€¦ · Web viewMichigan Community Colleges Association – Michigan Colleges Online – Software Architecture Validation RFP. 10. Michigan Colleges Online

Michigan Community College Association

Michigan Colleges Online

Software Architecture Validation RFP

May 12th, 2014

Michigan Community Colleges Association – Michigan Colleges Online – Software Architecture Validation RFP

Michigan Community Colleges Association

Request for Proposal for a Software Architecture Validation

RFP ID No.: MCO 04

Pre-Bid Conference Call: May 19th, 2014

Deadline to Submit Questions: May 22nd 2014

Proposal Due Date: 12:00pm EST June 12th, 2014

Contact/Submit To: Randy MeltonMichigan Community Colleges Association 222 North Chestnut Street, Lansing, Michigan 48933-1000 Phone: (517) 372-4350Fax: (517) 372-0905Email: [email protected]

PLEASE NOTE THE ITEMS IN YELLOW.

In most cases these are the Actions Items required for this Bid.

2Michigan Colleges Online


Table of Contents

1.0 STATEMENT OF WORK.......................................................................................................................4

1.1 PURPOSE..........................................................................................................................................41.2 COVERAGE & PARTICIPATION.........................................................................................................4

2.0 GENERAL INFORMATION..................................................................................................................5

2.1 ORIGINAL RFP DOCUMENT.............................................................................................................52.2 THE ORGANIZATION........................................................................................................................52.3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT.................................................................................................................52.4 VENDOR’S UNDERSTANDING OF THE RFP......................................................................................62.5 NDA REQUIREMENTS......................................................................................................................62.6 RIGHTS TO REJECT BID...................................................................................................................62.7 GOOD FAITH STATEMENT................................................................................................................62.8 BID RESTRICTIONS...........................................................................................................................72.9 BID RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS.........................................................................................................72.10 COMMUNICATION............................................................................................................................72.11 BID REGISTRATION..........................................................................................................................82.12 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION...................................................................................................................82.13 METHOD OF AWARD........................................................................................................................92.13.1 SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION.......................................................................................................93.1 OVERVIEW.....................................................................................................................................103.2 DESIGN GOALS..............................................................................................................................103.3 SCOPE OF WORK............................................................................................................................103.4 QUESTIONNAIRE............................................................................................................................123.5 ENGAGEMENT RATES AND SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS...............................................................133.6 PLEASE OUTLINE YOUR PROCESS FOR BILLING TRAVEL TIME.......................................................134.1 PHYSICAL LAYERS.........................................................................................................................144.2 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT..............................................................................................................154.3 HOST SERVICES.............................................................................................................................164.4 INTEGRATION SERVICES................................................................................................................174.5 CLIENT SERVER LAYERS...............................................................................................................184.6 BUSINESS CONTINUITY..................................................................................................................194.7 PRIMARY USE CASES.....................................................................................................................20

5. VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS & REFERENCES.............................................................................21

9.1 VENDOR CERTIFICATION.....................................................................................................................23



1.0 Statement of Work

1.1 Purpose

MCCA/MCO is seeking the services of a software services organization to validate Michigan Colleges Online technology stack. This includes reviewing and validating the existing technology stack, identifying issues, making recommendations and outlining a practice model for testing and continuous integration.

The RFP provides vendors with the relevant requirements for this engagement.

1. Software Architecture Validation

1.2 Coverage & Participation

MCCA/MCO reserves the right not to enter into any contract, to add and/or delete elements, or to change any element of the coverage and participation at any time without prior notification and without any liability or obligation of any kind or amount.

2



2.0 General Information

2.1 Original RFP Document

MCCA/MCO shall retain the RFP, and all related terms and conditions, exhibits and other attachments, in original form in an archival copy. Any modification of these, in the vendor’s submission, is grounds for immediate disqualification.

2.2 The Organization

The Michigan Community College Association is a network-centric organization that provides leadership on issues affecting member colleges. In addition to providing core legislative and government advocacy for its members, MCCA members benefit from the activities of four Centers of Excellence including the Center for Student Success, Michigan Community College Virtual Learning Collaborative, Michigan New Jobs Training Program, and the new Center for Global Initiatives.

Industry: Higher Education Member Support Services

Public Sector

28 Community Colleges located in Michigan

2.3 Existing Environment

MCCA’s Virutal Learning Collaborative is in the process of being rebranded to Michigan Colleges Online. Included in project is the development of various websites and mobile base services that will be used by community colleges across the state.


Author, 01/03/-1,

Too many spaces after this. It doesn’t match the other heading spacing.


Schedule of EventsThe following is a tentative schedule that will apply to this RFP, but may change in accordance with the organization’s needs or unforeseen circumstances. Changes will be communicated by e-mail to all invited bidders.

Issuance of RFP May 9th, 2014 Bid conference call May 19th, 2014 Technical Questions/Inquiries Due May 22nd, 2014 RFP Closes June 6th, 2014Final Award Notification June 12th, 2014

UPON FINAL SELECTION, MCCA/MCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO EXTEND THE REWARD NOTIFICATION DATE IF NEEDED TO NEOGIGATE FINAL TERMS OR TUNE REQUIREMENTS.

2.4 Vendor’s Understanding of the RFP

In responding to this RFP, the vendor fully accepts the responsibility to understand the RFP in its entirety, and in detail, including making any inquiries to MCCA/MCO as necessary to gain such understanding. MCCA/MCO reserves the right to disqualify any vendor who demonstrates less than such understanding. Further, MCCA/MCO reserves the right to determine, at its sole discretion, whether the vendor has demonstrated such understanding. That right extends to cancellation of award if award has been made. Such disqualification and/or cancellation shall be at no fault, cost, or liability whatsoever to MCCA/MCO .

Due to the scope of this RFP; various components may be awarded to different individuals or vendors that align with their experience and skillset.

2.5 NDA Requirements

Specific components of this project may require a NDA. Vendor should be aware of this as the MCO may need to protect intellectual property from a defensive position.

2.6 Rights to Reject Bid

MCO reserves the right to reject or cancel a Bid on several conditions which are not limited to the following list:

TCO does not align within operating cost parameters (too expensive). Solution does not fully satisfy MCO Use Case due to architecture changes or service model

changes post bid. Viability of solution. Concerns with complexity or security. Limited skill sets within the state for supporting the solution. Alignment concerns.

2.7 Good Faith Statement

All information provided by MCCA/MCO in this RFP is offered in good faith. Individual items are subject to change at any time. MCCA/MCO makes no certification that any item is without error. MCCA/MCO is not responsible or liable for any use of the information or for any claims asserted therefrom.



2.8 Bid Restrictions

Any vendor subject to usage restrictions by the Department of Defense or State Department are prohibited from bidding.

2.9 Bid Response Instructions

Complete the Items Highlighted in Yellow within this Word Document. Save your Word Document as a PDF and email to [email protected].

Complete the Bid-Response Spreadsheet for each proposed solution. Email the updated spreadsheet and a PDF version to [email protected]. Please send as an unlocked spreadsheet for edits.

PLEASE READ THIS This RFP does not need pages of response; a bullet point response will suffice for many sections. Profiles of your team members and your engagement history that is relevant to this project would be helpful.

2.10 Communication

Verbal communication shall not be effective unless formally confirmed in writing by a specified procurement official in charge of managing this RFP process. In no case shall verbal communication govern over written communication.

2.10.1 Vendors’ Inquiries. Applicable terms and conditions herein shall govern communications and inquiries between MCCA/MCO and vendors as they relate to this RFP. Inquiries, questions, and requests for clarification related to this RFP are to be directed in writing to:

Michigan Community Colleges Association 222 North Chestnut Street, Lansing, Michigan 48933-1000Phone: (517) 372-4350Fax: (517) 372-0905Email: [email protected]

2.10.2 Informal Communications. Inquiries for clarifications and information that will not require addenda may be submitted verbally to Randy Melton subject to the availability of time.

2.10.3 Formal Communications that are not clarifications shall include, but are not limited to:

Errors and omissions in this RFP and enhancements. Vendors shall recommend to MCCA/MCO any discrepancies, errors, or omissions that may exist within this RFP. With respect to this RFP, vendors shall recommend to MCCA/MCO any enhancements, which might be in MCCA/MCO ’s best interests.

Inquiries about technical interpretations, which must be submitted in writing and be received prior to the date published in the schedule of events section.. Inquiries for clarifications/information that will not require addenda may be submitted verbally to the buyer named above at any time during this process.

Addenda to this RFP.

2.10.4 Addenda. MCCA/MCO will make a good-faith effort to provide a response to each question or request for clarification within two business days.

MCCA/MCO will provide limited response to any questions/requests for clarification that require addenda, if received by MCCA/MCO the date published in the schedule of events.


mailto:[email protected]



2.11 Bid Registration

Please register your participation intention by email: [email protected] and specify which Bid Group you intend to submit a proposal for. You will receive a Goto Meeting Invite to the pre-bid meeting.

2.12 Proposal Submission

Proposals must be delivered by email: [email protected]. On or prior to the date published in the schedule of events. MCCA/MCO shall not accept proposals received by fax. Vendors are to submit one electronic PDF copy of proposal marked “Original”.





2.13 Method of Award

The evaluation of each response to this RFP will be based on its demonstrated competence, compliance, format, and organization. The purpose of this RFP is to identify those suppliers that have the interest, capability, and experience to supply MCCA/MCO a software architecture validation identified in the Scope of Work.

Evaluation Criteria:

1. Full Stack Development Experience

2. Non-SQL Experience

3. User Interface Experience

4. Open Source Experience

5. Testing Frameworks Experience

6. Mobile First Experience

7. Front-end JavaScript Experience

8. Engagement methodology.

9. Messaging Experience

10. Big-Data Experience

11. Collaboration Skills

2.13.1 Selection and Notification

Vendors determined by MCCA/MCO to possess the capacity to compete for this contract will be selected to move into the negotiation phase of this process. Written notification will be sent to these vendors via –e-mail. Those vendors not selected for the negotiation phase will not be notified.

3.1



3. Software Architecture Validation

3.1 Overview

The MCO desires to validate its approach in building several solutions that heavily leverage open source technology solutions. We also need some limited architecture design work that will be used in the development phase. The development engagement will follow the software architecture validation phase. The green box is the scope of this engagement as you will be reviewing existing work from the proof of concept phase.

The Software Architecture Review will include various SMEs that review and validate the MCO’s technology stack within the following set of design goals:

3.2 Design Goals

Maintain Software quality through effective SoC, and best practices.o Ensure that proper code practices are being used. (Naming convention,

linting, etc.)o System is not fragmented and has a lean design and is extendible. (Durable,

resiliency) Provides a secured framework for processing PII data. Implement an effective data model. Completeness of design. Flexibility - does the design support a meta data layer that enables refactoring

without invalidating the core design. Efficient – Does it do what it should do well. Requirements alignment Ensure that that the open source dependencies are well managed and understood.

(Express, Sails and Node.JS) Leverage capabilities of modern browsers

Scalability of framework.

3.3 Scope of Work

1. Validate Server, Network, and Hosting Environment.


Proof of Concept

Validate Technology Stacks

and Validate Architecture

Refactor where needDefine missing componentsStrengthen approach

Production Development

Phase


1.1.Identify best practicing for securing RHEL for hosting Node.JS. 1.2.Validate what can break and why, taking no resource for granted.1.3.Identify security measures for hosting Node.JS.1.4.Validate Node.JS environment and best practices for production operations.

1.4.1. Memory footprint1.4.2. Error logging1.4.3. Recycling1.4.4. Upgrades1.4.5. Monitoring

1.5.Identify Load balance model for running Node.JS applications in horizontal scalable model that supports high availability.

1.6.Identify the appropriate use of the file system and ACLs.1.7.Application stability validation.1.8.What about multi-threading and race conditions? 1.9.Identify logging system needed and monitoring plan.

2. Validate Data Model (< 25 Entities) 2.1.Validate MonogoDB data model for a best practice model against documented use

cases. 2.2.Validate drivers use within Node.JS.2.3.Validate against domain model.2.4.Validate REST model applied against data model.2.5.Identify scalability issues within data model.2.6.Recommend operational practices for managing MongoDB.

3. Validate API layer / Application Layer / MVC3.1.Validate REST Model. 3.2.Validate service-oriented approach3.3.Validate understanding of the quality of service that is guaranteed.3.4.Validate state model3.5.Validate SPA approach and use of templates.3.6.Validate MVC model used.3.7.Validate security model of tokens used within REST.

3.8.Identify Non-standard usage. 3.9.Message Queuing.

4. Validate Security Model

4.1.Document security stack and create dependency matrix for risk management. 4.1.1. Cookies4.1.2. Session ID4.1.3. HTTP Headers4.1.4. Encryption library

4.2. Review encryption and make recommendations 4.3. Identify best practices for securing sessions and using tokens.

5. Identify Test Driven Development Practice Model

5.1.Define a unit testing framework.5.2.Provide a recommendation on test coverage based upon identified quality concerns.5.3.Identify testing framework for REST services.



6. Develop Continuous Integration Processes

6.1.Identify integration framework.6.2.Develop integration workflows.6.3.Identify best practices with GIT.6.4.Identify change management processes.

7. Validate User Interface

7.1.Review usage of JQuery.7.2.Review all front end JavaScript libraries.7.3.Identify Web Accessibility standards.

7.3.1. SPA 7.3.2. Images 7.3.3. Forms

7.4.Assist with workflow development using Grunt.

8. Client / Server JavaScript Module Management And Error Logging

8.1.Framework Selection8.2.Workflow8.3.Error Logging Service 8.4.Options for using emerging tools: (Example Traceur, CommonJs others)

9. Big Data and Message Queuing Architectural Design

9.1.Hadoop, Zookeeper, MongoDB data Collection mythologies 9.2.RabbitMQ, ZeroMQ, ActiveMQ or Apache Kafka 9.3.Map-Reduce and Reporting

3.4 Questionnaire Ref Area Please explain your practice model and capabilities in

validating this area.Estimated Hours per Resource

1. Validate Server, Network, and Hosting Environment

2. Validate Data Model

3. Validate API layer / Application Layer / MVC



4. Validate Security Model

5. Identify Test Driven Development Practice Model

6. Identify Continuous Integration Practices

7. Validate User Interface

8.Client / Server JavaScript Module Management And Error Logging

9.Big Data and Messaging / Queuing



3.5 Engagement Rates and Subject Matter Experts

Team Members CV Link or attach CV (Github profile, etc)Provide a short overview of the expertise of each team member.

Hourly Rate

Estimated Hours

Cost

Totals

3.6 Please outline your process for billing travel time



4. Technology Stack

4.1 Physical Layers


Phyical Host/ Network / Load Balancer / App Firewall

VMWare

Redhat

MongoDB / SQL

Node.JS (Express/Sails)

HTLM 5 / Javascript / Backbone / KendoUI (Other)

Mobile, Tablets, Desktop


4.2 Physical Environment

MCO has selected a virtualization strategy utilizing VMWare as the virtual host manager for three physical servers.

Targeted Applications for Virtual Infrastructure (This list is subject to change and is a draft list of services)

ApplicationLayer

Application Presentation Instances Memory Storage Within Scope of this RFP

CMS ColdFusion10.x based

Instance 1

< 20 Gigs per

instance

NoInstance 2 NoInstance 3 NoInstance 4 No

Core Application Services

Inventory System Up to 4 medium VM Instances

2 Gigs No

Custom Service – DOL Services

Multiple 1 Gig No

Custom Service – Integration Services

Up to 60 small VM Instances

1 Gig No

Data Services Up to 4 small VM instances

4 Gigs No

Enterprise BUS

TBD Two 2 Gigs 100 Gigs

No

Data Layer MS SQL Server Data Warehouse

One 16 GigsApprox.

No



of 25 Gigs (SSD) per instance

MongoDB Two 16 Gigs NoData warehouse Two 16 Gigs No Postgre SQL Two 16 Gigs No

SecurityLayer

Security Application Firewall One 1 Gigs Throughput No

OS Layer

Windows Enterprise

Two Instances Yes

Red Hat Linux

Three Host Physical Servers

Yes

Hypervisor VMWare Three Host Physical Servers

Yes

4.3 Host Services



4.4 Integration Services



4.5 Client Server Layers

MCO Services

Student Web Client

REST Services – Middle Tier

HTTP Web

MCO Widgets & Web

Integration Services (REST) Per College College Registration & Other ServicesSIS

MCO

College Web Services to Student

Widget LoadWidget Service Calls

MCO Widget Services



4.6 Business Continuity



4.7 Primary Use Cases (Green Elements)



5. Vendor Qualifications & ReferencesAll vendors must provide the following information in order for their proposal to be considered:

1. A brief outline of the vendor company and services offered, including:

a. Full legal name of the company.

b. Year business was established.

2. Contact information for three references (if possible) from projects similar in size, application, and scope, and a brief description of their implementation.

Relevant Client List:Reference 1

Organization Name

Industry

Contact Name and Title

Phone Number

Email Address


Organization Name

Industry


Phone Number

Email Address


Organization Name

Industry


Phone Number

Email Address



DEBARRED VENDORS AND EXCLUDED PARTIES SCREENING(Fill out completely and return with RFP)

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

I certify, buy submission of this offer, that neither __________________________________, (name of vendor, independent contractor, or offering party)

nor any of its principals, or sub-contractors that are a part of this offer is presently debarred, suspended,

proposed for disbarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from participation in Federal assistance

programs or activities, and neither ____________________________________, nor any of its principals or (name of vendor, independent contractor, or offering party)

sub-contractors, is listed on the General Services Administration’s list of Parties Excluded from Federal Programs and

the HHS/OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (available through the internet at: www.sam.gov).

Where the party is unable to certify to any of the statements in this certification, such party shall attach an

explanation to this offer.

Where a party fails to submit and complete this certification, such party’s offer shall be determined to be an

incomplete submission.



9.1 Vendor CertificationThis certification attests to the vendor’s awareness and agreement to the content of this RFP and all accompanying calendar schedules and provisions contained herein.The vendor must ensure that the following certificate is duly completed and correctly executed by an authorized officer of your company.This proposal is submitted in response to Request for Proposal for Collaboration Solution(s) issued by MCCA/MCO .

The undersigned, who is a duly authorized officer, hereby certifies that:

(Vendor Name)

agrees to be bound by the content of this proposal and agrees to comply with the terms, conditions, and provisions of the referenced RFP and any addenda thereto in the event of an award. Exceptions are to be noted as stated in the RFP. The proposal shall remain in effect for a period of [ Please Define ] calendar days as of the Due Date of the RFP.

The undersigned further certify that their firm (check one): IS IS NOT

currently debarred, suspended, or proposed for debarment by any federal entity. The undersigned agree to notify MCCA/MCO of any change in this status, should one occur, until such time as an award has been made under this procurement action.

Person(s) authorized to negotiate on behalf of this firm for the purposes of this RFP are:Name: Title:

Signature: Date:

Name: Title:

Signature: Date:

Signature of Authorized Officer:Name: Title:

Signature: Date:

_____________________________________________________


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