The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking information from vendors regarding the capabilities to modify, enhance and support the USDA Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Functional Analysis for Compliance and Trends System (FACTS). Background COOL is a labeling law that requires retailers, such as full-line grocery stores, supermarkets, and club warehouse stores, to notify their customers with information regarding the source of certain foods. Food products, (covered commodities) contained in the law include muscle cut and ground meats: beef, veal, pork, lamb, goat, and chicken; wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish; fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables; peanuts, pecans, and macadamia nuts; and ginseng. Commodities are excluded from mandatory COOL if they are considered processed food items. The mission of the USDA/AMS COOL Program is to ensure compliance with the regulation by conducting retail surveillance activities (retail reviews) in store locations across the country and supplier traceback audits of the chain of commerce. Additional background information on the COOL Program can be found on COOL's website at www.ams.usda.gov/cool. The COOL FACTS application consists of an internal CRM solution that is utilized by AMS personnel to administrator the COOL Program and a secure external facing .Net Portal that is utilized by State cooperating agencies, approximately 400 users. USDA has cooperative agreements with all 50 states to assist in conducting retail reviews and submitting compliance data via the portal. The Portal functionality includes management of retail review assignments; entry and submit capabilities of compliance data collected during the review; invoice submission; and (retailer) account update features. Both technical components of the solution are hosted locally on virtualized Windows 2008 servers. Other components of COOL FACTS include SQL Server 2012 Enterprise, CRM 2011 Enterprise, Team Foundation Server 2013 and a Microsoft Unified Access Gateway (UAG) device. AMS owns all software, hardware, and licenses to support this solution. AMS hosts both a Pre-Production and Production environment for COOL FACTS. This permits for comprehensive testing of any builds prior to production release. Description of Need AMS seeks to engage a vendor who will revamp the existing Portal and stabilize the CRM platform to the CRM 2015 version which will improve users' experience, enhance data capture processes and reporting capabilities, and optimize the architecture and framework. A modernized COOL FACTS system will serve as a significant operational centerpiece for the COOL staff and stakeholders. The COOL FACTS project scope includes the following: • Perform due diligence and reverse engineering on current system issues to resolve current Production CRM platform issues and enhance functionalities to restore operational status to the Portal and CRM platform • Modify workflows and improve business processes efficiencies and operational capabilities including redundancy and failover options • Improve customer experience, and improve data entry process. This may include cleanup of existing data source and enhance end-user interface changes that streamline data entry and enhance reporting capabilities • Develop new portal from a customized framework or via a plugin third party product solution such as CRM connector or form generator to replace the existing portal • Upgrade existing COOL CRM platform to Dynamic CRM 2015 and stabilize current production system for compatibility and operational • Provide Tier 3 Support to COOL FACTS. This support shall demonstrate a proven ability to effectively understand complex and potentially deep system issues that are reported • Diagnose system issues and communicate issues to AMS Stakeholders, and then proceed with implementing corrective and preventative measures to resolve problems • Document and update system processes, system administers guides and user manuals. AMS is proposing to leverage current AMS platform technologies as stated to update a cost-effective, yet modern system. Documents relevant to the COOL project include: • A recording of COOL FACTS by the business expert to address pain points and; • COOL FACTS User Manuals, (Portal, CRM, and System Admin). Vendors interested in supporting AMS/COOL in the development and support of the COOL FACTS should have the capability to: • Develop and/or maintain systems utilizing Agile processes such as Scrum/XP/Kanban (e.g. ability to respond to changing requirements in a fast-paced environment with frequent business owner interactions) • Demonstrate experience with Microsoft CRM and .NET development environment • Proven experience applying customized portal framework to replace existing portal or expertise in portal solution via a COTS product • Proven experience performing MS Dynamic CRM upgrade and stabilize existing system for compatibility and operational • Design systems to minimize operations and maintenance expenses where feasible, given the limited nature of funding for system development • Support early engagement with the COOL user community, as they will be key data providers for, and users of, the system. USDA system domain and process expertise is desirable. Request for Information Instructions Responses to this publication will not result in a contract and will only be used for market research data. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) for competitive proposals. The Government will NOT award a contract based on the information received, nor reimburse participants for information they provide. Interested sources may notify AMS of their interest in performing this type of work. Responses must include: 1) Name of Company and Contact Information to include telephone and e-mail; 2) Business Size and type of ownership (e.g., Large Business, Small Business, HubZone Small Business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), 8(a), Women-Owned, Small Disadvantaged); 3) Duns Number; 4) Responses to the requested information questions; 5) Three past performance and references relevant to the company's ability to perform this type of work and/or literature that supports the company's capability to perform this work; and 6) List of contract vehicles your company may have such as a GSA Federal Supply Schedule, 8(a) Certification, etc., OR if only able to compete under Open Market. 7) Identify potential teaming partner and the approach of that arrangement for complete technical solution, if applicable. Requested Information - Interested companies should include in their response answers to the following market research questions/requests: a) What is your management and staffing approach for successfully developing an IT system using agile methodologies? b) How do you ensure cost-effective, long-term maintainability of the system when tasked primarily to modify and enhance existing system functions and capabilities? c) How do you plan to communicate and engage the stakeholder to develop business domain expertise and improve system capabilities? d) Describe your experience in resolving problems with an established CRM system. e) What is your experience in modifying an existing CRM application utilizing customized portal framework and/or third party COTS product solution? f) What is your experience in performing dynamic CRM upgrade to existing CRM platform and stabilize it with existing or new portal solution? g) What is your experience in providing system development and enhancement while performing O&M support of existing production system? h) Describe the benefits of your company customized portal framework solution or a proposed COTS product portal solution along with the experience of providing the CRM services in the federal government sector. Interested sources who submit a response to this Request for Information are responsible for identifying any information that is proprietary in nature. Information requested is strictly voluntary. Responses must be e-mailed to:
[email protected]. No telephone communication will be honored and sources who submit a response will not be entitled to the results of this notice.