OIP Portal RFI 4.11.24.pdf

RFI: 70RSAT24RFI000018

Request for Information (RFI)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate

Office of Industry Partnerships (OIP) Portal

FY24

NOTE: THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes. This RFI shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government.

This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals. No solicitation document exists, and the Government may or may not issue a formal solicitation as a result of the responses received to this RFI.

The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses. All costs incurred responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Failure to respond to this RFI will not preclude participation in any future solicitation. Any information received will become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the submitter. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or sensitive information.

The Government’s explicit intent, in this RFI, is to not receive from respondents any proprietary data, trade secrets, business sensitive information, or information considered CONFIDENTIAL under 18 U.S.C. §1905. The Government’s constraint does not in any way relieve contractors from their responsibility to properly mark proprietary data when it is provided, nor does it alleviate any requirement for the Government to protect marked data. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data.

The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned.

Government technical experts drawn from staff within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies may review responses. The Government may use selected support contractor personnel to assist in the review of the RFI responses. These support contractors will be bound by appropriate non-disclosure agreements to protect proprietary information.

I. PURPOSE OF THIS RFI

The purpose of this RFI is to collect information from qualified and interested sources with the capability and experience in providing services identified in the RFI.

II. BACKGROUND/DESCRIPTION

The DHS S&T Directorate administers several programs under OIP, including the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), the Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP), Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (LRBAA), and Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for DHS Research and Development (R&D)-related subjects.

The DHS S&T OIP Government Off-the-Shelf (GOTS) web portal automates the administration of these programs’ solicitation, submission, evaluation, award, and deliverable activity. The OIP web portal has public-facing side with training, document submission and tracking capabilities, and an internal-use side with documentation, tracking, query and reporting requirements. Support for these requirements necessitates tools and functionality for the entire life cycle of the OIP - supported programs.

The OIP portal functions as an end-to-end proposal management system that supports the BAA, LRBAA, SVIP, and SBIR award processes – from solicitation development to proposal submission and evaluation, to contract award and administration. DHS seeks to extend the current functionality, as defined by the OIP Portal Program Managers, to ensure the OIP portal is responsive to the changing needs of S&T and is providing S&T, industry, and other Government users with a high performing portal to ensure ease and convenience.

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Listed below are fourteen (14) task areas for the OIP web portal:

1. Web Portal Requirements

2. Functional and System Requirements

3. Web Portal Enhancements Development

4. Quality Assurance for All System Activity

5. Operations and Maintenance

6. Help Desk Support

7. Application Security and Support

8. Functionality Enhancements and Technical Modifications

9. Portal Content Additions and Modifications

10. User Training

11. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Specific Functions

12. Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) Specific Functions

13. Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (LRBAA) Specific Functions

14. Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Specific Functions

DHS envisions contractor support to operate, maintain, and develop enhancements for the OIP web portal to meet the needs of Industry Partnership programs. The web portal shall provide tools and functionality for the entire life cycle of the programs’ administration to include topic development and selection, proposal submission, proposal evaluation, and post-award management to include but not limited to:

• Accounting of funds spent, obligated, and expensed

• Tracking of deliverables from awardees

• Generation of reports for administrative purposes and to support external data calls such as requests from

Congress for program statistics

Enhancements to the portal’s functionality is contingent on available funding and stakeholder prioritization, may include the following:

• Tracking of program performance and commercialization data in order to capture impact of award(s)

• Custom Reporting Capabilities

• Management of Umbrella/Bundled BAA’s

• Public site modernization

• Responsive web design for mobile access

• Dashboards and project timeline trackers

• Computer-based training

• Incorporation of new user roles

• Integration with user eco-system (e.g., DHS active directory, outlook, calendar, mobile phone)

• Automated interfaces with other federal systems, such as SBIR.gov for exchange of program data

III. QUESTIONS FOR INDUSTRY

1. Describe your experience with functionality enhancements, technical modifications, and content additions for web portals and experience with Amazon Web Service (AWS) including Amazon Elastic Container Service and AWS Lambda.

2. Describe your experience utilizing standards to ensure system modifications, enhancements and maintenance tasks are performed without any negative impact to system performance and user experience. Include your experience performing/developing the following:

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a. System Acceptance Testing

b. Test Case Specification documentation.

c. Traceability Matrix (RTM) documentation

d. Load-testing (baseline and post-implementation)

e. Unit Testing

f. Functional Testing

g. Production Verification Check

3. Describe your experience and/or capability to providing, developing, and executing an operations and maintenance plan. This may include the following:

a. System patching at the web tier and applications tier levels,

b. Routine application and system maintenance,

c. Inventory of all GOTS hardware on Contractor site (e.g., serial numbers) and all system software license keys used by Contractor,

d. Production fixes,

e. Installation of upgrades and enhancements,

f. System back-up,

g. Periodic back-up and restoring

4. Describe your experience and capabilities with application security compliance and support.

5. Describe your experience providing training and help desk support.

IV. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Responses from all interested sources with previous web portal development and maintenance experience are encouraged to respond. Responses shall be a maximum of 10 pages and shall include a cover letter with the following information:

1. Response to RFI Notice 70RSAT24RFI000018

2. Company Legal Business name and Physical address

3. Business size/socio-economic category including the North American Industry Classification System

(NAICS) Code 541990 All Other Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.

4. Company points of contact including phone numbers and email addresses

5. A comprehensive response that addresses the 5 areas delineated above.

6. Identify if you firm currently holds any Best-in-Class (BIC) vehicles (e.g. OASIS, GSA GWAC, GSA MAS contracts, etc.), to include the applicable contract number.

7. Identify if your company would be interested in competing for this requirement as prime contractor or subcontractor, if solicited. If subcontracting, identify any joint ventures or teaming arrangements that would be pursued.

Submissions shall be made using Microsoft Office applications. Font shall not be smaller than 12-point Times New Roman. Please provide your response to this RFI no later than 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, May 13, 2024 to the DHS Headquarters Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) Contracting Officer (CO), Danette Williams, Danette.Williams@hq.dhs.gov, and Contract Specialist (CS), Debra Bryce, Debra.Bryce@hq.dhs.gov.

Note:

The Government reserves the right to hold one-on-one meetings as a result of responses received from this RFI as part of its market research. Meetings may be held with companies who provide comprehensive and relevant responses to the topic and questions in this notice.

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