This is a REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. The Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of Telecommunication and Systems Operations (OTSO) is attempting to identify responsible vendors that are capable of providing software for the management of UNIX patches on various platforms. The solution must have the features identified below which are mandatory: 1)Must have an agent based solution that is deployed on the target server; 2) Must have patch management baseline that includes scheduling; 3) Must have role based management of roles and user groups; 4) Must deploy multiple patches on a single deployment action; 5)Must be able to manage inventory and patch management; 6)Must scale to at least 1,000 clients; 7) Must be able to support multiple platforms including:HP-UX; Sun Solaris; IBM AIX; SCO UNIX; 8) Must have a centralized management console; 9) Must have a full patch management repository with patches certified by testing and accreditation from major operating system providers; 10) Must use a browser interface to manage and control product features; 11) Must be able to deploy software patches, with elements of control for deployment time and re-boot cycles. Consideration will be given to any additional functionality and features when the eleven mandatory items (above) have been satisfied. Vendors having the capability to meet the above requirements are invited to submit complete details. The responses must clearly state the ability to meet the above requirements. Section 508 Compliancy: Interested vendors must provide verifiable proof in sufficient detail to demonstrate their ability to meet the Agency’s requirement, see URL site http://www.ssa.gov/oag/acq/oagacq_508.htm. Any software must be compatible with Federal Government Section 508 standards. Section 508 software standards can be found at www.section508.gov. The software/vendor must meet the following Sections of 508 standards: 1) Section 1194.21 - Software Applications and Operating Systems; 2) Section 1194.22 - Web-based Internet Information and Applications; 3) Section 1194.31 - Functional Performance; and 4) Section 1194.41 - Information, Documentation, And Support. SSA uses the JAWS (speech input / audio output) and MAGic (screen magnification) products from Freedom Scientific Corporation. All software must support these products. Compatibility with Dragon software for mobility impaired individuals is also required. Vendors that believe they can offer a technically compliant product (or one that can be made compliant with minimal modification) are invited to submit information concerning the product’s capabilities. Detailed responses to each of the above requirements (with substantiating documentation) are required. Simple marketing information or incomplete responses will not be considered. Reference to vendor web sites is not considered a valid response. Vendors responding should indicate whether their products are available on the GSA schedule. Pricing data is not required. This is not a request for proposals, and the government does not intend to pay for information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation of the information received. No contract award will be made on the basis of responses received; however, this information will be used in SSA’s assessment of capable sources. Electronic responses to this notice should be submitted within 15 calendar days of this posting i.e. July 23, 2005. Requests for copies of a solicitation will not be honored or acknowledged. Faxed information will not be permitted. NO FORMAL SOLICITATION IS BEING ISSUED AT THIS TIME. The size limitation for email attachments is 5 megabytes. Respondents should refer to SSA-RFI-05-1007.Responses must be addressed to [email protected]. No phone calls will be accepted regarding this announcement.

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