RFP Operations Services Ref. #: UNDP/BMS/OIMT/RFP/2016/001. Questions and Answers Round 1 19 September 2016

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1 RFP Operations Services Ref. #: UNDP/BMS/OIMT/RFP/2016/001 Questions and Answers Round 1 19 September Throughout the RFP, there is reference to a TOR which provides requirements for which the contractor must propose; however, the TOR does not provide specific requirements or specifications against which a specific methodology can be proposed. Please clarify the scope and requirements to be addressed for this RFP. Answer: The details of the scope and requirements for this tender are outlined in Section 3 of the RFP document starting from page 28. Here is an excerpt from the TOR which provides a summary: The intent of Operations Services is to obtain from selected Proposers the infrastructure and operations support services to maintain, enhance and to provide operations support for the UNDP s ICT hardware and software infrastructure by the provision of complementary resources with the requisite skills. Support and maintenance for these environments may take place either onsite or remotely from offshore locations except where geographic location is explicitly mentioned in the TOR of each function. Personnel in the offshore location must be fully conversant in English. Bidders are expected to provide a proposal following the templates provided under sections 4, 5, 6 & 7. These templates have specific questions which will guide bidders to write their proposals accordingly. 2. Description of Positions and Qualifications for Each Lot: In some of the position descriptions an incumbent is mentioned. Is it the intention of UNDP to have an incumbent or the selected contractor(s) perform these duties? Answer: The incumbent is the resource/consultant provided by the contractor who will be awarded the LTA/Contract. The descriptions provided under each profile explains in detail the responsibilities and tasks to be accomplished by the resources. Successful vendor/contractor is expected to perform the duties as descried in the TOR. 3. Please confirm all CV's can be representative of the experience and skills. Are we expected to submit one (1 ) CV each for onshore and offshore labor categories ( i.e 44 CVs)? Answer: UNDP needs CVs of personnel who will best represent a pool of candidates who would be assigned to UNDP should the bidder be found to be responsive to a particular TOR advertised. Proposers MUST submit one CV for each position listed in the Lot(s) for which a Proposal is submitted regardless of their geographic location (NY or offshore). Do not submit more than one CV per position. Proposers are to ensure that CVs submitted are relevant to the ToRs and meet qualification criteria in the RFP. CVs of actual/current staff will be used as a comparative tool in the evaluation process to ensure Proposers have a thorough understanding of the RFP requirements. 4. Section 15.3 on Page 8 of the RFP states that the Proposer assures and confirms to UNDP that the personnel being nominated are available for the Contract on the dates proposed. The contract duration per DS no. 30 is three years (with a possibility of extension, on annual basis, for additional two years). Could you please advise if the assurance of our personnel s availability would need to be for the entire contract duration or only for a certain period of time at the beginning of the contract? Answer: The LTA is for an initial period of three years. The assurance of personnel s availability is required for the duration of a particular project or an assignment which will be specified in the Terms of Reference shared with LTA holders at the secondary competition stage. Page 1 of 7

2 5. Proposer assures and confirms to UNDP that the personnel being nominated are available for the Contract on the dates proposed Equivalent resources should be ok? Answer: For the evaluation purpose, availability of equivalent is acceptable. After the signature of the LTA, as part of the secondary competition process, bidders will be required to nominate their specific personnel and confirm their availability during the proposed dates for a given profile. Once availability is confirmed at this stage, LTA vendors must honour this confirmation as a commitment from their end and equivalent resources will not be accepted if the selected contractor is not available for the assignment. 6. Page 63 Secondary competition: What is the lead time for the selected vendor to staff a resource for a specific role? What is the SLAs to provide CVs and Onboarding to Offshore? Please provide Volume of Work from Offshore and Onsite. Answer: The lead time depends on the urgency of the assignment. On average (non-urgent or non-crisis situation cases), the lead time is two to three weeks. For exceptional cases (urgent, under crisis situations), lead time may be less than one week. The details will be specified in the communication which will be shared with LTA holders during secondary competition. The volume of work will also depend on the need of a particular function during the life of the LTA. As of today, the distribution of workload is 70% in New York and 30% offshore but these figures may change. 7. Lot 1: Information Management System Services. 1. Project Manager: Total experience is not mentioned. As per our understanding minimum experience for project manager should be years. Please clarify. Answer: The minimum experience required for this profile is as per the TOR. 8. Lot 1. Project Manager Key Responsibilities and tasks:. The incumbent is required to follow UNDP standards for project management. Will UNDP please provide a copy of the UNDP Standards for Project Management? What is the UNDP project management methodology? What is it aligned with (PRINCE2, IPMA, OUM etc.)? Answer: All projects are managed according to current UNDP standards which are guided by PRINCE2 and supplemented by Agile-Scrum methodology when needed. UNDP can share the Project Management Guidelines with successful bidders under a Non-Disclosure Agreement at a later stage of the process. 9. Lot 1. Project Manager Key Responsibilities and tasks, 5th bullet: Effectively apply UNDP methodology and enforces project standards; Will UNDP please provide a definition of the UNDP methodology and project standards? Answer: See response to Q8 above 10. Is the application development in UNDP done on a waterfall or agile basis? Answer: Depending on the context of the project, UNDP uses Waterfall and Agile application development basis. UNDP also use IEEE standard for all application development testing. 11. Where most of the workload will be anticipated? (Lot 4 & Lot 5) Answer: Demand will be known once 2017 ICT Capital and Support budgets are approved late in Page 2 of 7

3 12. How many people are you looking to hire in each position? (Lot 4 & Lot 5) Answer: It will be a function of the demand stated in the previous question. 13. Can you provide the number of instances being used in current PeopleSoft landscape (Dev, Test, UAT, Production etc.)? Answer: Specific database instances and configurations are subject to NDA and this information will be divulged only to successful bidders after NDA signature 14. What are the tools used for PeopleSoft project migration (STATS, Phire, Manual etc.)? Answer: Phire 15. Lot 4 Web Application Services. (19) SharePoint business Analyst: As per the JD our understanding is that we have to source BA. However under work experience section it is mentioned that (prior experience in using SharePoint 2013 to develop site structures, manage site permission and advice on document management. Prior proven training experience in SharePoint. ) Please clarify this is SharePoint Developer position or Business Analyst. Answer: Yes, this is a BA position, however, UNDP also expect the candidate to be a SharePoint super user and have hands-on experience in SharePoint site configurations. 16. What is the current application landscape on SharePoint Platform & versions? (Lot 4) Answer: UNDP has both SharePoint 2013 Enterprise on premise and SharePoint Online in Office What is the authentication model implemented in current Collaboration Solution which is being access by end users over Internet? (Lot 4) Answer: ADFS is the only authentication model UNDP is using for SharePoint farms. 18. What is the level of customization being implemented in current SharePoint built applications? (Lot 4) Answer: UNDP has a number of full-trust applications and SP 2013 Add-ins. 19. Overview of current environment (Lot4). Can you please share the following information on the current SharePoint farm environment in terms of: 1. No. of servers such as WFE servers, App Servers, Search Servers, etc.; 2. Information architecture of the current SharePoint farm environment; 3. Data volume and size of the current SharePoint farm environment (in GB preferably); 4. Current ballpark user base (total users & concurrent users); 5. Is the current SharePoint environment supports hybrid environment between SharePoint online (Office 365) and SharePoint on-premises deployment; 6. Is the current SharePoint farm environment setup support WAN deployment? Answer: This information is subject to NDA and this information will be divulged only to successful bidders after NDA signature. 20. What is UNDP's plan and roadmap to upgrade existing SharePoint landscape? (Lot 4) Answer: UNDP will focus on the hybrid implementation between SharePoint Online and SharePoint on premise farms, but eventually will move to the Cloud solutions only. Page 3 of 7

4 21. Does the existing SharePoint application suite have Multi Lingual support? (Lot 4) Answer: Yes. 22. Does the current SharePoint environment have Disaster Recovery environment? (Lot 4) Answer: Yes. 23. Please share the details on current Backup and Recovery Process (Lot 4) Answer: This information is subject to NDA and this information will be divulged only to successful bidders after NDA signature. 24. Are the SharePoint resources required to have prior experience across all earlier versions of SharePoint like STS 2003, MOSS 2007 & SP2010? (Lot4) Answer: STS 2003 and MOSS 2007 are not required. SP 2010 experience is desirable but not essential. 25. Financial Proposal - Rates for New York Only: It is understood that the rate needs to be fixed and will include all travel and accommodations. Will UNDP allow the contractor to include an all-inclusive rate for both local New York personnel and travelers to New York, in the same format by extending the rate card? Answer: UNDP is requesting bidders to submit financial proposals for onsite (New York only) and offshore locations designated by the Proposers. 26. Is the "percentage of volume discount" is progressive (slab based)? Will the discount apply as the billing reaches (contract value would be reached) a particular slab? Answer: The discount will be applied at the beginning of each calendar year for the contract value of the previous year accumulated between January-December. For example, if the discount rate is as follows: USD250,000 USD500,000 USD750,000 USD1,000,000 Above USD1,000,000 % discount 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% At the end of Year 1 (December Year 1), if the contract value is USD300,000, a 2% discount will be applied on USD300,000. At the end of Year 2 (December Year 2), if the total cumulative contract value (Year 1 + Year 2) is USD760,000, a 4% discount will be applied on USD460,000 ($760,000 - $300,000). 27. The price shall remain fixed for the entire duration of five years and, if there is a reduction in the market price during this period, UNDP shall benefit from such reductions. Can you please clarify? Answer: Proposers are requested to propose competitive rates for the next five years using the templates provided and following the specific instructions of the RFP. The LTAs will be established based on these proposed rates. If market conditions change during the five year period and the prevailing market rates are lower than the agreed LTA rates, UNDP reserves the right to negotiate with the LTA holders to align the rates accordingly. 28. Page 25, Point no 35.The RFP mentions Vendors submitting proposals should specify rates which would remain fixed for the entire duration of the LTA period. Can the hourly rates for Year1 be different from Year2 and so on or should the rates for all 5 years remain the same. Kindly confirm. Answer: Yes, the rates from Year 1 could be different from the rates of Year 2 and so on. Page 4 of 7

5 29. RFP, Section 8: Long Term Agreement, Article 3: PRICE AND PAYMENT, 3.1 Services provided by the Contractor shall be based on the unit prices listed in Annex II. Will UNDP please confirm that the Contractor s Resource Rate Card(s) per Lot in RFP Section 7 will become Annex II for the contract? Answer: That is correct. 30. Are the Proposals sought for each Lots based on Professional Staffing model and payable on T & M rate? Answer: The financial proposals should be as per the instructions in the RFP documents, i.e. hourly rate for each function. The payment for a selected consultant will be based on the actual number of hours worked using the agreed LTA hourly rates. 31. If there is need to travel to other UNDP sites, will UNDP take care of all expenses and would facilitate visa for the resources to travel? Answer: In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed according to UNDP Travel Policy for Consultants. 32. Will there be any requirement for fixed price proposal in during the LTA Answer: No, the requirements will always be based on the fixed rates as per the LTA rate cards. 33. Data Sheet #26, Statement of Satisfactory Performance from the Top Three Clients in terms of Contract Value the past 5 years. Section 5, question #9, Value and Description of top three (3) Biggest Contract for the past five (5) years. Is this a letter from a top client regarding vendor performance? Are these the same three (3) clients as those required in in Section 5, #9? Answer: Yes, the requirement Data Sheet # 26 is a letter from the Top Three clients as a statement of satisfactory performance and these documents must be submitted together with the Proposal. Question no. 9 in Section 5 is a brief description on the value and service provided to those Top Three clients. 34. Data Sheet #26, Statement of Satisfactory Performance from the Top Three Clients in terms of Contract Value the past 5 years. Section 6: Technical Proposal Form, Subsection 2.2, Proven Track Record and Experiences requires references of three (3) client engagements from within the last 3 years. Is this requirement different from the statement of satisfactory performance from the top 3 clients in terms of contract value in the past 5 years (Data Sheet #26)? Answer: Yes, the requirements under Section 6 and DS # 26 are different. DS # 26 is about submission of a document/letter from the Top Three clients in the past 5 years on satisfactory performance and these documents must be submitted together with the Proposal. Section 6, subsection 2.2 requires bidders to provide references and details requested in the template table provided. Page 5 of 7

6 35. Section 1, Contents of Proposal, Subsection B.9. Sections of Proposal: Proposers are required to complete, sign and submit the following documents Instructions to Proposers, DATA SHEET. Vendors are required to complete and submit the documents in Section 1, Subsection B, 9. If there are boxes checked within the DATA SHEET that are not included in forms to be completed (Sections 4, 5, 6, and 7), are vendors required to complete those also or just complete the information required in each of the forms? If the UN requires completion of those additional items from the DATA SHEET, where should the responses be included in the proposal? Answer: Templates are provided for Sections 4, 5, 6 and 7. Any additional document/information required to be submitted by bidders as per the Data Sheet needs to be uploaded through the UNDP etendering portal as a separate file in addition to the Proposals. 36. Section 1, Contents of Proposal, 9. Sections of Proposal: Proposers are required to complete, sign and submit the following documents. Instructions to Proposers, Data Sheet #26: Vendors are required to complete and submit the documents in Section 1, B, 9. There are boxes checked in the Specific Instructions/Requirements for DS #26 which are not included in any of the Sections required in Section1, B.9: Certificate of Registration of the business; Quality Certificate; Statement of Satisfactory Performance from the Top Three Clients in terms of Contract Value the past 5 years. Are these documents required in the proposal and where should they be included in the response? Answer: See response to Q.25 above. 37. Section 5: Documents Establishing the Eligibility and Qualifications of the Proposer, #9, Value and Description of top three (3) Biggest Contract for the past five (5) years. Please define biggest. Does this mean most revenue or something else? Answer: Biggest means the largest contract amount/volume. 38. Data Sheet #26: This item requires Certificates of Registration of the business, Articles of Incorporation, or equivalent documents if the Proposer is not a corporation. Please confirm that the 15-page limit applies to the Company Profile but not to the remaining items on Data Sheet item #26. Answer: The 15-page limit applies to Company Profile, including printed brochures and product catalogues relevant to the goods/services being procured. Please ensure that the following information is included in the package: years of organizational experience in providing Operations Services; and Internal Project Management controls and dedicated Account Manager. 39. Data Sheet #26 requires Statement of Satisfactory Performance from the Top Three Clients in terms of Contract Value the pasts five (5) years. Section 6, Technical Proposal Form Section 2.2: Question 9 requires the contractor to provide Value and Description of Top three (3) Biggest Contract for the past five (5) years. Section 6, Technical Proposal Form Section 2.2, requires the contractor to provide names of three (3) client engagements from within the last 3 years where your organization had ten (10) or more resources provide support in line with the TOR, Annex 1. Please note that large, global, or multi-national corporations (i) are not able to provide this information for a five year period, and (ii) are often contractually precluded from providing such information. Will UNDP allow large corporations to provide credentials based on similar work performed, rather than providing client excerpts that may not have any relevance to this procurement? Answer: Bidders are requested to provide the requested reference information as per the RFP instructions. If some of their clients have non-disclosure policy, bidders are advised to provide information from different clients. It is understood that if the proposer is a large multi-national company, there would be several clients who do not have these restrictions and would be able to provide reference on bidder s performance. This is a requirement of the RFP evaluation process. Page 6 of 7

7 40. Data Sheet #26: This item requires a Dun & Bradstreet report and Audited Financial Statement (Income Statement and Balance Sheet) including Auditor s Report for the last three years, certified by a Public Accountant, and with authentication of receiving by the Government s Internal Revenue authority, to include any indication of credit rating, industry rating, etc. Will UNDP accept alternative reports showing credit rating? Answer: No, bidders are requested to submit the above reports as clarified in the RFP documents 41. Please clarify which format to use for the response and how the Proposed Methodology, Approach, and Implementation Plan section will be evaluated. Answer: Bidders are required to submit their proposals using templates provided under Sections 4, 5, 6 and 7 as indicated in the Data Sheet. The evaluation criteria is also in line with the Technical Proposal Format provided under Section If a bidder withdraw from RFP after submitting a Proposal is there any financial penalty. Answer: No there is no penalty for withdrawal of a Proposal. Page 7 of 7