Inactive

SaaS Solution Request for Information April 22, 2019 Overview The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Healthcare Transformation (OHT) is charged with building and fostering nationwide a... SaaS Solution Request for Information April 22, 2019 Overview The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Healthcare Transformation (OHT) is charged with building and fostering nationwide adoption of VA s social and collaborative online platform VA Pulse to internally market and share VA work and plans, share expertise and insights, provide a virtual environment for VA user engagement, drive transparency and accountability, and build a unified VA which supports virtual collaborative work environments. The Department is seeking information and estimates for a 100% Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that would meet these mission requirements. This is a Request for Information (RFI) only issued for the purpose of conducting market research. Accordingly, this RFI constitutes neither a Request for Proposal (RFP) nor a guarantee that one will be issued by the Government in the future; furthermore, it does not commit the Government to contract for any services described herein. Do not submit a Proposal. The VA is not, at this time, seeking proposals or quotes, and therefore, will not accept, review, or evaluate unsolicited proposals or quotes received in response hereto. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with submission of the information being requested or, reimburse expenses incurred for responses to this RFI. Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary; however, any information received shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the respondent. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted or competition sensitive information contained in their response. This is a request for information and does not obligate the Government in any way, nor does it commit the Government to any specific course of action Background-Current State After a successful pilot at select facilities involving a limited number of community members early in 2014, VA Pulse launched nationally in September 2014. Driven largely by grassroots, word-of-mouth marketing and viral self-registration, the community grew to more than 40,000 VA staff members by September 2015. Expanding its focus to enterprise implementation across VA including the VHA, the Veterans Benefits Administration, and the National Cemetery Administration VA Pulse has now eclipsed 190,000 users as of March 2019. The VA Pulse enterprise-wide social business software/web-based virtual collaboration solution currently provides VA the following capabilities and services. VA Pulse is social business software and virtual web-based collaboration solution hosted in a cloud environment external to VA. The VHA OHT VA Pulse team s approach is integrating marketing, communication, social media-based community management, and technical services for members of the VA Pulse community. The VA Pulse current contract provides supportive services to assist VA Pulse users with optimizing the use of the SaaS software, which is currently composed of Aurea/Jive and Qualtrics SaaS solutions. These supportive services are quite expansive and include project management and reporting, FEDRAMP hosting, subscription/licensing, research and analysis, stakeholder assessment/analysis, associated communications and marketing, strategic planning, content planning, evaluation and metrics, focused target user group support, ongoing website design, website configuration, and enhancement, usability and functionality improvements, system upgrades, testing, web tools, IT coordination and support, branding and materials development, user outreach and onboarding, user orientation, virtual training, user engagement, SaaS website administration and operations, VA Modernization support, content management, online support/ technical assistance/customer service, Government employee training, Jive survey licenses, and website usage and administration analytics. VA Pulse serves also as an internal collaborative community for VA employees built on the Jive social business platform. VA Pulse combines quick access to VA resources with the insights, feedback, and shared work practices and innovations of staff throughout VA. VA Pulse was developed with input from users in the field to overcome common workplace challenges and create new opportunities for connection, collaboration, and innovation. Open to any VA employee, VA Pulse is designed to reduce communication barriers and silo s, encourage information sharing, and facilitate virtual collaboration across the VA enterprise and all Administrations. VA Pulse has enabled thousands of VA employees to maintain consistency for communications and programs initiatives moving forward to serve our nation s Veterans, even during several senior VA leadership transitions. VA Pulse is VA s branded implementation of Jive software, a social business software collaboration platform. The software is hosted on FedRAMP compliant servers and is (will be) accessed through the public internet at vapulse.va.gov. The platform security impact is FISMA Low with three active VA Authority to Operate (ATOs). During the past year, the VA Pulse team s efforts centered heavily around technology and promoting VA Pulse as a virtual work hub. Through these efforts, VA Pulse grew from nearly 124,000 to more than 190,000 community members during the past year creating a true digital work hub for a more collaborative VA. VA Pulse provides a solution enabling VA users to be able to log into a virtual collaboration workspace from outside the VA network (such as from home). VA issued personal desktops, laptops, and mobile devices can access VA Pulse through the public internet, and authentication is handled through the VA s Single Sign-On internal system or email and password login. The VA s National Security Operations Center (NSOC) monitors and inspects traffic through the trusted internet connection between vapulse.va.gov and the FedRAMP server. Data transmitted to and from the VA Pulse site may contain Personally Identifiable Information of VA staff and contractors and must be encrypted in transit and encrypted at rest. Other security controls apply to the FISMA low system and are documented and managed through the VA s ATO process. General Company Information It is requested that all companies interested in participating in this effort please note their interest and submit a capability statement and associated Rough-Order-of-Magnitude (ROM) cost estimates demonstrating their ability to meet these requirements and/or submit questions that they may have regarding the RFI and ROM Request. Please note the business size for North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code and indicate if you are a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB). You will not be entitled to payment for direct or indirect costs that you incur in responding to this RFI. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the VA in developing its acquisition strategy. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government does not intend to pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI. Please provide the following information specific to your company: Company Name POC Information CAGE/DUNS Socioeconomic Type For SDVOSB/VOSB firms, indicate whether at least 50% of the cost of performance incurred is planned to be expended for employees of your concern or employees of other eligible SDVOSB/VOSB firms. Process for Industry/Capability Statement and ROM Estimate Requests Submit a capability statement and associated high-level Rough-Order-of-Magnitude (ROM) budgetary estimate(s) describing your company s approach and ability to meet the requirements in this RFI. The capability statement shall be limited to 10 pages. The ROM(s) should be no more than one page for each ROM, based on the definitions of as-a-Service models above from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and VA, and a separate ROM for any managed support services . Given the considerations set forth above, the VA is seeking industry feedback on available web- based social business (SB) collaboration Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud-based services and solutions to achieve the envisioned Information Technology (IT) efficiencies, reliability, interoperability, and improvement in secure end-to-end performance through the acquisition of commercially available cloud services. This Request for Information (RFI) invites industry to submit information, comments, capabilities, and recommendations for potential development and implementation of near-term acquisition vehicles and corresponding business models to facilitate the VA s Enterprise Social and Collaboration Cloud Service. The Government is interested in understanding if there are products and services available that can meet the requirements, i.e. VA is not necessarily looking for a one-product solution, as long as the solution(s) put forth are considered 100% SaaS products, per NIST definitions and to include any necessary managed support services. Industry is encouraged to provide information about products that can meet one or more capabilities described below. Please answer the following questions and respond to desired capabilities, which are broken out by subject area. Depending on the kinds of offerings you provide, some questions may be inapplicable to your company; therefore, partial responses may be provided, but complete responses to all questions are preferred. VA is seeking industry feedback to determine if a standalone SaaS social business software (SBS) solution can satisfy the VA Pulse capabilities identified in Paragraph E. If a SaaS solution cannot meet all requirements (not preferred) please specify what alternative strategies (i.e. PaaS, COTS, managed support services) would need to be integrated with your proposed SaaS solution. Companies responding to this request for information should also attach a separate one-page Rough-Order-of-Magnitude (ROM) estimate(s) for their recommended SaaS solution(s). If the responding company recommends an additional as-a-Service model to meet requirements, please provide a separate ROM for these additional service models beyond a SaaS solution. VA defines a SaaS solution per NIST guidelines as stated below from VA Directive 6008. VA defines Software as a Service (SaaS) in accordance with the National Institute of Standards and Technology s (NIST) guidelines (e.g. cannot be hosted on the VA network and no software can be downloaded from the service provider) SaaS solutions are considered non-information technology per VA Policy. (A Primary ROM for 100% SaaS-only solution is preferred.) If applicable for the solution presented, VA defines Other service models used in VA s IT production environment such as infrastructure- (IaaS), platform- (PaaS), and telecommunications-as-a-service, as defined by National Institute of Standards and Technology s (NIST) guidelines, that require VA maintenance and/or interfaces to VA IT production environment, applications or data stores are considered information technology. Any middleware or interfaces are considered information technology. Please attach a secondary ROM if your company s solution would utilize any as-a-Service platform beyond SaaS. If applicable for the solution presented, please provide a separate ROM for managed services to support efficient and effective use of the SaaS SBS solution as well as support current defined managed support service needs listed in this RFI for the current Pulse solution. Desired Future-State Capabilities to be addressed in the response: For future VA Pulse solutions, the VA desires the following capabilities: A SaaS-only social business software (SBS) and virtual workplace collaboration and engagement solution which is FedRAMP-authorized and delivers a total interactive intranet cloud enterprise solution for the VA and its Administrations A SaaS-only SBS FedRAMP authorized total SaaS solution that interoperates and works seamlessly with the VA s Veterans Experience Office Experience Management solution to provide feedback to improve the employee s experience and customer/Veteran experience and interaction with VA work. A SaaS-only SBS solution which can monitor and comply with various security policies within the FedRAMP-authorized Software as a Service (SaaS) product cloud-based environment. A SaaS-Only SBS solution that has configuration-based ability to utilize and transfer existing data from the current Aurea Jive Software solution into the vendor s SaaS Solution. A SaaS-Only SBS Managed Support Services approach which provides an Enterprise-wide on-site and virtual training program for the SaaS total solution and; provides marketing, user outreach and communication support. A SaaS-Only SBS solution which provides social business users real-time usage, feedback, and web usage pattern analytics, individual reports, and dashboards presented in real-time every dashboard reacts and loads relevant data as you click. A SaaS-Only SBS solution which provides the capability to generate Website/Usage/Performance Analytics easily rendered into Adobe and Microsoft Office Suite reports (e.g. Google Analytics) A SaaS-Only SBS solution which demonstrates effectiveness towards increasing employee engagement, improving solution adoption popularity and boost trust in the solution within the organization using effective internal marketing campaigns and virtual community management. A SaaS-Only SBS which incorporates a Single Point of Contact between the Service Provider and the Users. A typical Service Desk manages Incidents and Service Requests, and handles communication with the users A SaaS-Only SBS and Managed Support Services which provides release management to include at a minimum testing, validation, verification, acceptance, and configuration management processes for platform changes A SaaS-Only SBS and Managed Support Services which provide technical management design and support, content management design and support, visual/human centered design, and marketing support for SaaS solution users and communities (groups) across the VA. A SaaS-Only SBS and Managed Support Services which provides the supportive project management related activities to plan, schedule, manage, and monitor the performance risks/issues mitigation/resolution of the implementation from kick-off, transitions, to termination. The SaaS solution must connect the VA and Administration (VHA in particular) communities as well as all VA employees in a business social network that strengthens relationships, improves access to information, and delivers tailored solutions to both practitioners and other VA employees that interoperates seamlessly with their government furnished technology and software, particularly Microsoft products and SharePoint. The solution(s) must support an enterprise-wide implementation of this collaborative platform for approximately 300,000 in number. While the intention is to make the system available to all VA employees, the actual number of licensed users will be driven by user engagement and organic growth of the user base. As part of the implementation, the contractor shall foster field engagement, provide and assist in onboarding and education of users, perform community facilitation and engagement, perform content moderation and monitoring, provide website and SaaS solution design and support consultation, and provide marketing and communication support for our FedRAMP-authorized Software-as-a-Service provider for hosting an Interactive Intranet cloud enterprise solution that provides social collaboration. The solution shall be interoperable with an Experience Management solution that is currently planned for use in VA. The contractor shall employ a FedRAMP authorized Software as a Service (SaaS) solution(s) to include licensing provisions, pilot testing, support and hosting services to ensure continuity and retain momentum gained to date. The Software as a Service (SaaS) solution should include FedRAMP definition and architecture and Section 508 compliance, which take full advantage of cloud computing benefits to maximize capacity utilization, improve Information Technology (IT) flexibility and responsiveness, and minimize immediate and life-cycle cost of any proposed contract. Additional Specific Future-State Capability Questions to address in the response: Please specify if your proposed solution is currently FEDRAMP certified. If not, are you willing to get your solution FEDRAMP certified? If so, please provide a notional timeline. Is your current solution 508 compliant? If not 508 compliant today, where are you in the process to get to 508 compliance? Please describe in detail what would be required to transition from VA s current solution to your new proposed solution? At a minimum please account for data migration/normalization, retaining, etc. Platform Architecture Describe your software-as-a service solution. Describe how your solution is will interface with the current Aurea JIVE solution. Provide details on how your proposed SaaS solution would support utilizing existing Pulse data in a new SaaS-only solution with minimal disruption to end-users while maintaining continuity of existing VA Pulse functionality and services, as well as overall confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Include licensing tiers and/or cost if applicable. Please provide a detailed listing and vendor source of Application Program Interfaces (API s) that your solution would use to meet the requirements stated in this RFI. Given the size of our website (approximately three terabytes of content to migrate), please describe a typical web and data migration and associated transition plan for your SaaS solution. How would you migrate us and how long would it take to migrate our existing site content to the proposed solution? Please include: time frames (how long does a typical migration of this size take?), resources, and any software or technology needed to perform these tasks. Based on your solution what is your current SLA availability? (e.g., 99.X%) How does VA retrieve/access its data in your proposed SaaS solution? Describe your policies, roles, and responsibilities regarding data ownership. Please describe how your SaaS solution natively supports mobile devices. Please answer whether the capabilities listed in the following table are present and meet the intended requirements as stated in this RFI for the SaaS-only SBS solution. Primary Category Sub-Category Capability of SaaS-Only Solution Present Primary Function Social Collaborative Tool Primary Function Provide virtual centralized work-hub for VA employees Accessibility Provides single sign-on Accessibility Available internally and externally to the VA network Accessibility Mobile Device Account Management Role based account management Account Management Account Administrator able to create and maintain user accounts Capabilities Create / Upload Announcements across the platform Capabilities Upload and download artifacts within the platform (word/excel etc.) Capabilities Create and edit documents using native document editor Capabilities Create and manage personal blogs Capabilities Create polls and gather/manage responses "Polling" feature Capabilities Creates communities and allows users to upload / manage content Capabilities Project Management including tasks and timelines assigned to individual users Capabilities Platform search functions Capabilities Display trending content (show most active content and people) Capabilities Create and display activity streams based on user updates Capabilities Ability for users to "follow" and "unfollow" groups/content Capabilities Ability for users to "follow" and "unfollow" other users and connect with colleagues and subject matter experts Capabilities Help desk availability Content Management Users able to create and manage content Content Management Contracted support for group and content creation Content Management Tag and share content Content Management Create private content Content Management Send and receive messages Content Management Send email notifications and participation without site login using email integration Content Management Create ideas for users to vote on Content Management Allow Administrators to flag content Content Management Video upload and sharing, with embedded player Discussion / Forums Create and manage open and private discussion threads Discussion / Forums Allow users to post comments / questions on thread Discussion / Forums Allow users to post standalone questions for assistance from the community Document Collaboration Create workspaces that allow multiple users to collaborate on a document or project Data Export Allow users to download content Create and Manage Groups Create / update / delete groups within the platform Create and Manage Groups Define group access Create and Manage Groups Manage group content / calendars / tasks Main POCs: Joe Pignataro, Contract Specialist Joseph.Pignataro@va.gov, 732-795-1115, Asif Damji, Contracting Officer- Asif.Damji@va.gov, 732-440-9674. Please submit your responses through email to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer at Joseph.Pignataro@va.gov and Asif.Damji@va.gov. Responses must be received by 12:00PM, NOON, EST on May 6, 2019