Addendum #1

October 8, 2020

The RFI opening date has been changed to October 27, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. local time.

October 6, 2020

Question:  The Lake County purchasing website has the bid due date as 11pm 10/13/2020, but the RFI document has 11 am 10/13/2020.  Is the website in error?

Response:  The SOI opening date is 10/13/2020 at 11:00 a.m. The website has been updated.

The Lake County purchasing website has the question due time as 10/6/2020 at 5pm central, the RFI document has 11 am central.  Is the website in error?

Response:  The question due time is 11 a.m. on 10/6/2020.  The website has been updated.

Question:  Do you anticipate any vendors, consultants or contractors will need to access the system and/or collaborate in the system?

Response:  Not at this time, it is anticipated that only County staff would need access to the system.

Question:  Under Required Project Scope bullet #10 “On the fly” data validation…Could you provide more detail or examples of what you are referring to?

Response:  The system should be able to help reduce instanced of manual project input mistakes, for example an add lanes project should have more lanes shown after the improvement than before the improvement, or a the ability to ensure that the project letting date matches the year the funds are programmed. 

Question:  Under Desired Project Scope bullet #7 The ability to add projects to the map…Could you please explain further what you are looking for?

Response:  This could be handled in different ways, it might be possible that inputting the project location in the database allows it to be populated on a map, or the user could draw the project location on a map separately.  The desire to have the system be able to produce a map of each project.

Question:  Has an upper budget limit been determined?

Response:  Not at this time, the results of the RFI will be used to help set the available budget. 

Question:  Does LCDOT need a scheduling component with this software?

Response:  Projects need to be able to be programmed by fiscal year through the 6 year window.  Each project should has a program date that is either when funding appropriation happens or when the project is let for bid.  The ability to filter projects by fiscal year is required.  A project specific schedule for each component of a project is not needed with this software.

Question:  From what we understand, the projects currently in CPMS are all TIP projects, and they’re divided into: Annual Program projects which are prior TIP-cycle projects under construction in the current year, Planned Program projects which are prior TIP-cycle projects expected to go under construction in the following fiscal year, and 5-Year TIP projects programmed (not construction time-frame) in the 5 years following the fiscal year of the Planned Program. Is this correct?

Response:  CMPS currently shows the Current year, right now FY2020 and the next five year FY2021-2025, it also shows a pre-2020 and post 2025.  Line items in the pre-2020 show previous expenditures prior to the current year, project line items in the post 2025, serve as a type of Multi-Year B (MYB) list, that is not subject to fiscal constraint as the 6 years of the active program are.  Currently once a project has been financially closed out it is deleted from the CPMS database.

Question:  Does the tracking of project capital expenditures entail a) what has been invoiced by a firm doing the work on a project, or b) the amount issued by the agency as a PO, or c) the amount that has been already paid out by the agency?

Response:  Currently CPMS tracks as described in c) the amount that has already paid out by the agency, a) and b) are currently tracked in other programs, through BOSS(Oracle) for a PO and then in specific accounting ledgers in Microsoft excel for each project.  It is desirous that a future application may be able to incorporate a) and b) into CPMS or be able to pull data from another application to track specific invoices and PO’s for a project. 

Question:  Can you clarify whether revenue is tracked at the individual project level or general fund level?  If revenue needs to be tracked at the individual project level, what type of supporting reports are required?  For example, would you need to know how actual revenue was allocated for each project by date and amount of each allocation?  

Response:  Revenue is tracked at both the general fund level and individual project level, some revenue for a specific project may be federal reimbursements, some may be the municipal share of a county lead project.  At this time reporting on revenue allocations is not necessary. 

Question:  Is there a requirement to track each incoming deposit for funding revenue sources at a detailed transaction level?

Response:  Not at this time. 

Question:  What system is used today to manage accounts payable, receivable, invoices, and vouchers?  How are the accounts payable and receivable information used in the CPMS today?  Can a screenshot be provided on how that information is displayed in CPMS today?

Response:  The County uses BOSS (Oracle) to create PO’s and send invoices/payments.  Each project also has a detailed accounting ledger in Microsoft Excel that tracks payments.  Those systems are not currently incorporated into CMPS.  Currently programming staff meets with finance staff once a year at the start of the new fiscal year and manually reviews each funding line item programmed in the current fiscal year to determine how much funding has been expended and how much funding remains programmed.  The screenshot shows in line 0-1 items that were expended before 2020, line 2-3 indicate some funding was expending in a prior fiscal year, with 299,700 being carried over into 2020.  Lines 6-7 Show a federal fund source, that was partially expended, with some funds carried into the current fiscal year.  Line 13 and 14 show outside revenue for the municipal share of the project.   The screenshot is attached here.

Question:  Can you clarify which internal/external web interfaces, mapping applications, and database/spreadsheets would there be a need to support data import for?  Additionally, what types of data are you looking to import from each of those sources, and is it a one time or ongoing import?

Response:  The county uses Legistar to track appropriations made by the county board, as mentioned above Boss (Oracle) and Excel are currently used to track PO’s and financial ledgers.  The desire is to have these functions either contained within a new program or have the program be able to read information from those other programs to allow users to track a projects programmed expenses, appropriation by the county board and actual expenditures, and have the new program serves as a hub for all of this project specific information. 

Question:  We understand that “the application must be capable of performing graphical searches”. Is there anything missing from the following statement in terms of fulfilling the needs of ‘graphical search’: “searches such as address, city/state, zip code, intersecting streets, etc. and navigable using standard zoom in/out buttons, panning, or by selecting an area to zoom to”?

Response:  Nothing in addition to that would anticipated to be required, the County has GIS data on legislative districts, county highway sections numbers, etc. the ability to incorporate those would be a plus, but not a requirement. 

Question:  It is our understanding that a bulk data export capability for project information would satisfy the need for “the ability to ‘scrape data” from any replacement CPMS system.  If that’s not correct, could you clarify the need for “ability to scrape data”?

Response:  Currently LCDOT’s traffic department has a read-only access to the SQL server with CPMS data in order to populate an access database tracking traffic signals planning to be impacted during a construction project.  A bulk data export may satisfy the need, the ability to pull project data using a project ID as a reference point would be desirous to ensure the traffic signals database is updated as project specific information is updated.

Question:  For this RFI requirement, “Background Information and Administrative Information will also be collected and may or may not be associated with individual projects or line items.” - can you clarify what other levels background/administrative information needs to be added (i.e. text comments or document attachments at the program or plan-level vs. project-level?)?

Response:  Project are sorted into categories, Expansion, Modernization and Preservation, projects can have one or more work types.  CPMS recently added the ability to track “accomplishments” to allow us to capture how many projects incorporate non-motorized investments, what type of non-motorized investment and how much the investment in non-motorized items is.  This is track separately from the detailed fund table. 

Question:  For this RFI requirement, “The ability to add projects to the map which had location/limits information entered via database fields is desired.” - our understanding is that a user manually enters location/limits data on the project page, and then separately can also map the project on a mapping interface. Is that correct?

Response:  That is correct. 

October 5, 2020

Question:  User Community - Can you please provide the estimated number of users who will require access to the selected system?

Response:  50-60 users in 6 departments of LCDOT.

Question: Training – Are there any specific training requirements desired by the County the bidders need to be aware of in defining the scope? Or, are you looking for best practices based upon our experience?

Response:  At this time training requirements have not been defined, the results of the RFI will likely inform any training requirements put in the RFP, at this time recommended best practices would be sufficient. 

Question:  Mobile Capability – Desired Project Scope / Bullet # 9 – The County mentions that Mobile-friendly features are desired. What devices types does the County currently utilize (e.g., iOS, Android Windows, or a combination of all)?

Response:  The County has iOS mobile devices, iPhones and iPads as well a Microsoft windows laptops and desktops. 

Question:  GIS – Which GIS application is the County currently utilizing?

Response:  ArcGIS Desktop 10.8 or ArcGIS Pro 2.6.

Question:  GIS – Required Project Scope / Bullet #3 - Is the County wanting a separate GIS application as part of the solution, or is the intent to integrate with the County’s existing GIS system?

Response:  Preferably the ability to integrate with the County’s existing GIS, however a separate GIS application may also be acceptable.

Question:  Future Needs  – Does the County has any other future system needs that would be beneficial for a vendor to have in their product suite?

Response:  Unknown at this time.

Question:  Integration – Required Project Scope / Bullet #5 – The County mentions integration with other internal and external data sources. Can you please provide which systems the County requires the selected system to integrate?

Response:  The County uses Oracle for accounts payable and accounts receivable as well as Microsoft excel for project specific ledgers, the county also uses Legistar to track Board action including funding appropriations.  Ideally a future system would be able to at least have read only access to the other systems to be able to track a project form planning, programmed funding through County Board appropriation and expenditures. 

Question:  Data Migration – There is no mention of data migration in the RFI from the current LCDOT CPMS. Can the County provide any additional detail if a data migration will be required or not? If there is a data migration, would it be from multiple systems or only from the current LCDOT CPMS?

Response:  A final decision on a data migration requirement will be determined with the results of the RFI, data migration is preferable, but may to be required depending on the system selected in an RFP.   Depending on the capability of the chosen product, data migration from Oracle or Legistar may also be preferred, but is not likely to be a requirement.  

October 2, 2020

Question:  Do the expected users have or will have subscriptions to Microsoft Office 365?

Response:  Yes.

Question:  Please identify the number of users by department that intend to use this tool. 

Response:  Finance and Administration- 5, Planning- 9, Design-8 Construction-10, Traffic-9, Maintenance-5, Information Services-6.

Question:  What incumbent software is currently being used?

Response:  CPMS.net.

Question:  What applications are desired to be integrated to this tool?

Response:  A mapping feature or GIS feature, Microsoft excel.

Question:  How many existing projects need to be migrated??

Response:  Currently 420 projects, although the amount of projects is dynamic and changes regularly throughout the year. 

Question:  Is Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project scheduling tools in current use?

Response:  No.

Question:  What are the top five challenges to managing your Transportation Portfolio?

Response:  Currently Accounting Ledgers tracking expenditures are tracked in a separate database from planned/programmed future projects, the funding appropriations are tracked in a separate database, the date is siloed.  The current programming software we have doesn’t allow for easy looks at what we have done in the past, it is a planning tool for looking forward.  The current interface is not user friendly for inexperienced users to quickly find project specific information. 

Question:  Will a USDOT grant be paying for part of this tool or is this funded completely outside USDOT?

Response:  No grant funding will be used. 

Question:  Do you intend to request a demo before issuing RFP?

Response:  At this time, decisions have not been made on a demo before issuing an RFP, the results of the RFI may impact that decision process.

September 29, 2020

Question:  Do you anticipate extending the bid due date?

Response:  No.

Question:  What additional details are you willing to provide, if any, beyond what is stated in bid documents concerning how you will identify the winning bid?

Response:  All information is available in the request for information.

Question:  Was this bid posted to the nationwide free bid notification website at www.mygovwatch.com/free?

Response:  No.

Question:  Other than your own website, where was this bid posted?

Response:  The Waukegan New Sun.

Question:  Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this?

Response:  The Request for Information is open to all companies.

Question:  Whether we need to come over there for meetings?

Response:  At this time the RFI will not require in person meetings.

Question:  Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA?  (like, from India or Canada)

Response:  This is unknown at this time.

Question:  Can we submit the proposals via email?

Response:  Yes, Lake County will only be accepting electronic proposals.