Supplement 1: Salesforce Platform Managed Service RE-ISSUE… · Web viewGeospatial Technology and Modelling . ... How the Client came to Find and Select the Offeror (e.g., solicitation,

Supplement 2:Multi-Agency Data Analytics Expert Firms, Tools and Methods

Multi-Award Opportunity

State of Ohio Department of Administrative Services, Office of Information TechnologySupplement 2: Multi Agency Data Analytics Processing Platform & Analytics Domain Expertise

Table of Contents1.0 Multi-Agency Data Analytics Processing Platform & Analytics Domain Expertise....................................1

1.1. Background and Overview 1

1.2. Creation of an Ohio Based Analytics Capability as a Workforce and Economic Engine 1

1.3. Analytics Exploratory Projects 2

1.4. Organization of this RFP and Supplements 3

1.5. Data Analytics Processing Platform 4

1.6. Analytics Domain Expertise 4

1.7. Current State Activities and Considerations 6

1.8. Issuance of Competitive Analytics Task Orders Arising from this Solicitation 6

2.0 Data Analytics Expert Firms and Tools Requirements.................................................................................82.1. General Offeror Advisories 8

2.2. Ohio-based Expertise and Nationally Eminent Firms 8

2.3. Domain-Specific Teams and Expertise Proposal Response Requirements 9

2.4. General Tool Requirements and Expectations 11

2.5. Exploratory Projects: Competitive Bidding and Selection Process 13

2.6. Special Requirements: Prohibitions on Data Use & Publication and 3rd Party Access 14

2.7. Special Requirements: Identification of Pre-Existing Materials and Ownership of Work Product 15

2.8. General Requirements and Conventions 15

2.8.1. General Project Management Responsibilities 15

2.8.2. Create and Maintain Project Plan 15

2.8.3. Meeting Attendance and Reporting Requirements. 16

2.8.4. Develop, Submit, and Update Detailed Activity Plans 16

2.8.5. Project Management Methodology, State Minimum Standards 17

2.8.6. Domain Specific Data Protection Requirements 17

2.8.7. Project Review Check Point 18

2.9. Post-Project Requirements and Obligations 18

2.10.Support of State Operational Use of Analytical Methods and Means 19

2.11.Cross Project Collaboration Requirements 19

3.0 Offeror Assumptions and Other Considerations........................................................................................203.1. Assumptions 20

3.2. Pre-Existing Materials and Data 20

3.3. Commercial Materials 20


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1.0 Multi-Agency Data Analytics Processing Platform & Analytics Domain Expertise

Offeror Note: This Section is repeated in its entirety from Supplement 1 for purposes of Offeror understanding and relationship to the overall Goals and Strategy of the State on this initiative.

1.1. Background and Overview

The State maintains more than 1,600 IT systems which span and address the needs of Health and Human Services, Business and Industry, Administration and Finance, Public Safety and Criminal Justice and Infrastructure and the Environment. These IT systems organize and support State Agencies in delivering services to the citizens and businesses of the State as well as serve as vital linkages between the public and the State to seek help and assistance, start and grow businesses, obtain services, work and live in our State. The use of State data assets to increase the well-being of Ohioans, their health, their property, security, livelihood and prosperity is essential.

In aggregate, these systems maintain a wealth of data and historically have been commissioned and operated expressly to serve the purposes of Agencies. Unlocking this data would allow the State to identify and drive meaningful social change to make a difference for the citizens of Ohio – fixing communities, restoring hope to those most in need, identifying inefficiencies, creating jobs and economic growth, adjusting policies, and predicting and preparing for otherwise unexpected events.

The challenge to the State is how best to organize this data into information, identify meaningful social applications and develop policies and programs to focus the State on what is most important to our citizens. In realizing this challenge, there are several opportunities that present themselves that will require coordination, consideration and resolve to design and orchestrate a program that delivers results for our citizens. Better use of Ohio’s vast data, analytical resources and talent pool in our university systems and across the State must be applied to pressing problems such as poverty reduction, job creation, infant mortality and bettering our environment.

In consideration of these State systems and the data they maintain, there is an extraordinary opportunity in performing sharing, unification and analysis of the underlying data sets by placing them under the lens of advanced analytical tools, data scientists, State program experts and policymakers that are now possible and commonly available across the State and the country.

1.2. Creation of an Ohio Based Analytics Capability as a Workforce and Economic Engine

Several recent studies have identified the scarceness of data scientists available in the country to the private sector and rightly identify that the Public Sector is equally underequipped in the background, skills and experience required to organize, analyze and interpret the huge amounts of data that the State possesses.

The State believes that leveraging existing and cultivation of new Ohio-based data analytics expertise will form a blended foundation of computer science and applications, modeling, statistics, analytics and math that are essential ingredients to “unlocking” insight into issues across our State. State Data scientists need the support and experience to develop strong business acumen, coupled with the ability to communicate findings to both business and IT leaders in a way that can influence how the State approaches and solves social challenges.

The analytical platform and work described in this RFP will augment State Agencies’ focus on services to the public via transactional systems and managerial performance metrics. The goal is to leverage huge amounts of historical data to identify and train systems to sort through and spot anomalies, determine correlations in past behavior, and use them to predict future events or existing opportunities, so that the State can respond with a tailored approach.

State policy makers need the support of highly compute and storage intensive secure processing platforms, highly specialized domain specific expertise, and statistical skills supported by powerful tools that allow effective and proactive decision making and problem-solving. Through this RFP, the State seeks to identify a pool of prequalified data analytics processing platform providers and a prequalified pool of highly specialized and


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credentialed firms across the State and country to address very near term needs through focused projects and the creation of a repeatable set of methods to attract and retain this expertise for a myriad of potential opportunities that are agency, domain (multiple related agencies), or Statewide in nature.

1.3. Analytics Exploratory Projects

The role of the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) Office of Information Technology (OIT) is to support business and policy initiatives through the identification, deployment and operation of analytical processing platforms and identification of Data Analytics firms with the requisite tools and expertise both within and outside of the State.

DAS/OIT’s general role is to orchestrate and guide Agencies to support the incubation and growth of this initiative within the State as business or policy opportunities present themselves, gain sponsorship and require a coordinated business/technology approach to understand, analyze and respond to the resulting information with action. In summary, DAS/OIT’s role via this solicitation is to identify and align all technology elements and capabilities – data, systems, Agencies, infrastructure, tools and Analytics firms around the creation of value through this endeavor.

In support of Exploratory Projects awarded under future solicitations, DAS/OIT will: Work with Agencies to identify data analytics problem sets in the formulation of Exploratory Projects; Ensure that executive and business sponsorship and participation is present for these projects; Identify Agency (or if appropriate, Multi-Agency) datasets by which to perform these projects; Establish data sharing / collaboration agreements with and between State agencies that have common

needs and requirements; Assist Agencies in sourcing data from their systems and performing data anonymization routines to

protect the privacy of the individuals represented within these data sets; Establish data set correlation / linking methods (if possible) between data sets to assist Agencies in

sharing and collaborating with one another; Catalogue this data for use by prequalified Analytics firms chosen to perform Exploratory Projects; and Sponsor competitive solicitations for Exploratory Projects and monitor vendor performance and outcomes

against the requirements of Agencies in Exploratory Projects.

Conceptually, the scope of this RFP in the broader State context of Agencies, State Experts and identified Exploratory Projects is as follows:

Scope of Services: Conceptual Context Diagram – Establishment of Exploratory Projects


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Cross Agency Collaboration - Public engagement through this initiative is designed to both enhance the Government's effectiveness and improve the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed across Agencies – often in ways that would be of internal benefit from having access to that knowledge maintained across systems and State Agencies.

Ready access to all State data from an internal perspective will increase opportunities for Agencies to collaborate in policymaking and to provide Agency constituents the benefits of the collective expertise and information available across the State. Uses of this data will focus Agency missions, allow synergies in creating magnifying effects of service delivery and policies and be a multiplier of public good. Additionally, transparency will help Agencies identify and minimize overlaps, gaps, duplication and inefficiencies and foster innovation in our work in serving the public.

Agencies need access to innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate and share experiences and expertise among themselves, across the State, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector. Agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.

1.4. Organization of this RFP and Supplements

Important Offeror Note: The Scope of this RFP is to seek to Qualify additional Expert Firms under Supplement 2 (“Data Analytics Expert Firms and Tools”. RFP 0A1199 as originally released contained requirements for Supplement 1, which in general was designed to obtain public cloud analytics platforms. The State, via this reissue of RFP 0A1199 does not seek, nor will accept, responses pertaining to Supplement 1. Supplement 1 references in this solicitation are for informational purposes only.

The State understands that there are a variety of vendors that may be able to offer either or both of the Data Analytics Compute and Storage Platform(s) and the Data Analytics Expertise and Tools required to perform projects based upon State-specific needs within (or across) data domains contained in this RFP.

The State has organized, to the extent possible, requirements for each of the elements of this RFP as follows:

Data Analytics Compute and Storage Platform (Supplement 1); and Data Analytics Expert Firms and Tools Requirements (this Supplement).

All Data Analytics Expert firms, are strongly encouraged to consider the requirements of Supplement 2 in light of their expertise and submit proposals. The State has no preference for, nor bias against any Data Analytics firm, and given the spectrum of State Exploratory Projects under consideration, all Offerors that meet or exceed the requirements of the respective Supplements are encouraged to submit proposals.

Conceptually, the elements of this RFP align with Exploratory Projects as follows:

Scope of Services: Conceptual Context Diagram – Exploratory Project Execution


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1.5. Data Analytics Processing Platform

The State seeks to support a variety of concurrent Exploratory Projects that may have a variety of differing project considerations including:

Use of a variety of analytical tools, whether they be commercial, open-source or proprietary to a Data Analytics firm performing the work – the platform(s) the State seek(s) should be operating system agnostic (e.g., Windows, Linux, Unix or variants);

Accommodation of very high processor core configurations, memory models and high-performance storage pools that are capable of ingesting, indexing and assembling very large data sets that may include correlated and non-correlated attributes;

Accommodation of various structured, unstructured, spatial, correlated and uncorrelated data sets from a variety of State Agency sources and external-to-State sources;

Ease of provisioning, use and decommissioning at the conclusion of a project with scalability to allow for preliminary project setup through scalability to process the volumes of data required by any project;

Offering a tiered security model that accommodates the State needs in consideration of the datasets in question including commodity hosting for public access to “open” datasets; private data access for Projects being performed on anonymized data; and hardened security for State data of a sensitive nature that cannot under any circumstances be exposed.

1.6. Analytics Domain Expertise

For purposes of alignment, the State has identified the following fourteen general Domains that align with State Agencies analytical needs, common industry grouping and nomenclature, and anticipated Analytics areas that will likely be the subject of Exploratory Projects:

Alignment of Domain Expertise


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This broad spectrum of expertise groupings generally portrays the State’s vision of data analytics expertise and innovation that is required to help the State address the problem sets across all of the State’s Agencies. Further, the State acknowledges that the expertise, skills, techniques, methods and tools required to adequately perform analytics within these general domain areas are highly specialized and require unique approaches and high degrees of innovation. To adequately address the State’s needs in these areas, the State seeks to identify innovative firms that are experienced and credentialed, within and across these domains in many of the following areas:

Data Analytics including the use of advanced statistical analysis techniques such as nonlinear complex multivariate simulations, nonparametric regression, analysis of homogeneity of variance, covariance, multivariate cluster/outlier analyses, or extremely advanced applications of group theory used to map sets of observations

Artificial Intelligence Cognitive Computing Data Mining, Neural Networks Micro and Macro Trending, Outlier Analysis Machine Learning & Deep Learning Open Data Platforms Policy Change through Outcome Analysis Crowdsourcing and Social Media Text Mining Sensor Technology and Internet of Things Augmented and Virtual Reality Geospatial Technology and Modelling

Detailed requirements are contained in Supplement 2.


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1.7. Current State Activities and Considerations

Independent of this Solicitation and not part of the scope requested or required of Offerors, the DAS/OIT is working with State Agencies across established lines of IT business and centers of common interest to:

Identify candidate Exploratory Projects that are of priority and interest to the State; Develop a set of data sharing agreements enabling use of key State data sets for Exploratory Projects; Develop an internal capability to source, anonymize, correlate and catalog State data sets that could be

made available for analysis through a variety of means (e.g., publicly as “open data”, privately as part of an Exploratory Project or in a protected fashion based upon State needs and prevailing laws and rules);

Prepare State systems owners, providers and data experts to support use of State data maintained in Agency systems; and

Develop a secure data staging capability in anticipation of conducting data analytics projects whether they be Exploratory Projects, or focused or “open” analytic events (such as “hackathons”).

The following diagram offers a “broad view” of efforts associated with this project from a State, Analytics Platform and Data Analytics Expertise perspective to serve to reinforce the context of the elements of the RFP as well as complementary efforts both planned and underway by the State.

Conceptual Overview: Data Sharing and Analytics Context

1.8. Issuance of Competitive Analytics Task Orders Arising from this Solicitation

As this RFP allows for multiple providers to be prequalified under Data Analytics Expert Firms and Tools Requirements (this Supplement), and thus eligible to compete for potential future Exploratory Projects that may be undertaken by the State, the following general process will be followed.

DAS / OIT will collaborate with State Agencies in the formulation of an Exploratory Project task orders that include problem statement(s), available data sets, available State expertise, areas of analysis, outcomes, policy questions and other elements;

It is envisioned that these Exploratory Projects will be of 3 – 6 months’ duration in general, but may - dependent on the findings and value of the analysis – be extended to analyze additional datasets, time horizons, cohort groups or adjunct/corollary problem sets;


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Based on the Analysis Domain (See Section 2.3 for descriptions), the State may issue an Invitation for Quotation (IQ) using the aforementioned task order as a basis to qualified Contractors for abbreviated proposals and pricing;

These IQ’s will include evaluation criterion and response instructions to assist Contractors in responding and allowing the State to award work to the firm that offers the best value to the State in consideration of the work;

Following the award of the task order, the Contractor will commence and perform the work in concert with the requirements of the task order (specifically) and in conformance with the applicable contract.

Offerors are advised that some State issued Exploratory Projects may contain datasets that are of a sensitive nature and protected under State and Federal laws (e.g., HIPAA, FERPA, IRS1075 and the like) which will be identified and disclosed to qualified Contractors as part of any Exploratory Project solicitation.

Conceptually these Invitations for Quotation and project task orders within the context of State Agencies, Data and Expertise domains can be viewed as follows:


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2.0 Data Analytics Expert Firms and Tools Requirements

2.1. General Offeror Advisories

The State has designed the format of the requirements and response formats for this Supplement for those Offerors that may not be conversant in State procurement and contracting processes. Therefore, this Supplement of the RFP is designed to assist such bidders in preparing responses and showcasing their skills, expertise and capabilities.

This solicitation is designed to build a set of pools that generally align with State Agencies and “problem sets”, and due to the nature of the work, expertise of firms, firm personnel, innovation and creativity are paramount qualification criteria for the State, particularly for those firms that demonstrate real and measurable outcomes for their clients. Offerors are encouraged to balance and temper their responses to the most salient elements of their capabilities in the context of specific Analysis Domains (as opposed to more generalized responses) and to economize their responses (i.e., page count) to the greatest extent possible.

Conceptually, responses should be structured as follows:

Example Response Formats

2.2. Ohio-based Expertise and Nationally Eminent Firms

The State maintains a wide spectrum and depth of data that represent valuable informational, transactional, and statistical data that offer both the casual user and the experienced researcher opportunities to become better informed, and better understand the data, to create and grow new businesses and business models and collaborate with the State in identifying and resolving social problems. This data occupies more than 4 petabytes of storage in State datacenters, which in real terms represents more than twice the contents of all academic research libraries in the country or roughly 400 times the size of the printed collection of the Library of Congress.

Bringing some “conceptual organization” to State data sources and information systems based on current Agency alignment, lines of business and aligning to public understanding and consumption results in the following framework:


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Via this initiative and in keeping with the State’s strategy of “Ohio First”, the State seeks to foster an Ohio-based “next generation” of data scientists that leverages and extends one of the country’s leading data science programs to address the following challenges to the State: 1) identifying and nurturing a talent pool within the State; 2) applying this talent pool to the biggest problems of the State with the support of relevant Agencies; and 3) acquiring the tools required to drive results and outcomes.

The State seeks to develop solutions that first and foremost drive meaningful value to Ohioans, but also not become overly reliant or locked in to vendor specific tools, methods or standards.

There is a healthy ecosystem of systems providers and integrators that currently develop, maintain and manage systems for the State and the State wants to leverage their knowledge to the greatest effect possible. The State seeks to develop a cooperative environment that allows all vendors to support the State without unfair access or impediments that preclude the State from achieving its goals of this program in driving social good. Realizing that there is a high velocity of innovation in the Data Science space by way of tools, techniques and methods, the State also seeks to foster and utilize this innovation to maintain a position to constantly utilize the “best and brightest” that Ohio and nationally eminent firms have to offer.

Creation of jobs in the State is a central theme in this initiative – those jobs that are created as a direct result of analysis of State data whether they be identifying opportunities for new businesses, expansion of existing businesses, location of businesses within Ohio that give a competitive advantage to those who choose to do so – or those jobs created as a result of a new “information economy” that leverage and extend strides made in Ohio’s university system that have established Ohio as an early leader in data analytics and science. The creation of new opportunities for the younger generation that are sustainable through economic down-turns and those created as a result of ongoing (and increasing) data analytics skillsets are essential.

Understanding the levers of public policy, incentives, income and consumption taxes, education, effect on jobs and opportunity creation is an essential use of State data. Reinventing the “rust belt” as “the data hub” will create middle-class jobs and bolster State economics which can encourage investments, employ next generation workers, and help locate new businesses or expand existing ones in Ohio.

2.3. Domain-Specific Teams and Expertise Proposal Response Requirements

Offerors, as part of their proposal in response to this RFP must include summary descriptions of the experience and capabilities of their firm and of team members available to perform Exploratory Projects for the State and include:

Firm Credentials

Referenceable and recent experience of the firm in providing data analytics for any customer in at least one of the following domains:


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High Level Data Analytics Domains Life Sciences & Public Health Waste, Fraud & Abuse Risk Management (Insurance & Claims

Management) Cyber/Security Environment & Natural Resources Workforce Public Safety / Security

Crime, Corrections and Recidivism Education Government Process Automation / Decision Making Audit, Compliance & Regulation Commerce & Industry Transportation Utilities

For any Data Analytics Domain in which the Offeror wishes the State to consider Offeror qualifications to perform Exploratory Projects, the Offeror, as part of its response to this RFP, will provide brief summaries (2-3 pages suggested) as project biopics or case studies:

Name of Client (or, for confidential Clients, a summary description of the nature of the client’s business e.g., “a Midwest Based Regional Health Care Provider” or “a Federal Law Enforcement Agency” etc)

Geography (e.g., State, Regional, National, Global) Business Problem Summary Insights / Outcomes Achieved Nature/Role of Firm and Services Provided Period of Performance Project Statistics (e.g., number of datasets, sizing, tools/methods utilized, external data sources utilized) Unique Project Challenges, Obstacles and Impediments (if applicable)

Offeror Note: Contractors that are currently contracted under RFP 0A1199 one or more Data Analytics Domains may utilize this RFP to seek additional Domains for Qualification. Contractors that seek such additional Domains to be Qualified under should provide only new or incremental responses pertinent to these additional Data Analytics Domains. Offerors not pre-contracted under RFP 0A1199 must submit full and complete responses.

Firm Capabilities, Methods and ToolsAs part of their response to this RFP, Offerors are to provide a summary of the unique capabilities of their firm, including:

Relevant History of the Firm; Firm Size, Staffing Levels; Tools, Methods, Data Sources and Firm Proprietary/Unique Approaches Innovative Methods and Techniques to Problem Solving using Data Analytics and analysis of very large

scale and diverse datasets; Tool and Platform Expertise; Data Scientists on Staff across one or more of, or alignment to Analysis Domains or State Lines of

Business (e.g., Agriculture, Environment, Business, Industry, State/Local Government, Commerce, Natural Resources, Public Safety, Energy & Utilities, Education, Finance, and Health);

Access to 3rd Party / Industry Expert level subject or analysis experts that are not employed by the Firm, but available to participate in State projects in an advisory or oversight capacity;

Complex Data Analytics Project Management and Execution expertise including: Collaborating with Clients to Identify, Source, Normalize/Standardize, Correlate Datasets; Management of Sensitive, Personal or Private Information; Adherence with Federal and State (e.g., Governmental) data handling standards (if applicable); Cross Functional, Cross Organizational Team Management (e.g., Client/Firm and

Policy/Business/Functional, Scientific and Technical staff) Integration and Analysis enrichment using Publicly Sourced, Firm Proprietary or 3rd Party

datasets; Project Delivery Management (i.e., time, scope, budget, quality and outcomes)

Innovations that Produced Measurable Outcomes


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As part of this RFP, the State seeks highly capable and innovative firms that collaborate with their clients to produce innovative, insightful Data Analytics projects that drive profound changes as measurable outcomes for their clients. In the broadest context of the State’s needs, the State seeks to drive social good through engaging innovative firms with State data and problems to drive meaningful outcomes.

Offerors are requested to illustrate, preferably as a set of brief (2-3 page suggested) case studies, their demonstrated ability to innovate, including (as applicable) the following aspects of the work:

Client Business Problem Client Desired Outcomes How the Client came to Find and Select the Offeror (e.g., solicitation, prior business relationship, word-of-

mouth etc) Contracting Process (competitive, closed, limited solicitation, terms & conditions, formulation of a

statement of work etc) Offeror Approach, tools & methods Client Role(s) in the Project Project Phasing Strategy and Duration Dataset(s) Utilized (Client Provided, Firm Proprietary, Public/3rd Party) Measurable Outcomes / Profound Learnings & Change

Representative ResumesOfferors are encouraged to provide representative resumes of personnel available to perform work for the State or who are actively employed by the Offeror in performing similar work for clients.

Offerors should select resumes that align with Analytics Domains and State Lines of Business that typically deliver similar projects and include the general roles and responsibilities as appropriate based on typical project staffing plans to highlight the expertise of their team members.

As part of their response to this Representative Resumes element of their proposal, Offerors should include a statement and a chart that clearly indicates the typical time commitment and level of involvement of their team inclusive of the Project Manager and the Offeror’s proposed team members for similar work during each phase of a projects, within the context of the Offeror’s approach and methodology in performing similar projects.

The Representative Resumes (2-page limit per resume) should include:

Proposed Candidate’s Name and Relationship to the Firm (e.g., Employee, Contractor, 3 rd Party Expert, Advisor, Industry Luminary etc)

Proposed role on an Exploratory Project for the State Listings of directly relevant projects that are comparable to the types of projects envisioned under this

RFP Required similar skills based on the person’s assigned role/responsibility on this Project. Each project listed should include at a minimum the beginning and ending dates, client/company name

(or confidential summary) for which the work was performed, client summary information for Client Business Sponsors, project title, project description, and a detailed description of the person’s role/responsibility on the project.

Education Professional Licenses/Certifications/Memberships Employment History

Other Pertinent InformationFinally, Offerors are encouraged to provide any additional pertinent information to the State to highlight their unique capabilities, experiences and other qualifications relevant to the State’s consideration of their proposal.

2.4. General Tool Requirements and Expectations


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The State understands that the Data Analytics landscape comprises a variety of tools, techniques and methods required to organize, correlate and analyze data across the State’s lines of business and Analytics domains (see Section 1.6) that encompass a variety of Open Source, Commercial Packages/Services and Offeror-specific tools. In general, these tools fall into a variety of categories including infrastructure elements such as:

Hadoop and Hadoop-based variants; Spark and other NoSQL and NewSQL databases; Graph, Bitmap and Spatial Databases; Massively Parallel (MPP), Cloud and Cluster Platforms and Services; Data Extraction / Transformation / Integration Tools; Crowd Sourced and Open Sourced Datasets;

Analytics, including: General Purposes Analyst and Analytics Platforms; Data Science Platforms; Visualization and Reporting Platforms Business Intelligence and Statistical Computing Tools and Environments; Social Analytics Sources and Tools; Real-Time, Machine Learning, Speech, Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence; Cognitive, Search, Text and Spatial Tools and Sources;

Domain Specific Applications and Data Sources, including: Sales/Marketing; Customer Service; Human Capital; Legal; Security; Government / Regulatory; Finance; Life Sciences; and Industry Specific Sources.

As well as a variety of Commercial and Private data sources that are domain specific, health, location, lifestyle and Public Sector “open data” formats.

As this initiative is new to the State, the State currently maintains no standard tool(s) and has no preference for or bias against any individual tool, data source or OEM provider of such tools, services and sources.

Contractors performing Exploratory Projects are required to provide all required tools, external data sources, methods and personnel in order to complete the work within the State’s specifications and requirements. In addition, Contractor’s - when developing a proposal for an Exploratory Project for the State must include all such tools, data sources, methods and personnel within their quotation to the State with the exception of the below State-provided elements.

Further, a Contractor performing an Exploratory Project for the State will typically provide the processing platform and storage sufficient to complete the work in the context of the datasets and source(s), tools, methods, personnel and privacy requirements of the project.

However, Offerors should note that, in consideration of the privacy and security required for State-provided datasets, the practicality of anonymizing data, data volumes and other factors, the State may require Contractors to perform a project using data maintained exclusively on State premise and computing/ storage platforms.

Should this requirement exist, the State will make the Contractor community aware of such requirements during the competitive solicitation for the Exploratory Project, and (if applicable) provide any limiting technical factors for consideration as part of the solicitation.


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The State, for an Exploratory Project, will provide: Executive Oversight and Leadership; Subject Area and Domain Specific Expertise based on the provided data, policy, insights required, State

systems and other State-specific elements as mutually agreed with a Contractor; State Data that has been extracted, anonymized (if required), correlated (if possible, across datasets) and

standardized; and Should the State choose, full-time participants to perform roles within the Contractor team and act as a

liaison to State Agencies and Sponsors as appropriate.

As part of their responses to this Section of this Supplement, Offerors are encouraged to provide the State insight into the level of State involvement required from a “data expert”, “policy expert” and “business/systems” expertise perspective based upon similar work or experiences that the Offeror may possess that have resulted in positive and meaningful outcomes and successful projects.

2.5. Exploratory Projects: Competitive Bidding and Selection Process

DAS/OIT is responsible for the issuance of all Exploratory Project Solicitations to pre-qualified contractors identified through this RFP. As a function of its governance role, DAS/OIT will coordinate with State agencies to ensure their projects are aligned with the State’s enterprise technology direction.

A State agency (or collection of Agencies) will identify specific requirements, and develop a proposed Exploratory Project solicitation for the outcomes and deliverables, subject to the review and approval by DAS/OIT. DAS/OIT, in consultation with the State agency, will determine (in its sole discretion) the relevant Analytics Domain(s) and which Firms(s) qualified through this RFP are best-suited to perform the work, and will issue an Exploratory Project solicitation to those firms. The State has no liability for failure to include a pre-qualified Contractor in an Exploratory Project Solicitation release if such decision is based on the State’s reasonable determination that, given the content of the Contractor’s Proposal submitted in response to this RFP, the Contractor is not a suitable candidate for performance of the relevant project or service.

Guiding Principles: As part of any Exploratory Project Solicitation, the State will endeavor to economize administrative burdens required to describe the scope, parameters and desired outcomes in the work from both a solicitation and contracting process perspective and, as to not place extraordinary response burdens on Contractors, request Task Order quotations in a form as to drive outcomes, innovation and problem solving by the most capable firms while driving value to the State in achieving the State’s requirements. These solicitations are envisioned to be of the 4-5 page variety and require quality responses in a similar vein.

The Exploratory Project Work Solicitation Process. Exploratory Project Task Order requests will be issued as competitive solicitations by DAS/OIT in collaboration with State Agencies. These Solicitations will be released to pre-qualified pools of Contractors (arising from this RFP) that most closely match the scope of work, as determined by the State within its sole discretion. Typically, a single Contractor will be selected to perform the work contained in each SOW Solicitation. The selected prequalified Contractor may partner with one or more subcontractors. All subcontractors shall be identified within the pre-qualified Contractor’s proposal submitted in response to the SOW Solicitation.

The steps identified below describe the process of an Exploratory Project Task Order Solicitation:

Exploratory Project Ideation/Formation The Office of Information Technology will assess an agency’s project requirements to determine the

solicitation strategy that is in the best interest of the State, including services specified in the Analytics Domains and Expertise of the Firms established through this RFP.

Competitive solicitations for Exploratory Projects released to Contractors prequalified under this RFP will be the State’s preferred contracting approach over using State Term Schedule contracts for project based work.

Exploratory Project Task Order Solicitation Content


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Each SOW Solicitation shall contain a Project Statement of Work that will include, but not be limited to, the following components, which will be defined in each SOW Solicitation:

Background information for the project, including: Agency information Project name Project objective Project description Project schedule Project milestones Bill to Address Scope of Work

State Business Problem, Objectives and Outcomes Description of scope of work (in and out) and project requirements Description of constraints, assumptions Detailed description of required analysis and outcomes Description of State provided roles and responsibilities Expected duration Restrictions on location (i.e., State Private Processing Platform or Public Cloud Processing Platform) of

data & work State Provided Datasets (scope, standards, location)

Analytics Deliverables and Work Product Management Submission/format Reports and meetings Period of performance Performance expectations

Exploratory Project Task Order Response Requirements Response format, content requirements A description of the work the subcontractor will do inclusive of a commitment to do the work if the

Contractor is selected Assumptions and mutual dependency between the State and Contractor Staffing plan, personnel resumes, time commitment, organizational chart requirements Work plan, project plan requirements Fee Structure including estimated work effort Cost summary and payment schedule template SOW Evaluation Criteria SOW Solicitation Schedule Limitation of Liability (Identification of Limitation of Liability applicable to the specific SOW Solicitation. Special Data Handling Provisions as required by law in the context of the work and State data provided.

2.6. Special Requirements: Prohibitions on Data Use & Publication and 3rd Party Access

The fact that Exploratory Projects are being undertaken as well as the findings, results and analysis arising from the Projects are confidential. The Contractor may not disclose, publish or otherwise make available to any 3 rd

party any State data or any analysis, results or findings that arise from doing work for the State, for any purpose, including, without limitation, resale, marketing, advertising, or soliciting or requesting any information, except as required by an order of a competent Court or authorized by the express prior written consent of the State.

Further, the Contractor may not directly or indirectly publish or authorize or otherwise support the publication of any findings, results or analysis (in whole or in part) associated with an Exploratory Project or arising from access to State data and personnel at any time except with the prior express written consent of the State.


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If the Contractor wishes to use its work on an Exploratory Project as a reference, it must receive the State’s prior written consent. In general, permitted references will be limited to: confirming that work was performed for the State; work domain characteristics; period(s) of performance and State contact reference details.

Contractor must limit access to State data and descriptions and other details of Exploratory Projects to authorized, named Contractor project and supervisory staff.2.7. Special Requirements: Identification of Pre-Existing Materials and Ownership of Work Product

Pre-existing data sets, tools and other materials to be used to perform an Exploratory Project or included in any deliverable must be identified in Contractor’s proposal submitted in response to the State’s solicitation for an Exploratory Project. All deliverables, analysis, findings, results and other work product (including, without limitation, all algorithms, methods and modifications thereto) (collectively, “Work Product”) developed during the performance of an Exploratory Project will be owned exclusively by the State. Contractor will promptly disclose all Work Product to the State.

2.8. General Requirements and Conventions

Contractors will comply with the following project management, execution and reporting requirements:

2.8.1. General Project Management Responsibilities

For any Exploratory Project it is awarded pursuant to an Exploratory Project Solicitation issued by the State, the Contractor will have responsibility to provide overall project management.

The Contractor will: Be responsible for overall Project completion; Maintain the overall Project Workplan; Ensure deliverables have a detailed project sub plan as required by the State to ensure timely delivery and

appropriate quality Ensure that all efforts have an effective version control mechanism for all documents within the project

document library that will be maintained on a State-provided Microsoft SharePoint site Ensure that an appropriate “Project Kickoff” occurs and that all integrated work plans are agreed to by the

State from project commencement; Complete status reporting adhering to the PMO policies; Work with the State leadership to ensure that the Project is staffed appropriately; Ensure that required testing activities across both technical and operational components are completed to

minimize Project risk; and Collaborate with the task areas to ensure appropriate cross-team communication and delivery.

2.8.2. Create and Maintain Project Plan

The Contractor must produce a detailed Project Plan, in electronic and paper form, to the State Project Representative for approval within twenty business days after the State issues a purchase order or other written payment obligation under the Exploratory Project Task Order. The Contractor must lead a planning session which ensures the following:

A common understanding of the work plan; A common vision of all deliverables; A critical path exists that identifies all major milestones, dependences (both internal and external to the

project), resources by name and resource assignments and is complete and inclusive of the entire work effort from commencement until conclusion of all contracted activities;

Clarity on scope of overall project and the responsibilities of the Contractor has been defined and agreed to by the State.

Thereafter, the Contractor must:


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Formally update the Project Plan, including work breakdown structure and schedule, and provide the updated Project plan as part of its reporting requirements during the Project; and

Ensure the Project Plan allows adequate time for the State’s review, commentary, and approval.The State will determine the number of business days it needs for such reviews and provide that information to the Contractor after award and early in the development of the Project Plan. Should the State reject the plan or associated deliverables, the Contractor must correct all deficiencies and resubmit it for the State’s review and approval at no additional cost to the State.

2.8.3. Meeting Attendance and Reporting Requirements.

The Contractor’s project management approach must adhere to the following meeting and reporting requirements:

Immediate Reporting - The Project Manager or a designee must immediately report any Project staffing changes to the State Project Representative

Attend Weekly Status Meetings - The State and Contractor Project Managers and other Project team members must attend weekly status meetings with the Project Representative and other members of the Project teams deemed necessary to discuss Project issues. These weekly meetings must follow an agreed upon agenda and allow the Contractor and the State to discuss any issues that concern them.

Provide Weekly Status Reports - The Contractor must provide written status reports to the Project Representative at least one full business day before each weekly status meeting.

At a minimum, weekly status reports must contain the items identified below: Updated GANTT chart, along with a copy of the corresponding Project Plan files (i.e. MS Project) on

electronic media acceptable to the State; Status of currently planned tasks, specifically identifying tasks not on schedule and a resolution plan to return to the planned schedule; Issues encountered, proposed resolutions, and actual resolutions; The results of any tests; A Problem Tracking Report must be attached; Anticipated tasks to be completed in the next week; Task and Deliverable status, with percentage of completion and time ahead or behind schedule for tasks

and milestones; Proposed changes to the Project work breakdown structure and Project schedule, if any; Identification of Contractor staff assigned to specific activities; Planned absence of Contractor staff and the expected return date; Modification of any known staffing changes; and System integration/interface activities.

The Contractor's proposed format and level of detail for the status report is subject to the State’s approval. Prepare Bi-Weekly Status Reports – During the Project, the Contractor must submit a written status report to

the Project Representative by the fifth business day following the end of each month. At a minimum, status reports must contain the following:

A description of the overall completion status of the Project in terms of the approved Project Plan (schedule and cost, if applicable);

Updated Project work breakdown structure and Project schedule; The plans for activities scheduled for the next month; The status of all Deliverables, with percentage of completion; Time ahead or behind schedule for applicable tasks; A risk analysis of actual and perceived problems; Testing status and test results; and Strategic changes to the Project Plan, if any.

2.8.4. Develop, Submit, and Update Detailed Activity Plans

As part of an Exploratory Project and no later than twenty business days following the commencement of the effort, the Contractor must develop a Project Management Plan (Project Plan). The Contractor also must update


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the plans with more detail throughout subsequent Project phases coincident with Project Status reports or upon reasonable request of the State Project Manager to address, at a minimum, the following subjects:

Project Integration; Project Scope; Project Time; Project Quality; Project Staffing; Project Communications; Project Risks/Issues; and Project Procurement elements (if required).

The Offeror must develop these plans from information that the State’s Project personnel provide. These State personnel have varying percentages of time to devote to this Project, and the Contractor must consider (and specify) time commitment expectations to the Project in creating the Project schedule and when obtaining information from State staff to create the above plans.

2.8.5. Project Management Methodology, State Minimum Standards

The State maintains a project management and reporting methodology that is used at varying levels for Information Technology projects. This methodology is designed to provide a substantive and objective framework for the reporting and review of projects to impacted stakeholders and, should the need arise, identify the need for corrective action for one or many of the participants in a project (e.g., State, Contractor, Customer, Stakeholder).

The State acknowledges that contractors that do business with the State may maintain unique or proprietary project management methodologies, but seeks to ensure that the overall project is delivered to the State as contracted. Therefore, a minimum project management reporting standard has been created to serve the State’s project management and oversight needs while not adversely impacting or influencing Contractor-provided delivery methodologies. The State accepts traditional “waterfall” and Agile-based methodologies as well as hybridized variations such as conference-room pilots, proofs-of-concept, Agile development within Phased Releases and the like and will work with Contractors to identify the most appropriate development methodology in consideration of the work. Regardless of the final, mutually agreed methodology, Contractors must adhere to and provide all contracted delivery artifacts that effectively segment, control and memorialize the work in the form of contracted responsibilities, activities, milestones, and deliverables within their proposed methodology.

As part of any Proposal to the State for an Exploratory Project, the Contractor must provide a summary Project Plan as requested by the State. For purposes of a summary project plan specific phase and gate dates, effort and costs are a sufficient minimum.

2.8.6. Domain Specific Data Protection Requirements

Many State Datasets are covered by Federal and State law pertaining to information security and privacy. These laws include, but are not limited to HIPAA, FERPA, PCI, Registered Offender, IRS and others. Should the State require an Exploratory Project that may contain such data:

The State agrees, prior to requesting a Proposal for an Exploratory Project for such data, to: Identify the existence (or potential existence) of such data to the Contractor; Establish a mutually agreeable Business Associate Agreement to be used between the State and the

Contractors, and if required, the Contractor personnel (as individuals) exposed to such data; Provision and establish secure processing and storage capabilities on State premise as to adequately

protect such data; Grant Contractor personnel access to such secure processing and storage subject to compliance with

applicable terms and conditions; and At the conclusion of the project, revoke Contractor access to such secure processing and storage as well

as any privileged infrastructure access granted to the Contractor by the State.


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The Contractor agrees, prior to performing work for an Exploratory Project for such data, to:

Acknowledge the existence (or potential existence) of such data as made available by the State; Establish a mutually agreeable Business Associate Agreement to be used between the State and the

Contractors, and if required, the Contractor personnel (as individuals) exposed to such data; Conduct briefings as to appropriate data handling and care requirements as a Data Protection Program

for Contractor personnel exposed to such data; and Ensure that all data and systems access strictly follow Ohio Executive Order 2011-2012K;

Furthermore, Contractors may possess, or have access to, non-State proprietary data sources (collectively, “Third-Party Data) that may be used in the development and execution of a State Exploratory Project. Should Third-Party Data be utilized in an Exploratory Project or analysis, the Contractor will ensure that: (i) no State data, when combined with Third-Party Data, directly or indirectly exposes any details to the general public or 3 rd parties that would otherwise be protected under State or Federal law; and (ii) at the conclusion of the project, no State data includes any Third-Party Data that could be utilized to discover personally identifiable information or any other legally protected information.

Each Contractor, for itself and on behalf of each of its subcontractors (if any), will be asked, in its Proposals for Exploratory Projects and in the applicable contract, to: (a) identify any Third-Party Data to be used to perform an Exploratory Project; (b) provide the State with the terms and conditions that apply to use of the Third-Party Data; (c) represent and warrant to the State that they have all rights necessary to utilize the Third-Party Data as required to perform the Exploratory Project; and (iv) indemnify and hold the State harmless from all liabilities, damages, losses, costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) incurred due to third-party claims arising from use of Third-Party Data to perform the Exploratory Project.

2.8.7. Project Review Check Point

Upon completion of the baselined Project Plan and on a quarterly basis throughout any Exploratory Project, the Contractor, in conjunction with State Project team staff, must deliver a presentation to the State. At a minimum, the presentation must address any known State or Contractor issues or concerns, including but not limited to the following:

Project scope, budget and schedule; Any changes to Key named resources assigned to the Project; Project readiness including key issues and risk from their current status; Project Status including variance from baseline for key milestones, tasks, deliverables (Significant work

products) and project closure; Methodology, approach, and tools to achieve the Project goals (inventory and status of completeness and

agreement for documented project management and implementation approaches. I.e., Project management plan, communication plan, requirements traceability, implementation approach and methodology); and

Roles, responsibilities, and team expectations.

Upon completion of the presentation, the State will immediately assess the health of the Exploratory Project and determine next steps for moving forward with the Project, within one week of the meeting, which may include the following: Continue the Project; Terminate the Project; or Suspend the Project.

See Suspension and Termination language in Attachment Four of this RFP.

Note: There may be additional Project Reviews conducted by the State on an as needed basis throughout the term of the Contract to assess Project health and ensure the Project is progressing successfully.


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2.9. Post-Project Requirements and Obligations

In conjunction with the delivery of any Exploratory Project, coincident with the start of the Project through its conclusion, the Contractor must use the State provided and hosted document management and team collaboration capability (Microsoft® SharePoint™) to provide access through internal state networks and secure external connections to all project team members, approved project stakeholders and participants. In conjunction with the utilization of this tool, the Contractor must:

Provide all contracted work products, deliverables, State specific analysis techniques, approach and assumption documents and other elements developed by the Contractor for the State in machine readable, native form (e.g., Microsoft Office documents) as to memorialize the work and convey to the State the findings of the Exploratory Project, elements to assist the State in replicating elements of the project for future State use, and other non-proprietary elements of the Contractors work for the State upon mutual agreement.

Ensure that no sensitive data (e.g., personally identifying details, non-public or data protected under Federal or State law) is maintained on this site;

Be responsible for the maintenance and general upkeep of site in keeping with commercially reasonable considerations and industry best practices as to not adversely impact the project delivery efforts performed by the Contractor and State; and

At the conclusion of any project, or upon request of the State, ensure that the Contractor has removed all Contractor proprietary or non-State owned or licensed materials and data from the site.

2.10. Support of State Operational Use of Analytical Methods and Means

Following the successful completion of an Exploratory Project, the State, at its sole discretion, may request Contractor support to replicate or extend elements of an Exploratory Project for ongoing operational use within the State or for a State Agency. Such operational projects will be performed by the Contractor under a mutually agreeable Statement of Work, and following the State’s written approval of such work, the Contractor will:

Provide personnel with the requisite skills and experience levels in development of the Exploratory Project to answer questions and address issues that the State Business or Technical personnel may have as to replicate the State-specific elements of the project on State data processing and storage platforms;

Assist the State in replicating the analysis using State provided tools, processing platforms and storage as well as addressing any analysis defects, gaps, omissions or errors that are discovered in the Contractor’s work as they pertain to development of analysis procedures and data stores to operate in the State’s production environment;

Assist the State in developing documentation of relevant changes to operational, configuration, training, installation, commentary or other documentation as a result of migration of the Contractor’s work to a State production environment; and

Assist either the State with production issue triage, root cause and remedy analysis and wherever possible propose work-arounds, fixes, patches or remedies (code-based, procedural or environmental) required to successfully transfer and operate the Contractor’s work to a State production environment.

2.11. Cross Project Collaboration Requirements

The State may hold other contracts for additional or related work for Exploratory Projects and Agency data analytics development. The Contractor must fully cooperate with all other contractors and State employees and coordinate its work with such other contractors and State employees as may be required for the smooth and efficient execution of all related or additional work. The Contractor may not act in any way that may unreasonably interfere with the work of any other contractors or the State’s employees. Additionally, the Contractor must include the obligations of this provision in all its contracts with its subcontractors that work on any Exploratory Project.

Contractor will cooperate with the State in its attempts at transferring, replacing or augmenting the services responsibilities to another provider in a manner in keeping with not adversely affecting the provision of ongoing services and other projects being performed concurrent with this project.


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3.0 Offeror Assumptions and Other Considerations

3.1. Assumptions

The Offeror must list all the assumptions the Offeror made in preparing the Proposal. If any assumption is unacceptable to the State, the State may at its sole discretion request that the Offeror remove the assumption or choose to reject the Proposal. No assumptions may be included regarding the outcomes of negotiation, terms and conditions, or requirements. Assumptions should be provided as part of the Offeror response as a stand-alone response section that is inclusive of all assumptions with reference(s) to the Section(s) of the RFP that the assumption is applicable to. Offerors should not include assumptions elsewhere in their response.

3.2. Pre-Existing Materials and Data

The Offeror must list any pre-existing materials that will be included in an Exploratory Project or Deliverable. The State may reject any Proposal for an Exploratory Project that includes pre-existing materials for a custom solution, if the State believes that such is not appropriate or desirable for the Project.

3.3. Commercial Materials

The offeror must list any commercial and proprietary materials that the offeror will deliver that are easily copied (e.g., software) and in which the State will have less than full ownership (“Commercial Materials”). Generally, these will be from third parties and readily available in the open market. The offeror need not list patented parts of equipment, since they are not readily copied.


Documents

Supplement 1: Salesforce Platform Managed Service RE-ISSUE… · Web viewGeospatial Technology and Modelling . ... How the Client came to Find and Select the Offeror (e.g., solicitation,