SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Software Gap Analysis
- Notice Date
- 2/2/2012
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- USGS OAG DENVER ACQUISITION BRANCHPO BOX 25046204 DENVER FEDERAL CENTERDENVERCO80225-0046US
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- 12GDB006NoSolicitation
- Response Due
- 2/17/2012
- Archive Date
- 3/18/2012
- Point of Contact
- Callista Clark
- E-Mail Address
-
Buyer's Email
(cclark@usgs.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Concerns having the ability to furnish the services and supplies described herein are requested to give written notification (including the name and telephone number for a point of contact) to the contract specialist listed in the announcement within 15 calendar days from the date of this synopsis. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Water Mission Area, Office of Water Quality, National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) has a requirement to have a gap analysis performed to determine the extent of work and the estimated cost and time needed to upgrade the current Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to the most current version available. The report expected from the gap analysis will provide an estimate of the cost of upgrading to StarLIMS 10 and will be used to determine whether the NWQL should procure a contract for StarLIMS to perform the upgrade to StarLIMS 10 or pursue the purchase of a new LIMS system through open and full competition. The StarLIMS base commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software was initially purchased from StarLIMS Corporation and has been heavily customized by NWQL programmers to meet continuously changing requirements, which was both allowed and encouraged. At the same time that the NWQL was making these modifications, StarLIMS was also continually updating its base software and eventually released StarLIMS version 10. In order for the NWQL to use StarLIMS version 10, the customizations made over the years at the NWQL needs to be compared to the current functionality available in StarLIMS version 10. The only knowledge available to make this determination resides with StarLIMS, who owns the intellectual property of StarLIMS and who knows what current functionality is available. Three-tier architecture has the following tiers:Presentation tierThis is the topmost level of the application. The presentation tier displays information that needs to be accessed by laboratory users. It communicates with other tiers by outputting results to the graphical user interface or passing information to the relation database management system (RDBMS). When developed by a software vendor, this tier and its associated source code is owned and maintained by the vendor. The NWQL does not have any access to the source code. Application tier - otherwise known as the business logic, logic tier, data access tier, or middle tierThe logic tier is pulled out from the presentation tier and, as its own layer; it controls an applications functionality by performing detailed processing. This is the tier within StarLIMS that contains all of the custom functionality developed by the NWQL programmers in addition to all of the base functionality originally provided by StarLIMS. This tier now differs significantly from the middle tier that StarLIMS now delivers with StarLIMS 10 version of its software. Data tierThis tier consists of database servers. Here information is stored and retrieved. This tier keeps data neutral and independent from application servers or business logic. Giving data its own tier also improves scalability and performance. However, both the presentation tier and the application tier must be designed to interact with the data tier. There are date and tables located within the data tier that are only accessed by the presentation tier and if those tables are not upgraded when the presentation tier is upgraded or if they are modified without maintaining the correct relationship with the presentation tier then the presentation layer will fail and the software will not function properly. StarLIMS is not unique in using a three-tier architecture. What makes StarLIMS unique for this procurement is that only StarLIMS has the source code for the presentation tier, which is the base tier used to display the application to the user. Any changes made to the presentation tier by StarLIMS could affect both the application tier and the data tier because the table structure and queries used by the presentation layer are unknown to anyone outside of StarLIMS. Therefore, the design, development, maintenance, and support of the software, especially the software used by the presentation tier, remains solely with StarLIMS Corporation. In order for a firm to meet the requirement put forth in this contract offering, they must have access to the current source code for StarLIMS 10. They must have access to all of the base functionality provided as a COTS product from StarLIMS and sufficient knowledge of how the base functionality works in order to provide a detailed list and description of all functional, operational, and database differences between Version 9 to Version 10, an analysis identifying all areas in StarLIMS version 10 that could replace custom functionality that exists in the current NWQL version 9 applications, a list of differences that cannot be either upgraded or replaced, and a project plan detailing the resources necessary to perform the upgrade, the projected timeline, the cost estimate, and the total man hours needed for each task. Based on the information at this time, the Government considers the services specified as a sole source from StarLIMS Corporation and proposes to negotiate a contract with the firm on that basis. However, should additional sources be identified, they will be considered. Firms who feel that they can furnish the required services or its functional equivalent (based on the criteria specified herein) are invited to submit, in writing, an affirmative response to this announcement. An affirmative response shall include literature, brochures and other such materials which correspond to the required services and supplies stated herein. This information will be evaluated and used to determine if competitive opportunities exist. Since no solicitation document exists, request for such documents without accompanying information will be considered non-responsive to this request without further consideration. Affirmative response shall be received by this office by close of business February 17, 2012 by 5:00 PM Mountain Standard Time. This notice may represent the Governments only official notice of this procurement.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOI/USGS/USGS/12GDB006NoSolicitation/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: USGSDenverCO80225USA
- Zip Code: 80225
- Zip Code: 80225
- Record
- SN02666442-W 20120204/120202234929-cbbdbf2587b19adfcd46725538a73aaa (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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