80AFRC19R0022 Amend 1.pdf

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RFP No. 80AFRC19R0022

Industry Day: Question and Answers

Research Facilities and Engineering Support Services

(RF&ESS)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES FOR AERONAUTICAL FLIGHT TEST

RANGE, SIMULATION, AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT

Mission Operations Directorate, Code 600

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Armstrong Flight Research Center Edwards, California

The following are NASA’s official response to questions submitted in response to the Draft Request for Proposal (RFP) which closed on September 30, 2019. The responses are provided by section, with Question

(Q) and Answer (A).

Solicitation:

Section E:

1. Q: Noteworthy Clauses 52.246-11 Higher Level Contract Quality Requirement, Will the Government provide a listing of the higher-level quality standard(s) required for this contract?

A: See table under clause 52.246-11

Section L:

2. Q: Noteworthy Clauses 52.246-11 Higher Level Contract Quality Requirement, Will the

Government provide a listing of the higher-level quality standard(s) required for this contract?

A: See table under clause 52.246-11

3. Q: (b) A page is defined as one side of a sheet, 8 1/2"" x 11 ", with at least one inch margins on all sides, using not smaller than 12 characters per inch (or equivalent) type. NOTE: Offerors should exercise caution when inserting tables, pictures, etc. containing text in a Microsoft Word document to ensure such insertions remain compliant with the 12-point font requirement.

A: See updated Solicitation

4. Q: The RF&ESS PWS encompasses a wide range of services covering a number of functional disciplines including range engineering, information technology, software development, hardware support, multimedia support, communication, and physical security, to name a few. Other than the incumbent, allowing only 3 past performance citations to cover this wide range of services is insufficient. Please allow up to 5 past performance citations with up to 3 from subcontractor team members.

5. Q: As the current solicitation specifies a change from a "non FFP' model, the " ... detailed description of how your organization plans to implement, accomplish, and effectively manage the various tasks requirements. specified within Section L of the draft RFP should require that even the incumbent contractor explain FFP-based methodologies to comply. We believe an increased page count allowance above the draft RFP's page limitations across the Technical Volume could provide the bidder proposing space to convey the new FFP model while commensurately providing the evaluators with sufficient rationale to base scoring.

A: See updated solicitation

6. Q: It is stated "The Offeror shall provide a written technical approach which describes existing capability to meet various task requirements identified in the PWS." Are we to address every PWS section, or just the WBS elements in Section 5 of the PWS?

7. Q: The Technical Approach outline in “Proposal Page Limitations” shows three subsections - Management Plan, Phase-In Plan, and Staffing Plan. The Technical Volume in “Instructions to Offerors” shows four subsections - Technical Approach, Management Approach, Phase-In Plan, and Additional Information. Please clarify which outline to use.

A: See updated solicitation.

8. Q: Are the SF33 and Sections B-K to be submitted with Volume III - Price?

9. Q: Offers shall submit a signed and dated proposal electronically to the designated Government point of contact at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation as well as one complete printed copy.

A: Yes

10. Q: For any Government-provided forms required to be submitted with the proposal, the offeror-added information shall be of the same font as the associated element of the form.

11. Q: Title pages and tables of content are excluded from the page counts specified in paragraph

(a) of this provision

12. Q: NASA has provided a 'Past Performance Questionnaire" that Offerors shall submit to the cited Cline POC(s) for completion.

13. Q: “Proposals shall be submitted electronically to the Government in three separate volumes."

Offers shall submit a signed and dated proposal electronically to the designated Government point of contact at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation as well as one complete printed copy. Does ""Electronically"" refer to an email submission in addition to printed copies, or does ""electronically"" to the six CDs/DVDs?"

A: NASA will not accept proposals via email. "Electronically" refers to the CD/DVD sets called out in Section L, NFS 1852.215-81(k)

14. Q: Verify "electronic files" refer to CDs/DVDs, not an email submission.

A: NASA will not accept proposals via email. "Electronically" refers to the CD/DVD sets called out in Section L, NFS 1852.215-81(k)

15. Q: Verify "electronic files" refer to CDs/DVDs, not an email submission NASA will not accept proposals via email.

A: "Electronically" refers to the CD/DVD sets called out in Section L, NFS 1852.215-81(k)

16. Q: Section L states a requirement for three past performance submittals, two of which the

Offeror must have Primed. Given the magnitude and acquisition strategies of contracts typically associated to DoD and NASA range support work (upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars and generally a F&O competition), it is exceptional that a small business (SB) would hold a Prime contract for this type of work. Some SB companies, however, hold sub-contracts that are very similar in size, content, and complexity to the requirements within this RFP. Is it critical that Offerors submit Prime past performance, will the Government consider Subcontractor past performance references/citations?

A: See updated Solicitation.

17. Q: The RFP requires Key Personnel resumes. However, in the PPTO type of evaluation, there is no way to award extra consideration beyond “acceptable” to the key management team that will be leading this FFP effort. We would think that the Key Personnel would be measured not as "pass" or "fail" in meeting the minimum requirements of the PWS, but measured in their ability to manage and partner with their government counterparts to lead this effort - especially in FFP environment.

A: NASA does not believe this will be the result from a pass/fail technical rating and the approach remains unchanged.

18. Q: Given that this is an unusual contract in that it combines Information Technology, Engineering, Range Operations with unique systems, and even facility management requirements into a single program, the limitation to three (3) citations overall is highly favorable to the incumbent, as few Offerors can demonstrate experience with the entire PWS in only a few contracts.

19. Given that this is a Small-Business set-aside acquisition, conducted using a Price/Past- Performance Trade-off, the draft RFP's limitation on the number of citations from teammates is extremely restrictive. True small businesses (i.e. businesses not exempted from.

20. Q: Absent historical work-year-equivalenst by labor category, or any other information/ metrics that can be used to properly quantify the work performed, the Government is at risk of receiving unrealistic price proposals from Offerors

A: See updated attachment L02 NASA Historical data

21. Q: The Offeror's technical proposal shall be evaluated to determine if the proposed approach and existing capability meet or exceed the various requirements identified within the PWS and the solicitation.

22. Q: Evidence of a Government approved Contractor's purchasing system will be evaluated. The plan and approach of establishing and implementing an approved purchasing will be evaluated on the soundness of the approach and the realism of achieving the approach within ninety (90) days after the contract effective date. Will either case of having an 'already' approved contractor purchasing system or providing a plan and approach to achieving approval with 90 days be rated equally according to the evaluation criteria?

A: The approved purchasing system will not be evaluated; see updated solicitation.

23. Q: The Offeror may submit past performance information relating to a major subcontract and/or team member" Please define the term ""major"" within the context of the RFP.

Section M:

24. Q: The “acceptable/unacceptable” technical evaluation ratings do not encourage offerors to propose unique management and technical approaches that will discriminate their approach from others. Typical strengths and significant strengths for tools and approaches (e.g., corporate investments) to differentiate an offeror from another, do not improve technical standing (since "all technically acceptable offers are treated equally...") and are therefore simply cost prohibited in a cost competitive solicitation.

A: No, this is not a cost competitive solicitation.

25. Q: The RFP requires a Management/Staffing approach to meet the PWS/WBS. However, the government is only looking for approaches that meets the “minimum requirements of the solicitation” (Section M, page 37). Minimum requirements can be met with lower level personnel performing the “minimum” level of effort required. How does a small center like AFRC compete with other centers, like Wallops, where they perform aeronautical flight operations and maintenance on a cost reimbursable contract and that was not awarded to the “minimally acceptable” contractor? How does a remote center like AFRC maintain experienced talent when offerors are forced to bid the minimally acceptable staff to meet the “minimum requirements” of the solicitation?

A: The Government will evaluate the Total Compensation Plan to ensure the employees are being compensated appropriately.

26. Q: Section M, page 37 states, "All technically acceptable offers shall be treated equally except for their past performance records and price." So if all things are equal, then Past Performance and Price are the most important factors in determining award.

27. Q: Under the RFP for the Research Facilities and Engineering Support Services contract, the Government is using a “Price Performance Trade-off” source selection methodology, which places significant evaluation weight on the past performance citations submitted by offerors.

Under this evaluation, the past performance factor is the only way in which offerors can technically distinguish themselves and their capabilities from competitors. The Technical Acceptability factor is evaluated as Acceptable/Unacceptable, and “all evaluation factors other than price, when combined, are significantly more important than price. Despite the importance of the Past Performance factor in the evaluation scheme, the Draft RFP appears to limit the Government’s ability to evaluate certain types of past performance. Particularly, the RFP states: “[p]as [sic] performance regarding predecessor companies, affiliates, key personnel who have relevant experience, or sub-contractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirements will not be rated as highly as past performance information for the principal Offeror. In the cast [sic] of an offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for who information on past performance is not available, the offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance (see FAR 15.305(a)(2)(ii) and (iv)) shall receive a rating ‘Neutral’.” RFP at 39 (emphasis added). This past performance evaluation scheme unnecessarily restricts the Government in its ability to evaluate all types of past performance, which is critically important in a Past Performance Trade-Off. Such a scheme will hurt the Government by limiting competition from qualified bidders. Given the value and size standard associated with this procurement, it is likely that many offerors will need to rely on the past performance of affiliates, predecessor companies, subcontractors, and/or key personnel to achieve the relevancy requirements stated in the RFP. Offerors who intend to rely on these types of past performance will no-bid the procurement rather than spend valuable resources preparing a proposal when the RFP states that the Government “will not” credit such past performance as highly as that of principal offeror past performance. By removing the above referenced restriction in the RFP, the Government will not only increase the pool of potential bidders, but will afford itself more flexibility in performing the best value tradeoff.

Additionally, a standard already exists to ensure that offerors properly attribute the past performance of a predecessor or affiliate company. It is well-settled that the Government may credit an offeror with the experience or past performance of a parent, subsidiary, or sister company where the offeror’s proposal demonstrates that the resources of the affiliated company (e.g., workforce, management, facilities, or other resources) will be meaningfully contributed to contract performance. See GM–Bulltrack, B- 414591.6.

28. Q: As stated in section 2.0 of the draft PWS, RF&ESS Vision, Goals, and Objectives, it states that the RF&ESS contract will augment the directorate with a proficient staff to enable Mission Operations to provide effective, efficient and secure Range, SIM, and IT solutions. The RFESS Contract provides mission critical services to NASA, many of which require detailed technical range operations knowledge of Telemetry Systems, Time Space Position Information Systems, Video Systems, Radio Frequency Communications Systems, Ground Voice Communication

Systems, Real-Time Data Processing/Monitoring Systems, Range Safety Ground Systems, and Post-Flight Systems, as discussed in section 1.2.1 in the Draft PWS. The ability to troubleshoot and maintain these complex systems is also indicated in the 100 series WBSs. In the Simulation area, there is a need for system and mechanical engineering expertise that is crucial to the development of new simulators. The system administration requirements in Section 5.8, WBS 220 are highly specialized. Administrators must be capable of supporting SCRAMNet (Simulation Reflective Memory network), with deterministic performance characteristics in addition to Ethernet infrastructure supporting lab assets. There is also a requirement to make modifications/changes to kernel source code used for real-time simulations, as well as re-compile and test Linux kernels. Center-Wide IT Services encompass a wide range of skills that impact all Center users. WBS 310 in the Draft PWS discusses a wide variety of developmental and programming support to include XML, HTML, JavaScript, Oracle, ColdFusion, ASP.Net and SQL. WBS 310 includes a section on SharePoint, indicating that it houses the Center’s subject matter expert and includes requirements for design, corporate SharePoint strategies, and resolution of challenging issues. Section 5.9 of the Draft PWS speaks to the wide variety of services and skills required to include Data Center management and operation, system administration for a wide variety of hardware and operating systems, and stringent IT security requirements including providing Information System Security Officers (ISSOs) and system administrators well versed in the NASA Risk Information Security Compliance System (RISCS) repository tool. These tasks are separate from those outlined in section 5.11 in the Draft PWS, WBS 350 IT Systems Engineering Services, which supports the development of IT solutions to meet the needs of AFRC and supports development and documentation for new security plans. WBS 410 & 420, Administrative and In-Flight Photography Services/Administrative-Audio/Video and In-Flight Video Support Services require that personnel be provided to conduct air-to-air photography by chase aircraft personnel who are required to fly back seat and must be qualified above 25,000 feet. WBS 420, Section

5.14 requires provision of production engineering, maintenance and operation of video equipment and systems including production equipment (cameras, audio, lighting), post-production equipment, video special effects equipment; recording, playback and editing systems; and other equipment required for the generation and support of TV productions. All of the requirements discussed above are highly technical and cannot be completed without relevant experience. However, under the current Draft Solicitation, there is no requirement for offerors to address their technical understanding of specific WBS areas in their proposed Technical Approach. The Solicitation only states that Offerors are required provide a written technical approach that “describes existing capability to meet various tasks and requirements.”

RFP at 32. This lack of technical specificity creates an appreciable risk that the Government will receive proposals from offerors that lack the in depth technical knowledge of mission critical systems, but comply with the Section L requirement, as stated. Further, because the Government states that it will evaluate technical acceptability (which includes the Technical Approach) on a “pass/fail basis” only to determine whether the “[p]roposal meets the minimum requirements of the solicitation” (RFP at 37) on a and the current requirement only mandates a capabilities description to meet “various requirements”, the likelihood that the Government will deem an offeror acceptable who may not have the technical expertise to perform critical requirements is untenably high. Additionally, under the current evaluation scheme, Technical Approach, Management/Staffing Approach, and Phase-In plan (and an approved purchasing system) are all evaluated on a pass/fail basis as part of Technical Acceptability. RFP at 37.

A: NASA does not believe this will be the result from a pass/fail technical rating and the approach remains unchanged.

Performance Work Statement:

Section 1.0:

29. Q: Reference to alternate contract name in second paragraph “The Research Engineering and Technical Support Services”

A: See updated PWS

Section 2.0:

30. Q: Proactively manage all assets through the complete life cycles. Please provide a list of "all assets".

A: See updated Appendix A

31. Q: Produce and maintain flight simulations for multiple vehicles and multiple phases…… How many simulations are currently maintained and approximately how many are expected to be produced per year?

A: See PWS Section 5.7

32. Q: Incorporate evolving NASA and Federal Government cybersecurity requirements, how often are cybersecurity requirements changed and for how many/what types of systems?

A: The frequency of cybersecurity requirements changes is very dynamic, and near impossible to quantify.

33. Q: There are a few references to either Award Fee Plan or Performance Evaluation Board in this section.

A: References have been deleted from this section.

Section 3.2:

34. Q: The work sites are located at Edwards Air Force Base in Edwards, California and at Building

703 in Palmdale, California. The duty location will be determined by NASA. What percentage of the workforce will be located on Edwards Air Force Base versus Building 703? Will telecommuting be an option for any positions?

Section 3.3:

35. Q: For any foreign program travel related to this contract…. Please quantify the amount of travel required and percentage of foreign travel for each WBS on average per year.

A: See updated attachment L02 NASA historical data

Section 3.4:

36. Q: AFRC operates under a flexible work schedule. The schedule permits employees to work

80 hours in 9 days (known as a 9/80 schedule) and have a non-work day every other Friday.

The core hours are between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm Pacific Standard Time (PST) Monday through Thursday and the second Friday of the NASA pay period. The nature of NASA’s and AFRC’s missions may require support outside of the core hours. Exceptions to core hours may include weekend hours or alternate shift hours in support of project specific schedules. Exceptions to the schedule will be on a case-by-case basis. How often, on average, will schedules need to be shifted per week?

A: Reference PWS 4.1, FAR 22.103-2 and DRD 2, Section 9, paragraph D.5.

Section 3.5:

37. Q: "3.5 Government Furnished Property (GFP) and Contractor Supplied Vehicles", "3.5.2

Standard Use Vehicles; The Contractor shall provide transportation (non-specialized vehicles) for the transport of personnel and equipment in performance of this contract."

Section 3.5.2:

38. Q: The Contractor shall provide transportation (non-specialized vehicles) for the transport of personnel and equipment in performance of this contract. Will the contractor be allowed to lease vehicles through GSA?

39. Q: Please provide information on the number and type of standard use vehicles in use

Section 3.5.3:

40. Q: Property, including special use vehicles, is listed in J-02. Also reference section 4.7, Property Control. Please identify the specialized use vehicles in attachment J-02

Section 3.6:

41. Q: "Services required may involve the delivery of new systems capability, additional temporary services, engineering studies or projects. This may require expertise or services beyond the capability or capacity of the resident staff and/or available equipment and materials. The contractor shall be capable of performing and support these services."

Section 3.6:

42. Q: Services required may involve the delivery of new systems capability, additional temporary services, engineering studies or projects. This may require expertise or services beyond the capability or capacity of the resident staff and/or available equipment and materials. The contractor shall be capable of performing and supporting these services. How will this work be compensated? Will an additional CLIN be provided to temporarily augment staff?

Section 4.0:

43. Q: Reference to DRD 3 should be reference to DRD 2

Section 4.1:

44. Q: Private corporations must abide by California Labor Laws.

Section 4.1.1:

45. Q: For the temporary Staff Augmentation requirement, will the government provide a range on the amount of growth expected in the phrase "require future increases in services as the AFRC mission portfolios change and grow" prior to the final release of the RFP? Will a portion of the lunar/Artemis program be assigned to AFRC? Do you expect a substantial increase in the scope of work for the Air Force?

46. Q: The contractor shall have the capability to provide qualified staff to support peak workloads, short-term (surge) requirements, or temporary absence of permanent staff. NASA expects to require future increases in services as the AFRC mission portfolios change and grow. The contractor shall have the capability to augment staff until on-site staff becomes proficient.

Many positions are required to have a secret security clearance. Will NASA waive the requirement for a clearance for surge support?

A: No, the clearance requirement will not be waived.

Section 4.3:

47. Q: Reference to DRD 7 QAP should be to DRD 6 QAP

Section 4.4:

48. Q: Most of WBS 300 and 400 personnel require secret clearances. Please clarify which tasks in each of these WBS series require a security clearance and which tasks do not. Will all employees who are required to have a clearance be required to have an interim clearance before beginning work?

A: Yes, Interim clearance is required before beginning work.

Section 4.5.1:

49. Q: Personal Protective Equipment - …PPE shall be at no additional cost to NASA…..Please provide an estimated list of material for PPE that would be required on an annual basis.

A: Reference PWS 4.5.1 for PPE examples. Also reference the description of work throughout the PWS. The PWS indicates the industrial environments. PPE required is that which is standard for OSHA requirements in similar industries.

50. Q: Please provide information on the type and quantity of PPE that will need to be furnished.

A: Reference PWS 4.5.1 for PPE examples. Also reference the description of work throughout the PWS. The PWS indicates the industrial environments. PPE required is that which is standard for OSHA requirements in similar industries.

Section 4.6:

51. Q: which includes the operation of special purpose Government equipment …Please provide a list of "special purpose government equipment"

Section 4.6.2:

52. Q: Training of Center Employees. How often will training be required?

A: Reference PWS Appendix A for systems supported. Training on supported systems is an ongoing requirement.

Section 4.7:

53. Q: Reference to DRD 13 should be DRD 12"

Section 4.8:

54. Q: Does AFRC expect any impacts to or changes in the process for purchasing information technology as a result of the NASA MAP initiative for IT. If changes are expected, will any of these changes impact the role of contractors and the contractor procurement process?

A: No, impacts are not expected at this time.

55. Q: The contractor shall have and utilize a Government-approved purchasing system for purchasing materials and services in support of this contract unless otherwise directed by NASA. Can the government provide an example of when it would provide direction not to utilize a government-approved purchasing system?

Section 5.0:

WBS 100

56. Q: In those cases, contractor personnel may need to travel to these sites to maintain and operate these assets. Please provide locations of possible travel sites to enable accurate pricing

57. Q: WBS 100 Series General DATR Requirements- “The contractor shall provide personnel to be able to simultaneously support at least two real-time missions.”

A: Two simultaneous missions, to include all range assets. A list of Mission length is driven by test points as determined by the project. Assets that are utilized varies per mission. See PWS section 3.4

58. Q: Contractor shall provide personnel to be able to simultaneously support at least wo real time missions. Please provide details on the types of real-time missions. Which elements will be required to provide support? Please provide a list of assets to be utilized for support. What is the length of the missions? Will the missions take place during business hours? A scenario would be helpful for estimation.

A: Two simultaneous missions, to include all range assets. A list of Mission length is driven by test points as determined by the project. Assets that are utilized varies per mission. See PWS section 3.4

59. Q: Please provide an inventory of equipment that is factored into the system uptime and an inventory of current working spares.

A: The government will provide the initial inventory to the contract awardee and the awardee will maintain.

60. Q: Will NASA provide staffing used on the current RF&ESS contract by WBS element, along with an indication of the current workload will remain the same or is expected to increase or decrease?

A: See updated L02 NASA historical data.

61. Q: Is there an existing work order system? And how many work order requests are estimated per month/year?

62. Q: In the absence of detailed workload data and understanding the "acceptable" technical evaluation model, NASA appears to be asking for technical approaches that will meet the minimum requirements to achieve an "acceptable" rating as set forth in Section M. Bare minimum staffing will be offered and priced since there are no details provided on workload activity, future projects, or future missions. For a research facility, this will significantly impact the center's capability to take on new work.

63. Q: There is a significant effort that goes into specifying new systems, evaluating vendors systems for purchase, writing PRs and associated documentation, testing and installing the new equipment. This effort is not adequately captured in the PWS.

A: Question is not clearly defined. No response

Section 5.1:

WBS 110

64. Q: is there an existing code repository for DATR WINGS or do we need to standup a new code repository?

A: Yes, there is an existing code repository for DATR WINGS. See PWS 5.10, reference

AFOP-7150.2-001

Section 5.3:

WBS 130

65. Q: Please provide an inventory of all hardware systems supported.

A: See Appendix A and J02-Government Property Listing

66. Q: Tasks include, but are not limited to… Please provide a complete list of tasks.

A: Tasks vary relative to mission and are exemplified throughout the PWS.

67. Q: Under what circumstances will overtime rates be paid for work completed outside of regular hours to meet the scheduled maintenance requirements?

A: Scheduled maintenance is expected to be planned and accomplished during normal business hours.

68. Q: Provide prompt response (less than 2 minutes) to the RCO… What mechanism will be used to measure response time?

A: Observation by Range Control Officers.

69. Q: there is a 2 minute response SLA metric. Is there a corresponding resolution metric?

A: No.

70. Q: …Usually one day… What is the actual requirement? is the timeline different every time?

If so, what is the variation and what is the percentage of time the timeline varies?

A: This is specified on the post-flight data processing request. It is usually one day, but varies as specified by the flight data processing request. This data is not tracked.

Section 5.4:

WBS 140

71. Q: Operate other peripheral equipment….outlined in Appendix A. Please specify which equipment in Appendix A is included in this requirement.

A: See Appendix A DATR Video Systems section

Section 5.5:

WBS 150

72. Q: Please provide a list of all equipment that requires calibration and the associated calibration schedule.

A: List and schedule of calibration equipment will be provided to the contract awardee.

Equipment tracking and calibration service is provided by NASA.

73. Q: Tasks include, but are not limited to… Please provide a complete list of tasks.

A: Tasks vary relative to mission and are exemplified throughout the PWS.

Section 5.7:

WBS 210

74. Q: The contractor shall….How many drawings are currently maintained and approximately how many are expected to be produced per year?

A: There are 2-3 drawings for each simulation lab for configuration management. There is an unpredictable number of drawings required for hardware design support.

Section 5.8:

WBS 220

75. Q: Other work areas mention Information System Security Officer roles and responsibilities.

What are the roles and responsibilities of WBS 220 in relation to the IT System Security Plan?

Only input to and assistance in maintaining documentation?

76. Q: What clearance levels are anticipated? Are clearances required at the time of hire? Or may work be performed prior to government Secret clearance?

A: Secret clearances are required. Interim clearance is required before beginning work.

77. Q: What types of changes to software source code is required? Are changes standard, or is a solid knowledge of the Python, QT, Cheetah, and other technologies and their native programming language required to make custom changes?

A: WBS 220 staff are responsible to install and configure applications, libraries, and compilers. Detailed knowledge of all of these software tools is not required, but the ability to identify when an application is not installed correctly is highly beneficial.

78. Q: What types of changes to software source code is required? Are changes standard, or is a solid knowledge of the Python, QT, Cheetah, and other technologies and their native programming language required to make custom changes?

A: WBS 220 staff are responsible to install and configure applications, libraries, and compilers. Detailed knowledge of all of these software tools is not required, but the ability to identify when an application is not installed correctly is highly beneficial.

79. Q: Network equipment is not included on the J02_Governement_furnished_property document. What are the Ethernet network management responsibilities for WBS 220?

A: The network backbone up to and including the switches in each lab are managed under a different contract. The network connections to these switches and the network settings in each of the computers in the labs are the responsibility of the WBS 220 contractor to manage and document. When changes are required to the main network (switches, DNS, etc.) the WBS 220 contractor will submit the requests to the network staff.

80. Q: What types of changes to Linux kernel source code are required? Are changes standard, or is a solid knowledge of the kernel and C programming language required to make custom changes?

A: Changes to the Linux kernel are typically installation of hardware drivers and modifications to configuration files. Changes to the kernel source code are avoided whenever possible.

81. Q: What support is needed for UAV ground stations? Is there a physical separation of these areas from the previously identified support areas in the RAIF and Building 703?

A: UAV ground station support is similar to support for the simulation labs (upgrades, patching, software installation, documentation, etc.). However, UAV ground stations are typically isolated from the network backbone which means these task cannot be done remotely. Furthermore changes to these systems are more tightly controlled by the projects using them. So any changes to these systems must be documented, approved, and scheduled with the project being supported.

82. Q: What formal training will be required on UNIX, Linux and Windows? Is online training through company or NASA provided free courses sufficient? Are certifications required?

Section 5.9:

WBS 310

83. Q: What support is needed for remote engineering computers? Where will they be located geographically and is on-site support needed at those locations?

A: See section 5.10, On-site support will not be provided at remote locations.

84. Q: Which systems on the included J02_Governement_furnished_property document are included in this work area? What operating systems are installed on each?

A: See updated J02 Government furnished property, See Appendix A

85. Q: The NASA standards appear to be focused on the EUSO system requirements. Are RF&ESS-managed desktops expected to be configured the same way as EUSO systems? Are variations from that configuration already documented and can they be provided?

A: No, See section 5.10, they are documented and will be provided to the Contract Awardee.

86. Q: How many of each type of computer requires system administration?

A: All contract supported computers require system administration. See Appendix A and updated J02 Government Property listing

87. Q: How many of each type of computer requires system administration?

A: All contract supported computers require system administration. See Appendix A and updated J02 Government Property listing

88. Q: Are specific system administration functions required to be scripted? Do scripts already exist? Can a system management solution be used to automate functions? Is one already in use?

Will NASA or the contractor be responsible for paying for an automation solution?

A: Yes, system administration function may be required to be scripted. Yes, scripts already exist. Yes, NASA prefers automated functions when available. Yes, there is one currently in use. The contractor will be responsible for maintaining scripts to perform system administration in the most efficient and effective way possible.

89. Q: How many systems of each operating system? How many remote users?

A: See Appendix A, Currently, we have 15 remote users.

90. Q: Is a test bed of similar hardware and software currently available for testing upgrades? Will NASA or the contractor be responsible for procuring such a test bed?

A: NASA supplies a development lab to test OS platforms and applications before placing into production. If determined by NASA a testbed is needed NASA will be responsible for the procurement of the test bed.

91. Q: Will the contractor be responsible for soldering and modifying computer boards? Or replacing computer boards with working components?

A: No, See section 5.10.

92. Q: Maintain familiarity with NASA Enterprise offerings, or industry enterprise-level offerings?

How will NASA ensure that information on all of NASA Enterprise offerings is made available? Will NASA provide funding to allow contractor to attend industry events and conferences to maintain familiarity with enterprise technologies?

A: See updated PWS.

93. Q: Is this referring to application developers in WBS310? Or developers of COTS/GOTS software running in the data center and on lab seats? Or other developers? Are there specific software performance metrics that must be met?

A: Yes, this is referring to application developers in WBS 310 applications. See DRD-4 for specific performance metrics.

94. Q: Has NASA defined the required service levels? Can this information be provided?

95. Q: Is there an existing software distribution system? If so, can that be identified? If not, will NASA or the contractor be responsible for paying for the solution?

A: NSSC is NASA preferred software distribution system. All other licenses are tracked through our software manager for renewal.

96. Q: Does NASA have a backup solution in place? Can this information be provided? Backup clients must be installed on each system in production; how many are there and how much data must be backed up?

A: Backup solution is a DELL/EMC data Domain backup solution with clients installed on critical systems and lab seat upon request. Data backups are being performed weekly and monthly with deduplication in place. DELL/EMC clone DR Rack unit placed at JSC

97. Q: Is a media library already in existence? Is a location available to create one with appropriately secure cabinets/shelves?

A: Media library in place with adequate storage for large amounts of media storage.

98. Q: What is the scope for hardware and software release notes requiring a CCR? What data is required in a CCR and how many are expected to be submitted for release updates per month?

A: See updated PWS. All data that will assist the CCB board in understanding the configuration changes to the IT systems is required to be submitted. Quantity of updates per month is determined by the organization’s needs.

99. Q: Which other IT disciplines work at the center and agency? What are the current mechanisms for coordinating services across these groups and what are the deficiencies in these mechanisms?

A: Enterprise services for three area of IT support (Compute, network, server) support with all coordination being handled through help desk services to ensure through coordination

100. Q: Are all printers identified in the included J02_Governement_furnished_property document? If not, how many other printers, of which types are on the center?

A: Printers on center are Enterprise MFD printers which are maintained on a separate support contract, with the exception of a few locally owned. Single standalone printers are only supported by WBS 330 for moves or driver installation.

101. Q: What management solution is being used to provide center wide VM services? Are

VM's self-provisioning? How many VMs are there?

A: The management solution being used to provide center wide VM service is VMWare.

Yes, it is self-provisioning. There are 17 Virtual Host and 93 Virtual Oss.

102. Q: Will the contractor be responsible for soldering and modifying computer boards? Or replacing computer boards with working components?

A: No component or board repair will be required within this WBS. All system will be only module replacement or sending to vendor for repair.

103. Q: How is the center wide storage architected? Is storage self-provisioning? What is the capacity? How many users? How many shares?

A: It is central main SAN storage with a few separate unique storage systems. Total estimate 1.5 petabytes most storage is workflow approved for access to storage.

Approximately 1200 users.

104. Q: How many installations of user application software must be maintained? What applications? What is the lifecycle plan; how long will each application remain in operation?

A: Windows, UNIX Linux Oses no available data list of applications for amount. Lifecycle is 5 years

105. Q: Does NASA have a backup solution in place? Does NASA have an existing off-site storage solution? Can this information be provided?

A: Backup solution is a DELL/EMC data Domain backup solution with clients installed on critical systems and lab seat upon request. Data backups are being performed weekly and monthly with deduplication in place. DELL/EMC clone DR Rack unit placed at JSC

106. Q: Does NASA maintain a list of users for hardware and application outages? Are any metrics associated with an outage severity to trigger sending the message or how quickly a message must be sent? Are any automated monitoring tools used to track system and application availability that will automatically send these messages? Will NASA provide funding to implement such a solution?

A: Yes, NASA maintains a list of users for hardware and application outages. There is an email notification that is sent by local helpdesk or agency enterprise services. The Message does include severity and the application or hardware impacted. Automated monitoring tools are not used by NASA at this time. NASA is willing to consider solutions that are innovative.

107. Q: Can the policy referenced be provided?

A: Center policy which is proprietary.

108. Q: Are all non-Enterprise IT items identified in the included J02_Governement_furnished_property document? If not, how many and of which types are on the center?

A: Yes all WBS 330 supported systems should be on government provided document

109. Q: What is the current method of tracking licenses and maintenance agreements? Does NASA have requirements for the repository that must be developed? Can these be provided?

A: NSSC handles software management license for the agency. No, No.

110. Q: What is the scope of where software usage must be tracked? What tools does NASA provide to access systems to obtain usage audits? How often do reports have to be submitted?

How many types of software must be tracked? Is there a list of applications that can be provided?

A: All software where the contractor provides license maintenance agreement administration must be tracked. Application usage is tracked in a spreadsheet. Application usage reports are submitted as requested by software manager. Software tracked includes business management, scientific, and engineering. The list of applications that will be provided to the contract awardee.

111. Q: Define "drive." Does the contractor have authority to consolidate renewals to lower costs?

112. Q: How often do reports have to be provided?

A: See Section 5.10

113. Q: How often do reports have to be provided?

A: See Section 5.10

114. Q: Please define the difference between the ISSO and SA roles and responsibilities. Do all ISSOs and SAs need to be well versed in RISCS? Will NASA provide training on the NASA-specific tool?

A: See Section 5.10 and Section 4.6

115. Q: How many areas have SSPs? How many different methods for operation and maintenance are specified in the SSPs?

116. Q: Does NASA maintain a list of users and owners for coordination of updates? Will contractor be provided with user lists and schedules of mission activities to ensure no mission interruptions? How does the contractor balance critical vulnerabilities with mission support?

A: Yes, NASA maintain a list. Awardee will be provided with user list and schedules of mission actives to ensure no mission interruptions and updated throughout contract operation. See section 5.10.

117. Q: How many classified systems are to be managed? Classified and unclassified systems are to be managed at the same patching and upgrade requirements?

A: The number of classified systems is sensitive information and will be shared with the contract awardee. Yes, all system have to be patch to the same level of security standards.

118. Q: How many servers are supported in the data center?

A: Currently, there are 198 servers supported in the data center.

119. Q: Can you provide the type and number of requests for user help and other user requests for lab and engineering computers? How many systems are supported as lab and engineering computers? What are the OS' / versions?

A: See updated L02 NASA historical data. There are currently 320 lab and engineering computers.

120. Q: Provide system administration and maintenance for personal computers (PC's), Macintosh, tablets AND provide system administration and maintenance for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, UNIX / LINUX, Sun Microsystems Solaris, and tablet OS's (e.g. IOS devices) computers. How many of each type of system? 2. Is this separate from lab and engineering computers?

A: See Appendix A. No.

121. Q: How many center owned printers are there? How often are new printers added? How often are existing printers moved?

A: The number of center owned printers is negligible. The predominate amount of printers are stand configuration and supported by NASA Agency IT contract. New printers are added as needed. The statistics for existing printer moves is not available.

122. Q: What is meant by "all user application software" and on what devices does this apply?

A: See updated PWS. This applies to all lab and engineering devices.

123. Q: How often are trade studies conducted?

A: Trade studies are only conducted on an as needed basis.

124. Q: The wording says languages ""such as"" Java and C++ / C and C#, what programming languages are staff required to be proficient in? What language is the application presently coded in that personnel will be required to sustain?

A: The staff should be proficient in the languages stated in the PWS. The most commonly used languages, services, and protocols at this time are JAVA, C++, C, C#, XML, XSD, JMS, REST, SOAP, JQUERY, J2EE, and JSON.

125. Q: How many processing "activities" are there annually? What is meant by "timeframe identified by NASA", will all support be in standard working hours?

A: Approximately 240 activities annually, see section 3.4.

126. Q: How many forms are managed? What software is used to develop / maintain these forms? What programming language is used for coding to the backend databases?

A: There are currently approximately 400 active forms. The software currently being used is Adobe Lifecycle Designer.

127. Q: Include Training requirement, what is meant by ""include training requirement"? What training is required? What skill set is required to support this system, i.e. does this require knowing a specific programming language? How many of these requests are there annually?

A: See PWS Updated. Knowledge of HTML is required.

128. Q: Can you outline the size of the existing SharePoint environment? How many site collections and how many sites within each site collection? Out of the entire farm, as a percentage, how much custom development is currently used vs out of the box solutions? In what programming language is custom code developed?

A: The SharePoint farm contains a development, staging, and production environment.

There are currently 1252 collection on our SharePoints, the number of sites is unknown, there is development as well as out of the box solution, the use of out of the box solution is preferred to minimize the use of custom development, the custom code is currently being developed using SharePoint Designer and some JavaScript.

129. Q: Can you give statistics on type and number of SharePoint requests, projects, and trouble tickets?

130. Q: Provide general database analysis, administration and programming support for the various database systems used at AFRC Can you define ""various database systems""? What OS / version? Number of databases?

A: Various database systems is defined as "multiple different database systems". Currently, databases are in Filemaker, SQL and Oracle.

131. Q: Provide XML, HTML, JavaScript, Oracle, ColdFusion, ASP.net, and SQL, and other programming support as needed for AFRC projects and organizations, Can you outline what programming languages programming staff will be required to be proficient in? How will requests for development support outside of these languages be compensated (CLIN?)?

A: The staff should be proficient in the languages stated in the PWS. If development support outside of the languages in the PWS is required a determination by the CO will be made whether the requirement is "additional work" or a "continuation of work currently in the

PWS.

132. Q: Can you provide statistics on number of pages supported on "internal and external" web sites? Can you provide historical data on types and number of web page support requests?

133. Q: Capture, edit, compress and upload video footage…. What is meant by ""capture"" video footage by in regards to the web page support?"

A: "Capture" in the webpage support role means the combination of different sources to make a seamless combined video.

Section 5.11:

WBS 340

134. Q: How many conference rooms are supported? How many technical support requests are there annually? How many conference room setup requests are there annually? Are any requests outside of standard working hours? How many ViTS meetings are supported annually?

A: See PWS section 5.11, see updated attachment L02 NASA historical data, Conference room setup request statistics are not available, No, see PWS section 3.4, ViTS meetings support statistics are not available

Section 5.12:

WBS 350

135. Q: How many IT solutions are developed annually? How many and what types of system does this WBS provide IT system monitoring compliance for? How many projects and programs are supported? How many IT security plans are written / maintained? How many IT Security plans for projects does this WBS provide input to? How many "proof of concept or prototype activities" are historically supported annually? What types of activities are these?

A: No definitive amount of IT solutions are developed annually. This role supports all organizations, projects, and programs that require an authorization to operate (ATO). IT Security Plans are ongoing.

Section 5.13:

WBS 360

136. Q: Please clarify "best effort" for 24x7 support. Contractor personnel are not to be paid "on call" pay or guarantee that they will be available outside of normal work hours? What are the normal work hours for this WBS?

137.