Addendum No 6 Q & A 5.17.2024.pdf

(866) 832-2363

E-Mail: CustomerService@vec.virginia.gov

VRC/TDD VA Relay 711

Equal Opportunity Employer/Program

Carrie Roth

Director

6606 W. Broad Street

Richmond, VA 23230

Department of Workforce Development and Advancement

RFP BPM050921/65222 ADDENDUM No 6 Q & A

1. Virginia Works Technology Hub RFP Final, 3. Proposal Format, A. Supplier's Proposal Format Table 2 (pg. 11)

File No. 3 Detailed Description of the Proposed Solution(s) indicates the limitation of 100 pages is requested; we want to confirm that it is not required and that it is okay to exceed 100 pages, due to the amount and complexity of the requirements being requested?

The RFP states: “Requested limitation: 100 pages”.

2. We are MBE, NMSDC and DBE certified small business and we have registered vendor on VA state procurement portal.

Our annual revenue ranges between 10-12 M. Our SWaM certification with VA is under consideration, not yet awarded.

Please advise if we are qualified for this bid submission.

Yes, however eVA registration is required.

3. Section 2.O, Evaluation Process

The Evaluation Process states that "A numerical scoring system will be used in evaluation of proposals. The point values assigned to each of the evaluation criteria shall be posted in eVA prior to the due date and time for receiving proposals." When is the scoring criteria projected to be posted?

Prior to the due date and time for receiving proposals.

4. File 7, Appendices

In File 7, you outline that vendors should "Provide the implementation plan as requested in Section 5", but no implementation plan is listed in Section 5. Can you clarify how vendors should submit an implementation plan?

Section 5 states “Each Supplier must indicate its capability of fulfilling each specific requirement in Appendix J”. Please see “implementation” tab in Appendix J.

5. Appendix D

Guidance has been provided that the yearly budget is $1.3 million. Acknowledging that Year 1's budget will look different than other years due to implementation costs and licensing level differences, does the budget provided above apply to Year 1 during implementation as well as ongoing years?

$1.3 million represents the annual budget for what we are considering to be “base” capabilities as outlined in the RFP.

Virginia Works envisions the addition of features and functionality to the solution over the contract period that would be funded by additional budget allocations.

Implementation costs proposed by the supplier are to be detailed in the response using Appendix D Virginia Works

Tech Hub Pricing Final.xlsx.

6. Related to VWTH-1006

Can the state please clarify which systems act as external job boards and whether those systems will be pushing jobs into the Solution, or if Salesforce needs to pull those from the systems or services?

Ideally, the solution will provide the ability to accept job postings which are pushed by sources which are enabled now or in the future AND will provide the ability to pull relevant job posting data using public APIs. Examples: PUSH: A large employer configures its job posting algorithm to push Virginia-based jobs to the Virginia Works job board. Jobs

Virginia enables push capability to automatically transmit postings to the Virginia Works job board. PULL: Virginia

Works Tech Hub is configured by Virginia Works staff to import and update all job postings from specified public APIs using customizable criteria. New data sources may be added and non-applicable sources may be removed from this service by Virginia Works staff.

7. Related to VWTH-1009

Can the state please clarify the requirement for tracking activities for each client or employer, given that there are only two categories: updates on records and setup level/configuration changes which affect the system, and that these activities cannot be further categorized into compliance, performance, finance, etc.?

Each event which occurs should be trackable. Category metadata should be associated with each event based on the defined workflow event/process.

8. Overall Scoping question

Can the state please clarify if guest user access is required for job seekers to view job postings? If so, what should be the differences in access and viewing capabilities between logged-in and guest users?

Guest users may search and view job postings. A user must be registered and logged in to apply.

https://mvendor.cgieva.com/Vendor/public/IVDetails.jsp?PageTitle=SO%20Details&rfp_id_lot=65222&rfp_id_round=6#gcaptcha https://mvendor.cgieva.com/Vendor/public/IVDetails.jsp?PageTitle=SO%20Details&rfp_id_lot=65222&rfp_id_round=6#gcaptcha https://www.jobs.virginia.gov/ https://www.jobs.virginia.gov/

9. Related to VWTH-1012

Can the state please clarify if job seekers require the ability to edit or modify their resumes inline before uploading them to their profiles?

Requirement VWTH-1012 relates to employer-related functionality, not job seeker functionality.

Requirement VWTH-1013 related to job seeker resume capabilities. If the solution provides the ability to edit or modify resumes inline prior to upload, this should be stated in the response.

10. Related to VWTH-1006

Can the state please clarify what the unique identifier for job postings will be that can be used for deduplication, and whether all data sources will use the same unique key?

We are not anticipating nor expecting each data source to use common primary keys (i.e. Company name + Requisition ID) for identification of each unique job posting. The response to VWTH-1006 should indicate whether the solution provides the capability to identify and deduplicate job postings.

11. Overall Scoping question

Can the state please clarify the team size and how many departments or personas we can assume?

This is a summary of the anticipated functional roles and estimated sizing for Virginia Works staff users:

Function # Users Analytics/reporting 10 Compliance 7 Grants Management 1 Product team 10 Program Delivery 200 Program Leadership 7

12. Overall Scoping question

Can the state please clarify if a user/person can be mapped to only one entity at a time or if there can be one-to-many mappings? Entities can include employers, support service providers' teams, etc.

A user may be linked to more than one program/workflow.

13. Overall Scoping question

Can the state please clarify if there is a need for mobile compatibility and responsiveness for all the pages and modules in the system? Are there any specific personas who will need or can access the system via mobile?

It is expected that job seekers/program clients and program support staff will require the ability to access and use the system via mobile devices (in addition to non-mobile devices).

14. Overall Scoping question

Can the state please clarify if there is a need to have milestones in the case lifecycle, and if there are any such stopgates or milestones in the existing system?

We are assuming that “stopgates” refers to workflow/process steps where user action is required to proceed. Yes, we anticipate the need for these types of events in our workflows. The current system supports these types of events, however an exhaustive list of these events is not readily available. Capabilities should be detailed in the response to requirement VWTH-3016: “Does your solution provide the ability for Virginia Works administrator to add/modify workflows?”

15. Related to VWTH-3003

Can the state please clarify if the state is using any IVR and chatbot solutions at the moment and if there is a need to integrate the same with the solution?

Neither IVR nor chatbot solutions are currently deployed for Virginia Works. Requirement VWTH-3003 states, “Does your solution provide the ability to provide user support via web chatbot, text chatbot, phone IVR (not agent-based)?” Suppliers should provide detail in the response related to IVR and chatbot functionality and integration.

16. Related to VWTH-5005 and VWTH-5009

Can the state please clarify and provide a list of systems that need to be integrated within the solution?

Integration of external applications should be achieved via Microservice/API. External applications which are not compatible with the solution will not be integrated.

17. Related to VWTH-6019

Can the state please clarify if there are any data migration activities expected? If yes, which system data and the volume of data will be involved?

Data which is required to support compliance with program requirements will be migrated from the current system of record to the selected solution. We anticipate 500,000 user records with all case notes and related data will be migrated. The volume of data will be researched and provided as soon as possible.

18. Program Management category of Appendix J

Can the state please provide more detail on requirement VWTH-4001 in the Program Management category of

Appendix J?

Requirements for Federal and State Funded workforce programs change on a regular basis. The requirement asks if the solution provider monitors for these changes, determines the impacts of these changes, and implements solutions to remain compliant with these changes.

19. Overall Scoping question

Can the state please clarify which languages will be incorporated into the system?

The system must comply with Federal and State regulations regarding language access. The current solution supports English and Spanish.

20. Overall Scoping question

Can the state please clarify the data security requirements, and if there is a need for data encryption?

Please review all VITA requirements, particularly VTWH-2004 Commonwealth Data Standards.

21. VWTH-5018

Can the state please clarify the requirement to "receive and process scanned documents (jpg, PDF, etc.)

from authorized users?"

Responses should indicate the capability of the solution to receive and process documents which may be considered unstructured data and convert them into text documents. Capabilities to create structured data from unstructured documents should be noted if that capability is provided. Example: A job seeker takes a photo of a certification document to upload to the job seeker’s profile. The system should provide the functionality for the user to upload the photo for the system to process it. Suppliers should provide details about the capabilities in the response.

22. VWTH-6012

Can the state please clarify who from the state's team would be available to discuss the requirements and refine them for implementation?

Implementation resources will be allocated in conjunction with awarding of the contract.

23. VWTH-6013

Can the state please clarify if the requirements traceability is to be done from existing production systems or if it is a future activity we are referring to once we have deployed our solution to production/live?

It is anticipated that detailed requirements will be developed with the chosen solution provider and the methodology/process for requirements documentation, traceability, testing and acceptance will be co-developed by the supplier and Virginia Works.

24. Related to VWTH-1022

Can the state please provide either a list of required data fields or a sample we can refer to?

Current and future Federal reporting requirements are available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/performance/reporting

25. Related to VWTH-3002

Can the state please clarify if, as part of feedback management, there is a need to store survey responses, derive value from them, and run any analytics on the feedback responses data? What are the expected volumes of surveys to be sent out yearly?

Yes to all. User feedback should be able to be requested and captured in-line. Feedback requests may occur at any point in the user experience as defined by the Virginia Works Product Team. Solution capabilities should be detailed in the response.

26. Related to VWTH-3009

Can the state please clarify the use case for "standard automated employer/business verification, with escalation to a manual queue for concerns?" Is this an existing service/process being used by the state, and is it tied to a verification service provider?

Currently, business validation is a manual process. This requirement seeks to discover the solution capabilities for partial or complete automation of this process.

27. Related to VWTH-3013

Can the state please clarify the requirement for the "ability to manage workflow prioritization based on follow-up notifications to state case workers?" What are the sources of follow-up notifications, and is the solution visualized as a manual process for prioritization or system-automated?

Follow up notifications are internally system generated. Responses should indicate the capabilities for manual or automated prioritization of workflows.

28. Related to VWTH-4012

Can the state please clarify the secure API and the frequency of pushing data to this API?

Solution capabilities to publish data to one or more APIs should be detailed in responses. Some APIs may currently exist (i.e. Commonwealth Data Trust, Workforce Data Trust) while others may be included in the solution.

29. Related to VWTH-5012

Can the state please clarify the requirement for the "ability of printing highly sensitive PII and limiting access to only those with permissions/entitlements?"

In the interest of protecting highly sensitive PII, the solution should provide user/role-based restrictions for access to and printing of these records. The response should provide information about any capabilities to do so.

30. BPM050921_Virginia_Works_Technology_Hub_RFP_Final.pdf, Section 3.A, Table 2, page 12.

"File 7, Appendices, reads: ""Should include any required appendices including Appendix E, the completed State

Corporation Commission form. Provide the implementation plan as requested in Section 5. Any optional information

Supplier may wish to submit, not including pricing data." "Other than the appendix/items listed above, would Virginia

Works clarify if vendors should include any other appendices in File 7?"

The vendor should include any required appendices including Appendix E, the completed State Corporation

Commission form. Provide the implementation plan as requested in Section 5. Any optional information Supplier may wish to submit, not including pricing data.

31. BPM050921_Virginia_Works_Technology_Hub_RFP_Final.pdf, Section 9 Virginia Works STANDARD OF CONDUCT, Page 26.

"The RPF states ""A copy of the Virginia Works standard Solution contract will be provided as a separate MS Word document titled Appendix O.""

After reviewing Appendix O, the document is in pdf format. It is understood that we must submit a redlined copy of the contract along with the proposal for review.

May we please have a MS Word copy of the Virginia Works standard Solution contract in order to facilitate redlining?

Reference Addendum No. 7, sign and return with proposal.

32. Can you clarify the yearly budget of $1.3M? Is that your current spend with the incumbent solution, or the annual maximum the Agency has to spend on implementation and licensing of the new system?

$1.3 million represents the annual budget without the inclusion of implementation costs. Implementation costs proposed by the supplier are to be detailed in the response using Appendix D Virginia Works Tech Hub Pricing

Final.xlsx

33. Section 3. Proposal Format - File naming convention.

The RFP paragraph mentions the file name format as “1_ABC Corp_File Title_Solicitation No.”, whereas Table 2 in the same section mentions a different format, “Document: 1_Transmittal_Supplier Name_Solicitation No .”

Kindly clarify the correct format to be used for file names.

Reference Addendum No 7, sign and return with proposal.

34. Can you clarify the yearly budget of $1.3M? Is that your current spend with the incumbent solution, or the annual maximum the Agency has to spend on implementation and licensing of the new system?

$1.3 million represents the annual budget without the inclusion of implementation costs. Implementation costs proposed by the supplier are to be detailed in the response using Appendix D Virginia Works Tech Hub Pricing

Final.xlsx