SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Designing and Implementing of Electronic Resource Negotiation Tool for D&MT
- Notice Date
- 4/13/2012
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 511210
— Software Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Energy, Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC (DOE Contractor), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, Colorado, 80401
- ZIP Code
- 80401
- Solicitation Number
- SGN22170
- Archive Date
- 5/12/2012
- Point of Contact
- Laurie A. Snyder, Phone: 303-275-4624
- E-Mail Address
-
laurie.snyder@nrel.gov
(laurie.snyder@nrel.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- I. Background The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a matrixed organization, meaning the projects can extend through several centers, with program managers directing the work and the funding, and centers managing the staff. This creates a dilemma of resource coverage, as staff could easily get over- or under-subscribed during planning. The Deployment and Market Transformation (D&MT) directorate needs to address this issue with a negotiation process that is intended to take place ahead of any plans being formalized. For the latter, D&MT has a formal set of tools and processes. However, to support the negotiation process, an electronic tool, desirably web-based, is needed that has the following functionality: Resource Negotiation Steps 1. Program and project managers select staff based on competencies they need for their projects; 2. Line managers either approve assignments for their staff made in Step 1 or assign alternative staff who could work on the project at specific levels; 3. Line managers view the work planned for all of their staff so they can juggle workload and re-balance priorities. The tool's purpose is to: • Enable dialogue between line and program/project management prior to when the formal staff plans are put together • Foster the negotiation process based on competencies Further detail is provided below under Section III. Requirements. II. Objective This Sources Sought notice seeks to identify individuals or organizations that have the required expertise to design and develop the electronic resource negotiation tool for a matrixed organization. If applicable, the response should identify an existing tool or tools that could be leveraged to create a resource negotiation process. Specifically the response should discuss the capabilities of existing tools as well as the level of customization required to perform the following basic tasks, at a minimum: 1. Allow a project manager to select resources or a set of capabilities for the project; 2. Assign hours to selected resources or competencies; 3. Allow staff managers to accept or reject resources as planned; 4. Allow staff managers to recommend alternative resources; 5. Allow staff managers to assign resources with desired competencies to the project and to move projects between resources; and 6. Allow staff managers to view staff time commitments and availability by month. In addition, the sources sought response should provide information as to how the tool can meet the more detailed requirements found in the requirements section below. III. REQUIREMENTS The response shall provide a matrix as to the capability for the proposed tool to accomplish each of the following requirements by stating that the requirement is possible, is not possible, or requires customization. 1. Easy To Use Electronic Tool 2. Enables Collaboration a) Supports multiple logins b) Allows different assignable permissions/privileges c) Allows shared view on demand (i.e. ability to "invite" another user to view a proposal) d) Supports workflow and notifications functions 3. Supports Mapping a) By selecting a competency, one can view the list of individuals who list it in their profiles and vice versa - by selecting an individual one can view a list of competencies they possess. Conversely, by starting with a staff member possessing a wide range of competencies and de-selecting some of them, the tool will display progressively more individuals. b) Enables building and editing custom profiles for staff members using multiple competencies 4. Supports Down-Selection and Bidding Processes a) Enables central repository function that keeps track of available competencies (and enables narrowing down to fewer and fewer individuals - as assignments are made). This is envisioned to be similar to "filtering" web services like cars.com where multiple filters can be applied as users narrow down their search b) Enables managers to run a report from central repository to see assignments and resource reservations month-to-month and allows for reprioritization (or force-prioritize) c) Supports notes 5. Supports Aggregation, Reporting and Export a) Allows to search by competency and export found list of individuals b) Reporting: Allows graphical mapping of requests made and the full time equivalent (FTE) availability (e.g. radar plots) c) Provides an "unassigned report" that can be exported for external negotiations 6. Supports Basic Calculations a) Allows to select units by competency (hours /FTE-Months) and supports easy conversion back and forth b) Allows the summation of units by competency by individual, and the creation of subtotals 7. Supports potential integration with the existing NREL Enterprise system (Hyperion) - Optional IV. EXPERTISE Organizations or individuals responding to this Sources Sought Notice must possess some or all of the following capabilities, attributes, and skills, and must specifically address the activity(ies) to which their qualifications best apply: 1. Demonstrated knowledge of search engine development for filtering through large sets of data; demonstrated ability in code writing. 2. Demonstrated knowledge developing technical solutions for human resources management within a complex matrixed environment. 3. Demonstrated knowledge in databases (Oracle, Informix, Access, FileMaker Pro, etc.). 4. Demonstrated access to, understanding of, and experience with open source. V. RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS The response to this Sources Sought Notice is limited to four (4) pages of single-spaced text of 12-point font, with minimum 1-inch margins. Brevity is encouraged. All responses shall directly address the Qualifications listed above. All responses shall be submitted in writing via e-mail to SGN22170@nrel.gov. Electronic format of the response shall be in Microsoft Word or Excel, or converted to Portable Document Format (.pdf). Electronic files in excess of 10MB will not be accepted. Responses to this notice must be received by the response date (April 27, 2012, 11:59 p.m. MDT). Responding to this request identifies your organization as an interested party only, questions will not be accepted. Your submittal is not in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP).
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOE/NREL/NR/SGN22170/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, Colorado, 80401, United States
- Zip Code: 80401
- Zip Code: 80401
- Record
- SN02721494-W 20120415/120413234549-c3d3247c7c870a823da52bd9f40612c4 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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