Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army (IPPS-A) Army Payroll

Integrated Personnel and Pay System Army (IPPS-A)

Increment II

Army Military Payroll

Request For Information
(RFI) W15QKN-23-X-0WC0

1.0 Introduction
The Army Contracting Command New Jersey (ACC-NJ), on behalf of the Project Manager (PM) Integrated Personnel and Pay System Army (IPPS-A) under U.S. Army Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS) is seeking information on approaches to modernize Army Military Payroll, both for pay generation and disbursement, as well as interfacing to Treasury and the Army's financial / accounting system of record (currently General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS)).
The Army is open to considering all types of approaches to include consideration for solutions outside of a traditional Commercial-Off-The- Shelf (COTS) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application.
In addition, the Army plans to release a competitive solicitation solely to acquire an Army Military Payroll solution.

1.1 Background
IPPS-A Increment II is both a Defense Business System and a National Security System (categorized as "Sensitive Activities") based on operational requirements on the Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet) and Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet). IPPS-A Increment II is under the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) of the Army Acquisition Executive (AAE). It is managed by the Army Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), IPPS-A Project Management Office (PMO), in Arlington, VA 22202. PEO EIS develops, acquires, and deploys tactical and management Information Technology (IT) systems and products and is a Systems Acquisition, Development, and Integration Center of Excellence.
The IPPS-A Increment II mission is to develop and deliver a single, integrated, multi-component Human Resources (HR) and Pay system that streamlines Army HR, enhances the efficiency and accuracy of Army Personnel and Pay procedures, and supports Soldiers and their Families.

IPPS-A Increment II is being developed and deployed incrementally in a series of software releases to the Total U.S. Army Force (Active Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserves).
A major software release was completed in January 2023, providing Military Human Resource capabilities and bringing the Total U.S. Army Force into a single authoritative system. This software release serves as the production baseline and is in the Capability Support phase.

Functionality releases and services for the production baseline will be acquired via new competitive procurements and will include the following:

Capability Support services to include maintenance of the deployed IPPS-A production baseline, product backlog, and HR Enhancements
Army Military Payroll
Additional HR Capabilities as prioritized by the Government (e.g., Talent Management, Archive, Sponsorship) with the potential for multiple awards

IPPS-A Increment II uses Oracle PeopleSoft ERP COTS software to deliver the functionality, consisting of the following applications:

PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) 9.2
PeopleSoft HCM 9.2 PUM Image 32 (or higher)
PeopleSoft CRM 9.2 PUM Image 16 (or higher)
PeopleSoft ELM 9.2 PUM Image 17 (or higher)
PeopleSoft Tools version 8.58 (or higher)
Oracle database 19c version 12.2.0.3 (or higher)

The IPPS-A solution and all of its environments are currently hosted on-premises with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

1.2 IPPS-A Increment II Program Objectives

The objective of IPPS-A Increment II is to develop a single, integrated, multi-component personnel and pay system that streamlines Army HR, enhances the efficiency and accuracy of Army personnel and pay procedures, and supports Soldiers and their families.
Overall program objectives include:

Create an integrated military personnel and pay system, subsume approximately 40 legacy systems and eliminate 300 inbound and outbound interfaces
Execute HR Transformation, Army Military Payroll Transition, and Business Process Reengineering in conjunction with fielding IPPS-A in order to create a 21st-century HCM system and an HR data-rich environment
Release capability to users incrementally and frequently via a Development Security and Operations (DevSecOps) lifecycle that includes a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline
Ensure DevSecOps focus on performance and seamless integration of security testing and protection throughout the software development and deployment lifecycle
Apply agile principles and processes with a show-me state of progress and continuous delivery of capability
Adopt a Zero Trust constructs and application within system access and system processes
Break functional and technical silos by using agile development methods, where functional and technical development team members and the Army collaborate daily
Deliver cyber/information assurance compliance; be able to defend HR data robustly
Provide complete visibility of the Total Force in one Human Capital Management (HCM) System to over 1 million Soldiers
Enable the Army to better manage the talents of the Total Force based on their Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviors (KSBs) to optimize Soldiers' contributions to Army Readiness
Provide audit capability for pay, benefits, and HCM transactions; ensure the best use of Army dollars to employ human capital
Deliver full audit compliance in accordance with the Federal Information Systems Control Audit Manual (FISCAM) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines.
Improve Soldiers' lives by reducing pay and personnel errors and providing full transparency of actions
Use modern data architecture best practices to improve accessibility, increase high data velocity, increase data throughput for low latency, and reduce reliance on any single technology or vendor
Use supported and maintained Open Source software and components, to align with industry's focused trajectory in costs realization
Comply with the seven data-centric DoD Data Strategy VAULTIS goals, i.e., making data (1) Visible, (2) Accessible, (3) Understandable, (4) Linked, (5) Trustworthy, (6) Interoperable, and (7) Secure
Apply Human Centered Design techniques to improve the user experience

1.3 Army Military Payroll Functionality

The Army Military Payroll functionality includes but is not limited to the following:
Absences
Accounting
Allotments
Allowances
Audit
Base Pay
Basic Allowance for Housing / Basic Allowance for Subsistence
Benefits
Bonuses
Collections
Contracts
Death Gratuity
Disability / Incapacitation Pay
Disbursing (Treasury)
Duty Participation
Incentives Pay
Internal Controls
Informal Funds Management (Checkbook)
Leave and Earnings Statement
Payroll Processing (Calculations)
Permanent Change of Station (PCS)
Reenlistment / Extension
Reimbursements
Reliable Cost Estimate (Budget impacting, not Pay)
Reporting & Analytics
Retirement Points
Separations / Retirements
Special Duty Pay
Taxes
Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) / TSP Catch up
User Security / Audit Trail
Workflow/Visibility

2.0 Supplementary Information

The following artifacts/products are included as Attachments to provide a description of the required Army Military Payroll capability and the existing IPPS-A baseline.

Attachment 001: IPPS-A Army Military Payroll Requirements and Feedback Template (Attachment 001 - IPPS-A Army Military Payroll Functional Requirements and Feedback Template 2 MAR 2023.xlsx)
Attachment 002: IPPS-A Functional Baseline (Attachment 002 - IPPS-A Functional Baseline (version 4.0) Final 17 Sept 2020_signed.pdf)
Attachment 003: IPPS-A Data Architecture (Attachment 003 - IPPS-A Data Architecture - from TAS v2.8.png)
Attachment 004: IPPS-A Conceptual Data Model (Attachment 004 -
IPPS-A DIV-1-1 (Conceptual Data Model).pdf)
Attachment 005: IPPS-A SV-8 (Attachment 005 - IPPS-A INC II Rel 3 SV-8 Diagram v1.33 20230228 (FINAL).pdf)
Attachment 006: Army Military Payroll Business Processes Maps (OVs) and AV-2s (Attachment 006 - Army Military Payroll Business Processes Maps (OVs) and AV-2s.zip)

3.0 Information Requested

3.1 Company Profile

In your response submission, provide the following information about your company. If submitting a team response, please include the requested information for all companies on the team.

Company Name, Address, and Country of Business
Company Representative, Business Title, Phone Number, and Email Address
Business Classification/Socio-Economic Status (e.g., large)

3.2 Technical Response

3.2.1 Response Approach

Your responses to the requested information should detail your company's abilities and expertise in implementing a modernized Army Military Payroll solution.

Please note that you are required to respond to all questions.

3.2.2 Army Military Payroll

The Army has recently launched its Military Personnel system with all three (3) components utilizing PeopleSoft HCM. IPPS-A serves as the Army's system of record for HR and will serve as the entitlement system for Army Military Payroll. The Army is now considering how to approach modernizing Army Military Payroll for payroll generation and disbursement. This will include an interface with Treasury and the Army's financial / accounting system, currently GFEBS, with transition to Enterprise Business Systems Convergence (EBS-C) in the future.

The Army is interested in approaches to meeting the IPPS-A Army Military Payroll requirements, to include considering solutions outside of an ERP application.

Solution types deemed to have potential, but not limited to, include:

using a third-party software application(s) that will either interface with or be integrated with the IPPS-A baseline
leveraging/using Government enterprise capabilities that will either interface or be integrated with the IPPS-A, or which can be utilized to provide portions of functionality that coincide with IPPS-A business processes
developing on top of the existing IPPS-A PeopleSoft baseline
developing a custom solution (e.g., open source), not unlike how Defense Finance and Accounting System (DFAS) operates Defense Joint Military Pay System (DJMS) today
any combination of the above

Given this context, please respond to the following:

1) If this was your enterprise and you were considering the long-term sustainment costs and viability of your payroll solution; the required integration to multiple systems; and the minimization of data duplication / synchronization across the enterprise:
a) How would you implement Army Military Payroll? Please ensure that your response includes pay calculation and how to integrate the payroll solution with payroll disbursing and accounting at a minimum. Please note any assumptions, dependencies, risks, and constraints.
b) What types of software would you use? COTS? Government-Off-The- Shelf (GOTS)? Custom software? Combination? Please provide supporting rationale. Please include a diagram of the software architecture and provide context for the payroll functions it represents.
c) What development tools would be used?
d) Where would your implementation reside? Cloud? On-premises? Please include supporting rationale.

2) Please describe your corporate level of experience with performing pay calculations taking into account all aspects of Army Military Payroll listed in paragraph 1.3; include type of organization, number of sub-organizations and variances across each, number of payroll data elements, and types of calculations performed:
a) for any Government organization overall
b) for any Government organization with over 150+ data elements, for 3x compos (Army Active Duty, Army National Guard, Army Reserve).

3) Please describe your software development approach and methodologies you would apply; include approach for incremental releases; include supporting rationale.

4) Please describe Payroll solutions you have delivered. Please include the following for each solution:
a) products used in the solution
b) number of users
c) amount / percentage of customization within the total solution and what areas were the most customized
d) disbursing process: internal or external and does it go direct to Treasury
e) challenges / obstacles faced and how each was overcome
f) lessons learned, i.e., what would you do differently based on your past payroll implementations (e.g., what worked well, what didn't, etc.)?
g) development methodology used (e.g., Agile, Traditional Waterfall, etc.)
h) business process redesign and efforts undertaken to deliver the solution

5) Please note if you ever implemented financials to establish an accounting subsidiary ledger with a payroll system.

6) If implementing Army Military Payroll within EBS-C is an option, how would you go about implementing it? For information on EBS-C, please refer to the EBS-C Industry Day conducted on 30 August 2022 (https://www.army.mil/article/260949/army_hosts_ebs_c_industry_day) and other information publicly available.

7) If implementing Army Military Payroll with custom code (e.g., open source) similar to how DFAS operates DJMS today, please describe how your solution would interact or integrate within the Army's system enterprise to include the entitlement system (i.e., IPPS-A) and the accounting system (i.e., GFEBS today, EBS-C future).

8) How would you develop and integrate a new Pay module on top of an existing HR application which is hosted on hardware that is reaching its end-of-life?

9) Based on your understanding of the Army Military Payroll requirements, how long do you estimate it will take for Army Military Payroll to be fully implemented? What factors have you incorporated into your planning?

10) Please review the requirements in Attachment 001 and provide feedback relative to the following:
a) Overall (please include in your response submission and reference requirement by Column D Functional Requirements Document (FRD) / Technical Requirements Document (TRD) Number)
i. Please state whether or not you can develop/have an operational solution from these requirements and provided rationale as to why or why not
ii. Please identify any gaps (e.g., functional, technical); for each identified gap, provide a recommendation as to how to resolve.
iii. Please describe any technical dependencies and limitations to deliver a solution that meets the requirements.
b) Using Attachment 001, please provide your response per the Instructions Tab
i. For each requirement, please identify requirement viability (i.e., achievable / not achievable); include supporting rationale; and indicate how it should be dispositioned (Complete Columns H-K in the RTM Worksheet Tab)
ii. For each requirement, please identify any restrictions or constraints the requirement imposes; include supporting rationale for those requirements deemed restrictive and / or constraining (Complete Columns L-M in the RTM Worksheet Tab)

11) Please address the following Considerations:
a) Describe the contract vehicle(s) deemed most appropriate to deliver the Army Military Payroll functionality described herein, to include supporting rationale. Please state which vehicle is your preference, to include supporting rationale.
b) Describe the contract type(s) deemed most appropriate to deliver the Army Military Payroll functionality described herein, to include supporting rationale. Please state which type is your preference, to include supporting rationale.
c) Describe the contract type(s) that would present any concerns or introduce any factors that would influence your willingness to compete, to include rationale for each concern.
d) Describe any recommended fee structure to be considered to provide the contractor the most incentive to meet all requirements within cost, schedule, and performance parameters to include supporting rationale. Please recommend specific incentives for Government consideration.
e) Describe evaluation criteria for the Government to consider as discriminators based on this RFI, to include rationale for each.
f) Describe the information and/or documentation you would need to be available, and by when, to allow you to submit a proposal that identifies an Agile approach to design, develop, deliver, and maintain the functionality described in this RFI.
g) Please inform as to whether or not you would bid on an Army Military Payroll contract, to include why or why not. If you would bid, please indicate if you would be a prime or subcontractor. If not as a prime, please describe what the Government could do to for you to bid as a prime.
h) Please describe any business, programmatic, or technical risks that would preclude you from responding to an RFP for Army Military Payroll.

3.3 Special Requirements

The Government will review market information to ascertain potential market capacity to: 1) provide services consistent, in scope and scale, with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated; 2) secure and apply the full range of corporate financial, human capital, and technical resources required to successfully perform similar requirements; 3) implement a successful project management plan that includes: compliance with program schedules; cost containment; meeting and tracking performance; hiring and retention of key personnel and risk mitigation; and 4) provide services under a performance based service acquisition contract.

4.0 Instructions

Participation in response to this RFI will not preclude any vendor from responding to future acquisitions, either individually or as part of a team.

*If you have submitted a response to RFI W15QKN-23-X-0UZP, you are not required to submit a response to this RFI; however, you are welcome to modify your previous response if you so choose as well as respond to question 11 that has been added to this RFI.

Marketing brochures will not be considered adequate information in response to this RFI.

Your submitted response will include two (2) documents as follows:
Responses to Questions: Responses are not limited to a page count. Submission should be in a PDF or Microsoft Word compatible file (.doc or .docx file extension). The font shall be Times New Roman and no smaller than 10pt with at least a one-inch margin. Please use the following filename format: <Your company name> Response to Army Military Payroll RFI # W15QKN-23-X-0WC0 Questions
Completed RTM Worksheet Tab in Attachment 001; please use the following filename format: <Your company name> Response to RFI W15QKN-23-X-0WC0 Attachment 001 - IPPS-A Army Military Payroll Requirements Feedback.xlsx
Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED.

Your response shall utilize RFI number W15QKN-23-X-0WC0. All respondents should provide sufficient details to allow the United States Government (USG) to make a reasonable assessment of the respondents' capabilities to modernize Army Military Payroll. This information is for informational and planning purposes only. The USG will not pay for any information submitted or for any costs associated with providing this information.

All contractors interested in this RFI must be registered in System for Award Management (SAM).

This RFI is for informational and planning purposes only and shall NOT be construed as a Request for Proposal (RFP). The USG does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI/market survey. Submissions for this notice must be provided no later than 7 June 2023, 1600 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) by electronic mail (email), at no cost to the Government, to Mr. John C. Scott Jr. at john.c.scott158.civ@army.mil, Contracting Officer, CCNJ-CA, and Ms. Lauren M. Tagliente at lauren.m.tagliente.civ@army.mil, Contract Specialist, CCNJ-CA. All inquiries shall be made via email ONLY and questions shall be sent via email to the Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist no later than 16 May 2023, 1600 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). TELEPHONE INQUIRIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

All information provided will not be returned and will be protected in accordance with the identified markings. If a formal solicitation is generated at a later date, a solicitation notice will be published. No award will be made as a result of this RFI.
The Government may request one-on-one discussions following your submission to obtain clarification and ensure proper understanding of the submitted response.

Attachments:
Attachment 001: IPPS-A Army Military Payroll Requirements and Feedback Template (Attachment 001 - IPPS-A Army Military Payroll Requirements and Feedback Template 2 MAR 2023.xlsx)
Attachment 002: IPPS-A Functional Baseline (Attachment 002 - IPPS-A Functional Baseline (version 4.0) Final 17 Sept 2020_signed.pdf)
Attachment 003: IPPS-A Data Architecture (Attachment 003 - IPPS-A Data Architecture - from TAS v2.8.png)
Attachment 004: IPPS-A Conceptual Data Model (Attachment 004 -
IPPS-A DIV-1-1 (Conceptual Data Model).pdf)
Attachment 005: IPPS-A SV-8 (Attachment 005 - IPPS-A INC II Rel 3 SV-8 Diagram v1.33 20230228 (FINAL).pdf)
Attachment 006: Army Military Payroll Business Processes Maps (OVs) and AV-2s (Attachment 006 - Army Military Payroll Business Processes Maps (OVs) and AV-2s.zip)

The purpose of this amendment is to update teh response date TO 07June2023.