General Information



righttopJanuary 25, 2020Dear IT Managed Service Provider:Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut (AOASCC) is requesting written bids from qualified firms to provide information technology managed services. Technical questions or requests for clarification shall be directed to info@. AOASCC will provide the response to these questions to all companies that indicate an interest in submitting a proposal.General InformationKey DatesThe following table outlines AOASCC’ key dates and events in the RFP process.ActivityDateRFP Made Available1/25/2021Deadline for Questions2/1/2021Answers Provided2/8/2021Deadline for Proposals2/19/2021Interviews with Selected Respondentsweek of 3/1/21Provider Selected and NotifiedOn or around 3/12/21AOASCC reserves the right to extend the submission deadline or any other deadline or date in the RFP in the event that an extension would be in the best interest of AOASCC.Background of AOASCCAOASCC is an independent non-profit organization serving older adults, individuals with disabilities and caregivers in greater New Haven and the lower Valley. Our mission is to empower adults to remain as independent and engaged as possible within their communities through advocacy, information, and services. We provide a wide range of services in four key areas: support to live at home, caregiver assistance and support, staying active and healthy, and support for professionals.Our annual operating budget is approximately $14.5 million per year, and our main source of revenue is from federal and state funding. IT Structure and Scope of ServicesAOASCC is located in North Haven, Connecticut and has 98 full time, 9 part time and 8 per diem staff positions. All staff are currently working remotely. Approximately half of our staff work exclusively from laptops. Many of these staff were working remotely or were transitioning to working remotely prior to the pandemic. The other staff primarily worked in the office with PCs. Consistent, reliable, and secure access for all staff working remotely is a high priority for the agency.As a non-profit receiving both state and federal funding, AOASCC periodically goes out to bid to ensure that vendor costs are competitive to market rates and to determine if vendor services are best suited to the current needs of the organization.AOASCC is seeking services covering the following areas:Network ManagementCybersecurityEmail Management, including email security and spam filteringApplication supportInfrastructure SupportBackup Management & Disaster RecoveryOn-site and remote support (Help Desk)Additional remote management, access, reporting, and automationMaintained network documentationPhone system supportIT projects such as cloud migration, virtualization and systems upgradesInfrastructure DescriptionThe current infrastructure at the agency is Windows Server based that has a mix of on-premise and cloud based services to meet the agency's technology needs. Pre-COVID, the agency has always had a percentage of staff that are either home or field based, and some that were office based. In the current environment, the majority of people are working remotely.Hardware2 Lenovo Servers supporting 8 Virtual Machines running Server 2012 r22 Azure server instances supporting custom user portal for providers the agency serves133 end-user Windows 10 workstations, encrypted drives (mix of Lenovo and Dell), Konica and Brother printers supported by 3rd party vendorNetgear managed switches (configured and managed by Star2Star VoIP provider)Sophos XG UTM, Sophos endpoint protection8 Sophos Wireless Acces PointsKey Services and applicationsMS Active Directory Services for identity management and shared filesMicrosoft 365 for email and office applicationsAzure Virtual Machines for custom vertical application that serves providers the agency works withClient Management System (in-house developed, SQL Server database, MS Access UI maintenance and new development is currently outsourced)Square-9 document management system (integrated into CMS)Abila/MIP accounting systemXenAPP application server for remote application accessOn-premise/cloud business continuity and disaster recovery solutionIn addition to the line of business applications, staff will work in MS Office products such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint to assist with their day to day tasks, a variety of video conferencing services (several paid Zoom accounts), softphones with headsets and/or built in microphones to communicate both internally and externally. Several departments use programs specific web applications as mandated by funding sources.Preparation CostsAOASCC shall not be responsible for bid preparation costs, nor for the cost, including attorney fees associated with any administrative, judicial, or other type of challenge to the determination of the selected proposer and/or award of the contract and/or rejection of the proposal. By submitting a bid, each respondent agrees to be bound in the respect and waives all claims to such costs and fees.Contract PeriodAOASCC intends to award a one-year contract, with options up to five years.Rules Governing Preliminary Proposals and Final BidsConfidentialityThe content of all proposals and bids will be kept confidential throughout the selection process and afterward. Copies of any preliminary proposal or final bid will not be shared with other respondents.Disposition of Proposals and BidsAll materials submitted in response to the RFP shall become the property of AOASCC.Modification of BidsModifications to final bids will not be accepted by AOASCC. Respondents have the right to revise their preliminary proposals after the interview process to form their final bid.Late SubmissionsPreliminary proposals and final bids not received after the dates specified will not be considered and will be returned to the respondent unopened.Acceptance/Rejection of SubmittalAOASCC reserves the right to reject any or all responses to this RFP, to waive minor irregularities in any bid or in the RFP procedures, and to accept any bid presented which meets or exceeds these specifications and which is deemed to be in the best interests of AOASCC; however, the requirements for timelines shall not waived.Evaluation and InterviewsA committee of individuals representing AOASCC will perform the evaluation of all preliminary proposals. Following this evaluation process, the committee may elect to ask qualified respondents to complete an oral interview before the committee. The purpose of the interview is to allow those Oral interviews are provided at the sole discretion of AOASCC and are for the purposes of allowing AOASCC to broaden their understanding of certain selected respondents. This will be the only opportunity for a respondent to receive feedback on their preliminary proposal.Minimum QualificationsAll managed service providers submitting a final bid must:be licensed to do business in Connecticut,have the expertise, license, and resource to provide managed IT services for AOASCC’ current and future operations,consistently maintain and allocate sufficient staff resources to provide timely service,maintain staff that are qualified and available to provide necessary, specialized expertise in various technological areas,maintain required business insurance coverage.Bid GuidelinesPlease respond as outlined in this request and observe the following guidelines:Respond to questions as directly as possible along with any supporting information you feel will be pertinent to these questions.Electronic submissions must be emailed to Janiss Fowler, info@ no later than 5:00pm on 2/12/20.Our final broker selection will be made based on our evaluation of the criteria outlined in Section 5 of this Request for Proposal and feedback from oral interviews.Submission of a final bid will be construed to imply agreement in advance to the services outlined in the enclosed materials. Brochures, photos, annual reports or any other appropriate printed material may be included in your preliminary proposal and/or final bid. The final bid package should be kept as brief as possible, however, with the subject areas clearly defined.QuestionsGeneral Firm InformationProvide a brief description of your firm, including but not limited to an overview of your firm, including name of the principal(s) of the firm, address, total number of employees, overall industry experience, certifications, and any affiliations.Experience and ResourcesDescribe your firm and its capabilities. In particular, support your capacity to perform the services detailed in this RFP.Indicate which employees from your firm would be involved in providing services to AOASCC, including their designated roles, qualifications, and experience. A resume of the primary individual(s) who will be responsible for the AOASCC account is required.Provide a list of references, with names and contact information, for organizations or businesses for whom you have performed similar work. A minimum of three references are required, references from nonprofit organizations and/or anti-violence organizations are preferred.ServicesDescribe your firm's capabilities to conduct network and security assessments and ability to complete any necessary system enhancements.Describe your approach to provide installation, configuration management, patching, monitoring, and ongoing maintenance for network devices.Detail the process of providing services, as outlined in section 1.3, including time spent on-site and remote support available. Define standard service hours during regular business hours, weekends, and holidays. Any applicable Service Level Agreement (SLA) for response time options should be included.Detail your firm’s proposed approach to offering end-users a uniform working experience, providing consistent, reliable, and secure access to files, folders, email, and printers.Describe any software utilized for routine patching and updates, as well as software for communication and remote support, such as helpdesk ticketing system.Outline your firm’s procurement and purchase ordering process, if defined.Describe any additional service items, and cost, that may be of interest to AOASCC.Fee StructureProvide a clear fee schedule that outlines all monthly service delivery costs as well as any proposed project, one- time software or start-up costs. The fee schedule should include a breakdown of pricing structure (per user, per hour, etc.) and any additional billing rates, hourly costs, and additional expenses for each individual or service.Provide any other fee information applicable to the proposal that has not been covered.Outline all provisions, termination clauses, and/or penalties for closing or changing amount of services as needed.Additional ConsiderationsDescribe any additional facets relevant to this RFP, which have not been previously mentioned that you feel warrant consideration or add to your firm’s value as a strategic partner to AOASCC. ................
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