D - FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will implement a new core financial management capability and related administrative functions using Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) software packages. Accordingly, by this Request for Information (RFI) HUD is beginning its survey of the commercial marketplace and other sources of off-the-shelf software to assess the technical and functional attributes of JFMIP compliant financial management and other related application software currently available. The information will be used exclusively by HUD support staff to assist in systems acquisition planning. Commercial software for which HUD is seeking information include Budget Formulation; Agency system to produce Office of Management and Budget and Congressional submissions; Database structures to support ad hoc queries; Reports -- Actual vs. Planned at various levels; Obligations vs. costs at various levels; SF 132 and supporting schedules; Budget allocation and funds control; Core Accounting (general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cost accounting asset management, cost management) and reporting, including budget execution; obligation processing; expenditure tracking; cash management; workflow automation and federal financial assistance reporting including grants; voucher payment; Procurement; Purchase Orders/Small Purchases; Contracts; Executive Information System; Expendable Inventory Supply (acquisitions and issues); Training Requests; Orders; and Budgeting. The COTS software will need to interface with eTravel, Treasury, Payroll, bankcard, a subsidiary ledger, and several program systems. GOALS - HUD's goal in implementing these systems include: (1) Integration and standardization of data and systems across all HUD offices. (2) Providing management with access to timely and accurate financial, budget, asset and related information on programs and projects. (3) Implementation of advanced technology to provide the greatest capability and an extended life cycle. SCOPE - These systems will be used to support all HUD's field installations and headquarters (approximately 81 region and field sites) and for the management of HUD's budgetary appropriation of approximately $ 30 billion per year. ENVIRONMENT - All HUD facilities are interconnected via a high-speed computer network that is a part of the Internet. HUD maintains its own backbone network based on the TCP/IP protocol and having direct links to local area networks at each field location. It should be assumed that any HUD employee using these applications would be equipped with a personal computer (IBM compatible) and a local area network connection providing connectivity to any other HUD location. SURVEY OBJECTIVES - Objectives of this survey include obtaining an understanding of and making assessments about appropriate COTS application software with respect to: I. Currently available and planned future functional capabilities in the near term (2-3 years) in the areas of, Business processes supported; Application capabilities and; Human engineering and usability testing applied; If multiple architectures are offered provide information on functional (application) differences, for instance, between vendor's mainframe and client/server-based systems. II. Will current application software capabilities pass independent third party testing for compliance with Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) requirements? III. Currently available technology and planned technology capabilities in the near term (2-3 years): A. Fundamental technologies employed, including but not limited to: - Client/server architecture; - Graphical User Interface (GUI) and development tools; - Electronic Data Interchange (EDI; - Electronic Commerce (EC); - Digital signatures; - Security (data and system); - Object capabilities (language, database, architecture (CORBA). B. Support for and compliance with standards: - X/Open Portability Guide, Issue 4; Structured Query Language (SQL); - Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA); - TCP/IP; - any others utilized. C. Scalability: The degree to which the systems support workgroup operations and how they scale to support enterprise wide data integration and retrieval. D. Implementation Environment: - Computer platform requirements; - Operating system requirements; - Database requirements (vendors, types, structure, etc.); - Application language(s); - Application structure, integration, etc.; - Data query, download/upload capabilities. E. Architecture: What architecture options are available for implementing your application in the HUD environment? Does it support a distributed environment? F. What Centers of Excellence currently host this COTS software? IV. Business/Other: Identify potential for on-line Internet access to application software and a test data base at vendor's own facility; Status and readiness of software or planned readiness dates for future capabilities; At least 3 financial COTS customer references with contact names and telephone numbers; company qualifications, financials, history with core financial COTS installations. HUD is not, at this time, restricting its survey to those financial management software packages listed on the Financial Management Systems Software (FMSS) schedule developed by the General Services Administration (GSA). While those packages will be considered, HUD wants to survey the entire commercial marketplace to ensure its programmatic and technology goals will be met by the best available COTS product. HUD is seeking comprehensive information for planning purposes. Responses are requested if you can provide: Any part of the relevant applications; tools for system integration, or tools for use in data conversion. It is requested that you complete the matrices for our internal evaluation located on the following HUD web page - http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpo/contract/de82cots.cfm. Please respond to and answer the all questions in the evaluation criteria. It is requested that this information be submitted no later than Monday, May 2, 2005, in the form of a ''white paper'', limited to no more than 50 pages in length. Additional JFMIP responses, informational brochures or user manuals are needed if available. User Manuals and other documentation are not subject to the 50-page limitation. Any material submitted will not be returned. It is requested that the white paper be submitted electronically via CD for IBM compatible PCs using Microsoft Office 2000 compatible/readable products. HUD reserves the right to contact vendors, to provide clarifications on capabilities or to ask questions. Submissions should be mailed to the following address: Department of the Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Financial Systems Acquisitions and Development Division, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20410, Attention: Kenneth J. Traylor, Room 3220. Individual responses should indicate whether they are a large, small, small disadvantaged, disabled veteran or women-owned business. HUD shall not assume any expenses incurred by any of the respondents to this RFI. This is not a Request For Proposals. This market survey is for informational and planning purposes only.
