70 -- SSA SEEKING SOURCES FOR COTS SOFTWARE SOLUTION

Notice Date

November 2, 2001

Contracting Office

Social Security Administration, Deputy Commissioner for Finance, Assessment and Management, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1710 Gwynn Oak Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21207-5279

ZIP Code

21207-5279

Solicitation Number

SSA021102

Response Due

November 21, 2001

Point of Contact

Cynthia Spencer, Contract Specialist, Phone 4109653369, Fax 4109659560, Email cynthia.spencer@ssa.gov -- Wayne Mcdonald, Contract Specialist, Phone 4109659480, Fax 4109659560, Email wayne.mcdonald@ssa.gov

Description

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is seeking sources for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or government off-the-shelf (GOTS) solutions to streamline the current correspondence control process. Only those sources with a current GSA Contract Schedule may respond to this announcement. The system design must be capable of operating within the following environment. 1) Desktop Platform -- This system design needs to be fully accessible to system end users via the Internet Explorer v5.01 and higher web browser, with an option of using web-enabled client software for system administration functions only. Any system administration tools that may require client software must be compatible with SSA?s IWS/LAN standard workstation. The current workstation image includes the following: Pentium processor minimum 233mhz; Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6a operating system; Microsoft Office 97; Microsoft Outlook 98 as the mail client; MS Exchange v5.5 as the mail server; Microsoft Internet Explorer v5.01 and higher. In support of SSA?s future Information Technology (IT) strategy, any proposed system design must be forward compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Outlook 2000, and Microsoft Outlook XP/2002. 2) System Architecture -The overall system must be browser-based and must be deployable through the following architecture: web services via Netscape?s iPlanet Enterprise Server v4.1 or IBM?s WebSphere running under Sun Solaris v2.8 and higher; application server running under the Sun Solaris v2.8 and higher operating system; data storage via Oracle v8.1.7.2 running under HP/UX v11.00; Internet Explorer v5.01 and higher web browser for end user access, running under either Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or Microsoft Windows 2000. System components should have a similar look and ?feel? to the end user. The system must support the use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) with 128-bit encryption. Any application back-end processes will be deployable on the Sun Solaris platform. 3) Customization -- It is understood that some customization of purchased software will be required to meet SSA?s Document Management Process standards. Any customization to satisfy these needs should be minor without requiring modification to the baseline source code. The vendor will provide the professional services required for implementing any customization and end-user training. 4) Scalability ? The system must be scalable to support 500 initial users, growing to over 25,000 users over a geographically widely-disbursed intranet. 5)Application Integration -The system design must utilize an open architecture to enable integration with other desktop applications, such as Microsoft Office or in-house developed Visual Basic applications. Any scripting required for integration must be programmed in Java. 6) Section 508 -- SSA requires that Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) procured, developed or maintained meet the accessibility requirements under Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794 and 794d. The EIT must be compatible with the following assistive technology software products in use at SSA: JAWS for NT/2000 Professional screen reading software, MAGic for NT/2000 Professional magnification software, and Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional voice recognition software. Furthermore, the system design must support the following capabilities. 1)Document Management -- The system must support a variety of document management capabilities, by utilization of built-in document management functionality, including, but are not limited to the following: Viewing of system documents in their original format; Version Control capabilities, providing the ability to configure the system to maintain a number of versions available to the end users; the ability to introduce documents into the system via email, image scanning, and direct user input; viewing of a document once it has been introduced into the system or associated with an assignment using ?point-and-click?; association of multiple documents with a single assignment and association of a document with multiple assignments; the ability to support RDBMS-based storage and search of document metadata; support of hierarchical logical document storage; support for document-specific access control; the ability of users to be able to simultaneously work on separate sections of documents. The ability to perform document search and indexing is required. The ability to introduce documents into the system via 3rd-party software (i.e., Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc) using an Open Document Management API (ODMA) is highly desirable. 2) Workflow Management -The system must support a variety of assignment tracking and management capabilities. These capabilities include, but are not limited to: the ability to route a single assignment/document to multiple groups or individuals; the ability to route multiple documents associated with a single assignment to one or more groups or individuals; the ability to track all assignments/documents from assignment initiation to completion; the ability to provide a real-time status of assignments from initiation to completion; the ability to automatically notify users of new/updated assignments by both the system and email as desired by the assignor; the ability to generate unique assignment identifiers; the ability to configure the format for these identifiers to match the current system?s naming conventions is highly desirable; the ability to re-open an assignment once it has been marked as ?Completed?; the ability to generate assignments from multiple levels within the agency, (i.e., the Commissioner?s Office, Deputy Commissioners? Offices, department branches, etc.); the ability to control user-access to assignments, documents, and workflow tracking; the ability to utilize a predefined set of workflows to control correspondence within the agency and manage assignments accordingly; the ability to create ad hoc workflows to control correspondence within the agency and manage assignments as needed; the ability to support the routing of assignments and attached documents to the individual and/or component to which they are assigned for processing via parallel, serial and combined routing. 3)Reporting/Querying -- The system design must provide the following reporting and querying capabilities: the ability to run predefined and ad hoc reports; the ability to create and store both standard and ad hoc reports through a GUI interface; the ability to integrate with 3rd-party ODBC Reporting tools, such as Crystal Reports v7.0 and higher, Microsoft Access, etc.; the ability to view system reports via the web browser; the ability to print system reports; the ability to export system reports to other file formats (i.e., Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Notepad, etc.) is highly desirable; the ability to locate assignments and documents in the system by utilizing a built-in search engine; the ability to perform predefined and ad hoc searching and indexing for assignments and documents at both the full-text and metadata levels; the ability to restrict access to specified reporting/querying functions based on user authorization/role. 4)Imaging -- The system design must include an imaging solution based on the following criteria: the ability to scan, view, and annotate standard image files, such as TIFF, JPEG/JPG, GIF, etc.; the ability to introduce image files to the system that have been received via email, manual attachment to an assignment, or the use of current scanning technology from a user workstation; support for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for paper documents introduced to the system via an image scanner; support for PDF conversion of paper documents introduced to the system via an image scanner. 5)Data Storage -- The system design must provide connectivity with an external database. The current SSA standard RDBMS is Oracle v8.1.7.2 and higher, running under HP/UX v11.00. Database storage requirements include, but are not limited to: storage of all data relating to assignment/document creation and status, workflow creation/modification, and overall system usage for tracking purposes; storage of all required tracking data for active and completed assignments/documents, (e.g., date of assignment, due date, assignees, assignment category, status, etc.); support for multiple data repositories with definable local and global search capabilities. The ability to store documents internally in the database is highly desirable. 6) Security -- The system design must support the following security measures: the ability to restrict access to the system via user-id/password authentication; the ability to restrict access to assignments, documents, reports, and administrative functions within the system based on user authorization/role; the ability to restrict access for viewing assignments/documents, tracking reports, and assignment status to respective assignors; the ability to deny access to assignments/documents, tracking reports, and assignment status by assignees to work/assignments for which other system users are responsible; the ability to attach an electronic signature or certificate to an assignment or document via PKI technology. The ability to attach a signature image to an assignment and/or document for approval/authentication is highly desirable. 7) Electronic Records Management -- The system design must provide built-in Electronic Records Management (ERM) capabilities. ERM features include, but are not limited to the following: the ability to store, manage, retrieve, track, and view the final response to an assignment/document electronically; the ability to set and maintain version retention periods; the ability to implement an automatic identification/selection of records for review and/or destruction; the ability to retrieve, view, review, and re-open an assignment/document once it has been marked as ?Complete? and/or archived. The ability to provide both virtual and physical (if applicable) locations of archived documents for future retrieval is highly desirable. Compliance with the Department of Defense?s (DOD) 5015.2 standards is required. 8) Training -- The vendor will provide the professional services required for all end-user training. 9) Vendor Support -- The vendor will provide the professional services required for product implementation and any customization, as well as ongoing support as required by SSA. Instructions -- Respondents must send complete information including but not limited to functional characteristics, capacity, size, cost, delivery, terms, inputs/outputs, DBMS, three references of customers using the product and the PC resources required to support full operation of the product as advertised. Please include a copy of your GSA Schedule to the above address, to the attention of Cynthia Spencer within fifteen calendar days from the date of publication of this announcement. Incomplete responses will not be evaluated due to time constraints. This is an information gathering effort only and if further procurement action is taken, additional publication(s) will be done as required. Respondents will not be notified of the results of any evaluation made from the information submitted. No award will be made on the basis of this synopsis. The information received will be used in SSA?s assessment of capable sources. Requests for copies of a solicitation and/or telephone calls will not be honored or acknowledged. The Government will not pay for information received. You may either mail your information to the attention of Cynthia Spencer, Contract Specialist at the address provided herein or email to Cynthia.Spencer@ssa.gov Respondents should refer to Reference Number: SSA-02-1102. =20

Web Link

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Record

Loren Data Corp. 20011106/70SOL004.HTM (D-306 SN512209)