Request for Information: Data Management Solutions for Marine Animal Sighting and Health Tracking

PURPOSE

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) invites interested organizations to respond to this Request for Information (RFI) with information regarding their ability to support the development of a Data Entry and Management System (DEMS) to collect and manage data related to marine mammal strandings in the Gulf of Mexico.  NFWF intends to issue a more specific Request for Proposals (RFP) based on responses to this RFI.
 

HOW TO RESPOND

This RFI contains three separate documents: 1) This RFI Overview; 2) Attachment A – RFI Response Questionnaire for your response; and 3) A high‐level Process Flow Diagram illustrating the current DEMS.

Interested parties that intend to respond to this RFI via submission of Attachment A must first send NFWF a notice of intent to submit.  The notice should be sent via email to NFWF c/o Michelle Pico at pico@nfwf.org, on or before 8PM ET 8/1/2022. The notice should also include any questions that the interested party has regarding this RFI. NFWF will subsequently provide a consolidated set of questions and answers to all entities that have emailed a notice of intent to submit.

Full responses should be provided by completing Attachment A and submitting it via email to pico@NFWF.org by 8 PM ET 8/19/2022.

BACKGROUND

Marine Mammal Stranding Networks serve as ambulance crew, doctors and “CSI” detectives for marine wildlife around the United States. These trained members and volunteers act under permitted organizations to serve as first responders to stranded and out of habitat animals and offer one of the best opportunities to gather critical management information for the nearly 100 species of marine mammal that live in U.S. waters. Stranding networks engage scientists to monitor emerging diseases and morbidity/mortality trends. These networks play an important role in improving understanding of natural and human-interaction threats to marine wildlife populations and allow resource managers to respond to and mitigate threats, as appropriate. 

NFWF has partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and several members of the Gulf of Mexico Marine Mammal Stranding Network to increase the quality and quantity of data collection around animal stranding response, assessment and disposition. The foundational purpose for the desired Data Entry and Management System (DEMS) is to carry over fields and functionality of a distributed MS Access database system that has been developed to standardize data collection into a centralized on-line tool and merge where possible and appropriate with additional health data.  

PROJECT SUMMARY INFORMATION

  • Currently data is entered into an Access Database that is housed on individual partner desktops and merged once a month by a data manager.
  • Portions of the database are required fields in a national federal database which are currently uploaded manually by a data manager.
  • Key Scope of Work of this project is to transition this data entry onto an online system to allow for seamless entry and querying while reducing manual uploading from a data manager.
  • Approximate current system User Count information:
    • Access controlled data entry users: roughly 50 (variable number of users across 11 distinct organizations that may have different roles in the data management system) that have access to create and edit data files, QAQC and query;
    • Access controlled data query users: 20 distinct users over the course of a calendar year who have access to read-only data queries and reports.
    • Super user: data system administration and QAQC
    • Public users: possible for dashboard interface for rolled-up data 
  • Approximate current Volume: 
    • Approximately 350 new individual cases are added to the database annually
    • Approximately 40 samples per case
    • Approximately 2-5 (up to 100 in rare cases) results per case
    • Approximately 5-10 (up to 100 in rare cases) photos per case
    • Migration of 6 years of data already collected and then annual storage capacity to increase by ~5 GB annually (includes media) 
  • NFWF will consider a Software as a Service model (i.e., an application service provider (ASP) or Cloud Software Service model), or in‐house hosting
  • NFWF is interested in any special reports/dashboard views provided by the vendor, however, we require open access to all DEMS data for reporting purposes.
  • NFWF requires data migration services/support to migrate data from existing Access Database to the new solution.
  • NFWF requires user and admin training and documentation.
  • NFWF anticipates ongoing system support services.

GENERAL PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS

End-product must have the following basic functionality:

  • Landing page with an intuitive user interface
  • Ability for controlled data access by user type
  • Fully functioning relational (“back-end”) Database with multiple modules and users
  • Data Application with multiple “front-end” forms for data entry, review, and editing
  • QAQC Controls with various data submission states
  • Query functionality 
  • Public Facing Dashboard Visualization Tool
  • Private Report Builder/Canned Report Interface
  • Ability to export, import, and/or share information with other platforms using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and/or manual download/upload functionality
  • Additional deliverables: (1) data dictionary that defines all data fields; (2) user guide (can be a separate PDF document, perhaps in lieu of a more detailed Help functionality, i.e., users would download a user guide PDF when clicking on “Help” in tool)

Finer Scale Functionality Outline: A detailed systems outline is available, however NFWF will consider off-the-shelf products that may be available to meet some of these functionality requirements and interests.

PROCESS AFTER CLOSE OF RFI SUBMISSION PERIOD

Evaluation Process: NFWF and a committee of stakeholders will evaluate all RFI submissions based on responsiveness to this RFI and Attachment A. NFWF may request a follow up product demonstration and discussion. All communication will be via email between NFWF’s and submitter’s primary contacts.

Formal Presentation: If requested to present, submitter will be asked to provide a detailed product demonstration, and engage in Q&A with NFWF.

No Rights Created through this RFI: This RFI does not convey a commitment to award a contract or to purchase a Data Entry and Management System or related services. NFWF reserves the right to pursue additional contact, or not, with any entity that responds to this RFI.  NFWF may also cancel this RFI for any reason or for no reason. NFWF will not be liable under any circumstances for any expenses incurred by any entity in connection with this RFI, including, without limitation, the preparation and submission of any response to this RFI. Neither this RFI nor any response hereto creates any contractual relationship between NFWF and any entity submitting a response.  

Confidentiality: All information presented in this RFI, including any information that is subsequently disclosed by NFWF during the RFI process, should be considered strictly confidential. Submission contents and subsequent information provided by submitters will be held confidential by NFWF.

Duration of Information: NFWF requires that the information provided by submitters be valid and actionable for at least one calendar year from the date of submission.

SUBMISSION DEADLINES 

  • RFI Release 7/13/2022
  • Deadline for emailing Notice of Intent to Submit (which should include any questions) 8/1/2022
  • NFWF to provide consolidated questions-and-answers to submitters 8/5/2022
  • Deadline for emailing RFI Attachment A submission 8/19/2022
  • Target date for NFWF follow-up with demo presentations requests 9/5/2022

ELIGIBLE CONTRACTORS & CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

Eligible respondents to this RFI include institutions of higher education, nonprofits, for-profit organizations, international organizations, and local, state and Indian tribal governments. Small and minority businesses, and women's business enterprises are strongly encouraged to apply.

By making any submission in response to this RFI, the respondent warrants and represents to NFWF that it does not currently have any apparent or actual conflict of interest, as described herein.  In the event a respondent currently has, now or in the future, or becomes aware of, an apparent or actual conflict of interest with NFWF or the project described in this RFI, the respondent must so notify NFWF immediately.  Conflicts of interest include any relationship or matter which might place a respondent, its employees, or the respondent’s subcontractors in a position of conflict, real or apparent, between their responsibilities and interests and the responsibilities and interests of  NFWF or the project described in this RFI.  Conflicts of interest may also include, but are not limited to, direct or indirect financial interests, close personal relationships, positions of trust in outside organizations, consideration of future employment arrangements with a different organization, or decision-making affecting the matters described in this RFI that would cause a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts to question the impartiality of the respondent, the respondent’s employees, or the respondent’s future subcontractors related hereto.  Upon receipt of such a notice, NFWF will determine if a conflict of interest exists and, if so, if there are any possible actions to be taken by the respondent to reduce or resolve the conflict.  Failure to resolve conflicts of interest in a manner that satisfies NFWF may result in the respondent’s being disqualified for further consideration under this RFI.  


By responding to this RFI, each respondent warrants and represents to NFWF that it is not subject to any of the below circumstances:

  1. Has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner; or 
  2. Was convicted (or had an officer or agent convicted) of a felony criminal violation under any Federal or State law within the preceding 24 months relating in any way to the subject matter of this RFI; or
  3. Is listed on the General Services Administration’s, government-wide System for Award Management Exclusions (SAM Exclusions), in accordance with the OMB guidelines at 2 C.F.R Part 180 that implement E.O.s 12549 (3 C.F.R., 1986 Comp., p. 189) and 12689 (3 C.F.R., 1989 Comp., p. 235), “Debarment and Suspension. ” The SAM Exclusions instructions can be found here: https://www.sam.gov/SAM/