Request for Proposal for a Centralized GDF Data Store and Analysis Platform: System Integration and Maintenance Services (Stop TB Partnership) - re-published

New amendment added #3: Amendment 3 to extend the tender period (deadline submission) with two additional days, at the request of interested bidders and to allow/attract more responses.

New clarification added: Q38: Considering the complexity of the application, we would like to request for an extension for the submission of the proposal. Kindly confirm if it is possible.If the extension is absolutely not possible, can you please postpone the submission deadline to next working day as the current deadline i.e. 2018-04-15 10:00 UTC is on Sunday.A38: Please note the deadline for submitting proposals was moved to Tuesday 17 April 17:00, Geneva time.Q39: As per our understanding the following modules/functionalities are in scope of this project and need to be built from scratch:     a. Web crawler     b. QuantTB Manager     c. Electronic Document Manager (with a EDMS solution)     d. Search Engine Query Processor     e. Knowledge Portal     f.  OMS 2 DB     g. OMS DB Replication     h. B2B Interface      i. BI functionalities for real time reports, charts and graphsKindly confirm.A39: They are in the project scope, but we don’t expect the service provider to implement all modules from scratch. For example, we want to adapt Wiki and web forum for knowledge management, and there are many solutions available on the Internet. The concern is about keeping the system integrated and maintainable. One consideration is that the whole system needs to provide a single sign-on mechanism regardless of the solution employed in the system. Once a user logs into to the system, he/she shouldn’t have to log in again to EDMS, Wiki, or BBS. The other consideration is to keep technologies consistent as much as possible. For example, we don’t want to see EDMS based on Java, BBS on PHP, search on ASP. These considerations are stated in the requirements of the published RFP.Q40: In case any of the above modules/functionalities have been built partially, kindly share the information and available documentation for our analysis.A40: No software has been built. Consequently, no information/documentation can be shared.Q41: Any specific reason to have real-time ETL between OMS 2 Database and OMS DB Replication? Can we propose a batch process based approach? The Real-time processing will consume lot of system resources and would need infrastructure with high configuration that would increase cost and will be relatively complex solution.Kindly suggest.A41: Yes. We are okay with a batch process between OMS2 Database and OMS DB Replication.Q42: As mentioned in GR2 and FR2 ‘near real-time’ processing would be acceptable. What is the tolerance limit for near real-time processing ex. 4 Hours, 16 hours, 24 hours etc. Would it be applicable to data exchange with all the external IT systems. Kindly confirm.A42: GR2 and FR2 are our requirements without testing with real data. We will set reasonable time constraint with chosen service provider based on analysis of volume of data and analytic load.Q43: Is it mandatory to propose same team structure as given in schedule of requirements. As per our assessment additional team members will be required for implementation of this project.A43: The team structure in the “Schedule of Requirements” is our minimum expectation based on initial assessment. We want to work with capable and strong team to minimize risk.

New clarification added: Q30: For Enterprise Application Integration, please provide clarity on applications to be integrated.A30: The only system GDF has been working with and maintaining for many years is the OMS. The CDP will be a second system, and we are planning to expand the IT infrastructure further in the near future. No further details can be shared at this point.Q31: REST API, WSDL/SOAP, EDI - Please clarify if any of these are already in use - fully or partially. Is there any requirement to create new API/WEb Services for data exchange from external system, if not are there any systems in place?A31: They are not used now, but these technologies were mentioned during the conversations with external partners and supported by our partners.Q31: Is there any document management currently in place?A31: No document management system exists.Q32: Is OMS a bespoke solution or a standard tool platform? Is there any analytics already happening on OMS/ERP/SCM/PM?A32: Our Order Management System (OMS) is not related to bespoke solution. It started as an in-house solution and has been evolved with our business needs. No analytics takes place in OMS.Q33: What are the business problems not been addressed by the current architecture?A33: This discussion is out of this project scope.Q34: Are there any data marts already existing for OMS?A34: No.Q35: Is historical data migration in scope? Data for how many years? What is the current strategy for data archival and backup?A35: Migrating the historical data is an issue still in discussion. The selected vendor should be ready to accommodate a migration, if required.Q36: Since there is a plan to have a new OMS system - does that decision have an imapct on fate of this RFP? Or are we sure to award the contract to the deserving party irrespective of decison on new OMS system.A36: They are independent projects. This CDP will be a new IT infrastructure for GDF while OMS is an essential business operating system. All information of the OMS must be available in the CDP, so if two project implementations run simultaneously, we expect two project development teams to communicate and create a mechanism for the systems to communicate.

New clarification added: Q20: Page 2 - This project is a part of larger on-going GDF IT roadmap. - Please share the roadmap and technologies involved. This will help us in aligning our solution to the bigger goal, and will also help us in gauging inclination towards particular technologies. We are looking for these specific points:Inclination towards cloud platforms, which one?ODS vs Data Mart or Warehouse?Tools inclination for building varied solution components - ETL, DB etc.A20: At this point, additional details of the larger on-going GDF IT roadmap cannot be shared. This project will start with fleshing out the detailed requirements and analysis thereof, without thinking of solutions. Identifying the solution will be a result of the preceding requirements phase. We have many years of experience with maintaining in-house solutions. In terms of technology, we want to use flexible and adaptable technology for subsequent IT projects in an ever-changing business environment.Q21: What is the As-Is Architecture for GDF/CDP/StopTB? Is GDF Online is already existing, and does UNOPS looking for feature enhancements? Is there any requirement outside the scope of BI/Analytics?A21: GDF Online is a web-based front end for the CDP architecture, and complete development of GDF Online is in scope of this project. We expect GDF Online to be our primary platform to collect data, and we expect it to evolve over time. Therefore, we want the system to be very flexible; capable to accept new data formats and available for analysis.Q22: Is GDF open for a public cloud based solution?on Azure or AWS? if yes then any preferred cloud platform?A22: No, GDF is not open for a public cloud based solution. However, it’s up to GDF to choose the server environment for the production environment. If you want to propose a public cloud system, please provide your SWOT analysis to justify the proposal.Q23: In the solution, are you looking for a role based single sign on access control and other enhancements for an existing web platform? Or a web portal needs to be developed from scratch?A23: Yes we are looking for SAML-based sign-on for new web platform and possible desktop application.Q24: Enterprise search functionality (indexing the data for real time search and retreival across data sources). Is this feature not a part of existing GDF Online Solution?A24: GDF Online doesn’t exist; its implementation is in scope of the project. However, if you want to use enterprise search engine, then we expect to receive an index structure document, and use it if we want to introduce new data source to be managed in the GDF Online.Q25: Is OMS DB Replication already existing? Or is it expected to be implemented as part of GDF WHS project?A25: No. OMS DB Replication doesn’t exist and it is expected to be implemented as part of this project (in scope).Q26: Are B2B interfaces existing or they need to be developed in the new solution?A26: B2B interface doesn’t exist, but it is expected to be developed as part of this project.Q27: Our understanding is that the Target Data Model would be residing on OMS 2 DB. Please correct if otherwise. Pg 18 reads as "It contains data identified in Target Data Model".  Does it mean that OMS 2DB already exists in some form? If yes, please define the current state. Other than real time ETL, what does it lack?A27: No, Target Data Model doesn’t exist yet.Q28: How QuantTB file is being used currently for reporting? How is the data being extracted and being made available to end-users?A28: QuanTB can export data into Excel file. It saves its data in an XML file with extension qtb.Q29: Clarity required on # of files/tables for each source - type of format & size?A29: We don’t have clear answer for this. We expect this analysis to be part of the work of the selected vendor.

New clarification added: Q18: As stated in the schedule of requirements, "In the absence of GDF’s trouble ticketing system, a web based, trouble ticketing system must be provided by the Service provider and be maintained for the duration of the Contract." Should we consider the cost of licenses for the ‘Ticketing tool’ in our price proposal? Do you have any preference of Ticketing tool to be used?A18: We are expecting you already have a ticketing tool for other projects and that it can be provided to us for this project, possibly free of charge. If this is not the case, we don’t have any preference, but please consider minimal cost for this ticketing tool.Q19: As stated in the schedule of requirements, "GDF will be responsible for managing and operating the server hardware, virtual machines, operating system, application and database servers as per the configurations prescribed by the Service Provider." As per our understanding, we have to suggest a high level system configuration required for the deployment of the envisaged application. Any detailed study for Infrastructure and Capacity Planning is not in scope. Kindly confirm.A19: Yes. GDF will provide the hosting space for user acceptance test and adjust its capacity as the volume of data grows over time. However, we expect certain level of configuration for optimal performance of the system during the deployment.

New clarification added: Q10: Is the underlying RDBMS platform for existing Order Management System (OMS) is SQL Server 2012?A10: Yes.Q11: As stated in the schedule of requirements, "requires business intelligence and real-time data analysis with many other data sources, different from internal/external, structured/unstructured with automatic/manual feeding."How many Data Sources are we looking to integrate in new CDP? Tentative count of Data Sources (with no. of tables / feeds per source)"A11: We are keep finding new data sources, and it’s difficult to estimate number of tables at this point. One example of external data source is WHO TB data.http://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/en/http://www.who.int/tb/country/data/profiles/en/http://www.who.int/tb/country/data/download/en/Within our organization, there are many documents, and we also want to extract numeric data from Microsoft word documents. We have many applications specific files, but its format is XML, and we are hoping to run analysis on numeric data extracted from those XML files too. Some extraction and importation can be easy, but some may require a few translations of unit, text data, or maybe break down of columns. We believe that number of data source can be irrelevant to the number of tables. This project is our initial effort to collect all our data, so we want to incorporate all data source identified before project implementation to this system.Q12: As stated in the schedule of requirements, "Note: upcoming infrastructure changes are planned to be implemented in 2018, including the possibility of a change from the current OMS to a new system." Will the underlying Data Structures and Database expected to Change that is currently SQL Server 2012?"A12: Yes. However, it’s difficult to predict the future of the OMS, and its transition process. If the OMS changes during this project, we expect the two project teams to align and plan the integration by taking the necessary steps toward minimizing business disruption. If it is not the case, then we expect this system to be integrated with the current OMS.Q13: Can we propose free version of open source tool during the development phase and then upgrade to the Enterprise version of the tool while moving the application to Production server? This approach will save the cost of licenses required initially at the time of development phase.A13: Yes, but please indicate the benefit, purchase price and maintenance cost of using the enterprise version in the proposal for review.Q14: We assume that the sample data required for the application testing during development phase will be provided by UNOPS team. Kindly confirm.A14: Yes.Q15: Can you share the available technical documents of the existing systems?A15: We can’t share any additional technical documents at this stage. We will share any information of existing systems with chosen service provider once the contract is awarded.Q16: Would you prefer to use MS SSIS as ETL tool for this project? If not, please specify your preference.A16: We don’t have any preferred solution at this point. We would like to use a solution that service provider is quite familiar with, and which is easy and flexible for our staff to maintain.Q17: Kindly specify the performance benchmarks (if any) that need to be covered under the ‘Maintenance Services’?A17: The baseline of performance benchmark will be established after completion of the system integration because it depends on hardware capacity, data analysis load, etc. During the maintenance, we expect to check performance deterioration because of increased data volume and transaction. We expect performance analysis, optimization, and some recommendation to justify the cost of improving the performance. We may need to increase number of CPUs, change hard drive to something faster, or improve internet bandwidth. To justify these costs, we may need this recommendation.

New amendment added #2: Amendment 2 to extend the tender period (deadline submission), at the request of interested bidders and to allow/attract more responses.

New clarification added: Q7: Kindly elaborate the purpose of the requirement: “The system should be able to maintain bidirectional transactional replication with the OMS database, which is Microsoft SQL Server 2012"      a.      Is this an OLTP Layer?      b.      Do you want to consume it in OLAP?A7: Technically, the OMS can be considered as OLTP layer, and CDP can be considered OLAP. However, the OMS processes +/- 1000 orders per year, and we do not expect heavy analysis with the BI platform in the CDP.Q8: Kindly elaborate the requirement: “Automatization of the data collection from heterogeneous data sources (structured and unstructured): existing IT systems (internal and external via dedicated APIs and/or EDIs), data files (.CSV, .XLS, .PDF), open data portals (WHO, IHME, World Bank, USAID, EMA …) and based on different technologies or communication protocols ((S)FTP, web services, AS2, HTTP …)”.      a.      Will these portals/data sources will be connected via SOA/APIs/Web Services?      b.      The data need to be transferred in offline mode or does the transfer need to be done in real time?A8: There are many data sources which require different data collection methods. We expect CDP to have capability to collect data by all means. If data can be collected in systematic way via web service/APIs, then we expect CDP to collect such data without any human intervention in real-time.Q9: As stated on page no. 2 of the Schedule of Requirements document, ‘In particular, the effect of possible introduction of a new ERP solution must be taken into consideration during the assessment.’, please provide more details about the ERP solution and the association with envisaged CDP. After the assessment of the ERP solution, any change in scope of the project will be considered as Change Request, hope it would be acceptable.A9: We do not have any information to share regarding the ERP solution at this point. Depending on the ongoing assessment of our current Order Management System, we will share relevant information during the project implementation. The system integration between CDP and the OMS / new ERP is in scope of this project, but its approach and impact will be assessed and evaluated during the CDP project implementation.

New clarification added: Q6: Kindly provide clarifications to below listed queries:Q6.1: Please state the current business challenges/pain areas of your current business needs?A6.1: Please note this is described in the “2. Scope and objective(s) of this assignment” in “RFP II Schedule of Requirements”.Q6.2: Kindly specify project timelines. What is the tentative Go-Live date for envisaged new system?A6.2: This is also described in the “8. Timing” in the “RFP II Schedule of Requirements”.Q6.3: We are presuming that, the new system will be hosted within UNOPS/ GDF facility. Please confirm.A6.3: The service provider should use their own development environment, but user acceptance test will be conducted in production environment in and provided by GDF.Q6.4: If new system to be hosted on cloud, which is the preferred cloud service provider?A6.4: There is no specific preference.Q6.5: Kindly specify the data sources, source database size and frequency of update.A6.5: There are many data sources: web data, QuanTB files, documents, etc. It is difficult to estimate total source data size, but we do not expect the total volume of data to exceed 500 GB. We expect frequency of updates to be low, at most 100 updates per day.Q6.6: Will this DWH on transactional and runtime data system?A6.6: The term “data warehouse” is not used in the “RFP II Schedule of Requirements”. The system won’t process any transaction.Q6.7: What is the objective of creating the Data Warehouse (if any)? Do you need Data Ware House to be Real-time?A6.7: The term “data warehouse” is not used in the “RFP II Schedule of Requirements”, but all objectives of CDP are described in the document. We expect to see updated charts and reports in the BI whenever there is changes in data.Q6.8: Do you anticipate Centralized Data store and analysis platform (CDP) to serve as Data Ware House? Kindly elaborate the expectations of CDP.A6.8: The CDP has a role similar to a data warehouse. The expectation is that all data, including data from the OMS / new ERP, will be accessible within the CDP and that it contributes to generate real-time reports and charts in BI. This is also described in “RFP Section II Schedule of Requirements”.Q6.9: Will Reporting layer be on separate server?A6.9: Server separation can be considered if performance of the system is not acceptable even after optimization in all layers, however, this is not being considered it at this point.Q6.10: Kindly provide details of the unstructured data that will be consumed by CDP? What will be the frequency of such data and please prescribe the format. Will the unstructured data to be feed in/consumed by CDP in batch mode or real time?A6.10: Unstructured data is piece of information that does not fit in any structures, and can be any format. We want the CDP to be flexible so that we can identify structures for unstructured data, and add modules that manage the data within CDP.Q6.11: What is your preferred solution option i.e. Data Lake solution or Operational Data Store or a Data Warehouse?A6.11: We do not have any preferred solution.Q6.12: What is your preferred technology stack for the development of new system? Can we propose multiple technology options?A6.12: All requirements are described in the “RFP Section II Schedule of Requirements”. If you propose multiple options, each option must be supported by exhaustive supporting documentation and analysis (SWOT, etc.) as well as your experience with each option. We will consider all options if they meet our requirements described in “RFP II Schedule of Requirements”.

New clarification added: Q5: We would like to know whether our participation in this tender by way of submitting a proposal and/or award of the contract, via a consortium, would pose a conflict of interest for any future tender/work for the GDF?A6: No, this would not impose any conflict of interests, unless under special circumstances considered different by UNOPS/Stop TB, which would then be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

New clarification added: Q1: In regards of RFP/2018/3616, I would like to ask you the percentage of orders that you expect to execute onsite and offsite.A1: There is no fixed expectation at this point. Suppliers are reuqested to envisage this according to their understanding of the TOR and come with a proposal.Q2: You mention in page. 2 of Scheduled Requirements document: “upcoming infrastructure changes are planned to be implemented in 2018, including the possibility of a change from the current OMS to a new system.”  Could you clarify if the project should be done against the current OMS system or the future one? How do you foresee to manage this change if it occurs during the life of the Data Warehouse implementation project?A2: It’s difficult for us to foresee upcoming changes to the current OMS, but we want to minimize effort for system integration between new OMS and CDP. We have some ideas, but we want to see your proposal with this consideration.Q3: Please inform about the Site (country and city) to execute the services. As well as the facilities that UNOPS will privide for the team asigned.A4: Stop TB Partnership Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and we expected the outcomes of the project delivered to the office. Stop TB will provide web hosting service for deployment and final user acceptance test, and a conference room for trainings.

New amendment added #1: Amendment 1 to include minutes of the pre-bid/clarifications meeting held with supliers on 22 March 2018.