U--Education Information Services

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial itemsprepared in accorance with the format in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; price quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Regulation Circular No. 2005-24. The North American Industry Classification Code is 611710, size standard is $23 million. The Government anticipates awarding one fixed price contract. The proposed procurement is a Total Small Business set-aside. All small businesses are required to submit a breakdown of their price quote to demonstrate that at least 51% of the cost of contract performance incurred for travel, supplies, training , materials, etc., shall be performed and incurred by the small business (prime). All small businesses are required to comply with FAR 52.229-14, Limitations on Subcontracting. This office is requesting price quotes for the purchase of a web-based Student Information System (SIS). Offerors are requested to submit a price quotation for One (1) Student Information System; $_______________. Please send price quotes to: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Albuquerque Acquisition Office, Pete V. Domenici Office Building, 1001 Indian School Road, N.W., Suite 347, Albuquerque, NM 87104, Attention: Michael Perry, Contracting Officer. Responses may be hand-delivered or faxed to Mr. Perry at +1 (555) 000-0000. They may also be e-mailed to: contact@example.gov Deadline for receipt of price quotes is 2 p.m., Monday, September 22, 2008 (MDST). Please include your TAX ID number, Cage Code, and DUNS number when submitting your quote. Introduction-Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) is a national Indian community college operated by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. SIPI was founded in 1971 with the goal of providing post secondary education opportunities for American Indians and Alaska Natives from federally recognized tribes from across the United States. SIPI provides associate degree and certificate programs in liberal arts, technical, and occupational fields and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HCL) of the North Central Association (NCA) of Colleges and Schools. The average annual enrollment is 800-900 students with 100 plus American Indian and Alaskan Native tribes represented. Acquisition Background-SIPI needs a comprehensive post secondary education management solution, also known as a Student Information System (SIS) that is web-based, user-friendly, and pleasant to work with. A web-based system will allow the College to arrive at the 21st century and keep pace with technology based on e-business principles. The SIS must be one that is comparable with other post secondary education institution systems in terms of on-line applications, on-line registration and payment processes, grade reporting, class scheduling, program degree auditing, and student tracking, to name a few. The ideal SIS must provide for a variety of application uses for students and staff that will streamline institute policies and procedures, enhance student services, and meet institutional research and reporting needs. The system must have a widely supported user base to ensure standard enhancements, patches and updates that are regularly timed and the expense is not borne solely by SIPI.Currently, the college is running a legacy A Legacy System is an old computer system or application program that continues to be used because the user (typically an organization) does not want to replace or redesign it. (wikipedia.org) system that was implemented in Summer 2001. The system is called Student Admissions and Reporting System (STARS). It runs in a client/server environment using a Microsoft (MS) SQL Server relational database management system (RDBMS) and a custom designed front-end user application. Since Summer 2001 the system has been upgraded several times because of changes in data collection requirements and changes in policies and procedures. However, STARS is increasingly difficult to upgrade and is not easily changed without fracturing the entire system. In addition, it has become outdated due to technological advances and the increased use of web-based technology throughout the industry. Objectives-The objective of this effort is to purchase a mainstream comprehensive student information system (SIS); to perform project management activities required to successfully implement an SIS; to minimize end user impact associated with transition to new ways of doing business; and to ensure overall quality and effectiveness of the final SIS. The SIS should be designed according to an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) An ERP system is a business support system that maintains in a single database the data needed for a variety of business functions such as .Customer Relations Management (CRM). An ERP modular software design should mean a business can select the modules they need, mix and match modules from different vendors, and add new modules of their own to improve business performance. Ideally, the data for the various business functions are integrated, each maintaining a discrete data store within one physical database. (wikipedia.org) system model, which is a system based on a common [centralized] database and a modular software design. (wikipedia.org)SIPI must upgrade and increase its data collection capacity to meet the increasing demand for assessment and performance evaluations for all areas of the college. The SIS will assist in analyzing, designing, evaluating and testing educational programs through institutional research to improve the delivery of education to its students. The SIS must be usable, useful, and accessible to all end users. Finally, because of the high costs of information technology (IT), SIPI is looking for the best return possible from this investment. Scope of Work-The scope of work is to implement an SIS at the SIPI campus which includes purchasing and installing an SIS and the corresponding hardware and software components; creating an SIS implementation plan through project management; perform SIPI computer systems and business process analyses; complete data migration and data conversion of the existing STARS database to the SIS; configuring and testing the SIS software; web interface and website development; third party systems data integration; SIS acceptance; end user and IT staff training; post implementation monitoring and maintenance of the SIS. The SIS will be implemented through a series of phases, where many of the tasks will overlap or run concurrently. There are 11 phases identified as follows: Phase 1: Entry and Contracting. This effort includes issuance of the contract, initial introductory meetings to purchase the SIS, obtain hardware and software specifications in order to purchase the hardware and software required for the project. Phase 2: Discovery and Dialogue. This effort includes a set of meetings that begins the project management activities between the Contractor and SIPI management to make decisions regarding assignments, timelines, and milestones. The meetings will result in defined expectations for all parties involved and the creation of project teams that include personnel from the IT staff, a manager and support staff for each area of the college. SIPI Management should be fully supportive of the project by ensuring resources (people, time, and equipment) are available. This phase involves introducing the project to the organization, introducing the change management activities, and encouraging participation and cooperation. Each departments implementation strategy will be scheduled at this time. The implementation strategy will include: business process analysis, training, iterative testing and implementation. Phase 3: Computer Systems Analysis. This effort will require computer systems analysis by the Contractor and SIPI in order to compare existing database design and the SIS database to identify similarities and differences. This includes systems analysis of the existing STARS database and hardware and software requirements in order to plan for data migration, data conversion, and third party systems integration. The analysis shall provide data migration tasks and establish the foundation for the SIS database. The data migration and conversion tasks will include both old and new database design, extraction file formats and actual extraction of data; cleansing of the data to ensure all the data has been formatted correctly, loading of data into the SIS database, and verification of data to make sure all data has been migrated successfully. The systems analysis will result in a new SIS database architecture design. Phase 4: Business Process Analysis. This effort will require intense business processes analysis by the Contractor and SIPI in order to identify all user requirements and incorporate them into the SIS. This will involve frequent meetings to communicate to the stakeholders the importance of defining their needs in order for the system to work for th em. During this phase, the Contractor and SIPIs project teams shall analyze and detail each of SIPIs business processes that are applicable to the SIS application, combine this information with post secondary best business practices, appropriately fit each business process into the SIS, identify any gaps in the process, and record and document the new process flow. The objective of this phase is to streamline the existing business processes and to produce a detailed model of the new SIS. The actual departmental business process analyses and implementation will be scheduled at Phase 2. Phase 5: Website Development. This effort will coincide with Phase 4 in order to define website characteristics, design and programming needs to incorporate design choices. The Contractor will provide best practices options according to web technology industry standards so that the website design is current, elegant, intuitively user friendly, and easy to read and navigate. Phase 6: Testing. There will be extensive iterative usability testing that includes a testing cycle that will continue until the usability (discovery of flaws and glitches so that the problems have been identified and fixed) to make sure the SIS is working as designed. In addition, the Contractor will accept feedback from the organization and make changes accordingly. Phase 7: Engagement and Implementation. This effort will engage the SIPI staff as the SIS is put into production. The organization will be involved in providing feedback and suggestions for improvements. Once all improvements have been made to the SIS, it will be finalized. This phase will determine whether or not the SIS will be accepted. Phase 8: Training. The Contractor is responsible for training the SIPI IT staff in order to maintain the SIS hardware and software and provide local training to the SIPI users as defined in this statement of work. The Contractor is responsible for training the users on the SIS application as it relates to their role in the organization. The Contractor will review the SIS with the users to ensure that all requirements have been met. This phase will coincide with Phases 4, 5, 6 and 7. Phase 9: Third Party Systems and Data Integration. This phase will be touched upon in Phase 2 where all third party systems in use at SIPI will be analyzed. The need is to make sure that the systems can talk to each other either directly or indirectly. Directly means that the SIS can see the system processes where updates to either system will keep them in sync. Indirectly means that a programming utility must be developed and/or written from scratch or recommendations made for a commercially available utility that will keep the systems in sync. Phase 10: Post Implementation Monitoring. The Contractor will provide for post implementation monitoring so that any processes that have not been identified to this point can be considered for implementation. This phase will also allow for SIPI to fully test the system. Phase 11: Maintenance. There will be maintenance and support by the Contractor. The Contractor is responsible for furnishing the technical, supervisory and administrative personnel to ensure complete implementation of the SIS as defined in the statement of work. The Contractor will furnish all services, materials, supplies, equipment and travel required in connection with this work. The Contractor shall perform to standards and follow all applications and directives as identified by the contract and by the latest U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) IT Standards, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), Department of Education (ED) regulations, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) regulations. The Contractor shall be responsible for learning and for fully understanding these standards, regulations, and legislative requirements. The Contractor shall submit reports and documentation as identified throughout the contract. Requests for such paperwork shall be coordinated through the government Contracting Officer Representative (COR) on the SIPI Campus. 1.0.1 System Requirements Hardware and peripherals: The contactor is responsible for providing the SIPI IT staff with the hardware specifications that will be used in connection with the SIS. SIPI is responsible for purchasing, installing and configuring the hardware and peripherals with the basic setup as provided by the Contractor in preparation for the SIS. A SIPI IT requirement is that the servers must be RAID 5 [defined as Redundant Array of Independent Disks, where 5 is the 6th level of RAID and defined as Striped Set with Distributed Parity] for fault tolerance) as part of SIPIs contingency plan for hardware and software disaster recovery issues. Operating System (OS) and Application Software: The contactor is responsible for providing the SIPI IT staff with the operating system specifications for the SIS software that will be used including the MS SQL Server application. SIPI is responsible for purchasing, installing and configuring the operating systems and application software with the basic setups as provided by the Contractor in preparation for the SIS. SIPI IT operating system (OS) and software application standards are: OS must be Windows Server Enterprise, latest version; software application Microsoft SQL Server, latest version. The Contractor is responsible for installing and configuring their software along with the applicable database server configurations. The Contractor is responsible for making changes to the software and database during testing and implementation. Source Code: It is the responsibility of the vendor to clearly identify and define the ownership of source code for various system components. Unless clearly specified, the source code for all software and applications will become the property of SIPI. 1.1.1 Technology Requirements The Contractor shall demonstrate that the SIS meets industry standards for post secondary Tribal Colleges, and as a minimum, shall have or meet the latest computer associated techniques in both user and system requirements. The Contractor must ensure the following technical characteristics are present: Must include an option to accommodate SIPI Branding onto screens, Web pages, reports, documents, etc., to include logos, banners, and other representative items. Provide increased real time access to information (approaching 24 hours a day), seven (7) days a week (24 x 7) via web access. Be capable of being available 24/7 with 99.9% uptime and no critical failures or unplanned system restarts for a full school year. The Contractor will supply information on system requirements for bandwidth, servers and workstations. The Contractor will supply data storage requirements for multi-year data storage; the impact of storage growth on performance; and guidelines for database sizing. A centralized database where the common database allows for every department of the college to store and retrieve information in real-time. The information should be reliable, accessible, and easily shared. The database must be designed to capture data on a per student basis plus any institute information that may have a relationship to each student. The database must use alternative direct data entry methods such as radio buttons, check boxes, pick lists, number dials, pull-down boxes, calendars, etc., to ensure data integrity and follow database standard practices. The database must have an audit trail to track changes on key fields. The audit trail information may include items such as: o Last user ID to edit a record. o Date and time of record creation. o Date and time of last record update. o Fields that were changed. o Optional comments for person updating, i.e., reason for change. Additional data requirements would be added in accordance with best practices in all areas of the organization that resulted from computer systems analysis and business process analyses. The Contractor will supply information on benchmark performance data based on average and peak usage for: o Network environment impact as a result of real-time data transaction processing and response times depending on the number of users creating a transaction at the same time. o Component interoperability impact resulting in the use of several servers and their ability to work together to process transactions across the network. o Operations capacity impact on data storage and capacity; disaster recovery issues and maintaining the software and the database. The Contractor will provide application software support, regularly scheduled updates and new version releases, help desk support, and user training. 1.2.1 Information Technology (IT) Security Requirements The SIS solution must ensure that the information in the system is protected against unauthorized disclosure, transfer, modification, or destruction, whether accidental or intentional. The SIS shall conform to the DOI, BIA, BIE, and SIPI IT security standards. The following are essential: Identification and documentation of security requirements and user access levels. Provide a single-sign on solution through integration with Microsoft Active Directory (i.e., The SIS shall support Active Directory authentication.). An automatic sign-off based on defined amount of inactivity time. Lockout user access after a defined number of unauthorized attempts to enter according to SIPI IT network security policies. A web-based administrative function for managing users and their passwords, access controls, rights and privileges. Safeguards required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), including the secure transfer of electronic records. All SIS data must be protected from illegal and unauthorized inspection and use. Data access shall be limited to read only according to specific types or categories of college data; definitive personnel positions and follow the read-write, read only, or no access provisions as determined by SIPI. Support the use of Extended Validation (EV) Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates for online transactions. Secure transmission with the capability to encrypt sensitive data. The system will be subjected to network-based security scans. The system must meet the BIA Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) information technology requirements including but not limited to certification and accreditation and system life cycle. 1.3.1 User Friendliness The Contractor shall demonstrate that the SIS meets industry standards for post secondary Tribal Colleges, and as a minimum, shall have the latest user friendly techniques included in their product for all types of end users whether computer literate or not, or technically savvy users. The Contractor must ensure the following characteristics as essential workings of their SIS: The design must apply a consistent look and feel among all user screens The system must have integrated spell checking. All screen functions must be possible using the keyboard as well as a mouse or other pointing device. Provide work-in-progress capability (i.e., partially completed forms can be saved for completion at a later time if work accomplished meets minimal validation criteria). On-screen, context-sensitive help must be provided. The system shall have on-line searchable help and frequently asked questions including: Tool Tips, Searchable Help, Context Sensitive Help, and Online Manual. The system must allow for event-triggered e-mail notifications. Radio buttons, check boxes, pick lists, number dials, pull-down boxes, calendars, and other alternatives to direct data entry must be used whenever possible. Field options should be conditional and should present only valid choices whenever possible. Key fields shall carry over from screen to screen to avoid duplication of data entry. 1.4.1 Training Requirements The Contractor is responsible for training the SIPI IT staff in order to maintain the SIS hardware and software and to provide local post implementation training to SIPI users. Training must include train the trainer, hands-on, and technical. The Contractor is responsible for training all end users on the SIS application as it relates to their role in the organization. The Contractor must provide training materials to include a user manual and any other relevant documentation such as technical manuals, error messages and codes, system reference guide, installation guides, etc. The Contractor must also provide a data dictionary where all tables, fields, indexes, relationships, etc., contained in the database are defined and documented. These documents are a requirement for acceptance. 1.5.1 Accessibility The proposed system must be in compliance with all applicable US laws and regulations regarding accessibility to the handicapped, including Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended. 1.6.1 Tasks The Contractor will provide all the services required to implement the SIS at SIPI. This includes: providing project management details to include installation, computer systems analysis, business process analyses, data migration or data conversion, website programming, software programming and integration, user training, IT training, software testing, hardware testing, implementation, and post-implementation support and maintenance. The Government reserves the right to modify and/or make additional changes to the contract or Statement of Work as it is written, subject to the needs of the Government. This requires first notification and obtaining approval of the Contracting Officer. Upon approval from the Contracting Officer, the COR shall notify the Contractor within seven days. The Contractor shall have fourteen (14) days to review and act. Project Management Within ten (10) days of award, the Contractor shall submit a project management plan and timetable for approval. The Contractor must describe the project phases and how the Contractor intends to proceed toward the completion of the project. The major project management responsibilities of the Contractor will be: Maintaining project communications, including resolving deviations from the agreed upon work plan. Attending project review, update meetings as well as internal and external advisory group meetings, as requested. Provide draft documents and project deliverables for review, approval, and signature. Weekly, or as requested, status reports. A current project plan and timetable using MS Project. The project management plan shall include information on: o Training plan o Testing the program o Help desk support o Milestones o Task durations o SIPI involvement The Contactor will work with the Government to plan and execute the project. Schedule a project kick-off meeting following execution of contract. The government and the Contractor shall mutually agree on the date and location of the meeting. 1.6.1.0 Infrastructure / Product Installation Current Environment: DOI and SIPI are responsible for its intranet and extranet, and the related technical environment. DOI and SIPI personnel are responsible for configuration of firewalls and routers. In connection therewith, and in accordance with the Project Plan, the Contractor shall work with and provide guidance to the DOI and SIPI IT staff regarding the SIS database and website application connectivity and communication settings and requirements. SIPI is responsible for proper data backup and recovery with regard to its systems and data. The Contractor shall provide SIPI IT staff with appropriate guidance on the necessary setup and planning tasks and activities for such data backup and recovery. The Contractor is responsible for installing and configuring their product on the hardware and software provided by SIPI. 1.6.2.0 Computer Systems Analysis and Business Processes Analysis Systems analysis: Helps to align IT development with the systems actually running in production for the Business. Business analysis: Helps an organization to improve how it conducts it functions and activities in order to reduce overall costs, provide more efficient use of resources, and better support customers. (wikipedia.org) The Contractor and SIPIs project teams shall analyze and detail each of SIPIs business processes that are applicable to the SIS application, combine this information with post secondary best business practices, appropriately fit each business process into the SIS, identify any gaps in the process, and record and document the new process flow. The objective is to streamline the existing business processes and to produce a detailed model of the new SIS. The Contractor shall lead users through the design process so that they fully understand the implications of any decisions made. The Contractor will need to show experience in leading design workshops; where options are explained and impact of decisions is verified. To achieve this, a high level of experience in managing user expectations and at the same time being able to guide them through complex areas, will be required. The Contractor shall provide on-going support and consultation to ensure the design, layout, and organization of the SIS is intuitive and user-friendly. The Contractor shall involve end-users in the design and testing process to produce an SIS that is easy to learn, remember and use. The Contractor shall lead users through reporting requirements analysis so that they fully understand what type of report is needed for the task at hand. If the SIS has a set of pre-designed reports available as part of the product, the Contractor will lead users through the type of reports, their layouts, their definitions and a final preview of the generated reports. The contractor shall identify which reports fit in to which business processes and make recommendations to make sure the report is exactly what is required. Other important activities performed include initial communications to the SIPI user community, and the beginning of change management activities. 1.6.3.0 Data Migration Data migration is the process of transferring data between storage types, formats or computer systems. Data migration is usually performed programmatically to achieve an automated migration, freeing up human resources from tedious tasks. It is required when organizations or individuals change computer systems or upgrade to new systems, or when systems merge. (wikipedia.org) The Contractor will work with the SIPI IT staff and provide guidance for the exportation of existing STARS data, data conversion issues, and file formats, in order to expedite the data migration and/or data conversion processes. The centralized baseline database must contain all the data from the existing STARS database. The Contractor must have a documented conversion strategy (including data conversion from legacy systems, cut-over and roll-out plans). Data Migration strategy shall include old and new database designs, extraction file formats and actual extraction of data; cleansing of the data to ensure all the data has been formatted correctly, loading of data into SIS database, and verification of data to make sure all data has been migrated successfully. The SIS data elements shall include, at a minimum, all the data elements from the existing SIPI STARS, in addition to any new data elements identified during systems analysis. The SIS shall contain all the database essential components and tools necessary to extract, transform and load data into the database; tools to manage, retrieve and analyze the data and the ability to manage the data dictionary. A well-defined data dictionary will be in place prior to acceptance. The SIS shall follow the rules of database normalization to ensure data integrity. 1.6.4.0 Web application The web application must have these capabilities: Must include an option to accommodate SIPI Branding onto screens, Web pages, reports, documents, etc., to include logos, banners, and other representative items. Must have the same look and feel on all the web pages throughout the website. Secure Transfer and Exchange of Data Over the Internet. Encryption is mandatory. The system must give end-users the capability to submit data through web forms as required. The web application will provide easy access to applicable forms as well as the ability to complete, submit and transmit the completed forms. The system must have a web based form generation capability that would allow the creation and modification of forms and data elements by users with the appropriate privileges. The Web shall comply with all current BIA standards and approved Internet browsers. FERPA and HIPAA compliant 1.7.1 Reports The SIS must contain an integrated ad-hoc report generation capability and the capability to download data in a variety of formats suitable for compilation of data, which enables authorized users to create, save, and print custom reports. The reporting component must provide for data mining Data mining is the process of sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information that has a readable form and can be understood by a user. through filtering techniques of specific data selection criteria that needs to be intuitive and easy to use. The reporting component must enable the user to view the output on-line, print the output to a local or network printer, and output to PDF. The reporting component must be capable of exporting all reports to a delimited ASCII file, RTF, HTML, PDF, XML, MS office formats, etc. The reporting functions must provide the ability to direct the report to email. The reporting functions must provide the ability to create a standard reports library available to authorized users. The reporting component must provide the ability to view and/or send student alerts to a variety of addressees via email, cell phone, or pager. The reporting component must contain standardized reports for Department of Education, e.g.: IPEDS and FISAP; and some standardized reports for Bureau of Indian Education. The reporting component should contain reporting formats or data mining actions for reports such as American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) American Indian Measures for Success (AIMS), or the National Science Foundation (NSF) Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) reports. 1.8.1 Third Party Systems and Data Integration Data integration is the process of combining data residing at different sources and prov...