RFP_QandA_01142011.pdf

RFP No. FA8773-10-R-0088

Cyberspace Infrastructure Planning System (CIPS)

Questions and Answers

14 Jan 2011

1. Reference: The DD254 is missing X‟s in Item‟s 10 e. (1) and (2). We believe they should be marked “NO”. Question: Please confirm.

DD254 boxes 10.e(1) and 10.e(2) will be marked “NO”. See revised DD254.

2. Reference: The DD254 has item 10 i marked YES. According to the “Guide for the

Preparation of a DD254” Limited Dissemination Information is no longer a valid program and should be marked NO. Question: Please confirm.

Confirmed this is NA and will be changed to “NO”. See revised DD254.

3. Reference: The DD254 has item 10 j marked as NO. But there is a FOUO reference in Item

13 stating safeguarding is specified in an attachment. Please confirm whether item 10 j should be marked YES, or if item 13 should have the reference to item 10 j and FOUO guidance removed. Question: Please confirm.

Confirmed this should be “YES”. See revised DD254.

4. Reference: Related to the previous question regarding item 10 j on the DD254, item 13 states there is a FOUO attachment. Question: Can you provide the attachment?

Attachment entitled “DD254_FOUO_addendum” is provided with attachments.

5. Reference: Section B, Supplies or Services and Prices, CLIN 0006, Extended Help Desk

Hours indicates the quantity of 12 months. Section F, Deliveries or Performance, Delivery

Information, CLIN 0006, Delivery Date POP is 1 Aug 2011 to 30 Jun 2012; this period is 11 months. Question: Please rectify the length of CLIN 0006 is 12 months or 11 months, and the

POP dates.

The base period for CLIN 0006 is equivalent to the O&M CLIN 0002 which is 11 months. Section B will be corrected; Delivery date POP is correct.

6. Reference: The selection of FAR Clause 52.223-13, Certification of Toxic Chemical Release

Reporting. Question: Is this FAR Clause selection relevant to this contract?

Clause is required by provision to be included in solictiation; however, no action is required by the contractor.

7. Reference: PWS paragraph 1.4.4.6, User Training for CIPS and all of it components.

“Contractor will be required to provide training materials and instructor.” Question: Are these training materials government produced training materials? Or are they contractor produced training materials? If they are contractor produced training materials, is the cost of creating the training materials reimbursable by the government?

Questions and Answers

14 Jan 2011

Government will provide tools (i.e. Adobe e-learning suite, computers, etc) and supplies. Contractor will produce training materials with provided tools and supplies.

Government will review for sufficiency and accuracy). See revised PWS paragraph 1.4.4.6.

8. Reference: PWS paragraph 3.3.6, issuance of security clearances. Question: Is this 5 workdays prior to the Phase-in period, or 5 workdays prior to the Operations and Maintenance start date?

Five work days prior to Operations and Maintenance start date. See revised PWS paragraph 3.3.6.

9. Reference: PWS paragraph 1.4.2.1.3, on-call during non-duty hours. Question 1: Does the government provide cell phones or blackberry‟s for on-call personnel currently?

Question 2: Does this contract require any other kind of notification device for on-call employees? If so, please advise what is currently being used.

Q1. Government does not not provide devices for on-call personnel. Q2 – No. Para

1.4.2.1.3 tasks the contractor to “implement a means by which on-call personnel are automatically notified in the event that the CIPS servers go off line or experience issues that require Contractor intervention”. The intent is for the Contractor to devise and implement a notification system.

10. Reference: PWS Section 2, Services Summary, Table entry #5, Ensure integrity of database backups, states PWS reference paragraph is 1.4.2.7.1. Question: Based on the discussion in the

Performance Threshold for this entry, we believe the correct PWS reference paragraph should be

1.4.2.7.2. Please clarify.

The PWS referenced paragraph is correct. 1.4.2.7.2 references validity of a DRP.

1.4.2.7.1 directs Contractor to ensure system and data backups can be used for system recovery. This entails verification of integrity of database backups.

11. Reference: PWS Section L, paragraph B.4 states "All document binders shall have a color other than red (or shades thereof) or other applicable security designation colors." Question:

Confirm that this applies to the binder itself and not to any corporate logos or colored text that may be provided as part of a binder cover sheet and/or binder spine insert.

Specification only applies to binders.

12. Reference: PWS, Appendix 5: System Details, paragraph A5.2 and Section M, paragraph

2.2.2 Relevancy Assessment, Focus Area 1: System Administration and Development. The PWS reference states the system is built on Oracle 10G while the Present/Past Performance requires experience with Oracle 11G for relevance. Question: Which version of Oracle should we use for relevancy?

Questions and Answers

14 Jan 2011

Proper reference should be Oracle 10G. See revised RFP, Section M, Section 2.2.2, Focus Area 1, all three relevancy areas.

13. Reference: Section L, C. Subfactor 2 Staffing Plan. Question1: How many positions are on the current staff? Question2: What are the current labor categories? Question3: Is the government looking for improvements to this staffing or is it looking to begin with a stable structure as it currently exists?

Please use information provided in the RFP to formulate your specific proposal.

This is a performance based acquisition which requires the offeror to demonstrate how they will meet the requirements of the PWS.

14. Would it be possible to get a week extension on the proposal?

An extension of two days will be allowed, from 4:00 Central, 25 Jan 11 to 4:00

Central, 27 Jan 11. Amendment 0001 forthcoming.

15. How will new releases be handled? In the RFP government states there will be 2 releases per year. Will these releases be considered under CLIN 0002 or CLIN 0007? If CLIN 0002, what will the process to determine how new releases will be handled and what software fixes will be included (i.e. Bugs, Change Request and/or New Enhancements)?

Government determines final content and frequency of each release, and vets/approves each item included on a release, in accordance with PWS paragraph 1.4.3.9 .

This is a collaborative effort between Contractor and Government. Process is driven by severity of impact of bugs and enhancements to system functionality and by funding for new features. PWS Appendix 5.1.1 states that, historically, there are 11 releases a year.

These releases are a mixture of new features and O&M releases for all CIPS components.

Information was provided to give historical insight to workload only. Generally, O&M releases would be considered under CLIN 0002. New features (special projects) would be considered under CLIN 0007.

16. Sub-factor 2, list item (a) states „…(provide) An organizational structure that provides qualified personnel resources, to include any subcontracting and teaming arrangements, in an organizational structure and labor categories with the experience, security clearance and minimum acceptable qualifications necessary‟.

Sub-factor 3, list item (b) indicates that the contractor must have the ability to „meet the following criteria’: Obtain proper security clearances.

Does the government want personnel with existing/active clearances, or a contractor workforce with the ability to obtain clearances, or a combination of both? Please clarify.

All personnel must have a secret clearance. Interim clearances are acceptable.

17. This section lists three focus areas: 1) System Administration and Development 2) System

Architecture Design, and 3) Customer Service. Furthermore, it is stated ‘The Government will

Questions and Answers

14 Jan 2011 conduct an in-depth evaluation of recent PPI obtained to determine relevancy in identified Focus

Areas supporting operation, maintenance and support of an enterprise system relevant in scope to the CIPS system’. Does the government require the offeror to demonstrate relevancy in all three focus areas, for each past performance reference OR will the government accept past performance references that may be highly relevant in one of the focus areas, but, only „somewhat relevant‟ in another? In other words, can the offeror be considered relevant overall with a combination of high relevancy in focus areas distributed across past performance references?

Based on the vendor conference the government stated that all past experiences will be grouped to determine relevancy. Is this correct?

The government does not require the offeror to demonstrate relevancy in all three focus areas for each past performance reference. Rather, the offeror will be considered relevant overall if a combination of past performance references demonstrates relevancy in the three focus areas.

18. Under Item Number (CLIN) 0006 „Extended Help Desk Hours‟, can the government provide additional details of the scope of work that may be required (such as frequency of helpdesk operations, duration, degree/level of helpdesk effort, system operational requirements, system reliability/availability requirements that might affect helpdesk scope)?

CLIN 0006 – Based on vendor conference, the government stated that CLIN 6 will be used to extend the current CIPS help desk. Is this correct? Does „Outside of the normal duty hours‟ mean

24/7?

Scope of service is defined in PWS paragraph 1.4.5. Normal duty hours are defined in PWS paragraph 3.1.1. and are priced in CLIN 0002. Any help desk coverage provided under CLIN 0006 would be outside of these hours.

19. Does CIPS currently perform at CMMI Level 2? If not, does the government want to certify the CIPS program? If the government does not require certification, is the government looking to execute the project at CMMI Level 2 without going through certification?

Does the government require including the associated Quality Assurance activities in the tasks for staffing and cost purposes?

CIPS does not perform at CMMI Level 2. The Government does not intend to certify CIPS at CMMI Level 2, but does expect Contractor to utilize CMMI level 2 practices where practical when implementing software lifecycle activities. Regarding

Quality Assurance activities, refer to revised PWS, paragraph 3.4.5

20. How often will the government want to execute CIPS training?

Possible frequency of remote training is specified in PWS paragraph 1.4.4.6. All training will be scheduled by the Contractor and approved by the Government. See revised PWS paragraph 1.4.4.6

Questions and Answers

14 Jan 2011

21. What is the government definition of a Bug, Change Request and New Enhancements and which ones if any will be part of CLIN 0002?

A standard industry definition of these terms applies. All will be part of CLIN 0002.