Web to Print

Contracting Office Address

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Administration, Division of Administrative Services, 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Room 1830, Washington, DC, 20212, UNITED STATES

Description

The Branch of Print, Mail and Records Management (BPMRM) is evaluating Web to Print solutions for their in-house Print Shop.  To more effectively manage the ordering and production process for printed materials, BPMRM intends to acquire software that will allow BLS staff members to submit print jobs electronically.  For purposes of obtaining the best value on behalf of the Federal Government in this acquisition, an evaluation of industry availability will be conducted through the use of this Request for Information (RFI).  Note: RFI responses will NOT be shared with other industry suppliers and will solely be used as part of the acquisition planning process.

Disclaimer: The following requested information to be provided is for planning purposes only and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), nor does it restrict the Government to a specific acquisition approach.  The government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the solicited information.  Pricing information is not being sought at this juncture. Submission of pricing information at this point may be grounds for disqualification from any future competition.  Visual aids, e.g. screenshots that help exhibit how the software meets our requirements are strongly recommended to be included in response to this RFI.

Requirements

The server platform that BLS is currently supporting is Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6.1.  Please consider this when presenting Web to Print solutions. The print shop is currently using the following machines: the Xerox Nuvera 144, Xerox 700 Digital Color Press, and the Xerox DocuColor 8000 Digital Color Press.

In addition to the discussion of the software's relation to the above server platform, a series of questions regarding capability must be answered.  Please reference the question number with each response.

1. Company Name, Company Address, Point of Contact, Telephone Number, e-mail Address, Size of your Organization (i.e. Large Business, Small Business).

2. Responses should identify your organization's experience and capability with regard to Web to Print software.  Explain key elements to your Web to Print package.

3. Provide a description of the capability of your solution to provide active directory-user authentication.

4. Provide a short description of the system architecture, including the software, hardware, its ability to be placed on an on-site server, and data security controls.

5. Explain how the process of maintenance would be done via remote access to the system.

6. Provide a description of the how customers submit print jobs and the options available to customers (document preview, finishing options, job tracking). 

7. Provide a description of the production dashboard that staff would use to process jobs.  Visual aids are encouraged to demonstrate capability. 

8. Responses should identify any current or potential future regulatory, and hardware/software security concerns.

9. Explain any inventory management aspects of the Web to Print solution.

10. Provide a brief discussion regarding utilizing integrated contact lists.

11. Explain the availability, format, and potential uses of reporting tools and whether they can be uploaded into common software (i.e. spreadsheet or word processing formats).  Visual aids are encouraged to demonstrate capability. 

12.  Indicate capability to provide integrated order status notifications.

13. Is the software being used by other government (Federal, State or Local) organizations or agency?  If so, who.

14. Indicate whether you are available to provide demonstrations of this software.

15. Address whether remote users (users outside the confines of the location housing the server) can submit print jobs.

Structure of Responses

Contractors should respond to this RFI by e-mail (only) to jones.elliott@bls.gov. Limit response to a maximum of 20 pages, 12 point font.     

Contact Information

The Point of Contact (POC) for this RFI is as follows:

Elliott Jones
Contract Specialist
Branch of Procurement, Property, and Contract Management

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Phone: (202) 691-6049

Email: jones.elliott@bls.gov

Please submit electronic responses (via email) to the POC above no later than 6:00 PM on March 21, 2012.