RFI_Attachment_1_-_RFI_Response_Template.xlsx

XLSX spreadsheet 57 KB Posted

Attached to
Business Oriented Software Solutions (BOSS) Federal contract opportunity
Solicitation number
ACQ-19-1870
Issued by
Department of Commerce US Patent and Trademark Office

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RFI Attachment 1 - RFI Response Template

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Corporate Profile

Corporate Profile
Company Name & Address (Please identify Joint Venture or Mentor-Protégé, if applicable)
DUNS Number
Current Business Size Status Under NAICS 541512 ($27.5M)

("Small" or "Other than Small")

Anticipated Business Size Status on 2/15/2020 ("Small" or "Other than Small")
Company Point of Contact (Name, Email, Phone Number)
Small
Other than small

&P

List of Questions

CategoryQuestion No.QuestionResponse Parameters
Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities1An Agile team with a low velocity is not on track to complete all high priority work items in the product backlog.

June believes the team is insufficiently staffed and plans to address this problem by replacing Agile team members with individuals with more experience/skills (e.g. substitute a mid-level developer for a senior developer).

On the other hand, Julio believes the team is understaffed and plans to address this problem by adding new members to the team.

Is the cause(s) of the problem, as defined by either June or Julio, accurate? Are there other potential causes? What are some shortcomings/risks of June's and Julio's approaches to address the problem? Are there other solutions?Provide a response in 1,750 characters or less.
2Project Manager Izzy exclusively uses the following metrics to evaluate the quality of the product being built:

1) Number of reported defects,

2) Level of code coverage by unit tests, and

3) the number of static code analysis issues.

What are the shortcomings/risks to Izzy's approach to evaluate the quality of the product being built? Are there other ways of evaluating quality? Are there effective ways to evaluate quality or identify risks using the 3 metrics listed?Provide a response in 1,750 characters or less.
3The primary goal of DevOps is to optimize the delivery of the flow of value from idea to end user in a more efficient and effective manner.
Please identify three of the most significant challenges that your organization has overcome while operating in an environment that is highly fragmented into a siloed group culture that implements DevOps. Provide a brief narrative of how you successfully overcame each of those challenges.List the three most significant challenges and describe how each challenge was successfully dealt with. For each challenge, provide a response in 1,400 characters or less.
4Identify two of the most challenging areas of practicing Continuous Integration Continuous Delivery? What has your organization done to overcome those challenges?List the two of the most challenging areas and describe how each challenge was successfully dealt with. For each challenging area, provide a response in 1,750 characters or less.
5Of the following list of characteristics, select the two that best demonstrate your organization's experience in selecting cloud technologies and tools that were used to create applications that traversed hybrid cloud services.

A) Efficacy of segregation measures subject to continuous verification/audit in private and public cloud

B) Duties and areas of responsibility in the cloud application provider’s internal organization are appropriately segregated

C) Controls have been implemented to ensure the security of information exchange within application

D) Technical information related to interconnection/interfacing between the cloud service and Govt. agency information systems are protected

Please elaborate on your organization's rationale for each selection.Select two of the listed characteristics that best demonstrate your company's experience in selecting cloud technologies and tools that were used to create applications that traversed hybrid cloud services. For each selection, provide a response in 1,400 characters or less.
Iterative Development Contract Experience6Of the following list of characteristics, select the three that best align with Scrum Teams that deliver high quality code ready for regularly scheduled and frequent (weekly/monthly) deployments to a production environment.

A) Ability to consistently achieve commitment

B) Accuracy and consistency of estimation

C) Consistent level of delivery of user stories throughout the Sprint

D) Focus is on being strategic

E) The team requires a high degree of guidance

F) Understand how team decisions are made

G) Understanding Definition of Done

Please elaborate on your organization's rationale for each selection.Select three of the listed characteristics that best align with Scrum Teams that deliver high quality code ready for regularly scheduled and frequent (weekly/monthly) deployments to a production environment. For each selection, provide a response in 1,400 characters or less.
7In an environment where it is required to collaborate with various—geographically dispersed and/or co-located—teams to work in the same value stream and where the government is the integrator, which three of the following factors would contribute most to success?

A) Ability to deal with change (Ability to limit up-front planning to a minimum based on an assumption of unpredictability, and instead, lays value and concentrates on adaptability to changing conditions).

B) Allow the government staff to make all necessary command decisions

C) Communicate and embrace transparency throughout the entire value stream

D) Holistic understanding of the product

E) Increased team protection so that work is accomplished with minimal distractions

F) Continuous integration producing a clean build of the system several times per day (ability of scrum team to never leave anything unintegrated at the end of the day).

G) Establish a common set of rules for collaboration and communication; employ maximum use of virtual communication

Please elaborate on your organization's rationale for each selection.Select three of the listed factors that would contribute most to a successful outcome in an environment where geographically dispersed and/or co-located teams have to collaborate to work in the same value stream and where the government is the integrator. For each selection, provide a response in 1,400 characters or less.
Development Capabilities8Software developed at the USPTO follows the ISO 9241-210:2010 standard for Human-centered design for interactive systems.
Please provide a narrative describing how you successfully utilized User Centered Design (UCD) design, techniques, and methods in a recent publicly-accessible project (within the last 3 years from response submission date). Please provide point of contact information from corresponding customer organizations.Provide a response in 3,500 characters or less.
9Does your company have experience creating and delivering solutions which required Authorization to Operate (ATO) from agency customers, and obtaining ATOs from customer Designated Authorizing Officials using the National Institute of Standards and Technology Risk Management Framework?

Provide details including the number of agencies supported, the names of relevant agencies and ATO duration, what type of solution was delivered, and if an ATO was ever revoked and if so, why. Please provide point of contact information from corresponding customer organizations.

Provide a response in 3,500 characters or less.
Program Management & Staffing10Select two project team sizes from the list below and provide your average time to onboard technical staff from date of award to providing the agency the resources (in weeks):

A) 7 or fewer 'full-time equivalent' (FTE) resources B) between 8 and 14 FTE resources C) 15 or more FTE resources

Cite one example of onboarding technical staff for recent (within last three years from response submission date) software development/integration projects for each of the two project team sizes selected. Please include the amount of time it took to onboard the resources. Also, describe challenges with onboarding and how your organization has dealt with those challenges. Please provide point of contact information from corresponding customer organizations.

Select two different project team sizes listed and provide your average time to onboard resources. For each of the team sizes selected, cite relevant examples. For each example, provide a response in 1,750 characters or less.
11Does your organization have capability and/or experience to deliver mission critical support services which require a Continuity of Operations (COOP) plan in the event of an outage or localized act of nature?

In general terms, describe your organization's COOP plan.

If applicable/appropriate, cite a relevant example (within last eight years from response submission date) where your organization activated your organizations COOP plan and describe the outcome. Provide a response in 3,500 characters or less.

List of Questions

&P

Response to Q. 1

CategoryKnowledge, Skills, & Abilities
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
1An Agile team with a low velocity is not on track to complete all high priority work items in the product backlog.

June believes the team is insufficiently staffed and plans to address this problem by replacing Agile team members with individuals with more experience/skills (e.g. substitute a mid-level developer for a senior developer).

On the other hand, Julio believes the team is understaffed and plans to address this problem by adding new members to the team.

Is the cause(s) of the problem, as defined by either June or Julio, accurate? Are there other potential causes? What are some shortcomings/risks of June's and Julio's approaches to address the problem? Are there other solutions?Provide a response in 1,750 characters or less.
Response:0

&P

Response to Q. 2

CategoryKnowledge, Skills, & Abilities
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
2Project Manager Izzy exclusively uses the following metrics to evaluate the quality of the product being built:

1) Number of reported defects,

2) Level of code coverage by unit tests, and

3) the number of static code analysis issues.

What are the shortcomings/risks to Izzy's approach to evaluate the quality of the product being built? Are there other ways of evaluating quality? Are there effective ways to evaluate quality or identify risks using the 3 metrics listed?Provide a response in 1,750 characters or less.
Response:0

&P

Response to Q. 3

CategoryKnowledge, Skills, & Abilities
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
3The primary goal of DevOps is to optimize the delivery of the flow of value from idea to end user in a more efficient and effective manner.
Please identify three of the most significant challenges that your organization has overcome while operating in an environment that is highly fragmented into a siloed group culture that implements DevOps. Provide a brief narrative of how you successfully overcame each of those challenges.List the three most significant challenges and describe how each challenge was successfully dealt with. For each challenge, provide a response in 1,400 characters or less.
Response:0
0
0

&P

Response to Q. 4

CategoryKnowledge, Skills, & Abilities
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
4Identify two of the most challenging areas of practicing Continuous Integration Continuous Delivery? What has your organization done to overcome those challenges?List the two of the most challenging areas and describe how each challenge was successfully dealt with. For each challenging area, provide a response in 1,750 characters or less.
Response:0
0

&P

Response to Q. 5

CategoryKnowledge, Skills, & Abilities
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
5Of the following list of characteristics, select the two that best demonstrate your organization's experience in selecting cloud technologies and tools that were used to create applications that traversed hybrid cloud services.

A) Efficacy of segregation measures subject to continuous verification/audit in private and public cloud

B) Duties and areas of responsibility in the cloud application provider’s internal organization are appropriately segregated

C) Controls have been implemented to ensure the security of information exchange within application

D) Technical information related to interconnection/interfacing between the cloud service and Govt. agency information systems are protected

Please elaborate on your organization's rationale for each selection.Select two of the listed characteristics that best demonstrate your company's experience in selecting cloud technologies and tools that were used to create applications that traversed hybrid cloud services. For each selection, provide a response in 1,400 characters or less.
Response:0
0

&P

Response to Q. 6

CategoryIterative Development Contract Experience
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
6Of the following list of characteristics, select the three that best align with Scrum Teams that deliver high quality code ready for regularly scheduled and frequent (weekly/monthly) deployments to a production environment.

A) Ability to consistently achieve commitment

B) Accuracy and consistency of estimation

C) Consistent level of delivery of user stories throughout the Sprint

D) Focus is on being strategic

E) The team requires a high degree of guidance

F) Understand how team decisions are made

G) Understanding Definition of Done

Please elaborate on your organization's rationale for each selection.Select three of the listed characteristics that best align with Scrum Teams that deliver high quality code ready for regularly scheduled and frequent (weekly/monthly) deployments to a production environment. For each selection, provide a response in 1,400 characters or less.
Response:0
0
0

&P

Response to Q. 7

CategoryIterative Development Contract Experience
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
7In an environment where it is required to collaborate with various—geographically dispersed and/or co-located—teams to work in the same value stream and where the government is the integrator, which three of the following factors would contribute most to success?

A) Ability to deal with change (Ability to limit up-front planning to a minimum based on an assumption of unpredictability, and instead, lays value and concentrates on adaptability to changing conditions).

B) Allow the government staff to make all necessary command decisions

C) Communicate and embrace transparency throughout the entire value stream

D) Holistic understanding of the product

E) Increased team protection so that work is accomplished with minimal distractions

F) Continuous integration producing a clean build of the system several times per day (ability of scrum team to never leave anything unintegrated at the end of the day).

G) Establish a common set of rules for collaboration and communication; employ maximum use of virtual communication

Please elaborate on your organization's rationale for each selection.Select three of the listed factors that would contribute most to a successful outcome in an environment where geographically dispersed and/or co-located teams have to collaborate to work in the same value stream and where the government is the integrator. For each selection, provide a response in 1,400 characters or less.
Response:0
0
0

&P

Response to Q. 8

CategoryDevelopment Capabilities
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
8Software developed at the USPTO follows the ISO 9241-210:2010 standard for Human-centered design for interactive systems.
Please provide a narrative describing how you successfully utilized User Centered Design (UCD) design, techniques, and methods in a recent publicly-accessible project (within the last 3 years from response submission date). Please provide point of contact information from corresponding customer organizations.Provide a response in 3,500 characters or less.
Response:0

&P

Response to Q. 9

CategoryDevelopment Capabilities
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
9Does your company have experience creating and delivering solutions which required Authorization to Operate (ATO) from agency customers, and obtaining ATOs from customer Designated Authorizing Officials using the National Institute of Standards and Technology Risk Management Framework?

Provide details including the number of agencies supported, the names of relevant agencies and ATO duration, what type of solution was delivered, and if an ATO was ever revoked and if so, why. Please provide point of contact information from corresponding customer organizations.

Provide a response in 3,500 characters or less.
Response:0

&P

Response to Q. 10

CategoryProgram Management & Staffing
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
10Select two project team sizes from the list below and provide your average time to onboard technical staff from date of award to providing the agency the resources (in weeks):

A) 7 or fewer 'full-time equivalent' (FTE) resources B) between 8 and 14 FTE resources C) 15 or more FTE resources

Cite one example of onboarding technical staff for recent (within last three years from response submission date) software development/integration projects for each of the two project team sizes selected. Please include the amount of time it took to onboard the resources. Also, describe challenges with onboarding and how your organization has dealt with those challenges. Please provide point of contact information from corresponding customer organizations.

Select two different project team sizes listed and provide your average time to onboard resources. For each of the team sizes selected, cite relevant examples. For each example, provide a response in 1,750 characters or less.
Response:0
0

&P

Response to Q. 11

CategoryProgram Management & Staffing
Question No.QuestionResponse Parameters
11Does your organization have capability and/or experience to deliver mission critical support services which require a Continuity of Operations (COOP) plan in the event of an outage or localized act of nature?

In general terms, describe your organization's COOP plan.

If applicable/appropriate, cite a relevant example (within last eight years from response submission date) where your organization activated your organizations COOP plan and describe the outcome.Provide a response in 3,500 characters or less.
Response:0

&P

File details come from the government source that posted it.