RFI-CH-03312021 OpenHazus.docx

Notice Type:

Sources Sought

Synopsis:

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Number: RFI-CH-03312021

FEMA/Federal Insurance Mitigation Administration (FIMA) – Cloud Development Services for OpenHazus

NAICS Code: 518210 – Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services

The purpose of this sources sought is for market research purposes for OpenHazus, the modernization effort for the Hazus Program within the Federal Insurance & Mitigation Administration (FIMA), Office of Resilience under Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

1. Background:

The Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) is a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which operates the Risk Management, Mitigation, and Flood Insurance Directorates and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Hazus is a program within FIMA’s Risk Management Directorate (RMD). General information can be found at: What is Hazus? | FEMA.gov

Hazus is a personal computer (PC) desktop-based software that is owned and operated by the U.S. Government and maintained, used, and published by FEMA with the support of Government contracts. Hazus provides standardized economic, physical (infrastructure, essential facility, and building), and social loss estimation methodologies for natural hazards (flooding – coastal and riverine, hurricane wind, tsunami, and earthquake). Since its inception in the 1990s, Hazus has provided stakeholders with an open, nationally standardized, peer-reviewed, and scientifically robust methodology for estimating potential natural hazard risks. Hazus serves as one of the only freely available and technically accessible loss assessment tools for local, state, and regional planning officials. Hazus supports state and local Hazard Mitigation Planning Risk Assessment efforts, local planning efforts, response operations, and ongoing recovery efforts.

However, for many users, the design and functionality of Hazus have become outdated as interest in risk information has widened and the technical landscape for data analysis has dramatically shifted. Planners and policymakers need risk information that is interpretable by a broad audience and delivered in efficient and universal data formats. Technical analysts and hazard specialists need risk modeling tools that are customizable and efficient with fully documented methodologies. While Hazus in its current form meets the minimum of these demands, an Open Source, web-based version of the functionality and methodologies that Hazus offers could meet these needs more fully and evolve more efficiently as new needs arise.

Hazus must undergo a modernization to continue to meet stakeholder needs and remain relevant from a technological perspective. The effort to modernize Hazus has been named OpenHazus.

OpenHazus will directly integrate Other Federal Agency (OFA) hazard data, streamline data inventory updates, improve loss estimation methodologies, align with FEMA programmatic needs, and move to Open Source technologies. The new freely available OpenHazus platform will primarily be a web-based management system for Open Source Hazus functionalities. This change enables Hazus to be the industry-standard risk assessment product, providing stakeholders the tools they need to perform essential mitigation planning, evaluate risk reduction strategies, and support emergency management operations.

Additional background and recommendations for the OpenHazus initiative can be found in the OpenHazus Research and Analysis Document. Please include any feedback to these recommendations in your response. (See attached)

Objectives:

Through the OpenHazus Initiative, FEMA looks to achieve the following high-level objectives:

1) Independence from desktop only technology, to be hosted in a FEMA approved cloud environment

2) Independence from proprietary software, applications, and tools

3) Modularization of existing Hazus capabilities, to streamline development and allow users to customize their experience

4) Enhance data sharing opportunities for baseline FEMA datasets, third party authoritative hazard, inventory, and risk data, and custom user data

5) Increase automation for routine or bundled analyses and workflows.

With this RFI, FEMA seeks to understand what is available in industry to provide the technical software development services to create OpenHazus.

RFI Questions:

In order to effectively respond to the questions below, please review the OpenHazus Analysis document.

1. Please provide a capabilities statement that would support the objective of the modernization effort described in the documentation provided.

a. Please describe any previous experience helping the government with a similar cloud development effort.

b. Please describe any experience your company has in helping the federal government develop and/or maintain Open Source code.

2. The government desires a complete and comprehensive cloud based development solution to include a comprehensive code rewrite of the current Hazus desktop software to support the OpenHazus initiative. What services, tools, coding languages and libraries does your company offer (or would recommend) and what would the government need to procure separately?

3. How would you see the phases of this effort unfolding to achieve a minimally viable product (MVP) by December 22nd, 2023?

4. What do you believe will be the major challenges with migrating to OpenHazus?

5. What feedback do you have on the approach outlined in the Research and Analysis paper? What is FEMA missing in its thinking or approach?

6. What is an appropriate scope or level of effort for a project like this? What are the biggest cost drivers? What type of labor categories and expertise would you recommend using to achieve the outcomes of this modernization effort?

7. “The government is considering soliciting this requirement under the one of the following codes (518210, 541512 or 541519) please provide a preference for one of the codes that would best match the requirement and solicit industry participation. Also provide rationale for the selection.”

This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government, nor will the U.S. Government pay for information solicited. The information from this notice will help the FEMA Acquisition Operations Division Mitigation Branch plan their acquisition strategy.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

The requirement will be within the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, 518210 – Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services. The small business size standard for this NAICS Code is $35.0M.

The government will consider other NAICS Codes for this effort.

Responses should include your company’s capability statement. Oral Communications ARE NOT acceptable in response to this notice. However, follow-up discussions / market research may be performed.

Responses should provide the following information:

A. Company Information (e.g. name, business address, point of contact, telephone number, e-mail address). Also include DUNS Number or CAGE Code;

B. Summarization of projects showing capabilities and past performance in the applicable areas and list relevant projects.

C. Statement of current business size status (i.e., HUBZone small business concern, service-disabled veteran-owned small business firm, 8(a) contractor, woman-owned small business, small business, or large business concern). Also, business size in relation to the NAICS code size standards assigned to this acquisition.

D. Please disclose any Organizational Conflict of Interest concerns that you foresee at this time.

E. Do you currently have a DHS Strategic Sourcing Vehicle or a GSA schedule that would be able to provide the required services? If yes, please provide your Strategic Source Contract Vehicle or GSA schedule.

Submission requirements:

1. Page limit – fifteen (15) pages 8 ½ x 11 pages

2. 1 inch margins (top, bottom, and sides)

3. Times New Roman font – 12 point

4. Do not include promotional materials

Any proprietary information should be clearly marked.

Only electronic submissions will be accepted and are to be sent to Sean McNabb, Sean.McNabb@fema.dhs.gov and Emily Slater, Emily.Slater@fema.dhs.gov no later than 2:00 PM (EST) on April 14, 2021. The subject line of the email shall contain the following: Response to Sources Sought Notice RFI-CH-03312021 – OpenHazus.

This Sources Sought is an advance notice for informational and acquisition strategy planning purposes only and is not a solicitation. In order to receive an award from any resultant solicitation, should one be issued, the successful offeror must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). The SAM website is https://www.sam.gov.

This Sources Sought synopsis notice should not be construed in any manner to be an obligation to issue a contract or result in any claim for reimbursement of costs for any effort you expend in responding to this request. No solicitation is currently available. Any future solicitation package will be made available on the Contract Opportunities website https://www.beta.sam.gov. Interested parties are solely responsible for monitoring the Contract Opportunities website for the release of a solicitation package and/or any updates/amendments.

The Government will NOT provide funding to the interested party or submitter in response to this notice. The Government will not pay for any costs incurred in preparing a response to this sources sought notice. Further, no material or submissions provided to the Government will be returned.