PUBLICATION D'un (Type D'appel D'offre)

22/06/2017 - Direction Générale de la Présidence, Direction de la Séance Plénière, Unité du Courrier Officiel

TED Reference: 2017/S 118-236118

TED Reference (Corrigendum): 2017/S 174-355563

EP Reference/: EP/DGPRES/ERMS/2017/021

Time limit for receipt of tenders: 27/10/2017

TITLE: Acquisition and implementation of an Electronic Records Management System (ERMS)

QUESTION 1

I would like to know for how many accounts this is required.

ANSWER 1

The chapter 2.1 of the "Annex I Technical specifications" describes requirements about licenses and the chapter 4.5.1 of the same document specifies the number of users and applications expected to use the system end 2020. See these two chapters for further information.

The license must cover at least 7.000 persons (see Error! Reference source not found. of Annex I Technical specifications).

The European Parliament favours a global unlimited licence for the entire institution, instead of having a license that is limited to a certain number of users/records/processors/...

If the license is limited, it must be possible to extend it to additional users of the Parliament.

The usage data of the ERMS end 2020 (the expected first complete year with the system deployed), including records stored in GEDA and new records, registered both directly through the ERMS user interface or from applications integrated with ERMS, is estimated as follows:

End 2020
(ERMS - first usage year)
Number of users / 7 000
Number of records / 2 200 000
Number of new records/year / 500 000
Number of concurrent users (peak) / 300
Number of applications using records management services from ERMS / 12

...

QUESTION 2

How many people will be deployed with the solution?

ANSWER 2

The chapter 6.2 of Annex I Technical specifications describes resources' requirements for the deployment of the ERMS.

The Contractor must setup a dedicated team for the Deployment project. The team must include at least persons working under the following roles:

- Project manager: overall responsibility and coordination of the work and resources

- Analyst: analysis of EP requirements

- Architect: technical design of the solution

- Development Specialist: installation, configuration, customisation (including migrations) and data migration

- Tester: functional and non-functional testing of the solution deployed

- Trainer: training of all the other persons except the normal end users

The number and roles of the external staff required to maintain the system working (once it has been rolled-out) will be defined during the deployment project.

...

QUESTION 3

“File XX_annex_VIII.2_declaration_compatibility_EP_IT_environment (Annex VIII.2 Declaration concerning the compatibility with the European Parliament’s IT environment)” asks the tenderer to declare that the proposed solution will be fully compatible with the European Parliament's IT environment requirements, which are defined in file “VII_annex_III.1_PE_IT_Environment”.

Furthermore, the file “VIII_annex_III.2_EP_development_standards_overview” specifies standards which MUST be taken into account for any new software developments produced for the European parliament. Most of those requirements are similar to the ones specified in Annex III.1 but not always.

a) For example, the Annex III.1 defines ARIS Connect as BPM standard while the Annex III.2 specifies Activiti as the standard Workflow tool.

Workflows are one of the requirements of this tender and it is clear that each of those standards significantly reduces the amount of products which can be proposed as ERMS solution and that no solution can be compatible with both.

Are we correct in assuming that a solution relying on its own workflow system be accepted by the EP?

b) Still related to the compatibility with the IT environment: we understand from the 2 annexes that the Application Server is limited to Tomcat, which again very much reduces the number of possible solutions that could be offered to the EP and would automatically exclude some providers.

An ERMS that matches most of the EP requirements shouldn't be considered as another Web Application which would be deployed in the PE web server farm, but should be considered as global platform that includes all the back-end services, development tools and applications that address both record and process management requirements.

In order to have the possibility to take advantage of a larger range of ERMS, would a solution relying on another system like Oracle WebLogic Server or IBM WebSphere Application Server be accepted by the EP?

c) Tomcat is mentioned as the WAS in the application "A" domain. Does that mean that java web applications are to be deployed on Tomcat and no other or additional web application server is admitted in the data center even though they are an integrated part of the solution?

ANSWER 3

European Parliament’s requirement to have an off-the-shelf product implies some flexibility.

For the sub-question 1.a), a solution relying on its own workflow system will be accepted by the EP.

For the sub-questions 1.b) and 1.c), the proposal will not be rejected but will be subject to an assessment of the operational implications. The deviation from the PE standard must remain minimal in order to limit operating costs (both human and technical).

The proposed technologies should not make use of proprietary technology that implies specific requirements not covered by the European Parliament.

...

QUESTION 4

Having carefully read V_annex_I_technical_specifications (p. 12, section 3.3.6 Management of the filing plan followed by 3.3.7 Management of the functional classification scheme), we are still unclear about the way you see these functioning together in the use of the records management repository. Could you please specify and provide examples?

ANSWER 4

The purpose of the two-fold structure (filing plan and functional classification scheme) is to associate each folder with two “properties”: a property that specifies its business activity and another property that specifies the “type” of the folder and its retention policy.

For example, let us assume that the department responsible for the organisation of plenary sessions launches a call for tender for the acquisition of a specific software to manage the agenda of plenary sessions. A folder named “Call for tender 123-2017 software for management of agenda of plenary sessions” would be created and linked to the heading of the filing plan “Institutional matters -> Plenary sessions -> Organisation of plenary sessions -> Agendas of plenary sessions” and to the functional class “Procurement -> Tendering -> Tender”.

Let us suppose that the Medical Service launches a call for tender for the acquisition of some medical material. The folder could be named “Call for tender 234-2017 material ABC for the Medical Service” and linked to the heading of the filing plan “Resources management -> Human resources -> Health and social matters -> Working environment” and to the same functional class as before: “Procurement -> Tendering -> Tender”.

In this case, the two folders are attached to different branches of the filing plan but share the same functional class, and consequently, have the same retention policy. All folders related to the management of the agendas of plenary sessions are attached to the same heading of the filing plan but they may be linked to different functional classes. Similarly, all folders that refer to the organisation and execution of call for tenders are attached to the same functional class but each folder is linked to a different business activity branch of the filing plan.

The ERMS must allow to create and manage the two structures (a filing plan and a functional classification scheme) and to link folders to a component of each structure (a business activity and a functional class/retention policy), in order to make the management of folders and their preservation easier.

...

QUESTION 5

External users: the RFP refers to the creation of external users (external consultants and Members of the Parliament, p. 9 of V_annex_I_technical_specifications) in the Records Management system in light of notifications and direct access to Parliamentary records. Can you provide us more details on the composition of the external audience who will be accessing records? How broad is this audience expected to be and can you estimate the number of users involved (indication of the amount)?

ANSWER 5

It is expected that the system will initially be used by about 7.000 users, mainly from the administration staff. However, this figure could increase in future if other users, like Members of the Parliament, Parliamentary Assistants, staff from Political groups, etc use the ERMS, either directly or through applications connected to the ERMS. The additional audience can be roughly estimated to 4.000 users.

We remind that the European Parliament favours a global unlimited license for the entire Institution instead of having a license that is limited to a certain number of users/records/processors/...

QUESTION 6

"be submitted in two electronic copies on CD or DVD which are identical to the signed original tender submitted on paper" (document: II_Conditions_submitting_tender, concerned page: 4, concerned chapter/paragraph: 4). Can we also deliver the tender on an usb-stick?

ANSWER 6

Yes, we can accept usb-stick.

QUESTION 7

“Deadline for sending replies:15/09/2017” (document: II_Conditions_submitting_tender, concerned page: 3, concerned chapter/paragraph: 2). There is only one week between receiving the replies and submitting the tender. Is it possible to extend the submission deadline with 1 week so we have more time to process all the received replies?

ANSWER 7

No, we consider that no relevant new information but only some clarifications have been provided and the reply to your questions is published two weeks before the deadline for sending offers.

QUESTION 8

ANSWER 8

There is no compulsory form template. You can use your own form provided that the requested information is supplied.

QUESTION 9

"The Tenderer shall furnish proof in the form of certificates issued or countersigned by
the customers that the number of users and records..." (document: III_tender_specifications, concerned page: 15, concerned chapter/paragraph: 14.3.b). The EP requests a signed reference statement from a customer. Customers that want to act as a reference have indicated that. Can the EP agree for the first selection phase that a summary of our main relevant references (with details) is enough (indicating there are plenty of references available) and that EP can contact them after the first selection phase?

ANSWER 9

The provision of at least three certificates signed by customers is one of the selection criteria to assess the technical and professional capacity of the tenderer. Certificates cannot be provided after the selection phase. Exceptionally we can accept a signed (pdf) copy of such certificates provided that the originals will be sent to the European Parliament at first request.

QUESTION 10

"The new policy states that important documents, whatever their format (electronic, paper, video...), must be registered and filed in folders which must be attached to a Parliament's filing plan, stored according to a corporate retention list and transferred to the Historical Archives or disposed after the administrative retention period." (document: V_annex_I_technical_specifications, concerned page: 5, concerned chapter/paragraph: 1.1). Can we get a copy of the records management policy currently existing at EP?

ANSWER 10

You will find attached a copy of the records management policy, which includes two documents: the Bureau Decision of 2 July 2012 and the Implementing measures adopted by the Secretary-General on 25 October 2013.

QUESTION 11

"In parallel, the Parliament is developing records management tools (filing plan, common retention list and functional classification scheme), reviewing current document management working procedures and promoting staff awareness." (document: V_annex_I_technical_specifications, concerned page: 5, concerned chapter/paragraph: 1.1). Which tooling/products are currently used to support the document management cases?

ANSWER 11

The tools mentioned in the paragraph refer to internal policies and procedures, not to IT software.

QUESTION 12

"The filing plan consists of a number of headings which are organised in a mono-hierarchical (1-to-N relationship) manner and which reflect all the activities of the Parliament, from the most general (first level heading) to the most detailed (terminal heading)." (document: V_annex_I_technical_specifications, concerned page: 7, concerned chapter/paragraph: 1.3.3). Can we get a snippet of the filing plan and classification scheme existing at EP?

ANSWER 12

You will find attached a chapter of the Parliament’s filing plan (chapter 6 on Multilingualism).

The functional classification scheme is under preparation. The answer 4 presents an example of functional class combined with two headings of the filing plan.

QUESTION 13

"The Historical Archives are in the process of replacing the current system (Clara) by a new application (Clavis), which is currently under development." (document: V_annex_I_technical_specifications, concerned page: 16, concerned chapter/paragraph: 3.5.1). Do we have integration/import possibilities described of Clavis?

ANSWER 13

Data may be imported in Clavis via webservices.

QUESTION 14

ANSWER 14

Clavis expects to import data in XML format based on ead3.

QUESTION 15

"For this purpose, the ERMS must allow users to tag records for transfer to the ERR. The system needs to transfer at a regular basis a copy of all tagged records to the ERR" (document: V_annex_I_technical_specifications, concerned page: 16, concerned chapter/paragraph: 3.5.2). How will project be able to communicate with ERR?

ANSWER 15

Via webservices.

QUESTION 16

ANSWER 16

Via webservices.

QUESTION 17

"The ERMS must also allow exporting entities to another application, operation by which those entities can be described in sufficient detail in a common XML data format, so that their metadata values, event histories, access controls and content can be preserved and transferred" (document: V_annex_I_technical_specifications, concerned page: 18, concerned chapter/paragraph: 3.6.4). Please describe what is an external entity?