RFQ___10200207_-_DWR_Response_to_Questions.pdf

STATE OF CALIFORNIA – CALIFORNIA NATURAL RESOURCES AGENCY GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor

DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES

P.O. BOX 942836

SACRAMENTO, CA 94236-0001

(916) 653-5791

Questions and Answers RFQ # 10200207 for

Critical Infrastructure Protection Learning Management System November 14, 2024

Please see the Department of Water Resources (DWR) response to the questions received regarding this Request for Quote (RFQ) 10200207.

Question 1: For pricing, are you looking for pricing for 1K users (are they all internal user or external users to your organization)?

Answer: We are looking for pricing per student with up to 1000 students training per fiscal year (July-June)

Question 2: Can you expand on "NERC" compliant system and what other compliance standards you need?

Answer: We are requesting an online training platform that has developed content that complies with the requirement of the NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1.

Question 3: Regarding the requirements of CIP-004 R2.1- Is this content you will be providing and hosting in the LMS or is the expectation for the vendor to provide this content and learning standards?

Answer: The expectation is that the vendor will have developed content that complies with the requirement of the NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1 that DWR will use, with the ability to add additional DWR content.

Question 4: Are you looking for a vendor to provide content as well? Or will you be providing all content and hosting int he LMS?

Answer: The expectation is that the vendor will have developed content that complies with the requirement of the NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1 that we will use, with the ability to add additional DWR content.

Question 5: Regarding the reporting requirements for CIP-004 can you expand on this a bit?

Answer: DWR will need access to generate training completion reports of training as evidence of compliance with CIP-004.

Question 6: Can you provide an overview of your technical environment, including current systems and software?

Answer: We are in a Microsoft environment, with Windows operating systems and Office products.

Question 7: When do you plan to decide on the LMS vendor?

Answer: We plan to award a vendor within one month of the RFQ due date of November 27, 2024.

Question 8: What is your target date for having the new LMS live and accessible to users?

Answer: As soon as possible once the contract is awarded.

Question 9: Who will be using the LMS? (Students, Internal employees, external users, etc.)

Answer: DWR Contract Managers and Administrators will have access to the LMS back office, while students (DWR staff and outside consultants) will only access the training content.

Question 10: Is the LMS intended solely for internal use, or will it be accessible to a broader audience?

Answer: It is intended that the students will only be DWR staff and outside consultants that work for DWR.

Question 11: What systems do you currently use for HRIS, performance management, ATS, etc.? Please provide the names of these systems.

Answer: We currently use SAP for these functions; however, we will not be integrating the LMS with our systems.

Question 12: What are your essential integration needs for the LMS?

Answer: We will not be integrating the LMS with our systems. DWR Administrators will enroll students and schedule training through the LMS, as well as generate completion reports

Question 13: What is your plan for launching the LMS?

Answer: The vendor owns and manages the LMS. The vendor will provide access to the LMS for DWR Administrators to enroll students and generate completion reports as evidence of compliance with the standard.

Question 14: Who will be responsible for ensuring the LMS is properly implemented? Do you have a dedicated LMS Administrator?

Answer: The vendor owns and manages the LMS. The goal of this project is to provide an online training platform compliant with the CIP-004 R2.1 training requirements, with access to a LMS for DWR Administrators to enroll students and generate completion reports as evidence of compliance with the standard.

Question 15: How many team members will be involved in creating content, and do you have a designated administrator?

Answer: The Contract Manager will be listed in the final Statement of Work (SOW) and is the dedicated administrator. We are looking for an online training platform compliant with the expectation that the vendor will have developed content that complies with the requirement of the NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1 that DWR will use, with the ability to add additional DWR content.

Question 16: Is pre-built content important to you? If so, what topics are you interested in?

Answer: The expectation is that the vendor will have developed content that complies with the requirement of the NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1 that DWR will use, with the ability to add additional DWR content.

Question 17: Who will be responsible for creating company-specific content?

Answer: The DWR Contract Manager will work with the vendor to integrate DWR-specific content into the training provided.

Question 18: How many years of historical data need to be migrated? How many courses need to be migrated from your current system on average?

Answer: There will be no migration of data, as this is a stand-alone solution to comply with the CIP-004 R 2.1 requirement. DWR Administrators will enroll students as needed and generate completion reports as evidence of compliance with the standard.

Question 19: Who will be in charge of the LMS implementation on your team?

Answer: DWR is not changing our in-house LMS. The LMS is provided by the vendor who will have developed content that complies with the requirement of the NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1 that DWR will use, with the ability to add additional DWR content.

Question 20: How many team members are dedicated to this project?

Answer: One person is dedicated to this project, the DWR Contract Manger as listed within the final Statement of Work (SOW).

Question 21: Will the LMS be managed by the HR or Operations team? Who will be the system owner?

Answer: The vendor owns and manages the LMS. The goal of this project is to provide an online training platform compliant with the CIP-004 R2.1 training requirements, with access to a LMS for DWR Administrators to enroll students and generate completion reports as evidence of compliance with the standard.

Question 22: What are your main goals for the LMS platform?

Answer: DWR needs to procure an online training platform compliant with the CIP-004 R2.1 training requirements, with an LMS for DWR Administrators to enroll students and generate completion reports as evidence of compliance with the standard.

Question 23: Why are you looking to change your LMS now?

Answer: DWR is not changing our in-house LMS. The LMS is provided by the vendor who will have developed content that complies with the requirement of the NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1 that we will use, with the ability to add additional DWR content.

Question 24: What are the top three issues you currently face that we can help address?

Answer: DWR needs to procure an online training platform compliant with the CIP-004 R2.1 training requirements, with an LMS for DWR administrators to enroll students and generate completion reports as evidence of compliance with the standard.

Question 25: What external authoring tools are you using currently?

Answer: None

Question 26: What has been your experience with these tools?

Answer: None

Question 27: Are there any language requirements for the content?

Answer: English, with closed captioning available for any audio portions of the content.

Question 28: What is your budget for this LMS project?

Answer: The cost is not to exceed $300,000.00.

Question 29: Are you currently using an LMS? If so, who is the vendor?

Answer: DWR does currently have an internal LMS, however we are not looking to integrate any solution into our internal LMS. The LMS in this solicitation is the stand-alone system that the vendor will provide to DWR to schedule and record the CIP training.

Question 30: What tools do you use for communication? (e.g., Slack, Teams, email)

Answer: Email and Microsoft Teams.

Question 31: Do you have a document management system like SharePoint? Where do you store important documents and SOPs?

Answer: DWR uses SharePoint and shared files.

Question 32: Are all employees on-site, or do you have a hybrid work model?

Answer: We have a hybrid work model, which is why we are looking for an online solution for our CIP training needs.

Question 33: What is your current onboarding process for new hires and is the onboarding training something you want to incorporate in your LMS as a part of onboarding?

Answer: We have an internal onboarding process, but that is out of scope for this project. This project is only for the CIP-004 R2.1 training.

Question 34: Do you have any coaching or mentorship programs as part of your learning initiatives?

Answer: No.

Question 35: Will DWR provide any base content or templates for the CIP-004 R2.1 training, or is the contractor expected to develop all content from scratch?

Answer: The expectation is that the vendor will have developed content that complies with the requirement of the NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1 that we will use, with the ability to add additional DWR content.

Question 36: Is there an approval process for the training content developed by the contractor, and if so, who at DWR will be responsible for approving it?

Answer: The vendor should have an understanding of NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement

2.1 and developed content that complies with the requirement. The vendor must also meet the Mandatory Requirements as listed in Attachment 5 of RFQ # 10200207.

Question 37: How frequently does DWR expect updates to training content based on NERC CIP standard changes? Is the contractor responsible for proactively tracking these changes?

Answer: The vendor should track any changes to NERC CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1 and update their content as needed to comply with the requirement.

Question 38: If updates are required mid-year, is there a timeline for implementing these changes into the LMS?

Answer: The vendor should make updates to comply with any changes in the CIP Standard 004-7 Requirement 2.1. These updates must be completed prior to the implementation date of the CIP changes.

Question 39: What specific reports or data formats does DWR require from the LMS? Are there any custom report configurations DWR expects?

Answer: DWR Administrators need reports of completions to preserve as evidence of compliance. The preferred format for these reports is Excel.

Question 40: Will DWR provide any integration support if LMS data needs to be shared with other DWR systems?

Answer: DWR will not be integrating the LMS with our internal systems. DWR Administrators will enroll students and schedule training through the LMS, as well as generate completion reports.

Question 41: Can DWR clarify what “sufficient capacity for training” entails? Is there a target for response times during peak usage, particularly during October refresher training?

Answer: The expectation is that there is sufficient bandwidth for potentially dozens of students to take the training at the same time. While this is critical in the October refresher training period, depending on business needs, there may be other periods of large numbers of students taking the training in a short time period.

Question 42: Can DWR provide examples of the types of information or formats expected in the “Marketing Sample” section? For instance, are video demos, sample user dashboards, or screenshots preferred? If video demos are expected what is the best way to deliver those video samples.

Answer: The vendor can provide any type of content to meet this requirement. Physical media (Flash drive, CD) is the preferred format.

Question 43: Are there specific features within the knowledge testing component that DWR requires, such as types of question formats (multiple-choice, scenario-based) or minimum number of questions per module?

Answer: While there are no specific testing formats or minimum number of questions, a few questions per module are expected.

Question 44: Could DWR clarify the 24-hour support requirement? Does this refer to on-call support for critical issues only, or a help desk for all user-related questions?

Answer: To support the 24-hour operations of DWR, DWR Administrators need to be able to report critical issues as they occur. The vendor should have a dedicated staff person, email address, or ticketing system available to DWR administrators to report critical issues.

Question 45: Is there an expected turnaround time for issues raised by DWR, especially if they impact training access?

Answer: While there is no set timeframe, the expectation is that the vendor will correct any issue promptly, including outside of normal business hours, to minimize any downtime.

Thank you, Brittany Dell’Aringa Procurement Analyst IT Contracting and Purchasing Services