HUD’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report and Homelessness Data Exchange Applications

Sources Sought Notice APP-D-2021-010 AHAR/HDX PARTS 1 and 2 The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support this requirement for HUD’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report and Homelessness Data Exchange Applications (AHAR/HDX). The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement 541611-Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services. There is no solicitation at this time. This request for capability information does not constitute a request for proposals; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. If your organization has the potential capacity to perform these contract services, please provide the following information: 1) organization name, address, email address, website address, telephone number, and size and type of ownership for the organization; and 2) tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. The government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to 1) provide services consistent in scope and scale with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated; 2) secure and apply the full range of corporate financial, human capital, and technical resources required to successfully perform similar requirements; 3) implement a successful project management plan that includes: compliance with program schedules; cost containment; meeting and tracking performance; hiring and retention of personnel and risk mitigation; and 4) provide services under a performance based service acquisition contract. Based on the responses to this Sources Sought notice/market research, this requirement may be set-aside for small businesses or procured through full and open competition, and multiple awards may be made. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions. No questions wil be addressed. Submission Instructions: Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to perform the above-listed services are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice by 12:00pm Eastern Standard, December 21, 2020. All responses under this Sources Sought Notice must be emailed to [email protected] and AHAR/HDX Capability Statement must be identified in the Subject Line. Additional information on the required services is listed below. Background: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS) requires Contractor support to receive and analyze data, assist with managing and producing a two-part Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), and manage and maintain the Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX). This work enables SNAPS to meet congressional obligations and accomplish HUD's mission of transforming the way HUD does business. The AHAR is a report from the HUD to the U.S. Congress that provides nationwide estimates of homelessness, including information about the demographic characteristics of homeless persons, service use patterns, and the capacity to house homeless persons. The report is based on data about persons who experience homelessness during a 12-month period, point-in-time (PIT) counts of people experiencing homelessness on one day in January, and data about the inventory of shelter and housing available in a community from the community’s Housing Inventory Chart (HIC). This data comes from locally implemented Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) that each Continuum of Care (CoC) is required to utilize. General Description of Work: Develop and maintain Project Plan and Project Schedule The Contractor shall be responsible for delivering and maintaining a project plan and project schedule. The draft Project Plan shall be delivered in Microsoft Word and the Project Schedule shall be delivered in Microsoft Project and include a full Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for each project phase. The Project Plan shall include various strategies on how to approach the following: (1) preparing HDX for data collection (2) communicating with CoCs (3) collecting and cleaning data from CoCs, (4) analyzing data for reporting, and (5) developing reports. The Contractor shall use these strategies to inform how the final deliverables will be accomplished for the Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1 and 2. The Project Schedule shall include contract deliverables, timeline, deliverable dates, responsible parties, and dependencies. Prepare and deliver monthly in-progress reports The Contractor shall conduct monthly In-Progress Reviews (IPR). The IPR shall include the following topics: Agenda/task review and schedule/action items (past and future) Review by task Schedule by task Previous months activities by task Planned activities for next month by task Current and unresolved issues Actions required by HUD CPD SNAPS Provide closeout services Develop, document, and provide a draft Close Out Report indicating key activities during contracted period of performance, recommendations for tasks, and an account of the systems current status and performance to be reviewed by the HUD COR and SME Review, revise, and provide a final Close Out Report indicating key activities during contracted period of performance, recommendations for tasks, and an account of the systems current status and performance Develop, document, and provide a draft Deliverables Report indicating the status of each deliverable to be reviewed by the HUD COR and SME Review, revise, and provide a final Deliverables Report indicating the status of each deliverable Preparation for Part 1 of the Annual Homeless Assessment Report Prepare and develop resources for PIT count and HIC data collection The Contractor shall update the HDX 1.0 application for CoCs to submit their PIT count and HIC data; prepare internal data reviewers and cleaners to assist approximately 400 CoCs in the data submission process; and update submission guidance and materials. Preparations shall include: updating data validations checks in HDX 1.0 to address common data issues found in the previous year’s AHAR Part 1 data collection effort and current PIT count and HIC Notice three (3) months before the PIT count and HIC data submission opening date updating data quality checks in analytic or statistical software to address common data issues found in the previous year’s AHAR Part 1 data collection effort and current PIT count and HIC Notice 30-days before the PIT count and HIC data submission opening date creating and updating automatic email responses to CoCs on common data issues 30-days before the PIT count and HIC data submission opening date. preparing Contractor staff for data quality reviewer and data cleaning roles (i.e. internal trainings, instructions, and tools) 30-days before the PIT count and HIC data submission opening date Collect, review, and clean PIT count and HIC data The Contractor shall work with approximately 400 CoCs providing one-on-one support over five (5) months as the CoCs upload PIT count and HIC data into HDX 1.0. Collecting, reviewing, and cleaning shall include: creating and managing automated email process to flag PIT count and HIC data submission issues for CoCs contacting all CoCs with PIT count or HIC data issues to assist with resolving data quality concerns submitting initial PIT count and HIC data file to HUD 30-days after the submission closing date confirming results, or correcting data quality issues and confirming submission results for approximately 400 CoCs five (5) months after submission closing date. reviewing adjustments and confirmations for quality assurance testing making changes in the HDX 1.0 to reflect resolution of issues and confirmation of data submitting final PIT count and HIC data file to HUD five (5) months after submission closing date. The Contractor shall review approximately 400 CoC PIT count and HIC data submissions for data quality flags and any additional issues requiring direct follow-up with CoCs. Analyze data for the AHAR Part 1 report The Contractor shall conduct the following data analysis activities to determine the PIT estimates of homelessness and the nations capacity to serve homeless persons for the AHAR Part 1 within six (6) months of the submission closing date: updating and refining statistical software used for AHAR analysis based on the most recent PIT count and HIC updates utilizing historic unsheltered data in years that an unsheltered count is not required of CoCs adjusting historic data to current data composition when possible to allow analysis (i.e. adjusting for CoC mergers, CoC splits, data element mergers, etc.) adjusting for data corrections submitted after the previous reporting period closed updating and preparing files for analysis updating and preparing table shells to be used in the report populating table shells with final estimates include counts of people in various population groups Prepare the AHAR Part 1 report The Contractor shall prepare the AHAR Part 1: Point-In-Time Estimates of Homelessness which includes the national Inventory of Beds in the United States: estimates of homelessness at the national, state, and local level demographic characteristics by household type and subpopulation national housing inventory information Preparation for Part 2 of the Annual Homeless Assessment Report Prepare and develop resources for LSA data collection The Contractor shall prepare the HDX 2.0 website for LSA data collection, prepare communities for the data submission process, and develop resources to assist communities in the data submission process. The LSA submission opening date for HDX 2.0 is October 1st and the closing date is October 31st. The Contract shall prepare the HDX. 2.0 for LSA data collection two (2) months before the LSA submission opening date. Preparations shall include: updating validation warnings, error messages and flags for LSA data submissions identifying additional data quality checks required for LSA data submissions updating HDX 2.0 to accommodate current data submission requirements resolving errors and bugs that remain from the last HDX 2.0 update The Contractor shall prepare training and resources for CoCs, HMIS Leads and HMIS Vendors about the LSA submission process three (3) months before the LSA submission opening date. Preparations shall include: coordinating with HUD Technical Assistance Regional Teams to answer CoC questions about the LSA submission process refining and reproducing the LSA Data Collection Manual for CoCs identifying and creating other useful tools on an ongoing basis (e.g. cheat sheets, FAQs) creating brief LSA submission guides that are one-to-two-page documents outlining the key updates and considerations based on lessons learned from last year's data cleaning submission and cleaning process drafting email notifications for the HUD listserv to announce when new LSA resources become available, and also to notify CoCs of key deadlines and other relevant information related to the LSA submission updating automated email templates for notifying CoCs of found issues and concerns The Contractor shall prepare internal LSA data liaisons and reviewers for their role in assisting CoCs, HMIS Leads and HMIS vendors three (3) months before the LSA submission opening date. Preparations shall include: developing trainings to cover overview, history, and importance of the LSA and process improvements made since last year developing trainings to cover overview of the LSA submission process plus any key takeaways important for assisting communities using the LSA Data Collection Manual for communities as a guide to create a manual for staff identifying and creating other useful tools on an ongoing basis, as needed, such as cheat sheet create and establish oversight, scheduling, and case conferencing protocols for AAQ management during data collection and cleaning processes all team members will be trained on data standards and how the data quality files interact Collect, review, and clean LSA data The Contractor shall collect, review, and clean LSA data with approximately 400 CoCs providing one-on-one support over several weeks as they upload LSA data into HDX 2.0 and work through warnings in an iterative process until the CoC confirms the data accurately reflect the number, characteristics, and system use of those served within their homelessness system for that year. When data quality issues are found and corrections are needed, they must be made in the CoCs HMIS and then the LSA data must be reuploaded into HDX. Usable data from this process will produce an HMIS-based estimate of persons experiencing homelessness. The Contractor shall engage and support approximately 400 CoCs with their LSA data submission process within two (2) months of the LSA submission closing date. The Contractor shall have staff triaging LSA data submission or HDX 2.0 questions through the HUD Exchange Ask-A-Question (AAQ) online portal. The Contractor shall utilize regular HUD coordination meetings to raise any nuanced questions to HUD staff for additional review and approval before sending out AAQ responses. The Contractor shall review and approve CoC notes for warning flags on submissions on a rolling basis. Once the LSA submission window closes for CoCs, the Contractor shall run external check files that were not built into the HDX 2.0 as needed. The Contractor shall prepare the external check files and draft an HDX 2.0 message to inform CoCs when the files are ready, how to access them, how to submit them back to the Contractor, and the deadline for doing so (i.e. Final Deadline). CoCs will submit their updated external check files via an LSA email address and the Contractor for review and schedule more individualized support for CoCs, as needed. The Contractor shall assist CoCs with the final review, approval, and confirmation of their LSA data submissions within four (4) months of the LSA submission closing date. Assistance shall include gathering final information, reviewing submission, and gaining local approval and CoC confirmation by the confirmation deadline. The HDX Team shall enter CoC comments into the HDX 2.0 for any existing flags and will resolve others in the external check files they get back from the CoCs. If additional follow-up is needed or if the flags require a new upload, Contractor staff shall re-open the CoC's submission and send the CoC the flag file back for review. The Contractor shall send CoCs reminders of the approaching Final Deadline via the HDX 2.0 messaging system and the HUD Exchange listserv. Upon completion of the external checks portion of the data validation process, all CoC official LSA submissions will be set to "complete" status for the Final Deadline four (4) months after the submission closing date. The HDX Team shall add any remaining notes from the CoC into the HDX 2.0, and review and approve other flags in the external check files that will be saved in a shared folder. The Contractor shall communicate back and forth with CoCs throughout the data cleaning window to resolve any remaining data quality issues. The Contractor shall mark the CoCs official LSA dataset as "Complete once the data cleaning process is finished. Once the CoC confirms the official LSA dataset accurately reflects the number, characteristics, and system use of those served within their homelessness system for that year, the Contractor shall review the data files to determine usability for data analysis and reporting and submit the findings in an LSA Data Usability Report for AHAR Part 2 to HUD five (5) months after the LSA submission closing date.. The Contractor shall review remaining unconfirmed LSA data files that are unresolved to determine potential solutions and make recommendations to the CoC. The Contractor shall maintain and submit to HUD an LSA Usability Database for tracking usability determinations five (5) months after the LSA submission closing date. Once all processes are finished, the Contractor shall submit the raw, clean LSA data files to HUD. Analyze data for the AHAR Part 2 report The Contractor shall conduct the following data analysis activities to produce the AHAR Part 2 report within seven (7) months of the LSA submission closing date. The analysis of data shall include: reviewing LSA data in each strata determining usability and removing variables creating analysis variables that can change from year to year identifying any data anomalies that may have a disproportionate effect on the estimates determining and applying appropriate weights to raw LSA data producing confidence intervals producing final estimates The Contractor shall process ACS data to show comparison information among the total US population and poverty populations, including more advanced analyses to generate ACS data by geography. Prepare the AHAR Part 2 report The Contractor shall prepare The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress Part 2: Estimates of Homelessness in the United States. At every step, the Contractor will work closely with HUD staff on the content and organization of the report. The report shall be based on the analysis conducted in prior tasks and shall include: the annualized population counts (overall people and households and by household type) demographic characteristics of each household type new geographic analysis new system utilization and outcomes by household type from the LSA The Contractor shall update LSA guidance in response to public and federal partner recommendations. Preparation for System Performance Measures Report Prepare and develop resources for System Performance Measures data collection The Contractor shall prepare the HDX 1.0 for SPM data collection. prepare communities for the data submission process and develop resources to assist communities in the data submission process. The Contractor shall prepare the HDX 1.0 for SPM data collection three (3) months before the SPM submission opening date. Preparations shall include: updating validation checks (warnings, error messages, and flags) for SPM data submission identifying additional data quality checks required for SPM data submissions updating HDX 1.0 to accommodate current data submission requirements resolving errors and bugs that remain from the last HDX 1.0 update Collect, review, and clean System Performance Measures data The Contractor shall work with approximately 400 CoCs providing one-on-one support as needed as CoCs upload SPM data over a 30-day period starting from the SPM submission opening date and work through warnings in an iterative process until the CoC confirms their data. The Contractor shall assist CoCs with the final review, approval, and confirmation of their SPM data submissions as needed. Assistance shall include gathering final information, reviewing submission, and gaining local approval and CoC confirmation within four (4) months of the SPM submission closing date. Analyze and prepare System Performance Measures reports The Contractor shall analyze SPM usable data from approximately 400 CoCs. The Contractors analysis shall aggregate data and include appropriate calculations to compare CoCs to other CoCs, CoCs to themselves across time, and compare national results across time. This analysis shall include visualizations of the national data to see changes over time across each of the system performance measures. The Contractor shall use the analysis to produce a National Summary of Homeless System Performance report, upload the data online into Tableau or a visualization platform accessible by the public, and prepare an Excel format of the CoC-level SPM data for publication within five (5) months of the SPM submission closing date. Analyze and prepare System Performance Measures reports The Contractor shall analyze SPM usable data from approximately 400 CoCs. The Contractors analysis shall aggregate data and include appropriate calculations to compare CoCs to other CoCs, CoCs to themselves across time, and compare national results across time. This analysis shall include visualizations of the national data to see changes over time across each of the system performance measures. The Contractor shall use the analysis to produce a National Summary of Homeless System Performance report, upload the data online into Tableau or a visualization platform accessible by the public, and prepare an Excel format of the CoC-level SPM data for publication within five (5) months of the SPM submission closing date. Homelessness Data Exchange Steady State operational services The Contractor shall maintain continuous operations for the HDX 1.0, HDX 2.0 and AHAR data system Maintain and manage the HDX Server Environment and Application The Contractor shall maintain the operations of HDX 1.0, HDX 2.0 and all AHAR analysis data systems, ensuring that all existing application software and hardware is fully functional and operational for Production and Staging sites and maintenance and operation is in accordance to the HUD’s PPM Life Cycle. The Contractor shall administer Cloud hosting services and associated licenses for a production and development site(s). The Contractor shall administer and ensure the stable and secure operations for Production and Staging. This includes all underlying environment or server applications, databases, operating systems, or other components upon which HDX is dependent. This includes administering storage, application performance, security, or other functions to ensure operations, and may include forecasting changing needs based on development of new capabilities in the HDX applications, growth in data, or changes to performance requirements. The Contractor shall work with Cloud hosting firm and or HUD infrastructure support to resolve operational issues related to the HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 software applications or hardware environment. This may include application servers or platforms, web servers, databases, or other tiers for production and development site(s). The Contract shall identify, analyze, diagnose, and troubleshoot issues to resolution to maintain operational standards in place before the operational issue arose. The Contractor shall start (bring up) and stop (shut down) various on-line systems when necessary for all environments, the Contractor shall maintain and provide detailed, up-to-date technical instructions to the infrastructure team on how to start and stop systems and services, how overnight transactional processes operate (e.g. data refresh between environments, system interface transactions, autosys jobs, cron jobs), and other essential information on basic system dependencies and technical configurations. The Contractor shall: Maintain HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 operational, architectural, and technical documentation Ensure stable performance and security for servers, operating system, and environment on the live and development site(s). Analyze and troubleshoot issues arising from technology conflicts, performance, or instability of servers, operating systems, or environments. Ensure stable development platform on the live and development site(s) Perform environment or infrastructure upgrade testing and implementation. Examples may include software patches/upgrades, operating system patches/upgrades, core database version upgrades, or other infrastructure maintenance. If the upgrade will require application system modification and a HARTS release to implement, the effort must be addressed via Corrective Maintenance or DME Task. Perform and process manual transactions to the database as directed or approved by the TPOC. Manual transactions may be required in the event of an internal software issue, data correction, or the failure of an internal batch process, e.g., data correction scripts, backups, or other tasks to ensure the continuity of business operations. Coordinate with Cloud vendors, HUD Infrastructure contractors, or HUD Test Center on the installation of business application software on HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 servers. Maintain authentication process between HDX 2.0 and online, third-party, Stella performance and modeling tool. Perform LSA data conversions and host Stella datasets for online, third-party Stella performance and modeling tool Sanitize HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 data using NIST 800-88 standards before media disposition Maintain industry disaster recovery standards for applications, software, and data Track HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 traffic and perform usage analytics Provide HDX application software support The Contractor shall provide Information Technology (IT) and Help Desk support to HDX users. The Contractor shall work with SNAP staff to develop training curriculum for HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 for CoC leadership, HUD Technical Assistance providers, HMIS System Administrators, HMIS software Vendors, HUD Field Office staff, and HUD Headquarters Staff including: HDX use instructions PIT count, HIC, SPM, and LSA submission instructions platform and programming specification instructions for Vendors The Contractor shall identify, troubleshoot, implement, and resolve end user HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 application software issues. Homelessness Data Exchange Corrective Maintenance Provide Corrective Maintenance for HDX The Contractor shall provide corrective maintenance for HDX. Corrective maintenance is necessary to keep an asset functioning as designed during its operations and maintenance phase of an investment. Maintenance costs include costs needed to sustain an IT asset at the current capability and performance levels including corrective software changes, maintenance of existing system interfaces; and code or other modifications to comply with mandated infrastructure upgrades. Examples of these types of maintenance are environment changes or infrastructure upgrades requiring modifications to application code or database structure; load or other performance issues requiring code changes; updates to existing functions within the corresponding IT system due to the evolution of business rules or regulations; or system interfaces that are not functioning as designed. Corrective Maintenance consists of the action(s) taken to restore a failed system to operational status or specification. This usually involves replacing or repairing the software component that is responsible for the failure in the system. Corrective maintenance is performed at unpredictable intervals. The objective of corrective maintenance is to restore the system to satisfactory operation within the shortest possible time. Code changes or other fixes conducted under Corrective Maintenance are of the nature that follow PPM requirements or application configuration change to implement into Production, e.g., cannot be accomplished via data correction scripts. Provide Corrective Maintenance for data validation and programming specification process The Contractor shall provide Corrective Maintenance for HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 to support data validation including: improving validation in the PIT count and HIC Module and LSA Module carrying over errors and warnings imported into the HDX 2.0 carrying over notes and comments from one upload file to the next keeping import and export functionality compliant to current HMIS data standards and reporting requirements keeping errors and warnings current based on HUD’s approved LSA programming specifications (with an available export file) producing a new Error and Warning File updated annually that is readable by the HDX 2.0 and is available two (2) months before the LSA data submission opening date monitoring speed of calculations and increase efficiencies when possible monitoring end user performance and experience and make improvements when possible producing Web Service and Site Analytics report on HDX server and application performance the first Friday of every third month The Contractor shall update the programming specifications in HDX based on the latest HUD data standards. Updating specifications shall include: maintaining and keeping current the programming specifications in alignment with the HMIS Data Standards applying PIT count, HIC, SPM, and LSA programming specification corrections from previous fiscal year applying HUD approved programming specification requests from AHAR analysis team keeping HDX 2.0 conditional processing statements current to reflect HUD approved LSA programming specifications producing updated Full Analysis Export File three (3) months before the LSA submission opening date that contains all conditional statements necessitated by updates to the HMIS programming specification Documentation Support Standards for Supporting Documentation The Contractor shall conform all written Project Planning and Management (PPM) deliverables and artifacts to PPM standards for format and content. For written deliverables that do not have a PPM template, the parties will mutually agree upon the format. Update and maintain AHAR and HDX materials The Contractor shall maintain and update AHAR, PIT count, HIC, SPM, LSA, Stella, HDX and HMIS Guidebooks, guidance, report templates, table shells, and programming specifications at least annually, at system releases, or when HUD updates data collection or reporting standards for HMIS software Vendors. Updates include the following LSA materials at a minimum, delivered six (6) months before the LSA submission opening date: LSA Programming Specifications LSA Data Dictionary LSA Sample Code LSA programming support files for Vendors The Contractor shall maintain and update AHAR, PIT count, HIC, SPM, LSA, Stella, HDX and HMIS Guidebooks, guidance, report templates, table shells, and programming specifications at least annually, at system releases, or when HUD updates data collection or reporting standards for CoCs and HMIS Leads, delivered within 30-days of an update, which includes the following materials at a minimum: An Introductory Guide to Submitting Longitudinal Systems Analyses (LSA) Data for the AHAR. Commonly Asked Questions about the LSA Overview of the LSA Submission Process: Info-sheet LSA submission support files for CoCs Homelessness Data Exchange Transition Strategy Develop strategy to transition HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 applications to HUD environment and approved software The contractor shall provide a one-year transition plan to migrate HDX 1.0 and HDX 2.0 applications to the HUD IT infrastructure and update to the HUD approved software six (6) months after contract start date. The Contractor shall develop a transition plan with the objectives to: Transition the current applications and data to HUD owned and managed cloud service providers in Gov Cloud - AWS or Azure. Coordinate with OCIO, AWS or Azure to move the current dot info domain to a dot gov domain in HUD’s environment. Migrate the current application environment, framework, and databases to align with HUD enterprise capability, modernization roadmap, and approved software. The contractor will provide all information and documentation related to HUD CPD system data, databases, data conversion and transfers, and related maintenance activities. Conduct security assessment and ensure compliance with HUD security policy and guidance developing the System Security plan for security configurations and security standards practices and other security documents identified by the agency Comply with HUD’s Project Planning and Management Process. Meet with OCIO to ensure there is no duplication of services across HUD environment. Ensure that HUD has real-time access and ownership to all of HUD's data by providing access to the applications and data. Coordinate with CPD and OCIO to complete the Authority to Operate (ATO). Develop Project Work Plan (PWP) and Schedule for the transition plan that will define resources and responsibilities for each task identified in the plan and will include migration software, milestones for transition task start and end dates as well as a schedule of planned coordination and knowledge transfer meetings. The plan will document critical processes and procedures related to systems developed and/or maintained under the current contract. Contemplated place of performance: Contractor Site.