SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Department-wide Asset Management Solution
- Notice Date
- 4/23/2002
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- Department of Agriculture, Office of Procurement and Property Management, Procurement Operations Division, Mailing: 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Stop 9307 Location: 300 7th St., SW, Rm. 377, Reporters Building, Washington, DC, 20250
- ZIP Code
- 20250
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-RFI-OPPM-2-1012
- Response Due
- 5/23/2002
- Archive Date
- 6/7/2002
- Point of Contact
- Shirley Fortune, Contract Specialist, Phone (202) 720-1666, Fax (202) 720-4529,
- E-Mail Address
-
Shirley.Fortune@usda.gov
- Description
- The United States Department of Agriculture seeks information on the availability of a new Department wide Asset Management solution. This is a Request For Information (RFI) issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request For Proposal (RFP). USDA will use the information obtained in response to this RFI exclusively to determine the availability and potential cost for a fully integrated asset management solution. Please ensure that any sensitive or protected information is marked as such. USDA will re-engineer its business processes to provide best business practice to fully support life cycle management of USDA asset management requirements. USDA seeks an integrated solution which will support the following functions: (1) personal property and fleet management consistent with JFMIP requirements (2) real property management consistent with JFMIP requirements (3) accept procurement data input to establish records (4) financial data output which provide appropriate data for the submission of transaction to JFMIP compliant financial systems, (5) Assist in training, (6) PKI enabled consistent with the USDA security architecture, and (7) provide all Federal and Department-wide reporting and metrics requirements.. This software must comply with Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) and Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) requirements. Responses shall state whether or not this capability is already contained within available solutions. GOALS: The USDA goal is to identify a source for asset management solutions, either commercial or governmental, that would improve the ability of the Department to more efficiently manage the approximately $9B in real property and $3B in personal property. The asset management solution will provide USDA with the information it needs to manage resources and make informed decisions. The objectives of the solution include: (1) control of costs and better decisions. (2) elimination of redundant activities. (3) reduced risk of waste, fraud and abuse, and (4) reliable information. The Department seeks an end-to-end solution which would include: (1) Direct access by USDA asset management personnel through secure and encrypted solution that validates the user identity and authority through PKI digital signature capability, (2) integration and standardization of data and systems across all of USDA, (3) providing management with access to timely and accurate asset management information, and (4) implementation of advanced technology to provide the greatest capability and an extended life cycle. Property comprises the second largest item on the Department's balance sheet and the current systems provide very limited control and assurance of those assets. The Department requires a property management system that will provide the internal stewardship, internal controls, and integration with its procurement and financial management systems. USDA owns nearly 22,000 buildings and has over 1,200 space assignments in 766 GSA buildings in over 400 locations. USDA also owns approximately 190 million acres of land. The Department currently relies on a stovepipe mixture of GSA- developed and maintained systems and agency homegrown systems and processes. The GSA systems include the STAR billing system and the Foundation Information for Real Property (FIRM) system. The majority of real property is accounted for in INFRA, a client server based systems developed by the Forest Service. The Department also owns and must account for nearly a half million pieces of personal property. Personal property assets include items such as computers, furniture, lab equipment, vehicles, aircraft, firearms and even horses and mules. These assets are now tracked in two legacy systems; the Equipment Management Information System (EMIS) and the Property Management Information System (PROP). USDA also manages related resources such as telecommunications assets and utility usage information in separate systems. It is envisioned that these functions could be subsumed into a corporate asset management solution. Additional functions required include the ability to manage telecommunications assets and manage utility information and provide appropriate reports on utility usage for Federal reporting purposes. ENVIRONMENT: USDA has several initiatives to upgrade its information technology infrastructure. These include the Common Computing Environment (CCE) and the Universal Telecommunications Network. SURVEY OBJECTIVES: USDA is collecting data to enable it to assess the availability of commercial or governmental solutions for asset management. It seeks to simplify the administration, real use cost of system operation and to integrate the procurement and financial management functions that support asset management. All solutions must comply with Federal asset management guidance, must maintain appropriate accounting controls, security rules and accessibility rules. Objectives of this RFI include obtaining an understanding of and making assessments about appropriate solutions and using that information to develop an overall acquisition strategy to acquire a viable solution to include: (1) Currently available and planned future functional capabilities of the asset management solution consisting of business processes supported, application capabilities, and human engineering and usability testing applied. (2) Currently available technology and planned technology capabilities in the near term (1-3 years) including but not limited to: (a) Fundamental technologies employed, including but not limited to: web-based or client-server architecture; graphical user interface (GUI) and development tools; electronic data interchange (EDI); support for extensible Markup Language (XML), electronic commerce (EC); digital signatures; security (data and system); Structured Query Language (SQL); TCP/IP; and any others utilized; (b) Scalability the degree to which the systems support workgroup operations and how they scale to support enterprise wide data integration and retrieval; (c) Implementation environment: computer platform requirements; operating system requirements; application structure, integration, etc.; data query download/upload capabilities; (d) Architecture: What architecture options are available for implementing your application in the USDA environment' Does it necessitate a client installation or a client independent environment' If multiple architectures are offered, provide information on functional application differences. (3) Business/Other: (a) Identify potential for on-line Internet accesses to application software and a test database at vendor's own facility; (b) Identify status and readiness of software or planned readiness dates for future capabilities. It is requested that interested vendors provide a written response to this request for information regarding an application service provider for a USDA Wide Asset Management Solution within 30 calendar days of this notice. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation, and shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government. Three copies of a capability statement must be received not later than 30 days from publication of this synopsis. All responses will be reviewed/evaluated. (Visit this URL for the latest information about this notice URL:http://www.usda.gov/procurement/pod/assetmgt/index.html.)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC
- Zip Code: 20250
- Country: U.S.
- Zip Code: 20250
- Record
- SN00064673-W 20020425/020423213103 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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