county of los angeles

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COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS "To Enrich Lives Through Effective and Caring Service" 900 SOUTH FREMONT AVENUE ALHAMBRA, CALIFORNIA 91 803-1 33 1 Telephone:(626)458-5100 http://dpw.lacounty.gov

GAIL FARBER,Director

ADDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO: P.O. BOX 1460 ALHAMBRA,CALIFORNIA 91802-1460

IN REPLY PLEASE REFER TO FILE'. AE-3

June 25, 2015

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR HOSTED ONLINE BID SERVICES SYSTEM 1.0

INTRODUCTION PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works is releasing this Request for Information (RFI), requesting information from vendors to determine the availability of products, systems, and services to provide hosted online bid services. 1.1

This is a RFI only and not a solicitation or offer to contract with any respondent. Submission of a response does not bind the County or respondent to any agreement for services or any other work. This does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP), Request for Statement of Qualifications (RFSQ), Invitation for Bids (IFB), Purchase Order (PO), or a promise to issue a solicitation now or in the future. The information obtained as a result of this RFI may be used by the County to prepare and release a future solicitation (e.g., RFP, RFSQ, IFB, PO, or another procurement method) to solicit proposals to perform the services described in this RFI. The County may rely on this information to implement a pilot program. The County may also elect to take no further action. Public Works is seeking information from vendors that can provide an operationally proven, no-cost, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software solution for a hosted online bid services system but also seeks information regarding any combination COTS and custom application development either at no-cost or cost.

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In addition to the functionality specified in Section 2.0 (System Overview and Requirements), the hosted online bid services system should be capable of all of the following: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv.

Allow Public Works user to post solicitations, RFI, and/or projects. Allow Public Works to issue and upload documents, such as plans, addendums, estimates, and schedule of prices. Allow vendors to view and download solicitation documents. Allow vendors to view plan holders lists. Allow vendors to register. Accepting online bids/proposals. Allow flexibility for the size and configuration of bid/proposal data submitted. Allow bidders/proposers to submit bids/proposals. Allow vendors to confidentially enter and edit their responses to solicitations until the bid submission deadline. Allow control and tracking of bid/proposal submissions. Allow bid results to be posted online. Allow archiving and tabulation of bid information. Allow ease of use for both bidders/proposers and Public Works staff. Provide a secure system.

1.2

This RFI has been prepared to assist Public Works in fully understanding hosted online bid services system functionality currently available in the marketplace. Vendors of interest are those who can identify potential solutions and are capable of delivering a turnkey system solution and providing ongoing support.

1.3

Through this RFI, Public Works invites all interested companies that provide hosted online bid service systems to comment and respond. Public Works wilt not provide any reimbursement to respondents to this RFI for their costs incurred in providing a response or presentation, if requested.

1.4

Vendors seeking to submit information responsive to this RFI about products, services, or systems that they have knowledge of, may submit a formal response in writing as outlined in Section 3.0 (Information Requested).

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1.5

Questions regarding this RFI may be directed to: Mr. Benjamin Sandoval E-mail: bsandoval(a~dpw.lacounty.gov Telephone: (626)458-7334

2.0

SYSTEM OVERVIEW AND REQUIREMENTS 2.1.

Public Works is seeking information regarding products, services, or systems capable of providing a hosted online bid services system that will be used for submitting bids in response to solicitations for construction, Job Order Contract(JOC), professional services, and service Contract solicitations, and will be accessible to any bidder, proposer, or contractor using standard web browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome etc.).

2.2.

Public Works is interested in a COTS system that meets all the high-level requirements identified in this RFI, either in the vendor's current application release or in a future release (no longer than 18 months from this RFI). Public Works may consider hosted online bid system services vendor solutions that are a combination COTS and custom application development, but the additional development should not preclude Public Works in taking advantage of new application functionality in future releases.

2.3

Application Integration/Interface The solution will need to be capable of Interfacing with internal systems (Public Works' "Doing Business With Us" website, Construction Management Database (CMD), Engineer's Estimate Program, Architectural Engineering Database, and Service Contracts Database) using industry-standard protocols, such as web services/xml. This will minimize the need for duplicate data entry and enable downloading of information. 2.3.1

Description of Public Works applications: 2.3.1.1

Public Works' "Doing Business With Us" website was developed internally and is a resource for businesses interested in Public Works business

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opportunities. The website is available for public viewing and advertises Public Works building projects, infrastructure projects, professional services, and sundry services contracts. Each project/contracting opportunity has a profile page with project information, contact information, and links to bid documents. 2.3.1.2

CMD is a Web-based program developed internally. The CMD is used by the Construction Division for project management and provides detailed information about contract construction projects including project information, location, permit data; utilities data, contractor information; staff information, milestone dates; financial details, environmental data, and each project's related documents.

2.3.1.3

Engineer's Estimate enables Public Works' staff to create estimates that contain all the work items and quantities construction necessary for the management phase of a project. Bid Opening and Payment Program are interfaces that are used by the CMD to generate bid summaries and monthly payments.

2.3.1.4

Architectural Engineering Database is a Web-based database program developed internally. The Architectural Engineering Division (AED) is utilized to administer solicitations and awards for various contracts. It is linked with the Department's "Doing Business With "Us" website and the County's" Los Angeles County Online's Doing Business With Us" website for public viewing.

2.3.1.5

Service Contracts Database is an internal web-based program developed internally. The Service Contracts Database is used by the Service Contracts section of the AED to administer solicitations from development, to release and award, and throughout the life of the contracts. Information regarding released or open

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solicitations is pushed to the Departments Doing Business With Us website for public viewing. 2.4

System Capacity to Accept Bids and Proposal Submissions The suitable solution should: 2.4.1

Accept multiple contract solicitation types, such as Construction, JOC Bids, RFPs, IFBs, RFSQs, etc.

2.4.2

Provide a mechanism for acceptance of electronic signatures of a person authorized to submit a bid or bid bond on behalf of the firm and allow for a signature and date for oath of truthfulness submission.

2.4.3

Accommodate requested information on a proposal form or have this information automatically populated from Public Works' databases)/website through adrop-down list.

2.4.4

Acknowledge receipt of each addendum issued.

2.4.5

Accommodate/integrate Public Works' specific forms in editable Word, Excel, and PDF formats including signature and date.

2.4.6

Integrate the seal and certificate of a notary public in compliance with or as permitted by applicable law.

2.4.7

Export data to Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, and PDF.

2.4.8

Post Bid documents for public viewing as specified by the County.

2.4.9

Include a home website link in the information page for each project.

2.4.10 Include a link to the instructions for electronic bid submittal.

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2.4.11

Include the requirements of the solicitation document (IFB, RFP, IFB, etc.) in the information page for each project.

2.4.12 Support atwo-part process solicitation - Part A open to all interested parties. Part B limited to invited proposers prequalified under Part A including acceptance of technical and cost proposal. 2.4.13 Prevent a bidder who was not represented at a mandatory prebid or proposer's conference meeting from submitting a bid. 2.4.14 Allow for uploading of documents required by the solicitation, such as plans, specifications, manuals, licenses, and certifications (including cost preference certifications), and a complete proposal in a searchable (OCR) pdf format with file size ranging from 500 MB to over 1 GB. 2.4.15 Provide a prequalification questionnaire and include a flagging feature if appropriate answers are not received. 2.4.16 Secure and segregate documents, which are labeled "proprietary" or "confidential" and only viewable by Public Works staff. 2.4.17 Accept bid bonds as permitted by law. 2.4.18 Allow uploading of required licenses)/certification(s) and verify validity if possible. 2.4.19 Allow for submission of large data files and have sufficient network bandwidth in the event of several last minute submissions. 2.5

System Capacity to Accept Schedule of Prices/Bid Amounts The suitable solution should: 2.5.1

Automatically populate the Stipulated Unit Prices fixed in the Proposal Form.

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2.5.2

Allow "Unit Price/Hourly Price" field to be populated by the Bidder.

2.5.3

Automatically calculate and populate the "Amount" field for Unit Price Items.

2.5.4

Allow the bidder to populate the "Amount" field for Lump Sum items.

2.5.5

Automatically calculate the "Grand Total."

2.5.6

Be capable of accepting factors containing up to four digits beyond the decimal point e.g., 0.6844, 1.1520 for JOC. JOC's are contracts in which the bidder submits a bid based on a factor of stipulated prices listed in a Unit Price Book (UPB). JOC bids, which are firm-fixed-price-indefinite-quantity collection of detailed repair and remodel tasks and specifications that have established unit prices. The JOC bid includes a UPB based on the use of experienced labor and quality materials.

2.5.7

Integrate the following County of Los Angeles preference programs into the bid price calculation: LSBE preference, Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) Preference, Transitional Job Opportunities Preference Program.

2.5.8

Allow the bidder to populate the requested Community Business Enterprise (CBE)firm/organization information.

2.5.9

Accommodate/integrate Additive Alternates and allow bidder to populate multiple additive alternates.

2.5.10 Automatically calculate and populate the Base Bid amount. 2.5.11

Total the amount of each additive alternate.

2.5.12 Automatically calculate and populate the Grand Total (Base Bid plus Additive Alternate total) for each Base Bid/Additive Alternate combination.

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2.5.13 Accommodate/integrate Cost +Time ("A+B") bidding. 2.5.14 Allow the bidder to enter the number of working days. 2.5.15 Automatically calculate the road user cost (daily road user cost times the proposed number of working days). 2.5.16 Export data from electronic bid submissions to an online bid summary sheet and allow data from paper bid submissions to be incorporated to bid summary sheets. 2.5.17 Accept, process, and confirm bid bonds as permitted by law. 2.6

System Capacity Relating to Evaluation of Proposals The suitable solution should:

3.0

2.6.1

Support a best value evaluation with fields for submission of required information including, but not limited to work plan, experience, references, and equipment.

2.6.2

Tabulate written qualifications and oral interview results submitted by evaluators.

2.6.3

Provide an evaluation matrix with tabulation of all evaluated items including price if applicable.

INFORMATION REQUESTED Vendors who have information regarding a system that provides a hosted online bid services system are requested to submit relevant information about their system. Public Works is interested in responses for a no-cost, COTS software solution, and also invites responses for a combination COTS and custom application development at no-cost or cost. Vendors are allowed to submit responses for each of these two solutions in their response. Responses shall be bound and presented in the sequence described herein, with the content tabbed and paginated in the format stated below.

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3.1

Title Page The title page shall show the vendor's name, title of the RFI, local address, telephone number, and date of submittal.

3.2

Table of Contents A comprehensive table of contents shall list all material included in the responses.

3.3

Letter of Transmittal A point of contact for vendor should be provided including name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. The letter must include a brief statement of the vendor's understanding of the RFI, and a list of names of individuals authorized to make representations for the vendor, including their titles, addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers.

3.4

Corporate Information and References a. b. c. d. e.

f. g.

3.5

Corporate or company name and headquarters' address. Address/other contact information of nearest corporate or company office to downtown Los Angeles, California. Number of years in business. Description product solutions offered by the business. List all cities, counties, and/or government agencies (name, address, contact person, and telephone or email) that have deployed or used the vendor's solution within the last three years, with at minimum five cities, counties, and/or government agencies within California. Size of customer base (number of agencies and number of vendor solution's system users). High-level system documentation identifying existing deployment of vendor solution at customer site(s).

Description of the system functionality Provide documentation that is descriptive of the functions supported by the system with a focus on the specific functional areas identified in this document for a hosted online bid services system as described in Section 2.0 (System Overview and Requirements) above. Existing product literature and prepared marketing materials may also be included and is encouraged. However, this information is typically less useful than

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more detailed user and technical documentation. An onsite follow-up demonstration of your proposed system may be requested by Public Works. 3.6

Description of the technical architecture Provide information about the overall system architecture including, as applicable, the following items: 3.6.1 3.6.2 3.6.3 3.6.4 3.6.5 3.6.6 3.6.7 3.6.8 3.6.9 3.6.10 3.6.11

3.7

Hardware requirements including virtualization options. Operating system/software environment. Network requirements and protocols. Database environment and storage requirements. Description of the installation process. Description of security and system audit features. Capability to configure and customize the application. Application scalability. Reporting tools. Middleware and other third party software tools. Application integration/interfaces.

Description of product support and maintenance Explain or comment on the following: 3.7.1 3.7.2 3.7.3 3.7.4 3.3.5 3.3.6

3.8

System Manuals. Online documentation and/or help. On-site and off-site training. Help desk operations including staffing and hours of availability. Frequency of software upgrades and their acquisition delivery. User feedback procedures.

Customization Solutions Describe how customization of a COTS software solution program would be tailored to address the system requirements as described in Section 2.0 above.

3.9

Estimated costs Any costs estimated for the purpose of this RFI are considered for research purposes only and are nonbinding to either the respondent or County of Los Angeles.

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This document being an RFI, costs can be an estimation, but only in general as it applies to a typical standard COTS software solution with, as appropriate, additional application development to meet the requirements in this RFI. As this is not an RFP or IFB, specific Public Works environment information cannot be made available to the respondent. Consequently, a complete COTS software solution with possible application development's cost estimate will need to be general, and take into consideration the following areas that may or may not be quantifiable: a. b. c. d. e. f. g.

COTS cost. Additional application development cost. Recommended hardware specifications and cost. Nonrecurring hardware and software licensing cost (if applicable). Implementation cost. Training costs. Ongoing maintenance support costs.

3.10 Additionallnformation Additional information that is not presented elsewhere must appear in the last Section of the response and be labeled "Additional Information." If there is no additional information the vendor wishes to present, this Section will consist of the statement: "There is no additional information we wish to present." 4.0

RESPONSE METHOD AND TIME FRAME 4.1

In order to facilitate the analysis of responses to this RFI, respondents shall prepare their submissions in accordance with these instructions. It is the sole responsibility of the respondent to ensure that its response is complete, accurate, and responsive to each inquiry. All responses submitted to the County in response to this RFI shall be clearly written in the English language. Inadequate, incomplete, or otherwise nonresponsive responses as determined in the County's sole judgment will be disregarded.

4.2

Responses should be submitted with two complete sets of the response that includes all related information in the following formats: •

Paper: One original.

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•

5.0

Electronic: One original electronic copy on a CD or USB Drive in PDF format.

4.3

Responses to this RFI must be submitted to the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works Cashier, located on the Mezzanine Floor, 900 South Fremont Avenue, Alhambra, California 91803, in a package that clearly identifies the vendor and this RFI. Responses are received only when accepted and time stamped by the Cashier. All other indications of apparent timely delivery may be disregarded.

4.4

Deadline to submit responses is Monday, July 27, 2015, at 5:30 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time). If your firm does not respond to this RFI on or before the deadline set forth above, Public Works will presume your firm either does not meet the requirements outlined herein or is not interested in responding to this RFI.

4.5

Public Works encourages all potential vendors to submit their response consistent with the content and instructions provided in Section 3.0 (Information Requested). It is the responsibility of the vendor to instruct delivery services, such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express, to deliver Responses directly to the Cashier. Responses submitted via facsimile ore-mail will not be accepted.

4.6

Responses delivered by other means, including United States Postal Service, may be delayed in Public Works' mail system, resulting in untimely delivery to the Cashier and possible failure to meet the submission deadline. Delays and missed deadlines for submissions of responses not delivered in compliance with this RFI shall be the sole responsibility of the vendor, not of the County, Public Works, or any Special District.

4.7

All respondents to this RFI will be placed on a priority recipient list for a possible future solicitation by Public Works. Failure to respond to this RFI will not disqualify any firm from being considered in future solicitations.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 5.1

Responses to this RFI shall become the exclusive property of the County. Respondents should be aware that the information provided will be analyzed and may appear in various reports and/or requests with the exception of those parts of each submission, which meet the definition of "Trade Secret" and are plainly marked as "Trade Secret" or "Proprietary."

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5.2

The County shall not, in any way, be liable or responsible for the disclosure of any such record, or any parts thereof, if disclosure is required or permitted under California Public Records Act or otherwise by law. A blanket statement of confidentiality or the marking of each page of the submission as confidential shall not be deemed sufficient notice of exception. Respondents must specifically label only those provisions of the submission which are "Trade Secrets" or "Proprietary" in nature.

5.3

The County will review the responses to this RFI, which may subsequently lead to further investigation. This is a request for information ONLY; this is not a solicitation. Information received in response to this RFI may be used in the preparation of a RFP, an IFB, or another County method for solicitation of services. Respondents to this RFI will be notified by the County of Los Angeles of a future solicitation, if any.

5.4

Respondents to this RFI may be invited by the County to provide a noncompetitive presentation of their products, for only those products, which relate directly to the subject and intent of this RFI. The presentation is intended for information gathering purposes only. Such presentation should not exceed two hours in length.

Questions regarding this RFI must be directed to Mr. Benjamin Sandoval at (626)458-7334, bsandoval(a~dpw.lacounty.gov, Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thank you for the information you will be providing and we look forward to reviewing your RFI responses. Very truly yours, GAIL FARBER Director of Public Works

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