Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF JANUARY 24, 2008 FBO #2250
SOLICITATION NOTICE

D -- This is a request for information only. There is no solicitation or contractual action as a result of this inquiry at this time.

Notice Date

1/22/2008
 

Notice Type

Solicitation Notice
 

NAICS

541512 — Computer Systems Design Services
 

Contracting Office

ACA, ITEC4, Directorate of Contracting , 2461 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22331-0700
 

ZIP Code

22331-0700
 

Solicitation Number

W91QUZ-08-RFI1
 

Response Due

1/31/2008
 

Archive Date

3/31/2008
 

Point of Contact

Kathleen Jones, 703-325-1723
 

E-Mail Address

Email your questions to ACA, ITEC4
(jonesk@us.army.mil)
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1.1 Purpose The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to provide industry, government service providers, and other interested parties a vehicle to describe solution(s) and implementation approaches for an en terprise-wide funds distribution capability for the Department of Defense (DoD). Responses to this RFI will assist the Enterprise Funds Distribution (EFD) initiative incorporate best-practice strategies, alternatives, and experiences into an Acquisition st rategy for developing and implementing an enterprise-wide solution(s) for the Department. 1.2 Description The EFD initiative was established in 2006 as a key initiative to provide full visibility of funds distributed throughout the DoD and to stream line and modernize disparate funds distribution systems. At an enterprise level, there exist gaps and inefficiencies among the separate and distinct funds distribution practices throughout the Department. Funds distribution by its nature should be a key enabler of financial visibility within DoD enterprise systems. The concept of a fully visible enterprise-wide funds distribution capability serves as a reference within which planned and coordinated funds development and execution takes place. Specif ic objectives of the EFD initiative are to transform the Departments funds management and distribution capabilities to provide: " Full visibility and auditability of appropriated funds as they pass through and across the enterprise; " Streamlined fu nds distribution processes for all appropriations and standardize funds distribution data; " Integrated funds distribution and Congressional Marks tracking processes to provide significantly enhanced funds distribution visibility. " Flexibility of th e Business Rules associated with the funds distribution 1.3 Scope EFD capabilities are primarily required by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and DoD Components from the time the Presidents Budget is submitted to Congress until appropriated fu nds are apportioned and allocated to the Components. During that timeframe, EFD capabilities enable tracking of congressional actions, establishment of budget authority, and the distribution of funds to the Components. Specific EFD capabilities inclu de apportionment processing, funds distribution and redistribution of appropriated funds, reprogramming of appropriated funds, and funds control for distributions, rescission management and enterprise reporting (e.g., production of the DD 1414, DD1415 and DD1416 reports). Additionally, EFD will serve as a key enabler to the implementation of the Standard Financial Information Structure (SFIS), consistently providing key funding data (e.g., Department Regular Code, Main Account Code, etc.) including the Organization Unique Identifier (OUID ). EFD will leverage OUIDs to establish a financial management organization structure, here within referred to as the FM OUID Alias structure. The EFD capabilities will be used by all organizations down to leve l 3 of the Financial Management OUID Alias structure and for all levels, down to level 7 of the FM OUID Alias structure, for TI-97 appropriations. 1.4 Instructions for Responding to the RFI Questionnaire (Part II) The RFI Questionnaire (Part 2) is di vided into the following sections. Section 2.1 - requests information about your organization. You MUST respond to this section. Section 2.2 - requests responses to enterprise-wide funds distribution responsibilities and reporting capabilities. Thes e capabilities are described further in section 3 of this RFI. (10 Pages Limit) Section 2.3 - requests responses related to technical-based requirements. (10 Pages Limit) Section 2.4 - provides an opportunity to provide additional information beyond the questions found in Section 2.2 and 2.3 that you feel should be considered to meet the purpose of this RFI. We are interested in both your actual experience and your recommendations about what would work best to achieve the goals and objectives of an enterprise-wide funds distribution solution. The government recognizes that many potential respondents will only have information pertaining to a portion of the RFI. However, partial information may be of high quality and significant value to the EFD initiative. Therefore, while the Department seeks a comprehensive approach, it does not discourage partial responses with the exception of the respondent informat ion requested in Section 2.1. If you chose not to respond to a question, indicate so with a no response. 2. RFI QUESTIONNAIRE 2.1 Respondent Information Please fill in the table below with information about your organization. Res ponding Organization Name: Type of organization (e.g. Federal agency, standards body, private company, or other designation): Approximate size of your organization (e.g. number of employees, students or members, population served, annual sales in $): SBA Certification (Small, SDB, SDVOB, etc.) Location (US State or Country of Origin): Are you responding as a : " User organization with experience in governmental funds distribution & funds control? " Vendor or consultant with experi ence in providing solutions/products and/or services to help other organizations in governmental funds distribution & funds control? " Other (please specify): Yes / No Yes / No Yes / No For vendors, consultants and others where applicable: " Are you contributing to all aspects of the funds distribution process? " Are you contributing point solutions to specific parts of the funds distribution process? Yes / No Yes / No Contact information (provide the name of a point of contact, including phone number and e-mail address): 2.2 Capability-based Questions Please answer the following questions from the perspective of an overall solution and approach for an enterprise-wide funds distribution capab ility. Be sure to include innovative practices, the applicability of these practices to Government, and any relevant past experience. 2.2.1 Please explain your approach to improving the efficiency of each of the following enterprise-wide funds distribut ion functional capabilities (refer to Appendix A): 1) Execute Continuing Resolution; 2) Execute Rescission & Deferrals; 3) Execute Apportionment & Allocate Funds; 4) Perform Reprogramming; 5) Production of the DD 1414, DD 1415 and DD 1416 Re ports. Specifically, how do you plan to pull/consolidate required information (e.g., lower level distributions, below threshold reprogramming actions, etc.)for these reports from other systems; 6) Analytical and Management Reports; 2.2.2 Please ar ticulate your understanding of the differences between funds distribution performed at the enterprise level (e.g., OSD) and funds distribution for the service and components. 2.2.3 What is your approach in providing the capability to distribute funds b y FM OUID aliases while maintaining support for Limits as described in DFAS Manual 7097.01. 2.2.4 When storing and managing the different appropriations (e.g., Operations and Maintenance, Procurement, RDT&E, BRAC, etc.), what is your approach to accommo dating their heterogeneity in terms of the following: 2.2.4.1 Inconsistent structure across appropriation types (e.g., Levels of decomposition). For instance TI-97 O&M appropriation decomposes into two levels (Budget Activity (BA) and Budget Sub-Activi ty) while TI-17, 21, 57 O&M appropriations decompose into three levels (Budget Activity (BA), Budget Sub-Activity (BSA) and Budget Line Item (BLI); 2.2.4.2 Disparate naming conventions of Appropriation budget items across department; 2.2.4.3 Busine ss rules applied at different levels of the appropriations (e.g., reprogramming thresholds, ceilings, floors, Congressional Interest Items, etc.); 2.2.5 What is your approach to capturing the cost accounting elements unique to the different service and agencies. 2.3 Technical-based Questions 2.3.1 If you are suggesting the development of a new application, what is your approach to ensure end user require ments are captured and addressed appropriately in the application? 2.3.2 What is your approach for adding or modifying the large number of business rules without requiring code modification? 2.3.3 How flexible is your solution in meeting changing d ata needs in terms of minimizing the long-term data maintenance costs to the Government, such as might be required by business rule changes? 2.3.4 What is your technical approach (e.g., proposed system capabilities) to providing visibility of distribute d funds from an organizational perspective? 2.3.5 What is your technical approach (e.g., proposed system capabilities) to providing visibility of distributed funds from an appropriation perspective? 2.3.6 Please explain your approach to improving the efficiency of each of the following enterprise-wide funds distribution technical capabilities (refer to Appendix A): 1) Integrated Funds Distribution Execution; 2) Established Funds Data Standards; 3) Centralized and authoritative funds dat a source. 2.3.7 What is your approach to the integration of funds distribution processes with accounting systems so that funds controls and baselines are updated automatically? Specifically, how does your solution(s) integrate with core financial softw are adopted by Components including SAP, Oracle Federal Financials and CGI-AMS Momentum Financials? 2.3.8 Please describe any operational and proven software applications currently used within the Federal government or elsewhere may satisfy EFD requirem ents. 2.3.9 If your solutions architecture makes use of COTS, please specify the product(s). 2.3.10 How will migration from existing legacy system(s) to the chosen solution(s) be achieved? 2.3.11 Describe any alternative solution(s) and/or appr oaches considered and why they were rejected. 2.4 Additional Information The questions posed in Sections 2.2 and 2.3 were intended to cover both functional and technical requirements of an enterprise-wide funds distribution capability. There may be aspects of the subject that have not been covered or only covered in part. Please use this section to provide any additional information that you think ought to be considered in meeting the goals and objectives of the EFD initiative. 3. EFD CAPABILITIES 3.1 EFD Capability Descriptions Descriptions of each of the EFD functional and technical capabilities are provided in the table below. Technical capabilities are annotated with an asterisk. FV Objective refers to the Financial Visibi lity Business Enterprise Priority (FV BEP) objective that a particular EFD capability supports. Priority FV Objective Description Parameters Minimum Value core FV-1 Execute Continuing Resolution Focuses on identifying amounts available an d additional authority request for distribution under the Continuing Resolution Act. Allows for passing original CRA amounts and additional authorities to the lowest level in the organization Allows for passing CRAs and additional authorities to th e Echelon I level When appropriations bill is enacted, the CRA distribution will be locked for any additional processing and will be deemed inactive. core FV-1 Execute Rescission & Deferrals Describes the withdrawal and deferral of funds as mandated by the Appropriation Act and Impoundment Act. Tracks the rescissions and deferrals at the Component level Tracks the rescissions and deferrals as mandated by appropriation Act core FV-1 Execute Apportionment & Allocate Funds Establishe s the budget authority and distribution of funds to appropriate services and agencies as the beginning of the execution process. This process records an agency s budgetary resources and supports the establishment of legal budgetary limitations within the agency, including appropriation warrants, apportionment, reapportionments, transfer allocations, and continuing resolutions. Established budget authority & di stribution of funds throughout the organization Established budget authority & distribution of funds for each Component Supports the establishment of funding to agencies by annual, quarterly or budget activity apportionment schedules. Supports the est ablishment of legal budgetary limitations Congressional Interest Items (CII) shall be marked and shall require processing IAW the instructions associated with the CII core FV-1 Manage Execution Fund Account Includes establishing an i nitial appropriation fund balance for each program and decrementing the amount of available funds as appending activity occurs. Provides control numbers to legacy and ERP general ledger systems Provides electronic funds controls to ERPs. Ensure distributions in excess of receipts cannot be made. core FV-1 Perform Reprogramming Realigns funds from the original Congressional enactment of subsequent distribution of funds to new areas. Realigns funds from the redistribution of funds to new a reas Realigns funds from the original Congressional enactment core FV-1, FV-5 Manage Baseline for Reprogramming Manages the baseline for reprogramming appropriated funds within a fiscal year. This baseline will be used as the starting point for rep rogramming actions such as below threshold reprogramming (BTR), internal reprogramming, or prior approvals. Manages the baseline for reprogramming appropriated funds within a fiscal year Establishes a baseline as a starting point for reprogramming actio ns, i.e. below threshold reprogramming Below Threshold transactions shall not exceed Reprogramming Threshold Limitations Validation checks to ensure the current transactions do not cause the appropriated baseline to fall below zero. core FV-1 Man age Report of Programs Focuses on the creation and publication of report of programs once a year as of September 30th to document changes to programming levels. Supports the generation of reprogramming reports as necessary. Supports the creation an d publication of report of programs once per year as of September 30th Documents historical changes to program funding Documents changes in programming levels core FV-1, FV-5 Automated Funds Authorization Documents (FADS) * Enables secure and efficient production and exchange of funds authority documents. PKI enabled, provides audit trail of funds passed through the enterprise Enables secure and efficient production of funds authority documents Provides electronic FADs to authorized perso nnel Enables secure and efficient exchange of funds authority documents core FV-2, FV-3, FV-4 Integrated Funds Distribution Execution * Ensures an auditable trail between distributed funds execution environment. Supports an auditable tra il between distributed funds and executed funds Provides Department Regular, Budget Activity, Main Account, Period of Availability, Budget Sub-Activity Group, and Budget Line Item data elements required by ERPS to tag commitments, obligations and disbursem ents. core FV-5 Established Funds Data Standards * Provides identification and definition of funds data elements while tracking changes made to the PB Standardizes Congressional Tracking and Reporting using SFIS compliant terms Provides ERPs infor mation that is compliant with the Standard Financial Information Structure core FV-5 Centralized and authoritative funds data source * Provides a centralized data repository at the enterprise level to manage funds data This solution not required to store commitment, obligation and disbursement information. Ensures accuracy and efficiency in reporting of funds information. core FV-1 Visibility of Dis tributed Funds * Ensures an auditable trail for funds distributed within an organization (e.g., distributed vertically) or across organizational boundaries (e.g., distributed horizontally) Supports an auditable trail for funds distributed within an or ganization Supports an auditable trail for funds distributed across organizations core FV-3 Web-Enabled Execution Environment * Provides integrated funds distribution capability via a standard web browser Web based, real time Web based <BR > REQUEST FOR INFORMATION General Information Document Type: Presolicitation Notice Posted Date: January 22 2008 Reply Suspense Date: NLT 31 January 2008 at 11 am via e-mail (only)< BR>Contracting Office Address Information Technology, E-Commerce & Commercial Contracting Center (ITEC4) Army Contracting Agency (ACA) Hoffman Building 1, 2461 Eisenhower Ave Alexandria, Virginia 22331-1700. Description The Department of Defense t hrough its Enterprise Funds Distribution (EFD) initiative is looking to incorporate best-practice strategies, alternatives, and experiences into an Acquisition that will help in the development and implementation of an enterprise-wide solution for the Depa rtment. Point of Contact Erin Fox-Ramirez, Contract Specialist , ACA-ITEC4, Phone (703) 325-0957, Fax (703) 428-9818, Email: erin.foxramirez@us.army.mil; Kathleen A. Jones, Contracting Officer, ACA-ITEC4, Email: kathleen.jones@us.army.mil
 

Web Link

web page
(https://www.itec4.army.mil)
 

Place of Performance

Address: ACA, ITEC4 Directorate of Contracting , 2461 Eisenhower Avenue Alexandria VA

Zip Code: 22331-0700

Country: US
 

Record

SN01489651-W 20080124/080122223758 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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