CARS/CAROLS Enhancement Project
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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)
Centralized Accounts Receivable System (CARS) and the CARS Online System (CAROLS)
This RFI request is being issued for informational purposes to locate potential contractors capable of providing the information technology (IT) support described below. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs-Debt Management Center (VA-DMC) is conducting market research and desires input from industry to assist in obtaining the required services. The information requested by this RFI will be used to facilitate the decision making process and will not be disclosed outside of the agency and client agency. Please note: This request does not commit the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. VA is not, at this time, seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that VA will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested vendor's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future Request for Information (RFP), if any is issued. Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.
Description of the proposed requirement:
a. VA-DMC relies on a conglomerate of legacy Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL), Natural, JAVA and JAVNat computer code produced over a period of 35 years to perform its mission. VA-DMC uses two primary IT systems CARS and CAROLS and their associated databases. These legacy systems are built on older COBOL and JAVA code and have been periodically updated over the past three decades. VA is currently working on an effort to replace its financial system. This effort is known as the FMBT (Financial Management Business Transformation). That effort will impact VA-DMC systems throughout the entire FMBT transition. VA-DMC anticipates that is must be ready to modify its existing systems to comply with the input/output requirements of FMBT throughout the transition to FMBT. Business logic and process flow for the original system, a portion of the updates are not available, and VA-DMC also intends to add new functionality beyond what currently exists.
Therefore, VA-DMC requires contractor support to document the existing functionality of CARS/CAROLS, identify non-functioning code, review the business logic of the existing functionality, and to identify requirements for new functionality for the replacement system(s). VA-DMC requires a technical migration plan and contractor project management support for the development and implementation of the new system(s).
Minimum services include: analysis of current system, analysis of business flow/logic, identify the size of current JavaNat and Job Control Language (JCL) applications, creation of a technical migration plan, creation of a project management plan, support for implementation of plans and integration of systems, oversight of development, conformance with Veterans-Focused Integration Process (VIP) requirements including creating of all VIP documents and artifacts where applicable. Provide quality assurance (process) and provide quality control (product) throughout the enhancement project.
Minimum documentation required: CARS code analysis documentation including business logic review, technical migration plan document, technology road map, solution design, project management plan document and required subsidiary documents, VIP artifacts as required by phase and required subsidiary inputs. Provide status updates once every two weeks.
b. Proposed Timeline:
Phase 1: Analysis and Planning. The Contractor will be responsible for completion of the analysis and plan creation.
(This phase is complete and is considered a living document as requirements and objectives can and do change from time to time.)
- Increment 1. Review and document current code. Analyze and document business logic based on current code.
(This Increment is a continual increment as VA-DMC looks deeper into logic used for particular aspects of its systems in support of VA-DMC s efforts as well as the FMBT effort.)
- Increment 2. Creation of the technical migration plan including solution architecture/design and the technology road map as well as creation of the project management plan.
Phase 2: Development and Implementation Develop and implement the system in a test environment. The Contractor will be responsible for project management support/oversight.
* Please note the order of increments below is for reference purposes only. The actual increments may change based on the solution design and migration plan.
- Increment 3. Data warehouse creation
- Increment 4. Information enhancement / relational database creation
- Increment 5. Business Rules Management System implementation
- Increment 6. Reports and analytics server creation
- Increment 7. Bulk mailings and letters enhancement
- Increment 8. User interface creation / enhancement
- Increment 9. Data file interchange / batch process enhancement
- Increment 10. Implementation of Continuity of Operations Plan
Phase 3: Implementation - Implementation in the live environment can happen concurrently with Phase 2 as each increment is successfully implemented in the test environment.
c. Overall Goals and Requirements for the final product/enhanced system:
Current
To Be
Information
Flat files
Relational database
Business rules
COBOL, Java, JavaNat
A Business Rule Management System
Reports and data analytics
COBOL, Java, Search and Query Language (SQL)
Server based with SQL, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Portable Document Format (PDF), Excel capabilities
Bulk mailings and letter creation
COBOL, Xerox
User modifiable letter creation
Data Warehouse
Currently no data warehouse
Create a data warehouse
User interface
Web based terminal emulation. Modern HTML web application with input validation and role based access control
Data file interchange / batch
Manual process, flat files using direct connect with COBOL, Java
Automated process compatible with flat files, SQL, Java
Legacy System Support/Interaction
MULESOFT s MULE Enterprise Service Bus
Use of API s to manage work coming in and out of VA-DMC systems to other VA and non-VA systems
d. The period of performance will be two years.
e. The place of performance is at VA-DMC, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Travel to place of performance will not be reimbursed.
The Government requests the following information to aide in its analysis of the industry. The information requested below is limited to a maximum of 10 pages. The capability package must be clear, concise, and complete. VA is under no obligation to provide feedback to the company, or to contact the company for clarification of any information submitted in response to this request.
Company information:
Company Name
Address
Point of Contact(s) (POC) name(s)
POC telephone number(s)
POC e-mail address
Identification of business size
Identification of existing contract vehicles in which your company is participating that relates to the required services.
Past Experience. This section should include a brief description of experience in providing support for requirements similar to the above in both size and magnitude. Notate the contract number, dollar value and POC information for each experience project provided. The Government is specifically interested in your experience providing the following:
Successful experience with large scale enterprise mainframe migration projects and large scale cost estimation.
Project Management Professional certification and experience withVIP.
Successful experience with design on mainframe migration projects.
iv. Experience with COBOL Information Management Systems, Customer
Information Control Systems, Time Sharing Option / Interactive System Productivity Facility, JCL, Statistical Analysis System, Database /Date Communications and Transaction Manager.
Successful experience with complex, multi-platform environments and the ability to gather information from a variety of sources including technical Subject Matter Experts, management and end users.
Market Research Questions. Please also provide a brief response to the below questions.
i. Would you need to subcontract personnel in order to meet the requirement? If so, are you confident that you could abide within the limitations of subcontracting clause (if respondent is small business)?
ii. Do you believe any aspects of this requirement could be issued on a firm-fixed-price basis, rather than issued on a labor hour basis? Please describe your rationale.
iii. The client believes the above requirement can be accomplished utilizing between four and eight Full Time Equivalents, and estimates the following labor categories (LCAT) are required for this effort: one system integrator / senior Project Manager (PM), one PM, one COBOL analyst, one data architect, one technical writer, two business analysts and one software architect. Do you believe these LCATs (or similar) to be a logical representation of the LCATs required to meet the requirement? Please explain or provide the LCATs your company believes to be best suited for this effort.
iv. The current vendor has been using Micro Focus Enterprise Analyzer to analyze the current code, identify shortfalls in functionality, understand business logic and process flow as well as identify improvement opportunities. Describe your experience using Enterprise Analyzer to analyze current COBOL code. Would you recommend another code analyzer solution?
v. What is your company s experience with VA policies and regulations regarding security, Personally Identifiable Information, 508 compliance, and Technical Reference Model approved software?
Instructions for Submitting Questions and the RFI Response
The Technology Acquisition Center point of contact for this RFI is Peter Lewandowski. Submit questions and RFI responses directly to Peter Lewandowski at peter.lewandowski@va.gov by 9:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, July 26, 2017.
All proprietary/company confidential material shall be clearly marked on every page that contains such.
Peter Lewandowski
peter.lewandowski@va.gov
peter.lewandowski@va.gov
