Procurement - Worksource Montgomery | Worksource Montgomery

Through the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Legislation, WorkSource Montgomery has been mandated to develop and deliver Career Counseling Services for all Montgomery County Public School Middle and High School students. The intent of the Strategic Planning Services RFP is to identify an organization with clearly documented experience in the planning and implementation of Career Counseling Services in a K-12 Public School System. The strategic plan must be consistent with the intent and deliverables specified in Pillar 3, Objective 4 of the Blueprint.

To review the RFP, CLICK HERE.

WorkSource Montgomery and the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board announces its next initiative to support the county’s recovery from the COVID 19 pandemic. The Workforce Recovery Network is a funding opportunity designed to support local Community Based Organizations’ implementation of innovative workforce development programming facilitating residents’ re-attachment to employment.

Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, WSM has released the Workforce Recovery Network Request for Proposal. The intent of the Workforce Recovery Network funding is to support organizations serving Montgomery County residents that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. WSM has $1,000,000 ($1 Million) available for year 1 and anticipates ten awards of $100,000 each.

Programs should be focused on strategic workforce initiatives that assist Montgomery County residents who have experienced hardship due to the pandemic. In addition to serving individuals negatively impacted by the pandemic, the programs may also serve individuals who are: low-income, have criminal backgrounds, have disabilities, homeless, Veterans, English language learners, youth, public assistance recipients, or have barriers to employment. Programs and services targeting individuals in Montgomery County’s high poverty rate census tracks as well as the communities near the pending Purple Metro Line are encouraged.

WSM is seeking proposals that are innovative and creative. Funding requests could include expansion of traditional services such as recruitment, assessment, case management, training, subsidized employment placements, internships, and supportive services. However, WSM’s funding for this initiative is designed to be flexible and encourage new ways of offering programs and serving individuals in the county. Funds cannot be used for capital improvement or to purchase real estate or large equipment. Programming should fill in gaps brought to light by the pandemic, address issues magnified as a result of the pandemic, and/or expand innovative ideas piloted during the pandemic.

To review the RFP, CLICK HERE.

The intent of the Workforce Recovery Network funding is to support organizations serving Montgomery County residents that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. WSM has $1,000,000 ($1 Million) available for year 1 and anticipates award amounts ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. Requests over $100,000 will not be reviewed and scored.

Programs should be focused on strategic workforce initiatives that assist Montgomery County residents who have experienced hardship due to the pandemic. In addition to serving individuals negatively impacted by the pandemic the programs may also serve individuals who are: low-income, have criminal backgrounds, have disabilities, homeless, Veterans, English language learners, youth, public assistance recipients, or have barriers to employment. Programs and services targeting individuals in Montgomery County’s high poverty rate census tracks as well as the communities near the pending Purple Metro Line are encouraged.

WSM is seeking proposals that are innovative and creative. Funding requests could include expansion of traditional services such as recruitment, assessment, case management, training, subsidized employment placements, internships, and supportive services. However, WSM’s funding for this initiative is designed to be flexible and encourage new ways of offering programs and serving individuals in the county. Funds cannot be used for capital improvement or to purchase real estate or large equipment. Programming should fill in gaps brought to light by the pandemic, address issues magnified as a result of the pandemic, and/or expand innovative ideas piloted during the pandemic.

To review the RFP, CLICK HERE.

WorkSource Montgomery (WSM) invites responses to the following Request for Proposal (RFP). The purpose of the RFP is to select a single organization to provide IT managed services to WSM for a twenty-five month period, beginning on October 3, 2022 and ending on October 31, 2024. Following the initial term and internal review by WSM, there is a possibility to renew this contract for an additional two-year term.

Please click here to download RFP

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Q&A

Q1: Please confirm that items in Section A, attachments (including Attachment C), and the 1-page Executive Summary (Section B) are exempt from the 15-page limit. Current page allocations suggest that Section A (Attachment A-B and required documentation i-iv) requires 6 pages, while only weighted 5 points.

A1: Cover Sheet and Front Matter documents are excluded from the maximum page limit of 15.

Q2: Please confirm that a Cover Page and Table of Contents are excluded from the 15-page limit.

A2: Yes, they are excluded.

Q3: Please clarify what proofs are considered acceptable to meet this requirement. For example, please clarify what you require for Maryland licensure. Would the Certificate of Good Standing also satisfy the Proof of Licensure? If not, what documentation do you need to fulfill this requirement? Do the requirements match what is listed on the Montgomery County website Business Portal – www.MontgomeryCountyMD.Gov?

A3: Respondents are required to submit a Certificate of Good Standing from the state of Maryland.

Q4: Please clarify if this is a firm fixed price (FFP) or time and materials (T&M) contract.

A4: WorkSource Montgomery does not have a preference. Respondents are encouraged to provide the best pricing for the structure you are proposing.

Q5: By presentation, please clarify that responses should itemize pricing as ordered on page 4 (A-E), with monthly and annual proposed costs for each Service listed. Should this be presented as a Word Table or Excel document? Can WSM provide a pricing template?

A5: WorkSource Montgomery does not have a preference on which application is utilized. No pricing template will be provided for this RFP.

Q6: Can the information in Attachment C be recreated in the response, or must the information be provided in the form as an attachment? Please confirm that the information in Attachment C can be recreated in a table in the past performance section of the response.

A6: Attachment C responses should be submitted on the form provided by WorkSource Montgomery.

Q7: Can you please provide the name of the existing vendor, contract value, period of performance, and the number of support technicians?

A7: WorkSource Montgomery can provide the name of the incumbents (Digital Industry and Virtual Windows). All other contract information is held as confidential.

Q8: What kind of Operating Systems need to be managed at the desktop\laptops level and how many at each location?

A8: The Operating System is Windows 10, supporting Microsoft 365 applications.

Q9: Can you provide the following information regarding the infrastructure:
· Number of servers and the version of operating systems.
· The virtualization platform used to host servers.
· Number of network equipment (switch, router, wireless controllers and firewalls) and make and model.
· Are you using any cloud providers for SaaS or IaaS? If yes, please provide the vendor and role.
· What solution is being used for backup?
· Is the active directory hosted on premise or using Azure Directory services?
· What tools are being used for automated provisioning and patching of servers and desktops? For Example, MS SCCM/Intune and etc.
· What application is used for monitoring serves and network devices?
· What VoIP system is being used and the number supported phones?
· Do you use any system to log and manage IT request tickets?
· How do users request IT Support and what are SLAs associated with required services?

A9: Please see Section II: Services Requested for details related to WorkSource Montgomery’s current IT environment. WSM is requesting for Proposers to submit their recommended IT and voice service solutions based on your expertise.

Q10: Please provide additional information regarding the average number of peak concurrent calls to the help desk by hour. Please provide the ticket analysis by established problem areas so that the bidders can estimate the workload accurately. For example, what percentage of the tickets are simple to resolve such as password resets or forgotten passwords?

A10: This information is not currently available.

Q11: Could you clarify the total amount of employees/staff that WSM employees at each location (Rockville, Wheaton, Germantown, East County, Mobile) as Sec II Item 2. Overview list around 42 total employees/staff member’s (non-IT support staff)?

A11: The number of employees by location is listed in Section II item 2 of the RFP.

Q12: Could you provide the OEM manufacturer for the infrastructure hardware for the firewall, switches and phone handsets?

A12: WSM is open to and in search of the best recommended IT and voice service solutions for an organization of our size. We are not necessarily looking to keep the existing infrastructure in place.

Q13: Could you provide the OEM manufacturer for the wireless infrastructure? (controller and access points)

A13: Please refer to answer #12.

Q14: Could you provide the OEM manufacturer of the existing phone PBX system as it appears Call2Teams has some integration?

A14: Call2Teams is not integrated with our current phone system.

Q15: It appears to be 1 firewall and 4 switches that are leased which the assumption is that they will require replacement at/around start of new contract? RFP does mention support for purchase/lease 5 new switches, but would this be the same for the 1 leased firewall or perhaps multiple firewalls in the near future?

A15: Please refer to answer #12.

Q16: Would you be interested in the new support vendor to provide O&M maintenance/support renewal subscriptions for critical infrastructure including laptops/desktops over the life of the contract?

A16: Please refer to answer #12.

Q17: Would you be interested in the new support vendor to be a hardware/software reseller for new laptops/desktops/printers and other peripheral procurements?

A17: Please refer to answer #12.

Q18: Is all infrastructure hardware/software under an active maintenance and support contract?

A18: No.

Q19: Is there any critical infrastructure listed that is legacy and not under a current maintenance/support contract or 3^rd party support contract?

A19: WorkSource Montgomery has two multifunctional copiers that are not under a maintenance/support contract.

Q20: Are there any current SLA’s that should be followed by a minimum for work orders, incidents or problems including outage resolutions?

A20: Please refer to answer #12.

Q21: Is there an existing service ticket count matrix or estimations be provided from the past on monthly or yearly ticketing count total across all 4 locations? (this provides insight on staff count).

A21: Please refer to answer #10.

Q22: Is the current Microsoft 365 tenant/subscription directly with Microsoft or the existing service provider? If with the incumbent service provider, should the interested vendor be prepared for subscription migration over to a new hosted M365 tenant for WSM?

A22: Yes, the subscription is with the incumbent.

Q23: Should we assume that the incumbent IT support staff would be available for opportunity on this contract award?

Q23: This is an open procurement.

Q24: Are proposed respondents able to conduct a site visit to view existing setup?

A24: Yes, a site visit can be coordinated by emailing procurment@worksourcemontgomery.com requesting a site visit.

Q25: The cover page on the proposal due dates states 8/15 by 9 am and the RFP states by 5pm.

A25: The proposal submission deadline has been extended from 8/15 o 8/22 by 5:00 pm ET.