QUB/2023/21 Provision of Technical Services for Oracle PeopleSoft Environment

Description

Summary of the work This Contract will be separated into two requirements but will be awarded to one Economic Operator, these being: 1. Technical Resources Support. 2. Cloud Pilot Project Implementation. Expected Contract Length Contract Period will be for a period of 24 months. Latest start date Monday 12 April 2021 Why the Work is Being Done Queen’s University Belfast (Queen’s) has been running its current Student System, Queen’s Student Information System (QSIS) for over 10 years. The system is based on Oracle’s PeopleSoft Campus Solution (CS) software with some local customisations for key business functions. The current service is running on CS 9.2 with PeopleTools 8.57, following a major upgrade on 2020. Queen’s is keen to ensure continued exploitation of the system, through additions, refinements or streamlining to the Service. The Contract will be separated into two requirements but will be awarded to one Economic Operator, these being: 1. Technical Resources Support 2. Cloud Pilot Project Implementation The output of the Cloud Pilot Project Implementation will be an agreed set of deliveries based on the scope. At Queen’s discretion, this may lead onto the Economic Operator supporting Queen’s Team in procuring and implementing the Cloud platform. The Contractor will be engaged in specific tasks or projects around the QSIS service, bringing knowledge and expertise to assist the in-house team. Problem to Be Solved To help with the delivery of this objective, Queen’s are looking for a Contractor to provide a range of technical skills and experience around Oracle’s PeopleSoft technology stack. Queen’s are looking to gain more information around the option of hosting the Service in the Cloud through one of the main Cloud vendors – namely Google, Amazon, Microsoft or Oracle - to help inform our decision to stay on-premises for the next iteration of the service or utilise the Cloud as the delivery platform. Technical Resources Support - Queen’s wish to engage a Contractor to provide a flexible combination of day-to-day support activities through to strategic project work, as driven by the University needs. The Contractor will be able to provide appropriately skilled resources to work alongside the Queen’s team to delivery on these activities and to upskill or transfer knowledge to the current team where appropriate. Cloud Pilot Project - Queen’s are looking to undertake a PoC to deploy a QSIS environment to the Cloud. Who Are the Users Queen’s have a team of 13 staff members who manage, support and develop the current service, providing a project management function, database/system administrator role, and application development and support role. Technical Resources Support - Queen’s wish to engage a Contractor to provide a flexible combination of day-to-day support activities through to strategic project work, as driven by the University needs. Pilot Cloud PoC - Queen’s will require to understand how the Contractor will deliver the Cloud PoC exercise with us and would expect at least, but not limited to, the following provide an outline plan, a detailed breakdown of the cost to complete the Cloud pilot, resource profile to complete the Cloud pilot, case studies for previous Cloud implementations for at least two of the main Cloud provider ,outline design for the Cloud architecture covering all key elements of the current onsite implementation, communication plan that will be used to track progress of the pilot. Deliverables at the end of the contract will include a review of Queen’s current Qsis system, a proposed architecture design for the Cloud deployment, migration of one (medium sized) environment, costing models, allow balanced assessment of technical, operational and cost implications and training. Existing Team To help with the delivery of this, Queen’s are looking for a Contractor to provide a range of technical skills and experience around Oracle’s PeopleSoft technology stack with the University Information Services. Queen’s are looking to gain better understanding of the implications of moving the QSIS Service to the Cloud to inform our re-platforming decision. To help gain the necessary information and technical knowledge, Queen’s are looking to undertake a PoC to deploy a QSIS environment to the Cloud. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • The key technology areas that Queen’s requires support are in the PeopleSoft technical environment, namely PeopleTools, and Oracle Database/Systems Administration. • The skills required in these areas will include some or all of those outlined below • Upgrading Oracle Database from 12c to 19c • Oracle Enterprise Manager 13c and Linux Operating Systems • Virtual Cloud Network Design, Cloud Security Strategies and DR and Cloud Disaster Recovery strategies • Environment/application automation technologies • Expert understanding of PeopleSoft environments and configuration • Oracle Database Technologies, Systems and Tools including Data Guard and Real Application Cluster (RAC) • PeopleSoft development tools (PeopleTools 8.57 and above) and IDE • PeopleCode, Application Classes and Application Engines • Component Interfaces and Web Services • Excel to Component Interface, Integration Broker, Reporting tools and Data Mover • Oracle Certified Expert, RAC and Grid Infrastructure Administrator • Proof of Concept; Queen’s are looking for specific experience and skills in implementing PeopleSoft environments • PeopleSoft environments include database, application, web tiers and associated components to the Cloud on at least two of the main Cloud vendor platforms (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle). Work Location Campus address; Queen’s University Belfast University Road Belfast BT7 1NN Working Arrangments The Contractor will be engaged in specific tasks or projects around the QSIS service, bringing knowledge and expertise to assist the in-house team. Queen’s wish to engage a Contractor to provide a flexible combination of day-to-day support activities through to strategic project work, as driven by the University needs. The Contractor will be able to provide appropriately skilled resources to work alongside the Queen’s team to delivery on these activities and to upskill or transfer knowledge to the current team where appropriate. Additional T&Cs The Contractor will be acting as an independent technical advisor. For this reason, should Queen’s decide to proceed with procuring the Cloud platform the Contractor or any associated entity will not be allowed to tender for the Cloud platform due to a conflict of interest. The Contractor will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement and a conflict of interest form prior to engagement. Service Level Agreement, Queen’s and the Contractor will agree this prior to implementation which will include delivering the agreed outputs and availability of skilled resources. Queen’s requests and change procedures will be given precedence. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 6 Proposal Criteria • Minimum Technical Requirements • Technical Merit and Functional Fit • Culture Fit Cultural Fit Criteria To support and work with Queen’s Information Services team to continue to exploite the Qsis system, through additions, refinements or streamlining to the Service Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 20% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can the supplier offer services from remote location due to the ongoing pandemic travel restrictions?Can the University provide us the detailed RFP/tender document with more details on the current Peoplesoft environment?What are the financial obligations to be met by the Supplier?Will be Joint venture or Consortium accepted for this requirement?What will be complete process of this award cycle? like RFI, RFP, Evaluation, Proposal Defence presentation, Negotiation and Award ? Please e-mail Pamela Rodgers, Procurement Manager to request Appendix 1 – Specification. This document will provide you with the full details of the requirement.E-mail address is pamela.rodgers@qub.ac.uk Unfortunately this platform will not allow a document to be uploaded. 2. Who from your team will be scoring applications for this opportunity and what positions do they hold? Please e-mail Pamela Rodgers, Procurement Manager to request Appendix 1 – Specification. This document will provide you with the full details of the requirement.E-mail address is pamela.rodgers@qub.ac.uk Unfortunately this platform will not allow a document to be uploaded. 3. Could you give an indication of budget please? Thank you for your clarification. Queen’s will not be sharing the budget for the project. 4. DOS Stage 1 responses require us to respond with an evidence example for all the Essential and Nice To Have requirements, could you please advise how we should respond to “The skills required in these areas will include some or all of those outlined below” Thank you for your clarification, this line has been inserted into the wrong field in error. Economic Operators are not required to provide a response to ‘the skills required in these areas will include some or all of those outlined below’. Please insert ‘n/a or detailed below’ or something to that effect. 5. Do we have any budget range for these positions Thank you for your clarification. Queen’s will not be sharing the budget for the project. 6. Can day-to-day support activities be done out of offshore locations during UK Office Hours? Please e-mail Pamela Rodgers, Procurement Manager to request Appendix 1 – Specification. This document will provide you with the full details of the requirement.E-mail address is pamela.rodgers@qub.ac.uk Unfortunately this platform will not allow a document to be uploaded. 7. Can you please advise the timelines of this procurement (e.g. shortlisted companies notified, anticipated contract award)? Also, can you confirm if shortlisted suppliers will have the opportunity to present? Please e-mail Pamela Rodgers, Procurement Manager to request Appendix 1 – Specification. This document will provide you with the full details of the requirement.E-mail address is pamela.rodgers@qub.ac.uk Unfortunately this platform will not allow a document to be uploaded. 8. • Can the supplier offer services from remote location due to the ongoing pandemic travel restrictions?• What are the financial obligations to be met by the Supplier?• Will be Joint venture or Consortium accepted for this requirement?• What will be complete process of this award cycle? like RFI, RFP, Evaluation, Proposal Defence presentation, Negotiation and Award ? The Contractor will support the project team at either remotely or on Queen’s campus.As part of the Invitation to Tender stage, Economic Operators will be required to pass a financial assessment.Where an Contractor takes the form of a consortium, partnership or joint venture, all information requested must be given in respect of the proposed consortium lead and in respect of each consortium member, partner or joint-venture member, who will play a significant role in the delivery of the specification under any ensuing contract. The shortlisted suppliers will be invited to tender for this requirement. 9. Please let us know what is referred to when you say “Environment/application automation technologies”? What are u exactly looking for when you talk about automation. Examples of these technologies include puppet, terraform, ansible 10. Will be Joint venture or Consortium accepted for this requirement? Economic Operators are required to refer to their contractual agreement with CCS to assure they are able to offer a joint venture or consortium approach.