NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
The New York State Office of General Services (OGS) requests information from vendors that provide
support for Information Technology (IT) equipment, including repair, replacement and/or preventative
maintenance, regarding their product types and business models. Collectively, this is referred to as “Task
Order Support.”
I.
Purpose and Objective
The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to acquire information regarding possible options and
solutions available in the marketplace for IT Task Order Support for IT equipment including repair,
replacement and/or preventative maintenance. New York State will use the information received from this
RFI to review the available options and solutions in making a determination regarding future contracting
strategies. Vendors interested in participating in any possible future opportunities are encouraged to
respond to this RFI and sign up for the Online Vendor Registration for Bidder Notification Service
(http://www.ogs.state.ny.us/ovr/Default.asp) on the OGS website under classification codes 43, 80, 81,
82, 83, 84, and 86.
It is the objective of this RFI to:
A. develop a general understanding of current vendor demographics and capabilities;
B. obtain vendor feedback on working with New York State and other public and private sector
customers and possible operating models, leading practices, pricing structures and process
improvements; and
C. solicit vendor perspective on the future direction for acquiring Task Order Support for IT
equipment, including repair, replacement and/or preventative maintenance.
II.
Scope of Request
The scope of this request is for information about IT Equipment Task Order Support provided to New
York State. The State has numerous desktop computers, printers, routers, switches, and computer
peripherals and has spent significantly on equipment repairs, equipment replacements and preventative
maintenance during each of the last several fiscal years.
New York State would like a cost-effective alternative to the approach that it has taken historically with
respect to IT equipment maintenance and replacement and is considering a statewide contract for use by
any state agency and other New York State governmental entities. It is envisioned that an agency will
have the ability to place an order to have IT equipment replaced or repaired at various locations
throughout the State. These locations could be State-owned or leased property; or they could be property
maintained by third party organizations within which State-owned equipment is deployed (e.g. third-party
service providers, licensed group homes). The State also has a need for setting up temporary locations
for short-term and extended-period engagements, including DOT construction sites, and potentially other
agency sites where interim IT services and equipment are required. These temporary locations, and
other remote sites, may require a vendor to provide high-speed internet access where it is currently not
provided by major ISP providers.
The State is also anticipating a need for services for its increasing number of agency staff who work from
home who have been issued State-owned IT equipment. The State is also interested in providing repair
and replacement services for its large mobile workforce including law enforcement staff (police, parole,
emergency services personnel), and civilian field staff (auditors, inspectors, trainers, etc).
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Prospective provider(s) may be expected to have the capability to respond to multiple agency requests, at
many different geographic locations, for a variety of different platforms and configurations, and in
accordance with service levels that require immediate, moderate or regular response timeframes that are
defined below.
III.
Content of Response
Vendors are requested to respond to all questions included in this document. A response does not bind
or obligate the responder or OGS to any agreement of provision or procurement of products referenced.
No contract can or will be awarded based on submissions.
Since this RFI is designed as a tool to collect information and will not result in a procurement contract for
Information Technology Services by a state agency, it does not fall under the requirements of State
Finance Law §§139-j and 139-k (the Procurement Lobbying Law) and there is no restricted period.
However, we ask that you direct your questions and responses in writing to the email address listed
below.
In order to facilitate the review of the responses, please provide the information in the exact order as
listed below. You may put answers within this document directly below each question, maintaining the
original formatting of this document. Please rename this document with the following naming convention:
VENDOR NAME-Task Order RFI Response.docx (.doc format is also acceptable).
If any of the information in the vendor response is considered confidential, proprietary or a trade secret, it
must be clearly indicated on the appropriate page of the vendor response. Release of such materials is
governed by the NYS Freedom of Information Law, which in pertinent part requires the requester to
provide specific justification as to why disclosure of particular information in the response would cause
substantial injury to the competitive position of the vendor.
Please provide your response no later than 12PM EST on October 29, 2012 to
SST_IT_Services@ogs.ny.gov. The underscores must be included when typing out this email
address.
IV.
Vendor Roundtable
OGS will host a vendor roundtable on November 16, 2012 in Albany, New York. Invitations are limited to
those vendors that submit a completed RFI response. No more than three attendees from each vendor
shall be permitted to attend the roundtable. Specific time, location and agenda details will be provided
after receipt of RFI response documents from each vendor.
1. Does your company wish to attend the vendor roundtable?
2. If yes, please list no more than three (3) authorized representatives from your company to attend:
Attendee 1
Attendee 2
Attendee 3
Name
Email
Phone Number
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Company Demographics
Please provide the following information about your company.
Response
Company Name
Division/Location
Headquarter Location
Contact Name
Title
Email Address
Phone Number
V.
Below are a series of questions for which New York State is seeking information. Please
describe any assumptions you make in answering these questions, as part of each
response.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1.
M/WBE Participation
New York State desires to maintain and improve participation of certified Minority and Women Owned
Business Enterprise (M/WBE) vendors in any new or revised contract model.
a) Are you a Minority owned business enterprise?
b) Are you a Woman-owned business enterprise?
c) Are you certified with Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) as a Minority
and/or Woman Owned Business (M/WBE)?
d) Understanding NY State Finance Law and Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 8 which
seeks to remove barriers to M/WBE participation in state contracting, what recommendations
does your company have for New York State as it relates to maintaining or improving current
participation levels?
e) Please include any other information your company would like to provide related to M/WBE
participation.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
SBE Participation
2.
As defined in New York State Finance Law §160(8), a “New York State Small Business” is a
company that is a resident to New York State, independently owned and operated, with 100 or fewer
employees, and not dominant in its field.
Are you a Small Business enterprise?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
3.
Does your company provide for any of the following services for its personnel? Please provide
details.
 Background Checks?

Work Visa (i.e., H-1B) sponsorship?

Drug Screenings?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
4.
New York State is considering the creation of a comprehensive 24/7 call center, staffed with both
Level 1 and Level 2 support personnel (final location TBD).
a) Where would your company suggest that New York State locate such call center (s)?
b) Does your company own or operate any call centers in New York State? If yes, where is
the call center(s) located and what type of personnel staff the call center?
c) What is your company’s capacity to own or operate a call center?
d) What is the cost difference between having your company own or operate a call center in
New York State versus one owned or operated in the other 49 states? If the exact cost
difference is unknown, please list or describe any factors which would contribute to this
cost difference.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
OPERATIONAL QUESTIONS
1.
Does your company have interest in acting as the primary vendor for the provision of Task Order
Support and/or IT equipment maintenance using individual personnel on a statewide basis? If your
company does not have interest in providing on a statewide basis, please state the rationale for such
a decision. Can your company provide services in ALL New York State counties? If no, please
provide additional information (e.g. counties you can service, other pertinent information).
Response: << Insert your response here >>
2.
Do you have experience working with several different agencies simultaneously wherein you have
been engaged to assist the respective agencies with IT equipment replacements and / or repairs?
Describe how successful you were and why. Also provide any issues / concerns associated with
simultaneously working with multiple entities.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
3.
Some agencies may have the need to utilize a significant number (1000+) of IT assets (computers,
printers, etc…) on a temporary basis. Please describe how you would address this need. How is
hardware warranty or other hardware performance issues handled throughout the duration of the
temporary provisioning? Would there be a minimum number of months for temporary provisioning?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
4.
It is possible that the State may require the provision, deployment and storage of many different
hardware models (computers, printers, monitors, etc.) for the different agencies involved. Do you
foresee an issue with managing/warehousing this hardware? How would you accomplish the
management and warehousing?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
5.
Related to the above question regarding different hardware models, there will be many different
software images to manage, deploy, test and maintain. Is your company capable of providing this
service?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
6.
If your company utilizes subcontractors, how will you administer/delegate contractual responsibilities
when subcontractors are involved? Explain how relationships with subcontractors will enhance your
approach.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
7.
Do you have a product that would allow for online ordering of products and / or services? If so, what
is the name and version of this product and does it include reporting capabilities? Please describe
any reporting capabilities available.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
8.
How would you recommend that equipment repairs and replacements be handled for employees
working remotely or mobile employees that work from home? The State anticipates that these
employees will be located throughout all geographic areas of the State.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
9.
Describe how your company makes repairs to PCs or other IT assets in field premises.
a) If you maintain an inventory of field replaceable units (FRU) for customer equipment, does
your company typically own the inventory, or is it provided by the customer?
b) If you use just-in-time shipment to deliver FRUs to the customer site, does your company
typically charge the customer for both on-site diagnostic and on-site repair dispatch events?
c) If you swap out broken equipment and fix at a central depot, how do you typically manage
inventory of parts?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
10.
Does your company have the ability to integrate with your customer’s supply chain for the
procurement of replacement equipment or FRUs for both permanent sites and temporary locations as
previously discussed?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
11.
If your company maintains an inventory of customer-owned IT equipment or FRUs in stock, describe
the process customarily used to receive and store this equipment securely, and customer costs
associated with the process.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
12.
Does your company operate a help desk with the ability to integrate directly with customer IT Service
Management Solutions? For example, can service requests created in tools such as Service Center,
Remedy, Numara or Service-Now be used to electronically open service requests in your company’s
system? What other systems are you presently interfacing with and how (e.g. API, web services,
desk-to-desk)?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
13.
Describe how you would triage a problem reported to the help desk - particularly at what point is the
determination made that a technician needs to be dispatched to the site to avoid prolonged disruption
to the user working on the phone with the help desk agent?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
14.
What is your company’s internal escalation process for resolving problems with specific task orders?
Examples include failure to complete a repair or installation per task order.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
15.
There are areas in New York State, such as the Adirondack region, in which high-speed internet
access is not readily available from major ISP providers such as Time Warner, Verizon, Cablevision,
etc.
How would your company access high-speed internet to perform the services discussed in this RFI if
not readily available by an ISP provider?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
16.
Describe your company’s experience managing the complete lifecycle of IT assets, from deployment
to operations/repair to decommissioning and disposal. It must be noted that disposal of State-owned
IT equipment is governed by New York State Finance Law §§167 and 168.
a) Describe your company’s experience rolling out new installations of IT assets.
b) Is your company’s experience or specialty in managing the complete lifecycle of IT assets
stronger or weaker for specific categories of IT assets? For example, some vendors may
have deeper expertise in telecommunications lifecycle management than for PCs or servers .
Detail those areas of strengths and weaknesses.
c) Does your company have the ability to partner with other companies that possess specific
regional or IT asset category expertise? Have you partnered in this manner in the past and if
so, please provide detail on that partnership.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
17.
Describe the relationship and any other information that may be useful to the State between your
company and its most complex current customer, utilizing services germane to this RFI.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT QUESTIONS
New York State does not currently use technology to support the end-to-end process for managing
contractors and individual agency-based Task Order Support. New York State is currently implementing an
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for the Statewide Financial System (SFS) based on Oracle
software.
1.
What technologies have you seen be successful in enabling the management processes for
recruiting, tracking and managing Task Order Support for IT equipment? Please include options for
models your company believes New York State should consider (both stand-alone and potential
integration into SFS).
Response: << Insert your response here >>
2.
What are cost-effective best practices that your company has used or seen used in this industry to
deliver Task Order Support for repair, replacement and/or preventative maintenance for IT
equipment?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
3.
If the recommendation is for a central, managed service provider model, do you recommend the
managed services be provided by the State or by a vendor? Please describe why and include the
specific services you believe should be included.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
4.
Please use examples to describe your experience with states and/or private entities who successfully
implemented the model(s) your company is recommending and why the attributes of the entity are
similar to the complexities in New York State.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
PRICING/SERVICE LEVEL QUESTIONS
1.
Do you have a pricing model for similar efforts for fixed-priced deliverables, monthly rates and/or
hourly rates? What is that pricing model and how was that pricing model determined?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
2.
Is it your experience that IT replacement costs for desktops, printers, peripherals and network
equipment varies depending upon the region of the State you are working in? In your response,
please include any differences in cost related to the actual hardware and/or incurred labor costs.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
3.
New York State is evaluating the potential to pursue a new procurement model that includes both the
State’s administrative processes and the actual acquisition of Task Order Support and/or
Preventative Maintenance. Please describe in detail the procurement model you would recommend
for an IT Services Task Order Support and Preventative maintenance support model and why you
recommend this model for New York State (e.g., managed service provider, multiple vendors, and
single/master vendor). Include any recommendations and pros and cons of the recommended model
and how technology services could be delivered through each model. Please limit response to
three (3) pages.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
4.
Describe your experience and/or ability to deliver Task Order Support commodities and services to
multiple agencies that may require varying degrees of response time; i.e. immediate (within 24
hours), moderate (24-48 hours), or regular (2-5 days) across several different regions of the state.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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NEW YORK STATE
OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES
STRATEGIC SOURCING TEAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
5.
What is your company’s customary process for tracking customer sites with priority service
requirements or 24x7 service requirements?
Response: << Insert your response here >>
6.
Please recommend pricing mechanisms to assist New York State in its efforts to increase efficiency
and control cost. Include a description of how you recommend New York State should differentiate
various response times, platforms to support, models to repair/replace. If you have a sample, please
include in your response either as an embedded document or as a separately attached document.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
7.
A Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model includes all relevant items that drive the total cost of a good
or service beyond the base price. Please provide any information your company believes is
important for New York State to include in the TCO model for providing task order services and
supplies.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
8.
Please describe the differences (if any) between providing Task Order Support in the Capital District
versus New York City/Long Island regions. Include factors that contribute to these differences and
any specific challenges.
Response: << Insert your response here >>
9.
What information would you like to see in a potential Request for Proposal that would help you
effectively price Task Order Support and Preventative maintenance for IT equipment? (If your
company does not have interest in providing these services to the State, you may skip this question.)
Response: << Insert your response here >>
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