MODIFICATION
R -- Cost Library/Repository
- Notice Date
- 1/25/2006
- Notice Type
- Modification
- NAICS
- 541618
— Other Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, FSA Acquisitions, Union Center Plaza, RM 91F1 830 First Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20202-5405
- ZIP Code
- 20202-5405
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-RFI-CLR-01
- Response Due
- 1/31/2006
- Archive Date
- 2/11/2006
- Description
- Request for Information (RFI): The U.S. Department of Education (ED), Federal Student Aid, Enterprise Performance Management Service (EMPS), Acquisition Planning and Contracts Management Group (APCMG), is conducting market research to solicit information from industry regarding technical solution and implementation alternatives for an enterprise-wide acquisitions cost library/repository. This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a Request for Proposal or as an obligation on the part of Federal Student Aid to acquire any products and/or services. FSA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI nor pay for the information provided. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges will arise as a result of submission of responses to the RFI and Federal Student Aids?s use of such information. In order to successfully stand-up it's contracting activity as directed by the Secretary's delegation to the Chief Operating Officer on April 1, 2005, Federal Student Aid must execute and/or support, annually, various activities necessary to evolve an acquisition function that delivers continuously increasing value (return on investment) to the organization. This effort is the next step in providing established standardized processes for the collection of cost data, and an electronic means to catalogue and store cost data, and a standardized structure and process to retrieve cost data for use in cost estimates. The effort might occur in one or more phases and would involve: * Implementation of a cost repository as an interim means to collect and organize cost data that the organization either currently possesses (in hardcopy and softcopy) or will obtain in the future, * Establishment of an enterprise-wide work breakdown structure or incorporation of an established enterprise-wide work breakdown structure, * Establishment of processes and procedures for the collection of costs and the estimating of future costs, * Feasibility study of integrating the cost library with activity-based cost accounting, and * Establishment of a cost library database, or its like, that has the capability to categorize and store information in a structure and format that easily facilitates cost research and estimating. Federal Student Aid lacks credible cost data on which to estimate future costs. This often results in paying higher prices or, worse yet, the acquisition of a service or product based on a cost/benefit analysis whose benefits are overstated due to incomplete, inaccurate, and/or obsolete data. A cost library will mitigate the occurrence of such by providing accurate, reliable quantitative and qualitative data to help in the type of short and long-range forecasting required to achieve continuous improvement on return on investment. Federal Student Aid's vision is that a cost library/repository might include the information listed below. This listing is not to be considered inclusive or exclusive of any component that might otherwise comprise a cost library/repository. In fact, Federal Student Aid invites vendors to provide information concerning the best business practices with respect to the establishment, implementation, use, and maintenance of a cost library/repository: * Overview and objectives of cost library, including user documentation * Methodologies - Inputs => work products => outputs (workflow) - EVM - OM300 - IGCE - Simulation - Risk modeling * Resource planning * Top-down or Analogous * Bottom-up * Parametric Modeling - Analogy based - Cost estimation relationship based - Cost estimation structures * Calculators - Consumer price index (CPI) - Employment Cost Index - Gross Domestic Product - Deflator - Producer Price Index (PPI) - Salary - Independent government cost estimate * Database * Economics - World - U.S. - Regional - Industry - Macro - Micro * Links - Government * Department of Commerce * Department of the Treasury * Bureau of Labor Statistics * Bureau of Economic Analysis * Bureau of the Census - Industries - Associations - Education * Models - COCOMO - COCOTS - Cost Spreading - Cost Estimation - Inflation - Learning Curve * References - Glossary - Acronyms - PMBOK - Guidelines - Government reports/references - Technical reports - Pricing Guides (DOD) - OMB Circulars (A-94, A109, others) - FIPS - NIST * Salaries - Surveys - Cost of Living - Employment RFI submissions shall not exceed 15 pages (text, graphic, tables, etc.) and shall address each of the following elements separately: 1. Present a high-level technical and management approach, including Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) and non-COTS product(s), for the new cost library/repository. Describe how and why these product(s) would be customized to meet Federal Student Aid's business needs. 2. If COTS product(s) are not recommended, explain why. 3. Provide examples of projects similar in nature that your company has delivered. Include how hardcopy and/or legacy system data was transitioned/converted for use in the new system. Also, provide the name of the customer (company/organization), customer point of contact, point of contact's phone number, and email address. FSA may contact these customers to discuss lessons learned. 4. What commercial and/or government practices and trends could be relevant and successfully applied to a cost library/repository? 5. What commercial and/or government Risk Management trends could be relevant and successfully applied to cost library/repository? 6. Provide an estimated cost associated with all COTS license(s). 7. Discuss the feasibility, merits, and cost implications of populating a cost library with cost data currently contained in hardcopy files within Federal Student Aid's files vis-a-vis implementing a "point-forward" approach for populating a cost library/repository. 8. Provide FTE estimates, resource experience levels, and costs (including hardware) to design, develop, and implement the new cost library/repository. Include typical labor resources required to research, retrieve, sort, assemble, and scan hardcopy cost data. 9. Provide schedule/timeline information, including major milestone activities, required to accomplish the goals of establishing a cost library/repository. 10. Recommend the type of information your company would like to see in the Request for Proposal's Statement of Objectives and Requirements Document that would allow your organization to effectively scope and price the effort. 11. Provide your business size and any additional company information that you have determined is relevant. The government instructs that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in response to this RFI. However, responses to this RFI that indicate that the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Industry is advised that Government support contractors will review non-proprietary information. Questions, concerns, and responses should be e-mailed to Ms. Sheila Johnson at Sheila.Johnson@ed.gov. The Current Response Date has been extended until Tuesday, January 31, 2006. Responses shall be submitted by 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time, January 31, 2006. Responses shall be submitted in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and include the name and telephone of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Responses received after the due date may not be reviewed.
- Record
- SN00972695-W 20060127/060125211750 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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