Exchange_RFI_Corp_App.pdf

ARMY & AIR FORCE EXCHANGE SERVICE

P.O.BOX 660202

Dallas, Texas 75266-0202 214-312-2011

Dear Sir or Madam, 22 Jan 2015

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service (“Exchange”) is requesting information from the industry regarding their interest in submitting a proposal for a corporate mobile applications to communicate worldwide with non-desk associates who do not have a corporate email.

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service’s enduring mission is to make the lives of Soldiers and Airmen better through the goods and services we offer. The Exchange goes where Soldiers, Airmen and their families go to improve their quality of life through retail goods and services. Exchange earnings provide dividends to support morale, welfare and recreation programs (MWR). In FY 2013, Exchange revenue totaled $8.3B and it distributed $208.3M in MWR dividends. In the past 10 years, the Exchange has distributed more than $2.4B for MWR to fund quality-of-life improvements. The Exchange is part of the Department of Defense and is directed by a Board of Directors, responsible to the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force through the Chiefs of Staff.

The Exchange is a multi-channel retailer, offering products to authorized customers via brick-and-mortar stores and online. The Exchange is responsible for more than 2,448 facilities in more than 26 countries, 50 states and five U.S. territories. Facilities include 127 main stores, 167 Military Clothing stores, 492 convenience stores (troop stores, Express locations, Class Six outlets) 169 specialty stores and 67 theaters. The Exchange has more than 1,418 quick-serve restaurants such as Taco Bell, Burger King and Starbucks as well as 3,330 concession operations. The Exchange operates 48 contingency locations in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Romania, Bosnia and Kosovo.

In addition to funding MWR programs, the Exchange earnings are used to build new stores or renovate existing facilities. Funds to build these new or replacement facilities come entirely from the sale of merchandise and services.

The desired requirements are outlined in attachment 1. Your responses may be used to further evaluate and/or refine our requirements.

If you are interested in this potential upcoming procurement, please provide the following information:

1. Responses to the desired requirements and how you meet these.

2. Please provide a brief summary of your company including:

a. How long you have been providing this technology?

b. List of major customers using this technology.

3. Is your company interested in receiving our Request For Proposal (RFP) should we issue one for this effort? If so, please provide contact information for your company.

Please feel free to add any additional information that the Exchange needs to consider in acquiring a corporate mobile application. Your responses may be used to further evaluate and/or refine our requirements.

Again, this is a Request for Information only. The Exchange is not seeking a firm price quote. However, the Exchange does want to understand how the industry prices these solutions.

Responses to this RFI are required by close of business 6 Feb 2015 via email to: burkhardts@aafes.com.

The solicitation may be issued only to those companies that respond to this request.

Sincerely Attachment 1: Request for Information (RFI)

//signed// Sarah Burkhardt Contracting Officer

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) CORPORATE MOBILE APPLICATION

Background

The Exchange needs a means to communicate electronically with associates who do not currently have a corporate email account due to the nature of their positions (non-desk, hourly-paid). These associates represent more than one third of the Exchange’s total workforce who do not have equitable access to timely, effective communication from corporate headquarters, region leadership and facility managers.

Their only means of receiving information is by word of mouth or when they have an opportunity to log on to a computer in common areas of facility offices.

The type of information these associates should be receiving in a timely manner include but are not limited to: corporate communication, benefits information, facility work schedule changes, base closure details and emergency situations. Associates who do have regular access to Exchange email receive this information quickly and effectively. This requirement will close the gap in communication for those who do not have Exchange email.

A mobile application is needed to provide messaging from the Exchange headquarters, region leadership or facility manager to the associate’s personal device (smart phone or tablet) once the associate opts in to the application. Authentication of active associates should be based on the Exchange’s unique LAN “Y” number identification system and managed by authorized Exchange administrators of the service.

The service should include message delivery confirmation and analytics.

Additionally, this service provides a resource for continuity of operations for Exchange email in the event of a network outage due to catastrophe or cyber-attack.

Please respond to the requirements/questions in the attached Word document. In addition to the questions provided, please include any additional information we have not addressed, yet you feel is important in the functionality of the solution.

Project Description: E-Mail App for Non-Desk Associate The purpose of this project is to acquire a smart-device app solution to communicate to worldwide non-desk associates who do not have a corporate email.

Requirements

1. General Requirements

Must be independent of Exchange network.

Must provide secure messaging.

Must be accessible in the United States, Germany, Italy, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Japan (including Okinawa) and South Korea.

Must have user support available 24/7.

Must be able to handle segmented group mail IDs.

Must provide content management capabilities.

Should be straightforward to maintain and use.

Access should be through Exchange validation (Y-identification or similar).

2. System Requirements

Must support Android and iOS devices.

3. Forms (Templates) and Reports (and Graphics) Requirements

Must have document transfer controls among associates.

4. Training Requirements

Must offer understandable set-up and use guidelines for managers and associates.

5. Documentation Requirements

Must allow analytics of message transmission and general usage.

Must allow for research of communication for security purposes.

6. Search Requirements

Must allow global address/contact search.

7. User Requirements

Must allow add or change permissions to groups of users.

Must allow push documents from the corporate headquarters, region or management to the associate.

Must have document transfer control among associates.

8. Notification Requirements

Must be able to send notifications.

Must provide read receipt for sent messages.

9. Security Requirements

Describe how the app operates.

o Describe your system architecture.

o Is it hosted or maintained in-house?

o If hosted, where does the cloud reside? And where is the data stored?

o Sensitive Exchange Data – Sensitive Data (PCI, PII, proprietary data, corporate confidential data, etc) may not be stored on non-Exchange systems unless the vendor meets all the applicable data storage requirements set forth in the PCI Data Security

Standard and US Government PII Policy. Systems much be in place to detect and prevent sensitive data from, being stored on 3rd party external/cloud systems (i.e. Data

Loss Prevention (DLP) tools).

o Data must be kept physically and logically separate from other agencies and may not be co-mingled.

o Contract employees requiring access to Exchange systems or access to sensitive data stored on 3rd party hardware must obtain a valid US Government background investigation.

10. Company Demographics and Experience

Please tell us a about your company.

Has your company offered this service for the US Government/Federal Agencies/DoD?

How many years has your company provided this service to the industry? Who are your most recent clients?

Does your company have a General Services Administration (GSA) contract?

Do you currently have any other Government contracts? With whom?

11. Pricing

Describe how your pricing is structured.

Is it a flat rate or tiered based on number of users?

How is the implementation fee factored?

How is your annual support and maintenance calculated?

Describe any additional costs incurred.