PBES RFI Questions.xlsx

Experience

Describe your experience and internal process for creating system training materials. Based on your familiarity with PBES what are your recomendations to implement changes and improvements to the current training material.

Describe your level of experience and/or any certifications held with each the following: Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Oracle BI (OBIEE), Oracle DB Server, Oracle Data Integrator (ODI), Oracle DRM, Oracle HTTP Server (OHS), Oracle Hyperion Planning, Essbase, Oracle Internet Directory, Oracle Weblogic Server, RHEL, Windows Server 2019 and newer. If so, please describe how those experiences would be used to support PBES and it's mission to generate Program Objective Memorandum, Budget Estimate Submissin, Rapid Allocation Process, and President's Budget seamlessly.

Please provide contract number, name of customer/organization supported, customer/organization POC including contact information for the questions listed above, if applicable.

Staffing

PBES is hosted on the SIPR network; can you provide a capability support team that has the appropriate security clearances and IA (IAT II or higher) Workforce Certifications to sustain a classified system?

Do you currently have Functional Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on staff? Functional SME’s must be experts with the POM (Program Ojective Memorandum) , BES (Budget Estimate Submission) and PB (President's Budget) processes from Major Command level to Office of Secretary of Defense. This includes the Programming function with the different AF panels through the Appropriation Managers on the Budget side of the process. The SMEs must also be familiar with the entire PPB&E process and how it all ties together. They must be able to integrate the 30-year Plan with the Programming and Budget FYDP (Five Year Defense Plan).

Please provide contract number, name of customer/organization supported, customer/organiztion POC including contact information for the questions listed above, if applicable.

Management

How would you plan to allocate staff resources for a POM/PB project? Can you provide details on staffing levels, including full-time equivalents (FTEs) and any subcontractors? What contingency plans would you put in place to address unexpected staff shortages or turnover?

How would your company handle data validation for rounds (versions within the cycle that add rates, manpower, DAF decisions) during budget cycles? What steps would you take to update financial or performance data? How would you manage changes and ensure consistency in the data?

Describe your management approach for supporting cybersecurity readiness and providing software ugrades to PBES while delivering new capabiilty and keeping PBES operational (minimum downtime).

How would you manage the project timeline, milestones, and deliverables? What communication channels would you use to keep the Government informed of your progress and to address any issues? How would you manage risk and how would you share those risks with the FMO and PMO?

How would you handle changes to requirements, scope, or priorities during the project? Outline your change management process. What mechanisms would you use to communicate changes to the Government?

Describe your approach to quality assurance (QA) and testing. How would you verify the accuracy and reliability of the IT system the DAF uses to generate a POM and PB? What testing methodologies (e.g., unit testing, integration testing) would your team employ?

This customer operates under very stringent timelines. What project management tools and techniques do you use to ensure timely and within-budget delivery?

Regarding standing up/building development environments, what critical milestones or phases would you include in a schedule or timeline? How would you account for potential delays or unforeseen challenges? What resources (human and technical) would you allocate to meet the timeline? On average, what is the timeline to build a development environment?

Please provide contract number, name of customer/organization supported, customer/organiztion POC including contact information for the questions listed above, if applicable.

Processes

Describe how you would align domain subject matter expertise with leading technologies to drive transformation for DAF financial planning/financial management information systems—specifically program and budgeting systems—while leveraging leading commercial software and best practices.

How would your company ensure accurate and reliable data within the annual PPB (POM, RAP, BES, PB) process? What validation rules or procedures would you follow to verify data integrity? Are there any specific tools or methodologies you would employ for data validation? Are there opportunities to leverage BOTS or other automated technology for accelerating data validation exercises?

Provide examples of risks encountered in previous similar projects and how you managed them to ensure project success.

How would you deliver—using Agile, CI/CD, DevSecOps processes—new capabilities for approved requirements while addressing/reducing significant technical debt in a Cloud One environment?

How would you provide "over the shoulder" support to PBES end users in the Pentagon to include supporting with data loading, data validation, use of PBES, etc?

Describe the process you would use to support the PBES PMO/FMO with requirements development, requirements prioritization, product backlog refinement, program increment planning, sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, sprint retrospectives, leadership reviews, demonstrations, technical interchanges and engineering reviews.

Tell us about your PPBE experience and experience with systems that supports that process. Expand how you would validate accuracy and support the system workflow processes and procedures.

What processes would you use in PBES to support Financial and Program Structures such as PE numbers, appropriate codes, program codes, operating agency codes, weapon system codes, program activity codes, and J-books?

Please provide contract number, name of customer/organization supported, customer/organiztion POC including contact information for the questions listed above, if applicable.