Inactive

This is a request for information (RFI) only. Do not submit a proposal or quote. There is no obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services described in this RFI. Your re... This is a request for information (RFI) only. Do not submit a proposal or quote. There is no obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services described in this RFI. Your response to this RFI will be treated only as information for the Government to consider. 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. 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. SiteImprove Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Technology Acquisition Center, is seeking information for VA, Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Office of Digital Media (ODM), concerning the availability of capable contractors to provide specialty software to provide daily crawling of VHA .gov public facing web pages only. It should scan for broken links on web pages and within PDF documents. It should also check for misspellings, 508 compliance, and benchmarks web pages with industry standards. The VA is currently using Siteimprove SaaS software subscription, including the upgraded Elite Support Plan, to perform the above requirements. Please see the Product Description (PD) below and equivalent products will be considered (See Table 1 in the PD). If interested, please provide the following: 1. A capabilities statement that addresses the questions below and draft PD. VA may request additional information later. Technical questions may be submitted as part of your response. A draft version of the requirement is below. 2. Please address the following questions in your RFI response: a. Provide the identification, specifications and operating requirements of the software you would propose. b. Identify US Government agencies and departments, if any, that are presently using the software you propose. c. Specifically address each of the eight identified Salient Characteristics to confirm whether or not the proposed software offers that or a similar feature, function, advantage or benefit. d. With respect to training on your solution, provide your recommendations if training is necessary and the recommended method of delivering training. e. Indicate the estimated amount of time, from the date of award, for your proposed solution to be installed, operational and functional. 3. Has the draft Product Description below provided sufficient detail to describe the software capabilities requirements? ______ YES _______ NO (if No, answer question below) If NO , please provide your comments/recommendations on elements of the draft PWS that may contribute to a more accurate proposal submission and efficient, cost effective effort. 4. Please identify any Authorized Resellers and/or Contract Vehicle (NASA SEWP, GSA, etc.) of which you are a part that can be used to acquire your software solution. Also provide your company s business size and status for each vehicle as designated by the NAICS 334614 and the U.S. Small Business Administration (i.e., Large Business, Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Women-Owned Small Business, Hub Zone Small Business, etc.). Please direct all responses to: Charles Hutchins, Charles.Hutchins1@va.gov, Rene Brown, rene.brown1@va.gov and Debra Clayton, debra.clayton2@va.gov by November 2, 2020, 2:00 PM EST. Please limit your response to 10 pages. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION (PD) DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS VHA Office of Digital Media Siteimprove - Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) VA Enterprise Architecture Repository (VEAR) #2532 Date: 10-23-2020 TAC- 20-00092993 PD Version Number: 5.0 Contents 1.0 PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS 3 1.1 SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS FOR TABLE 1 ITEMS 4 1.2 KICKOFF MEETING 4 1.3 SUPPORT PLAN 4 1.4 OPTION PERIODS ONE to FOUR 5 2.0 VA DATA 5 3.0 INFORMATION SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 5 4.0 NOTICE OF THE FEDERAL ACCESSIBILITY LAW AFFECTING ALL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) PROCUREMENTS (SECTION 508) 5 4.1 SECTION 508 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) STANDARDS 5 4.2 COMPATABILITY WITH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY 6 4.3 ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE TESTING 6 PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS VA requires Information Technology Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription to provide daily crawling of VHA .gov public facing web-pages only; it scans for broken links on web-pages and within PDF documents, checks for misspellings, 508 compliance, and benchmarks web-pages with industry standards. The VA is currently using Siteimprove SaaS software subscription, including the upgraded Elite Support Plan, to perform the above requirements. The Period of Performance for this effort is 12-months, with four (4) 12-month option periods to be exercised at the Government s discretion. The Contractor shall ensure the crawling of sites is provided within 5 business days of the kickoff meeting in Section 1.2. VHA Office of Digital Media will set up all user accounts, consisting of .gov email addresses. The VA user will accept the invite to the platform and create a password. There is no further registration process for VA users and no other information is being collected or shared. Table 1 - The following table contains the SiteImprove brand name product configurations that VA knows would meet the below salient characteristics (see Section 1.1). Should the Offeror propose or equivalent products, the Offeror shall demonstrate that the proposed product(s) meet the salient characteristics in Section 1.1 below: Item Description Part no. Base Period Quantity Option Period Quantity 1 Siteimprove Federal Government Web Package- Quality Assurance, Accessibility, SEO & Policy - 50,000 pages | Usability - 10 Maps | Response - 3 Checkpoints | PDF Checker - 500 PDFs | Academy Plus | Priority | Premium Support Complete Package -50,000 Pages 2 Pkg 2 Pkg 2 Siteimprove Federal Government Web Package-PDF Checker 25,000 pages PDF Checker (25,000 PDFs) 1 Pkg 1 Pkg 3 Siteimprove Federal Government Web Package-Elite Support Plan Upgrade Elite Support 1 Pkg 1 Pkg SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS FOR TABLE 1 ITEMS Functionality Requirements: Scans public facing web-pages daily Scans for broken links and misspellings within web-pages Scans for broken links within PDF documents Ability to request manual scans at any time Ability to change web-page addresses to be scanned as needed Checks for Section 508 compliance, and benchmarks web-pages with industry standards Multiple users allowed without incurring additional cost Provides automated notifications if VA sites go down and/or are inaccessible Support Requirements: Support Center available weekdays and weekends, 8:00AM to 5:00PM, excluding holidays Tickets reviewed and responded to within four (4) Business Hours, with a resolution time of 3 days for Critical issues (where service is down). System uptime of 99.9% Response Rate of three (3) seconds or less, 95% of the time Provides automated notifications if VA sites go down and/or are inaccessible KICKOFF MEETING The Contractor shall attend a kickoff meeting within 5 days of award. The VA Contracting Officer (CO)/Contracting Officer s Representative (COR) will coordinate this meeting. The Contractor shall establish VHA Digital Media account in coordination with VA. The VHA Digital Media Account provide list of groups new/previous users accounts. The Contractor shall establish/reestablish these users accounts within 5 business days. The Contractor shall create the User Dashboard in coordination with VA. SUPPORT PLAN The Contractor shall provide their Commercial Service Level Agreement as part of their proposal, for review by the Government. OPTION PERIODS ONE TO FOUR If any Option Period is exercised by VA, the Contractor shall continue to provide the subscriptions and support of the Siteimprove SaaS. The Contractor shall perform all tasks in Sections 1.0 and 1.3, including all requested deliverables. VA DATA The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product has no direct connections or interfaces to VA systems or network. Users consent to share their data (which may include Personally Identifiable Information [PII] and Protected Health Information [PHI]) directly with the SaaS provider. The SaaS provider shall have published terms and conditions for user consent. VA providers access data in a view-only mode, or with limited functionality per the user s consent. All data processed by SaaS provider shall be owned by SaaS provider/user. INFORMATION SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS The Assessment and Authorization (A&A) requirements do not apply and a Security Accreditation Package is not required NOTICE OF THE FEDERAL ACCESSIBILITY LAW AFFECTING ALL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) PROCUREMENTS (SECTION 508) On January 18, 2017, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) revised and updated, in a single rulemaking, standards for electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by Federal agencies covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as our guidelines for telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment covered by Section 255 of the Communications Act of 1934. The revisions and updates to the Section 508-based standards and Section 255-based guidelines are intended to ensure that information and communication technology (ICT) covered by the respective statutes is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. SECTION 508 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) STANDARDS The Section 508 standards established by the Access Board are incorporated into, and made part of all VA orders, solicitations and purchase orders developed to procure ICT. These standards are found in their entirety at: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule/text-of-the-standards-and-guidelines. A printed copy of the standards will be supplied upon request. Federal agencies must comply with the updated Section 508 Standards beginning on January 18, 2018. The Final Rule as published in the Federal Register is available from the Access Board: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule. The Contractor shall comply with 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements for all electronic ICT and content delivered under this contract. Specifically, as appropriate for the technology and its functionality, the Contractor shall comply with the technical standards marked here: E205 Electronic Content (Accessibility Standard -WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA Guidelines) E204 Functional Performance Criteria E206 Hardware Requirements E207 Software Requirements E208 Support Documentation and Services Requirements COMPATABILITY WITH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY The standards do not require installation of specific accessibility-related software or attachment of an assistive technology device. Section 508 requires that ICT be compatible with such software and devices so that ICT can be accessible to and usable by individuals using assistive technology, including but not limited to screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software. ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE TESTING Deliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the Section 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements standards identified above. The Government reserves the right to test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon Deliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the Section 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements standards identified above. The Government reserves the right to test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon delivery.