RFP 3524R14 - Digital Video Network

TECHNICAL SUBMITTAL

I-1. Statement of the Project. State in succinct terms your understanding of the project presented, or the service required by this RFP.

Offeror Response

I-2. Qualifications.

A. Company Overview. This section should introduce the Offeror. List the number of employees, the primary business location(s), the primary markets served and how long the Offeror has been in business. Also, clearly identify the products, services and expertise the Offeror brings to this project.

Offeror Response

B. Prior Experience. The Offeror shall describe its experience in providing the services outlined below. Offeror shall describe its understanding and expertise with state government lines of business. Experience shown should be work done by both the company and individuals who will be assigned to this Project. The Offeror shall describe experience in projects completed or ongoing for at least 3 prior or current customers not including the Commonwealth. Experience should include the name of the customer including the name, address, and telephone number of the responsible official of the customer who may be contacted. Offeror shall complete Appendix G, Project References.

Offeror Response

The Offeror shall provide the following information:

1. How long the Offeror has provided this service.

2. Describe any experience planning, designing, developing, implementing, and supporting one or more successful project(s) of similar size, scope, technology, and subject matter. Include experience with implementing systems that are subject to State and Federal performance and audit requirements.

3. Provide details of any industry-recognized quality standard to which it is compliant (e.g., Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), ISO27001, ISO9000, ISO9001) and any industry certifications or awards received.

4. Provide details of any industry experience with best practices [such as Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)], that the Offeror implemented to govern its service delivery. Include any certification levels earned by the Offeror or key personnel.

Offeror Response

C. Personnel. Offeror shall provide the names, the assigned roles, and resumes of personnel who will be engaged in the project; indicate where these individuals will be located during the Project.

1. The Offeror shall complete Appendix F, Personnel Experience and include all personnel that will be assigned to the Project. Personnel dedicated to this project shall not fulfill multiple roles unless designated under the RFP requirements or approved by the Agency. Indicate the responsibilities each person will have in this Project and how long each has been with the company.

2. Personnel located offsite must be available during the core business hours of 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM within the Eastern Standard Time zone or other hours, during critical support periods, as requested and outlined in this RFP.

Offeror Response

D. Subcontractors: Provide a subcontracting plan for all subcontractors, including small diverse business and small business subcontractors, who will be assigned to the Project. The Selected Offeror is prohibited from subcontracting or outsourcing any part of this Project without the express written approval from the Commonwealth. Upon award of the contract resulting from this RFP, subcontractors included in the proposal submission are deemed approved. For each position included in your subcontracting plan provide:

1. Name of subcontractor;

2. Primary contact name and email;

3. Address of subcontractor;

4. Description of services to be performed;

5. Number of employees by job category assigned to this project; and

6. Resumes (if appropriate and available).

Offeror Response

I-3. Training. If appropriate, indicate recommended training of agency personnel. Include agency personnel to be trained, the number to be trained, duration of the program, place of training, curricula, training materials to be used, number and frequency of sessions, and number and level of instructors.

Offeror Response

I-4. Financial Capability. Describe your company’s financial stability and economic capability to perform the contract requirements. The Commonwealth reserves the right to request additional information to evaluate an Offeror’s financial capability.

Offeror Response

I-5. Requirements. The following requirements and standards must be met. The Offeror shall acknowledge its understanding in their response and provide additional explanation as requested and whenever possible.

A. Non-Commonwealth Hosting.

1. The Offeror shall meet all hosting requirements outlined in Exhibit A, Requirements for Non-Commonwealth Hosted Application Services of the IT Terms and Conditions.

Offeror Response

2. The proposed solution shall undergo an IT Vendor Risk Assessment review. In support of the review, the Offeror must submit the following documents and information related to the proposed solution. Offeror should review the trade secret form included in the solicitation to address any concerns related to the confidentiality of the information submitted.

a) A SOC2 Type II, ISO 27001 certification, SIG and/or other relevant security documentation.

b) StateRAMP or FedRAMP certificates.

c) Information Security Policy.

d) PenTest Summary Results.

e) Any other relevant information pertaining to the Offeror’s Security & Compliance programs that would be helpful in evaluating how they manage security for their customers.

Offeror Response

B. Software Requirements. The Offeror shall inform the Agency when the proposed solution requires licensed software. The licensor must enter into a software license agreement with the Commonwealth that incorporates Appendix E, Agency SaaS Software Services License Requirements Agreement.

Offeror Response

C. Solution Requirements.

1. The proposed solution should be currently installed in production, and operational, in at least one state government jurisdiction similar in size and scope to the Commonwealth. If the proposed solution is not currently installed, and operational, in at least one state government jurisdiction similar in size and scope to the Commonwealth, the Offeror must provide details of a comparable operational installation. The alternative will be evaluated accordingly.

Offeror Response

D. Solution Support.

1. Hours of Support. The Offeror shall provide support 8:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern Time (EDT or EST as applicable) and evenings and weekends as requested. Support shall include, but not be limited to, assistance and ongoing support regarding problems, issues, release support, guidance in the operation of the solution, and identification and correction of possible data or system errors.

Offeror Response

2. Types of Support. The Offeror shall describe all types of solution support available (e.g., telephone, web chat, email). At a minimum email and phone support shall be provided.

Offeror Response

3. Incident Management. The Offeror shall provide and manage a process to track, monitor, and resolve reported problems and issues. The Offeror shall describe its methodology to triage problem criticality and impact including resolution procedures and escalation process for each classification of problems and issues.

Offeror Response

4. Notifications. The Offeror shall describe its policies and procedures to notify service subscribers and users in the event of scheduled maintenance, unscheduled maintenance, emergency maintenance, downtime, system errors, degraded performance, product releases, or other user-impacting events. The solution shall provide system messages at login to notify users of maintenance or other system events.

Offeror Response

E. Release Management.

1. The Offeror shall provide functional software upgrades/releases during the life of the contract at no additional cost to the Commonwealth.

The Offeror shall describe its approach to the following:

1. The methodology and processes for updating the solution for all types of releases, including but not limited to, software releases, commonwealth-requested enhancements, security updates, system maintenance, patches, and system enhancements.

Offeror Response

2. The SDLC used to implement releases.

Offeror Response

3. How new functions and features are released to clients and a client’s ability to control which new features are implemented.

Offeror Response

4. Whether and how test or staging environments are available to the client.

Offeror Response

5. How testing will occur using client data and appropriate configurations.

Offeror Response

6. How regression testing will be completed including, but not limited to, the data that will be used, how Commonwealth configurations and customizations will be tested, and the result reports that will be made available.

Offeror Response

7. Compliance with industry standards and best practices, such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the Association for Equipment Management Professionals (AEMP), and the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT).

Offeror Response

F. Audits. The Offeror shall support all requests by the Agency to audit the solution. Audits may include but not be limited to the solution functions, reports, notices, financials, and generated files.

Offeror Response

G. Reporting. The Agency requires a solution with easy-to-use and intuitive reporting functionality.

1. The Offeror shall describe all reports available with the out-of-the-box solution.

Offeror Response

2. The Offeror shall describe the capability of the proposed solution to support the development of custom reports. The Offeror shall describe the level of knowledge, skills, or training required for the user to develop custom reports.

Offeror Response

3. The Offeror shall describe the proposed solution’s ability to generate reports against live data. The description shall include, but not be limited to, limitations of the number of users, sizes of queries, and system requirements above and beyond the normal base configuration.

Offeror Response

H. Solution Maintenance. All standard solution and hardware maintenance shall be completed outside of business hours, which are defined as [enter the days and hours for maintenance]. The Offeror must receive Agency approval before implementing any software upgrades in any environment used by the Agency. The Agency requires, at a minimum, the following maintenance items:

1. Ongoing software updates for the proposed solution, as they become available and are thoroughly tested; such updates may include, but are not limited to, bug fixes, patches, and other improvements. The Offeror shall describe how the updates will be tested before updating any Agency environment.

Offeror Response

2. Software updates that modify features and functions shall include an update to online help, training tutorials, reference guides, and user manuals.

Offeror Response

I. Additional Features or Functions.

1. The Offeror shall describe any additional functions and features included at no additional cost.

Offeror Response

2. The Offeror shall describe any additional capabilities not included as part of its proposal and/or that are currently in development which could be made available in future releases or upon request.

Offeror Response

J. Disaster Recovery (DR) Plan. The selected Offeror shall provide a comprehensive DR plan for electronic records, equipment, data, files, and all other resources necessary to maintain business operations supported by the solution. The Offeror shall include a copy of its DR Plan with its proposal for evaluation purposes. A finalized DR Plan shall be due within 60 calendar days after the purchase order effective date and must be updated annually.

1. The Offeror shall provide the following information in relation to the DR Plan:

a) How, by whom, and how often its DR plan will be tested.

b) How its DR test plans support compliance with the required system availability.

c) The approach to backing up the infrastructure to provide for continuity of operations.

d) Results of the most recent DR test, including, but not limited to the following:

(1) The implementation playbook of how disaster recovery was tested.

(2) Measurements against requirements and actual times observed in testing:

· Recovery Point Objective (RPO) in hours.

· Recovery Time Objective (RTO) in hours.

· Work Recover Time (WRT) in hours.

· Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD) in hours.

(3) A list of all defects found in the disaster recovery process with action items and actual times to resolve each defect found.

Offeror Response

K. Emergency Preparedness. To support the continuity of operations during an emergency, the Commonwealth needs a strategy for maintaining operations for an extended time. One part of this strategy is to ensure that essential contracts that provide critical business services to the Commonwealth have planned for such an emergency and put contingencies in place to provide needed goods and services.

1. The Offeror shall describe how such a crisis will impact its operations.

2. The Offeror shall describe its emergency response continuity of operations plan. Attach a copy of the plan, or at a minimum, summarize how the plan addresses the following aspects of pandemic preparedness:

a) Employee training (describe the organization’s training plan, and how frequently the plan will be shared with employees);

b) Identified essential business functions and key employees (within the organization) necessary to carry them out;

c) Contingency plans for:

(1) How the organization will handle staffing issues when a portion of key employees are incapacitated due to illness;

(2) How employees in the organization will carry out the essential functions if contagion control measures prevent them from coming to the primary workplace.

d) How the organization will communicate with staff and suppliers when primary communications systems are overloaded or otherwise fail, including key contacts, chain of communications (including suppliers), etc. and;

e) How and when the emergency plan will be tested, and if the plan will be tested by a third party.

Offeror Response

I-6. Tasks. Describe in narrative form your technical plan for accomplishing the work using the task descriptions set forth below as your reference point. Modifications of the task descriptions are permitted; however, reasons for changes should be fully explained. Indicate the number of person hours allocated to each task. Include a Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) or similar type display, time related, showing each event. If more than one approach is apparent, comment on why you chose this approach.

Task A: Site Installation. Site installation work will initially encompass a Pilot Site or Sites to be determined by PennDOT upon award of contract. Upon successful completion and acceptance of the Pilot Site, the Digital Video Network will be deployed statewide to all Driver License Center and Photo License Center Locations.

In the event an existing incumbent successfully providing the Digital Video Service becomes Selected Offeror of this RFP, the necessity and requirement of a Pilot Site shall be automatically waived.

All site work conducted by the Selected Offeror must be completed during PennDOT’s normal business hours unless otherwise directed by PennDOT. All work, including maintenance and repair, shall be subject to PennDOT’s approval and the Selected Offeror shall not begin until approval has been granted. Some locations are leased facilities and may require additional approvals from the landlords before Selected Offeror may begin work.

All hardware must not interfere with currently installed IT and security hardware. Location of the hardware cannot block view to/from the counters and the customer area. Any counter numbering displays must be fully visible to the customer waiting areas and must not be blocked by any mounted TV devices. Location of all installed devices must be approved by PennDOT prior to installation. All cabling and work affecting a site’s data closet must be approved by PennDOT’s Bureau of Infrastructure and Operations prior to installation. In the event PennDOT requests removal of any project materials or content, the Selected Offeror shall act immediately upon notice and comply fully with PennDOT requests. At the end of the project, Selected Offeror is responsible for de-installation and removal of any and all equipment that was installed by the Selected Offeror.

Information regarding PennDOT’s IT systems is contained in Appendix B: Enterprise IT Standards – 6.0 IEDDC.

1. Pilot Site:

a. The Selected Offeror will complete perform site analysis and submit equipment specifications and placement layout for Pilot Site(s)along with Appendix H – IT Pilot or Demo Request Form to PennDOT for approval within 60 days following the Notice To Proceed (NTP), but prior to beginning any installation work.

b. The Selected Offeror will provide a detailed plan including all work which needs to be performed on Pilot Site(s) to successfully complete the installation within 90 days following the NTP.

c. The Selected Offeror will provide and install a closed-circuit video network, TVs and additional required hardware and software after PennDOT has approved Tasks 1a and 1b for Pilot Site(s).

d. The Selected Offeror will perform configuration of the software/hardware at Pilot Site(s) to sync with and display current and future PennDOT queuing systems (which is currently Q-Matic installed at 60 locations) within 120 days following NTP.

e. The Selected Offeror will position TVs for maximum viewing potential within 5 days of installation at Pilot Site(s).

f. Selected Offeror will place one screen near the main entrance to each PennDOT facility that can be clearly seen from the exterior. This screen will be used to notify PennDOT customers in real time of closures, operational hours changes, excessive wait times for services, other information about closures or service limitations, and other pertinent real time information at that PennDOT location.

g. The Selected Offeror will provide training to PennDOT staff on the operation of the network, if necessary, within 5 days of installation at each site. Selected Offeror will conduct staff training on the operation of the equipment after the installation is complete.

h. The Selected Offeror will have a fully functioning system in place at initial pilot site(s) within six (6) months or less of receiving NTP.

i. The Selected Offeror will monitor, maintain and repair the network as needed, including all associated hardware and software, on a continuous basis throughout the term of the contract.

j. The Selected Offeror will respond within 24 hours to all service call requests.

2. Statewide Rollout:

a. If the Pilot site(s) is deemed successful, the Selected Offeror will create and present to PennDOT a Rollout Plan for subsequent deployment to additional sites within one (1) month following the submission of the survey results.

b. All Tasks for the Pilot Site(s) will remain in effect for deployment at all locations. Timeframes for completion will be based on the Rollout Plan presented by the Selected Offer and as agreed to by PennDOT.

Task B: Content Creation. The Selected Offeror, with PennDOT approval, will provide and maintain control over all content that is viewed by PennDOT customers. Programming should include, but is not limited to, real-time traffic, traffic cameras, weather conditions, “Amber Alerts”, and public service messages in English and foreign languages. Selected Offeror will also, at PennDOT’s request, edit pre-produced footage and/or create PennDOT-specific messaging, such as new laws, safety initiatives, holiday site schedules, and emergency homeland security announcements.

PennDOT reserves the right to accept or reject all advertisers, advertisements and content presented by the Selected Offeror. All content created by the vendor and subsequent information will be considered PennDOT property. Audio or closed captioning will be at PennDOT’s discretion and may vary from site to site.

The Selected Offeror will be responsible for identifying items of interest to PennDOT Customers when developing programming and measuring the success of that programming with PennDOT’s customers.

1. Content Requirements:

a. The Selected Offeror will provide PennDOT with all content for review and approval at least 30 days prior to airing at Pilot Site(s) and all future sites.

b. The Selected Offeror will ensure that the approved content at any site does not play/repeat more than once every 30 minutes.

2. Content Evaluation:

a. The Selected Offeror will develop a customer satisfaction survey instrument and submit to PennDOT for approval at least 30 days prior to airing.

b. The Selected Offeror will conduct a customer satisfaction survey during the first six (6) weeks of operations and provide the results to the Department within three (3) weeks following the survey period.

Task C: Network Upkeep. The Selected Offeror will be responsible for all aspects of the Digital Video Network once in operation.

1. The Selected Offeror will monitor, maintain and repair the network as needed, including all associated hardware and software, on a continuous basis throughout the term of the contract.

2. The Selected Offeror will respond within 24 hours to all service call requests.

3. All site work conducted must be completed during PennDOT’s normal business hours unless otherwise directed by PennDOT. All work, including maintenance and repair, shall be subject to PennDOT’s approval and shall not begin until approval has been granted.

Offeror Response

I-7. Reports and Project Control.

A. Status Report. A periodic quarterly progress report covering activities, problems and recommendations. This report should be keyed to the work plan the Offeror developed in its proposal, as amended or approved by the Issuing Office.

Offeror Response

B. Problem Identification Report. An “as required” report, identifying problem areas. The report should describe the problem and its impact on the overall project and on each affected task. It should list possible courses of action with advantages and disadvantages of each, and include Offeror recommendations with supporting rationale; and

Offeror Response

C. Revenue Report. This monthly report identifies gross revenue generated by the network. This report may be completed by filling out the cost submittal that will be submitted with the initial proposal and on a continuing basis every month and submitting it to PennDOT and the Department of General Services’ Bureau of Diversity, Inclusion and Small Business Opportunity (BDISBO) to ensure diversity program goal requirements are met.

Offeror Response

D. Final Report. A final report will be required within 30 days of the end of the contract to include but not be limited to:

1. Abstract or summary of the result of customer viewer evaluations.

2. A detailed inventory and statement of value of all equipment installed at each facility.

3. A summary of all findings, conclusions, recommendations for future programming, and all supporting documentation for new equipment or new methods or types of communications with customers.

Offeror Response

I-8. Digital Accessibility Requirements. The Commonwealth promotes equal access to employees and residents with disabilities as shown in Appendix C - Digital Accessibility Requirement for Supplier-Built Websites or Apps. Equal access ensures employees and residents who use assistive technologies (screen readers, magnifiers, speech-to-text, etc.) to access digital content and services, as defined in Digital Accessibility Policy, that includes but is not limited to electronic content, software, hardware, and support documentation and services, are able to access the Commonwealth digital information and services.

1. To support the Digital Accessibility Requirements objectives, the Selected Offeror shall:

1. Submit with its response a completed Policy Driven Adoption for Accessibility (PDAA) Assessment, using Appendix D - PDAA Assessment attachment located in the Buyer Attachments of the JAGGAER event, to detail the Selected Offeror’s strong accessibility program, capabilities and intention to continually improve the maturity of its accessibility program and services.

1. Submit with its response applicable Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACR) using the current version of the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) found on the Information Technology Industry (ITI) Council website for digital products (Example: Custom-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products, content management tools).

1. Provide for the ability of Closed Captioning of advertisements. Digital Video Network equipment should be set to not show Closed Captioning as a default at the time of install. Selected Offeror will be expected to demonstrate to PennDOT Driver Licensing Center staff how to enable Closed Captioning.

Offeror Response

I-9. Objections and Additions to Standard Contract Terms and Conditions. The Offeror will identify which, if any, of the following it would like to negotiate and what items the Offeror would like to add.

· Appendix A - IT Terms and Conditions

· Appendix F: Agency SaaS Software Service License Requirements Agreement The Offeror’s failure to make a submission under this paragraph will result in its waiving its right to do so later, but the Issuing Office may consider late objections and requests for additions if to do so, in the Issuing Office’s sole discretion, would be in the best interest of the Commonwealth. The Issuing Office may, in its sole discretion, accept or reject any requested changes.

The Offeror shall not request changes to the other provisions of the RFP, nor shall the Offeror request to completely substitute its own terms and conditions for this RFP. All terms and conditions must appear in one integrated contract. The Issuing Office will not accept references to the Offeror’s, or any other, online guides or online terms and conditions contained in any proposal.

Regardless of any objections set out in its proposal, the Offeror must submit its proposal, including the cost proposal, based on the listed Appendices. The Issuing Office will reject any proposal that is conditioned on the negotiation of the Appendices.

Offeror Response