SOLICITATION NOTICE
70 -- Development & Technical Support
- Notice Date
- 4/24/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 518210
— Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Administration, 6011 Executive Blvd, Rm 538, Rockville, MD, 20892-7663, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- 263-2007-Q-(GZ)-0142
- Response Due
- 5/4/2007
- Archive Date
- 5/19/2007
- Description
- ROYALTIES PAYMENT SYSTEM- This request for a quotation under the Commercial Test Program as authorized under FAR 13.5. The period of performance shall be for one twelve (12) month period, with options to renew for four (4) successive twelve (12) month periods. The NIH/Office of Financial Management (OFM) currently uses a client/server application produced and continually amended to try to accomplish an increasingly wide range of tasks associated with the management of royalties received and distributed by the NIH. The system consists of a desktop application written in Visual Basic 6 (VB6) that interfaces to a SQL Server database. Due to the haphazard and outdated nature of the application, a new web-based Royalties system (using core functionality from current system as the basis for developing the new one) is required using standardized web development techniques which will be much more transparent to the user and allow flexibility for changing financial and legal requirements. A. CONTRACTOR REQUIRED EXPERTISE ? 1) An integral knowledge of the existing Royalties software system and related OFM processes. The contractor will need to constantly interact with Royalties system users and stakeholders to discern business needs, formulate optimal solutions, and implement them. This requires a thorough understanding of all current functionality and procedures, as well as the ability to take conceptual goals and ultimately put them into practice in a manner that best suits OFM?s needs. This requirement is of primary importance to ensure ongoing success of the effort. 2) Senior web development and database administration expertise (at least seven years of experience developing web applications and databases that interface with them). Specifically, senior-level expertise in developing ASP.NET web applications that interface with SQL Server is required, as well as thorough expertise in designing and implementing complex SQL Server database structures. Development staff must have total self-sufficiency to program and support all functional aspects of the Royalties system. 3) A core understanding of processing electronic payments through various government channels and significant experience with OFM?s financial systems (at least five years). 4) Extensive senior project management experience with IT efforts (at least fifteen years), with a focus on web applications. B. CONTRACTOR REQUIRMENTS - The contractor is required to complete the tasks below in the indicated timeframe and address the known deficiencies in the current system when completing development of the new Royalties software: 1) Determine and develop the best solutions for the current requirements defined by OFM to complete the core functionality of the Royalties application as listed below. Note: All development enhancements must be completed by the end of the first six months of the base year of the award. a) Design and create help screens and wizards needed to support and perform complex tasks. b) Design the system to eliminate tedious and non-intuitive entry of Royalty Distribution Form (RDF) information in multiple screens within different areas. c) Develop ?view at-a-glance? query capability to view distribution and disbursement history of a particular inventor d) Design a process to allow direct access to the SQL Server database to run certain reports and to check the proper execution of functions. e) Design a process to allow direct access to the SQL Server database to run certain reports and to check the proper execution of functions. f) Include print-friendly versions of reports. g) Create user-friendly ad hoc search capability. h) Allow for dynamic modification of business logic; specifically, the limits and percentages for the normal calculation of royalty distributions. i) Allow administrative users to change export file formats where possible to comply with yearly changes in reporting requirements. j) Improve the handling of the three types of mailing addresses used for each inventor. k) Permit the Royalties Coordinator to easily designate that an inventor should not be paid during a particular payout, and display a report with all the skipped inventors so that follow up can occur. Also, improve display of data to more easily note when an inventor has been prepaid. l) Develop a Payout Wizard to more easily handle the many parts of the payout process. m) Allow automatic calculation of the distribution of royalties where Inter-institutional Agreements (IIAs) are concerned. n) Design and create a process to allow error corrections to be made for previous months? distributions (negative income must be added and distributions balanced). o) Improve distribution algorithm to avoid rounding problems (a.k.a. "the penny problem"). p) Allow users to easily view the audit trail for each payout. q) Encrypt all passwords, Social Security Numbers (SSNs), and banking information stored in the database. r) Provide the ability within the system to mark funds as being in suspense and then unmark them to include them in calculations. s) Configure system for pop-up ?Alerts? which are immediately given if license distributions don?t add to 100%. t) Include automatic checking to make sure that certain totals "tie" to others; this improves the speed and accuracy of the payout process. u) Improve handling of company/organization recipients; currently the system is set up to handle individuals, so handling of company names can be awkward. v) Improve and automate error handling when data transmission problems occur while sending data to Treasury. 2) Create and provide training manuals and written documentation of full functionality of the Royalties system. At least one hard copy of the training manual and one CD copy is to be completed and provided to the Chief of Government Accounting prior to the base training session. Enough time should be allowed for OFM staff to make additional manuals to provide at training session to be held within first six months of the award. 3) Provide training of system to user community consisting of approximately 10 people as well as to the OFM systems group, which may include follow-up training sessions if multiple changes or enhancements are made to the system. Training will be coordinated by the Royalties Coordinator and given by the Contractor. Note: Base training session is to be given within the first six months of the award. Follow-up training ? as needed for Base plus four option years will be determined by the Chief of Government Accounting Branch, OFM/NIH in coordination with the Royalties Coordinator and Contractor. 4) Written documentation on system design and functionality is to be provided along with one CD copy by end of Base year. As updates and enhancements occur contractor is to provide updated CD for instructional manual and system design for option years. 5) Provide ongoing consulting and development support for new requests that OFM regularly receives to enhance functionality of the Royalties system. This requires a detailed understanding of the existing processes and systems so that the contractor can formulate complex solutions to needs which are defined at a basic level by OFM. Note: Ongoing as required for one Base plus four option years 6) Proactively make suggestions for adding features to the Royalties system that will improve the payment process for OFM staff, provide better management oversight through such means as reporting, and enhance the overall productivity of system users. Note: Ongoing as required for one Base plus four option years. 7) Provide ongoing administration of the application server and associated database. Development staff will need to interact with the appropriate IT authorities at NIH to ensure all internal processes are followed. Note: Ongoing as required for one Base plus four option years 8) Provide ongoing consulting and technical support to the user community. Note: Ongoing as required for one Base plus four option years. 9) Assist if necessary with creation of 1099s. Note: Required November 1st ? January 31st of each tax reporting year for Base plus four option years. 10) Assist if necessary with biannual (twice a year) payouts. Note: Biannual or as scheduled by the Royalties Coordinator 11) Meet with and provide progress reports to the Chief of the Government Accounting Branch monthly: Note: Ongoing as required for one Base plus four option years. C. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND DELIVERABLES - The contractor will be responsible for reporting the progress status of all development efforts to the appropriate OFM staff within reasonable timeframes requested by OFM. And, concrete deliverables and delivery schedule shall vary depending upon the requirements of the specific tasks as outlined under ?Contractor Requirements? above and as specified by the Chief of Government Accounting, OFM/NIH. D. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND CONTRAL REQUIREMENTS - The contractor will adhere to internal NIH system policies when developing and implementing all Royalties system updates. The contractor will hold periodic meetings with NIH staff to discuss the progress and to identify any issues that may prevent a successful completion of the objectives of the procurement. The contractor or NIH may call for emergency meetings if warranted to address emerging issues of importance. E. INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE - OFM will perform acceptance testing of all Royalties system updates, based upon the requirements they have provided. All system updates are to be implemented only after approval by the Chief of Government Accounting and the Royalties Coordinator. F. RIGHTS IN DATA -1) The Contractor agrees that upon completion (or termination with or without cause) of this contract, it shall have no property or possessor rights to any of the information of whatever kind or description, whether developed or prepared by it or furnished to it by the Government in connection with the performance of the contract; and that upon demand it shall surrender immediately to the Contracting Officer such items, matters, materials, and copies. 2) The Contractor shall not provide any Government information of whatever kind or description in any form to sources not authorized by the Government, during or after performance of this contract, without the written approval of the Chief of the Government Accounting Branch, OFM/NIH. 3) All data/information first produced as a result of performing task assignments under this SOW shall become the Federal Government?s property and the Contractor shall surrender any and all rights to its ownership. To this end, the Contractor here by agrees to accept the terms and conditions of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause 52.227-17, Rights in Data ? Special works (June 1987) which is incorporated into this SOW by reference. 4) For purposes of this SOW, the FAR 52.227-17, Rights in Data ? Special Works (June 1987) clause supersedes the following FAR clauses: FAR 52.227-14, Rights in Data ? General (June 1987) and FAR 52.227-18, Rights in Data ? Existing Works (June 1987). G. CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT OF SENSITIVE INFORMATION - 1) The Contractor shall guarantee strict confidentiality of the information/data that it is provided by the Government during the performance of the contract. The Government has determined that the information/data that the Contractor will be provided during the performance of the contract is of a sensitive nature. 2) Disclosure of the information/data, in whole or in part, by the Contractor can only be made after the Contractor receives prior written approval from the Contracting Officer. Whenever the Contractor is uncertain with regard to the proper handling of information/data under the contract, the Contractor shall obtain a written determination from the Contracting Officer. H. ACCESS TO NIH ELECTRONIC MAIL - All Contractor staff that have access to and use of NIH electronic mail (e-mail) must identify themselves as contractors on all outgoing e-mail messages, including those that are sent in reply or are forwarded to another user. To best comply with this requirement, the contractor staff shall set up an e-mail signature (?AutoSignature?) or an electronic business card (?V-card?) on each contractor employee?s computer system and/or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) that will automatically display ?Contractor? in the signature area of all e-mails sent. I. REQUIRED TRAINING FOR IT SYSTEMS SECURITY - DHHS policy requires that contractors receive security training commensurate with their responsibilities for performing work under the terms and conditions of their contractual agreements. Note: The successful offeror will be responsible for assuring that each contractor employee has completed the following NIH Computer Security Awareness Training course prior to performing any contract work: http://irtsectraining.nih.gov/. The contractor will be required to maintain a listing of all individuals who have completed this training and submit this listing to the Government. And, additional security training requirements commensurate with the position may be required as defined in OMB Circular A-130 or NIST Special Publication 800-16, ?Information Technology Security Training Requirements?. These documents provide information about IT security training that may be useful to potential offerors.Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit capability statements to the Contract Specialist by May 4, 2007 at 3PM EST. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based on responses to this notice is soley within the discretion of the Government for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Address responses to the attention of Doris Vaughn at 6011 Executive Blvd., Room 539-B MSC 7663, Rockville, MD 20852. The NAICS Code for this requirement is 518210.
- Place of Performance
- Address: National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Md
- Zip Code: 20852
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 20852
- Record
- SN01279932-W 20070426/070424220356 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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