--DRAFT -- Request for Proposal

Issued by STL-Ts

Hanley Blvd, St. Louis MO

March 21, 2023

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Introduction and Background

STL-Ts specializes in selling T-shirts and other apparel that promote St. Louis pride. We design and screen-print our own t-shirts, as well as, resell apparel. We have two storefronts and one factory/warehouse that is co-located with our corporate offices and one of the storefronts. Our main facility (corporate offices, factory, warehouse, and storefront) was destroyed in a fire in December of 2022. All IT equipment in those facilities was also ruined. Our data was backed up.

STL-Ts have been operating at a reduced capacity. Only three employees had laptops that they brought home and those are ready for upgrades. One of the two storefronts was not impacted and the company was able to operate at reduced capacity with a rented screen printer and embroidery machine in extra space in that facility. The company will buy new screen printing and embroidery equipment, but that is not in the scope of this proposal.

STL-Ts needs managed IT services and equipment to reopen operations in our main facility where smoke, water, and fire damage repairs are almost complete. We are accepting proposals in response to this Request for Proposal (RFP) to find a qualified source for the services and IT products required. We intend to re-open full operations by Labor Day 2023

STL-Ts positions its products as being vibrant and edgy. We arent the same old my parents went to St. Louis and all I got was this shirt t-shirt company. Our designs are complex and detailed and we do about 50% of our sales in storefronts and 50% online. Corporately, we want to increase our online sales while maintaining the customer service of our in-store experience. Our staff consists of our two owners/operators, designers, sales staff for bulk contracts, administrative, accounting and finance, marketing, factory management, and staff (for in-house designs), as well as, for managing products we re-sell. We also have a manager and hourly employees to work in the stores.

The goals of this effort are to:

• Implement a full Local Area Network for our corporate offices.
• Streamline our online and in-store sales process
• Streamline our inventory and shipping processes, including improving supply chain efficiency
• Upgrade our online presence and ordering system
• Receive three years of IT support to implement and manage the IT solutions proposed.

1. Evaluation Criteria

• 25% Cost (including feasibility)
• 50% Technical feasibility
• 25% Estimated improved efficiency, risk reduction, and alignment to company strategic goals and culture.

1. Submission Guidelines

1. Bidders who intend on submitting a proposal should notify the representative identified on the cover page of this RFP via Canvas with the following:
   1. Name and description of company
   2. Team Members
   3. Questions about RFP

1. Proposals must be limited to:

• 1 Page Cover Sheet (can include logo)
• 1 Page Table of Contents
• 1-page summary of the bidders company, experience, and value proposition to STL-Ts. The summary should include management and support structure for a term of the contract.
• 5-page technical proposal to include:
  • Proposed system solution with at least one system diagram
  • Proposed technology support staff and description of personnel skills
  • The proposal must include assumptions
• 1 Page proposed integration/implementation plan with a timeline
• 2 Page Cost proposal including basis of estimates. Cost should account for equipment and labor costs. Include assumptions.

Text may be no smaller than 11-point Calibri text. Margins may be no smaller than 1, Header and footer data may be inserted into the 1 margins. Any pages over the maximum will not be read.

Text in images (charts and graphs) may be no less than 8 points.

1. Requirements

The bidder shall propose a solution to meet the following business needs:

PCs (or any personal device)

• The proposed solution shall support 17 office employees who all require personal computers.
  • Staff roles:
    • CEO (1)
    • Finance and Accounting (2)
    • Operations Manager (1)
    • Sales (5)
    • Marketing (2)
    • Customer Service and office assistant (1)
    • Product Designers (3)
    • Office Manager and HR (1)
    • IT and Web design (1)
• The warehouse and factory also require a total of 5 PCs that are shared by employees.
• Two additional PCs are required for warehouse managers.
• There should be 2-3 PCs for each storefront to operate with Point of Sales systems.

Application Needs:

• Inventory Management System
• Human resource management system to include a timecard capability
• Email
• Inventory Management
• Shared file storage
• T-Shirt design software (4 users)
• Microsoft Office Suite of Applications
• Accounting Software
• Customer Management and order management system
• Video conferencing
• Point of sale system for storefront

Additional Hardware:

• 2 office printers
• 2 printers for the warehouse and factory
• 1 printer in each retail facility
• Printer for shipping materials
• Hardware to support the Local Area Network Requirements, security, and internet access.

Personnel:

• Staff required to set up and configure equipment
• Staff required to maintain systems and provide staff support for three years. Assume support is required only from 7 AM to 7 PM daily

Additional criteria:

• Solutions can be on-premise or cloud
• Our previous data was backed-up but all equipment was onsite and destroyed.
• Manufacturing equipment is not included in the scope of this effort (screen printers, etc).

1. Other criteria

• STL-T intends to issue a Firm Fixed Price contract with the awarded vendor
• We anticipate a 15% growth per year in revenues (over normal 0perating years) and a 10% average growth per year in staff
• All full-time staff require an individual email. Warehouse and retail staff must be able to log into a timecard system and access applications on shared computers that are relevant to their roles.
• We do surge staff on occasion to support retail sales, manufacturing, and shipping. These staff do not typically need PCs, but do need access to POS systems, inventory, and shipping systems.

Question: Following is the RFP ( Request for Proposal ) document of STL-T's a specialized company in selling T-shirts, Create an Intent to Bid and Questions document as a ficticuios company with a compelling company description and with more than 8 questions the company has about the following RFP. Thw questions should assess the gaps in the RFP information and demonstrate the understanding of overall assignment.