The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Information Technology ... · Web viewBest Value Selection and...

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTSEXECUTIVE OFFICE OF

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS

Request for Response (RFR)

Document Title: Vehicle Maintenance Management System (VMMS)

COMMBUYS Bid#: DCR 666

Date: First Draft for Circulation : 4/13/2015

of 53

Please note: This is a single document associated with a complete Bid (also referred to as Solicitation) that can be found on www.COMMBUYS.com. All Bidders are responsible for reviewing and adhering to all information, forms and requirements for the entire Bid, which are all incorporated into the Bid. Bidders may also contact the COMMBUYS Helpdesk at [email protected] or the COMMBUYS Helpline at 1-888-MA-STATE. The Helpline is staffed from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday Eastern Standard or Daylight Time, as applicable, except on federal, state and Suffolk county holidays.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.COMMBUYS.com/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 VMMS Project Background and Summary Information.............................................................................6

1.1 General Procurement Information...................................................................................................6

1.2 Procurement Scope and General Description.................................................................................6

1.3 Background..................................................................................................................................... 7

1.4 Acquisition Method(s)..................................................................................................................... 7

1.5 Applicable Procurement Law..........................................................................................................7

1.6 Number of Awards..........................................................................................................................7

1.7 Eligible Entities............................................................................................................................... 7

1.8 Contract Duration............................................................................................................................ 7

1.9 Estimated Value of the Contract.....................................................................................................8

1.10 Procurement Summary: A Fully Hosted Web Based, Fleet and inventory Vehicle Maintenance Management System...................................................................................................................... 8

2.0 Estimated Procurement Schedule............................................................................................................8

2.1 Written Questions via the Bid Q&A on COMMBUYS......................Error! Bookmark not defined.2.2 Amendment Deadline..................................................................................................................... 9

2.3 Review Rights................................................................................................................................. 9

2.4 Bidders’ Conference/Webinar.........................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.2.5 Demonstrations............................................................................................................................... 9

3.0 Minimum Mandatory Specifications for Bidder Response Content.........................................................10

3.1 Minimum Mandatory Requirements for this RFR..........................................................................11

3.1.1 Fully Released Product Model.........................................................................................11

3.1.2 Product Management; Ownership....................................................................................11

3.1.3 Enterprise IT Policies and Standards...............................................................................11

3.1.4 Data Ownership, Classification, Retention and Database Preferences...........................11

3.2 Bidders’ RFR General Response, Cost Response and Accompanying Documents.....................12

3.2.1 Cover Letter to RFR General Response..........................................................................12

3.2.2 General Response Narrative to the Business and Technical Requirements....................12

3.2.3 Proposed Strategy...........................................................................................................12

3.2.4 Initial Project Plan............................................................................................................13

3.2.5 Quality Assurance Plan....................................................................................................13

3.2.6 Risk Management Plan....................................................................................................13

3.2.7 Cloud Terms.................................................................................................................... 13

3.2.8 Proposed Statement of Work (SOW)...............................................................................13

3.2.9 Product List Form.............................................................................................................14

3.2.10 Bidder’s Existing Agreements and other Documentation.................................................14

3.2.11 Service Level Agreement.................................................................................................15

3.2.12 Compensation Structure..................................................................................................15

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

3.2.13 Bidder’s Cost Response..................................................................................................15

3.2.14 Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATS).........................................................16

3.3 Bidder’s Qualifications, Experience and References....................................................................16

3.3.1 Bidder Background..........................................................................................................16

3.3.2 Bidder’s VMMS Experience.............................................................................................18

3.3.3 Certifications.................................................................................................................... 18

3.3.4 Project Manager...............................................................................................................18

3.3.5 Project Team Resumes and Staffing...............................................................................18

3.3.6 Business References.......................................................................................................18

3.4 Supplier Diversity Plan (formerly Affirmative Market Plan) (Minimum of 10% Weight).................19

3.5 Environmental Specifications........................................................................................................19

3.6 Mandatory Commonwealth Documents and Agreements for RFR Response:.............................20

3.7 Bidder’s Response Checklist........................................................................................................20

3.8 Assumptions, Qualifiers, and Constraints.....................................................................................20

4.0 Evaluation of RFR Responses and Scoring Process..............................................................................21

4.1 Overview....................................................................................................................................... 21

4.2 Compliance with Minimum Submission Requirements.................................................................21

4.3 Evaluation Criteria........................................................................................................................ 22

4.4 Award............................................................................................................................................ 22

5.0 How to Submit a Bid Response Electronically........................................................................................22

5.1 Steps for Bidders to Submit a Quote.............................................................................................23

6.0 Project Management and Quality Assurance..........................................................................................23

6.1 Project Manager Responsibilities..................................................................................................23

6.2 Project Plan and Schedule............................................................................................................24

6.2.1 Role and Availability of Key Commonwealth of MA EEA Staff.........................................24

6.2.2 Initial VMMS Installation and Configuration......................................................................25

6.2.3 System Verification..........................................................................................................25

6.2.4 Training and Knowledge Transfer....................................................................................25

6.2.5 Additional Desirables.......................................................................................................25

6.3 Risk Management Plan................................................................................................................. 25

6.4 Project Status Reporting...............................................................................................................25

6.5 Project Change Orders................................................................................................................. 25

6.6 Project Document Repository.......................................................................................................26

6.7 Quality Assurance......................................................................................................................... 26

7.0 VMMS Business Requirements and Desirables.....................................................................................26

7.1 General Requirements and Desirables.........................................................................................26

7.8 Training......................................................................................................................................... 29

8.2 System Performance.................................................................................................................... 29

8.3 Data Exchange............................................................................................................................. 29

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

Appendix 1: Procurement Glossary and Acronym List....................................................................................30

Appendix 2: Required Terms........................................................................................................................... 34

Appendix 3: RFR - Required Specifications....................................................................................................36

Appendix 4: Required Terms for all Information Technology RFRs [Enterprise Policy and Standards]...........42

Appendix 5: Cloud Terms................................................................................................................................ 44

Appendix 6: Accessibility Obligations for RFR Bidders...................................................................................50

Overview................................................................................................................................................ 50

Prior to contract execution............................................................................................................50

After contract execution................................................................................................................50

Definitions............................................................................................................................................... 50

Accessibility Obligations......................................................................................................................... 51

Appendix 7: Instructions for Execution and Submission of Commonwealth Standard Forms.........................54

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

SEPARATE ATTACHMENTS

Attachment A N/A

Attachment B N/A

Attachment C Commonwealth Terms and Conditions

Attachment D Commonwealth Standard Contract Form

Attachment E Statement of Work (SOW) Template

Attachment F Cost Proposal Response Sheet

Attachment G Business Reference Form

Attachment H Form W-9

Attachment I Contractor Authorized Signatory Form

Attachment J SDP Plan Form 1

Attachment K Additional Environmentally Preferable Products and Practices

Attachment L Prompt Payment Form

Attachment M Bidders Response Checklist

Attachment P N/A

Attachment Q N/A

Attachment R N/A

Attachment T N/A

Attachment U N/A

Attachment V N/A

Attachment W N/A

Attachment X N/A

Attachment Y System Policies and Practices

Attachment Z N/A

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

1.0 VMMS Project Background and Summary Information

1.1 General Procurement Information

THIS REQUEST FOR RESPONSE (RFR) (See Appendix 1 – Procurement Glossary and Acronym List) AND ALL RESPONSES HERETO INCLUDING THE WINNING BID SHALL BECOME PUBLIC RECORD AS OF THE DATE THE CONTRACT REFERENCED HEREIN IS AWARDED, AND CAN BE OBTAINED BY ACCESSING RECORDS POSTED ON COMMBUYS OR BY SUBMITTING A REQUEST TO [email protected]. ANY PORTIONS OF A RESPONSE THAT ARE LABELED AS CONFIDENTIAL WILL STILL BE CONSIDERED A PUBLIC RECORD.

Procurement Contact: Brian Clark, ITO Project Manager

Purchasing Department: Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)

Address: 1 Winter St., 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02114

Questions: Questions regarding this RFR may be raised during the Bidders’ Conference

Technical Assistance for COMMBUYS: Request technical assistance via [email protected] or at 1-888-MA-STATE

1.2 Procurement Scope and General Description

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), is soliciting bids for the acquisition of a new cloud-based and fully hosted Vehicle Maintenance Management System (VMMS). This system needs to be configured and externally hosted by the successful Bidder. This system will manage inventory,work orders and maintenance records for DCR’s vehicles and equipment as well as inventory vehicle parts from DCR’s parts warehouse. The resulting VMMS contract will be available for use by DCR and EEA. For the purposes of this RFR and its attachments, the term EEA will be used to indicate the joint procurement. This joint procurement is inclusive of both EEA and DCR.

This RFR does not commit the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or EEA to approve a Statement of Work (SOW), or to procure or contract for services. EEA reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals received as a result of this RFR, to negotiate with any or all qualified Bidders and to cancel, in part or in its entirety, this RFR if it is in the best interest of the Commonwealth to do so.

EEA reserves the right to procure none, a subset, or all of the products or services solicited under this RFR. EEA further reserves the right to amend this RFR at any time prior to the date the responses are due. Any such amendment will be posted to the Commonwealth’s procurement web site, COMMBUYS. Bidders are advised to check this site regularly, as this will be the sole method used for communicating changes to this Solicitation.

All times stated in the RFR are in Eastern Standard/Daylight Time. In the event of a discrepancy between dates and times in document files and the COMMBUYS record, information in the current COMMBUYS record shall prevail.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is the responsibility of the prospective Bidder and awarded Contractor to maintain an active registration in COMMBUYS and to keep current the email address of the Bidder’s contact person and prospective contract manager, if awarded a contract, and to monitor that email inbox for communications from the EEA, including requests for clarification. EEA and the Commonwealth assume no responsibility if a prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the prospective

EEA VMMS Project

of 53


Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP) cause email communications sent to/from the prospective Bidder/awarded contractor and EEA to be lost or rejected by any means including email or spam filtering. Read Section 5.0 for more complete instructions on how to respond to this RFR.

1.3 Background DCR is a statewide park system that covers 10% of the states land mass. The agency is divided into five regions with registered vehicles and equipement within these regions. At present, these vehicles are managed by regional management with no centralized system to track inventory, preventive maintenance, or general repair. Current vehicle maintenance is paper based with no computerized support. There are no controls in place to manage parts from DCR’s parts warehouse.

The intent of DCR is to create a central maintenance structure and operation to manage the preventive maintenance, repairs, fuel usage and inventory of all vehicles and equipment. Project tracking abilities for longterm repairs, purchasing and recall followup through a VMMS system that is intergrated with the seven regional maintenance facilities and the central warehouse in Stoneham is anticipated. The central maintenance operation will be located in Hingham, with terminal access at regional garages in Stoneham, Dorchester, Plymouth, Pittsfield, Worcester, Brimfield, Belchertown, W. Lanesboro, and Amherst.

1.4 Acquisition Method(s)

The acquisition method for services under this Bid is as an Outright Purchase. The contract will be a fixed-price contract with a maximum obligation amount for the initial goods and services and potential contract renewals.

EEA is requesting bids for externally hosted solutions (i) that require EEA to purchase software licenses and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) on a turnkey basis or (ii) that provide software-as-a-service (SaaS) access to the software. EEA does not anticipate that it will purchase, rent or lease any hardware under this RFR, and that the necessary infrastructure will be provided by the successful Bidder in order to meet the RFR requirements.

1.5 Applicable Procurement Law

This bid is issued under the following laws:

MGL c. 7, § 22; c. 30, § 51, § 52; and 801 CMR 21.00 (Goods and Services)

1.6 Number of Awards

The target maximum number of contractors is 1. This is a target number; EEA may award more or fewer contracts if it is in the best interests of the Commonwealth to do so.

1.7 Eligible Entities

Any contract resulting from the Bid will be open to use all entities.

1.8 Contract Duration

The expected duration of this contract is as follows:

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

Contract Duration Number of Options

Number of Years/Months Instructions

Initial Duration 2 years The initial duration of this Contract will run “two years” from the Contract Effective/Start Date (execution date).

Renewal Options 4 2 years each Four Commonwealth options to renew the maintenance and hosting services for a two-year period.

Total Maximum Contract Duration

10 years This includes the initial contract duration plus the 4 options to renew.

1.9 Estimated Value of the Contract

The estimated value of purchase(s) including all optional items and all potential contract renewals resulting from this Bid is unknown. The Commonwealth makes no guarantee that any services will be purchased from any Contract resulting from this Bid. Any estimates or past procurements referenced in this Bid are included only for the convenience of Bidders, and are not to be relied upon as any indication of future purchase levels.

1.10 Procurement Summary: A Fully Hosted Web Based, Fleet and inventory Vehicle Maintenance Management System

This contract is for the web-based standard software purchase of a Fleet Asset and Maintenance Management System, and Inventory System Including consulting services to implement and troubleshoot this system. The overall purpose of this project is to implement a centralized asset management database system to replace the paper-based work order management system in use at DCR’s seven regional maintenance operations. All regional fleet maintenance locations and the central operation will be fully integrated.

The consultant will conduct in-depth workshops to cover all aspects of fleet maintenance and asset management across DCR’s statewide operation. The consultant will also assist DCR in designing a parts ordering and inventory tracking system for fleet and other purchases (clothing, grounds supplies, etc) at the DCR warehouse in Stoneham, MA as well as garages in other parts of MA.

The intention of DCR is to schedule, perform maintenance, and document all repairs and preventive maintenance of its fleet equipment across the state. DCR accomplishes this by utilizing in-house services from its seven regional depots as well as using statewide contracted services controlled by a centralized fleet coordinator with oversight of a fleet manager.

2.0 Estimated Procurement Schedule

Procurement Calendar Table

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

EVENT DATE

Bid Release Date : (Sign-off (4/13-5/18) + 4) 6/24/15

Deadline for Submission of Questions via email.: (2 Weeks)

7/8/15

Official Answers for Bid Q&A Estimated) : (1 Week)

7/15/15

Bid Amendment Deadline / Online Quote submission begins. Bid documents will not be amended after this date. (0 Days)

7/15/15

Deadline for Quotes/Bid Responses: (1-Week) 7/22/15

Oral Presentations for Selected Bidder(s) (Estimated) : (1-Week)

7/31/15

Bidders will be notified individually and be given at least 1 week notice if

Oral Presentations are required.

Notification of Apparent Successful Bidder(s) (Estimated) : (1-Week)

8/4/15

Negotiations (Estimated) : (2-Days) 8/6/15

Estimated Contract Start Date 8/13/15

Times are Eastern Standard/Daylight Savings (US), as displayed on the COMMBUYS system clock displayed to Bidders after logging in. If there is a conflict between the dates in this Procurement Calendar and dates in the Bid’s Header, the dates in the Bid’s Header on COMMBUYS shall prevail. Bidders are responsible for checking the Bid record, including Bid Q&A, on COMMBUYS for Procurement Calendar updates.

2.1 Amendment Deadline

EEA reserves the right to make amendments to the Bid after initial publication. It is each Bidder’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for any amendments, addenda or modifications to this Bid, and any Bid Q&A records related to this Bid. EEA and the Commonwealth accepts no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who submit a Quote based on an out-of-date Bid or on information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

2.2 Review Rights

Responses to this RFR may be reviewed and evaluated by any person(s) at the discretion of EEA including non-allied and independent consultants retained by EEA now or in the future, for the sole purpose of obtaining an analysis of Responses. Any and all bidders may be asked to further explain or clarify in writing areas of their RFR Response during the review process. EEA retains the right to request further information from bidders during RFR response review.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

2.3 Demonstrations

At its sole discretion and at its option, EEA may require some or all Bidders to conduct presentations and/or demonstrations of their proposed solutions, preferably in person or via webinar. EEA may limit the number of presentations and/or demonstrations requested. The purpose of the presentation and/or demonstration is to enable EEA to better understand and evaluate the solution proposed in the Bidder’s response.

Based on the Bidder’s RFR response, EEA will determine the structure and content of the presentation and/or demonstration. EEA will contact the Bidder(s) individually, with at least 1 week’s notice, to schedule the session, which will take place during the timeframe specified in the procurement calendar. Bidders who are asked to participate in demonstrations will be expected to prioritize this in their schedules. The Strategic Sourcing Team (SST) will make every effort to find a mutually convenient time for the Bidder and the SST. However, failure to appear at the scheduled time of the presentation/demonstration may result in disqualification, reduction of points or other actions that the SST deems appropriate.

The selected Bidders will be contacted to present demonstrations and the Bidder’s key personnel identified in its response are expected to attend the session. The SST will not inform a bidder of its scores or ranking at the time of the session. Bidders must provide copies of any presentation material in advance of the session. This material and all written submissions become part of the bidder's response.

Presentations may be videotaped by EEA at its expense and thereby become public records and part of the Bidder’s response after the conclusion of the RFR process. All other expenses associated with the presentations and/or demonstrations will be borne by the Bidder.

3.0 Minimum Mandatory Specifications for Bidder Response Content

Introduction: Specifications in this section include the minimum mandatory requirements for each Bidder’s RFR Response, as well as certain optional (as desirable, or highly desirable) components for the RFR Response. A bid that fails to meet the mandatory specifications in this section may be immediately eliminated from consideration for this engagement. Bidders should note the following with respect to the specifications set forth in this section:

1. Bidders must provide a complete response within the time period described in the Procurement Calendar Table in Section 2.

2. The elimination of proposed bids that do not sufficiently meet the specifications criteria shall be at the Commonwealth’s sole discretion.

3. Compliance with the specifications in this section does not eliminate, or replace, any other RFR requirement that each Bidder must meet in responding to this RFR.

3.1 Minimum Mandatory Requirements for this RFR

The Bidder must comply with all RFR required legal terms and specifications, which are set forth in more detail in the RFR’s Appendices and Attachments. By responding to this RFR, Bidders are agreeing to all RFR mandatory legal requirements.

3.1.1 Fully Released Product Model

Bidders must only propose fully released product versions offered in a SaaS or PaaS Cloud-hosted model. No other products should be proposed and no others should be listed in the Bidder’s response.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

3.1.2 Product Management; Ownership

The Bidder must be the entity that owns and licenses the core Cloud-based Vehicle Maintenance Management System (VMMS).

Third-party ancillary products from companies that are partners of the Bidder may also be proposed, as long as the Bidder has acquired any and all rights, grants, assignments, conveyances, licenses, permissions and authorizations necessary to provide the solution to EEA.

3.1.3 Enterprise IT Policies and Standards

The VMMS must comply with all applicable Commonwealth Enterprise IT Policies and Standards (Appendix 4). EEA directs the Bidder’s attention to the following specific areas of concern:

1. Accessibility Standards , which must be met as a pre-condition of contract execution, to ensure that Commonwealth information technology solutions are available and accessible to people with disabilities. Please see Appendix 6 for more details on Vendor Accessibility Obligations.

2. Security Policies and Standards including but not limited to Access Control Security, Information Security, Data Classification, and Physical & Environmental Security to ensure that the system can properly classify data sensitivity levels, appropriately track data, and secure data. See Appendix 4 for more details.

Product development/release management:Because only bidders offering SaaS or PaaS through cloud-hosted services models may respond to this RFR, the bidder must propose and describe a mature practice related to product development, including but not limited to release management and customer participation, and must comply with the Cloud Terms in Appendix 5.

Compliance with agency systems/applications: All IT systems and applications developed by or for Executive department agencies must conform to all relevant Enterprise Information Technology Policies, Standards and Guidelines promulgated by the Massachusetts Office of Information Technology (MassIT) as they exist at the time of this RFR’s publishing. See Appendix 4.

3.1.4 Data Ownership, Classification, Retention and Database Preferences

The Bidder is advised that all data generated by EEA is the property of the Commonwealth and must be retained in accordance with both Enterprise IT standards and record retention schedules under Massachusetts General Law c. 6, §10 Public Records. Therefore, the successful Bidder must comply with these legal requirements when developing, installing, servicing, and maintaining the data system for the VMMS project.

3.2 Bidders’ RFR General Response, Cost Response and Accompanying Documents

All Bidders must submit the following information and forms as part of the RFR Response to this procurement. All Bidders must submit all required documents through electronic submission onto the COMMBUYS Website in the manner described in Section 5. No additional information beyond what has been requested should be submitted. Such information will be ignored and will not be factored into evaluations.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

3.2.1 Cover Letter to RFR General Response

The cover letter must be completed on the Bidder's letterhead, signed and dated by the Bidder’s representative who is authorized to execute contracts on behalf of the Bidder, and should not exceed two (2) pages. The cover letter will serve as a transmittal letter for the General Response. In the cover letter, all Bidders must expressly state that they will agree to all requirements of this RFR.

3.2.2 General Response Narrative to the Business and Technical Requirements

In the RFR General Response Narrative, the Bidder must provide a detailed response to the Business requirements described in Section 7 and the Technology requirements described in Section 8 of this RFR.

As part of its RFR General Response Narrative, the Bidder must provide a recommendation/specification for the hardware for barcode printing and reading if required as part of the proposed system. The recommended equipment must be compatible with the Bidder’s VMMS product.

As part of the RFR General Response Narrative, the Bidder must provide the details of the Bidder’s Technical Environment by responding to the following questions/issues:

1. Bidder must submit a Data Privacy and Security Plan that meets requirements listed in Data Privacy and Security section of Cloud Terms in Appendix 5.

2. The Bidder must describe how the proposed VMMS solution will meet the performance requirements and service levels described in Section 8.2 and Appendix 5 (Cloud Terms) of the RFR.

3. The Bidder must describe the details of their back up, data loss prevention, and disaster recovery plan as required in the Cloud Terms (Appendix 5) document.

4. The Bidder must provide a description of the process or mechanism and protocols used to securely transfer data files between the central maintenance operation and the five regional maintenance facilities.

5. The Bidder must provide an example of a system performance report from a current hosting project, as described in Service Levels section of Appendix 5 (Cloud Terms).

3.2.3 Proposed Strategy

In the RFR General Response Narrative, the Bidder must provide an explanation of the proposed strategy for completing the VMMS scope of work, including a strategy for analysis and implementation of the VMMS Project. The narrative must include references to project milestones described in the initial project plan and deliverables described in other sections of the RFR General Response.

It is desirable for Bidders to plan to use the Agile methodology, as described at http://www.agilealliance.org/the-alliance/the-agile-manifesto/ and in particular the Scrum framework (see https://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum )

3.2.4 Initial Project Plan

Bidders must provide an initial project plan as part of their RFR response that encompasses the entire VMMS solution proposed by the Bidder.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

https://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum

http://www.agilealliance.org/the-alliance/the-agile-manifesto/

This initial project plan, generated in MS Project 2010 format, must take into account all required tasks/ project aspects defined within this RFR and identify other recommended tasks, milestones and key deliverables. The estimated start and finish time for each task must be identified. The project plan must contain milestones that directly correlate to the itemized prices in the price proposal (but pricing is NOT to be included in the initial project plan, only in the cost proposal). The initial project plan will be refined during negotiations with the successful bidder as part of finalizing the statement of work (SOW) for this project.

The initial project plan must include the steps for managing the transition from the existing

In the General Response Narrative, Bidders must describe how the proposed initial project plan will meet the project management expectations described in Section 6.

3.2.5 Quality Assurance Plan

In the RFR General Response Narrative, the Bidder must provide a detailed description of the Bidder’s quality assurance methodology. See Section 6.7 for more details.

3.2.6 Risk Management Plan

In the RFR General Response Narrative, the Bidder must describe its approach to Risk Management methodology including how the Bidder intends to manage project risk through the project. See Section 6.3, Bidder responsibilities relating to Risk Management post contract award, for further details.

3.2.7 Cloud Terms

In the RFR General Response Narrative, all Bidders must include an affirmative statement indicating that the Bidder will comply with all requirements set forth in Appendix 5, entitled Cloud Terms. In the event that the Bidder is selected to be the Contractor for the VMMS project, a wet signature of the Affirmative Statement must be submitted prior to the effective contract date.

3.2.8 Proposed Statement of Work (SOW)

With the RFR General Response Narrative, Bidders must include a description of the work that the Bidder will provide in the form of a Statement of Work (SOW), utilizing the template SOW attached hereto as Attachment E for proposed services and deliverables to effectively manage, develop, and deliver the VMMS solution requested. The SOW should clearly identify any expectations (personnel or otherwise) from Commonwealth staff for the execution of the project. Please note that certain sections of the SOW template represent mandatory requirements for the successful Bidder (and are delineated as such), and are not subject to negotiation, while other portions of the SOW can be negotiated by the parties as part of contract process. Please see attached template for Commonwealth Statement of Work (Attachment E) for further details.

In addition, when submitting the completed SOW as part of the RFR Response, Bidders should note the following: Where the draft SOW contains payment amounts, the Bidder must omit any prices or

amounts from this form. Bidder must include pricing information only in the Cost Response proposal.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

The apparent successful Bidder(s) will be given the opportunity to finalize the draft SOW with EEA in which the parties will more clearly define the deliverables, milestones and reporting structure for this project.

For those Bidders who are experienced in the use of Agile methodology, EEA requests that the Bidder’s SOW submission reflect the following elements: That the successful Bidder will work in a team-based Agile environment. That EEA will create and maintain roadmaps, project plans, and product and release

backlogs that will be the basis for the successful Bidder’s work. That the Product Owner will be part of EEA and will specify high-level requirements to the

Agile team. That the Product Owner will work together with the successful Bidder’s team to develop

and estimate user stories and establish acceptance criteria. These acceptance criteria will specify expected functionality for a user story, as well as any non-functional requirements that must be met in the development of the story.

That the Product Owner, supported by SMEs and business analysts, will determine whether or not acceptance criteria have been satisfied.

Depending upon the content of Bidders’ responses to the VMMS RFR, EEA also reserves the right to negotiate with the apparent successful Bidder a Master Agreement to address any legal terms or issues that are common to both the SOW and any SaaS agreement(s) proposed by the Bidder as part of the VMMS solution.

3.2.9 Product List Form

In the RFR General Response narrative, the Bidder must provide a list of all products and services being proposed as part of the solution along with high-level information about the products. Bidders should list all third-party software that the end user needs (browser brand and version, Operating System, etc.), or any other dependencies that may prevent the user from using the solution effectively.

3.2.10 Bidder’s Existing Agreements and other Documentation

With the RFR General Response Narrative, the Bidder must submit editable versions of any of the Bidder’s applicable existing SaaS or PaaS subscriptions, software license and maintenance agreements, nondisclosure, privacy policies, data management policies, technical support descriptions, maintenance descriptions or other boilerplate agreements for products and services included in the proposed solution.

3.2.11 Service Level Agreement

The Bidders must provide a draft version their service level agreements, which should include their service levels, and method by which the levels are measured. The service level agreements must be equivalent to or exceed the minimum mandatory requirements set forth in the Cloud Terms (Appendix 5).

The Cloud-based VMMS, once deployed, must meet technical support response parameters (time to respond and time to repair) or equivalent measures, which will be negotiated and finalized as Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in the Statement of Work.

3.2.12 Compensation Structure

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

Introduction: Compensation for the VMMS project will be based on a fixed price. Payments will not be made based on milestones or dates, but will only be made based on the completion of major deliverables and only after each major deliverable is received and accepted by EEA. A major deliverable may encompass a single or multiple deliverables, as set forth in more detail by the parties through the negotiated SOW for the VMMS project. Compensation for ongoing VMMS cloud subscriptions will be based on annual rates which must be fixed for a minimum of two years and increase thereafter no more than 2% per year.

3.2.13 Bidder’s Cost Response

Bidders’ RFR cost response must include the following components:

Modular Pricing : The Bidder must submit the cost response on an item-by-item basis, through submission of the information located on the VMMS RFR Costs tab in the VMMS RFR Cost Proposal Response Sheet (Attachment F). The Bidder is required to provide the costs for several items in the mandatory section of the Cost Proposal Response Sheet and is being asked to provide modular costs for additional desirable items or alterative options to the mandatory items, as listed on the sheet. During negotiations with the successful bidder, EEA will determine which options or modular items to include.

Total Cost Bid : The Bidder must submit a single total value amount (in U.S. dollars) as a Bid for the VMMS Project under the Items tab in COMMBUYS. Cost shall remain same for length of contract.

Bidders must first complete the VMMS RFR Costs tab for modular pricing, including all costs for the complete proposed VMMS solution for the initial 2-year term of the contract in the mandatory sections of the worksheet. Then, each Bidder must calculate the total value amount for the VMMS Project Bid to report in COMMBUYS, as instructed in the worksheet and report that value in COMMBUYS as instructed in Section 5.

As part of the RFR Cost Response, it is highly desired that each bidder complete the modular pricing costs associated with non-mandatory items for the VMMS project, which are located under the VMMS RFR Costs tab. These are items where EEA is requesting additional modularly priced goods or services, or prices for alternatives to mandatory items.

In addition, the Bidder must provide pricing for hourly rates for professional services by role, which should be inclusive of all expenses. EEA will use this information in the event that EEA requires additional services in the future such as additional reports, or services to implement optional features for the VMMS project as described through this RFR.

Because Bidders will bring different approaches in their responses, deliverables will be in part Bidder-specific. Therefore, each Bidder must identify the costs for their specific deliverables in the tab called VMMS Project Plan Deliverables.

The Bidders must complete BOTH tabs in the VMMS RFR Cost Proposal Response Sheet as part of a complete cost response, Cost shall remain same for length of contract.

NOTE: VMMS Project Pricing must not be listed in any other part of the Bidder’s RFR response, other than in the Cost Proposal Response Sheet and, where required, when submitting the bid through COMMBUYS as specified in Section 5.0.

3.2.14 Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATS)

The Bidder must submit VPATS for the COTS or SaaS service that is referenced in its bid. See Appendix 6 for more details.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

3.3 Bidder’s Qualifications, Experience and References

As part of the General Response Narrative, Bidders must provide the information specified in Section 6.

EEA may evaluate additional information beyond the Bidder’s RFR response (such as Bidder-neutral industry research and the Bidder’s own public web content) to determine conformance to these requirements.

3.3.1 Bidder Background

EEA requires that the successful bidder and any associated subcontractor(s) selected for the project have the financial and organizational strength to successfully complete the work involved over the course of the contract. Therefore, each bidder must provide the information listed below about its organization, including, but not limited to, information regarding any significant subcontractors, such as a cloud hosting provider, that will be part of the bidder’s proposed team during the contract term. EEA requests that the bidder limits the use of marketing materials when responding to these requirements.

1. The bidder must provide the name, address, telephone number, fax number, and email address of the bidder’s representative whom EEA should contact in connection with this RFR.

2. The bidder must provide the bidder’s legal name, Federal Tax Identification Numbers (FTINs), home office address, telephone number, fax number, and website address.

3. The bidder must provide a description of the company, including, but not limited to, its products and services, when it was established, the number of years it has been in the VMMS software industry, and number of employees.

4. The bidder must identify its organizational customer base, the geographical areas served, customer size, and types of solutions and services provided.

5. It is desirable for Bidders to have experience using the Agile methodology and in particular the Scrum framework. Bidders must describe their experience, if any, using the Agile software development methodology in previous projects or internally, including which frameworks were used in the past (Scrum, Kanban, etc.)

If the Bidder has experience using the Agile methodology, the Bidder must describe two Agile projects on which they have worked in the last 5 years, including:

When the project occurred; the size, scope, length, and complexity of the project; What framework the Bidder used; How the Bidder managed Agile implementation; How the Bidder structured teams and sprints; techniques for release planning; plans

for engaging end users; methods for capturing and applying lessons learned; testing processes;

How the Bidder dealt with making resources available within schedule and budget constraints; and

The Bidder’s approach to configuration management.

The Bidder must list any relevant Agile trainings or certifications completed by its organization or personnel who the Bidder proposes to work with EEA under this RFR.

If the Bidder has no experience with Agile, the Bidder must state this fact as part of its response.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

6. The bidder must describe any defaults on its or any cloud subcontractor’s contracts (or state that there have been no defaults).

7. The bidder must describe any litigation in which it or any cloud subcontractor is or has been involved in that is/was related to any proposed solution within the past 5 years.

8. The bidder must describe any conviction, investigation, judgment or action either criminal or civil against the bidder or any cloud subcontractor in the current and last 5 years or any pending civil action against the bidder or any cloud subcontractor. If none, bidders should provide a statement that to the best of their knowledge, there is no such conviction, investigation, judgment, or action.

9. The bidder must provide a statement that neither the bidder nor any cloud subcontractor has ever been subject to any state or federal debarment order or determination.

10. The bidder must provide the particulars of any circumstances over the past 5 years in which the bidder or any cloud subcontractor has caused a breach of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of a customer's data.

11. During negotiations, EEA may ask the bidder to provide audited financial statements of the bidder for its last 3 fiscal years. If the bidder does not have audited financial statements, it must provide un-audited financial statements.

12. The bidder must provide a statement that the bidder has not been in bankruptcy in the last 3 calendar years and has no present intent to file for bankruptcy.

Note that the following categories of crimes will disqualify a bidder, subcontractor, or their employee(s) from providing services under a contract resulting from this RFR:

Data Security/Privacy: Violation of any state or federal law or regulation pertaining to data security and/or privacy, including, without limitation and for example, the Fair Information Practices Act, M.G.L. ch. 66A, and the privacy and security provisions of the Federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”).

Wiretaps: Violation of the state wiretap law, M.G.L. ch. 272, sec. 99, or its Federal counterpart, 18 U.S.C. sec. 2511.

Computer Crimes: Violation of Federal or State laws specific to computer crime, including without limitation and for example, the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S. C. sec. 1030 and the Massachusetts state law prohibiting electronic transmission of threats, M.G.L. ch. 269, sec. 14.

Crimes Using Information Technology: Violation of any state criminal laws if follow-up communication with applicant discloses that information technology (computers, networks, and peripheral devices) was used to commit the acts on which the conviction was based. The following are examples of state laws under which crimes committed using computers could theoretically be prosecuted: M.G.L. ch. 272, sec. 29B (dissemination of child pornography); M.G.L. ch. 272 sec. 29C (possession of child pornography); M.G.L. ch. 265, sec. 43 (stalking) and 43A (harassment). M.G.L. ch. 275 s. 2 (threat to commit crime); M.G.L. ch. 266 sec. 30 (larceny statute used in hacking and other data theft cases); M.G.L. ch. 266, sec. 12 (willful and malicious destruction of property, for use in website defacement and other hacking cases); M.G.L. ch. 266, sec. 30 (theft of intellectual property); M.G.L. ch. 266 sec. 37E (identity fraud); M.G.L. ch. 266 sec. 120F (unauthorized access to computer system).

Intellectual Property: Violation of laws pertaining to trade secrets, copyrights, patents, or any other form of protection of intellectual property.

White Collar Crime: Violation of state criminal laws pertaining to theft, fraud, misrepresentation, tax evasion, and other forms of white collar crime.

Felony Convictions for Crimes of Violence: Violation of laws pertaining to felonies committed with violence.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

Identity Theft: Violation of “An Act Relative To Security Freezes And Notification Of Data Breaches,” M.G.L. ch. 82 of the Acts of 2007.

3.3.2 Bidder’s VMMS Experience

In the RFR General Response narrative, the Bidder must provide a description of:

1. The Bidder’s experience in performing similar projects in comparable size and scope. 2. The Bidder’s proposed team member’s roles and experience in these projects. 3. A list of at least 5 but preferably 10, organizations where the bidder has installed VMMS

systems.4. A description of the Bidder’s experience in providing cloud-hosted VMMSapplications. 5. A description of the Bidder’s largest state government customers if applicable.

3.3.3 Certifications

The Bidders should include a description of any applicable and relevant certifications.

It is desirable that the Bidder and their cloud-hosting-provider (if different) be International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001 certified.

3.3.4 Project Manager

Bidders must provide the resume of the proposed project manager who will be the selected Bidder’s main interface with the EEA Project Manager. It is desirable that the selected Bidder’s Project Manager have experience with projects similar in size and scope to this project. It is desirable that the selected Bidder’s Project Manager have a Project Management certification (such as PMP).

3.3.5 Project Team Resumes and Staffing

In the RFR General Response Narrative, the Bidder must provide resumes for all key Bidder project team members, and a list explaining each member’s role on the project.

The Bidder must also provide detailed information about staffing and the roles of staff for the Vmms project, as well as the estimated number of hours Bidders believe will be needed for each role in each project phase.

3.3.6 Business References

Bidders must provide to EEA at least three (3) references for work performed that is similar in nature to the scope of this RFR, using the VMMS Business Reference Form (Attachment G). In the Business Reference Form, the Bidder must describe each referenced project’s scope, nature, and similarity to the VMMS project.

EEA prefers that at least one of the references be for a VMMS implementation with a municipal, state, or federal government laboratory.

EEA prefers references from VMMS customers of comparable size, with comparable business requirements, and with comparable industry experience to DCR. EEA also prefers at least one reference that is within the New England/New York area.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

It is highly desirable that at least one reference be from a customer with a similar VMMSsolution through the same Cloud host-provider subcontractor (if applicable) with a proven track record in Cloud services and SaaS applications.

The Bidder must provide contact information for customers who are willing to serve as business references. References will be contacted to confirm the Bidder’s abilities and qualifications. EEA may deem the Bidder’s response unresponsive if a reference is not obtainable from a listed reference after reasonable attempts.

3.4 Supplier Diversity Plan (formerly Affirmative Market Plan) (Minimum of 10% Weight)

Bidders responding to this RFR must submit a Supplier Diversity Plan. Requirements for the Supplier Diversity Plan (SDP) are included in Appendix 3.

3.5 Environmental Specifications

Executive Order (EO) 515, Establishing an Environmental Purchasing Policy Products and services purchased by state agencies must be in compliance with Executive Order 515, issued October 27, 2009. Under this Executive Order, Executive Departments are required to reduce their impact on the environment and enhance public health by procuring environmentally preferable products and services (EPPs) whenever such products and services perform to satisfactory standards and represent best value, consistent with 801 CMR 21.00. In line with this directive, all contracts, whether departmental or statewide, must comply with the specifications and guidelines established by OSD and the EPP Program. EPPs are considered to be products and services that help to conserve natural resources, reduce waste, protect public health and the environment, and promote the use of clean technologies, recycled materials, and less toxic products. Questions concerning the EO or the appropriate specifications may be directed to OSD’s EPP Procurement Program, www.mass.gov/epp. The Order can be seen at http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/laws-by-source/exec/eo500-549.html.

Environmental Plan Beginning the first year of the Contract and throughout the life of the Contract, awarded contractors must agree to work with EEA to examine the feasibility of implementing an environmental plan. The objective of this requirement is to actively encourage suppliers to incorporate sustainable practices throughout their business operations and further market such practices to Contract users. Such a plan may include, but not be limited to, the following:

1. Implementing energy efficiency initiatives at the corporate level in line with Executive Order 484, such as lighting retrofits, purchase of energy from renewable sources, use of bio-heat fuel, and other energy reduction technologies.

2. Encouraging environmental initiatives at a corporate and/or manufacturing level for the purpose of reducing the impact of manufacturing on the environment; such as clearly identifying recycled content of packaging on the packaging, providing product life cycle assessments, working toward the elimination of ozone depleting chemical usage in the manufacturing or refining process (where applicable), and conducting internal environmental auditing related to pollution control.

3. Adopting standards and/or obtaining certifications, where applicable, for product development and manufacturing processes such as, but not limited to, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), ISO 14001, Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) Protocol, Green Seal, Environmental Choice and others.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/laws-by-source/exec/eo500-549.html

http://www.mass.gov/epp

4. Using alternative fuel vehicles for delivery or transportation purposes, and/or vehicles equipped with diesel emission control devices, and operating such vehicles with guidance on anti-idling initiatives.

5. Developing a plan to implement the recycling of materials used or produced in normal business operations.

EEA may award points to Bidders who provide evidence that measures and initiatives such as these are already in place within their operations, and/or for written proposals submitted with their Quote detailing a commitment to action contingent upon receipt of a Contract award. (See the Additional Environmentally Preferable Products / Practices form on COMMBUYS).

3.6 Mandatory Commonwealth Documents and Agreements for RFR Response:

As part of the RFR response, all Bidders must submit the mandatory Commonwealth Documents and Agreements with their response in electronic form:

Form See

Completed, signed and submitted Commonwealth Standard Contract Form

Attachment D

Completed, signed and submitted Commonwealth Terms and Conditions

Attachment C

Form W-9 Request for Taxpayer identification Number and Certification

Attachment H

Completed, signed and submitted Contract Authorized Signatory Form

Attachment I

Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) Plan Form #1 Attachment J

Completed, signed and submitted Additional Environmentally Preferable Products / Practices

Attachment K

Prompt Payment Discount Form Attachment L

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) Appendix 6

3.7 Bidder’s Response Checklist

As part of the RFR response submission, Bidders must complete and submit the Bidder’s Response Checklist, indicating that the Bidder has complied with all VMMS RFR requirements. The VMMS Bidder’s Response Checklist is found on the COMMBUYS website as a separate attachment (see Attachment M).

3.8 Assumptions, Qualifiers, and Constraints

As part of the RFR General Response Narrative, Bidders must clearly disclose all of the assumptions (e.g., expected level of EEA effort, roles, resources; scope issues), qualifiers (e.g., functionality limits on certain transactions), or constraints (e.g., maximum number of reports or rules included with the solution) that bidders used to develop their responses to this RFR.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

For all assumptions, qualifiers or constraints identified in the responses, bidders must: identify in their response the corresponding requirement/s, by page and section, from the RFR, its attachments or appendices. Bidders must provide a description of the assumption/s used, and the significance or impact to the project of the assumptions.

EEA is not required to accept, reject or otherwise respond to individual assumptions, qualifiers or constraints. EEA will not be bound by the assertion of any bidder, unless EEA specifically, and in writing, accepts an assumption, qualifier or constraint.

4.0 Evaluation of RFR Responses and Scoring Process

4.1 Overview

The goal of this RFR is to accomplish the tasks stated in the Business and Technical Requirements Sections (Sections 7.0 and 8.0) for the best value. EEA shall select the Bidder whose proposal, in the aggregate, provides the best value for EEA and the Commonwealth. Cost will be among the several factors in this consideration; however, EEA is not required to choose the Bidder that proposes the lowest costs.

EEA will not release any scores or evaluation information, such as the number of points that will be assigned to any item or the weight given to the RFR Cost Response in relation to the RFR General Response, prior to the contract award.

EEA will evaluate all RFR responses in the manner described below.

4.2 Compliance with Minimum Submission Requirements

EEA will complete an initial review of the responses for the administrative requirements listed below. Should a response be deemed incomplete, the selection team will determine, at its discretion, whether or not to request the additional information needed to fulfill the minimum requirements of the RFR. The criteria for meeting the minimum submission requirements are as follows:

1. Response has been received timely, by the submission deadline.

2. Response includes an RFR Cost Response separate from the RFR General Response.

3. Response includes all required documents.

4. RFR General Response does not include any cost information.

5. All documents requiring an electronic signature have been signed and are included.

6. Response complies with and does not alter the Commonwealth’s Terms and Conditions and/or other required RFR attachments.

It is the Bidder’s responsibility to ensure that all required materials are included in their Response.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

4.3 Evaluation Criteria

EEA will substantively evaluate the RFR responses that meet the minimum submission requirements in accordance with the evaluation criteria set forth in this section. EEA will evaluate each response on each of the following requirement areas and assign points based on the quality of the response and the likely performance that it indicates in reference to the proposed VMMS project. The evaluation criteria are listed below in descending order of importance.

1. Business and Technical Requirements Response

2. Project Approach / Implementation Plan

3. Overall Price

4. Qualifications and References

5. Demonstration of product proposed

6. Supplier Diversity Plan (10% of all available points )

7. In addition to the foregoing, the SST will review VPATS for each proposed solution. At the SST’s discretion, it may request that Bidders whose VPATS show inadequate compliance with accessibility standards make their SaaS solution available to the SST and its third party accessibility testers for accessibility testing. The SST reserves the right to remove from further consideration Bidders whose VPATS and/or testing show substantial accessibility problems and who are unwilling to agree upon an accessibility mitigation letter that will become part of the Agreement between the parties.

4.4 Award

The Commonwealth will compile the final scores for each Bidder and announce the apparent successful Bidder(s) based on the overall scores and demonstrated experience with similar types of projects.

The Commonwealth reserves the right to reject any and all proposals. The Commonwealth may negotiate the terms of the contract, including the award amount, with the apparent successful Bidder(s) prior to finalizing a contract. If contract negotiations cannot be concluded successfully with the highest scoring Bidder(s), the Commonwealth may negotiate a contract with the next highest scoring Bidder(s).

It is entirely within EEA’s discretion to award or not award a contract under this RFR.

All Bidders should expect that, if selected as the apparent successful Bidder for the VMMS Project, the selected Bidder will be required to negotiate a detailed SOW and SaaS agreement, or a SOW, COTS license, and PaaS agreement with EEA (as applicable) for the implementation of the VMMS application.

5.0 How to Submit a Bid Response Electronically

Introduction: Please mail all hardcopies for review to:

DCR, Joe Suppa, 30 Shipyard Drive, Hingham, MA 02043

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

6.0 Project Management and Quality Assurance

After contract award, the EEA project team will be responsible for comprehensive oversight of the project. EEA will appoint an “IT Project Manager” who will be responsible for the day-to-day management of this project. The selected Bidder (awarded contractor) will appoint a Project Manager who will be the Bidder’s main interface with the IT project manager Brian Clark , Contract Manager: Joseph Suppa.

The VMMS Project may be subject to an Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) process during system development and implementation. If this project is deemed subject to IV&V, EEA, through a separate procurement, will hire a Vendor to perform the IV&V function. Throughout the lifecycle of the VMMS Project, if IV&V is required, the selected Bidder’s Project Manager will be required to provide documentation and to meet with the VMMS Program Management Team and the IV&V Vendor to review the VMMS project progress.

6.1 Project Manager Responsibilities

1. The awarded contractor will appoint a Project Manager who will perform, at a minimum, the following functions in addition to the responsibilities set forth in the Statement of Work (SOW) template:

a) Serve as the interface between the EEA Project Manager and all Bidder personnel participating in this engagement;

b) Facilitate regular communication with the EEA Project Manager. This will be in a combination of telephone, e-mail and in-person communications/meetings;

c) Provide status reports/updates at regularly scheduled Project Status Meetings. See Section 6.4;

d) Refine and revise the project plan as necessary based on information gathered during meetings and distribute and/or publish updated project plans to the EEA Project Manager and other members of the project team;

e) Identify and establish key meeting dates in advance, which are mapped against the project plan for scheduling purposes, to ensure all project personnel know the topics, purpose and outcomes of key meetings;

f) Facilitate recurring team and project meetings (which may include conference calls), and subsequently issue a written summary of the project status, identifying key tasks, responsible parties, and due dates, and

g) Assist in identification and resolution of project issues and escalate problems within the Bidder’s organization as appropriate.

2. The EEA PMO (Project Management Office) may require the Bidder to relieve and replace the Project Manager if in the PMO’s opinion it appears that:

a) The Project Manager does not perform at the applicable skill level required to ensure the Contract specifications are met;

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

b) The Project Manager does not deliver work which conforms to the performance standards stated in the Contract; or

c) Personality conflicts with the Project Manager hinder effective functioning of the Contract.

6.2 Project Plan and ScheduleAs part of the RFR response, the Bidder must provide an initial project plan as previously described. The Bidder may propose to complete this project in phases, some of which may be worked on concurrently and are dependent upon EEA staff time and available funding. The phases should include at least the following: 1) Initial VMMS installation and configuration, including report and export customizations at a minimum to EEA’s current equivalent capabilities; 2) System verification (validation and parallel test); 3) Staff training and knowledge transfer; 4) Additional instrument interfacing and implementation of additional desirable features; and 5) ongoing SaaS or PaaS relationship.

After the contract is awarded the contractor’s Project Manager will refine the initial project plan as appropriate; adding more detail, and establishing the project’s Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) if an Agile/ Scrum approach is not adopted. The WBS must include a breakdown of the tasks required to implement each feature and produce its deliverable. The schedule may also be refined to account for this new level of detail, but the milestone delivery dates must still correspond to those dates identified in Bidder’s initial project plan.

6.2.1 Role and Availability of Key Commonwealth of MA EEA Staff

During the initial implementation of the project, currently estimated to be less than 6 months, the following Commonwealth employees will be working closely with the selected bidder:

1. Project Manager Brian Clark, EEA/IT – available up to 30 hours per week.

2. DCR/Enterprise Information Office (EIO) Point of Contact – Joseph Suppa, available up to 30 hours per week.

3. VMMS Administrator, EEA/IT – Key contact for day-to-day functioning of current and past VMMS and current work flows; will oversee configuration and system testing; available up to 30 hours a week.

4. DCR Supervisors – Each available up to 15 hours per week to address areas within their expertise and for their individual laboratory:

a) Director Fleet operations and staff : Joseph Suppa

b) Supervisor – Brian Clark, ITO Project Manager

6. Senior Network Engineer, EEA/IT – available up to 8 hours per week when addressing higher-level network and technical infrastructure issues. Brian Clark

7. Northeast IT Coordinator, EEA/IT – main point of contact for instrument LAN and other technology questions; available up to 8 hours per week.

As part of the RFR narrative, Bidders should provide information about the roles and people the Commonwealth will need to staff a project, including those listed above in this section, as well as the estimated number of hours Bidders believe will be needed for each role in each phase. EEA will consider the costs associated with Commonwealth staffing needs when evaluating the total cost of ownership.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

6.2.2 Initial VMMS Installation and Configuration

The contractor will identify any needed software for EEA to achieve this goal.

6.2.3 System Verification

The awarded contractor must conduct unit and accessibility testing with EEA staff throughout the project, and must conduct system and integration testing with EEA staff within one month of the VMMS being installed, configured and customized. The contractor must demonstrate and verify the system operation to the satisfaction of EEA. The contractor must demonstrate and verify functionality of the VMMS standard package plus any custom features that are incorporated in order to satisfy the requirements of this RFR.

6.2.4 Training and Knowledge Transfer

The contractor must provide a knowledge transfer to the EEA IT/DCR VMMS Administrator on the management and configuration of the VMMS system within two weeks of system verification. End user training and documentation must be provided in this same time frame. The application must include context sensitive on-line help throughout the application.

6.2.5 Additional Desirables

As the budget allows, DCR, EEA may request that the awarded contractor provide additional optional services - for example, hand held units and acid tagging devices to track inventory of road vehicles ,as well as, smaller equipment such as lawn mowers, weed wackers, chain saws, etc.

6.3 Risk Management Plan

After contract award, the selected contractor is required to provide a Risk Management Plan. It is highly desirable that the Bidder identify the top ten issues that represent risk to the project's success in terms of schedule, price, functionality, and/or quality. The Bidder should provide a contingency plan for mitigating or eliminating each of these risk factors. EEA intends to co-manage this risk mitigation effort with the Bidder throughout the project life cycle.

6.4 Project Status Reporting

After contract award, the awarded contractor will be required to provide regular status reports and an updated project plan to the EEA Project Manager. The project plan will show performance against a baseline and be supplemented by additional reports as needed. The status reports must include a listing of the tasks performed and the findings for that review period. These status reports should

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

identify any issues or concerns that the Bidder may have, and list the expected tasks to be completed during the upcoming period/ Sprint. Such reports will at a minimum be in writing to specified parties, and will also include meetings at scheduled intervals with the EEA Project Manager and with the project team. Questions that arise regarding actions taken during previous periods must be addressed to the satisfaction of the EEA Project Manager and project team.

6.5 Project Change Orders

The Bidder will be entering into a fixed-price contract with EEA/DCR to perform the tasks outlined in this RFR pertaining to the establishment of a SaaS or PaaS relationship and related integrations. Should changes in scope or any other project element be required, the Project Manager requesting a change in scope will provide the suggested change in writing to the other team’s Project Manager in the form of a change request. The Project Managers will jointly determine whether the change impacts the schedule. The parties can mutually agree to the change through a written change order or, where the change will amend the terms of the contract, through a written amendment to the Statement of Work, which must be approved by EEA, and an authorized representative of the Bidder.

If applicable, prices estimated by the awarded contractor’s Project Manager must be agreed upon and approved in writing by both the contractor and EEA prior to any actual change implementation.

6.6 Project Document Repository

During the course of the project, the Bidder will be required to provide an extranet document repository that will house all project documentation including this document, status reports, change orders, the project schedule, meeting agendas, minutes, team members and their contact information, and other documentation the EEA Project Manager deems necessary.

6.7 Quality Assurance

The VMMS project must be managed to ensure a quality product for EEA. To that end, the Strategic Sourcing Team (SST) requires that the Bidder identify in the RFR response their Quality Assurance methodology that encompasses a description of roles and responsibilities, techniques utilized to monitor the project, walkthroughs and reviews, independent project audits, and risk management planning.

The Bidder should include a description of the Quality Assurance Policy of the organization expressed by top-level management. It is desirable that the Bidder describes the standards and metrics, internal or industry, used for estimating work effort and for quality judgment.

The Bidder will identify any third-party off-the-shelf monitoring tools, including project management tools and configuration management tools required by EEA to implement the proposed solution. The Bidder should describe the process used to track and communicate changes, defects or enhancements during project implementation and testing. The Bidder will identify its methodology for the review of its tasks prior to approval and/or acceptance by EEA. This includes walkthroughs of tasks and reviews of any specific function. This task also requires the Bidder to identify any milestones where demos and reviews are required that have not already been identified by the Commonwealth. These reviews, walkthroughs and all milestones will be reviewed during the initial review of the detailed plan with the awarded contractor.

7.0 VMMS Business Requirements and Desirables

Listed below are the functions EEA requires for the VMMS and the required or desired features of those functions. The Bidder’s pricing must include costs to configure/customize VMMS to provide the functionality listed in this section. The Bidder will be overseen by the EEA project manager and DCR Business Lead during the course of project implementation. Those items listed in this section

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

as required, shall or must are mandatory requirements for this RFR. Bidders responding to those non-mandatory items listed below as desirable or highly desirable will be awarded extra points by the EEA Strategic Sourcing Team (SST) during the evaluation of their proposal.

7.1 General Requirements and Desirables

Required: A cloud-hosted, VMMS that can:

1. Support the Department in a successful implementation of the Fleet/parts Asset Management System. DCR’s fleet currently consists of approximately 1,000 road vehicles and over 500 pieces of registered equipment that support park and road maintenance. This system should be able to grow to support over 5,000 items that would require inventory and/or maintenance management.

2. The system should be able to support 15-20 users from various locations defined below.

3. Create a real time statewide inventory of all DCR vehicles/equipment using DCR supplied inventory, and track all vehicle locations through the Fleet Department.

4. Work with DCR to create a preventive maintenance plan for all DCR equipment starting with road vehicles. The Objective is to have a preventative maintenance check list (A,B,C PM’s due) set up for different preventative maintencne schedules. The maintenance should be performed and documented for each road vehicle and piece of equipment.

5. Work with DCR to create a preventive maintenance plan that works around all DCR activities such as snow and Ice, beach openings, materials management etc.

6. Implement a process to track all in-house and contracted labor by vehicle through work order request and work order management and scheduling.

7. Develop performance indicators such as reports that show the number of vehicles receiving preventive maintenance cost activities in a given year or indicators to make salvage/disposal decisions based on vehicle life cycle.

8. Integration of MMARS for vehicle contractor/in-house labor and parts costs payment. This will link parts to vehicles for cost analysis and payment .

9. Integration of GasBoy, WEX fuel cards and DOT fuel station data for per vehicle mileage reports. These reports will track oil changes and other general maintenance activities. An OVM milage report interface should be able to be generated and submitted.

10. Implement a repair parts inventory tracking/ordering program at the Stoneham warehouse and other garages for fleet and other warehouse stock items - such as clothing, ice melt, shovels, rakes, etc.

11. Provide DCR with estimated annual cost of maintaining the DCR fleet. This could be a fixed report by vehicle or fleet.

12. Send preventative maintenance (PM) alerts geared to mileage and hourly input.

13. Project tracking abilities for longterm vehicle repairs, purchasing and recall followup.

14. This system must come with an upgrade and maintenance package. DCR will want the contractor to manage ongoing technical support, upgrades, and daily backups through the implementation, warranty, and service period.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

15. Create barcodes, acid tags and labels for each inventory item. Unwired, scannable system preferred.

Optional:

1. Allow system to be accessed by mobile devices.

2. Allow system to be updated through spreadsheet uploads.

The Fleet Asset Management User Locations : The system shall be able to be accessed from these locations:

4 -Work stations at the Hingham main office (service coordinator, service coordinator assistant, Director of Fleet operations, business manager)

2-Work stations at the North Region Maintenance Facility, Stoneham (facility foreman, administrative assistant).

1-Work station at the Boston Region Maintenance Facility, Dorchester (facility foreman)

1-Work station at the South Region Maintenance Facility, Plymouth (facility foreman)

1- Work station at the Central Region Maintenance Facility, TBD (facility foremen)

1- Work station at the West Region Maintenance Facility, TBD, (facility foreman)

2- Work stations at the Stoneham Warehouse Facility, Stoneham (Warehouse supervisor, parts coordinator)

1- Work stations at Cambridge Office (facility foreman)

1 Work station at the Belchertown Region Maintenance Facility, TBD, (facility foreman)

1 Work station at the Worcester Region Maintenance Facility, TBD, (facility foreman)

Warehouse inventory Control Requirements

Must be able to document/calculate transfers between warehouses, reorder points, distribution to end users, and inventory stock.

Must be able to generate reports on usage, inventory, estimated usage per item, etc.

Ability to create and print receipts and lables.

Send low inventory alerts and specify minimum, maximum inventory levels

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

Must have 2 hand held wireless scanners with USB adaptor to update main warehouse in Stoneham.

7.8 Training

1. The contractor must provide a copy of a VMMS training manual for both end users and administrators electronically along with appropriate end user/administrator paper training guides.

2. The contractor must provide on-site or remote training to DCR staff for all areas of the application. It is highly desirable that this training be offered for three sessions. EEA will provide a suitable training room that can accommodate a maximum of 35 participants.

3. The contractor must provide training to the DCR VMMS Administrator and other staff. Customization training must include overall system use and making reports.

8.2 System Performance

Given the IT environment as described below in Table 1, it is highly desirable that the time to navigate from one screen to another or update/save a transaction be two seconds or less; and the time to navigate from one field to another on the same screen be one second or less. Transactions, such as returning a report, requiring database lookups, of simple design should be returned to user’s desktop in 5 seconds or less; transactions requiring database lookups and return of data of moderate complexity should be returned to the user in 15 seconds or less.

Table 1. DCR Standard IT Environment

Network Operating System: Windows 2012 Server

Standard PC Operating System: Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems

Standard Browser Internet Explorer 10 and later

Office Software: Microsoft Office 2007 and later

Virus Protection Software: McAfee VirusScan Enterprise

8.3 Data Exchange

It is desirable for the VMMS to have an API to facilitate data exchanges with current or future system.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

Appendix 1: Procurement Glossary and Acronym List

In addition to the definitions found in 801 CMR 21.00, (http://www.mass.gov/anf/docs/osd/policy/801cmr21.doc) which apply to all procurements for goods and services, the definitions found below apply to this Solicitation. Those definitions below designated with an asterisk (“*”) are quoted directly from 801 CMR 21.00 and are included below for quick reference purposes.

Agency – See Department

Bid – While a bid may generally refer to an offer or response submitted in response to a Solicitation or Request for Response (RFR), in COMMBUYS, a “bid” refers to the solicitation, RFR or procurement.

Bidder * – An individual or organization proposing to enter into a Contract to provide a Commodity or Service, or both, to or for a Department or the State.

Client – Any of the DCR bureaus/ divisions/ offices, other Massachusetts state agencies, or federal agencies that will interact with this system.

Commonwealth Contract Manager – See Strategic Sourcing Services Lead

Contract * – A legally enforceable agreement between a Contractor and a Department. ANF, OSD and CTR shall jointly issue Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, a Standard Contract Form and other forms or documentation that Departments shall use to document the Procurement of Commodities or Services, or both. COMMBUYS refers to Contract records as “Purchase Orders” or “Blanket Purchase Orders.”

Contractor * – An individual or organization which enters into a Contract with a Department or the State to provide Commodities or Services, or both.

Contractor Contract Manager – The individual designated by the Contractor to interface with the Commonwealth.

Department – For the purposes of this Solicitation, the terms “Department,” “Eligible Entity,” “Agency,” “Commonwealth Agency,” and “Contracting Department” include all entities listed in the Eligible Entities section of this RFR. COMMBUYS refers to such entities as “Organizations.”

Eligible Entity – See Department

Environmentally Preferable Product or Service (EPP) – A product or service that has a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. Such products or services may include, but are not limited to, those which contain recycled content, minimize waste, conserve energy or water, and reduce the amount of toxic materials either disposed of or consumed.

Evaluation – The process, conducted by the Strategic Sourcing Team, of reviewing, scoring and ranking the submitted Quotes related to this Bid.

Fiscal Year (FY) – The year beginning with July first and ending with the following June thirtieth as defined in M.G.L. Chapter 4, Section 7. This may also be referred to as the "State Fiscal Year.”

Organization – See Department

Purchasing Entity – Same as “Eligible Entity.”

Quote or Response – Generally refers to the offer submitted in response to a Bid or Request for Response (RFR).

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

http://www.mass.gov/anf/docs/osd/policy/801cmr21.doc

Request for Response (RFR) * – The mechanism used to communicate Procurement specifications and to request Quotes from potential Bidders. An RFR may also be referred to as a "Bid” or “Solicitation.”

Response – The Bidder’s complete submission (or “Quote” as referenced in COMMBUYS) in response to a Solicitation; in other words, a “Bid” or “Proposal.”

Sprint - A set period of time in Agile product development during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review.

Solicitation – See Request for Response (RFR)

Strategic Sourcing Services Lead (SSSL) – Individual designated by the procuring Department to lead the Strategic Sourcing Team and the solicitation and resulting contract. In some agencies, SSSLs are referred to as “Procurement Team Leads (PTL).” COMMBUYS Refers to the SSSL in the Header Information section of a Bid as the “Purchaser.”

Strategic Sourcing Team (SST) – Representatives from various eligible entities and interested stakeholders that design procurements, develop specifications, conduct Solicitations, evaluate responses to Bids and award Statewide or Department Contracts. The SST also monitors Contractor performance through performance measures and the level of customer satisfaction throughout the life of the Contract. In some agencies, SSTs are referred to as “Procurement Management Teams (PMT).”

List of Additional Acronyms Used in this RFR

AAC – Accessibility Advisory Committee

ANF – Executive Office for Administration and Finance

APl – Application Programming Interface

AT/IT – Assistive Technology/Information Technology

C2C – Cradle to Cradle

COC – Chain-of-Custody

COTS – Commercial Off-the-Shelf

CTR – Comptroller of the Commonwealth

CVS – Character Separated Values

DCR – Department of Conservation and Recreation

EEA – Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

EFT – Electronic Funds Transfer

EIO – Enterprise Information Office, MassDEP

EIPAS – Environmental Information Public Access System

EO – Executive Order

FTIN – Federal Tax Identification Number

HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996

IDC – Initial Demonstration of Capability

IFB – Invitation for Bid

ISO 9001 – International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Quality Management Systems (QMS) Standard

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

ISO 14001 – International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Standard

ISP – Internet Service Provider

LEED – U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

MAGNet – Massachusetts Access to Government Network

MCLs – Maximum Contaminant Levels for Drinking Water

MDL – Method Detection Limit

MMARS - Massachusetts Management Accounting & Reporting System

MRL – Minimum Reporting Limit

M/WBEs – Minority/Women Business Enterprises

ND – Not Detected

ORS – Office of Research and Standards, MassDEP

ORSGs – Office of Research and Standards Drinking Water Guidelines

OSD – Operational Services Division, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

PaaS – Platform as a Service

PDM – Provider Data Management

PMO – Project Management Office

POS – Purchase of Service

PPD – Prompt Payment Discount

QA – Quality Assurance

QC – Quality Control

RFP – Request for Proposals

RFQ – Request for Quote

ROL – Range of Logs

SaaS – Software-as-a-Service

SDP – Supplier Diversity Program

SDVOBE – Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business Enterprise

SLA – Service Level Agreement

SME – Subject Matter Expert

SOW – Statement of Work

STCOC – Sample Tracking & Chain-of-Custody Record

UFR – Uniform Financial Statements and Independent Auditors Report

UNSPSC – United Nations Standard Products and Services Code

VC – Vendor Code

VOCs – Volatile Organic Compounds

VMMS - Vehicle Maintenance Management System

VPAT – Voluntary Product Accessibility Template

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

WBS – Work Breakdown Structure

WCAG2 – Web Content Authoring Guidelines Version 2

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

Appendix 2: Required Terms

1.0 General Procurement Information

1.1 Alterations

Bidders may not alter (manually or electronically) the Bid language or any Bid component files, except as directed in the RFR. Modifications to the body of the Bid, specifications, terms and conditions, or which change the intent of this Bid are prohibited and may disqualify a Quote.

1.2 Ownership of Submitted Quotes

EEA shall be under no obligation to return any Quotes or materials submitted by a Bidder in response to this Bid. All materials submitted by Bidders become the property of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and will not be returned to the Bidder. The Commonwealth reserves the right to use any ideas, concepts, or configurations that are presented in a Bidder’s Quote, whether or not the Quote is selected for Contract award.

1.3 Prohibitions

Bidders are prohibited from communicating directly with any employee of the procuring Department or any member of EEA regarding this RFR except as specified in this RFR, and no other individual Commonwealth employee or representative is authorized to provide any information or respond to any question or inquiry concerning this RFR. Bidders may contact the contact person using the contact information provided in the Header Information this Bid in the event that this RFR is incomplete or information is missing. Bidders experiencing technical problems accessing information or attachments stored on COMMBUYS should contact the COMMBUYS Helpdesk (see the document cover page for contact information).

In addition to the certifications found in the Commonwealth’s Standard Contract Form, by submitting a Quote, the Bidder certifies that the Quote has been arrived at independently and has been submitted without any communication, collaboration, or without any agreement, understanding or planned common course or action with, any other Bidder of the commodities and/or services described in the RFR.

2.0 Terms and Requirements Pertaining to Awarded Contracts

2.1 Commonwealth Tax Exemption

Invoices submitted to Massachusetts government entities must not include sales tax.

2.2 Contractor’s Contact Information

It is the Contractor’s responsibility to keep the Contract Manager informed of the Contractor’s current contact information. If this information changes, the Contractor must notify the Contract Manager by email immediately, using the address located in the Header Information of the Purchase Order or Master Blanket Purchase Order on COMMBUYS.

The Commonwealth assumes no responsibility if a Contractor’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the Contractor’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP), cause e-mail communications between the Bidder and EEA to be lost or rejected by any means including email or spam filtering.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

2.3 Publicity

Any Contractor awarded a contract under this Bid is prohibited from selling or distributing any information collected or derived from the Contract, including lists of participating Eligible Entities, Commonwealth employee names, telephone numbers or addresses, or any other information except as specifically authorized by EEA.

Appendix 3: RFR - Required Specifications

In general, most of the required contractual stipulations are referenced in the Standard Contract Form and Instructions and the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions (either version). However, the following RFR provisions must appear in all Commonwealth competitive procurements conducted under 801 CMR 21.00:The terms of 801 CMR 21.00: Procurement of Commodities and Services (and 808 CMR 1.00: Compliance, Reporting and Auditing for Human and Social Services, if applicable) are incorporated by reference into this RFR. Words used in this RFR shall have the meanings defined in 801 CMR 21.00 (and 808 CMR 1.00, if applicable). Additional definitions may also be identified in this RFR. Other terms not defined elsewhere in this document may be defined in OSD’s Glossary of Terms. Unless otherwise specified in this RFR, all communications, responses, and documentation must be in English, all measurements must be provided in feet, inches, and pounds and all cost proposals or figures in U.S. currency. All responses must be submitted in accordance with the specific terms of this RFR.

Items with the text, " Required for POS Only" specify a requirement for Purchase of Service (POS) human and social services procured under 801 CMR 21.00, Procurement of Commodities or Services, Including Human and Social Services and 808 CMR 1.00, Compliance, Reporting and Auditing for Human and Social Service.

COMMBUYS Market Center. COMMBUYS is the official source of information for this Bid and is publicly accessible at no charge at www.commbuys.com. Information contained in this document and in COMMBUYS, including file attachments, and information contained in the related Bid Questions and Answers (Q&A), are all components of the Bid, as referenced in COMMBUYS, and are incorporated into the Bid and any resulting contract.

Bidders are solely responsible for obtaining all information distributed for this Bid via COMMBUYS. Bid Q&A supports Bidder submission of written questions associated with a Bid and publication of official answers.

It is each Bidder’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for:

Any amendments, addenda or modifications to this Bid, and

Any Bid Q&A records related to this Bid.

The Commonwealth accepts no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who submit a Quote based on an out-of-date Bid or on information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

COMMBUYS Subscription. Bidders may elect to obtain a free COMMBUYS Seller subscription which provides value-added features, including automated email notification associated with postings and modifications to COMMBUYS records. However, in order to respond to a Bid, Bidders must register and maintain an active COMMBUYS Seller subscription account.

All Bidders submitting a Quote (previously referred to as Response) in response to this Bid (previously referred to as Solicitation) agree that, if awarded a contract: (1) they will maintain an active seller account in COMMBUYS; (2) they will, when directed to do so by the procuring entity, activate and maintain a

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

http://www.commbuys.com/

http://www.mass.gov/anf/budget-taxes-and-procurement/oversight-agencies/osd/glossary-of-terms.html

COMMBUYS-enabled catalog using Commonwealth Commodity Codes; (3) they will comply with all requests by the procuring entity to utilize COMMBUYS for the purposes of conducting all aspects of purchasing and invoicing with the Commonwealth, as added functionality for the COMMBUYS system is activated; (4) Bidder understands and acknowledges that all references to the Comm-PASS website or related requirements throughout this RFR, shall be superseded by comparable requirements pertaining to the COMMBUYS website; and (6) in the event the Commonwealth adopts an alternate market center system, successful Bidders will be required to utilize such system, as directed by the procuring entity. Commonwealth Commodity Codes are based on the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC).

The COMMBUYS system introduces new terminology, which bidders must be familiar with in order to conduct business with the Commonwealth. To view this terminology and to learn more about the COMMBUYS system, please visit the COMMBUYS Resource Center .

Multiple Quotes. Bidders may not submit Multiple Quotes in response to a Bid unless the RFR authorizes them to do so. If a Bidder submits multiple quotes in response to an RFR that does not authorize multiple responses, only the latest dated quote submitted prior to the bid opening date will be evaluated.

Quote Content. Bid specifications for delivery, shipping, billing and payment will prevail over any proposed Bidder terms entered as part of the Quote, unless otherwise specified in the Bid.

Supplier Diversity Program (SDP). Massachusetts Executive Order 524 established a policy to promote the award of state contracts in a manner that develops and strengthens Minority and Women Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) that resulted in the Supplier Diversity Program in Public Contracting. M/WBEs are strongly encouraged to submit responses to this RFR, either as prime vendors, joint venture partners or other type of business partnerships. Similarly, Executive Order 546 established the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise (SDVOBE) Program to encourage the participation of businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans in all areas of state procurement and contracting, thereby including them in the SDP. All bidders must follow the requirements set forth in the SDP section of the RFR, which will detail the specific requirements relating to the prime vendor’s inclusion of M/WBEs and/or SDVOBEs. Bidders are required to develop creative initiatives to help foster new business relationships with M/WBEs and/or SDVOBEs within the primary industries affected by this RFR. In order to satisfy the compliance of this section and encourage bidder’s participation of SDP objectives, the Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) Plan for large procurements greater than $150,000 will be evaluated at 10% or more of the total evaluation. Once an SDP commitment, expressed as a percentage of contract revenues, is approved, the agency will then monitor the contractor’s performance, and use actual expenditures with SDO certified M/WBE contractors and the Center for Veterans Enterprise certified SDVOBEs to fulfill their own SDP expenditure benchmarks. M/WBE and SDVOBE participation must be incorporated into and monitored for all types of procurements regardless of size; however, submission of an SDP Plan is mandated only for large procurements over $150,000.

Unless otherwise specified in the RFR, the following SDP forms are required to be submitted by the deadlines noted below in order to meet the mandatory participation requirements of the SDP:

SDP Plan Form #/Name Submitted By When Submitted

SDP Plan Form #1 – SDP Plan Commitment

All Bidders With Bid Response

SDP Plan Form #2 – Declaration of SDP Partners

Newly Awarded Contractors

Within 30 days of contract execution

SDP Plan Form #3 – SDP Spending Report

Contractors Within 45 days of the end of each quarter

Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) Resources:

Resources available to assist Prime Bidders in finding potential Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Women Business Enterprises (WBE) partners can be found at: www.mass.gov/sdp

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

http://www.mass.gov/anf/budget-taxes-and-procurement/procurement-info-and-res/conduct-a-procurement/commbuys/quick-click-resource-center.html

Resources available to assist Prime Bidders in finding potential Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise (SDVOBE) partners can be found on the Operational Services Division’s SDO webpage at: www.mass.gov/sdo

The Operational Services Division’s Supplier Diversity Program offers training on the SDP Plan requirements. The dates of upcoming trainings and information on the SDP Webinar can be located on the SDP website at www.mass.gov/SDP.

Supplier Diversity Program Subcontracting Policies. In addition to the Subcontracting Policies (See Subcontracting Policies section below and see Section 9, Subcontracting By Contractor, in the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions) that apply to all subcontracted services, agencies may define specific required deliverables for a contractor’s SDP Plan, including, but not limited to, documentation necessary to verify subcontractor commitments and expenditures with Minority- or Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprises (SDVOBE) for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing commitments made in a contractor’s Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) Plan.

Agricultural Products Preference (only applicable if this is a procurement for Agricultural Products) - Chapter 123 of the Acts of 2006 directs the State Purchasing Agent to grant a preference to products of agriculture grown or produced using locally grown products. Such locally grown or produced products shall be purchased unless the price of the goods exceeds the price of products of agriculture from outside the Commonwealth by more than 10%. For purposes of this preference, products of agriculture are defined to include any agricultural, aquacultural, floricultural or horticultural commodities, the growing and harvesting of forest products, the raising of livestock, including horses, raising of domesticated animals, bees, fur-bearing animals and any forestry or lumbering operations.

Best Value Selection and Negotiation. The Strategic Sourcing Team or SST (formerly referred to as Procurement Management Team or PMT) may select the response(s) which demonstrates the best value overall, including proposed alternatives that will achieve the procurement goals of the department. The SST and a selected bidder, or a contractor, may negotiate a change in any element of contract performance or cost identified in the original RFR or the selected bidder’s or contractor’s response which results in lower costs or a more cost effective or better value than was presented in the selected bidder’s or contractor’s original response.

Bidder Communication. Bidders are prohibited from communicating directly with any employee of the procuring department or any member of the SST regarding this RFR except as specified in this RFR, and no other individual Commonwealth employee or representative is authorized to provide any information or respond to any question or inquiry concerning this RFR. Bidders may contact the contact person for this RFR in the event this RFR is incomplete or the bidder is having trouble obtaining any required attachments electronically through COMMBUYS.

Contract Expansion. If additional funds become available during the contract duration period, the department reserves the right to increase the maximum obligation to some or all contracts executed as a result of this RFR or to execute contracts with contractors not funded in the initial selection process, subject to available funding, satisfactory contract performance and service or commodity need.

Costs. Costs which are not specifically identified in the bidder’s response, and accepted by a department as part of a contract, will not be compensated under any contract awarded pursuant to this RFR. The Commonwealth will not be responsible for any costs or expenses incurred by bidders responding to this RFR.

Debriefing. Required for POS Only. This is an optional specification for non-POS RFRs. Non-successful bidders may request a debriefing from the department that issued the RFR. Department debriefing procedures may be found in the RFR. Non-successful POS bidders aggrieved by the decision of a department must participate in a debriefing as a prerequisite to an administrative appeal.

Debriefing/Appeals: Administrative Appeals to Departments. Required for POS Only. Not applicable to non-POS bidders. Non-successful bidders who participate in the debriefing process and remain aggrieved with the decision of the department may appeal that decision to the department head. Department appeal procedures may be found in the RFR.

Debriefing/Appeals: Administrative Appeals to OSD. Required for POS Only. Not applicable to non-POS bidders. Non-successful bidders who participate in the department appeal process and remain aggrieved by

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

the selection decision of the department may appeal the department decision to the Operational Services Division. The basis for an appeal to OSD is limited to the following grounds:

The competitive procurement conducted by the department failed to comply with applicable regulations and guidelines. These would be limited to the requirements of 801 CMR 21.00 or any successor regulations, the policies in the OSD Procurement Information Center, subsequent policies and procedures issued by OSD and the specifications of the RFR; or

There was a fundamental unfairness in the procurement process. The allegation of unfairness or bias is one that is easier to allege than prove, consequently, the burden of proof rests with the bidder to provide sufficient and specific evidence in support of its claim. OSD will presume that departments conducted a fair procurement absent documentation to the contrary.

Requests for an appeal must be sent to the attention of the Operational Services Division, Legal, Policy and Compliance Office, Room 1017, One Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108 and be received within fourteen (14) calendar days of the postmark of the notice of the department head’s decision on appeal. Appeal requests must specify in sufficient detail the basis for the appeal. Sufficient detail requires a description of the published policy or procedure which was applied and forms the basis for the appeal and presentation of all information that supports the claim under paragraphs 1 or 2 above. OSD reserves the right to reject appeal requests based on grounds other than those stated above or those submitted without sufficient detail on the basis for the appeal.

The decision of the Operational Services Division shall be rendered, in writing, setting forth the grounds for the decision within sixty (60) calendar days of receipt of the appeal request. Pending appeals to the Operational Services Division shall not prohibit the department from proceeding with executing contracts.

Electronic Communication/Update of Bidder’s/Contractor’s Contact Information. It is the responsibility of the prospective bidder and awarded contractor to keep current on COMMBUYS the email address of the bidder’s contact person and prospective contract manager, if awarded a contract, and to monitor that email inbox for communications from the SST, including requests for clarification. The SST and the Commonwealth assume no responsibility if a prospective bidder’s/awarded contractor’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the prospective bidder’s/awarded contractor’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP) cause email communications sent to/from the prospective bidder/awarded contractor and the SST to be lost or rejected by any means including email or spam filtering.

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). All bidders responding to this RFR must agree to participate in the Commonwealth Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) program for receiving payments, unless the bidder can provide compelling proof that it would be unduly burdensome. EFT is a benefit to both contractors and the Commonwealth because it ensures fast, safe and reliable payment directly to contractors and saves both parties the cost of processing checks. Contractors are able to track and verify payments made electronically through the Comptroller’s Vendor Web system. A link to the EFT application can be found on the OSD Forms page (www.mass.gov/osd). Additional information about EFT is available on the VendorWeb site (www.mass.gov/osc). Click on Guidance for Vendors, then VendorWeb.

Successful bidders, upon notification of contract award, will be required to enroll in EFT as a contract requirement by completing and submitting the Authorization for Electronic Funds Payment Form to this department for review, approval and forwarding to the Office of the Comptroller. If the bidder is already enrolled in the program, it may so indicate in its response. Because the Authorization for Electronic Funds Payment Form contains banking information, this form, and all information contained on this form, shall not be considered a public record and shall not be subject to public disclosure through a public records request.

The requirement to use EFT may be waived by the SST on a case-by-case basis if participation in the program would be unduly burdensome on the bidder. If a bidder is claiming that this requirement is a hardship or unduly burdensome, the specific reason must be documented in its response. The SST will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis and communicate the findings with the bidder.

Environmental Response Submission Compliance. In the event that paper submissions are required and in an effort to promote greater use of recycled and environmentally preferable products and minimize waste, all required paper responses that are submitted should comply with the following guidelines:

All copies should be printed double sided.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

http://www.mass.gov/osc

https://massfinance.state.ma.us/VendorWeb/vendor.asp

http://www.mass.gov/osd

http://www.mass.gov/anf/budget-taxes-and-procurement/oversight-agencies/osd/osd-forms.html

All submittals and copies should be printed on recycled paper with a minimum post-consumer content of 30% or on tree-free paper (i.e. paper made from raw materials other than trees, such as kenaf). To document the use of such paper, a photocopy of the ream cover/wrapper should be included with the response.

Unless absolutely necessary, all responses and copies should minimize or eliminate use of non-recyclable or non re-usable materials such as plastic report covers, plastic dividers, vinyl sleeves and GBC binding. Three ringed binders, glued materials, paper clips and staples are acceptable.

Bidders should submit materials in a format which allows for easy removal and recycling of paper materials.

Bidders are encouraged to use other products which contain recycled content in their response documents. Such products may include, but are not limited to, folders, binders, paper clips, diskettes, envelopes, boxes, etc. Where appropriate, bidders should note which products in their responses are made with recycled materials.

Unnecessary samples, attachments or documents not specifically asked for should not be submitted.

Executive Order 509, Establishing Nutrition Standards for Food Purchased and Served by State Agencies. Food purchased and served by state agencies must be in compliance with Executive Order 509, issued in January 2009. Under this Executive Order, all contracts resulting from procurements posted after July 1, 2009 that involve the purchase and provision of food must comply with nutrition guidelines established by the Department of Public Health (DPH). The nutrition guidelines are available at the Department’s website: Executive Order # 509 Guidance.

Filing Requirements. Required for POS Only. Not applicable to non-POS bidders. Successful bidders must have filed their Uniform Financial Statements and Independent Auditor's Report (UFR), as required for current contractors, with the Operational Services Division via the Internet using the UFR eFiling application for the most recently completed fiscal year before a contract can be executed and services may begin. Other contractor qualification/risk management reporting requirements and non-filing consequences promulgated by secretariats or departments pursuant to 808 CMR 1.04(3) may also apply. In the event immediate services are required by a department, a contract may be executed and services may begin with the approval of OSD and the appropriate secretariat. However, unless authorized by OSD and the appropriate secretariat, the contractor will not be paid for any such services rendered until the UFR has been filed.

HIPAA: Business Associate Contractual Obligations. Bidders are notified that any department meeting the definition of a Covered Entity under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) will include in the RFR and resulting contract sufficient language establishing the successful bidder’s contractual obligations, if any, that the department will require in order for the department to comply with HIPAA and the privacy and security regulations promulgated thereunder (45 CFR Parts 160, 162, and 164) (the Privacy and Security Rules). For example, if the department determines that the successful bidder is a business associate performing functions or activities involving protected health information, as such terms are used in the Privacy and Security Rules, then the department will include in the RFR and resulting contract a sufficient description of business associate’s contractual obligations regarding the privacy and security of the protected health information, as listed in 45 CFR 164.314 and 164.504 (e), including, but not limited to, the bidder's obligation to: implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that reasonably and appropriately protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the protected health information (in whatever form it is maintained or used, including verbal communications); provide individuals access to their records; and strictly limit use and disclosure of the protected health information for only those purposes approved by the department. Further, the department reserves the right to add any requirement during the course of the contract that it determines it must include in the contract in order for the department to comply with the Privacy and Security Rules. Please see other sections of the RFR for any further HIPAA details, if applicable.

Minimum Quote (Bid Response) Duration. Bidders Quotes made in response to this Bid must remain in effect for at least 90 days from the date of quote submission.

Prompt Payment Discounts (PPD). All bidders responding to this procurement must agree to offer discounts through participation in the Commonwealth Prompt Payment Discount (PPD) initiative for receiving early and/or on-time payments, unless the bidder can provide compelling proof that it would be unduly burdensome. PPD benefits both contractors and the Commonwealth. Contractors benefit by increased,

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

usable cash flow as a result of fast and efficient payments for commodities or services rendered. Participation in the Electronic Funds Transfer initiative further maximizes the benefits with payments directed to designated accounts, thus eliminating the impact of check clearance policies and traditional mail lead time or delays. The Commonwealth benefits because contractors reduce the cost of products and services through the applied discount. Payments that are processed electronically can be tracked and verified through the Comptroller’s Vendor Web system. The PPD form can be found as an attachment for this Bid on COMMBUYS.

Bidders must submit agreeable terms for Prompt Payment Discount using the PPD form within their proposal, unless otherwise specified by the SST. The SST will review, negotiate or reject the offering as deemed in the best interest of the Commonwealth.

The requirement to use PPD offerings may be waived by the SST on a case-by-case basis if participation in the program would be unduly burdensome on the bidder. If a bidder is claiming that this requirement is a hardship or unduly burdensome, the specific reason must be documented in or attached to the PPD form.

Provider Data Management. Required for POS Only. Not applicable to non-POS bidders. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) has established a Provider Data Management (PDM) business service that is integrated into the Virtual Gateway. PDM is accessible by providers with current POS contracts. Departments may require that bidders with current POS contracts submit certain RFR-required documents through PDM. These documents have been specified in the RFR. When submitting documents via PDM, bidders are required to print and sign a PDM Documentation Summary. PDM users should verify that all information is accurate and current in PDM. Bidders are required to include the signed PDM Documentation Summary in their RFR response.

Public Records. All responses and information submitted in response to this RFR are subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L., c. 66, s. 10, and to c. 4, s. 7, ss. 26. Any statements in submitted responses that are inconsistent with these statutes shall be disregarded.

Reasonable Accommodation. Bidders with disabilities or hardships that seek reasonable accommodation, which may include the receipt of RFR information in an alternative format, must communicate such requests in writing to the contact person. Requests for accommodation will be addressed on a case by case basis. A bidder requesting accommodation must submit a written statement which describes the bidder’s disability and the requested accommodation to the contact person for the RFR. The SST reserves the right to reject unreasonable requests.

Restriction on the Use of the Commonwealth Seal. Bidders and contractors are not allowed to display the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Seal in their bid package or subsequent marketing materials if they are awarded a contract because use of the coat of arms and the Great Seal of the Commonwealth for advertising or commercial purposes is prohibited by law.

Subcontracting Policies. Prior approval of the department is required for any subcontracted service of the contract. Contractors are responsible for the satisfactory performance and adequate oversight of its subcontractors. Human and social service subcontractors are also required to meet the same state and federal financial and program reporting requirements and are held to the same reimbursable cost standards as contractors.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

http://www.commbuys.com/

Appendix 4: Required Terms for all Information Technology RFRs [Enterprise Policy and Standards]

All IT systems and applications developed by, or for Executive department agencies or operating within the Massachusetts Access to Government Network (MAGNet), must conform with the Enterprise Information Technology Policies, Standards and Guidance promulgated by the Commonwealth’s CIO as they existed at the time the Request for Quote or other Solicitation was posted, unless otherwise specified in the Request for Quote or other Solicitation, or the resulting contract (That is, the policies will be those in effect when specifications for particular engagements are posted, NOT those in effect at the time this RFR was posted.). Non-conforming IT systems cannot be deployed unless the purchasing agency and their Contractor have jointly applied for and received in writing from the Commonwealth’s CIO or his designee, notice that a specified deviation will be permitted.

The Enterprise Information Technology Policies, Standards & Guidance, with the exception of the Enterprise Public Access Policy For e-Government Applications and the Enterprise Public Access For e-Government Applications Standards, are available at http://www.mass.gov/anf/research-and-tech/policies-legal-and-technical-guidance/. See also the System Policies and Practices chart (Attachment Y). The Enterprise Public Access Policy For e-Government Applications and the Enterprise Public Access For e-Government Applications Standards are available in hard copy from the purchasing agency. Purchasing agencies may also obtain a current copy of these documents, on behalf of their Contractor, by contacting the Information Technology Division's CommonHelp group at [email protected] or 1 (866) 888-2808.

Contractors should only request the Public Access Architecture documentation when they are bidding on specific projects or services, and should request it of the Contracting Department which has posted the Request for Quotes or other Solicitation. Bidders must not request a copy of the Commonwealth’s Public Access Architecture in connection with responding to this RFR.

Please Note: Given the pace of information technology innovation, purchasing agencies and their contractors are encouraged to contact the Information Technology Division's CommonHelp group at [email protected] or 1 (866) 888-2808 to signal a system or application design and development initiative. Such advance notice helps to ensure conformance with the relevant Enterprise Technology Policies, Standards and Procedures.

Contractor delivery of IT systems and applications that fail to conform to the Commonwealth’s Enterprise Information Technology Policies, Standards and Procedures, absent the Commonwealth CIO’s grant of written permission for a deviation, shall constitute breach of any Contract entered as a result of this Request for Response and any subsequent Request for Quotes. The Commonwealth may choose to require the Contractor, at his own cost, to re-engineer the non-conforming system for the purpose of bringing it into compliance with Commonwealth Enterprise Information Technology Policies, Standards and Procedures.

Clarification of Language in Section 11, Indemnification of the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions

Pursuant to Section 11. Indemnification of the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, the term “other damages” shall include, but shall not be limited to, the reasonable costs the Commonwealth incurs to repair, return, replace or seek cover (purchase of comparable substitute commodities and services) under a contract. “Other damages” shall not include damages to the Commonwealth as a result of third party claims, provided, however, that the foregoing in no way limits the Commonwealth’s right of recovery for personal injury or property damages or patent and copyright infringement under Section 11 nor the Commonwealth’s ability to join the Contractor as a third party defendant. Further, the term “other damages” shall not include, and in no event shall the Contractor be liable for, damages for the Commonwealth’s use of Contractor provided products or services, loss of Commonwealth records, or data (or other intangible property), loss of use of equipment, lost revenue, lost savings or lost profits of the Commonwealth. In no event shall “other damages” exceed the greater of $100,000, or two times the value of the product or service (as defined in the contract scope of work) that is the subject

EEA VMMS Project

of 53



http://www.mass.gov/anf/research-and-tech/policies-legal-and-technical-guidance/

http://www.mass.gov/anf/research-and-tech/policies-legal-and-technical-guidance/

of the claim. Section 11 sets forth the Contractor’s entire liability under a contract. Nothing in this section shall limit the Commonwealth’s ability to negotiate higher limitations of liability in a particular contract, provided that any such limitation must specifically reference Section 11 of the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions.

Appendix 5: Cloud Terms

Cloud Procurement TermsThe following legal terms apply to Commonwealth of Massachusetts (“Commonwealth” or “Customer”) subscriptions to “software as a service” offerings (referred to as the “Service”). Any forms provided by the service provider (“Service Provider”) must be consistent with the terms below. Changes to the terms below that adversely affect the Commonwealth must be approved by legal counsel at the Massachusetts Office of Information Technology. These terms must be attached to and made part of the executed contract.

LICENSE TERMS 1. Agreement must include (i) a license to access and use the service, (ii) a license to use underlying software as embodied or used in the service, and (iii) a license to view, copy, download (if applicable), and use documentation.

2. Licenses must be irrevocable during the term of the Agreement, subject to any exceptions in the agreement for violations by the Commonwealth of the Service Provider’s reasonable conduct or security standards.

3. No terms shall apply to the Commonwealth that the Commonwealth has not expressly agreed to by including them in a signed agreement, including a standard click-through license or website terms of use or privacy policy.

SUPPORT AND TRAINING1. Service Provider must provide technical support via online helpdesk and toll-free phone number, at minimum during Business Hours (Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time), and 24x7x365 if required by the Commonwealth and requested prior to contract execution.

2. Service Provider must make accessible training available online to users.

3. All support and training shall be provided at no additional cost to the Commonwealth, except for customized support and training expressly requested by the Commonwealth.

SERVICE LEVELSService Provider must provide a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that contains, at minimum, the following terms:

1. Specified guaranteed annual or monthly uptime percentage; at minimum 99.99%

2. For purposes of calculating uptime percentage, scheduled maintenance may be excluded as provided in the next item below, but unscheduled maintenance must be included as downtime

3. Scheduled maintenance must not exceed ten (10) hours in a month; scheduled maintenance in excess of 10 hours will constitute downtime

4. Scheduled maintenance must occur at agreed-upon times when a minimum number of users will be using the system and in no event during Business Hours

5. Service Provider must provide at least two (2) business days’ advance notice of scheduled maintenance

6. Response and resolution times for defects

7. At least three levels of defect classifications (severe, medium, low)

8. While the Service Provider may initially classify defects, the Commonwealth must have the right to determine final classification of defects.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

9. Any other applicable performance metrics (e.g., latency, transaction time) based on industry standards

10. Service Provider shall provide the Commonwealth with a written report of performance metrics, including uptime percentage and record of service support requests, classifications, and response and resolution times, at least quarterly or as requested by the Commonwealth. Customer may independently audit the report at its expense no more than two (2) times annually.

11. Representatives of Service Provider and Customer shall meet as often as may be reasonably requested by either party, but no less often than once each calendar quarter, to review the performance of the Service and to discuss technical plans, financial matters, system performance, service levels, and any other matters related to this Agreement.

12. Remedies for failure to meet guaranteed uptime percentage, response and resolution times, and other metrics, which may include fee reductions and extensions in service period at no cost

13. Repeated failures to meet SLA metrics result in (1) a refund of all fees paid by the Commonwealth for the period in which the failure occurred; (2) participation by Service Provider in a root cause analysis and corrective action plan at the Commonwealth’s request; and (3) a right for the Commonwealth to terminate without penalty and without waiver of any rights upon written notice to Service Provider

14. Regular status reports during unscheduled downtime, at least twice per day or upon request

15. Root cause analysis within thirty (30) days of unscheduled downtime at no additional cost

UPDATES AND UPGRADES1. Service Provider will make updates and upgrades available to the Commonwealth at no additional cost when Service Provider makes such updates and upgrades generally available to its users.

2. Service Provider will notify the Commonwealth at least sixty (60) days in advance prior to any major update or upgrade.

3. Service Provider will notify the Commonwealth at least five (5) business days in advance prior to any minor update or upgrade, including hotfixes and installation of service packs.

4. No update, upgrade or other change to the Service may decrease the Service’s functionality, adversely affect the Commonwealth’s use of or access to the Service, or increase the cost of the Service to the Commonwealth.

CUSTOMER DATA1. The Commonwealth retains full right and title to data provided by the Commonwealth and any data derived therefrom, including metadata (collectively, the “Customer Data”).

2. Service Provider shall not collect, access, or use user-specific Customer Data except as strictly necessary to provide Service to the Commonwealth. No information regarding the Commonwealth’s use of the Service may be disclosed, provided, rented or sold to any third party for any reason unless required by law or regulation or by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction. This obligation shall extend beyond the term of the Agreement in perpetuity.

3. Service Provider shall not use any information collected in connection with the Agreement, including the Customer Data, for any purpose other than fulfilling its obligations under the Agreement.

4. At no time may any Data or processes which either belong to Customer, or are intended for Customer’s exclusive use, be copied, disclosed, or retained by Service Provider for subsequent use in any transaction that does not include Customer.

5. Customer Data must remain at all times within the continental United States. Service Provider must disclose to the Commonwealth the identity of any third-party host of Customer Data prior to the signing of this Agreement.

6. The Commonwealth may export the Customer Data at any time during the term of the Agreement or for up to three (3) months after the term (so long as the Customer Data remains in the Service Provider’s possession) in a commonly used or agreed-upon file format and medium.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

7. Three (3) months after the termination or expiration of the Agreement or upon the Commonwealth’s earlier written request, Service Provider shall at its own expense destroy and erase from all systems it directly or indirectly uses or controls all tangible or intangible forms of Customer’s Data or Confidential Information, in whole or in part, and all copies thereof except such records as are required by law. To the extent that any applicable law prevents Service Provider from destroying or erasing Customer Data as described in the preceding sentence, Service Provider shall retain, in its then current state, all such Customer Data then within its right of control or possession in accordance with the confidentiality, security and other requirements of this Agreement, and perform its obligations under this section as soon as such law no longer prevents it from doing so.

DATA PRIVACY AND SECURITY1. Service Provider must comply with all applicable laws related to data privacy and security.

2. Prior to contract execution, Service Provider and the Commonwealth must cooperate and hold a meeting to determine whether:

a. “Personal data,” as defined in Mass. Gen. Laws c. 66A, will be stored or used in the Service. If so, then Service Provider is a “holder” of “personal data”, as such terms are defined in M.G.L. C. 66A, solely to the extent that the obligations of a holder are applicable to Service Provider’s delivery of services under the Agreement and impose obligations directly upon Service Provider in its role as an information technology services provider with respect to the services performed under an applicable order for cloud services. The eligible entity purchasing cloud services remains solely responsible for all other obligations of a holder set forth in M.G.L.C. 66A.

b. Any sensitive or personal information will be stored or used in the Service that is subject to any law, rule or regulation providing for specific compliance obligations (e.g., HIPAA, FERPA). If so, then Service Provider must document in the Agreement how the Service complies with such law.

If either of the above is true, then Service Provider and the Commonwealth must review the Service specifications to determine whether the Service is appropriate for the level of sensitivity of the data to be stored or used in the Service, and how the Commonwealth and Service Provider will comply with applicable laws. Service Provider and the Commonwealth must document the results of this discussion and attach the document to the Agreement.

3. Service Provider shall provide a secure environment for Customer Data, and any hardware and software, including servers, network and data components provided by Service Provider as part of its performance under this Agreement, in order to protect, and prevent unauthorized access to and use or modification of, the Service and Customer Data. The secure environment must include, without limitation: (i) industry standard firewalls; (ii) industry standard encryption; and (iii) physical security measures, including securing all Customer Data on a secure server in locked data cabinets.

4. Customer Data must be partitioned from other data in such a manner that it will not be impacted or forfeited due to e-discovery, search and seizure or other actions by third parties obtaining or attempting to obtain Service Provider’s records, information or data for reasons or activities that are not directly related to the Commonwealth’s business.

5. Service Provider shall not access Commonwealth user accounts, or Customer Data, except in the course of data center operations, response to service or technical issues, as required by the express terms of this Agreement, or at Customer’s written request.

6. Service Provider may not share Customer Data with its parent company or other affiliate without the Commonwealth’s express written consent.

7. In the event of any potential or actual breach of the Service’s security that adversely affects Customer Data or Service Provider’s obligations with respect thereto, Service Provider shall immediately (and in no event more than twenty-four hours after discovering such breach) notify the Commonwealth. Service Provider shall identify the affected Customer Data and inform the Commonwealth of the actions it is taking or will take to reduce the risk of further loss to the Commonwealth. Service Provider shall provide Customer the opportunity

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

to participate in the investigation of the breach and to exercise control over reporting the unauthorized disclosure, to the extent permitted by law.

8. In the event that personally identifiable information is compromised, Service Provider shall be responsible for providing breach notification to data owners in coordination with the Commonwealth as required by M.G.L. ch. 93H or other applicable law or Commonwealth policy.

9. Service Provider shall indemnify, defend, and hold the Commonwealth harmless from and against any and all fines, criminal or civil penalties, judgments, damages and assessments, including reasonable expenses suffered by, accrued against, charged to or recoverable from the Commonwealth, on account of the failure of Service Provider to perform its obligations pursuant to this Section.

WARRANTYAt minimum, Service Provider must warrant that:

1. Service Provider has acquired any and all rights, grants, assignments, conveyances, licenses, permissions and authorizations necessary for Service Provider to provide the Service to Customer;

2. Service Provider will host the Service on servers located within the continental United States;

3. The Service will perform materially as described in the Agreement;

4. Service Provider will provide to the Commonwealth commercially reasonable continuous and uninterrupted access to the Service, and will not interfere with the Commonwealth’s access to and use of the Service during the term of the Agreement;

5. The Service is compatible with and will operate successfully with Customer’s environment (including web browser and operating system), as Customer has represented such environment to Service Provider;

6. The Service will be performed in accordance with industry standards, provided however that if a conflicting specific standard is provided in this Agreement or the documentation provided by Service Provider, such specific standard will prevail;

7. Service Provider will maintain adequate and qualified staff and subcontractors to perform its obligations under this Agreement; and

8. Service Provider and its employees, subcontractors, partners and third party providers have taken all necessary and reasonable measures to ensure that all software provided under this Agreement shall be free of Trojan horses, back doors, known security vulnerabilities, malicious code, degradation, or breach of privacy or security.

9. The Service shall operate in substantial conformance with the specifications for the system or modifications for a minimum of 1 year (the “Warranty Period”) after the service or modifications are introduced to Customer for its use. During the Warranty Period, Service Provider shall correct any Severity Level I, II or III defects, as defined below:

(i) Severity Level I: A safety issue or an issue that affects a central requirement for which there is no workaround. It prevents either use or testing of the system. All substantive accessibility issues shall fall into this category.

(ii) Severity Level II: An issue that affects a central requirement for which there is a workaround, where use or testing of the system can proceed in a degraded mode, or an issue that affects a non-central requirement for which there is no workaround, where the feature cannot be used.

(iii) Severity Level III: An issue that affects a non-central requirement for which there is a workaround, or a cosmetic issue.

ACCESSIBILITYService Provider must comply with the Commonwealth’s established standards for accessibility as described in a separate attachment. If such attachment is not provided, the Service Provider must request the accessibility terms from the Commonwealth. The accessibility terms provide, among other things, that Service Provider must (1) give the Commonwealth a VPAT or other results of accessibility testing prior to contract

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

execution; (2) provide the Commonwealth with access to the Service so that the Commonwealth can conduct accessibility testing, and cooperate with Commonwealth or third party accessibility testing of the Service; and (3) make available, both prior to and during the course of the engagement, Service Provider personnel to discuss accessibility and compliance with the Commonwealth’s accessibility standards.

SUBCONTRACTORS1. Before and during the term of this Agreement, Service Provider must notify the Commonwealth prior to any subcontractor providing services, directly or indirectly, to the Commonwealth under this Agreement. The Commonwealth must approve all subcontractors identified after the effective date of the Agreement.

2. Service Provider is responsible for its subcontractors’ compliance with the Agreement, and shall be fully liable for the actions and omissions of subcontractors as if such actions or omissions were performed by Service Provider.

DISASTER RECOVERY 1. Service Provider agrees to maintain and follow a disaster recovery plan designed to maintain Customer access to the Service, and to prevent the unintended destruction or loss of Customer Data. The disaster recovery plan shall provide for and be followed by Service Provider such that in no event shall the Service be unavailable to Customer for a period in excess of twenty-four (24) hours.

2. Service Provider shall review and test the disaster recovery plan regularly, at minimum twice annually.

3. Service Provider shall back up Customer Data no less than twice daily in an off-site “hardened” facility located within the continental United States.

4. In the event of Service failure, Service Provider shall be able to restore the Service, including Customer Data, with loss of no more than twelve (12) hours of Customer Data and transactions prior to failure.

RECORDS AND AUDIT1. Records. Service Provider shall maintain accurate, reasonably detailed records pertaining to:

(i)The costs and expenses for the Service provided under this Agreement,

(ii) The substantiation of claims for payment under this Agreement, and

(iii) Service Levels, including service availability and downtime.

2. Records Retention. Service Provider shall keep such records for a minimum retention period of seven (7) years from the date of creation, and will preserve all such records for five (5) years after termination of this Agreement. No applicable records may be discarded or destroyed during the course of any litigation, claim, negotiation, audit or other inquiry involving this Agreement.

3. Audit.

Customer shall have the right, upon reasonable notice to Service Provider, to audit, review and copy, or contract with a third party to audit, any and all records collected by Service Provider pursuant to item (1) above, as well as any other Service Provider records that may reasonably relate to Customer’s use of the Service. Such records will be made available to Customer at no cost in a format that can be downloaded or otherwise duplicated.

Customer’s right to audit may be exercised at Service Provider’s premises, during normal business hours, at mutually agreed upon times.

In no event shall Service Provider have the right to audit, or require to have audited, Customer or its affiliates or users.

4. Code and Network Security Review. Customer shall have the right, at Customer’s expense, to conduct security reviews following launch of the Service, and after each major upgrade, and no more than once every six (6) months thereafter, upon reasonable notice to Service Provider. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Customer has reasonable cause to believe Service Provider is

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

not in compliance with this Agreement, Customer may perform an independent security review up to once every three (3) months. Security reviews may include code reviews, network reviews, and reviews of the physical security of the hosting facility and disaster recovery facility.

TRANSITION ASSISTANCE1. Service Provider shall reasonably cooperate with other parties in connection with all services to be delivered under this Agreement, including without limitation any successor provider to whom Customer Data is to be transferred in connection with termination. 2. No later than sixty (60) days prior to termination, Service Provider and Customer shall jointly create a written Transition Plan Document. Both parties shall comply with the Transition Plan Document both prior to and after termination as needed.

3. At minimum, the Transition Plan Document will incorporate the following:

(i) Customer Data and Documentation. During the transition period defined in the Transition Plan Document, Service Provider shall, at no cost to Customer and under reasonable terms of confidentiality, provide Customer with its Customer Data, including relevant technical documentation, data structures, relationships, business and system rules and triggers, in a format accessible without the use of the Service and as agreed to by Customer.

(ii) System Integrity. Service Provider will provide read-only access to the production environment for a period of not less than thirty (30) days after termination at no charge to Customer.

(iii) Consulting Services. Service Provider’s transition assistance shall include knowledge transfer and support necessary to facilitate Customer Data extraction, resulting in a final migration of all Customer Data back to Customer. Service Provider will perform reasonable transition services under a separate transition SOW on a time and materials basis either for a fixed fee or at rates to be mutually agreed upon by the parties.

Appendix 6: Accessibility Obligations for RFR Bidders

The successful Bidder (referred to herein as the “Vendor”) must comply with the Commonwealth’s established standards for accessibility as described herein.

Overview

The Commonwealth is legally obligated under multiple federal laws, its own Constitution, state statute and Governor-issued Executive Orders to ensure non-discrimination and equal access to state services on the part of persons with a disability and reasonable accommodations to state employees with a disability. To effectively meet its responsibilities, the Commonwealth must achieve accessibility in the acquisition, deployment and utilization of information technology. The Commonwealth defines accessibility to include compliance with its Enterprise Accessibility Standards and Web Accessibility Standards. These standards encompass the principles of Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act, the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Authoring Guidelines, version 2, level AA (WCAG2 Standards), and the concept of usability for individuals with disabilities.

Bidders should thoroughly review the detailed accessibility obligations below. As a brief summary, Bidders and the Vendor must:

Prior to contract execution

Provide a VPAT or accessibility testing results for any pre-existing software, including Third Party Software, that Vendor is delivering to the Commonwealth

If Vendor is delivering a SaaS offering, provide access to the offering for accessibility testing Cooperate with the Commonwealth on addressing accessibility issues and entering into a mitigation

letter if necessary

After contract execution

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

Build accessibility into every phase of the project Collaborate with the Commonwealth and the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) on accessibility

issues Test for accessibility before delivery and include testing results with all deliveries Cooperate with the Commonwealth’s accessibility testing after delivery Work to resolve any issues identified in testing and in the mitigation letter

Definitions

“Accessibility Audit Testing” is accessibility testing conducted on the Commonwealth’s behalf by a third party testing vendor engaged and paid for by the Commonwealth (an “Accessibility Testing Vendor”), as opposed to accessibility testing conducted by Vendor.

The “AT/IT List” is the Assistive Technology (“AT”)/Information Technology (“IT”) Environment List, which may be attached to the Solicitation or available at www.mass.gov/accessibility/.

“End User Deliverables” are any software, documentation, and other interfaces or materials, and any configuration, implementation, or customization thereof, used by end users (which may include internal end users, such as Commonwealth employees and contractors, and external end users, such as Commonwealth residents) and delivered by Vendor under the Solicitation. End User Deliverables include, without limitation: any configuration, implementation, or customization of Third Party Software or vendor software; and any updates, new releases, versions, upgrades, improvements, bug fixes, patches or other modifications to software.

“Enterprise Accessibility Standards” are the Enterprise Information Technology Accessibility Standards and the MassIT Web Accessibility Standards Version 2, available at www.mass.gov/accessibility/.

“Solicitation” refers to a Request for Response (RFR), Request for Quotes (RFQ), or other request for services to which these terms apply.

The term “software,” as used in these accessibility requirements, includes without limitation commercial off-the-shelf software (“COTS”) and software as a service or other cloud-based software (“SaaS”).

“Third Party Software” is software not published by Vendor.

A “VPAT” is a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template based on the standardized form developed by the Information Technology Industry Council. A VPAT shows how a software product meets key regulations of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires all agencies and departments of the U.S. federal government to make electronic information and technology accessible to federal employees and members of the public with disabilities.

Accessibility Obligations

1. Compliance with Commonwealth Standards

Vendor is responsible for addressing accessibility problems in any implementation, configuration, or documentation delivered or performed by Vendor, and in any software published by Vendor and delivered under this Solicitation.

Vendor shall ensure that all End User Deliverables adhere to the current version (as of the date of this Solicitation) of the Enterprise Accessibility Standards and interoperate with the environments listed on the AT/IT List. Vendor is encouraged to measure accessibility compliance using the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Authoring Guidelines, version 2, level AA (the WCAG2 Standards), as defined at http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php, in place of (1) Section 2, Technical Standards – Applications of the Enterprise Information Technology Accessibility Standards, and (2) Sections 1 through 5 and Section 8 of the MassIT Web Accessibility Standards.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

http://www.mass.gov/accessibility/

Vendor must ensure that accessibility and usability are addressed throughout the project. At the commencement of any project under this Solicitation, prior to beginning any significant design or implementation work, Vendor’s project manager shall meet with the Commonwealth’s project manager and appropriate resources to review the Enterprise Accessibility Standards, the AT/IT List, and any accessibility guidance provided by software vendors, in order to discuss their impact on the project. On an ongoing basis, Vendor must incorporate accessibility testing into all test plans and acceptance criteria, and include users of assistive technology in end user testing.

2. Accessibility Testing Vendors

The Commonwealth shall hire a third party Accessibility Testing Vendor to conduct Accessibility Audit Testing for this project. The Accessibility Testing Vendor will test each End User Deliverable against the Enterprise Accessibility Standards, and for interoperability with the AT and the IT environment described in the AT/IT List. Vendor shall cooperate with the Accessibility Testing Vendor.

The Accessibility Testing Vendor’s testing will be in addition to Vendor’s own accessibility testing. Vendor may either use its internal resources or may hire its own third party accessibility testing vendor to conduct testing.

3. Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC)

The Commonwealth and Vendor will collaborate and communicate throughout the process of creating the End User Deliverables with any vendors of Third Party Software, and with the Accessibility Advisory Committee. The AAC shall be comprised of at least one representative from each Vendor and the Commonwealth, and representatives of certain agencies designated by the Commonwealth such as the Massachusetts Office on Disability, Executive Department disability coordinators, Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, Massachusetts Commission for the Blind and Massachusetts Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

The AAC shall convene its first meeting no later than ten (10) calendar days after the Effective Date of any Contract entered under this Solicitation. Following this initial meeting, the AAC shall meet as mutually agreed to by the Commonwealth and Vendor in consultation with the AAC, but at a minimum, once a quarter. The purpose of these meetings shall be to prioritize the list of accessibility defects identified by the Vendor and/or the Commonwealth (through its Accessibility Testing Vendor), discuss any questions relating to accessibility testing and accessibility requirements, and to ensure that any concerns raised by a member of the AAC or a third party regarding accessibility of the Services are discussed, identified and addressed.

4. Training and Documentation

Vendor shall coordinate with the Commonwealth and the AAC in the identification of all prospective attendees at Vendor training who require accommodation, and shall cooperate with the Commonwealth in its provision of such accommodation.

All administrator and end user documentation and any training materials delivered by Vendor under this Solicitation (whether in a classroom or online) must be accessible to users with disabilities, and must include alternative keyboard commands wherever a mouse command is specified. All such materials delivered under this Solicitation and wholly owned by the Commonwealth shall be in an agreed-upon editable format.

5. Testing

Accessibility testing must be incorporated as part of Vendor’s overall quality assurance process. Vendor shall test end user software for accessibility during all testing; including, but not limited to, unit, integration, final acceptance, and system tests.

Testing of End User Deliverables

Vendor shall test every End User Deliverable against the Enterprise Accessibility Standards, and for interoperability with the AT and IT environments listed in the AT/IT List. Vendor shall resolve any problems identified in such testing prior to delivering the End User Deliverable to the Commonwealth. Vendor shall deliver to the Commonwealth the results of the final testing, with all accessibility problems resolved, at the

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

same time it delivers the End User Deliverable. The Commonwealth will conduct its own Accessibility Audit Testing of the End User Deliverables following delivery by Vendor.

Testing of Third Party Software

While Vendor is obligated to test any configuration, customization, or other modification it makes to Third Party Software, Vendor is not responsible for testing out-of-the-box, non-configured third party software for which accessibility testing has already been conducted and test results have already been provided to the Commonwealth in the form of a satisfactory VPAT provided in response to this Solicitation.

If Vendor is recommending or providing Third Party Software in response to this Solicitation, Vendor is responsible for working with the Commonwealth and the publisher of such Third Party Software to identify and resolve accessibility issues. However, if Vendor is configuring, installing, or otherwise working with Third Party Software that the Vendor did not recommend or provide to the Commonwealth, Vendor is not responsible for accessibility issues for such Third Party Software that are not related to Vendor’s configuration, customization, or other modification of such Third Party Software.

Failure to Comply; Repeat Testing

Following Vendor’s testing described above, the Commonwealth will conduct Accessibility Audit Testing on the End User Deliverables to determine compliance with the Enterprise Accessibility Standards and interoperability with the environments listed on the AT/IT List. If any End User Deliverables fail the Commonwealth’s initial post-delivery Accessibility Audit Testing, Vendor shall provide a credit to the Commonwealth for any repeat Commonwealth Accessibility Audit Testing that is needed. Such credits shall not exceed 5% of either (1) the total fixed price due Vendor under the initial contract resulting from this Solicitation, or (2) the total not-to-exceed amount of the initial contract resulting from this Solicitation if entered under a time and materials basis.

VPAT and Mitigation Letters

Prior to Contract execution, Vendor must provide VPATs for any existing Vendor and third-party software with which end users will interact. With respect to software for which Vendor cannot provide satisfactorily detailed VPATs, Vendor shall provide any alternative accessibility testing information or test results to which it has access.

If the Commonwealth determines that accessibility issues exist but can be resolved or mitigated after Contract execution, the Commonwealth may at its discretion file a request for a mitigation letter with MassIT’s Director of Assistive Technology. A mitigation letter is not a waiver of accessibility obligations, but rather a roadmap that contains a list of accessibility issues and the vendor’s commitment to cooperate with the Commonwealth in resolving or mitigating the issues within a reasonable time following contract execution. Any mitigation letter shall become part of the Contract resulting from this Solicitation.

6. Additional Terms for SaaS Vendors

A. For SaaS offerings, the Commonwealth reserves the right to test for accessibility or to engage a third party Accessibility Testing Vendor to conduct Accessibility Audit Testing at the Commonwealth’s expense prior to scoring and selecting a vendor. Bidders must cooperate with the Commonwealth and the Accessibility Testing Vendor, including providing appropriate access to the applicable cloud products for such testing. The results of any such accessibility testing, the VPAT or other accessibility documentation provided by the Vendor, and the cooperation of the Bidder, will be taken into account in scoring and selecting a Vendor.

B. Upon request, Vendor must provide the Commonwealth with accessibility-related content in the technical reference manual or program documentation for the applicable cloud product.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

C. In connection with its accessibility testing as permitted above, the Commonwealth shall have the right to configure the applicable cloud product in accordance with the technical reference manual or program documentation for the Commonwealth’s accessibility needs.

D. If Vendor is a SaaS provider with over 500,000 users for the SaaS offering bid in response to this Solicitation, the Commonwealth will negotiate with Vendor a commercially reasonable time for compliance with the Enterprise Accessibility Standards and interoperability with the environments on the AT/IT List.

7. Prioritizing and Remediating Accessibility Issues

Vendor shall collaborate with the Commonwealth, the AAC and the Accessibility Testing Vendor to prioritize accessibility defects based on severity.

Vendor shall be responsible for curing each instance identified by the Commonwealth or by its own accessibility testing in which the End User Deliverables fail to comply with the Enterprise Accessibility Standards or interoperate with the environments specified on the AT/IT List. Accessibility issues which pose a very minor inconvenience to disabled users but do not prevent them from using the software may not need to be remediated. Correction of accessibility issues may require, among other things, writing new core code, shutting off inaccessible features, providing users with third party software in addition to their assistive technology, or providing disabled users with an alternative pathway to the inaccessible feature or the business process that it automates.

8. Ongoing Maintenance

If the Vendor has agreed to perform maintenance for the Commonwealth, Vendor’s obligations above apply to its performance of maintenance. During the maintenance period, unless otherwise agreed in writing by Vendor and the Commonwealth, Vendor must ensure that the system continues to interoperate with the environments specified on the AT/IT List, including any changes to the AT/IT List that occur during the maintenance period, and must collaborate with the Commonwealth and any pertinent Third Party Software vendor and Accessibility Testing Vendor to correct any problems identified regarding interoperability.

Appendix 7: Instructions for Execution and Submission of Commonwealth Standard Forms

The purpose of this appendix is to provide guidance to Bidders on the Commonwealth Standard forms to be submitted (in addition to the other forms and documents required) and how they must be executed and submitted. Please note that these instructions are meant to supplement the Instructions found on each of these forms. It is advisable to print this document first so that it may be referenced when filling out these forms.

Some of the forms listed below can be electronically signed by the Bidder, see Electronic Signatures. However, online Bidders must, if notified of Contract award, submit the following four (4) forms on paper with original ink signatures unless otherwise specified below: the Commonwealth Standard Contract Form, the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, the Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification (Mass. Substitute W9 Form) and the Contractor Authorized Signatory Listing.

Commonwealth Standard Contract Form Sign electronically as described above; if notified of Contract award, complete as directed below and submit on paper with original ink signature and date.

By executing this document or signing it electronically, the Bidder certifies, under the pains and penalties of perjury, that it has submitted a Response to this RFR that is the Bidder’s Offer as evidenced by the execution of its authorized signatory, and that the Bidder’s Response may be subject to negotiation by EEA. Also, the terms of the RFR, the Bidder’s Response and any

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

negotiated terms shall be deemed accepted by the Operational Services Division and included as part of the Contract upon execution of this document by the State Purchasing Agent or his designee.

If the Bidder does not have a Vendor Code beginning with “VC,” or does not know what their Vendor Code is, the Bidder should leave the Vendor Code field blank. The Bidder should NOT enter a Vendor Code assigned prior to May 2004, as new Vendor Codes have been assigned to all companies since that time.

Signature and date MUST be handwritten in ink, and the signature must be that of one of the people authorized to execute contracts on behalf of the Contractor on the Contractor Authorized Signatory Listing (See below).

Commonwealth Terms and ConditionsSign electronically as described above; if notified of Contract award, complete as directed below and submit on paper with original ink signature and date, or submit a copy of a previously executed, up-to-date copy of the form as directed below.

If the Bidder has already executed and filed the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions form pursuant to another RFR or Contract, a copy of this form may be included in place of an original. If the Bidder’s name, address or Tax ID Number have changed since the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions form was executed, a new Commonwealth Terms and Conditions form is required. The Commonwealth Terms and Conditions are hereby incorporated into any Contract executed pursuant to this RFR.

This form must be unconditionally signed by one of the authorized signatories (see Contractor Authorized Signatory Listing, below), and submitted without alteration. If the provisions in this document are not accepted in their entirety without modification, the entire Proposal offered in response to this Solicitation may be deemed non-responsive.

The company’s correct legal name and legal address must appear on this form, and must be identical to the legal name and legal address on the Request for Taxpayer Identification and Certification Number (Mass. Substitute W9 Form).

Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification (Mass. Substitute W9 Form)Sign electronically as described above; if notified of Contract award, complete as directed below and submit on paper with original ink signature and date, or submit a copy of a previously executed, up-to-date copy of the form as directed below.

If a Bidder has already submitted a Request for Taxpayer Identification and Certification Number (Mass. Substitute W9 Form) and has received a valid Massachusetts Vendor Code, an original W-9 form is not required. A copy of the form as filed may be included in place of an original. If the Bidder’s name, address or Tax ID Number have changed since the Mass. Substitute W9 Form was executed, a new Mass. Substitute W9 Form is required. The information on this form will be used to record the Bidder’s legal address and where payments under a State Contract will be sent. The company’s correct legal name and legal address must appear on this form, and must be identical to the legal name and legal address on the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions. Please do not use the U.S Treasury’s version of the W9 Form.

Contractor Authorized Signatory ListingSign electronically as described above; if notified of Contract award, complete as directed below and submit on paper with original ink signature and date.

In the table entitled “Authorized Signatory Name” and “Title,” type the names and titles of those individuals authorized to execute contracts and other legally binding documents on behalf of the Bidder. Bidders are advised to keep this list as small as possible, as Contractors will be required to notify the Procurement Manager of any changes. If the person signing in the signature block on the

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

bottom of the first page of this form will also serve as an “Authorized Signatory,” that person’s name must be included in the typed table.

With regard to the next paragraph, which begins “I certify that I am the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Fiscal Officer, Corporate Clerk or Legal Counsel for the Contractor…,” if your organization does not have these titles, cross them out and handwrite the appropriate title above the paragraph.

The signature and date should be handwritten in ink. Title, telephone, fax and eMail should be typed or handwritten legibly.

The second page of the form (entitled “Proof of Authentication of Signature”) states that the page is optional. However, the “optional” aspect of the form is that Commonwealth Departments are not required to use it. In the case of Statewide Contracts, this page is REQUIRED, not optional. The person signing this page must be the same person signing the Standard Contract Form, the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, and the RFR Checklist.

Please note that in two places where the form says “in the presence of a notary,” this should be interpreted to mean “in the presence of a notary or corporate clerk/secretary.” Either a notary or corporate clerk/secretary can authenticate the form; only one is required.

Organizations whose corporate clerks/secretaries authenticate this form are not required to obtain a Corporate Seal to complete this document.

Supplier Diversity Program Plan Form 1Download this form and complete as directed below; include with online submission. Ink signature is not required.

The specific Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) requirements for this procurement can be found earlier in this document. Bidders are required to state a specific percentage of contract revenues that will represent the SDP commitment for the entire contract period, including any renewals.

Additional Environmentally Preferable Products / PracticesIn line with the Commonwealth’s efforts to promote products and practices which reduce our impact on the environment and human health, Bidders are encouraged to provide information regarding their environmentally preferable/sustainable business practices as they relate to this Contract wherever possible. Bidders must complete this form and submit it with their RFR Response.

Prompt Payment Discount FormDownload this form and complete as directed below; include with online submission. Ink signature is not required.

Pursuant to the Prompt Payment Discount terms set forth in the RFR Required Specifications for Contracts and on the Prompt Payment Discount Form itself, all Bidders must execute this form. After entering the “Bidder Name” and “Date of Offer for Prompt/Early Payment Discount”, the Bidder must identify the prompt payment discount(s) terms by indicating the “Percentage Discount off of the Proposed Pricing” and the “Turn-around-time for Payments.” In the event of a hardship that prevents the Bidder from offering a prompt payment discount, the Bidder must document this fact and provide supporting information. If awarded a contract, the final negotiated prompt payment discounts should be reflected on the Commonwealth Standard Contract Form.

EEA VMMS Project

of 53

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Information Technology ... · Web viewBest Value Selection and...

Documents

Transcript of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Information Technology ... · Web viewBest Value Selection and...