Census Data Tabulation and Dissemination Services

THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION; THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT COMMITTED TO AWARD A CONTRACT, PURSUANT TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO SOLICITATION PACKAGE IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. BACKGROUND: The United States (U.S.) Census Bureau is a bureau of the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) and is one of several principal federal agencies that provide statistical services. The Census Bureau is charged with providing ongoing measures of the U.S. population, housing, and economy. The Census Bureau, which supports the economic and political foundations of the U.S., provides a critical service to the nation. Therefore, reliable collection, preparation, tabulation and dissemination of demographic and economic statistics are vital to the Census Bureau's overall mission and strategic goals and objectives. The Data Access and Dissemination System (DADS) Program is the primary provider of dissemination services via the American Fact Finder (AFF) website for the Census Bureau. Dissemination services refer to the activities related to the internal staging and release of approved statistics for posting on the Internet. The DADS Program currently provides dissemination services for the Decennial Census, annual Economic Surveys, the annual release of the American Community Survey (ACS), the annual release of the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS), the annual release of the Population Estimates, , and the Census of Governments (COG) and annual Government Surveys. The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking to identify from potential sources with the ability to provide services to perform dissemination activities, operations and maintenance, and technical infrastructure maintenance of the American Fact Finder (AFF) system. The mission of the DADS Program has been to prepare, tabulate, and disseminate data and data products that are complete, accurate, and formatted properly, delivered on time and within budget. This broad mission has been largely achieved; the tabulation system has been archived and the DADS Program is in the process of transitioning AFF technology solutions, business knowledge and assets to the Enterprise Dissemination Initiative (EDI). While that process completes and the new dissemination system continues to be built, dissemination activities will continue on AFF [factfinder.census.gov] to avoid interruptions in service. REQUIREMENTS: The current contract for the operation and maintenance of AFF ends December 31, 2016. The development of a new enterprise dissemination tool is in process at this time to replace multiple Census dissemination systems including the legacy AFF system. However, the new tool will not be ready when the current DADS II contract ends. This new contract will be a vehicle for the Census Bureau to continue uninterrupted on-time delivery of dissemination services through the AFF legacy on-line tool. The AFF system will continue to operate without interruption of dissemination services to release new data and provide public access to the historical data. Through this contact the contractor shall ensure services continue without disruption while Government and Contract staff contributes to the asset and technology transition for the development of the new Enterprise Dissemination Initiative (EDI IT - Platform). The services provided in this contract vehicle include infrastructure and security, program management, and system maintenance of high or urgent defects. A contract transition period will not be available. The contractor must be immediately familiar with the established Census Bureau business processes, knowledge and understanding of the different components of the dissemination processing environments and review cycles to ensure that there are no delays in the release of products and the quality of data released are not compromised. The AFF is the primary on-line dissemination tool for historical and current data releases for the Decennial Census, the American Community Survey, the Economic Census and other annual survey results, such as the County Business Patterns, ZIP Code Business Patterns, as well as the annual release of the Population Estimates data. American FactFinder usage comprises 13% of the overall census.gov traffic and serves a large, varied user base with the delivery of vital demographic and economic statistics. American FactFinder contains, over 80,000 tables, over 100 data sets in English with a large subset in Spanish. Economic Census data cover 99% of the economic activity of the American economy; Demographic Census data provide detail statistics for over 11 million blocks; the American Community Survey data provide annual detailed social, economic and housing characteristics. The key objectives of the AFF - DO contract are to: a. Maintain the AFF legacy dissemination services without interruption during the replacement platform development. b. Minimize the change to processes and procedures on the legacy system contract due to reduced Government staff and resources. c. Provide risk mitigation for both the schedule and delivery of the replacement platform for critical, high value assets and almost 80 additional data releases already scheduled. The high value data assets are : i. 2016 and 2017 American Community Survey; ii. the FY18 End to End Test for the 2020 Census; iii. the 2017 Economic Census; and iv. the 2020 Decennial Census. d. Transfer, share and incorporate both technical and business process knowledge from the legacy system solution team to the replacement EDI IT-Platform team. Period of Performance: The government anticipates the services will be obtained through a fixed price / time and materials contract for a total duration of 12 months. Place of Performance: The place of performance will be: U.S. Census Bureau 4600 Silver Hill Road Suitland MD, 20746 Capability Statement must include: All interested contractors must demonstrate within their capability statement their experiences with the following unique qualifications and how they would be able to ensure a seamless transition of the project requirements: a. Technical Expertise: The contractor must demonstrate unique knowledge of the American FactFinder implementation and technical solutions as they relate to the internal dissemination business operations processing and the public facing AFF on-line tool. Both the AFF technology solutions and business process knowledge of data product release cycles/product content and structure will be utilized, adapted and integrated into the replacement EDI-IT Platform. The contractor must also have deep knowledge and experience in the following areas. i. Understanding of current dissemination processes and methodologies This refers to varied Bureau of Census data products and release cycles including: data products and content, business processing for Decennial Census, 2010 Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Data File, American Community Survey, Economic Census, Population Estimates, Annual Survey of Manufacturing, Business Patterns Data (County Business Patterns & ZIP Code Business Patterns), Non - Employer statistics, American Housing Survey, SAIPE and SAIHIE Survey Data, and the Public Sector Data (formerly the Census of Governments). ii. Standardized Data and Metadata facilitate automated data processing American Factfinder utilizes a standard data and metadata model that allows for automated processing of both demographic and economic data. This improved efficiency and lowers the costs of dissemination. This approach is being adopted for the replacement EDI-IT Platform. In addition, elements of the AFF data and metadata models will be incorporated into the EDI-IT Platform data/metadata models to ensure migration of historical assets to the replacement platform. iii. Management of geographic data Geographic spatial and non-spatial data/metadata and Census geography subject matter concepts: Includes delivery formats, processing and transformations required to support product presentation formats and navigation in the replacement platform. iv. Indexing and tagging of objects for efficient searching The AFF indexing approach entails tagging of all metadata, geography, NAIC codes, population groups, product types, tables and other dissemination object to facilitate searching. Detailed business rules, and ETL processes will be modelled on the AFF solution for the replacement platform. b. Established Operational and Program Management Processes: In addition to utilizing the technical expertise, the Government wishes to maintain the approved existing processes as established, documented and practiced during the ending DADS II contract so as to minimize risk of service interruptions and during a time when the reduced Government staff are managing legacy operations while participating in the development of the new platform. Smooth operational, system and legacy contract governance during the transition of technologies and assets is essential to support the development of the replacement EDI-IT Platform. These established program and processes cover the following areas: i. Established Program Management Office Procedures Established Program Management Plan and related processes for Communication and Program Status, Risk Management, Change Management, Quality Assurance and Surveillance, Performance Metrics and overall Contract Management. ii. Established Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC): Established SDLC practices and procedures utilizing tools already in place for scope approval, configuration management, code development and integration, testing, User Acceptance Testing, and deployment processes and procedures. iii. Infrastructure and Security: Stringent monitoring/patching practices and schedules to maintain the system risk profile within tolerance; technical refresh activities and updates to avoid end of life for both hardware and software will be conducted. c. Mature Dissemination Operations: The contractor must support and deliver a mature business operations life cycle with multiple product release cycles through multiple environments. The contractor must maintain current processing and on time delivery of multiple product schedules. This process entails maintenance of the service level agreements for the data providers with no interruption in service in any part of the business process life-cycle including: i. Successful, on-time processing of deliveries into lower and higher environments; ii. Execution of product assurance testing; iii. Management of approval and release of cleared data into pre-production and production environments, including the embargo environment, as required; iv. On time delivery of business process life-cycle work products and deliverables; and v. Quality assurance and review of data products through the product release life-cycle. Responses must include the following: (1) Name and Address of the Organization, (2) Type of business (3) Point of contact with name, title, phone, fax and email, (4) DUNS number, (5) Contractors capability statement addressing the described requirements. All responses must be submitted to contact@example.gov NO LATER THAN 12:00 p.m. on August 27, 2016. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR MARKET RESEARCH AND PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT AND NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO REIMBURSEMENT WILL BE MADE FOR ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PROVIDING INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND ANY FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION REQUESTS. ALL INFORMATION SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MUST BE RECEIVED ON OR BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE.