SMART UPDATE

UNCLAS STATE 284912 INFORM ALL STATE EMPLOYEES FROM U/S GRANT GREEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AMGT ACOA CMGT ECON PREL KPAO KRIM SUBJECT: SMART UPDATE REF: 02 STATE 195704 ¶1. Please provide wide dissemination of the information in this telegram. ¶2. Reftel described steps the Department is taking to implement a new integrated messaging system: SMART (State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset). We have made substantial progress and are looking for your input as we move forward. ¶3. A Request for Quotation (RFQ) to design SMART was released to the vendor community in late June, and proposals were submitted September 2, 2003. The description of SMART requirements in the RFQ is based in great part on the feedback received from a wide range of Department employees over the past year: from evaluators of the proof-of-concept prototype, to those who sent in comments to the SMART website, to participants in focus groups and members of working groups. ¶4. The technical evaluation team, consisting of representatives of different bureaus, offices and posts under the leadership of Ambassador James Holmes, IRM's Chief Knowledge Officer and DCIO, evaluated the vendor proposals against the established technical criteria. The cost evaluation team met and evaluated the vendor proposals against the established cost criteria. ¶5. The recommendation arising from the evaluation process will now go to the Steering Committee for Messaging and InterAgency Collaboration, chaired by Ambassador Joe Lake. This committee, which includes senior level substantive, management and technical representatives of many bureaus, will recommend up to three vendors. ¶6. The companies selected will each design and demonstrate a fully functioning solution, which, in turn, will be evaluated early in the new calendar year (2004). A vendor will then be selected to produce a pilot for the new system. The pilot will involve parts of one geographic (EUR) and one functional (DS) bureau, and associated overseas posts. Once the pilot is evaluated, full implementation is expected in 2005. ¶7. We will continue to keep you informed as we move through this complex process. Your comments, concerns and recommendations are welcome at every stage. We encourage you to check the SMART website regularly for up to date information. Website addresses are: http://smart.state.gov (Intranet), http://smart.state.sgov.gov(Classified) and http://smart (PDNet). ¶8. Minimize considered. POWELL NOTE: RECIPIENTS SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION NNNN STATE 00284912