RFI Question Responses 072424.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 33 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- 12314424R0011
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This document is a Request for Information (RFI) issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the National Finance Center (NFC) Forward Program. The RFI seeks industry input on modernizing NFC's enterprise solutions and architecture, which includes systems and services for payroll, human resources, time and attendance, insurance processing, and data analytics. The government is interested in receiving responses from both system integrators and software vendors to inform its approach and acquisition strategy, including recommendations on potential SaaS, rehosting, or refactoring solutions. The RFI requests input on system integration, data conversion, deployment timelines, and pricing considerations. The government is looking to improve operations, enhance services, mitigate risks, and prepare for future technology innovations. While not requesting formal proposals at this time, the government is seeking high-level cost estimates and solution recommendations to support its business case development.
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| File | Type | Posted |
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| NFC Forward System Integration and Solutions Request for Information_072324 Update.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment_NFC Forward System Integration and Solution RFI_Pricing Details (003).xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| NFC Forward System Integration and Solutions Request for Information.docx | DOCX document |
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Sheet1
| Question Number | RFI Section | RFI Page | RFI Paragraph | Question/Comment | Government Response |
| 1 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | Except for the "Customer's HR System" block in the diagram, are respondents to assume all other systems/functionality on this diagram are within scope of the modernization? | All system components that are not identified as "Customer HR System" are in scope for possible replacement. The Government is looking for industry suggestions on which systems should be replaced, kept in their current capacity, or kept and modified (e.g., refactoring mainframe solutions) in their proposed architecture(s). Industry recommendations and leading practices will inform NFC's future architecture options and NFC Forward business case. |
| 2 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | The "Customer's HR System" block in the diagram represents the situations where agencies have their own HR system but use NFC's PPS for payroll (e.g. FBI, etc.). Are respondents to assume the "Front-end System Interface (FESI)" needs to persist after the modernization is complete so as to not require those agencies to change the interface on their side, or does NFC envision implementing a new interface solution within the new SaaS system that those customer agencies would adopt? | The Government is looking for industry input to inform its future architecture including integration recommendations for NFC's different customer profiles. If the vendor's solution recommends a change to FESI, please state in your response. |
| 3 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | 2.4 | Understanding the As-Is and To-Be functional requirements is key to the accuracy of respondents' ROM estimates. Given the NFC HR LoB is a shared service supporting more than 150 agencies, does the current system adhere to the OPM HRLOB reference model, and, more importantly, will the new SaaS implementation need to align with the OPM HRLOB reference model? | Vendors should assume that current and future state solutions will adhere to the HR LoB reference model, all OPM regulations and policies, and guidance issued by the Human Resources Quality Services Management Office. |
| 4 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | 2.3a | We are aware that a team is working on documenting the requirements for the new SaaS solution. Understanding the level of detail we should expect in the requirements specifications affects the accuracy of the ROM estimate range as well as the number of assumptions we have to make. Will the government please clarify what level of detail the requirements will be written to? | At this time, the Government is looking for industry to provide overall architecture recommendations and high-level cost estimates to inform its assessment and business case. Vendors should use their knowledge of Federal HR environment and OPM's Federal Human Capital Business Reference model (HCBRM) to respond to the RFI. The Government has concurrent efforts in progress to document detailed requirements of its enterprise architecture for potential solicitation stages. |
| 5 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | The "Customer's HR System" in the diagram represents the situations where agencies have their own HR system but use NFC's PPS for payroll (e.g. FBI, etc.). Are any of these customers' HR data stored in the EmpowHR Peoplesoft system to support payroll processes in this situation, or is the customer agency's data only stored in PPS? | If a customer agency has their own HR system, their HR data is not stored in EmpowHR. |
| 6 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | It is unclear how many integrations are anticipated in the future state, assuming full suite Cloud implementation. Will the government please clarify how many integrations are anticipated? | The number of integrations would depend on the solution proposed by the vendor. Any solution will need to provide the standard integrations for federal HR and Payroll solutions such as Treasury, OPM, Third-Party Benefit Administrators, Social Security Administration, and customer agencies. |
| 7 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | The RFI is silent on anticipated approach to converting and storing historical data. | At this time, the Government is looking for industry input and recommendations for handling and converting large quantities of historical data in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration based on your experience handling historical data with other large-scale modernization efforts. The Government will share more specific data conversion requirements during the solicitation stages. |
| 8 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | 2.6 | Understanding key agency milestones or dates that are drivers for timeline, phases and scope would help respondents address this Item 6 in a more meaningful way. Will the government please provide milestones or dates that are drivers for timeline, phases and scope. | At this time, the Government is interested in industry's input on how NFC should approach the modernization including deployment approach, timeline and key milestones based on their experience performing similar work with other Government and commercial organizations. The Government does not have a timeline and is soliciting input to inform its modernization approach and requirements. |
| 9 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | Within the link provided, NFC shares, “EmpowHer provides for the full processing capabilities for all personnel actions, payroll transactions, and benefits management.” Understanding which system addresses which payroll transactions would help respondents produce more accurate ROMs. What sort of payroll transactions are occurring in EmpowHR compared to NFC's Payroll and Personnel System (PPS) (Compensation Management | National Finance Center (usda.gov))? | EmpowHR is a front-end system to intake and prepare personnel action requests and payroll documents for processing in PPS. Payroll and other financial transactions are processed in PPS. |
| 10 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | Within the link provided, NFC shares, “During open enrollment season, an employee can enter via EPP any changes to his or her benefits plan, including Flexible Spending Accounts. Once submitted, all benefits enrollment requests will be submitted directly to the NFC system.” What is the role of EmpowHR with regard to benefits management? | EmpowHR is a front-end solution that allows the employees' HR servicing office to enter employee benefit transactions on behalf of the employee. Alternatively, the employee has self-service capabilities via EPP, etc. |
| 11 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | NFC’s RFI notice does not state a requirement for Performance Management capabilities. However, the EmpowHR page shares that there is an ePerformance component of the system. Will Performance Management functionality be included in a new SaaS solution? | EmpowHR includes performance management capabilities in use for some of its customers including USDA. The Government is interested in industry recommendations for its future architecture for its core HR, payroll and insurance services, as well as other non-core HR services and solutions that may be beneficial to consider in the future including performance management. If industry would like to propose a performance management solution as part of their architecture, it can be listed in the "other" columns of the pricing attachment. |
| 12 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | Will the new system process tax, deductions and pay for employees, or will Payroll data continue to integrate with an external Payroll processing system? | NFC's current payroll and personnel system, PPS, is an NFC solution and not integrated with any external payroll processing systems. PPS currently processes payroll and personnel actions including taxes, deductions and pay for employees. The Government is looking for industry recommendations on how NFC should deliver payroll and personnel services/solutions in the future to include scope detailed in this answer. |
| 13 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | Will the new system manage Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer (DD/EFT) for salary deposits and voluntary allotments? | The payroll solution will need to provide this functionality. |
| 14 | Pricing Considerations | 3 | Are there specific system(s) that we need to integrate our solution with outside of your HCM? | See answer to question 6 | |
| 15 | Scope | 2 | Is a future HCM solution targeted to support USDA and all of its mission areas or USDA and external federal agencies? | The entire architecture, not just the HCM solution, is targeted to support USDA and all of NFC's external customers. | |
| 16 | Scope | 2 | What is NFC's timeline to evaluate and select a replacement system for EmpowHR? | The Government has not determined its future architecture nor which systems will be replaced at this time. The future architecture and timeline will be determined at the completion of the NFC Forward business case analysis. The Government anticipates having funding to begin the initiative and make an award in FY 2025. | |
| 17 | Scope | 2 | How does NFC define "a best of breed approach for the enterprise architecture"? | At this time the Government is looking for industry input on proposed modernization options for its future architecture. Best of breed is a general term to describe selecting specific solutions by function versus a single suite across all the Shared Services functions. We are interested in industry's input if a best of breed approach should be considered for NFC and if so, how industry would recommend applying it across NFC's services and architecture. | |
| 18 | Scope | 2 | Will USDA be sunsetting systems for this HCM modernization effort? If so, which ones? | At this time, NFC has not made any decisions on its future enterprise architecture and the decommissioning of its legacy systems. The Government is looking for industry input to inform the development of its future enterprise architecture. | |
| 19 | Scope | 2 | What are the top three goals for this future project? (ex. de-risk payroll, replace the entire NFC IT stack, improve customer service, improve employee engagement, etc.) | The overarching goals are for NFC to stabilize current operations, modernize current NFC solutions and service offerings, and grow as a Federal Shared Service Provider. Key objectives of the program include reducing risk with NFC's current architecture, improving the customer/employee experience, and enhancing NFC's overall services and operations. The Government will continue to share goals, objectives and success criteria with industry as we progress through the current assessment and business case phase of the program. | |
| 20 | Scope | 2 | What does a successful phase one go live look like and when would that ideally occur? | At this time, the Government is interested in industry's input on how NFC should approach modernization including deployment approach, timeline and key milestones based on their experience performing similar work with other Government and commercial organizations. The Government does not have a timeline and is soliciting input to inform its modernization approach and requirements. | |
| 21 | Pricing Considerations | Pricing Spreadsheet | To scope pricing for the "Human resources" system within the pricing spreadsheet, can NFC share the full list of services currently available within its existing HR system? There was some ambiguity in reviewing the link shared in the NFC RFI. | "Human Resources" in the pricing tab refers to Personnel Action Processing, Compensation and Benefits. For more information, refer to OPM's HRBRM at https://www.opm.gov/services-for-agencies/hr-line-of-business/hc-business-reference-model/ | |
| 22 | Pricing Considerations | Pricing Spreadsheet | How does NFC define "customer experience" technology and what is the vision for this in functionality within the NFC future state? | Customer experience technology may include a wide range of solutions for NFC to manage and optimize its interactions & overall business/service delivery with its customers. Potential solutions may include: customer service tools for managing customer inquiries and issues (e.g., helpdesk), customer relationship management tools to manage interactions with current/new customers and front-end user interface and workflow tools to support agency HR users in the submitting, processing and tracking of HR actions. At this time, the Government is looking for recommendations from industry on potential customer experience capabilities/solutions to consider as part of NFC's future architecture. | |
| 23 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | What types of requests does NFC process that are insurance-based? Does "insurance processing" entail enrollment in benefits, processing claims, etc.? | At this time, the vendor should use the descriptions of tribal insurance and all NFC systems and applications including non-HR/Payroll systems provided at the following links: https://www.nfc.usda.gov/ClientServices/Insurance/index.php |
https://www.nfc.usda.gov/Publications/HR_Payroll/Brochures/Brochures_home.php
| 24 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | What systems does NFC currently have that store "tribal insurance" and how does this system differ from the others? Does NFC host any other systems with similar insurance data? What other systems that are not "HR or Payroll" | See answer to question 23. | |
| 25 | Scope | 2 | What system is the system of record for customer/employee data (fields like name, grade, series, etc.) today? | The system of record is currently the payroll and personnel solution, PPS. | |
| 26 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | What types of systems does NFC anticipate integrating with from external organizations? What data elements would NFC need to ingest or send from those organizations? | The number of integrations would depend on the solution proposed by the vendor. Any solution will need to provide the standard integrations and data elements for federal HR and Payroll solutions such as Treasury, OPM, Third-Party Benefit Administrators, Social Security Administration, and customer agencies. We are looking for industry to make a recommended approach regarding the systems based on prior experience with Federal Agencies and or commercial entities. | |
| 27 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | What criteria will NFC use when selecting industry partners for the NFC Forward Program? | The government has not yet decided the procurement strategy and approach and is looking for recommendations under the Procurement Considerations section of the RFI. | |
| 28 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | Does NFC envision a single or multi-vendor award for the NFC Forward Program? | The government has not yet decided the procurement strategy and approach and is looking for recommendations under the Procurement Considerations section of the RFI. | |
| 29 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | How will NFC measure success of the NFC Forward Program? | NFC has developed a set of criteria to determine success for the program and assist in evaluating the numerous architectures in the business case. The criteria is being finalized by USDA leadership and NFC's customers and will not be shared at this time. | |
| 30 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | What is the timeline for the NFC Forward Program to be a full operating capability? | See answer for question 8. | |
| 31 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | Does NFC plan to take a multi-hurdle, evaluation approach where selected vendors will have to make it through review gates to progress in the selection process? | See answer to question 27. | |
| 32 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | Please name and describe the systems that will require integration? | See answer to question 6 as well as attachments to RFI. | |
| 33 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | For systems integration, please describe the acceptable integration methods and provide sample data structure? | See answer to question 6. | |
| 34 | Response Format | 4 | Please confirm that the minimum font is 10-point Times New Roman for Text, and 9-point font in Times New Roman for Tables/graphics. | The font will be Times New Roman and has been updated in the revised RFI | |
| 35 | Have you considered Elastic for this opportunity? | The Government is considering all options for this effort and vendors should share their recommendations in the responses. | |||
| 36 | For the quantity Elastic does not offer per user pricing – since Elastic works out their pricing differently does that disqualify them for this opportunity? | The Government is considering all options for this effort and vendors should share their recommendations in their responses. | |||
| 37 | Program Approach and Solution; Pricing Consideration | 3 | What are the key milestones for achieving HCM modernization objectives by phase (i.e. end of life, milestones from customer agencies, or other NFC-related commitments)? | See answer to question 8. | |
| 38 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | Does the NFC distinguish a modern HCM enterprise solution in supporting USDA and its agencies, and/or NFC's external federal agency customers in terms of phases or functionality? | NFC is looking to modernize its enterprise architecture for all of its customers to include USDA and non-USDA customers. | |
| 39 | Pricing Considerations | 3 | What technologies, if any, in the current architecture does NFC plan to keep and which does the government plan to replace? If only a subset are to be replaced, which do you plan to maintain and what technologies are they built on? | See answer to question 1. | |
| 40 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | What is the scope of the enterprise in the statement: "Best of Breed approach for the enterprise architecture"? Does the NFC consider the enterprise to be that of the USDA and its agencies, or to be inclusive of USDA and NFC customers? | The architecture, integrations, and services that NFC provides to its USDA and non-USDA customers. | |
| 41 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | Does the NFC have documented requirements associated with Forward Program objectives for other systems in the NFC architecture not related to HR and payroll? | After the completion of the business case and final decision on the modernization path forward, NFC will begin a detailed effort to comprehensively document requirements for the agreed upon in-scope services and solutions. | |
| 42 | Pricing Considerations | Pricing Spreadsheet | The pricing for the listed volumes can vary greatly from the start/end values. As an example, the annual subscription pricing for 1,000 employees/users will be different than a subscription for 25,000 employees/users. Does NFC want respondents to provide an annual subscription price? If so, which quantity should be used? Please explain your expectations. | All of the pricing for the "software" pricing tab should be provided as an average per employee cost based on the ranges provided. | |
| 43 | Pricing Considerations | Pricing Spreadsheet | The template lists several different service/functions such as Human Resources, Payroll, Time and Attendance, etc. Can NFC please describe/explain what they mean by “Customer Experience”? What type of functionality and/or service is envisioned in this functional area? Please describe in more detail. | See answer to question 22. If a customer experience solution is not being proposed by the vendor, leave this column blank. | |
| 44 | Pricing Considerations | Pricing Spreadsheet | Currently, there is only one column to include other services, but respondents may have more than one “other” service to offer NFC. Can respondents add more columns to account for additional “Other” services recommended to assist with NFC’s Forward transformation? | Please add another column as needed in both the "software" and "system integrator" tabs. Please be sure to include the description and reasons for the other services as indicated in the pricing tabs. | |
| 45 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | 2.3c | The government asks for "another option you might propose that we have not considered". Can the government please confirm that the two primary options being considered are 1) SaaS solution for some and/or all of NFC's functional needs or 2) rehosting NFC's legacy mainframe PPS solution? | See answer to question 1. |
| 46 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | 2.3d | Can the government please provide additional information on the scope of the tribal insurance component of the enterprise architecture? Additionally, are there any other non HR/Payroll systems that are part of the architecture that bidders should be aware of? | See answer to question 23. |
| 47 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | 2.3e | The government asks for the advantages and disadvantages of only replacing the core HR solution and not the entire NFC architecture. Can the government please confirm that the "entire NFC architecture" is referring to core HR, payroll, time and attendance, reporting, and insurance processing? | Please see the RFI and associated attachments for the entire NFC Architecture. A vendor may suggest only replacing the HCM solution and utilizing the rest of NFC's current systems as their proposed architecture. The NFC Forward program is looking for the best architecture for all NFC solutions and services, not just HCM. |
| 48 | Program Approach and Solution | 2 | 2.3 | On page 2, the government states that the enterprise architecture includes "insurance processing" and the NFC Forward Program RFI_Pricing Details spreadsheet attachment includes insurance under "Other NFC Services (e.g. retirement, insurance, etc.". However, the diagram in Appendix A does not include an insurance component. Can the government provide additional detail on any insurance processing systems that exist today? | See answer to Question 23. |
| 49 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | 2.4 | The government asks for recommended solutions or technologies for reliable file transfers and/or system integrations with external organizations. Can the government please clarify that "external organizations" is referring to the 150+ customer agencies? If so, are there any additional external organizations that bidders should be aware of? | The external organizations include Treasury, OPM, Third-Party Benefit Administrators, Social Security Administration, and customer agencies. |
| 50 | Pricing Considerations | 3 | 2.9 | Can the government please share more information regarding the data volume (such as a number of records) that needs to be migrated for core HR, payroll, time and attendance, reporting, and insurance processing respectively? | The vendor should utilize standard market metrics for determining the number of records based on the number of employees for each system. The Government has added a list of systems with the number of employees/W-2s supported in Appendix C. |
| 51 | Pricing Considerations | Pricing Spreadsheet | 2.9 | Can the government please clarify additional system details for "Other NFC Services" such as number of applications, scope of the applications, underlying application technology, number of agencies and individual users, support ticket quantity, etc. will be helpful as well? | The Government has provided "Other Services" in the Pricing Spreadsheet in case the vendor would like to propose additional services/software that could be beneficial to NFC and its customers in the future and not in the scope of one of the other listed categories. If you propose "Other Services" please describe what you are proposing in Question 2. |
| 52 | Pricing Considerations | Pricing Spreadsheet | 2.9 | Can the government please clarify the number of customer agencies and users across each of the following lines of business: Human Resources, Payroll, Time and Attendance, Customer Experience, Reporting and Analytics, Other NFC Services. | NFC has included the number of employees/W-2s by system in the amended RFI as part of Appendix C. |
| 53 | Program Approach and Solution | 3 | 2.6 | Can the government confirm if there are any end of life (EOL) dates approaching for any components of the NFC architecture or key milestones the government needs to meet that should drive the implementation approach and schedule? | See answer to question 8. |
| 54 | Program Approach and Solution | 2.0 | Can the government please elaborate on if NFC has an architecture diagram, list of interfaces, or rough count of interfaces for the flow of data between HR, Payroll, Time & Attendance and other systems that would need to be accounted for in moving to a new system(s)? | See answer to question 6. | |
| 55 | Program Approach and Solution | 2.0 | Can the government please clarify if there other HR systems that NFC interfaces within the various agencies it services? Does NFC receive HR data from these systems or is EmpowHR the point of entry/system of record for HR data? | NFC receives HR data from EmpowHR users, HR Connect users, and agencies that utilize their own HR solution (e.g., FBI). This is not a fully inclusive list and would be documented in detail during solicitation stages. | |
| 56 | Introduction | 1 | 1.1 | We believe that it is premature to require cost information, and feel USDA would be best served to focus only on potential technology solutions and implementation approaches/best practices at this stage. Once the agency has confirmed that appropriate solutions and implementation providers are available, and can provide sufficient detail to allow comparisons, the agency could request a ROM at that time. | If vendors are unable to provide ROMs at this time, there is no requirement to do so. Vendors are encouraged to utilize their understanding of the federal HR and payroll market to provide ROMs with related assumptions. Understand the government is not intending to bind any vendor to a cost range, but does need this market research for future budget rational. |
| 57 | Introduction | 1 | 1.1 | Please confirm that this should read: “...Instead, we are seeking potential solution(s) and a cost range for implementing this solution(s) if response is from an integration partner.” (emphasis added) In other words, please confirm that no cost input is expected from responses received from software vendors. | ROM submissions are being requested from software providers and system integrators. The pricing template has a corresponding tab for both software and system integrator vendors. |
| 58 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | What technologies are being used in the different parts of the Reporting Component? e.g., COTS products, database vendors, etc. | Insight: Oracle/OBIEE custom BI application |
Reporting Center: Custom Web Application FOCUS, CULPRPT: Mainframe reporting applications These are examples and not fully inclusive at this time.
| 59 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | The Reporting Component box has a box labeled "Insight". Is this a separate application? If so, please provide additional information on this application. | Insight is a separate Oracle business intelligence application for reporting and data analytics including ad-hoc reporting. |
| 60 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | How do the agency customers retrieve their downloads of data? | Files are retrieved through a secure connection (e.g., SFTP) and may also directly download from reporting systems |
| 61 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | Why doesn’t the NFC Reporting component go through BEAR? | BEAR is part of the payroll/personnel process rather than a reporting application. But BEAR output files are used by reporting systems. |
| 62 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | What is the difference between the Standard reports from BEAR and the predefined reports in the Reporting Center? | BEAR outputs are used as part of the payroll/personnel process, whereas Reporting Center is designed for reporting, and generates Administrative Reports, Financial Reports, and Workforce Reports. |
| 63 | Appendix A | 6 | 4.6 | Can you provide details on the systems highlighted in Appendix A? What technologies do these applications run on? Where is this data stored? Is the infrastructure in a USDA owned data center, in a Cloud Service Provider, and/or a combination? | NFC's current enterprise architecture is a mix of mainframe applications (e.g.,. PPS), web applications (e.g., Reporting Center, EPIC) and third party COTS solutions (e.g., GovTA, EmpowHR). The majority of the systems are hosted within a USDA data center. Please see the provided NFC website links in the RFI for more information on NFC's current solutions. At this time, we are looking for industry-leading practices and recommendations on a future state enterprise architecture for NFC based on your knowledge of the Federal HR and payroll market, and experiences with comparable Government and Commercial modernization efforts. |
| 64 | Introduction | 1 | 1.1 | What percentage of your applications are connected today? How are they connected? Custom Code? Do you expect to retain those connections, or do you want a solution that includes a modernized approach? | NFC systems are currently connected within its enterprise architecture through various integrations. The Government is looking for industry input and leading practices on its future enterprise architecture to include integration capabilities and solutions. |
| 65 | Pricing Considerations | Pricing Spreadsheet Tab 1 | The table indicates potential tiered user amounts. Is it anticipated that the new system might have less than 250,000 users and or fluctuate to the ranges indicated? | The Government anticipates that the amount of users may vary but we expect the solution(s) to have more than 250,000 employees/w-2s once the transition of the current customer base is complete. | |
| 66 | Please provide a summary of how the 150+ USDA and other agencies are utilizing the mix of HR shared services? For example, do any customers exclude payroll services, performance management service, or recruiting/onboarding services? Please stack rank the typical services utilized by agency customers from most selected to least selected | Please see Appendix C. Agencies may use a list of a la carte services provided by NFC, as not every organization requires the same services. We have provided Appendix C as the basis of what many agencies use, but are not able to rank as requested. | |||
| 67 | How many new agencies are added each year, or decommissioned, from the shared services support annually? | NFC's customer base and services have remained fairly constant over the last five years. | |||
| 68 | How does USDA manage training when onboarding new agencies or deploying a new service offering? | NFC follows its software development lifecycle process to implement new services and customers including dedicated project management, training and customer communication organizations. | |||
| 69 | How would the organization incorporate change management and training processes with this transformation? What practices have worked best when facing similar transitions previously? | See answer to question 68. The Government is interested in industry's input on how to successfully manage large-scale change based on similar transition experience. | |||
| 70 | What are the most common ad hoc requests of shared services agency customers? | This will be provided as part of the draft Performance Work Statement in the future. | |||
| 71 | Is all time reporting collected via the web? Do any agencies utilize timeclock or send manual timesheets? | The majority of agency employees directly access the web-base T&A solutions. A few agencies collectively totaling over 100K in employees utilize APIs to submit bulk T&A data to web-base solution. | |||
| 72 | Are there occurrences where shared service agency customers elect not to utilize the employee self-service features offered? If so, is this common or an exception? | The majority of customer agencies utilize self-service features. It is the exception for customer agencies to not use self-service. In these cases, the customer agency is responsible for entering employee personnel actions that are not completed through self-service. | |||
| 73 | Will NFC’s payroll system remain as is or is there a desire to transition to SaaS with the other services? What are the most common payroll frequencies across the estimated 150 different pay plans? | The Government is looking for the vendor to provide a recommended architecture. Industry should use their understanding and experience with Federal HR pay plans to inform their recommendations. | |||
| 74 | Which system is the single source of truth for employee master file information? | The system of record is currently the payroll and personnel system, PPS. | |||
| 75 | What is the current integration tool being used? | NFC uses various integration tools across its enterprise architecture such as Mulesoft. At this time, the Government is interested in industry recommendations on leading practices for integration capabilities and tools for NFC's future enterprise architecture. | |||
| 76 | Can all the agencies consume RestAPI? | This differs by each customer. |
File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated .