Attachment #5 - Service Level Agreement.docx

Attachment #5 Service Level Agreement (“SLA”) The following Service Level Agreement is part of and incorporated into the [Title of Agreement], Agreement No. [_______], (“Agreement”) between the State of Iowa, acting by and through the Iowa Department of Management (“Agency”), and ___________, a __________ organized under the laws of ___________ (“Vendor”). Capitalized terms used but not defined herein are as defined in the Agreement.

1. Overview. This SLA sets forth certain performance standards and service levels to be achieved by Vendor in providing the applications services and related Deliverables to the Agency.

2. Definitions. Except as provided in this SLA, capitalized terms used but not defined herein are as defined in the Agreement. The following terms, when used in this SLA, shall have the following meanings:

2.1. “Available” means the application services shall:

2.1.1. Be capable of being utilized or accessed over the internet by state users and their Authorized Contractors as contemplated under the Agreement, RFP, and the Proposal, including in accordance with any Specifications, without Deficiency, and without material degradation of performance; and

2.1.2. Provide the functionality required under the Agreement and applicable Purchasing Instruments.

2.2. “Critical Hours” Means 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM CDT.

2.3. “Downtime” means the aggregate duration of Outages for the application services and related Deliverables (or any portion thereof) during a calendar month, excluding Scheduled Downtime.

2.4. “Download Time” means the average time to download or execute any page, screen, or other system response related to the application services or related Deliverables, including all content contained therein or related thereto. Download time shall be measured using a Vendor-supplied program, and by clock, and shall be measured to the nearest one-tenth of a second for each page, commencing from the operative input from the user, whether by keyboard, mouse click, or any other input device.

2.5. “Non-Critical Hours means 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM CDT.

2.6. “Normal Business Hours” means 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM CST/CDT, Monday through Friday.

2.7. “Outage” means any time during which the application services and related Deliverables (or any portion thereof) are not available within a calendar month, measured from the earliest point in time that such Outage is or reasonably should be detected by Vendor, but in any event no later than the time the Outage actually occurred.

2.8 “Recovery Time Objective or RTO” means the maximum time allowed to restore a business processes after disruption.

2.9. “Scheduled Downtime” means scheduled maintenance Outages communicated to and agreed to by the Agency at least seven (7) days in advance. Outages shall last no longer than is reasonably necessary to address the applicable maintenance need. Scheduled downtime must be scheduled outside of Normal Business Hours.

2.10. “Server(s)” shall mean the server(s) on which the application services and related Deliverables are hosted.

2.11. “Support Request(s)” means a request by the Agency to Vendor related to the application services or related Deliverables being Unavailable.

2.12. “Support Request Classification” means the level of a Support Request based on the severity or seriousness of the Deficiency or issue leading to the Support Request. Support Requests shall be classified as defined in the table in Section 3.1.1 of this SLA.

2.13. “Transition Out” means the Vendor’s responsibility for transition maintenance and operations (M&O) services for the system to the Agency’s designee(s) (e.g., an incoming Vendor for M&O services).

2.14. “Unavailable” means the application services are not available, as such term is defined in Section 2.1.

2.15. “Uptime” means any time that is not Downtime. Uptime includes both: (a) “Critical Hours,” meaning the hours between 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM CDT; and (b) “Non-Critical Hours,” meaning the hours between 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM CDT.

3. Service Levels.

3.1 Support Requests. The Agency may make Support Requests via a Vendor-specified telephone number, email address, or other Vendor-provided mechanism, which shall be available during Normal Business Hours. Vendor shall respond to and resolve Support Requests in accordance with the following performance standards and service levels.

3.1.1 Support response times. Following the receipt of a Support Request, the Vendor shall provide an initial response for the Support Request based on the Support Request Classification within the corresponding timeframe set forth in the table below.

3.1.2 Support Status Update. Following the receipt of a Support Request and Vendor’s initial response thereto, Vendor shall provide a status update for the Support Request based on the Support Request Classification, within the corresponding timeframe set forth in the table above.

Table 1: Severity Levels

· Hourly updates until resolved

· Daily updates until resolved

The failure is not critical - no Customer Data has been lost, and the application services have not failed. The issue has been identified and does not prevent normal operation of the application services. The workaround is cumbersome to use.

· 12 business hours

· Daily updates until resolved

· Weekly updates until resolved

4. Uptime/Availability. The Vendor must maintain a high degree of system availability for users who rely on the system to perform their daily business functions. Vendors must help ensure critical system components are available to the Agency between the business hours of 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM CST/CDT, understanding the Agency is a 24/7/365 operation that requires an operating OMS to complete their work. The application services and related Deliverables will be available:

4.1 99.9% during Critical Hours, excluding Scheduled Downtime; and

4.2 99.7% during Non-Critical Hours, excluding Scheduled Downtime.

The Vendor shall be solely responsible for all Downtime in accordance with the service levels identified above, excluding Scheduled Downtime, including if such Downtime was caused, in whole or in part, by Vendor.

4.3 The Vendor must report on the following information in the monthly M&O Status Report (OM8 in Appendix 1):

4.3.1 Each segment of Downtime minutes by day, during the scheduled availability period.

4.3.2 Components affected by each segment of Downtime.

4.3.3 Environment involved in Downtime (test, training, etc.).

4.3.4 Weekly total of Downtime minutes occurring for the week during scheduled availability periods.

4.3.5 Cause of Downtime.

5. System Response Time. The Vendor must ensure system response times do not exceed 1,000 milliseconds for more than three (3) continuous minutes during Normal Business Hours. To measure system response time, the Vendor will use a performance monitoring tool that reports client delay, network delay, server delay, and application delay as separate statistics.

5.1 The Vendor must report on the following information in the monthly M&O Status Report (OM8 in Appendix 1):

5.9.1. Each segment of system response times that exceeded the standard of 1,000 milliseconds for more than three (3) minutes.

5.9.2. Components affected by the system response time delays.

5.9.3. Total number of minutes during the period where system response times exceeded the standard.

The Vendor must then provide the Agency an initial assessment of the 1 - Critical issue within sixty (60) minutes of initial notification, either verbally or by email.

The Vendor must ensure resolution of the 1 – Critical issue within two (2) calendar days of initially notifying the Agency of the problem. The Vendor must report incident status to Agency hourly from at 6 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. Central Time until the incident is resolved.

Any incidents or issues caused by infrastructure or hardware problems that are the responsibility of the Agency or the Agency’s third-party Vendors will be excluded from this performance measure only after it has been verified the application has no impact on this performance measure.

Any incidents or issues caused by infrastructure or hardware problems that are the responsibility of the Agency or the Agency’s third-party Vendors will be excluded from this performance measure only after it has been verified the application has no impact on this performance measure.

10. Corrective Action Plan (CAP). When the Vendor fails to achieve an SLA performance standard two (2) out of three (3) consecutive months, the Agency will request that the Vendor submit a written CAP to the Agency.

The Vendor must submit a written CAP no later than ten (10) business days from the date that the Agency requests the CAP. The Agency will consider extensions to the ten (10)-day CAP timeline on a case-by-case basis.

The Agency must approve the Vendor’s CAP prior to the Vendor implementing the proposed corrective action.

Quality Assurance

12.1 Verify Invoices and supporting documentation itemizing work performed prior to payment;

12.2 Determine compliance with general Contract terms, conditions, and requirements; and

12.3 Assess compliance with Deliverables, performance measures, or other associated requirements based on the following:

12.3.1 The Agency’s representative will perform at minimum monthly desk monitoring of Deliverables, reports, and results to determine the success of the Vendor.

12.3.2 The Agency’s representative will provide Agency Acceptance and Final Acceptance on completed Scope of Work items, as needed, provide feedback on progress and determine if other measures are required to ensure achievement of items approved and documented.

13. Agency Review Clause. The Contract Manager, Vendor Manager or designee will use the results of monitoring activities and other relevant data to assess the Vendor’s overall performance and compliance with the Contract. At a minimum, the Agency will conduct a review annually; however, reviews may occur more frequently at the Agency’s discretion. As part of the review(s), the Agency may require the Vendor to provide additional data, may perform on-site reviews, and may consider information from other sources.

The Agency may require one or more meetings to discuss the outcome of a review. Meetings may be held in person. During the review meetings, the parties will discuss the Deliverables that have been provided or are in process under this Contract, achievement of the performance measures, and any concerns identified through the Agency’s Contract monitoring activities.

14. Problem Reporting. As stipulated by the Agency, the Vendor and/or Agency shall provide a report listing any problem or concern encountered. Records of such reports and other related communications issued in writing during the course of Contract performance shall be maintained by the parties. At the next scheduled meeting after a problem has been identified in writing, the party responsible for resolving the problem shall provide a report setting forth activities taken or to be taken to resolve the problem together with the anticipated completion dates of such activities. Any party may recommend alternative courses of action or changes that will facilitate problem resolution. The Contract Owner(s) has final authority to approve problem-resolution activities.

The Agency’s acceptance of a problem report shall not relieve the Vendor of any obligation under this Contract or waive any other remedy. The Agency’s inability to identify the extent of a problem or the extent of damages incurred because of a problem shall not act as a waiver of performance or damages under this Contract.

Addressing Deficiencies. To the extent that Deficiencies are identified in the Vendor’s performance and notwithstanding other remedies available under this Contract, the Agency may require the Contractor to develop and comply with a plan acceptable to the Agency to resolve the Deficiencies.

15. Remedies.

15.1 Service Level Credits. Vendor’s failure to achieve any of the service levels described in Section 3 (Service Levels) shall constitute a “Service Level Failure.” Upon the occurrence of any Service Level Failure, Vendor shall issue to the Agency a credit, and shall otherwise be liable to the Agency, in the amount set forth in the table below (“Service Level Credit”).

15.2 Notification/Fee Offset. Vendor shall notify the Agency if the Agency becomes entitled to a Service Level Credit in the monthly performance reports as described in Section 11 (Reporting). The total amount of Service Level Credits to which the Agency is entitled each month shall be reflected on the invoice issued in the second month following the month during which the Service Level Credit(s) was earned as an offset of the fees otherwise due by the Agency to Vendor under the Agreement. Upon request, and in the Agency’s sole discretion, Vendor may be required to issue a refund of Service Level Credits to the Agency.

Table 2: Service Levels and Credits

1/60th of the monthly fees for each three (3) documented instances in which a Level 3 or 4 Service Level Failure has occurred in a month.

For Downtime occurring during Non-Critical Hours, 1% of the monthly fees for every 0.1% below the required Service Level.

16. SLA Consequences. The Vendor’s failure to achieve any of the service levels described in Section 3 shall constitute a “Service Level Failure.” Upon the occurrence of any Service Level Failure, the Vendor shall be liable to the Agency, in the amount set forth in the Section 15 (“Remedies”).

17. Termination. Termination for Chronic Service Level Failures. In addition to its termination rights under the Agreement, the Agency may, in its sole discretion, terminate the Agreement or any active Purchasing Instruments without further obligation to the Vendor in the event Vendor fails to achieve any of the required service levels for

18. Survival. Any consequences due or owing the Agency shall survive termination of the Agreement.

19. Transition Out. Transition out services include the Vendor’s responsibility for transitioning M&O services for the system to the Agency’s designee(s) (e.g., an incoming Vendor for M&O services). The Agency may release a solicitation to procure continued M&O services beyond the end date of the original Contract with the Vendor. In the event the Vendor is not awarded a Contract through the M&O solicitation, transition out services ensure the Vendor effectively transitions operational support of the system to the Agency’s designee(s).

19.1 The Vendor shall provide full support and assistance in turning over the fully implemented system to the Agency or its designee(s).

19.2 The Vendor shall appoint an appropriately skilled resource to manage and coordinate all transition task activities.

19.3 The Vendor shall maintain pre-transition operational performance levels during the transition period unless the Contractor receives prior written approval by the Agency.

19.4 The Vendor shall ensure program stakeholders do not experience any adverse impact from the transfer of services. This includes, but is not limited to:

19.5 The Vendor shall begin planning transition efforts nine (9) months prior to the end of the Contract term, and transition activities must begin no later than six (6) months prior to the end of the Contract term, or within three (3) months of the Agency’s notice of the Contract termination.

19.6 The Vendor shall support an effective transition of all system data, approved infrastructure, software, and documentation and the knowledge and procedures necessary for the Agency’s assigned resources to perform system M&O and enhancements.

19.7 The Vendor shall provide 120 business days of post-transition out support to address technical questions from the Agency or its designee for the system M&O.

19.8 Should the Agency release a solicitation for M&O services, it will include a requirement that after Contract award, the incoming Vendor will deliver a proposed transition plan to the Agency, which the Vendor will have the opportunity to review, comment, and recommend changes. The incoming Vendor’s transition plan will be mutually agreed upon by the Agency, the incoming Vendor, and the Vendor as to content, scope, responsibilities, and timeline for completion. Should all parties not be able to arrive at a mutually agreeable transition plan, the Agency and a representative from both the Vendor and the incoming Vendor will review and resolve disputed areas.