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Alabama State Port Authority

Oracle Property Management Project Request for Proposal

R

Information

Technology

March 2015

Mobile, Alabama


Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 3

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................... 3

Statement of Purpose ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Company Background & Overview ........................................................................................................................ 3

ERP Background & Current Situation ..................................................................................................................... 3

High Level Requirements ....................................................................................................................................... 3

Schedule ................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Evaluation Criteria ................................................................................................................................................. 5

CURRENT SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION .......................................................................................... 5

List of ASPA Custom Applications .......................................................................................................................... 5

List of Oracle EBS R12 Modules .............................................................................................................................. 5

ASPA Custom Applications ..................................................................................................................................... 6

Oracle EBS R12 Module Overview .......................................................................................................................... 7

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................................................. 9

Project Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 9

Project Schedule .................................................................................................................................................... 9

Scope of Work Description .................................................................................................................................... 9

Project Assumptions ............................................................................................................................................ 10

Assessment .......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Oracle Module Integration .................................................................................................................................. 10

Project Documentation & Reference Materials ................................................................................................... 11

Training ............................................................................................................................................................... 11

Property Management Documentation ............................................................................................................... 11

Property Management Module Security .............................................................................................................. 11

PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................... 11

Introduction (Corporate Overview)...................................................................................................................... 11

Consultant Experience ......................................................................................................................................... 12

Scope of Work Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 12

Pricing .................................................................................................................................................................. 12

References ........................................................................................................................................................... 12


Executive Summary The Alabama State Port Authority Real Estate Department manages real property, buildings, office space

and other assets valued at $1 billion. The real estate department is directed by the Vice President of

Marketing. Decisions to purchase, sell or enter agreements for the assets are made by the Real Estate

Manager, ASPA Executives, and Port Director. Approvals are subject to the Port Director and Board of

Directors as required by ASPA Policy and Alabama State regulations. Approximately 125 agreements are

active as of March 2015, and generate revenue of $1.6 million per year.

The Real Estate Department is facing several issues today that impact enterprise property management,

customer relations and revenue. This project proposes the purchase and implementation of the Oracle

Property Management Module. It provides a solution that will streamline our management of lease

agreements, fully integrates with our existing Oracle Financial and Maintenance modules, and creates a

comprehensive repository of our Real Estate properties.

Introduction

Statement of Purpose

The Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) in Mobile, Alabama is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit proposals to assist ASPA in the purchase and implementation of the Oracle Property Management module.

Company Background & Overview

The Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA), headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, owns and operates the State of Alabama’s deep-water port facilities in Mobile. The authority directly employs approximately 600 workers and supports thousands more logistics and maritime jobs in creating a $21 billion impact on Alabama’s economy. The Port of Mobile is the nation’s 13th largest in terms of tonnage with 55 million tons moving through the port in 2012. The Authority’s container, general cargo, bulk, steel, and heavy lift facilities have immediate access to two interstate systems, five Class 1 railroads, and nearly 15,000 miles of inland waterway connections.

ERP Background & Current Situation

The Oracle eBusiness Suite was implemented at ASPA in 1999. ASPA is currently using Oracle EBS release12.1 Application modules in use include Payroll, Human Resources, Oracle Time and Labor, General Ledger, Purchasing, Receivables, Payables, Assets, Inventory, Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Project Management, Project and Grants. A custom written Lease Management system exists with integration to the Oracle EBS financial modules. Approximately 125 lease agreements are managed in this system. ASPA staff has an Oracle Project Manager, two Database Administrators (DBA) and six programmers that support the Oracle EBS modules.

High Level Requirements The purpose of this RFP is to identify a consultant to provide the required expertise to take us through the implementation process; guide the implementation of Property Management; provide documentation and provide 2 weeks of post go-live support, to include an end of month cycle. The selected consultant must demonstrate experience and expertise in implementing property management and related modules of Oracle EBS. The selected proposer shall also consult on converting data to the new system, and responsible for providing work instructions and user training including reporting. All Proposers must be Oracle Partners. The successful Proposer must provide personnel with two or more completed property management implementation projects. Proposers must provide resumes for key project personnel with their proposal, which resumes must include qualifications and relevant experience and their role for the project.


Vendors responding to this RFP are expected to make schedule recommendations as a part of their RFP response. Please direct all questions regarding this RFP, in writing, to Michelle Barlow, Manager of Process and Applications Improvement at [email protected].

Schedule ASPA expects the RFP process, including award and delivery, to follow the schedule below. The dates identified are tentative and subject to change.

Step Date

1 RFP Issued 03/06/2015

2 Deadline to indicate intent to propose 03/18/2015

3 Deadline to submit questions 03/20/2015

4 ASPA response to questions 03/24/2015

5 Submission Deadline 03/27/2015

6 Contract Negotiation and Award 04/03/2015

Instructions to Proposers Proposals must be received by 10:00 am, on the submission deadline shown above. Proposals may be submitted via mail, courier, or hand delivered to the Alabama State Port Authority, 250 North Water Street, Suite 320, Mobile, Alabama 36602, or Emailed to [email protected]. In submitting a proposal, the vendor agrees that acceptance of any or all proposals by ASPA within a reasonable period of time constitute a contract. No delivery shall become due or be accepted unless a purchase order shall first have been issued by ASPA. All reports, surveys, tables, charts, diagrams, design work, product recordings and other data (including electronic, audio and video) or documentation prepared or compiled by Proposer in connection with the performance of its obligations under the contract, shall be the sole and exclusive property of ASPA. Proposer shall retain in its files, sufficiently detailed working papers relevant to its engagement with ASPA. Proposer further agrees that its working papers will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be disclosed or otherwise made available to outside sources, except as required by law, without the written consent of ASPA. Proposer must agree to keep confidential any and all information concerning the plans, operations or activities of ASPA which may be divulged by ASPA or ascertained by Proposer in the course of performing services under any contract with ASPA. In the event Proposer is required to disclose confidential information pursuant to a subpoena, order of a court, or other legal process, Proposer shall, upon notice of such required disclosure and prior to disclosure, immediately notify ASPA and allow ASPA the opportunity to inspect the information subject to disclosure, and in the event such disclosure is objectionable under any standard or rule of the court, Proposer shall exhaust all legal means to prevent disclosure. Additionally, the successful proposer must satisfy the requirements of the Beason-Hammon Act, which requires that the contracting parties affirm, for the duration of the agreement, that they will not violate federal immigration law or knowingly employ, hire for employment, or continue to employ an unauthorized alien within the State of Alabama. Furthermore, a contracting party found to be in violation of this provision shall be deemed in breach of the agreement and shall be responsible for all damages resulting therefrom. Also, as a condition for the award of any contract, grant, or incentive by the state, any political subdivision thereof, or a state-funded entity to a business entity or employer that employs one or more employees within the State of Alabama, the business entity or employer shall provide documentation establishing that the business entity or employer is enrolled in the EVerify program.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


No work shall commence nor shall any invoices be paid until the vendor provides the requested proof of insurance as outlined in the ‘Insurance Requirement for Proposers’ document attached and until such proof is accepted by the ASPA. If you have questions concerning the insurance requirements, please contact Kevin Malpas, ASPA Risk Manager, at (251) 441-7118 or [email protected]. Proposal must be clearly identified as ‘Oracle Property Management Proposal’. Responsibility for timely submittal and routing of proposals lies solely with the proposer. Proposals received after the closing time specified will not be considered. ASPA reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to further negotiate with successful proposer and to waive informalities and minor irregularities in proposals received, and to accept any portion of the proposal if deemed in the best interest of ASPA.

Evaluation Criteria Evaluation includes:

Feature Description Weight

Cost Did the consultant include a government discount? Is the hourly rate reasonable?

30%

Recommended Approach

Does the response show an understanding of the project scope and objectives? Were all the questions answered? Are the desired results covered in the proposal?

30%

Consultant Experience

Has the consultant done previous projects of this type and scope? Does the professional staff who will be working on this project have the necessary skills and experience? Has the consultant provided account references of similar customers who have upgraded successfully?

40%

Weight percentages are subject to change based upon ASPA evaluations. ASPA intends to award the agreement to the Proposer whose Proposal best satisfies the scope of services described and is otherwise in the best interest of ASPA. The determination of award shall be made by ASPA, in its sole discretion, which decision shall be final. ASPA may request submission of additional information to assist it in evaluating a Proposal, and the Proposer shall cooperate fully with such request. An onsite presentation may also be required. The contract resulting from this RFP will be awarded to the qualified Proposer whose Proposal ASPA believes will be the most advantageous to ASPA. ASPA may condition an award on the successful Proposer’s agreement to such terms and conditions as required by ASPA including, but not limited to, ASPA’s indemnification.

Current System Implementation

List of ASPA Custom Applications Custom Lease Application

Custom Billing Application

List of Oracle EBS R12 Modules Oracle General Ledger

Oracle Fixed Assets


Oracle Inventory

Oracle Human Resources

Oracle Time Keeper / Time and Labor (OTL)

Oracle Payroll

Oracle Purchasing

Oracle Payables

Oracle Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)

Oracle Receivables

Oracle Grants Accounting

Oracle Project Management

Oracle UPK

ASPA Custom Applications Custom Lease Application The ASPA Lease & Billing Systems are written in Oracle PL/Sql utilizing Oracle Forms and Reports. The Oracle Database version is 11.2.0.3 and the Forms and Reports version is 10.1.2.3. The custom written lease system was developed to track and generate invoicing for current lease and rental agreements managed by the ASPA Real Estate department. Approved lease and rental agreements are entered into the system and include property and lease data required to manage the agreements. Approximately 125 monthly invoices are generated each month and are interfaced to the Accounts Receivable (A/R) EBS module. The invoice status from A/R is updated in the custom billing system. Tenant information is selected from Customers in the Accounts Receivable module. This is the only direct integration with EBS, it is a select only. A foreign key assignment in the price list associates the billing item with an inventory item in Oracle Inventory. (This is how the revenue code is assigned). Invoices are created and saved to custom billing tables. A Custom package collects completed invoices nightly, inserts into AR interface tables and then calls Oracles program AutoInvoice Import to place said invoices into accounts receivable.

Lease system key points:

Data is entered manually

Property information is entered for each agreement

Lease data includes: lease begin date, lease end date, payment begin date, payment end date, monthly payment, property leased, department, option information

Customers are linked from Oracle EBS Accounts Receivable, select only

Each lease can have multiple options i.e. extensions, CPI adjustments, etc.

Leases are billed a month in advance. New starting leases are billed when executed and again at the end of the first month to start the month in advance billing.

Leases can be billed by month, quarter, semi-annual, annual, or other arrangement

Reports are used to notify when adjustments or events need to occur

Manually generated invoices are entered for items such as wharfage, repairs, services, dockage, charge backs, etc.

A manual process is in place to insure a lease is not invoiced twice in one month

A comment section is provided for comments to print on the invoice

A report is produced listing all invoices created for a month and is used as a cross reference

Reports Include: o Leases expiring in a specific number of days entered o By Customer o By Lease Number o Lease Revenue by Fiscal Year: Used by Management for Budgeting o Leases by Type


o Monthly Payment o By Department o Lease payment date which can be by option, date, customer and lease number o Lease by option review date o Lease exception report o Lease list with payment date o Re-print invoices and list report

Custom Billing Application Contains data which reflects services performed at ASPA that will be billed to our customers and clients. Several applications, such as the Lease Application, the Break Bulk Application and the Mapper Application transfer billing data into the custom written Billing Application. Service Order information, vessel, truck and rail data are collected in the Break Bulk and Mapper applications, grouped and transferred to the Billing System. The Lease application processes data associated with Real Estate Property leases and other agreements and transfer to the Billing Application. Invoices that are not derived from one of these sources are manually keyed into the Billing System. All invoices are transferred to the EBS Accounts Receivable module. The following information is entered in the heading of the invoice:

Invoice number

Service Date (Date activity occurred)

Stevedore if applicable

Vessel Name, voyage number and date if applicable

Agent if applicable

Customer

Transaction type – automatically generated

If it’s Import/Export or both

Pier/Location

Payment Terms

Account of

Comments

Depending on the type of service being billed the following information is entered for the line item:

Tariff Item number

Weight in pounds

Billing Quantity

Adjustment Code

Storage Periods

UOM

Price

Storage Period Begin Date

Storage Period End Date

Line Comments

The line amount is automatically calculated based on the calculation method associated with the item in the price list.

Oracle EBS R12 Module Overview Oracle General Ledger Oracle General Ledger uses the Chart of Accounts and calendar for all sub ledgers at the beginning of the month to start accumulating activity information. Sub ledgers are posted to the General Ledger daily. A trial balance and preliminary financials are generated and reviewed each month. Once financials are finalized and generated the period (month) is closed and the cycle starts over by opening the next period.


Oracle Fixed Assets Oracle Fixed Assets is used to track and depreciate property that is greater than $500.00 using the straight-line depreciation method. The Mass Additions functionality is not currently used. All assets are entered manually. The end-of-month process produces the Journal Entry Reserve Ledger report that is used as backup to the Additions, Retirements, Transfers, Deprecation and Adjustment journal entries. Oracle Inventory Oracle Inventory is used by one inventory organization to track parts inventories. Inventory items are purchased and received through Oracle Purchasing. Oracle Human Resources Oracle Human Resources contains personnel information required by the Oracle Payroll, Oracle Time Keeper and Oracle Time & Labor Module. Time Keeper / Oracle Time and Labor (OTL) Hourly employee’s time is entered by a time keeper clerk at each division. Time is entered for each shift. Maintenance work orders and project numbers are captured and copied into those modules during the payroll generation process. Oracle Payroll ASPA has six payrolls with differing timing and/or frequencies. Each has a unique set of rules depending on State of Alabama regulations and contracts with nine unions. Annual, sick, vacation, and personal leave is calculated differently for each payroll. Holidays vary for each payroll. All payrolls are processed and balanced separately. Balance totals are maintained by payroll and GRE. There currently are three GREs used at ASPA. Oracle Purchasing ASPA uses Requisitions, Standard and Contract Purchase orders to purchase goods and services. Three-way matching and hierarchy forwarding methods with the seeded PO approval workflow are used. Oracle Payables All invoices are processed when received. Payments are made using checks and wire transfers. Zero payments are allowed. The invoice match option is Purchase Order. Supplier payment terms are Immediate by Check. Primary accounting method is Accrual. Automatic offset method is balancing. The transfer to GL interface is summarized by Accounting Period. Oracle Enterprise Asset Management (eAM) The eAM system is used to maintain both assets and inventory items through work orders and integration to the purchasing module. To measure performance and optimize maintenance operations, all maintenance costs and work history are tracked at the asset level. Oracle Receivables Invoices are imported into Oracle Receivables from ASPA custom billing systems daily. Collections and credits against invoices and at the account level are recorded in the Receivables module. Miscellaneous receipts are also processed in the system. Line items for invoices imported into Oracle Receivables may have multiple accounting distributions Oracle Grants Accounting The grants module will be used to record grant awards and track grants projects and fund expenditures. The module is integrated with other Oracle modules such as purchasing and inventory to record material costs, time and labor to record labor costs, and project management to track overall project costs. This module tracks the status of bond issue proceeds and their associated construction funds. Oracle Project Management


This module was purchased to provide better project management capabilities for capital and expense projects. The module is fully integrated with other Oracle modules such as purchasing to track commitments, accounts payables to track expenditures and inventory to record material costs, time and labor to record labor costs, and project management to track overall project costs. UPK, User Productivity Kit UPK is used to record transaction level steps in Oracle EBS. It was used during the 2013 Oracle Upgrade Project when EBS was upgraded from 11i to R12 and the eAM, Projects, and Grants modules were implemented.

Project Requirements

Project Overview The project is to purchase and implement Oracle’s Property Management Module. The implementation will include: initial property management module set up steps, integration to related modules such as general ledger/workflow/receivables, set up for existing ASPA lease/agreements, space management, lease management reporting, documentation and training for processes included within the scope of the project.

Project Schedule A project schedule should be proposed.

Scope of Work Description Implement EBS R12 Property Management Module Implement Property Management integration to other EBS Modules Provide project management services

Manage project plan including tasks, dates, resources, and milestones Provide communication meetings, status reports, manage Oracle Service Requests Perform testing cycles using work instructions to perform testing including integration points to

other EBS modules Conduct two full cycles of parallel testing with Custom Property Management Process with 95%

accuracy Provide knowledge transfer and training Deliver project documents

Perform assessment, identify gaps and complete list of deliverable items Deliver end-to-end processes to be used to manage ASPA Property Management requirements

Identify all processes to be included in the project Property Management Asset/Land/Other creation and management

Create and maintain property structures Propose solution to accomplish alignment with eAM and Fixed Assets Space management

Lease/Agreement Set Up and management Include ASPA specific data Lease Definition: dates, types: land, warehouse, wharfage, building, office, easement,

license, M-o-U, ground (land only), industrial crane, right of way, Obligations: parking, garbage, pest, lawn care, janitorial, water, air, common area recovery, etc.

Ability to set up and create invoices for services, wharfage, maintenance charge backs, rail service, utilities, road served, etc.

Lease Abstraction Steps Risk Management requirements, documents, notifications and follow up activities Engineering requirements, documents, notifications and follow up activities Environmental requirements, documents, notifications and follow up activities

Invoicing


Dates, customer specific printed information, supplemental data accompanying the invoice, email invoice, select detail or summary invoice, credits, billing forward or backward, reversals, corrections, debits, credits, temporary credit to show on invoice, zero-dollar invoice, generate statements, cancel

Process invoice changes, cancellations, adjustments, reversals, debits, credits through Property Management

Manage one-time, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually billings, unique customer specific billing schedule

Run, print, group, distribute paper or email .pdf invoices Billable work orders

eAM generated work orders converted to invoice and cash applied in accounts receivable Report work order chargebacks against lease agreement Create billable work order invoice, print, debit, credit, reverse, cancel, correct, regenerate

Workflow notifications and approvals Module Integration to eAM, Projects, G/L, etc. Manage existing Property Management documents including attaching or referencing to pdf

documents to a specific asset or lease Provide post go-live support Identify or create Reports required to support processes identified Exclusions

Space Office Management for Employees Integrated usage of property and building type of drawings with CAD, GPS, etc.

Project Assumptions Vendors can make the following assumptions when responding to the proposal:

ASPA will provide a project manager

ASPA will provide two Database Administrators to the project. ASPA will provide programmers to assist in the project implementation will assume the role of primary support for the property manager module and integration points

ASPA will provide a training facility

ASPA will provide key users to participate in the project and take the functional lead at the conclusion of the implementation

Assessment The assessment phase will be an important part of the project. The assessment must consider current lease agreement processes, new ASPA project requirements such as space management, Property Management R12 module capabilities and industry best practices to identify gaps and recommend implementation solutions and strategies to enable ASPA to fully utilize the new module.

Oracle Module Integration The Property Management module integration points will include but not be limited to the following:

General Ledger – update all financial postings required to support property management

Accounts Receivable – processes receipts for invoices generated from property management and billable work orders

Accounts Payable – process items to be paid if applicable

Enterprise Asset Management – track asset usages, costs and enable billable work orders to support property management

Human Resources

Projects and Grants – track related activities if applicable

Workflow – used to manage property management activities such as approvals


Project Documentation & Reference Materials Project deliverables include documents used to support the Property Management Module implementation. A document naming convention and storage location will be provided by ASPA. Documents included but not limited to:

Project Management and Communication

System configuration, set up, technical references

Business Requirements and solutions

Problem Reports

Change Control Requests

Work instruction documents are a key deliverable of the project

Work instructions are to demonstrate end-to-end completeness and be concise and well written

Work instructions to validate system and module interfaced activities such as concurrent program successful execution, workflow operations and financial postings

Work instructions are not UPK generated documents.

Training Knowledge transfer to ASPA IT and key user project members is to be accomplished through collaboration and coaching to IT staff and key users during activities such as creating documentation for work instructions, system set up and testing system functionality. The consultant will facilitate a limited number of class room training sessions and system demonstrations. Training materials will be developed as needed.

Property Management Documentation Documentation such as contract lease agreements or building drawings are stored in .pdf format and are

available to associate with Property Management objects such as lease agreements or assets. A

proposal to implement some level of document management or document attachments should be

prepared during the assessment phase of the project. Document attachment to workflow approval is

required. ASPA is not utilizing a formal document management system. The Oracle Document

Management System may be considered in the future.

Property Management Module Users & Security Review user requirements and recommend Menu/Responsibility assignments and follow segregation of duty best practices. Approximately ten users are expected to utilize the system on a regular basis.

Proposal Submittal Requirements Please include the following specified deliverables in your proposal, according to the following:

Introduction (Corporate Overview) Company Name

Years in Business

Type of organization, i.e. corporation, partnership, etc.

Ownership (names, nature of participation)

Number of consultants on staff

Number of customers

Number of Oracle Certified Consultants

Statement that the Proposer is full qualified to provide the requested services

Statement regarding bond or surety cancellation or forfeiture

Statement regarding bankruptcy petitions/judgments

Describe any pending, contemplated, or on-going administrative or judicial proceedings material to proposer’s business


Consultant Experience Experience with Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS)

Experience with Oracle Property Management module

Experience working with the financial modules

Project Management experience

Scope of Work Summary Implement EBS R12 Property Management Module

Implement Property Management integration to other EBS Modules

Provide project management services

Deliver end-to-end processes to be used to manage ASPA Property Management requirements

Provide work instructions and reports for all identified Property Management processes

Conduct testing with two full cycles of parallel testing achieving 95% accuracy before go-live

Provide post go-live support

Pricing Type/Level and number of your staff that will be involved with the implementation.

Estimated number of hours for each staff member.

Each proposal must include both (i) a fixed cost proposal inclusive of all lodging, travel and related expenses; and (ii) hourly rates and estimated number of hours to provide the scope of services described above. Fixed cost proposal must include completed identifiable milestones for progress payments.

Staff

Specify experience of each consultant on similar projects.

Specify if the Consultants performing the work are employees or Sub-consultants of the company.

Indicate the areas of the project that each individual will be involved with or have responsibility for.

For each staff member, provide a reference list with phone numbers.

Describe organization and experience of off-shore resources.

References Two (2) client references with current verified contact information include at least two (2) EBS R12

Property Management Module implementations completed. The Reference must have implemented the lease management and invoice creation functionality. References are to include company name, contact, phone, and e-mail address.