Questions and Answers -RFI -CLMRS IT Support Services -2025 12-4.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 26 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- 6973GH-26-R-01234
About this file
This document is a Questions and Answers spreadsheet for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Request for Information (RFI) for Configuration, Logistics, and Maintenance Resource Solutions (CLMRS) IT Support Services. The RFI focuses on supporting the Supply Chain Management Enterprise Resource Planning (SCM-ERP) system and related IT services for the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), with the current contract (# 6973GH-22-D-00063) set to be followed by a new contract beginning in 2027. Key technical details include the system currently running on Amazon Web Services using RedHat OpenShift, with a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) methodology, and utilizing tools like Atlassian, GitHub, and various modern software languages.
The FAA has not yet determined the acquisition strategy, including potential small business set-asides, contract type (single or multi-award), or specific evaluation criteria. The anticipated contract duration is 5 years (1 base + 4 options), with an emphasis on maintaining the current system while exploring technological improvements. The contractor will be expected to support ongoing system maintenance, potential process improvements, and collaborate closely with FAA teams in a hybrid work environment. The primary technical focus is configuration of the IFS Cloud system, with minimal customization, and support for potential future enhancements in data analytics, maintenance optimization, and emerging technologies that improve operational performance.
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Sheet1
| CLMRS IT Support Services - RFI/MS | ||
| Questions | Answers | |
| 1 | Is this a new effort or if there was a previous contractor that performed these requirements? If the latter, would you be able to inform me of the contract number used for these services? | This is not new work and there is currently an incumbent (contract # 6973GH-22-D-00063). |
| 2 | Could you please confirm whether any incumbent vendors currently support the existing SCM-ERP or CLMRS environment? | Yes, there is currently an incumbent. |
| 3 | Are there any small business or socioeconomic set-aside considerations being evaluated as part of the market research? | FAA has not determined an acquisition strategy at this time. |
| 4 | Will responses that emphasize staff-augmentation models in combination with systems-integration and DevSecOps support be considered fully responsive for this RFI? | There is no evaluation criteria in relation to this RFI. |
| 5 | There were no documents attached. Do you have any you can share? | None at this time. |
| 6 | The FAA’s statement notes that the SCM-ERP platform is currently designed to run on Amazon Web Services (AWS) using RedHat OpenShift on AWS (ROSA) as the underlying architecture, supported by CI/CD toolchains. However, IFS Cloud is not certified or supported by IFS on RedHat OpenShift or ROSA. Given this, is the FAA open to revisiting its planned hosting approach and considering the IFS-provided FedRAMP-authorized hosting model, which is fully certified and supported for IFS Cloud deployments? | Yes, the FAA is open to exploring enhancements to the existing architecture as part of vendor-provided technical advice. However, significant changes like those mentioned would require prioritization, funding, and time. Consequently, the vendor should expected to fully support the current architecture for the duration of the contract. |
| 7 | We also noted that this RFI appears to overlap in scope with the FAA’s earlier RFI issued in October (Notice ID 6973GH-25-R-00TBD), while also introducing some new distinct requirements. Could the FAA clarify the relationship between these two RFIs? Specifically, are they intended to represent separate, standalone projects, or are they expected to be coordinated as part of a broader, integrated program of work? | These two RFIs represent different FAA needs across a portfolio of programs, but are intended to be coordinated as part of a broader, integrated program of work. |
| 8 | It there is no government clients experience, commercial client experience is accepted? | Provide relevant experience as appropriate and refer to intro paragraph of Section V of this RFI for additional context and instruction. |
| 9 | Provide details around types of testing is needed and availability of test data | All common types of testing are expected to ensure quality and reliability of software products to include, but not limited, to testing such as unit, integration, functional, regression, end-to-end, performance, load, stress, security, and acceptance. Test data is available and established for many automated tests as well as access in development environments to current copies of production data. |
| 10 | Company experience such as ILS, SCM is from home grown product or COTS product? | Environment to support consists of both custom and COTS products. |
| 11 | Is there any current incumbent? | Yes, there is currently an incumbent. |
| 12 | Do you have any formal software development life cyle framework or process in place? | FAA uses the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). |
| 13 | How many other vendor products and home grown systems needs to be integrated? What kind of support we can get? | The total number of home grown products needing integration is currently unknown and would be part of future discovery efforts. |
| 14 | Are there any standards we need to follow OR can we bring our standards and methodology? | None that are relevant for this RFI. |
| 15 | What is the current employee and contactor ratio? | Not applicable. |
| 16 | Do you have any PMO currently in place? Do we need to follow FAA methodology, processes and templates or can we leverage ours? | Yes, there is a PMO in place. There are FAA standards and methodologies that must be leveraged; however, where it makes sense, we can incorporate vendor practices to align. |
| 17 | What kind of collaboration tools and central repository you have? | Microsoft Office, Atlassian, GitHub and AWS tool suites support collaboration and repositories at various levels. |
| 18 | Are they any dedicated training delivery department? How many staffs are in the current training department? What kind of delivery methods are currently being used? | Yes, there are training Subject Matter Experts currently using Articulate360. |
| 19 | The RFI notes SCM-ERP operates on AWS using Red Hat OpenShift on AWS (ROSA) with CI/CD. To ensure full vendor support for IFS Cloud, would the FAA consider evaluating the IFS-provided, FedRAMP authorized hosting option alongside ROSA/GovCloud alternatives, and share any constraints or decision criteria (e.g., FedRAMP High posture, ATO timelines) that would guid that trade study? | See response to question 6 |
| 20 | How does this CLMRS IT Support Services market survey relate to the October SCM-ERP (IFS) RFI—are these intended as separate, stand-alone procurements or coordinated phases within one broader program, and should respondents anticipate single or multiple awards across the combined scope? | These two RFIs represent different FAA needs across a portfolio of programs. No award decisions are being made at this time. |
| 21 | Beyond SCM-ERP on IFS, which specific CLMRS systems and services (e.g., configuration, maintenance, logistics applications) are in scope for development/O&M under this vehicle, and will FAA provide an initial interface catalog, data domains, and ownership model for those non-SCM-ERP components? | Currently SCM-ERP is the primary focus, however if needs arise there may be support on other CLMRS systems such as Remote Monitoring and Logging System and any other systems that become a part of the CLMRS portfolio. Information will be shared on a need-to-know basis. |
| 22 | Given the FAALC’s role in NAS sustainment and supply operations from Oklahoma City (AJW-L), what are the expected on-site vs. remote delivery requirements, core hours, and handoff points between FAALC operations, CLMRS program staff, and contractor teams for incident response, release windows, and inventory/repair workflows? | Shifts are generally Monday - Friday 8 hours per day with core hours from 9:30am to 2:30pm Central time zone. Contractor team is expected to support multiple roles within the established pipelines and SAFe framework as well as weekend/after-hours if an incident or mission need requires. All non-standard work hours will be coordinated with FAA management. On-site vs remote has not been determined at this time; however current personnel are hybrid. |
| 23 | The RFI references CI/CD and potential data lake/warehouse and analytics/ML use cases. Can FAA share target toolchains (pipeline, scanning, artifact, IaC), baseline security controls, and priority analytics outcomes (e.g., forecast accuracy, repair cycle time, spares optimization) to help vendors align platform engineering and data governance approaches? | The FAA is exploring numerous enhancements in maintenance operations, which will be implemented throughout the duration of this contract. Vendors are expected to offer robust technical advice and support as these improvements progress from investments to operational support. |
| 24 | Is this a new contract? What is the estimated value of this contract ? | This would be a follow on. A cost estimate has not been performed at this time. |
| 25 | If existing contract could you please share the existing contract #, value, incumbent name ? | See response to question 1 |
| 26 | Has FAA determined whether this procurement will be a single‑award or multi‑award contract, and what factors will drive that decision? | Not at this time. |
| 27 | Does FAA anticipate set‑asides (8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB) or will this be full and open competition? | FAA has not determined an acquisition strategy at this time. |
| 28 | Will FAA require transition planning from incumbent contractors? | Yes |
| 29 | Will FAA provide detailed functional requirements for SCM‑ERP modernization, or should vendors propose best practices and modernization strategies? | Not at this time. If an award occurs, defining requirements will be a joint effort between FAA and the vendor. |
| 30 | How much customization vs. configuration of IFS Cloud does FAA anticipate during the migration from IFS 10? | Vast majority is configuration; very minimum customization has occurred. |
| 31 | What security frameworks and compliance standards (e.g., NIST 800‑53, FedRAMP, Zero Trust) will FAA mandate? | FAA must comply with all laws, regulations and policies. |
| 32 | How many resources (labor hours or FTEs) does FAA anticipate for core and surge staffing? | Unknown at this time. |
| 33 | What is the expected period of performance (base year + option years)? | FAA anticipates 5 years ( 1 base + 4 options) though no acquisition strategy has been determined at this time. |
| 34 | Could you please share the estimated Labour Hours by Labor Categories matrix? | Labor hours and categories are not available at this time. |
| 35 | How many key personnels are required for this effort? | Key personnel has not been determined yet. |
| 36 | Has FAA identified key resources from existing contract that FAA needs to keep them with the new contractor? | Not at this time. |
| 37 | How does FAA envision vendor collaboration with internal FAA teams and other contractors? | Currently, the vendor collaborates daily with FAA teams. Due to the FAA/vendor development team composition, the FAA would expect a similar approach going forward. |
| 38 | Whats are the Technical stacks currently in use? | Atlassian, IFS, Qualys, GitHub, ArgoCD, Openshift, Tekton Pipelines, Terraform, Ansible, Packer, AWS, and various modern software languages |
| 39 | What are FAA’s priority areas for BPR (e.g., procurement cycle time, inventory accuracy, financial reconciliation)? | There are many opportunities for process improvement across the spectrum of industry-standard supply chain key performance indicators. |
| 40 | What integration methods are currently used between SCM ERP and external FAA systems, and which integrations are known to require redesign during the IFS Cloud transition? | API, Web Services and SOA are the primary integration methods. No integrations are known to require redesign as all integration adjustments will be completed prior to contract award. |
| 41 | What CI and CD pipelines are in use today for SCM ERP and related systems, and what tools, testing stages, and deployment approval workflows are part of those pipelines? | Build, Deploy, Development, Integration and Regression contain workflows to fully automate the function for the various applications. Pipelines are built on the technical stack previously mentioned. Pipelines include approval and security as required. |
| 42 | What monitoring and observability stack does the FAA use today? | Techncial stack previously mentioned containes multiple toolsets, which enable monitoring at various layers for both technical and financial considerations. |
| 43 | How frequently does the FAA expect SCM ERP releases or updates, and what is the current release management process? | SCM-ERP releases on demand; other CLMRS systems require a higher threshold and release on a quarterly cycle. Dark launches/feature toggling is also used. |
| 44 | Does the FAA maintain environment parity between dev, test, staging, and production, or are there configuration drifts we should account for? | Environmental parity is maintained to within an hour. |
| 45 | Are there FAA-specific security controls or internal cybersecurity directives beyond standard NIST 800-53? | Yes, FAA contains additional internal security policies. |
| 46 | Does the FAA use Jira, Azure DevOps, ServiceNow, or another platform for backlog and ticket tracking today? | Currently, the FAA uses Jira. |
| 47 | Does the FAA expect embedded personnel on-site, hybrid, or fully remote? | On-site vs remote has not been determined at this time; however current personnel are hybrid. |
| 48 | Are there any FAA-specific extensions to ROSA or AWS that require custom tooling or internal approvals? | All standard AWS/ROSA services, nothing specific for FAA. |
| 49 | Is FAA primarily seeking vendors for ongoing support and maintenance of the existing SCM-ERP system, or is there interest in evaluating alternative solutions that could enhance or replace parts of the current system? | The FAA will need to maintain support of the current system while continuously ensuring we are applying the most efficient, safe, and reliable technology. |
| 50 | Does FAA anticipate integration with the current SCM-ERP or IFS system as a mandatory requirement, or would standalone solutions that improve operational efficiency also be considered? | The FAA will need to maintain support of the current system while continuously ensuring we are applying the most efficient, safe, and reliable technology. |
| 51 | Is there a strategic plan to modernize or upgrade FAA’s supply chain management capabilities beyond the current ERP system? If so, what timeline or phases are envisioned? | The FAA will need to maintain support of the current system while continuously ensuring we are applying the most efficient, safe, and reliable technology. |
| 52 | What are the key factors FAA will use to evaluate responses—technical capability, past performance, innovation, or cost efficiency? | There is no evaluation criteria in relation to this RFI. |
| 53 | Are there any specific certifications, past government contracting experience, or compliance requirements that vendors must meet to be considered for this opportunity? | There is no evaluation criteria in relation to this RFI. |
| 54 | Will the solution be primarily internal-facing for FAA operations, or are there customer-facing components that need to be supported? | Primarily internal but there are some external customer applications requiring support as well. |
| 55 | Are there particular functional areas within operations, order fulfillment, or inventory management that FAA is prioritizing for improvement? | There are many opportunities for process improvement across the spectrum of industry-standard supply chain key performance indicators. |
| 56 | Could part of the current SCM-ERP solution be reviewed and assessed for improvements with a 3rd party platform? | Yes, the FAA is open to exploring enhancements to the existing architecture as part of vendor-provided technical advice. However, significant changes like those mentioned would require prioritization, funding, and time. Consequently, the vendor should expected to fully support the current architecture for the duration of the contract. |
| 57 | IFS Cloud Licensing: Has the FAA already procured the necessary licenses for the IFS Cloud ERP system, or will the contractor be responsible for acquiring these licenses as part of the implementation process? | The FAA procured and owns the licenses. |
| 58 | Integration Requirements: What specific levels of integration are required between the IFS Cloud SCM ERP and the Enterprise Information Management (EIM) environment? | The FAA has not made a final decision on how data analytics will be handled. |
| 59 | Service Areas and Priorities: Could you provide more detailed insights into the specific service areas and priorities you envision for the CLMRS IT Support Services? | Please refer to this RFI as it addresses objectives and scope. |
| 60 | Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Responsibilities: Will the contractor be responsible for leading the Business Process Reengineering (BPR) efforts, or will the FAA take the lead while the contractor provides support as needed? | FAA will lead business process reengineering and the vendor will support. |
| 61 | Past Performance Requirements: Is past performance with IFS ERP Cloud implementations at government clients a requirement for bidders? Would the FAA consider commercial implementations of IFS ERP Cloud as relevant past performance? | There is no evaluation criteria in relation to this RFI. |
| 62 | Transformation Management Office (TMO): Does the FAA plan to establish a Transformation Management Office (TMO) to facilitate change management, stakeholder engagement, BPR, process automation, and training on new processes and cloud capabilities? Would the FAA expect the contractor to assist in implementing a TMO? | The FAA currently has a Program Management Office that oversees this scope of work. |
| 63 | Data Analytics Functionality: Regarding the implementation of additional functionalities to enhance data analytics within the FAA supply chain, does the FAA anticipate that the IFS Cloud SCM ERP will perform data analytics internally, or will this function be handled through the AWS data analytics layer or EIM? | The FAA has not made a final decision on how data analytics will be handled. |
| 64 | Long-term Cloud Strategy: What is the FAA's long-term strategy for cloud adoption, and how do you envision the roles of AWS and RedHat OpenShift evolving within your IT landscape? | The adoption of cloud technologies is a key practice which will likely continue to expand. Utilization of AWS and RedHat are heavily embedded in existing infrastructure and should be expected to be supported for the duration of the contract; however, vendors are expected to offer robust technical guidance and support to help shape the future landscape. |
| 65 | Support for Maintenance Initiatives: How does the FAA envision the IFS Cloud SCM ERP supporting initiatives such as Smart Facility and the development of condition-based and predictive maintenance? Will the SCM ERP directly facilitate ongoing maintenance optimization and workforce scheduling, or will it support these efforts indirectly by providing data to other platforms? | Condition-based maintenance is still in the internal discovery phase. The FAA has not released any RFIs or selected any solutions to address this scope of work. |
| 66 | Emerging Technologies: What specific emerging technologies is the FAA interested in integrating into its operations? Are there particular trends or innovations that you are currently exploring? | The FAA is highly interested in tools that facilitate data-driven decision making and improve operational performance and cost. |
| 67 | Data Governance and Integrity: Can you elaborate on your expectations for data governance and integrity within the SCM-ERP system? What challenges has the FAA encountered in this area in the past? | Due to siloed systems and tools, the FAA lacks a centralized data repository for supply chain information, which is causing data mismatches and gaps that lead to operational inefficiencies and duplication of work. |
| 68 | Cyber: Are there any requirements for the contractor to support SCM ERP cyber or ATO certifications? | Yes |
| 69 | SCM ERP Solution Inventory: If the SOW will provide specifics, can you list out of the key functions to be modernized through automation or new data and business analytical functions and any additional functionality new to the current SCM ERP as FAA AJW moves to the cloud environment? Can the FAA please provide a catalog or list of the IFS SCM ERP applications/modules for both the current and future environment? | We will take this request under consideration. |
| 70 | How and where is this requirement/scope being performed today? | See response to question 1 |
| 71 | Is there an incumbent contractor, and if so, who? What is the contract number? | See response to question 1 |
| 72 | When you expect this contract would begin performance? | Beginning in 2027. |
| 73 | When are you targeting to release a solicitation? | Unknown at this time |
| 74 | Are there particular contract vehicles being considered for this solictation? Which contracts are strong contenders? | FAA has not determined an acquisition strategy at this time |
| 75 | Will there be any industry days, site visits, or draft solicitations available prior to a final solicitation? | Unknown at this time |
| 76 | Approximately what size are you expecting this requirement to be? | Please refer to this RFI as it addresses objectives and scope. |
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