NSF will provide the winning vendor with a data file which will need to be imported into the NSF instance of their product. This data file will be in either a csv file format or an excel format. The data field names will be clearly identified so they can be mapped to the appropriate location in their product. The vendor will need to be able to import this data with in 24-48 hours so the product can be tested for use at the beginning of May 2008. Table of Contents 1. introduction .. 2 1.1. NSF Background . 2 1.2. Purpose . 2 2. Vendor information .. 2 3. Data/Environment Requirements .. 2 4. Functional Requirements .. 2 5. Pricing .. 2 6. SCHEDULE AND Submission instructions .. 2 7. evaluation criteria .. 2 •1. introduction •1.1. NSF Background The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the U.S. Government, established by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950. NSF funds research and education in science and engineering. It does this through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, and other research and/or education institutions in all parts of the United States. The Foundation accounts for about 20 percent of federal support to academic institutions for basic research. NSF employs approximately 1,200 persons and occupies a twelve-floor building at 4201 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA and four floors in the adjacent building at 4121 Wilson Blvd. For more information about NSF please visit our website at http://www.nsf.gov/ . •1.2. Purpose At NSF the Division of Administrative Services (DAS) provides a wide range of support for the day-to-day administrative functions of the agency. Key services include building security and employee safety , facilities management , and building services . DAS requires the services of a company that can provide instant notification/message distribution to multiple communication devices (i.e., blast service) for approximately 2,000 subscribers. This service will be used in case of an emergency such as an unforeseen building closure due to power failure. Our primary need or this service is to: send initial notifications regarding the emergency send continuous updates about building status and reopening collect and produce reports on updated contact information and availability of personnel during an emergency •2. Vendor information Req. ID Requirement Description Response V1 The company's Federal tax ID and Dun & Bradstreet numbers. V2 The company's years in business and history of messaging/notification product. V3 At least three references similar in size and industry to the NSF. Provide current contact information for each reference. Include at least one government agency reference and one private industry reference. •3. Data/Environment Requirements Req. ID Data/Environment Requirement Description Response (Y/N) Response Description D1 The solution shall have the ability to import data from multiple data sources including comma delineated files. D2 The solution shall integrate with existing enterprise systems of records, such as Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory. D3 The solution shall have an available Application Programming Interface for automated, real-time updates directly from a system of record. D4 The solution shall provide a web based application for users and for administrators. D5 The solution shall allow users to self-maintain their data if not provided by import. Describe how new users are created, if not done by import. D6 The solution shall allow administrators to control the fields users are able to update and which fields can only be modified via import. D7 The solution shall allow for periodic reminders to be sent to users to update contact information or remove themselves as a user. D8 The solution shall track and report the updates of user's contact information. D9 The solution shall be hosted in a secure redundant site by the vendor. The vendor shall provide Security, Certification and Accreditation documentation of facilities, servers and software applications. D10 The solution shall provide an option where users can log in with their NSF Windows network password. D11 The solution shall allow the initial configuration of passwords and PINs to be done via the data import process, by an administrator, or randomly. •4. Functional Requirements Req. ID Functional Requirement Description Response (Y/N) Response Description F1 The solution shall allow for a default order of devices for all users, but also allow users to change the default order if granted permission by the administrator F2 The solution shall allow for notifications to be sent on the following devices: •- Standard telephones •- Cell phones via voice •- SMS, text messages •- E-mail •- Numeric and alphanumeric pagers •- FAX machines F3 The solution shall allow for a default set of devices for each user, but allow users to add custom devices if granted permission by the administrator. F4 The solution shall allow administrators to run reports on user device configurations, such as: •- List of users and their devices •- List of users who do not have any devices configured •- List of users who have or have not configured a specified device type •- List of users and when their data was last updated F5 The solution shall allow for additional information to be entered about each user such as COOP critical, building, or department to be used for custom searches. F6 The solution shall allow for multiple global administrators with complete access to all functions and user data. F7 The solution shall allow for specific administrator privileges to be assigned to individual users without elevating those users to the full administrator level. As an example, permissions shall include: sending, viewing, and cancelling notifications, modifying user data, and resetting user passwords. F8 The solution shall allow for a type of administrator with limited administrative privileges, such as the ability to run reports about notifications sent, view users, but not view all private information about users. F9 The solution shall allow for the creation of different groups to partition different divisions or departments. F10 The group structure shall be hierarchical, allowing groups to have multiple sub-groups below them so as to accurately reflect the structure of the organization. F11 The solution shall allow administrators of the various group levels who only have right to administer users in their group and send notification to members of their group. F12 The solution shall allow users to be members of multiple groups. F13 Any permission granted to a group leader or group member shall only apply to that group and its members. F14 The solution shall track which permissions have been granted to which group, so that members of multiple groups can have different levels of permissions from group to group. F15 The solution shall allow for the creation of groups where members of the group would receive notifications simultaneously. F16 The solution shall allow for the creation of groups associated with specific teams that are only visible to members of that team. F17 The solution shall allow for authentication of users via the web for self-maintenance, access to administrative functions, and over-the-phone user authentication for receipt of notifications and self-maintenance. F18 The solution shall allow for the initiation of notifications via a web-based console. F19 The solution shall allow for initiation of notifications from a voice based telephone. F20 When initiating a notification via a phone line, the user shall be given the option to select a group from a presented list, or by using a pre-configured notification for a group. F21 The solution shall allow authorized administrators to call a customer support representative and dictate the details of a notification. F22 The solution shall allow common notifications to be prepared and stored in advance of an incident. F23 The solution shall provide the capability for a user to be bridged to a third party conference call center. F24 Recipients of a conference call notification shall not be required to hang up from the notification and dial back to the conference bridge. F25 The solution shall not require the use of a particular conference bridge provider. F26 The solution shall allow the creation of notifications that are used to poll/survey the recipients with a question and a number of possible response options. F27 The solution shall allow recipients of SMS notifications to respond to poll questions by returning the SMS message without having to use a web client or send email. F28 The solution shall allow recipients of voice notifications to respond to poll questions using the keypad of their phone, without having to use a web client or send email. F29 The solution shall allow users to call in via telephone to receive the poll/survey notification and answer multiple questions with numerous possible response options. F30 The solution shall allow users to record a numeric response (like a telephone number) to a poll/survey question. F31 The solution shall provide detailed reports of the recorded poll/survey answers. F32 The solution shall allow a single notification to be delivered to all types of devices. Voice devices and text devices shall not require separate notifications. F33 The solution shall allow for the delivery of messages via a text to speech engine. F34 The solution shall allow for the delivery of a recorded message during the notification. F35 The solution shall allow a recorded message to be uploaded as a file. F36 The solution shall allow for a system initiated phone call to record the outgoing message. For example, the administrator enters the phone number of an executive; the system then calls the executive and prompts him/her to record the message. The administrator would then send that recorded message out as the notification. F37 The solution shall allow notifications to include attachments. F38 The solution shall allow for multiple priority queues, allowing emergency notifications to take precedence over lower priority notifications. F39 The solution shall allow administrators to require recipients to authenticate their identity before the notification message is delivered. F40 For any particular notification, the solution shall allow administrators to override device preferences by specific devices or by all devices of a particular type. F41 The solution shall allow administrators to add notification recipients by searching for a keyword phrase in the user record. F42 For any particular notification, the solution shall allow administrators to override the existing escalation path of all recipients and enter a unique escalation path for that notification. F43 The solution shall distinguish between reaching a live recipient and reaching an answering machine or voice mail. F44 If reaching an answering machine or voice mail, the solution shall leave an appropriate message on the device and then continue to call additional devices until a live recipient is contacted. F45 The solution must receive a confirmed response from the recipient or leave a complete voice mail message for contact with a specific device to be considered successful. F46 If a device is not reached or the notification message is interrupted, the solution shall retry that device while also continuing on to other devices. F47 The solution shall report notification results, including notifications delivered, undelivered, and message responses. The report shall distinguish between reaching a human recipient and reaching voice mail or an answering machine. F48 The solution shall allow recipients to respond to a voice notification by using the keypad of their phone. F49 The solution shall allow recipients to respond to any notification via a toll-free interactive voice based call and report on availability and provide new contact information. F50 The solution shall allow recipients to respond to an e-mail notification via a reply-to e-mail, or via a toll-free voice based call. F51 The solution shall allow administrators to view results of notifications in real-time via the web without manual page refreshes. F52 The solution shall allow administrators to view specific information regarding what devices recipients were contacted on along with complete time/date stamp information about that contact. F53 The solution shall allow administrators to view results aggregated by response option, time to respond, or individual user. F54 The solution shall allow administrators to easily follow-up with a particular group of recipients with a subsequent notification. F55 The solution shall allow administrators to view historic information on any previously delivered notification. F56 The solution shall allow administrators to create incidents in order to group a related series of notifications into a single incident. F57 The solution shall allow administrators to create a web site hosted by the solution provider that can aid the recovery effort for any given incident. F58 The solution shall allow administrators to add attachments to an incident web site that are saved along with the notifications that were sent out for that incident. F59 The solution shall allow administrators to save incidents as a template with pre-defined subject, attachments, and notifications. F60 The web site shall allow team members to upload and access documents pertinent to the recovery efforts of an incident. F61 The web site shall allow administrators to create and monitor task lists for individual members of the recovery team. F62 The web site shall provide a log of activities, both by the notification system (including incidents opened and notifications sent) and the recovery team members. F63 The solution shall allow the administrator to make the site either non-secure or restrict access to the site. If the site is secured it shall use the security model of the notification system. F64 Content for the web site shall be entered through a browser-based interface with a rich text editor without the need for HTML skills. F65 The solution shall allow an administrator to create and maintain a fully customizable bulletin board through a web based graphical interface. •5. Pricing Offerers must include in their proposal the details of their services - and accompanying costs - that meet each of the above stated requirements or indicate they do not meet the specified requirement. Offerors must provide all cost details including the following: The base price for 2,000 subscribers for one year of service. Indicate clearly the services provided in the base price and the NSF requirements met by the base price. The pricing structure in the event NSF exceeds 2,000 subscribers or does not need 2,000 subscribers. Cost break down all additional costs to meet NSF requirements. Cost break down for services not included in the base price, for example break down of costs for notifications that are not included in the base price. Ongoing cost of service/maintenance, indicate multi-year discounts. •6. SCHEDULE AND Submission instructions Proposals must be submitted to Timothy McLendon, Contracting Officer at
[email protected] no later than April 7, 2008, 5:00 PM EST. Proposals shall be submitted electronically in one of the following formats: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel or Adobe PDF. The proposal shall include a table of contents, page numbers and formatting similar to this RFP. No time and materials contracts will be considered. Award will be made via purchase order to the winning offerer. DAS' contracting authority does not exceed the simplified acquisitions threshold. DAS may award without negotiation, but also reserves the right to negotiate. Award is subject to the availability of funding. •7. evaluation criteria The Contracting Officer shall select for award the proposal that offers the best value to the National Science Foundation based on the three evaluation criteria listed below. The first two criteria, when combined, are considered more important than price. Technical merits of the proposed solution Past performance in providing similar services to other Federal agencies Price