SPECIAL NOTICE
D -- Request for Information -- Requirements Gathering, Design, Development, Testing and Deloy an Electronic Time Recording Solution - Attachment A - List of Establishments
- Notice Date
- 1/7/2014
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Procurement Management Branch, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Mail drop 5230, Beltsville, Maryland, 20705, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20705
- Solicitation Number
- USDA-FSIS-DMH-001
- Archive Date
- 2/18/2014
- Point of Contact
- Donna M Hardy, Phone: 301-504-2010
- E-Mail Address
-
donna.hardy@fsis.usda.gov
(donna.hardy@fsis.usda.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Attachment B - List of Establishments/Plants List of Establishments REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) GENERAL: This is a REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) for Time Reporting Services being released by on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) agency. The Requestor, FSIS, is soliciting input from industry for on-site technical and functional time reporting solution(s) to be available at approximately 6,000 food inspection establishments/plants throughout the U.S. (see attachment A). The information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be utilized in the development of a future acquisition that may or may not require the products and services as described. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.215-3 "Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes", this Sources Sought/Request for Information (RFI) is for information and planning purposes only at this time and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the USDA FSIS. Please note that this RFI is simply to seek information and that an award will not result from this RFI. Responses should be submitted via email to Donna.Hardy@fsis.usda.gov not later than February 3, 2014 @ 10:00 am EST. Late responses may not be reviewed. Telephonic inquiries will not be accepted. Response shall be no longer than 30 pages (excluding literature and related documents that you provide). Responses and supporting documents to this RFI will not be returned. Please include the following information in your response: - Company Name - Contact Person and Phone Number/Email Address - CAGE Code - DUNS Number - Business Size/Number of Employees - Available Contract Vehicles (GSA, BPAs, etc.) - Information relating to capabilities, novel ideas, industry best practices (including the use of Performance-Based acquisitions), and/or industry capabilities to meet the needs of the USDA, FSIS outlined above and in the attached requirements document. Describe/explain if the use of teaming arrangements would be necessary or utilized. Contractor is requested to provide the following information, utilizing the attached spreadsheet and any supporting documentation they wish to include: •- Capabilities of any devices proposed and supporting services provided •- Cost estimates, to include purchase price, labor, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) •- Gaps in device capabilities versus device requirements outlined in this RFI •- Proposed solutions to closing the gap in device capabilities versus device requirements (and cost associated with implementing the gap fix) •- Recommended deployment strategy based on provided Establishment Summary document (to include training and communication). •- Issues/Concerns/Alternatives proposed in order to meet the time reporting requirements •- Other considerations This RFI notice does not constitute a request for a formal proposal. This notice is provided as information to the market place and is an invitation for an expression of interest and demonstration of qualifications to perform and deliver the anticipated requirement. The Government will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. BACKGROUND: FSIS is the agency of USDA that is delegated the authority to exercise the functions of the Secretary of Agriculture as provided in the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) (21 U.S.C. 451, et seq.), and the Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA) (21 U.S.C. 1031-1056). These statutes provide that FSIS is to protect the public by ensuring that meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, unadulterated, and properly labeled and packaged. Minimizing the public health impacts from contaminated foods requires rapid government response and intervention, which in turn requires that threats be identified as quickly and as definitively as possible and addressed. By virtue of its food safety responsibilities and its presence in so many plants, FSIS depends upon a large, geographically disbursed workforce to inspect the Nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products. FSIS provides inspection functions at approximately 6,000 plants. FSIS also operates three laboratories. In all, the Agency employs approximately 10,000 people, of which 4,026 are field employees supporting the plant inspection role and 270 work at the laboratories. The plants and laboratories are located throughout the U.S. PROJECT GOALS: FSIS has a need to provide its food inspection personnel working in commercial establishments/plants and laboratories a means of electronically reporting their work time. At present, the inspection personnel record their time on paper forms, and submit them via fax to the FSIS Financial Processing Center. The goal is to replace the current method with an electronic time reporting solution that can be deployed on-site at approximately 6,000 food inspection establishments/plants throughout the U.S. FSIS is looking for vendors that have the capability to provide the required solution for inspection and laboratories personnel to input their work hours. The solution should include a means of inputting data (i.e. key pad), imbedded software for collecting/recording the data, data storage capability, and connectivity to transmit the data to FSIS's time and attendance system, Kronos © Time and Attendance system (WebTA). The time reporting solution components shall consist of an input device with a display screen readable by the user and a method for the user to key in data which will be used by employees to record their work time. The solution should also include embedded software for collecting/recording the data, data storage capability to store time accounting information for a minimum of two pay periods (30-days), should the connection be lost the ability to synch the data entered from the last successful connection when communications are reestablished, and connectivity to transmit the data to FSIS Kronos WebTA system. The solution implemented must comply with the plant and laboratory environments where installed and support both analog and digital transmission mediums. Among the business requirement is the need to produce and maintain records of time credited to employees for various work activities, including starting (Clock-in) and ending (Clock-out) times used for computation of creditable hours (includes hours and minutes) that may be entered into the FSIS time and attendance systems. In summary the key goals are: Goal: Automate / Digitize the recording of employee work. Goal: Develop a bandwidth friendly solution. One that uses the least amount of network traffic or depends on a persistent network connection. Goal: The proposed solution shall integrate with the USDA WebTA time & accounting system. Goal: Develop a solution that can serve as an input device to a client server system. For example, the solution can be a thin client software/hardware solution that will communicate with a server system. In this case, the client and server hardware and software requirements shall be described. Goal: the solution shall provide clock-in and clock-out data for entry into the time keeping system. SCOPE: This project includes requirements gathering, design, development, testing and deployment delivery of an electronic time recording solution, one year maintenance after the system is accepted, and the associated Project Management of the contracted tasks. The design of the solution implemented must be plant environment neutral (work in any plant), but the project should include defining, designing, integrating, testing and deploying enhancements to the FSIS infrastructure, if applicable. Project management should encompass the tasks necessary to manage and support the requirement, design, development, testing, deployment and delivery phases in accordance with FSIS Enterprise Project Life Cycle and System Development Life Cycle processes. The vendor shall also comply with FSIS security requirements as mandated and where applicable. The vendor shall perform work for this project at the contractor, plant, and Government provided sites. Acceptance testing will be performed at appropriate sites. BUSINESS REQUIREMENT: The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to obtain information from commercial vendors that can design, develop, test, and deploy an electronic time reporting system for FSIS laboratories and in-plant employees. The employees are located in FSIS laboratories and commercial food processing plants throughout the United States. The solution implemented must be plant environment neutral (work in any plant). Among the business requirements is the need to produce and maintain records of time credited to employees for various work activities, including starting (Clock-in) and ending (Clock-out) times used for computation of creditable hours that may be entered into the FSIS Kronos WebTA system. Agency employees also work overtime, and perform export, import, voluntary and other inspection work that is billed to industry on a plant by plant basis. FSIS wishes to implement an automated time keeping system, to replace the hard copy billing documents currently in use. This RFI asks for information regarding an electronic time reporting solution that can be used by the employee to report their work hours which in turn will then transmit the information to Kronos © WebTA. The solution will collect appropriate timekeeping and establishment data, have an ability to store the data locally for a minimum of two pay periods, if the connectivity is lost properly synch data when reconnected, gather time keeping and establishment data, and provide the data to agency financial systems through a Kronos © WebTA interface meeting appropriate requirements. The preference is for the employee to access the solution to perform their time reporting at the plant on-site. However off-site solutions, if practicable, maybe be considered. INPUT SOLUTION: The input solution will feed time reporting data provided by the employee to the Kronos © WebTA system an Oracle based system. The solution implemented must comply with the environments where the components are installed or used. Requirements include: Input solution installed or used within meat and poultry establishments, must be able to withstand extremes of temperature and humidity, chemicals, contamination from blood, oils, dust, etc. Solution may also be used by mobile inspectors covering multiple plants over a geographically dispersed area. The mobile inspectors currently use Windows based computers, However, the vendor can recommend other mobile solutions (iOS, Android, Windows Mobile). Users of the input solution consist of bargaining unit (union) members and management employees with complex, differing policy constraints for each. The selected solution(s) will interface with Kronos © WebTA as the entry point for data into the FSIS's financial management system. Input solution should provide inspection personnel with a data entry capability (i.e. keypunch) accessible with a unique identifier for each employee. The input device should have the capability to integrate with the latest version of Kronos © WebTA. Input solution should allow corrections to be made to Kronos © WebTA data before it is submitted. Input solution will require user to submit data and remind them before logging off of device. In the case of an individual forgetting to press the submit button, the system will notify them at next logon if data has not been submitted. Input solution should allow incremental data entry until it is submitted. Input solution should be geared to simplicity in use. Input solution should provide for the use of two-factor authentication with both an audible and visual confirmation. This solution is required to support the HSPD 12, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12: Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors. The input solution will provide the ability to turn on or off two-factor authentication by device. Input solution should allow food inspection personnel to have full access to Kronos © WebTA through an on-site or off-site input solution to accurately document time and attendance. Input solution should have the capability to withstand extreme work environment with dust, moisture, water and temperature extremes, hardened against drops and immersion, making them suitable for the food-processing environment. Input solution connectivity at the plants can range from analog phone lines, T1, T3, etc. Input solution should work at locations with strong connectivity (e.g. T1 or T3 connections (digital) and poor connectivity (e.g. dial-up (analog). Proposed solution shall be bandwidth friendly. Input solution should be compatible with IPV6 network addressing protocols. Input solution should have the ability to store data locally on the input device for a minimum of two pay periods. When connectivity is lost, the input solution should have the ability to synch the data entered from the last successful connection when communications are reestablished. The solution should report to FSIS source when storage is local and when data is transferred to Kronos © WebTA. Input solution should be 508 compliant. Input solution should logoff at a set period of time. This setting should be able to be set by the administrator from the administrator console for all input devices connected to the system. The administrator console for the input device should be able to control all input devices connected to the Kronos © WebTA. SOFTWARE SOLUTION: The input solution software will manage data provided by the employee to the Kronos © WebTA system. The solution implemented must comply with the environments where the components are installed or used. Requirements include: •· Software should provide a method to collect data input. For example, a card-swipe or user punching in data or other method to collect data. Software should have the capability to integrate with the current version of Kronos © WebTA. Software should include software programming of lunch period rules (e.g. ability to automatically deduct a designated lunch period (i.e. 30 minutes) after 6 hours of on-clock time. If an employee clocks out for lunch, deduct the actual amount of time off-clock. However, if off-clock time is less than designated lunch period (30 minutes), clock will deduct the full designated lunch period. The ability to designate "bands" of time for lunch period identification and time computations is a requirement. Software should be expandable such that additional time clock devices may be added in the future. Software should allow incremental data entry of Kronos © WebTA data until it is submitted. Software should have the integrity that will comply with agency accountability and security requirements but have the flexibility of implementing the donning and doffing on line slaughter activity (described in Attachment B), program codes, and transaction codes. Allow for immediate and direct recording of actual time spent for donning, doffing, lunch, work unit meetings, and overtime activities. Software should be remotely configurable or have the capability for remote administration through the system management software. Software should allow reporting the time it takes for inspectors to walk from the inspection office/locker room where they don and doff protective equipment and garments to their inspection workstation. These activities often occur during overtime hours, therefore must be tracked as billable and compensated time. Software should comply with agency and OPM rules regarding employee compensation and be flexible enough to allow for implementation of the select group of employees impacted by the donning and doffing activity including integration with WebTA import functions and associated program codes. Software should record reimbursable hours worked and captured by the input device for WebTA will be simultaneously recorded for internal payroll and external billing. Software should allow for administrator-based control of data cycling and provide for administrator customizable workflows. Software should be 508 compliant. Software should record employee uncontested daily time and attendance, which can withstand potential legal scrutiny. Software should record reimbursable overtime and bill Industry only for actual time worked instead of rounding up daily in 15 minute increments either minute by minute or rounded weekly. Software should be built using an open standard. Attachments: A - List of Establishments/Plants B - Definitions
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USDA/FSIS/AAS/USDA-FSIS-DMH-001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Approximately 6,000 plants throughout the United States., United States
- Record
- SN03262286-W 20140109/140107235041-b8b5e152025bf7c47dc2cee28c7776d8 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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