Curriculum Management System

Synopsis: This Request for Information (RFI) is to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA), United States Fire Administration (USFA), National Fire Academy (NFA) to gain efficiencies in centralizing curriculum development documents, tracking course lifecycle development costs, and providing robust report capabilities. NFA is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) as an exploratory request to identify capabilities, obtain expressions of interest, to determine the availability of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product, to conduct market research, and analyze contractor capabilities for Government planning purposes. NFA will consider commercial off-the-shelf products that will satisfy the business requirements. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE IN WRITING AND EITHER MAILED, FAXED OR EMAILED TO THE POINT OF CONTACT LISTED BELOW. Objective: The objective of this RFI is to acquire industry feedback for a Curriculum Management System to be utilized by the National Fire Academy (NFA) for course development. High points for the process that NFA utilizes for development of curriculum is a process entitled: ADDIE - Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. These processes are the development road map for curriculum development within the National Fire Academy. The primary needs of the Curriculum Management System (CMS) are as follows: (1) Centralize the capture of all documents required for the management of curriculum development (2) Automate the visibility within the application to output lifecycle funding and budget statuses (3) Provide the ability to capture contract details such as deliverables, pilot activities (4) Provide robust and adaptable report functionality for use by the organization. The responses to this RFI will be used for informational purposes only. This is not a solicitation. This notice does not constitute a Request for Proposal, nor does it restrict the Government as to the ultimate acquisition approach, nor should it be construed as a commitment by the Government. FEMA/USFA/NFA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals. No funds have been committed to this project nor is there any guarantee that funds will be committed to it. NFA will not pay for any information received or costs incurred in preparing a response to this Request for Information. Therefore, any cost associated with a capabilities statement submission or any other response to this Request for Information is solely at the interested vendor's expense. At this time, the types and methods of acquisition have not been determined. NFA will make a determination as to the type and method of acquisition at a later date. The principle North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this effort is: 541512 - Computer Systems Design Services. Note: Acquisitions may not be limited to this NAICS Code and reserves the right to change the applicable NAICS code as a result of information obtained through this RFI. In order to ensure comprehensive results from this effort, FEMA/USFA/NFA requires the following information from interested vendors: 1. Proof of organization type: a. Name of organization, street and email address b. Preferred point of contact, title, phone number and email address c. Primary NAICS Code(s) and Size of Company (as defined by SBA size standards), if applicable d. Current Government Schedules (if any) e. Start and Completion dates of 8(a) Program participation, if applicable f. Provide all current Federal certifications/designations (if any) g. Participation in Federal contracting or other mentoring programs (if any) 2. Capability Statement - The capabilities statement shall illustrate experience related to the Curriculum Management System assumptions made in this document and provide detail on qualifications by describing similar work performed under contract with either commercial or government entities within the past 5 years including: the name(s) of the customer and number of the contract(s), the contract(s) scope, type of contract(s), contract(s) period of performance, deliverables, product description, dollar thresholds and limitations. Information received in response to this RFI will be used to determine the acquisition strategy for any resultant RFP. The Government is interested in relevant experience and contractor qualifications to perform the work envisioned via the Curriculum Management System assumptions points made below. The capability statements are not to exceed 20 pages and may be submitted via e-mail no later than xxxxxx. Functional Areas for Curriculum Management: The following snapshot provides a high level view of the ADDIE Model and its relation to NFA Curriculum development. Analysis -- This is the first step in developing or revising a particular course; it involves validating training needs and defining audiences, competency training goals, and delivery parameters. Evaluation and Feedback Ongoing Needs Assessment--This involves the ongoing institutional collection and processing of all evaluation data, recommendations, training needs information, and other input received. Curriculum Planning--This annual management and staff planning activity is to refine goals and plans, establish priorities, and set current multiyear operational plans. At this stage, funds are committed to projects Design -- Based upon the results of the needs analysis, this involves developing course objectives, instructional strategies and performance measurements with a proposed course structure. Development -- This involves: (a) producing the course, writing instructor guides and student manuals, and preparing all media and materials, (b) pilot testing and revising the course, and (c) preparing the course for transmittal to delivery Implementation - This involves (a) Finalization of Student and Instructor Criteria, (b) Schedule and Marketing, and (c) Deliver course. Evaluation - This is the feedback loop on course via the student evaluation. The curriculum procurement process, which is integrated within the development business model, is to procure all products and services required to design, develop and release curriculum. NFA's Management is also integrated into the curriculum development process with the Analysis, Procurement and Design phases to ascertain statuses of curriculum development. Additionally, tracking of funding for curriculum development is an important key factor in managing the development process. The CMS requirement as requested is not a Learning Management System, a Learning Content Management System, or a Content Management system, but a system to track and report on all curriculum development currently active and from a historical perspective. Primary assumptions for NFA's Curriculum Management System include: The NFA Curriculum Management System will exploit the most current version of Database Management Systems available to FEMA. For example, Oracle 11g, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and MySQL version 5.0. All data shall be managed within a secure and maintained relational database system. The database shall be designed to ensure referential integrity and allow for concurrent use by up to 10 simultaneous users. System content and the associated support requirements will not contain any esoteric attributes that would inject additional cost into the NFA's business. Interfaces (human and machine) will be based on industry best practice and standards found in higher education models. Solution design will support industry best practice in object-oriented technology and graphical presentation. Configuration capabilities must be present to adapt the system to changes with NFAs Curriculum Management business rules and processes. Attributes and functionality contained in the NFA Curriculum Management System will be intuitive to the users and supported through robust help functions such that the timeframe to learn, configure and utilize the system are minimized. Environmental conditions will be similar to those outlined in DHS 4300A, Sensitive Systems Hand book. Human interfaces will comply with the standards put forth in the 1998 Amendments to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C 794d). The Curriculum Management System must be supported through a complete documentation set that includes, but is not limited to: Business Rules; System Specifications; Software Specifications; Design Specifications; Database Specifications and Schema; Installation Specifications; Application Programming Interface Specifications; User's Guides; System Administration Guides; Technical Support Manuals; and Training Manuals. Point of Contacts Questions concerning RFI: please email - Susan Hernandez Chance.Caione@dhs.gov Response to RFI: please email responses to this RFI to - Chance.Caione@dhs.gov