SPECIAL NOTICE
D -- SOFTWARE SOLUTION TO AUTOMATE WORKFLOW
- Notice Date
- 6/28/2011
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Office of Acquisitions and Grants Services, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 2129, Rockville, Maryland, 20857-0001
- ZIP Code
- 20857-0001
- Solicitation Number
- RFI-1089667
- Archive Date
- 9/30/2011
- Point of Contact
- Sherry Solodkova, Phone: 301-827-7165, Linda Giles,
- E-Mail Address
-
sherry.solodkova@fda.hhs.gov, linda.alexander-giles@fda.hhs.gov
(sherry.solodkova@fda.hhs.gov, linda.alexander-giles@fda.hhs.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This Request for Information (RFI) is for information, planning and market research purposes only and shall not be construed as either a solicitation or obligation on the part of the Food and Drug Administration or its Centers. The purpose of this RFI is to help the FDA understand the market availability, technical characteristics, and functionality of solutions, tools, or products capable of satisfying the technical, functional, and/or operational characteristics described in this RFI. FDA will use this market research information to assess the market's capability to provide a comprehensive solution to the requirements described in the RFI. FDA welcomes responses from all interested parties. FDA does not intend to make a selection decision or award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted or FDA's use of such information. Acknowledgment of receipt of responses will not be made, nor will respondents be notified of the outcome of the FDA's evaluation of the information received. Additionally, the FDA does not intend to hold discussions concerning this RFI with any interested parties. However, FDA reserves the right to contact vendors if additional information is required. 1. Introduction. The FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), Office of Business Informatics is conducting market research to determine qualified, experienced, and interested potential sources for providing a web-based software application for automating forms and workflow to support two independent programs that support continuing education and scientific research, the Continuing Education (CE) program and Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellowship Program. The FDA is committed to providing agency-wide, high-quality, innovative continuing medical, pharmacy and nursing education programs to FDA employees and stakeholders by supporting and sustaining their scientific expertise and professional development. The overall goal of the FDA's CE program is to build a lifelong learning infra-structure that supports and strengthens the integrated scientific foundation of its regulatory mission. Through continuous professional development activities, the FDA aims to address the scientific and professional development needs of its employees by improving professional competence, performance, and patient/public health outcomes. The Continuing Education Program provides continuing educational activities for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and clinical and non-clinical scientists. The CDER ORISE Fellowship Program is designed to provide practical scientific training for participants derived through the conduct and support of intramural research projects. All studies/projects are relevant or pertinent to the needs and mission of the FDA. This training program is designed to provide opportunities for participants to (1) continue their research training/education, (2) enhance their professional development in specific areas, (3) become familiar with the research areas within CDER or (4) become interested in future careers in fields related to the FDA mission. The Program's goal is to support the FDA's national commitment to science education, strengthen CDER's scientific and technical knowledge base by leveraging the educational programs offered by academic institutions and transfer knowledge and technology to the scientific community. Both the CE and ORISE Fellowship Programs are aimed at promoting professional development of members of the scientific community. These two programs are run by organizations within the FDA that have limited staff and limited budget. Both organizations are following a set of manual processes to perform the functions that are required to make and keep these programs successful. The manual processes have been documented in detail, and put into the form of a User Requirements Document. It is the goal of this RFI to study options commercially available to automate these manual processes via a customizable COTS product or custom-built application to meet the requirements of each program. 2. Overview and Business Need The draft scope is as follows: On a fixed-price basis with a period of performance not to exceed one-year, the contractor shall provide technical and engineering expertise to automate the CE and ORISE processes. The objective of this RFI is to make a determination if any COTS automated systems are commercially available that will meet the needs of the CE and ORISE organization in order to automate the business processes. Via this automation, it is expected to: • Increase efficiency by automating manual processes, eliminating double entry and using on-line forms, on-line document management, email integration and automatic notifications of upcoming events. • Increase transparency for end users by providing ORISE Fellows, CE Developers and CE Participants a portal where they can view the status of their individual profiles and/or projects. • Reduce errors and improve accuracy through the use of automation. Currently, with both CE and ORISE, the use of paper based systems results in transcription errors, missing documents and missed deadlines. • Increase staff productivity by automating reports that are currently generated manually and providing additional reporting capabilities currently unavailable. • Generate and track Statements of Credit (CE Only) which are currently manually created and distributed for all participants for all CE activities in FDA • Generate and track funding and budget reports for each participating office. These reports will show amounts budgeted and actual expenses to-date for each project (ORISE only). 3. Functionality. This Section lists the functionality required to successfully automate the CE and ORISE programs. These features should be included in the recommended technical solution. The following is a high level list of items which are included in the scope of the project. While the desired system must be able to support the functionality listed below, it does not necessarily need to group the functions as they are grouped in this RFI. System Level Administration Functions The product should allow the CE and ORISE administrators the ability to modify and maintain system level functionality of their respective systems. These include: • Setup and maintain user profiles • Setup and maintain default security settings (e.g., who has access to what) • Setup and maintain default event triggers (e.g., dates tasks are due, timelines) • Setup and maintain hyperlinks to other systems • Default email account maintenance (e.g., automatic notifications, external addressees) • Static Table maintenance (e.g., spending codes) CE Project Administration Functions The product should allow administrators or team members with appropriate rights the ability to modify and maintain functionality at the Project level. These include: • Setup and maintain projects, activities and appointments specific to their office. (ORISE and CE will have separate systems.) • Setup and maintain project level security settings (e.g., who has access to what) • Modify default event triggers if required (e.g., dates tasks are due, timelines) • Modify default email addresses if required • Manage documents (e.g., documents uploaded by Developer). • Archive projects and activities CE Approval and Follow-on Tracking Process The product should allow CE team members with appropriate rights the ability to enter, modify, and approve data throughout the Approval process and follow-on tracking process. These include: • Approve CE Requests (e.g., CE Request form) • Assign Resources (e.g., assignment of CE Consultants) • Track the current status a project/Activity • Manage documents (e.g., review, save, merge documents uploaded by Developer) • Document the receipt of project/activity specific documentation • Document the completion/approval of project and activity specific tasks • Document correspondence and approvals of organizations other than CE. (e.g. CASE and CNNES) • Generate reports, for example: o Annual Program Evaluation report to CE o Semi-Annual Report for nurses o Survey Responses o A final activity report: o Calendars of events o Project/activity specific reports • Survey entry, integration and reporting CE Survey Processes The product should allow CE team members with appropriate rights the ability to enter and modify, and approve data throughout the survey process The product should have the ability to import data from Qualtrix, the current third party CE survey system. The import functionality will be manually controlled, meaning that a user will use the Qualtirx built-in capability to manually export data to a specified flat file format, and then the product will have the capability for a user to browse and select a file containing the survey data and import it into the system's database. CE Reporting Processes The product should allow CE team members with appropriate rights the ability to run reports on each course and the responses to the surveys to see what changes people have made in their work as a result of the course - for the accrediting bodies CE Developers Functions The product should allow CE Developers with appropriate rights the ability to enter and modify data throughout the Approval process and follow-on tracking process. • Fill out on-line form data • Upload documents • Check the project status and timelines • Enter and modify user profile data CE Attendee Functions The product should allow individuals attending CE Activities and with appropriate rights the ability to view and print their status. For example: • Statement of credits • Surveys • Transcripts ORISE Administrative Functions The system should allow administrators or team members with appropriate rights the ability to modify and maintain functionality at the activity and appointment levels. For example: • Setup and maintain projects, activities and appointments specific to their office • Modify default email addresses if required • Enter Project and funding information (e.g., OM spreadsheet) • Assign spending codes • Generate reports. Calendars of events o Project/activity specific reports o Budget Tracking ORISE Tracking Functions The product should allow ORISE team members with appropriate rights the ability to enter and modify, and approve data throughout the (1) Pre-Application, (2) Application, (3) On-boarding, (4) Appointment Maintenance and (5) Termination and Suspension phases. For example: • Manage documents (e.g., review, save, merge documents uploaded by Fellow • Track the current status of a project or Fellow • Document the receipt of project/appointee specific documentation • Document the completion/approval of project/appointee specific tasks • Document correspondence and approvals of outside agencies (e.g. ORISE) • Package renewal, extensions and/or reactivation • Budget Tracking • Fund Transfers • Approval and rejection processes • Package renewal, extensions and/or reactivation (ORISE Only) • Recurring events/Renewals • Closeout/Completion processes • Termination/suspension processes • Generate reports o Calendars of events o Project/activity specific reports o Budget Tracking ORISE Fellow Functions The product should allow ORISE Fellows with appropriate rights the ability to enter and modify data throughout their appointment • Fill out on-line form data • Upload documents • Check the project status and timelines • Enter and modify user profile data • Complete request forms (e.g., Travel Request, Training Request, Reimbursement Request etc.) Instructions: Interested parties shall submit the following information along with other documentation that would help the FDA better understand the functional capabilities of available solutions. 1. Marketing and technical reference materials related to your product/solution (marketing materials should include information related to the implementation and compatibility of the product/solution). This information should address the capabilities outlined in the preceding section. 2. Any other documentation that will help the FDA better understand the functional capabilities of your product/solution. 3. Explain the training and/or online help that would be available to the end users with your product/solution. 4. Provide a written explanation for points that standard marketing or technical reference materials do not explain. 5. Provide publicly available pricing information, price lists, pricing strategies, discount strategies, etc. Provide and explain pricing model(s) (i.e., license-based, user based, number of documents, peak queries per second (qps), average qps, size of all documents/files/text within documents, size of index file(s), other. Include annual maintenance model. Provide the pricing model for training offered. Provide the pricing model for your professional services offering. 6. Disclose whether your business is in the manufacturer of the product/solution or if your business is a reseller or third party. 7. Please provide documentation of the size of your business. If you are classified as a small business, HubZone small business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Woman-owned small business and/or 8(a) certified small business, please provide a capability statement in addition to the other information for acquisition strategy determination. 8. Please provide the following: a. Organization name b. DUNS Number c. Organization's website d. Contact Name e. Contact Telephone f. Contact E-mail address g. Size designation h. Number of employees in your organization 9. Explain whether or not your product adheres to Section 508 Accessibility Requirements which requires Federal agencies to ensure that individuals with disabilities who are members of the public or Federal employees have access to and use of electronic and information technology (EIT) that is comparable to that provided to individuals without disabilities. See http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm for more information. 10. Provide information concerning contract vehicles available to be used by the FDA in acquiring your product (GSA Federal Schedules, Governmentwide Acquisition Contract, SmartBuy, etc.). 11. List of where product/solution is currently in use. Provide point of contact, telephone number, contract number, period of performance, organization supported, indication of whether a prime or subcontractor, contract value, and a brief description of how the contract referenced relates to the technical services described herein. 12. Skills and Certifications: Provide unique technical skills and relevant certification your staff and company possesses, which demonstrates capability to perform the tasks. All Interested Parties Shall Respond By Sending CDs (3 copies) To The Following Address: U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Acquisition & Grants Services ATTN: Sherry Solodkova, Contracting Officer 5630 Fishers Lane, HFA-500, Room 1087 Rockville, MD 20857 Please DO NOT send attachments via email.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/FDA/DCASC/RFI-1089667/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: tbd, United States
- Record
- SN02484262-W 20110630/110628234803-e60403f23b1f732b7d74c18a0cbcf635 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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