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Questions Template Enterprise Services – Talent Acquisition Managed Services
QUESTION RESPONSES -AMENDED
AMENDMENT 2: Additional questions received have been added the initial list. Please refer to the initial Questions and Answer document for questions 1-100, and this document for questions 101 and beyond.
Questions submitted in response to the RFP have been answered below and are ordered by their corresponding page number in the document.
Please note: duplicate questions were consolidated to create a Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive list.
| Question Number |
| Page Number |
| Question |
| Answer |
| 101. |
| 4 |
| Does the DOC have a preference for the location of the Contractor’s office for services rendered off-site? |
| Please reference Section I.4 (Place of Performance). |
| 102. |
| 15 |
| Is it the government’s intention to make the Enterprise Services Talent Acquisition Services within this IDIQ available to other Federal Government entities outside of the Department of Commerce? |
| The scope of this procurement is currently for the Department of Commerce. |
| 103. |
| 16 |
| If applicable, can the DOC provide their current rates for the Key Personnel positions listed? |
| No applicable. |
| 104. |
| 18 |
| Within 5 days after contract award, the contractor shall certify in writing to the COR that its employees, in performance of the contract, have completed initial IT security orientation training in DOC IT Security policies, procedures, computer ethics, and best practices, in accordance with DOC IT Security Program Policy, chapter 15, section 15.3. The COR will inform the contractor of any other available DOC training resources. Annually thereafter the contractor shall certify in writing to the COR that its employees, in performance of the contract, have completed annual refresher training as required by section 15.4 of the DOC IT Security Program Policy”. |
Question: We conduct annual Awareness Training (and other trainings) under FedRAMP and have training receipts – will that be sufficient for DOC or does DOC require we also take their training?
Contractors must partake in DOC training.
| 105. |
| 21 |
| Does the government have an anticipated timeline for on-ramping each of the SHROs to use the Enterprise Services Talent Acquisition Services? |
| Per Section 7.2 Volume 1 (Implementation Approach), ES expects phased Go-Lives by Bureau. Specific timelines have not yet been defined. |
| 106. |
| 28 |
| “Initiating new hires into EQIP system”. What sort of integration with EQIP is anticipated? |
| Please reference Attachment-5: HRIT Functional Architecture Overview for the expected integrations. Additional information on integration details will be provided in Phase II for the development of the Detailed Technical Documents. |
| 107. |
| 28 |
| (A.2.6 New Hire In-Processing and On-Boarding) Is the government’s intention that On-Boarding employees will at any time directly access the functional technology for On-Boarding? i.e. to complete Security Paperwork? |
| Yes; onboarding employees are expected to provide security paperwork in the onboarding solution. |
| 108. |
| 29 |
| Could the government please provide clarification on what the other Contact Center existing systems and technologies are, and what sort of services to integrate with these are anticipated? |
| Please reference Table 2 (Key Partners) for information on the current Contact Center provided by GDIT. |
| 109. |
| 29 |
| (Contact Center) The government indicates the contractor shall, “Provide tiered support at all levels for Talent Acquisition services and Applications including self‐service resources (Tier 0).” |
Can the government elaborate on the awarded Talent Acquisition Services provider’s requirements in providing Tier 0 support?
This information is not available at this time.
| 110. |
| 29 |
| On page 22, the government states, “This encompasses ServiceNow as the enterprise Platform as a Service (PaaS), including providing the common Tier 0 portal, cross‐functional integration, and business process management.” Is the ServiceNow PaaS considered Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)? |
| ServiceNow is a cloud solution. Access to the platform to enable any necessary integrations will be provided by DOC. |
| 111. |
| 29 |
| The RFP is unclear on when respondents are expected to provide evidence of ““FedRAMP authorization or an Authorization to Operate (ATO) letter.” |
Can the contract office clarify whether respondents must include this evidence “within their quote” or “within 5 days of IDIQ Phase II down select”?
Per the SOW, “Within 5 days of IDIQ Phase II down select, the Contractor shall provide to DOC, as a deliverable, evidence of the FedRAMP authorization and ATO letter.”
| 112. |
| 30 |
| (Authentication) Is Commerce requiring Single Sign On (SSO)? |
| For applicants, DOC is only requiring MFA. For hiring managers and administrators DOC is requiring SSO through the DOC Access Management solution when available. MFA provided by the vendor should be used until that time. |
| 113. |
| 30 |
| (Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)) What is the government’s timeline for accessibility through both IPv4 and IPv6? |
| The exact timeline for DOC to transition to IPv6 has not been established. However, all vendor solutions should be able to use IPv6. |
| 114. |
| 30 |
| Active Dir/SSO – Will implementation of MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) suffice in lieu of active directory/SSO integration? |
| DOC requires SSO through the DOC Access Management solution when available. Until that time, the vendor is expected to provide MFA for access to their solution for applicants, hiring managers, administrators, and all other relevant roles. |
| 115. |
| 30 |
| When implementing SSO, is it fair to assume that DOC system already implements MFA. If not, please provide acceptable options for MFA (phone number, PIV, username/password) |
| DOC requires SSO through the DOC Access Management solution when available. Until that time, the vendor is expected to provide MFA for access to their solution. DOC requires alignment with NIST 800-63-3 for acceptable MFA options based on risk assessment of the system. |
| 116. |
| 33 |
| (Paper forms) What is the nature and anticipated volume of paper submitted forms? Is there and expectation that these will be digitized? |
| This information is not available at this time. Digital forms are expected. |
| 117. |
| 53 |
| The RFP notes a small business subcontracting requirement of 22%. Will any preference be given to offerors teaming with specific types of small-business subcontractors (e.g. SDVOSB)? |
| Teaming and sub-contracting arrangements should be captured in the requisite subcontracting plan. Small business is an evaluable element in determination of best value. |
| 118. |
| 54 |
| If government-mandated costs or expenses are enacted during the contract term, will respondents be allowed to request rate increases to cover these higher rates? |
| The question is subject to numerous variables that cannot be answered speculatively. If there is a bonafide government caused situation that could not be reasonably foreseen, the Contractor would be afforded the opportunity to submit a request for equitable adjustment for consideration. |
| 119. |
| 55 |
| The RFP notes that in Phase II, contractors will “complete all necessary badging and security clearance processes.” |
Can the DOC confirm the facility and/or personnel security badging/clearance requirements for this opportunity?
Phase II Contractors will complete DOC security processes and requirements. The location would be at the Contractor’s facility and the DOC headquarters. However, badging would be required for network access regardless of physical location.
| 120. |
| 60 |
| What is the anticipated population to be serviced at the time of IDIQ Award at the conclusion of Milestone Activity #10? |
| Per Section 7.2 Volume 1 (Implementation Approach), ES expects phased Go-Lives by Bureau. Specific timelines and populations have not yet been defined. |
| 121. |
| 15,4 |
| If it is the government’s intention to enable other Federal Government entities outside of the Department of Commerce to purchase Managed Services using the awarded IDIQ, will the ceiling of the IDIQ be increased? |
| The scope of this procurement is currently for the Department of Commerce. |
| 122. |
| 30,31 |
| (Incident Response reports)- Will current reporting to FedRAMP suffice in lieu of the weekly incident reporting? |
| Reporting is required, as specified in the SOW. |
| 123. |
| Attachment 2 |
| The CONOPs diagram shows web/email based Tier 0 contacts entering through the ES Portal. These escalate to Tier I. Is incoming telephony customer contact to Contact Center out of scope? |
| The TA vendor is expected to provide Tier I support for TA related incidents and requests, which will involve a telephony solution to receive warm transfers from the existing Tier 0 Help Desk. |
| 124. |
| Attachment 6 |
| Regarding the Contact Center: What is the expected inbound telephony call volume? |
| This information is not available at this time. |
| 125. |
| Attachment 6 |
| Regarding the Contact Center: What is the expected inbound web/email volume? |
| This information is not available at this time. |
| 126. |
| Attachment 6 |
| (SLA Compliant) Are there any other SLAs to be aware of besides those in Appendix 6? |
| The draft SLAs are provided in this solicitation. Final SLAs will be prepared and released in future Call Orders. |
| 127. |
| Attachment 8 |
| Are any of the Labor Categories (LCATS) listed on the Pricing Template document SCA-impacted? If so, what are their corresponding occupation codes? |
| The LCATS are not SCA impacted. |
| 128. |
| Attachment 9 |
| To confirm: At what point in the process are the badging forms to be completed? |
| Badging forms will be completed after selection and notification of Phase II Contractors (only). |
| 129. |
| General |
| To confirm: Are respondents required to build the technology solution from their own proprietary technology? Or can a teaming partnership with a technology company be brokered? |
| Teaming partnerships are permitted. The DOC will award for a managed service, not a system or technology. How this is achieved is up to the offeror. |
| 130. |
| N/A |
| Regarding the specs for the requisition process and implementation: Are there anticipated changes to what’s provided in the RFP? Was this process developed internally or elsewhere? |
| The procurement strategy and supporting documents are not expected to change from the Amended IDIQ released on October 15th. |
This procurement was developed internally within Enterprise Services.
| Pages 2 of 5 |
| 17 October 2018 |
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