SOURCES SOUGHT
70 -- RFI - SOF ELECTRONIC ROLODEX – PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING CONCEPT - RFI - SOF Electronic Rolodex and Professional Networking
- Notice Date
- 8/30/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 518210
— Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, U.S. Special Operations Command, Headquarters Procurement Division, 7701 Tampa Point Blvd, MacDill AFB, Florida, 33621-5323
- ZIP Code
- 33621-5323
- Solicitation Number
- H92222-SOF-ROLODEX-RFI
- Archive Date
- 10/29/2013
- Point of Contact
- Jonathan H. Katz, Phone: 813-826-7046, Liliana Roman, Phone: 813-826-7028
- E-Mail Address
-
jonathan.katz@socom.mil, Liliana.roman@socom.mil
(jonathan.katz@socom.mil, Liliana.roman@socom.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- RFI - SOF Electronic Rolodex and Professional Networking The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communication and Computers (PEO-C4), located at MacDill Air Force Base, FL, is looking for companies with the capabilities to provide commercial off the Shelf (COTS), Non-Developmental Items (NDI), or near NDI component technologies that can provide a Special Operations Forces (SOF) Electronic Rolodex and Professional Networking (enterprise social networking) solution. This request for information (RFI) is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid, request for proposal, 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 announcement of the Government use of such information. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI. Intent. The intent of this RFI is to 1) Identify non-developmental items that can satisfy the requirements stated in this RFI 2) Identify companies that possess the technical, production, and support capabilities required to support proposed technical solutions over their lifecycle; 3) Determine technological feasibility, supportability and readiness levels of required key attributes; 4) Assist in formalizing requirements and the acquisition strategy for an enterprise business social networking solution. SOF ELECTRONIC ROLODEX -PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING CONCEPT The concept of the SOF Electronic Rolodex and Professional Networking system is to provide an enterprise social networking (ESN) solution which provides a secure online community in which employees, business partners, and interested parties can communicate and collaborate across hierarchical boundaries and outside the confines of formal business processes. The ESN would encourage information sharing, capture institutional knowledge, and empower employees by creating an agile and transparent work environment, which is not hampered by compartmentalized silos. The ESN environment should encourage a sense of community, thus making it easier for people to share information and collaborate. The ESN would serve as the platform were employees would connect with other employees based on common interests, solve problems, discover resources, filter information, and locate subject matter experts. The relationships built by the ESN platform must be shareable and transparent to the greater community. The ESN platform must have the ability to segment the internal community relationships, i.e. (employees) from the external community relationships i.e. (business partners, interested parties). The ESN platform would be responsible for creating an environment where "cold connections" would be virtually non-existent. The ESN must also provide the user the ability to ingest and associate business card contacts to their ESN "profile", with the ability to share the business contact with the greater community. The desired end-state is a contact network built consisting of direct connections, and additional second and third-degree connections, that can be used to find people with skills and areas of expertise to help solve problems. Users would be responsible for uploading initially their skills, contact information for their own profile in order to identify work experiences and areas of expertise. Users/individuals will be expected to keep their own information up-to-date and relevant in the system. The system shall allow ability to search on skills, contact information, and areas of expertise. Search results should allow the ability to visually display relationship connections. The system should provide the capability to establish an introduction to an individual a person wishes to know through a mutual contact. The system should enhance networking and information exchange between individuals across the whole organization or with external participant in other organizations. The system should facilitate social interaction by helping individuals establish and strengthen relationships, develop trust, and facilitate problem solving. Interested parties should within 45 days after release of this RFI provide information regarding existing or near-term mature capabilities or products that meet all or a subset of the identified attributes. The Technical Point of Contact (POC) is Liliana Roman and Michael Hill, 813-826-7028 or 813-826-7353 and email Liliana.roman@socom.mil or Michael.Hill@socom.mil The Contracting Officer is Jonathan Katz, 813-826-7046, and email jonathan.katz@socom.mil This announcement is a request for information/comment only and does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP). An RFP may be posted on Fed Biz Ops at some future time. However, the Government does not guarantee any action beyond this RFI. Key Attributes. The vendor must be able to address how their solution will provide capabilities such as: Accessibility and Network: The vender must address where the system will be hosted (on the.mil or.com network) and how the system will be accessed (username and password or smart card authentication.) In addition how users within the government will access the system from a.mil network, and how users in the commercial sector will access the system from a.com network. A key attribute is to design a system that protects the internal contacts and information but yet still allows for connections with users in the commercial sector/private industry. For example, a privately hosted (inward facing) enterprise deployment in a secure environment accessible via the internet using smart card authentication technology or with a username and password. The system should Allow active/reserve military, civilians, retirees, and commercial industry to register, thus establishing a connection and subsequently then inputting of contact information, skill, and area of expertise related information. Can a business social networking solution be designed with an instantiation of the solution hosted on the.mil network, and another instantiation of the solution hosted in the.com network to facilitate connections outside the DoD with industry partners. Can a system be developed that would protect government contacts from being accessed externally to the organization, unless an individual explicitly authorizes such access. The vender should consider a solution that could be provided as Software as a Service (SaaS), hosted entirely in the commercial internet, with access restrictions to protect military connections, and still allow connections with contacts via the commercial internet. Contact Information: Ability to retain contact information for users (phone number, email address, twitter address, and mailing address, and notes.) Ability to add relevant information about connections: Ability to capture additional data about connections: capability, skill sets, areas of expertise. Ability to search this data (or metadata). Ability to search data across the entire organization or enterprise. Ability to share connections: Make connection data sharable across the entire organization. Ability to search connections. Make connection data searchable across the entire organization. Data Entry - User Web-Based Input System: Web-based, users self-register, self-identify capability and skills and input basic contact data. Data Entry - Electronic Rolodex (business cards): Ability for individuals to electronically OCR or scan an image of a paper-based business card to establish a connection or invitation for connection. Accessibility - Mobile Device: Ability to input and access data from a mobile device, tablet, PC, or smartphone. Accessibility - Individual: Ability for military, government civilians, government contractors, and commercial industry to be able to register and make connections. Accessibility - Web-Based: Ability for the system to be web-based Ability to visualize connections: Ability to visually display relationships between connections, relationship visualizer. The vendor should identify any cost advantages of their solution over that of another vendor, provide a price versus performance ratio, and identify any vendor relationships with Additionally, the vendor should identify any enhancements or capabilities that would distinguish them from another vendor, such as: Furthermore, the vendor must identify the following post-sale support information: detailed warranty information, training provided (how many users, type of training), level of support, service level agreement for the stated level of support, and how many cleared personnel will be available to support their solution or group of solutions. Items to be addressed by vendor: 1. On which network should the system be hosted (.mil,.com, or.com restricted)? High - accessible to public internet (.com) Medium - privately hosted secure environment Low - accessible within the military internet (.mil) Very low - accessible on secure internet protocol routing network (.smil). 2. Who has capability to register for an account? (Military, DoD civilians, government contractors, and/or commercial/private sector?) 3. How will user information in the database be kept up-to-date-manual or users self-update? 4. What interface can be built to make inputting data easily, directly and electronically from paper-based business cards? (OCR or image Scan?) 5. Ability to have a Mobile application? 6. Ability to input data into and access data from a smart phone mobile application? 7. Ability to search connections for skills, contact data, and areas of expertise? 8. Is there a cloud based solution for this requirement? 9. Can there be a system connection to existing commercial social networking systems (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) 10. Is your solution a SaaS (Software as a Solution) product? 11. New emerging technologies that a customer may or may not be aware of 12. Warranties 13. Security features 14. Training 15. Support Responses to this market survey are due on or before 14 October, 2013 and must include a product description with performance parameters and a statement regarding current availability, indication of the technology readiness level or maturity of the technology, summary of prior testing, test reports, summary of logistic and maintenance requirements, an estimated schedule and an estimated cost for the price of test articles and production units. Please provide name of firm, address, POC, phone/fax number, and email address. Responses and all communication will be conducted via e-mail. This synopsis does not constitute a Request for Proposals, and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue an order or otherwise pay for the information solicited.
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