PREAMBLE

In 2007 RailCorp approved Stage 1 of a project to deliver a virtual plan room (VPR) solution that will enable RailCorp Engineering to access and track engineering plans and assets across the organisation utilising the Enterprise Content Management platform.

This Request for Tender specifies RailCorp requirements for an Engineering Document Management System (Engineering DMS) to implement Stages 2 and 3 of the Virtual Plan Room Project.

The invitation to tender has been limited to selected vendors based on market research and independent analysis of public information readily available through the internet and industry experience.  The evaluation yielded a group of products which RailCorp identified would best suit RailCorp requirements and therefore maximize the likelihood of a best fit for purpose and effective RFT process during evaluation.

The VPR will facilitate electronic lodgement, access to and retrieval of engineering documentation relating to RailCorp assets and physical infrastructure. The required schedule is the effective completion of a VPR Pilot (Stage 2) by September 2009, leading to full production (Stage 3) by June 2010.

With the NSW Government budgeting to spend some $5 billion in new rail assets and infrastructure to 2012, electronic lodgement, dissemination and retrieval of current drawings and information will be fundamental to RailCorp effectiveness as an asset manager.

The purpose of the document is to communicate these requirements as a basis for lodging a tender, to vendor organisations pre-qualified as having the capability to deliver a Virtual Plan Room toolset. We envisage that the Toolset will be provided on a Lump Sum basis that reflect standard components for the Engineering DMS as offered by tenderers to the scope defined in Parts B and D to this Request For Tender.

RailCorp will issue a separate RFT for VPR System Integration Services.

This Preamble is in summary form only for the convenience of Tenderers and must not be relied upon by Tenderers. It is subject to the detailed requirements in Parts A-D of this Request for Tender Document (the RFT).