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US Department of Veterans Affairs Request for Information/Sources Sought 36C10B21Q0069 Department of Veterans Affairs, Authoritative Human Resources and Personnel Data System THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INF... US Department of Veterans Affairs Request for Information/Sources Sought 36C10B21Q0069 Department of Veterans Affairs, Authoritative Human Resources and Personnel Data System THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)/Sources Sought in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 15.201(e) to conduct market research for information and planning purposes only. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes it does not constitute a Request for Quotation (RFQ) or a promise to issue an RFQ in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the Government is not, at this time, seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested vendor s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFQ, if any is issued. It is the responsibility of the responders to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement. Requirements: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics (OPAL), Technology Acquisition Center (TAC) is seeking information from industry to potentially support an enterprise-wide VA Authoritative Human Resources (HR) and Personnel Data System (HR·Smart). In 2016, the VA, Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO), Enterprise Human Resources Information Services (EHRIS) Directorate delivered a new core human resources personnel system by implementing an Oracle PeopleSoft platform through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) HR Line of Business (HR LOB) HR Shared Service Center (SSC). Interested parties are invited to review the information provided and to submit comments or feedback/suggestions and answer the questions provided below. The VA HR community consists of roughly 5,000 HR professionals that process over one million personnel actions a year, to include approximately 392,000 mass change pay actions and an average of approximately 27,000 personnel actions per pay period. The VA HR community supports 45,000 Managers, 150,000 uncompensated personnel (e.g., healthcare professional trainees and researchers) with the release of the Workers Without Compensation (WOC) capability within HR·Smart and is forecasted to expand beyond 400,000 employees with the Employee Self Service capability. The VA expects to see transaction counts increase as personnel numbers and capabilities grow. Continued standardization of HR Information Technology (IT) across the VA enterprise is necessary to streamline execution of the Human Capital (HC) lifecycle and employee experience and to improve VA s ability to compete across the public and private recruitment and talent acquisition landscape. HR IT s mission is to align with the Federal Human Capital Business Reference Model (HCBRM) to provide reliable and automated human capital services throughout the employee lifecycle. All data generated by the Core HR system shall be maintained within the system, and not purged. This data shall also be transmitted through the VA middleware (HRPAS) to the VA data warehouse. HISTORICAL: HR·Smart replaced the legacy Personnel and Accounting Integrated Data (PAID) system which was an automated payroll/HR system built in 1962 on Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) and IBM mainframe computers. PAID was a part of the VA s HR IT ecosystem consisting of multiple applications that supported the Department s Human Capital (HC) business functions for approximately 325,000 employees at the time. The set of siloed applications existed on disparate platforms and vary in scope, size, complexity, and support mechanisms. CURRENT ENVIRONMENT: HR·Smart is a modern, up-to-date Oracle PeopleSoft Human Capital Management solution that serves as VA s official system of record for HR data transactional processing. HR·Smart is used by all VA HR Offices throughout the Department for performing over 1M HR transactions per year. The data from HR·Smart is also used by VA s current payroll provider supporting biweekly payroll processing. HR·Smart also interfaces with over 70 systems providing personnel data in support of identity and access management systems; on-boarding, hiring, and credentialing of employees; and health, and financial management systems across VA. VA s HR IT environment is evolving from an outdated, customized, and legacy functionality that uses different workflows and business processes to an enterprise, modernized, and integrated platform with standardized workflows and business processes. The goal is to increase efficiency and effectiveness for VA HR practitioners and leadership through the elimination of manual processes, and improved integrity of data. The goal of this RFI is to provide a procurement framework that may be used for a potential and subsequent acquisition. Nothing in this document should be considered binding or in any way obligate VA to perform. VA welcomes comments on any part of this document. Information obtained in response to this RFI will be used within VA as market research information, and will not be disclosed outside of the agency. Be advised that set-aside decisions may be made based on the information provided in response to this RFI. Responses should be as complete and informative as possible. THE ASK: EHRIS has a 5-year high-level Notional Roadmap that depicts an integrated HR platform managed by EHRIS on behalf of the VA enterprise. The systems that ride on this platform are in various stages of development, from new requirements discovery, through sustainment, to end-of-life. The VA is looking for innovative, future-focused, integrated IT solutions and feedback from questions posed below in order to potentially transform its existing HR IT systems to support modernization of VA s delivery of the Federal HCBRM to include: Human Capital as a Service/Software-as-a-Service Mobile Applications Core HR Manpower Self Service Capabilities Talent Acquisition Talent Development Succession Management Career Planning Separation and Retirement Time and Attendance Performance Management Employee Benefits Integrated Payroll Solution Process Automation Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Machine Learning (ML) Artificial Intelligence (AI) A single, integrated employee data record US Federal HR Data standardization Data integration with multiple systems inside and outside the VA QUESTIONS FOR VENDORS: Based on the above data points, the Government is seeking Industry input based on the below questions/parameters to further refine its approach and information on potential future solutions. Please provide a written response to the following. What would your proposed solution(s) or capabilities be that are currently being utilized across the private and federal HR space to support HR IT needs? What other tools/capabilities are available that are not on the list above? What, in your opinion, is the future of HR IT solutions supporting the employee lifecycle of an Agency such as the VA in next 5 years? 10 years? How are the current/future solutions addressing a modern look/feel and an improved customer experience? Do you have expertise/knowledge into how other federal organizations are modernizing core HR systems to meet the requirements for Integrated Pay? Recommendations for transitioning existing PeopleSoft core HR functionality to a new platform if that is the best path forward for VA? What experience/lessons learned can you share for approaching a transition like this? Is there a critical path to successful implementation/transition? Discuss how proposed potential solutions could provide interoperability, scalability, and flexibility for other/future systems/capabilities. Elaborate on your current Service Desk best practices and metrics. How is/are industry and/or other Federal agencies addressing Data Management? What training and communication methodologies are you using? What change management tactics are being used when addressing end user resistance? Discuss risks and mitigation strategies the Government may encounter if moving to a new platform? Discuss risks and mitigation strategies for setting up new or duplicating existing interfaces or migrating data? Discuss risks and mitigation strategies for transitioning/leveraging the current Core HR solution. What pricing mechanism (FFP/TM/Hybrid) for both proposed services and licenses would you recommend and how would your recommendation help the VA mange scope, value delivered, and quality? Please also provide adequate detail into your proposed licensing structure (Enterprise (to include definition of Enterprise), seat licensing, perpetual, etc.) Given VA s current posture, what would you propose as an optimal contract structure to meet these requirements? What type of information do you need to build a response that meets the needs of the VA? What lack of information would prevent you from bidding? Describe the industry best practices associated with agile and phased implementations to accelerate solution delivery while ensuring the solution meets end-user requirements and is a sustainable, high-quality solution. Discuss current industry roadmaps for future HR IT tool and capability development. Describe metrics and success measurement tools applicable to this project. How would potential solutions successfully meet federal requirements for accessibility and information security? What might be some challenges? Would you be able/willing to provide a verbal capability briefing or potential virtual demonstration to the Government and allow for Q&A with a Government panel? Does your proposed solution include external hosting? If so, is it currently FedRAMP compliant? If so, to what level? If able, please provide a Rough Order of Magnitude with basis of estimate. Identify existing best in class contract vehicles (GSA, NASA SEWP, T4NG etc.) in which you are a contract holder? RFI SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Please submit your RFI response to the above questions in accordance with the following: 1) No more than 20- pages and no more than 5 MB. 2) Mark your response as Proprietary Information if the information is considered business sensitive. 3) NO MARKETING MATERIALS ARE ALLOWED AS PART OF THIS RFI.  The Government will not review any other information or attachments included, that are in excess of the 20-pages limit.  The Government will not review generic marketing materials that do not address the information contained herein or the attached documents. All interested parties shall respond no later than 4:00 PM EST on January 14, 2021 via e-mail. If you have any questions on the RFI, please submit via e-mail as well. Please note 36C10B21Q0069 in the subject line of your response. Point of Contact for this RFI is Contract Specialist, Alma Aliaj, Email address: Alma.Aliaj@va.gov, and Contracting Officer, Michael Weckesser, Email address: Michael.Weckesser@va.gov.