SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- DeCA RFI eCommerce
- Notice Date
- 8/31/2012
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Commissary Agency, Contracting Bus Unit/Commercial Activities (HDEC08), 1300 E Avenue, Building P-11200, Fort Lee, Virginia, 23801-1800, United States
- ZIP Code
- 23801-1800
- Solicitation Number
- DeCAeCommerceRFI2012
- Point of Contact
- Deborah L Wiggins, Phone: (804) 734-8000 x48654
- E-Mail Address
-
deborah.wiggins@deca.mil
(deborah.wiggins@deca.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- FedBizOpps - Request for Information (RFI) Defense Commissary Agency eCommerce Internet Curbside Pickup This Request for Information (RFI) is issued in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e). The Government does not presently intend to award a contract, but wants to secure information regarding the capabilities of industry to meet Agency future requirements, for planning purposes. Responses to this RFI are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) is a United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DoD) agency, with its headquarters at Fort Lee, VA. DeCA operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees, and their families. DeCA currently operates 248 military commissaries worldwide with annual sales estimated at nearly $6 billion. Of that total, 178 stores are located within the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, and 70 stores are located in 12 countries outside of the U.S. A military commissary is a Government facility providing grocery products and other merchandise to authorized individuals, termed "patrons." It is a facility designed and operated similar to commercial supermarkets. DeCA's goals are to provide a significant price savings when compared to commercial markets; to provide courteous and informative assistance; to offer a variety of items in quantities and of a quality level to satisfy patron demands; and to provide products in a clean, safe, and wholesome environment. Overall management and operation of a commissary is the responsibility of the Store Director of each store, operating within Agency policy and standards. Commissaries typically stock approximately 25,000 line items consisting of grocery food and non-food items, dairy, frozen food, meat and produce, as well as several service departments such as delicatessen, bakery, and seafood. DeCA seeks information from commercial sources regarding their interest and ability to solution a fully integrated retail grocery Internet ordering and fulfillment capability, similar to the curbside or in-store pickup service models being offered in the commercial grocery marketplace. The Agency's preferred solution is a Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) product with minimal or no development. DeCA's objective is to acquire a "turn-key" solution with minimal interfaces to DeCA business systems and minimal file and data exchanges between DeCA and the offeror's software system. It is envisioned that during the initial phases, customer orders fulfilled will be rung (scanned) into DeCA's Point-of-Sales (POS) system separate from the eCommerce system. However, DeCA will consider automating this process, if the only method of transacting the sale is through an electronic interface between the commercial sources' software and DeCA's POS. DeCA may also be interested in fielding a mobile application that provides patrons product information and/or, allows the customer to build and place orders by accessing an eCommerce software solution using a mobile device. Responses to this RFI should include information shown below, at a minimum: 1. Provide information detailing both customer facing and backend systems to support DeCA in implementing an Internet ordering and fulfillment capability, whereby customers can place an order through the Internet or a mobile device, schedule a pickup time during a designated pickup window, then receive and pay for their order at the store side or curbside location at the commissary 2. Proposed solution must be able to handle both fixed and random weight items, provide a wide array of item images, and also include nutritional information that is typically contained on consumer packaged food products. 3. The solution must have a robust reporting capability to measure customer volume and transaction information. Reporting should include at a minimum, sales, transactions, items ordered, and Web site conversion and Web site bounce rates. 4. Provide the estimated hardware and software costs to deploy the proposed eCommerce Internet ordering solution for at least 1 and up to 25 store locations and, if available separately as an option, a proposed cost for an enterprise mobile application in case DeCA elects the option to deploy a Mobile App. 5. Describe whether estimated pricing for offered solution is based on an enterprise basis or whether it is based on a per store basis. 6. A description of the most common operational processes implemented in retail grocery, to implement an Internet ordering, fulfillment, curbside pickup service. 7. A description of the integrated solution being offered, to include how the customer interacts with the system to place an order(s) and how a DeCA employee would interact to fulfill that order. 8. A description of where the software system resides (e.g., commercial source hosted software on the commercial source's server or licensed software on DeCA's server(s)), expected interface requirements with an explanation whether it is one way (DeCA to commercial source) or two-way (DeCA to commercial source and commercial source to DeCA) communication/data information flow, and a listing of data elements needed for system operations. 9. A description of the technical and operational assistance that can be an expected service. 10. A description of help desk operations; the times available, whether DeCA or the commercial source is the primary operator, and estimated costs for such services. 11. DeCA is looking for demonstrated grocery eCommerce experience. Provide a listing of all client grocery retailers by the type of solution offered; (1) eCommerce Internet ordering solution and (2) mobile application. 12. Provide a description of customer Personal Identifiable Information (PII) that the system requires and maintains and how their PII will be secured. 13. Provide insight into operational challenges with fielding an eCommerce solution in a retail grocery environment, based on actual experience, and detail lessons learned during implementation. Contact with the individual DeCA stores is prohibited. In the event that an offeror has any specific questions regarding this initiative, they are asked to refer those questions, in writing, to the e-mail address cited below. The cut-off date for the receipt of questions is September 14, 2012. The written query will be answered by an appropriate subject matter expert. Answers to all questions submitted will be consolidated and posted to www.fbo.gov no later than September 28, 2012. The page limit for responses to this RFI is twenty-five (25) single-sided pages, to include a one (1) page Executive Summary. The preferred font size is no smaller than 12 pitch. Completed packages in response to this RFI must be sent electronically to the email address shown below. The requested due date for all submissions is established as no later than the close of business on October 12, 2012. The e-mail contact information is as follows: Defense Commissary Agency Directorate of Acquisition Management (LEAS) Fort Lee, VA E-mail contact information: DeCA.Responses@deca.mil Project Reference #: DeCA-eCommerce- RFI-2012 DeCA maintains a commercial Web site ( www.commissaries.com ) that can be accessed to find additional information about our organization and stores. This RFI is for DeCA planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid, request for quotation, request for proposal (RFP), or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Your response to this RFI will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this RFI or the Government's use of such information. Failure to respond to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future associated RFP that may be issued. Information provided in no way binds the Government to solicit or award a contract. In the event that DeCA determines that it wishes to pursue a formal contract for this requirement, a separate advertisement will be issued, following federal acquisition guidelines.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/DeCA/DeCA-CICS/DeCAeCommerceRFI2012/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02864419-W 20120902/120831235823-f518e9805c11756ebd6abc0370aac760 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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