RFI_for_bus_sys_FINAL_-5-16-19.pdf

Request for Information Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Business System Upgrade Project www.orafinapps.com

Request for Information (RFI) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Business System Upgrade Project

RFI 19-086-Y

PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY

P.O. BOX 451

PRINCETON, NJ 08543

http://www.,orafinapps.com/ www.orafinapps.com

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION

2. PURPOSE

3. COMPANY OVERVIEW

4. CURRENT TECHNOLOGY

5. REQUIREMENTS

6. RESPONSES REQUIRED

7. RFI RESPONSE FORMAT AND PROCESS

8. RFI POINT OF CONTACT

9. RESPONSE DUE DATE:

10. SUMMARY

11. ATTACHMENTS

1. Introduction THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY and it does not constitute a request for proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. Further, respondents are advised that PPPL will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued.

2. Purpose Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is seeking to gain a better understanding of the cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) market which includes the software as a service ERP (SaaS ERP) and traditional ERP in the cloud (Hosted ERP).

The purpose of this RFI is to collect information from software publishers and system integration service providers (ERP implementers and hosting/managed service providers) about market capabilities for SaaS and Hosted ERPs to determine the cloud ERP solution that best meets PPPL’s business needs.

*Please note that the proposed solution must already be FedRAMP Authorized or in the process of obtaining authorization at the moderate or high impact level.

3. Company Overview Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a Collaborative National Center for fusion energy research. The Laboratory advances the coupled fields of fusion energy and plasma physics research, and, with collaborators, is developing the scientific understanding and key innovations needed to realize fusion as an energy source for the world. Princeton University operates PPPL for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science. PPPL employs over 500 employees with an annual operating budget of approximately $100 million.

4. Current Technology PPPL’s instance of Microsoft Great Plains accounting fund (GP) was implemented approximately fifteen years ago. Although the current ERP system operates effectively, it is highly customized and no longer supported by the manufacturer. At this juncture, software upgrades within the existing environment could potentially compromise GP performance.

5. Requirements The core mandate of the desired system is functionality that generates Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) compliant financial information, which guides planning and budgeting activities for our core business entities and activities. The desired system will have the ability to:

• Interface with Princeton University’s ERP in several areas, including Subcontractor management and voucher payment to reduce manual efforts for data reconciliation

• Flexible workflow approval processes to cover our business scenarios to reduce paper approvals

• Single entry point and proliferation of data across the ERP system to eliminate current redundancies, manual adjustments, and dual data entry

• Standardized reporting mechanisms to reduce the reliance on external data analysis tools

Functional and Technical Requirements as well as Use Cases are included as part of this

RFI.

6. Responses Required Please provide your response to the following questions:

1. Identify which solution/software and specific modules meet the functional areas provided in the Requirements Attachment and briefly describe how. Is the proposed solution a SaaS or a Hosted solution? How do you define a SaaS or Hosted solution? Is it a single or multi-tenant solution? Please describe how licensing, subscription, and service fees work for the proposed solution.

2. In general, identify how the solution will meet the technical requirements in the

Requirements Attachment. Identify additional security capabilities of proposed solution.

3. Are the service provider and the implementer different entities? What is the general separation of responsibilities between the service provider, the implementer and the end-user organization (PPPL) during Implementation/Transition?

4. Other than interfaces, queries/reports/dashboards, custom labels, custom fields, and business process workflows, does the solution allow customization?

If yes,

a. Identify the overall percentage of PPPL Requirements in the Requirements Attachment that can be met by the base solution or configuration?

b. Identify the overall percentage of PPPL Requirements in the Requirements Attachment that may require customization?

c. Does the solution allow new extensions (or bolt-ons) only, or does it also allow changes to the base code?

d. Identify the overall percentage of PPPL Requirements in the Requirement Attachment that cannot be met?

e. How would the customization impact future upgrades/updates?

If no,

f. Identify the overall percentage of PPPL Requirements in the Requirements Attachment that can be met by the base solution or configuration?

g. Identify the overall percentage of PPPL Requirements in the Requirements Attachment that cannot be met?

5. For each PPPL Use Case described in the Use Case Attachment, please outline the delivered modules/processes/features that will support PPPL’s use case, identify the portion that may require customization, and estimate the work effort (in hours) for the customization for each use case.

6. What is the estimated timeline, effort (in person-months), and cost to implement and go-live with the proposed SaaS/Hosted Solution (by module if applicable)? Please include the high level assumptions for the estimate provided, such as modules to be implemented, service included or excluded, reports/interfaces included, out of scope functions, etc. What is the level of confidence for this timeline and cost estimate, given the information provided in this RFI?

7. After go-live, what is the estimated annual cost based on the Ongoing Services requirements (hosting service and application maintenance and support) provided in the Requirements Attachment. Provide a breakdown of the annual cost including describing the services to be provided and the service pricing model, including impacts to pricing such as number of modules/features, number of users/licenses, level of service, backup options, etc. Please include the high level assumptions for the estimate provided.

In addition, what is the estimated cost of these or similar services during development/implementation (before go-live).

A standard Service Level Agreement (SLA) can be included in the response, and is excluded from the page limitation.

8. What major risks do you anticipate for Transition/Implementation and Ongoing Services that PPPL should be aware of? Include risk mitigation strategies that similar organizations have successfully implemented.

9. Describe what specific additional information about scope and requirements would be required to provide an informed and competitive proposed solution in the event of an

RFP.

10. Do you have any specific areas of concern regarding the information included in the

RFI?

11. List unique features, such as reports, interfaces, best practices specific to government agencies and/or DOE labs, offered by your solution.

12. Identify data conversion capabilities and methodologies of the proposed solution.

13. Identify business intelligence and reporting capabilities and methodologies of the proposed solution.

14. How will the solution keep pace with changing technology and how frequently will this be addressed? In what manner and how often will new versions/capabilities be delivered?

15. How are upgrades for the proposed solution managed?

7. RFI Response Format and Process A. PPPL is requesting all vendors interested in providing information regarding ERP solutions to submit a response containing the following:

Cover sheet, including RFI 19-086-Y, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Business

System Upgrade Project Responder/Vendor name, DUNS number, address Point(s) of contact - name, title, phone number, and email address

A narrative response to the questions/prompts in Section 4, no longer than

20 pages

A standard Service Level Agreement

B. Responders to this RFI must use the following format for the RFI Response submission:

Submissions are limited to 8.5 x 11 inches, with 1-inch margins, printable, must be submitted using the “.docx” or “.pdf” file format.

Limited to a maximum of 20 pages (excluding SLA and cover sheet).

8. RFI Point of Contact Direct RFI questions and written responses to the following point of contact:

Cheryl Colan Email: ccolan@pppl.gov Subject line of email: RFI 19-086-Y

9. Response Due Date:

Responses to this RFI are due by 2:00 pm EST, Thursday, June 6, 2019 Subject line of email: RFI 19-086-Y

Please note that upon receipt of a response to this RFI, PPPL may contact the responder in order to obtain details and contact information regarding a client and/or environment where the proposed ERP solution is operational.

10. Summary This RFI is not to be considered as an invitation for bid, request for quotation, or as an obligation on the part of Princeton Plasma Physics Lab to acquire any products or services.

No reimbursement will be a made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this RFI or any follow up information request. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation of the information provided. No contract award will be made on the basis of responses received.

11. Attachments A. Functional and Technical Requirements (including Interfaces) B. Use Cases mailto:ccolan@pppl.gov