Request For Quotation - System Development
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR
LOFA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ)
Lofa County Community College (LCCC) has received budgetary appropriation from the FY 2015/2016 National Budget for the procurement of a tailor-made College Management System to streamline the day-to-day processes of the College. The areas of focus will include student registration, course scheduling, inventory, library and accounting integration.
Under this development contract, it is required that the candidate system, developed at LCCC, be taken for extension and enhancement as per additionally perceived user requirements. This software development will be carried out as per the Terms and Conditions spelt out in subsequent paragraphs.
- General Guidelines for Design and Implementation
2.1) The Development Partner (DP) will produce a detailed specification before development. This ensures any major issues are caught at an early stage. All components of the development pipeline (compilers, libraries, designing tools, testing tools, debugging tools etc.) will be Open Source. In addition to Development, the selected Partner shall give support to the open sources used in this project.
2.2) The code is expected to be heavily unit tested with >=95% unit test coverage. Other open source tools based functional tests are mandatory with >=95% code coverage.
2.3) Multi-user Environment: The software system should support multiple users with least performance reduction under three-tier architecture.
2.4) User Interface: Partners must have experienced in OO based software development. The software must have a simple and easy to understand interface for the users. There should be simple facilities to support, assist and navigate or guide the user through the entire system. The software should provide extensive on-line help facilities for each screen, function, field and context. There should be a mechanism to simplify and support data entry including proposed default values and prompts for posting of recurring entries. There should be extensive search facilities. All modules of the system must have flexible and powerful facilities for queries/reports. There should be facilities for graphical representations of results, for export of results and other data to external applications, including presentation programs, word processors, electronic spreadsheets, databases and the College’s website.
2.5) Cross Platform Compliance (Windows and Linux): Although the development effort will be on Windows, the solutions should seamlessly and effortlessly integrate and run on both Linux and Windows platforms.
2.6) Software Releases Philosophy: A release is an operational version of a system or part of a system that demonstrates a subset of the capabilities provided in the final product. The software will follow the agile development cycle. The release cycles and tasks achieve in each release can be described by the DP in the proposal to this RFQ.
2.7) Quality Assurance: The software should be developed under quality assurance using Agile procedure. All steps towards Quality Assurance and Quality Testing will have to be taken from the beginning of the contract. Nominated Quality Assurance/Control role players should be positioned at the Lofa County Community College during development. No delivery should be made without proper testing and related test artifacts, test evaluation, summary and test results should be made available with each delivery. The system should be designed for usability, functionality, robustness, scalability, configurability, portability, reliability, maintainability and supportability. Quality should be built into the system from the beginning by means of internal processes and checks.
2.8) Security: The developer should identify extremely sensitive data in consultation with LCCC, and chalk out a strategy for storing the same in a high security environment in consultation with the LCCC. The design should allow substitution of encryption and decryption mechanisms by newer, customized solutions that might be developed by LCCC in-house and could be both hardware and software based.
2.9 Context Sensitive Help: Extensive context sensitive help has to be provided. The context sensitive help will be both screen and field based. Every field of the GUI screen should have context sensitive help. In addition, extensive on-line help for system configuration and usage should be provided with a view to minimize reference to hard copy user manuals.
2.10 Database: The design of backend database with SQL as required will form part of the contract. All the spreadsheets and paper-based systems will be consolidated into a single system. Data will be ‘normalized’ to ensure it is stored in the most efficient way so that data is not duplicated in the database. Also, validation will be added to data entry forms to ensure the accuracy of data being entered.
2.11 Supply of Source Code: The source code for the application software should be provided with proper documentation explaining the functions of each module/routine. The final version of the complete source code will have to be compiled in front of the LCCC users and submitted along with all the necessary documentation. Necessary instructions for incorporating any modification changes in the software and its compilation into an executable/installable product should be explained clearly.
2.12 Training: An on-site training or professional CBT (Computer-Based Tutorial) on the use of the application software should be made and provided by the development partner before the final sign off. The CBT will be used to impart on-site training for all the short listed users of the system.
2.13 The development Partner should supply a set of all software and user documentation in CD based softcopy and the approved copy of the final set in one hardcopy. All the software artifacts should be regularly maintained to highlight revisions and the causes of revision. The firms will ensure that the documents are kept current as per the changes/modifications in the software.
Partners who fulfill all of the above eligibility criteria would be considered for evaluation.
Deadline for Application is Tuesday, September 15, 2015 @ 5:00 P.M. prompt.
Applications should be sent to and Cc: . Please indicate in the subject line of the email: “RFQ – System Development”. This RFQ is also available on LCCC’s website: lccc-edu.org