Re DoD Request for Information on... Business Travel

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Aaron Burt <aaron () bavariati org>
Date: Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: [IP] DoD Request for Information on... Business Travel
To: <dave () farber net>


The DoD spends a *lot* of money on commercial travel and related
expenses, and has a rather complicated and costly process for booking and
reimbursement.

I imagine this solicitation is related to the US Digital Service's work on
streamlining DoD travel and expense processing.  They've been doing a pilot
program with Concur while they clean up the regulations.  I have notes from
a talk somewhere...

There's mention of it here:
https://www.wired.com/2016/07/inside-the-obama-tech-surge-as-it-hacks-the-pentagon-and-va/

Source: I did a short stint with the USDS.  It was amazing.

Regards,
  Aaron

On 2017-06-20 08:06, Dave Farber wrote:





Begin forwarded message:

*From:* Ross Stapleton-Gray <ross.stapletongray () gmail com>
*Date:* June 20, 2017 at 9:55:32 AM CDT
*To:* DAVID FARBER <dave () farber net>
*Subject:* *DoD Request for Information on... Business Travel*

Normally my solicitation radar is set for cybersecurity & other tech areas
(there's a new Intelligence Community program on detecting genetically
engineered organisms just out, fyi), but this RFI is both mundane and
potentially huge in impact: the Department of Defense wants to get a better
handle on business travel:

https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/WHS/REF/RFI_DOD_OSD_CIO_DDS/listing.html

Their numbers seem overly low (4.2 million expense reports annually?), but
I'd say (1) kudos on recognizing an area of potential efficiency, and how
much the DoD lags the modern world; and (2) I fear the potential for
another disaster like the FBI agent case tool that squandered several
hundred million dollars and got the Bureau nothing.


Solicitation Number:
RFI_DOD_OSD_CIO_DDS
Notice Type:
Sources Sought

Synopsis:
Added: Jun 19, 2017 4:46 pm
1 Description

1.1 Objective
The Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking information on how an interested
contractor can provide business travel and expense services that conform to
a simplified set of travel regulations.
Commercial organizations have proven that the use of efficient and scalable
travel solutions can significantly reduce organizational costs, improve
productivity, increase travel policy compliance, decrease rework of travel
reports, and improve financial controls and auditability. These same
solutions allow organizations to access all their travel and accounting
data, with powerful reporting and auditing tools to drive compliance.

The Department is currently considering transitioning to a secure,
efficient, and effective travel solution to book travel, manage travel
related expenses, and initiate travel-related financial transactions. The
Department is interested in reducing overhead costs for travel transactions
and lowering overall travel cost per trip by empowering travelers to make
travel decisions that benefit their organizations. To address overhead
costs, the Department seeks to minimize customization and configuration of
systems by aligning travel policies with standard industry practice, but
without negatively affecting usability, auditability, compliance or
security.

1.2 Expectations
The Department is considering pursuing prototype solutions that may lead to
eventual transition to a travel solution that provides efficient business
travel and real-time access to data and analytics.

2 Background

2.1 Simplified Regulations
The Department has drafted a simplified set of regulations for business
travel. Where possible, DoD may simplify other related regulations. The
following travel types are currently excluded from business travel:
extended deployments, Reserve Component annual training, rest &
recuperation, funeral travel, or travel for disciplinary action for all DoD
travelers, including cadets and midshipmen, dependents and other family
members, witnesses, consultants and experts, wounded warriors, escorts and
attendants.

2.2 Travel Volume
The estimated amount of travel reflects DoD goals for how much business
travel can be governed by a simplified travel policy.

Annual Vouchers - Traveler Reimbursement
Total Expense Reports 4.2 million
Business Travel 3.0 million (est.)
Non-business Travel 0.8 million (est.)
Local Travel 0.4 million
Annual Travel Transactions - Reservations / Tickets
Hotel 4.6 million
Air 3.3 million
Car 1.1 million
Rail 50,000
Bus 13,000
Other Information - Current System
Users 3.5 million
Travel Locations worldwide
Traveler Support 24/7 coverage
Organizational Hierarchy 10 levels
Accounting Interfaces 24 general ledger systems (standard data structure)
System & Help Desk 24/7 availability and coverage

Expense reports may include multiple types of transactions depending on
complexity of travel. Local travel reimbursement is usually for mileage.
Most other situations will include mileage and other types such as airfare,
car rentals, and hotel reservations.

2.3 Business Processes
The Department has described high-level business processes for a travel
capability that would fulfill the simplified policy. The Department intends
to continue business process reengineering and ensure that process
deviations from standard industry practices for travel management support
the best interests of the Government.

2.4 Travel Solution Requirements
The Department has described high-level functional requirements, with
accompanying technical and lifecycle requirements, for any future travel
solution to be able to support DoD travel business processes. The
Government anticipates that these requirements would be met through travel
management services supported by a modern travel and expense system.

2.5 Delivery
The Government is considering Other Transactions for a year-long
prototyping effort that may include multiple travel solutions and may lead
to negotiated contracts for further deployment of the resulting travel
solution(s) across the DoD.

3 Interested Contractors

3.1 Industry Policies and Processes
The Government is interested in receiving feedback on the draft DoD
business travel policy document and how well it aligns with general
industry approaches for travel policies. In addition, the Government is
interested in receiving feedback on the DoD travel business processes and
where they deviate from standard industry practices.

3.2 Company Information
With any feedback on the draft DoD policy and travel business processes,
the Government requests the following:

Company Overview • A brief description of your company.
• Socio-economic status, business size, and size standard/applicable North
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.
• Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS) number.
• Web site address.
• Government and commercial clients. Please include the scale of these
contracts by dollar value, full time equivalent employees, or number of
annual contacts.

Company Capabilities • Capabilities to provide travel management services
supported by travel and expense management systems and related travel
charge card services
• Demonstrated experience in deploying scalable and upgradable travel
management technology that is easily configurable and adaptive to future
change management
• Scale of implementations and support for large, hierarchical organizations
• Business rules engines and ability to respond to changing business rules
• Support for multiple funding lines and specialized business rules that
are specific to travel entitlements associated with a particular type of
travel
• Support for preferred travel vendor arrangements and ability to extend
preferred travel arrangements to DoD-unique partners, such as DoD lodging
• Support for pre-trip obligations and accounting and disbursement
transactions, through adapters to Enterprise Resource Planning systems
already in use in DoD (e.g., Oracle, SAP), direct connection to a
government travel charge card system, or a DoD standard transaction broker
• Support for cybersecurity and non-repudiation through digital signatures.
Specific cybersecurity considerations include (reference the Cloud Security
Requirements Guide at http://iasecontent.disa.mil/cloud/SRG/):
1. Call center and data management functions in the US or on DoD premises.
2. Team of only US persons performing all super user roles.
3. Security checks, including Single Scope Background Investigation,
National Agency Check with Law and Credit, and signed Non-Disclosure
Agreement.
4. Two-factor implementation for all super user actions.
5. Public Key Infrastructure compliant or two-factor authentication to
enable the use of mobile devices.
6. Segregation DoD data and encryption data at rest and in transit.
7. Access for DoD to perform physical and cyber security assessments.
8. Ability to receive notification about cyber vulnerabilities from DoD
with response plans that identify timelines for plan of action and
milestones to complete remediation.
9. Cyber defense, including cyber incident monitoring and reporting,
intrusion detection level at the application level, and shared incident
response forensic analysis.
10. Ability to provide and update malicious code protection mechanisms and
sensors when new releases are available through a means such as becoming a
DoD-Defense Industrial Base partner.
11. Ability to be approved by Federal Risk and Authorization Management
Program v2 Moderate Level 2 and Controlled Unclassified
Information-Specific Tailored Set.
12. Shared cyber defense tools that ensure boundary protections are
implemented.

4 Instructions
Interested parties are requested to respond to this request for information.
Responses shall be in Microsoft Word for Office compatible format and are
due no later than June 30, 2017 at 3:00 PM EST. Responses shall be limited
to 5 pages of company information and 5 pages of feedback on DoD policies
and processes. Responses shall be submitted via email only to John Bergin (
john.m.bergin2.civ.usr () osd mil) and Jonathan Mostowski (jonathan () dds mil).


Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY
MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information.
All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

5 Industry Discussions
DoD representatives may or may not choose to meet with respondees. Such
discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of
feedback, potential capability to meet the requirements, and especially
usability, auditability, compliance or security risks.

6 Questions
Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by
e-mail to the Contracting Officer. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted.
Questions will be answered by posting answers to the Synopsis; accordingly,
questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information.
The Government does not guarantee that questions received after June 27,
2017 at 3:00 PM EST will be answered.

7 Summary
THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY to obtain feedback and identify
sources that can provide business travel and expense services. The
information provided in the request is subject to change and is not binding
on the Government. The Government has not made a commitment to procure any
of the items discussed, and release of this request should not be construed
as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which
reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become
Government property and will not be returned.

This request for information is issued solely for information and planning
purposes - it does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a
formal solicitation in the future. This does not commit the Government to
contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the Government is
not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited
proposals. The Government will not pay for any information or
administrative costs incurred in response to this request; all costs
associated with responding to this request will be solely at the interested
party's expense. Not responding to this request does not preclude
participation in any future request for proposal, if any is issued. If a
solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business
Opportunities website. If it results in a General Schedule Administration
buy, it will be announced on the E-Buy website. It is the responsibility of
the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information
pertaining to this requirement.


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