SGE50017R0050_A002_Q&A.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

1. CONTRACT ID CODE RATING

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE

06/22/2017

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

FRANKCODE

AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL FRANKFURT

GIESSENER STRASSE 30

ATTN: RPSO

FRANKFURT, 60435

GERMANY

Wilhelm Fleming

NAME

TEL.

flemingwm@state.gov

EMAIL

6. ISSUED BY FRANKCODE

AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL FRANKFURT

GIESSENER STRASSE 30

ATTN: RPSO

FRANKFURT, 60435

GERMANY

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

SGE50017R0050

CONTACT DUNS

CODE FACILITY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, country, state and ZIP Code) (X)

X 9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

05/12/2017

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

X XThe above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended, Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods: (a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning __1__copies of the amendment;(b)By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.X

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

A. The purpose of this amendment is to incorporate the Questions submitted by interested parties and the Governments response thereto.

B The questions and Answers are incorporated herein as attachment 1 to amendment A002 totaling 12 pages.

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print) 16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

Damian Richard

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 15C. DATE SIGNED

By (Signature of Contracting Officer)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 16C. DATE SIGNED

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

SGE50017R0050

ORIGINAL SIGNED 06/22/2017

EXBS Software development for MoIA Pristina, Kosovo SGE50017R0050 Amendment A002, Attachment 1

Page 1 of 12 pages

Question 1:

Should cost information be included in a separate volume from the technical approach? (For example, Volume I: Technical and Volume II: Cost/Price) Answer 1:

The proposal shall be submitted in two separate files as stipulated in 3.2 on page 35.

Question 2:

If so, what is the page count for the Technical Volume and Cost Volume ?

Answer 2:

There is no specific page count for this project other than the requirement of 4.1 stipulated on page 36.

Question 3:

Is there an expected Level-of-Effort (LOE)? How many FTE’s is DoS expecting to successfully perform this job? And what positions and/or Labor Categories ?

Answer 3:

Please note; that this is a firm-fixed price commercial contract not a cost reimbursement contract, with all the requirements of this project specified in the Statement of Work. The solicitation does not require any other specific labor requirements such as FTE’s, WTE’s or other labor categories.

Question 4:

Does the government have a more specific requirement listing for the system, or is requirement definition intended to be part of the contract?

Answer 4:

The complete requirement is specified in the Statement of Work and incorporated into the solicitation.

Question 5:

What is the expected number of reported cases annually?

Answer 5:

Expected number is 15,000 up to 20,000

Question 6:

What is the peak volume of expected cases in a single day?

Answer 6:

50 – 150 cases

Question 7:

From page 9, does the statement “The platform should be based on IN-MEMORY” refer to utilizing an in-memory database such as Oracle Times Ten? Or is this referring to something else?

Answer 7:

This refers to the BI system that must have IN MEMORY capabilities.

Question 8:

From page 9, regarding the statement “Strong capability for data integration, enabling the joining and transformation of numerous sources of data with no need for external applications or data

Page 2 of 12 pages warehouse,” is the intention of this statement to ingest and centralize all external data sources into the NCBM system and create custom reports and dashboards without further contacting the external systems?

a. Or it is expected via ESB (Enterprise Service Buss) to query them online?

Answer 8:

Idea of connection is to interconnect each Database View table of all agencies, which will be created to serve the purpose of necessary data collection.

Question 9:

What is considered a “larger number of concurrent users” as referenced on page 10?

a. What is the number of concurrent users that will use the Case Management?

b. What is the number of concurrent users that will use BI?

Answer 9:

Both systems Case and BI shall be have the good performance and not be issued for the large number of concurrent users. Currently there are 100 users, in near future the system should have possibility to work in same time for 100– 600 users.

Question 10:

Is the hardware specified on page 11 provided as GFE or is it intended that it be purchased by the contractor? Can any other hardware/operating system/virtualization software be used? Is a cloud platform authorized for either development or production?

Answer 10:

The hardware specified on page 11 will not be GFE (Government Furnished Equipment), but shall be provided by the incumbent contractor, the price for the equipment shall be included under line item 003.

Question 11:

Is the hardware specified on page 11 intended to be just for the production system? Can development systems be hosted off-site by the contractor?

Answer 11:

The system shall be implemented in house. The development will be in the backup server which is specified in page 11.

Question 12:

What GFE will be provided for the purposes of this contract?

Answer 12:

The will be no Government furnished equipment under this contract

Question 13:

How many meetings are expected during the execution of this contract and what at what locations shall these meetings take place? To what extent is Video Teleconferencing available to lower travel costs?

Answer 13:

We expect to have 10 – 20 meetings at the NCBM premise, respectively at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA) bldg. Other necessary meetings can be organized via the Teleconferencing.

Page 3 of 12 pages

Question 14:

Does the Ministry already possesses the licenses for Windows and SQL Server that will be installed in the machines specified in Page 11?

Answer 14:

YES

Question 15:

Are the 21 external systems mention in page 8 and 9 have already API that allow other application to interface to them and is there a sufficient documentation for the API?

Answer 15:

YES

Question 16:

The BI component is highly dependent on the cooperation of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kosovo Police - KP, Food and Veterinary Agency - FVA and Kosovo Customs – KC. Will there be a single point of contact to coordinate interactions with specified institutions?

Answer 16:

YES. The IT Department of the MoIA

Question 17:

Given the volume of the questions, we would respectfully request an extension of at least two weeks ?

Answer 17:

Amendment A001 has extended the due date for the solicitation through June 30, 2017 (please review the details on FedBizOpps).

Question 18:

Are currently existing systems that are to be interconnected technically ready to facilitate interconnection with Business Intelligence and Visualization that will be developed?

Answer 18:

YES. All existing systems are ready to be interconnected

Question 19:

Will contractor provide all necessary technical information and permissions to exchange data with all entities that are managing system that are to be interconnected?

Answer 19:

Contractor should be able to secure a Technical assistance to assists when needed during the implementation phase.

Question 20:

Beside hardware (2 servers as requested) to be provide is any service or license for listed Operating Systems and Virtualization Software that must be supported by this hardware required?

Answer 20:

Only those specified on the OS and listed in the servers’ specification.

Question 21:

Page 4 of 12 pages

Due to the specifics of developing and implementing and implementing BI (Business Intelligence) solution, Case-Request Management System, large number of reports, training, documentations, hardware delivery and maintenance it will help a lot to our proposal and we believe costumer targets also if we could have some approximate information regarding the budget for this project?

Answer 21:

We cannot disclose this information.

Question 22:

Is there an incumbent for this procurement? If so, which vendor and what is their award amount?

Answer 22:

There is no incumbent vendor for this project.

Question 23:

What is the approximate budget for the procurement?

Answer 23:

The budget/Independent Government Estimate for this procurement cannot be released to the public.

Question 24:

Does the SOW involve building one or two applications:

a. stand alone case –request management system which could act as a data source for a stand-alone Business Intelligence system that also pulls data from other transactional system, including the newly built case management system

OR

b. Build one integrated application which has case-management as a primary function with business intelligence system sitting on top of the case management system and pulls data from case management and other transactional systems Answer 24:

Case Management and BI shall be separated

Question 25:

Is the BI system expected to pull transactional data from various source systems to create a centralized, enterprise data warehouse OR build interfaces to pull data on demand?

Answer 25:

The BI system shall build interfaces to pull data on demand.

Question 26:

How often are the source systems refreshed?

Answer 26:

The systems shall be refreshed on real-time.

Question 27:

What is the expectation for data refresh from source systems for the BI system – real-time, near real time – e.g. hourly, 6 hours, last 24 hours?

Answer 27:

The data shall be refreshed on real-time.

Page 5 of 12 pages

Question 28:

Is the BI system expected to only pull data (One- directional) from source systems and report?

Answer 28:

Yes

Question 29:

Is there an expectation to push/ write and pull (bi-directional) data from BI system to the source systems?

Answer 29:

NO

Question 30:

Need information for each of the BI source system:

a. years of data

b. Size of the database

c. Platform/ OS/

d. Front End

e. Database

f. Interfaces

g. APIs exist or connections to pull data

h. Structured/ unstructured data

i. Data types Answer 30:

The data are structured, Databases are in Oracle and SQL and other points are classified.

Some of the data is not allowed to share, so we are listing it as “do not possess info”

a. years of data- do not possess info

b. Size of the database- do not possess info

c. Platform/ OS/ -Microsoft, SQL and ORACLE

d. Front End- do not possess info

e. Database- Databases

f. Interfaces- database and webservices

g. APIs exist or connections to pull data- do not possess info

h. Structured/ unstructured data- Structured

i. Data types- several up to 20, not able to share do not possess info

Question 31:

How are the source systems connected? Same network or a different network?

Answer 31:

No, they are different networks, but we have VPN connection between all agencies

Question 32:

What is the typical Internet bandwidth, network availability that connects all the source systems?

Answer 32:

Connections are with Fiber Optic / Gigabit Ethernet

Page 6 of 12 pages

Question 33:

If a data warehouse is not built, is there an expectation that the BI system connects with the source systems on demand?

Answer 33:

The BI system shall build interfaces to pull data on demand.

Question 34:

There is a requirement to build about 100 BI reports. Do these reports exist today in some format – excel, access DB, paper format ? If yes, please provide some samples.

Answer 34:

The 100 BI reports shall be created from scratch.

Question 35:

If the above reports need to developed from ground up, will the end users/Subject matter experts be available in a timely manner to provide specifications, review and sign off the reports?

Answer 35:

The end users will be able to provide specification needed.

Question 36:

BI Platform is expected to have 8 report developers and 50 users. Do these include any web / mobile users?

Answer 36:

The requirement under this solicitation does not include any web / mobile users.

Question 37:

If Mobile users are going to be different from these users, how many are they?

Answer 37:

No need for mobile users Revised answer:

The requirement under this solicitation does not include mobile users.

Question 38:

Should the mobile application be iOS or Android centric? What is the standard/ acceptable mobile

OS?

Answer 38:

No

Question 39:

If we propose a web application that is OS independent, works on all popular mobile devices – iOS phone, Android phone, Blackberry, Windows, Tablets – will that be acceptable?

Answer 39:

If the web application meets all demands of the solicitation, then it can be included in the proposal.

Question 40:

Does the BI system need to be developed in 3 languages – Albanian, Serbian and English?

OR

Page 7 of 12 pages

It could be developed in English as the base language, and the language on the user screens can be changed/viewed in Albanian and Serbian languages if and when a user selects the language option?

Answer 40:

It could be developed in English as the base language, and the language on the user screens can be changed/viewed in Albanian and Serbian languages if and when a user selects the language option

Question 41:

Does the support include daily database monitoring, backup and recovery? Can these be provided remotely? What are the SLAs?

Answer 41:

The support shall be provided on site, remote support is not an option.

Question 42:

What are the SLA expectations for the BI system?

Answer 42:

If the SLA expectations are not specifically specified in the Statement of Work, then the standard industry norm shall prevail.

Question 43:

Is the BI system going to be installed in one location or multiple locations?

Answer 43:

The BI shall be installed in two locations, the Primary and the secondary location.

Question 44:

Is the BI system going to be in the same physical building and network as other source systems? If not, please explain how do you see them interacting?

Answer 44:

It will be implemented in two different physical building but the same network.

Question 45:

Will the BI system be accessed by end users predominantly through a web browser interface?

Answer 45:

Will be used through the web browser.

Question 46:

What are the typical computer specifications (Memory, CPU, Storage) of a typical end user machine?

Answer 46:

Memory 4 Mb, CPU i5, Storage 500GB

Question 47:

What is the standard for web browser? Google Chrome, IE, Safari, etc.?

Answer 47:

The standard web browsers used are: IE, Google Chrome and Firefox.

Question 48:

Page 8 of 12 pages

What is the standard for web application server? (e.g. Tomcat ) Answer 48:

Tomcat, ASP.NET

Question 49:

Does the project have to be implemented on premise in the NCBM office?

Answer 49:

YES

Question 50:

Do we have to travel from NCBM office to other office locations to get requirements, meet with end users, project sponsors, project training etc.? If travel is required within these offices, how far are they?

Answer 50:

The trips that may occur will take no longer than two hours driving (40km – 120 km) one way.

Question 51 Do you have a preferred BI tool like Tableau, IBM, SAS?

Answer 51 No preferences

Question 52 If we recommend a Data warehouse is there any preference for Data Extraction tools like Microsoft SSIS or opensource tools like Kettle?

Answer 52 No preferences

Question 53 Does the case management tool have to be a gartner magic quadrant tool or can we use a custom built case management tool?

Answer 53 No preferences

Question 54 The NCBM is interested, in particular, in the system development expertise that contains Dashboards, Visualization of data and which are ranked as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant.

Does this indicate that the vendor has to be in the leaders section of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for BI, 2017? If so, this would limit the competition to only three firms. In this case, can you guarantee that such a vendor would be able to deliver both the Case Management,as well as the BI components of this project?

Answer 54 No Preferences on the leader. But the system it has to contain, Dashboards, Visualization, and other specifics as outlined on the SOW.

Question 55

Page 9 of 12 pages

The way I read the requirement is that the functionalities for the BI parts of this implementation have to mirror what vendors in the Leaders section of the Magic Quadrant are offering. Is my assumption correct?

Answer 55 The minimum is the BI to be IN MEMORY.

Question 56/57:

While Synergy is working closely with Gartner in several sectors, for example Strategy Execution and M&E, Case Management and Enterprise Project Portfolio Management, we are not yet listed in the leader's section of the Magic Quadrant for individual sectors. Though I have to mention that we have been listed as a recommended vendor for Strategy Execution in 2016 and EPPA in 2015.

Question 56:

We are currently in the process of presenting our Case Management platform to Gartner, with two recent vendor briefing in the past few months. Should you want to confirm this, I kindly suggest you to talk to Ms Alia Mendosa, who is working in the case management and public sector domain at Gartner.

Question 57:

While our company is working closely with Gartner in several sectors, for example Strategy Execution and M&E, Case Management and Enterprise Project Portfolio Management, we are not yet listed in the leader's section of the Magic Quadrant for individual sectors. Though I have to mention that we have been listed as a recommended vendor for Strategy Execution in 2016 and EPPA in 2015. We are currently in the process of presenting our Case Management platform to Gartner, with two recent vendor briefing in the past few months. Should you want to confirm this, I kindly suggest you to talk to xxx, who is working in the case management and public sector domain at Gartner.

Answer 56 and 57 It is the contractor’s responsibility to provide the required certifications and not the US Government to contact software companies in order to confirm whether they meet the required certification standards.

Question 58:

Please provide a list of reports and their maximum number, dashboards and visualizations with examples that are within the scope of the project?

Answer 58:

The number of reports is specified in the tender dossier, so we can not specify any exact number that shall be developed but consider that all relevant databases that will be connected with BI will have many reports including dashboards, visualizations etc. The most common use of dashboards / visualizations will be used for instance (current number of Entry/Exit for passengers, vehicles, trucks), current number of crimes in Kosovo regions, number of goods and items from Kosovo Customs etc. Moreover, it shall have possibility to be generated in visual form by graphs or dashboards in real-time that will be used for monitoring of NCBM.

Question 59:

What is the requested number of entities, tables, attributes, measures?

Answer 59:

Page 10 of 12 pages

After the contract is signed, the vendor will be introduced to all entities, regarding the tables, which are going to be used for reports.

Question 60:

What is the overall data quality and who will be responsible for the data quality management and cleansing if necessary?

Answer 60:

The data quality is good, and the three agencies we will be responsible for managing and cleaning

Question 61:

Are the relationship entities, keys and their mappings between systems already defined or is it expected to be analyzed and defined by a vendor?

Answer 61:

The analyses are expected to be done by vendor together will all agencies.

Question 62:

What is required by the term "exchange of relevant information in real time"?

Answer 62:

The BI tool shall be able to have access in real time in all relevant institutions databases. Thus, it means that these databases shall be accessible in real time.

Question 63:

What is the expected number of concurrent users of the BI system?

Answer 63:

Real time means the viewing data should be real time-live, not to extract the data first and after that to use that data, but to see data in real time-live.

Question 64:

What is the expected amount of data handled by the BI system (in-memory) and its growth?

Answer 64:

On the specification of the Solicitation is clearly specified the number of the users.

Question 65:

What is the expected performance in terms of acceptable BI system response time to display a complex report?

Answer 65:

The expected performance is reports should be displayed in seconds.

Question 66:

What are the maximum delays by source system between the presence of a new "record" in a source system and its availability in a BI system?

Answer 66:

We need the BI to work in Real Time

Question 67:

Page 11 of 12 pages

Are some of the systems synchronized with each other? If yes, which systems and how are they synchronized - real time, batch (frequency?)?

Answer 67:

The systems are not synchronized. We are asking for Real Time BI Tool.

Question 68:

Are there any systems which contain the same entities, but are not synchronized at all?

Answer 68:

Yes, we have some of the tables which we use especially for vehicles.

Question 69:

Please identify the systems which databases are directly accessible and systems which are able to communicate only by utilizing extracted data files (XML, CSV, JSON, ...)?

Answer 69:

Mainly agencies have SQL and ORACL Databases

Question 70:

Is there an option to utilize any ETL tool, NoSQL database, in-memory database to support complex data integration tasks (direct data vs XML, etc..) and provide data storage for BI tool?

Answer 70:

We are interested to have the best BI Tool in our environment. You can provide your proposal

Question 71:

Please elaborate more on "unique needs of our authorities"? Can you provide some examples of such needs?

Answer 71:

As the information are for Law Enforcement Agencies and treated as classified, this unique detail will be defined with selected vendor.

Question 72:

Please elaborate more (provide an example) on "User should be able to see selected data and also data relations to not selected data and easily switch view on data between those selections and data sets."?

Answer 72:

For example. If we are searching for one person in BI with his personal number 111122222, we need to see all information which are related to his personal number 11112222 such business in his name, etc.

Question 73:

Are those portals based on some of the "standard" portal technologies, such as WebSphere, WebCenter, SharePoint or are they also custom made? "It should also provide javascript API to easily embed analytical content in third party applications (eg. web portal) without use if <iframe> html tag.".

Answer 73:

Page 12 of 12 pages

We have not defined any “standard” of portal technologies in tender dossier, but it shall be custom made and it shall be based on most common platforms such .NET, ASP.NET, Java, MS SQL.

Question 74:

Since the NCBM is interested, in particular, in the system development expertise that contains Dashboards, Visualization of data and which are ranked as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant

– there are several BI related Gartner charts – which platforms are eligible?

Answer 74:

No preferences

Question 75:

Regarding the requirement “In particular it should enable not only analysis consumption but also authoring on mobile devices” – is support for authoring of reports (not only a consumption) on mobile devices a firm requirement?

Answer 75:

In this part we would like the BI tool to be flexible to be used also in Mobile Devices.

Question 76:

Regarding the requirement that the solution can support integration with text files (XML, CSV) based data sources and support “smart search and use of keywords in all the data”, can you please clarify is it requested to support this without the implementation of a local data store (DWH) and ETL platform?

Answer 76:

Smart Search shall work in a Real Time environment without DHW.

Question 77:

Considering the specific environments for development of applications can you please clarify will the contracting authority allow remote access for development and also is remote support allowed?

Answer 77:

All implementation will be in house. The remote support will not be allowed.

Question 78:

Since there are clarification answers which are needed in order to generate a detailed and accurate bid can you please consider the extension of the tender submission deadline for 14 days?

Answer 78:

Amendment A001 has extended the due date for the solicitation through June 30, 2017 (please review the details on FedBizOpps).

Question 79:

The only concern is that the Server that is required in the RFP is a very old version and obsolete.

Answer 79:

The rack-mounted server (and associated spare parts thereto) referenced in the solicitation shows the minimum specifications, the interested parties are not requested to provide an obsolete model but a current model that meets or exceeds these specifications.