Questions-and-Answers-1.pdf
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- Philadelphia County, Philadelphia City, Pennsylvania
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This is a Questions and Answers document for an Expression of Interest (EOI) regarding an Integrated Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) solution for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The document contains 33 questions submitted by potential vendors and SEPTA's responses, with most detailed answers deferred to an upcoming Request for Proposals (RFP). SEPTA is seeking to modernize its segmented technology infrastructure with a cloud-first iPaaS solution capable of integrating multiple data sources and systems. Key initiatives include implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning platform within 36 months. The purpose of the EOI is to establish a shortlist of qualified vendors, after which SEPTA plans to release a formal RFP that may include oral presentations or proof-of-concept demonstrations.
SEPTA indicates a strong preference for cloud-based deployment models with the eventual goal of achieving a fully cloud-based application environment. The authority is modernizing its technology infrastructure to meet current IT standards, addressing current pain points including data silos, lack of scalability and expandability, and the need to integrate multiple systems. Specific technical details regarding SEPTA's existing technology landscape, transaction volumes, ETL/ELT processes, current systems in use, API management capabilities, security requirements including potential TSA cybersecurity directives and FTA requirements, identity providers, budget ranges, and MBE/WBE subcontracting requirements will all be provided in the forthcoming RFP. One response contained a typographical error indicating security requirements would be provided in an "upcoming EOI" rather than RFP, and another response regarding cloud migration goals contained the misspelling "cload" instead of "cloud."
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EOI – INTEGRATED PLATFORM-AS-A-SERVICE (iPaaS)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. Could SEPTA share details of its current integration landscape, including the primary technologies, platforms, and middleware in use today?
Information regarding SEPTA's technology infrastructure and landscape will be provided in the upcoming RFP.
2. Has SEPTA already identified or shortlisted any preferred iPaaS platforms under consideration, or is the evaluation fully open?
The purpose of this EOI is to establish a shortlist of qualified vendors based on the responses received.
3. Are there existing vendor partnerships or technology standards that influence platform selection?
SEPTA is currently in the process of modernizing its technology infrastructure to meet current information technology standards.
4. What are the current pain points SEPTA faces with integration (e.g., data silos, latency, lack of API governance, manual workflows)?
The current technology infrastructure is segmented and lacks scalability and expandability that a modern technology infrastructure has to integrate multiple data sources.
5. Is there a strong preference for cloud-first deployment, or will hybrid/on-premise models be equally considered?
SEPTA strongly prefers a cloud environment model.
6. What is SEPTA’s expected transaction volume and scalability requirements for the iPaaS solution?
More information regarding current transaction volume will be provided in the upcoming RFP.
7. Could SEPTA outline its integration roadmap for the next 12–24 months, including major modernization or cloud migration initiatives?
SEPTA will complete an initiative to obtain and implement an Enterprise Resource Planning platform for the organization. The projected timeframe for completion is within 36 months.
8. Are there specific business transformation projects that the iPaaS solution should support in the next 12-24 months?
Information regarding SEPTA's business transformation projects will be provided in the upcoming RFP.
9. Could SEPTA provide insight into the complexity of its current ETL/ELT processes, and the data volumes and throughput requirements?
Information regarding SEPTA's ETL/ELT processes, and the data volumes and throughput requirements will be provided in more detail in the upcoming RFP.
10. What ERP, HRIS, CRM, and financial systems are currently in use? (Infor, SuccessFactors, etc.)?
The purpose of this EOI.
11. How many distinct applications and systems need to be integrated, both now and in the next 2–3 years?
SEPTA is currently in the process of modernizing its technology infrastructure to meet current information technology standards. More information will be provided with the release of the upcoming RFP.
12. Are there any legacy on-premise systems that must remain on-prem long-term, or is full cloud migration the eventual goal?
SEPTA's goal is to realize a fully cload based application
13. What are the approximate transaction volumes per day/month across integrations?
14. What is the largest payload size anticipated? Are there bulk file transfers (e.g., SFTP batch files from payroll or finance)?
15. Are there any real-time, sub-second latency requirements, and for which specific use cases?
More information will be provided in the upcoming RFP.
16. What cloud platforms does SEPTA currently use or plan to adopt (Azure, AWS, GCP)?
Information regarding SEPTA's technology infrastructure and landscape will be provided in the upcoming RFP.
17. Does SEPTA have an existing API gateway in place (Apigee, AWS API Gateway, Azure APIM), or is API management a greenfield need?
18. Beyond the protocols listed, are there any transit-specific standards required — e.g., GTFS, GTFS-RT, or NTD reporting integrations?
19. Are there any EDI requirements (X12, EDIFACT) for vendor or partner integrations?
More information will be provided in the upcoming RFP.
20. Is there a need to integrate with SCADA or OT systems for rail/infrastructure operations?
21. Is Apache Kafka or any event streaming platform already in use?
22. Which operational systems generate events that need to be streamed (e.g., vehicle telemetry, fare collection, incident management)?
23. Does SEPTA fall under any federal cybersecurity mandates (e.g., TSA cybersecurity directives for public transit, FTA requirements)?
Security requirements will be provided in the upcoming EOI.
24. Is FedRAMP authorization a hard requirement, or a preference?
25. What identity provider does SEPTA use (Azure AD, Okta, on-prem Active Directory)?
26. Are there data residency requirements — must data remain within the US or within Pennsylvania specifically?
27. Is there a specific SIEM platform in use today (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel) that log integration must support?
28. How many integration developers and architects are on staff today?
29. Is there an existing API catalog or policy framework, or is this being built from scratch?
30. What is the anticipated go-live timeline, and are there any hard deadlines tied to system retirements or go-lives of other platforms?
31. What is SEPTA's rough budget range or expected pricing model preference (subscription, consumption-based)?
32. Are there MBE/WBE or local subcontracting requirements that a prime vendor would need to satisfy?
33. Beyond this EOI, what does SEPTA's evaluation process look like — will there be a formal RFP, oral presentations, or a proof-of-concept/demo requirement?
Atter review of the resposes from this EOI, SEPTA plans to release a formal RFP for potential vendors to respond.
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