Questions and Answers_14 Oct 26.pdf

Keesler Air Force Base Telecommunication Services (FA301027Q0001) Q&A Version 2

14 October 2026

Question # Date Received Question Response

1 1 Oct 26 DFARS 252.204-7025 states the required level is CMMC Level 2 (Self) for systems that process, store or transmit FCI or CUI.

Will the contractor receive or handle CUI under this contract? If contractor systems will handle FCI only, is a current CMMC

Level 1 (Self) status acceptable?

Contractor will not handle, store, or process CUI data. Contractor equipment will only process analog voice traffic. CMMC Level 1 is acceptable.

2 1 Oct 26 If Level 2 (Self) is required, is a Conditional

Level 2 (Self) status with a plan of action and milestones acceptable at time of award?

Level 2 is not required at this time.

3 1 Oct 26 The period of performance begins 01

December 2026, and the PWS allows no more than 30 days for cutover. Must service be fully cut over and operational on

01 December 2026, or does the 30-day cutover period begin on that date (or on the date of award)?

Fully cutover and operational on 1 Dec 2026.

4 1 Oct 26 If a new provider requires circuit installation and number porting that cannot be completed by 01 December

2026, will the Government continue the existing service until cutover is accepted, and when would billing under CLIN 0001 begin?

No. Previous contract expires 30 November, with no option to extend.

5 1 Oct 26 Page 4 of the solicitation shows a period of performance of July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027. The CLINs show 01 December 2026 -

30 November 2027. Please confirm which is correct.

The period of performance is for a base year plus four (4) option periods: 01 December 2026 – 30 November 2031.

6 1 Oct 26 The schedule contains only monthly service

CLINs. Should one-time costs for contractor-provided equipment, installation and number porting be

CLIN 0002 was added. Reference Amendment 0001.

included in the CLIN 0001 monthly price, or will the Government add a separate line item for non-recurring charges?

7 1 Oct 26 FAR 52.217-8 is included. Will the six-month extension be evaluated, and if so at which rates?

FAR 52.212-2 was updated to include how the 6-month extension will be evaluated. Reference Amendment 0001.

8 1 Oct 26 Are usage charges (long distance, international, operator and directory assistance) to be included in the fixed monthly price, or billed separately? Please provide recent monthly minutes of use by category if available.

Included in the firm fixed price.

9 1 Oct 26 Who is the current service provider and carrier of record for the 228-376 and 228-

377 number ranges? Are all 20,000 numbers to be ported to the awardee?

Current Service provided by CenturyLink Communications, LLC. All 20,000 numbers are to be ported.

10 1 Oct 26 PWS Appendix A.7 describes CAMA trunks and ALI circuits to the base PSAP. Are these

E911 circuits within the scope of this contract, or will they remain under a separate arrangement with the current 911 system service provider? The text and the table in A.7 show different trunk quantities;

please confirm the required quantity.

Yes, CAMA and ALI circuits are in the scope of this contract, CAMA 1 (70EMXX501167)

CAMA 2 (70EMXX501168)

CAMA 3 (70EMXX501169)

ALI 1 (70HRXZ506477)

ALI 2 (70HRXZ506478)

11 1 Oct 26 Who maintains the E911 database (ALI records) for the listed numbers today, and is the awardee expected to assume that function?

E911 database is maintained by 81CS. Awardee is not expected to assume the function.

12 1 Oct 26 PWS Appendix A.3 lists two analog lines, including an emergency dial-out line for use if the Government switch fails. Must these be delivered on facilities physically separate from the PRI service, or may they be delivered from the same contractor equipment?

The analog lines omitted. See updated PWS.

13 1 Oct 26 Appendix A lists 9 T1-PRI circuits (207 bearer channels) and also 150 concurrent calls. Which figure governs the required capacity?

150 concurrent calls is the required capacity of the SIP trunk. 9 T1- PRIs are required to be handed to the government for redundancy and spread across two government owned/operated ISRs.

14 1 Oct 26 Are the existing PRIs configured as NFAS groups or as standalone spans with a D-channel each, and what ISDN protocol variant is in use on the Cisco gateways?

Existing PRIs are standalone spans with each having a D-channel.

Government Cisco gateways are using Global ISDN Switch Type NI2;

Switchback Timing Graceful; Type of DTMF Relay NTE-CA.

Government Cisco port config is Line Coding B8ZS; Framing ESF

15 1 Oct 26 The PWS requires the contractor to respond and coordinate with the

Government POC within one hour for all priorities. Does "respond" mean contact with the Government POC, or a technician on site within one hour?

“Respond” means contact with the Government POC.

16 1 Oct 26 PWS 3.2 requires a contractor-provided relay rack. Please provide the available floor space, power (voltage, amperage, receptacle type, and whether backup power is provided) and the cable distance to the Government equipment at Building

2801.

Multi-NEMA 5-15 --15amp, 115v, UPS/Generator power provided.

Cable distance-Varies depending on required equipment rack space needed by contractor. Worst case no more than 40 feet.

17 1 Oct 26 Is there a page limit or required format for the technical submission?

No.

18 2 Oct 26 “On the PWS you have two analog lines listed, (228) 432-5037 and (228) 374-1083 however I show that these lines were disconnected last January when the switch was decommissioned. Please advise.”

The analog lines omitted. See updated PWS.

19 5 Oct 26 In reference to the 'Cutover within 30 days'

(App. A.1), when does the 30-day cutover clock start: at award of bid, Notice to

Proceed (NTP) or order acceptance?

Service needs to be up and running by 1 December.

20 5 Oct 26 What are the email follow-up deadlines for each outage type? (2.1.2 refers to times that are never specified.)

Section 2.1.4 specifies for a catastrophic outage, updates are expected every 4 hours. For emergency, serious and routine outages restoration is expected within 8 hours; 24 hours; and 2 calendar days, respectively.

21 5 Oct 26 How is 100% availability measured, and what are the remedies or penalties for a missed threshold?

The expectation is 100%, any degradation is considered less than 100%. The Contracting Office will engage with the Contractor for resolution.

22 8 Oct 26 Please confirm the addresses for the locations where NextGen 911 Services are to be delivered.

712 Chappie James AVE. Biloxi, MS 39534 (B2801 Keesler AFB).

23 8 Oct 26 Please provide the Call Handling Equipment details (Vendor/Version) for all locations where NextGen 911 Services are to be delivered.

Not in scope of this contract.

24 8 Oct 26 How many positions are there at each location where NextGen 911 Services are to be delivered?

Not in scope of this contract.

25 8 Oct 26 How many positions are staffed at each location during peak hours?

Not in scope of this contract.

26 8 Oct 26 Are Wireless (Mobile) and VOIP calls transferred to you from the Local serving

PSAP?

Wireless through CAMA circuits to base PSAP, VOIP directly to PSAP through Government equipment.

27 8 Oct 26 Assuming that any Wireline call originated on base is sent directly to your PSAP – correct?

Yes.

28 8 Oct 26 Is GIS data available for the bases in question, or does that data need to be built?

Not in scope of this contract.

29 8 Oct 26 Can you provide the Population of individuals living on each base?

No.

30 8 Oct 26 Was the 7 October site visit mandatory, or may offerors who did not attend still submit a quotation?

7 Oct visit was not mandatory.

31 12 Oct 26 In the solicitation pricing CLINs tables they have a POP under the Supplies and Services Table of July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027.

Question: Please clarify POP.

The period of performance is for a base year plus four (4) option periods: 01 December 2026 – 30 November 2031.

32 12 Oct 26 Solicitation page 31- Is the Mission- Essential Continuity Plan and Mission- Essential Functional Plan the same document? If no, please explain.

Yes.

33 12 Oct 26 Appendix A; Diagram 1, Page 13, Appendix A Pages 14-20- Some Appendix Pages bear

Diagram/pages are correct.

the July 14, 2026, date although PWS cover states October 6, 2026. Confirm governing revision and attachments.

34 12 Oct 26 Where does CUCM support live contractually? Is it part of this offer as a value-add or bundled into CLIN 0001? Or is it a separate requirement the 81 CS has asked about outside this RFQ?

Contractor will not support CUCM, CUCM is maintained by 81 CS personnel. Contractor will bring SIP to bldg 2801, convert it to 9 PRIs and hand the PRIs to 81 CS personnel. Contract is for carrier service.

35 12 Oct 26 If CUCM support is not in the PWS, how will the prime be paid for it under a firm-fixed-price telecom contract?

Contractor will not touch CUCM, it is maintained by 81 CS personnel.

36 12 Oct 26 Is our scope limited to the cutover, meaning gateway and dial-plan changes to land the new PRIs? Or is it ongoing operations and maintenance of the whole cluster for the base year plus four option years?

Contract is for the carrier provided gateways. Government will maintain the CUCM cluster.

37 12 Oct 26 What pricing model do you expect: a fixed monthly fee, an hourly on-call retainer, or time and materials against our GSA or SCA rates?

Firm Fixed Price. See solicitation for the Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) structure.

38 12 Oct 26 What notice and response terms will flow down to us? The PWS allows 1 hour to respond and 8, 24, or 48 hours to restore.

Q&A #15 says “respond” means contacting the Government POC, not putting a technician on site.

If you are a subcontractor discuss flow down with the prime and refer to the solicitation clauses.

39 12 Oct 26 How many endpoints does the cluster serve? How many phones and users, and how many on the base versus at the 81st Medical Group hospital?

Not relevant to the contract. Contractor provides 9 PRIs.

40 12 Oct 26 What is the cluster topology? How many publisher and subscriber nodes are there, where do they sit, and are they physical or virtual?

CUI, not relevant to contract.

41 12 Oct 26 Which other Cisco applications are in the cluster? Examples: Unity Connection voicemail, IM&P, Cisco Emergency Responder, UCCX or another contact center, and paging or overhead integration.

CUI, not relevant to contract.

42 12 Oct 26 What clinical systems at the hospital depend on voice? Examples: nurse call, code blue paging, wireless clinical handsets (Vocera or Cisco 8821), and alarm notification. A failure there is a patient-safety issue, not just a phone outage.

CUI, not relevant to contract.

43 12 Oct 26 Is SRST or another survivability mode set up on the ISRs? The two analog emergency dial-out lines were dropped in the updated PWS (Q&A #12 and #18). If CUCM fails, what is the fallback path to the PSTN?

Not a contractor issue, if CUCM fails it is an 81 CS issue.

44 12 Oct 26 How does the cluster connect to DSN? Does the DSN path stay in place during the commercial cutover?

DSN is not part of this contract and is handled by 81 CS personnel.

45 12 Oct 26 What is the current software release and patch level? Is the cluster under a current Cisco support contract (SWSS/SNTC) with TAC access? Who holds the Smart Licensing account?

CUI, not relevant to contract.

46 12 Oct 26 Who maintains the cluster today: 81 CS staff, an outgoing contractor, or nobody?

Will there be a transition period or handoff documentation, such as the dial plan, route patterns, CSS/partition design, and gateway configs?

CUI, not relevant to contract. Contractor will not touch CUCM, it is maintained by 81 CS personnel.

47 12 Oct 26 Award will likely land in early-to-mid November, with service required on 1 Dec (Q&A #3 and #19). Who owns the CUCM-side cutover plan, and how much of the 30-day window is ours?

If you are a subcontractor discuss this with the prime.

48 12 Oct 26 For the nine PRIs across two ISRs, how should load sharing and failover work? How will the route groups and route lists be designed so that losing one ISR does not drop below 150 concurrent calls?

Contractor will bring SIP to bldg 2801, convert it to 9 PRIs and hand the PRIs to 81 CS personnel.

49 12 Oct 26 What are the ISR models, and how many T1/E1 ports are free today? Will new voice interface cards be needed?

Contractor will bring SIP to bldg 2801, convert it to 9 PRIs and hand the PRIs to 81 CS personnel. 81 CS maintains the ISRs.

50 12 Oct 26 Will the porting of 20,000 DIDs (376 and 377 NXX) from CenturyLink happen in one

Contractor is responsible for designing a cutover plan.

cut or in stages? How will we test inbound routing before and after the port?

51 12 Oct 26 Will any transformation patterns, caller ID or calling-party masks, or digit manipulation change because the new carrier’s number delivery differs from CenturyLink’s?

Contractor will bring SIP to bldg 2801, convert it to 9 PRIs and hand the PRIs to 81 CS personnel. 81 CS maintains the ISRs.

52 12 Oct 26 Q&A #14 confirms NI2, B8ZS/ESF, and standalone D-channels per span. Will the carrier’s CPE match exactly, or will we have to change ISR voice-port and controller configs?

Contract is for a carrier.

53 12 Oct 26 Who will test the GETS 710 access and the 911 path at cutover, and who signs off?

81CS will test GETS, 911 calls, and sign off.

54 12 Oct 26 What are the Government acceptance criteria?

All current services must be working after turnover and testing.

55 12 Oct 26 Is there a formal turnover checklist? Contract is for a carrier.

56 12 Oct 26 How many test calls must be completed? Enough to verify each PRI is functioning properly, local and long distance

57 12 Oct 26 Are inbound, outbound, long-distance, local, and E911 testing all required?

Contract is for a local / long-distance carrier. Test calls will be required on the new PRIs / SIP circuit.

58 12 Oct 26 Who will sign off on successful cutover? 81 CS.

59 12 Oct 26 Is Cisco Emergency Responder (or a third-party product) in use to map ELINs and locations for on-base phones?

CUI, not relevant to contract.

60 12 Oct 26 How are 911 calls routed from CUCM to the base PSAP and the three CAMA trunks? Do any CUCM route patterns or gateway configs change with the new carrier?

CUI, not relevant to contract.

61 12 Oct 26 81 CS keeps the ALI database (Q&A #11). Is the CUCM administrator expected to update it when phones are added, moved, or changed? Or is the only handoff a ticket to 81 CS?

Contract is for a carrier.

62 12 Oct 26 Can the Government provide a current E911 architecture diagram?

CUI, not relevant to contract. Contract is for a carrier.

63 12 Oct 26 Who owns and manages the existing ALI database?

64 12 Oct 26 How is ANI/ALI validation conducted today? CUI, not relevant to contract. Contract is for a carrier.

65 12 Oct 26 What E911 acceptance testing is required before production cutover?

66 12 Oct 26 Is parallel E911 testing allowed prior to final migration?

67 12 Oct 26 Are there any known issues with the Base PSAP today?

68 12 Oct 26 What access will our staff need? Expect questions on U.S. citizenship, security clearance level, CAC, base access, and badge processing time. Can that be done before 1 Dec?

Contract is for a carrier.

69 12 Oct 26 Is remote administration allowed, and through what path, such as an AF-approved VPN or a jump host on AFNet? Or must all CUCM work be done on site in Biloxi?

Contract is for a carrier; contractor will not be working on CUCM.

70 12 Oct 26 Who owns STIG compliance, IAVA patching, and RMF/ATO artifacts for the cluster? If that falls to us, it is significant ongoing work.

Government will maintain their side, contractor will be responsible for security of their equipment/network.

71 12 Oct 26 Does change management go through an 81 CS change board? What is the emergency change process for after-hours outages?

Contractor will hand off PRI’s to the government, contractor will not be working on government cluster, change board process is n/a to the contractor.

72 12 Oct 26 What is the minimum on-site presence required?

Contract is for a carrier.

73 12 Oct 26 If a CUCM fault causes the outage, how is fault separated from carrier outages in the Services Summary?

Government will identify CUCM faults, Carrier outages belong to the contractor.

74 12 Oct 26 Who pays for hardware failures, licensing renewals, or TAC cases on Government-owned equipment?

Contractor will not be working on government equipment

75 12 Oct 26 Have there been any performance issues with the incumbent service?

No.

76 12 Oct 26 Will the Government facilitate coordination with the incumbent during transition?

Yes, if required. Contractor will be required to coordinate number transfers to new contractor.

77 12 Oct 26 Are the CUCM servers virtualized or physical?

78 12 Oct 26 What Cisco ISR models are currently deployed?

79 12 Oct 26 Are there existing PRI handoffs today? Yes.

80 12 Oct 26 Are any SBCs currently installed? CUI, not relevant to contract. Contract is for a carrier.

81 12 Oct 26 Will the Government provide configuration support and access to voice administrators during testing?

81 CS personnel will work with the carrier for cutover and testing.

82 12 Oct 26 Does the 30-day clock begin at award or Notice to Proceed?

At award.

83 12 Oct 26 Is there a priority cut over the base prefers?

Cutover schedule and priority will be coordinated with contractor after award.

84 12 Oct 26 How many buildings involved? CUI, not relevant to contract. Contract is for a carrier.

85 12 Oct 26 Is there an existing network infrastructure topology?

86 12 Oct 26 Can we work multiple shifts if needed to meet timelines?

87 12 Oct 26 Is fiber/copper infrastructure needed identified and in place?

88 12 Oct 26 Are phased cutovers permitted? No.

89 12 Oct 26 Is weekend or after-hours cutover preferred?

After-hours, not weekends.

90 12 Oct 26 Are there blackout periods where cutovers cannot occur?

Should not occur during day. 0600 – 1800.

91 12 Oct 26 What mission events are scheduled during the potential transition window?

CUI, cannot be discussed in this format.

92 12 Oct 26 Are all 20,000 DID ranges active? Yes.

93 12 Oct 26 How many DIDs are currently assigned to users?

94 12 Oct 26 Will all DIDs require porting? Yes all 20K require porting.

95 12 Oct 26 Are there any reserved numbers that must be retained?

20,000.

96 12 Oct 26 Has the Government experienced prior porting issues at Keesler?

No.

97 12 Oct 26 How many active PRI circuits currently exist?

Current carrier brings SIP to building and converts to 9 PRIs, PRIs are then handed to 81 CS.

98 12 Oct 26 What is the peak busy-hour call volume? schedule and priority will be coordinated with contractor after award

99 12 Oct 26 Is 150 concurrent call capacity based on current utilization or projected growth?

Based on current utilization.

100 12 Oct 26 Will SIP direct-connect solutions be considered if compatible with CUCM?

No, PRIs must be handed to 81 CS personnel.

101 12 Oct 26 Are there any existing carrier demarcation devices on site?

Yes, current carrier device that converts from SIP to PRI is on site.

102 12 Oct 26 Can we physically inspect Building 2801 demarcation facilities?

Yes.

103 12 Oct 26 Is rack space already allocated? Yes..

104 12 Oct 26 How many rack units are available? We have the space that is necessary.

105 12 Oct 26 Are fiber pathways available from carrier entrance facilities?

Yes.

106 12 Oct 26 Are conduit routes already established? Into the building yes.

107 12 Oct 26 Is there a preferred carrier entrance location?

Yes, Through the exiting cable vault.

108 12 Oct 26 What outage reporting process is currently used?

We contact current provider when issues are identified.

109 12 Oct 26 Who is the Communications Services Officer (CSO)?

81 CS Commander.

110 12 Oct 26 What escalation path should the contractor follow for emergencies?

Contract is for a carrier service.

111 12 Oct 26 What information is expected in restoration reports?

Root cause of outage, up/down time.

112 12 Oct 26 How will SLA compliance be measured? All call pathways are fully operational. Zero degradation.

113 12 Oct 26 Can the Government provide the current network/voice architecture diagram, including incumbent carrier handoffs, PRI assignments, E911 routing, and CUCM integration points?

114 12 Oct 26 Would you be able to provide the publicly releasable award documentation for previous contract FA301021P0022, awarded to CenturyLink Communications?

Specifically, I am looking for the original pricing schedule showing monthly recurring charges, the number and types of telephone lines or circuits covered, the original performance work statement, and any modifications affecting pricing or scope.

No.