PRESOL | R | Wireless Management Solution

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF DECEMBER 03, 2008 FBO #2564
SOLICITATION NOTICE

R -- Wireless Management Solution

Notice Date: 12/1/2008
Notice Type: Modification/Amendment
NAICS: 541618 — Other Management Consulting Services
Contracting Office: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Office of Acquisitions and Grants Services, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 2129, Rockville, Maryland, 20857-0001
ZIP Code: 20857-0001
Solicitation Number: FDA-SOL-105-2307
Response Due: 12/9/2008 2:00:00 PM
Archive Date: 12/24/2008
Point of Contact: Rafael Taylor, Phone: 301-827-7169, Ted L Weitzman,, Phone: 301-827-7178
E-Mail Address: Rafael.Taylor@fda.hhs.gov, ted.weitzman@fda.hhs.gov
Small Business Set-Aside: N/A
Description: Solicitation: FDA-SOL-105-2307 Agency/Office: Food and Drug Administration Location: Office of Acquisitions and Grants Services Title: FDA Wireless Management Solution Description(s): THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE to determine the availability and capability of small 8 (a) firms, HUB Zone firms and Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business firms. This notice is for planning purposes only, and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, a Request for Proposals, Solicitation, Request for Quotes, or an indication the Government will contract for the items contained herein. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this notice. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any cost associated with submission of the information being requested or reimburse expenses incurred to interested parties for responses to this sources sought. Any responses received will not be used as a proposal. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seeking to identify sources with capabilities or prior experience that can provide Professional Services for a project entitled, FDA Wireless Management Solution in accordance with the below statement of work. Small 8(a), Hub Zone and/or Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business firms are encouraged to respond if they have the capability and capacity to provide the identified services with little or no disruption of services to the current users at the FDA. However, be advised that generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective evaluation of respondents' capacity and capability to perform the specific work as required. Responses must directly demonstrate the company's capability, experience, and/or ability to marshal resources to effectively and efficiently perform each of the tasks described above at a sufficient level of detail to allow definitive numerical evaluation; and evidence that the contractor can satisfy the minimum requirements listed above while in compliance with FAR 52.219-14 ("Limitations on Subcontracting"). Failure to definitively address each of these factors may result in a determination that the source lacks the capability to perform the work. This may affect the type of competition to be pursued but does not necessarily result in the respondent being excluded from the competition. Responses to this notice shall be limited to 15 pages, and must include: 1. Company name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers, website address (if available), and the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of a point of contact having the authority and knowledge to clarify responses with Government representatives. 2. Name, title, telephone number, and e-mail addresses of individuals who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the responses. 3. Business size for NAICS 541618 – Other Management Consulting Services, Telecommunications management consulting services Firms qualified as 8A, HUB Zone and SDVBO firms must be certified by SBA. 4. DUNS number, CAGE Code, Tax Identification Number (TIN), and company structure (Corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc). Companies also must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at www.ccr.gov to be considered as potential sources. 5. Identification of the firm's GSA Schedule contract(s) by Schedule number and contract number and SINs that are applicable to this potential requirement are also requested. 6. If the company has a Government approved accounting system, please identify the agency that approved the system. Please submit copies of any documentation, such as letters or certificates to indicate the firm's status (see item #3 above). To the maximum extent possible, please submit non-proprietary information. Any proprietary information submitted should be identified as such and will be properly protected from disclosure. Interested offerors should submit their capability statement not exceeding fifteen (15) pages in length, excluding standard brochures. SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE no later than 2:00pm, Eastern Time, December 9, 2008. The capabilities response shall be e-mailed to: Rafael.taylor@fda.hhs.gov. All information received in response to this notice that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the notice will not be returned, nor will there be any ensuing discussions or debriefings of any responses. Information provided in response to this notice will be used to assess alternatives available for determining how to proceed in the acquisition process. This notice is part of Government Market Research, a continuous process for obtaining the latest information on the commercial status of the industry with respect to their current and near-term abilities. The information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to solicit for or award a competitive contract. The FDA will use the information submitted in response to this notice at its discretion and will not provide comments to any submission; however, the content of any responses to this notice may be reflected in subsequent solicitation. FDA reserves the right to contact any respondent to this notice for the sole purpose of enhancing FDA's understanding of the notice submission. This announcement is Government market research, and may result in revisions in both its requirements and its acquisition strategy based on industry responses. It is emphasized that this is a notice for planning and information purposes only and is not be construed as a commitment by the government to enter into a contractual agreement, nor will the government pay for information solicited. STATMENT OF WORK: The Contractor shall furnish all managerial, supervisory, direct and overhead personnel; equipment, supplies; and other items or services; except specified herein as Government-furnished, to provide Wireless Management Services. The FDA provides staff members various wireless means of communication (i.e. BlackBerrys, Cell Phones, Air Cards, etc). There is no centralized management of these devices as currently these are managed by centers, various offices and other decentralized means. The Office of Information Management (OIM) would like to centralize all the functions to manage these wireless services into one functional area, and managed by one primary office. Estimate amount of devices to manage is 4,500 each and at approximate 8 different locations in the continental United States. The primary objectives are to: (1) Establish a centrally managed procurement vehicle through which FDA may procure wireless services; (2) Lower the total costs associated with wireless services while maintaining industry standard service levels; and (3) Utilize business intelligence to better support overall decision making and performance management related to the use and support of wireless telecommunication services and devices. FDA assigns an intentionally broad definition to the term “total cost.” Included in that cost definition are not only the direct costs of the wireless device (e.g. cell phone, Smartphone, blackberry, cellular air card etc) and the ongoing telecommunications service charges, but also an agency’s internal costs to order and purchase, distribute, initialize for use (e.g. initialize and load application or security software), provide user support, manage invoices, make payments, and eventually arrange for final disposition and disposal of the device. An additional objective of this procurement is to ensure well-qualified wireless service providers that have the expertise and demonstrated capability to provide services to FDA and to strategically leverage that pool of wireless service providers in ways that lower the total cost of ownership for wireless service and devices. The contractor shall provide the FDA a full range of wireless services that will assist in not only the management of the wireless services and devices, but reduce the total wireless costs. Program/Project Management Services The Contractor shall provide program and project management services for this contract. For the purposes of this contract, Program management includes those services and activities required to coordinate resources and provide management and performance reporting across one or more task orders. Project management includes management services necessary to coordinate resources and ensure performance and service delivery for a particular task order. Both program and project management services are assumed by the Government to be integral and inherent in the performance of all service tasks of this contract. Program Management provider is expected to: •Manage, track, and coordinate the activity of all of its resources, partners and subcontractors needed to fulfill the requirements of this contract and to ensure successful and on-time delivery of all task order services and deliverables. •Meet with Project Officer (PO)/Contracting Officers Representative (COR) or designated Government representative at contract and program initiation to jointly review program management tasks, roles, responsibilities, and the program management reporting requirements. •Develop a Program Management Plan outlining their approach to performing program and cross-project coordination tasks required to meet the requirements of this contract. The Program Management Plan should also include a description for how and when common performance measures from individual task orders will be collected and reported as well as how any performance problem trends and disputes involving multiple task orders or projects are to be addressed for resolution. •The Program Management Plan shall be delivered no later than fifteen (15) days after contract award. Updates to the plan shall be delivered as requested. •Support quarterly management meetings with the Project Officers, CORs, COTRs or designated government representative to address and deal with service contract related issues and to discuss progress on key Program-level performance measures. •Provide quarterly Program Performance Status Reports (PSR) in accordance with deliverable table summarizing progress and towards achieving key program management goals and performance against the Program-level performance measures. The PSR should include and report the following information compiled at the program level: 1. Number of wireless service lines managed under this contract 2. Number of dollars spent on wireless management services 3. Number of minutes and kilobytes (KB) used (as it relates to flat rate usage) 4. Savings generated or attributable to services Each of the 4 above items should include a total as well as a detailed breakout of the total by month, by agency, by service type, and by service carrier. Project Management provider is expected to: Manage, track, and coordinate the activity of all internal provider resources as well as those of any partners and subcontractors used to successfully fulfill the requirements of the individual task order. •Meet with the Project Officers, CORs, COTRs or designated government representative at task order and project initiation to jointly review project management tasks, work assignments, roles, responsibilities, and the contactor’s schedule for startup and/or any project transition activities. •Develop a Project Management Plan (PMP) outlining the approach to be used to coordinate and control the performance of all service tasks required by the contract task order. The PMP should also include an overall project schedule plan. A PMP shall be delivered to the ordering agency no later than fifteen (15) days after task order award. Updates to the PMP shall be delivered by the contractor to the Project Officers, CORs, COTRs or designated government representative as requested. •Support weekly management meetings with the agency’s Project Officers, CORs, COTRs and designated government representatives during startup and/or transition periods to address and deal with service contract related issues and to report on key performance measures. Management meetings should occur at least quarterly after the initial startup period to review and assess ongoing contract performance. •Provide quarterly Project Performance Status Reports (PSR) summarizing progress and status towards achieving key project management goals and performance against the Project-level performance measures. •Provide a project implementation plan for each new task order that clearly details the steps to be performed and information to be provided by the provider and the ordering agency which are necessary to establish the services delineated in the task order. This implementation plan shall include a projected schedule and timeline for each activity leading to the “cutover date” which is the date the implementation phase is considered complete and the date after which the provider assumes day-to-day service responsibility under the task order. The project implementation plan shall be delivered NLT 30 days after task order award in accordance with the delivery table. •Assign a project manager to work with the agency PO, COR, COTR or designated government representative to gather all relevant infrastructure and wireless service and asset data for upload into the provider’s information system, configure vendor software applications, and to accomplish any initial optimization analyses. The project manager will maintain daily contact with the agency PO, COR, COTR or designated government representative during the startup phase to ensure timely communication and flow of information with the agency and to work towards the resolution of any problems or issues. •Perform an initial contract optimization analysis and initial rate plan analysis of an agency’s wireless telecommunications service agreements and service lines with the major carriers to identify any quick-hit savings, consolidation, or improvement opportunities that might be quickly implemented during the startup phase or after commencement of wireless services. The scope and extent of these “quick-hit” analyses shall be at the discretion of the ordering agency as defined in the task order. •Take any and all actions necessary to complete the startup tasks as defined in the project implementation plan and begin providing the services required by the agency’s task order by the “cutover date” agreed to with the agency and documented in the task order. •Successfully test and/or demonstrate any electronic data transfer capabilities between the provider’s data system and any of the agency’s financial, inventory, or contracting information systems being used as a data source. Wireless Services & Core Wireless Services The following five services make up the “core” set of services required: Wireless Service Contract/Agreement Administration Services; Inventory Management Services; Invoice Management and Audit Services; Rate Plan Optimization Services; and Management Reporting Services Wireless Service Contract/Agreement Administration. •Maintain accurate copies of the agency’s wireless service agreements, contracts, and other records with wireless carriers that specify the pricing, terms and conditions of wireless services provided. •Monitor key events associated with wireless service contracts and agreements including, but not limited to: expiration dates, annual review dates, thresholds for additional discounts, notification deadlines for various contract or agreement options, etc…The provider should provide the agency PO, COR, COTR, or designated government representative a listing of the upcoming key events with potential recommended actions on at least a quarterly basis. •Monitor agency spending levels, service line counts, or other measurable indicators that have been agreed upon between the agency and the wireless carriers. The intent will be to track the agency’s attainment of any commitment levels or spending obligations. The provider will advise the agency of strategies to address potential shortfall scenarios. •Meet regularly with the agency to develop strategy and guidance for dealing with carrier contract related issues, practical strategies for achieving optimal pricing or service terms, and methods to maximize negotiation strength with wireless carriers. •Advise the agency on how their contracts or agreements might be impacted by changes in the wireless telecommunications industry or by new wireless service offerings and assist with developing strategies to include new, or terminate old, technical services into their carrier contracts or agreements. Inventory Management. •Take necessary action to maintain an accurate master inventory of all wireless devices and services in current use by the agency. Inventory accountability shall be maintained from requisition through disposal or final disposition of the service line and device. •Exchange wireless inventory data (either directly, or by file import/export) to/from agency asset or property management systems, or make necessary accommodations within the provider’s data systems that allow them to be used in lieu of and in compliance with the agency’s asset/property management policies and procedures. •Work with the agency to support and accommodate asset tagging of controlled devices with agency-approved labels as part of the requisition or deployment processes. •Establish a process with the agency to accommodate moves, adds, changes, and deletions (MACDs) of service lines and devices in order to maintain the accurate master inventory of services and devices. •Provide the capability to generate and deliver to agency inventory managers both standard periodic inventory reports as well as custom-designed and ad hoc reports (as agreed-upon with the contracting agency) at both a summary level, and at various organizational or inventory account levels, depending on the level of detail and information provided by the agency. •Support periodic government audits of inventory accounts by providing inventory listings and cooperating with agency audit officials as they perform their duties. Invoice Management and Audit. •Collect, process, and validate paper and electronic invoices received from multiple carriers in multiple billing formats against agency information, ordering records, and wireless contract or service agreement terms maintained in the provider’s data system. •Audit all carrier invoices billed to the agency in an effort to realize audit savings on behalf of the agency. At a minimum, auditing should include: •Validation of account ownership and service existence •Verification of rates, charges, and discounts •Verification of correct account numbers and phone numbers associated with accounts •Identification and recovery of missing carrier invoices •Analysis of invoices for abuse, misuse & fraud •Allocate cost information from the carrier invoices across the agency’s organizational units or financial accounts to provide increased visibility and accuracy for the agency’s cost and spend management functions. •Prepare monthly reports identifying billing and invoicing errors for agency claim and dispute submittal. •Integrate invoice data with provider procurement and inventory management data records to enable and support spend, inventory and usage analysis by the provider and agency telecommunications managers. •Prepare monthly standardized management reports detailing spending levels and trends by carrier, regions, business units, service lines and service types. Provide the capability to generate custom-designed and ad hoc spending reports at both a summary and various organizational or financial account levels. •Prepare and provide necessary electronic reports or formatted data feeds to the agency’s bill payment system (or the provider’s internal payment system if the task order includes the Bill Payment Services option). •Provide recommendations to the agency on areas for improvement and savings regarding the agency’s invoice process (e.g. where invoice consolidation with major carriers might make sense). •Provide help desk support M-F between the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Eastern) to answer billing and invoicing questions from agency financial and telecommunications account managers. Rate Plan Optimization. •At least quarterly, provide recommendations for rationalization of rate plan types, number of service lines with specific carriers, the number of total carriers, and other opportunities that might lower total cost while maintaining or improving the quality of wireless service provided to the agency’s users. •Calculate costs to agency based on actual monthly usage patterns of users and determine where individual account and rate plan changes should be made to lower future costs. •Work with the agency to carry out and implement approved optimization recommendations and changes intended to lower overall total cost. •Continuously track and report savings derived from the rate plan optimization efforts on at least a quarterly basis. Management Reporting. •Compile, prepare, and deliver in electronic format standard reports that detail the following about the agency’s wireless telecommunications: •Spending and expense levels, patterns and trends •Usage levels, patterns, and trends •Rate plan profile •Wireless device inventories •Wireless service line inventories •Invoice and billing statuses (if bill payment service provided) •Claims status (if dispute recovery service provided) •Savings generated or attributable to services •Deliver standard reports as specified by the agency in the task order. Delivery of reports may be facilitated by a web-based “download and save” capability through a reporting portal. •Provide standard reports on each of the reporting areas that details and organizes the information by the agency’s designated organizational breakdown or reporting structure and wireless telecommunications service provider. Optional Wireless Services. The following five services constitute the “optional” set of services. Contract Optimization Services Ordering and Procurement Services Bill Payment Services Dispute Recovery Services Device Disposition / Disposal Services Activities will initiate these services as task order options (individual CLINS) that augment the core wireless services CLIN. The requirements for each of these services are described in detail in the following subsections. Contract Optimization Services. •Perform a comprehensive assessment of the agency’s existing wireless service contracts and agreements to identify improvement and cost savings opportunities. This includes benchmarking the agency’s existing pricing, service terms and conditions with those of other federal and commercial customers and accepted “Best Practices” to identify recommended changes. • Make specific recommendations for rationalization of rate plan types, migration of service lines between specific carriers, changing the number of total carriers, changes in contract terms & conditions, and other opportunities that might lower total cost while maintaining or improving the quality of wireless service provided to the agency’s users. •Work with the agency to carry out and implement approved contract optimization recommendations, changes, and sourcing/competitive bidding among carriers intended to lower overall total cost. •Track and report savings derived from contract optimization efforts. Ordering & Procurement Services. •Provide a centralized web-based ordering portal to facilitate the requisition of new wireless service, devices, and accessories from agency-approved suppliers. The look and feel of the ordering portal should be tailored and specific to the agency using the portal. The ordering portal should support the agency’s approved workflow for coordinating and approving wireless service requisitions and should allow for the assignment of individuals with specific workflow approval responsibilities or roles. •Provide automation of procurement transactions across multiple wireless carriers including moves, adds, changes, disconnects (MACDs) and their necessary agency coordination and approvals. •Integrate and align ordering and procurement process with agency’s personnel and manpower systems taking into consideration multiple approval hierarchies and functional or business units. •Track orders and order changes from order initiation through delivery and entry of the asset’s information into the agency approved property management system. •Provide agency employee and management administrator visibility and monthly management reports on the status of all orders and order changes. The visibility and status of individual orders should also be continually available to agency representatives through the ordering portal. •Provide agency-specific help desk support M-F between the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Eastern) to assist agency customers and telecommunications managers with procurement and ordering support. Support should be within the guidelines of the agency’s policies and procedures. This support should include as a minimum support for: •Ordering new phones •Canceling and replacing lost phones •Fixing and/or replacing malfunctioning phones •Wireless account changes •Answering questions regarding rate plans and features Bill Payment Services •Provide ongoing services to receive, validate, code for chargeback, and, pay (upon receipt of agency funding designated for payment) all wireless telecommunications service provider invoices. •Provide reports, information, and data in electronic format as necessary to request agency funding to pay wireless telecommunications service provider invoices and to update the agency’s general ledger or financial management system with the correct chargeback information. •Provide on-going support services as necessary to update and maintain the accuracy and currency of account lists, supplier, and agency information in the provider’s data and payment systems. This support is limited to those changes identified to the provider by the agency or as a result of providing other services and is not meant to imply that the provider is expected to anticipate or identify needed changes brought about by agency operations or organizational/personnel changes. •Provide standard management reports identifying the payment status of invoices, balance of any Government funds held by the provider for payment of invoices, and any received invoices awaiting payment or affected by a dispute or claim. •Assist the agency by identifying opportunities and facilitating account consolidation efforts with individual wireless providers to streamline payment processes. Dispute Recovery Services. •Collect and prepare support material necessary to file and defend claims submitted to the carriers for billing and account corrections. •Research, review, dispute, and track all potential billing errors and represent the agency as an authorized agent with all carriers and wireless telecommunications suppliers. •Submit written claims to wireless carriers and suppliers, including reasonable and necessary support documentation, to identify and recover any audit savings for the agency. Claims referred to under this section are defined on page 22 of this document. These are not contract claims as defined in FAR Part 33, which will be handled by a warranted Contracting Officer. •Handle and track all claims through final resolution. Upon expiration of an awarded task order the provider will continue to handle and track claims filed with carriers on or before the task order expiration date through final resolution, or for six (6) months after expiration, whichever is less. Claims referred to under this section are defined on page 22 of this document. These are not contract claims as defined in FAR Part 33, which will be handled by a warranted Contracting Officer. •Provide the agency with monthly reports detailing the status of claims filed with the carriers, billing accuracy rates for individual carriers, and the amount of any savings (or additional cost) recovered as a result of the audit and dispute recovery efforts. Device Disposition / Disposal Services. •Develop and implement an agency-approved wireless device disposition, replacement, exchange, and disposal process that integrates with the provider’s inventory management system and/or the agency’s property management process and procedures. •Assist the agency with development of draft policy and procedure documents needed to implement the disposition, replacement, sale, exchange, and disposal process. •Collect and stage devices for disposition, replacement, exchange or disposal in accordance with the agency-approved process. •Redeploy assets not intended or ready for disposal, replacement, sale or exchange and update the inventory management database to reflect the change in status. •Sets intended for disposal, or exchange and update the inventory management database to reflect the change in status. •Maintain an auditable record of each item’s final disposition status and deliver monthly disposition reports to the agency that allows them to meet the personal property management reporting requirements of 41 CFR Chapter 102. Wireless Transition Services. •Develop a Transition Plan for transferring service responsibility from this contract to another provider. The transition plan shall identify what actions would be necessary, both from the provider’s perspective as well as those actions that the provider needs the ordering agency to accomplish, to smoothly transfer information, data, and any management responsibility to another party. The Transition Plan should address any known risks, foreseeable problems, and should identify the additional resources and cost, if any, required to mitigate these risks and ensure a successful transfer of responsibility. •Carry out the provider actions called out in the Transition Plan and manage the completion of those tasks to ensure successful transfer of responsibility by the agreed upon transition “cutover date” as specified in the task order. •Deliver to the agency all agency wireless account, inventory, invoice, and other data resident in the provider’s data system necessary to enable another provider, or the agency itself to assume service responsibility. This information should include a listing of the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of all carrier POCs that the provider works with to manage the agency’s accounts and invoices. All data will be delivered to the agency in electronic format to enable electronic transfer into other data systems. The specific format(s) for the data will be specified by the agency in the task order. Work is to be performed at a location to be determined later, but within the local Washington DC local area. The Period of Performance is one twelve month base period plus four option years. The period of performance for this IDIQ contract is estimated to be a total of sixty (60) months.
Web Link: FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=2340b48ffc70e8211d8daef93b6c19a8&tab=core&_cview=1)
Place of Performance: Address: 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland, 20857, United States; Zip Code: 20857
Record: SN01711836-W 20081203/081201215055-2340b48ffc70e8211d8daef93b6c19a8 (fbodaily.com)
Source: FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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R -- Wireless Management Solution