RFI 12314426R001 USDA OCFO Invoicing Platform.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Utilities and Telecommunications Managed Services (UTMS) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)

1. Notice & Purpose Notice: This Request for Information (RFI) is issued for market research purposes only. This is not a solicitation, and no contract will be awarded based on responses. The Government will not reimburse costs associated with responding. Respondents should not submit proposals.

Proprietary information must be clearly marked and will be protected in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Purpose: USDA seeks vendor input on an Integrated Utilities and Telecommunications Expense Management (UTEM) and Invoice processing Managed Services platform supporting:

Invoice intake, validation, processing, and payment Inventory management at service-level granularity Reporting and analytics for consumption, cost, and compliance Interfaces to USDA financial and operational systems Onboarding and implementation services Security and privacy compliance suitable for a federal environment

USDA requires a commercial, production-grade platform with demonstrated experience supporting ≥500 site locations across the continental U.S. and territories, encompassing ~14,000 utility accounts and ~6,000 telecommunications accounts. Federal experience is preferred. The Government prefers vendors that are not direct telecommunications or utility service providers (to avoid potential conflicts of interest), but all qualified vendors may respond.

2. Background

2.1 Utilities Environment

USDA facilities rely on diverse utility services to support mission operations, including (examples): water (potable/non-potable), heated/chilled water, electricity (demand/reactive/renewable), natural gas, coal, propane, biomass, steam, fuel oils, E85 ethanol, diesel, biodiesel, kerosene, gasoline, sewer, bulk gases (oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide), recycling, and trash collection. Many sites employ multiple energy sources and use advanced/smart meters for monitoring.

2.2 Telecommunications Environment

USDA OCFO funds and oversees enterprise Telecommunications Managed Services (TMS).

The Department seeks improved visibility, billing accuracy, inventory control, and financial management across a broad vendor portfolio and service types (e.g., wireline, wireless/mobility, data circuits, voice services, UCaaS).

RFI 12314426R001

3. Scope USDA is evaluating a combined UTEM + Managed Services solution and invites vendor responses spanning one or both domains (Utilities and Telecommunications). Solutions should scale to the volumes above and support centralized governance with agency-level autonomy.

4. Functional Requirements

4.1 Utilities Expense Management & Data (UDMS)

Invoice Processing & Payment: On-time, accurate payment services; near real-time access to transactional data via a web portal; complete audit trails.

Data Management & Reporting: A Utility Data Management and Reporting System (UDMS) that integrates with invoice/payment workflows and enables agency and department-level monitoring of energy, water, solid waste, and other utilities.

Federal Reporting Support: Accurate cost and consumption data by location and ZIP code to support required reports (e.g., Annual Energy Data Report, Executive Order 14057 reporting, Department of Energy (DOE) Compliance Tracking System, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Sustainability Scorecard, Corporate Property Automated Information System), plus internal/external reporting.

Dashboards & Analytics: Meaningful, configurable dashboards for identifying conservation opportunities for energy, water, and waste; historical data retention and trend analysis.

4.2 Telecommunications Expense & Inventory Management (TMS)

Invoice Intake & Normalization: Receipt of invoices; normalization across carriers/service types; line-item processing; inventory matching; dispute workflows.

Inventory Control: Consolidated inventory database; service-level tracking; service categorization; lifecycle updates.

Financial Management: Cost allocation by Agency Hierarchy, vendor, service type;

Funding Commitment Document (FCD) management; consolidated funding feed to USDA’s Financial Management Modernization Initiative (FMMI) system; reconciliation of invoice payments.

Business Intelligence: A customizable Business Intelligence and IT Asset Management platform (operational ≥3 years) that processes telecom billing and inventory data and integrates IT management with expense/inventory control. Customization for USDA’s organizational structure without additional cost.

5. Interfaces & Integration

USDA Financial System (FMMI):

o Accept one-time data imports (initial load) o Support repetitive, automated data imports via secure SFTP o Translate source data to standardized service types and attributes (e.g., install dates, service addresses) Authentication & Access:

o Support RADIUS, internal LDAP, token-based auth, PKI, and X.509 certificates o Role-based access control aligned to USDA organizational hierarchy (agencies, sub-agencies/regions)

APIs & Data Exchange:

o Secure APIs for inbound/outbound integrations o Bulk upload/download (CSV, JSON, XML) o Event/audit logging for all data transfers

6. Security & Compliance Contractor systems and services must comply with current USDA IT security and privacy policies, including the 3500–3599 Cyber Security Department regulations (USDA OCIO Policy Directives), and applicable federal requirements, including but not limited to:

FISMA (Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014) Privacy Act of 1974; E-Government Act of 2002, Section 208 NIST FIPS and 800-series publications (e.g., SP 800-40 for patch management), as applicable to the solution’s categorization Applicable OMB memoranda USDA Information Security Program policies Section 508 accessibility (for all user-facing interfaces)

7. Implementation & Onboarding

Implementation approach and timeline (phases, milestones, dependencies) Data migration strategy (sources, cleansing, normalization) Integration plan (FMMI, SFTP, APIs, carrier/vendor data feeds) Change management & training (roles, curriculum, materials) Cutover & parallel-run options (risk mitigation) Typical federal risks and mitigations (e.g., data quality, vendor participation, legacy contracts)

8. Preferences & Constraints

Conflict of Interest: The Government prefers vendors who are not direct telecommunications or utility service providers; however, providers may respond with appropriate conflict-of-interest disclosures and mitigation approaches.

Commercially Available Solutions: Preference for mature, production platforms;

minimal custom development.

Scalability & Performance: Must support the stated volumes and geographic dispersion.

Configurability: Organizational hierarchy and reporting must be configurable without additional cost.

Usability: Intuitive UI; near real-time visibility; accessible design compliant with Section

508.

9. Data Volumes & Assumptions (for context)

Site locations: ≥500 across CONUS and territories Utility accounts: ~14,000 Telecom accounts: ~6,000 USDA organizational complexity: Agencies, sub-agencies, regions; role-based access.

10. Confidentiality & Use of Information Information received will be used for planning purposes only. Do not include classified information. Proprietary information must be clearly marked at the paragraph level; the Government will safeguard such information accordingly. The Government reserves the right to use non-proprietary information for future requirements development.

11. To provide responses to Government questions, see link and QR Code below.

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/g/NFds0qbaJi