Business continuity software alternative

Introduction: DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI)/sources sought is to identify capable sources for the requirements outlined in the description below. This notice does not constitute a solicitation (Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation) or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. No solicitation is available at this time. Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. All information submitted in response to this notice is voluntary, and the Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any costs incurred in developing information provided to the Government. This RFI/source sought is issued solely for informational and planning purposes. Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice is strictly voluntary. This notice is based upon the best information available and is subject to future modification. Statement of Need The NSSC is seeking ideas from industry on practices and solutions for strengthening the business continuity posture of its lines of business (LOB). The NASA Share Service Center (NSSC) provisions its institutional services through four primary LOBs: Procurement (PR), Financial Management (FM), Human Resources (HR), and Enterprise Services (ES). The NSSC is exploring ways to strengthen business continuity for these LOBs so they remain highly available to support the Agency's critical business needs during periods of unplanned service disruptions. Implementing business continuity improvements that can sustain critical services during outage incidents will enhance the resiliency of NSSC critical services. Market research obtained through this Request for Information (RFI) will assist NASA in determining the extent to which such capabilities exist in the Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) marketplace for implementation into the production environment. Background The NSSC relies upon the ServiceNow cloud-based application to enable workflow automation and process fulfillment activities within each LOB. HR Case Management holds the details of HR requests, such as requests for information, and HR processes, such as onboarding and offboarding. The graphic below illustrates the growth in usage and customer base of ServiceNow modules over time. 2013 The NSSC made its initial ServiceNow investment in 2013 with Information Technology Service Automation (ITSA), through which it implemented the following capabilities: Incident, Problem, Change, Release, Asset, Request, Cost, Project Portfolio Management, and Risk Management applications. 2015 The NSSC implemented a new sourcing model for enterprise-level Information Technology (IT) services. The strategy was initially identified as the NASA Information Technology Integrated Infrastructure Program (I3P) that is managed within the Office of the CIO (OCIO). The End User Services Office (EUSO) coordinated the implementation for Enterprise Service Request System (ESRS) and Order to Pay with the NSSC. The EUSO manages and implements End User Services NASA-wide within the OCIO. The NSSC developed and configured the ESRS and the Order to Pay services as part of the Agency Consolidated End-User Services (ACES) and NASA Integrated Communication Services (NICS) contracts. The ESRS consolidates catalog items (i.e., in essence, service items within the respective contracts) from the NICS and ACES contracts into one system in ServiceNow to simplify ordering. The Order to Pay service consolidates duplicative invoicing activities from NICS and ACES into a single ServiceNow invoicing function. Both ESRS and Order to Pay are implemented in ServiceNow within the ITSA module. The service enhancement enables catalog service ordering and invoicing through ServiceNow. 2016 The NSSC expanded the use of ITSA to the NexGen contract, through which contract personnel support the NSSC Information Technology (IT) department and Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) that transitioned to the NSSC. Additionally, this expanded functionality supported external customers, including NASA Headquarters (HQ), Glenn Research Center (GRC), and the Communications Service Office (CSO) within the OCIO. The NSSC implemented the Case Management module for the services that transitioned to the NSSC: Human Resources Services (HR), Financial Management Services (FM), and Procurement Services (PR). Additionally, the case management module provided functionality to the Support Operations Directorate (SOD) customers via the Enterprise Service Desk (ESD) - Customer Contact Center (CCC). Through the purchase of the ITSA Unlimited module, the NSSC added additional functionality for Demand Management, Resource, Agile Development, Test Management, Audit, Policy & Compliance Management, Vendor Risk, Field Service Management, Legal & Marketing, Finance Service Management, Contract Management, Continuous Service Improvement, Facilities Service Management, Walk-Up, and Case Management. The NSSC implemented Performance Analytics (PA) for NSSC use. Performance Analytics allows users to perform in-depth process analysis by utilizing the built in Dashboard functionality to view real-time performance. The PA module provides visibility of the organization's performance against strategic, operational, and individual objectives. 2017 The NSSC established the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) program. The NSSC implemented the expanded use of case management in support of the SAT roll-out, and to enable additional work scope that transitioned to the NSSC for HR services. The NSSC extended the use of ITSA to the Office of Cyber Security Services (OCSS), Computing Services Program Office (CSPO), and the Enterprise Application Service Technology (EAST) program within the OCIO. Support was also extended to the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF), Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and Johnson Space Center (JSC). 2019 The NSSC purchased and implemented Information Technology Business Management (ITBM) to aid in managing the NSSC cost model and IT portfolio. 2020 The NSSC awarded the NASA End-User Services & Technologies (NEST) contract in 2019, which replaces the ACES contract. The NEST contract will increase ServiceNow utilization to support a greater implementation of end user services NASA-wide. In addition, the NSSC will begin planning for the implementation of the added purchase of ServiceNow's Human Resource Service Delivery (HRSD) Enterprise module that includes Case & Knowledge, Onboarding & Transitions, Employee Service Center, and Employee Documentation. The NSSC continues to use its active ServiceNow subscription, which includes ITSA unlimited for all current or future capabilities. The NSSC plans to continue leveraging the use of the ServiceNow subscription for the next 5 years. Business Continuity Challenge When business continuity incidents occur at the NSSC, such as prolonged internet connectivity outages, or when extended severe weather systems disrupt localized information systems and data processing, or from an unexpected outage by ServiceNow, the unavailability of service delivery during these periods compromises productivity for NSSC personnel supporting NASA customers. Although cloud-based systems benefit the NSSC's ability to deliver services cost-effectively and minimize complexity through reduced infrastructure and operations resource costs, the NSSC is exploring whether a single-vendor or multi-vendor mix of COTS or open source on-premises services for workflow automation may foster more resilient continuity in business service delivery. For example, does a COTS solution or mix of solutions exist than can ingest data from a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and configure it into a usable format so that work processing may continue on a temporary system at some moderate level of operational continuity (e.g., 80%+, 90%+) during a prolonged business continuity incident (e.g., internet, WAN outage, ServiceNow outage) until the business continuity incident is corrected and service is restored? Upon service restoration, to what extent can the data produced by the temporary COTS solution be modified for ingest back into the cloud-based CRM system, so it is current? Information Requested The NSSC is exploring opportunities to assess industry recommendations resulting from this RFI within the next 6-12 months that may assist with identifying a path for improving the resiliency of its services. Interested vendors are encouraged to reply in response to this RFI, with responses limited to 10 pages single-sided 8.5" x 11" pages with 1" margins, and 12-point font (Arial or Times New Roman). Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Proprietary information should be marked accordingly. No marketing or promotional materials are allowed as part of this RFI/Sources Sought Notice. Responses from small businesses and small, disadvantaged business firms are highly encouraged. A responding firm should indicate if it is a small business, a HUBZone small business, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, a woman-owned small business, a socially and economically disadvantaged business, an 8(a) firm, a historically black college or university, or a minority institution. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541519 Other Computer Related Services has been selected for this requirement. The small business size standard is $30M. NASA is seeking industry's input and advice in order to improve the quality and clarity of this requirement as it pertains to the details stated above. Interested contractors shall explain: how your solutions can fulfill NASA's business continuity requirement for its LOBs, with cost estimates for your COTS solutions, and your processes for ingesting, formatting, and creating new data, then formatting and returning both old and new data to its original format for ingest back into the production CRM system. explain how your easily discernible licensing model works, and how license costs may scale up and down depending upon license utilization. any other best practices, advice or feedback that your company has that will enhance the quality of this solution. An industry day at the NSSC at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi is being considered so that vendors may showcase their COTS or open source on-premises business continuity solutions and licensing mechanisms. In the RFI responses, vendors are encouraged to express their interest in attending this industry day event and a recommended format for presenting their solutions. Time for Response Responses to this RFI must be submitted no later than 4:00 PM Central Standard Time, on Friday 10 April 2020. RFI submissions will be accepted as e-mail attachments only. All responses must be sent via email to Contract Specialist, Mr. Joseph R. Tynes at Joseph.tynes@nasa.gov and to the Lead Contracting Officer, Mr. Justin Fraser at Justin.s.fraser@nasa.gov , with - 80NSSC20BUSINESSCONTINUITY in the subject line. An e-mail confirmation of receipt from NASA will be sent within a one-week period to the designated point of contact.