U.S. General Accounting Office, Office of Acquisition Management, 441 G Street N.W., Room 6852, Washington, DC 20548

70 -- 70--COMMERCIAL OFF THE SHELF OFFICE SUITE SOFTWARE DUE 062695 POC Michaelene Clarke 202/512-3543 The U.S. General Accounting Office intends to evaluate Office Suite software. This is not a procurement. GAO will be evaluating commercial-off-the-shelf Windows 3.1x-based Office Suite software to determine which office suite or combination of software best meets its word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, database, and other related application requirements. Each suite of software evaluated will be assessed to determine how it can be integrated and customized to support GAO's hardware, software, and network environment. Each suite will be evaluated to determine how well it meets GAO needs, including the ability to customize the suite in order to provide value-added tools and to facilitate moving data between applications, while also providing ease of use within and across applications. The full version of each suite will be installed on a server and the minimal version of each suite will be installed on a notebook in order to perform testing. For each of the suites to be tested, GAO has identified requirements in the following areas: word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, database, ease of use, documentation and vendor support, programming tools, compatibility with GAO network, publishing, and mission support systems, accommodation/ accessibility, and miscellaneous other requirements. Office Suite software to be evaluated must meet compatibilty requirements with GAO's hardware and software environment. Salient features of this environment include 1) an installed base of Intel compatible stand-alone and network-connected 32-bit desktop and notebook computers; 2) a centrally maintained nationwide enterprise network running Novell Netware 4.x with a GAO developed C-based user front-end system which maintains all software in a server-based centralized template model; 3) a workstation model in which workstations on the GAO network boot to the server and load the needed operating system and environment (Microsoft DOS 6.2x and Windows 3.1x) software and application software from the servers; and 4) a GAO developed Data Collection and Analysis (DCA) application which is primarily based on the PC DOCS Open 2.x document management system, a Sybase SQL database, a user front-end developed using PowerBuilder, and word processing-based templates. Commercially available products warranting evaluation against these general criteria will be evaluated. Known products include: Microsoft Office; Lotus SmartSuite; and Novell PerfectOffice. Other similar products will also be considered. Vendors should contact Michaelene Clarke of GAO's Office of Acquisition Management, at 202/512-3543, NO LATER THAN June 26, 1995 in order to identify other products that meet these requirements. GAO will not entertain questions or inquiries from resellers or distributors. This is an evaluation of software products, not an announcement for a procurement. (0160)

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