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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRFP - 8075 CONSULTATION SERVICES FOR REVIEW & RECOMMENDATION OF UPGRADING OR PURCHASING A NEW UTILITY CUSTOMER INFORMATION SYSTEMADDENDUM NO. 2 SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACT DOCUMENTS Description of BID 8075: Consultation Services for Review & Recommendation of Upgrading or Purchasing a New Utility Customer Information System OPENING DATE: 3:00 PM (Our Clock) May 22, 2015 To all prospective bidders under the specifications and contract documents described above, the following changes/additions are hereby made and detailed in the following sections of this addendum: Exhibit 1 – Question & Answers Please contact Pat Johnson, CPPB, Senior Buyer at (970) 221-6816 with any questions regarding this addendum. RECEIPT OF THIS ADDENDUM MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY A WRITTEN STATEMENT ENCLOSED WITH THE BID/QUOTE STATING THAT THIS ADDENDUM HAS BEEN RECEIVED. Financial Services Purchasing Division 215 N. Mason St. 2nd Floor PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6775 970.221.6707 fcgov.com/purchasing Addendum 2 Page 1 of 5 EXHIBIT 1 - QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Q1. I.B.(3): For the “local customizations” is there documentation such as either functional or technical specifications for these modifications available for review during the engagement, or will we be dependent on either interviews or code reviews for our understanding of the scope of these changes? A1. Information about local customizations may be shared during the interview process with the awarded contractor. There are no functional specs or technical specs available. Q2. II.A.2: How in depth do you want to go in looking at other CIS solutions? Would Ft. Collins be willing to issue RFI’s created by us to select vendors? A2. The main purpose of this proposal is to find a vendor who will assist us with the in depth analysis of either upgrading the current CIS system or looking at other CIS solutions (CIS systems). General understanding of vendor systems and offerings is a skill we expect the awarded Consultant to have. Q3. II. A. 5: Do you envision getting binding pricing from vendors, a reasonable verbal estimate for budgetary purposes, or is an industry standard estimate acceptable for the financial comparison of options? A3. We are not looking for binding pricing from vendors. We envision receiving estimates for budgetary purposes for several recommended solutions. Vendors will have the opportunity to either bid to continue as our CIS system provider or to be the new provider of a CIS system through an RFP process to follow this analysis. Q4. II. A. 7: Can this be priced as a separate option? We ask because the item says “May assist with development….” A4. Yes, this can be priced separately. Q5. III. B. 11: Does this refer solely to employment by and/or formal business arrangements between firms such as being a reseller of a specific CIS, as opposed to simply being knowledgeable of specific CIS applications? A5. Any business relationship you may have had with CIS vendors. We want to assure that the opinions provided by the vendor are independent, not encumbered by any conflict of interest, and consistent with the fiduciary relationship with Fort Collins Utilities. Q6. III. C. 6: We are unclear what you mean by “percentages of studies in each segment”. Can you please expand on what you mean by this item? A6. Please delete this question. There is no need to respond with an answer. Q7. Does Utilities have a budget, expectation, or a not-to-exceed amount for the consulting services identified in the RFP? If so, please provide the budget amount. Addendum 2 Page 2 of 5 Q7. No, we do not have a budget figure, expectation or a not-to-exceed amount. We expect proposals to reflect what your firm recommends to accomplish our scope of work and the dollar amount associated with it. Q8. Will Hansen Technologies or a vendor who represents Hansen Technologies be a potential contender for providing the consulting services identified in the RFP? Q8. “No, Hansen would not be eligible to serve as the consultant for this effort, due to conflict of interest”. Q9. Regarding the RFP statement: “The CIS Billing system interfaces with 32 other systems/applications…” and for the purposes of estimating the time involved in identifying and quantifying the scope of effort required to upgrade, replace, enhance, or generalize interfaces to existing and future systems: Q9.a. Are there any confidentiality agreements or other considerations with Hansen Technologies or vendors of the other 32 systems that would limit the extent of technical information that Utilities may share with the contractor (e.g. information about Application Interfaces, file formats, databases, etc.) A9.a. Any vendor we work with will have a contractual agreement with the City and will be allowed access to the technical information as appropriate. Q9.b. Can you provide an estimate of the number of these interfaces that are supported by formal operational and technical documentation? A9.b. Documentation is limited and we may have approximately 50% of the less complicated among the approximately 32 interfaces. Q9.c. Can you provide an estimate of the number of departments/groups who may be considered as stakeholders relative to these interfaces and will need to participate in the discovery process (e.g. a technical team who oversees the interfaces and half dozen departments who use them)? A9.c. Customer Service, Billing, Credit & Collections, Customer Accounts, Resource Conservation, Rate Analysts, Financial Operations and IT. These would be the primary departments that would need to participate in the workshops to clarify the various systems to the vendor. Q10. Regarding the interviews stipulated in RFP section II.A.1: Q10.a. Can you provide an estimate of the number of stakeholders or representative departments who will be target for the interviews? A10.a. Customer Service, Billing, Credit & Collections, Customer Accounts, Resource Conservation, Rate Analysts, Financial Operations and IT. These would be the primary departments that would need to participate in the interviews to clarify the various systems to the vendor. Q10.b. Are all stakeholders who may be subject to interviews identified in this item II.A.1 employees or contractors of Utilities? A10.b. Interviewees may be employees and/or contractors of the City. Addendum 2 Page 3 of 5 Q10.c. Can you provide an organization chart that identifies the relationship of the departments who will be participating in this project and more specifically in these interviews? A10.c. An organization chart is attached. Q11. How many interviews will we have to conduct to gather business and technical requirements? A11. We are looking to Consultants responding to the RFP to provide us with the number of interviews they recommend. Q12. Are requirements already documented? If so, what % complete? A12. Approximately 50% Q13. Is the current Banner CIS application architecture including interfaces documented? A13. An ERD exists for the database. Other graphics depict interfaces. Q14. Is there a M/WBE/SBE goal for percentage of work on this bid? If so, please identify. A14. No, there is not. Q15. One half page is not sufficient to provide a detailed resume for our experienced consultants, as requested. Please increase the page limit to 2 pages if you would like to see a detailed resume. Our resumes average 1.5 pages. A15. Resumes may be 1 page, no smaller than an Arial 10 font. Q16. What is your budget for this project? A16. See Q7. Q17. What is the anticipated estimate of hours for this project? This will help us determine if we can be competitive on the bid and provide the services requested within your budget and estimated level of effort. We will do an independent estimate and if our hours are higher than the ones you have estimated, we will examine our bid to determine if we have included unnecessary effort, or we will choose not to bid. This will save time and money for both you and the proposing vendors. A17. We expect proposals to reflect what your firm recommends to accomplish our scope of work and the hours associated with it. Q18. Please identify the number of individual stakeholders for the CIS system that you would like us to interview, so that we can estimate the level of effort for the interviews and requirements gathering activities. A18. Please see Q10. Q19. Please clarify Item C.6 "Provide the size of study your firm recommends if awarded the agreement. What is the percentage of studies in each segment that will be completed? “We are not clear as to what you mean by “size of study” and “percentage of studies in each segment”. Is this referring to the CIS system assessment? What are the “segments” to which you refer? Addendum 2 Page 4 of 5 A19. Please delete this question. There is no need to respond with an answer. Q20. Please clarify Item C.5 "Describe the anticipated interaction with the City. “When you refer to “the City", are you speaking of the Utilities Department specifically, to the utilities customers, and all stakeholders in general? A20. It would not be Utilities Customers. An organizational chart is attached. As with any project, there will be interaction with the project lead, project team and internal stakeholders. Q21. With the due date for the RFP being extended to May 22, will the dates for the interviews be moved out? A21. The interviews are tentatively moved to June 15-17, 2015. Addendum 2 Page 5 of 5 UTILITIES Customer Connections Department City Finance Department FINANCIAL SERVICES Strategic Financial Planning Department Customer Service Customer Finance Water/Electric Resource Conservation Customer Accounts Utility Fee and Rate Specialists Utility Rate Analyst Utility Financial Operations Utility Billing Credit and Collections Finance Cashiers COMMUNITY AND OPERATONS SERVICES Information Technology Electric - Water Department Operations Department Meter Shop Advanced Meter Project Manager