1. OCIO Cumulus - DRAFT_Solicitation.pdf

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Cumulus DRAFT FAR Part 12 Combined Synopsis/Solicitation

DRAFT FAR Part 12 Commercial Synopsis/Solicitation DHS, Cumulus

FAR 12.201-2 COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION (Other procedures.)

FAR 12.202 Publicizing.

(a) Publicize in accordance with part 5.

(b) To reduce the time required to solicit and award contracts for acquisitions valued over the SAT, combine the presolicitation notice and solicitation notice required by part 5.

(1) Format.

(i) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial products or commercial services prepared in accordance with part 12. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Offers are being requested and a separate written solicitation will not be issued.

Solicitation number TBD; Data Storage and Computing (Cumulus) requirements in support of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

This acquisition is not set-aside for small business concerns. This solicitation incorporates provisions and clauses by reference. The full text of provisions and clauses may be accessed electronically at www.acquisition.gov.

(ii) Please see combined synopsis/solicitation attachment 1 price schedule, including Cumulus requirement line items and estimated quantities.

(iii) Please see combined synopsis/solicitation attachment 2 statement of work, including Cumulus requirement scope.

(iv) The estimated performance period of this acquisition is included immediately below and as further delineated within combined synopsis/solicitation terms and conditions identified in section (viii) Any other additional information required by 5.101(c).

Base Ordering Period Award – 12 Months (one-year) Optional Ordering Period One Option Exercise – 12 Months (one-year) Optional Ordering Period Two Option Exercise – 12 Months (one-year) Optional Ordering Period Three Option Exercise – 12 Months (one-year) Optional Ordering Period Four Option Exercise – 12 Months (one-year)

Anticipated Solution delivery under Cumulus shall include Department-wide missions and locations, based on order level requirements.

(v) A list of solicitation provisions that apply to the acquisition (see 12.205(a)).

(a) Required provisions.

http://www.acquisition.gov/

1. 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors—Commercial Products and Commercial Services SEP

(a) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and small business size standard. The NAICS code(s) and small business size standard(s) for this acquisition appear elsewhere in the solicitation. However, the small business size standard for a concern that submits an offer, other than on a construction or service acquisition, but proposes to furnish an end item that it did not itself manufacture, process, or produce is 500 employees, or 150 employees for information technology value-added resellers under NAICS code 541519, if the acquisition—

(1)Is set aside for small business and has a value above the simplified acquisition threshold;

(2)Uses the HUBZone price evaluation preference regardless of dollar value, unless the offeror waives the price evaluation preference; or

(3)Is an 8(a), HUBZone, service-disabled veteran-owned, economically disadvantaged women-owned, or women-owned small business set-aside or sole-source award regardless of dollar value.

(b) Submission of offers. Submit signed and dated offers to the office specified in this solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation. Offers may be submitted on the SF 1449, letterhead stationery, or as otherwise specified in the solicitation. As a minimum, offers must show—

(1) The solicitation number;

(2) The time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers;

(3) The name, address, and telephone number of the offeror;

(4) A technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary;

(5) Terms of any express warranty;

(6) Price and any discount terms;

(7) "Remit to" address, if different than mailing address;

(8) A completed copy of the representations and certifications at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.212-3 (see FAR 52.212-3(b) for those representations and certifications that the offeror shall complete electronically);

https://www.gsa.gov/forms-library/solicitationcontractorder-commercial-items https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.212-3#FAR_52_212_3 https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.212-3#FAR_52_212_3

(9) Acknowledgment of Solicitation Amendments;

(10) Past performance information, when included as an evaluation factor, to include recent and relevant contracts for the same or similar items and other references (including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and other relevant information); and

(11) If the offer is not submitted on the SF 1449, include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Offers that fail to furnish required representations, information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration.

(c) Period for acceptance of offers. The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 30 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation.

(d) Product samples. When required by the solicitation, product samples shall be submitted at or prior to the time specified for receipt of offers. Unless otherwise specified in this solicitation, these samples shall be submitted at no expense to the Government, and returned at the sender’s request and expense, unless they are destroyed during preaward testing.

(e) Multiple offers. Offerors are encouraged to submit multiple offers presenting alternative terms and conditions, including alternative line items (provided that the alternative line items are consistent with FAR subpart 4.10), or alternative commercial products or commercial services for satisfying the requirements of this solicitation. Each offer submitted will be evaluated separately.

(f) Late submissions, modifications, revisions, and withdrawals of offers.

(1) Offerors are responsible for submitting offers, and any modifications, revisions, or withdrawals, so as to reach the Government office designated in the solicitation by the time specified in the solicitation. If no time is specified in the solicitation, the time for receipt is 4:30 p.m., local time, for the designated Government office on the date that offers or revisions are due.

(2)

(i) Any offer, modification, revision, or withdrawal of an offer received at the Government office designated in the solicitation after the exact time specified for receipt of offers is "late" and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made, the Contracting Officer determines that accepting the late offer would not unduly delay the acquisition; and-https://www.gsa.gov/forms-library/solicitationcontractorder-commercial-items https://www.acquisition.gov/far/subpart-4.10#FAR_Subpart_4_10

(A) If it was transmitted through an electronic commerce method authorized by the solicitation, it was received at the initial point of entry to the Government infrastructure not later than 5:00 p.m. one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of offers; or

(B) There is acceptable evidence to establish that it was received at the Government installation designated for receipt of offers and was under the Government’s control prior to the time set for receipt of offers; or

(C) If this solicitation is a request for proposals, it was the only proposal received.

(ii) However, a late modification of an otherwise successful offer, that makes its terms more favorable to the Government, will be considered at any time it is received and may be accepted.

(3) Acceptable evidence to establish the time of receipt at the Government installation includes the time/date stamp of that installation on the offer wrapper, other documentary evidence of receipt maintained by the installation, or oral testimony or statements of Government personnel.

(4) If an emergency or unanticipated event interrupts normal Government processes so that offers cannot be received at the Government office designated for receipt of offers by the exact time specified in the solicitation, and urgent Government requirements preclude amendment of the solicitation or other notice of an extension of the closing date, the time specified for receipt of offers will be deemed to be extended to the same time of day specified in the solicitation on the first work day on which normal Government processes resume.

(5) Offers may be withdrawn by written notice received at any time before the exact time set for receipt of offers. Oral offers in response to oral solicitations may be withdrawn orally. If the solicitation authorizes facsimile offers, offers may be withdrawn via facsimile received at any time before the exact time set for receipt of offers, subject to the conditions specified in the solicitation concerning facsimile offers. An offer may be withdrawn in person by an offeror or its authorized representative if, before the exact time set for receipt of offers, the identity of the person requesting withdrawal is established and the person signs a receipt for the offer.

(g) Contract award (not applicable to Invitation for Bids). The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror’s initial offer should contain the offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint.

However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all offers if such action is in the public interest; accept other than the lowest offer; and waive informalities and minor irregularities in offers received.

(h) Multiple awards. The Government may accept any item or group of items of an offer, unless the offeror qualifies the offer by specific limitations. Unless otherwise provided in the Schedule, offers may not be submitted for quantities less than those specified. The Government reserves the right to make an award on any item for a quantity less than the quantity offered, at the unit prices offered, unless the offeror specifies otherwise in the offer.

(i) Availability of requirements documents cited in the solicitation.

(1)

(i) The GSA Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions, FPMR Part 101–29, and copies of Federal specifications, standards, and product descriptions can be downloaded from the ASSIST website at https://assist.dla.mil.

(ii) If the General Services Administration, Department of Agriculture, or Department of Veterans Affairs issued this solicitation, a copy of specifications, standards, and commercial item descriptions cited in this solicitation may be obtained from the address in paragraph (i)(1)(i) of this provision.

(2) Most unclassified Defense specifications and standards may be downloaded from the ASSIST website at https://assist.dla.mil.

(3) Defense documents not available from the ASSIST website may be requested from the Defense Standardization Program Office by—

(i) Using the ASSIST feedback module ( https://assist.dla.mil/feedback); or

(ii) Contacting the Defense Standardization Program Office by telephone at 571–767– 6688 or email at assisthelp@dla.mil.

(4) Nongovernment (voluntary) standards must be obtained from the organization responsible for their preparation, publication, or maintenance.

(j) Unique entity identifier. (Applies to all offers that exceed the micro-purchase threshold and offers at or below the micro-purchase threshold if the solicitation requires the Contractor to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM).) The Offeror shall enter, in the block with its name and address on the cover page of its offer, the annotation "Unique Entity Identifier" followed by the unique entity identifier that identifies the Offeror's name and address.

The Offeror also shall enter its Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) indicator, if applicable. The EFT indicator is a four-character suffix to the unique entity identifier. The suffix is assigned at the discretion of the Offeror to establish additional SAM records for identifying alternative EFT accounts (see FAR subpart 32.11) for the same entity. If the Offeror does not have a unique entity identifier, it should contact the entity designated at www.sam.gov for unique entity identifier establishment directly to obtain one. The Offeror should indicate that it is an offeror for https://assist.dla.mil/ https://assist.dla.mil/ https://assist.dla.mil/feedback mailto:assisthelp@dla.mil https://www.acquisition.gov/far/subpart-32.11#FAR_Subpart_32_11 http://www.sam.gov/ a Government contract when contacting the entity designated at www.sam.gov for establishing the unique entity identifier.

(k) [Reserved]

(l) Debriefing. If a post-award debriefing is given to requesting offerors, the Government shall disclose the following information, if applicable:

(1) The agency’s evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the debriefed offeror’s offer.

(2) The overall evaluated cost or price and technical rating of the successful and the debriefed offeror and past performance information on the debriefed offeror.

(3) The overall ranking of all offerors, when any ranking was developed by the agency during source selection.

(4) A summary of the rationale for award;

(5) For acquisitions of commercial products, the make and model of the product to be delivered by the successful offeror.

(6) Reasonable responses to relevant questions posed by the debriefed offeror as to whether source-selection procedures set forth in the solicitation, applicable regulations, and other applicable authorities were followed by the agency.

(End of provision)

2. 52-212-2, Evaluation—Commercial Products and Commercial Services NOV 2021

(a) The Government anticipates awarding a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offerors whose offers conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

Evaluation Factor 1 - technical capability Evaluation Factor 2 – relevant past performance Evaluation Factor 3 - price

Evaluation factors above are in descending order of importance, where technical factors 1 and 2, when combined, are more important than price.

In considering the relevance of an offeror’s past performance, the Government reserves the right to evaluate submitted projects individually or in the aggregate in order to determine relevance and will do so consistently across all evaluated offers. If partner, subcontractor, or affiliate past performance is provided, the partner, subcontractor, or affiliate past performance will be given weight proportional to the scope, magnitude and complexity of the aspects of the work under the solicitation for which the partner, subcontractor, or affiliate is proposed.

The Government reserves the right to obtain information for use in the evaluation of past performance from any and all sources including sources outside of the Government. Offerors lacking relevant past performance history will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. However, the proposal of an offeror with no relevant past performance history, while not rated favorably or unfavorably for past performance, may not represent the most advantageous proposal to the Government. The Government will consider the quality of an offeror’s past performance. This consideration is separate and distinct from the Contracting Officer’s responsibility determination. The assessment of the offeror’s relevant past performance will be used as a means of evaluating the relative capability of the offeror to successfully meet the requirements of the solicitation. In determining the rating for the Past Performance evaluation factor, the Government will give greater weight to the contracts or efforts which are determined to have greater relevance to the solicitation. An offeror whose past performance demonstrates either a low expectation or no expectation that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort may not present the best value to the Government.

The Government reserves the right to award the contract to other than the lowest priced offeror.

In support of Cumulus, it is estimated that the award of several contracts shall be established.

The estimated Cumulus award schedule is further represented within the table immediately below. Each anticipated award shall be supported by a separate and distinct solicitation.

Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Est. Proposal Response Est. Award Single Award - Amazon FY26 - Q2 FY26 - Q2 Single Award - Oracle FY26 - Q2 FY26 - Q3 Single Award - Google FY26 - Q2 FY26 - Q3

Single Award - Microsoft FY26 - Q2 FY26 - Q3 Multiple Award Vehicle w/

On/Off-Ramping Terms and Conditions

(Vendor(s) TBD)

FY26 - Q3 FY26 - Q4

(b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(c) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

(d) PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Volume I Technical Proposal Submission Requirements

The Volume I submission shall consist of: signed cover letter certifying that the Offeror has read and agrees to comply with all of the conditions and instructions provided in this solicitation document, technical assumptions, and the Technical Factor 1 and 2 responses.

Signed cover letter must provide the following information only:

A. Prime Vendor Name B. Address C. City, State, Zip code D. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) E. Points of Contact (Primary & Alternate) for both Technical and Pricing Submissions F. Telephone Number G. Electronic Mail Address H. Solicitation number I. Date of Proposal J. Prompt Payment Terms K. A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation and agreement to furnish any or all products/services represented within your proposal response.

L. Names and contact information of persons authorized to negotiate on the prime vendor’s behalf with the Government in connection with this solicitation M. Name, title, and signature of person authorized to sign the proposal.

N. Concise list of all vendor names (subcontractors) associated with your proposal response

Failure to follow these instructions may make the proposal non-responsive to this solicitation.

• The Volume I technical proposal shall be submitted in Microsoft Word or a searchable PDF document. Documentation submitted in any other format shall not be considered by the Government.

• Offerors shall ensure that the contents of the files print on standard 8 ½” by 11” paper.

Offerors shall use Times New Roman 12-point font or larger text, Arial 10- point font or larger for the tables and text in headers/footers, and Arial 8-point font or larger for graphics.

• Offerors shall not exceed the specified page limitations.

Technical Assumptions

Offerors must indicate, in this section only, if any technical related assumptions have been made, conditions have been stipulated or exceptions have been taken with the Statement of Work as written. If technical assumptions are not noted in this Volume and this section of the proposal, it will be assumed that the Offeror’s proposal reflects no technical assumptions for award and the Offeror agrees to comply with all of the terms and conditions set forth herein. It is not the responsibility of the Government to seek out and identify assumptions, conditions, or exceptions buried within the Offeror’s proposal.

Accordingly, any technical related assumptions listed in any other volume or section shall be null and void. Any exceptions taken to the terms and conditions of the solicitation shall be stated in this Section. The Offeror is advised that any exception taken to the terms and conditions of the solicitation may adversely impact its evaluation rating. Any assumptions that are considered unacceptable by the Government and cannot be resolved may result in the Offeror being removed from consideration.

Technical Factor Responses

For this requirement, the following non-price factors will be utilized and are listed in descending order of importance:

• Technical Capability

• Relevant Past Performance

Factor 1 – Technical Capability DHS requires that a CSP provide its technical capabilities demonstrating how they meet and/or exceed ALL of the following critical Cumulus requirements:

• Provide DHS full ownership of all root accounts, linked accounts and payer / master organization accounts which contain DHS data and processing systems. DHS shall provide Components with root accounts, linked accounts, and payer / master organization accounts upon receipt from the CSPs. All meta data is the sole ownership of DHS and cannot be used for any purpose without expressed permission from DHS

• Provide DHS unrestricted ability to link and group accounts in a logical structure specified by DHS for centralized management of billing, secure configuration, account policies and identity management within a single CSP.

• Provide DHS unrestricted access to raw CSP usage and spend data in management billing accounts (AWS master payer account, Azure billing account, Google Cloud billing account, OCI billing page) via CSP Graphical User Interface (GUI) consoles and other XaaS cost tracking and optimizing tools via Application Programming Interface (API) to include regular access to and generation of Cost and Usage (CUR) Reports.

• Provide references to CSP developed product lists that include current and new products as they are added to the product list. This product list shall include all commercial, government, region specific products, as applicable, offered by the CSP.

Any pricing discounts offered on the awarded CSP’s products shall be provided to the government.

• Availability of the full breadth of the CSP's offered cloud services in commercial and government cloud regions as Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) technology ensuring availability, integrity, rapid development, confidentiality, provisioning, deployment, redundancy, and immediate use of approved services, on demand. All currently emerging and future service offerings are within the scope of the full breadth of the CSP’s offered cloud services.

• Capability to scale rapidly and automatically to meet organizational mission demand, organic growth or maturation, operational requirements (routine and on-demand), and quickly provide the government with improved solutions associated with industry innovation.

• Capability to both horizontally and vertically scale to four thousand virtual instances in less than 10 minutes, support hundreds of petabytes of storage, support a minimum of six terabytes of storage for databases, and be able to scale across two or more data centers

• Large market presence in providing public cloud IaaS service offerings defined as a CSP that has more than three (3) years of market presence and demonstrates a minimum of $250 million in annual IaaS service revenue over the 12-month period reflected in the CSP’s most recent financial statement or records, excluding all managed and professional services, and a minimum of 100,000 virtual machines (VMs) currently in production, operating simultaneously, within its public commercial cloud.

• Provide CSP marketplace approved services that meet or exceed FedRAMP High, Moderate, and Low accreditation and cybersecurity protection requirements, as defined in NIST SP 800-53, Rev. 5, for sensitive government applications and systems.

• Provide redundancy across multiple data centers, geographically dispersed from each other, to prevent natural and man-made disasters from impacting operational status.

All services shall be scaled over multiple data centers and provide for real-time automatic failover without interruption to the service the systems are supporting, should a disaster occur.

• Provide a minimum availability level of 99.9% for each of their services unless otherwise stated and agreed to by the Government for a particular service in accordance with their commercially advertised Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Resources launched in multiple datacenters shall continue to operate and be available when one of the data centers is offline for 100% uptime redundancy.

• Unrestricted access to CSP GUI consoles and API endpoints required to create, provision, configure, and terminate all resource instances within 5 minutes of request using automated Infrastructure as Code (IaC), direct API calls, or manual GUI console workflows.

• Unrestricted functionality to integrate cloud services offerings through user-facing, self-service interfaces and service endpoints to enable system interoperability in a multi-cloud ecosystem through the exchange of information and identities.

• Provide a fully managed, gigabyte to petabyte-scale data warehouse service in the cloud, which allows for 100GB of data to scale to a petabyte or more. This service shall allow the user to run Business Intelligence (BI) tools against the data source to use the data to acquire new insights for the business. Complex query datasets shall be returned within minutes using SQL based tools to analyze the data.

• Provide DHS complete control over the entire virtual networking environment, including selection of its own IP address range, creation of subnets, and configuration of route tables and network gateways.

• Support a minimum of 1000 Security / Firewalling rules and a minimum of 1000 Access Control Rules to control traffic flow.

• Provide ability to bypass the public internet and provide a direct connection to the commercial or government CSP from a DHS Data Center over a secure scalable on-demand cloud interconnection, providing a secure connection over a private link that improves performance, reduces costs, increases security, and ensures consistent throughput at network speeds up to 10Gbps.

• Provide a SaaS capability to deliver virtual desktops to the entire DHS organization.

The number of desktops will be defined at the order level. The desktops shall support Government security standards, provide per user profiles, support Microsoft Windows Desktop and Linux Operating systems, and be capable of running any application that can run on these operating systems on a physical desktop.

Factor 1 – technical capability responses shall include clear, concise detail identifying precisely how a CSP’s established solutions meet and/or exceed all of the above requirements. In support of a factor 1 -technical capability response, CSP specific solution examples and references identifying how their established solutions meet and/or exceed all of the above requirements.

Responses provided shall be CSP specific and shall not include and/or attempt to leverage another specific solution through, for example, a value added reseller, managed service provider, or lead system integrator strategy. As represented within this solicitation, the prior noted strategies shall not be proposed and will not be considered.

Factor 2 – Relevant Past Performance The CSP shall demonstrate relevant past performance on projects currently being performed or performed within the past three (3) years or affirmatively state that it possesses no relevant past performance. The Government will determine relevance by analyzing the “scope”, “magnitude” and “complexity” of the reference projects and comparing them to the instant requirement. The Government reserves the right to evaluate submitted projects individually or in the aggregate in order to determine relevance and will do so consistently across all evaluated offers. The Government will also consider the quality of the CSP’s relevant past performance. Relevant scope, magnitude, and complexity established by this solicitation is as follows:

• Scope – Cumulus requirements established within the Statement of Work

• Magnitude – IDIQ ceiling value of $TBD as established within this solicitation

• Complexity – Cumulus requirements established within the Statement of Work, and where performance delivery has occurred at various locations to various customers

The CSP shall submit a maximum of two (2) projects for evaluation. For each submitted project, the CSP shall include references, using the Past Performance Form, Attachment 3, to provide the requested past project information. For each of the projects submitted, the CSP shall ensure that a Past Performance Questionnaire, Attachment 4, is sent to customers to provide feedback.

In the event the CSP would like to document their Past Performance via a CPARS report, the CSP can submit the CPARS in lieu of the Past Performance Questionnaire. Submitted CPARS reports shall be excluded from Factor 2 – Relevant Past Performance page limitations.

To allow for an increase or decrease to the Past Performance rating, the Government reserves the right to obtain information from sources other than those identified by the CSP. An evaluation will be done for no more than two (2) projects submitted by the CSP for itself and for no more than one (1) project submitted for a partner, a subcontractor, or an affiliate. The CSP is therefore cautioned to submit only its two (2) most relevant projects and is cautioned to submit only the one

(1) most relevant project of its partner, subcontractor, or affiliate. If the CSP submits more than two (2) projects each for consideration, only two (2) per entity will be reviewed. The two (2) reviewed for each entity will be the first two as displayed within the proposal from front to back.

If the CSP submits more than one (1) project for a partner, subcontractor, or affiliate (reference FAR 9.6) for consideration, only one (1) per entity will be reviewed. The one (1) reviewed for each entity will be the first one as displayed within the proposal from front to back.

The CSP may submit a reference contract performed by an affiliate. In order to receive credit for the past performance of an affiliate, the CSP must clearly demonstrate in its proposal that the affiliate will have meaningful involvement in the solicited requirement.

In order to receive credit for the past performance of an affiliate, information clearly demonstrating that the affiliate will be meaningfully involved in performance of the solicited contract shall be provided. That is, the resources of the affiliate, (e.g., workforce, management, facilities, or other resources that demonstrably contributed to the affiliate’s performance on the submitted project(s)) will be provided or relied upon by the CSP for contract performance on the solicited requirement to an extent that warrants attribution of the affiliate’s past performance to the offeror. While there may be multiple ways to demonstrate meaningful involvement, generally reach back capability to the affiliates or common parent’s resources alone does not establish meaningful involvement. The Agency will not consider an affiliate's record where that record does not bear on the likelihood of successful performance by the offeror. The narrative must describe in detail the relationship between the offeror and the affiliate as well as the current status of the affiliate as a going concern. If the offeror purchased or merged with the affiliate, state the date of purchase/ merger and the affiliate’s personnel and resources that were retained by the offeror after the purchase/merger. The Agency will assess such provided detail to determine whether, and to what degree, to attribute the affiliate’s past performance to the offeror. If the CSP fails to submit information or if submitted information lacks sufficient detail to establish meaningful involvement by the affiliate, the Agency, at its discretion, may decline to consider the past performance of the affiliate in the evaluation. Notwithstanding, because the meaningful involvement of an affiliate goes to the relevance of the affiliate’s past performance projects to the evaluation, the Agency reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to conduct exchanges with an offeror or offerors, as necessary and appropriate, pursuant to FAR 15, concerning its relationship with the affiliate or the affiliates proposed involvement in the solicited requirement. This section does not apply to any entity identified in the proposal as a partner or subcontractor. Where meaningful involvement of the affiliate has not been established, the Agency has no obligation to evaluate the past performance of affiliate, other than the affiliate project submitted as part of the proposal.

If partner, subcontractor, or affiliate experience is provided, the partner, subcontractor, or affiliate experience will be given weight relative to the scope, magnitude and complexity of the aspects of the work under the solicitation that the partner, subcontractor, or affiliate is proposed to perform. Therefore, the offeror’s proposal shall detail clearly the aspects of the work in the solicitation that the partner, subcontractor, or affiliate is proposed to perform. It is the offeror’s responsibility to adequately explain the relevance of a reference provided for a partner, subcontractor, or affiliate’s past performance to the effort that the partner, subcontractor, or affiliate is proposed to perform under the solicitation. Be sure to consider the portion of effort proposed to be performed by a partner, subcontractor, or affiliate in determining the most relevant references to submit.

The Government reserves the right to use any and all of the information available to include the CSP’s proposal, the past project forms submitted with the proposal, the past performance questionnaires submitted on behalf of the CSP, CPARS assessments, close at hand information and any other source to determine relevancy of projects and quality of performance by the offeror.

Volume II Price Proposal Submission Requirements

The Volume II submission shall consist of: (1) Signed cover letter certifying that the Offeror has read and agrees to comply with all of the conditions and instructions provided in this solicitation document, Signed SF30(s) (Amendment(s)), fully completed Representations and Certifications FAR/HSAR clause fill-ins, pricing assumptions, and the Price Factor 3 response.

Signed cover letter must provide the following information only:

A. Prime Vendor Name B. Address C. City, State, Zip code D. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) E. Points of Contact (Primary & Alternate) for both Technical and Pricing Submissions F. Telephone Number G. Electronic Mail Address H. Solicitation number I. Date of Proposal J. Prompt Payment Terms K. A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation and agreement to furnish any or all products/services represented within your proposal response.

L. Names and contact information of persons authorized to negotiate on the prime vendor’s behalf with the Government in connection with this solicitation M. Name, title, and signature of person authorized to sign the proposal.

N. Concise list of all vendor names (subcontractors) associated with your proposal response Failure to follow these instructions may make the proposal non-responsive to this solicitation.

Price Assumptions

Offerors must indicate, in this section only, if any pricing related assumptions have been made, conditions have been stipulated or exceptions have been taken with the Price Schedule and Statement of Work as written. If pricing assumptions are not noted in this Volume and this section of the proposal, it will be assumed that the Offeror’s proposal reflects no pricing assumptions for award and the Offeror agrees to comply with all of the terms and conditions set forth herein. It is not the responsibility of the Government to seek out and identify assumptions, conditions, or exceptions buried within the Offeror’s proposal.

Accordingly, any pricing related assumptions listed in any other volume or section shall be null and void. Any exceptions taken to the terms and conditions of the solicitation shall be stated in this Section. Any assumptions that are considered unacceptable by the Government and cannot be resolved may result in the Offeror being removed from consideration.

Factor 3 - Price

In order to be considered for award the CSP shall provide in their price proposal response all of information requested within the bullets immediately below. Failure to include ALL requested information or including caveats and/or contingencies that reduce or nullify beneficial pricing discounts, either immediately or over the award period, shall be grounds for non-consideration by the Contracting Officer.

• Submit a completed copy, in its native excel format, of the price discount model (Attachment 1)

• Provide a hyperlink (access name “DHS Cumulus Portal – Your CSP Name”), complete with full DHS access, to your publicly available pricing offered to the entire commercial customer base without customizations to which the discount presented within your price discount model (Attachment 1) submission shall be applied

• Provide complete concurrence that all pricing represented within the provided link (DHS Cumulus Portal – Your CSP Name) is publicly available pricing offered to the entire commercial customer base without customizations

• Provide complete concurrence that the discount presented within your price discount model (Attachment 1) submission is fully applicable to all pricing represented within the link provided for the entire Cumulus IDIQ award period (base and all optional ordering periods, inclusive of FAR 52.217-8)

• Provide current, factual information supporting the fair and reasonable nature of all publicly available pricing offered to the entire commercial customer base. This shall include comparison of publicly available pricing with recent historical fair and reasonable pricing offered to DHS, and comparison of publicly available pricing with fair and reasonable pricing offered on applicable General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) and/or awards available for Government-wide use, for example National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP).

• Provide clear and concise information regarding the frequency with which updates will be made to the provided link (DHS Cumulus Portal – Your CSP Name) and how those changes will be communicated to DHS

• Provide complete concurrence that at no time will updates be made to the provided link (DHS Cumulus Portal – Your CSP Name) that reduces the beneficial impact of the original discount offered or reflects pricing that is in any way no longer offered publicly to the entire commercial customer base

In developing a price proposal response, the CSP shall provide to the Government significant discounts off of their publicly available pricing offered to the entire commercial customer base.

Significant discounts are identified as discounts at or above TBD% off of ALL publicly available pricing offered to the entire commercial customer base. Price proposal response information required within this evaluation factor 3 – price will allow DHS to confirm the proposed discount level and full application to the CSP’s publicly available pricing offered to the entire customer base. The awarded CSP price proposal response shall be incorporated, in full, within their awarded IDIQ contract.

Proposal (Volumes I and II) Response Requirements

Proposal Submission Page Limit Maximum Volume I– Technical Proposal Cover Sheet/Cover Letter 1 page Technical Assumptions 1 page Factor 1: Technical Capability 4 pages

Factor 2: Relevant Past Performance

6 pages (Not to Exceed 3 pages per each submitted project, maximum of 2 projects in total)

Volume II – Price Proposal Cover Sheet/Cover Letter 1 page Signed SF30(s) (Amendment(s)) No Page Count Pricing Assumptions 1 page Subcontracting Plan (See FAR 52.219-9 Alt II 1 page

Factor 3: Price Proposal

Attachment 1 Price Discount Model, AND

4 pages maximum in addressing Factor 3 requirements

(e) PROPOSAL EVALUATION

Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the instructions outlined within this solicitation section. A proposal may be rejected if the Contracting Officer determines that the proposal does not materially comply with the instructions provided.

The subject Cumulus acquisition and source selection are being conducted in accordance with the guidelines of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Parts 12, 15, and 16. The Government intends to establish single award IDIQ contract(s) to the responsible Offeror(s) whose proposal(s) represents the best value to the Government, based on the Evaluation Factors defined. The Government intends to make an award(s) without discussions. However, the Government reserves the right to hold discussions with an Offeror in the event they are required.

Basis for Award – Best Value Source Selection

An award(s) will be made on the basis of best value. Best value, as defined by FAR 2.101 means the expected outcome of an acquisition that, in the Government’s estimation, provides the greatest overall benefit in response to the requirement. As this is a best value evaluation the Government may award to other than the highest technically rated Offeror. As the technical evaluation of proposals approaches equality, greater importance will be placed on price in making the award determination. In the event that two or more proposals are determined not to have any substantial technical differences (i.e., are technically equivalent), award will be made to the lowest priced Offeror.

The establishment of a single award IDIQ contract under this solicitation will be made based upon an integrated assessment of the evaluation factors described below:

Evaluation Factor 1 Technical Capability Evaluation Factor 2 Relevant Past Performance Evaluation Factor 3 Price

The Government anticipates awarding a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offers conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered.

Evaluation factors above are in descending order of importance, where technical factors 1 and 2, when combined, are more important than price.

In considering the relevance of an offeror’s past performance, the Government reserves the right to evaluate submitted projects individually or in the aggregate in order to determine relevance and will do so consistently across all evaluated offers. If partner, subcontractor, or affiliate past performance is provided, the partner, subcontractor, or affiliate past performance will be given weight proportional to the scope, magnitude and complexity of the aspects of the work under the solicitation for which the partner, subcontractor, or affiliate is proposed.

The Government reserves the right to obtain information for use in the evaluation of past performance from any and all sources including sources outside of the Government. Offerors lacking relevant past performance history will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. However, the proposal of an offeror with no relevant past performance history, while not rated favorably or unfavorably for past performance, may not represent the most advantageous proposal to the Government. The Government will consider the quality of an offeror’s past performance. This consideration is separate and distinct from the Contracting Officer’s responsibility determination. The assessment of the offeror’s relevant past performance will be used as a means of evaluating the relative capability of the offeror to successfully meet the requirements of the solicitation. In determining the rating for the Past Performance evaluation factor, the Government will give greater weight to the contracts or efforts which are determined to have greater relevance to the solicitation. An offeror whose past performance demonstrates either a low expectation or no expectation that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort may not present the best value to the Government.

The Government reserves the right to award the contract to other than the lowest priced offeror.

To be eligible for award, a proposal must comply in all material aspects to the requirements of law, regulation and the terms and conditions set forth in this solicitation, and the Offeror must be determined responsible according to the standards set forth in FAR Subpart 9.1.

Technical Evaluation Factor 1 – Technical Capability Through its evaluation of Factor 1, the Government will determine its level of confidence that the Offeror will successfully perform the requirements based on its demonstrated technical capability. Offerors who propose executable, effective, and innovative technical capability may receive a higher confidence assessment rating.

Technical Evaluation Factor 2 – Relevant Past Performance Through its evaluation of Factor 2, the Government will determine its level of confidence that the Offeror will successfully perform the requirements based on its demonstrated Relevant Past Performance response. Offerors who propose a highly relevant response from a size, scope, and complexity perspective reflecting a sustained level of quality may receive a higher confidence assessment rating.

Each technical evaluation factor shall receive an individual confidence rating.

Price Evaluation Factor 3 Through its evaluation of Factor 3, the Government will determine whether Offerors’ proposed prices are reasonable. Significant discounts off of commercially available rates and prices is expected to support the determination of reasonableness. Price analysis techniques in accordance with FAR 15 may be utilized to further validate price reasonableness. The price evaluation conducted will also assess accuracy and completeness. This process involves verification that information presented is accurate and complete, prices are included for all requirements, The Government may use price proposal information to conduct a price realism evaluation for the purpose of measuring the Contractor’s understanding of the solicitation requirements and for assessing the performance risk inherent in the Contractor’s price. Additionally, the Government will establish a Total Evaluated Price (TEP) based on the sum of all CLIN prices proposed, inclusive of the Base Ordering Period, ALL Optional Ordering Periods as represented within the solicitation’s pricing schedule, and FAR 52.217-8 (maximum of six months) pricing, where the Government will add six months of the offeror’s final option period price available under FAR 52.217-9 to the offeror’s total price.

Optional Periods will be evaluated and awarded IAW FAR 52.212-2. The evaluation of options does not obligate the Government to exercise such evaluated options. The Total Evaluated Price will be evaluated for price reasonableness through comparison with other proposed prices and may include other price analysis techniques in accordance with FAR and agency policy. In accordance with FAR 52.217-8, the option to extend services for an additional six months will be incorporated into Task Orders awarded as a result of this solicitation. A six-month extension is considered to be within the total project scope of this solicitation and the Task Orders awarded as a result of it.

A complete and accurate pricing schedule submission is required in order for an Offerors Volume II response to be considered.

(End of provision)

3. Provisions to include as prescribed.

52.203-11 Certification and Disclosure Regarding Payments to Influence Certain

Federal Transactions SEP 2024 52.203-18 Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal

Confidentiality Agreements or Statements-Representation JAN 2017 52.204-7 System for Award Management—Registration NOV 2024 52.204-90 Offeror Identification RFO 52.222-18 Certification Regarding Knowledge of Child Labor for Listed End

Products FEB 2021 52.222-48 Exemption from Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards for

Maintenance, Calibration, or Repair of Certain Equipment–Certification

MAY 2014

52.222-52 Exemption from Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards for Certain Services-Certification MAY 2014

52.222-56 Certification Regarding Trafficking in Persons Compliance Plan OCT

52.223-4 Recovered Material Certification MAY 2008 52.225-2 Buy American Certificate OCT 2022 52.225-4 Buy American-Free Trade Agreements-Israeli Trade Act Certificate NOV

52.225-6 Trade Agreements-Certificate FEB 2021

52.229-11 Tax on Certain Foreign Procurements—Notice and Representation JUN

52.209-12 Certification Regarding Tax Matters (Oct 2020)

(a) This provision implements section 523 of Division B of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), and similar provisions, if contained in subsequent appropriations acts.

(b) If the Offeror is proposing a total contract price that will exceed $5.5 million (including options), the Offeror shall certify that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, it

(1) Has □ filed all Federal tax returns required during the three…