SOURCES SOUGHT
70 -- RFI For Advance Reservations System to Manage Individual & Group Tours of the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.
- Notice Date
- 11/5/2012
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- Architect of the Capitol, AOC Acquisition & Material Management Division, Acquisition and Material Management Division, Ford House Office Building, Second and D Streets, S.W., Washington, District of Columbia, 20515, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20515
- Solicitation Number
- AOC-RFI-11-2012
- Archive Date
- 12/7/2012
- Point of Contact
- Mrs. Shola Matthews-Aroloye, Phone: 202.226.0641, Mrs. Shola Matthews-Aroloye, Phone: 202.226.0641
- E-Mail Address
-
smatthew@aoc.gov, smatthew@aoc.gov
(smatthew@aoc.gov, smatthew@aoc.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION I. Background The United States Capitol ("Capitol") in Washington, D.C., is a symbol of the American people and their government and the meeting place of the nation's legislature. The Capitol also houses an important collection of American art, and it is an architectural achievement in its own right. It is a working office building as well as a tourist attraction. The Architect of the Capitol ("AOC" or "Government"), an agency of the legislative branch, manages the facilities comprising the Capitol complex. The U.S. Capitol Visitor Center ("CVC" or "Government") is the newest addition to the Capitol complex. The mission of the CVC is to provide a welcoming and educational environment for visitors to learn about the unique characteristics of the House and the Senate and the legislative process, as well as the history and development of the architecture and art of the Capitol. This is accomplished, in part, by the provision of free tours to the visiting public, educational programs, and the provision of spaces for Congressional events. The CVC provides an increased focus on visitor comfort, safety and security resulting in a seamless, positive visitor experience at the Capitol. The CVC welcomes millions of visitors to the Capitol each year. II. Purpose THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) NOTICE ONLY. This RFI is for informational and planning purposes only and it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government for any actual procurement of materials, machinery, or services. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI are solely at the responding parties' expense. Respondents are solely responsible for properly marking and clearly identifying any proprietary information or trade secrets contained within their response. The Government will not be liable for, or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly marked and clearly identified. Proprietary information received in response to this sources sought will be safeguarded and handled in accordance with applicable Government regulations. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. The Government will not be obligated to pursue any particular acquisition alternative as a result of this RFI. Responses to the RFI become Government property and will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if one is issued. Small businesses with the capability to meet the requirements are encouraged to reply to this RFI. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. Potential responders are responsible for monitoring this site for additional information pertaining to this RFI. At this time, the Government is seeking information only from all reservation system resale, software development, and/or similar companies. III. System Requirements The CVC currently uses a publicly accessible advance reservation system to manage inventory and schedule individual and group tours of the Capitol. This system issues timed passes for the tours. A separate events system, limited to Congressional users, is used to schedule and coordinate events in the CVC. The required system must include the aforementioned capabilities, as well as the ability to enter, store and retrieve school group information and reserve educational programming events. The information requested therefore, is for an integrated system to schedule and manage public tours of the Capitol, special events in the CVC, educational programs and/or school group-related tours. The system requirements are separated into four categories as follows: • Global • Tour reservations and ticketing • Special events requirements • Educational programs/School groups Global An integrated system is requested with the following global requirements: 1. Web-based access from any personal computer, or other mobile computing platform, with internet access 2. A customizable website layout and design 3. Ability to maintain unique users within the system based on email addresses or other criteria 4. High level of automation, including automatic confirmation receipts and reminders 5. A training/operating manual and quick reference guide which illustrates its capabilities for administrative users. Online help function to demonstrate and explain the functions and features to end-users 6. Easy to use interfaces, system reliability (up to 99.5% uptime), and speed 7. Ability to store and view all historical data (no limitations). 8. Time saving tools, including items such as: a. Intuitive tour pass, event and room searches b. Ability to copy repeatable data c. Ability to repeat a request across multiple tours/rooms and across non-consecutive dates d. Make a change across multiple tour and event bookings e. Capability for end-users to create alerts and trigger actions such as: i. Automatic confirmation emails and reminders ii. Important tour or event dates 9. Real time data exchange to accommodate first come, first served, reservations; immediate updating of calendar to reflect completed reservations 10. Mobile computing platform (e.g., tablet and mobile phone) compatibility with the website and most features 11. Waitlist functionality that includes notification to end users of cancellations on requested dates 12. Ability to track automated emails. User audit trails that include time/date stamp on all changes, comments, and user activity 13. Ability to export reports to PDF and Word documents; and print screen displays 14. Administrators must have the option to edit user profiles 15. Administrators must have ability to edit (add/delete/modify) Member List 16. Reporting analysis to include: a. Statistical, historical, and real-time event status b. Comprehensive tracking capabilities that include user and usage statistics; percentage of tour utilization, percentage of room utilization, etc. c. Ability to create, modify, save and later customize reporting based on specific end-user designed queries; d. Ability to report based on no show rate, user usage, pass distribution, 3 month snapshot of upcoming tours and events, and multi-tour comparison, multi-channel comparison, room comparison, etc. 17. Outlook integration/dashboard option 18. Efficiency/ Green measures where applicable Tour Reservations and Ticketing In addition to the global requirements, the advanced reservation tour ticketing module, with the ability to support timed passes, should include: 1. Ability to support ticket printing hardware and access control hardware 2. Ability to support multiple tour types and tour products 3. Ability to handle individual/group reservations 4. Ability to print/export data from the database to a local, or remote, printer 5. Strong user security protocols that include password protection with graduated access for end-users. Levels of access should include appropriate, targeted capabilities for each distribution channel 6. Ability to prevent abuse of system by end-users, including: a. Protocols to ensure legitimate contact information/ email addresses b. Tools to ensure unique usernames, emails, addresses in the system; automated alerts for duplicates, and automatic de-duping of multiple accounts with the same email address 7. Allow for graduated access from remote hosts including: a. Internal communication between Reservation and Ticketing/Information Desk staff b. Extensive, quick and intuitive search functionality for multiple tour types, dates, tour times. (Example: a simple form page with all the needed functions and a "search" button) c. Ability to temporarily hold multiple times and/ or multiple tour types for the same day when communicating with a single group a. When making a reservation - no lag time (inventory "held" in system) b. When making multiple reservations for the same group, an option to select and search multiple specific (non-consecutive) dates (e.g., an option to highlight multiple calendar dates at a time or a drop down menu option to search multiple non-consecutive dates simultaneously) c. Multiple contacts for Member Offices to create tour entries 8. Administrative. The system should allow administrators to perform inventory management including: a. Create/ copy seasons b. Balance "no-shows" - reduce cancellations c. Management of walk up reservations d. Time delays for tour pass distribution e. Inventory controls to limit reservations by various distribution channels 9. Remote Access Functionality a. Ability to scan/ print passes at non-stationary locations b. Live, online, chat feature to allow reservation staff to assist all end users c. Instant Messaging between internal staff locations d. Mobile or handheld, portable, ticketing devices. Special Events In addition to the global requirements the Special Event reservation module should include: 1. Ability to allow end users to download and attach forms and documents within the system 2. User alerts for incomplete request before submission 3. Ability to allow end users to convert requests to.pdf (or other compatible) format 4. Ability to auto-cancel unconfirmed reservations 5. Ability to manage meeting details, activities, host information, room set up and events 6. Administrative overrides and resets 7. Ability to customize reporting based on specific queries 8. Leverage labor and equipment resources across multiple events via viewing and tracking capabilities 9. Ability to conduct multiple searches for events (e.g., by requestor name, date of event, event title, etc) 10. Calendar view of availability by date and times 11. Variety of filters to sort reports including, but not limited to, dates, requestor, rooms name or number and event type. A Hide/Show field should be provided for all event requests 12. Ability to copy all events information to a new event. "Copy/Paste" Function 13. Administrative functionality to block or remove a room from inventory for a extended period 14. Administrative functionality to bypass all required fields to create a new event 15. Website must keep track of equipment inventory and alert administrator when equipment is near shortage 16. Recently viewed options (e.g., events, profile, etc) Educational Programs/School Groups In addition to the global requirements the Educational Program/School Group reservation module should include the following: 1. Ability to create multiple types of tours/programs for reservations such as: a. Specialized School programs b. Educational programs 2. Programs would be episodic and separate from the regular Capitol tour inventory in scheduling. 3. Ability to enter, retain and identify registered school groups by school name, location, point of contact, e-mail address, etc. IV. Responding to this RFI: RFI submission should be directed to Shola Matthews-Aroloye, Contract Specialist, at smatthew@aoc.gov, 202-226-0641. Please note in the subject line of the e-mail submission "AOC-RFI-11-2012". The response should be written as a White paper describing a proposed solution(s) to the requirements outlined. Please limit your response to a total of 20 pages. Responses should be in PDF format. All responses should be submitted as an email attachment. Include in your response the following information: 1. The Service/Software functionality description pertaining to the above requirements. 2. Whether help desks are provided for the government? 3. Other U.S. Federal Customers. 4. A description of the hosting environment, to include but not limited to: a. Is the hosting environment 100% located in the U.S.? b. What disaster recovery capability does the SaaS solution itself provide? 5. The security of the solution, to include but not limited to: a. The overall security and privacy of the solution. b. Has any assessment IAW NIST SP 800-53 R3, or most recent security assessment for federal information systems, been performed? If so, is this data available from the provider? c. Has the solution ever been subjected to a Government Certification and Accreditation process? If so, is this data available from the provider? d. For whatever the provider does insofar as security and privacy, has a SAS-70 or any other kind of independent audit been conducted to verify performance and is that audit documentation available to potential customers? 6. Any training or other professional services that may be offered. 7. Licensing and Hosting description, to include but not limited to: a. Is the service available on GSA Schedule? If so, list Schedule, Contract number and term of the Schedule. If the GSA schedule is available, either provide the link or submit as an appendix to the submission, this is not included in the 20 page limitation b. Discuss the licensing and hosting methodology, i.e.; enterprise-unlimited user, concurrent user, named user, annual maintenance contracts, etc. 8. Any Service Level Agreements that the vendor affirms will be met. 9. Whether the solution meets Section 508 accessibility requirements. 10. Business size classification and appropriate NAICS code. If an 8(a) firm, please include Small Business Administration (SBA) contact name, phone number, and email. 11. Business Point of Contact (POC) including name; phone number; email, physical address; mailing address; identification of other key individuals who collaborated on the RFI response; and web site address. This notice closes on December 7, 2012 at 5 PM EST. V. Questions Questions regarding this announcement should be submitted in writing by e-mail to the contact listed in Section IV. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by posting answers to the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website; accordingly, questions should NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after December 7, 2012 at 5 PM EST will be answered. PLEASE NOTE THAT TELEPHONE REQUESTS FOR THIS RFI WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/AOC/AOCPD/WashingtonDC/AOC-RFI-11-2012/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Visitor Center of the United States Capitol, E Capitol St NE & 1st St NE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20515, United States
- Zip Code: 20515
- Zip Code: 20515
- Record
- SN02924646-W 20121107/121105234348-a5e0c61151920f3f8fc085170b3e325b (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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