May 26, 2016 - follow up with additional questions or for clarification of any aspect of a ..... automated reports deliv
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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) NO: 1000330718 TITLE:
VOICE REPORTING (VR) SYSTEM
RFI – Voice Reporting (VR) System
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Purpose and Contents of this Request for Information
The purpose of the Request for Information (RFI) is to collect information on the availability and feasibility of obtaining the following services detailed in Appendix A. This is a Request for Information (RFI) pertaining to the Voice Recognition System. It is a document written for the purpose of engaging with and eliciting feedback from industry. The Request for Information consists of the following parts: PART I - Request For Information Process: Information about the intent of this Request for Information and the procedure for responding; PART II – Questions For Industry: Questions that industry is invited to answer in their RFI response;
PART III: APPENDICES: Will provide information on the current Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) PROVISION OF A VOICE REPORTING SYSTEM FOR IMMIGRATION CLIENTELE
ANNEX A: Glossary of terms ANNEX B: Definitions
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PART I: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION PROCESS The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to obtain detailed information from Vendors. The CBSA has outlined below a list of questions and are requesting Vendors to respond in detail, so that CBSA can compile information about the Voice Recognition System. This RFI is not a commitment with respect to future purchases or contracts. In preparing their responses the Vendor community should refer to Appendix A.
1.
Introduction The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is to collect information on the availability and feasibility of obtaining the following services detailed in Appendix A. The CBSA is seeking input from industry on the following: i) Their service availability and ability to meet the services provided in Part III Appendix A of this RFI; and ii) The questions provided in Part II of this RFI. The CBSA intends to use input from (i) and (ii) to help determine the “way forward” as to whether and how this service should be acquired, delivered, and managed and if so, to solidify its procurement approach. The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to develop a better understanding of the capabilities and maturity of industry with respect to the ability of the private sector to provide the Voice Recognition System to the CBSA.
2.
Nature and Format of Responses Requested This is not a bid solicitation. This RFI will not result in the award of any contract. As a result, potential suppliers of any goods or services described in this RFI should not reserve stock or facilities, nor allocate resources, as a result of any information contained in this RFI. Nor will this RFI result in the creation of any source list. Therefore, whether or not any potential supplier responds to this RFI will not preclude that supplier from participating in any future procurement. Also, the procurement of any of the goods and services described in this RFI will not necessarily follow this RFI. This RFI is simply intended to solicit feedback from industry with respect to the matters described in this RFI.
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Response Costs Canada will not reimburse any respondent for expenses incurred in responding to this RFI.
4.
5.
Treatment of Responses (a)
Use of Responses: Responses will not be formally evaluated. However, the responses received may be used by Canada to develop or modify procurement strategies or any draft documents contained in this RFI. Canada will review all responses received by the RFI closing date. Canada may, in its discretion, review responses received after the RFI closing date.
(b)
Review Team: A review team composed of representatives of the client will review the responses. Canada reserves the right to hire any independent consultant, or use any Government resources that it considers necessary to review any response. Not all members of the review team will necessarily review all responses.
(c)
Confidentiality: Respondents should mark any portions of their response that they consider proprietary or confidential. Canada will handle the responses in accordance with the Access to Information Act.
(d)
Follow-up Activity: Canada may, at its discretion, contact any respondents to follow up with additional questions or for clarification of any aspect of a response. Canada may also publish further RFIs related to this initiative.
Contents of the RFI The documents included in the RFI remain a work in progress and respondents should not assume that new clauses or requirements will not be added to any bid solicitation that is ultimately published by Canada. Nor should respondents assume that none of the clauses or requirements will be deleted or revised. Comments regarding any aspect of the draft document are welcome.
6.
Terminology Terms used throughout this RFI have been defined in Annex A – Glossary of Terms.
7.
Volumetric Data The volumetric information being provided to respondents is purely for information purposes. Although it represents the best information currently available, Canada does not guarantee that the data is complete or free from error.
8.
Format of Responses (a)
Cover Page: If the response includes multiple volumes, respondents are requested to indicate on the front cover page of each volume the title of the
- 5 of 13 response, the solicitation number, the volume number and the full legal name of the respondent. (b)
9.
Title Page: The first page of each volume of the response, after the cover page, should be the title page, which should contain: i.
the title of the respondent’s response and the volume number;
ii.
the name and address of the respondent;
iii.
the name, address and telephone number of the respondent’s contact;
iv.
the date; and
v.
the RFI number.
(c)
Numbering System: Respondents are requested to prepare their response using a numbering system corresponding to the one in this RFI. All references to descriptive material, technical manuals and brochures included as part of the response should be referenced accordingly.
(d)
Number of Copies: Canada requests that Respondents submit their response in unprotected PDF (e.g. no password) format by email to
[email protected] if the size of the document is less than 6MB. Alternatively, Canada requests that Respondents save a copy of their PDF (2003 or later) document onto each of 2 compact discs (CD-R) or 2 digital video discs (DVD-R) and send the discs by mail to the address specified in section 9 below.
Enquiries Since this is not a bid solicitation, Canada will not necessarily respond to enquiries in writing or by circulating answers to all Respondents. Enquiries are to be submitted no later than June 9, 2016. Respondents may direct their enquiries to: Contracting Authority: Sophon Proulx, A/ Team leader Strategic Procurement and Contracting Operations Directorate Comptrollership Branch Canada Border Services Agency 355 North River Road K1A 0L8 Telephone: (343) 291-5725 E-mail address:
[email protected]
10.
Submission of Responses Time and Place for Submission of Responses: Organizations interested in providing a response should deliver it to the Contracting Authority identified above by June 9, 2016. Responsibility for Timely Delivery: Each Respondent is solely responsible for ensuring its response is delivered on time, to the correct location.
- 6 of 13 Identification of Response: Each Respondent should ensure that its name, return address, the solicitation number and the closing date appear legibly on the outside of the response. Return of Response: Responses to this RFI will not be returned.
PART II: QUESTIONS FOR INDUSTRY
The CBSA is asking the Vendor community to provide the following:
1. CORPORATE PROFILE Each Vendor should provide the following information: a. Company name, address, telephone & fax numbers and e-mail address. b. Company contact name and telephone number. c. Company background information (location of parent company, contact information for company representative and or distributor in Canada if any, type of product sold and web site address. The CBSA may ask for additional contact information at any point in time.
2. QUESTIONS The CBSA is asking the Vendor community to respond to the questions below. If a question is not relevant to your solution, please indicate that with an explanation regarding why the question is not relevant. Table 1 – Background Questions CBSA Question 1. Please clearly outline your organization’s mandate in particular how it supports immigration enforcement. 2. Describe the technical solution components of your Voice Reporting (VR) System and how it is serviced across Canada on a 24/7/365 basis and includes at a minimum: a. Voice Biometric Sub-System; and
Vendor Response
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Vendor Response
b. VR Business Process Sub-System.
Table 2 Architectural Questions CBSA Question 3. Describe how your solution will allow the CBSA to monitor, control, and audit access to its data, across the complete environment. 4. Describe how your Voice Biometric SubSystem includes: a. A VR Client Enrolment Module that: a. allows capture of a client’s biometric voice print; b. provides the ability to verify the clients identity when they phone to report. c. provides the ability to detect caller ID and other identity spoofing. d. Provides the ability to locate the client via a carrier side location based technology if the client is using a mobile device. e. provides the ability to configure the voice reporting system to adjust all parameters including phone prompts, timeouts, languages, etc. 5. Describe how your VR Business process SubSystem provides at a minimum: a. An IT System Business Process/Interface that acts as a front end to the system and: a. provides the ability to schedule clients for enrolment and the ability to generate administrative reports/letters (i.e. client instructions for enrolment/reporting, conditions) b. provides the ability to generate reports to identify clients who are non-compliant, the ability to
Vendor Response
- 8 of 13 CBSA Question add/create/update notes related to compliance monitoring and a client profile and reporting history c. provides all other administration and maintenance task related to user management, data export and client management. d. Bilingual user interface– English/French
Vendor Response
6. Describe how your solution meets the following non-functional requirements: a. Ability to use cell phone and landline services; b. Ability to support 100,000 active reporting clients during the same period; c. Provision of support 24x7 across Canada; d. Response time for enrolment call – 10 seconds; e. Ability to handle at least 30 simultaneous client report calls; f. System security that protects all data at rest and in transit with strong encryption. g. Supported by the following: a. A 1-800 help line available to the CBSA when reporting problems are encountered; and b. A 1-800 reporting line available to users to report from anywhere in Canada.
Table 3 - Functionality Questions CBSA Question
Vendor Response
7. Can you provide a live demonstration or demo
account of your solution or product?
Table 4 - Integration Questions CBSA Question 8. Please describe your solutions ability to
Vendor Response
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Vendor Response
securely exchange data with external systems.
Table 5 - Support Questions CBSA Question
Vendor Response
9. How do you provide support for your solution, including the application of security patches and fixes, the implementation of known vulnerability remediation actions, and the troubleshooting and resolution of incidents or problems with cryptographic modules (if applicable)?
Table 6 – Licensing Questions CBSA Question
Vendor Response
10. How do you typically license your product? (i.e. types of users, by servers, by CPU, concurrent users, enterprise-wide)? 11. How many individual licenses would need to be purchased in order to trigger the licenses to become an enterprise-wide licence? 12. Do you have a Government of Canada securityapproved IT solution? 13. Please describe the costing model for your
solution
3. ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTIONS Do you (the Responder) have any suggestions and or concerns with respect to the information listed in Appendix A? If so, please outline your suggestion(s), concern(s) and any recommendations to resolve them.
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PART III: APPENDICES APPENDIX A – PROVISION OF A VOICE REPORTING SYSTEM FOR I MMIGRATION CLIENTELE A. INTRODUCTION The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is seeking feedback from industry with respect to the management and provision of a risk management-based compliance and monitoring Voice Reporting (VR) program, for individuals in the inland enforcement continuum. The information provided will contribute to the development of the CBSA’s VR program to better respond to the Agency’s needs. B. BACKGROUND The CBSA Inland Enforcement program, which is essential to the integrity of Canada’s immigration and refugee system, is comprised of four business lines: removals, hearings, detentions and investigations. These areas work in synchronicity to achieve the common goal of identifying and removing inadmissible people from Canada in accordance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). One of the major challenges for the CBSA in the enforcement of the Act has been clients who abscond as a tactic of evading removal. The CBSA employs the use of in-person reporting to monitor clients under a removal order and who are of moderate risk of not appearing for removal from Canada when required by law, or who are non-compliant. In the Auditor General’s (AG) report of April, 2003 to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the AG expressed concern over the number of outstanding warrants for clients under removal orders, and recommended improving the tracking of its removal cases. To directly address this concern, the Enforcement Centre in Toronto implemented an Automated VR system for low-risk clients. As an alternative to in-person reporting, the current VR system uses a biometric voice print to monitor individuals at regular intervals, until they are removed from Canada or become Permanent Residents. Biometric-supported VR has positively impacted resource allocation in the Greater Toronto Area Region through a reduction in in-person reports undertaken on a monthly basis, which at present represents 5,000 avoided in-person reporting interviews per month. The CBSA seeks to expand the VR system nationally and while the current VR system supports land line calls only, an expanded program would support mobile phone-based (cell phones, smart phones, etc.) VR reporting calls. The traditional land line phones that support current caller identification location technology are being supplanted with mobile phones and internet-based (Voice-over Internet-Protocol (VOIP) phones. The growing use of mobile and internet telephone technology will impact the program and the solution required for the CBSA’s VR system.
- 11 of 13 C. VOICE REPORTING SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The CBSA requires that vendors provide technical solutions and services that support the overall goals of the VR program. 1. VR System Requirements 1.1.
Basic System Architecture
The voice reporting system required by the CBSA will consist of two main components, both of which will be provided by the vendor 1) Voice Biometric Sub-System which will act as the backend to the system and will handle all activities associated with the Biometric/Telephony component of voice reporting; enrolling clients (getting a biometric voice print) and verifying the client when they phone in to report by matching their voice print and verifying and locating the phone they are calling from. 2) VR Business Process Sub-System which will act the front end/portal and will handle all the administration, compliance and reporting activities/work flow associated with VR. 1.2.
High Level Voice Reporting System Requirements
1.2.1. The Voice Biometric Sub-system must include, at a minimum: Voice Reporting Client Enrolment Module o Automated voice guided client enrollment system (IVR) that will identify client based on a Unique Client Identifier (UCI) and associate their UCI to their biometric voice print. o Must allow for language independent enrollment. o Prompts must be available in multiple languages with the ability to change the prompts and add languages. o Must allow for enrollment by cell phones. o Underlying architecture should be based on open standards and not a closed proprietary system.
Voice Reporting Client Verification Module o Ability to verify the client’s identity when they phone to report by comparing voice biometric print to the callers print and producing a match score. o Must verify the caller’s location and phone number using ANI/caller ID spoofing detection and carrier side location based services for mobile phones. o Must have anti-fraud technology to detect the use of recordings or other voice spoofing techniques. o Should have the ability to adapt to changes in the clients voice over time. o Should have the ability to transfer the call to a configurable phone number if a flag has been set to allow the caller to be forwarded to a CBSA officer if that officer needs to speak with them directly.
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Voice Reporting Enrolment/Verification Configuration Module o Ability to configure the voice reporting system (phone prompts, timeouts, languages, etc.)
1.2.2. The VR Business Process Sub-System must include, at a minimum: The ability to be accessed via the Internet Robust user access controls with configurable roles All communication must be via encrypted connection IT System Business Process/Interface o Will act as a front end for controlling the voice biometric subsystem. o Will use open communications protocols for communicating with the backend to allow the biometric subsystem to be controlled by existing and future enterprise case management systems (NCMS and GCMS). Voice Reporting Client Administration Module o Ability to schedule client for Enrolment. o Create and modify client profile including Name, address, biodata. o Ability to generate Administrative reports/letters (i.e. Client instructions for enrolment/reporting, Conditions). Voice Reporting Monitoring Compliance Module o All data should be stored in an open standards SQL database. o Must allow for generation of reports on all aspects of the reporting data. Examples of reports are: Ability to generate reports to identify clients who are non-compliant. Client Profile report that contains reporting history and changes to reporting conditions. o Must allow for creation and modification of automated and ad hoc reports with automated reports delivered by email to users on a per client basis. o Ability to add/create/update notes related to compliance monitoring.
1.3.
The list of NON Functional requirements must include: Ability to use cell phone and landline services. Ability to support 100,000 active reporting clients. Provision of support 24X7 across Canada. Response time for enrolment call – 10 seconds. Ability to handle at least 30 simultaneous client report calls. Strong encryption of data at rest and in transit. Possibility of interface through the CBSA IT System. Current IT system data transfer is through XML file uploads and downloads. Bi-lingual (English/French) user interface. Supported by the following: o A 1-800 help line available to users for reporting problems; and, o A 1-800 reporting line available to users to report from anywhere in Canada
- 13 of 13 ANNEX A: Glossary of key terms Acronym
Description
CPU
Central Processing Unit
NCMS
National Case Management System
GCMS
Global Case Management System
SQL
Structured Query Language
VR
Voice Reporting
ANNEX B: Definitions
Term
Definition
Immigration enforcement
Activities that focus on the identification, reporting and removal of persons who are inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration Refugee Protection Act
