Sol_140P5425Q0016_Attach__0002-_Q___A_0001.pdf

Questions and Answers- Sol 140P5425Q0017

1. Red Hat Network [RHN] Login or Account Number – NEED

a. This is not available, nor will it be needed for the selected contractor under the current offering.

2. Is this a new subscription or a renewal? If this is a renewal, we will need the applicable Red Hat contract numbers – NEED

a. This is neither a new subscription nor a renewal. We are not seeking a Red Hat license or subscription.

3. Product Description or SKU, Support Level (Standard 9X5, Premium 24x7), and Quantity –

NEED

a. There is no specific product or SKU that is needed for this action.

4. Is there an incumbent? If so, what is the contract # and value?

a. No. This is a new contract for a new need.

5. Is this position remote? If not, what is the address of the services?

a. This is a remote opportunity, but it is not a ‘position’ per se. It is a contract to provide services. The selected contractor will be provided a government laptop and will go through the process to get proper credentials for remote access to the systems via VPN.

6. Is this an FTE? If not, how many hours are required annually?

a. This is not an FTE position; it is a contract to complete tasks as assigned. The complexity of the issues to be resolved will be variable. The contractor is expected to be able to transition to full-time coverage depending on the nature of the assignments.

Questions:

A) Technical and Scope-Related Questions: Resource Requirement

7. Can the Government confirm whether this requirement pertains to a single full-time resource or if multiple personnel may be proposed?

a. The contractor is free to propose single or multiple personnel for completing tasks under this contract.

ii) Workload Estimate

8. Is there an expected level of effort in hours per week or month for the Linux system administration and AWS support services?

a. The duties assigned will be related to maintaining and improving currently active systems. As such, the level of effort will be variable. It is anticipated that tasks will range from a few hours to periodic full-time efforts for a single individual.

iii) Environmental Modeling Support

9. Can you specify which environmental modeling applications are currently used (e.g., WRF, HYCOM, ROMS) and whether support includes installation, optimization, or troubleshooting?

a. We are primarily running the Regional Simulation Model (RSM), developed by the South Florida Water Management District. Support for this system will involve installation on new systems, optimization, and troubleshooting.

iv) Cloud Services

10. Are there specific AWS services being utilized that the contractor should be familiar with (e.g., EC2, S3, CloudFormation, Lambda)?

a. No. We are currently running on Azure, not Amazon.

v) Security Requirements

11. Are there any security clearance levels, background investigations, or specific training (e.g., IT security or privacy compliance) required for contractor personnel?

a. The user will be expected to complete basic IT compliance and government background checks to be able to gain credentials for access to government systems.

Higher-level security clearance is not required for this work.

vi) Government Furnished Equipment

12. Will all government-furnished equipment (GFE), such as laptops and VPN credentials, be available during contract award? If not, what is the expected provisioning timeline?

a. We anticipate provisioning will take up to 60 days once a contractor is selected.

B) Contractual and Administrative Questions

i) Period of Performance

13. Can you confirm the expected start date and if any onboarding or transition period is included?

a. Selection will happen within a few weeks of the closing of the announcement.

Onboarding will require a background check and IT training. The total time for onboarding and gaining access to the system is estimated at less than 60 days.

ii) Invoicing and Payment Terms

14. Will the government accept monthly invoicing for firm fixed-price billing? Are there any unique invoice submission procedures we should consider?

a. Billing is expected to be hourly, itemized, and submitted monthly for approval.

Instructions will be provided if selected.

iii) Evaluation Criteria Weighting

15. While past performance is referenced in the best value determination, can you clarify how the Government will weigh technical acceptability, price, and past performance comparatively?

a. The government will evaluate the level of experience of each applicant against the anticipated technical needs of the contract.

iv) Past Performance – Subcontractors

16. Will the government accept relevant past performance examples from proposed subcontractors as part of the offeror’s submission?

a. The offeror is authorized to provide examples of previous work and relevant ratings as evidence of capability.

v) Proposal Format and Page Limits

17. Are there any conventions for file naming, formatting requirements, or page limits regarding the technical and past performance sections?

a. No.

vi) Small Business Set-Aside Confirmation

18. Can the government confirm whether this procurement is a total small business set-aside, and if any socioeconomic designations (e.g., SDVOSB, HUBZone) will be considered in the evaluation?

a. This is a small business set-aside.

vii) Remote Work Confirmation

19. We understand the work is to be performed remotely. Will there be any travel requirements during the performance period?

a. There are no travel requirements during the performance period however, if on-site work is advantageous to the government, the selected contractor is free to propose travel for that purpose.

viii) Labor Categories or Qualifications

20. Does the government have a preferred mapping of labor categories (e.g., GSA Schedule titles) or expectations for certification regarding the proposed personnel?

a. No.

C) Incumbent Contractor-Related Questions

i) Incumbent Identification

21. Is there an incumbent currently performing this work? If so, could the Government provide the incumbent contractor's name?

a. No. This is a new contract for a new and evolving need.

ii) Incumbent Contract Reference

22. Is the incumbent contract number and awarded value publicly available for reference?

a. N/A. There is no incumbent.

iii) Scope Changes

23. Is this RFQ substantially the same as the incumbent’s contract, or are there changes in scope, deliverables, or level of effort?

a. N/A There is no incumbent.

iv) Transition Planning

24. If a new contractor is selected, will there be a transition period from the incumbent, and will knowledge transfer be required?

a. There is no incumbent. Knowledge for the effort will be transferred from federal employees who are recipients of this service and are well informed about these systems.

v) Incumbent Participation

25. Has the incumbent shown interest in reapplying for this opportunity?

a. N/A. There is no incumbent.

vi) Staff Continuity

26. Are incumbent personnel eligible to transition to the new awardee, and should contractor retention plans be included in the response?

a. N/A. There is no incumbent.

27. System Volume and Support Frequency

a. How many Linux servers and clients are currently in operation?

Seven ubuntu VMs and one redhat VM on two different cloud platforms.

b. What is the expected volume of user support or service requests?

This is hard to define. We may have one or two issues per week to resolve plus periodic security and patching related issues to manage.

c. How frequently are hydrodynamic or ecological modeling tasks performed?

These tasks are sporadic in nature, done in large batches when necessary and then the systems are idle waiting for the next task. The selected contractor will not be performing modeling tasks, only assisting in maintaining the models.

28. Support Coverage

a. Will support be needed during regular business hours only, or will after-hours or on-call coverage be required?

Service and support needs will be on-call but within regular business hours.

29. Service Expectations

a. Are there any defined service-level agreements (SLAs) regarding response or resolution times?

No. Performance is rated for the contract as a whole. Continued assignment will be dependent on appropriate performance.

b. Are there minimum system uptime or performance standards?

No. System uptime is maintained by the supporting cloud services. This contract is for maintenance of multiple active systems. Downtime should be minimized.

30. Integration and Configuration Complexity

a. How complex is the integration with Active Directory, LDAP, and Samba systems?

The systems support Samba to provide for file sharing. This is a minor addition to the overall complexity of the system.

b. Are there any custom or legacy configurations we should be aware of?

There are many custom and legacy issues within the system, details will be shared with the selected contractor.

31. Backup and Security Responsibilities

a. Are backup processes centralized or system-specific?

Backup is centralized for the VM and then individualized for the databases themselves.

b. Will the contractor be responsible for security patching and hardening?

The contractor will be responsible to apply patches to meet government security screening protocols.

32. Automation and Tooling

a. Are existing automation tools (e.g., Ansible, Puppet) in place?

No.

b. Is the development or maintenance of automation scripts included in the scope?

Maintenance of currently active automated scripts is expected as part of the scope.

33. Contractor Composition

a. Is it acceptable to propose multiple individuals sharing responsibilities, or is a single primary point of contact preferred?

It is acceptable to propose multiple individuals, however any additional individuals that would need network access would be expected to complete a background check and be provided with unique network access credentials.

34. Would like to confirm whether insurance documentation (e.g., certificates of liability) may be submitted after award notification, or if it is required at the time of proposal submission.

No, insurance is not required for this action.

1. Is there an incumbent contractor? If so, what is its name and contract number?

1. There is no incumbent.

2. If there is an incumbent contractor, has the scope or size of the contract changed in any nontrivial way between the incumbent contract and the present solicitation?

1. N/A – no incumbent

3. If there is no incumbent contractor, then are there existing contractor(s) that are doing some of the work of this PWS? If so, what are their name(s) and contract number(s)?

1. There are no existing contracts doing some of the work related to this effort.

4. If no contractors are doing any of the work currently, then how is the work of the PWS being done? Or is it not being done at all?

1. The work has shifted; the current need is a new effort to support an existing system.

5. If the work of the PWS is not being done at all right now, then is there a backlog that the incoming contractor will have to handle? If so, please explain and describe how much of a backlog there is.

1. The systems are functional, and there is no backlog at this time.

6. If there is an incumbent contract, is the scope and estimated workload for the present solicitation approximately the same as for the incumbent contract?

1. N/A There is no incumbent contract.

7. What is the estimated workload for this PWS?

1. Variable but could be considered part-time or on the order of 20 hours per week. It bills hourly, so as needs shift, so will the requests.

8. Per Sections A.1 and D.1, which reference "cloud-based RedHat and Ubuntu virtual machines" and "bare-metal and virtualized environments" without providing specific counts, what is the total number and specifications of Linux servers (both physical and virtual machines) that require support?

1. There are 7 Ubuntu VMs on a USGS cloud service and 1 RedHat VM on the Azure cloud service.

9. Per Section A.1, which references "cloud-based RedHat and Ubuntu virtual machines" without identifying specific providers, which cloud service provider(s) currently host the RedHat and Ubuntu virtual machines?

1. There are 7 Ubuntu VMs on a USGS cloud service and 1 RedHat VM on the Azure cloud service.

10. Per Section D.1, which mentions "Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, and RedHat" without specifying versions, what specific versions of Ubuntu and RedHat are currently deployed, and are version upgrades planned during the contract period?

1. Ubuntu is currently running 20.04, RedHat is currently version 9. Ubuntu Server is an option that we may use but do not have running at this time.

11. Per Section D.1, which references "both bare-metal and virtualized environments" without naming platforms, what virtualization platform(s) (VMware, Hyper-V, KVM, etc.) are currently in use for the virtual environments?

1. I’m not certain which virtualization is being used for these systems. They are largely set up by the USGS and Azure, and the contract is focused on administration issues of the established VMs rather than managing from the virtualization platform itself.

12. As container technology (Docker, Kubernetes, etc.) is not addressed in the solicitation, is it part of the current or planned environment?

1. No.

13. Per Section D.2, which mentions "Create and manage user accounts using LDAP and PAM" and "Maintain and troubleshoot LDAP and Samba servers" without providing implementation details, what is the current LDAP implementation and structure used for authentication?

1. LDAP operates on one of the VMs, managing access and permissions for users across the 7 machines.

14. Per Sections B and D.2, which mention "integrating secure access with Windows Active Directory" and "Integrate Linux user management with Windows Active Directory groups" without specifying the current integration level, what is the current level of integration between Linux systems and Windows Active Directory?

1. For the Ubuntu systems, there is no integration. For the Azure system, we use a PIV card plus Azure plugin to manage authentication.

15. As the solicitation does not address user account quantities, what is the approximate number of user accounts that will require management?

1. User account numbers vary but are typically less than 12.

16. As security frameworks are not explicitly addressed in the solicitation, are there specific security frameworks or compliance requirements (FISMA, NIST, etc.) that must be adhered to?

1. The security of these systems is managed by the hosting cloud service and the NPS IT group. This contract will not necessarily address security management but may be involved in security response.

17. Per Section D.4, which references "Maintain and troubleshoot Symantec backup clients across systems" without specifying products or RTOs, which Symantec backup product is currently implemented, and what are the recovery time objectives?

1. The systems are backed up by the cloud service providers. The selected contractor would be expected to become aware of the backup capacity and make recommendations to the NPS regarding best practices.

18. As the solicitation does not address effort allocation, what is the expected allocation of effort between Linux administration tasks and environmental modeling support?

1. This is unknown and highly variable. As a small group, the focus will shift depending on modeling and database management needs so effort allocation will be 100% on currently assigned tasks and likely split between efforts in sequence rather than simultaneously.

19. As the solicitation does not address service management systems, is there a specific ticketing or service management system currently in use for support requests?

1. We use e-mail to state issues and make requests.

20. As the solicitation does not address anticipated level of effort, what is the anticipated level of effort (hours per month) expected for this contract?

1. Part-time for 1 individual (20 hours / week) is a good estimate, although work load will be highly variable.

21. Per Section F.1, which requests "a fully burdened hourly rate," while RFQ line items use "AU" (Annually) and the Performance and Price Schedule requests "Price Per Month," should pricing be submitted as an annual total, monthly rate, or hourly rate?

1. Hourly rate with an up-to value for total number of hours that can be committed to the contract is best.

22. As the solicitation does not address rate structure preferences, does the government have a preferred structure for the fully burdened hourly rate (e.g., by labor category, by task area, or a single blended rate)?

1. Fully burdened hourly rate for simple and direct billing.

23. Per the SF18 form showing RFQ number 140P5425Q0017, the Questions section referencing "QUESTIONS - 140P5425Q0016," and the SOW filename containing "Sol_140P5425Q0016," which solicitation number is correct? The correct solicitation number is 140P5425Q0017.