Amendment #1 Q & A.pdf

SAP

State of South Carolina

Request for Proposal

Amendment #1

Questions & Answers

Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400027068 06/25/2024

JEFFERY SCHWALK

1-803-737-1018 SchwalkJC@scdot.org SCDOT Procurement Office PO Box 191 Columbia SC 29202-0191

DESCRIPTION: Encroachment Permitting RFP

USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: SC Department of Transportation

SUBMIT YOUR OFFER ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 07/16/2024 14:30:00 (See "Deadline For Submission Of Offer" provision)

QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: 06/18/2024 10:30:00 CLOSED (See "Questions From Offerors" provision)

NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: ONE

CONFERENCE TYPE: Not Applicable

DATE & TIME:

(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions)

LOCATION: Not Applicable

AWARD &

AMENDMENTS

Award will be posted on 08/27/2024. The award, this solicitation, any amendments, and any related notices will be posted at the following web address: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

You must submit a signed copy of this form with Your Offer. By signing, You agree to be bound by the terms of the

Solicitation. You agree to hold Your Offer open for a minimum of ninety (90) calendar days after the Opening Date. (See

"Signing Your Offer" provision.)

NAME OF OFFEROR

(full legal name of business submitting the offer)

Any award issued will be issued to, and the contract will be formed with, the entity identified as the Offeror. The entity named as the offeror must be a single and distinct legal entity. Do not use the name of a branch office or a division of a larger entity if the branch or division is not a separate legal entity, i.e., a separate corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, etc.

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE

(Person must be authorized to submit binding offer to contract on behalf of Offeror.)

DATE SIGNED

TITLE

(business title of person signing above)

STATE VENDOR NO.

(Register to Obtain S.C. Vendor No. at www.procurement.sc.gov)

PRINTED NAME

(printed name of person signing above)

STATE OF INCORPORATION

(If you are a corporation, identify the state of incorporation.)

OFFEROR'S TYPE OF ENTITY: (Check one) (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

___ Sole Proprietorship ___ Partnership ___ Other_____________________________

___ Corporate entity (not tax-exempt) ___ Corporation (tax-exempt) ___ Government entity (federal, state, or local)

COVER PAGE - ON-LINE ONLY (MAR. 2015)

mailto:SchwalkJC@scdot.org http://www.procurement.sc.gov/ http://www.procurement.sc.gov/ http://www.procurement.sc.gov/

SAP

SAP

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JAN 2004)

(a) The Solicitation may be amended at any time prior to opening. All actual and prospective Offerors should monitor the following web site for the issuance of Amendments: www.procurement.sc.gov (b) Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation (1) by signing and returning the amendment, (2) by identifying the amendment number and date in the space provided for this purpose on Page Two, (3) by letter, or

(4) by submitting a bid that indicates in some way that the bidder received the amendment. (c) If this solicitation is amended, then all terms and conditions which are not modified remain unchanged. [02-2A005-1]

QUESTIONS FROM OFFERORS - AMENDMENT (JUN 2017)

THE SOLICITATION IS AMENDED AS PROVIDED HEREIN. INFORMATION OR CHANGES

RESULTING FROM QUESTIONS WILL BE SHOWN IN A QUESTION-AND-ANSWER FORMAT. ALL

QUESTIONS RECEIVED HAVE BEEN REPRINTED BELOW. THE “STATE’S RESPONSE” SHOULD BE

READ WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THE QUESTIONS. THE QUESTIONS ARE INCLUDED SOLELY TO

PROVIDE A CROSS-REFERENCE TO THE POTENTIAL OFFEROR THAT SUBMITTED THE QUESTION.

QUESTIONS DO NOT FORM A PART OF THE CONTRACT; THE “STATE’S RESPONSE” DOES. ANY

RESTATEMENT OF PART OR ALL OF AN EXISTING PROVISION OF THE SOLICITATION IN AN

ANSWER DOES NOT MODIFY THE ORIGINAL PROVISION EXCEPT AS FOLLOWS: UNDERLINED

TEXT IS ADDED TO THE ORIGINAL PROVISON. STRICKEN TEXT IS DELETED.

QUESTION #1:

SC DOT is requesting a permitting solution that can be tailored through collaborative discussions to meet our specific operations needs." The collaborative discussions may have impact on the level of effort, scope and price of the configurations the DOT may require. How would the client recommend bidders submit fixed pricing by controlling risk and scope that may occur due to these collaborative discussions?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #1:

The bidder shall make appropriate assumptions based on the information provided, responses to bidder questions, and their experience in providing similar solutions for other customers of similar size and scope. There is space to include any assumptions in the Price Proposal, as per Section IV: Information for Offerors to Submit –

Evaluation (Jan 2006)/Price Proposal.

QUESTION #2:

What is the overall user count for this application? Could you also break it down into internal users

(SC DOT), external users (requiring an account), and external users (one-time application)?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #2:

There are approximately 500 internal users of the existing EPPS application, and 9,000 registered users. There are approximately 2,000 one-time permit applications per year.

QUESTION #3:

Is there a budget allocated for this initiative or will it require a budget request?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #3:

While basic budget numbers for this project has been included in our fiscal year planning assumptions, a detailed budget will be prepared and finalized based on the highest ranked proposal from a responsive and responsible offeror. SCDOT is committed to ensuring adequate funding is available to support the successful implementation of this initiative.

QUESTION #4:

In addition to the volumes provided with the initial RFP, could you provide the breakdown of permits submitted on a yearly basis as a percentage by type - commercial vs residential?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #4:

The following chart is a breakdown of all encroachment permit types within EPPS. For each encroachment permit there are also uploaded documents, images, etc. The current on-premise Sharepoint site at SCDOT contains approximately 1 terabyte of data.

QUESTION #5:

Are there existing DevOps tools that the state uses today that could be leveraged for this solution to get the most out of your existing tech stack?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #5:

The proposed solution shall include any tools the offeror requires to implement and host the solution. No access to the agency’s development tools will be provided by SCDOT.

QUESTION #6:

Outside of compatibility to integrate with PowerBI and ArcGIS, are there any other external applications that this new solution would need to integrate with? Is there an existing middleware solution that could be leveraged for this project?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #6:

SCDOT will provide access to APIs and support for the use of those APIs during this implementation. One example would be for determining if the location for an encroachment permit is on a state-maintained roadway, and methods for using a Lat/Long location to determine the route identifier and milepoint based on SCDOT linear referencing network.

SCDOT also publishes data through a secure API for common information such as County offices, District offices as well as web map and web feature services with the geographic representation of those features.

QUESTION #7:

In terms of data conversion, is there any data that would need to be migrated outside of the existing EPPS platform?

Can you provide more details related to the quality of data and need to de-duplicate them AND record volume

(number of records) in the current EPPS solution?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #7:

Data conversion is limited to EPPS data. As stated in the RFP, SCDOT receives approximately 14,000 per year.

The total volume of applications is approximately 138,000 and SCDOT currently has data from 2013 to date.

SCDOT is not aware of any data quality issues.

QUESTION #8:

Do you expect the solution to have document generation and e-signature capability?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #8:

The proposed solution shall include a digital signature capability. That capability shall be provided by the bidder rather than rely on SCDOT digital signature capabilities.

QUESTION #9:

Could you elaborate the requirements around ArcGIS? Does the state expect this feature only for internal SC DOT users to analysis, visualization and decision making purposes? Or should the ArcGIS capability be enabled for external users as well?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #9:

The proposed solution shall incorporate a mapping capability for both internal and external users. Applicants may want to be able to view a map of their application. Internal users want a map view of applications and their locations with an ability to query based on location.

QUESTION #10:

Does the state have existing backup and data recovery solutions and SLAs around those that can be utilized for the new permitting solution?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #10:

SCDOT is looking for a vendor-hosted solution. Bidders must provide their own backup and data recovery solutions.

QUESTION #11:

What day and time is the bid conference that is referenced with Dial in Code Dial: 1-833-523-3710 Access

Code/Conference ID: 657738 ?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #11:

The Dial-in number and the Conference ID references are for the bid opening, which is scheduled for

07/16/2024 at 2:30 PM EDST. There are not any additional conference calls referenced in the RFP.

QUESTION #12:

How does the DOT consume GIS mapping capabilities state-wide?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #12:

For the purposes of this solicitation, SCDOT has its own esri-based enterprise ArcGIS capabilities and publishes web map and web feature services.

SCDOT also makes use of commercial solutions such as Google Maps in some of its solutions. If the proposed solution makes use of any licensed commercial mapping services, it shall provide its own licensing rather than rely on SCDOT’s licenses.

QUESTION #13:

Can you list the API integrations you need?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #13:

The proposed solution shall have a well-documented, and secure API for SCDOT to leverage in its integration with other solutions. SCDOT currently leverages vendor APIs to pull data into its own data lake for integration with other solutions.

QUESTION #14:

Are DocuSign signatures acceptable?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #14:

DocuSign Signatures are acceptable. However, if DocuSign is included as a part of the proposed solution, the bidder is responsible for associated DocuSign costs. (Also see Question and Answer #8, above)

QUESTION #15:

Please list any systems other than Microsoft SharePoint (if any) where the data must be migrated.

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #15:

The conversion of existing EPPS data that is contained within Microsoft Sharepoint is the focus for the purposes of this solicitation.

QUESTION #16:

Based on page 17, item 2 under the Scope, does SCDOT expect the proposal to include integrations with other systems? If so, please provide a listing (e.g., SC811).

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #16:

The solution shall provide a well-documented, and secure API that can be used by SCDOT to integrate with other solutions.

QUESTION #17:

SCDOT requires a hosting platform that provides a 99.99% uptime. This equates to 3.65 days per year of unplanned outages. Planned maintenance activities are not included in the uptime requirement. Cloud Services

Provider (CSP) uses commercially reasonable efforts to make its on-demand services available to its customers

24/7, except for planned downtime, for which the CSP gives customers prior notice, and force majeure events.

While availability SLAs can be negotiated in a contract, the calculation is measured quarterly.

Can your organization please adjust this requirement and specify that the SLA requirements can be negotiated based on the Service provider chosen?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #17:

SCDOT’s hosting uptime requirement of 99.99% does not include planned maintenance activities. The specification remains unchanged.

QUESTION #18:

Does the existing electronic system provide the workflow given in Attachment A?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #18:

The existing EPPS solution is using on-premise Microsoft Sharepoint and related technologies to implement the workflows as outlined in the solicitation.

QUESTION #19:

The utility options items listed, are those to do repairs on existing lines? Are you looking for Utility permitting as well?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #19:

All of the utility permit options currently available allow utility owners to install new facilities within SCDOT

Rights-Of-Way, as well as perform repairs and routine maintenance on existing facilities. SCDOT’s focus for encroachment permitting is to allow access to SCDOT ROW outside of any other necessary permits.

QUESTION #20:

Is there any standard document which explains on Encroachment permitting process?

SCDOT RESPONSE TO QUESTION #20:

The solicitation provides documentation on the encroachment permit process flow (posted document Current

Process Flow.pdf). The SCDOT web site also provides additional information on encroachment permits including instructional videos. The link is as follows: https://www.scdot.org/business/permits.aspx https://www.scdot.org/business/permits.aspx