Attachment_4_-Q&A_Running_List_Cloud.pdf

ASK ME ANYTHING (AMA) QUESTIONS / RESPONSES

FA8307-19-R-0135

CLOUD SERVCES

2 October 2019

QUESTIONS RESPONSES

1. Please share Attachment F of this opportunity which includes “Designations and procedures for key personnel.” (Attachment 5; 9. Key Personnel)

Information regarding key personnel has been incorporated into the BPA Guide which is now

Attachment 1 to the sample solicitation. Please note that any key personnel will be identified at the call level.

2. Is this a follow-on requirement? If so, please share the incumbent name, contract number, value and historical level of effort.

This is a new requirement.

3. Does the solicitation allow for Cyber vendors to respond.

This is open to any eligible firm that can fulfill all the requirements outlined in the RFQ.

5. Attachment 1 Section 1 Paragraph d states that the “. .

. shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims.” Please identify where this information is to be presented

This information should be presented in the corresponding volume: i.e. Management Review

6. Attachment 3 Pricing Spreadsheet Features Tab contains no information about what you are expecting to be presented as a feature. Please provide several examples of features you are looking for the offeror to provide?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

Attachment 3 has been removed.

7. Attachment 2 Objectives states “The scope of work includes infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and Platform as a service (PaaS) services intended to streamline the migration, implementation, support, compute and storage of current and future LevelUP workloads and applications.” Does the government expect any integration labor from the offeror to meet the requirements?

The offerors should be expected to support developing any IaC code required for the platform to work on clouds at the Call level.

8. Attachment 3 Pricing Spreadsheet. Will standard VM configurations be sufficient or will special configurations be required?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

Attachment 3 has been removed.

At the Call Level, it depends if C1 will provision the environment.

9. General. If an offeror provides multiple CSPs would they need to provide Cloud Broker capabilities as well?

The requirement will be determined at the call level.

10. Attachment 2 Section Objectives states ““This will ensure the Air Force has the ability to push software artifacts from development environments to production environments at multiple classification levels and hybrid cloud architectures, that comply with DoD/Air Force policies and directives.” Are any offeror labor, engineering, or subject matter expert services inherent in ensuring that specified ability?

The offerors should be expected to support developing any IaC code required for the platform to work on clouds.

11. Attachment 2 Section Objectives states “This will ensure the Air Force has the ability to push software artifacts from development environments to production environments at multiple classification levels and hybrid cloud architectures, that comply with DoD/Air Force policies and directives.” Are offerors asked to propose integration, configuration, maintenance, and support of the commodity cloud COTS services? Such as solutions architecture and DevOps, and DevSecOps specific to ensuring the specified ability?

Yes, these labor categories are outlined in the DevSecOps Services BPA. Additional details will be provided at the call level.

12. General. Will virtual development services be required?

Yes, however to what extent should be determined by call.

13. General. What kind of special circuits will be required?

In order to respond to this question, the Government will need clarification on “special circuits.”

14. Work location for the purpose of providing costs in the pricing sheet? Or are no on-site labor costs to be provided in the pricing sheet?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

15. Do you think a small, disadvantaged business has a credible shot at winning part of the contract directly? Do you think it will be best if we found another contractor / partner to bid together

Companies must determine whether or not they can fulfill the requirements of this RFQ.

16. Please clarify if all vendors submitting a response to this solicitation are required to hold a TS/SCI?

The minimum clearance is unclassified with the potential for TS/SCI. The clearance level will be determined at the call level.

17. What is the expected number of developers/teams anticipated for this BPA?

Number of teams and developers are unknown. This effort is to support program offices across the DoD.

The number of developers/teams will be requested at the call level

18. Are there any limitations on OS systems? There are currently no limitations.

19. Since the government plans to award up to 15 BPAs, do bidding vendors only speak to their capabilities in their proposals?

Yes, however, vendors must determine what information best describes/demonstrates their capabilities in fulfilling the requirements of this RFQ.

20. What is type of development environment is in scope? (i.e. Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix, all of the above, etc.)

The environment will be determined at the call level.

All of the mentioned system could be utilized.

21. Is there a required tool set in scope? If so, please define.

Please reference tools associated with DevSecOps Pipeline and Platform Integration and Licenses Services BPA for the anticipated tool chain posted under RFQ FA8307-19-R-0134.

22. Is there a preferred project management style? (i.e.

SCRUM, Waterfall, Agile, etc.)

This will be determined at the call level. However, most likely agile.

23. Will the Government please clarify if the products and services must be on GSA Schedule? In other words, are offers restricted to companies that have Letters of Supply

(LOS) from the associated cloud service providers?

Industry suggests that such a restriction will limit competition, as the major cloud service providers undoubtedly anticipated for use under this contract have very limited LOS programs.

This BPA is not being issued under GSA, therefore products and services are not required to be on a GSA Schedule.

24. The BPA Guide reads: “The Scope of Work shall be as described in Attachment A of this document. SOOs for each call will be provided with the respective RFQ at the call level.” (p5, section III)

Where is attachment A? It is part of the BPA Guide document, but there it says “under separate cover,” and is not included in the documents on fedbizopps.

Attachment 2 – SOO defines the scope of this BPA.

Attachment numbers have been corrected and are included with this amendment.

25. In attachment 5 BPA Guide for Cloud Services it references Attachment A, B, and C. Can you please provide those attachments.

All referenced attachments have been provided. An amendment to correct the Attachment numbers is forthcoming.

26. Is there an incumbent for this scope of work (or significant portion of work)?

No

27. Formally requesting two-week due date extension of

Solicitation FA8307-19-R-0135.

The Government’s schedule does not allow for an extension. However, please note that the quote due date has changed to 17 October 2019.

28. Attachment 1, page 5, Step 3 states, “Offerors who receive a higher than Acceptable Management Review rating and their prices are determined fair and reasonable will receive a BPA and will be invited to the BPA Event Day tentatively scheduled for 13 November 2019”

However, the cover letter indicated that the government will make 15 awards. If more than 15 companies receive a higher than Acceptable Management Review rating, what method will the government use to select the 15 that will receive an award?

The Government could potentially execute BPA awards above the 15, if warranted.

29. Attachment 1, page 6, Factor 1: Management Review providing the rating definitions. However, the table presented identifies the rating for portfolios which are not a requirement for the Cloud proposal. Please clarify or modify as appropriate.

A portfolio can be used as a submission for this section. However, vendors must determine what information best describes/demonstrates their ability to meet the evaluation criteria included in this RFQ.

30. Attachment 1, page 7 & 8, Factor 3 Price states, The Offeror’s proposed rates and other information will be evaluated to ensure continuity and traceability of prices to the technical volume and between the initial quote and any revisions thereto.

Please clarify what continuity and traceability Offerors are to reflect in their proposal and in what volume should it be included?

This should be included with Volume III.

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

Attachment 3 has been removed.

31. Attachment F, page 1, (b) states, “The Contractor agrees that a partial basis of award of this BPA will be the key personnel proposed, including those employed by subcontractors, if applicable. Accordingly, the Contractor agrees to assign under the BPA those key personnel whose credentials, experience and expertise were provided with the quote and which meet the qualification requirements included with the Labor Category Attachment, necessary to fulfill the requirements of the

BPA”

Please clarify these statements as there are no requirements for Offerors to submit Key Personnel resumes with the proposal and (d) indicates that Key

Personnel will be determined at the Call level.

Call award will be based on the key personnel proposed. Information regarding key personnel has been incorporated into the BPA Guide which is now Attachment 1 to the sample solicitation.

32. In Section (3) Volume III: PRICE (FACTOR 2), middle of Page 4 of Attachment 1, it states “The Offeror shall submit proposed pricing for all items identified in the RFQ…” – what items are identified in the RFQ? Or, for what items does the government require pricing?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

33. On Page 6, section FACTOR 2: PRICE, the document states, “The proposed labor rates will be evaluated for price reasonableness and completeness.” – This RFQ seems to be requesting pricing related to Cloud Services – are labor rates going to be evaluated, or will the rates for Cloud Services be evaluated?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

34. In the SOO – “scope of work includes infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and Platform as a service (PaaS) services intended to streamline the migration, implementation, support, compute and storage of current and future LevelUP workloads and applications.” – Does this scope imply we should provide pricing for every Service in the CSP catalog that supports these areas?

Pricing will be requested at the call level. An amendment to the RFQ removing the pricing template is forthcoming.

35. In the SOO, a variety of Impact Levels are referenced and implied – should we provide pricing for every Impact Level?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

36. Should the vendor provide multiple pricing sheets for different cloud providers (e.g. AWS, Azure, Google, IBM, etc.) or should the pricing for different cloud providers be consolidated on to a single spreadsheet?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and

Attachment 3 has been removed.

37. In the pricing sheets is the government expecting a complete list of SKUs from the cloud provider or a representative list? For example, AWS has 350K SKUs for their government offering which qualify for discounts under reseller agreements and approximately 1000 SKU exceptions that do not receive a reseller discount.

Further, the detail SKU file size is large and difficult to transmit.

Pricing will be requested at the call level. An amendment to the RFQ removing the pricing template is forthcoming.

38. Cloud services also include access to third party software. Should the vendor include these in the pricing or is the pricing limited to services provided directly by the cloud service?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

Attachment 3 has been removed.

39. Is the BPA limited to the resell of Cloud services or does it also include labor services?

Labor categories are included under the DevSecOps Services BPA, RFQ FA8307-19-R-0133.

40. Can the vendor provide pricing for managed cloud services or is the pricing limited only to cloud service provider (CSP) services?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

Attachment 3 has been removed.

41. Should Professional services from the CSPs be included as part of the pricing submission?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

Attachment 3 has been removed.

42. IL6 CSP services are provided through inter-government arrangements and are not available for resell.

Are vendors required to bid and price IL6 CSP services?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

Attachment 3 has been removed.

43. In regard to LevelUP Cloud BPA (FA8903-19-R-0135), has the Government considered using the ACCENT BOA?

The Government has determined that this is the best course of action for the work outlined.

44. Is the Air Force already utilizing a cloud service such as Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure? Or are they looking for quotes on various cloud providers?

We are looking for various cloud providers.

45. Are there any particular cloud modules that the Air Force is interested in? For example, AWS provides particular configurations for DevOps. Or is the Air Force only interested in generalized pricing?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

Attachment 3 has been removed.

46. What software of OS environments must be supported by the cloud? Is there a particular operating system or container system that the Air Force is using?

The Government intends to work in various OS environments with multiple operating systems and container systems.

47. With regard to the Air Force “Cloud Services Blanket

Purchase Agreement” (Solicitation Number: FA8307-19-R-

0135), in the Attachment 2 SOO it puts additional focus on

DoD Security Requirements Guide (SRG) impact level 5.

This level is for National Security System level information, as defined by DISA. Can the Air Force please provide additional rationale as to why IL5 is the focus level for this DevSecOps work scope? It appears Impact

Level 2, and 4 (which addresses controlled unclassified information or PII) would be best aligned to the data that will be accessed as part of this Cloud Services BPA.

There will be multiple levels of development associated with this requirement. The Government reserves the right and will determine the level at the call level based on mission requirements.

48. Is there a set-aside planned for HUBZone and/or SDVOSB firms?

Not at the BPA level, but may be considered at the call level. However, The Government reserves the right to award one (1) or more small business, small business team or joint venture if qualified and eligible for a BPA award. If the Government chooses to exercise this right and two or more small businesses/teams/joint ventures are determined qualified and eligible for a BPA, the Government will consider small disadvantaged business status in its selection for award.

49. In Attachment 1, page 4 contains a short description of how to respond to Volume III Management Review.

However, the instructions are unclear as written. Are offerors supposed to discuss the resellers/partners they would use to sell to the government, with the prime offeror acting as a distributor? Can the contracting office add additional information describing the request for Volume III?

It is at the discretion of the vendor to propose a narrative that clearly meets the requirements. Please see the ITO in Amendment 3 to the RFQ.

50. The solicitation as currently written does not include a requirement for a Letter of Authorization from the OEM.

Offeror recommends adding a requirement for all offerors to provide an LoA (specific to this opportunity) with the response to make sure all offerors are qualified/authorized to sell the products being offered.

This will be coordinated/requested at the call level.

51. Are resellers/agents permitted on this contract?

Only authorized Government resellers/agents will be eligible for award.

52. Are any cloud providers who meet the minimum BPA requirements eligible for award consideration?

Please review the ITO/Basis of Award for further details.

53. The solicitation documents state that this BPA is for a 5 year ordering period, with potential orders lasting for 5 years from the completion of the ordering period.

However, the price sheet is set up for an 11 year PoP. Can the contracting office clarify if new orders will be accepted after year 5 post-award, or how the out-year pricing provided in Attachment 3 will be used in the performance of the contract?

Calls can be placed within the first five years after award of the BPA. All performance must be completed within five years from the end of the ordering period. No new calls will be issued after the first five years (ordering period).

Please note that Price has been removed from the reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

54. How does the government intend to handle manufacturer’s End User License Agreements (EULAs)?

Will they be provided to the customer at time of order, or incorporated at the BPA level? Should they be included with the bid submission?

This will be coordinated/requested at the call level.

55. Where will this BPA fall within the Air Force procurement policy order of precedence?

This is one of many vehicles available and policy regarding order of precedence will be determined as appropriate.

56. Is the government planning to conduct a formal round of Question and Answer for this solicitation, or will the informal Ask Me Anything sessions be the sole manner in which questions are solicited?

AMAs and the written responses to submit questions will be the sole manner in which questions are solicited and answered.

57. Attachment 1 - ITO_for_Cloud: Will the government consider providing an architecture example to use for the basis of estimate in order to provide a price that is evaluated using “comparison of proposed prices received in the response to the RFQ”?

Pricing will be requested at the call level. An amendment to the RFQ removing the pricing template is forthcoming.

58. Attachment 1 - ITO_for_Cloud: Will the government provide the methodology of the “price analysis” used to determine price reasonableness and completeness.

Please note that Price has been removed from the

59. Attachment 1 - ITO_for_Cloud: “Volume I:

Administrative” per 3. Evaluation Factors is not being evaluated. Part of the 2-page requirement is the opportunity to provide “a statement that the company understands the requirements specified and will meet the performance standards and requirements”. The remaining requirements (cover letter with their quote, POC and contact info and the statement of exceptions, if any and the validity of 120-day quote) will not require space of two pages. Will the government consider changing the Volume I: Administration” page count to 1, move the company understanding statement to Volume 2: Management Review (Factor 1) and increasing the page count from 1 to 2, preferably 3 pages to provide enough room to thoroughly demonstrate overview, capabilities and partner network?

The page numbers will remain the same unless changed through an amendment.

60. Attachment_5_-_BPA_Guide_for_Cloud_Services:

Based on the requirements outlined in the SOO and the ITO documents, is there an expectation to demonstrate requirements outlined in the BPA Cloud Services for evaluation purposes? If so, would the government consider increasing the current page limitation from 1 page to 5 pages.

The page numbers will remain the same unless changed through an amendment.

61. Attachment_3_-_Cloud_Pricing_Sheet_Sample Excel file appears to contain inconsistencies when defining the performance period. The compute tab requests prices for “Period 1 (Base Period)” and “Option Period 1”, while the storage and compute tabs requests prices for “Performance Period 1” – “Performance Period 11”. The use of the terms Base Period and Option Period for compute resources does not appear to align to the terms of the BPA. For bidding purposes, should bidders assume that “Period 1 (Base Period)” equates to “Performance Period 1” and that “Option Period 1” equates to “Performance Period 2”? If this is an incorrect assumption, will you consider updating Attachment_3_- _Cloud_Pricing_Sheet_Sample to provide clarification?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

62. Attachment_5_-_BPA_Guide_for_Cloud_Services states: “This BPA will leverage various contract types to include Time & Materials/Labor Hour and Firm-Fixed price.” Is it the Government’s intent that labor will be purchased form this BPA?

Labor will be purchased on the DevSecOps Enterprise Services BPA, RFQ FA8307-19-R-0133.

63. When the Government releases call orders, may bidders propose rates for services requested by the Government, which are not listed on the BPA holder’s rate card, Attachment_1_-ITO_for_Cloud, submitted with their initial response?

Please note that Price has been removed from the

64. Attachment_1_-ITO_for_Cloud, Section 1, Instructions to Offerors, states “All rates shall be provided in whole-dollar amounts.” Attachment_3_- _Cloud_Pricing_Sheet_Sample requests rates which are monthly and/or by the GB. Requiring bidders to round rates of this type to whole dollars may impede the Government’s ability to assess individual rates for reasonableness accurately. Will the Government consider allowing bidders to provide rates in dollars and cents?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

65. Attachment_1_-ITO_for_Cloud: Is the government willing to accept recommendations for modifications to the ITO that would benefit the USAF?

The Government is not accepting any additional questions/comments.

66. The Government is requesting 11 year pricing;

however cloud service providers and their offerings will evolve over this period. What provisions does the BPA have allowing BPA holders to update their rate card (rates and items) as the cloud landscape evolves?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

67. Will the Government consider providing a representative call order for this BPA? A representative call order allows bidders to clearly understand the commitment being made to the AF as a BPA participant.

This ensures all bidders understand the level of support required to participate in the BPA meeting the Government’s expected 10 day turnaround for call order proposals. Providing the representative call order is also advantageous to the Government as bidders not willing to make the required commitment to the AF will not burden the Government with evaluation of a BPA proposal.

The Government is not considering a representative call at this time.

68. We respectfully request an extension of the RFQ due date to ensure time to generate a fully comprehensive and compliant response. A consideration of an additional 3-4 weeks would be very much appreciated.

The Government’s schedule does not allow for an extension. However, please note that the quote due date has changed to 17 October 2019.

69. Does the government envision support for Cloud One as a task or tasks under this BPA?

The Government has the discretion to utilize these agreements to any Program Office/Organization.

70. Are remote/contractor work sites authorized? Would the Government consider changing the pricing sheet to account for remote, contractor, and Government site rates for each Labor Category?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

71. What infrastructure as code tools are currently in use by the LevelUp Pathfinder?

Various tools are currently being utilized for multiple teams. Reference the DevSecOps Pipeline and Platform Integration and Licenses BPA, RFQ FA8307- 19-R-0134.

72. Is there a threshold or limit for individual orders on the BPA?

BPAs do not have a ceiling. However, the Government is working to better define a response to this question and will provided via amendment.

73. The BPA ceiling is estimated to be $95M, can the government confirm if that is a total ceiling or a per call maximum total?

BPAs do not have a ceiling. However, the Government is working to better define a response to this question and will provided via amendment.

74. Can the Government define the difference between “numerous”, “several”, “some”, and “limited” in its evaluation of Factor 1, the Management Review?

The Government will not be providing definitions for these terms.

75. Does the Government anticipating requesting a Small Business Subcontracting Plan at the call order level?

If applicable, a Small Business Subcontracting Plan may be required at the call level.

76. In Attachment 5 there is a requirement for US citizenship under the BPA. “US Citizenship is a requirement for contractor personnel performing work under this BPA, personnel must be registered in the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) and have an appropriately adjudicated security clearance at the Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) Level and must maintain the clearance required for the life of the BPA.” Does the government anticipate including citizenship and clearance requirements at the call order level?

Yes, these will be identified at the call level.

77. If a call designates higher impact level work, where would those applications be hosted?

This will be dependent on the requirement and defined at the call level.

78. How can offerors account for the disparity in rates between cleared personnel and uncleared personnel in each Labor Category? Would the Government consider changing the pricing sheet to account for differing clearance levels for each Labor Category?

Please note that Price has been removed from the evaluation criteria. Determination of price fair and reasonableness will be determined at the call level.

79. Can Offerors with an approved Special Security Agreement (SSA) with the Defense Security Service (DSS) be eligible for an award under this BPA?

This requirement is open to all eligible vendors registered in SAM.

80. For the Blanket Purchase Agreement for Cloud Services, FA8307-R-19-0135, there are Representations and Certifications Requiring Contractor Response, in Attachment 6, Provisions and Clauses. In which volume should they be placed? Or should they be submitted under separate cover?

Volume I - Administrative

81. Does the Government have an IaaS in mind (e.g.

VMware), or would this be open to cloud providers (e.g.

AWS) that have existing implementations on multiple classification levels?

The Government is seeking multiple cloud providers.