E-Gov Travel Service Next Generation (ETSNext) RFI.pdf

General Services Administration (GSA)

Issuing Office: GSA, FAS, Travel Acquisition Support Branch (QMACB) Agency Contact(s): Contracting Officer (CO), Jackie Davis; jaclyn.davis@gsa.gov

E-Gov Travel Service Next Generation (ETSNext)

Request for Information (RFI) # 47QMCB23N0003

Issuance Date: December 9, 2022

Industry Day: December 15, 2022

Questions / Comments: NLT January 10, 2023

Responses Due: January 19, 2023

General Services Administration E-Gov Travel Service Next Generation (ETSNext)

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Background 1

1.1.1 E-Gov Travel Service 2 (ETS2) 1

1.1.2 Current-State Challenges 1

1.1.3 Travel & Expense (T&E) Business Standards 2

1.1.4 ETSNext and Industry Engagement 3

1.2 Purpose of this RFI 3

1.3 ETSNext Vision 4

1.4 ETSNext Market Research – Key Findings 4

1.4.1 Single Enterprise-wide Centralized Service 5

1.4.2 Customer Experience / User Experience 5

1.4.3 Service Architecture 6

1.4.4 IT Security 6

1.4.5 Travel Management Center (TMC) Services 6

1.4.6 Mid-Office Quality Control 7

1.4.7 Data 7

1.4.8 Authorization and Approval Process 8

1.4.9 Expense 8

1.4.10 Supplier Content 9

1.4.11 Cost Avoidance Opportunities 9

1.4.12 Duty of Care 9

1.4.13 Incentive-based Continuous Improvement and Innovations 10

1.4.14 Agile Management 10

1.5 ETSNext Centralized, Enterprise-wide Service Delivery 10

2 Information Requested 13 Overall Business / Service Delivery Model 13

Streamlined T&E Experience (SOO C.2.1) 14

T&E Best-In-Class Technology Services (SOO C.2.2) 14

Adaptable Architecture and Agile Services (SOO C.2.3) 14

Data & Reporting Services (SOO C.2.4) 15

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI Page 2

Security Management (SOO C.2.5) 15

Deployment Services (SOO C.2.6) 15

3 Submission Instructions and Formatting Requests 16

QUESTIONS/RESPONSE DUE DATES 16

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI Page 3

1 INTRODUCTION

The E-Gov Travel Service (ETS) Program is sponsored by the U.S. General Services

Administration (GSA), who has served as the managing partner for the program since its inception in 2003. The ETS program was originally chartered through a cross-agency collaborative task force that included GSA, 70+ Federal agencies, and the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB). The ETS is a mandated service that consolidates and automates back-office travel management by leveraging the bulk-buying capabilities of the

Federal civilian sector through a web-based, self-service solution offering.

1.1 Background

1.1.1 E-Gov Travel Service 2 (ETS2)

The E-Gov Travel Service 2 (ETS2) is the second-generation service that was awarded to two master contract providers in 2012-2013: CWTSatoTravel, Inc. and SAP Concur Technologies, Inc. Each of these ETS2 providers provide full-scale end-to-end services for online booking, authorization, voucher, travel agency ticket fulfillment services, and ancillary services for their agency customers through individual task orders. Each service is highly configured and customized to meet agency-unique requirements, policies, and financial system interface needs.

Key ETS2 current-state agency environment information is summarized in Statement of

Objectives (SOO) Attachment 1, Federal Agency Current State Profiles.

ETS2 has made significant progress by consolidating travel services, platforms, and channels;

increasing the leverage of Government travel spending; reducing waste; and introducing critical commercial T&E solutions to the Federal marketplace.

ETS2 currently supports 124 civilian agencies, commissions, boards, etc. through a decentralized service model. Characteristics include:

● 49 custom, agency-specific financial system interfaces

● 59 Task Orders across two master contracts/solutions, and

● 30 production instances

1.1.2 Current-State Challenges

Despite the successes of ETS2, there are significant inefficiencies with regard to common T&E processes and user experiences. Additionally, the lack of timely access to normalized, accurate, and useful spend data continues to undermine Governmentwide T&E management

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 1 decision-making, resulting in unintended mission support impacts, higher costs, and decreased customer satisfaction.

In 2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Memorandum M-19-16, Centralized Mission Support Capabilities for the Federal Government, which highlighted issues associated with duplicative and redundant efforts to address common mission support activities

(including travel) across Government, and the impacts of resulting inefficiencies both in terms of cost to taxpayers and reduction in user satisfaction. Travel was highlighted in the Memorandum as a primary example of these inefficiencies. After years of working with Federal agencies and reaching consensus on streamlining opportunities, GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) was formally designated as the existing shared service provider for T&E services Governmentwide in

FY22. Shared service provider recognition positions the next generation T&E solution to mitigate the issues identified in M-19-16 and enhances the solution’s ability to lead civilian

Federal Government agencies to realizing greater shared service benefits.

1.1.3 Travel & Expense (T&E) Business Standards

A GSA-led cross-agency working group developed the current baseline Travel & Expense

Business Standards, using the Office of Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement’s

(OSSPI) Federal Integrated Business Framework as a foundation. Approved by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) in November 2020, the T&E Business Standards simplify, streamline, and eliminate complex, burdensome, and outdated features, functions, and processes. They provide a baseline for service planning activities, standard processes, and standard capabilities. These are regularly assessed and updated to ensure alignment with the commercial marketplace. The Office of Governmentwide Policy (OGP) is now responsible for maintaining the T&E Business Standards. OGP recently released a draft update to the T&E business standards for public review on Regulations.gov.

The T&E Business Standards baseline includes standard processes for Financial Management

(FM) including the obligation and disbursement of funds, standard configuration settings for transportation modes, expense types, trip purposes, trip types, and payment methods. The T&E

Business Standards will serve as the baseline set of travel and expense requirements for the

ETSNext service.

1.1.4 ETSNext and Industry Engagement

In support of the ETSNext initiative, GSA issued an initial Request for Information (RFI) in

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 2 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/M-19-16.pdf https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/M-19-16.pdf https://ussm.gsa.gov/fibf-travel/ https://ussm.gsa.gov/fibf-travel/ https://ussm.gsa.gov/fibf https://www.regulations.gov/docket/BSC-TRT-2022-0003/document https://www.regulations.gov/docket/BSC-TRT-2022-0003/document https://www.regulations.gov/

December 2021, and industry feedback was compiled and assessed. Additionally, GSA held a series of meetings with industry to engage with commercial travel and expense experts, and gather critical information and feedback, including:

● Potential advantages and/or disadvantages associated with consolidating the provision of T&E services across the Government under a single, enterprise-wide solution

● Critical success factors and optimal acquisition strategies associated with both centralized and decentralized T&E service models

Industry feedback plays an important role in the acquisition-planning process, particularly in terms of bolstering GSA’s ability to collect, analyze, respond to, and incorporate lessons learned and user feedback.

GSA received positive industry support in relation to our efforts to standardize Government T&E services where practical. Feedback generally indicated that such standardization would facilitate the centralization of T&E services to enable the expedited application of commercial best practices, resulting in a more intuitive user experience, enhanced data analysis and reporting capabilities, and significant efficiencies over time. Industry also shares our understanding that certain agencies have unique and critical travel mission needs, which in some cases, can be a large percentage of their travel trips.Therefore, requirements and deployment planning activities must also clearly address agency-specific, mission-critical travel needs to ensure seamless continuity of operations.

The information gathered from the first RFI and the follow-on meetings with industry inform the content of this RFI, including the attached Notional Acquisition Approach and Draft Statement of

Objectives. Additionally, this information is summarized by topic area in Section 1.4 – ETSNext

Market Research – Key Findings.

1.2 Purpose of this RFI

The purpose of this second RFI is to:

1. Communicate to the marketplace what critical information GSA has learned through analyses of vendor responses to the initial RFI, and through other industry-engagement efforts;

2. Communicate the intended acquisition approach for ETSNext T&E Technology Managed

Services;

3. Preview a draft Statement of Objectives (SOO) for a single enterprise-wide T&E

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 3

Technology Managed Services procurement, and;

4. Request additional feedback to continue refining our service design and requirements and acquisition planning

1.3 ETSNext Vision

The ETSNext Vision is to deliver a predictable, seamless transition to an improved

Governmentwide travel and expense service model characterized by enhanced customer experience; improved, standardized business processes; and robust data-management capabilities that support advanced analytics and reporting both within and across agencies.

1.4 ETSNext Market Research – Key Findings

GSA has engaged in significant outreach efforts to determine industry’s perspective and solicit feedback regarding several critical topic areas to position the ETSNext service for material improvements from the status quo. The information we received was compiled and assessed for key themes and takeaways. The salient market research findings fall into the following categories:

● Single Enterprise-Wide Centralized Service ● Authorization and Approval Process

● Customer Experience/ User Experience

(CX/UX)

● Expense

● Solution Architecture ● Supplier Content

● IT Security ● Cost Avoidance Opportunities

● Travel Management Center Services ● Duty of Care

● Mid-Office Quality Assurance ● Incentive-based Improvement & Innovations

● Data ● Agile Management

1.4.1 Single Enterprise-wide Centralized Service

A single enterprise-wide centralized service brings economies of scale and facilitates the

Federal Government acting as a unified organization. The Government will have a greatly improved ability to partner with industry to manage cybersecurity, minimize redundant work

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 4 performed across multiple systems, and keep pace with market innovations through improvements that benefit all users. A centralized approach also provides consistent, reliable travel data that can help agencies make smarter travel buying decisions, better manage compliance, and benchmark key performance indicators in carbon emissions, premium class travel1 and other areas.

1.4.2 Customer Experience / User Experience

A human-centered design approach is critical to delivering an experience that is intuitive, personalized, and successful in guiding Federal travelers through booking travel and completing vouchers without training, assistance, or being T&E and FM policy experts.

(We use “user experience” (UX) when referring to a person’s experience of a specific touchpoint and “customer experience” (CX) to encompass all interactions a person has with a service, from tip sheets to the mobile app to the help desk.)

There are opportunities to drastically reduce the time spent booking travel and completing vouchers through both streamlined Governmentwide policies and an improved digital ecosystem that includes robust mobile capabilities. Reducing processing times will result in administrative savings for agencies and allow users to spend more time on their mission. Customer satisfaction can be improved by using plain language, providing clear guidance, defaulting to compliant options, and helping users avoid errors. In-app contextual guides can anticipate user questions and provide clear direction on next steps. Automation and personalization can be used to streamline and tailor the experience wherever possible. Adopting an omnichannel approach, which allows customers to pick up where they left a touchpoint on one channel (e.g., web, mobile, phone, help desk) and continue on another, are increasingly the norm.

And to support a continuous improvement process, customer and user experience data — like qualitative satisfaction feedback and quantitative measures like error rates and time on task — should be made available and reviewed with the Government on a regular basis.

1.4.3 Service Architecture

The ETSNext single enterprise-wide centralized service architecture must be scalable and adaptable to accommodate advances in technology and evolving travel needs. A secure, scalable, services-oriented architecture with a fully documented application programming

1 Refer to Federal Travel Regulation definition regarding what fare classes are considered Premium Class Travel

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 5 https://www.gsa.gov/policy-regulations/policy/travel-management-policy/travel-reporting https://www.gsa.gov/policy-regulations/policy/travel-management-policy/travel-reporting interface (API) allows for integrations with tools and datasets that enhance a core commercial offering. This will help ensure ETSNext stays in sync with and benefits from commercial improvements and innovations, while also addressing important Governmentwide and agency-specific customizations that will remain.

1.4.4 IT Security

Anticipating that the management of traveler personas is changing rapidly and is likely headed toward centralization at some point in the future, the Government wants to accommodate identity and profile management changes by building in flexibility so that agencies have a secure environment for travel and expense management. To minimize Government risk and align with the NIST 800-207 guidelines, the ETSNext solution plans to build toward a single sign-on and zero-trust architecture, and implement multi-factor authentication capabilities to comply with the Executive Order(s) on increased cybersecurity. Multiple potential offerors indicate an ability to be FedRAMP certified for Moderate impact level. We are seeking additional input on feasibility to complete a FedRAMP Readiness Assessment Report assessment prior to award as part of this RFI.

1.4.5 Travel Management Center (TMC) Services

The TMC role is expected to evolve in ETSNext in terms of the services and data they contribute to the end-to-end T&E lifecycle. We anticipate that Government agencies will separately contract for TMC services.

Since its inception, the E-Gov Travel Service has allowed Federal agencies to select the method of acquiring their TMC services that best aligns with their needs. Many agencies, and most

TMCs, have expressed an interest in having a direct contractual relationship to have a more optimal service experience. In ETS2, there has been no adverse agency or traveler impacts experienced from TMCs acquired outside the ETS2 contracts (accommodated service model). A direct relationship allows the TMC to better understand root causes of travel issues and offer solutions more quickly, as well as tailor reporting and other services to meet customer needs more directly.

Small Business TMCs would also benefit from this change by offering more specialized services to Federal agencies, as well as continuing to partner with larger TMCs as a means of meeting future ETSNext related Small Business participation goals. Standard services that are expected to remain as part of a TMC contract scope include, but are not limited to: assisted transaction

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 6 https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-207.pdf support, VIP support, on-site support, fulfillment, and travel record quality assurance services.

1.4.6 Mid-Office Quality Control

With ETSNext, the Government seeks to standardize and synchronize travel data (e.g., Passenger Name Record (PNR)) across multiple sources, including reservation, authorization, voucher, and card technology services. The Government also seeks to increase the degree of standardization in the use of mid-office quality control (QC) to ensure standards are applied uniformly to greatly improve the quality of the data for reporting purposes. The mid-office environment in ETS2 currently is fragmented among multiple key suppliers with a high degree of variability in the quality of these records. GSA anticipates working with these mid-office suppliers to define what is required (from the T&E Standards) to be included in a PNR to satisfy

Government requirements.

For reservation data, we anticipate the separately acquired TMCs will provide mid-office quality control solutions to meet the T&E business standards and ensure the integrity of the records for data exchange and reporting. We will update the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) requirements to define rules and data standards and work with TMCs and leading mid-office QC suppliers to accomplish successful, clean PNR data exchange. TMCs may be required to use a best in class mid-office QC solution.

For other non-reservation data (e.g., authorization and voucher), we anticipate the T&E

Technology Managed Service provider to have similar quality control / assurance solutions that will meet the T&E business standards and ensure the integrity of the records for data exchange and reporting.

1.4.7 Data

Maximizing the benefits, features, and capabilities of commercial T&E solutions requires data that is consistent, standardized, accessible, and complete. Commercial technologies are available to leverage data from external systems to automate routine tasks like user profile generation and voucher generation, but they rely on quality data. ETSNext provides the opportunity to automate the data exchange of key fields between TMCs and T&E Technology

Managed Services, reducing manual work and improving data accuracy. ETSNext also provides the opportunity to enhance data exports to make it easier for agency stakeholders to produce regulatory reports (e.g. adding carbon footprints, premium class trip flags, etc.).

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 7

1.4.8 Authorization and Approval Process

The pandemic helped drive more companies to incorporate a pre-trip approval step prior to travel. Commercial technologies are available to help drive faster approvals and automation of compliance checks.

Automated approval workflows can be implemented directly in T&E systems, and can also use

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to leverage external automation applications that can support unique agency requirements for pre-trip cost estimation and routing for expense / voucher approval. These workflow products also allow for the configuration of other features such as auto-approval of expense vouchers when the post-trip voucher is within an established threshold of the originally approved trip authorization. These should be features available to

ETSNext customers with service configuration.

1.4.9 Expense

Creating and pre-populating an expense report should be more automated. Commercial T&E products allow a user to select an approved trip request and turn it into an expense voucher that looks for matches against the original trip approval authorization, reducing the time to generate a completed voucher. Commercial products in the marketplace also use credit card transaction imports assigned to the user and automatically create expense transactions, reading Merchant

Category Codes (MCC) data to provide auto classification of expenses. These card program integrations support user-issued cards, ghost cards, and virtual cards2. This will ease the burden of credit card reconciliation, a common pain point for travelers and agencies.

These same types of card products are available from the GSA SmartPay® program and can be integrated with ETSNext. Both Centrally Billed Accounts (CBAs) and Individually Billed Accounts

(IBAs) are able to be imported, but typically IBA transactions are used to create the matching of transactions on expense reports. Additional benefits of commercial solutions include optical character recognition (OCR) scanning of receipts, using desktop or mobile tools, to create an expense. This allows for a three-way match between the expense transaction, card transaction, and receipt data, as required, based on the nature of the expense.

1.4.10 Supplier Content

Airline carriers are actively exploring alternative methods to traditional booking and distribution

2 For definitions of travel card products available under the GSA SmartPay® please visit https://smartpay.gsa.gov/content/travel-program-overview-account-holders

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 8 systems. Current ETS2 travel platforms primarily support Global Distribution Systems (GDS)

Integration. While the GDS is not going away, airlines and key travel service providers are in various stages of accessing and displaying content from non-GDS aggregators or vendor direct sources. Anticipating this shift in the travel space over the life of this contract, for airlines first and potentially other industry supplier categories, will ensure ETSNext is providing streamlined services to agencies that are aligned with commercial practices and support integrations with products GSA and supported TMCs anticipate using.

1.4.11 Cost Avoidance Opportunities

The commercial market incorporates items such as like-for-like rate reshopping, unused ticket name changes/profile integration, and increased use of non-refundable fares. These are exciting cost avoidance and administrative savings opportunities. Non-refundable fare options, reshopping and unused ticket integration need to be part of the ETSNext solution and not a

TMC optional add-on like they are in ETS2. The ability to bring these products to the

Government will be reviewed and prioritized to capitalize on the benefits of these types of features. We expect ETSNext will be positioned to take full advantage of these items to implement these cost avoidance and administrative savings measures.

1.4.12 Duty of Care

Providing robust duty of care to its employees is a critical responsibility of Government agencies and is compounded by the diverse nature and locations of Government mission-related travel on both a national and international basis. Modern booking and travel management solutions provide these capabilities; when integrated with Government data sources it improves the ability of the Government to advise travelers of potential risks or disruptions while improving the tracking capabilities of Government agencies. Technology capabilities differ by vendor and requirements will continue to be refined in next steps to clarify performance expectations.

1.4.13 Incentive-based Continuous Improvement and Innovations

With travel technology, practices, and policies continually evolving, ETSNext should be managed with the expectation of continuous service improvement, and the managed service provider should have appropriate incentives to deliver new products, services, and apps to provide a safer, easier, and simpler traveler experience. Using commercial T&E technology services, ETSNext should benefit from regular commercial innovations available to other large buyers of travel and expense technology services, along with infrastructure and data center

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 9 maintenance and modernization over the full life of this contract.

Features or enhancements that are unique to Government should be purchased and delivered centrally, rather than individually by each separate agency. GSA expects the T&E Technology

Managed Services provider will apply an agile product delivery approach, iteratively delivering user-centric features that add value to the T&E service.

1.4.14 Agile Management

A user-centered, agile approach reduces risk and lowers costs of IT projects, as compared to using waterfall methods. GSA seeks to prioritize an improved user experience and position

ETSNext for long-term continuous and incremental improvement, using modern software delivery techniques; such as, Agile, DevSecOps and Release On Demand. ETSNext will be shifting the acquisition and delivery from organizing implementation efforts as decentralized projects via segregated Agency Task Orders to a continuous flow of features in the T&E value stream managed by GSA’s Center of Excellence and coordinated with customer agencies. For

ETSNext, GSA will apply an agile management methodology for all product related feature improvements, including configurations, customizations, commercially driven innovations, and interfaces. T&E service needs will be delivered incrementally through small, well defined user stories and adjusted iteratively based on direct user feedback. This approach will reduce performance and cost risks, and be more adaptive to market changes over the life of the contract.

1.5 ETSNext Centralized, Enterprise-wide Service Delivery

With ETSNext, GSA seeks to consolidate common T&E mission-support processes and services in a centralized, shared services model. Through a centralized service model, GSA will decrease burden on agencies by standardizing processes and configurations, which will enable the Government to streamline agency travel operational costs, enable lower cost travel decisions, and enable increased traveler productivity. This will help the agencies focus their resources on achieving agency missions rather than on administrative tasks such as bookings, approval, and expense management.

As the designated Governmentwide shared service provider, FAS’ Office of Travel, Employee

Relocation, and Transportation (T&T) is establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE) to serve as the manager and expert partner between industry and agencies for the provision and management of Governmentwide T&E services. With ETSNext, the CoE will help agencies

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 10 identify areas of commonality, eliminate duplicative processes, and operate with a unified management model.

The CoE will lead the acquisition of the T&E Technology Managed Services and adapt its responsibilities to centrally manage the awarded vendor to serve as a managed service delivery partner that will provide streamlined T&E experience, T&E best-in-class technology services, adaptable architecture and agile product delivery services, data and reporting services, security management, and deployment services.

The ETSNext service delivery model will incorporate agile principles with a modular, cloud-based architecture that enables continuous improvement through effective project management and shared governance. The T&E services will be augmented with additional optional services for Federal agencies to derive the most value from a centralized model.

The CoE will construct a service for the future state that focuses on several value propositions:

▪ Provide a simplified user-centric design across an omnichannel environment

▪ Make it easier for T&E vendors to do business with the Government

▪ Drive alignment between ETSNext service delivery and Travel and Expense policy and standards organizations3,

▪ Standardize configuration for common travel scenarios,

▪ Reduce cross-agency variances and streamline the design of agency-unique needs,

▪ Mitigate transition risks using comprehensive planning and rollout effort across the enterprise with coordinated delivery commitments between agencies and the T&E technology managed service provider,

▪ Maintain cost controls and data integrity, and

▪ Increase our responsibility to sustainability and duty of care.

Federal agencies will continue to provide agency-level mission specific T&E policy rules, agency specific T&E requirements, FM/HR integration mapping, testing support, agency reviews for customer-responsible security controls, and agency-level system administration activities

3 OGP and Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT)

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 11

(e.g., user maintenance, routing lists, etc.).

The figures below illustrate the changes anticipated from our current state to a centralized, enterprise-wide service delivery model.

2 INFORMATION REQUESTED

With consideration of the Notional Acquisition Approach and Draft Statement of Objectives (SOO) released with this Request for Information, the Government requests white papers and related information that will assist GSA with planning for the ETSNext acquisition, future state

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 12 services and operating model, and any related funding needs. This information requested should be interpreted as a guideline for desired information rather than a minimum requirement.

Respondents are free to adapt their response to best address any recommendations and/or solutions. Respondents are encouraged to review all Attachments and the T&E Business Standards, and applicable laws, regulations, and policies, prior to formulating a response.

Overall Business / Service Delivery Model

1. Please provide any alterations in the draft SOO that will achieve the Government’s objectives that your firm can successfully deliver.

2. How do you envision supporting the operational needs of the ETSNext CoE as outlined in Section 1.5, ETSNext Centralized, Enterprise-wide Service Delivery? What is your anticipated organizational design relative to the major operational support functions in Section 1.5, ETSNext Centralized, Enterprise-wide Service Delivery?

3. Does the pricing model defined in B.1 align with your business model? What if any adjustments would you propose?

4. Are the SLAs and incentives identified in Section B.1.2 of the Notional Acquisition Approach and Draft Statement of Objectives document aligned with our performance objectives and do they provide sufficient motivation to increase probability of meeting performance outcomes post-award? Do you have recommendations for other SLAs, KPIs and related performance targets? Do you prefer the Government define the acceptable quality level or do you want us to evaluate offeror’s quality level commitments for SLAs and KPIs as a basis for award?

5. What is your ability and willingness to collect a transactional contract access fee to return to GSA?

Streamlined T&E Experience (SOO C.2.1)

6. What human-centered design processes do you use to ensure that your product meets user needs and that major changes are validated with users prior to release? How do you apply agile and DevSecOps methodologies to deliver continuous improvement?

T&E Best-In-Class Technology Services (SOO C.2.2)

7. Will your solution be ready to demonstrate the use cases and perform related accessibility testing noted as part of the offer evaluation process? Do you have any recommendations with regard to the pre-award evaluation process and demonstration scenarios that would enable you to best demonstrate how your T&E Technology Managed Services are the best value for the Government? Are there any other scenarios the Government should include in its demonstration?

TMC Reservation and Fulfillment Integration

8. How will your service be impacted by the goal to allow customer agencies to separately acquire TMC services and integrate the related reservation and fulfillment services?

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 13

9. What types of minimal technical capabilities or thresholds should we be asking TMCs to meet to effectively coordinate with your T&E Technology Managed Services?

Adaptable Architecture and Agile Services (SOO C.2.3)

10. How would your recommended solution include an integration layer (e.g., API Gateway or SOA layer) to support the many agency FM and HR system interfaces? Is the integration layer fully documented for 3rd party integrations, including examples, authentication rules, parameters, status codes, etc.? How would this integration layer support the other interfaces outlined in the Notional Architecture Diagram such as GDS/Non-GDS/Card Feeds/TMCs?

11. If your solution is a commercially available product, how are new features identified and prioritized, and how often are new refreshes or versions released? Are new features made available to all users? Is there a risk of too much government customization impacting our ability to adopt these regular technology refreshes? If so, how will that risk be mitigated? What approaches do you use to improve accuracy of estimating work?

With regard to customizations, provide 2-3 examples of estimates for each category: low complex customizations, moderate complex, and high complex customizations?

Data & Reporting Services (SOO C.2.4)

12. How do you view your role in making data accessible? What can we have access to in the T&E Technology Managed Services as you envision delivering it?

13. How does your solution manage travel data quality and consistency (ensuring that there are consistent low fare entries, reason code entries, standardization of organizational names)? How does your solution manage travel and expense data quality and consistency with regard to the following factors: a) Travel: consistent low fare entries, reason code entries, standardization of organizational names and b) Expense: user input, integrations, & data processing? As there will be multiple TMCs and GDSs in this ecosystem, how can you help ensure that cross-agency data is cleansed and normalized (city names, hotel names, etc)?

14. What scope 3 emissions data for flights, hotels, and ground transportation (train, Uber, Lyft, rental cars) is available in your tool, is visible to travelers at time of booking, and able to be included in agency-level and government-wide reporting?

Security Management (SOO C.2.5)

15. A FedRAMP Moderate Readiness Assessment Report (RAR), completed by an authorized Third Party Independent Organization (3PAO) will help vendors assess the cost and impact of attaining a full FedRAMP authorization, and demonstrates to the Government a commitment to achieve FedRAMP authorization. Is your company willing to complete this review at time of proposal or how else would you demonstrate pre-award your capacity and ability to mitigate risks associated with achieving FedRamp within NTE 12 months of award?

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 14

Deployment Services (SOO C.2.6)

16. With regard to the current state 124 civilian agencies, commissions, boards, etc.

receiving services in ETS2 across 59 task orders and 49 integrations, what is your approach to onboard these agencies prior to a June 3, 2027, ETS2 expiration? How would you mitigate deployment risks for agencies and GSA? Please give an overview of how you would approach completing an Initial Operating Capability (IOC) aligned with the Objectives in SOO C.2.6.1.

17. What metrics should be used to analyze and measure the performance and user/customer satisfaction of the IOC and how should those metrics be applied to the deployment of the Full Operating Capability (FOC)?

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 15

3 SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS AND FORMATTING REQUESTS

Proprietary information and trade secrets, if any, must be clearly marked on all materials. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked “Proprietary” will be handled accordingly. All proprietary information received in response to this RFI will be protected against unauthorized disclosure in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and GSA policies.

Responses to this notice will not be returned. GSA reserves the right to include high-level summary data as potential future Statement of Objective elements. Responses must clearly delineate sections that are considered proprietary and not suitable for inclusion in any potential future solicitation.

GSA anticipates the following tentative acquisition timeline:

● Draft RFP(s) - early Q3 FY23

● Final RFP(s) - NLT early Q1 FY24

● Award(s) - FY24

GSA will do its best to notify respondents of the acquisition as it progresses, but it is the responsibility of any potential interested party, vendor, or organization to monitor the “Contract Opportunities” on SAM.gov for additional procurement information as it becomes available.

QUESTIONS/RESPONSE DUE DATES

Please direct any questions related to the RFI and Notional Acquisition Approach and Draft SOO to the following “ETSNext Request for Information Industry Question Worksheet” provided with this RFI. Questions will be received until January 10, 2023. Question worksheets should be submitted to jaclyn.davis@gsa.gov with a copy to onthego@gsa.gov.

GSA will host a virtual-only Industry Open House to discuss the RFI and additional materials on December 15 at 1pm ET via Zoom. See Zoom meeting info at the bottom of this RFI. GSA is also available for 1-on-1 meetings with interested parties. Requests will be made by contacting Jackie Davis at: jaclyn.davis@gsa.gov with a copy to onthego@gsa.gov.

GSA will provide general industry updates via Interact, as needed. For more information, please visit interact.gsa.gov and join the ETSNext Industry Community.

Responses are requested in electronic format no later than January 19, 2023, at 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time to jaclyn.davis@gsa.gov with a copy to onthego@gsa.gov. Address only those areas and questions which are appropriate based on your capabilities and knowledge. We request the information response be organized in the following manner:

1. Volume 1 - RFI White Paper Response: Respond to Section 2 (or any other sections of this RFI or Notional Acquisition Approach and Draft Statement of Objectives) via a white paper narrative. Volume I should include:

a. Cover/Title Page

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 16 mailto:jaclyn.davis@gsa.gov mailto:onthego@gsa.gov mailto:jaclyn.davis@gsa.gov mailto:onthego@gsa.gov mailto:jaclyn.davis@gsa.gov mailto:onthego@gsa.gov

b. Cover Letter - If desired, an executive summary of the response should be ~1 page in length and may be included with the cover letter.

c. Corporate Information including:

i. Name of company and point of contact (POC).

ii. Telephone number, mailing address, and e-mail address of POC.

iii. All applicable classifications for your organization, such as: Small Business, Woman owned business, 8(a) business, Large Business (Other than Small), Small Disadvantaged Business, HUBZone business, SDVOB business, etc.

iv. Type of company under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), as validated via the System for Award Management on SAM.gov. Additional information on NAICS codes can be found at www.sba.gov. Note: Any potential GSA contractor/vendor must be registered on the System for Award Management on SAM.gov.

v. Existing contract vehicles that would be available to procure the required services, such as Multiple Award Schedules or Governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWAC), if appropriate.

d. Table of Contents with page numbers.

e. Responses to RFI Questions in Section 2.

Recommended Formatting:

● ~25 pages including charts/graphs/illustrations (not including cover page, executive summary, and table of contents).

● Use 11-point Arial or Times New Roman Font for normal text; 10-point Font for table content; and 9-point Font for embedded graphics.

● Page size should not exceed 8 1/2” by 11”.

● Each response page will be sequentially numbered with a unique number.

2. Volume II - RTM Responses:

a. Return completed Attachment 4: Requirement Traceability Matrix with updates to the tab “RFI Response Form” tab.

3. Volume III - Price Estimate: Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) pricing using the suggested Pricing Guidance offered below. If that is not possible, any ROM pricing information and preferred business model clarifications are appreciated.

Please provide the FFP cost for each T&E Technology Managed Service referenced in question 4 above. Please use the period of performance, transition, and pricing strategy provided to assist the Government in developing a realistic budget for ETSNext.

Provide this pricing information in a Microsoft Excel format documenting all assumptions and

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 17 labeling each input so that your basis of estimate is clear to follow for each base/option period (please do not use hard coded values unless they are clearly labeled inputs). The template below has been provided as a guide but feel free to modify as appropriate. Historical voucher counts and help desk volumes are shared below, as well as GSA’s FY28 forecast.

T&E Technology Managed Services Package Pricing Terms

What service(s) is included/ excluded?

Please provide definition

Cost Fiscal Year(s) Incurred4

Notes/ Assumptions

1a. IOC: Stand-up environment(s) + API gateway layer + ATO

1b. IOC: Deploy up to 6 agencies

2a. FOC Implementation

3a. Annual Cost for T&E Technology Managed Service

3b. O&M of API Gateway

3c. Help Desk Option 1: Support during Core Hours Only Option 2: 24/7 Support

3d. Changes / Updates required due to Law, Regulation, and Policy Updates

4a. Optional CLIN:

Service Enhancements

4b. Optional CLIN:

Advanced Data Analytics Services

Other Costs/Services not captured -

4 Government Fiscal Years run from October - September

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 18

Please specify

Government-wide Voucher Counts:

● FY18: 2,673,143

● FY19: 2,702,350

● FY20: 1,719,920

● FY21: 1,021,847

● Projected for FY28: 2,149,663

Government-wide Tier One Help Desk Calls:

● FY18: 61,010

● FY19: 61,677

● FY20: 39,254

● FY21: 23,322

● Projected for FY28: 49,062

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 19

Industry Open House - December 15, 2022, 1pm

Join ZoomGov Meeting https://gsa.zoomgov.com/j/1613207383?pwd=cytxQ0hEemY0YjZRTStEN2x6Lzc3UT09

Meeting ID: 161 320 7383

Passcode: 513037

One tap mobile

+16692545252,,1613207383#,,,,*513037# US (San Jose)

+16468287666,,1613207383#,,,,*513037# US (New York)

Dial by your location

+1 669 254 5252 US (San Jose)

+1 646 828 7666 US (New York)

+1 669 216 1590 US (San Jose)

+1 551 285 1373 US

833 568 8864 US Toll-free

833 435 1820 US Toll-free

Meeting ID: 161 320 7383

Passcode: 513037

Find your local number: https://gsa.zoomgov.com/u/adfNiLsPKM

December 9, 2022 General Services Administration, RFI - Page 20 https://gsa.zoomgov.com/j/1613207383?pwd=cytxQ0hEemY0YjZRTStEN2x6Lzc3UT09 https://gsa.zoomgov.com/u/adfNiLsPKM