70FA3123I00000007 Agile Development RFI Questions.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

70FA3123I00000007

Title: FEMA Data Exchange (FEMADex) Agile Delivery Services

Overview: The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), intends to procure Agile information technology (IT) product design, development, and delivery services for FEMADex, a modernized cloud-based data and analytics platform. This is a market research survey/sources sought notice for informational purposes only and shall not be construed as a Request for Proposal. FEMA is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) in accordance with the FAR 10.002(b)(2) to determine the commercial viability of the Agency’s requirement description as well as to determine whether there are small business entities with the capabilities to meet the Agency’s requirements.

FEMA anticipates that all services described in the attached draft Statement of Objectives (SOO) will be required to acquire scaled Agile IT product design, development, and delivery services to support the FEMADex Development Phase. Scaled Agile delivery services will build on the program’s existing prototyping and piloting efforts to support the achievement of FEMADex Initial Operating Capability (IOC) and Full Operating Capability (FOC) during the Development Phase. FEMADex Agile delivery services must align with industry and government best practices for user-centric design, management, and delivery of cloud-based IT products to customers.

The vendor will need to meet the requirements outlined in the draft SOO, to include supporting all the required labor categories and broad capabilities listed in the draft SOO.

Requirement: FEMA anticipates the award of a contract to deliver Agile development services in the areas of:

1. FEMADex Pilot Phase Evaluation and Development Phase Planning

2. FEMADex Initial Operating Capability (IOC)

3. FEMADex Full Operating Capability (FOC)

Estimated Period of Performance: The estimated period of performance will consist of one

(1) one-year base period and two (2) one-year option periods from the date of award.

However, the Government's decision to continue with the contract, upon annual review, will be based on successful performance during each previous year and continued need.

Again, this notice is for market research and planning purposes only and does not constitute a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this notice. This RFI is part of a continuous process for obtaining the latest information on the commercial status of the industry with respect to current and near-term abilities. The information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to solicit for, or award, a competitive contract. It is emphasized that this is a notice solely for planning and informational purposes.

Interested parties shall submit a Capability Statement not to exceed 10 single-sided, typewritten pages (excluding Cover Sheet) using 12-point type or larger.

• Due Date/Time: 12 Noon on August 15, 2023

• Email responses shall be clearly identified with the RFI number listed in the subject line.

• Cover sheet shall include:

o DUNS# o Company Name and Address o Point of Contact: Email Address and Phone Number o Socioeconomic Business Type (Small Business, 8(a), Large Business) o Website (If Applicable)

The Government desires that respondents offer their experience and recommendations for the following questions and issues related to the draft Statement of Objectives (SOO) requirements. The Government recommends that the respondent first review the draft SOO to gain better insight regarding the questions below.

1. In response to this RFI, provide the following:

a. Details on your understanding of the scope in narrative form;

b. A detailed statement of the basic and additional services anticipated, including deliverables.

2. Please offer any feedback you have regarding the scope of work.

3. For the scope of this SOO, what evaluation techniques and factors would best enable the

Government to distinguish between potential offerors?

4. Describe your company’s capabilities as it relates to the requirements outlined in the draft SOO.

5. Does your company have the sole capacity to deliver the services as outlined in the draft SOO or would you require partnership with another entity? If another entity is required, what would that partnership look like (i.e., joint venture, teaming agreement, or prime/subcontractor arrangement)? Do you have any existing partnership arrangements?

6. Does your company have sufficient personnel and expertise on staff to support surge requirements associated with system infrastructure, cybersecurity, and scaling requirements as needed?

7. Describe your company’s approach to supporting a program in which your team must interface with multiple technical teams from other contracts. Provide relevant examples, where possible, of your company’s successful integration with other contract teams to deliver IT products within a federal environment.

8. Describe your company’s experience in U.S. Government IT modernization and technology implementation of a complex IT solution throughout the Acquisition Lifecycle Framework (ALF) and Systems Engineering Life Cycle (SELC) at DHS and FEMA. Provide relevant examples, where possible, of your company’s successful execution of modernization efforts of a similar scope and scale within a federal environment.

9. Describe your company's experience in following scaled Agile framework (SAFe) methodologies to incrementally design and develop complex cloud-based systems and tools, leveraging a combination of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom-built software. Provide relevant examples, where possible, of your company’s successful delivery of IT solutions for data and analytics.

10. Describe your company’s experience with data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. What is your company’s approach to supporting and ensuring the responsible use of artificial intelligence capabilities?

11. Describe your company’s experience in product delivery and quality assurance to ensure that solutions meet mission needs and customer requirements. What is your company’s approach to understanding and optimizing the customer experience? What testing and evaluation practices would you implement?

12. What performance metrics, including Agile flow-based metrics, would you recommend to ensure the successful delivery of services to the Government?

13. Describe your company’s experience in delivering platforms that effectively secure data assets with varying information sensitivity levels. Provide relevant examples, where possible, of your company’s successful incorporation of SecDevOps practices throughout the Agile delivery pipeline.

14. What approach would your company recommend for achieving and maintaining security compliance, such as requirements associated with gaining Authorization to Operate (ATO)?

Provide relevant examples, where possible, of your company’s successful maintenance of cybersecurity compliance for systems under development.

Vendors should not send any materials that requires a non-disclosure agreement or identify information that is business sensitive. Responses to this notice will not be returned.

Submissions must be electronically as a Microsoft Word or an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF);

no other document format or type will be accepted. It is important to note there is a system wide size limitation on e-mail attachments of 5MB per e-mail message. It is highly recommended that respondents check the total size of the response before sending and, if necessary, submit responses on sequential e-mails.

All responses to the RFI shall be submitted by email to Colin Galvin at colin.galvin@fema.dhs.gov no later than 12 Noon August 15, 2023