ATTACHMENT 7 - Questions and Answers regarding OSHANet.doc

Item 5 (Continued) OSHANet Questions to RFP

1. In Section B.1, Is the minimum amount of hours associated with the labor categories?

Response: There is no associated minimum.

2. In Section B.1, Are the hours associated with the labor category a pool of hours to bill multiple people against or hours associated for billing one staff resource.

Response: Staffing of the labor categories is the business decision of the contractor; however, the total of 1960 hours are typically against one staff resource, but hours may be associated against multiple people if they meet the requirements of the labor categories.

3. Section B.6: Is any historical information available on average annual staff travel days?

Response: No historical information is available.

4. In Section B.9, What is the minimum level required for all background investigations?

Response: See Section B.5

5. Will the Government provide background level requirement per identified labor category or by required tasks? How will DOL identify which background investigations they will pay for and which ones they will not?

Response: The Agency determines the Risk Level, Assigned Position Sensitivity Level, and Minimum Investigation required for the position. The Agency pays for any background check done by OPM but does not pay for deeper checks in order to get a secret clearance, which is not required.

6. In Attachment 2, Section C.3.1, Are the third party organizations other Government agencies or contractors?

Response: Yes, Both.

7. Is there a SLA and/or MOU between the third party organizations?

Response: Yes.

8. In Attachment 2, In Section C.4, Does the Government anticipate a formal transition period between the outgoing and incoming contractors? If so, over what period of time? And does the outgoing contractor have a written transition out plan approved by the Government? What is the planned access to the current vendor during the turn over process? What are the details of the planned turn over from the current vendor in terms of number and duration of meetings, training, etc?

Response: No, the Government does not anticipate a formal transition period.

9. How will the government define what deliverables are quarterly, monthly, weekly?

Response: The deliverables are found in the Statement of Work and will be documented in the approved Project Management Plan and tracked by the Performance Requirements Indicators.

10. In Section C.4.2:

a. How does the Government plan to issue the task requirements to build a project plan?

Response: The task requirements will be contained in the task orders issued against the contract.

b. How will delivery orders and/or task orders be issued under this IDIQ contract? May we assume that a blanket task order for general OSHANet support services will be issued upon or shortly after contract award, and that subsequent task orders may be released for specific projects and/or to exercise option years?

Response: These contracts typically contain a minimum and a maximum quantity of services (usually labor hours) that can be ordered during the contract period. The contract has a dollar ceiling and funds are obligated through the issuance of Task Orders. The contract will have a base year with Option Years.

11. Section C.4.3: How does the government plan to reimburse contractor for material provided by contractor to support monitoring, analyzing, and optimizing network performance?

Response: In most cases the government will pay for all materials to support network activities, however, if need be, the government and the vendor would discuss additional purchases of material support prior to vendor use.

12. Section C.5: a. Are the Performance Indicators and Standards of Performance the same as for the current contract? If not, how do they differ?

Response: Indicators have been modified to suit the needs of the current requirement.

13. Section C.5, Performance Indicator Table, item 9: Will the Government provide response times for Level I, II, and III?

Response: Please reference the Asterisk footnote at the end of table - * Value of metric will depend on the severity level and backup tape location (onsite/offsite); e.g., Level 1(8/16 hours): problem that does not have a significant current productivity impact; Level 2 (4/6 hours): high impact problem where business is proceeding but is impaired and is time sensitive; and Level 3 (4/4 hours): critical problem affecting business operations.

14. Section C.4.10: Will government provide criteria for determining document accuracy?

Response: Please see Section C.6.D

15. Section C.10: Is any historical information available on average annual on-call labor hours, off-hour maintenance hours, and “extra” hours? Will you provide historical data on the labor categories used and frequency of use?

Response: No historical information is available.

a. How many people in each labor category need to be in an on- call status?

Response: The labor category will depend on the incident needing on-call services. For example, testing by external application customers needing standby support would require a senior telecommunication and/or system engineer

b. Will overtime (Section B.4) be authorized for such situations?

Response: Only per government authorization, per section B.4 Overtime.

16. Instructions to Offerors, Part II: How does the Government define “expert ability” versus “at least intermediate” ability?

Response: Addressed in Instructions to Offerors, Part III, Past Performance Information.

17. Addendum A: What sites are using modem dialing? Will the government provide a list of the hardware and software being used for Intrusion Prevention System and/or Intrusion Detection System?

Response: Multiple OSHA State sites to transfer legacy data to an application. SUN/Snort

18. Is there an incumbent contractor? If so, could you please provide the contractor name and the contract number that was awarded? Can you provide the name of the company who is currently providing operations, maintenance, IT security and other support services for OSHANet?

Response: The incumbent contractor is Valdez International; they are performing work under order number DOLJ109F30309.

19. Is the incumbent eligible to re-bid? Are they eligible to bid as a prime contract?

Response: Interested vendors shall review the requirements of the solicitation and make their own determination regarding their eligibility to respond.

20. Will separate task orders be awarded for enhancement efforts?

Response: No. Please see Section C.4.7.

21. What are the current approved configuration management tools?

Response: Merant Tracker, Serena Version Manager, and Clearcase

22. What are the current network and host intrusion detection systems?

Response: SUN/Snort

23. What are the current firewall(s) vendor and model?

Response: Checkpoint, Secure Platform NGX-R60

24. What is the current service desk ticketing system? What is the current problem tracking system used by the current vendor? What is the current help desk system used by the help desk vendor? Case Tracking Software – What software is used to track service tickets to resolution?

Response: Remedy

25. Is there an EVM system currently in place?

Response: No; see EVMS Attachment 2, EVMS- 2, Earned Value Management System Contract Clause

26. How frequent are disaster recovery exercises conducted?

Response: At least annually

27. Section B.1 provides labor categories for pricing; however, no descriptions of the categories are provided. Can the government provide labor category descriptions (education level, years of experience, certifications required). Please provide labor category descriptions (experience and education requirements) for the provided labor categories on Page SOW-17 and in the price tables. Section B.1 lists the labor categories that are required for this contract. Where are the specific experience and education requirements located?

Response: See Attachment 1 – Revised SOW Section C.10 CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL, WORK HOURS, and WORK ASSIGNMENTS for key personnel requirements

28. The instructions to offerors do not mention a submission of or location for the Management volume. If a management volume is to be included, please provide instructions. If no management volume is required, please clarify whether a staffing plan and resumes should be submitted and where these should go in the formatted response. –

Response: There is no “Management Volume;”staffing plan and resumes should be submitted with the technical proposal

29. The Evaluation factors appear to be focused on experience and past performance. Is it the government's intent that offerors respond directly to the evaluation factors and subfactors based on past performance and experience or that offerors should also include their plans and processes to meet the requirements of the SOW for the future work to be performed?

Response: Both.

30. How many area offices does OSHANet have? Can you provide their locations?

Response: OSHA currently has10 Regions, 86 area offices and 35 state offices and 4 specialized sites. Information on locations can be found on www.osha.gov.

31. Will DOLNet Architecture implementation be complete prior to contract award?

Response: Yes.

32. Is there a plan for OSHANet to migrate to Windows 7?

Response: Yes, within the next 2 years.

33. a. Can DOL provide the number of Help Desk calls placed last year?

Response: For the OSHANet the number of tickets was 2,532.

b. Number of on-site service requests responded to?

Response: Same response as #34a.

34. What were the total number of preventative maintenance hours performed last year? Number of instances?

Response: Preventative Maintenance was performed after normal business hours and hours were less than ¼ of an FTE. The number of instances is approximately twice a month, unless emergency maintenance is required.

35. Will the contractor be responsible for Warranty and Post Warranty services on all hardware?

Response: Contractor will be responsible for assisting the government in ensuring warranty and maintenance services for hardware and software are adequate and completed as needed.

36. What amount of lead time will the contractor be provided to Integrate Devices/equipment?

Response: It is the goal of the government to plan for this type of request as best as possible.

37. What amount of lead time will the contractor be provided to perform upgrades?

Response: Lead time would be schedule dependent.

38. Will upgrades be performed during the PPM hours?

Response: We are assuming that PPM means Planned Preventative Maintenance; if so, then upgrades to production systems would be completed during these hours.

39. CLINs lists a Subject Matter Expert; what technical or business expertise is required for this position? For the Subject Matter Experts, what skill sets are needed?

Response: To Be Determined dependent on future initiatives -- The Subject Matter Experts would focus on areas outlined in the SOW; section C.4.3 – C.4.13

40. What EVMS is the incumbent using today?

Response: This information is not relevant to proposal development.

41. Can an off-site central call management location with approved escalation procedures by the DOL take the initial trouble dispatching Tier II and Tier III break fix deployment?

Response: OSHA uses an internal trouble ticket system, Remedy, to escalate tier II and tier III calls. The locations for work performed are at Sandy UT and Washington, DC.

42. What is the weighted evaluation between Price, Technical and Past Performance? –

Response: See Section E.4. 52.212.2 Evaluation of Commercial Items of the Solicitation

43. Does DOL have an estimate on how many travel days will be required? Will ODC CLINs be issued for travel expenses?

Response: There is no estimate available; see CLIN 0016 for the travel Not to Exceed amount.

44. User Support Related to the OSHANet

Provide tier two and tier three support services to OSHANet end users in the use computer and network applications, and to field systems administrators in the administration and maintenance of network hardware and software.

Tier two support is defined as trouble requests escalated to the OSHANet Operations Group

Tier three support is defined as trouble requests that must be escalated to a third party such as (Microsoft, Verizon Business, etc.)

OSHA local (Regional, Area, State Plan, and Consultation office) systems administrators normally provide level one support to their respective offices except for email

The Contractor shall work with OSHA’s Directorate of Information Technology (DIT) Help Desk staff to support varying levels of users at various service levels. The Contractor shall identify, isolate, report, track, document, and resolve end user hardware and software problems related to the network. The Contractor shall log incoming network support requests in OSHA’s tracking system to include, but not be limited to, caller identification (ID), equipment ID, time and date of call, network connection information, caller’s desktop configuration, nature of the call, status of trouble ticket, and problem resolution.

Question: What are the SLAs (ticket receipt, acceptance and status updates) between Tier I, Tier II and Tier III Network Operations?

Response: See C.5, performance indicator 8. Also, please reference the Asterisk footnote at the end of table, and prior to Section C.6. All tickets are logged and worklog updated using Remedy.

45. Oracle and Informix are listed as Unix Server software. They are mentioned nowhere else in the SOW. Is the expectation that Oracle and Informix experts are included in the technical labor make up or is this listed to indicate what type of application is running on the system?

Response: Listed to indicate application type.

46. The Government provides descriptions for evaluation purposes of technical subfactors in Attachment 3, DOL110RP20902 Instructions for Offerors. In this attachment under part II – Technical Proposal the government specifies evaluation criteria qualified as either “expert” or “intermediate” abilities for the various technical subfactors.

Does the government have specific objective descriptions and criteria to define levels of Expert and Intermediate abilities? Please provide the specifications, qualifications, and objectives.

Response: The qualifications and objectives for the level of ability is to meet or exceed deliverables as specified in the SOW.

47. Background Investigation. Page SOW-18 says that NACI and MBI with fingerprinting will be required for this contract. Does the DOL accept any existing clearances such as Secret or Top Secret or do all contract staff regardless of existing clearance have to go through DOL background investigation?

Response: DOL accepts existing clearance such as Secret or Top Secret. The contractor will need to provide information on where this information can be accessed and verified.

48. Place of Performance: Page SOW-16 indicates that work will be performed onsite in Washington, DC and Sandy, Utah. Are any contract staff expected to be based full time in Utah or any other site outside of Washington, DC?

Response: Yes. The locations for work performed are at Sandy UT and Washington, DC.

49. Travel: What is the frequency or estimated frequency and duration of travel to Utah or remote sites? Which positions are expected to travel?

Response: PM labor category should travel from DC to UT since there will be staff located there. Other labor categories may need to travel to coordinate project tasks or training.

50. Is there anything the government is looking to improve upon with this procurement?

Response: The qualifications and objectives are to meet or exceed deliverables as specified in the SOW.

51. Ticket Volume: What is the average monthly ticket, incident, or call volume that the team processes and resolves?

Response: The number of OSHANet tickets last year totaled 2,532.

52. Operations Management Software – The software list does not show any operations management software. Is any operations management software or system currently being used to manage and monitor the health and status of servers and network devices?

Response: Yes; NetIQ and Solarwinds

53. The description of the environment only includes the Microsoft based systems. Please describe the SUN, UNIX, and Linux based systems that are in place and what services they provide or host.

Response: See Attachment 2, page SOW-20, Addendum A.

54. How many past performance references may we submit?

Response: The Government will evaluate past performance of three or more relevant contracts performed within the past three years to determine how well the offeror performed on similar contracts. Please submit a minimum of three (3) past performance references and a maximum of six (6) past performance references.

55. May we use our teaming partners past performance? Can Past Performance be from the team?

Response: Offerors proposing subcontractors or using teaming arrangements should include past performance information for subcontractors performing key aspects of the requirement in addition to relevant past performance information for the prime contractor. Should the prime contractor not have relevant past performance information, best effort should be made to submit past performance of predecessor companies and/or prime key personnel.

56. Attachment 2, Page SOW-20 References End User Software, Attachment 2, Page SOW 9 References Tier I and II end user support. What trouble shooting and problem resolution related to applications software other than network specific applications will the contractor be required to support?

Response: The contract will need to troubleshoot and resolve network related application software and will need to work with application owners to isolate and identify network related issues in support of customer applications.

57 Does a Test and Verification Environment exist for use in validating changes and patches to the production environment?

Response: Not at this time, but environment is planned for near future.

58. Are the existing network and server components currently under OEM Support Agreements?

Response: We have agreement with third party hardware/software vendors for licensing and maintenance agreements.

59. Are there spare parts for key network and server components?

Response: There are maintenance agreements in place for hardware spare parts support.

60. Will overtime be allowed for After-hours and Emergency situations?

Response: Only per government authorization, see B.4, Overtime.

61. Is existing cost data available for the work specified in this solicitation?

Response: No

62. If proposal submission is by carrier such as FedEx will the deliver time be determined by arrival at the specified location or is it the time actually received by the contracting specialist?-

Response: Any proposal, modification, or revision, that is received at the designated Government office after the exact time specified for receipt of proposals is “late.”

63 Has OSHA identified Key Personnel from the labor categories that it expects on day 1?

Response: Yes, the Key Personnel are Project Manager II, Senior Telecommunications Engineer II, Senior Network/Systems Engineer III (Windows), Senior Network/Systems Engineer III (UNIX), and IT Security Engineer/Information Assurance Specialist III

64. Is the SME Category intended to be a consultant position (i.e., a position to be used for when specialized consulting or vendor expertise is needed)? What skill, knowledge and certifications are required for the Subject Matter Expert? What portion of the statement of work will the subject matter expert be performing on?

Response: Use of consultants or contractor staff is a business decision of the contractor. The Subject Matter Experts would focus on areas outlined in the SOW; section C.4.3 – C.4.13

65. The SF 1449 indicates NAICS 424690 but FedBiz has 541513. Is the NAICS code 424690 correct? What is the correct NACIS Code and size standard for this effort? –

Response: No, NAICS 424690 was listed in error; the correct NAICS code is 541513 Computer Facilities Management Services with a Small Business Size Standard of $25 million.

66. Will the Government be providing a confidence rating for those companies who have no corporate experience but will be submitting information regarding the past performance of predecessor companies and key personnel with relevant past performance?

Response: For contractors with no relevant corporate past performance experience, the Government may take into account information regarding the past performance of predecessor companies, key personnel with relevant past performance, or subcontractors that will perform key aspects of the requirement. Please make your best effort to submit at least 3 relevant past performance references. In an instance where a company lacks corporate experience, please provide a short explanation of the relationship of the reference to the offeror.

67. We noticed the absence of a staffing and transition plans requirements. Was this done intentionally? -

Response: No transition plan is anticipated

68. Are there minimum certification requirements? Example: Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Project Management Professional (PMP).

Response: Minimum qualifications are listed under Section C.10 of the Statement of Work.

69. Is this contract being offered because the current contract is in the last option year?

Response: The existing OSHANet contract will soon expire.

70. What is the name of the vendor that has the help desk contract? Is the help desk contract up for re-bid?

Response: This information is not relevant to this procurement

71 OSHANet is in the process of completing the migration to DOLNet. What stage in the migration process has been completed? Will this contract be used to complete the migration or will it be complete by the time this contract is awarded?

Response: The migration process has been completed.

72. After the migration has been completed, is maintenance and operation of the DOLNet fall under this contract?

Response: No, however, OSHA coordinates efforts with the DOL to maintain OSHA site connectivity/performance levels.

73. SECURITY -Section B.9 discusses the security clearance level or type of investigation that will be required based on the position risk/sensitivity level that the employee will be handling. I can not find any reference to what appropriate position risk/sensitivity level will be assigned to which labor category. Can we get a break down on this as well so that I know who must get the SSBI or the NACI investigations?

Response: The security clearance level will be determined by the Government. The Agency pays for any background check done by OPM but does not pay for deeper checks in order to get a secret clearance, which is not required.

74. Since we are to utilize the wage determinant provided and the work is split between Washington DC and Sandy Utah, will the government provide a breakdown of which labor category hours are to be spent at which site?

Response: The wage determinations are provided for the offeror’s information; this procurement is subject to the Service Contract Act

75. What clearance is required for each job description and by location?

Response: The Agency determines the Risk level, Assigned Position Sensitivity Level, and the Minimum Investigation required for the position. This is the same for each location.

76. The RFP lists the following system documentation: system designs, schematics, documentation, and draft directives or manuals, OSHANet Disaster Recovery/Contingency Plans, emergency preparedness, system security plans, and Standard Operating Procedures. What other detailed documentation will be provided by the current vendor?

a.) evaluations of new technologies relative to the OSHANet environment b.) requirements, development plans, and justifications for the additions and modifications to network infrastructure?

c.) recommendations for upgrade of services and equipment

d. recommendations to improve the reliability, performance, availability, security, or functionality of the OSHANet e.) test plans?

f.) job descriptions?

g.) database of change requests?

h.) database of 2nd tier helpdesk calls?

i) contracts with vendors, including service level agreements j.) list of identified vulnerabilities k.) internal audits

l) list of network enhancements and improvements – past and present?

m.)configuration management system?

n.) development life cycle methodology used to this point?

o.) customer satisfaction reports?

p.) history of calls to 3rd tier support?

q) what else?

Response: The Government owns all network documentation that will be provided at time of award.

77. Is there integration between the help desk system used by the help desk vendor and the 2nd tier helpdesk vendor?

Response: Yes, calls are escalated by OSHA help desk.

78. How many helpdesk tickets are referred to level 2 support, on average (daily, weekly, etc)

Response: The number of OSHANet tickets last year totaled 2,532.

79. What is the current backlog of change requests?

Response: OSHANet is current on applicable change requests.

80. Is remote access allowed, or must all employees work on site?

Response: All work is performed on site. Remote access is allowed upon Government pre-approval.

81. Is it acceptable to have a very small number of employees on site, such as 2 in DC and 1 in Utah, and have the rest work remotely?

Response: No. The locations for work performed are at Sandy UT and Washington, DC.

82. What are the minimum amounts of insurance required? I did not seem them in the schedule Response: See FAR 28.307-2 Liability for the minimum amounts of insurance required

83. Does this contract involve managing the contracts of the vendors that supply hardware, software, telecom, etc to OSHANet?

Response: No.

84. What is the current level of availability of the OSHANet?

Response: Greater than 98%.

85. What is the schedule for the commencement and fulfillment of this contract?

Response: Contract performance is anticipated to begin in mid-January, 2011. The period of performance shall be for twelve months from the date of award, plus 4 additional one-year option periods.

86. The paragraphs on page SOW-6 under the heading, “C. Maintain and report on network performance metrics” require some clarification or may have been put under the wrong heading. Specifically, the bulleted items below:

The Contractor shall provide the following:

Electronic Performance Monitoring, Incident Detection, and Diagnostic Service (provides automated incident or fault detection and response initiation. Applies to components which are powered up, operating, and network connected.)

This implies that contractor must provide a software management tool or system, but that appears to be outside scope of this contract which is all labor based.

Response: The contractor uses in-house provided tools to maintain and report on network performance metrics but may recommend or may have experience using other tools to meet future needs.

Electronic Notification Service (components which are powered up, operating, and network connected.)

This implies that contractor must provide a software management tool or system, but that appears to be outside scope of this contract which is all labor based. If it is not a mistake, please clarify what is actually required

Response: The contractor uses in-house provided tools to maintain and report on network performance metrics but may recommend or may have experience using other tools to meet future needs

Electronic Software Distribution (components which are powered up, operating, and network connected)

This implies that contractor must provide a software management tool or system, but that appears to be outside scope of this contract which is all labor based. If it is not a mistake, please clarify what is actually required.

Response: The contractor uses in-house provided tools to monitor, maintain, report, and document network performance metrics but may recommend or may have experience using other tools to meet future needs Electronic Topology/Configuration Management Please clarify what is actually required

Response: The contractor uses in-house provided tools to monitor, maintain, report, and document changes to network diagrams and topology as well as software/hardware/system changes.

Shared Network Storage Data File Backup If it is not a mistake, please clarify what is actually required. This doesn’t seem to belong under the reporting and metrics heading.

Response: The contractor uses in-house provided tools to monitor, maintain, report, and document changes to the Shared Network Storage Data and all file backup systems, including any software/hardware/system changes.

Disaster Recovery Shared Network Storage Data File Backup

If it is not a mistake, please clarify what is actually required. This doesn’t seem to belong under the reporting and metrics heading.

Response: The contractor uses in-house provided tools to monitor, maintain, report, and document changes to the Disaster Recovery Shared Network Storage area and the Data File Backup system, including any software/hardware/system changes.

Ensure security of OSHANet (LAN, WAN, services, servers, desktops)

This doesn’t seem to belong under the reporting and metrics heading.

Response: The contractor uses in-house provided tools to monitor, maintain, report, and document all security related incidences and events on the network.