RFI 5400026812 Final.pdf

SAP

State of South Carolina

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400026812 04/17/2024

JEFFERY SCHWALK

1-803-737-1018 SchwalkJC@scdot.org SCDOT Procurement Office PO Box 191 Columbia SC 29202-0191

DESCRIPTION: GRANTS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT SOLUTION RFI

USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

SUBMIT YOUR RESPONSE VIA EMAIL TO SchwalkJC@scdot.org

SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 05/14/2024 14:30:00 (See "Deadline For Submission Of Offer" provision) mailto:SchwalkJC@scdot.org

Table of Contents

SAP

SECTION I: SCOPE OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

SECTION II: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION – RESPONSE CONTENT

SECTION III: DISCLAIMER & CONFIDENTIALITY

SECTION IV: RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

APPENDIX A: SCDOT REQUIREMENST FOR HOSTED SOLUTIONS

SAI. SCOPE OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Objective:

South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is requesting information on available web-based solutions for transit operations administration that includes asset and grants management. The solution should seek to streamline and simplify the sub-recipient application process, grant allocations, invoice review and approval, monthly billing, transit asset management data for sub-recipients and their transit plan, and sub-recipient training activities.

Background SCDOT is the direct recipient of FTA funding and is responsible for the grant administration of federal and state allocated funds. SCDOT’s Office of Intermodal and Freight Programs has sub-recipient agreements with over 50 transit agencies throughout the state of South Carolina. Each year local transit agencies throughout the state of South Carolina apply for grants for their transit agencies and SCDOT administers the life cycle of these grants. In addition to grant administration, SCDOT is responsible for the Transit Asset Management Plan.

Existing System Overview:

Prior to 2014, SCDOT processed paper based requests for reimbursements (invoices) from sub-recipients throughout South Carolina that were either mailed or emailed to SCDOT for processing. This paper based process required multiple parties both internal and external the need to print, physically sign, scan and email or mail forms and supporting documentation to SCDOT for processing.

SCDOT has implemented a Sharepoint solution for sub-recipients to submit both grant applications and approved project funding reimbursement requests. However, SCDOT would like to explore the option for a vendor-hosted solution that is more streamlined, intuitive to use, and focused on the key workflows.

Vision for the Updated Application The updated grants and asset management solution should:

• Manage assets and grants data

• Automate tasks and processes, reduce duplication, increase efficiency, and provide notifications

• Document the status of sub-recipient required training sessions

• Provide checks and balances, communicate with sub-recipients, and track, monitor due dates

• Enable relevant reporting using canned and custom reports of management data

• Be user friendly and intuitive to operate

• Have responsive support and on-going maintenance of the solution

High-Level System Requirements SCDOT needs a system to enter, edit, award and manage transit assets and sub-recipients project and financial data; including allowing users to submit invoices for use in tracking and reporting financial data. The system needs to enter, monitor and report on all grant application lifecycle activities; including allowing sub-recipients to submit compliance documentation for review and reporting. The system should provide users with the ability to search and filter data and create reports. The system should track and document training courses that sub-recipients must take. The system must be compliant with FTA regulations such as Transit Asset Management (TAM), National Transit Database (NTD) and Transit Award Management System (TrAMS).

The updated system should support the following high-level requirements:

Hosted Solution The updated grants and asset management solution should be hosted by the vendor and needs to meet the requirements as outlined in the SCDOT Requirements for a Hosted Solution in Appendix A: SCDOT Requirements for Hosted Systems.

Forms, Templates and Attachments The application currently uses the following forms/templates to support information coming from the sub-recipients:

• Monthly Financial Summary Report

• Form 600: Request for Reimbursement

• Form 608: Invoice templates embedded in the application so that they can be filled out in the application.

SCDOT currently uses these forms/ templates, but is open to other form/ template options that can achieve the same goal.

User Roles SCDOT has identified the following roles for users of the system:

• Local Transit Agency – Reimbursement Requestor

• Local Transit Agency – Grant Applications

• Local Transit Agency Head

• SCDOT Agency Reimbursement Reviewer

• SCDOT Agency Grant Management

• SCDOT Agency Intermodal and Freight Program Head

• System Administrator

It is estimated that the solution will require between 300 – 500 registered users.

Digital Signature It is desired that users submitting grant applications and funding reimbursement requests use a digital signature to authorize their submissions. The digital signature should be issued using an industry-recognized method in order to validate its authenticity and integrity that the document has not been modified since it was digitally signed.

Grant Application Workflows The Grant Application from a sub-recipient typically involves the following steps:

• Announcement of grant availability

• Sub-recipient submits Grant Application

• SCDOT reviews grant applications

• SCDOT makes recommendation for approval, denial, or request for additional information or changes to the grant application

• SCDOT notifies requestor of Grant Application Request recommendation

Reimbursement Workflows The process of receiving, reviewing, and approving a sub-recipients’ monthly reimbursement requests:

• Sub-recipient submits Monthly Financial Summary Report (MFSR) and Form 600: Request for Reimbursement (RFR)

• Agency Reimbursement Reviewer receives notification of new reimbursement request and begins the initial review process

• Review results in either approval, rejection, or request for additional information and adjustment to request

• Reimbursement requests that are initially approved are routed for final approvals and the Form 608 is filled in with the required final approvals

• Requestor is notified and reimbursement request is processed

Asset Management The proposed solution shall have the capability to collect and maintain asset data for sub-recipients. SCDOT is required to submit data on the public transit operations of sub-recipients for whom they award Federal program funds. This data which includes:

• Financial Data – as well as basic sub-recipient organization data

• Service Data – operating statistics on service supplied, service consumed, and service operated

• Asset Data – including performance measure targets, transit facilities, transit way mileage, and vehicles, maintenance, and fuel

This data will also need to be reported to Federal Transit Agency (FTA) for inclusion into the National Transit Database (NTD) on an annual basis. SCDOT desires the application to feature “out of the box” functionality for NTD reporting and quality checking. The proposed solution should meet the requirements as outlined by the FTA in the latest version of the NTD Policy Manual.

Training The proposed solution shall have the capability to collect and maintain data on training courses that sub-recipients are required to take. The training curricula include Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program and Agency Safety Plan Training Requirements and other regularly scheduled trainings that must be completed by sub-recipients and drivers.

This training requirement shall include the status of sub-recipient training courses, dates completed, attendees, and the ability to attach training materials or provide a link to web-based training courses. It is also desired that the system can send email reminders of training that is outstanding.

II. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION – RESPONSE CONTENT

Information Requested

Solution Overview Provide an overview of the proposed solution and how it can be configured to meet the overall requirements as outlined in this RFI. The proposed solution should be a vendor-hosted web-based solution. Preference is for a solution that can be configured rather than customized. The SCDOT hosted system requirements outlined in Appendix A: SCDOT Requirements for Hosted Systems should be reviewed and the overview of the proposed solution should highlight any areas of concern.

Technical Overview Provide a technical overview of the proposed solution. Areas of particular interest to the agency include:

• Configurability of the solution such as defining workflows, escalations, and notifications

• User authentication method and ability to use single sign on

• Administrative interface for managing users and roles

• Reporting capability and ability to share configured reports

• A published application programming interface (API)

SCDOT may request a demonstration of the proposed solution as part of the RFI process.

Vendor Overview Provide an overview of the vendor’s firm and history with implementing solutions of similar scope and size. It is requested that the vendor provide a list of 3-5 organizations that have implemented the proposed solution.

Solution Implementation Approach Outline your firm’s approach for the following typical solution implementation tasks:

• Discovery

• Environment Setup

• Configuration of Workflows

• Data Conversion

• Testing

• Training

• Go-Live Preparations

• System Acceptance

• Maintenance and Support

It is desired that your firm’s approach to solution implementation be outlined. SCDOT desires an Agile approach, but is willing to consider alternative approaches.

Typical Implementation Timeline Provide an outline of the typical software implementation timeline. This implementation will also involve the conversion of data from the existing system as well as integration with services that SCDOT publishes. These services include web map services, as well as APIs for SCDOT data integration and interfaces with other agency systems.

Approximate Costs for Implementation and Annual Maintenance/Support SCDOT is looking for approximate costs for an implementation project of this size and scope. It is requested that approximate costs include:

• Solution licensing/subscription on an annual basis – this should also include an outline of the solution licensing/subscription options

• Implementation of the solution

• Maintenance and support on an annual basis – this should also include an overview of the maintenance and support options

These approximate costs can be a typical range and if assumptions are required then those assumptions should be listed. For example, if the solution is priced by the number of users then list the costs for a range of users such as up to 300, 400, and 500 users.

III. DISCLAIMER & CONFIDENTIALITY

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation for future business, an offer for procurement, or any other type of current or future procurement or contractual action and is only intended to gather input. SCDOT will not award a contract based on this RFI, nor will it pay for the information it receives. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by SCDOT to form a binding contract. No party is bound by the information provided in response to this RFI.

Respondents may provide market-based pricing structures and describe potential services or solutions for planning purposes only.

Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. SCDOT is not liable for any costs or fees incurred by the respondent in preparing its responses.

Confidentiality

If any of the information in the vendor response is considered confidential, proprietary, or a trade secret, it must be clearly indicated on the appropriate page of the vendor response. Release of such materials is governed by the South Carolina Freedom of Information Law, which in pertinent part requires the requester to provide specific justification as to why disclosure of particular information in the response would cause substantial injury to the competitive position of the vendor. It is incumbent upon the vendor to specify company-specific trade secrets in need of protection where public disclosure of said trade secrets would harm the company.

Public Access to Procurement Information in South Carolina: -http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t11c035.php

SECTION 11-35-410. Public access to procurement information.

A) Procurement information must be a public record to the extent required by Chapter 4, Title 30 (The Freedom of Information Act), except as otherwise provided by this code, and with the exception that commercial or financial information obtained in response to a request for proposals or any type of bid solicitation that is privileged and confidential need not be disclosed.

(B) Privileged and confidential information is information in specific detail not customarily released to the general public, the release of which might cause harm to the competitive position of the party supplying the information. Examples of this type of information include:

(1) customer lists;

(2) design recommendations and identification of prospective problem areas under an RFP;

(3) design concepts, including methods and procedures;

(4) biographical data on key employees of the bidder.

(C) The board shall promulgate regulations directing the public availability and disposition of documents submitted in response or with regard to a solicitation or other request where no award is made.

(D) For all documents submitted in response or with regard to any solicitation or other request, the person https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scstatehouse.gov%2Fcode%2Ft11c035.php&data=04%7C01%7Crbarr%40mmo.sc.gov%7Cb92adb2fc5204485367c08d8a773c67d%7Ce9f8d01480d84f27b0d6c3d6c085fcdd%7C1%7C0%7C637443462983805989%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=JsByBsFozCBbQRYrxxocn8nSKEtILo7wVbqhxuMQ%2Bic%3D&reserved=0 submitting the documents shall comply with instructions provided in the solicitation for marking information exempt from public disclosure. Information not marked as required by the applicable instructions may be disclosed to the public.

(E) A governmental body, with the approval of the appropriate chief procurement officer, may keep portions of a solicitation confidential and release the information to prospective offerors only upon execution of a nondisclosure agreement, provided the information is otherwise exempted from disclosure by law.

(F) If requested in writing before a final award by an actual bidder, offeror, contractor, or subcontractor with regard to a specific intended award or award of a contract, the procurement officer shall, within five days of the receipt of any such request, make documents directly connected to the procurement activity and not otherwise exempt from disclosure available for inspection at an office of the responsible procurement officer. Without otherwise limiting any other exemptions granted by law, and except as provided herein, documents of and documents incidental to proposed contractual arrangements, including those used for contract negotiations, are not exempt from disclosure after the date notice of intent to award is posted, unless the notice is subsequently canceled.

SAPIV. RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

The sole point of contact for this RFI is:

Jeffery C. Schwalk Procurement Manager South Carolina Department of Transportation 955 Park Street, Room 101 Columbia, SC 29201

(803) 737-1018 SchwalkJC@SCDOT.org

Respondents shall make no contact with other SCDOT personnel, except as permitted by the point of contact, concerning this RFI.

RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

Respondents should provide their responses in native Microsoft Office formatted documents (e.g., Microsoft Word or PowerPoint) via email to the point of contact listed above.

The emailed response must be received by email on or before the date and time of the RFI Response Due listed on the cover page. Please adhere to the following convention for subject lines in emailed RFI Responses:

[Company Name] – RFI#5400026315 Response

Where [Company Name] is a recognizable short-name or acronym for the respondent’s company.

Each submission shall be limited to a maximum of thirty-five (35) single-sided 8" x 11 ½" pages, excluding the title page, cover letter, and table of contents. Respondents are encouraged to focus their responses on specific elements instead of including generalized or marketing statements and collateral unnecessarily.

In order to facilitate the review of the responses content, please provide the information in exact order as listed in Section II of this document.

NOTE: If you believe we missed any categories or capabilities, please include them in your Response.

mailto:SchwalkJC@SCDOT.org

Appendix A: SCDOT Requirements for Hosted Systems If a vendor’s solution is also cloud hosted by the vendor, as opposed to being deployed on-premise in the SCDOT data center, the following requirements apply to the hosted solution:

System Architecture Hosted Solution

• The hosted environment should be in a well-established, secure, and scalable environment. A nationally recognized provider such as AWS, Azure, or Google cloud is preferred.

• Hosted Environment(s) – a multi-tiered architecture with a minimum of development and production environments. Depending on the requirements, a separate Test/QA, or Training environment may also be desired.

• SCDOT requires a hosting platform that provides a 99.99% uptime. This equates to 3.65 days per year of unplanned outages. Planned maintenance activities are not included in the uptime requirement.

• The hosted environment should be within a secure data center that is physically located within the United States.

User Authentication

• SCDOT desires the use of Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) for single sign on (SSO) authentication of agency users. Establishing local accounts is also possible, but should be minimized.

• SCDOT utilizes two-factor authentication as part of users’ normal system access procedures. If local authorization is employed by the solution, that authorization will also require two-factor authentication.

• The application should provide an administrative interface for performing user support and role based maintenance. This may also include a user self-service portal. The SCDOT IT Helpdesk desires an administrative interface where they can provide support to end users and have permissions to assist with basic user support issues.

• The ability to view usage statistics for all users is useful as well as the ability to automate account access suspension based on rules such as frequency of access, or number of access attempts, etc.

System Security

• The vendor provided hosted environment(s) do not need to be in a government cloud certified environment unless specifically required, but the solution should be FedRAMP compliant.

• Vulnerability Assessment - All applications, whether they are deployed on-premise at SCDOT or hosted by a vendor for the SCDOT, will need to be evaluated for application vulnerabilities. SCDOT uses Tenable.io for application vulnerability scanning. The vendor can perform the vulnerability scan using an industry-standard scanner and provide the result to SCDOT for review.

In general, all high and medium priority vulnerabilities must be resolved by the vendor in conjunction with SCDOT. Low priority vulnerabilities should be resolved, but some will be a lower risk and are not required to be resolved.

• Data Protection – the solution should provide encryption of data at rest and during transport. It is desired that the solution employ the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. In situations where the solution maintains data that is classified by SCDOT as being confidential or restricted according to the agency’s data governance program, that data may need to be hidden or masked within the application for users without permission to access.

Application Capabilities

Application Configurability

• The solution should be configurable using a no-code/low-code approach. This means the solution should have an interface to perform application level configuration of SCDOT’s needs. An example would be configuration of submission response times and escalation pathways if the response times were not achieved.

• The solution should be able to be styled to be consistent with SCDOT branding including logos, contacts, and content specific to SCDOT.

• It is desired that the solution be configurable to a level that provides control over the visibility of fields, renaming those fields using terms familiar to SCDOT, or the ordering of fields within the application.

• The solution should have a security model that provides for role-based authentication with granular configuration over access - read/write or read-only access, visibility of fields, and enabled/disabled application capabilities.

Application Functionality

• If the solution is a web-based application, it should be fully functional and responsive to a variety of devices including desktop Windows computers, tablets, and phones. The application should also be deployable using a mobile device manager. The SCDOT preference is for iOS mobile devices.

• Mobile Application – SCDOT prefers a responsive web application, but mobile applications are a viable environment especially where disconnected editing workflows are required. The SCDOT preference is for iOS mobile devices.

• Reporting – if the solution has reporting capabilities, the solution should feature “out of the box” canned reports, and offer the ability to modify any reports or create new reports. It is preferred that the application have the ability to schedule reports to be run on an established schedule and deliver the output via email. Reports should be able to be readily shared with other users or groups of users.

• Email notification – the solution should have the ability to configure the email used to notify users. A vendor provided email is acceptable as SCDOT does not provide an email relay capability. The solution should provide configurable email notifications for workflows that require action. The solution can provide user notification messaging within the solution itself, but messaging through email and/or text messages is desired.

• Application Programming Interface (API) – it is desired that the solution feature a restful API using the JSON format that is OpenAPI compliant and uses the OAuth protocol for authorization. The proposed solution’s API should be well-documented, and updated with a Swagger interface.

Application User Interface

• Search Capability – It is preferred that the solution should have an intuitive search capability with the ability to search using incomplete information without requiring wildcard characters, view search results, and select an item for viewing or editing. The ability to save search criteria and easily recall those saved queries or share with other users is a useful feature.

• Accessibility - The application must be Section 508 compliant, which provides accessibility for users that employ assistive technology in order to provide a comparable experience to all users. This accessibility requirement should be met by the application as well as any supporting materials such as training guides, integrated help topics, and messaging. https://www.section508.gov/

Application Analytics

• Dashboard Capability - It is desired that the application provide a dashboard capability where key components are displayed for the individual and organization they represent. SCDOT also makes use of Microsoft PowerBI and desires integration with that platform if the solution does not have an integrated dashboard capability.

• User Analytics – the application should have the ability to include Google Analytics code for capturing user activities so that applications’ user experience data is available to SCDOT.

Application Maintenance and Support

• Product Updates - The solution should provide product updates and documentation of the changes that are within each product update. Product support should include a self-help web-based portal for searching FAQs and specific product features. The solution should be supported by the vendor with timely updates for underlying operating system updates.

• System Support - should be available M-F during working hours of 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Eastern time.

The vendor should provide a support ticketing portal for logging and prioritizing of issues. It is also desired that email, text, and phone support be available.

It is desired that non-critical support requests have an initial response within 4 hours and a resolution within 48 hours. Critical support requests should have an initial 15 minute response and resolution within 4 hours.

• Backup and Data Retention – the solution should provide a cloud backup solution that will support business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) restoration of service. It is desired that the solution should also coordinate its data retention capabilities with the requirements of SCDOT and the data the solution will maintain.

• Troubleshooting – the solution should provide system error logging and application logs access for at least the last 30 days. The solution should also provide access control logs that are maintained for 1 year.

• System Maintenance - activities and corresponding date/times where the system will be unavailable should be announced and provided at least one week in advance.

• Vendors are encouraged to include their standard Service Level Agreement (SLA) as part of their response to an RFI or RFP.

https://www.section508.gov/

Application Maintenance and Support