C000853 Attachment 2 - ITS Response to Vendor Questions & Extraneous Terms 9.1.26.pdf

# IFB Section Name Section Number Vendor Inquiry ITS Response - September 1, 2026

Administrative Bid Requirements

5.4

The Executive Summary including the narrative description may result in a wide range of differentiators and value among responders. Will ITS consider an evaluation methodology including a technical component to optimize technical and overall value for ITS? Please see 6.5, "most criteria" as an example of where a technical evaluation component may provide value.

This is an Invitation for Bid that will be awarded based on meeting all minimum requirements and having the lowest overall cost for the term of the contract. There will not be a technical component to the evaluation.

Appendix C-2 - Equal Opportunity and Supplier Diversity

Requirements

Could you please confirm whether these percentages are participation/subcontracting goals, or if the prime bidder is required to hold an MBE/WBE certification to be eligible to participate and submit a bid?

The 15% figures are participation goals for MBE and WBEs. An MBE/WBE certification isn't required to submit a bid.

Appendix C-2 - Equal Opportunity and Supplier Diversity

Requirements

Please confirm the MWBE and SDVOB participation goals for this procurement. Do these goals apply to the total contract value, including prime self-performed labor? Can they be satisfied through staffing subcontracts in accordance with Qualification #2?

The 15% figures are participation goals for MBE and WBEs. These goals apply to the portion of the contract performed by MBEs and WBEs, which can include a Prime MBE/WBE/SDVOB.

Please note, a MWBE dual-certified supplier cannot be designated to meet both an MBE and a WBE goal simultaneously.

Appendix C-2 - Equal Opportunity and Supplier Diversity

Requirements

I.A; II.A

Does ITS expect these participation percentages to be achieved through subcontracted labor under the 16 priced job titles, and can the same certified subcontractor spend contribute to more than one applicable goal? What waiver treatment is anticipated if qualified resources cannot be secured?

It is the responsibility of the Prime Contractor to ensure the MWBE/SDVOB Participation goals are met. If qualified resources cannot be secured, the Prime is able to submit a Waiver Request Post Award (WRPA), with documentation of it’s good faith efforts to utilize MBE/WBE/SDVOBS.

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder

Qualifications

Section 2.6 references "consultant staff named in the Attachment 3 – Minimum Bidder Qualifications Form." How many named consultants/resumes must be submitted with the bid per job title, and must proposed individuals be current employees of the bidder at bid time, or may they be contingent hires with signed letters of commitment?

The Bidder must name one (1) consultant for each job title, that meets the job title requirement(s). The named consultant must be available upon request once the contract is in place. If the named consultant is no longer available upon contract approval, the Contractor must replace the consultant with a qualified consultant that meets or exceeds the requirements for the job title. See IFB Section 2.6.

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder

Qualifications 2.3

We would appreciate clarification regarding the requirement that vendors be authorized to do business in the State of New York. Could you please confirm whether proof of this authorization must be submitted with the proposal, or if it may be obtained prior to contract execution or after contract award?

The bidder must be able to answer Qualification #1 on the Attachment 3 Minimum Bidder Qualifications form which must be submitted with bid.

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder

Qualifications 2.3

Does item #2, "Bidder cannot be a staffing agency" preclude the incumbent from bidding on IFB C000853?

If the Bidder is a staffing agency, the Bidder doesn't meet the minimum requirement and cannot submit a bid for this IFB.

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder

Qualifications

2.3 Item #2, how will ITS discern if a responder is a staffing agency?

The Bidder must certify that all information provided on the Attachment 3 Minimum Bidder Qualification Form, that all information is complete, true and accurate. If it is found that the Bidder doesn't meet the Minimum Bidder Qualifications, the Bidder will be deemed non-responsive and will no longer be considered for award.

Appendix F Glossary of Terms, the definition of a staffing agency is, a third-party firm acting as the intermediary that manages the recruitment, screening, and hiring processes to fulfill short term or temporary, low-moderate skilled positions.

Attachment 2 - ITS Response to Vendor Questions and Extraneous Terms IFB# C000853 Enterprise Network Support

IFB# C000853 Enterprise Network Support

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder

Qualifications 2.3

Regarding the Minimum Bidder Qualifications:

(a) For Qualification #4, must the thirty or more staff members on a single engagement have been working concurrently?

(b) Do these staff members need to have held network/IT technical support roles similar to those specified in this Invitation for Bid (IFB)?

(c) Do currently ongoing engagements qualify?

(d) For Qualification #3, how will ITS interpret "technical support for multiple types of operating systems and networking technology services"? Additionally, what documentation must be included in Attachment 3 to demonstrate compliance with Qualifications #3 and #4?

(a) The thirty or more staff members on a single engagement don't need to have been working concurrently.

(b) The staff members need to have the required education and/or work experience to meet the minimum qualifications of the Job titles for this IFB. See IFB Section 2.4.

(c) Yes, ongoing engagements may qualify.

(d) The Attachment 3 form must be completed and submitted with the bid to be considered. All supporting information must be included within the appropriate fields within Attachment 3.

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder

Qualifications 2.3

Qualification #2 specifies that the bidder cannot be a staffing agency and must act as the Prime Contractor. Would an IT professional services firm that recruits and employs its own consultants, while serving as the Prime Contractor with full performance responsibility, meet the requirements of Qualification #2? Additionally, is the Prime Contractor allowed to utilize ITS-approved subcontractors (including MWBE firms) to provide a portion of the consultant staff?

Yes, an ITS professional services firm that recruits and employs its own consultants, while serving as the Prime Contractor with full performance responsibilities meets the requirements of Qualification 2 of Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder Qualifications.

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder

Qualifications Qualification #4

Please confirm whether each of the three required engagements employing at least 30 staff must independently cover multiple operating systems and networking technologies, and whether experience of corporate affiliates or proposed subcontractors may be used to satisfy any portion of this requirement.

Of the three required engagements employing at least 30 staff, within the past (5) years, (1) of the engagements must have been for a federal, state, or local government entities, that support multiple operating systems and networking technologies in which the proposer was the prime contractor.

If sub-contractors are part of the Bidder’s Proposal, prior engagement descriptions may include engagements conducted by the subcontractor(s). The description of Bidder's prior experience shall include information about its history of working with the proposed subcontractors (e.g., nature of relationship, number of engagements worked together, duration of engagements, budget of engagement, percent split between firms).

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder

Qualifications Qualification #5

Please clarify when resumes and supporting evidence for the job-title education and experience requirements must be provided, and whether all proposed personnel must be named and committed at bid submission or only after issuance of a Personnel Request Form.

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder Qualifications Form, Qualification #5, The Bidder must provide a description of how each Job Title Requirement has been met. The Bidder is to name one (1) consultant and how they meet the minimum requirement(s) for that specific job title. ITS is not requiring resumes with the submission of the Bid. The Attachment 3 form must be completed and submitted with the bid to be considered.

Attachment 4 - Financial Bid Workbook

General Does ITS expect all 20 Tier 3/Tier 4 Network positions to operate as full-time dedicated resources, or are some intended as project/change/escalation capacity?

The majority of the titles are expected to operate as full-time dedicated resources. There may also be instances where there will be a need for some shorter term engagements for projects or initiatives.

Attachment 4 - Financial workbook

General For the positions identified in Attachment 4, are agencies required to submit resumes for currently available candidates, or will sample resumes demonstrating relevant qualifications and experience be acceptable?

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder Qualifications Form, Qualification #5, The Bidder must provide a description of how each Job Title Requirement has been met. The Bidder is to name one (1) consultant and how they meet the minimum requirement(s) for that specific job title. ITS is not requiring resumes with the submission of the Bid. The Attachment 3 form must be completed and submitted with the bid to be considered.

IFB# C000853 Enterprise Network Support

Attachment 4 - Financial workbook

General How many candidate resumes are required to be submitted for each position listed in Attachment 4?

Attachment 3 - Minimum Bidder Qualifications Form, Qualification #5, The Bidder must provide a description of how each Job Title Requirement has been met. The Bidder is to name one (1) consultant and how they meet the minimum requirement(s) for that specific job title. ITS is not requiring resumes with the submission of the Bid. The Attachment 3 form must be completed and submitted with the bid to be considered.

Attachment 4 - Financial workbook

Attachment 4 - Financial workbook

How many of the 49 potential positions are currently staffed by the Incumbent?

Not all of the job titles listed in the IFB are in the current contract and therefore ITS cannot provide this information.

Attachment 4 - Financial workbook

Attachment 4 - Financial workbook

To ensure accurate and competitive pricing, could ITS provide the following information: (a) the number of consultants currently engaged, categorized by job title, under the expiring contract; (b) the actual billed hours by job title for the most recent 12 to 24 months; and (c) the anticipated headcount by job title on day one?

(a) Number of Consultants currently engaged:

(5) Tier 3 Network Support Analyst

(4) Network Engineer SME

(2) Unified Communications Specialist Level 3

(3) DCN-Unified Comms Spec Level 3

(3) DCN-Network Engineer SME

(b) Default Full time hours are ~2048 Hours/Yr. This amount may vary between titles and based on workload.

(c) Day one head counts will be dependent on the winning bid amount and ITS funding approvals. ITS will provide the number of staff per job title needed on day one with the winning contractor.

Attachment 4 - Financial workbook

Please provide the anticipated annual hours or FTE equivalents by job title, work shift, primary duty location, and operational unit, and identify which quantities will be used to calculate the evaluated five-year total in Attachment 4.

The number of positions per title along with hours listed in Attachment 4 Financial workbook, are for evaluation purposes only. The 5 year contract grand total in Attachment 4 will be used for the financial evaluation.

Cloud Network Support Analyst

2.4.13 - 16 The scope describes full-time on-site staff augmentation. Are any titles or shifts eligible for hybrid or remote work now or during the contract term? Please respond specifically for the Cloud Network Support tiers (2.4.13–2.4.16) and overnight monitoring shifts.

At the sole discretion of ITS, hybrid/remote work is available per ITS Telecommuting Policy.

Cloud Network Support Analyst

2.4.13 - 16 Are the Cloud Network Support titles (2.4.13–2.4.16) currently staffed under the expiring contract, or are they new titles for this procurement? What day-one headcount and anticipated ramp per tier should bidders assume?

The Cloud Network titles are new for this IFB. Day one head counts will be dependent on the winning bid amount and ITS funding approvals. ITS will provide the number of staff per job title needed on day one with the winning contractor.

Financial Bid Evaluation and Award

6.5

Could you please confirm the financial evaluation methodology? The award will be based on the total amount calculated by multiplying the hourly rate by the estimated annual hours for all 16 titles and across all contract years, as detailed in Attachment 4. It is essential that the same estimated hours are used for all bidders and that no line items are given different weights.

The financial evaluation methodology is lowest cost overall, over the term of the contract. See IFB Section 6.5 Financial Bid Evaluation and Award. No individual weights are given for the evaluation.

General General If a proposed candidate becomes unavailable at the time of contract award, will the agency be permitted to propose an alternate candidate with equivalent or similar qualifications for the position?

The Bidder must name one (1) consultant for each job title, that meets the job title requirement(s), The named consultant must be available upon request once the contract is in place. If the named consultant is no longer available upon contract approval, the Contractor must replace the consultant with a qualified consultant that meets or exceeds the requirements for the job title. See IFB Section 2.6.

General General

If the same candidate is proposed by two or more agencies, how will the proposals be evaluated and the candidate's submission be considered?

ITS to make one award for the services described in this IFB to a responsive and responsible Bidder on a “Lowest Price meeting minimum qualifications” basis.

General General Can you provide more details on the budget constraints or funding availability? ITS declines to answer.

nterprise N General General Have you worked with any vendor to do market research/put together this RFQ? No ITS did not work with any vendor to do market research.

General Is there a roadmap during the five-year term to migrate from on-premises CUCM to cloud calling (e.g., Webex Calling or equivalent), and would UC Specialists be expected to support that migration under these same titles and rates?

ITS currently uses cloud calling and the migration from on-premise is complete.

IFB# C000853 Enterprise Network Support

General How is the 24x7x365 UC environment staffed today — dedicated per-shift coverage by level, or day staffing with rotating on-call for nights and weekends — and what per-shift coverage by level does ITS anticipate under this contract?

Day staffing with rotating on-call for nights/weekends. Per shift coverage would be dependent on the role the position is filling, though some after hours work will be required regardless.

General

Please describe the current UC environment scale and versions: number of CUCM clusters and version(s), Unity Connection, Emergency Responder, number of CUBE/voice gateways, Webex/Jabber deployment scope, and whether Voss Automate is the production provisioning platform.

ITS declines to answer.

General

Please identify the designated work location(s) by job title (e.g., Albany NOC/data centers, NYC or regional offices), the expected distribution of positions across those locations, and confirm each resource will have a single designated work location for travel-reimbursement purposes.

The work location will be Albany NY, but depending upon workload, there may be opportunities for positions at sites across the state at the sole discretion of ITS. Please see IFB Section 3.1 Price for additional details.

General

What is the approximate annual volume of site surveys, installations and relocations, and what test equipment and tools (cable certifiers, OTDR, toner/probes, ladders) must the Contractor supply versus ITS?

*Estimated* 2-Site visits per week per contractor. Numbers of installations and relocations are project dependent. All equipment required to do the work is provided by ITS.

General Which cloud platforms host the bulk of current NYS workloads (Azure, AWS, GCP, and the OCI/IBM Cloud referenced in 2.4.12), and approximately how many VPCs/VNets, agency tenants/subscriptions and cloud regions are under management?

ITS declines to answer.

General

Must all consultants performing services under the resulting contract be W-2 employees of the Prime Contractor, or may consultants be W-2 employees of ITS-approved subcontractors (including MWBE/SDVOB firms) or independent contractors, with the Prime remaining fully responsible for performance?

The Prime Contractor will be fully responsible for all performance under the contract regardless if subcontractors are used. Consultants performing work under this contract can be employees of the Prime and/or the subcontractor.

General Please provide the current active headcount by job title and location under the expiring contract and clarify whether the successor contractor may recruit or retain incumbent personnel during the 30-calendar-day transition.

Number of Consultants currently engaged:

(5) Tier 3 Network Support Analyst

(4) Network Engineer SME

(2) Unified Communications Specialist Level 3

(3) DCN-Unified Comms Spec Level 3

(3) DCN-Network Engineer SME ITS would not be involved in the transition or hiring processes of incumbent resources seeking employment with a new vendor. The exact number of resources needed on day one will be discussed with the winning Contractor.

Job Titles - Requirement 2.4

Section 2.4 requires every resource to be able to travel to any location in New York State on short notice, including evenings and weekends. Under the expiring contract, approximately how many such short-notice dispatches occurred per quarter, by title family?

Employees in Site Survey Engineer roles will travel approximately two days per week. While regular travel is not anticipated for other titles, occasional travel may be required for training, special projects, or to meet urgent operational demands.

Job Titles - Requirement 2.4 Please confirm the expected billable hours per full-time resource (e.g., 2,080 hours/year minus State holidays) and that consultants only bill for hours actually worked. Are contractor staff allowed or required to work on State holidays?

The estimated work hours for the year is 2,000 hours. Consultants shall bill exclusively for actual hours worked. Based on project workload and circumstances, consultants may be required to work holidays, evenings, and weekends

Job Titles - Requirement 2.4

Nearly all titles require rotating on-call. Is on-call standby time compensable/billable?

When an on-call resource is engaged after hours, is time worked billable at the contract rate, and is there a minimum call-out duration (e.g., two hours)? Approximately how frequently does each rotation get called?

Standby time when On-Call is not billable. When the on-call resource is engaged after hours, hours are billable at the contract rate. Frequency of on-call engagement is project dependent.

Job Titles - Requirement 2.4 & 2.7.1 At which location(s) is the Tier 1 Network Support Analyst desk staffed, across which of the 2.7.1 shift schedules, and what are typical monthly alarm/event and trouble-ticket volumes handled at Tier 1?

The work location will be Albany NY, but depending upon workload, there may be opportunities for positions at sites across the state at the sole discretion of ITS. The majority of the shift schedules will be daytime shift. Based on project workload and circumstances, consultants may be required to work holidays, evenings, and weekends. Ticket volumes will be shared with the winning Contractor.

IFB# C000853 Enterprise Network Support

Job Titles - Requirement General

For Tier 2 scoping, what is the approximate managed inventory (routers, switches, firewalls, wireless controllers/APs) by vendor and platform (Cisco and Juniper are implied by Tier 2's desired certifications; Arista appears at Tiers 3–4), and which firewall, VPN and wireless platforms are in production?

ITS declines to answer.

Job Titles - Requirement 2.4

For Tier 3: what is the expected frequency of after-hours maintenance windows (nights/weekends per month), the typical monthly change volume, and which DWDM/optical transport platforms are in scope?

This would depend on the project being worked on. The DWDM platform is Ciena.

Job Titles - Requirement 2.4

Tier 4 desired experience includes Frame Relay, TDM T1 and Cisco CSS/ACE load balancers, which are long end-of-life. Please confirm whether these remain in production and operationally supported, or whether current-generation equivalents (e.g., F5, modern ADCs) are the operative requirement.

There are a handful of legacy T1 circuits remaining across the state, but the majority of sites now have fully supported high-speed connections.

Network Operations Manager

2.4.12

How many Network Operations Manager positions are anticipated, and what is the expected span of control — the number and titles of contractor staff each manages, and does the role direct contractor staff only or also coordinate State employees? Is the position day-shift with rotating on-call, or is around-the-clock management coverage across shifts required?

This will generally be a day-shift position. Details will be driven by project requirements and workload. Details to be disclosed to the winning bidder.

Section 1 - Overview 1.4 When do you expect this RFQ to be awarded? Early November 2026 is when ITS expects to notify the tentative awardee and non-awardees.

Section 1 - Overview 1.4

We would like to kindly request a 1-week extension in order to incorporate new information from QnA?

No. The current IFB due date stands.

44 Section 1 / Section 3 1.4; 3.3 Is there an ideal timeline? The question lacks detail for ITS to properly respond.

Section 2 - Scope of

Work

2.2 Can you detail any previous challenges encountered in similar projects? There are no challenges to list.

Section 2 - Scope of

Work 2.2

Is there an incumbent? How much was their contract worth? Is the incumbent allowed to bid on the contract?

Yes there is an incumbent and they are allowed to submit a bid in response to this IFB. ITS declines to answer the current contract worth as it is irrelevant to this IFB.

Section 2 - Scope of

Work

2.5 Will the incumbent participate in knowledge transfer? Yes

Section 2 - Scope of Work

2.6.2 Which mandatory training requires physical attendance and where?

All onboarding and training-related activities will be conducted onsite. While we anticipate that onboarding will take place in Albany, NY, these activities may occur at another location within New York State, depending on the contractor's main office location.

Section 2 - Scope of Work

2.1 Whether any major platform migrations or technology refreshes are planned?

Equipment refreshes are part of the standard equipment lifecycle management process and may be a part of daily responsibilities.

Section 2 - Scope of Work

2.6 How many resources by job title does ITS expect to require on Day 1, and what is the expected steady-state headcount by year?

Day one head counts will be dependent on the winning bid amount and ITS funding approvals.

ITS will provide the number of staff per job title needed on day one with the winning contractor. Steady-state headcount by year may increase dependent upon work demand and special projects.

Section 2 - Scope of Work

2.1 What are the current annual/monthly volumes for incidents, service requests, network changes, escalations, device counts, supported sites, WAN/LAN/DC assets, cloud deployments, site surveys, and UC endpoints?

This information will be provided to the winning contractor.

IFB# C000853 Enterprise Network Support

Section 2 - Scope of Work

2.5-2.6 What is the incumbent's current staffing by title, location, and shift? How many incumbent resources are expected to remain available or potentially transition to the new contractor?

Number of Consultants currently engaged:

(5) Tier 3 Network Support Analyst

(4) Network Engineer SME

(2) Unified Communications Specialist Level 3

(3) DCN-Unified Comms Spec Level 3

(3) DCN-Network Engineer SME ITS would not be involved in the transition or hiring processes of incumbent resources seeking employment with a new vendor. The exact number of resources needed on day one will be discussed with the winning Contractor.

Section 2 - Scope of Work

2.4; 2.7.1 What are the expected primary work locations by role? How many site visits and overnight trips occurred during the last 12 months, and where are they concentrated geographically?

The work location will be Albany NY, but depending upon workload, there may be opportunities for positions at sites across the state at the sole discretion of ITS. A contractor may do an estimated (2) site visits per week. Instances of overnight stays are rare.

Section 2 / Appendix C 2.6.2; 8

Specify whether required ITS onboarding/technology training is onsite, remote, or hybrid?

Any onboarding-related activities will be onsite.

Section 3 - Administrative

Requirements and Information

3.8 As an out-of-state vendor, can we request an Open Records Request after award?

Yes. You can go to https://www.osc.ny.gov/open-book-new-york to look up records or a submit a FOIL request to ITS https://its.ny.gov/foil.

Section 5 - Bid Requirements

5.3-5.4 How long do you expect the proposal to be?

Please refer to IFB Section 5 Bid Requirements. There is no specified length the proposals need to be.

Section 6 - Evaluation

Methodology 6.1-6.5 Upon award decision what feedback can bidders expect? All bidders will be notified of award or non-award.

Service Manager 2.6.1

The Service Manager position is not a direct billable service. What level of engagement does ITS expect from the Service Manager? Specifically, will the role require a dedicated full-time or part-time commitment, an on-site presence, and a regular meeting schedule? Additionally, can the Service Manager also take on a billable role, such as that of a Network Operations Manager?

2.6.1 Service Manager "Bidder must designate a Services Manager who shall be their Service Representative and the State’s prime contact regarding all provisions of the Contract. The Service Manager shall be named in the Offeror’s Bid, and no substitutions shall be appointed without prior written approval from the State. The Service Manager is not a direct billable service. " Additionally--The Service Manager will not be a funded contractor position. The Service Manager will be a person designated as the primary contact for ITS to call if there are any problem, concerns, or other needs pertaining to the contract and related contractors.

Site Survey Engineer 2.4.5 - 8 Do Site Survey Engineers perform physical installation work (ceiling pathways, ladder work, rack-and-stack) requiring OSHA training and PPE, and are any State facilities subject to union labor rules or site-access constraints affecting this work?

The Site Survey Engineers may install equipment in a network rack. There are agencies that have access constraints (DOCCS) for example.

Site Survey Engineer 2.4.5 - 8 How are Site Survey Engineers deployed — assigned regional territories or a statewide pool — and what reporting/home-base location will be designated for each engineer?

A contractor may be assigned to Albany, Western NY or NYC Site Consult teams. This would be established at the time of onboarding.

Depending on operational needs determined by ITS, contractors may be required to travel statewide or within their designated home-base regions. Typically, statewide projects are coordinated from the Albany location.

Site Survey Engineer 2.4.5 - 8

Because Site Survey Engineer rates must include any and all travel costs, could you provide historical averages per engineer: weekly mileage, overnight stays per month, the upstate/downstate assignment mix, and typical parking/toll exposure (e.g., NYC assignments).

It is estimated that a contractor will travel 2-days per week. Overnight stays are rare. There is no differential for upstate/downstate work.

Site Survey Engineer 2.4.5 - 8

For Site Survey Engineers, is time spent traveling between the reporting location and agency sites (approximately 40% of the week) billable work time at the hourly rate, or is only on-site time billable?

Contractors are anticipated to travel an estimated 2-days per week. Time spent traveling to agency sites from their reporting location(s), and between agency sites where applicable, would be billable.

IFB# C000853 Enterprise Network Support

Staff Replacement & Chargeback/Remedies

2.8 & 2.9

Section 2.8 requires the Contractor to maintain the availability of selected staff throughout the term. For titles staffing the 24x7 schedules in 2.7.1: when an assigned consultant is temporarily absent (illness, planned leave, or resignation pending the Section 2.7 replacement process), is the Contractor required to provide interim substitute coverage at no additional cost, or is the position simply not billed during the absence? Do minimum per-shift coverage levels apply, and do the Section 2.9 chargebacks apply to daily absences?

If a consultant is temporarily absent, for a short period of time, a replacement consultant would not be expected to be provided. The position would not be billed during the time the consultant is inactive. If the consultant has a long term absence, they may need to be replaced.

The contractor is expected to comply with contract section 2.7.

Staff Training 2.6.2

Staff training is not a directly billable service. What is the expected scope and duration of initial onboarding and ongoing annual training for each resource (in hours or weeks)?

Additionally, is the time a newly assigned resource spends in ITS-required onboarding (such as security awareness and tooling access) considered billable?

Contractors hired to perform work involving network equipment from specific manufacturers such as Cisco, HPE Aruba, Palo Alto, Meraki must be trained and knowledgeable about the subject matter. Ensuring the contractor's expertise and skill set are sufficient to perform the required work will be the responsibility of the contractor and the bidding vendor. This will not be billable to ITS.

Staff Training 2.6.2

Monitoring platforms listed include OpenNMS, Zenoss, Cisco Prime, IBM Tivoli, Microsoft SCOM and Splunk. Which are currently in production (and versions), and will ITS provide platform-specific familiarization for new staff, given training is non-billable under 2.6.2?

ITS will provide familiarization and orientation to tools and platforms.

Staffing Request Process 2.7

Section 2.7 references Appendix H – Personnel Request Form; however, the solicitation package includes Appendix E – Personnel Request Form. Please confirm whether the reference to Appendix H should be Appendix E. If Appendix H is a separate form, please provide it.

There is no Appendix H. The IFB has been amended to the correct Appendix E - Personnel Request Form.

Staffing Request Process 2.7 The pricing sheet (Att 4) allows for one hourly rate per job description. What recommendation does ITS have for accounting for shift differentials?

There is one hourly rate per job description. There is not accounting for shift differentials. The estimated work hours for the year is 2,000 hours. Consultants shall bill exclusively for actual hours worked. Based on project workload and circumstances, consultants may be required to work holidays, evenings, and weekends.

Staffing Request Process 2.7

For each job title, which of the five shift schedules listed in 2.7.1 must be staffed, and approximately how many resources per title per shift are anticipated (including weekend shifts)?

The majority of the shift schedules will be daytime shift. Based on project workload and circumstances, consultants may be required to work holidays, evenings, and weekends.

Staffing Requirements 2.7

Certifications (CCNA/CCNP/CCIE, JNCIA/JNCIP/JNCIS, Arista ACE L7) are listed as "desired." Will candidates with equivalent demonstrable experience but without current certifications be accepted without disadvantage in candidate selection under 2.7?

Candidates who demonstrate related work experience and expertise in the network and communications field will be given full consideration.

Staffing Requirements 2.6 Please clarify the distinction between the billable Network Operations Manager (2.4.12) and the non-billable Service Manager (2.6.1) — may one individual serve in both capacities, and if not, what interactions does ITS expect between them?

2.6.1 Service Manager "Bidder must designate a Services Manager who shall be their Service Representative and the State’s prime contact regarding all provisions of the Contract. The Service Manager shall be named in the Offeror’s Bid, and no substitutions shall be appointed without prior written approval from the State. The Service Manager is not a direct billable service. " Additionally--The Service Manager will not be a funded contractor position. The Service Manager will be a person designated as the primary contact for ITS to call if there are any problems, concerns, or other needs pertaining to the contract and related contractors.

Staffing Requirements 2.6

Could you please confirm whether all evaluated performing positions must be physically on-site throughout the contract term, including subcontractor personnel, or whether any remote delivery is permitted?

At the sole discretion of ITS, hybrid/remote work is available per the ITS Telecommuting Policy.

Tier 4 Network Support Engineer/SME

2.4.4 How many Tier 4 Network Support Engineer/SME positions are anticipated, and does the "group leader function" include formal direction of other contractor staff (how many), versus technical leadership only?

The Network Support Engineer titles are technical and do NOT require supervision or direction of other contractors.

Work Shifts 2.7.1

Are shift assignments fixed per resource, or will individuals rotate across the five schedules? Since schedules are "subject to modification," how much advance notice will staff receive of shift changes?

A consultant will work the shift hours assigned. Rotation or changes to shift hours is not common.

IFB# C000853 Enterprise Network Support

Please clarify whether subcontractors may provide operational personnel, whether any percentage or role restrictions apply, and whether the prime remains subject to the $100-per-day chargeback when a delay is attributable to security-clearance processing or an ITS-requested candidate review.

The Prime Contractor will be fully responsible for all performance under the contract regardless if subcontractors are used. Consultants performing work under this contract can be employees of the Prime and/or the subcontractor.

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