SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- This serves as an amendment to provide questions and answers to announcement ANN06000098, RFI, Helpdesk Support
- Notice Date
- 2/22/2006
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- US Dept of the Interior - National Business Center Acquisition Branch PO Box 272040 Denver CO 80227
- ZIP Code
- 80227
- Solicitation Number
- ANN0600098
- Response Due
- 3/3/2006
- Archive Date
- 2/22/2007
- Description
- 1) Is the DOI currently performing tier 1 / level 1 support using federal employees? Tier 1 has varied usage, depending on the help desk area. Federal employees are used solely on some desks, some feature federal employees with contract employees augmenting staffing levels, and others are fully contract staff or outsourced to vendors. All help desk functions currently reside in-house. 2) What are the percentages of applications running on UNIX, Sun Solaris, Windows, Linux, and Novell? This information cannot be provided as part of the RFI due to infrastructure complexity and the integration between application platforms. 3) In the current support infrastructure, is there currently a "hand off" to a third-party vendor that provides on-site and desk-side support? The NBC has processes in place through the help desk software (ticketing system) with defined assignment / escalation groups which are used to hand off issues. Desk side support is currently on-site and has a defined assignment group. 4) Will the DOI consider Help Desk as a small business set aside? The NBC is open to all potential options. 5) Will cross teaming allowed? The NBC is open to all potential options at this point. 6) Will the DOI provide reports pertaining to the current help desk infrastructure that will detail the number and classifications of calls? If so, will that information be included with the RFP? Yes, the NBC will provide this level of detail if/when an RFP is solicited. 7) What are the current staffing levels at Reston and Denver providing Help Desk Support The current staffing is a follows: Reston/DC - 9, Denver - 8. 8) Does the DOI use a COTS package to manage assets and inventory? The NBC is currently working to populate the asset management module within the Remedy application. 9) This Sources Sought Notice has many requirements and optional services. What does the Government expect or anticipate will be funded in the base year of the contract? The NBC will be making this determination once the evaluation has been completed. 10) What is the anticipated contract award date? This is still to be determined. 11) Are there any requirements to support classified systems? If so, what is the level of clearance required The NBC will require at a minimum a Background Investigation. A decision on the support of classified systems is pending. If classified support will be required, the requirements will be clearly outlined in a RFP. 12) Does DOI currently use any other Help Desk software other than Remedy & HEAT? And if so, at what locations. Not for the current help desks being evaluated. 13) How many end users are going to be supported by the Help Desk End user totals vary by line of business and the application(s) customers use. Customers may also be cross-serviced between help desks. Example: Personnel & Payroll Systems support upwards to 300,000 government employees, IT support includes these 300,000 customers from all other lines of business. 14) Will an operational assessment be performed by the Project Manager upon contract award? Yes 15) Are there any baselines established within current SLAs to track customer satisfaction? Not at this time. 16) Is there budgeted funding in place for a Knowledge Management System with the depth/breadth that the requirements are stating (100K+)? Not at this time. 17) In that regard, is Knowledge Management a key function of this help desk or a separate process with a Knowledge Manager, Knowledge Engineers, etc This model is to be determined. 18) How does the DOI intend to maintain quantifiable telephony performance metrics to ensure that the Contractor can achieve the desired performance? Part of the contractor solution will be the contractor's ability to produce performance metrics through technologies used. Examples would be: telephony, help desk software, customer surveys, knowledge management usage, etc. The NBC understands the challenge based on the uniqueness of each line of business and will work with the contractor prior to implementation and establish regular meetings to discuss performance. The NBC understands as business changes, performance requirements may need to be modified accordingly. 19) Please map the seven Help Desks listed in the Current Volumes by Help Desk table on page 4 of the RFI, to the eleven Help Desks listed in the Tiered Service Model tables on pages 6 through 12 of the RFI, and the fourteen Help Desks listed in Attachment 1? This will assist vendors in linking call volumes and hours of operation to the current service model. Page 4 Tiered Model Attachment 1 Payroll POD Information Line Payroll Operations Division IT-Denver IT Support Center IT Service Center IT-DC/Reston Technology Services Division Technology Services Division Personnel / Time and Attendance Federal Personnel & Payroll System, Quicktime Personnel & Payroll Systems Finance Procurement Desktop, Electronic Commerce, Financial Business Mgmt System, Travel Manager PD Help Desk, EC Help Desk, FBMS Help Desk, Travel Mgr Help Desk, Bank Card, eTravel, Financial Systems HD DOIU DOI University Data Warehouse Datamart Datamart 20) Please indicate the Problem Management application used by each of the eleven Help Desks listed in the Tiered Service Model tables on pages 6 through 12 of the RFI The RFI provides this information for four of the eleven Help Desks. That is, two Help Desks, Procurement Desktop and Electronic Commerce, use Heat, and two other help desks, FBMS and Travel Manager, use Remedy. HEAT POD Information Line Technology Services Division Federal Personnel & Payroll System, Quicktime Procurement Desktop Electronic Commerce Datamart Remedy IT Support Center Financial Business Management 21) The RFI indicates on page 14 that any Hosting Solution must integrate with, and be compatible with, Remedy, NBC's standard ticket system software. Is Remedy integration and compatibility also required for any Outsourced Solution? No, the NBC will evaluate all outsource solution options available. 22) Does DOI require an Outsourced Solution to provide dedicated resources to support NBC and NBC customers, or, can the outsourced vendor's help desk personnel, hardware, and problem management software, and other infrastructure also be used to support the outsourcing vendor's other commercial and government customers? The NBC does not have the requirement to have dedicated resources. 23) How do the ten general metrics currently used by NBC and outlined on pages 15 and 16 of the RFI relate to six items in Attachment 3 Performance Metrics Analysis? These are examples of general metrics used across the different help desks. The NBC is looking to standardize and implement best practices in regard to performance metrics across the enterprise. 24) Can NBC provide vendors with a general timeframe for the major milestones associated with implementation of the future vision as described in this RFI? Dates are premature at this point due to the many decisions yet to be made on this initiative. 25) Is NBC considering an Integrated Help Desk Solution or only labor and hosting support for their in place Remedy solution? The NBC is considering all options, based on vendor core competencies. 26) Will the future Help Desk be located on government property or off site? No decision has been made yet, this will be determined based on the final solution. 27) Are you considering only contracting Level 1 (Tiers 0/1) Help Desk support ? Yes at this time. 28) Will any subsequent RFP be only for Help Desk or will it contain Managed Services for the Desktop support? The current target will be for help desk 29) Will NBC be providing further information regarding their current Network Infrastructure and their Voice Communications environment? Further information will be provided if we issue a formal RFP 30) Is there a Contract Vehicle in place for this solicitation? No, this is only an RFI 31) Will this solicitation have a Small Business goal or a set aside provision? This has not yet been determined. 32) Will it be part of a GWAC task order? This has not yet been determined 33) Does this include any other Help desks within DOI? This only applies to the DOI National Business Center Is there an IVR currently in use at DOI? Yes, with limited capacity and capabilities. 34) Remedy is mentioned as the Helpdesk software selection moving forward. Will NBC please elaborate and identify the version and the modules of Remedy that are deployed, or are scheduled to be deployed? The NBC has made an investment in the Remedy IT Service Management for the Enterprise (Version 6.0), which includes Remedy Help Desk (ARS version 6.3) , Change Management, Asset Management, and Service Level Agreements. However, the NBC is willing to entertain other product usage based on vendor capabilities. Currently, Remedy Help Desk and Service Level Agreements have been deployed, but are not in use by all help desks. Asset Management and Change Management are in the development phase for a future deployment. 35) What other COTS technology tools (specific vendors and products) are employed at the NBC centers currently; for functionality with regards to: reporting, monitoring, workforce management, IVR, CTI, automated surveys Reporting: The NBC currently has reporting capabilities through 2 avenues. 1) Nortel PBX switch - Statistics are produced daily from the telephony switch. The NBC does not currently have the capability to store historical statistics, or monitor help desk agents in real-time. 2) Help Desk Software - The NBC uses Crystal Reports (Version 8.5) to produce custom reports from the help desk software for use internally and for distribution of customer requested reports. Monitoring: The NBC's monitoring capabilities are currently 'system/infrastructure' focused versus 'service' focused. The NBC utilizes BMC product suites and HP Openview toolsets to monitor and send alert notifications for system/infrastructure events. Workforce Mangement, CTI, Automated Surveys: The NBC does not have these technologies or capabilities in the environment at this time. The NBC has needs for this technology and is looking for solutions and best practices we can leverage through the RFI solicitation. IVR: The NBC utilizes an Octel 300 for IVR and ACD capabilities. The Octel 300 has exceeded it's lifecycle and replacement options are being evaluated. 36) Will the NBC please provide its definition of what it sees as the Hosted Model? Is that meant to mean NBC is hosting all the technology and application infrastructure at NBC centers, and the contractor is only providing the IT SMEs to manage it and run it. The NBC views a 'Hosted' Model as a vendor who provides the technology and infrastructure at vendor location(s). This would enable the NBC to potentially leverage the vendors core competencies and experience to manage the technology, gain cost efficiencies through sharing of technology resources (with other vendor customers), yet still managing the support staff internally at the NBC. 37) Will the NBC please provide its definition of what it sees as the Outsourced model? Is that meant to mean the contractor is providing all technology, application, and facility infrastructure as well as the IT SMEs to manage the systems, as wells as providing the staff for Tier 1 support? Yes, the NBC views the Outsourced Model as if a vendor has the capabilities to provide the facility, underlying technology and infrastructure (and support) and can perform Tier 1 call center support.
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- Record
- SN00992637-W 20060224/060222212709 (fbodaily.com)
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