Mainframe_Computer_Services_RFI_1_24_2014.docx

General Information

Question Submission Date: 01/30/2014

Email: Jones.Elliott@bls.gov Phone: 202-691-6049

2) Gary Fontaine Email: Fontaine.Gary@bls.gov Phone: 202-691-6024 Disclaimer:

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Any formal solicitation that may result from this synopsis will be announced separately.

CAUTION: At this time there are no funds allocated or set aside for the future of this requirement. Any information provided to the Government is strictly voluntary and at no cost to the Government.

Description:

The BLS of the U.S Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Its mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision making. BLS has historically used a mainframe service center to support a variety of data processing requirements. In recent years, most of that processing has migrated to UNIX and/or Windows systems. One BLS program, the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program, continues to use mainframe processing for some of its data processing. QCEW is expected to continue with a mainframe workload similar to its recent usage for the next four years, before it begins to migrate production to other platforms.

The QCEW program produces a comprehensive series of employment and wage data for workers covered by State unemployment insurance (UI) laws and is a virtual census of payroll employment. The program produces data on establishments, monthly employment, and quarterly wages by industry, county, and ownership.

The QCEW program is a Federal/State cooperative program, with the cooperating state agencies (50 states, D.C, and two territories) performing most of the data collection and editing, and performing aggregation and analysis of data for their own states and areas. The state-edited data is accessed by the BLS national office to produce and publish data at the national, state, and county levels, as well as for other areas. At the state level, the activities begin with input files created by state UI agencies. These files are processed by one of two purpose built systems. The mainframe system, known collectively as EXPO, is used by 39 of the agencies, 36 of whom use it at the BLS contracted service center, and 3 of them use it on state operated mainframes. The remaining 14 agencies use a PC and network based system to perform the similar function.

The EXPO system uses a combination of batch processing and a CICS started task to meet the programs’ needs. TSO sessions are used for variety of purposes, including, but not limited to: job submission, job monitoring, print routing, file transmission, and source code and system maintenance. The EXPO system uses a variety of standard z/OS utilities, and the program specific code for both the batch jobs and the CICS system is COBOL – typically the most current and widely available version, but only using widely available language features so that the system can be used at both the service center facility and those used by the three states that run it separately.

Currently, almost all data enters or leaves the EXPO hosting service center via FTP file transmission. A small and declining number of files is sent in by tape cartridge (via common carrier – FedEx, UPS, etc.). The states upload and/or read the UI system provided files, edit and analyze them via EXPO batch and interactive sessions, and make files available for downloading to BLS users and for other purposes as needed by the states.

The contract with the current BLS mainframe service provider will expire in the coming year, and BLS is seeking information from vendors that can provide this service. The current vendor provides BLS an LPAR of a size and capacity that was required to meet the significantly larger BLS workload of prior years. A somewhat smaller capacity may be adequate to meet the anticipated workload going forward. That said, the following details of the current service provider’s environment should help potential respondents determine if the BLS workload is suitable for their capabilities.

The current processor is an IBM z10 2097-402 Enterprise Server, and the LPAR provides at least fifty (50) millions instructions per second (MIPS).

***PLEASE REVIEW ATTACHMENT A FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF REQUIREMENTS***

Instructions for Interested Parties:

1. If, after reviewing these documents, you desire to participate in this market research, please download the attached documentation and submit all questions electronically to Elliott Jones listed under Points of Contact by 5:00pm on January 30, 2013.

2. Please provide brief narrative responses to Attachment A: Questionnaire along with your company’s general capability statement. If applicable, in response to Attachment A, please reference specific sections within your capability statement describing your company’s ability to fulfill the requirement. Visual aids are encouraged to demonstrate capability.

3. Your responses to Attachment A and your company’s capability statement are restricted to 15 pages with 12 point font.

4. All information or updates in regards to this opportunity will be located on the Federal Business Opportunities website (www.fbo.gov) and can be found by typing DOL142J12035 in the ‘Quick Search’ box in the upper left-hand corner. Information contained in this synopsis is subject to change. It is the responsibility of the responding vendor to check this site regularly for any changes. Failure to provide documentation may result in the Government being unable to adequately assess your capabilities. The Government is under no obligation to consider information received after the due date as part of the formal market research for this RFI.

5. Submissions are due by 5:00 PM ET February 7, 2014 via email to Elliott Jones at Jones.Elliott@bls.gov.

Attachment A: Questionnaire

1) Please Provide the following:

a) Company Name

b) Company Address

c) Point(s) of Contact,

d) Telephone Number(s)

e) e-mail Address

2) Please indicate what NAICS code(s) your company operates within AND your business size designation (Large or Small) within that specific code(s). If you are a small business, please indicate any additional certification you currently have (SDVOSB, WOSB, etc.).

3) Please indicate if your company’s potential solution is available on GSA’s Advantage!, SEWP, etc. and/or on the open market.

4) Please indicate if your company has ever been awarded a contract by the Department of Labor and/or Bureau of Labor Statistics and what the contract was for.

5) Briefly describe your computer installation(s), particularly regarding major hardware components, operating system, and location.

6) Does your organization provide the following:

a) 24/7 mainframe computer operations?

b) 24/7 Systems Phone Support?

c) Back-up capabilities?

7) Does your organization provide secure TN3270 and secure FTP capabilities? Please explain.

8) Does your organization allow client RACF password administration? Please explain.

9) Does your organization at present provide all applicable security controls necessary to meet a Moderate baseline as described in NIST SP800-53 Rev. 3 If not, are you capable of doing so? Please explain.

10) Have you provided mainframe computing services during the last three years that are comparable in size and complexity to the BLS requirement? If yes, please briefly describe the contracts and the total contract value.

11) The current vendor provides BLS a logical partition (LPAR) size/capacity which was required to meet the significantly larger BLS workload of prior years. Please provide information on how you would provide an appropriate LPAR for the anticipated workload provided in the table below without risking performance problems for the started tasks and the batch processing.

Table 1: Processing Utilization per Year

12) In your experience, what would be the challenges of transition for an effort of this magnitude (please see Tables 1 and 2)?

Table 2: Storage Capacity

Private DASD (3390-3)

Public DASD (3390-3)

13) Please provide relevant comments on the requirements described in this RFI along with further information that would be helpful to the Government in assessing the capabilities of your organization.

14) Please fill in the chart below:

Mandatory Requirements:

Virtual Tape Services

Cut sheet printing equivalent to Xerox LPS

IBM Utilities including AMASPZAP

Supports user-controlled batch job prioritization

UPS

Backup enterprise server(equal capacity)

FIPS 140-2 encryption for FTP and terminal emulation

T-3 and T-1 telecom support

Optional Software Requirement

Product

Vendor