SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Enterprise Risk Assessment Methodology (ERAM) and Business Life Cycle (BCL) Risk Management Support for the Business Transformation Agency (BTA)
- Notice Date
- 8/1/2007
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- ACA, ITEC4, Directorate of Contracting , 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22331-0700
- ZIP Code
- 22331-0700
- Solicitation Number
- W91QUZ
- Response Due
- 8/10/2007
- Archive Date
- 10/9/2007
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Background/Overview of Requirement: Over the course of the last year, The Business Transformation Agency (BTA) has been conducting risk assessments on selected Major Automated Information Systems (MAIS) in the Business Mission Area. The purpose of these assessments have been to help speed th e fielding of business capabilities through the early identification of risk and to develop mitigation strategies to address this risk. Depending upon policy decisions, there is a high likelihood that in October 2007, these assessments will become an integ ral part of a new governance construct for oversight, investment and acquisition of MAIS level business systems in the DoD. These assessments are conducted by 8-13 member teams utilizing the Enterprise Risk Assessment Methodology (ERAM) developed by BTA. An assessment, which lasts 6-8 weeks, and resembles a commercial consulting engagement in intensity and execution, normally c onsists of three main elements: (a) 2-3 weeks of detailed review of program documents; (b) 2-3 days of on site face-to-face interviews (up to 100 interviews) with all key program personnel, key stakeholders, and a broad and deep cross section of all other program personnel or user community; and (c) 2-3 weeks of the creation and socialization of a detailed deliverable with clear concise statements of risk, mitigation actions and follow-up activities, as needed. At the conclusion of the assessment, an on-goi ng relationship is established, as needed, to assist in the mitigation of risk, resolution of issues, removal of barriers, etc. It is anticipated that at least 9-12 ERAMs will be conducted over the course of the next year. An ERAM assessment identifies risk in seven different risk areas. These are: * Strategy (e.g. time line, business process re-engineering, implementation approach, data conversion, etc) * People (e.g. leadership, experience of Govt. personnel, experience of integrator personnel, etc) * Technology (e.g. architecture, scalability, performance, platforms, tools, etc) * Contract (e.g. software license, use of appropriate contract type, well defined requirements in contract, service level agreements, etc) * Process (e.g. plans, change management, testing approach, charters, issue management, risk management, etc) * Scope/Requirements (e.g. requirements traceability, scope management, clarity of requirements, etc) * External (e.g. OSD mandates, policy changes, BTA, congress) The ERAM Final Deliverable is developed in collaboration with the Program Office and consists of: (a) detailed Risk Descriptions; (b) Risk Mitigation Recommendations; and (c) a Risk Mitigation Action Plan. This deliverable will be briefed to the Investment Review Boards (IRB), Defense Business Systems Management Committee (DBSMC), Components and Program Managers. As a result of anticipated policy changes in October 2007, the demand on the ERAM teams is expected to grow and BTA is investigating the potential for supporting the core ERAM teams with 2-4 contractor support personnel who would: * Work with the programs being assessed to collect all documentation to be reviewed by the ERAM teams. * Conduct thorough and detailed reviews of the documentation provided by the program in order to understand the risk profile of the program. * Develop risk hypotheses and candidate questions to be used in interviews of program personnel after reviewing the documentation in order to validate or invalidate these risk hypotheses. * Prepare Government staff to lead interviews of program personnel. * Assist matrixed Government personnel in conducting interviews of program leadership * Capture detailed notes during the interview process. * Conduct analysis and synthesis of the captured notes in a workshop setting to create a comprehensive assessment of the risks facing the program. * Assist in the creation of potential risk mitigation strategies for identified program risks. * Prepare draft documentation of ris k findings for the programs to use as part of their risk mitigations efforts. * Assist the Government lead in briefing the risk findings to the program leadership and stakeholder community. * Work with the assessed programs to finalize and execute a risk mitigation strategy to address identified risks. * Engage with assessed programs on an ongoing basis to advise and monitor their risk mitigation efforts. * Advising the Government on commercial best practices in the implementation of commercial off the shelf (COTS) products, ERPs and other software systems. * Assist the functional community in defining business cases where that help is requested of the BTA. * Assist the Government in further development and refinement of ERAM as part of the due diligence mechanism of the Business Capability Lifecycle (BCL). * Support the Government in education efforts to ensure that BCL and ERAM is well understood across the DoD. * Assist and supporting formal education efforts related to BCL and ERAM through DoD acquisition schoolhouses such as DAU and NDU. In order to provide meaningful assistance to the ERAM teams, contractor personnel would have to be highly skilled and well experienced. Personnel should be able to quickly identify areas of risk to a program and able to provide credible guidance to progra ms on how best to mitigate identified risks such as cost and schedule overrun, scope creep, business process re-engineering or failure of a program to deliver promised capabilities. They should have a very strong understanding of best practices in commerci al off-the-shelf business software application program management and commercial off-the-shelf business software application risk management as defined by commercial and Government best practices. It is anticipated therefore that to effectively support the ERAM team, personnel at a minimum would have: * Full life-cycle program management experience in oversight and/or direct program management roles (10 year minimum). * Broad experience in multiple roles both in direct program management, direct execution roles or in risk assessment roles for commercial off-the-shelf business applications. * Experience in Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel and PowerPoint. * Bachelors degree in business, management or a technical discipline (engineering, computer science or similar), Masters preferred. * Extensive prior experience in the external assessment of risk to multiple programs (3 years experience and review of a minimum of 7 programs). * Broad experience with both Government and commercial IT programs including ERP implementation, custom software development and other COTS package implementations. Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI): Conducting ERAM assessments poses a significant risk of Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCIs), as discussed in FAR Subpart 9.5. In particular, a contractors judgment and objectivity in performing the contract requirements may be impaired if the sub stance of its performance has the potential to affect other activities and interests of the contractor. For example, a contractors judgment and objectivity may be impaired if it provides evaluations, advice, recommendations, guidance, or oversight in con nection with MAIS level business systems to include enterprise business system development efforts, implementation efforts, or related activities, in which it participated or is currently participating. The below programs are currently anticipated to be assessed under this effort; however, the list is subject to change. * Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System (DIHMRS) * General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) * Integrated Data Environment initiative and Global Transportation Network Convergence (IGE/GTN) * Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System (DEAMS) * Global Combat Support System - Army (GCSS-A) * Global Combat Support System Marine Corps (GCSS-MC) * Logisti cs Modernization Program (LMP) * Navy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) * Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) Another example of risk for impaired objectivity is the contractor providing evaluations, advice, recommendations, or guidance regarding its competitors, as discussed in FAR 9.505-3. Through this effort, the contractor may gain access to non-public information that creates an unfair competitive advantage in connection with future competitive procurements. Neither the award of a contract, nor the Governments tasking for contractor serv ices thereunder, shall constitute or be interpreted as a determination that the contractor is eligible to participate in future procurements for MAIS level business system development efforts, implementation efforts, or related activities. In fact, perform ance under this anticipated contract may render the contractor ineligible for future awards. Only Contracting Officers for such efforts, applying the rules, principles and procedures of FAR Subpart 9.5 have the authority to determine whether an OCI exists in connection with such procurements. To mitigate the risks of potential OCIs, the following types of safeguards are envisioned to be used by the contractor for any potential contracts that result for ERAM: * The contractor shall not provide any services under this contract that relate to MAIS level business systems in which the contractor is participating as a prime contractor, team member, consultant or subcontractor at any tier. * The contractor will be required to propose an OCI Mitigation Plan, in response to an RFP, to be incorporated into any resulting contract. It is conceivable, however, even with the OCI Mitigation Plan, that some contractors will have OCIs that cannot be mitigated. Those contractors will be ineligible for award. Points of Contact (POCs): BTA is seeking information on whether companies are interested in and are capable of providing 2-4 personnel with the types of skills, qualifications and experience needed to provide meaningful contract support to the ERAM teams described above, in light o f the technical requirements as well as the OCI restrictions. Please submit your capabilities to Kathie Jones at Kathleen.jones@conus.army.mil or Stephanie.benger1@conus.army.mil by August 10. Contractors interested in obtaining additional information t hrough an Industry Day event should annotate that in their capabilities submission. Please note: The government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for information solicited. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contra ct. Do not provide any costing data with your submission. This RFI shall not be considered as a request for proposal or as an obligation on the part of the government to acquire any products or services. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect c osts or charges by the government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this RFI or the governments use of such information.
- Place of Performance
- Address: ACA, ITEC4 Directorate of Contracting , 2461 Eisenhower Avenue Alexandria VA
- Zip Code: 22331-0700
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 22331-0700
- Record
- SN01358955-W 20070803/070801221626 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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