SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Managed File Transfer (MFT) Software
- Notice Date
- 10/30/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 511210
— Software Publishers
- Contracting Office
- United States Postal Service, Supplies and Services Purchasing, Automation CMC, 8403 Lee Highway, Dewey Bldg, Merrifield, Virginia, 22082-8150
- ZIP Code
- 22082-8150
- Solicitation Number
- 1B-14-A-0004
- Archive Date
- 12/31/2013
- Point of Contact
- Peter J. LaMarca IV, J.D., C.P.M., Phone: (202) 268-5238, Tammi L Robinson-Minor, Phone: (202) 268-4114
- E-Mail Address
-
Peter.J.Lamarca@usps.gov, tammi.robinson-minor@usps.gov
(Peter.J.Lamarca@usps.gov, tammi.robinson-minor@usps.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Managed File Transfer (MFT) Software The United States Postal Service (USPS) requests preliminary technical and price information from potential suppliers for the following: TASK: Message Queuing Middleware solution for two custom applications supporting Debit/Credit authorizations and file transfers from 18,000 retail locations. This RFI is intended to collect information regarding available solutions and provide Rough Orders of Magnitude (ROM) pricing for the costs to purchase, configure, and install the new solution. Estimates of annual support fees for the proposed system will also be required. BACKGROUND: USPS processes over One Million Debit/Credit authorizations daily from its retail locations. Debit/Credit authorizations come from approximately 45,000 Point of Sale (POS) terminals, 2,700 Self-Serve Kiosks and 18,000 standalone Verifone/Ingenico devices. Authorization requests begin at the devices, move through USPS' highly-available, fault-tolerant infrastructure and are eventually delivered to the Card Networks. Responses are then returned to the individual devices. Approximately 95% of all Debit/Credit Authorizations are processed within 2 seconds and 99.9% are processed within 5 seconds. During the Holiday Season, USPS processes sustained loads up to 90 Transactions per Second (TPS). A peak load of three to four hundred (300 to 400) transactions per second is possible. The USPS transfers approximately 1.2 million files daily from 18,000 devices at its retail locations. The files processed include mail acceptance, mail pickup, service refund, small business acceptance, store closeout, and Product Tracking System (PTS) signature capture. Highest possible file transfers would be as follows: Frequency Number of files per source Number of Source systems File size (B) Total Files per transfer Data size per transfer (MB) Every 10 minutes 1 45,000 5,000 45,000 225 Every 30 minutes 1 18,000 5,000 18,000 90 Every 30 minutes 3 18,000 1,000 54,000 54 Close of Business 1 18,000 100,000 18,000 1,800 USPS requires the new system to be a high availability, highly reliable open source solution with demonstrated success in large retail or banking operations. If it were a private sector company, the USPS would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. USPS maintains 47,000 point-of-sale terminals nationwide. USPS has nearly 284,000 vendors doing $16 billion in business annually using electronic money transfers. More than 340 million credit card transactions are processed annually in Post Offices and through usps.com. SCOPE & OBJECTIVES: The USPS seeks information and ROM pricing on current technologies, solutions and services for a universal message queuing middleware to manage transactions in a heterongenous infrastructure. The preliminary requirements for this solution are: Availability / Scalability · Capable of supporting 99.999% availability · Scalable to 70K end points · Capable of supporting high available (real-time failover) load balanced systems · Support multithreaded processes on Linux Platform Support · Sun Solaris · SUSE Linux · Windows · Windows Itanium · WEPOS · POSREADY · AIX Language Support · C/C++ Protocol Support · TCP/IP (v4 & v6) · HTTP/HTTPS Administration / Monitoring · Centralized GUI admin tools · Admin APIs · Statistics: TPS, # of clients, queue depth, system resource utilization (e.g. CPU, Memory, & storage), etc. · Generate alerts: queues filled, connections down, applications down, failed transfers, etc. Other Features · Synchronous and asynchronous support · Conversational/context support · Service Oriented Architecture The ROM will be used to evaluate the economics of the task and to develop internal funding documents. USPS seeks a solution(s) which offers innovative approaches, state-of-the-art technologies, and economies of scale, without inordinate complexity nor lengthy implementation requirements. An important factor for any solution will be the plan for transition from the legacy system to the new system and the associated training required. RFI PROCESS SYNOPSIS: Questions may be submitted in writing until Close of Business (COB) on November 8, 2013. Those questions, along with the USPS answers, will be provided in writing to respondents who have acknowledged their interest in participation. Should needs dictate, the USPS may establish a web conference (date and time to be established) to address the information being requested and to answer any questions. All submittals must be received on or before November 15, 2103 by email addressed to Peter LaMarca at peter.j.lamarca@usps.gov, Tammi Robinson-Minor at tammi.robinson-minor@usps.gov, and to Mary Ann McGann at maryann.pandolfi@usps.gov. INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDENTS: Any potential supplier should possess the necessary skills, experience, and the financial wherewithal to deliver their proposed solutions within the USPS enterprise and according to generally-accepted good business practices. Lengthy or elaborate submittals are not desired, nor are those which are promotional or sales-oriented. USPS desires clear, concise and concrete descriptions of your proposed solution limited to 30 single-spaced pages, perhaps coupled with one or more attachments which may contain additional details or backup information Supplier is to submit capability / skill statements for the key personnel required to implement their solutions. These statements must not have any company logo or resource name. Where more than one resource is required for a job category, submit multiple capability / skill statements. Potential suppliers should indicate if any part of their solution is to be supplied by a business partner or a subcontractor, and if so, identify the partner or subcontractor in their submittals. Submittals shall include preliminary pricing information in the form of a "Rough Order of Magnitude" or ROM. Suppliers should quote the best rates for which the Postal Service is eligible. SCHEDULE OF RFI: RFI Release Date: October 30, 2013 Final Day for Submitting Questions: COB on November 8, 2013 Submittal Due Date: NLT 4:00pm on November 15, 2013 HOW TO SUBMIT RESPONSES: Your submittal should bear a transmittal (cover) page which sets forth the following: company name, delivery order name and number, this RFI name, the due date, and the name, title, and contact information for that or those person(s) authorized to commit the supplier and negotiate on its behalf. Suppliers are required to provide separate technical and preliminary non-binding price submittals based upon the requirements and specifications of their proposed solution(s) and they should be identified as such in their document name. All submittals must be prepared in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel formats. Submittals must be provided in the form of email addressed to the undersigned which arrives on or before the published due date. QUESTIONS: Please direct all questions in written form to both of the following parties: Peter LaMarca - peter.j.lamarca@usps.gov Tammi Robinson-Minor - tammi.robinson-minor@usps.gov Mary Ann McGann - maryann.pandolfi@usps.gov All questions will be answered in writing and made available to all participating suppliers. The identities of those suppliers submitting questions will not be divulged. OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION: Acknowledgement of Receipt: Potential respondents are required to acknowledge receipt of this document to the Purchasing Specialist, Tammi Robinson-Minor at tammi.robinson-minor@usps.gov, as a condition of being included in any further related communications. Confidentiality: Submittals shall not be disclosed outside the Postal Service nor outside any evaluation committee or independent third-party entity established for the specific purpose of reviewing any submittals received. Mandatory Provision A-2: The Postal Service does not intend to award a contract or delivery order on the basis of this solicitation or to pay for the information solicited. This solicitation is issued for the purpose of gathering information preparatory to formulating a TEM strategy for possible implementation in the future contingent on management approval and the availability of funds. Funding Note: This requirement has not yet been funded. The Postal Service reserves the right to delay issuing any RFP and / or to make any award until funding is approved, or to refrain from making any award. Period of Performance : TBD. Place of Performance : USPS Enterprise-wide, to include the mainland United States as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam. Preferred Delivery Order Type : Firm, Fixed Price (FFP) DUE DATE: All submittals must be received on or before November 15, 2013 by email addressed to Peter LaMarca at peter.j.lamarca@usps.gov, Tammi Robinson-Minor at tammi.robinson-minor@usps.gov and to Mary Ann McGann at maryann.pandolfi@usps.gov
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USPS/SSP/APHQ/1B-14-A-0004/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: TBD, United States
- Record
- SN03224533-W 20131101/131030233920-3def6b82d6dbbd933ed12abd9deca037 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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