RFP Overview Statement.docx

DOL121RP21530

Procurement Overview Statement for Software as a Service Cloud E-mail Platform for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Purpose The Department of Labor (DOL) Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is pursuing the acquisition of e-mail, collaboration, office automation, eDiscovery, and records management services as Software as a Service (SaaS) from a commercial provider of Cloud Computing services. The intent is to transform the current DOL legacy on-premise services into a primarily Cloud based SaaS services, with the requisite support contract that provides a highly innovative, secure, compliant, cost-effective, and evolving solution. The ideal solution would be an integrated suite of tools and capabilities that allows the government to transform the way business is conducted today, while also having the ability to manage, and monitor service performance, quality, and delivery, through clearly defined roles and business rules, rather than physical control of assets and direct software licensing. Recent trends show that traditional outsourcing and system integration models are insufficiently adaptive and costly; while cloud computing provides a more efficient utility based model for acquiring IT services, with the clear benefit of shifting the focus of IT budgeting from capital expense to operating expense.

The Statement of Objective (SOO) will describe the goals that DOL expects to achieve with regard to the following:

1. Modernization of its e-mail system;

2. Provision of a government community or private cloud solution that includes e-mail, collaboration, office automation, eDiscovery, and record management services that delivers an integrated and effective collaborative working environment;

3. Reduction of the government’s in-house capital and system maintenance burden; and

4. Application of appropriate security and privacy safeguards.

The new cloud solution should:

1. Provide features, functionality and capabilities that meet industry performance and interoperability standards (with a preference for open standards) and best practices;

2. Offer the necessary redundancy, resiliency, and contingency capabilities to meet DOL’s service availability needs;

3. Improve user experience and productivity;

4. Provide a secure computing environment that complies with all required federal regulations;

5. Leverage a mature solution that will require minimum software and/or service development work to meet DOL requirements;

6. Offer data portability (to another cloud platform);

7. Reduce significantly DOL’s capital and operating expenses.

Background The “25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology” published by OMB in December 2010 requires Federal agencies to implement a “Cloud First policy” in their acquisition of IT services and applications. The agencies are required to “default to cloud-based solutions whenever a secure, reliable, cost-effective cloud options exists.”

In February 2011, the Federal CIO issued a “Federal Cloud Computing Strategy” that defines the executive branch’s approach to safely and securely move IT infrastructure services to a cloud computing environment.

In both the February 2011 “Federal Cloud Computing Strategy” and the December 2010 “25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology”, both from the Office of Management and Budget, each Federal agency’s CIO has been directed to leverage this strategy to begin planning the migration of their IT services to cloud solutions. Cloud e-mail is the DOL’s cornerstone initiative in the implementation of these directives.

RFP RELEASE DATE: 15 August 2012