Reply-to- Questions RFI DeCAOT01 11_12_25.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 22 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- DECAOT01
- Issued by
-
Defense Commissary Agency
About this file
This document is a Request for Information (RFI) from the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) seeking market research on a commercial retailer-supplier communication platform. The RFI focuses on developing a prototype Other Transaction (OT) agreement to connect commissary stores with direct-store delivery (DSD) vendors, with primary objectives of automating service alerts, reducing out-of-stock levels, improving on-time-in-full (OTIF) delivery, and enhancing vendor compliance. Key requirements include a service collaboration platform with automated out-of-stock notifications, digital check-in/checkout processes, vendor schedule management, and service disruption tracking.
The RFI contains 44 questions covering communication workflows, supply chain objectives, data integration needs, vendor onboarding, compliance and security requirements, and reporting expectations. DeCA has expressed a preference for a no-cost platform delivery and seeks to leverage an existing commercial framework with established vendor networks. Notably, the RFI indicates that the platform will need to meet DoD cybersecurity requirements, support real-time reporting, and utilize mobile devices for vendor interactions. The response submission deadline is extended to 11/25/2025, and the agency is explicitly seeking to understand current commercial retail practices for retailer-supplier communication.
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Questions
| DeCA RFI Commercial retailer-supplier communication platform; Notice DeCAOT01 (SAM.Gov) | |||||
| Question # | Referenced Document | Section(s) | Question | DeCA Response | |
| 1 | Notice | Communication and Workflows | What are the primary communication challenges with DSD suppliers today? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 2 | Notice | Communication and Workflows | What types of messages or information needs to be exchanged (service disruptions, delivery delays, shortage notices, corrective-actions)? What is the desired outcome? Is it simply resolving the issue? Or is the goal to more fully document and track the issue? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 3 | Notice | Communication and Workflows | What is the desired goal for how corrective actions be tracked and closed? Is it documenting communication between parties? Or, speed to resolution? Or, something else? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 4 | Notice | Communication and Workflows | Do you require escalation workflows and visibility by command structure/location leaders? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 5 | Notice | Communication and Workflows | Is the goal to capture ROI by reducing staff through utilization of software? Or Make existing staff more productive? Or engage in best practices (which could increase staff needs)? | This question falls outside the scope of this RFI. | |
| 6 | Notice | Supply Chain Objectives | What specific improvement targets are you hoping to achieve during the pilot? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 7 | Notice | Supply Chain Objectives | How does DeCA currently track OTIF and OOS performance with DSD suppliers? Can you provide the format being used today? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 8 | Notice | Supply Chain Objectives | What metrics matter most — OTIF %, OOS reduction, fill-rate, dwell time, corrective-action cycle time? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 9 | Notice | Scope of the Pilot | How many DSD suppliers will participate in phase one? | This has not been determined during the market research phase. | |
| 10 | Notice | Scope of the Pilot | Will there be an industry day and would DeCA value a capability demonstration? | There is no industry day planned at this time. | |
| 11 | Notice | Scope of the Pilot | Will the pilot include both CONUS and OCONUS commissary locations? | This has not been determined during the market research phase. | |
| 12 | Notice | Scope of the Pilot | What store-level activities are expected (scan-ins, check-ins, shelf/service validation)? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 13 | Notice | Data & Integration Needs | What data sources will be used to identify OOS events (POS, WMS, inventory feeds, manual reporting)? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 14 | Notice | Data & Integration Needs | Do you expect real-time data integration or batch uploads? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 15 | Notice | Data & Integration Needs | Are there existing EDI standards or GS1 message formats DeCA prefers (e.g., ASN, OOS events, CIC messaging)? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 16 | Notice | Data & Integration Needs | How will vendor delivery schedules be provided today? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 17 | Notice | Check-In / Check-Out Process | What level of detail is required at store check-in/check-out? i. | Time stamps? | |
| ii. | Proof of presence / photos? (do these need to be recorded or simply presented and validated?) | ||||
| iii. | Person delivering product? (do these need to be recorded or simply presented and validated?) | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |||
| 18 | Notice | Check-In / Check-Out Process | Will handhelds or mobile devices be used by vendors at the store? | Yes | |
| 19 | Notice | Vendor Network & Onboarding | Approximately how many DSD suppliers currently serve DeCA? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 20 | Notice | Vendor Network & Onboarding | Could we receive a list of vendors to see how many vendors are already connected to our platforms today? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 21 | Notice | Vendor Network & Onboarding | Does DeCA want vendors self-onboarding, assisted onboarding, or a fully managed onboarding service? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 22 | Notice | Vendor Network & Onboarding | Will DeCA require data governance or identity verification (company + contact + facility data)? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 23 | Notice | Compliance & Security | Are there data sovereignty or FedRamp requirements? | No FedRamp Requirement has been identified at this time. | |
| 24 | Notice | Compliance & Security | What compliance measures must the platform support (DoD cybersecurity requirements, NIST, etc.)? | Platform will need to meet required DoW Cybersecurity requirements. | |
| 25 | Notice | Compliance & Security | Will vendor security reviews be required before pilot participation? | This information is not available at this time. | |
| 26 | Notice | KPIs & Reporting | What dashboards, alerts, or exception reporting formats are required? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 27 | Notice | KPIs & Reporting | Who needs visibility — store managers, regional managers, category managers, HQ? | This information is not available at this time. | |
| 28 | Notice | KPIs & Reporting | What reporting cadence and format does DeCA expect (real-time, daily, weekly)? | Real time | |
| 29 | Notice | Cost & Commercial Expectations | The RFI mentions a preference for a no-cost pilot — what duration and support model is expected? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 30 | Notice | Cost & Commercial Expectations | What metrics determine pilot success and readiness for rollout? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 31 | Notice | Cost & Commercial Expectations | Is DeCA open to a phased, value-based pricing model post-pilot? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 32 | Notice | General | What is DeCA's current solution? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 33 | Notice | General | What are any lessons learned from testing any other commercial platforms for this capability? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 34 | Notice | General | What are the key gaps and pain points with the current or past solution | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 35 | Notice | General | What differentiators are most important to you (speed, security, industry network, cost, scale, configurability)? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 36 | Notice | General | Would DeCA value pre-configured corrective-action and vendor-performance workflows used by major grocers and distributors today? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 37 | Notice | General | How important is leveraging an existing network of food suppliers already configured for compliance workflows and secure communication? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 38 | Notice | General | Would DeCA value pre-configured corrective-action and vendor-performance workflows used by major grocers and distributors today? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 39 | Notice | General | Does DeCA foresee future expansion into food safety, product recall management, traceability, or supplier qualification as a OTA area of interest? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. | |
| 40 | Notice | General | Does DeCA required a partner with government, military, and food-industry compliance experience? | The vendor is required to currently have capabilities that are already performing the services outlined in this RFI. | |
| 41 | Notice | General | Is DeCA looking to collaborate beyond just DSD suppliers? | This question falls outside the scope of this RFI | |
| 42 | Notice | General | Is the government considering off- the-shelf tech solutions / platforms only, or is the government also open to custom developed solutions tailored to the needs of DeCA? | DeCA is seeking to understand your current capabilities and commercial retail practices with communication between retailers and DSD suppliers to ensure product is in-stock and promotion items are on display. | |
| 43 | Notice | General | Can the government expand on its preference for a no-cost model platform delivery? | DeCA's preference is for this system to be at no-cost to the Agency. | |
| 44 | Notice | General | Can the government share its current system landscape for supply chain and supplier management? | This information will not be made available for this RFI. |
File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated .