Elastic Cloud-SAM.gov RFI.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

AIR FORCE LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT CENTER (AFLCMC)

CRYPTOLOGIC AND CYBER SYSTEMS DIVISION

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, TEXAS 78243-7081

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

UNIFIED PLATFORM INFRASTRUCTURE VALUE STREAM

14 November 2024

1.0 Purpose. This Request for Information (RFI) is issued in accordance with the Federal

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause 52.215-3 (Request for Information or Solicitation for

Planning Purposes - Oct 1997). The document obtains information for the Air Force

Lifecycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Cryptologic and Cyber Systems Division

(CCSD), Joint Base San Antonio - Lackland, TX, for market research and planning purposes in support of the Development, Security and Operations (DevSecOps) Infrastructure Value

Stream (IVS) for Unified Platform (UP). UP is responsible for developing and sustaining a cloud-based platform that enables cyber operations across the Department of Defense (DoD).

2.0 Background. THIS RFI IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, INVITATION FOR BID, OR AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF SOLICITATION; IT IS ONLY INTENDED FOR

INFORMATION OR PLANNING PURPOSES.

2.1 There is no bid package or solicitation document associated with this announcement.

Response is strictly voluntary and will not affect a potential offeror’s ability to submit an offer if a solicitation is released. Any requests for a solicitation package will be disregarded.

2.2 The United States Government (USG) does not intend to award a contract based on this

RFI or otherwise pay for the information solicited. No entitlement to payment of direct costs, indirect costs, or charges by USG will arise for submissions in response to this

RFI as well as subsequent USG use of information submitted. Submittals will not be returned to the sender. Respondents may be asked to provide clarifying information from initial submittals.

3.0 Description. UP employs Elastic Cloud for Kubernetes (Elasticsearch and Kibana) for log aggregation and observability on its production Kubernetes clusters. To identify alternative solutions, UP is conducting market research to assess products and services that can fulfill the specific criteria outlined in paragraph “4.0 Salient Characteristics.”

3.1 The organizational objectives of this research are as follows:

3.1.1 Identify and catalog available products and solutions in the market.

3.1.2 Evaluate the features, functionality, and pricing of each alternative to determine its suitability for UP needs.

3.1.3 Assess the level of integration and compatibility of each alternative with the UP

DevSecOps platform, while ensuring compliance with DoD security requirements.

3.1.4 Estimate the level of USG resources required to migrate to a new solution, while maintaining UP current operational capabilities.

4.0 Salient Characteristics. This aligns with the UP mission previously stated in paragraph “3.0

Description.” The list is not comprehensive but does offer the most critical requirements requisite for the UP environment.

4.1 To meet DoD Chief Information Officer (CIO) DevSecOps Reference Design compliance and perform both required and preferred activities such as: logging, log auditing, log analysis, log promotion, and system security monitoring, the tool must provide the following features:

4.1.1 Software must be containerized and deployable through helm charts.

4.1.2 Compatible with a GitOps management model and CI/CD Infrastructure as

Code (IaC) deployment pipelines

4.1.3 It must be able to run on Kubernetes clusters in high-availability (HA) mode

4.1.4 Provides an API for applications to which log files can be shipped

4.1.5 Allows operators to conduct centralized log monitoring

4.1.6 Supports integration with AWS, Google, and Microsoft Azure cloud services

4.1.7 Allows backups and snapshots to be scheduled

4.1.8 Provides a means to conduct application performance monitoring

4.1.9 Provides a means to monitor infrastructure

4.1.10 Provides a means to search through large quantities (>100TB) of logs and metrics

4.1.11 Allows creating visualizations of log data and metrics

4.1.12 Supports Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) integration for Single

Sign-On (SSO).

4.2 UP will consider both commercial and open-source solutions.

5.0 Summary. As indicated in paragraph “1.0 Purpose.” this is Market Research Request.

Contractor responses will be used for planning purposes only.

5.1 Submit any comments and/or questions regarding this RFI in writing through e-mail directly to:

5.1.1 Contracting Officer: Ms. Karin Werner, karin.werner.1@us.af.mil

5.1.2 Program Manager: Ms. Erin Landry, erin.landry.1@us.af.mil

5.2 Response due date is Thursday, 5 December 2024, 0800 CST. Please annotate the subject line of the e-mail as: “Elastic Cloud for Unified Platform RFI Response. Submit replies to the email addresses listed in paragraphs 5.1.1-2. Include your contract vehicle, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, and Data Universal Numbering

System (DUNS) number in the response.