RFP 12SAD120R0016 RD App Sus O_M- Amendment 0013.pdf

RFP 12SAD120R0016 RD Application Sustainment Operations & Maintenance - Amendment 0013

Amendment 0013 is to

• extend the proposal due date to 9-21-2020 (Monday) NLT 9:00 AM EST.

• provide a small update/addition to the PWS,

• provide responses for Vendor questions that were pending responses in Amendment

0012.

• Update Question 87, 90, 91

Note that Questions 71, 74 are still pending a response from the Technology office.

The proposal due date is extended to 9-21-2020 (Monday) NLT 9:00 AM EST.

Small update/addition to the PWS.

Under FA 1: RD Application Helpdesk Support

• Develop and report key performance indicators, metrics, dashboards and billing reports related to the IT hosted and cloud infrastructures. Utilizing the general support systems toolchain. This will require collaboration with the PSO, as there may be some overlap.

o Helpdesk Requests Opened # per Mission Area/Department # by Type/Category (HW, SW, UAM, Application, etc.)

# by Priority (High, Medium, Low) # by Intake method (Phone, Email, System, etc.)

o Helpdesk Requests Closed Average Request Response Time – MTTR (mean time to respond) # per Mission Area/Department # by Type/Category (HW, SW, UAM, Application, etc.)

# by Priority (High, Medium, Low) # by fix agent.

o Helpdesk Requests ReOpened # per Mission Area/Department # by Type/Category (HW, SW, UAM, Application, etc.)

# by Priority (High, Medium, Low) # by Intake method (Phone, Email, System, etc.)

(PWS) 8. Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) The original table under 8 was:

Performance Requirement

Performance Standard

Method of Measurement

Acceptable Quality Level

(AQL)

Method of Surveillance

RDTO Tool Information Accuracy and Completeness

100% of information in the RD Toolchain (e.g., Jira) accurately depict current status and conform to RD processes as described in the RDTO Defect Management guidance and the vendor’s defect handling process document.

Monthly report on tools

Deliverables are provided without errors 95% of time. Incorrect or incomplete information is corrected within one business day.

100% Inspection or Customer feedback

The above is now changed to the following:

Performance Requirement

Performance Standard

Method of Measurement

Acceptable Quality Level

(AQL)

Method of Surveillance

RDTO Tool (Jira, Confluence, etc.)

Information Accuracy and Completeness

100% of the information in Jira accurately depicts the current status and conforms to RD processes as described in the RDTO Defect Management guidance and the vendor’s defect handling process document (or other relevant agency guidance)

1. Monthly Jira dump to Excel of all issues / work items and all data fields in the project; pivot tables of # of issues by:

• severity,

• priority,

• issue type, and

• status

2. Jira “Workflow Report”, which provides time-in-status data and is a canned Jira Export to Excel format.

Deliverables are provided without errors 95% of time. Incorrect or incomplete information is corrected within one business day.

COR and

RDTO PM

inspection and acceptance or Customer feedback

Vendor is to submit the following reports, that Jira automatically generates, in the Jira generated format on a weekly basis:

o Burndown chart o Velocity chart o Cumulative flow diagram o Average age report o Resolution time report

VENDOR QUESTIONS AND RDTO RESPONSES:

Question 70 Pg # 9 II.5 Place(s) of Performance The section states performance at authorized vendor locations but provides addresses for two USDA RD sites (government addresses), and unspecified customer sites. Is the word “vendor” used in respect to place of performance meant to define contractor-controlled spaces/sites for work performance?

USDA Response: Yes.

Question 71 Pg # 14 II.19 Constraints or Assumptions Can the government provide a copy of the USDA Web Design Standards as this is identified as a constraint or assumption for awardees?

USDA Response: Obtaining a response that will be posted in near future via another Amendment.

Question 72 Pg # 15 III.1 FA 1: RD App HelpDesk What incident management tracking systems are in place for use (ex. Remedy, etc.) or will the awardee be expected to provide these capabilities in-house?

USDA Response: Jira, Jira Service Desk, and Confluence is used to manage incident tickets.

Question 73 Pg # 16 What are the government definitions or interpretations of the meaning of “service request” and “incident” (or issue)?

USDA Response:

• An Incident is defined as an unplanned fault or disruption, which affects the normal operation and quality of an IT service and causes an interruption of service, which affects the end user community and/or USDA staff regardless of the length of time of the specific incident.

• A Service Request (Pre-Approved Change Request) is low risk, frequently occurring, regular and routine in nature, and does not incur additional cost. These requests have pre-defined implementation/installation procedures, comply with the standardized environments, comply with security management policies, and are pre-approved by change management and the Technical Review Board.

Question 74 Pg # 16 Will the government provide 2-3 examples representative case examples of a potential service request and incident/issue for clarity in understanding, and assign a representative priority level to each for offerors to correlate?

USDA Response: Obtaining a response that will be posted in near future via another Amendment.

Question 75 Pg # 16 Who is the authoritative decision point on escalation or priority level assignments?

USDA Response: The initial authoritative decision points for escalations is the Helpdesk Agents and the assignment is based off the request.

Impact, Urgency and Priority

• Impact is defined as the measure of the effect of a change on the mission, services, and systems. Impact can be measured in terms of services, locations, customers, or devices affected by the change but the final results of the analysis are the business impact and how many users are affected by the change. The values for Impact levels are listed below:

o Extensive/Widespread = 1 o Significant/Large = 2 o Moderate/Limited = 3 o Minor/Localized = 4

• Urgency of a change is based on how long the implementation can afford to be delayed (to resolve a situation or fulfill a need). Urgency is determined by considering the following questions:

o When does the customer need this change implemented?

o What is the duration and scope of the service outage?

o When can this change be slotted into a release?

o What is the testing schedule for this change?

o What are the resource requirements and constraints?

o The values for Urgency levels are listed below:

o Critical = 1 o High = 2 o Medium = 3 o Low = 4

• Priority is the result of Impact and Urgency and denotes the classification (i.e., Critical, High, Medium, or Low) and relative importance of a change (its Priority) as compared to other changes.

o The values for Priority levels are listed below:

o Critical o High o Medium o Low

The table below visually depicts the inter-relationships between Impact, Urgency and Priority and illustrates how Priority is calculated.

Question 76 Pg # 16 What are the historical FTE staffing levels for help desk operations over the past two years?

USDA Response: FTE levels are provided via the PWS, no additional information is provided.

Question 77 Pg # 17 What are the reported historical Time-to-Restore (ToR) time periods for Tier 1, 2, and 3 level tickets on average?

USDA Response: No historical information is available. Continual service improvement needed in this area.

Question 78 Pg # 23 III.2 FA 2: PAO What are the historical numbers associated with each of the defined Defect Priority Level categories in terms of incidents per annual period?

USDA Response: No historical information is available. Continual service improvement needed in this area.

Question 79 Pg # 32 IDIQ Pricing Guidance Are each of the identified FA Team Member staffing numbers based on dedicated member roles?

USDA Response: FTE levels are provided as a reference and Vendors should propose how they intend to staff to support the requirements identified in the PWS.

Question 87 Will the government explain the purpose or intent of TO 01? the task states that the contractor will onboard personnel who will be performing duties and tasks under FA 2: PSO (O&M). Do we need to address anything in this as part of the proposal response elements?

USDA Response: The purpose and intent of TO 01 is to provide the context of the first ask Order. The IDIQ Awardee will be responsible for providing Onboarding information and following Onboarding instructions contained in the RFP attachments, which will also become part of the contract and follow down to all issued Task Orders.

Offerors do not need to address anything in TO 01 at this time.

TO1 will address any contractor onboarding activities required to support FA2. Personnel will be required to begin the USDA onboarding process, once authorized by suitability they will be given a GFE and provided access to the network. Additional TOs will be provided for functional area work.

Question 89 What are the staffing levels by FA between each of the two specified locations (NCR and St. Louis, MO)? Are the same work requirements (by the PWS) supported in both locations?

USDA Response: FA work is not defined by work locations and the vendor may propose staffing in any combination of the approved PWS locations.

Question 90 Regarding Task Order 1, which will be awarded with the IDIQ contract:

1) FA2 currently, or traditionally has 18 people assigned. Does this award mean that after transition, the new contractor will be fully responsible for FA2, Production Support Operations?

USDA Response: No. Task Order one is so the Awardee can begin the Onboarding process for its staff that will be supporting FA2 when future Task Orders are issuedTO1 will begin the contractor onboarding process, subsequent TOs will be issued to support the functional work. Currently, Onboarding a contractor employee is taking up to 45 days.

2) If so, what is the government’s expectation for transition including the possibility of incumbent hire? 4-weeks? 8-weeks? 0-weeks?

USDA Response: USDA anticipates transition to take approximately 4 weeks.

3) If TO#1 is not the full Functional area, is there a definition of work associated with Task

Order #1?

USDA Response: The Task is for the Awardee to begin Onboarding its staff so it will have staff in place for future Task Orders issued under FA2.

TO 1 will support contractor onboarding activities, once authorized by USDA, the vendor will be given a GFE and provided access to the USDA network in order to support functional work TO’s.

Question 91 Regarding transition, is there a desired schedule for the contract awardee to transition all work associated with this contract? Especially for the four functional areas?

USDA Response: As soon as possible. The government anticipates 4 weeks for transition.

Question 92 Regarding clearances for the technical staff assigned to this contract, what citizenship status is acceptable for assignment to this contract?

USDA Response: US Citizen or H1B visa. Contractors must be able to obtain and maintain a public trust in order to support USDA Rural Development

Question 93 According to the current staffing levels you communicated in an earlier amendment, there are 69 people assigned to the delivery of the four task areas. Is all the work identified in the RFP/PWS being accomplished by the 69 staff you identified? Is there any additional work being completed by the 69 which is NOT covered by the PWS?

USDA Response: This question isn’t clear. Work identified in the PWS is expected to be supported by the Vendor. This work will be supported by both Federal and Contractors.

Question 97 Please provide any service level objectives (SLOs) for FA1 (help desk), including historical Average Handle Time (AHT), Average Speed of Answer (ASA), Abandonment rate, First call resolution rate.

USDA Response: Continual service improvement needed in this area.

SLA/ SLO are define by capturing the following metrics:

• Change Management Reports (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly) – Monthly Summary will contain a roll-up of the below reports

• Active Changes – Work in Process

• Active reporting – When available

• Change Tickets (Requests) Opened by Priority Type

• # of Emergency, Highs, Mediums, etc.

• Change Agent Assignment Reports

• # of tickets assigned to Change Agent, Implementor, etc. – Group, Team, or Individual)

• Change Tickets (Requests) Opened by System

• # by System

• # of Priority Type by System

• Change Tickets (Requests) Closed/Implemented

• # Implemented

• # Cancelled/Closed

• # by System

• # by Priority Type

• Change SLA Report

• Priority Types by Time (Violation Report) – Display by percentage, the Priority types that were completed in/out of the SLA period

• Incident & Service Management Reports (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly)

• Incidents Reported (Opened)

• # of Active Tickets

• # Incidents per Mission Area/Department

• # Incidents by Type/Category (HW, SW, UAM, Application, etc.)

• # Incidents by Severity/Tier (High, Medium, Low, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier

3)

• # Incidents by System

• # Incidents by Intake method (Phone, Email, System, etc.)

• Incident Fix Agent Report

• # of tickets assigned to fix agents – Group, Team, or individual

• Incidents Resolved (Closed)

• Average Incident Response Time – MTTR (mean time to repair/restore)

• # per resolution/fix type/code (Knowledge /Education, SW Refresh, etc.)

• # by Type/Category (HW, SW, UAM, Application, etc.)

• # by Severity/Tier (High, Medium, Low, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3)

• # by System

• # by Fix Agent

• # by Mission Area/Department

• # escalated outside of Helpdesk

# Returned to Mission area/Department – No Resolution

Question 98 Please confirm if the USDA is providing the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool for FA1 (help desk).

USDA Response: Jira, Jira Service Desk, and Confluence

Question 99 Please confirm the incumbent will transition all existing training materials and documentation related to FA1 (help desk) during transition.

USDA Response: Transition activities will be led by the government and any available material will be provided to the awarded vendor.

Question 100 Please identify the timing for when FA1 (help desk) must be operational, if different than the system transition timeline.

USDA Response: Each FA is anticipated to be operational within 30 days of Task Order award.

Question 103 Within the PWS: are the Help Desk and PSO functions expected to determine the incident categorization and manage/act on the data?

USDA Response: Will be calculated in the Jira ticketing tool and verified in the Helpdesk and PSO function areas.

Question 111 For FA2, & FA3, can the agency provide additional break down different roles (developer’s, testers, DB Admins, Analysts) out of 18 and 31 team members? IDIQ Pricing guidance, page 32.

USDA Response: No. Vendors should propose their teams’ structure to support the requirements identified in the PWS.

Question 114 The current incumbent key personnel are prohibited from signing a contingent offer letter, putting potential bidders at a disadvantage. Will the Government consider removing this requirement?

USDA Response: This question was submitted in error by Vendor. Therefore, no response by USDA is provided.

Question 121 Are Cloud and DevOps services currently established at Rural Development?

USDA Response: Yes, initial Cloud and DevOps services are established but continual service needed in this area.

Question 122 Current support hours are listed as 9-5. Does this include the Tier 1, 2 and 3 Service Desks?

USDA Response: 9-5 are standard operating hours, however, support is anticipated to be provided 6am-6pm EST for Tier 1-3. PSO Operations Tier 3 maintains a 24/7 on call presence for production instance outages.

Question 123 Are Service Desk agents expected to be ITIL foundations certified?

USDA Response: If any certification requirements are needed, they will be listed in the PWS.

Vendor should propose and/or provide contractors to meet and support the PWS requirements as defined in the Vendors RFP response.

Question 124 Due to the Labor Day Holiday and need for answers to questions, will the government extend the proposal due date?

USDA Response: The proposal due date has been extended. See above.

Question 134 Response to question 58 of amendment 9: While preparing pricing, can an offeror assume that the provided number of team members in PWS are (1) FTE working 40/week and not seasonal and (2) 100% dedicated to the FA and not splitting their time to serve to other FAs?

USDA Response: The team member quantities listed in the PWS are historical reference, vendors should propose team and structure to support the requirements in the PWS.

The historical data was based on FTE, but we do not have additional information.