements are enumerated below:

2.1. Document Creation & Collaboration

State requires a robust tool for document creation and management that includes the ability to develop and manage customized workflows for collaborative development. Please describe your solution’s ability to meet the following requirements and provide information on any additional core capabilities provided by your solution that State should be aware of relative to other market alternatives for collaborative document development and management.

a. Solution must enable the creation, sharing, and collaborative editing of documents in portable document format (PDF) through customizable workflows and defined user roles/permissions.

b. Solution must provide robust document management capabilities enabling users to create, manage, sign, route, print, and view PDF files on any device, including mobile devices.

c. Solution must be capable of supporting development of multiple workflows integrating PDF development, editing, and secure signing across the organization.

d. Solution must be easily integrated into other enterprise platforms and applications such as Microsoft Office and ServiceNow.

e. Solution workflow capability must allow for the assignment of roles including signer, approver, acceptor, form filler, certified recipient, delegator, and other customized roles.

f. Solution must enable document routing to recipients or groups in a defined order with permissions controlled by the user’s defined role.

g. Solution must capture an audit trail for each step in the document routing and approval process.

h. Solution must provide the ability for certain documents to be accessed or printed without the need for single sign-on or government identification approval via PIV card access.

i. Solution must enable easy conversion of PDFs into different formats such as Word, Excel, HTML, and PowerPoint.

2.2. Digital Signature Capability

State requires that the document creation and management capabilities described above integrate a highly secure digital signature feature. Please describe your solution’s ability to meet the following requirements and provide information on any additional core capabilities provided by your solution that State should be aware of relative to other market alternatives for digital signature.

a. Solution must integrate digital signature capability into PDF creation and management workflows described above and seamlessly integrate with common desktop productivity applications (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite).

b. Solution must support certificate-based digital signatures for increased signer identification.

c. Solution must provide robust tools for managing user identities, authentication, and access controls.

d. Solution must provide tools to certify document integrity and prevent unauthorized changes to signed documents through the routing process.

e. Solution must maintain audit trails throughout document workflows including all recipient actions.

f. Solution must enable assignment of roles by an administrator including Sender, Signer, Approver, and other roles as defined by the administrator and tailoring of user access and permissions according to assigned roles.

g. Solution must be capable of managing document distribution and signature for hundreds of simultaneous recipients, including dashboard tracking of signature status for all recipients.

h. Solution must offer cost-effective pricing that is below $2.00 per signature transaction, assuming greater than 100,000 transactions annually.

2.3. Knowledge Management & eLearning

State requires access to a suite of tools to facilitate the creation, editing, curating, and sharing of technical and business content to support eLearning and broader knowledge management objectives. Please describe your solution’s ability to meet the following requirements and provide information on any additional core capabilities provided by your solution that State should be aware of relative to other market alternatives for authoring, publishing, and communicating technical content and documentation.

a. Solution must enable a broad range of technical content development capabilities in support of knowledge management and eLearning requirements.

b. Solution must handle complex technical documentation such as user guides and technical manuals while adhering to privileged security standards.

c. Solution must support multilingual content development.

d. Solution must enable publishing to PDF, HTML, and other formats for content delivery, to include mobile.

e. Solution must offer ready-made templates to expedite content creation/development.

f. Solution must be able to create and update complex structured/unstructured content and provide intuitive navigations and tools to insert media into templates.

g. Solution must contain an authoring tool to create, manage, and publish online help resources, policies and procedures, and other self-service content.

h. Solution must enable creation of interactive eLearning content with an intuitive, low/no code user interface that does not require significant programming expertise.

i. Solution must support image, audio, and media galleries to enhance eLearning content development.

j. Solution must enable published content to automatically adapt and be accessible across various device types (desktop, mobile) and screen sizes to support eLearning from any connected device.

2.4. Graphic Design & Web Development

State requires access to a suite of robust graphic design tools to facilitate the design, creation, and editing of a broad range of visual content to support State communication campaigns across numerous mission areas. Please describe your solution’s ability to meet the following requirements and provide information on any additional core capabilities provided by your solution that State should be aware of relative to other market alternatives for graphic design and web development tools.

a. Solution must provide robust tools for photo editing and management including, but not limited to, enabling photo resolution enhancements, clarifying tools (e.g., removing backgrounds), adding/customizing text, cropping/resizing/combining images, retouching and repair tools, etc.

b. Solution’s photo editing platform must incorporate security features to manage, track and control editing history and secure photos and edited images from further editing to enable users to securely manage and control the integrity/authenticity of photo/image content.

c. Solution must offer a vector-based design tool to enable easy creation of a variety of digital and printed images, including charts, diagrams, graphs, logos, infographics, icons, forms, brochures, illustrations and similar visual content and artwork.

d. Solution must facilitate website creation through generating HTML and/or CSS code for text, objects, or entire layouts.

e. Solution must enable collaboration and creation across both web and mobile and integrate easily with major social media platforms for content publication.

f. Solution must have full scripting support and the ability to convert HTMLs to PDF files.

2.5. Other Security & Compliance Requirements

a. Solution must provide the ability to comply with established NIST requirements and FIPS 140-2 security standards for PDF creation and digital signature.

b. Solution must adhere to and align with all 508 compliance standards ensuring accessibility for users with vision, hearing, cognitive, mobility, and other impairments.

c. Solution must achieve FedRAMP moderate authorization or higher.

2.6. Additional Capabilities and Questions

In addition to addressing how your solution addresses the requirements stated above, please provide a response to the following additional questions regarding your solution’s capabilities:

a. Does your solution have a State Department Authority to Operate (ATO) for any/all capabilities? If your solution does not have an ATO, please describe your approach to achieving the required ATO including approximate timeframe and cost to achieve this authorization.

b. Does your solution integrate generative AI capabilities into any of its tools? If so, please describe these capabilities and their primary use cases and benefits.

c. Please describe any additional security features of your overall solution not already addressed in your response to the requirements above (e.g., password protection, encryption, MFA, etc.).

d. Please note any relevant security certifications including FedRAMP authorization and compliance with relevant NIST and other Federal security requirements.

e. Please describe any other enterprise platforms or applications (e.g., Microsoft, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Ariba, others) where your solution has pre-defined and tested integrations or business partnerships facilitating use of your solution with other enterprise platforms. Please highlight the key features and benefits of these integrations.

f. Please note any key functionality or differentiators of your proposed solution related to the requirements defined above that State should be aware of or consider.

Section 3 – Past Performance Please provide at least one, and not more than 3, relevant examples within the last 3 years of your company’s successful delivery of a solution that meets all of the stated requirements in Section 2 for a customer of similar size, global scope, and complexity to the State. Please address the following areas for each example provided.

a. Brief description of the scope of the work your company performed and its relevance and applicability to demonstrating capability to deliver the requirements outlined in Section 2

b. Contract and task order number

c. Contract type

d. Dollar value of contract (across full period of performance)

e. Period of performance dates

f. State whether your company was a prime or sub-contractor Disclaimer: This Sources Sought Notice is for information gathering purposes only as a means to identify interested and capable sources that can provide a solution that fully meets all requirements outlined in Section 2. The information provided in this Notice is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. State has not made a commitment to procure any of the items/services discussed, and release of this SSN should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought.

State will not publicly disclose proprietary information obtained as a result of this SSN. To the full extent that it is protected by law and regulations, information identified by a respondent as Proprietary or Confidential will be kept confidential. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED