S160009_ICBS_OM_Request_for_Information_08192016.docx

Request for Information U.S. Forest Service - National Office Interagency Cache Business System (ICBS) Operations & Maintenance (O&M)

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

SOLICITATION No: AG-024B-S-16-0009

INTERAGENCY CACHE BUSINESS SYSTEM (ICBS) Operations & Maintenance (O&M) U.S. Forest Service - National Office Contents

Summary The U.S. Forest Service is in the pre-solicitation phase for the award of a contract to support the web-based Interagency Cache Business System (ICBS). The Forest Service seeks information technology (IT) expertise to provide operations and technical support to ICBS 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year (24/7/365) with a 99.95% availability rate. This support will include:

· Day-to-day operation of all software components including middleware

· Trouble-shooting all components

· Responding to Security Vulnerability Scans

· Development and deployment of routine changes and configurations

· Trouble-shooting bar code scan gun and printing issues

· Trouble-shooting and correcting user-introduced data issues

· Assisting technical specialists from other teams (NESS, network, other application teams, etc.)

· Integration with other applications

Notice Type: Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought Solicitation/Notice Number: AG-024B-S-16-0009 Interagency Cache Business System (ICBS) Operations & Maintenance (O&M) (ICBS-OM) This RFI is for market research and planning purposes only and shall not be considered to be an obligation by the Government to acquire any products or services.

Primary Point of Contact – Ivory Carr, icarr@fs.fed.us All interactions with the Government related to this RFI or resultant contract shall be addressed to the Contracting Officer as the Primary Point of Contact:

RFI Response Date – Friday, September 9, 2016, 1:00 PM Mountain Time Interested parties are asked to review the attachments and provide any initial questions or requests for clarification to the Government not later than COB Monday, August 29, 2016. It is the intent of the Government to provide clarifications to interested parties so final RFI responses can be submitted not later than the established due date of Friday, September 9, 2016.

List of RFI Attachments and Exhibits Note: All documentation is in draft and subject to change.

· Draft ICBS OM Solicitation including Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS), dated 08/11/2016 and a number of Requirement Artifacts (attachments) incorporated into the PWS by reference

· Exhibit A – RFI Question Submittal Template Project Overview Introduction The ICBS is a web-based application used to manage the inventory of National Fire Equipment System (NFES) supplies housed in fifteen (15) interagency incident support caches. NFES supplies are used for fire suppression, non-fire (“all-risk”) incident response, non-emergency planned events and training activities. ICBS is a mission-critical component of interagency response capability and has been in production use since 2008.

ICBS users access the system via agency-provided networked PCs or laptops, or through wireless bar code scanning devices. Networked bar code label printers are used to produce storage location and product labels.

Background The ICBS is an extensively-customized suite of IBM’s Sterling® supply chain and support applications:

· Warehouse Management System (WMS) v9.1

· Distributed Order Management (DOM) v9.1*

· WMS Mobile Terminal v9.1

· Loftware Print Server® (LPS) printing and reporting software v10.1

· Cognos® business analytics query/reports software v10.1

· IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) middleware v7.7.0.29

· IBM WAS MQ messaging integration middleware v7.5

· ORACLE database v11g *Please Note: the IBM Sterling Distributed Order Management (DOM) software is also sometimes referred to as Order Management Software (OMS)

Place of Performance Contractor shall perform the services at its facilities. Some meetings will require in-person attendance in Boise, Idaho. If a meeting must be in-person, the Contractor shall receive advance approval from the Contract Officer’s Representative (COR). All travel costs shall comply with the Federal Travel Regulation.

RFI Response Details The Forest Service is not seeking elaborate responses, but rather concise, meaningful responses from vendors with development and operations/maintenance expertise in federal information technology business space.

Responses received, excluding questions, are considered procurement sensitive information. Responses will not be returned and the Government reserves the right to use the responses to this RFI to amend the requirements documentation, acquisition strategy and associated documents or approaches for this project.

In 10 single-sided 8.5” x 11” pages or less (title page and table of contents do not count against the page count nor do questions of the Government, if provided in Exhibit A template), vendors are requested to provide the following information:

1. Company Information, Point of Contact (POC) Name, address, DUNS, Socioeconomic Classification:

a. Capabilities Statement that clearly aligns the capabilities of the company to the requirements contemplated by this effort, including

b. Current available contract vehicles (such as GSA Schedules, GWACs, etc.) with relevant scope to the Forest Service’s requirements, and which the Forest Service could issue a Task Order/BPA Call against. Include contract numbers, contract validity dates, if able.

c. Indicate if you are considering competing in the requirement as a: 1) Prime Contractor, 2) Partner/Subcontracting, 3) Either or 4) Unknown. If you are contemplating teaming or partnering with another company to submit an offer, provide the name of that company, if known.

d. A list of experience on similar/relevant projects, including:

i. Client contact information (phone and email), contract value and period of performance

ii. Provide details of the experience your firm has with building 508 compliant solutions for the federal government and what experience you have with migrating a legacy program from a non-compliant application to a 508 compliant solution.

e. List certifications such as CMMI and Level, ITIL, PMP, etc.

2. If available, via an existing multiple award schedule/ordering contract, please provide a list of labor categories with fully burdened labor rates that would be representative of the skill mix required to support the requirements contemplated by this effort.

3. What additional data elements does the government need to provide in order to allow offerors to develop accurate firm fixed prices for these types of services?

4. Any additional information or comments that may be helpful to the Forest Service in finalizing the strategy and requirements for this project.

5. List questions or comments regarding the draft documents (please use Exhibit A).

Submittal of Questions on Draft Documents Questions shall be submitted to Ivory Carr at icarr@fs.fed.us by the RFI response date above. Responses and questions on the draft documents (attachments) shall be submitted on the RFI Question Submittal Template Form provided in Exhibit A.

All questions asked and corresponding answers will be provided to any interested parties who request them and the final list of Q&A will be posted to the RFI FBO notice and provided with the eventual solicitation.

The Government reserves the right to not answer questions that are not appropriate or would disclose source selection sensitive or non-public information. The Contracting Officer makes the final determination regarding the appropriateness or sensitivity of questions.

Initial Acquisition Strategy The acquisition strategy for this project will be determined by the Government after analyzing RFI responses and completion of adequate market research. The following is the Government’s initial acquisition strategy and what will likely be used for solicitation purposes should we receive no responses to this RFI:

· Services will be firm fixed price

· The government anticipates a best value tradeoff evaluation process

· Classification Code: D399 IT and Telecom - Other IT and Telecommunications

· NAICS Code: 541 - Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services / 541512 - Information management computer systems integration design services

· Socioeconomic set-asides: Initial strategy is for a Small Business Set-aside

In accordance with FAR 19.201 “It is the policy of the Government to provide maximum practicable opportunities in its acquisitions to small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns” as such interested parties with eligibility in any of these programs are encouraged to respond to this RFI so their interest is known and can be considered during market research.

Additionally, large businesses with an interest in this project are also encouraged to respond to this RFI.

· The Government anticipates issuing a solicitation for this requirement approximately October 15, 2016.

If possible, the Government will issue a response to the RFI that includes a final expected acquisition strategy, as soon as practical, after the RFI has closed and the Government has finalized its market research.

52.215-3 Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997)

(a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or draft solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and Proposal Costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

(b) Although "proposal" and "offeror" are used in this RFI, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal.

(c) This RFI is issued for the purpose of: Market Research and planning to support preparation for the Interagency Cache Business System (ICBS) Operations & Maintenance (O&M), solicitation AG-024B-S-16-0009.

The contract clauses and solicitation provisions and all other terms included in the draft solicitation are subject to change at the discretion of the Government.

AG-024B-S-16-0009

Date Posted: 08/19/2016