Draft Evaluation Factors.docx

DRAFT EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR TALON

Factor 1 will be the most heavily weighted and the Government intends to use an advisory down select based on the information presented in Factor 1. The Government intends to conduct a tradeoff between technical and price. For pricing, the Government is considering using the Rates Only price evaluation technique. (Solicitation | Acquisition Gateway) Phase 1 Factor #1: Experience / Capability (6 pages maximum inclusive of charts/tables) Background and Instructions The following scenarios are designed to assess your ability to navigate this complex operational landscape, ensuring effective project management, resource optimization, and successful outcomes in a high-demand environment. The Government desires your responses to demonstrate your experience that aligns with or exceeds the following parameters:

· TSA is a 24x7x365 operational environment supporting approximately 55,000 users or more. The engineering support in this requirement will be expected to work after business hours during implementation, deployment, and transition to Operations because these activities typically take place after hours to accommodate TSA operational needs.

· Under this requirement there will be approximately 40 engineering projects running concurrently. Among these projects, 5 to 10 often require similar skill sets and involvement from subject matter experts. Keep in mind, interfacing with Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Contractor(s) is required for all projects.

· All personnel must obtain and maintain appropriate clearance per the SOO.

· The following are a representation of typical engineering projects that have previously been implemented within the TSA environment: Legacy Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Skype and WebEx to Microsoft 365 and Windows 11 Upgrade.

Experience Question #1: Describe a time when you successfully completed a complex engineering project, and the O&M Contractor(s) indicated they lacked experience supporting the specific technology involved.

a. Provide details about the technology and the challenges it presented.

b. What risks did you encounter during this situation, and what mitigation strategies did you implement to address them?

c. Explain how your actions resolved the issue and how they impacted the project schedule.

d. Finally, outline your responsibilities post-implementation to ensure continued support and operational success.

e. Describe how often you have experienced or had to utilize your solutions in situations like this. Please share where you implemented these solutions.

Experience Question #2: Describe a time when you transitioned a project to O&M and two weeks later the solution was no longer performing as expected. For example, you have deployed a new remote access solution to 55,000 users, but the solution failed or performed poorly after two weeks.

a. Explain how you mitigated conflict with the O&M Contractor(s) during this failure and describe the steps you took to address the issue and restore functionality.

b. Additionally, describe how you maintained a productive working relationship with the O&M Contractor(s) on future projects and implemented strategies to prevent similar challenges in the future.

c. Describe how often you have experienced or had to utilize your solutions in situations like this. Please share where you implemented these solutions.

Experience Question #3: Describe a time when you managed approximately 40 engineering projects running concurrently within a single month. Provide specific details about the number of projects, their technical depth, and the types of technologies or systems involved.

a. Explain how you prioritized tasks, allocated resources, and ensured successful delivery of each project while maintaining schedule.

b. Highlight any challenges you faced, such as tight deadlines or competing priorities, and describe the strategies you used to overcome them.

c. Additionally, discuss the impact of your work on the organization and how you maintained quality and efficiency throughout the process.

d. Describe how often you have experienced or had to utilize your solutions in situations like this. Please share where you implemented these solutions.

Phase 2 Factor 2: Technical Oral Presentation (90 minutes inclusive of dialogue) The Government intends to ask two on-the-spot questions during the oral presentation. The Government is not providing the on-the-spot questions in advance of the oral presentation, but the questions will be the same for all vendors.

Background and Instructions The following scenarios are designed to assess your ability to navigate this complex operational landscape, ensuring effective project management, resource optimization, and successful outcomes in a high-demand environment. The Government desires responses that demonstrate a technical approach that aligns with or exceeds the following parameters:

· TSA is a 24x7x365 operational environment supporting approximately 55,000 users or more. The engineering support in this requirement will be expected to work after business hours during implementation, deployment, and transition to Operations because these activities typically take place after hours to accommodate TSA operational needs.

· Under this requirement there will be approximately 40 engineering projects running concurrently. Among these projects, 5 to 10 often require similar skill sets and involvement from subject matter experts. Keep in mind, interfacing with Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Contractor(s) is required for all projects.

· All personnel must obtain and maintain appropriate clearance per the SOO.

The following are a representation of typical engineering projects that have previously been implemented within the TSA environment: Legacy Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Skype and WebEx to Microsoft 365 and Windows 11 Upgrade.

Technical Question #1: It has been only two weeks since transitioning a TSA Administrator’s initiative to enhance and improve traveler's airport experience. Your involvement was to work with third party applications developers, internal TSA stakeholders (e.g., security, applications developers, aviation security), Microsoft and Apple to design the required system connectivity and configurations to rollout a turnkey solution for a streamlined traveler experience that has been highly publicized to the general public.

At 4pm PST on Christmas Eve, the system begins to intermittently fail on travelers' mobile devices. A critical incident has been initiated, and the O&M Contractor(s) has begun investigating to isolate and resolve the issue. The incident has garnered immediate attention up through the TSA Administrator’s office and with the DHS Secretary and is being shared by the public via social media. By 7pm PST, the O&M Contractor(s) has not been able to isolate the issue, but it appears to be an issue possibly related to a routing or configuration error not experienced during pre-Production testing. Your company’s primary POC was recently removed from the program due to a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) charge and your secondary POC is notified of the issue via phone at 7:15pm PST but the Government left a voicemail because the POC did not answer.

a. Describe your escalation protocol to ensure there is not a single point of failure.

b. Describe in detail your initial steps after notification including your interaction with TSA and the O&M Contractor(s).

c. Explain how you will work with TSA and the O&M Contractor(s) to resolve the operational issue within two days of Christmas Eve.

d. Once the issue is resolved, explain how you will handle the transition back to the O&M Contractor(s).

Technical Question #2: TSA manages projects across approximately 10 categories of core IT solutions with each category consisting of multiple technologies (operational state of these technologies was disclosed in reading room). Categories include cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, internet of things, infrastructure, mobility, networks, web and internet technologies, and system maintenance and repairs, among other solutions. You are executing about 40 projects across these categories that have varying delivery timeframes but typically span 2 weeks to 6 months.

a. Explain how you would structure a resource-loaded, integrated master schedule and dashboard to meet these requirements.

b. Explain how your work breakdown structure helps TSA manage implementation of these projects while maintaining schedule. Account for any subcontractors if applicable.

c. Explain how your recruitment, hiring and retention process would ensure proper staffing and meet schedules. Account for any subcontractors if applicable.

d. Describe how your work breakdown structure adapts to unexpected operational issues.

Technical Question #3: Historically, TSA has faced challenges with contractors recruiting and retaining skilled and clearable people. Proper personnel management and the ability to address workforce disruptions and ensure continuity of operations are critical. In this scenario, your lead engineer was working a complex high-profile project and was one week into a two-week planned transition to O&M when they received a DUI charge, resulting in the revocation of their access. Another engineer working the project has failed to report to work.

a. Explain how your proposed staffing plan and philosophy will mitigate this scenario to ensure schedule and quality is not impacted. Reminder, all staff working on this project need to be cleared.

Technical Question #4: Describe how you will transition from proposing T&M/LH Task Orders to proposing Firm Fixed Price Task Orders.