NOTICE OF AWARD (NOA)
FOR
STATE OF NEW JERSEY WIC ACCESS OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SENIOR SERVICES/WOMEN, INFANT AND
CHILDREN SERVICES
1.0. Purpose and Intent
This Notice of award (NOA) is issued by the Purchase Bureau,
Division of Purchase and Property, Department of the Treasury, on
behalf of the State of New Jersey. This contract award is for the
continued
operations and maintenance of the Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants and Children Automated Client Centered
Electronic Service System (WIC ACCESS).
2.0 DEFINITIONS
The following definitions shall be part of the contract awarded or
Order placed:
Addendum - Written clarification or revision to this RFP issued by the
Purchase Bureau.
Amendment - A change in the scope of work to be performed by the
contractor. An amendment is not effective until it is signed by the
Director, Division of Purchase and Property.
Bidder - An individual or business entity submitting a bid in response
to this RFP.
Build - A modification or addition to the WIC ACCESS application
software that incorporates enhancements, "bug" fixes and upgrades.
Contract - This RFP, any addendum to this RFP, and the bidder's
proposal submitted in response to this RFP and the Division's Notice
of Acceptance .
Contractor - The contractor is the bidder awarded a contract.
Detailed Functional Design Document (DFDD) - The main technical
specifications for the WIC ACCESS system.
Director - Director, Division of Purchase and Property, Department of
Treasury. By statutory authority, the Director is the chief
contracting officer for the State of New Jersey.
Division - The Division of Purchase and Property.
Evaluation Committee - A committee established by the Director to
review and evaluate bid proposals submitted in response to this RFP
and to recommend a contract award to the Director.
Farmer's Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) - Federally funded program
that provides food instruments to at risk participants to receive
fruits and vegetables food items.
Senior Farmer's Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) - Federally funded
program that provides food instruments to senior citizens to receive
fruits and vegetables food items.
Food Instrument (FI) - Check issued by WIC Services for nutritional
food items.
May - Denotes that which is permissible, not mandatory.
Project - The undertaking or services that are the subject of this
RFP.
Project Plan - This will detail all tasks with timelines to be
accomplished by the contractor in order to provide specified
functionality.
Request for Proposal (RFP) - This document which establishes the
bidding and contract requirements and solicits proposals to meet the
purchase needs of Using Agencies as identified herein.
Service Level Agreement - This is the contract, which includes the
RFP, Addenda, bid proposal and any other material deemed appropriate
by the Purchase Bureau.
Shall or Must - Denotes that which is a mandatory requirement.
Failure to meet a mandatory requirement will result in the rejection
of a bid proposal as materially non-responsive.
Should - Denotes that which is recommended, not mandatory.
SIMS - System Investigation Memos.
State Contract Manager - The individual responsible for the approval
of all deliverables, i.e., tasks, sub-tasks or other work elements in
the Scope of Work.
Subtasks - Detailed activities that comprise the actual performance of
a task.
State - State of New Jersey.
Special Supplemental Nutritional Education Program for Women, Infant
and Children (WIC) - Federally funded bureau in the Division of Family
Health Services, Department of Health and Senior Services, State of
New Jersey.
Task - A discrete unit of work to be performed.
Using Agency or Agency - The entity for which the Division has issued
this RFP and will enter into a contract.
2.0 Scope of Work
2.1 Overview
This section summarizes the State's requirements for the operations
and maintenance support for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants and Children Automated Client Centered Electronic
Services System (WIC ACCESS). The contractor selected by the State to
provide operations and maintenance support must supply operational
support for the WIC Central Processing Site; general maintenance of
the WIC system; modifications to the WIC software; help desk
operations; support for addressing hardware issues; system
software enhancements; and technical expertise of staff mobilized.
More detail on the WIC ACCESS application is provided in the Detailed
Functional Design Document (DFDD) and Operations and Maintenance Plan.
The DFDD, the Operations and Maintenance Plan and all other
descriptive materials are included on the attached data CD in MS Word
format.
2.2 Staffing
The point of contact for the contractor must be a technically
qualified project manager with over five (5) years experience in
systems project management. The project manager must have a daily
onsite presence at the WIC State Office for ongoing monitoring and
evaluation of the WIC ACCESS application.
The contractor must provide qualified staff for operations and
maintenance with skills set appropriate for the continued operations
and maintenance of WIC ACCESS. Programming, database and maintenance
skills must include expertise in Oracle Database Administration,
Visual Basic/C and C++ programming, AS/400 Operations Support and
Programming, Windows 2000/NT Server Operations and Support.
2.3 Project Management
The contractor's project manager has primary responsibility for the
quality of a project's deliverables and its successful completion.
The project manager must be the primary contact and liaison with the
State's project manager. The contractor's project manager shall be
the primary contact and a mandatory attendee to a monthly quality
control committee (QCC) meeting that occurs on the third Wednesday of
every month at 9:30 am. The contractor's project manager must provide
a monthly status report at the QCC meeting and also report on any
other outstanding issues. To succeed, the contractor's project
manager must work closely with the State's project manager to ensure
that adequate resources are applied. The contractor's project manager
also has responsibility for planning and ensuring that project
deliverables (including recurring production of daily and monthly
reports and other items) are successfully completed on time and within
budget. Resumes for the contractor's project manager and the proposed
staff must be submitted as a part of the bid proposal.
General Functions
- Must implement project policies and procedures.
- Must acquire and provide the resources needed to achieve the
Service Level Guarantees established in the contract with the
State.
- Must maintain staff technical proficiency and productivity, and
provide training where required.
- Must establish and maintain quality in the project.
- Must identify and procure tools to be used on the project.
Implementation Planning
- Must develop detailed project plan, tailoring methodology to
reflect project's needs. If this RFP results in the selection of a
vendor different than the current contractor, such vendor will be
provided up to three months of transition to take over operations and
maintenance.
- Must ensure that management, users, affected state
organizations, and contractors commit to project.
Implementation Project Start-Up
- Must finalize project baseline plan.
- Must ensure that project plan is updated and approved as needed.
- Must finalize project quality plans.
- Must provide a plan for monitoring the Service Level Agreement
between the contractor and the State, and delivering in
accordance with it.
Project Execution
- Must comply with the Service Level Agreement.
- Must promptly correct any production item that does not conform
to specifications, or is not delivered in accordance with the
Service Level Agreement.
For any enhancements or modifications, the contractor
- Must develop a project plan, and ensure that it is updated and
approved.
- Must review the results of quality assurance results with WIC
program management, and take corrective action in a timely manner.
- Must maintain a log of project risks and establish prevention
and mitigation procedures, as required by WIC Management. The
project risk log, as well as the mitigation strategy, must be
periodically reviewed with WIC program management.
Implementation Closeout (For Enhancements and Modifications)
- Must develop an action plan for correcting any deliverable that
does not receive user sign-off.
- Must obtain user and management approval of tested enhancements
and modifications, and final system deliverables.
- Must closeout open action items.
Continued Maintenance and Operations
- Must maintain the Operations and Maintenance Plan on an up-to-
date basis.
- Must assign resources to Operations and Maintenance sufficient
to achieve the standards inherent in the WIC Service Level
Agreement.
- Must regularly review Operations and Maintenance procedures and
suggest and/or implement improvements as necessary.
- Must coordinate and manage all requests from the State to the
contractor.
2.4 Quality Assurance
The contractor must undertake and direct testing activities
described herein, prior to placing any system changes (i.e.,
enhancements and modifications) into production. Testing must include
tests of the interoperability of the various components of the WIC
ACCESS System with itself and with external systems with which it
interfaces. The contractor must provide confirmation that all
hardware and software delivered in support of the WIC ACCESS System is
working in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications and is
compatible with the existing WIC ACCESS system, and confirmation that
all functional objectives specified for these changes have been
achieved. The contractor must deliver a fully functional test
environment (for use by the State) for all test stages. The test
environment includes hardware and all associated software.
The contractor must develop a test plan for any system change
that details the activities; dependency risks, contingencies,
assumptions, and resources required to fully test the change. The
test plan must include creation of a Project Plan with test schedule,
approach, and a statement of required and assigned resources with
associated roles and responsibilities. Testing must cover all
functionality of the WIC ACCESS system, and Data and Database
Integrity Testing, including testing of converted data and all
associated code and parameter files (using production values).
Identification of testing tools that will be used and their purpose,
and a method to track and manage test issues must also be included.
The Project Plan must include test scripts that systematically
exercise all functions of the system. The plan must cover all test
stages including:
Unit Testing - Unit Testing is contractor's responsibility. The
successful bidder must ensure that the product within its control is
functional and meets or exceeds test specifications.
Integration Testing - Integration Testing must ensure that all
components including software and hardware work together.
System Testing - Functional testing to ensure that all components of
the WIC ACCESS System, including system interfaces, work together.
Integration testing must be complete before system testing can begin.
User Acceptance Testing - The contractor must work closely with
the State to develop an Acceptance Test Plan for the User Acceptance
Test. The Acceptance Test Plan must be designed to ensure that, prior
to placing any changes in production, all functionality to be
introduced works properly in a simulation of the actual live
environment in which it will be used. The Acceptance Test Plan needs
to address personnel training requirements; requirements for hardware
delivery and testing; LAN and WAN compatibility; and backup and
disaster recovery. The Acceptance Test Plan shall also address
security and control requirements. User Acceptance Testing must
include Users as Testers, simulating the actual work situations.
Acceptance Testing will not begin until the contractor certifies in
writing to the State that the changes to the WIC ACCESS System have
been completely installed and are operational. After such
certification, the State, working with the contractor, will
begin to execute the User Acceptance Test Plan. Any defects, issues
or problems identified during the User Acceptance Test shall be
catalogued and treated as warranty items. The contractor shall work
with the State to determine which stakeholders groups and how
many of their representatives need to be part of the User Acceptance
Testing effort.
Regression Testing - After errors found in testing have been
corrected, a separate round of testing must be done by the contractor,
which not only tests the functions where the errors occurred (to make
sure that they have been corrected), but also tests all other
functions of the system to make sure that new errors were not
introduced with the corrected code.
Pilot Testing - The successful bidder must work with the State to
develop this plan. The completion of this stage indicates that system
is functional in a "live" environment. The warranty period must
commence at the conclusion of the pilot test.
Signoff - At the State's discretion, the State may authorize the
conversion to production status at the successful conclusion of the
Pilot Test. In the alternative, the State shall require some or all
of the warranty items identified during the Pilot Test to be corrected
(and tested) before authorizing the conversion to production status.
Note: All enhancements, modifications, patches, etc. must be fully
regression tested by the contractor. It is the contractor's
responsibility to develop and maintain a test environment that
simulates the systems being utilized by the State. It is the
contractor's responsibility to provide the State with any test
environment infrastructure needed to test WIC ACCESS systems both at
the State's and contractor's test facilities. This includes scripts,
data and equipment. No software enhancements, modifications, patches,
etc. shall be deployed without first being tested and approved by the
State's quality assurance representatives.
2.5 System Software Enhancements/Modifications/Maintenance for the
purpose of this document the following definitions will apply.
A software enhancement is defined as a request for a new function that
will change any portion of the system that may or may not be apparent
to the user. Once an enhancement has been completed and approved by
the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS), its
continued monitoring falls under the auspices of maintenance.
A modification is defined as a request for a change to an existing
specification in the system based upon USDA recommendations,
requirements and regulations and/or State regulations, guidelines and
mandates. Once a modification has been completed and approved by
NJDHSS, its continued monitoring falls under the auspices of
maintenance.
Maintenance is defined as normal day-to-day system processing
operations that shall be performed correctly according to the
specifications in the Operations and Maintenance Plan and the Detailed
Functional Design Document (DFDD), as designed or through approved
updates, in a timely manner. Corrections or omissions affecting data
relevant to reporting must be made before the month end processing
date. After the conversion is complete, any system or infrastructure
changes can generate or modify the maintenance responsibilities.
Maintenance must include; but, is not limited to the following
responsibilities:
-Daily upload, downloads, and nightly transmissions;
-Updates to existing fields/tables;
-Assuring the correct selection and plotting of growth and prenatal
grids;
-Correct data producing erroneous caseload stats;
-Updating/correcting inventory thresholds per the States
written request;
-All central system processing;
-All service site system processing;
-Data entry;
-Correcting system errors to meet specifications;
-Assuring correct syntax for reporting purposes;
-Correction of errors and omissions; and,
-Correction of system "bugs".
The need for enhancements, modifications, and maintenance can all be
from any combination of users, the State, and or third party sources
in the form of needs, recommendations, guidelines, requirements,
regulations, or mandates. All enhancements and/or modifications must
be logged and tracked via System Investigation Memorandums (SIMS).
All enhancements or modifications to the New Jersey WIC ACCESS system
must be first tested and approved by the contractor, and then made
available to the State for its quality assurance testing, before
the change can be implemented by the contractor into production. The
contractor must provide support for all testing of enhancements and
modifications, including providing a central test bed (hardware and
software) and onsite support.
Unless otherwise agreed by the State during the course of the
contract, the contractor must provide at least four (4) software
builds annually, or more frequently as necessary to meet critical
business problems, including response to issues caused by the
successful contractor's distribution of software with "bugs". All
enhancements and modifications must be scheduled for release with
either the next quarterly scheduled software build or, if the
enhancement is critical, sooner. The State agrees that it will
exercise reasonable judgment in asking for software distribution more
frequently than quarterly.
The contractor must provide system maintenance. This consists of, but
is not limited to database maintenance to assure data integrity and
processing efficiency of Oracle and Microsoft Access at the local
agency service sites and mainframe database maintenance at the central
processing site. The Statewide database, Central Administrative
System's database, State Office Module database and Vendor management
database are also covered under database maintenance
to assure data integrity and processing proficiency. Database
modifications such as purges must be monitored for correctness.
2.6 Operational "Bugs"
Operational "bugs" must be handled on a situational basis so that each
can be evaluated and the impact to daily operations be determined
jointly by the contractor and the State. Timelines for correcting
operational bugs are determined by the severity of the "bug". If the
issue is impacting daily operations it must be fixed immediately. The
State must be notified of any "bugs" discovered within 24 hours. All
"bugs" must be reported via the System Investigation Memorandum System
(SIMS). Work on all "bugs" must be tracked and status reported to the
State on a weekly basis by Friday 12:00 pm of each week and a monthly
report is due to the State two (2) days prior to the monthly QCC
meetings.
3.7 Training on New System Modifications
The contractor must provide training for all new system enhancements
and/or modifications for quality assurance testers, State staff and
end users. Training must occur before deployment unless otherwise
specified by the State WIC Program.
2.8 Operational Support for the Central Processing Site
2.8.1 Daily Processes
The contractor must run daily processes that include reconciliation
with third party agencies or sources, synchronization of data between
the central processing site and the State/Local Agencies and the
distribution of daily management documentation to the State. These
responsibilities occur on a daily or nightly basis with a required
turnaround time of 24 hours for all tasks listed below. However,
additional tasks may be added to this list that will have the same 24-
hour restriction. A more detailed description of the daily processes
tasks is included in the Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix B.
-View last scheduled job entries to ensure job completed
successfully by 10:00 am.
-Delete prior days reports by 10:00 am.
-Process, review and transmit daily documentation to State Agency by
10:00 am.
-Review Save to tape job by 10:00 am.
-Verify that all sites have transmitted by 10:00 am.
-Process Participant Exception file by 12:00 pm.
-Transmit bank reconciliation data by 12:00 pm.
-Track FI usage by 12:00 pm.
-Transmit synchronization data back to the (intra and inter agency
transfer) local agencies within 24 hours of the receipt of the data
from the local agencies.
2.8.2 Monthly and Periodic Processes
The contractor must run a monthly processing cycle (as described in
the Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix C) within five (5)
business days after the end of the month, which will perform functions
that need to be executed on a monthly or periodic basis. It must
execute all monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual functions that
need to be performed. The AS/400 reports master CD (as described in
the Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix C and E) must be
generated and delivered utilizing an overnight delivery service by the
seventh business day.
- Run monthly, quarterly, bi-annual and annual reports.
(Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix C)
- Ensure all transmissions required for month end processing have
been received. (Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix C, D
and E)
- Verify completion of prior month end processing. (Operations and
Maintenance Plan, Appendix C)
- Transmit all third party data to appropriate agencies and/or
sources. (Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix C and D)
- Verify that no sites are suspended with file data from month to
be closed. (Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix C)
- Verify that all appropriate sources have been moved to
production.
- Verify that there are no participant exception files to be
resolved/cleaned up. (Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix
C)
- Re-Post payment exception records from the bank after the bank's
monthly totals are received. (Operations and Maintenance Plan,
Appendix D)
- Verify that bank total matches the payments posted for the
month, verify both WIC and Farmers Market. (Operations and
Maintenance Plan, Appendix D)
- Resolve any food instrument stock receipt exception records.
(Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix C)
- E-post food instrument issuance and subsequent action records.
(Operations and Maintenance Plan, Appendix C)
- Generate semi-monthly statewide database update and reference
database update CD and deliver utilizing and overnight delivery
service by the 7th and 17th business day of the month. (This CD
and the AS/400 CD shall be delivered together on the 7th business
day of the month.)
- Rerun the monthly processes cycle (including the generation of
AS/400 reports master CD) if the utilized data is found to be
inconsistent or incomplete in comparison to the local agency
data.
2.9 Help Desk
The contractor must provide the State of New Jersey with telephone
help desk support for the New Jersey WIC ACCESS system for State and
local agency personnel. The help desk hours of operation are 7:30 am
to 7:30 pm EST Monday through Friday for support. Any holiday that a
local agency is providing WIC services, technical support from the
help desk must be available. The State WIC Program will provide an
annual holiday closing schedule to the contractor in December for the
upcoming year. Any other coverage will be considered extended coverage
and will be billed according to the hourly rates schedule as awarded
to the contractor. The help desk must answer all calls within five
rings. The help desk must provide resolution to all calls immediately
or escalate the call to the contractor's development team within one
business hour. All calls received that are escalated to the
contractor's development team must be immediately forwarded to the WIC
Project Manager. Help desk personnel must be thoroughly trained in
all aspects of WIC ACCESS and associated problems encountered.
All calls to the Help Desk must be tracked using industry standard
help desk software that must be approved by the State WIC Program
before the implementation and utilization "Go Live" date. The
contractor must provide real time access to their help desk logs
and/or application. The contractor must provide a licensed copy of
their help desk software to the State WIC Program. The help desk
software must have the ability to group calls based upon problem areas
and trends noticed within the help desk calls. Weekly reports must be
generated and provided to the State WIC Program electronically by the
end of each business week unless otherwise specified by the State WIC
Program. The weekly reports must be based on any of the information
that is collected in the software. Standard reports may be used but
the ability to generate custom reports on an as needed basis is
required and may be necessary dependent upon the State WIC Program's
needs. Any potential problems discovered by the contractor must be
divulged to the State WIC Program within two (2) business hours of
discovery.
2.10 Hardware Maintenance
All hardware maintenance for the State WIC Program is handled
internally utilizing State WIC MIS staff. All hardware related calls
reported through the contractor's help desk must be forwarded to
designated State WIC MIS staff. The contractor must provide technical
support for issues that may be a combination of hardware, software
and/or network related symptoms.
2.11 Local Agencies Hardware, Software, and Network Topology
The contractor has no responsibilities for the physical installation,
maintenance and administration of the PCs and networks utilized with
WIC ACCESS, however, the contractor must have a thorough understanding
of the network and physical topology that houses the WIC ACCESS
system. The State WIC Program will handle all aspects of
installation, maintenance, and administration of the PC environments
utilized to serve the local agencies for the New Jersey WIC ACCESS
system. The contractor shall have the responsibility of providing
technical support to State WIC staff regarding the application and its
integration into the WIC systems environment.
All software deployed in the field must be maintained at version
revision level that does not void support or maintenance with
third party software vendors/developers such as Oracle or
Microsoft. The contractor must provide a list of all software
utilized with corresponding maintenance information including contact
numbers, account numbers, on-line account passwords, etc. within one
business day. Any modifications to the software list must be
forwarded to the State Project Manager within one business day. It is
the responsibility of the contractor to develop a maintenance schedule
for all software utilized in the field. The contractor must consult
and receive approval from the State WIC Program before deploying any
upgrades, patches and enhancements.
2.12 Print and Supply Services
All print services and supplies needed to maintain service delivery to
WIC participants must be supplied by the contractor, at the
contractor's expense. The contractor must provide pricing for 4MM DAT
Tapes - 150m 20GB/40GB compressed, Okidata 590 and 184 printer
ribbons. The State WIC Program will notify the contractor as to the
quantity and distribution delivery on a scheduled and/or request
basis. The list of print services includes WIC ID folder,
certification and educational materials. The contractor shall be
required to arrange the printing, packaging, storing and distribution
of all materials listed above to local WIC agencies. Descriptions of
the printed materials are included in the Operations and Maintenance
Plan, Appendix K. The State WIC Program will provide camera-ready
copies of all printed materials. Printing shall occur once a year.
The estimated quantities associated are as follows: 250,000 WIC ID
folders, 2000 Okidata 590 printer ribbons, 200 Okidata 184 printer
ribbons and 100 4 millimeter DAT Tapes, 150 meter, 20 gigabyte
compressed/40 gigabyte.
2.13 Forms Inventory
The contractor must provide the State WIC Program with an inventory
for supplies, which are tracked in the WIC ACCESS application that
includes, check serial number and food instrument usage on a monthly
basis.
2.14 Disaster Recovery Plan
The contractor must develop a disaster recovery plan subject to the
approval by the State WIC Program. Operations must be back to full
efficiency
within 48 hours of an emergency event that caused disruption in
service. The Disaster Recovery Plan must be documented and tested
before "Go Live" date. The State reserves the right to review and
approve any plan and inspect any facilities associated with disaster
recovery. The contractor is obligated to supply any redundant
hardware and/or software for the central processing site as part of
the disaster recovery plan. A subsequent disaster recovery
operational test must occur on an annual basis.
2.15 Conversion Option (Mandatory)
Current WIC central processing occurs on an AS/400 utilizing DB/2 on
OS/400 operating system. Bidders must price a conversion from the
current central processing platform to a Windows 2000 Server/Oracle
database server environment (see notes below). It is the State WIC
Program's option to implement the conversion but the proposal must
contain the documentation and pricing for the conversion. This must
entail converting current data tables to an Oracle database format.
Database/table clean up after conversion of data to an Oracle database
format must also be included in the cost estimate, and the nature of
the work detailed in the bidder's proposal. Testing of the converted
data's integrity shall be required at the central processing site and
the local agencies.
Converting must also entail the replacement of the synchronization
dial up procedures between the local agencies and the central
processing site. Bank communication processes associated with account
posting and verification must also be revised. The contractor must
use encryption technology for the transmittal of data between all
points within WIC ACCESS.
The method of generation of management reports by the central
processing site must also be revised as well as the State's access to
management reports on the central processing site server.
All bid proposals must address all of the aforementioned aspects of
the conversion option. A detailed conversion plan is required and
must be included in the bid proposal in addition to the appropriate
management protocols and procedures. Failure to include a detailed
conversion plan or complete price lines 5-10 (Section 8.0) on the
Bidder's Cost Sheet shall result in the bid proposal being considered
non-conforming.
Note: The WIC ACCESS application is public domain software. At the
writing of this RFP, the WIC ACCESS application's central processing
site system is in the process of being developed by the current
vendor, Covansys (formerly known as PDA, Inc.), for a Windows
2000/Oracle 8i server platform environment. The State has the right
to implement this new server platform free of development costs. The
current vendor is Covansys located in Overland, KS.
Note: The current local agency server configuration is Windows NT
4.0/Oracle 8.0.3 client/server platform. The State is currently in
the process of upgrading the current environment to Windows
2000/Oracle 8i.
3.0 Contractual Terms and Conditions
3.1 Precedence of Contractual Terms and Conditions
The contract shall consist of the RFP, addendum to the RFP, the
contractor's bid proposal, as accepted by the State and the Division's
Notice of Acceptance.
Unless specifically noted within the RFP, the Standard Terms and
Conditions take precedence over the Special Terms and Conditions.
In the event of a conflict between the provisions of the RFP,
including the Standard Terms and Conditions and the Special Terms and
Conditions, and any addendum to the RFP, the addendum shall govern.
In the event of a conflict between the provisions of the RFP,
including any addendum to the RFP, and the bidder's proposal, the RFP
and/or the addendum shall govern.
3.2 Performance Bond
This section supplements Section 3.3b of the Standard Terms and
Conditions. A performance bond is required. The amount of the
performance bond is 15% of the contract award. The performance
bond must be posted within thirty (30) days of the effective date of
the contract award. The performance bond must remain in full force
and effect for the term of the contract and any extension thereof.
By the first anniversary date of the effective date of the Contract
Award for each subsequent year thereafter, the contractor must submit
proof to the buyer that the required performance bond is in effect for
the next year of the Contract. Failure to submit such proof will
result in the suspension of payments due to the contractor under the
Contract and/or may result in termination of the Contract by the
Director.
3.3 Contract Term and Extension Option
The term of the contract shall be for a period of three (3) years.
The anticipated "Contract Effective Date" is provided on the cover
sheet of this RFP. If delays in the bid process result in an
adjustment of the anticipated Contract Effective Date, the bidder
agrees to accept a contract for the full term of the contract. The
contract may be extended for an additional three one-year extensions,
by mutual written consent of the contractor and the Director.
Price adjustment for the fourth through sixth option (extension) years
may be granted by reflecting the percentage change in the previous 12
months Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U), all items
index for the NY-Northern New Jersey and the Philadelphia-Southern New
Jersey Regions. This composite New Jersey CPI will be weighted 2/3%
for the New York Region and 1/3% for the Philadelphia Region. In no
case, however, will the increase be granted in the excess of 5%.
Based in the proposed timing of this RFP, it is anticipated that the
analysis period will be on a June through June time period.
The contractor must submit its request for a specific percentage
increase in writing to the Purchase Bureau buyer no later than 90 days
prior to the start of the extension year.
3.4 Contract Transition
In the event services end by either contract expiration or
termination, it shall be incumbent upon the contractor to continue
services, if requested by the Director, until new services can be
completely operational. The contractor acknowledges its
responsibility to cooperate fully with the replacement contractor and
the State to ensure a smooth and timely transition to the replacement
contractor. Such transitional period shall not extend more than
180 days beyond the expiration date of the contract, or any
extension thereof. The contractor will be reimbursed for services
during the transitional period at the rate in effect when the
transitional period clause is invoked by the State.
3.5 Availability of Funds
The State's obligation to pay the contractor is contingent upon the
availability of appropriated funds from which payment for contract
purposes can be made. No legal liability on the part of the State for
payment of any money shall arise unless funds are made available each
fiscal year to the Using Agency by the Legislature.
3.6 Contract Amendment
Any changes or modifications to the terms of the contract shall only
be valid when they have been reduced to writing and executed by the
contractor and the Director.
3.7 Contractor Responsibilities
The contractor shall have sole responsibility for the complete effort
specified in the contract. Payment will be made only to the
contractor. The contractor shall have sole responsibility for all
payments due any subcontractor.
The contractor is responsible for the professional quality, technical
accuracy and timely completion and submission of all deliverables,
services or commodities required to be provided under the contract.
The contractor shall, without additional compensation, correct or
revise any errors, omissions, or other deficiencies in its
deliverables and other services. The approval of deliverables
furnished under this contract shall not in any way relieve the
contractor of responsibility for the technical adequacy of its work.
The review, approval, acceptance or payment for any of the services
shall not be construed as a waiver of any rights that the State may
have arising out of the contractor's performance of this contract.
3.8 Substitution of Staff
If it becomes necessary for the contractor to substitute any
management, supervisory or key personnel, the contractor will identify
the substitute personnel and the work to be performed.
The contractor must provide detailed justification documenting the
necessity for the substitution. Resumes must be submitted evidencing
that the individual(s) proposed as substitution(s) have qualifications
and experience equal to or better than the individual(s) originally
proposed or currently assigned.
The contractor shall forward a request to substitute staff to the
State's Contract Manager for consideration and approval. No
substitute personnel are authorized to begin work until the contractor
has received written approval to proceed from the State Contract
Manager.
3.9 Substitution or Addition of Subcontractor(s)
This Subsection serves to supplement but not to supersede Section 3.11
of the Standard Terms and Conditions of the RFP.
If it becomes necessary for the contractor to substitute and/or add a
subcontractor, the contractor will identify the proposed new
subcontractor and the work to be performed. The contractor must
provide detailed justification documenting the necessity for the
substitution or addition.
The contractor must provide detailed resumes of the proposed
subcontractor's management, supervisory and other key personnel that
demonstrate knowledge, ability and experience relevant to that part of
the work, which the subcontractor is to undertake.
In the event a subcontractor is proposed as a substitution, the
proposed subcontractor must equal or exceed the qualifications and
experience of the subcontractor being replaced. In the event the
subcontractor is proposed as an addition, the proposed subcontractor's
qualifications and experience must equal or exceed that of similar
personnel proposed by the contractor in its bid proposal.
The contractor shall forward a written request to substitute or add a
subcontractor to the State Contract Manager for consideration. If the
State Contract Manager approves the request, the State Contract
Manager will forward the request to the Director for final approval.
No substituted or additional subcontractors are authorized to begin
work until the contractor has received written approval from the
Director.
3.10 Ownership of Material
All data, technical information, materials gathered, originated,
developed, prepared, used or obtained in the performance of the
contract, including, but not limited to, all reports, surveys, plans,
charts, literature, brochures, mailings, recordings (video and/or
audio), pictures, drawings, analyses, graphic representations,
software computer programs and accompanying documentation and print-
outs, notes and memoranda, written procedures and documents,
regardless of the state of completion, which are prepared for or are a
result of the services required under this contract shall be and
remain the property of the State of New Jersey and shall be delivered
to the State of New Jersey upon 30 days notice by the State. With
respect to software computer programs and/or source codes developed
for the State, the work shall be considered "work for hire", i.e., the
State, not the contractor or subcontractor, shall have full and
complete ownership of all software computer programs and/or source
codes developed.
The State shall have a perpetual, nonexclusive, paid up, irrevocable,
worldwide right and license to use any proprietary software.
3.10.1 The Federal awarding agency reserves a royalty-free,
nonexclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish or
otherwise use, and to authorize others to use, for Federal Government
purposes:
(a) The copyright in any work developed under a grant, subgrant, or
contract under a grant or subgrant; and
(b) Any rights of copyright to which a grantee, subgrantee or a
contractor purchases ownership with grant support.
3.11 Data Confidentiality
All financial, statistical, personnel and/or technical data supplied
by the State to the contractor are confidential. The contractor is
required to use reasonable care to protect the confidentiality of such
data. Any use, sale or offering of this data in any form by the
contractor, or any individual or entity in the contractor's charge or
employ, will be considered a violation of this contract and may result
in contract termination and the contractor's suspension or debarment
from State contracting. In addition, such conduct may be reported to
the State Attorney General for possible criminal prosecution.
3.12 News Releases
The contractor is not permitted to issue news releases pertaining to
any aspect of the services being provided under this contract without
the prior written consent of the Director.
3.13 Advertising
The contractor shall not use the State's name, logos, images, or any
data or results arising from this contract as a part of any commercial
advertising without first obtaining the prior written consent of the
Director.
3.14 Licenses and Permits
The contractor shall obtain and maintain in full force and effect all
required licenses, permits, and authorizations necessary to perform
this contract. The contractor shall supply the State's Contract
Manager with evidence of all such licenses, permits and
authorizations. This evidence shall be submitted subsequent to the
contract award. All costs associated with any such licenses, permits
and authorizations must be considered by the bidder in its bid
proposal.
3.15 Claims and Remedies
3.15.1 Claims
The following shall govern claims made by the contractor regarding
contract award rescission, contract interpretation, contractor
performance and/or suspension or termination.
Final decisions concerning all disputes relating to contract award
rescission, contract interpretation, contractor performance and/or
contract reduction, suspension or termination are to be made in a
manner consistent with N.J.A.C. 17:12-1.1, et seq. The Director's
final decision shall be deemed a final agency action reviewable by the
Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.
All claims asserted against the State by the contractor shall be
subject to the New Jersey Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:1-1, et seq.,
and/or the New Jersey Contractual Liability Act, N.J.S.A. 59:13-1, et
seq. However, any claim against the State relating to a final
decision by the Director regarding contract award rescission, contract
interpretation, contractor performance and/or contract reduction,
suspension or termination shall not accrue, and the time period for
performing any act required by N.J.S.A. 59:8-8 or 59:13-5 shall not
commence, until a decision is rendered by the Superior Court of New
Jersey, Appellate Division (or by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, if
appealed) that such final decision by the Director was improper.
3.15.2 Remedies
Nothing in the contract shall be construed to be a waiver by the State
of any warranty, expressed or implied, or any remedy at law or equity,
except as specifically and expressly stated in a writing executed by
the Director.
3.16 State's Option to Reduce Scope of Work
The State has the option, in its sole discretion, to reduce the scope
of work for any task or subtask called for under this contract. In
such an event, the Director shall provide advance written notice to
the contractor.
Upon receipt of such written notice, the contractor will submit,
within five (5) working days to the Director and the State Project
Manager, an itemization of the work effort already completed by task
or subtask. The contractor shall be compensated for such work effort
according to the applicable portions of its cost proposal.
3.17 Suspension of Work
The State Contract Manager may, for valid reason, issue a stop order
directing the contractor to suspend work under the contract for a
specific time. The contractor shall be paid until the effective date
of the stop order. The contractor shall resume work upon the date
specified in the stop order, or upon such other date as the State
Contract Manager may thereafter direct in writing. The period of
suspension shall be deemed added to the contractor's approved schedule
of performance. The Director and the contractor shall negotiate an
equitable adjustment, if any, to the contract price.
3.18 Change in Law
Whenever an unforeseen change in applicable law or regulation affects
the services that are the subject of this contract, the contractor
shall advise the State Contract Manager and the Director in writing
and include in such written transmittal any estimated increase or
decrease in the cost of its performance of the services as a result of
such change in law or regulation. The Director and the contractor
shall negotiate an equitable adjustment, if any, to the contract
price.
3.19 Additional Work and/or Special Projects
The contractor shall not begin performing any additional work or
special projects without first obtaining written approval from both
the State Contract Manager and the Director.
In the event of additional work and/or special projects, the
contractor must present a written proposal to perform the additional
work to the State Contract Manager. The proposal must provide
justification for the necessity of the additional work. The
relationship between the additional work and the base contract work
must be clearly established by the contractor in its proposal.
The contractor's written proposal must provide a detailed description
of the work to be performed broken down by task and subtask. The
proposal must also contain details on the level of effort, including
hours, labor categories, etc., necessary to complete the additional
work.
The written proposal must detail the cost necessary to complete the
additional work in a manner consistent with the contract. The written
cost proposal must be based upon the hourly rates, unit costs or other
cost elements submitted by the contractor in the contractor's original
bid proposal submitted in response to this RFP. The cost proposal
must be a firm, fixed cost to perform the required work. The firm
fixed price must specifically reference and be tied directly to costs
submitted by the contractor in its original bid proposal. A payment
schedule, tied to successful completion of tasks and subtasks, must be
included.
Upon receipt and approval of the contractor's written proposal, the
State Contract Manager shall forward same to the Director for the
Director's written approval. Complete documentation from the Using
Agency, confirming the need for the additional work, must be
submitted. Documentation forwarded by the State Contract Manager to
the Director must all include all other required State approvals, such
as those that may be required from the State of New Jersey's Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Information and Technology
(OIT).
No additional work and/or special project may commence without the
Director's written approval. In the event the contractor proceeds
with additional work and/or special projects without the Director's
written approval, it shall be at the contractor's sole risk. The
State shall be under no obligation to pay for work done without the
Director's written approval.
3.20 Form of Compensation and Payment
This Section supplements Section 4.5 of the RFP'S Standard Terms and
Conditions. The contractor must submit official State invoice forms
to the Using Agency with supporting documentation evidencing that work
for which payment is sought has been satisfactorily completed.
Invoices must reference the tasks or subtasks detailed in the Scope of
Work section of the RFP and must be in strict accordance with the
firm, fixed prices submitted for each task or subtask on the RFP
pricing sheets. When applicable, invoices must reference the
appropriate RFP price sheet line number from the contractor's bid
proposal. All invoices must be approved by the State Contract Manager
before payment will be authorized.
Invoices must also be submitted for any special projects, additional
work or other items properly authorized and satisfactorily completed
under the contract. Invoices shall be submitted according to the
payment schedule agreed upon when the work was authorized and
approved. Payment can only be made for work when it has received all
required written approvals and has been satisfactorily completed.
Payment to Contractor - Optional Method
The State of New Jersey now offers State contractors the opportunity
to be paid through the VISA procurement card (p-card). A contractor's
acceptance and a State agency's use of the p-card, however, is
optional.
P-card transactions do not require the submission of either a
contractor invoice or a State payment voucher. Purchasing
transactions using the p-card will usually result in payment to a
contractor in three days.
A contractor should take note that there will be a transaction-
processing fee for each p-card transaction. To participate, a
contractor must be capable of accepting the VISA card. Additional
information can be obtained from banks or merchant service companies.
3.21 Contract Activity Report
In conjunction with the standard record keeping requirements of this
contract, as listed in paragraph 3.19 of this RFP'S standard terms and
conditions, contractor(s) must provide, on a calendar quarter basis,
to the Purchase Bureau buyer assigned, a record of all purchases made
under their contract award resulting for this Request for Proposal.
This includes purchases made by all using agencies including the State
and political sub-divisions thereof. This reporting requirement
includes sales to State using agencies and, if permitted under the
terms of the contract, sales to counties, municipalities, school
districts, volunteer fire departments, first aid squads and rescue
squads, and independent institutions of higher education. The
requirement also includes sales to State and County Colleges and
Quasi-State Agencies. Quasi-State Agencies include any agency,
commission, board, authority or other such governmental entity which
is established and is allocated to a State department or any bi-state
governmental entity of which the State of New Jersey is a member.
This information must be provided in a tabular format such that an
analysis can be made to determine the following:
-Contractor's total sales volume under contract, subtotaled by
product.
-Contractor's total sales volume to each purchaser under the contract,
subtotaled by product, including, if applicable, catalog number and
description, price list with appropriate page reference and/or
contract discount applied.
Submission of purchase orders, confirmations, and/or invoices do not
fulfill this contract requirement for information.
Contractors are strongly encouraged to submit the required information
in electronic spreadsheet format. The Purchase Bureau uses Microsoft
Excel.
Failure to report this mandated information will be a factor in future
award decisions.
|
Purchase & Property: Home | News | Directions | Frequently Asked Questions | Contact DPP