Consultant for the OOI Costbook Database Programming and Data Operations

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership, a not-for-profit corporation representing over 95 public and private ocean research and educational institutions, seeks a consultant Contractor to facilitate costbook database operations associated with the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Program. The OOI Program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, will construct an integrated observatory network to provide ocean, earth, and atmospheric scientists and educators with continuous, interactive access to the ocean.  The OOI costbook is a bottom-up cost estimating tool for the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) as well Operation and Maintenance portions of the OOI.  A mature prototype of the costbook that was written in MS Access was successfully used during the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) phase of the program.  The PDR version has about 24,000 records of monthly resource consumption that is tied to a work-package within the OOI Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).  In addition, each of those work-packages includes a risk or contingency calculation.  Both costs and risks roll up such that the total cost and risk can be calculated for all WBS elements.  The current database relationships structure is depicted in Figure 1 (attached).

Working with the Ocean Leadership Program Managers and subcontracted OOI Project Managers, the Costbook Database Specialist will refine the user interface and integrate additional functionalities in the form of new queries and reports.

Description of Tasks

Task 1:     Refine the User Interface.  
Additional efforts are needed to fully integrate elements of the user interface.  For example, the current environment contains repetitive data entry that can be eliminated by improving parameter passing.  Similarly, the interface for risk inputs does not actively validate all aspects of the restrictions.   Additional fields need to be fully integrated into the interface and reporting; these include Basis-of-Estimates (BOE), WBS dictionary details, etc.    Further error checking routines to add to the current data integrity and related constraints will have to be improved.

Task 2:     Import and Export Routines and Procedures.  
The main import and export routines for the interactions between data within the costbook and the resource-loaded schedule stored in MS Project already exist.  Additional refinement and integration of the data imports and exports is required.  

Task 3:     Additional Queries and Reports.
A number of reports and queries (such as escalation, resource utilization, full detailed reports for all WBS elements) are not yet fully integrated into the current menu structure.  Another set of reports and queries (such as detailed report for any WBS sub-tree) is required (currently only work-package level or end nodes are reported with detail whereas only summaries are provided for higher level nodes such as control or summary accounts).  In addition to the refinement of the current reports, all reports and queries will need to be included into the current menu driven system.  Similarly, some reports and queries will need additional refinement in order for more searches to function over a varied set of data facets (ex. months, years, WBS substructures).

Timeline and Method of Work:  The Contractor must allocate appropriate resources to this effort in the summer 2008 through FDR and participate in the refinement and data manipulation exercises leading up to the FDR review that will take place before the end of November 2008.

Qualifications:  The successful bidder shall have extensive training and experience in database design and programming in MS Access. Additional knowledge in software engineering and project management is beneficial. Excellent communication, time management, logic and programming skills are essential.  

Proposal and Budget: Bidders should send a description of up to 3 pages stating their interest and experience with a strategic plan of how they would approach and organize the work by task.  In addition, provide a resume describing relevant experience, 1 or 2 exhibits of previous work relevant to this task, the names of 3 references, and a cost quote to jhubler@oceanleadership.org.  Bidders shall provide a fully burdened hourly rate and confirm their availability as per schedule stated below.

The position under contract will be on a part-time basis from date of award (estimated at May 12, 2008) until November 30, 2008.  The Project Office envisions that the level of effort required for this task will start at around 100 to 140 hours per month during the first 2 months of the period of performance.  The level of effort should decrease to 25 to 50 hours per months during the remaining part of performance period.  Total estimated hours will range between 250 and 500 hours.  We anticipate that this will be a labor hour contract; therefore, the cost quote must provide an all-inclusive hourly rate.  Ocean Leadership requires that the successful bidder will have access to suitable computer and communications support to accomplish the tasked work.  Any bids to procure computer equipment and/or communications services under the contract must be discussed in detail with backup to support any costs proposed.  Preference will be given to bidders who do not require the purchase of ancillary equipment.  Ocean Leadership will reimburse for reasonable local commuting costs to meetings at 1201 New York Avenue, Washington DC 20005 when necessary.   The cost quotation should not include resources for overnight travel. Other travel support, when necessary, will be provided by Ocean Leadership.  Invoices shall be provided by the Contractor on a monthly basis. Invoices shall state the number of hours worked with a brief description and/or explanation of the accomplished work as it relates to the tasks that have been pre-approved by the Project Office.

Questions about this opportunity should be emailed to jhubler@oceanleadership.org NLT 4PM EST Monday, May 9, 2008.  Questions and answers will be shared with all on the source list. If there are no questions, email your non-binding intent to bid to jhubler@oceanleadership.org by 4PM EST on Monday May 9, 2008.

Quotations are due by email by 4PM EST on Friday May 16, 2008.