MAP RFP S000000036 Q & A.pdf

Question Subject Question Text ANSWER

Section 1. 1, Introduction, page 2

Complete the proposed solution within 18 to 30 months

What dedicated project resources (both full-time and part-time) will the State assign during the implementation of the project to support the 18-30 month implementation?

DWS Is building out Project Staffing and expects

Prospective Contractor's to identify the full-time and part-time DWS staffing expectations and needs based on the Prospective Contractor's overall approach and plan.

2 1.4 SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

Given the importance of this procurement we would like to respectfully request a 4-week extension in order that a complete and comprehensive proposal can be prepared.

The State does not intend to extend the Proposal

Due Date beyond September 13, 2021.

3 1.4

Can the proposal due date be extended to September

30? If not can the proposal due date be extended to an earlier date?

See answer to #2.

4 1.6.B

Section 1.6.B says that if a Contractor has a concern with any term, condition,etc., that prevents them from submitting a compliant proposal, then the Contractor must seek resolution of the concern by TSS OSP prior to proposal. Sections 1.9 and 1.10 indicate exceptions to Requirements and the documents listed in sections 1.10.A and 1.10.C must be listed in the

Exceptions Form.

What is the correct process for submitting exceptions?

Exceptions to any Requirements or terms in the

Services Contract should be listed on the

Exceptions Form per 1.10.

5 1.9.C

Can DWS please explain what is expected of the

Contractor by the wording of of Section 1.9.C as this section implies that the Requirements in Section 2 of the Solicitation Document are not the total set of requirements?

Section 2 of this RFP provides high-level requirements to achieve DWSs Stated goal and objectives. It is expected that any Prospective

Contractor that meets the Minimum Qualifications will anticipate everything required to meets the needs of this RFP.

1.10.A; ref: Solicitation Terms &

Conditions Section 21

Can DWS confirm which link should be used to view the Technical Architecture Program policies and standards? One of the links is invalid.

Any emerging policies/standards will need to be identified and discussed with TSS DIS Security. If and when any new enterprise architecture and security policies and standards are published, the

Contractor will be required to enhance the system to comply with the policies and standards. See generally https://www.transform.ar.gov/information-systems/policies-standards/standards/

7 2.1 Can the State's cloud services policy be provided?

See Arkansas Cloud Strategy https://www.transform.ar.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/APPROVED-

20190108_CloudStrategy.pdf

8 2.2

Will DWS consider a modified Saas-type model where DWS procures third-party software liceses and support and cloud hosting, assuming Contractor will support DWS's procurement effort by acting as a reseller or otherwise which would result in DWS haveing direct rights to the third-party software and cloud hosting service?

DWS prefers a full SaaS solution. However, would consider a modified SaaS model. Bid must provide rationale regarding why a modified approach would be advantageous to DWS, including cost. To enable direct, one-to-one comparison with full

SaaS solution, all proposals must contemplate costs associated with 'FedRAMP High'. Any proposal of modified SaaS model must include all costs for the entire solution, including third party licensing, cloud hosting, and support, etc. Also see section 2.25.B in Revised MAP RFP

S000000036.RFP.

9 2.3

As part of requirements elaboration referred to in this section, will DWS use "out of the box" functionality from a starting base system even if DWS's processes must change?

DWS is amenable to changing processes as long as they have been clearly demonstrated by the

Prospective Contractor to be advantageous, including cost impacts.

2.3 PROSPECTIVE

CONTRACTOR MINIMUM

QUALIFICATIONS

Does the contemplated $10,000,000 cost requirement for a comparable UI modernization project include money billed and received over the lifetime of a similar project? For example, would a vendor be found non-responsive if they deployed a comparable

Tax/Benefits/Appeals system in another State within the last five years and the original contract was a "no money up front" contract with an annual maintenance fee, and to date the billing for all maintenance and enhancements exceeds $10,000,000?

DWS will not consider such a situation/response non-responsive. Also see 11 below and section 2.3 in Revised MAP RFP S000000036.RFP.

11 2.3.A

If a Contractor demonstrates experience, within the past 5 years, of designing, developing, implementing appeals and benefits and integrating a tax program for a large US system, will such Contractor be disqualified? If not disqualified, will such Contractor be downgraded on the Experience Section of

Technical Score and if so, how will DWS determine the magnitude of the experience scoring downgrade?

DWS will not consider such experience/response non-responsive. Evaluation and scoring will be as described. Also see section 2.3 in Revised MAP

RFP S000000036.RFP.

Unemployment Insurance System Development

S000000036

Written Questions and Answers

State of Arkansas Department of Workforce Services

2.3 PROSPECTIVE

CONTRACTOR MINIMUM

QUALIFICATIONS

The government has indicated that any proposed system must utilize the "same or nearly similar technologies" as a prior UI implementation over the last five years. Given the demonstrably deficient performance of such systems during the pandemic would the government consider alternate technologies and strategies intended to address those deficits and de-risk the project, even if those strategies deviate from the qualifications outlined in the RFP, or would such a proposal be considered non-compliant?

Such a proposal would not be deemed non-compliant. Prospective Contractor shall provide rationale regarding why their approach is preferred.

Performance/process improvements are a DWS priority, particularly those that have been proven.

Also see 11 above and section 2.3 in Revised MAP

RFP S000000036.RFP.

2.3 PROSPECTIVE

CONTRACTOR MINIMUM

QUALIFICATIONS

Market intelligence shows there is likely not contractor that has completed an install of Benefits, Appeals and Tax within the last five years in the same

State.

If no one vendor meets this qualification will that minimum qualification be waived, will the RFP be amended, and will vendor proposals be accepted if they have not completed a UI system installation in the past 5 years?

DWS will not consider such a situation/response non-responsive. Also see 11 above and section 2.3 in Revised MAP RFP S000000036.

2.4 Minimum System

Requirements

3. Do you want responses to each requirement listed in Attachment A?

Prospective Contractors should only respond via the Technical Proposal Packet. Attachment A is provided to include additional high-level requirements to accomplish the goal of the RFP.

15 2.4 Does Attachment A represent 100% of the high level requirements that will be subject to elaboration?

No. It is expected that Prospective Contractors will leverage their UI knowledge in this regard.

2.5 Contractor Minimum

Requirements

4. Requirements A and D appear to be the same.

Please clarify these requirements.

Please see Revised MAP RFP S000000036.

17 2.5.C For the OCM program will DWS be responsible for internal and external communications?

Yes.

18 2.6.A Can DWS provide a sample of Deliverable

Expectation Document (DED)?

DWS will collaboratively work with Contractor to develop a final mutually acceptable DED.

19 2.6.C Will DWS and Contractor mutually agree on the acceptance criteria for each deliverable?

Yes, DWS will collaboratively work with Contractor to develop mutually acceptable acceptance criteria, subject to DWS having final approval authority.

20 2.6 Deliverables

Phases as documented potentially reflect a Waterfall approach. Can project phases overlap ? to accommodate an Agile or Hybrid methodology? Agile-based development experience is listed later in the document ? so can we assume Phases will overlap?

(Project Manager qualifications)

Yes, phases may overlap.

21 2.10.A; 2.10.C

The Contractor is required to address 3 hosting solution options (State hosted, Cloud FedRamp

Moderate and Cloud FedRamp High) but the

Solicitation Price Sheet for task 3 only allows for 2 options (State hosted and Cloud FedRamp

Moderate).

Which is correct?

Costs associated with Cloud Hosted - FedRAMP

High must be included in Table 2 of the Revised

Official Price Sheet.

22 2.10.C where are costs associated with Cloud hosting

FedRAMP High to be input on the pricing sheet?

See answer to #21.

23 2.10.B Can DWS provide more clarity for what is expected related to pricing for a State hosted solution?

The Prospective Contractor shall provide all specifications for hardware infrastructure and software that the State shall purchase in accordance with the approved Project Plan. The

State shall install and configure all hardware and software with assistance from the Contractor. The

State will maintain and support the Infrastructure and software. This solution will anticipate interoperability and portability between State data center and cloud.

24 2.10.B

Will DWS consider directly contracting with third-party software providers and the cloud hosting provider, assuming Contractor will support DWS's procurement effort by acting as a reseller or otherwise which would result in DWS haveing direct rights to the third-party software and cloud hosting service?

See 8 and 23 above.

25 2.14.E Can DWS provide a definition of a critical and non-critical defect associated with final acceptance?

Defined in SLA-006

3.Question on Section 2.14

Testing, F Requirements

Management and Traceability

Is there an existing requirements management used by the State of Arkansas or are vendors open to bring in their own custom tool or off the shelf requirements management tool? Will the vendor be required to turn over the tool and all documented and traced requirements to the stte so that they can maintain it when the vendor leaves?

The Contractor is expected to bring their own

Requirements Management and Traceability Tool.

The Contractor shall use this tool through the term of the contract with a transition to DWS at the end of the contract

27 4.Question on 2.14 Training.

Is the State of Arkansa requesting an off the shelf or custom Learning Management System? Will they want that system transferred to the State with all training records upon completion of the project? Is the

State ok with an annual license fee associated with the LMS.

DWS expects Prospective Contractor to provide the best solution for the project given its overall approach. It is expected that the letter and spirit of the provided transition/transfer requirements will be followed comprehensively for all aspects of the program.

28 2.15 Training

Is State looking for a new LMS to be implemented as part of vendor solution? ; OR State already owns a

LMS solution component being referred as "The

Contractor shall use a centralized, Integrated Training

System". If yes, can you share details of existing training system?

Yes, solution will include Integrated Training

System/LMS. Also see 27 above.

29 2.16.A.3

Can this requirement be waived? If not, can DWS clarify this requirement for Contractor services provided after final acceptance (2.14.E)?

DWS may consider this and other arrangements with the additional understanding that DWS may, at

DWS's discretion, require all Contractor staff on-site if DWS becomes concerned about the timeliness and quality of meeting milestones and deliverables.

30 2.16.C

Can DWS clarify the intent of the Contractor having an office within 5 miles of DWS? Is this to house all non-key staff during the during the development and implementation period? Is this a requirement during the Maintenance period?

See answer to #29.

31 2.16.A; 2.16.A.1

Does the 80% on-site requirement apply to all contractor staff or it it limiterd to the Project Manager and key personnel?

80% on-site requirement applies to the Project

Manager and key personnel. Contractor responsible for travel costs. Also see answer to

#29.

32 2.16 Staffing & Key Personnel

Is there flexibility regarding the requirement that all

Contractor staff be on-site at least 80% percent of the development and implementation phases?

See answer to #29 and #31.

33 2.16 Staffing & Key Personnel

Is this requirement intended to apply to other

Contractor employees in addition to the project manager and key personnel?

See answer to #29 and #31.

34 2.16 Staffing & Key Personnel

Can a successful Contractor be located out of State if committed to remotely completing the work contemplated by the RFP and traveling to be on-site as deemed mutually necessary?

See answer to #29.

5.Question on 2.16 Staffing and

Key Personnel

Is there any leeway on the 80% onsite requirement for the 6 key personnel ? Are all travel costs the responsibility of the selected contractor?

See answer to #29 and #31.

2.16.A.1 Staffing and Key

Personnel - on-site requirement

In light of the current pandemic can the 80% onsite requirement be waived.

See answer to #29 and #31.

2.16.A.3 Staffing and Key

Personnel ? local office space

In light of the current pandemic can this requirement be waived.

See answer to #29 and #31.

Section 2.18 Maint. Svcs Pg 14

Contractor shall be responsible for performing maintenance.

Please clarify if the State is expecting the contractor be responsible for full operation (such as batch processes, reviewing error logs, etc.) of the solution from the initial deployment to production through the seven years of the contract term or is the State responsible for operating the system in production?

Contractor will operate system fully throughout life of contract with DWS having access to all solution aspects including audit and error logs with the one exception being IRS FTI TOP.

2.19 USER AND TECHNICAL

SUPPORT

Is State expecting "L1 support" as part of vendor solution?

Yes

40 2.21 What is the ETL process? Extract, Transformation, Load

41 2.21 DATA MIGRATION

Please share more details around images, and notes -

i) Are these maintained in physical or electronic format?

ii) What is the size of images, and notes database size?

iii) Which tool/software is in use by State for storing images & notes?

iv) Does State want to continue using existing software/tool for imaging OR want vendor to propose a new tool as part of solution?

The current imaging solution is antiquated and needs to be sunset. The State uses Docuware for other ADWS processes but Docuware is not integrated or used with the current UI system. The

State will consider a solution in which the vendor is responsible for integrating with Docuware but will also consider a solution that is already integrated with the vendor offered solution.

42 2.22 Data Ownership and Privacy

Assuming Contractor remains a viable and existent business entity, wishes to solely maintain the source code, and agrees to do so even after termination or expiration of the Contract, would DWS consider waiving the requirement for maintenance with an escrow agent as stipulated in Section 2.22.N?

No

43 2.22 Data Ownership and Privacy

In the event Contractor's business entity is no longer in existence, would DWS consider an alternative arrangement for ownership of the source code other than maintenance with an escrow agent?

No

44 2.22 Data Ownership and Privacy If the Contractor is proposing a Software as a Service

(SaaS) model, does this requirement apply?

Yes. The Contractor must agree that all data is owned by the State. All DOL and State privacy laws, rules, and policies will apply.

2.22 DATA OWNERSHIP AND

PRIVACY

Is DWS open to alternative arrangements regarding ownership and licensing of Background IP, as contemplated in Section 2.22?

Yes, as long as DWS owns data and DWS must have perpetual access/license, not subject to expiration or termination, for use of all Background

IP, products, software, information, etc. needed to continue operations; also subject to transition/transfer requirements. Also see 44 above.

Section 2.22 Data Ownership and

Privacy, Req H Pg 16 MFA for

Internet access to the cloud solution

Does DWS require MFA be implemented for all users accessing the solution, i.e. Staff, employer/TPA? Is there a distinction between internal and external users?

Yes to first question. No distinction with regard to

MFA but the system should follow NIST segregation guidelines to implement logical separation between the internal and external parts of the system.

2.25 TRANSITION SERVICES -

A. Knowledge Transfer

Does State expects vendor to plan for DWS staff to work at 75% capacity along with vendor during the implementation phase on various tasks / activities OR

DWS staff will be available only 75% during

Knowledge Transfer phase post implementation -please clarify?

If we need to plan DWS staff during implementation phase, please provide head count and skills set for such staff?

DWS will have dedicated staff during the implementation phase. Knowledge transfer to

DWS staff shall be an ongoing, embedded, and collaborative process as the project progresses through all phases to the deployment of the new

System, as well as post go-live if any Transition is deemed to be necessary.

48 2.30; 2.32 Are the KPI's performance levels and payment reduction percentages negotiable?

See section 2.26.B.

49 2.30 KPIs - SLA-003

Does State want vendor to provide complete Call

Center and mail(s) handling solution OR solution is already in place, and vendor just need to provide

ONLY staff to support the existing solution?

Pls share volumes related to call center and mail/email transactions?

Call center and mail handling are not in RFP scope.

50 User Procedure Support

Section 2.30 KPIs, SLA-003: ?The Contractor?s solution for technical support for DWS users is to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.?

Will DWS provide user procedure support?

Yes and Yes

Proposed Methodology

Adjustments

Section 2 ? Requirements: ?Do not provide responses to items in this section unless specifically and expressly required.?

Section 2 instructs vendors not to respond to methodology and procedure requirements of the

RFP. As part of Phase III, will the State allow vendors to propose adjustments to the methodology based upon their implementation experience?

Prospective Contractor's response should meet all requirements of the RFP. Prospective Contractors should use their expertise when developing a solution that will meet the Stated objectives and goals of the State.

52 Working Space Clarification

Section 2.16 Staffing and Key Personnel: ?DWS requires that all Contractor staff be on-site at least eighty percent (80%) of the development and implementation duration.? ?Contractor must provide its own office space??

Can the State please clarify the expectations regarding working space? Will DWS and vendor staff be working in the same office space?

80% on-site requirement applies to the Project

Manager and key personnel. Contractor responsible for travel costs. Also see 34 above.

Vendor space will include meeting space to allow for efficient meetings with State personnel. State staff and contractor staff will not be working in the same office space.

53 Section 2 - Requirements

In section 2 you State, ?DO NOT provide responses to items in this section unless specifically and expressly required. In 2.5 A the RFP States, The

Contractor shall define the metrics and their threshold of acceptability and submit to DWS for review and approval. Is this an illustration of what is expressly required?

Yes

54 Section 2 - Requirements Does ADWS expect the implementation model to be included in the technical response?

Yes

55 Cloud Hosting

? Section 2.10 Hosting and Infrastructure: Is a

Prospective Contractor considered non-compliant if the only options for hosting provided are State Hosted and Cloud Hosted ? FedRAMP High - or if the Cloud

Hosted FedRAMP High is also used as the submission for Cloud Hosted ? FedRAMP Moderate?

All three pricing models must be provided, including FedRAMP High and Moderate under

Cloud hosted. Also see answers to 8, 21, 22, 23.

3.2 B, 3, "Proposed solutions

should be non-technical?."

The requirement for the Solution sub-section of the

Technical Proposal packet is required to be non-technical as per this requirement. In that case, can you please let us know which section the technical solution to be described in proposal?

Prospective Contractor's response to the Solution sub-section should be as non-technical as possible while including recommendations for meeting the objectives and Requirements of the RFP.

57 3.6 DISCUSSIONS - (C-6-c-i)

Total % covered in 70% only. Does that means remaining 30% of dollars can be distributed by vendor with their own discretion to other deliverables?

Yes. However, the maximum for paper/document deliverables is twenty percent (20%) and the expectation is for the remaining 30% of dollars to be allocated to Iterative development of the software solution

58 3.6 DISCUSSIONS - (C-6-c-ii) Please clarify on "What is system acceptance?" as this is not getting clarified in "Section 2.6"?

System acceptance is when DWS validates the contractor has met all requirements defined in the contract and successfully delivered each phase and module into production.

3.6.C.6.c.iv; 3.6.C.6.c.v;

3.6.C.6.vi

Are the assessments in sections iv and v and the cap in section vi negotiable?

See section 2.26.B.

60 3.6.C.6.c.ii What is meant by "System Acceptance" as this is not defined in section 2.6?

See answer to #58.

APPENDIX A DELIVERABLES

AND PROJECT PHASE

MILESTONES Pg 33 System Go-

Live approval by DWS Milestone

Is DWS amenable to a multi-release implementation

(i.e. Tax, Benefits, Appeals) vs. a single-release implementation (?big-bang?)?

Yes. Bid must provide rationale regarding why this is preferred approach. Partial new system releases must integrate with legacy system components not being replaced with new release. With any new release, overall system production must perform as well as or better than the legacy system; must remain intact and not be interrupted..

62 Print and Mailing

Does the State have an in-house print and mailing operation? If yes, what centralized print management software is used. Please also provide details of print and mailing infrastructure.

Currently ADWS outsources all UI print via batch processing.

63 WCAG What version and level of WCAG needs to be met?

2.0 minimum with 2.1 preferred. No scoring reduction as long as 2.0 or higher.

64 Identity Management Solution

Clarify if the State has any central identify management solution that the proposed solution should be integrated with for application identities?

Yes for State employees. No for non-State employee users of the system.

65 Multi-Language Support

As per technical requirement # 60, ?System must be able to (re)generate correspondence in English, Spanish, Laotian, Vietnamese and Marshallese and other languages by law or business rules?. What are the other languages?

English, Spanish, Laotian, Vietnamese, and

Marshallese are required and capability for additional languages is expected.

Sentence Clarification - Attach A, Systems Tab, Item 5 Cell C-19

Sentence is not complete. Please clarify: System must provide Navigation buttons and menu that allows users to within application based on business rules.

System must provide Navigation buttons and menus that allows users to easily traverse within application based on business rules.

Attachment A Technical

Requirements, Requirement No. 1

If Contractor meets the technical requirement for a modern web application, but does not use the preferred .Net Framework using C#, will the solution scoring be negatively impacted?

No

Attachment A Technical

Requirements, Requirement No. 2

Is this technical requirement mandating an SQL data base structure or will other data bases be considered?

Others may be considered responsive.

69 Functional Requirements - 16 Will the new system store credit card information or will interface with a payment gateway?

No

Attachment A, Functional

Requirements, Requirement No.

Is it the expectation the Appeals system include all the telephone and video conferencing within the system or that the system is expected to interface with external systems currently in use or anticipated to be used? Is it expected that any telephone and video conferencing recordings be stored within the system?

There is no video conferencing required. The system can either provide the required functionality or interface with the recording system that exists at that time. Recordings are expected to be stored within the system and are expected to be associated with the appropriate case file. Systems and functionality recommended by contractor will be considered.

71 Technical Requirements, #1

Will there be any negative impact on evaluation scoring if vendor proposes different modern platforms such as Java or SalesForce?

No.

72 Technical Requirements, #2

Is DWS looking for retaining the existing database? Is it ok if vendor proposed replacement of database such as DB2?

DWS is not looking to retain the existing database.

73 Technical Requirements, #5

Internet Explorer has been discontinued and out of support. Is DWS still looking for web application compatibility with Internet Explorer ?

No.

74 System Requirements, #26

The browsers have limited capability to access the client computer resources. What information of user's computer system DWS it looking to capture?

DWS is looking for Contractor recommendations for capturing client computer information most advantageous for fraud deterrence and fraud investigations.

75 System Requirements, #62 Does DWS currently have OCR scanning system, which vendor's solution should integrate with?

The current imaging solution is antiquated and needs to be sunset. The State uses Docuware with

OCR for some ADWS processes but Docuware is not integrated or used with the current UI system.

The State will consider a solution in which the vendor is responsible for integrating with Docuware but will also consider a solution that is already integrated with the vendor offered solution.

Attachment A Tech Req #6

Functionality necessary to replicate and improve upon existing interfaces

Can DWS Provide a listing and description of existing interfaces?

Due to security considerations, not included in public disclosure; baseline to be provided in discussions phase or soon thereafter

Attachment A ? Func Req.

12,31,35,36,78 515 Wage and

Adjusted reports per ADWS business rules

Can DWS provide a definition and detailed information on the 515 process, which is referred to in several functional requirements (#12, #31, #35, #36, #78)?

515 process is for initiating and carrying out wage investigations, i.e. to investigate whether identified wages should be covered wages

78 Solicitation Price Sheet, Table 3 How is Contractor to determine State Hosting costs for Price Sheet?

List all hosting line items and note that State will provide information to complete the calculation.

Also see 8, 21, 22, 23.

79 Pricing sheet

Table 1 only has a placeholder for providing consolidated total cost of 7 years. For more clarity, can we provide yearly cost with a total? (i.e. 7 individual rows, instead of 1 single row)?

Table 1 - Total Seven (7) Year Cost will be used for low-cost determination. Prospective Contractors should use Table 2 to clarify how they arrived at the total seven year cost.

80 Pricing sheet

In Table 2, can the Activity/Task be considered as different project roles in order to provide rate card?

Also, can yearly rate card and count of each project role be provided as separate rows?

Prospective Contractors may also use the

Activity/Task column for Project Role. Prospective

Contractors may also add rows as necessary to fully explain pricing. The Total Seven Year Cost should still be totaled in Table 1. See Revised

Official Price Sheet.

81 Pricing sheet

Table 2 does not contain any column for providing total number of hours of an activity/task/project role.

Can a new column "Total Number of Hours" be added to provide more clarity with respect to calculation of "Total Cost" column?

Prospective Contractors should not add a new column to the Revised Official Price Sheet. Number of hours of an Activity/Task/Project role may be included in the 'Description' column.

82 Pricing sheet

Table 2 does not have separate section for providing non-labour costs (like hardware, software, travel, etc.). Since non-labour cost would not contain a rate card, hence can such details be provided in Table 2 as total yearly values?

Yes.

83 Pricing sheet

Table 3 does not contain section for including

FedRAMP High related cost. Can FedRAMP High cost details be included in Table 2?

Yes. Please see Revised Official Price Sheet.

84 Pricing sheet

In Table 2, can a separate rate card be included for project roles to be used during Maintenance and

Operations phase for enhancements and change requests?

Please see answer to Question #80.

Page Limit for Evaluation -

Solution

Will the DWS extend the page limit on the Information for Evaluation - Solution section to 100 pages to allow us to adequately respond to the 198 requirements listed in Attachment A?

The State does not intend to increase the Solution

Response page limit beyond fifteen (15) pages.

86 Extend Due Date Will DWS extend the due date by two weeks to allow us more time to prepare a quality response?

The State does not intend to extend the Proposal

Due Date beyond September 13, 2021.

87 Technical Proposal Packet

5. Based on the page limitation, we are assuming that you do not want individual responses to the requirements document. Is this a correct assumption?

Yes.

88 Technical Proposal Packet

6. We want to confirm that the total initial response is

20 pages, including the technical response of no more than 15 pages.

The total initial response should be a maximum of

21 pages as outlined in the Technical Proposal

Packet.

SECTION 1 ? GENERAL

INFORMATION AND

INSTRUCTIONS

Did any vendors or agencies assist in the preparation of this RFP?

This information is not necessary to submit a proposal.

SECTION 1 ? GENERAL

INFORMATION AND

INSTRUCTIONS

Were any vendors provided access to the agency to discuss the approach outlined in this RFP?

This information is not necessary to submit a proposal.

SECTION 1 ? GENERAL

INFORMATION AND

INSTRUCTIONS

Has the government identified a preferred vendor for this procurement?

This information is not necessary to submit a proposal.

SECTION 1 ? GENERAL

INFORMATION AND

INSTRUCTIONS

Has a budget been established for this procurement? No

93 General

In the system requirements, are you looking for any type of document generation, eSignature, redlining/editing of documents? I did not see these called out specifically.

DWS is looking for Prospective Contractor recommendations.

94 General

Have you considered the implementation and operations of an Independent Verification and

Validation (IV&V) team to support the project?

Not currently in scope but under consideration.