DOCUMENT
70 -- RFI for VetTraveler Software - Attachment
- Notice Date
- 11/7/2012
- Notice Type
- Attachment
- NAICS
- 511210
— Software Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs;Technology Acquisition Center;260 Industrial Way West;Eatontown NJ 07724
- ZIP Code
- 07724
- Solicitation Number
- VA11813I0029
- Response Due
- 11/27/2012
- Archive Date
- 11/27/2012
- Point of Contact
- James Martin
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR The VetTraveler Solution Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Acquisition Operations, Technology Acquisition Center Eatontown, New Jersey 07724 Introduction This Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The purpose of this RFI is to identify qualified sources able to meet VA requirements, to assist in planning possible future technical requirements, determine the appropriate acquisition strategy, and understand commercial pricing practices and other market information readily available. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue a RFP in the future. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Further, VA is not at this time, seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. It is the responsibility of the responders to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement. Telephone inquiries and responses will not be accepted at this time since there is no further information available. This announcement is based upon the best information available and is subject to future modification. VA will not be responsible for any costs incurred by responding to this RFI. Responders are advised that VA will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested vendor's expense. For project planning and information gathering, a brief description of the effort is included which defines the description of the requirement needed to support our mission. Information obtained from this RFI will be used within VA and will not be disclosed outside of the agency. Although VA has identified questions of particular relevance, we welcome comments or suggestions on any part of this document. Background VA operates the nation's largest integrated health care network, operating over 150 hospitals, over 130 community living centers and over 900 outpatient clinics. There are over 8.5 Million Veterans enrolled in the VA healthcare system, with over 5.5 million Veterans using the health care system in any given year. As part of its commitment to ensuring that Veterans have adequate access to VA health care facilities, VA provides mileage reimbursement to eligible Veterans to offset costs associated with travel to hospitals. In FY 2010, VA provided mileage reimbursement to 1 million eligible beneficiaries. As part of its commitment to Veterans and to the American public to serve as good stewards of public resources, VA seeks to make improvements to the Beneficiary Travel program under the VetTraveler solution. The purpose of this document is to capture and articulate the Business Requirements of the VetTraveler solution. Description VA plans to acquire a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution to manage travel and expense reimbursement services. The solution, VetTraveler, will provide features and capabilities that leverage automation and multiple user interface capabilities to manage and process Beneficiary Travel claims. The scope of this effort is also to support the VetTraveler solution, which includes system operations and sustainment and software development that includes requirements analysis, definition, and management; package design, development, test, product delivery and documentation. The VetTraveler solution will need to provide many of the features and capabilities typically found in third-party expense management services and solutions. These features and capabilities include, but are not limited to: A.Ability to create a user profile with contact and financial information (used for Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) payment) B.Ability to integrate with external legacy systems to access relevant information (e.g. address and appointment) 1.Legacy Systems may consist of the following: i.VHA's Enrollment System ii.Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) Beneficiary Travel Package iii. EFT system iv. VistA Appointment Package C.Ability to create expense entries D.Ability to upload scanned images of receipts and supporting documentation and link these to the expense entries E.Ability to plan for future Beneficiary Travel F.Ability to submit expenses for either manual or automatic review for approval G.Ability to receive the payment in the form of an EFT transaction H.Support for Multiple User Interfaces and Modes 1.The VetTraveler solution shall be accessible via the following user interfaces: i.A standard desktop web browser (e.g. PC Desktop, laptop, etc.). This is to ensure quick deployment of the solution and immediate use. ii.A user Interface optimized for mobile devices (e.g. mobile browser) iii.A user Interface optimized for use on Kiosk devices The main difference between the VetTraveler solution and the typical third-party expense management services and solutions is the need to evaluate claims based on the VA Beneficiary Travel rules and guidelines and using Medical Appointment and Eligibility information found in external systems. Appointments are managed through a VistA module called PCE (Patient Care Encounter). VA currently runs a majority of VistA systems on the proprietary InterSystems Caché version of MUMPS (Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System). Business Requirements In accordance with Title 38 United States Code (U.S.C) Section 111 and Title 38 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 70, the VetTraveler solution will: "allow a Beneficiary Travel Claimant to submit a expense and travel reimbursement "contain all of the rules necessary to determine eligibility and calculate the claim payment "support the ability to process claims manually and automatically "integrate with external systems to access relevant information (e.g. address and appointment) "submit payment requests to the Fiscal Department The scope of the project is to implement a solution that replaces the existing Beneficiary Travel functions performed by the current process and systems while adding the following key features and capabilities: "Support for Electronic Funds Transfer payments A central Business need is to eliminate Beneficiary Travel cash reimbursement payments and to alleviate the lines at the facilities. The VetTraveler solution will be a key to moving to this new cashless model. VetTraveler will need to interact with at least two financial systems called Financial Management System (FMS) and Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) to enable EFT's. Finance related data are stored centrally at FMS. FMS is a mainframe based application that provides batch oriented processing for transactional updates and report generation. IFCAP is a VistA application that automates a number of financial and logistics activities. IFCAP maintains an interface to/from FMS. Each VistA application to IFCAP interface may be different from site to site since each site has tailored the IFCAP application to the needs of the site. However, the IFCAP messages to FMS from each site are standardized across the enterprise. Patient-oriented data including identity, demographics, ADT, eligibility and enrollment are stored at legacy VistA deployed throughout the VA as well as centrally managed through Eligibility Service System. "Support for Veteran and Non-Veteran Beneficiary Travel Claimants The VetTraveler solution will support the creation of Beneficiary Travel profiles for both Veterans and Non-Veteran Beneficiary Travel Claimants to ensure efficient processing and payment "Support for Multiple User Interfaces and Modes The VetTraveler solution will be accessible via the following user interfaces: "A standard desktop web browser (e.g. PC Desktop, laptop, etc.). This is to ensure quick deployment of the solution and immediate use. In the context of this project the Veteran desktop configuration is undetermined and will vary greatly. Vendor should provide minimum requirements for which they would support their solution. VA desktops are Microsoft XP SP3 / Internet Explorer 7 based. VA is moving to Windows 7 and IE8 in the near future. VA follows the Federal Desktop Core Configuration and does not allow modification of end user systems. Contractor needs to ensure VetTraveler works correctly on VA desktop systems as configured. The Contractor will need to ensure that the VetTraveler is accessible from the default desktop configuration from testing as well as deployment perspective. "A user Interface optimized for mobile devices (e.g. mobile browser) that is compatible with Android, Windows, and MAC Operating Systems. VetTraveler is to be a web based application - VA desires a version that is optimized for a mobile device and accessible via that devices browser. "A user Interface optimized for use on Kiosk devices. The Contractor will be responsible for exposing and integrating the VetTraveler to Kiosk middleware preferably using Web Services. "Support for Submission of Receipts and Non-Receipt Expenses The VetTraveler solution will support the ability to submit expenses that require a receipt (e.g. Air Travel) and expenses that do not require are receipt (e.g. Mileage expense). "Support for Submission of "Expense Report" The VetTraveler solution will support the ability to submit an "expense report" composed of expense entries with scanned images of the supporting documentation. The supporting documentation is used to document expenses for Meals/Lodging, Other Expenses (e.g. Tolls), other Transportation modes (e.g. Air Travel), and Special Mode. "Ability to plan for future Beneficiary Travel The VetTraveler solution will need to provide the Beneficiary Travel Claimant the ability to plan for future trips. This would entail allowing the Beneficiary Travel Claimant to submit information for a particular future appointment and receive information from the VetTraveler solution on how the claim may be adjudicated (e.g. the eligibility of the trip for Beneficiary Travel reimbursement, and if eligible the estimated reimbursement amount). In addition, the VetTraveler solution will allow the Beneficiary Travel Claimant to create a claim for a future appointment and submit it for payment. However, the VetTraveler solution will not process or calculate the payment until the appointment has been completed. The purpose of this feature is to reduce the numbers of steps between planning their travel and submitting a claim. "Business Intelligence and Reporting The VetTraveler solution will need to include the ability to produce a range of reports to ensure that the solution is effective and meets the goals and objectives of the Business Owners. The following model is depicting a High-Level view of the Future State of the VetTraveler solution for the Beneficiary Travel process. Technical Requirements The table below presents current statistics on the Beneficiary Travel program that needs to be kept in mind when considering the impact of the VetTraveler solution. Additionally, there are two key impact points: "The total potential level of claimed Beneficiary Travel reimbursements could exceed $1.5B "The impact of reimbursement as it relates to resources available for health care CategoryCount of User EnrolleesEstimated Count of Claims (Annual) *Service Connected Veterans 30% and Greater1,542,86410,800,048 *Service Connected Veterans 20% and Less1,189,5504,163,425 Low Income - VA Pensioner313,5262,194,682 Low Income Veterans - Priority 51,165,6324,079,713 Low Income - Medicaid Eligible 265,657265,657 TOTAL High End4,477,22921,503,525 TOTAL Low End4,360,66621,095,554 Operational Environment Requirements OE10The VetTraveler Portal and its components shall be deployed and managed at the central location. OE20The primary and back-up sites for data storage shall be the same sites used for the VA data centers E.g. Austin, TX or Hines, IL. OE30The VetTraveler solution will need to support a minimal troubleshooting and maintenance as defined by the VA for this type of field-deployed system OE40The VetTraveler maintenance shall be scheduled during off peak hours or in conjunction with relevant VistA maintenance schedules. OE50Information about response time degradation resulting from unscheduled system outages and other events that degrade system functionality and/or performance shall be disseminated to the user community by the standard notification protocol defined by VA.. OE60The notification shall include the information described in the current Automated Notification Reporting (ANR) template maintained by the VA Service Desk. The business impact must be noted. OE70The VetTraveler shall provide a real-time monitoring solution during the maintenance windows. OE80The VetTraveler shall provide periodic preventative backups. OE90Notification of scheduled maintenance periods that require the service to be offline or that may degrade system performance shall be disseminated to the internal user community e.g. Travel Clerks, Business Users Application Users and System Administrators prior to the scheduled event by the standard notification protocol defined by VA. OE100When/if lapses in system/update availability occur; VetTraveler shall display a detailed message including approximate time to come back. Usability/User Interface Requirements UU10One of the key aims of the VetTraveler goal is to eliminate lines. Therefore, the user-experience shall be simple and intuitive. UU20The VetTraveler solution shall provide user response times for web based interface based on the standard guidelines in accordance with Nielsen 1999, as follows: Ideal Response Times: "0.1 second. (One tenth of a second). Ideal response time. The user doesn't sense any interruption. "1 second. Highest acceptable response time. Download times above 1 second interrupt the user experience. "10 seconds. Unacceptable response time. The user experience is interrupted at an alarming high rate and the user is likely to leave the site or system. We require the following response times based on 100 concurrent users: "1 to 3 seconds: To navigate WebPages "3 to 5 seconds: To retrieve query results "5 seconds: Navigate screens within VetTraveler UU30The VetTraveler shall include user prompts to guide the use of the application so that minimal technical support is needed by the user. UU40The VetTraveler shall provide a detailed canned demo of the user interface and of the process overview. UU50A technical training curriculum shall be developed and delivered to VetTraveler internal users e.g. Travel Clerks, Business Users, Application Users and System Administrators. UU60The expected training time for Travel Clerks and Business Users shall be approximately around 2 hours to become productive at using the VetTraveler application. UU70The training curriculum shall state the expected task completion time for primary and secondary users. User Access/Security Requirements SEC10Data protection measures such as backup intervals and/or redundancy shall be consistent with systems categorized as Semi-critical. SEC20Ensure the proposed solution meets all VHA Security, Privacy and Identity Management requirements including VA Handbook 6500 and VA Handbook 6500.6 Contract Security. SEC30The VetTraveler shall authenticate users prior to allowing access to VetTraveler functionality. The VetTraveler shall leverage VA Federated Identity Management to enable authentication and access control using industry standard i.e. Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) etc. SEC40The VetTraveler shall log users out after a defined length of inactivity. The industry standard shall be used for allowed inactivity period. SEC50The VetTraveler shall maintain an audit trail of who has accessed individual files and the time and date of when those files were accessed, edited, or deleted. SEC60The VetTraveler shall utilize VA's Active Directory for Beneficiary Travel internal users (e.g. Travel Clerks, Business Users, Application Users and System Administrators) access control. SEC70The VetTraveler shall provide the role based authorization and access control. The table below defines the different user levels of the VetTraveler application. NameRoleVetTraveler Functionality AccessLevel of Access Primary Users Beneficiary Travel Claimants"Enter/Edit Claims "Enter/Edit ProfileView/Edit access (Edit constraints to EFT Profile Information) BT Supervisors/ Clerks"Enter/Edit Claims "Enter/Edit Profile "Approval "NotificationView/Edit access Business UsersRun/View ReportsView access only Secondary UsersApplication User"Design/Edit Reports "Design/Edit Workflow "Enter/Edit Configurable parametersView/Edit access System Administrators Full ControlFull Control Precision/Accuracy Requirements PA10The VetTraveler shall use Mileage rounded to the nearest mile. PA20The VetTraveler shall use the 2 decimal points precision for financial and monetary calculations for the benefit amount. Data Protection/Back-up/Archive Requirements DP10The VetTraveler shall comply with all applicable Federal, VA and VHA rules and regulations for the archival and storage requirements of the data processed which is about 7 years DP20Provide a back-up plan for when the system is brought off-line for maintenance or technical issues/problems. DP30Data protection measures, such as back-up intervals and redundancy shall be consistent with systems categorized as Semi-critical. Note: Data protection measures should include encrypting bank information collected by the VetTraveler registration process using Advance Encryption Standard as required by FIPS 197, and that the encryption module implementing AES must be certified in accordance with FIPS 140-2 Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules. See VA Handbook 6500 Appendix D SC-8, SC-13 and SC-14. DP40Upon execution of disaster recovery procedures, the VetTraveler shall be brought back into operation within a 48 hours Disaster Recovery Period. Implementation Requirements IM10Technical Help Desk support for the application shall be provided for Beneficiary Travel internal users to obtain assistance with VetTraveler technical issues. IM20Veteran help desk support will be provided by Health Resource Center. IM30The IT solution shall be designed to comply with the applicable approved Enterprise Service Level Agreements (SLA). Performance, Capacity, and Availability Requirements Performance ReqPro TagPerformance Requirements PR10VetTraveler shall be capable of supporting 1.5 million initial users. PR20VetTraveler shall be capable of expanding to support a 5% increase in users per year. PR30The VetTraveler shall be designed to optimize bandwidth utilization. PR40The VetTraveler shall be designed to minimize resource utilization on the source systems from which data is being extracted. Capacity ReqPro TagCapacity Requirements CAP10The VetTraveler shall support 4.5 million claims per year initially. CAP20The VetTraveler shall be scalable to support 10 million claims per year. CAP30At peak periods the VetTraveler solution shall be capable of processing *~25,000 claims an hour. (Actual Calculation: 157 Facilities * 150 Claims [worst case per scenario/hour] = 23550 Claims/Hour. CAP40The VetTraveler shall be capable of extracting data from a minimum of 157 instances of VistA source systems. CAP50The VetTraveler shall be capable of both scaling up (adding Central Processing Unit (CPU) and memory resources to the servers) and scaling out (adding additional servers for load balancing). Availability ReqPro TagAvailability Requirements AV10The VetTraveler solution will need to meet availability requirements as defined by the VA for this type of field-deployed system. AV20The VetTraveler solution shall be available from 6AM to 11PM EST, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. During this time window the lowest acceptable availability will be 90% of the time. Outside of this time window, the VetTraveler solution will be available 95% of the time. Known Interfaces This is the business community's best understanding of known interfaces and may not be a comprehensive listing. ReqPro TagInteroperability Requirements IFC10The VetTraveler solution will need to integrate to VistA (Scheduling, BT package, Means Test, Eligibility and Enrollment, Appointment Management, Accounting) packages to utilize information needed to determine eligibility and calculate payment. IFC20The VetTraveler solution will need to integrate to Fiscal Department's system to provide information to generate a payment. IFC30The operation of VetTraveler solution shall not affect the performance, availability or speed of any VistA packages or any other integrated systems. IFC40The VetTraveler shall use the industry standard for data transfer with external systems. Technical Capabilities Statement and Submission Instructions: In response to the RFI, interested contractors shall submit a capabilities statement as well as any comments with regards to this proposed acquisition in Microsoft Word for Office 2007 compatible format as follows: 1.This document should not exceed 10 pages (no marketing material), and should provide an overview of your proposed solution(s) to include a description of the capabilities/qualifications/skills your firm possesses and those of any proposed subcontractors to perform the requirement as described and ability to deliver the required product/services. 2.Price information - For estimating purposes only, please provide a rough order of magnitude for the same or similar products/solutions. 3.Other Market Information - Provide any other relative information, however this information must be included within the 10 page limitation. 4.Other Federal Experience - Identify if the respondents products or services are available through existing VA, other Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs or GSA Federal Supply Schedules and contracts) and include contract numbers and expiration dates. Specific Response Instructions: Please submit your response to this RFI in accordance with the following: 1.No more than 10 pages (excluding transmittal page). Include the name, email address and phone number of the appropriate representative of your company. 2.Address each of the 6 sections described above. 3.Submit your response via email to james.martin7@va.gov by 4:00 P.M. (EST), November 27, 2012. 4.Identify if the respondents products or services are available through existing VA, other Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs or GSA Federal Supply Schedules and contracts) and include contract numbers and expiration dates. 5.Mark your response as "Proprietary Information" if the information is considered business sensitive. 6.NO MARKETING MATERIALS ARE ALLOWED AS A PART OF THIS RFI. The Government will not review any other data, attachments that are in excess to the 10 pages. NOTE: This RFI is for planning purposes only No solicitation document exists at this time. Issuance of this notice does not constitute any obligation on the part of the Government to procure these items or to issue a solicitation. In addition, the Government is under no obligation to pay for information submitted in response to this RFI, and response to this notice cannot be accepted as an offer. Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. We thank you for your interest in participating in the VetTraveler RFI process. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact: Contract Specialist: James Martin, james.martin7@va.gov Contracting Officer: David Nostrant, david.nostrant@va.gov
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