RAF/2013/00047 1 RFI NUMBER: RAF/2013/00047
DESCRIPTION: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON PERFORMANCE TEST TOOLS
PUBLISH DATE: 17 January 2014
VALIDIY PERIOD: 90 Days from the closing date
CLOSING DATE: 07 February 2014
CLOSING TIME: 11:00 AM
THE CLOSING TIME WILL BE AS PER THE CLOCK AT THE RAF RECEPTION RFI RESPONSES MUST BE HAND DELIVERED / COURIERED TO:
Road Accident Fund (RAF) 2 Eco Glades Office Park 420 Witch-Hazel Avenue Centurion
0046 Pretoria
ATTENTION: Jeffrey Nkuna
NB: Bidders must ensure that they sign the register at the reception when delivering their bids
BIDDER NAME:
Bidders should ensure that RFI responses are delivered on time to the correct address. If the RFI is late, it WILL not be accepted for consideration. The RAF reception is generally accessible 8 hours a day (07h45 to 16h00); 5 days a week (Monday to Friday). Bidders must ensure that they sign the register at the reception when delivering Bids. It remains the responsibility of the bidders to inform advice their couriers of the instruction above.
RAF/2013/00047 2 THE FOLLOWING PARTICULARS MUST BE FURNISHED (FAILURE TO DO SO SHALL RESULT IN YOUR RFI BEING DISQUALIFIED)
BIDDING STRUCTURE
Indicate the type of Bidding structure by marking with an ‘X’: Individual bidder
Joint venture Consortium
Using Subcontractors Other
If individual bidder, indicate the following: Name of bidder
Registration number VAT registration number Contact person Telephone number Fax number E-mail address Postal address Physical address
If Joint Venture or Consortium, indicate the following:
Name of prime contractor Registration number VAT registration number Contact person Telephone number Fax number E-mail address Postal address Physical address
If Joint Venture or Consortium, indicate the following: (To be completed for each JV/ Consortium member)
RAF/2013/00047 3 Name of Joint Venture/ Consortium member
Registration number VAT registration number Contact person Telephone number Fax number E-mail address Postal address Physical address
If using subcontractors, indicate the following: Name of prime contractor
Registration number VAT registration number Contact person Telephone number Fax number E-mail address Postal address Physical address
If using subcontractors, indicate the following: (To be completed for each subcontractor)
Name of subcontractor Registration number VAT registration number Contact person Telephone number Fax number E-mail address Postal address Physical address
RAF/2013/00047 4 1. ENQUIRIES
1.1 Enquiries regarding this Request for Information should be submitted via e-mail to:
Bid enquiries:
Procurement Administrator Jeffrey Nkuna
jeffreyn@raf.co.za
Enquiries should reference specific paragraph numbers, where appropriate.
All questions/ enquiries must be forwarded in writing not later than 11h00 am on 22 January 2014.
Questions/enquiries received after 11:00 am on 22 January 2014 will not be entertained.
RAF/2013/00047 5
ANNEXURE F: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
1. The Road Accident Fund
The Road Accident Fund (RAF) was established through an act of Parliament in 1996 (RAF Act 56 of 1996) and came into operation on 1 May 1997. The act gives the RAF the mandate to pay compensation in accordance with applicable statutes for personal loss or damage wrongfully caused by the driving of motor vehicles. The RAF has offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and East London.
1.1 The damages for which the RAF may be liable include: Past and future hospital, medical and related expenses; Funeral expenses
Past and future loss of earnings Past and future loss of support General damages
2. Background to the RFI
In 2009 the RAF purchased a performance Test tool which is used for performance testing of applications and is based on a protocol and virtual user license model. The protocol that was procured was the citrix protocol, which worked on the then citrix neighbourhood concept. With the enhancements and upgrades on citrix, the citrix neighbourhood has fallen away and has been replaced by the citrix plugin, and as of very recent the citrix receiver. With these two new citrix clients, the current protocol does not work and we are therefore unable to perform the performance testing on applications.
Due to the above, the RAF is requesting information to see if there are any other similar tools available which can be utilised by the organisation. Part of this exercise is to see which tools can meet the RAF requirements of a fully citrix environment and also to see the feasibility of procuring the tools as a software service, to procure the tools out right or to bring the current tool back into maintenance and upgrade.
RAF/2013/00047 6 3. Current State
The current tool makes provision for v-users (virtual users) and the citrix protocol only.
The tools used for load testing help prevent issues by detecting bottlenecks and to obtain an accurate picture of system performance before going live.
This current tool is directly focused on performance as well as test automation. The tool examines system behaviour and performance, and simultaneously generates actual load.
Virtual users simulate activity of actual users operating a variety of software, taking into consideration, think time as well as other external factors that would happen during a normal day of business.
4. RAF requires a Performance Test Tool
The current performance test tool is used for enterprise quality assurance. The RAF would therefore require information on all relevant performance test tools that would be used for performance testing.
A preferred tool would have a Web Graphical User Interface (GUI), which means that the tool should be run on a server with a web interface. The tool should cater for citrix and http/https scripting, and must also be able to cater for SAP, AJAX scripting as well. Any further information regarding more recent scripting languages, or other ways to test procedures would also be appreciated.
5. Expectations of what the Performance Test Tool should provide:
Tools that would need to be installed on a server which will be used for stress testing. The script creator tool that can be installed on a windows 8 device.
The tool must be able to script/record http/https and Citrix transactions.
Information on how licensing is structured and the number of virtual users included per licence.
Tool required to perform tests in http/https, Citrix and other areas like; .net, SAP, Java and standard Microsoft applications that are published.
The tool should be able to display performance graphs of virtual user timings, and the performance of the resources under load, including the backend database.
RAF/2013/00047 7 The RFI responses should also include the following information:
What is the industry standard in regard to what meets the requirements of the RAF? Software licensing requirements - OS, Database, Application etc.
Pro’s and cons of a web interface tool.
Different Licensing Models i.e. sever or user base, number of virtual users per license, etc.
The differences offered between an outright purchase and the software being provided as a service.
