GSAJobs_SaaS_RFI_-_FINAL.docx

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (GSA)

GSA IT

COMMERCIAL OFF-THE-SHELF (COTS) AUTOMATED STAFFING AND CANDIDATE

ASSESSMENT SYSTEM RFI

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) NOTICE ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. The General Services Administration, Office of Administrative Services, Internal Acquisition Division, is issuing this RFI notice to measure the interest and availability of other than large business firms, including HUBZone, 8(a), Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) or other Small Business concerns that are capable of performing the GSAjobs services.

The purpose of this RFI is to gain knowledge of interest, capabilities, and qualifications of various companies. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. A contract will not be awarded as a result of this RFI. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this RFI or any follow up information requests. Failure to respond will not in any way prevent a potential offeror from participation in future solicitations. All information provided will be given consideration and may influence the development of future solicitation requests.

The function of this RFI is to conduct market research on the following:

1. BACKGROUND: GSA’s Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) currently utilizes a COTS automated staffing and candidate assessment system to recruit, evaluate, and refer candidates for GSA’s vacancies under the name, GSAjobs. The application is hosted, maintained, and secured on the contractor’s servers (application server provider). GSA requires the continuation of an automated COTS solution for its staffing and candidate assessment system.

GSA requires a solution that is interfaced with OPM’s USAJOBS system and the features implemented, as well as being compliant with Federal hiring regulations and meeting Federal Information Technology (IT) and GSA security requirements.

2. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this request is to identify the market for COTS Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions which will provide an automated system to obtain highly qualified staff to fill GSA’s vacancies. The COTS solution must accommodate a 50% increase in capacity with strict compliance to interface, security, and performance requirements.

3. SCOPE: The Contractor shall provide an automated COTS staffing, recruitment, and candidate assessment system as well as technical and administrative support services. The scope of this RFI also includes describing an approach for a seamless migration of GSA’s existing data to another SaaS solution provider.

The COTS system shall:

· Post vacancy announcement information electronically

· Accept applications through the internet

· Evaluate candidates against OPM and GSA defined requirements using two methods: merit promotion and competitive examining. For competitive examining, the system must have capability of performing both traditional and category rating

· Track applications through the assessment processes

· Store assessment criteria in a depository such as a question library, and allow authorized users to view online and select specific criteria to add to vacancy announcements

· Capability to incorporate/utilize a variety of assessment tools (i.e., structured interviews, panel scores/ratings, third-party vendor assessments, etc.)

· Issue certificates of eligible candidates for management consideration. Selecting officials must be able to view certificates, review candidate applications, and annotate disposition of candidates via an on-line process

· Notify applicants of the outcome of their applications for vacancies

· Provide full 24/7 electronic application access to job seekers and applicants to allow updating/editing of personal profiles and job applications at any time during the vacancy open period. The system must also allow for paper applications to be submitted via direct input by an authorized HR personnel user or document scanning

· Provide for the archival or destruction of vacancy announcement information and application material upon GSA’s request and authorization

· Differentiate and conform to OPM requirements concerning the processing of applications in accordance with merit promotion regulations and processes, delegated examining regulations and processes including the application of veterans’ preference considerations (where applicable), category ranking, and various recruitment programs

· Provide for rating and ranking of applicants by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) including on-line access to applicants’ resumes and responses to the assessment questions; automated collection and calculation of panel evaluations/scores; transmutation of scores in accordance with merit promotion and delegated examining regulations; and the capability for HR Specialist to approve or reject panel evaluations

· Allow for the use of narrative assessment questions in accordance with Hiring Reform guidelines (i.e., presented in a second ‘phase’ of application process, following minimum qualifications determination)

· Maintain and update a database of recruitment sources

· Provide a means of notification to applicants on the outcome of their applications through email notification or information posted on authorized Internet web sites

· Assign different levels of user access to menus and data as appropriate to different user needs (e.g. job seekers, applicants, selecting officials, human resources user, agency system administrator)

· Provide a reporting tool with a library of standard reports that meet all prescribed reporting requirements associated with the Federal government’s hiring processes (for example: quarterly and annual delegated examining reports to the Office of Personnel Management, OPM’s 80-day hiring standard measurement report, Annual Affirmative Action Report to EEOC, etc.) as well as comprehensive adhoc reporting capability

· Interface with the OPM’s USAJOBS system providing vacancy announcement information, applicant information and material, and application results

· Provide a single application point for Federal job seekers that is fully integrated with USAJOBS to provide a single sign-on for applicants; transfer of applicant resume, profile information, and documents from USAJOBS; and automatic updates to USAJOBS applicant status

· Provide single sign-on for GSA's Human Resources Specialists utilizing GSA's HSPD Identity Credentialing & Access Management System

· Integrate with the OPM USAJOBS system, including any future enhancements that may be made in that system, for both the job seeker and HR specialist user

· Provide a bi-way interface with GSA’s HR Comprehensive Human Resources Integrated System (CHRIS) automated systems, and in addition have the ability to expand and create new interfaces that may be required to share information with future GSA HR Information Systems

· Provide tracking information on the entire recruitment process from the initial recruitment action received in the HR office to the time a final selection is made, including entrance on duty date

· Meet Web browser and software program compatibility requirements

· Augment the GSAjobs system so that it is capable of interfacing with other vendor/COTS software systems that also provide assessment methodologies. Specifically:

· The interface shall incorporate the final applicant test results from such assessments to generate a single, final score for all applicants

· The interface shall result in a seamless application process for the applicant and the final application disposition shall be generated from the Contractor’s system

· Status information and results regarding the processing and disposition of all applications shall be integrated with the USAJOBS system

· The Contractor shall manage the interface to ensure it complies with Federal and GSA policy or regulations and operates optimally and continuous, other than for maintenance downtimes

· Access to 24/7 Help Desk via telephone and email; issue resolution follow-up notification to authorized HR users (i.e., Automated ticketing system)

· Comply with applicable Federal laws, policies and regulations for both the operation, maintenance, security, and 508 and privacy regulations for the information technology system and the recruitment, selection, and placement of applicants for Federal job vacancies

· Be web-based and reside behind a secure firewall that will be connected to GSA’s internal network infrastructure. Only GSAjobs job seekers will be able to access the system from outside the firewall via interface with USAJOBS system. All other system access is to remain behind the firewall

· Be able to utilize one of the following GSA-supported authentication solutions to provide SSO services to an application:

· Windows Active Directory: The GSA Active Directory (AD) named “ENT” is an LDAP-like (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) infrastructure product created by Microsoft that provides information about the network resources across a domain, Kerberos based authentication, and DNS based naming and location services. Using an X.500 database, for use primarily in Windows environments, Active Directory also allows administrators to assign policies, assist in deploying software and critical updates to an organization

· SecureAuth IdP: a web based platform that uses a Security Token Service (STS) which accepts authenticated identities and converts them into appropriate artifacts that correspond to unlimited applications. It can provide security handoffs which support SAML, WS-Fed/WS-Trust, OpenID, OAuth, RADIUS, and many more

· Microsoft’s ADFS: Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) uses Windows Server operating systems to provide user with Single Sign On access to systems and application located across organizational boundaries. Currently the VoIP system uses this for access its servers

· GAMS: The GSA Access Management System Services (GAMS) element is the secure identity management infrastructure. The GAMS is a suite of applications that provide identity, single sign-on, and user account management services. The GAMS is based on a combination of Oracle’s 11g and 10g Identity and Access Management Suites and COTS software products. Oracle Access Manager (OAM) is utilized within the GAMS to provide secure web-based single sign-on (SSO), policy management, administration, auditing, and access reporting. The GAMS synchronizes between GCIMS, GAMS, and Active Directory. The GAMS user community comprises authorized users with a GAMS account that have the ability to request access to GAMS integrated Service & Staff Office (SSO) applications. GAMS administrative users have privileged access to GAMS and provide day-to-day user management and oversight

4. PRODUCT OR SERVICE DESCRIPTIONS: The Contractor shall provide all technical and administrative support necessary to achieve the full scope as specified in this RFI. The general requirements of the RFI include the following:

· Generate all of GSA’s vacancy announcements electronically and interface with OPM’s job vacancy system, USAJOBS. This includes posting job information to USAJOBS, receiving applications from the USAJOBS system, and providing basic information regarding application status to the USAJOBS system

· Perform assessments that result in high-quality candidates for consideration and selection in the shortest time possible. The system shall assess candidates using the following methods: category rating, general schedule, wage grade, and senior executive service. The system shall also have automated processes that generate vacancy announcements and process applications received under merit promotion, competitive service, and excepted service processes

· Provide a SaaS COTS solution

· Meet the security requirements specified by the GSA IT (formerly the Office of the Chief Information Officer)

5. MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES:

· Leverage industry capabilities to access highly-qualified candidates for recruitment and hiring within agreed-upon timeframes

· Adaptable, flexible, and scalable system to meet Government demands

· Government visibility into program cost, schedule, technical performance, and risk, to include regular reporting

· Seamless execution of data migration of existing records including details about your migration process: data cleanup, data conversion, data migration, testing, migration strategies, lessons learned, etc.

6. ATTACHMENTS:

The following attachment is provided for review and response collection:

· Attachment A – Comment Form

7. CONTRACTOR RESPONSE:

The Contactor shall include the following in their response:

1. Identify previous experience meeting the same or similar scope using Attachment A by marking the cell with a “Y” or “N”. Provide up to five (5) projects where those requirements have been met. All projects must have been completed in the past five (5) years.

2. Written, supporting narrative for three (3) of the five (5) projects identified in Attachment A. Include a brief project summary, total project dollar value, project period of performance, a brief scope description including performed tasks and deliverables provided/developed for the project, identification of customer/client, and contract type. Do not exceed five (5) total pages.

3. Information identifying your company size standard (i.e., number of employees and/or annual revenue) and socio economic classification (i.e., Other Than Small, Small, Small Disadvantaged, etc.), applicable NAICS, and company DUNs number.

4. Description of the methods used to migrate large amounts of candidate profile data from the existing system to the Contractor COTS system. Include any risks, assumptions, and constraints. Do not exceed two (2) total pages.

5. Timeline with supporting narrative for implementation of a COTS system, based on the requirements of Section 4, Scope. Include key milestones, dependencies, and risks. Do not exceed three (3) total pages.

8. RESPONSE INFORMATION

Upon review of industry response to this RFI, the Government will determine whether a set-aside acquisition in lieu of full and open competition is in the Government's best interest. This RFI is a market research tool being used to determine the availability and adequacy of potential small business sources prior to determining the method of acquisition and ultimate issuance of an award. The Government is not obligated to and will not pay for any information received from the potential sources as a result of this RFI. It is requested that interested small businesses submit to the contract specialist a brief capabilities statement package (single spaced, Times Roman, 12 point font minimum) demonstrating ability to perform the requested services. Respondents are not to submit brochures and marketing materials and any such material will be discarded.

The Respondent is requested to submit a response that includes the following:

Business name and office locations(s).

· Point of Contact (POC) name, email, phone number, and web address

· Contract number and/or GSA Schedule(s) Holder Information, if applicable

· Business size classification (small, SDVO, WOSB, etc.)

· CAGE code, DUNS number

· Business capability

· Possible NIACS codes associated with this action

· Responses to the Questions

· Past Performance Information

RESPONSES ARE DUE NLT 18 March 2015, NLT 2:00 PM EST. LATE RESPONSES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Responses shall be sent via email to the Contract Specialist, Bonnie Impastato at bonnie.impastato@gsa.gov.

This is a RFI. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in FedbizOpps or GSA Schedules. It is the potential offeror’s responsibility to monitor the release of any solicitation. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. GSA has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

Do not include the following in your response:

· Proposals or offers

· Requests to be considered for award or to be notified of a future solicitation

· Requests to be added to a mailing or distribution list

· Questions or comments not related to this RFI