Question_to_RFI_Supply_Management_Program__4-23-19.pdf

Question to RFI Supply Management Program (Solicitation Number: 123A9419R0004)

Q1. Is the requirement mentioned considered as new requirement or are there incumbent contracts? If there is an incumbent vendor, would you be able to provide the contract details (such as: Vendor Name, Contract Number, Award Date, Value)?

A1. The RFI for the Supply Management Program is a different requirement than the New Technology IT system. There is no incumbent contract, this is new.

Q2. Is the estimated value for this effort greater than $250K?

A2. Estimates are above $250K

Q3. Can you point me to the appropriate PoC for the actual contractor referenced in the RFI - Base Supply Center (BSC)?

A3. There is no incumbent contract, this is new. FSIS is only conducting market research.

Q4. The USDA Supply Chain Program you are involved with has the following requirements. Are these for IT equipment or something else?

Provide warehouse and distribution centers nationwide (including Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Guam) assuring all field supplies deliveries are being received within 5 days;

To provide a 24-hour Hotline number for customers to place orders, inquire about the status of an existing order and provide guidance with the system

Perform these management tasks for accountable FSIS Forms Program:

o Receive shipments, verify quantity, inspect cartons for damage and provide notification of arrival of forms from contractors;

o Maintain inventory of materials and provide biweekly, monthly, etc reporting of Agency accountable forms in real time.

o Fulfill order requests received via electronic ordering system, via phone, or mail;

o Provide secure storage area for Agency accountable forms;

o Manage and track serial number distribution of accountable forms;

o Provide documentation of shipment of accountable forms and range of numbers sent when requested for investigations;

o Accept and restock form returns o Means of destroying unused forms in a manner that renders them unusable (i.e., shredding) o Ability to set quantity limits as needed to control supply of forms o Inventory system to include ability to send email alerts to FSIS liaison when inventory reaches determined reorder points o Ensure distribution of accountable forms begins with lowest certificate number o Ship orders via traceable means o Conduct an annual inventory on all products and send to FSIS Liaisons

A4. If we end up soliciting for this effort, there will be an IT component to the overall system for ordering and management purposes. The warehouses manage non-IT supplies.

Q5. Is this Sources Sought connected to an entirely new requirement or if not would you be able to share with industry the name of the current incumbent performing on this contract today.

A5. See A3.

Q6. Are you seeking the Small Business to already be FedRAMP certified?

A6. Please clarify your question. A business is not FedRAMP’d, technology is. If you are asking whether FSIS will sponsor your company’s FedRAMP certification, the answer is no.

Q7. What type of Opensource technologies are you seeking specifically?

A7. These are examples of open source tools used in the FSIS environment. Alternatives may be recommended to FSIS and may be used if approved.

Name Description

LeanKit An online Kanban board that serves as the requirement repository, work assignment system, and progress tracker for the development work.

Balsamiq A rapid wire‐framing tool.

GitLab CI A web interface that allows configuring branches for Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery.

Git Repository The main code repository for the application.

LeanKit An online Kanban board that serves as the requirement repository, work assignment system, and progress tracker for the development work.

PyCharm / Pep8 Pycharm is the main IDE for the application; Pep8 is a code integrity tool that runs as a plugin within PyCharm.

OpenShift

OpenShift is a multi‐feature PAAS tool that allows the ability to perform containerization and execute push button deployments.

Selenium An open source tool, which is used for automating the tests, carried out on web browsers (Web applications are tested using any web browser).

PyTest A robust Python testing tool

Behave A Behavior driven development tool.

Django Testing Framework

A native Django testing framework

Django Admin The administrative component of the application

Q8. What range will you be accepting as evidence of our Past Performances?

A8. The range should be within 3 years.

Q9. Will the incumbent be able to compete for this line of work this go around?

A9. See A3.

Q10. Does the 10 page limitation (see pages 6 and 7) include the Cover letter, Cover Page, Table of Contents and examples of past performance?

A10. No

Q11. In the requirements and guiding principles in the RFI, number 20 page 4 states:

#20. Provide warehouse and distribution centers nationwide (including Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Guam) assuring all field supplies deliveries are being received within 5 days; Or is this meant to mean that the Government’s requirements include having a supporting contractor establish and operate warehouses and distribution centers in multiple locations across the continental United States as well as Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Guam? Or, is it meant to mean that the Government’s requirement is that the supporting contractor must be able to deliver all field supplies to multiple locations across the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Guam with five (5) days of the order being placed? This latter interpretation would leave the winning contractor free to decide how many Distribution Centers there should be or where they are located.

A11. The Government is open to any solution that meets the 5-day receipt criteria.

Q12. Can the Government provide workload estimates for both supply shipments and for Agency accountable forms?

A12. It varies depending on the mission; however, it supports approximately over 6,500 user all over the country.

Q13. Would the government consider 2 separate procurements? One procurement would include the web-based ordering systems: design, implementation, training, IT operations, and user support (requirement 1-15). The second procurement would included the store and ship requirements: distribution center, inventory management, hotline, etc. (requirements 16-22).

A13. The Government is looking for viable vendors that can support both functions. Our request is driven by the abilities in the marketplace.

Q14. Is this effort for the same services as the FOOD SAFETY IT SYSTEM - NEXT GENERATION (under Sol #: 123A9419Q0001) which was released last November 19, 2018?

A14. See A1.

Q15. Given the significant differences between software development and supply management, why has FSIS chosen to include both elements in a single RFI?

A15. See A13.

Q16. Would FSIS consider splitting the scope of work to separate the software development and the supply management tasks?

A16. See A13.

Q17. Can FSIS share information about the technology and functionality of its current ordering system?

A17. This is a new requirement, which the Government is conducting market research for viable vendors.

Q18. Why is FSIS seeking to build a new web-based ordering system?

A18. Requirement driven by mission need.

Q19. What is the desired timeframe for standing up the new software?

A19. Within 24 months after contract award.

Q20. Does FSIS have any specific requirements for the technical platform used for the web-based ordering system, such as particular cloud platform, back-end language, front-end framework, etc.?

A.20 The web-based ordering system must be compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and support IPv6. It may reside in AWS, Azure, or a hosted cloud solution that can achieve appropriate NIST security.

Q21. Majority of the services listed in the project objectives are broad. Department has identified Ordering, Inventory Control and Management, Receiving, Goods Transit Traceability, and Storing. It is most advantageous to the Government to include the forecast module as one of their demand planning objectives on this product acquisition. This provides the Government to maintain adequate inventory levels of supplies and goods to protect against unavailability, uncertain seasonality demands.

In addition, the above functionality assist the Department’s FSIS end user communities to design and assess required inventory levels for each Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) based on the usage.

A21. Thank you for your feedback. The Acquisition Team will take your comments into consideration in the development of the requirement.

Q22. Today, there is no supply chain management system without a comprehensive dashboards and reporting functionality or an advanced business analytics platform to measure the efficiency of their overall organizations’ performance. Can the Government include the requirement for the Dashboards to view the effective progress of the FSIS’s Operations?

A22. Once awarded, the IT development is expected to follow the Agile Methodology process where the requirements will be vetted through the vendor’s Scrum Master.

Q23. In light of Pricing, what enterprise license model would the Government intend to use for this important acquisition such as Annual License (Software-As-Service-SaaS), Perpetual License (lifetime license), Consumption License, or any other Licensing model. Can the Government clarify the enterprise license model for vendors as this clarification will provide the Government with the best pricing models and best value?

A23. We are looking to the vendors to propose cost effective solutions for all aspects.

Q24. If the Government intends to acquire the product through Perpetual License model, can the Government please specify how many licenses would they require (to include the licenses QTY)

A24. See A23.

Q25. The Government mentioned the number of end field accounts that depend on this product. Can the Government please provide approximate number of SKU’s, Item Numbers please? This provision of number of SKU’s will provide us critical information to design our inventory control mechanisms.

A25. Approximately 1200 items at this time.

Q26. Under the primary requirements section of the RFI, Government identified 14th requirement as web-based supply ordering system functionality- Can the Government change the verbiage from web-based supply ordering system module to web-based purchasing module? As this integrated Automated Purchasing Module also capture automated department’s requisitioning, ultimately this promotes an overall inventory accountability.

A26. Thank you for your request. The acquisition team will consider your comment and if your suggestion warrants a change, the language will change.

Q27. Can the Government clarify if the Supply Management Program requires any integration with external system (s)? For instance, to issue a purchase order data back to the FSIS ERP system for reporting, order management, and replenishment.

A27. The program needs to integrate with FSIS IT security and the acquisition processing applications.

Q28. How will material supplier data be handled? The system should be able to receive advanced shipping notices (ASNs) to provide order estimated shipping dates to customers, plan for inventory receipts, and manage warehouse storage locations.

A28. See A21.

Q29. Does the Government have a current COTS/GOTS solution? If so, what is the current system being used?

A29. See A1.

Q30. Will the Government consider innovative technology and/or operations solutions that incorporate creative methods to accomplish the mission?

A.30. Yes

Q31. What is USDA’s current state of Agile and DevSecOps maturity? Will this be the first Agile/DevSecOps project?

A31. This is not FSIS’ first Agile and DevSecOps engagement. However, it is for the program area subject matter experts.

Q32. What Agile lifecycle management tools does USDA currently use?

A32. See A7

Q33. What DevSecOps and other automated tools does USDA currently use?

A33. See A7

Q34. What automated testing tools does USDA currently use?

A34. See A7

Q35. Will the Government consider only open source or other options as well?

A35. FSIS is accepting all viable options during this request for information. However, open source solutions, custom or Off-The-Shelf are desired.