Qs As 2nd set 8-8 thru 8-10-2012.docx

Solicitation D12PS00316 Questions and Answers Amendment No. 003 Foundation Cloud Hosting Services

Ref/Sentence

Is this information restricted?

No, the list of attendees from the pre-proposal conference will not be made available. However, as stated in Section L10.1, Partnering/Teaming List, as a courtesy we will compile a list of those offerors that wish to be incorporated on a list that are interested in subcontracting and partnering opportunities with other potential offerors. A current list has been posted to the AQD website shown below. It may be modified as others submit their information http://www.aqd.nbc.gov/Business/solic_details.aspx?solid=499

Also, the slide presentation from the pre-proposal conference has been posted to the AQD website identified above.

No

C-3 Attch 10, p. 4 Attachment 2 C-3, Attachment 10 Att 2, p. 9: The Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud solution(s) shall be Government only communities (including United States federal, state, local and tribal) provided the communities have similar and compatible security control objectives, requirements, and compliance considerations, or private clouds, certified under FISMA with a security categorizations of either “LOW”, “MODERATE”, or “HIGH” commensurate with the security categorizations of the DOI hosted applications.

C-3: The Web Hosting Services Technical Service Line includes, but is not limited to cloud Based Web Hosting Services in public, private, community and hybrid cloud environments.

Att 10, p. 4: For Information Systems with “Low” sensitivity and impact, Virtual Machine Hosting Services may be hosted on a Public cloud.

The task order requirement appears to be in conflict with the enterprise requirement. Is the solution restricted to private or government community clouds only, or are public and hybrid clouds permitted for specific task orders?

Response will be provided in a forthcoming amendment.

· Make

· Model

· CPU / RAM

· How used (which SAP components or other purpose)

· Storage array type (make/model)

· Storage Resource Management software

· Raw/usable/used GB (direct attached on servers and SAN/NAS) Note virtual/physical relationships

The Government desires the most cost effective, best value proposed solution. Therefore, it is up to the vendor to propose the solution not for the Government to dictate.

No

Would DOI be willing to share the "in-depth requirements analysis" for the offerors’ consideration in developing the appropriate solution?

No. Many of the inputs and, in particular, the decisional discussions, are not in a format that can be shared. The information is not required and/or necessary in order to prepare your proposed solution.

No

FBMS serves an array of end-users nation-wide through the DOI’s Enterprise Services Network (ESN). Given a change in hosting providers, the only change to connectivity will be the addition of one or more links from the new hosting provider into the DOI ESN and deletion of connections to the current provider.

Will the government provide the current connectivity bandwidth in use?

Currently FBMS is connected to the DOI ESN (private Verizon cloud) via a tiered DS3 45mbs connection. At this time the Government sees a 15% average utilization on that connection with it expected to be at 40% utilization by Fiscal Year 14.

All new circuits should have sonet capability and be fully redundant.

No.

FBMS serves an array of end-users nation-wide through the DOI’s Enterprise Services Network (ESN). Given a change in hosting providers, the only change to connectivity will be the addition of one or more links from the new hosting provider into the DOI ESN and deletion of connections to the current provider.

Will the government be providing the new links from the DOI ESN into the new hosting provider facility?

The only change to connectivity will be the addition of one or more links from the new hosting provider into the DOI ESN and deletion of connections to the current provider.

Therefore, offerors shall assume the Government is providing any required primary connectivity.

Attachment 6 has been revised to include sub-section 21.5.1, Government Provided Assumptions, which includes item 1 and states, Offerors shall assume the Government is providing any required primary connectivity with regards to Section 4.8.2 of this document.

Yes, change made as stated in the response.

b. Please provide storage breakdown by application & database

However, this information is not required and/or necessary in order to prepare your proposed solution.

The Government desires the most cost effective, best value proposed solution. Therefore, it is up to the vendor to propose the solution not for the Government to dictate.

Yes, an addendum 2 has been added to Attachment 6.

Databases larger than one TB are mirrored daily and dumped to tape for offsite retention. Smaller databases are backed-up directly to tape. Retention of back-ups of the development, quality assurance, and training environments is 30 days, while retention of the production environment is 35 days.

No

The Government’s intention is not a “one-for-one” correlation to the software components identified in Table 3. Section 9 of the PWS identifies the qualification requirements for the FBMS proposed personnel.

No

Attachment 6, specifically Section 4.4, Table 1. The daily utilization patterns are not necessary in order to provide a proposed solution. Daily and weekly fluctuation in-demand are already included in the information contained in Table 1.

No

BobJ PCM will be built out on the new hosting environment immediately after the environment migrations are complete, currently anticipated for the first quarter of FY15.

No

Does the Day 1 Task Order include the FBMS services currently provided by IBM Global Business Services? If not, is IBM Global Business Services eligible to bid on the SAP Hosting Day 1 Task Order, or does IBM GBS have a COI for this Day 1 Task?

The current systems integration effort is completely separate from the requirements of the Day 1 task order identified within the PWS, Attachment 6. The “Day 1 Task Order for SAP Hosting” is for Cloud services to host the FBMS infrastructure. The IBM Global Business Services system integrator services are to assist DOI in deploying FBMS.

The “Day 1 Task Order for SAP Hosting” does NOT include any services currently being provided by IBM GBS. Therefore, the Government’s position is that IBM GBS is eligible to participate by submitting a proposed solution for any/all of the technical service lines to include SAP Application Hosting.

No

The proposed solutions must clearly identify who holds the SAP certification.

This would depend on the solution and be seen as differencing and/or risk factors in the technical evaluation.

No

Section 12.3 was deleted with the revisions in Amendment No. 002, See Section 21 for submission instructions and evaluation criteria. However, Section 2.5 has been revised to read as follows: DOI shall retain the ability to perform the same capabilities for ProdCopy and backups via the next technical platform in the cloud.

Yes, change made as stated in the response.

Therefore, any additional information is not necessary in order to provide a proposed solution.

No

Would DOI entertain alternate pricing models such as Firm, Fixed Price? If T&M is required, does the contract type require Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) compliance?

Yes, the Government will consider a firm-fixed-price solution for the FBMS Day 1 task order.

Per 48 CFR 9903.201-1 - CAS Applicability, specifically, subsections (b)(2), negotiated contracts in excess of the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) threshold would not be exempt from CAS. However, TINA applies where the Government required cost or pricing data. This acquisition is being conducted in accordance with FAR Parts12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, and 15, Contracting by Negotiation. FAR 15.403-1(c)(3) exempts commercial items from the requirement for cost or pricing data.

Therefore, this is not a CAS covered acquisition.

No

Section C.7 does establish that specific requirements may be contained in the individual task orders. In the case of the SAP Application Hosting service line, the maximum provisioning period will be 72-hours.

No

4.6 Table 6

Will DOI release the latest EWA (Early Watch Alert) Report to offerors?

DB usable SAN and total usable SAN (at the OS level) projections are provided by environment and DB instance in the attached Addendum 1 added to Attachment 6. These are projections based on the current FBMS Technical infrastructure. The total SAN requirements associated with a particular vendor proposal may differ.

The latest EWA information is not necessary in order to provide a proposed solution.

Yes, an addendum 1 has been added to Attachment 6.

However, Attachment 6, Section 5.8 has been changed to remove “…at the time of award.” Also, Section 21.2, Technical Proposal, has been revised to add a sub-section 21.2.1.5 which states, “Demonstrated proof the service provider is a certified SAP hosting partner.”

Yes, change made as stated in the response.

Can the Government please provide proposal instructions on how the proposal response should be structured and how the proposal response will be evaluated?

The Day 1 task order statement of work was revised to include language regarding instructions and evaluation criteria specific to the task orders in Amendment No. 002.

No

No

The Task Order intent is to provide a range of Virtual Machines (para J.4 “Resource Demand Summary”, in a non-production environment, with administrative rights and permissions unique to the development environment.

Yes, change made as stated in the response.

The Resource Demand Summary provided in both Section J’s Attachment 7 and Attachment 8 are identical. Please confirm that this is correct.

“A web-based application provides access to citations, electronic publications and publications available through the USGS Store. The application provides a sophisticated search mechanism, as well as thematic, programmatic and temporal approaches to locating and displaying information about publications. Where a publication is available in electronic format, a user may immediately access and download the publication.”

Since there are no Storage Services identified in the J.2 SUMMARY OF ANTICIPATED AWARD, Technical Service Line, or Capacity/Volume, it appears the publications are not moving into the Cloud.

a. How will the Government ensure access, availability, and throughput to the publications adequate enough for the contractor to meet the Service Level Alternatives in J.7 ENHANCEMENTS TO SERVICE LEVEL REQUIREMENTS?

b. Are the publications located in one location or many?

c. What is the file format of the publications?

The data supporting this Task Order will be hosted within a single facility, which initially will be the DOI infrastructure, located at the CIDA facility in Middleton, Wisconsin.

The web host “calling” information has been designed to minimize the communications requirements with the “storing” database.

The file format for the transported information is not required in order to formulate a responsive proposal to the solicitation. Offeror should include any specific assumptions regarding file formats within the submission.

The dialog between the “calling” and “storing” hosts will be completed via the DOI Trusted Internet Connection (TIC).

The DOI retains responsibility for service level impacts based solely upon DOI owned and operated infrastructure, however the contract service provider shall cooperate with the DOI to configure and maintain system infrastructure elements to ensure end-to-end latency is in compliance with IT system and end-user service level commitments, where technically feasible.

No

No

If applicable for subsequent task orders any requirements would be handled on an individual task order basis.

No

“There are no anticipated changes to usage patterns during this task order that would require run time elasticity in either expanding or contracting the computing requirements beyond those described in the day one “operating conditions.

Yes, change made as stated in the response.

What about other licenses such as Oracle for data base?

Will the government transfer and conduct testing of the content?

No

From 500 Terabytes to 4.8 Petabytes

Current Off-line backup storage consumption is not included in the range of storage capacity identified in paragraph J.4 Resource Demand Summary.

The projected aggregate volumes could include a limited amount of cross-site on-line backup stores.

The Government desires the most cost effective, best value proposed solution for each service of the technical service lines defined within the RFP. Therefore, it is up to the vendor to identify and propose their solutions, which best meets the requirements and recommending the specific solution for each storage class identified in paragraph J.5.1.

No

(1) What percentage of the 500-4.8 PB will be utilized or is targeted for DCCI-Datacenter Consolidation /Staging/Support? What type of storage service – block, file or object-based storage, will be required for this category? What protocol(s) will be used to access this storage?

(2) What percentage of the 500-4.8 PB will be utilized or is targeted for CoOP/DR-Contingency Support? What type of storage service – block, file or object-based storage, will be required for this category? What protocol(s) will be used to access this storage?

(3) What percentage of the 500-4.8 PB will be utilized or is targeted for Other? What type of storage service – block, file or object-based storage, will be required for this category? What protocol(s) will be used to access this storage?

The volume of services is not required in order to formulate a proposed solution.

The three additional categories (Datacenter Consolidation/Staging/Support, CoOP/DR Contingency Support, and Other) are identified primarily to accommodate internal activity-based cost of service reporting.

To the extent that the type of storage and protocols would be cost or performance drivers, the impact on cost should be specified in the pricing response, and the impact on performance should be specified in the technical response and/or specified within the assumptions section.

No

For proposal preparation purposes assume the primary mode of transport for DOI is over the network via Trusted Internet Connection (TIC). Bulk Transfer via tape or other media is anticipated for service initiation for large data stores, restoration services for IT Systems when not available at the commercial hosting facility, and migration of data and systems between portfolio service providers.

Government desires the most cost effective, best value proposed solution for each service of the technical service lines defined within the RFP. Therefore, it is up to the vendor to identify and propose their solutions which best meet the requirements with regards to transfer of information via physical media. This may include describing break-points for a wide range of volumes in the pricing response. (See Section C.6.2.2.1) Yes, Section L.16 created to capture all Government provided assumptions.

Is an encrypted tape transportation solution option available and, if so, how frequently?

The volume of inbound and outbound transport volumes is not required in order to formulate a proposed solution.

For proposal preparation purposes assume the following: The primary mode of transport for DOI is over the network via Trusted Internet Connection. Bulk Transfer via tape or other media is anticipated for service initiation for large data stores, restoration services for IT Systems when not available at the commercial hosting facility, and migration of data and systems between portfolio service providers.

The Government desires the most cost effective, best value proposed solution for each service of the technical service lines defined within the RFP. Therefore, it is up to the vendor to identify and propose their solutions which best meet the requirements with regards to transfer of information via physical media. This may include describing break-points for a wide range of volumes in the pricing response. (See Section C.6.2.2.1) Yes, Section L.16 created to capture all Government provided assumptions.

The Government desires the most cost effective, best value proposed solution for each service of the technical service lines defined within the RFP. Therefore, it is up to the vendor to identify and propose their solutions which best meet the requirements with regards to transfer of information between primary and DR data centers. This may include describing break-points for a wide range of transport volumes in the pricing response.

No

Does this refer to the multi-path connection between host and storage controller only – or does this imply that all data stored in Class A and Class B require a complete replica that is constantly in-sync and online?

Specific ranges of storage and transport volumes will be identified in the individual task orders.

No

The projected aggregate volumes could include a limited amount of cross-site on-line backup stores.

No

What quantities are should be used for each evaluated contract year to arrive at an evaluated price for this service area?

What are the specific scenarios intended for evaluation purposes and will the Government provide these quantities on a monthly or annual basis?

Will the Government provide evaluated quantities for each service level alternative?

The specific volume of storage capacity by class of service is not required in order to prepare a proposed solution.

The range of storage volumes were provided only to establish the scope and context for the offeror to propose appropriate “per unit of service” price breaks appropriate to their business model. Therefore, no additional scenario information is necessary nor will be provided, and no evaluated quantities are required in order to prepare a proposed solution.

No

a. Is the minimum guaranteed consumption per year the lower number shown in the “range of the concurrent Virtual Machines” table?

b. Do we need to provide prices for lower consumption than listed in the schedule?

The projected consumption volumes, resources, service levels and optional features for each service line in paragraph J.4 of this attachment are provided for proposal preparation and evaluation purposes only. The government makes no representations regarding minimum guaranteed consumption per year.

The Government desires the most cost effective, best value proposed solution for each service of the technical service lines defined within the RFP. Therefore, it is up to the vendor to identify and propose their solutions which best meet the requirements. This would include identifying any assumptions and volume requirements that would be associated projecting declining prices.

No

The table appears in all of the Task Orders.

For example, to equalize an hourly rate to a day rate, would the government multiply the hourly rate by 24?

The government will evaluate rates of consumption based on the fixed price per unit of service as it correlates to the proposed technical solution.

No

b. Do we need to incorporate the cost of installation into the license costs?

The Government desires the most cost effective, best value proposed solution for each service of the technical service lines defined within the RFP.

When evaluating pricing, the government will consider the total cost of service for the government for the services offered.

Per Section M.4.4.3, Price/Cost Evaluation, the Government may conduct a sensitivity analysis. This analysis may be used to identify and analyze the overall costs associated with any life cycle expenses the Government would potentially incur as they relate to the proposed solutions.

The Government reserves the right to make any adjustment in costs, for evaluation purposes, in order to assess the overall cost to the Government depending on the outcome of the sensitivity analysis based on the proposed solution. This would include any costs, not included in the vendor’s proposal that the Government may incur, based on the proposed solution.

No

Can the Government please provide proposal instructions on how the proposal response should be structured and how the proposal response will be evaluated?

The instructions contained in Section L, and the evaluation criteria as stated in Section M, applies to the Representative Use Cases. This clarification and subsequent RFP change was reflected in Amendment No. 002

No