IT HELP DESK RFQ SUPPLIER QUESTIONS AND COMMONWEALTH ANSWERS. Questions Submitted prior to the 4/4/12 Preproposal Conference

Transcription

1 Questions Submitted prior to the 4/4/12 Preproposal Conference 1. Based on your Service Level of a 10 minute or less average talk time, is there any additional process time required after the call is terminated? It will Depend if incident is resolved / closed within this time frame, then additional process time is probably minimal. If not resolved / closed then additional process time is required. 2. Will the DPW provided Remedy system also provide a knowledge management system for the provider to utilize or will the provider need to utilize their own? Offerors should propose what they believe to be the best solution to meet the Department s need. 3. On page 40 of the RFQ, it states The selected Offeror is responsible for acquiring the necessary licenses for access to the OA Remedy environment by contacting the contract section of the Bureau of Enterprise Strategic Technology Services. Does this mean that the Offeror is required to buy these licenses or that DPW would pay for the licenses and the Offeror must just work with OA to get the licenses setup? The selected Offeror is required to buy these licenses. 4. Can you clarify if all Class I, II and III tickets will be logged in the OA Remedy system or if the provider needs to provide any type of ticketing system along with this? All tickets will be logged in the OA Remedy system. Page 1

2 5. On page 30 of the RFQ, it states The Offeror must make SLA supporting compliance metrics available to the Department on a real-time basis. Does this mean that DPW requires the Offeror to provide an online reporting portal? If so, would the commonwealth allow this portal to interact with the OA Remedy system in order to populate ticket data? Online (i.e. portal access) is not required. 6. For the Targeted Support mentioned on page 38 of the RFQ, would this support require the provider to provide personnel onsite at DPW facilities (i.e. deskside support) or would this support be able to be provided from the provider s facilities? Targeted Support, if any, will be provided from the provider s facilities via remote connectivity, , and/or phone. 7. Contact access methods Is it acceptable to use other contact methods than those stated? E.g. chat, web submit No. 8. Technology What types of voice activated automation currently exists within the end user environment? o E.g. Interactive Voice Response (IVR), voice activated password resets None. Page 2

3 Are there mobile devices that must be supported? o E.g. Blackberry, iphone, ipad Blackberries and Tablets must be supported at this time. 9. Agent Skillsets What certification levels are required for your phone agents, if any? o E.g. ITIL Certification, A+ Certification, Microsoft Certified Professional Assigned personnel must meet the minimum personnel qualifications stated in Part II-6 of the RFQ. 10. Call Volumes, additional details would be helpful related to the following areas: Please provide examples of call types related to phone o E.g. hardware, software, IMAC, password reset, etc. Unsure of the intent of the question. Please provide examples of call types related to o E.g. status, hardware, software, IMAC, password reset, etc. Unsure of the intent of the question. Page 3

4 Please provide examples of call types related to outbound call o E.g. incomplete request, positive call closure, resolver chase Unsure of the intent of the question. In what situations is an agent required to make an outbound call? Anytime follow-up is needed. Was there an event in 2011 that caused the average volumes per month to decrease over 2010? 2010 volumes were higher as a result of a large scale PC replacement. Also, as a result of this hardware refresh, some of the underlying problems that resulted in a call to the Help Desk were eliminated. 11. Handle Times Please provide the average handle times for the follow access methods o Phone by type This data is not currently being tracked. o by type This data is not currently being tracked. Page 4

5 o Outbound by type This data is not currently being tracked. 12. Operational Level Agreements (OLA) for s and Voice Mails Please provide the OLA for response and voic response, if any? Not Defined at this time. 13. Incident to Call Ratio Are there situations where a contact to the Service Desk does not generate an incident? If so, please clarify what contact types do not generate an incident? Yes, for example but not limited to: There is a known situation (i.e. system outage, network incident) An event for which the Department has given advance notification to the Help Desk Wrong number called 14. Missing information Since interaction stats are not available for Department of Aging, can you please tell us how big the user base is in this department? Department of Aging user base is less than 100. Page 5

6 15. When figuring the SLA penalty, does exceeding one service level offset one that was missed? No. 16. Is the Offeror responsible for purchasing the required number of Remedy licenses? Yes Client licenses. 17. Should final pricing and staffing models reflect the numbers for the Department of Aging and Department of Insurance? Use the numbers provided in the Cost Matrix Appendix C. 18. How many miles is considered reasonable for the Officer's Offsite Facility? Reference RFQ Part IV-3 Task 2; Subsection I. Facilities; 2 nd bullet point Provide reasonable access for Commonwealth staff to the selected Offeror s facilities and to parking This requirement is now removed from the RFQ. Page 6

7 19. Are Contractors permitted to include a Transmittal Letter with their Technical Submittals? All submission documents except the DB submittal are to be attached to the electronic bid, only the DB submittal is to be sent in manually under separate cover and labeled with the bid number. Reference I-14. Proposals Reference II-1. General Requirements Reference II-10. Disadvantaged Business Submittal; Section a. Disadvantaged Business Information; Sub-section iv) 20. In addition to graphics, tables, and project plans, can headers/footers and requirement text use a smaller font size? Yes but font used must be easily readable by most individuals. 21. RFQ states each proposal page must be numbered for ease of reference. Does this include adding page numbers RFQ forms that may already be numbered or may not be numbered at all? Yes, and corresponding to the table of contents. Page 7

8 22. The RFQ states, Contractors who seek consideration for this criterion must submit in hardcopy the signed Domestic Workforce Utilization Certification Form in the same sealed envelope with the Technical Submittal. Do bidders need to submit hard copies of Technical Submittal? If so, how many? Or since this is an electronic submission, does this mean this form must be included in the file(s) with the technical submittal? Offerors do not need to submit hardcopy of the Technical Submittal or the Domestic Workforce Utilization Certification. All submission documents except the DB submittal are to be attached to the electronic bid, only the DB submittal is to be sent in manually under separate cover and labeled with the bid number. Reference I-14. Proposals Reference II-1. General Requirements Reference II-10. Disadvantaged Business Submittal; Section a. Disadvantaged Business Information; Sub-section iv) Page 8

9 Questions Submitted at the 4/4/12 Preproposal Conference 1. Is it assumed that the limited tier 2 and targeted support can be provided off-site at the vendor facilities? Yes. 2. Does enterprise zone points count for non-dgs MBE/WBE certified businesses? Companies do not have to be DGS certified M/WBE s to qualify as an enterprise zone business. To receive credit for Enterprise Zone commitments, all companies must meet and provide documentation supporting Enterprise Zone requirements listed in section II- 10, b of the RFQ. 3. How are the point calculations derived by the percentage of revenue given to our Disadvantaged Business Partners? Please refer to the RFQ section III-3 (c) Disadvantaged Business Participation. 4. What is the expected turnaround on ad-hoc reporting? Typically (1) day. Page 9

10 5. Will the current knowledgebase be turned over from the existing vendor? If so, what is the knowledgebase currently used? Content only will be exported and turned over. TheBrain Technologies BrainEKP Knowledge Management tool. 6. Electronic submission How will we know that the Bid was received. What will we receive back as acknowledgement? Upon submission of an electronic bid via the PASupplierPortal Website, a supplier receives a pop-up confirmation along with an associated bid submission number. 7. In Part III, criteria for selection, the state sets the requirement that the contractor must have >= 13.8 million in annual revenues. What was the need for this requirement? If a supplier meets the financial requirement of the RFQ, they have demonstrated the ability to maintain financial stability and are financially capable of providing the requested services. 8. Can you advise the current annual spend on this contract? The Commonwealth does not release this information as part of the procurement process. Page 10

11 9. Can you advise the current commonwealth pass thru price for remedy licenses would be? Floating - $ Rough estimate Fixed - $ Rough estimate Annual maintenance of 18%. 10. Should PA implement an Insurance Exchange will this contract incorporate any of the resultant support services? (e.g. change order etc.?) No. 11. Can you advise the current number of FTE s providing these services? We are not aware of the exact FTE count for the incumbent supplier. 12. Since the incumbent vendor will not require transition & knowledge acquisition, how does DPW plan to level the field of competition to account for new vendors to be competitive? All Offerors responding to the RFQ are required to complete Appendix C Cost Matrix. It is up to each Offeror to determine their Company s pricing strategy. Page 11

12 13. Since this is an IT-ITQ, you mentioned contract requirements currently not included in the standard contract. How do you propose to modify the contract to incorporate those T&C s? DPW Addendum to STC (Appendix F) has been removed from this RFQ. Only the IT-ITQ Terms and Conditions shall govern the purchase order issued resulting from this RFQ. 14. What will be the method of communication with references: Phone? and how can we notify those individuals of the identity that communication will have (e.g. john smith calling from DPW, from By Phone. Commonwealth of PA, Dept. of Public Welfare, BIS. Do not know the specific individuals at this time. Page 12

13 Questions Submitted after the 4/4/12 Preproposal Conference By the Final 4/9/12 Deadline for Question Submission 1. Appendix H: The selected Offeror must have a redundancy / backup plan for short term infrastructure failures, such as but not limited to power outage and Remedy systems "crash" Is the Offeror required to provide an actual backup Remedy system? OR, provide mechanisms to collect call data for later updates once the Remedy system becomes available? The Offeror is not required to have a backup of the Remedy Server system that is OA-OIT responsibility. The answer to the second question is: The question is an option as a response. 2. Also in Appendix H: The selected Offeror must have the ability to provide escalation to senior management 24x7x365. Incidents categorized as Urgent must be communicated within 30 minutes from the time the IT Help Desk was made aware of the incident. The RFQ states elsewhere the hours of operation to be Monday through Friday 6 AM to 6PM with the exclusion of Commonwealth holidays. Which timeframe is to be supported? The IT Help Desk normal hours of operation are Monday through Friday 6 AM to 6PM except Commonwealth holidays and weekends. Page 13

14 3. In Section IV-3 Task 2: the selected Offeror is responsible for the setup of any IT Help Desk infrastructure necessary to securely access and use the Commonwealth s Remedy system. While In Appendix I #10 the Offeror is asked to describe your proposed process for providing remote desktop support. What will IT Help Desk staff do prior to, during, and after the loading of the Commonwealth Connect Desktop Image software? (Note: The Commonwealth standard for remote desktop support is the Commonwealth Connect Desktop Image software and Remote Access Client software) Please clarify what products are desired and how the Offeror can license such? The basic setup for Help Desk agents would be MS Windows xp, Win 7 and any currently released MS Windows operating systems. The basic setup for Help Desk agents would be MS Office XP, Win 7 and any currently released MS Office suite. Desktop remote access control will be DameWare. 4. The RFQ speaks to Tivoli and the collection of tickets created within Tivoli. Please clarify how this interface to remedy occurs/ or is desired to occur? If the current interface is automated and then if it will remain in place for new Offeror? Currently, Tivoli does not automatically create tickets in the Remedy system for action by the IT Help Desk. It may be setup to do so sometime in the future. 5. Define Key staff for the purposes of references? Reference Part II-6. Personnel (For purposes of this RFQ, Key Personnel (Key Staff) is any staff member, including subcontractor(s) in a management or decision-making position, including team leads the Offeror proposes to assign to this project.) Page 14

15 6. Please clarify what is required within the Training section? It is assumed the question refers to Part II-7. Training and the following answer is based on this assumption. If appropriate, suppliers submitting proposals are asked to include a recommendation for training of agency personnel. Recommendations, if any must be directly related to the work described in the RFQ. There is no guarantee the Department will approve or act on any recommendations submitted. 7. Is Remedy the current resource for report generation? Part of the Source of the Data. 8. Are there reports generated outside of Remedy and if so from what databases and utilizing what toolsets? Supplier provides reports, exact tool is not known. 9. Please advise if the incumbent vendor has developed a transition plan (similar to that requested within this RFQ)? If such a plan exists, can you share key elements so that the Offeror has sufficient information to prepare its reciprocal plan? The incumbent contractor s transition plan is not available at this time. Page 15

16 10. If the Offeror secures a client license for remedy, does that client license allow for administrative access within the Commonwealth s Remedy system? If not, please advise how the DPW anticipates the Offer to work to provide appropriate services requiring administrative access? No. Communicate to OA-OIT and DPW BIS. 11. Is the ticket history the property of the Commonwealth or the incumbent vendor? Property of the Commonwealth. 12. Will ticket history be provided to the new vendor? If yes, how and in what format will the ticket history be provided to the new vendor? Yes. Report directly out of Remedy. 13. Assuming there is an existing knowledge base, can DPW advise the current product/format in which it exists? The knowledge database will be exported in.csv or report (.snp) format 14. Does the Commonwealth or the incumbent vendor own the knowledge base currently being utilized for ticket resolution? The Commonwealth owns the information, the incumbent contractor owns the software. Page 16

17 15. Will the current knowledgebase be transferred to the new vendor during the transition phase? Knowledge data base content only will be exported and made available to the new Contractor during the transition phase. 16. The RFQ states on page 14, section I-25, The term of the purchase order will commence on the Effective Date and will end in three (3) years. The RFQ states on page 35, section IV-2.A., The selected Offeror is required to develop a plan and complete the Transition phase activities in a timeframe not to exceed two (2) calendar months from the PO start date. The RFQ shows Year One volumes on Appendix C of 21,720 Class I or II tickets, 1,080 Class III tickets, and 1,000 hours of support. These volumes represent 12 months of operations. Will the purchase order include 36 months of operations following transition or 36 months total including transition for the base term? The base term of thirty-six (36) months includes the transition phase. 17. Can the Commonwealth provide instructions describing the submission process on the PA Supplier Portal? Also, who can Vendors contact with technical or logistical questions about using the PA Supplier Portal website should they have questions during the submission process? Deferring to David Kern to answer Page 17

18 18. The RFQ states Within ten (10) business days of receiving written notification of notice to proceed, the selected Offeror must submit to the Department's representative a detailed Startup Orientation / Knowledge Acquisition & Transition Plan. The RFQ makes a reference to a notice to proceed date. Is this date the same as the Effective Date of the PO/PO start date or does it represent some other date? If it represents a date other than the Effective/PO start date, what is the anticipated date for the notice to proceed? The notice to proceed date may be the same as or may be after the effective date of the PO. It will not be prior to the effective date of the PO. It is estimated that the notice to proceed date will likely be the 1 st of a calendar month, for example Oct. 1, The selected Offeror is responsible for acquiring the necessary licenses for access to the OA Remedy environment by contacting the contract section of the Bureau of Enterprise Strategic Technology Services. Can the Commonwealth please provide an estimate of the cost per license? Floating - $ Rough estimate Fixed - $ Rough estimate Annual maintenance of 18%. 20. What modules of Remedy are available in the Departments Remedy system? For example, is Service Level module available? Incident Management. Page 18

19 21. How is asset management currently performed? Does the Remedy System have an interface to all assets typically associated with the Help Desk contacts? Assets are tracked with-in the Remedy Asset Module. 22. Please provide information about the type of network connectivity allowed into the Departments network. Business Partner connection with OA-OIT. 23. With the understanding that DPW desires an off-site help desk facility location within reasonable distance and also available parking for DPW, would the Commonwealth consider reasonable distance 20 miles from the downtown Harrisburg capitol complex? Reference RFQ Part IV-3 Task 2; Subsection I. Facilities; 2 nd bullet point Provide reasonable access for Commonwealth staff to the selected Offeror s facilities and to parking This requirement is now removed from the RFQ. Page 19

20 24. a. Is there an existing knowledge base and knowledge management tool in use today? b. Will the existing knowledge data base be provided to the new Contractor? c. Is the current knowledge tool owned by the agency or the incumbent? Will this tool be available to the new Contractor? a. Yes and Yes. b. Knowledge data base content only will be exported and made available to the new Contractor during the transition phase. c. The current knowledge tool (TheBrain Technologies BrainEKP Knowledge Management Tool) is owned by the incumbent contractor and will not be available to the new Contractor. 25.Questions 14 & 21 refer to Appendix I, DPW IT Help Desk Services Service Level Agreement. Can the Commonwealth please confirm that this reference should be to Appendix J rather than Appendix I? The reference Appendix I, DPW IT Help Desk Services Service Level Agreement found in Questions 14 & 21 in Appendix I, Work Plan Technical Submittal Items / Questions is incorrect and should read: Appendix J, DPW IT Help Desk Services Service Level Agreement Page 20