WSAMS Sources Sought.docx

1.0 Purpose

The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to accomplish market research pursuant to FAR Part 10, and to identify qualified 8(a) small businesses capable of and interested in providing the services identified in the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS). DOS strongly encourages 8(a) businesses who also qualify for socio-economic categories such as Women- Owned, Service Disabled Veteran Owned, and HUBZone to respond. Additionally, this notice seeks to determine if the services can be acquired using Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) or other Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC).

This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a(n) Invitation for Bid (IFB), Request for Quotation (RFQ), or Request for Proposal (RFP). Additionally, there is no obligation or commitment on the part of the Government to acquire the products or services described within this notice or to conduct a solicitation for the listed services now or in the future. The Government does not intend to award a contract(s) based solely on the submissions of this notice. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for information submitted in response to this Sources Sought notice, nor will it compensate respondents for any costs incurred in the development/furnishing of a response. The Government will not entertain telephone calls or questions to this notice. The Government may choose to reach out directly to vendors after reviewing and evaluating the submissions. A decision not to submit a response will not preclude a vendor from participating in any future solicitation.

2.0 Background and Statement of Need

The Department of State’s (DOS’s) Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is charged with protecting and assisting United States (U.S.) citizens abroad, issuing passports to U.S. citizens, and issuing immigrant and non-immigrant visas to foreign nationals according to the laws of the U.S. Government.

The Office of Consular Systems and Technology (CST) is tasked with providing CA’s mission critical information technology (IT) resources to support 300+ Consular locations including approximately 230 overseas posts, 29 domestic Passport agencies, 2 domestic Visa processing centers, and an array of information, book/card print, passport centers, DOS annexes, and Contractor sites. CST supports approximately 10,000 worldwide clients, to include 1,200 CA customers at various locations in the National Capitol Region (NCR).

CA/CST develops, deploys, and supports complex IT solutions to automate the functions for the Department from concept to product, including research, design, development, testing, and launch. CA/CST also develops and implements standards for the Bureau's enterprise architecture (EA), maintains the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) for real-time access to visa and passport records worldwide, monitors data quality, and ensures system architecture meets current and projected requirements, applying leading-edge technology solutions for systems' performance and security.

Within CA/CST, the Production Service Design & Development Division (CA/CST/PSDD) is responsible for developing and maintaining production application software, business intelligence and reporting tools, and web content that support the mission of CA. The division is organized into two branches: the Mission Production Services Branch (MPS) and the Business Intelligence & Management Services Branch (BIMS). The Business Intelligence and Management Services Branch manages the design, development, and maintenance of applications to support enterprise reporting and management information systems within the bureau.

CA/CST external facing websites and web applications listed below include an external component (public facing) and an internal component (DOS facing). The internal component includes the following business functions: administration, data validation, application management, configuration management, reporting and integration to CA/CST production systems.

The incumbent contractors currently performing are as follows:

· Website Support Services – VMD Systems Integrators, Inc.

· Administrative Management Services – Gray Matters Technology Services, LLC

3.0 Scope of Work

The scope for this requirement is to provide Website Support & Administrative Management Services. The Contractor shall support CA/CST internal and external facing informational websites and web applications to include the following:

· Program Management and Support Services

· Transition Support

· Development

· Design and Development

· Quality Assurance Testing

· Training Support

· Website Governance Model Development Support

· Enhancement of the AMS system.

· Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Support

· Non-Emergency Patch and Maintenance Releases

· Tiers III & IV Support

· Cloud Hosting and Operational Support

· Modernization

· Security Tasks

· Security Operations

· Information Assurance and Compliance Support

· Security Operations Support

· Patch and Security Update

· Continuity and Disaster Recovery

· Maintaining and hosting specific Government-Furnished Equipment (e.g. printers and scanners) at Contractor site for development and testing, ensure compliance with iPost and other security requirements.

· Migrate and decommission selected systems/applications.

See the attached Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) for further details.

4.0 Period of Performance

The period of performance is anticipated to be for a 12-month base period and four (4) one-year option periods.

5.0 Security Requirements

The Prime Contractor must be a U.S. company based in the U.S. with a TOP SECRET facility clearance. Personnel clearance requirements will primarily be SECRET; however, some may require a TOP SECRET.

6.0 Instructions

6.1 Responses

A viable interested party shall demonstrate, in any capability statement submitted, the company's capabilities to meet the performance objectives and the customer’s requirements. A viable interested party shall provide relevant, applicable examples of previous work or solution implementations. Responses should be limited to twelve (12) pages or less and must be submitted as a Microsoft Word Document (.doc or .docx) or Portable Document Format (.pdf).

To the maximum extent possible, submit Non-Proprietary Information. All information received in response to this notice that is appropriately marked “Proprietary” will be handled accordingly. Submissions should include responses to the following categories:

· Company Profile

· Recent/Relevant Experience

· Questions for Industry (optional)

6.1.1 Company Profile:

1) Provide a summary of your technical capability to meet the PWS requirements.

2) General Business Information, completing the following table:

Company Name:

Company Point-of-Contact:

Email:

Phone:

Prime Contractor Address:

Unique Entity ID:

CAGE Code, if applicable:

Socioeconomic Status under any of the following NAICS Codes: 541512*, *Or other relevant and appropriate NAICS code Example: Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business; HUBZone; Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned; Service Disabled Veteran Owned; 8(a)

Applicable GSA Schedule Contracts or other Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) (e.g., STARS III, NASA SEWP V, CIO-CS, etc.):

6.1.2 Recent/Relevant Experience, to include:

Capabilities: Business

· History and overview of your firm, indicating the general areas of focus for your business, and your years of relevant experience. Please highlight where experiences are recent, in support of Department of State programs, and/or providing management and operations support for mission-aligned business programs

· Experience transitioning large, complex service delivery operations in support of mission-aligned business programs from incumbent contractors, and perceived critical success factors for conducting such a transition for the program.

· Specific experience and qualifications relevant to the suite of services and capabilities that the program requires, as outlined in scope included above. For each objective provide:

· Brief descriptions of successful recent projects similar in scope and complexity, citing references

· Operating models implemented and strategies employed to deliver these services effectively and efficiently under performance-based arrangements.

· Corporate commitment and ability to deliver large-scale operations supporting a diverse set of global stakeholders, to include opportunities where existing organizational insights and capabilities would enhance program performance.

Management and Technical Competencies:

· Approach to establishing and delivering large-scale service delivery operations in an integrated, interoperable fashion to balance workshare and capabilities across multiple sites and to ensure continuity of operations.

· Your understanding of the challenges inherent to hiring, retaining, training, and supervising sizable numbers of on-site managers and staff, as well as the methodologies you have used on recent and similar projects to overcome these challenges.

· Qualifications (e.g., training, competencies, similar projects) of the management personnel you would have available for this program.

· Tactics for maintaining flexibility in executing standard operating processes and procedures with a need for judgement, discretion, and analysis to satisfy program requirements.

· Your firm’s ability to take advantage of enabling tools and applications and the added value that these IT assets would bring to the performance of this requirement.

· Address the requirements contained in Section 2.0 Scope to include proposed technical concepts, products, and deliverables. Please also address:

· The degree to which your company has experience providing independent (of software development teams) systems engineering and design subject matter expertise within the context of agile development methodologies? Does your company have experience using the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) or other similar frameworks?

· The degree to which your company has experience evaluating system designs for adherence to best practices across a heterogeneous technology landscape? This may include a wide range of programming languages (e.g. Java, .Net framework variants, PHP, Ruby, Python, JavaScript), both relational databases (e.g. Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL) and non-relational data persistence, and both commercial and open source products and frameworks.

· Specific experience and qualifications relevant to migrating all or portions of legacy database environments to cloud computing / infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service models.

· Provide recent/relevant experience, capabilities, contracts, and customer information as it relates to website support service and administrative management services as you deem appropriate.

· Describe your ability to meet the PWS requirements.

· For performance cited, include a point of contact (email and phone number) at the Government Agency or business at which work was performed.

· For teaming strategies, please include details on how they would be implemented and any past experience with teaming/particular teaming successes.

6.1.3 Questions for Industry:

In order to foster the maximum amount of competition, the Government would like to solicit industry feedback on how to better develop its requirements. To do so, the Government welcomes responses to the following questions:

· What additional information would your company find most helpful in order to develop and submit a technical and price proposal for this requirement for a best value award?

· Are there any questions/feedback on the attached draft Performance Work Statement (PWS)?

· Does the attached PWS provide sufficient information to understand the level of effort and staffing that will be required?

Companies are welcome to provide any brief concluding remarks, as deemed appropriate.

7.0 How to Respond

Please submit your response no later than November 21, 2023, at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, with electronic files sent to the following point of contact:

Kathleen Mejia; Contracting Officer at MejiaKJ@state.gov