Electronic_Plan_review_RFP_Document.docx

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL -- THIS IS NOT AN ORDER

COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO

DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES

CONTRACT AND PURCHASING SERVICES DIVISION

RFP # 2022-GEN-0010

COMMODITY/SERVICE: Electronic Document Reviewer Replacement

CONTENTS

Appendices (listed separately in Public Purchase) A-Sacramento County General Terms & Conditions* B-Additional Terms & Conditions* C-DCSS Contractor Certification of Compliance**

Q-Federal Debarment** R-Minimum Qualifications** S-Organization and Experience** T-Solution Requirements** U-Narrative Response** V-Technical Requirements** W-Project Management** X-Support and Maintenance** Y- RFP Submittal Checklist* Z- Sacramento County Acceptable Use Policy* Z1- Sac County Std Form Agreement.APP L* Z2 - Sacramento County EDR Stamps* Z3 - Supplemental Security Terms and Conditions*

DEFINITIONS

Response: The written, signed and sealed complete document submitted according to the proposal instructions. Response does not include any verbal or documentary interaction apart from submittal of a formal Response.

Request/Proposal/Bid: The completed and released document, including all subsequent addenda, made publicly available to all prospective proposers.

We/Us/Our: Terms that refer to the County of Sacramento, a duly organized public entity. They may also be used as pronouns for various subsets of the County organization, including, as the context will indicate:

· Purchasing - the Contracts and Purchasing Services Division of the Department of General Services.

· Department/Division – The department or division requesting the goods or services contained in this request, for which this PROPOSAL is prepared and which will be the end user of the requested goods or services.

· Constituency – the client base or County population which may benefit from the procurement of goods and/or services requested herein.

You/Your: Terms that refer to businesses/individuals submitting a response. The term may apply differently as the context will indicate.

· Supplier - A business entity engaged in the business of providing services.

· Proposer - A business entity submitting a Response to this proposal. Suppliers which may express interest in this proposal, but who do not submit a Response, have no obligations with respect to the proposal requirements.

· Contractor - The Proposer(s) whose Response to this proposal is evaluated as meeting the needs of the County. Contractor(s) will be selected for award, and will enter into a contract(s) for provision of the services described in this proposal.

· Contractor’s Employee - All persons who can be offered to provide the services described in the proposal. All employees of the Contractor shall be covered by the insurance programs normally provided to persons employed by a company (ex: Worker’s Comp, SDI, etc.).

Mandatory: A required element of this request/proposal/bid. Failure to satisfy any element of this request/proposal/bid defined as “mandatory” will disqualify the particular response.

Default: A failure to act as required by any contract resulting from this request, which may trigger the right to sue or may excuse the other party's obligation to perform under the contract.

Cancellation/Termination: A unilateral or mutual decision to not complete an exchange or perform an obligation under any contract resulting from this request.

“Or Equal”: A statement used for reference to indicate the character or quality desired in a requested product or service. When specified in a proposal document, equal items will be considered, provided the response clearly describes the article. Offers of equal items must state the brand and number, or level of quality. When brand, number, or level of quality is not stated by proposer, the offer will be considered exactly as specified. The determination of the Purchasing Agent as to what items are equal is final and conclusive.

INTRODUCTION

The Sacramento County Contract & Purchasing Services Division is releasing a Request for Proposals (RFP) on behalf of the Department of Technology to procure an Electronic Document Review (EDR) application which will integrate with the County's current Accela building, permitting, and licensing system.

Background The current Accela Electronic Document Review (EDR) application is no longer efficient or capable of meeting the business needs of the County's Building Permits and Inspections Division (BPI).

Scope of Work This project is to source a new third party EDR application to accommodate larger file sizes in the plan review process across multiple County departments. The vendor chosen will be responsible for installing and maintaining the selected EDR, including providing training and materials for County staff.

Objective Minimum Qualifications In order to qualify to submit a response to this RFP, the Proposer should have a long-term commitment to Electronic Plan Review with a long-term viability as a company. Proposers must submit Appendix R (Minimum Qualifications) to confirm the Proposer’s ability to meet the minimum qualifications.

Proposer Organization and Stability The Proposer must provide evidence that the proposer has been in business continuously for at least five (5) years and during this period has provided products and services similar to those requested in this RFP. The proposer must provide proof that it is qualified to do business and is in good standing in California, if applicable. Provider must provide documentation of business licenses and professional certifications and credentials, if applicable.

Comparable Experience The Proposer must submit at least three (3) references that verify that the Proposer has experience in design, development, and implementation of solutions similar in size, complexity, and scope to this procurement in the past seven (7) years. At least two references must be public sector organizations. Proposers must detail Customer References in Appendix H.

Organization and Experience Proposers must complete Appendix S (Organization and Experience) and provide the following information:

Company Information The proposer must provide:

· Description of the company profile including a brief summary of experience in the market and a description of your current install base.

· Description of experience working with public sector agencies on projects similar in size and scope. Examples should include a description of the services provided, duration of the engagement and outcomes achieved.

· Description of any existing contracts that are currently in any stage of implementation. Discuss how these or other current commitments affect the ability to support Sacramento County’s scope of work. Explain any staffing and schedule overlaps and how these potential overlaps will be mitigated as to not affect Sacramento County’s schedule and project delivery.

Prime Contractor If the proposal includes hardware, software, and/or services from a third party, the proposing company must act as prime contractor for procurement of all proposed products and services. The prime contractor shall be the sole point of contact for contractual issues including payment of any and all charges resulting from the purchase of the proposed hardware, software, and services. Prime contractor must take responsibility for demonstration, delivery, installation, and acceptance testing of all items proposed. Prime contractor must also provide maintenance, warranty, and ensure third party warranties are extended to the County.

Products or services provided by a third party must be clearly delineated in Appendix S (Organization and Experience).

Detailed Requirements Functional and non-functional requirements are defined in Appendix T (Solution Requirements). Further description of the ability to meet requirements are required in Appendix U (Narrative Response). Technical requirements are defined in Appendix V. Proposers must submit completed all requirements appendices (Appendices T, U, and V) with their proposals.

Support and Maintenance The Proposer must complete and submit the Support and Maintenance questionnaire Appendix X (Support and Maintenance).

Task/Work Description

· The County may amend the Contract if it is found that customizations are needed to meet Sacramento County’s unique requirements.

· The County may cancel or terminate the Contract if we are not satisfied with the results of the gap analysis.

· The Proposer will identify any gaps that may exist between the solution capabilities and Sacramento County’s business needs and provide solutions to fill those gaps.

· The Proposer will coordinate with the County Department of Technology to design the technical environment necessary to implement the solution. The County may choose to procure or provide hardware and standard software needed to host the solution, if applicable.

· The Proposer will work in conjunction with the Department of Technology to install and configure all software, if applicable.

· The Proposer will provide licensing, configuration, and installation for three environments including Development, Quality Assurance, and Production.

· The Proposer must meet the County’s standards of security during installation and configuration.

· The Proposer will provide software updates including, at a minimum, the following:

· Bug Fixes

· Software enhancements

· Hardware/software compatibility enhancements

· Software performance enhancements

· All updates provided to the County should continue to be subject to the terms and conditions of the original software licenses.

· The County will provide Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to assist in developing test cases and scenarios.

· The County will provide resources to provide data to support testing.

· The Proposer will provide assistance to the County during User Acceptance Testing (UAT).

· End user training for County staff

· Application administration that includes training necessary to configure, monitor and administer the technical and functional aspects of the system.

· Technical training necessary to understand the technical architecture of the system outlining the administrative tasks necessary to maintain the system.

· Training materials should be customized by the Proposer to include functionality reflective of the County’s specific processes.

· Project Documentation

· Training documentation materials including any customizations made specifically for Sacramento County

· Installation and configuration documentation

· Administrator manuals

· Reporting documentation

· Release Notes and updated documentation for each new release

· Documentation for any interface that is created

Project Schedule A comprehensive project plan/schedule will be developed in conjunction with County staff after contract award. The County is open to a phased approach with the County identifying the phases. The County would like the solution be implemented immediately after contract award..

Place of Performance The County, Due to Covid-19, deems remote presence of the Project Manager and other key personnel during key phases of the implementation is acceptable. If a physical presence is necessary at any time during the project, the Proposer must outline in the proposal the planned on-site time and costs associated with providing on-site resources. The physical address to report to, should onsite presence be necessary, is 799 G street Sacramento, CA 95814. The County does not pay for travel expenses; these must be factored into the total cost of the project proposal and included in Appendix I (Pricing).

The location of worksite will be Sacramento County Department of Technology: 799 G street Sacramento, Ca. 95814.

Deliverables The following section outlines the high-level project deliverables. Some deliverables will be the sole responsibility of the awarded Proposer, while others will be a shared responsibility of both the Proposer and Sacramento County.

· Provide detailed solutions and options describing how the gaps will be filled.

· Project Plan

· Project Schedule

· Requirements Traceability Matrix

· Project Agendas and Meeting Minutes

· Status Reports

· Change Requests

· Test Plans

· Bug and Issue Tracking

· Design and complete any required interfaces

· Complete customizations specific for the County

· Administrative and Technical Training

· Go-live checklist

· Implementation and go-live support

County Furnished Resources The County will work with the Proposer to identify necessary equipment required to meet the requirements of the system design and how equipment will be purchased. The County will provide a work area and/or conference room on County premises for the Proposer to work and meet with staff. The County will make subject matter experts available to work with the Proposer to answer questions, review information, and complete testing.

Security Requirements The County standard for allowing remote access to resources that reside on the County network for installation and troubleshooting is Virtual Private Network (VPN). Individual accounts will be created for each user that needs access; anyone requesting VPN access must agree to the County’s Acceptable Use Policy provided in Appendix Z.

System Security Complete system security requirements are detailed in Appendix V (Technical Requirements). Proposers must provide a response to each security requirement listed in Appendix V (Technical Requirements). Information Security requirements are outlined in the required documents Appendix Z3 and Appendix Z4.

Project Management Proposals must include all necessary resources to deliver a fully functional solution successfully through design, development, configuration, deployment, and stabilization phases. This includes project management resources necessary to manage project delivery effectively throughout the entire lifecycle of the solution implementation.

The Proposer will assign a Project Manager to the contract who will act as the single point of contact for the Proposer for the length of the project. The Proposer’s Project Manager will be responsible for managing or coordinating the implementation project and delivering all deliverables. The County will also assign a Project Manager to this project. The Proposer’s Project Manager must work with the County Project Manager for the duration of the project. The County reserves the right to request a change in the Account or Project Manager at no additional costs, if we feel the relationship is not progressing smoothly.

ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

Acceptance Testing Satisfactory completion of a mutually agreed-upon acceptance test for each stage of the implementation is required. The project team will develop an acceptance test that is agreeable to both the Proposer and the County. The acceptance test will include a confirmation of each functional requirement and requirements identified during the initial business process analysis.

At the completion of each phase, indicating a Component is operational and available to the County for testing, an acceptance test will be conducted.

After all System Components are integrated, operational, and available to the County for testing, a final acceptance test will be conducted.

Severity Level Designations

· Level 1 – System or System Component cannot go-live until problem is resolved.

· Level 2 – System or System Component may go-live, but will not be accepted until problem is resolved.

· Level 3 – System or System Component may go-live, System or System Component may be accepted; problem will be added to a punch list and final payment will not be made until problem is resolved.

A performance test will be required to demonstrate the capability of the System or System Component to handle peak volumes. For this purpose, a stress test will be designed and applied by the Proposer to simulate full capacity utilization.

Deliverable Acceptance Review and acceptance of each document deliverable shall be based upon the following deliverable quality standards. Each deliverable shall:

· Address all components required by the Contract and the requirements for that Deliverable, and any areas identified subsequently through meetings and planning sessions.

· Be in compliance with all format requirements described in the Contract.

· Be comprehensive in level of detail, organized, and professional.

· Be consistent in style and quality. If the document is the composite work of multiple individuals within the Contractor's organization, the document must be edited for style and consistency.

· Support the purpose for which the deliverable was developed.

Final System Acceptance Sacramento County will agree to final acceptance only after the contracted services and deliverables are considered by the County to be in compliance with the Contract specifications, terms and conditions and ready for practical application for the intended purpose conveyed herein.

Sacramento County will agree to final acceptance only after the supplied equipment, product or service is tested and is found to perform within acceptable standards of operation, is in compliance with all published and implied performance standards, and is considered by the County to be ready for practical application.

Upon successful completion of the module and complete system tests and achievement of all milestones as specified in the Contract, the County will issue a notice of Final Acceptance. After County acceptance, the Contractor must ensure that any Sacramento County confidential data is erased from their non-County systems so that it is not recoverable. Certain County information is legally confidential; this information must be protected and may not be shared.

Payment Schedule The payment schedule will be discussed and finalized during contract negotiation phase with the selected Proposer.

KEY EVENTS

Demonstrations with Invited Proposers

Award Contract

Note: The key events and dates are tentative and subject to change.

PROPOSER’S INSTRUCTIONS

General Format: Proposers must complete and submit all required appendices.

Respond to all requests for information and completion of forms contained in this Request for Proposal. See Appendix Y (RFP Submittal Checklist) for a complete list of required appendices/forms. You may use additional sheets as necessary. A qualifying response must address all items. Brochures and advertisements will not be considered a complete response to this RFP and will not be accepted as such. Proposer is solely responsible for accuracy and completeness of proposal response and for electronically separating and marking documents as confidential when submitting their response through ProcureNow. Responses considered incomplete may be rejected.

Alteration of Proposal Text: the original text of this proposal document, as well as any attachments, amendments or other official correspondence related to this proposal document, may not be manually, electronically or otherwise altered by proposer or proposer’s agent(s). Any response containing altered, deleted, additional or otherwise non-original text will be disqualified.

Preparation of Response:

A. All responses must be signed by an authorized officer or employee of the proposer.

B. Responses must be submitted prior to the specified date and time, using the ProcureNow website. Responses delivered by hand, fax, telephone, e-mail, or any postal carrier will not be accepted. If bidder uploads a file to procureNow, it is bidder responsibility to ensure the file is not corrupt or damaged. If County is unable to open an attachment because it is damaged, corrupt, infected, etc., it may disqualify bidder’s submission. See document titled “Public Purchase Instructions” for guidance entering your online response.

C. Time of delivery must be stated as the number of calendar days following receipt of the purchase order by the proposer to receipt of the goods or services by the County.

D. Time of delivery may be a consideration in the award.

E. Prices will be considered as net if no cash discount is offered. If a discrepancy between the unit price and the item total exists, the unit price prevails.

Confidential Information/Public Record: All responses become property of the County. All responses, including the accepted proposal and any subsequent contract, become public records per the requirements of the California Government Code, Sections 6250 -6270, “California Public Records Act”. Proprietary material must be clearly marked as such. Pricing and service elements of the successful proposal are not considered proprietary information.

The County will treat all information submitted in a proposal as available for public inspection once the County has selected a contractor. If you believe that you have a legally justifiable basis under the California Public Records Act (Government Section 6250 et. seq.) for protecting the confidentiality of any information contained within your proposal, you must identify any such information, together with the legal basis of your claim in your proposal, and present such information separately as part of your response package. ProcureNow allows you to mark such documents as “confidential” when uploaded into the system.

The final determination as to whether the County will assert your claim of confidentiality on your behalf shall be at the sole discretion of the County. If the County makes a determination that your information does not meet the criteria for confidentiality, you will be notified as such. Any information deemed non-confidential shall be considered public record.

BASIS OF AWARD

This proposal award will be determined by factors other than price alone. The County’s sole purpose in the evaluation process is to determine from among the Responses received, which one is best suited to meet the County’s needs. Any final analysis or weighted point score does not imply that one proposal is superior to another, but simply that in our judgment the proposal(s) we select offer(s) the best overall solution for our current and anticipated needs. The County reserves the right to make modifications to any scoring and/or weight structure prior to the evaluation of responses. The responses will remain sealed during the proposal evaluation period, and will be made available for public inspection upon notice of proposal award.

The County reserves the right to make a single award, multiple awards, or no award at all to this RFP, or to procure any materials, equipment or services specified in this RFP by any other means, or to determine that no project will be pursued. In addition, the RFP may be amended, canceled, or reissued as necessary to meet requirements. The County reserves the right to waive or correct any informalities and minor irregularities in proposals received. The County reserves the right prior to submission deadline for proposals, to modify all or any portion of the selection procedures, including deadlines for accepting responses, the specifications or requirements for any materials, equipment or services to be provided under this RFP, or the requirements for contents or format of the proposals.

Bid responses will be considered valid for a period of 180 calendar days after bid closing date above.

Evaluation Procedures Proposals will be evaluated by an Evaluation Committee comprised of County staff. The Evaluation Committee will consider the completeness of a proposal and how well the proposal meets the needs of the County. In evaluating the proposals, the Evaluation Committee will be using a criteria evaluation process. Evaluations will be based on criteria outlined below.

The award for the Contract will be based on which Proposer the County perceives as having an existing solution, experience, methodology, and company resources considered viable for meeting Sacramento County’s requirements.

Scoring and Evaluation Factors The evaluation factors reflect the totality of considerations to be used in evaluating the requested Proposal responses. While cost is important, other factors are also significant, and the County may not select the lowest cost proposal. The objective is to choose the proposal that offers the highest quality product and services and will achieve the project’s goals and objectives within a reasonable budget.

All proposals will be evaluated by a County designated Evaluation Committee consisting of key County stakeholders. All proposals will be evaluated using the same criteria and with the same amount of possible points. Evaluations will be based on the criteria listed below, which corresponds to information requested in various sections of the proposal:

Phase 1

· Proposer’s minimum qualifications (Pass/Fail)

· Proposer’s response to Solution Requirements

· Proposer’s response to Narrative Response

· Proposer’s support and maintenance plan

· Proposer’s organization and experience

· Proposer’s response to Technical Requirements

· Proposer’s project management and deployment methodology

Phase 2

· Proposer’s demonstration

· Total Costs

· Proposer’s references

Evaluation Phases The evaluation process will be completed in two phases. The first phase will evaluate the timely submitted written proposals including minimum qualifications, organization and experience, solution requirements, narrative response, technical requirements, project management and deployment methodology, support and maintenance. Proposals that do not include all relevant required forms and sections, or do not meet minimum qualifications, are subject to rejection without further evaluation. Based on the scores from the proposal evaluation, the Evaluation Committee will determine which Proposers will be invited to participate in the second phase.

The second phase will evaluate proposer demonstrations, customer references, and costs. Phase 2 will consist of in-person or remote product demonstrations from invited Proposers. The product demonstrations will be held either on-site at a County facility or via remote meeting application (Zoom etc.). Proposers must present a dynamic, working product to the demonstration for the County to evaluate. Product demonstrations will be scripted so that each Proposer follows a standardized outline; the County is not interested in a lengthy sales presentation. Proposers must be prepared to demonstrate their understanding of any requirement outlined within the proposal. The County reserves the right to ask additional questions during demonstrations to clarify the scope and content of the written proposal or demonstrated product. During the demonstrations, County users may request to be given a chance for hands-on interaction and exploration in the solution demonstrated.

Points from Phase 1 (proposal review) will not be factored into the Phase 2 (live demonstration) evaluations.

During the course of evaluations, the Evaluation Committee may:

· Choose to contact officials from other jurisdictions regarding the Proposer, their prior work experience, and their ability to successfully complete the scope of services. The County may coordinate independent site visits with references provided to understand the product in a working environment.

· Request clarification or additional information from a Proposer in order to assist in the evaluation process. This process may not be used as an opportunity to submit missing documentation, change pricing, or make major revisions to the original response.

· Request work product examples for any documentation deliverables outlined in this proposal.

· Require changes in the scope of services, as deemed necessary by the County, before Contract execution.

· Invite additional Proposers from Phase 1 to participate in Phase 2 evaluations.

Recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for Approval The Evaluation Committee will recommend a Proposer for elevation to the contract negotiations phase. County management will then decide to accept or reject the Evaluation Committee’s recommendations. The County reserves the right to negotiate with any Proposer in working to finalize a contract in relation to the Proposer’s response. The County reserves the right to reject all proposals at any time during the Request for Proposals process. If a satisfactory contract cannot be negotiated in a timely manner, the County, in its sole discretion, may terminate negotiations with the selected Proposer and begin contract negotiations with the next finalist. After a Proposer has been selected by County management and the contract terms have been negotiated, the contract may be submitted to the County Board of Supervisors for approval if required. If Board approval is required, the contract will be executed and awarded upon the Board’s approval.

Note: All specifications, terms and conditions of this request will apply to any resulting order.

WARRANTY

Due to the high cost of post end-of-life software support and the potential for security vulnerabilities, Sacramento County Department of Technology strives to stay within two major versions or four minor versions of all software used by the County. We also expect vendors to keep their software, supporting systems and components current.

a) Vendor will certify their product is compatible and runs without defect with versions of supporting systems that are within two major versions or four minor versions of the most recent release by the component manufacturer. These supporting systems include, but are not limited to, client and server operating systems, databases, web servers, Java clients, programming languages, 3rd party application components (such as grids, calendars and widgets), reporting tools, etc.

b) Should the Vendor fail to keep their products current within two major versions or four minor versions of the most recent release by the component manufacturer, the Vendor will forego maintenance payments by the County until such time as the Vendor‘s product is compatible.

c) Should the Vendor lapse in updating their product to be compatible with newer supporting platforms, the Vendor will reimburse the County for any necessary costs incurred to keep the supporting systems under maintenance by the component manufacturer after their end-of-life date (e.g. Microsoft Extend Life Support for operating systems).

d) If the Vendor‘s product processes, stores or transmits credit card information, the Vendor will ensure their product meets the current Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

e) Vendor shall at no additional charge beyond maintenance and support fees, provide the County any developments, enhancements, or improvements to the system and any other evolution of functions, features or technologies. This includes any new major or minor versions of the system provided by Vendor to the County. In addition, Vendor shall provide County with release notes that detail the changes in the Software for any major releases to the Software. As part of the release process for any major release.

The entire System solution as proposed in this RFP should include a first year warranty for Vendorsupplied hardware and software for a minimum of twelve (12) months after the formal final System Acceptance date. The County also requires a warranty for implementation services (e.g. work products, developed modifications, and System configuration) for the same period of time. The warranty should conform to contractually agreed upon specifications, and protect against any defects or damage caused by manufacturers, Proposers, or proposed subcontractors to the System’s equipment or software, or existing, interfacing systems.

If the Vendor is unable to perform under these guidelines, then a separate provider of the County’s choice will be used and the repair costs passed on to the Vendor.

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