Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF JUNE 30, 2006 FBO #1677
SOLICITATION NOTICE

D -- COTS Packages for automated farm program business delivery systems

Notice Date

6/28/2006
 

Notice Type

Solicitation Notice
 

NAICS

423430 — Computer and Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software Merchant Wholesalers
 

Contracting Office

Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, Acquisition Management Branch, Special Projects Section, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Stop 0567, Washington, DC, 20250-0567
 

ZIP Code

20250-0567
 

Solicitation Number

103671
 

Response Due

7/21/2006
 

Archive Date

8/5/2006
 

Description

The United Stated Department of Agriculture?s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) seeks information related to its Modernization effort. This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP). FSA intends to assess the capabilities and, if appropriate, issue an RFP at a later date. Please ensure that any sensitive or protected information is marked as such. The Government will not pay for, nor reimburse, any expenses incurred in responding to this RFI. BACKGROUND Current Capability: FSA?s Farm Program delivery is a complex suite of program applications that rely on a business model that is highly decentralized, labor-intensive, and facing technological obsolescence. When the predecessors to today?s Farm Programs were originally created during the Great Depression, the goal was to provide local support to individual farming communities across the country. To meet this need, USDA developed an extensive infrastructure of county-based Service Centers. FSA continues to operate with this localized infrastructure despite advances in telecommunications and technology. FSA customers depend on rapid access to Farm Program benefits to help them weather the challenges of running farming operations. The ?walk-in? Service Center business model and supporting technology cannot continue to fulfill FSA?s mandated mission. The legacy technology platform is distributed, meaning that each county?s data is kept on the computers in its individual Service Center. This prevents data sharing across program, geographical, and organizational boundaries, which in practical terms impedes FSA?s ability to enforce Program eligibility limitations and prevents FSA from balancing workload across Service Centers to address regional variances in workload. The distributed environment also will not support web-enablement of processes and services in compliance with the President?s Management Agenda and e-gov initiatives. FSA has established three strategic goals in direct support of USDA?s mission. They are: Strategic Goal 1: Supporting productive farms and ranches; Strategic Goal 2: Supporting secure and affordable food and fiber; and, Strategic Goal 3: Conserving natural resources and protecting the environment. FSA Farm Programs directly supports these three goals through administration of over 30 programs that are designed to provide an equitable financial ?safety net? for the nation?s farmers and ranchers. These programs, authorized through the Farm Bill legislation, include direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, marketing assistance loans, loan deficiency payments, trade assistance payments, emergency/natural disaster payments, and soil/water conservation payments among others. Planned Capability: As U.S. agriculture is now competing far beyond local markets, FSA?s customers need ?real-time? access to their program participation processes to effectively compete in a global marketplace. Pricing adjustments in the world market price for cotton, for example, can be the difference between profitability and foreclosure. FSA is planning to create a parallel, e-government-based, service delivery channel that will function in synchronization with and in addition to the traditional service delivery available through USDA Service Centers. The Modernization effort will shift Farm Program delivery to a business-driven model that streamlines Service Center processes, centralizes and integrates Farm Program data, and leverages modern technology to enable Web user interface and utilize USDA?s geospatial technology. This Modernization effort will implement a customer-centric, internet-accessible solution that provides farmers, ranchers and Agribusiness partners with tools to make doing business with the USDA less of a burden. FSA is seeking information on Commercial off the Shelf (COTS)* software packages that will provide automated farm program business delivery systems that ensure cost effective and efficient program delivery. This COTS package should enable expedited compliance with Farm Bills and any other legislative mandates, and leverage USDA?s investment in geo-spatial and computing technologies. Ideally, this software would have the following characteristics: Object oriented J2EE compliant Have modify capabilities and be extendable Must be open, portable and flexible Ability to handle large volumes of data and large numbers of users simultaneously Allow for reporting capabilities Be internet and intranet ready Must interface with the Agency?s eAuthentication solution and allow for role based security (see eAuthInfoAttachment 1) Emerging Features/Functionality FSA is seeking information on the following features/functionality: Implementing "means" testing: Required Features ? software to capture and determine if an individual or an entity (partnership, joint venture, corporation etc.) is eligible to receive program benefits. The test consists of quantifying the party?s income and or previously received benefits or a combination of both. Benefit computation based on defined business rules: Required Features ? software to capture the determination of a program participants benefits based on a predefined set of business rules for that program. Recordation of land usage: Required Features ? software to capture and determine how land is being utilized. Securing of collateral: Required Features ? software to capture collateral for the purposes of securing a loan. Recordation of commodity characteristics: Required Features ? software to store, organize, retrieve and expose commodity characteristics including intended uses, subclasses, crop types, crop statuses and irrigated practices. Instructions to Prospective Offerors Responses to this RFI must be no more than 20 total single-sided pages with print no smaller than 12 point; however, text included in graphics, tables, and figures can be smaller than 12 point. The cover page, cover letter, and table of contents are not included in the 20-page count. Responses should also include a Commercial price list or GSA schedule of license and maintenance fees along with Points of contact (including name, e-mail address, phone number, and fax number from any customers currently using the product). The submission must be in sufficient detail and clarity to provide FSA with the information it needs to assess your company?s COTS software. All information submitted in response to this request shall become the property of the Government and shall not be returned to the submitter. Responses must be submitted in Microsoft Word 2000 or later. Offerors? responses to the RFI must be submitted to FSA by 3:00 p.m. EST on July 21, 2006. Your company should only contact the contracting office issuing this letter if there are questions about any aspect of this acquisition. Interested parties may not contact FSA technical personnel about this acquisition. A soft copy sent by email to MR. Moore and the email address below and one hard copy and a CD of all response files must be submitted to either of the following addresses: US Postal Address USDA, FSA, PARMO Attn: Thomas G. Moore 6501 Beacon Avenue Mail Stop 8118 Kansas City, MO 64133 Mr. Moore may be contacted by e-mail at tom.moore@kcc.usda.gov or by phone at (816)926-2149. RFI responses must conform to the format as described below and provide the following information: Cover Letter The cover letter must include the following information: Company name Company point of contact and telephone number Date submitted Software Capability Offerors must briefly describe their COTS software package for this initiative. Offerors must also describe their proposed COTS software in terms of the desired characteristics above including any shortcomings that they cannot satisfy. No offeror should submit an RFI if their software only handles one industry commodity (cotton, peanuts, rice etc.). No offeror should submit an RFI if their solution does not include a COTS software package (I. e. if you are offering to build the solution or offering services to manage the project your offer will not be considered). *(See definition of a COTS package below.) These RFIs will not be considered. If the software package is currently in use, the offeror should describe who is using the product and some statistics on volume of users and data. Capability Assessment Method The government will use the information in your response to the RFI, as well as other information available to the government, to assess your company?s COTS software capability. Definition of Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) package (component) as it relates to this RFI ? Commercial component? means any component that is a commercial item. ?Commercial item? means? (1) Any item, other than real property, that is of a type customarily used by the general public or by non- governmental entities for purposes other than governmental purposes, and? (i) Has been sold, leased, or licensed to the general public; or (ii) Has been offered for sale, lease, or license to the general public; (2) Services of a type offered and sold competitively in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace based on established catalog or market prices for specific tasks performed or specific outcomes to be achieved and under standard commercial terms and conditions. This does not include services that are sold based on hourly rates without an established catalog or market price for a specific service performed or a specific outcome to be achieved. For purposes of these services? (i) ?Catalog price? means a price included in a catalog, price list, schedule, or other form that is regularly maintained by the manufacturer or vendor, is either published or otherwise available for inspection by customers, and states prices at which sales are currently, or were last, made to a significant number of buyers constituting the general public; and (ii) ?Market prices? means current prices that are established in the course of ordinary trade between buyers and sellers free to bargain and that can be substantiated through competition or from sources independent of the offerors.
 

Place of Performance

Address: Washington, DC

Zip Code: 20250

Country: USA
 

Record

SN01079020-W 20060630/060628220217 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

---

| FSG Index  |  This Issue's Index  |  Today's FBO Daily Index Page |