RRB12R004 FMIS RFP.doc

Request for Proposal RFP Number: RRB12R004

For

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board Core Financial System Implementation and Migration

FMIS

Financial Management Integrated System Table of Contents 11.0 Overview

22.0 Price Schedule

33.0 Statement of Work

33.1 Project Title

33.2 Background

63.3 Goals and Objectives

63.4 Future State System

73.5 Mandatory Functionalities

103.6 Optional Functionalities

113.7 Services

113.8 Software

133.9 Proposed Project Approach and Implementation Methodology (Mandatory Service)

163.10 Hosting and Application Management Services (Mandatory Service)

173.11 Optional Hosted Services

183.12 Mandatory and Optional Requirements

183.13 Key Personnel

193.14 Deliverables

203.15 Location and Manner of Performance

213.16 Travel

213.17 Security Compliance Requirements

223.18 Disaster Recovery Requirements

223.19 PIV Cards

223.20 Tentative Deployment Schedule

234.0 Clauses and Provisions

445.0 Proposal Submission Instructions

496.0 Evaluation Criteria

527.0 Attachments

528.0 Exhibits

53Appendix A – Federal System Regulation and Guidance

54Appendix B – FFS Environment Profile

61Appendix C – RRB Required Reports

67Appendix D – EVMS Clause

69Appendix E – Railroad Retirement Board Funds List

70Appendix F – Debt Collection Dependent Systems

1.0 Overview 1.1 Agency Information – The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent Federal agency that administers a retirement and survivor benefits program for railroad employees and their families. The RRB was established by the Railroad Retirement Acts of 1937 and 1974. Its benefits program was the forerunner of the more familiar Social Security System. The Railroad Retirement System is unique inasmuch as it is the only federally administered benefits program covering a single private industry. The RRB also administers the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, which provides unemployment and sickness benefits to railroad employees. The RRB’s headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois and has 52 local and field offices around the United States.

1.2 Performance-based Service Contracting Solicitation/Contract – This solicitation has been developed in response to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) policy to increase the use of performance-based contracting methods in the acquisition of services. Performance-based contracting aims to improve the value of contracting services by emphasizing objective, measurable mission-related outputs rather than how the work is performed or broad and imprecise statement of work. It requires objective, measurable performance requirements and quality standards in developing statements of work, selecting contractors, determining contract type and incentives, and performing contract administration.

1.3 Project Information – The RRB is seeking proposals from private and public sector offerors for the acquisition of an integrated financial system using a software as a service model, inclusive of but not limited to: implementation, migration, conversion and integration services; hosting and application management services; program management services, and operation and maintenance support services. The RRB intends to award on a best value basis an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract which the RRB will later issue fixed price and time and material delivery task orders against.

1.4 Post Award Conference – In order to codify any procedural issues and implement contract performance start up, a post award conference will be held at the RRB Headquarters Facility, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60611-2092 or via a conference call. The contractor must attend this conference and be prepared to discuss startup. The contractor will be responsible for all costs related to attending this conference. It is anticipated that this conference will be held within 5 workdays after contract award.

1.5

CONTRACTOR INFORMATION FOR ORDER ADMINISTRATION

1) Order address

2) Business Size

3) Federal Tax ID #

Submit on IRS Form W9 with offer

4) DUNS No.

5) Remit Address

6) Authorized representatives:

Business

Technical

Name:

Phone #:

Fax #:

E-Mail:

7) Central Contractor Registration (CCR) completed*:

Yes [ ] No [ ]

* Offeror must be properly registered, including business size annotation, in CCR or on FedReg to be eligible for award of a Federal contract or order. (See www.ccr.gov)

2.0 Price Schedule Offerors shall complete the Cost Estimate Worksheet, Attachment 6, and submit to the RRB with their Business Proposal only. Offerors are advised that cost proposals are required for all mandatory and optional CLINS.

2.1 Other Direct Costs

After issuance of a task order against the base IDIQ Contract/Agreement, the Shared Service Provider (SSP)/Contractor shall be reimbursed for actual costs incurred, such as travel, communications, or other relevant costs, to perform the specific tasks as stated in the task order(s). The Contractor shall provide detailed invoices per section 4.17 of the solicitation which shall include at a minimum the date services were provided, detailed description of the service provided, hours of services if applicable, labor categories and associated labor hourly rates, etc. Travel costs for time and materials tasks incurred by the contractor in performance of the services as stated in task order(s) shall be submitted to the RRB Contracting Officer (CO) for approval and review, prior to submitting an invoice to the RRB for reimbursement. Travel costs if approved by the RRB shall be reimbursed according to the applicable current Federal Per Diem rates at the time the travel occurred. Please note that other direct costs (ODCs) for fixed price tasks should be included in the offerors’ fully costed rate.

3.0 Statement of Work

3.1 Project Title

This solicitation is to obtain services to support the implementation of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Core Federal Financial management system and interfaces from a shared service provider’s hosted environment for the RRB using a software as a service model. The RRB seeks to establish a contract that will provide a range of support for implementing and maintaining the financial management system. This initiative will be conducted in compliance with all applicable Federal financial systems regulations and guidance. Specific guidance is listed in Appendix A for further reference.

The Financial Management Integrated System (FMIS) migration is led by the Bureau of Fiscal Operations (BFO) with support from Acquisitions Management (AM), and the Chief Information Officer (CIO).

3.2 Background

3.2.1.

General Information

The RRB has operated a mainframe-based integrated core financial management system since October 1985. The original system (the Administrative Management Information System or AMIS) was developed by American Management Systems, Inc. (AMS) under contract with the RRB. In October 1988, RRB upgraded to the AMS’s Federal Financial System (FFS). The last and final major upgrade to FFS was made available in 1999 to make the system year 2000 compliant. The RRB continues to operate FFS under a maintenance agreement with CGI (formerly AMS); however, the system is no longer compliant under OMB Circular A-127 based on the following high level indicators:

· Ability to produce financial statements and other required financial and budget reports using information generated by the financial management system;

· Preparation of reliable and timely financial information for managing current operations;

· Ability to account for assets reliably, so that they can be properly protected from loss, misappropriation, or destruction; and

· Adhere to Federal accounting standards and the U.S. Standard General Ledger (USSGL).

As a result, the RRB recognizes that the system is nearing the end of its life cycle. With the implementation and migration to a new core financial system, the RRB will become substantially compliant with the Guidance from the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Circular A-127 which mandates the use of a core financial management system by a shared service or commercial provider. Further the shared service or commercial provider will have responsibility for technology hosting, as well as administration and application management from their data center.

3.2.2 Current Environment

The following describes the current RRB financial management configuration.

· The core FFS system consists of budget execution, purchasing, accounts payable, automated disbursement and general ledger components.

· Other components supplied by the system and in use include inventory (supplies) control and budget formulation. The budget formulation functionality is used by designated users to develop budgets, and by budget users to review, update and approve budget submissions. The system has business rules that enable users to determine workload costs and FTE usage attributable to the agency’s strategic goals.

· A separate fixed assets system (Wisetrack) is used to maintain detailed records for capitalized and accountable assets. Transactions from Wisetrack are manually recorded into FFS.

· A separate system is maintained for Cost Accounting functionality using data files from the FFS core system (non-labor) and the Payroll system (labor).

· The general ledger component supports the preparation of the quarterly financial statements and SF-133 report on budget execution and budgetary resources and the annual Performance and Accountability Report.

· Debt collection is managed through the Programs Accounts Receivable (PAR) system which produces files that are manually input into the FFS general ledger through a monthly bulk transaction. Over 25,000 new debts are established annually and collection activities from program annuitants are recorded in the PAR system. PAR receives and distributes debt and collection activities from multiple internal programs at the RRB. The PAR system is a RRB enhanced version of the FFS Accounts Receivable package modified to improve debt collection functionality and reporting. It is operated as a standalone system from the Core FFS system and maintains its own general ledger. The RRB would like to include this functionality into the new system’s AR module at a later date. See Optional Functionalities in Section 3.6.

· Automated interfaces link the payroll and electronic travel systems to the financial system. The RRB is a client for the providers of these services which were mandated by previous eGov initiatives. The FFS system accepts financial data via secure data communication links from these two providers for accounting and disbursement purposes. The RRB will keep payroll services through GSA while considering e-travel services as an optional service in this request for proposals.

· Additional functionality has been added to the procurement component of the financial system to support the requirements of the RRB disability program function to automatically order, approve and pay for contractor supplied medical examinations and consulting opinions. To accommodate this process, the RRB added 2 additional transactions by ‘cloning’ the commodity purchase order screens and processors. Several non-edited fields and the purchasing text table are used to hold specific data needed by the vendor (i.e., names, address, phone, complaint, urgency of request). A keystroke emulator allows infrequent users to correctly enter the detailed information required. Line number is used to indicate which exams need to be performed (an RRB table with line/exam number and current contract cost is used to default amounts and updated at the beginning of each contract year), accounting data is defaulted using an FFS table and vendor is defaulted by transaction type. Authorized RRB staff can enter an obligation for medical exams (approximately 250 employees) or consulting opinions (approximately 10 employees) into the system. After exam results or consulting opinions are accepted, RRB staff enters receiver documents (2 additional receiver transactions were added specific to each vendor). A batch process creates payment vouchers nightly from these accepted receiver transactions. A comma delimited (CSV) file of detailed information is created for each obligation type nightly and downloaded by the vendors from a secure server.

· RRB does not have an automated contracting system to process requirements, to develop solicitations, to maintain Federal Procurement Regulations or to produce SF-1449s, SF30s, and other relevant acquisition documents for contracts.

· Administrative staff in the various RRB organizations have access to prepare budgets, submit purchase requisitions, and review other financial information pertaining to their organizations. Other financial transactions, including budget reprogramming, journal vouchers, payment vouchers and purchase orders, are prepared by specially trained staff in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and contract specialist staff in the RRB’s procurement organization.

· System data is routinely transferred to a local area network (LAN) environment for processing by other software applications (spreadsheets and databases) to support the organization’s data reporting and analysis requirements.

· A system administrator at RRB oversees maintenance and enhancements to the system in addition to establishing security access and monitoring both scheduled and unscheduled processing and reporting. The RRB will, however, comply with the security access procedures of its successful offeror but expects oversight on the level of access its staff has to the system.

· Current environments include production and test.

· Production environment consists of current and previous five (5) years’ production data, including both open and closed transactions.

· The data for both the production and test environments for FFS is contained on less than two IBM 3390-9 direct access storage devices.

· The RRB staff totals 953 with 415 system users. The RRB operates from 56 locations which includes its headquarters (Chicago, IL), the Office of Legislative Affairs (Washington, DC), the Office of the Inspector General (Philadelphia, PA), and 53 field offices. See Appendix B for the FFS Environment Profile.

3.3 Goals and Objectives

The primary goal of the RRB is to procure a fully integrated and automated financial management system that focuses on the agency’s mission and accountability from a service provider. The system must (1) achieve compliance with RRB applicable laws, regulations, standards, and requirements as provided in Appendix A; (2) improve and facilitate user access to financial information through online inquiries and reporting tools; (3) reduce redundancy in data entry, storage, and processing; (4) improve security, control and disaster recovery capability; and (5) reduce manual intensive business processes. The implemented system should be a hybrid that facilitates transaction processing to supplement the workload of existing staff with detailed analysis while supporting continuous improvements in operational efficiencies.

3.4 Future State System The RRB intends to procure and implement a COTS federal financial management system with key interfaces in a hosted shared service environment. The system shall be compliant with requirements in OMB Circular A-127 for Federal financial management systems, and compliant with the Federal Financial Management System Requirements (FFMSR) developed by the former Financial Systems Integration Office (FSIO) and the former Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP). In addition, the service provider shall comply with A-127 requirements for service providers, including meeting requirements for the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996; meeting the requirements of the Financial Management Due Diligence Checklist, and provide a Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) 16 audit report annually to its customers.

The RRB is prepared to modify their processes in order to mirror the financial industry best practices and maximize the greatest benefit of the system. While some configuration may be necessary in order to accommodate unique RRB requirements, customization of the system will not be considered. The selected solution will include functionality for budget formulation and execution, procurement, payment management and disbursement, accounts receivable, general ledger posting and maintenance, closing and clearing and report preparation. The system shall also include interfaces for payroll and e-travel. Special attention should be given to the medical exam and medical consulting opinion obligation and payment functionality.

The RRB is interested in implementing integrated functionality for fixed assets, railroad employer accounts receivable, e-travel and debt collection. While these modules are desired, they will be considered as optional software services and be evaluated to determine the best approach for the RRB. The RRB is interested in optional hosted services as described in section 3.11 below and should be described and incorporated as optional hosting services.

The chart below provides the RRB future state vision.

The mandatory components for the shared service solution are listed below by business area:

3.5 Mandatory Functionalities 3.5.1 Budget Formulation and Execution The service provider will include a module for budget formulation that allows for the application, update, and maintenance of one or more versions of budget plans, guidance, ground rules or assumptions and uses the assumptions to develop budgetary alternatives for decision making purposes. The budget execution module shall allow for the initiation, monitoring and analysis of the agency’s budget, including ability to load appropriations and allotments, provide status of funds reports and automatic funds control. Ideally, the system will provide the ability to spread targets across the budget lines and accept an uploaded file from the payroll system for real time, transaction driven FTE analysis. The RRB seeks better tracking of cost savings and efficiencies as well as reporting capabilities that allow for extraction of data for purposes of compiling reports such as budget object classification (BOC) code variances, fixed versus variable costs, work years in personnel costs, and international costs of overseas transactions.

3.5.2 General Ledger

The RRB requires that the system provides a General Ledger that will facilitate accurate and timely posting of transactions, provides integrated functionality with subledgers, and provides robust reporting capabilities. The system shall have the capability to provide the SF 133, SF 224, standard financial statements, other agency specific reports, in addition to other OMB and Treasury required reports and data extracts. The current system accounting structure includes Fund, Budget, Fiscal Year, USSGL, Organization, and a shared field for Budget Object Code or Revenue Source. If the offeror’s solution requires additional elements they will need to be built out during the implementation. In addition, the service provider shall provide functionality that will meet Government-wide Accounting (GWA) requirements by the Treasury cutover date. Multiple general and trust funds, see appendix E, accounts are currently maintained by RRB staff and included in bulk file and financial statement reporting.

3.5.3 Medical Exams and Consulting Opinions

As part of its mission to provide stewardship and administer the retirement and survivor benefit program for railroad employees and their families, the RRB handles disability claims. To review these claims, the agency has claimants undergo medical exams to determine whether the extent of their impairments qualify for disability. The RRB has a vendor that selects doctors and schedules the exams and a separate vendor that refers complex cases to medical consultants for their opinions. The current system provides requisitioners limited inputs in order to facilitate the ordering and receiving of exams and opinions. The configuration of those screens and data required are presented in Exhibit 1.

As part of the new system, the RRB will need to track the time between placement of the order, receipt at the agency and acceptance of exam results. Reports of timeliness of each exam, counts of open/closed by month and contract year, reason for any late results or acceptance of results are required by the RRB.

3.5.4 Procurement

The system shall provide tools to facilitate acquisition and contract administration and meet the requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) as well as RRB’s requirements. Specifically, it shall include functionality for Requirements Definition, Acquisition Planning, Synopsis & Solicitation, Screening & Evaluation, Awards, Contract Administration, and Contract Closeout. In addition, it shall include a database of the current FAR clauses. The system shall also interface with Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG).

3.5.5 Accounts Payable

The system shall provide standard federal accounts payable functionality, including functionality for Treasury initiatives such as the Payment Application Modernization within Treasury cutover requirements. In addition, the system will allow the RRB the ability to receive invoices electronically and provide invoice approval routing for invoices received either electronically or entered manually.

3.5.6 Accounts Receivable

The system shall provide standard Federal accounts receivable functionality, consistent with requirements in the FFMSR. The system will be used to process administrative Accounts Receivable upon implementation. The system should be scalable and able to accommodate the debt collection requirements post implementation of the core system, for the migration of data from the existing PAR system.

3.5.7 Reporting

The system shall provide various types of reporting tools, including COTS standard parameter based reports and business intelligence/reporting tools to support RRB specific parameter based reports and ad-hoc reporting capabilities. The business intelligence/reporting tool shall have the ability to produce reports containing data from any system module supported by the service provider, as well as some RRB hosted systems. The contractor shall provide the ability for the RRB to perform custom report development both during and post migration to the new system and maintain a separate data warehouse for reporting purposes. A list of RRB required reports is included in Appendix C.

3.5.8 General Requirements

FMIS will allow the RRB to comply with Government-Wide Accounting initiatives by demonstrating the following capabilities:

· Provide a Core Financial management system that is compliant with Federal Financial System requirements;

· Comply with all applicable requirements, such as privacy, security, compliance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, continuity of operations, critical infrastructure protection, disaster recovery, service level agreements (SLAs), and help desk services;

· Comply with Treasury Payment Initiatives and Common Government-wide Account Classification (CGAC) Structure;

· Integrate with Standard Federal Interfaces such as, Treasury Secure Payment System (SPS) and Governmentwide Treasury Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance (GTAS), e-Travel systems as per the GSA E2 Master Travel Contract, Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and System for Award Management (SAM) upon its implementation, GSA Payroll, FPDS-NG;

· Comply with Shared Service Provider Requirements for hosting and ongoing maintenance and support;

· Integrate with third-party software and RRB Mission Systems;

· Comply with RRB-specific requirements for the COTS shared services solution;

· Comply with federal and RRB specific system and security requirements.

Additionally, the contractor must describe how data is updated and maintained, specifically identifying the responsibilities of the vendor and RRB for maintaining and updating vendor files, system access, chart of accounts, and all other data that would be referenced and used by the RRB. The offeror shall also describe the method for transitioning data back in house or to another provider, on demand or in the case of contract termination for any reason.

3.6 Optional Functionalities

3.6.1 Fixed Assets

The solution shall maintain physical accountability over personal property and equipment acquired separately but consolidated to represent one item, or items purchased in bulk, whose acquisition or fair market values meet RRB capitalization thresholds. Additionally, controlled personal property and equipment that is expensed when acquired will need to be recorded and maintained for accountability and management. The system must maintain information on property from the time the RRB takes title to or possession of property through disposal and maintain a complete history of modifications and improvements. The current system houses close to 115 depreciable and 6,300 non-depreciable items valued at nearly $2.5 million and $670,000, respectively.

3.6.2 eGov Travel

The RRB currently contracts the following travel services:

· eGov Travel Services (eTS) Reservation and Fulfillment Services

· eTS Authorization and Voucher Services

· Paper Ticket Issuance and Delivery

· Standard Implementation Services; Service Level A, per the GSA Master Contract

· Receipt Imaging

· Supplemental Customer Support Services, per the GSA Master Contract

· Supplemental Training Services, per the GSA Master Contract

· Custom Report Development

The vendor shall provide travel services as provided in the U.S. General Services Administration E2 travel Master Contract requirements.

3.6.3 Employer Contribution Receivable

The RRB monitors payments from the railroad companies to the benefit trusts and reconciles the money paid quarterly. In the event of under payment by the railroads to the trust funds, the RRB records an employer receivable and initiates collection proceedings. The system shall provide accounts receivable functionality for managing employer receivables consistent with requirements in the FFMSR and identified by individual railroad companies.

3.6.4 Debt Collection

Debt is created when a benefit has been overpaid. Overpayments result from a recalculation, the death of an annuitant, employer settlements that overlap receipt of sickness benefits, as well as an increase in the amount of Social Security an annuitant receives which requires a decrease in the annuity payment. The debt may be the responsibility of the former railroad employee or their beneficiary. The RRB is responsible for managing money due to the RRB for benefits paid in excess of the amount due to a recipient. The system shall provide debt collection functionality for recording, collecting and adjusting debts related to the overpayment of benefits. Several RRB legacy databases, applications and programs interface with the accounts receivable system. The RRB is responsible for building the files from those programs into the new financial system. Functionality to replace the PAR system is considered value-added within the new system’s receivable management module. Requirements are presented as debt collection in attachment 1 with full migration from PAR into the FMIS post implementation and migration of the core financial system. Appendix F describes the legacy systems that shares information with the debt collection system.

A list of RRB mandatory and value-added system requirements is included in Attachment 1. This list is intended to compliment the Federal Financial Management System Requirements (FFMSR) developed by the former Financial Systems Integration Office (FSIO) and the former Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) that must be included in the proposed solution.

3.7 Services

Offerors must provide services related to hardware/server space, software, implementation, integration, hosting and application management. Although a detailed approach format is included in the following sections, offerors are expected to propose the best methodology and solution, and are encouraged to provide innovative ideas to meet the needs of the RRB.

3.8 Software

3.8.1 Software Services The system must provide the following mandatory software services: budget planning/formulation and execution, general ledger, procurement, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and reporting modules that are compliant with the FFMSR. In addition, the RRB requests offerors to include the following optional software services: fixed assets, employer contribution receivable, and debt collection. The selected vendor must provide environments to include full time production and test, as well as training pre and post migration and a development environment during the implementation. Detailed descriptions of these software services are described in Section 3.4: Future State System and in Attachment 1: RRB System Requirements.

3.8.2 Interfaces Key interfaces to be provided in the Core Financial system are included in the system requirements. The general interface environment is described below:

· RRB has a System Oriented Architecture which is driven by its business processes. Due to the nature of RRB business functions, which is dictated by legislation, flexibility is imperative and central for the success of RRB. Potential vendors need to offer solutions that can be easily adapted to meet future additional interface requirements. The optimal solution shall allow for data transfer in real time. There are 3 automated interfaces, 2 with existing shared service providers and the other is managed in-house. Additionally, automated batch interfaces are planned with the RRB’s program benefit systems.

· Cost Accounting – This is an out-bound fixed length text file from the RRB cost accounting application containing non payroll costs currently from FFS.

· U.S. Treasury – This is an in-bound interface from the Treasury Reporting System (TRS) for updates to the general ledger with SF-224 data. FMIS should also be interfaced with Secure Payment System (SPS), GTAS and Governmentwide Accounting and Reporting Program (GWA).

· FPDS-NG – This external interface is to report procurement data to comply with federal transparency initiatives.

· GSA Payroll – This is an external in-bound (secure FTP between GSA and RRB) interface with data flow into FFS. A biweekly job kicks-off the batch upload process which updates financial data and GL with the GSA payroll expense data. A monthly job kicks-off the batch upload process which updates financial data and the general ledger. Payment vouchers are created for transit benefit parking reimbursements to eligible RRB staff and reports are generated to support agency-wide purchases of commuter transit passes and fare cards for eligible staff (details maintained on RRB table). The RRB’s transit benefit processing is unique in that it takes the form of pre-tax deductions, not a direct benefit from the agency.

· eGov Travel – Currently there is a secure FTP connection between RRB and CWT SatoTravel that provides data related to travel authorization and voucher approvals required daily for the FFS system to obligate and disburse travel payments. Payment notifications and authorization acceptance files are also supplied to CWT SatoTravel daily through the interface. The eGov Travel solution could either be an interface to the RRB’s vendor or through the offeror if the optional e-Travel service as specified in the U.S. General Services Administration E2 travel Master Contract, is included in the offeror’s proposal and the optional task is awarded.

· Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) Award and RR Retirement Act Award Processing – RRB does not currently have an automated interface with this system, and is recording summarized data manually into FFS through a summarized transaction performed monthly. The RRB will be responsible for developing the required data files from the benefits system but providing automated interface functionality with this system is a Mandatory key requirement. The system will need to accept an inbound interface of summarized transactions to the General Ledger from RRB’s (highly customized) Benefits Payment system – the key business function of RRB.

· Program Accounts Receivable (PAR) – In the event that an offeror does not choose to propose on the optional debt collection functionality, a PAR interface shall be developed. RRB does not currently have an automated interface with this system, and is recording summarized data manually into FFS. The RRB will be responsible for developing the required data files from the benefits system but providing automated batch interface functionality with this system is a Mandatory key requirement. The interface with the PAR system would be inbound only to feed summarized accounts receivable balances to the General Ledger from this subsidiary ledger.

3.9 Proposed Project Approach and Implementation Methodology (Mandatory Service) Offerors must provide a detailed project plan and methodology that clearly demonstrates how their team will initiate and meet the stated goals and successfully complete the Core Financial system migration project. The proposed plan of action must adhere to industry proven project management methodology. The proposed approach and methodology shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

3.9.1 Project Management

The Contractor shall provide comprehensive and effective life cycle project management consistent with project management best practices, notably those specified by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The Contractor shall provide detailed information on the project management structure, resources and support methodology. The Contractor’s project management support services, tools and processes include, but are not limited to:

· Schedule Management – The development, management, and control of project schedules.

· Risk Management – The planning, identification, analysis, responses, monitoring and control of project risks.

· Cost Management – Management of implementation project budget, control of costs, and monitoring Earned Value metrics using their Earned Value Management System (EVMS), as approved and accepted by the RRB. Please see Appendix D, RRB EVMS Clause. OMB requires that all financial system implementation projects utilize Earned Value Management (EVM) to track the project’s status to the baseline schedule and cost. As a result, the RRB requires that the service provider maintain a system for tracking and reporting on EVM for the project. EVM reports, submitted monthly to the RRB, shall include at a minimum:

i. Planned Value (PV)

ii. Earned Value (EV)

iii. Actual Cost (AC)

iv. Budget at Completion (BAC)

v. Estimate at Completion (EAC)

vi. Variance at Completion (VAC)

vii. Schedule Variance (SV)

viii. Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

ix. Cost Variance (CV)

x. Cost Performance Index (CPI)

xi. To Complete Performance Index (TCPI)

· Scope Management – Management, traceability and documentation of project requirements.

· Document Management – The timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval and disposition of project information.

· Change Management – The standardization of methods and procedures for efficient and prompt handling of all software and hardware changes, changes to the project schedule, scope and budget; and support of the FMIS Migration Change Control Board (CCB).

· Configuration Management – Configuration management activities, change request support, baseline creation, and governance

· Quality Assurance – The support of business outcomes, operational metrics, and quality management as required in the quality assurance surveillance plan.

· Transition Management – The activities associated with transitioning into the production environment hosted by the shared service or commercial provider including facilities, hardware, software, data, and support. Work cooperatively with the client’s transition management team and consultants to effect a seamless change in business practices.

3.9.2 System Design Provide a detailed description of your approach to specifying the RRB’s future state system design, addressing typical SHARED SERVICE PROVIDER responsibilities and services. Incorporate in your response business process support such as supplemental supportive services, reconciliations, and report preparation. This section shall include:

a. Future state validation methodology;

b. Key personnel and relationship to key tasks and deliverables;

c. Key functional and technical documentation;

d. Deliverables and related acceptance criteria and responsibility.

3.9.3 System Configuration Management

Provide detailed description of system components and migration approach, conversion, and cutover from the legacy system. The proposed methodology must outline a structured approach in deploying mission-critical systems, including which optional modules will be included. Configuration of the system software must reflect the requirements provided in Attachment 1 for all components. The solution must meet Federal Financial System requirements and OMB memorandum M-10-26, OMB Circular A-127, SSAE 16 requirements and RRB specific requirements.

3.9.4 Data Conversion

Perform data conversion from the RRB’s legacy financial system, FFS, and data from optional services included in the solution into the new FMIS system. The service provider shall perform validation of balances from the legacy system to the FMIS system. It is preferred that all current and previous five-year (open and closed) data be converted upon implementation. Data conversion will include data from the following mandatory modules and optional modules awarded under this solicitation:

· General Ledger

· Procurement/Obligations

· Accounts Payable

· Budget control

· Employer Contribution Receivable (Optional Task)

· Debt from the Program Accounts Receivable (PAR) system (Optional Task)

· Fixed Assets (Optional Task)

· Vendor master data (A/P)

· Customer master data (A/R)

· Annuitant master data from PAR (Optional Task)

3.9.5 Testing

Perform incremental testing for the system interfaces and conversion, including unit tests for all components to ensure proper functioning as well as provide testing activities using RRB financial data during migration which shall include, but is not limited to:

· Initial System Test Out/Unit Testing

· Integration/End-to-End Testing

· Network Connectivity Testing

· Data Conversion and Migration Testing

· User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

The Contractor must supply documentation during and post migration of tests performed for the RRB of the following:

· System Performance Testing (Load Testing)

· Backup and Restore Testing

· Disaster Recovery Testing

The Contractor’s system test plan shall encompass system tests utilizing testing tools that can simulate data entry and posting of the defined set of transactions to allow full testing of the Core Financial system, including annual closing and roll forwards prior to going live. The Contractor shall ensure the system tests shall include the following components: Online entry of transactions, Online, real-time interfaces, Batch loading of interfaces, Production of standard reports, annual closing, and roll forwards. The Contractor shall compare the results from the system tests to both expected results and to actual results in the legacy financial system. The Contractor shall be expected to conduct specific testing of the unique RRB requirements identified in the Statement of Work. RRB requires access to the Business Intelligence reporting tool during the testing phase in order to exercise its features and test the development of client reports using converted data.

3.9.6 Organizational Change Management and Training

The RRB intends to adapt business processes to the selected Core Financial system to maximize efficiency. The responsive offeror is expected to develop and implement strategies for mitigating the impact of new processes on RRB staff. The Contractor’s organizational change services, tools and processes include, but are not limited to:

· Training – Provide a system training plan, training materials, and deliver the system training to RRB users. The Contractor’s approach shall take into consideration the number and type (transactional and reporting) of RRB users, including field operations. Training delivery shall reflect multiple delivery approaches to include both web-based and on-site classroom delivery, specifically around business processes and roles performed. The training schedule shall be tied to the Core Financial system testing and deployment schedule and made available to system users and testers at implementation and post deployment, at a date to be determined. Training shall include performance based and cognitive training methods. The Contractor shall include an onsite learning lab environment, at the RRB headquarters, to provide users in-person assistance during and post go-live.

· Documentation – Provide clearly documented processing instructions in hard copy or electronically in accordance with the requirements contained in the core financial system requirements document issued by FSIO. Documentation (e.g., database diagrams, user manuals, and operating procedures) shall be kept up-to-date and be readily available for examination. System user documentation shall be in sufficient detail to permit a person with knowledge of the agency's programs and of systems generally, to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the entire operation of each system.

3.10 Hosting and Application Management Services (Mandatory Service)

3.10.1 Hosting Services

Hosting services involves providing the information technology (IT) infrastructure (facilities, infrastructure, hardware, and software) that serve as the foundation for running business software applications and the services to maintain that infrastructure. As authorized and directed by the RRB Contracting Officer (CO), the Contractor shall provide all the identified services to host the solution, consistent with the goals and objectives of this SOW.

Hosting support includes but is not limited to the maintenance and operation of the hardware, data center support, software and telecommunications support to the application.

The following hosting objectives have been established:

· Provide all hardware, software, and infrastructure needed to host the proposed COTS solution.

· Provide a complete hosting solution in compliance with OMB Memorandum M-10-26, OMB Circular A-127, SSAE 16 requirements, and includes all services determined by the RRB contracting officer as necessary to deliver the proposed approach for system cut-over and all post-deployment production operations.

· Transition Management – The activities associated with transitioning into the production environment hosted by the successful offeror including facilities, hardware, software, data, and support transition.

· Hosting support includes but is not limited to maintenance and operation of the hardware, data center support and Internet connection in support of the application.

· In accordance with the directions and authorization of the RRB contracting officer, ensure that a proper Continuity of Operations plan is in place.

· Establish and maintain application security and access controls.

· Prepare and execute service level agreement that includes the performance indicators. Detailed technical and service level agreement requirements are in Attachment 2.

3.10.2 Application Management Services

Operations and Maintenance Services involve providing the software and the services for operating and managing the financial management software. The Core Financial solution shall consist of the use of one COTS product with limited product extensions and limited customization of the core product. The Contractor shall be required to integrate operational components and configure the integrated solution to operate within the hosted environment. The foundation of the proposed solution must be compliant with Federal Financial System requirements. Application Management/Operations and Maintenance support includes, but is not limited to, functional and technical tasks directly related to the application including issue resolution, batch processing, reference table updates, report maintenance in the software, monthly, quarterly and annual close processing, database dumps, and implementation and testing of new regulatory requirements. The following application management/operations and maintenance objectives have been established:

· Perform all operations and maintenance (O&M) activities for the new financial system including all application functional and technical support and security of the deployed solution, including running batch processes, nightly cycles and backups, involved in system operations.

· Provide a process for software patching (changes to the software that are fixes and changes in a future software release that is needed prior to implementing the new release) and when major and minor software releases will be installed and the process for communicating the changes to the end users.

· Provide a change control process that includes customer input and enforces consistent configuration management across all increments, instances, and upgrades of the new financial system.

· Provide help desk support.

3.11 Optional Hosted Services

The RRB sees the implementation of FMIS as a new paradigm for its business operations. New interfaces between RRB systems will create an increased number of transactions to be processed in the financial system. In addition, the internal controls that will be included in the system will create the need for additional analysis, error correction, and place workload on business areas that do not exist in the current system. This increased workload will require the RRB to manage its existing staff wisely and may require it to strategically supplement its resources through the provider. Potential areas the RRB may require support in the future include support for the management of accounts payable and disbursements, support for the management of administrative accounts receivable, and support to produce the monthly, quarterly and annual financial statement preparation as optional hosted services. Additionally, bulk file support and agency specific analyses activities may also be performed by the provider. The current list of standard reports is included in Appendix C.

3.12 Mandatory and Optional Requirements

The RRB requires information and pricing on all mandatory and optional functionalities and services. Below is a summary of those mandatory and optional functionalities and services pursuant to this statement of work.

Accounts Receivable (Administrative)

Procurement, inclusive of:

> Contract development/administration

> Medical Exam and Consultative Opinion Processing Financial Statement Preparation

Hosting Services

Application Management Services

3.13 Key Personnel

The contractor shall assign key personnel by name and title and provide a chronological résumé for each of the key personnel proposed. Key personnel must have experience in migrating clients to an SHARED SERVICE PROVIDER or in managing hosted federal clients. All key personnel must be totally committed to the project without competing priorities, and if applicable, indicate the level of their commitment to other projects. Further, contractor must present key management and technical experts with leadership abilities, project management competencies, education, and specialized experience.

Key personnel may not be replaced during the project without the approval of the RRB Contracting Officer Representative (COR) and CO. If substitution of key personnel is absolutely necessary, the offeror must notify the CO of the change 30 calendar days prior to removal from the contract. The proposed substitutions must have qualifications equal to or better than those approved at contract award.. Substitutions to key personnel must be approved by the CO.

Although key personnel and desired qualifications are suggested below, offerors are expected and encouraged to propose the best resourcing plan of key and non-key personnel to meet the needs of the RRB. Inclusion in the proposal shall guarantee the availability of key personnel. The following describes desired qualifications and responsibilities of the key personnel:

· Project Manager – Professional certifications, such as the Project Management Professional (PMP), are preferred. Shall have 10 years of project management experience with financial management implementations. Responsible for coordinating overall team/project activities, maintaining project documentation, tracking deliverables and financial information.

· Functional Lead – Shall have 10 years experience in system configuration and financial management experience. Responsible for ensuring that software services are compliant with government standards, accounting principles and system application standards. Responsible for understanding the current system environment, the to-be state, and the potential for added integration or system functionality in the future.

· Technical Lead – Shall have 7 years of experience in implementing computer systems. Responsible for the process from requirements analysis to design, implementation and testing of the system. Shall understand system maintenance and shall be able to provide solutions to software problems.

· All key personnel shall have a minimum of three (3) years of experience using the offerors system.

· Key personnel may also include a Functional Lead for each mandatory and optional software service. Leads may be assigned to multiple modules.

· All team…