70 -- LEVERAGING AGGREGATE PURCHASING DESC: The General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Technology Service (FTS), Office of Information Technology Integration (OITI) is issuing this Request for Information for assisting in developing a strategy to further facilitate electronic commerce initiatives. This RFI is centered on the concept of aggregating purchases to further leverage economies of scale for purchases within the Information Technology Solutions business line, which consists of 11 Regions. There are EC/EDI applications currently deployed and in development stages, which responses to this RFI may need to address. Also, existing LAN/WAN infrastructures and traffic flow (as well as those planned), may need to be considered for architecture compatibility and scalability. As various Regions are currently working towards leveraging economies of scale, the response to the RFI would need to fully accommodate each of the Regions requirements, while creating a synergistic solution. Identifying which commodities could be leveraged for economies of scale would need to be addressed. The response to the RFI should consist of a minimum of two teams, and no more than 6. For example, a (1) Web Enabler; and (2) Application developer or provider. A team solution to this RFI is required. Any solution plan would need to address how they plan to MAXIMIZE small business participation. A response consisting of more than two teams may be considered, but the value-added aspect becomes increasingly more important for each additional team. Responses should indicate how they faced a major divergence of opinion of a technical nature, and subsequent resolution. The government may also consider a separate requirement for independent project management oversight, if needed at a later date. One possible eventual outcome of this plan would be to have a real-time, web enabled system that, at a minimum, simulated the discounts companies would provide at different quantity buys for identified items, over a given time-frame. It is conceived that the simulation would ideally become a contractual requirement, or easily implemented across different contracts. RFI responses need to address the contractual and legal interdependencies of the plan, for going beyond simulation, if possible. Each plan would need to address and rank (relatively) their perceived Critical Success Factors, and how each would be addressed in the life cycle. Each plan would need to outline an aggressive, but realistic time frame for going from RFI Response, to possible deployment, if a requirement emerges. Responses to this RFI may Include a high level estimate of all costs required to deploy their solution. Each plan would need to address how to keep the system/structure as current as possible. For example, letting individual Industry Partners manage their own service, or using a Share-in Savings approach. Finally, any such system would need to complement existing electronic commerce capabilities, such as those provided through GSA Federal Supply Service. Each response to this RFI would need to address security aspects required (including the special needs of DOD). Responses are to be no more than 45 pages (including graphics/non-text, coversheet, etc_), in electronic format (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and are due within 30 days of this announcement to the following email addresses: david.schofield@gsa.gov and gale.greenwald@gsa.gov . WEB: Visit this URL for the latest information about this, http://www.eps.gov/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPS?ACode=S&;ProjID=RFI&LocID=326. E-MAIL: David Monahan, david.monahan@gsa.gov. Posted 11/05/99 (D-SN398695).

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