Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Department of Higher Education (DHE) intends to issue a consulting contract for an assessment of the Commonwealths campuses information technology services, systems, and practices (not to exceed $340,000). This work will be carried out under the auspices of PACE (Partnership to Advance Collaboration and Efficiency) representing the MA State Councils of Presidents working in collaboration with DHE. PACE will coordinate work on the RFP through a Procurement Management Team (PMT) to consist of one President, CFO, and CIO from a state university and a community college and the Deputy Commissioner of Administration and Finance of the DHE. The selected consultant is expected to develop an assessment of current services, systems, and practices with the resulting analysis to include recommendations to improve the organization of IT services (including ways to eliminate duplication), improve the operation of IT services (including ways to reduce cycle time and improve quality), identify optimal sourcing strategies (e.g. shared services, partnering) and design of a funding model that promotes effective use of IT resources across the campuses and the system, and identify associated costs for implementing improvements/cost savings or other recommendations. Imbedded within this assessment are some topics of particular interest to the campuses, and the system, to include: enterprise resource planning software (ERP) and related dependent systems broadband usage and opportunities making pertinent and effective use of cloud services and optimizing the use of local area and campus networks. For these four topics, particularly ERP, an assessment of the compatibility of each system with existing state automated interfaces, if any, will also be expected. The sponsoring organizations (PACE, the MA State Councils of Presidents, and the DHE) want to insure that there is optimal integration of the current IT systems and that the services the 24 campuses need or want, such as full integration and system wide coordination, can be implemented efficiently and effectively, either with the current resources or other identified resources. The company chosen for this assessment will consult with the 24 CIOs and other identified senior level campus administrators (at each campus), identify best practices, and provide written recommendations regarding the overall current state of information technology services across the system, to include the topics of enterprise resource planning software and related dependent systems, broadband usage and opportunities, making use of cloud service, and optimizing the use of local area and campus networks, to the PMT for distribution to: DHE, PACE Steering Committee, the MA Councils of Presidents, the Council on Collaboration and Efficiency, and the PACE CIO Council. The assessment will include written recommendations, as well as an oral power point presentation to PMT to realize campus and system goals, whether with current and/or new services, systems, and practices. This assessment is being driven by a number of factors including the need to: - Identify cost saving opportunities - Improve operating efficiencies - Recommend an optimal balance of shared and local services - Optimize information technology investments and - Outline an implementation plan that addresses processes and technology to successfully implement the recommendations, as well as potential costs for implementation and cost/benefit analysis. Key objectives of this project include the need to: - Design a survey(s) to gather institutional data to develop a thorough understanding of the services, systems, and business practices of each campus - Inventory services, systems, and practices being sure to include ERP and dependent systems, broadband usage, cloud services, local area and campus networks, and the associated purchase and support contracts and the associated costs by campus - Document recommendations on the feasibility of combining the PACE campuses ERP systems into either shared, reconfigured, and/or consolidated system configurations with a recommendation on which ERP modules should be implemented and/or recommend web-based, portal or other options that could overlay over current systems and provide additional services and efficiencies - Provide suggested costs (e.g. data center, hardware, network, disaster recovery, business continuity, licensing, data, consulting and project staff, training and communications, and ongoing technical staff requirements for shared, reconfigured or consolidated ERP) with associated timeframes and associated methodology for what the campuses should look like going forward to include a roadmap of how to achieve the recommendations. This section should provide at least the following: existing costs by category proposed costs as a result of recommended changes the resulting aggregate savings as well as a list which will include a by campus by category cost savings and implementation costs as offset to savings. Key deliverables of this project will include the following: - Results of the assessment of IT services, systems, and practices, being sure to include the following four topic areas: ERP systems and related dependent systems, broadband usage, cloud services, and local area and campus networks - Findings from peer comparative data and the environmental scan which will provide recommendations based on best practice research - Recommendations for achieving greater efficiencies and cost effectiveness which must be supported by assessments of: benefits service impacts investment levels costs risks implementation plan funding models and cost/benefit analysis and return on investment. - A decision-making framework that facilitates evaluating all recommendations for making decisions for moving forward in IT services, systems, and practices - The identification of critical exposure areas by campus and - The identification of term/expiration of existing contractual and/or licensing agreements that would impact a timeline for implementation.
