REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFP) Reference No: AUAF-RFP-16-005 Issue Date: April 26, 2016 Closing Date: May 5, 2016 10:00 AM PROJECT: Smart Student Services Management System The American University of Afghanistan Darulaman Road, District 7, Kabul, Afghanistan Page 1 of 20
1. General: The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) is Afghanistan's only private, not-for-profit, institution of higher education, offering internationally-supported degree programs and education. 2. Project Summary: Currently, American University of Afghanistan does not have a mechanism to plan events. All of the work is done manually by the office of Student Affairs that is highly time and resource consuming therefor American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) is soliciting for Events Web Portal system to deal with all activities regarding events at AUAF. 3. Government Withholding Tax: Pursuant to Article 72 in the Afghanistan Tax Law effective March 21, 2009, AUAF is required to withhold "contractor" taxes from the gross amounts payable to all Afghan/International for-profit subcontractors/vendors. Subsequently, based on Decision No. 15 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, AUAF shall withhold Four percent (4%) tax from all gross invoices to Afghan subcontractors/vendors under this Agreement with active AISA or Ministry of Commerce license. For subcontractors/vendors without active AISA or Ministry of Commerce license, AUAF shall withhold seven percent (7%) "Contractor" taxes per current Afghanistan Tax Law. Before the signing of this Agreement, the subcontractor/vendor will provide a copy of the organization's AISA or Ministry of Commerce license and TIN (Tax Identification Number). Amounts deducted from the invoices will be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) Tax Division credited to the firm's TIN. Records of payments to the MOF shall be maintained on file with AUAF. 4. Penalty Charges If the Vendor fails to supply the specified fuel within the date stipulated, AUAF shall, without prejudice to its other remedies under the Purchase Order/Contract price, as liquidated damages, deduct a sum equivalent to five percent (5%) of the delivered price of the delayed Goods/Services for each week of the delay until actual delivery, up to a maximum deduction of Ten Percent (10%) of the Purchase Order/Contract/Contract value. 5. Source, Origin and Nationality The vendor may not supply any goods or services manufactured in or shipped from the following countries: Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Laos, Libya, North Korea, or Syria. 6. Inspection AUAF shall have reasonable time, after delivery, to inspect the service and goods, and to reject acceptance in not conforming to the specifications of this Purchase Order and offer. Recovery of the rejected item (s) shall be the sole responsibility of the supplier.
7. Statement of Work/Specification: Smart Student Services Scope of work 1.0 Event Currently, American University of Afghanistan does not have a mechanism to plan events. All of the work is done manually by the office of Student Affairs that is highly time and resource consuming therefor American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) is soliciting for Events Web Portal system to deal with all activities regarding events at AUAF as described below: Smart Student Services will ask students the required questions on why, where, when, who and what and will automatically decide how much time should it give the students to prepare for it If it is an event for 10 or less they can be given options to hold their event after 2 working days If it is an event for 10-50 they will be given option to hold their event at least after 3 working days If it is an event for 50-100 they will be given option to hold their event at least after 1 week If it is an event for 100 or more they will be given option to hold their event at least after 10 days Smart Student Services will also ask if there is any guest participating in the event Smart Student Services will also ask if there is a need for support staff from the Facilities department Smart Student Services will also ask if there is a need for catering or refreshments Smart Student Services will send a notification to the office of student affairs as soon as anyone fills up the form to request for an event Smart Student Services will also ask if there is a classroom required All proposals for printed material will also be sent through the Smart Student Services for approval As soon as the office of student affairs approves the event, names of the guests will be sent to the Access Office to allow the guest to enter the campus on the required date, the Office of Facilities will be notified about the event, the Office of Communications will be notified about the event; the Office of registrar will be notified to book the classroom, the Cafeteria will be notified about the required refreshments or catering services, the Finance Office will also be notified about the cost of the activities through an email Smart Student Services will also keep a record of all of the events, who participated in them, and should have the info of all printed material and a report of the event Unless you upload a report of the event and get Student Affairs Approval on it, you cannot plan another event The office of Student Affairs can easily monitor the progress of the activities and bring necessary changes as required Smart Student Services will report all events and every activities for the next week through an email to the Student Affairs Office at the end of each week The Office of Student Affairs will then circulate the information to the relevant group of people
If the library option is chosen, then the system needs at least one week advance notice even if the number of individuals are as less as 5 Event Web Portal 1
2 3 2.0 Club Elections: Currently club elections are inefficient. Students have full access to manipulate the elections in any manner they would like to. The Office of Student Affairs has a minimized role in the clubs' election process. There is no record keeping system about the participants and active members of the clubs. A Smart Web Portal can also help us take care of this matter in an efficient manner: There will be different levels of access to the Smart Student Services Students will have basic rights to confirm their participation in an event, or to sign up for a club, nominate themselves for an executive position in a club or vote for a person who has nominated Clubs will have an account in the Smart Student Services with rights to initiate activities, register event, upload information for approval, access the constitution of the club, keep record of the attendance of the members etc... The Smart Student Services can identify the club members by their attendance. Anyone who has not attended the club meetings for at most a month is considered a non-active member of the club and cannot participate in the elections A person can nominate or vote for club member only if the person has a minimum active participation record of one month or more As soon as someone nominates him/herself for any position in the Smart Student Services, an email will be sent to the office of student affairs to check if the person meets the requirements As soon as the Office of Student Affairs Approves it, an email will be circulated to all club members about the nomination of that individual For the elections of SGA any enrolled student can vote For the election of SGA an email will be circulated to all of the UG students to participate in the elections and vote during the elections week For the elections of Clubs an email will be circulated to only the active club members (as defined earlier) to participate in the elections during the elections week The system will generate the results and will email it at the end of the elections week to the office of student affairs 4 3.0 Clubs Currently American University of Afghanistan does not have any established system to keep record of the clubs' activities. There is lack of information on how many clubs did we have in the past and why did could not continue. In addition, we do not have a record to AUAF alumni's participation in club activities and their set of skills that can be used as a good resource in future. Clubs can be formed only if ten or more people are interested in that club The club s leadership has to maintain the minimum level of enrollment As soon as a club has 10 members signed up for it, it becomes official and the system sends an automatic email to the Student Affairs Office for approval. Once approved Students Affairs Office can inform all students about this club One of the challenges of the leadership of any club will then be to retain the minimum number of students while working on the development of the future club leader Clubs can initiate activities from the web portal
Clubs can also send announcements through their account to all students (conditional to the approval of the Student Affairs Office) Clubs can upload promotional material for the approval of the Student Affairs Office Clubs can fill the events form Clubs can hold elections Clubs can record activities and attendance in this web portal Clubs should have an annual factsheet that should record a brief information about the club, and their achievements in that specific year This record will be saved in the Smart Student Services forever and the university can access for any reason. 4.1 3.1 Club Registration Process:
5 6 5.0 Technologies required for Smart Student Services: The Smart Student Services shall be developed using the following technologies: 6.1 5.1 Smart Student Services interface: HTML 5.0 CSS 3.0 JQuery Java Script 6.2 5.2 Dynamic components and CMS: Microsoft ASP.Net 4.5 or higher Microsoft Visual C#.Net 5.0 or Higher Backend Database in Microsoft SQL server The Dynamic components shall use the build-in Microsoft ASP.Net authentication and authorization technologies. Any custom implementation of authentication & authorization such as text files or hard-coding inside the ASPX pages will be rejected. The vendor shall have already developed multiple dynamic websites or enterprise web applications in the Microsoft.Net. Proposal from companies with no past performance in developing web applications with Microsoft.Net will be rejected. Note: Only the Microsoft visual C#.Net Language is accepted as the programming language for development of this Smart Student Services application, any proposal offering development in other.net Programming languages such as VB.Net visual C++ will not be accepted. 6.3 5.3 Integration with Power-Campus (Self Service): AUAF is using the power campus database as the main repository of students academic information. The Powercampus application is developed in Microsoft visual C#.Net and uses Microsoft SQL server as the main databases. Amongst the active components of the Powercampus system, Powercampus self-service and course home page are two web-based components designed for the interaction of student and faculty with the system. Smart Student Services should be integrated with Powercampus system. 6.4 5.4 User Login & Authentication: Smart Student Services will need user authentication and authorization to make sure the right user is connected to the system. Currently the username and password and roles of student and faculty are kept in PowerCampus self-service SQL database. This database is located inside the AUAF IT infrastructure. Although this database is inside firewall and not publicly accessible, but AUAF hosts a public web server inside its server room. The AUAF public webserver is in an IIS webserver hosted inside a Microsoft windows server operating system. The Powercampus Serlf-Service SQL provider is in a local SQL server database hosted locally. The public webserver is able to locally connect to this SQL provider database.
Therefore Smart Student Services should not use a different authentication and authorization system. It should be able to connect to the current Powercampus Self-Service SQL provider database via the AUAF public web server and read username and password for authenticating users. 7 6.0 Minimum Requirements: The responding vendor must: Have at least 5 years experience in Microsoft.Net Development Have integration, design, and development experience The bidder should have past performance in developing dynamic web applications in Microsoft.Net platform. All the following information must be mentioned on the technical proposal for each past performance listed 1. Contract Name 2. Project Name 3. Customer Name 4. Customer Office Address 5. Customer Contact Person, including Full Name Position Phone number Email Address 6. Total Contract labor hours 7. Date completed 7.1.1.1 AUAF keeps the right to contact some/all of the customers that the bidder has listed as its past performance or request the bidder to authenticate the validity of the projects listed in its past performance. In case of finding any fraudulent information, AUAF keeps the right to immediately either reject the bidder s proposal or cancel the offer if proposal has moved to the next steps. 7.1.1.2 Important Note: the bidder shall be the first hand developer of the projects listed in its past performance, projects sub-contracted to other companies do not qualify for the past performance. Bidder s development Team: The bidder needs to list its team including all developers, design, managers or other roles that will be involved in developing the project. The following information must Be included for each individual: 1. Full Name
2. Position in the project 3. Contact information 4. Number of years work with the bidder 8 7.0 Evaluation Criteria 8.1.1.1 Proposal will be evaluated according to the following factors in order of priority. Specialized experience and technical competence of the contractor and staff relative to the scope of work Understand the nature of project References of reflecting previous work experience of the contractor with satisfactory accomplishment of contract responsibility such as ability to meet work schedules, quality of work Project cost (total project cost, project schedule and timeline) 8.2 7.1 Technical Proposal Factors for award: S. No. Parameter 1.0 Understanding of Scope of work and its requirements 15 2.0 Management approach and methodology 25 3.0 Corporate capability and past performance 30 4.0 Qualifications and experience of key personnel (Details of the professionals given under requirement of key personnel, as given below. Total 100 8.2.1.1 Bidders are requested to organize their technical responses according the technical evaluation criteria. Scor e 30 7.2 Qualification and Experience Matrix of Project Management Personnel/Key Personnel expected from the bidder is as follows: Name of The Position Minimum Qualification Minimum Experiences Project Manager Web application Development Team Masters in IT, Computer Science or related subjects Bachelor of science in web design or bachelor in computer science 6 years experience in web applications, designing, development and its operations 6 years direct experiences in developing dynamic web application, databases, webpage scripting, programing, multimedia design, and web development in
Microsoft. Net Training and Change Management Lead Bachelor in management 5 years direct experiences on management training Quality Assurance Lead Bachelor of Computer Science 5 years direct experiences on quality assurances Database Administrator Lead Bachelor of Computer Science 5 years direct experiences on databases Support Staff 9 8.0 Start of Work Bachelor of Computer Science/web designing. 5 years direct experiences on database, web application development, programing specially in Microsoft. Net. 9.1.1.1 The selected vendor is expected to commence work on the project immediately after contract execution and meet with representatives of American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) to present their detailed work plans within three days after contract award. 9.1.1.2 9.2 9.3 8.1 Project Timeline This proposal is broken down by task and time commitment for each task; see project timeline in next page:
Project Management Plan Activities 1.0 Requirements Gathering Phase 1.1 Detailed Project Plan 1.2 Project kick of meeting. Project Scope of work and engage with IT Team 1.3 and Student Affairs Dept. 2.0 Implementation Phase 2.1 Prepare the development environment 2.2 Configure the infrastructure. 2.3 Integration with Powercampus Configure the Student Web Portal ready for deployment in to the live 2.4 environment. 3.0 Testing Phase 3.1 Testing Plan 3.2 conduct testing 3.3 Testing result (logs, tracking, issues, integration and system). 3.4 Resolve any problem arises during testing phase. 4.0 Training Phase Phase 4.1 Training Plan 4.2 Training Delivery 4.3 Training Execution Report 4.4 Training Manuals 5.0 Support and Maintanence Phase 5.1 resolve any problem arises during support and maintenance 5.2 Provide support and maintenance for 2 months 1-May-2016 To 31-May-2016 1-june-16 to 31-July-16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2 months Page 14 of 20
10 9.0 Smart Student Services Training: The vendor will be expected to deliver training session prior to the completion of the Smart Student Services. The training timing will be between 8:00 AM 4:30 PM Sunday for 5 days. 10.1 9.1 Smart Student Services Training Material and Manuals: Upon the completion of Smart Student Services training materials and manuals should be provided to AUAF. 11 10.0 Payment 30% of overall payment will be released after completion of implementing phase(see project timeline page 14) 50% of overall payment will be released after completion of training phase(see project timeline page 14) 20% of overall payment will be on-hold and released after completion of Support and maintenance phase(see project timeline page 14) 100% payment should be finalized in 2 months after the system is up and running and working smoothly. 8. Quotation Submission guidelines: Cover Letter shall be included in proposals and signed by the person or persons authorized to sign on behalf of the bidder. Proposals should be set in hard copy sealed in two envelopes, FINANCIAL PROPOSAL and TECHNICAL PROPOSAL only to the following address by no later than May 5, 2016 10:00 AM. Proposals received after the due date will not be considered further. Address: American University of Afghanistan Darulaman Road Kabul, Afghanistan 9. Questions: Please direct your questions via e-mail to ffaqirzai@auaf.edu.af by no later than May 2, 2016. 10. Others: AUAF as a not-for-profit educational institution expects to be charged no more than standard humanitarian agency rates. AUAF will not pay any of the bidders cost of preparing their proposals under this RFP. Page 15 of 20
Name: Title: Company: Email Address: Telephone(s): AUAF-RFQ-16-005-Smart Student Services Page 16 of 20
APENDIX A COMPANY S BUSINESS LICENSE Please Attach Page 17 of 20
APPENDX B SUMMARY OF RELEVANT CAPABILITY, EXPERIENCE AND PAST PERFORMANCE Include projects that best illustrate your experience relevant to this (RFQ) or similar activities, sorted by decreasing order of completion date. Projects should have been undertaken in the past three years (i.e. 2012, 2013 and 2014). No Project Title and Description of Activities Location Province/District Client Name/Tel # Cost in US$ Start Dates End Dates Completed on Schedule (Yes/No) Subcontractor or Prime Contractor? 1 2 3 Page 18 of 20