IT Questions 8-10-26.pdf

IT related RFP Questions

35. Pages 39-40 Section III, 65-66 Section IV Technology Responsibilities: Please provide a detailed technology responsibility and ownership matrix identifying which party will procure, own, install, maintain, replace and insure each item, including servers, PCs, monitors, printers, telephone equipment, network hardware, vehicle tablets/MDTs, mounts, modems, cellular service, AVL/GPS devices, cameras, APIs and cybersecurity tools. Please reconcile the County-furnished equipment provisions on pages 39– 40 and 66 with the “sole cost and expense” requirement on page 65.

Response:

For an on-premises solution, the County will provide and maintain the required servers, PCs, monitors, printers and network hardware. Equipment must preferably connect to the County network using County-approved network equipment and security controls. The vendor will install, configure, integrate, and support its software.

For a cloud solution, the vendor will provide, host, maintain, replace, and insure all cloud infrastructure, hosting services, APIs, and cybersecurity tools at its sole cost.

The solution must comply with County cybersecurity, data-security, integration, and network-access standards.

48. Page 68, Section IV Data Ownership/Existing Client Database Conversion: Please provide the estimated size, format, schema and data-quality condition of each database to be converted, including active and inactive rider records, eligibility records, photographs, applications, communications, addresses, geocodes, subscription trips, trip history, complaint records and operational history. Please state the number of years of historical data required in the production system and archive.

Response:

We require 7 years of data retention.

49. Pages 65 and 69, Section IV Technology Acceptance and Implementation: Please define the County’s technology acceptance criteria, testing process, required parallel-operation period, data-conversion validation standard, cybersecurity approval process, go-live authorization, and post-go-live stabilization requirements.

Response:

The County anticipates the following requirements. Final criteria and procedures will be confirmed during project initiation and documented in County-approved implementation and testing plans. The County’s requirements include, but are not limited to, the following minimum criteria:

Technology Acceptance

The vendor must meet all functional and technical requirements, including integrations, workflows, reports, security, performance, data conversion, documentation, training, and support readiness. No Critical or High defects may remain. Other defects require County-approved workarounds and resolution dates. Final acceptance requires County approval.

Testing

The vendor must plan, execute, and document all required testing, including unit, system, integration, API, end-to-end, data-conversion, security, performance, failover, regression, disaster-recovery, and production testing.

The vendor must provide test plans, cases, data, results, traceability, evidence, and defect reports. The County may require additional testing.

The County will conduct UAT with vendor support. The vendor must prepare the environment and data, support testers, and correct and retest defects.

Parallel Operation

The County anticipates 30 calendar days of parallel operation, subject to operational risk. The vendor must reconcile critical transactions, scheduling results, workflows, reports, interfaces, and data. Material discrepancies must be resolved before legacy-system retirement.

The vendor must propose its approach, staffing, reconciliation process, and exit criteria.

Data-Conversion Validation

The vendor must migrate, reconcile, and validate all in-scope data, including record counts, control totals, required fields, relationships, duplicates, rejected records, attachments, history, GIS data, and exceptions.

Critical datasets require 100% reconciliation of record counts and control totals and 100% accuracy of migrated data elements. Final acceptance requires written County approval.

Cybersecurity Approval

The solution must pass the County’s cybersecurity review before production deployment. The review may cover architecture, hosting, data flows, integrations, access controls, encryption, logging, backup, incident response, security testing, and third-party reports.

Critical and High findings must be remediated and retested. Remaining risks require formal County approval.

Go-Live Authorization

Go-live requires approved UAT and data conversion, cybersecurity approval, completed training and operational readiness, no Critical or High defects, and approved cutover, rollback, backup, disaster-recovery, support, monitoring, and communication plans.

Final go-live authorization will be provided by the County.

Post-Go-Live Stabilization

The vendor must provide at least 30 calendar days of enhanced support, including dedicated resources, monitoring, incident resolution, status reporting, defect management, data reconciliation, performance tuning, and knowledge transfer.

Stabilization ends when Critical and High defects are resolved, critical functions and integrations are stable, service levels are met, and the County approves transition to standard support. The County may extend this period if needed.

a. Is the 3 to 6 month period a mandatory deadline, an expected range, or a scored preference, and will Ecolane remain the system of record until formal County acceptance? The RFP specifies a timeframe but no acceptance gates or authority to approve go-live.

3-6 months is not a mandatory deadline

6. Section IV states that all software shall use a relational database management system meeting the latest industry standards, with Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle preferred. For a fully vendor-hosted (cloud-based) solution rather than a County-hosted one, please confirm that a proposer's use of a different enterprise-grade relational database management system will be considered compliant.

A different enterprise-grade relational database management system will be considered compliant.