Inactive

THIS IS A Sources Sought Notice ONLY. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) intends to award a firm fixed price sole-source contract to Fiserv Federal Systems, Inc., for Fiserv Frontier 8.1 Reconcil... THIS IS A Sources Sought Notice ONLY. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) intends to award a firm fixed price sole-source contract to Fiserv Federal Systems, Inc., for Fiserv Frontier 8.1 Reconciliation software and maintenance support on a sole source basis. However, VA is conducting market research to determine if there are other brands of software available to meet VA s requirements. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes it does not constitute a Request for Quote (RFQ)/Invitation for Bid (IFB)/Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFQ, IFB or RFP in the future. This notice does not commit the VA to contract for any supply or service. Further, the VA is not seeking quotes, bids or proposals at this time and will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this sources sought notice. The VA will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this notice. Submittals will not be returned to the responder. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future RFQ or IFB or RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Governmentwide Point of Entry. It is the responsibility of potential offerors to monitor the Governmentwide Point of Entry for additional information pertaining to this requirement. The anticipated NAICS code is: 513210, Software Publishers with a size standard of $47M. VA currently uses Fiserv software to reconcile Standard Form 224 cash transactions, Defense Finance and Accounting Services payroll transactions, and transactions for the Centrally Billed Account (US Bank, Travel Management Center and FEDTraveler). The Fiserv Frontier 8.1 Reconciliation Software is an existing component of the FSC s Financial Accounting Service (FAS) Match System and is a valuable tool allowing the FSC to reconcile financial data with the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve Banks, Centrally Billed Accounts, and Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS). Below are the minimum requirements and salient characteristics of the required software. If interested and capable of providing an alternate solution, please provide a capabilities statement detailing the specific software and how it meets the full requirement. Please also provide a pricing estimate. Email Responses by: June 29, 2023 Point of contact is Mr. Juan C. Perez, contract specialist at e-mail address juan.perez5@VA.GOV; phone 512-981-4467. Minimum Requirements: Capacity to cover the complete transaction life cycle from order, execution, allocation, confirmation, matching, settlement, reporting. Interoperability with FASMATCH -- ability to handle the following data capacity: Approximately 10,000-50,000 daily loaded transactions A maximum of 100,000 peak loaded daily transactions Transactions retained in active tables approximately 15 days Transactions retained in history tables approximately 24 months Reconciliation of over 2 million transactions monthly / 500,000 transaction matches weekly Compatible with Crystal Reports 2013 Ability to produce reports by attributes on a many data set, i.e., by match ID, unmatched reports, Account Type, SDD. Architecture must allow for the addition of multiple web servers, Java application servers, and database servers. Single Sign-On Configuration Requirements VA uses PIV/Smart Cards for Single Sign Currently WebLogic/IIS is used to accomplish this task and it s easy to setup (based on existing installation) so getting a functional solution in place is less pain/development. NOTE: Java based Applications make it difficult to get Kerberos config files setup correctly and maintain certificates to work with PIV Cards. Data Transformation Capabilities: Flexible Formatting capabilities Provide integrated complex instruments of data that will allow the user to import data sets which then can be used for the reconciliation matching process. Import data in any format from internal sources such as a general ledger system, or externally from Treasury websites or other data sources. Matching Rules: Flexible Matching multi-threaded matching engine to automatically match as many items as possible based on the criteria FASMATCH specifies including one-to-one; one-to-many; and many-to-many items. Match criteria based on any type of monetary item in the system allowing FASMATCH flexibility to tailor match criteria to meet the unique characteristics of VA transaction types, producing a higher auto-matching rate. Workflow Automation. Automated scheduler that will allow jobs to be scheduled to run at any time in addition to multiple jobs running concurrently without compromising system performance. Archiving Capabilities: Capable to comply National Archives and Record Administration guidelines--requires records over 6 years must be maintained. At present, the total number of records in History table totals 86 million records. more than 25 million transactions reside in either the ItemHistory or TradeHistory database tables. System must be able to maintain and manage similar records in the database Scalability. Must be able to handle all transaction and account types in support of cash, check, securities, FX or any other reconciliation process, all on a single platform without the need to create interfaces to separate systems. SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS Data Input. Easy to use solution for loading source data into the system. Focus on automating the import of data, wherever possible; not only providing greater operating efficiency, but improving accuracy as well. Allow to create specific import formats to capture transaction detail from sources such as Banks, General Ledger, and other internal/third party systems. Straight-forward system requirements for data import; accept most file based formats (SWIFT, BAI, EBCDIC, flat ASCII, etc.). Self-sufficient in the creation and management of data import to the application eliminating the need to convert everything to a set format such as BAI. Permanent Audit Trail. Provide a comprehensive audit trail, encompassing all changes made to an item and free-form messages appended to individual items. Transaction history must be available, for review on-line, for all items. Even when reconciled items are purged from the system to history. Full audit trail is maintained for future review, if necessary. Multi-Company/Location Tailoring. A true multi-company solution, offering numerous benefits to an organization with many distinct business units. The ability to designate separate companies or operating units and isolating reconciliation at this level. Scalability. Provides the ability to scale into the multi-millions of daily transactions as part of an enterprise deployment. Scheduling. All import definitions are saved for use on a regular basis to bring data into reconciliation. Scheduler function allows to schedule data import as well as other processing functions (i.e. automatic matching, reporting, reconciliation, purging, exporting). Scheduling lets you take advantage of varying processing windows and complete intensive system processing during non-peak hours - thus freeing up more time for research and resolution of exception items. Data Fields. 60+ fields may be utilized for storage of pertinent transaction data - thus providing a comprehensive picture of each item. Data fields available include, but are not limited to: o Effective date o Account o Class (Transaction type) o Amount o Branch o Department o Reference number o Serial number o Type (issue, paid, we debit, they credit, etc.) o Clerk identification Fields may also be re-titled to better reflect your internal terminology. Additionally, user-type fields are provided to capture accounting system and bank - specific data and this information is immediately available on-line to respond to internal or external inquires. Matching. Matching engine. Matching may be specified at the transaction type level, allowing to tailor matching strategy to meet the unique characteristics of the transaction. Flexibility and ability to define very precise matching rules, resulting in a higher auto-match rate. The matching protocols available include the following: Amount Matching: matches items in a one-to-one manner. Aggregate Matching: matches items in a one-to-many , many-to-one or many-to-many relationship. Tolerance Matching: utilizes a pre-determined date, amount, or percent (%) variance for matching purposes. Automatic generation of tolerance differences (write-offs) against the Accounting System is also provided. Tolerance matching is an ideal solution to address nuisance items (e.g. rounding errors) - allows to dedicate efforts to more meaningful exception types. Multiple Pass Matching: Provide the ability to create multiple passes of match criteria as a means to automatically match a significant number of transactions. This is an ideal automation solution, permitting you to drill down and locate additional system matches - with a goal of dedicating more of your resources to exception item management. Interactive Matching: the ability to match/unmatch (dissolve) items on-line, utilizing system inquiry capabilities including access to full transaction history. Partialing: the ability to balance an unbalanced match group. On certain occasions, a transaction is not resolved completely on one day. Instead, it is resolved by partial transactions over multiple days. Rather than maintaining an entire item outstanding until it is completely resolved, partialing breaks the original transaction down into two parts, so that a portion of the original can be matched while the rest remains outstanding. The parts stand in place of the original item. Splitting: is the process of breaking an outstanding item down into two or more items which equal the original transaction. Splitting differs from partialing in that it takes place on unmatched items where the original item may be broken into many parts. Research and Resolution. Provide the on-line tools necessary to research and resolve open items. Foremost is the ability to search the database of all open items, narrowing your focus using variable search criteria. Full web-based user interface to all pertinent information pertaining to each transaction, including message, and file maintenance records to assist in decision-making. Interactive matching, or the ability to match and unmatch (dissolve) items on-line, is also provided. Users may also tailor their inquiry screen to present the data in a manner that can enhance the decision- making process. Utilizing matching engine, transactions not matching due to a discrepant or missing field, can be automatically assigned exception/break reason codes so users starting their day understanding why certain transactions are exceptions greatly reducing the time to resolve items and, thereby, reducing your risk and exposure. Supports the addition of item messages . Messages are free-form notations that may be appended to individual items. These messages become an important component of the resolution efforts undertaken to resolve exceptions and supplement the history associated with an item. Automatic aging capabilities are supported for marking exception items based upon their age (or other attributes) for purposes of escalation or extraction. File Export. Provide extensive data export capabilities, allowing you to create an export of information, in ASCII format, to feed other related applications. Examples include feeding write-off information to your Accounting System, thereby automating this process and eliminating the manual creation of entry tickets. Security Subsystem. Incorporate a comprehensive and flexible security subsystem that is privileged-based with the ability to restrict access by function such as inquiry, maintenance, matching / unmatching (dissolve), or other functions as required. Support the definition of both internal user accounts and integration with external Single Sign On solutions. User-Friendly System Design. A key consideration, with all functions, including reporting, and screens tailored for ease of use. Web-based product, simplifies training of staff and effective creation of backup staff resources--fully integrated into any other desktop tools.