RFP 2015-08, PMIS Migration

Supplier Questions/Answers

Supplier questions, (Virginia responses):

October 10, 2014 posting

1)Is the requirement to have a Windows target is a "Must Have"? It is not a “must have”, however: Refer to Section 1 of the RFP; the scope includes the following, “…migrate all Virginia Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) applications from their current Unisys mainframe environment to a Windows server / SQL Server database environment within the Commonwealth’s secure network.” Any change to that would be a change to the scope of the RFP, requiring an amendment or re-issue. We are not considering that at this time.

2)Is there any conversion of MAPPER code in this RFP? No. Any reference to MAPPER or other utilities in the RFP represent tools that are used to facilitate the maintenance and support of application code and data and therefore do not require conversion.

3)Has application documentation for the system(s) to be migrated been updated? Application is over thirty years old. Documentation is limited. Programs that are being updated have changes documented in the code.

4)Can source code for the systems be made available to vendors? The vendor awarded the contract will be able to see / review the source code. Short-listed vendors may be allowed to use/see some code for a proof-of-concept.

5)Is software purchase part of this RFP? No and no software pricing is needed.

6)Is there a preferred version/vendor for the Cobol used for the target systems? There is no preference.

7)Does DHRM have applications in the target languages? DHRM has C#.Net applications. DHRM does not have applications with COBOL that runs in the .Net environment.

8)What vendor work must be done on site? DHRM needs the application data to remain on the Commonwealth of Virginia (CoVA) network where it currently resides. Vendors can propose options for where the application code is translated.

9)The resulting contract can be used by other Virginia public bodies. What services can these other bodies get from the contract resulting from this RFP? Services under the resulting contract will be limited by the scope statement. Refer to RFP Section 1.A.

10)We are seeking confirmation from you that the guidance regarding the pricing proposal reportedly heard by the Supplier reps at the bidders conference is indeed valid. Please indicate whether the following statement (admittedly paraphrased) reflects accurate guidance: “VITA understands that the vendor pricing submitted with this response may reflect Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) pricing versus firm and final. Submitting this kind of ROM pricing in response to this RFP is permissible.”This is essentially correct. The only pricing suppliers need to submit with their proposals is that identified in RFP Section 8, which is basically labor rates. During the pre-proposal conference there was discussion around whether or not suppliers should submit pricing for the overall project as well. VITA stated that suppliers may wish to also submit an estimate of the project cost along with their proposal, but it is not required.

11)Section 1.A, page 4. Please identify the supplier performance remedies the Commonwealth intends to put in place on this contract.We expect to address this during contract negotiations. Suppliers are free to propose offers with their RFP responses.

12)Section 3 and Table 2. “SUPPLIER SHOULD PLACE ITS NAME, not “VITA”, IN EACH FILE NAME (e.g., ABC Corp PMIS Migration Transmittal.doc).” As per this instruction in the RFP, our understanding is that the CD submission (in particular, CD 1) should include each section as a separate MS Word file; with the filename ending with “Transmittal”, “Executive Summary” etc.? Please confirm.Correct.

13)Section 3 and Section 5. In Section 3 (Proposal Format), Table 2, there is a section title known as “Appendices” which mentions that we can include “optional information” and Appendix B in this section. In Section 5 of the RFP, it mentions that that we can use column B to cross-reference to “attachments” for detailed information. Are these “attachments” different from the “appendices”?CD1 should include additional documents (attachments, appendices, etc.) as needed, including any cross-referenced document from Section 5.

14)Section 4, page 13. List of core and subsystems – is this the comprehensive list or are there more that should be considered in scope?(Note: there are no requirements in Section 4) The systems are PMIS, BES, IPP, EPR, Wage3 and WN. These are the ones listed on page 13 &14 of section 4 and are the comprehensive list of core and subsystems.

15)Section 4, page 14. Provide a concise list or accurate count of all reports in production currently that will be part of the acceptance criteria.(Note: there are no requirements in Section 4) – Reports are produced by items listed in Appendix D. The assumption is that if the items in Appendix D are migrated correctly, then the reports would be produced in the new environment.

16)Section 4, page 14. What is the volume of data in the current system in terms of file storage and records?(Note: there are no requirements in Section 4) Approximately 8 Gigabytes

17)Section 4, page 14. “The transaction turnaround time norm for both direct Unisys and web-based (Employee Direct) initiated transactions is less than one second; and this norm is currently maintained even during periods of heavy system usage.” Is this the only operational performance criteria to be met? Appendix C lists the transactions, but how is the timing calculated; i.e. is the timing measured for the committal of the transaction? How was the timing captured and is network latency (employee direct web-based) taken into effect?(Note: there are no requirements in Section 4) Vendors should indicate the methods they will use to calculate response times and how they will produce comparable response times to what DHRM currently experiences.

18)Section 4, page 17. SIMAN provides many functions. Can the State provide a list of functions that are currently implemented within the PMIS system?(Note: there are no requirements in Section 4) SIMAN is used to establish security to access the mainframe UNISYS. It involves assigning a user-id and password to each authorized user to access UNISYS applications. It is also used for user maintenance (create/change/delete).

19)Section 4, Present Situation, page 18. How many roles are we looking at for this training effort? What are the role responsibilities? How many people in each role? Where are the ITECH staff located in relation to the training facilities? (Note: there are no requirements in Section 4) Vendor should plan to train DHRM technical support staff so that they can maintain the migrated application and database. Vendor should expect 3 to 5 DHRM technical resources. DHRM desires that these resources be able to work / learn from them during the migration as well. All ITECH staff will be located at DHRM offices.

20)Section 4, Present Situation, page 18. ITECH staff will take over the applications(Note: there are no requirements in Section 4) Are they COBOL staff? DHRM staffing will depend on the vendor’s proposed solution. DHRM ITECH intends to have resources knowledgeable on the proposed technologies. What level of experience do they have with newer Tech i.e.OOA&D, .net, etc.The answer depends on the solution / technology that the vendor proposes.

21)Section 4, diagram 1/2, page 19-20. Diagram 1 shows two file creation icons going to the FTP server and one file creation icon going to a [file] server. Diagram 2 no longer has a file server. Please provide additional details. (Note: there are no requirements in Section 4)Presently files are being transferred via FTP from the UNISYS mainframe to our Windows .NET Environment. After migration there is no need to transfer files since they will already be in the .NET environment.

22)Section 4, diagram 1/2, page 19-20. Diagram 1/2 show Web Services (middleware / web server). What functionality do the Web Services provide?What language are they coded in? How many applications utilize the Web Services?Out of scope

23)Section 4, diagram 1/2, page 19-20. Diagrams show HuRMan Web Portal has two-way communication/data transfer to File Server (FTP?). Does the HuRMan data update the current system and the FTP is accessed as PUT and GET? Out of scope

24)Section 4, diagram 1/2, page 19-20. What mechanism is used for File Upload Process to Data Warehouse? Out of scope

25)Section 4, diagram 1/2, page 19-20. Will the Nightly File Splitting process be controlled by the Scheduler Server? What mechanism is used now? Out of scope

26)Section 5, General. Where will the new infrastructure be located?At the CESC in Chester, VA.

27)Section 5, General. Does the Commonwealth require vendor resources to be onsite for the duration of this effort?Yes. The vendor’s project manager will be on-site. Additionally any work performed on/with data must be done on-site at DHRM offices.If so where will this team be located?At DHRM offices in Richmond, Virginia.

28)Section 5.A, row 4, page 23. COV ITRM SEC 501 Security Standard (and referenced 502) has requirements for the agencies. Have any of the activities, documentation, and/or data classification been established?Yes. The security audit and its definition are initially done by the agency – the requirements of the agency need to be known since this will be an embedded acceptance criterion. Yes.

29)Section 5.B, row 6, page 24. What are the peak daily volume projections for the next 5 years?900 simultaneous users.

30)Section 5.B, page 29. If Schema changes are required will the Commonwealth issue the appropriate change orders to support this additional work?Yes

31)Section 5.C.18, page 32. What volume of data is processed by @SORT? What is the maximum number of records?Up to 100,000 records

32)Section 5.C.21, page 33. Is data in DMS encrypted?No. Is this a requirement for SQL Server?Yes.

33)Section 5.C.24, page 34. What encryption protocols are currently in use on the PMIS system?n/aFor what purposes?n/a For Authorization control?n/a

34)Section 5.F.9, page 36-37. “Will your solution migrate DHRM's existing mainframe applications to run as web applications in a server-based environment with robust transaction turnaround time norm(s)?” Are there specific acceptance criteria related to transaction timing? DHRM is interested in what vendor’s solution can provide.

35)Section 5, item 7, page 36. “Most of the current batch processes include the FTP of output files from the mainframe to a DHRM FTP server as part of the ECL run. Files are FTP'd with a date extension on the filename.” Will the server running FTP be included in the scope of this RFP? No. Confirm the FTP is not SFTP or FTPS. N/a Does the FTP server use AD for authentication? n/a Does the current DHRM solution only interact with FTP in a put manner; i.e. no get or delete operations? n/a

36)Section 2.R Timetable, page 10. Considering the last date for submission of questions is October 13 and the proposal submission deadline is Oct 20, would the State consider extending the proposal submission by two weeks as there may be answers provided by the agency that may materially impact vendor solution approaches or estimated effort. The extension would allow vendors to appropriately assimilate the consequences of any State responses into their proposal. There are no plans to extend the due date at this time. We will address the potential need for an extension if a situation arises.

37)General; Location. Should off-site work on DHRM code and data be kept in the United States?Yes and data must be kept with Commonwealth of Virginia (COVA) network (See RFP Amendment 1)

38)General, Client References. Do all three required client references need to be for work performed by theprime supplier, or can we provide references from our sub-contractor who is an integral part of the prime vendor’s team and solution being proposed? Suppliers are free to propose as they choose.

39)The contract document is Section 18 R list a number of Exhibits, are these available for review, at least in template form?Not at this time. Those Exhibits will be addressed during contract negotiations.

40)Can Supplier utilize offshore resources (FTE of Supplier) in the delivery of our service to VITA?Refer to RFP Amendment 1.

41)Will VITA provide Test Scripts / Test Data to the selected Vendor?The vendor awarded the contract will be able to see / review the source code. Short-listed vendors may be allowed to use/see some code for a proof-of-concept.

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