1031472019 RFI.pdf

Sources Sought Notice 1031472019 Department of State

Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Online IT Training Lab Hosting Services for the School of Applied Information Technology (SAIT)

FSI/SAIT/ET is in search of a service provider to host Online Virtual Labs for its IT courses. The principal goals are for the vendor to provide SAIT/ET’s students access to SAIT dedicated labs, during class delivery as well as additional access after class.

This Sources Sought (SS) notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposals or Quotes (RFP or RFQ) or an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any services. Responses to this SS are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to determine how it should proceed as a result of this notice. Furthermore, entities that respond to this SS should not anticipate feedback with regard to submissions. The Government will not pay any cost incurred in response to this SS. All costs associated with responding to this SS will be solely at the responding party's expense. The information provided in this SS posting, including the draft PWS, is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The Department of State, Foreign Service Institute is seeking to identify qualified and capable vendors to perform the work described in the attached Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS). Please carefully review the Draft PWS document and respond according to the directions stated below. A mere restatement of government requirements from the Draft PWS is not sufficient to demonstrate that a potential vendor is capable of performing the required work. Rather, SS responses should provide sufficient and specific information to make clear to the government that requirements are understood and can be met by a potential vendor.

RFI Responses/capability statements should include the following:

1. Contact information:

a. Name of company

b. Business title

c. Institution or organization affiliation

d. Email address

e. Phone number

f. Unique Entity ID number

g. Small Business Size Standard

h. GSA Schedule Contract Number (if applicable)

2. Brief Summary of relevant corporate experience providing and/or implementing a similarly scoped and scaled requirement. Please include a description of specific experience deploying a solution to online virtual hosting services in a training environment.

3. Please provide a notional price estimate to meet the requirements. The Government encourages and invites vendors to provide multiple notional pricing strategies and suggested pricing structure (is your pricing per estimated lab/session, license, etc.?) in order to maximize savings for the agency. All price quotes are understood to be theoretical, notional, and nonbinding.

1. Do not submit formal proposals or offers;

2. Do not submit requests to be considered for award or to be notified of a future solicitation;

3. Do not submit requests to be added to a mailing or distribution list;

4. Do not submit questions or comments not related to this RFI;

5. Do not respond via telephone.

How to Submit Responses:

1. Submit the required information in a PDF or Word document via email to Susan Paek, Contract Specialist, at PaekS@state.gov.

2. Please include “RFI 1031472019: Online Training Labs Service" in the e-mail subject line.

3. If you have any questions regarding this RFI, please submit them via e-mail to the POCs identified above in Number 1 no later than Monday, August 26, 2024 at 10:00 AM EST.

4. The RFI submission closing date is Friday, August 30, 2024 at 10:00 AM EST.

Do not include the following in the response:

4. Recommendations to improve or clarify the Draft PWS.

5. Recommendations on appropriate NAICS codes.

6. Ability to answer or provide feedback on the specific concerns:

a. Does your company have the capability to perform all required services in the draft PWS?

b. Can your company support all types of VMs such as but not limited to (ESXI, Vcenter, VMWare workstation, and VMware Server) as well as Support Linux VM?

c. Does your company have the tools to build custom labs directly in the environment, including VM and containers?

d. Does your company have the ability to import and export existing VM labs from the existing system to the new contract system and provide written instructions in text format to attach to the existing labs?

e. Does your company provide the ability for instructors to troubleshoot and monitor students progress within the labs?

f. Does the draft PWS contain information that would enable you to adequately respond to an RFQ?

g. Can your company meet all of the performance objectives outlined in the PWS?

h. Will your company sub-contract out more than 50% of the requirement?

mailto:ModrakER@state.gov