20180621_LSP_RFI_06June18.docx

Army University Library Enterprise Division

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION / SOURCES SOUGHT

Library Services Platform

06 June 2018

Army University Library Enterprise Division

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION / SOURCES SOUGHT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Appendix A: Visualization of the suite of components required to establish an Army University Library Services Platform.

Appendix B: Army University Library Enterprise System current system statistical details with chart showing location of enterprise libraries.

Appendix C: List of functional requirements of a Library Services Platform that meets the needs of the Army University Library Enterprise System

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SECTION I – GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The Army University Library Enterprise Division (LED) invites companies to collaborate and submit proposals for the provision and implementation of a modern Library Services Platform (LSP) for the Army University Library Enterprise System (Consortium). LED’s intent is to find a partner that will provide a modern, holistic, streamlined solution that will meet the diverse needs of Consortium administrative staff, member libraries, and their patrons in a cost effective manner. This system will be composed of Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) software provided using the model of Software as a Service (SaaS). This COTS software may be from the same or different vendors which combined will create the LSP platform. The LSP will consist of an Integrated Library System (ILS), Authentication layer, Digital Assets Management tool, and Web-Scale Discovery tool (which integrates web-based content management platforms, such as LibGuides or Word Press). Ideally, this project will result in a single, shared implementation of the selected ILS software; authentication layer; the Digital Assets Management tool; and 14 iterations of the Web-Scale Discovery tool software (i.e., one each for the 13 libraries and one over-arching enterprise (ArmyU) layer.) ILS, Web-Scale Discovery tool and Authentication layer must be fully integrated. Vendors of stand-alone Web-Scale Discovery tools are encouraged to respond to this solicitation and to explain how their discovery solution would interact with Integrated Library Systems (ILS) from other vendors, different digital assets management systems, and authentication layers. Authentication vendors should explain in their responses how their solution would interact with an ILS, Web-Scale Discovery tools from other vendors. Digital assets management vendors should explain how their tool would interact with an ILS and Web-Scale Discovery tool. Similarly, ILS vendors should explain in their responses how their ILS solution would interact with various authentication layers, Web-Scale Discovery tools, and digital assets management tools from other vendors.

We are exploring options and investigating solutions to meet TRADOC's requirement to operate in a FEDRAMP Cloud environment. LED seeks recommendations for separate Courses of action (COAs) to achieve this. The LSP will connect Soldiers and Department of the Army Civilian employees to Consortium member libraries’ collections, electronic resources, digital resources, and staff services. The Government desired COA (COA#1) is for the LSP to utilize a single, shared implementation of the selected ILS software in TRADOC's Microsoft Azure Government Cloud environment while providing a SaaS service for the ILS. Priority will be given to vendors who can meet the requirements in COA#1. The second approach is for the LSP to utilize a single, shared implementation of the selected ILS software in a commercial FEDRAMP cloud environment while providing a SaaS service for the ILS (COA#2). Both individual member libraries and Consortium administrative staff must be able to customize the user search experience and to control access to licensed and restricted materials. The LSP must provide public interfaces customizable by both member libraries and Consortium administrative staff.

The Web-Scale DISCOVERY tool must be easy to use, flexible, and foster serendipitous discovery for the library user. It must have the capability to respond to the needs of all users, from novice to expert, applying the ability to conduct searches both within and across different resource silos (i.e. catalog, article databases article, eBook websites, eJournal websites, LibGuides, and digital repositories) to find and access relevant content in multiple formats. Soldiers and Department of the Army Civilians should be empowered to either search within a single library or across multiple libraries and to reach out to library staffs for assistance when access is controlled or their expertise is requested. The discovery must support integration with remote authentication.

The AUTHENTICATION layer must have the ability to interface with multiple campus authentication/authorization systems, whether within one institution or across multiple institutions, and manage multiple roles and affiliations (e.g., patrons associated with multiple institutions). The authentication layer must support integration with remote authentication data stores.

The DIGITAL ASSETS MANAGEMENT tool must organize, categorize, search, retrieve, and archive stores of digital files (assets) while maintaining ownership of assets and not allowing those without digital rights to access the assets. The tool must support work-flow and project-management features coupled with the storage, organization and revision control of frequently changing digital assets. The tool must have the ability to have two different portals one for public access and one for internal preservation.

The ILS must offer the flexibility to accommodate individual institutional preferences and policies within a common standards-based framework that reflects and supports their commitment to collaboration. The desired ILS must be optimized for ease of use in order to simplify and streamline staff workflows, eliminate redundancies, and improve efficiencies. The ILS must minimize repetitive staff tasks (i.e. cataloging, patron registration/de-registration) performed at the local level that can be done more efficiently as part of a single, shared system.

The ILS should offer flexibility and extensibility to allow consortial sharing, viewing, editing, and exchange of records of all types as well as the ability for individual institutions to locally control and customize those same record types.

SECTION II – ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE

1. Army University Website: https://armyu.army.mil/

2. Background:

In early 2016, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) reorganized Army professional military education under a single university-type system called Army University to increase academic rigor, create greater opportunities for accreditation, and enhance the quality of the force. Army University is aligning Officer, Warrant Officer, Non-Commissioned Officer, and Department of the Army Civilian education programs across TRADOC under this single academic structure.

In October 2016, the Army Learning Coordination Council (ALCC) approved a plan to create the Army University Library Enterprise System and selected thirteen academic libraries to become the first members. The goal of this Consortium is to improve accessibility and findability of academic library resources across member libraries; combine like administrative and operational library processes; and provide the ability for library staffs to work collaboratively to license, manage, discover, use, and share and preserve print and electronic collections.

3. LSP Goals and Expectations:

The goals of the Library Services Platform are:

a. Improve accessibility and findability of academic library resources owned and managed by Consortium libraries through a robust discovery capability.

b. Enable libraries to function collectively while continuing to maintain individuality and autonomy.

c. Adapt to the evolving needs of the Consortium.

d. Provide customizable web-based customer interfaces.

e. Provide best possible functionality of system features and capabilities within constraints of a government-owned and managed network.

f. Meet the mandate for TRADOC's requirement to operate in a FEDRAMP Cloud environment.

The LSP must provide and support the following core library operations:

a. patron management: including borrower accounts, “virtual” borrower capability

b. circulation management: including course reserves, borrowing rules, notice and alert generation, interlibrary loan, and document delivery services

c. catalog management: including online public discovery and access, original and copy cataloging, serials control

d. collection management: including special collections, inventory processes, both standard and custom report generation capability

e. acquisitions management: including license management, and budget management.

f. discovery program: that integrates local, consortial, monographic, serial, owned, licensed, print and digital content, also including electronic resource management, link resolver, comprehensive knowledge base that is automatically updated when vendors change metadata and content in their proprietary databases, and A-Z list.

g. authentication program: including support for single sign-on authentication authorization systems, and integration with existing identity stores.

h. digital assets management product: that searches and returns multiple assets and retrains the unbroken maintenance of ownership of a digitized object while permitting access to those who have obtained rights to that access.

Appendix A contains a diagram showing components envisioned as part of the Consortium Library Services Platform.

4. Current Library Systems Environment:

The thirteen member libraries of Army University Library Enterprise System are stand-alone facilities geographically dispersed across the Continental United States. Three libraries are part of a union catalog as members of another library consortium. Two libraries act as combined academic and public libraries for their installation. Among the thirteen libraries, there are five different ILS versions, each with separate contract periods of performance. Two libraries have Web Scale Discovery Tools provided by different vendors. There are at least two different types of authentication methods used: username/password and OCLC’s EZProxy. There are four libraries that use OCLC’s ContentDM and one that uses their own access database for their digital assets management systems currently within the thirteen libraries.

The Army University Library Enterprise Division (LED) acts as the coordinating/system administrative element for the Consortium, but does not currently have an ILS, Discovery Tool, authentication method, collection, or digital assets management system.

Specific details on location, staff size, patron base, and collection breakdown numbers can be found in Appendix B.

SECTION III – CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION OF RESPONSES

Army University will evaluate the responses to this RFI / Sources Sought document based on the vendor’s ability to:

1. Meet the functional and technical requirements described in this RFI / Sources Sought document, as evidenced by the proposal and demonstration of the software.

2. Provide a cost-effective solution that meets the financial goals of Army University.

3. Demonstrate expertise and functionality as evidenced by client references and site visits.

5. Provide a superior level of customer service and technical support, both pre-installation and post-installation to clients as evidenced by references.

SECTION IV – VENDOR PROFILE

1. Identify the company name, address, city, state, zip code, and telephone and fax numbers.

2. Identify the name, title, address, phone and fax numbers and e-mail address of the primary contact person for this project.

3. Provide a brief overview of your company including number of years in business, number of employees, nature of business and description of clients.

4. Identify any parent corporation and/ or subsidiaries, if appropriate.

5. Give a brief description of the evolution of the library management system. Include the date of the first installed site and major developments which have occurred (e.g. new versions, new modules, specific features). Describe any previous ownership, if appropriate.

6. List any industry awards/ recognition that you have received, the awarding party, and the date received.

7. Indicate the total number of installations in the last three years by the year of installation and the total number of current users for the proposed system.

8. Provide a summary of your company’s short term and long term goals and strategic vision.

9. Provide a list of three references similar in size and specialty mix to Army University. References should be clients who have had their system installed within the past 48 months. (Include name, contact, address, telephone, system(s) installed and date of installation)

SECTION V – TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE PROPOSED LIBRARY SERVICES PLATFORM

Software

1. Describe the operating systems under which the proposed platform will operate. (UNIX, DOS, Windows, Windows NT, etc.)

2. Name and describe the database management program utilized by the platform.

3. What programming language(s) was used to develop the platform?

4. How many records can be stored in the proposed platform?

5. Describe the file purging/ archiving methodology used by the proposed platform.

6. List cost of license agreements, renewal, and upgrades.

7. Describe the length of time a software version is supported.

8. Please describe your platform’s database reporting tools.

9. Describe the security system used by the proposed platform.

10. Describe your proposed disaster recovery plan to safeguard source code and ensure that the proposed platform is recoverable in the event of a disaster at the headquarters of your facility.

11. Describe your proposed disaster recovery plan for Army University to ensure that our data is safe and secure in the event of a disaster.

12. Describe your proposed approach to load balancing for cloud access (e.g. geographically diverse, centralized, etc.).

Network and Interface Issues

1. Describe how platform will host vendor's ILS COTS software using the “Software as a Service" model". Platform must operate on government provided FEDRAMP Level 4 Microsoft Azure Government (MAG) Cloud, if unable to meet requirement please list why and provide a FEDRAMP cloud alternative solution.

Vendor access to MAG Cloud will be "General Population" (username/ password).

2. Describe how platform is WCAG 2.0 Level A and Section 508 compliant.

3. Describe how platform would function in a fully cloud-based architecture, or a locally-installed vendor-client software, and/or as a hybrid.

4. Explain how platform will be deployed and maintained in accordance with current DOD and industry standards, including:

a. Third party access to the environment must be vetted and monitored per company policy and access is immediately disabled once no longer needed or when access is determined to be inappropriately provisioned in accordance with third party or service provider agreements.

b. Platform must operate in a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)-compliant environment or a demonstrated equivalent

c. Platform must provide encryption of data between server and client.

d. Platform must provide granularity of security options for library staff and faculty.

5. What communication protocols are supported?

6. Describe how your proposed platform would handle patron and staff authentication via single sign-on authentication and authorization systems (e.g. CAS2, EZproxy, OpenAthens, etc.) and integration with existing identity stores (e.g. Active Directory, LDAP).

7. What speed of network lines are required for proposed platform to function on a Wide Area Network?

SECTION VI – PLATFORM IMPLEMENTATION AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

1. Describe and attach how you would apply your typical implementation plan to our thirteen geographically dispersed libraries with varying migration constraints due to current contract periods of performance requirements. (Appendix B)

2. Describe the experience and qualifications of your installation team.

3. What kind of client communication and implementation planning is done prior to the installation?

4. Describe the training provided. Include a training outline.

5. Where is your technical support center located?

6. What are the methods for contacting technical support?

7. What are your hours of operation for technical support?

8. Describe the qualifications of your technical support staff.

9. Describe the organization and structure of your technical support services.

10. What percentage of your total employees is responsible for direct client support?

11. Describe the ongoing system support provided by the vendor.

12. Are software upgrades provided as part of the software support contract?

13. Describe your software upgrade process.

14. Are there “hot fixes” or “updates” between versions?

15. How often are new versions released?

16. How are customer requests for enhancements and customizations handled?

17. Describe the recent history of system enhancements.

18. Describe the qualifications of your product development department.

19. What percentage of your total employees is responsible for product development?

20. Do you have a formal users’ group?

21. Describe the company’s policy regarding source code.

SECTION VII – LIBRARY SYSTEM PLATFORM PROPOSAL

Provide a platform proposal that includes:

1. Detailed listing of software as well as optional software (e.g. APIs).

2. Description of training provided, including location and time commitment. Also, include description of on-going library staff training (online and telephonic).

3. Recommendations for two COAs to pursue in the establishment of an enterprise library system.

a. COA#1 (GOVERNMENT DESIRED) will be for the LSP to utilize a single, shared implementation of the selected ILS software that utilizes a union catalog on TRADOC's Microsoft Azure Government Cloud environment while providing a SaaS service for the ILS. (Priority will be given to vendors who can meet the requirements in COA#1.)

b. COA#2 will be a single, shared implementation of the selected ILS software that utilizes a union catalog which is hosted on a FEDRAMP cloud environment that is a SaaS service module for the ILS.

c. For both COA#1 and COA#2: Proposed Webscale Discovery Tool (14 iterations: one each for the 13 libraries and one over-arching enterprise (ArmyU) layer); proposed Authentication tool; and proposed Digital Assets Management system.

4. Pricing model range for potential COAs recommended in item 3 including the mechanism for the price: FTE, per institution, discount from list, cloud, collection size or other, and costs associated with the delivery of the platform.

5. Provide a price range for implementation, data migration, and annual recurring costs.

6. Description and cost of ongoing support and timing of fees, especially as intended to facilitate migration.

SECTION VII – FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

See Appendix C for a list of functional requirements that the Consortium expects an LSP to fulfill. Describe or demonstrate how the LSP meets each item listed and provide an explanation for unmet requirements.