Fire IT Rental Equipment RFI V0.4.1623945837984.pdf

CIO-FIT REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Date: August 2, 2021

Issuing/Using Agency: USDA Forest Service (FS) Washington Office (WO) Acquisition Management 3900 Masthead St NE Albuquerque, NM 87109

1. Summary

This Request for Information (RFI) is for information and planning purposes only and does not require the issuance of a solicitation nor does it constrain the Government as to the ultimate acquisition approach. There is no solicitation available at this time and a timeframe for one, if developed, is not yet available. This is not a request for proposals (RFP) and requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. The Government will not reimburse any Respondent for any cost associated with preparing or submitting a response to this RFI. Further market research outreach may be undertaken as circumstances and needs dictate. The Government will retain all submitted materials and will not return any materials to the Respondent.

2. Objectives for this Request for Information

The Forest Service (FS) Chief Information Office- Fire Information Technology (CIO- FIT) Branch seeks to identify those sources potentially able to provide solutions to the requirements described in this RFI. CIO-FIT further seeks to understand the capabilities of those sources and the best practices they employ to address challenges identical, or substantially similar, to those experienced by CIO-FIT, as described below.

CIO-FIT further seeks to inform its industry partners of the transformation underway to enable these partners to evaluate their teams and solutions to address possible future requirements.

3. Overview of CIO-FIT

CIO-FIT is at an inflection point in its development and evolution. Formerly recognized as FAM-Information Technology (FAM-IT), CIO-FIT is the new incarnation of FAM-IT, its name changed due to the substantive change in its focus and approach to supporting the Fire and Aviation Management mission. FAM-IT, now CIO-FIT, takes its mission cues from the Department of Agriculture and Forest Service as indicative of the role this evolving organization must play in meeting the mission of the agency and the interagency fire community.

Request for Information (RFI) CIO-Fire Information Technology (CIO-FIT)

3.1. Forest Service Goals influence and shape CIO-FIT’s Focus and Approach

The USDA Forest Service Strategic Plan for FY2015-2020 articulates three (3) Strategic Goals and one (1) Management Goal, each supported by multiple management objectives. These Goals directly influence and shape CIO-FIT’s Vision, Mission, and Strategy. Below are the specific statements from the Forest Service Strategic Plan that have helped shape CIO-FIT’s focus and approach.

1. Enable FAM to optimize wildfire suppression: “Our forest fire suppression capability helps protect human lives, natural resources, and communities.”

2. Enable FAM to control fires in a coordinated manner: “When a response to wildfire is necessary, the Forest Service will work to control fires in a coordinated manner that is safe, efficient, and cost effective in order to retain healthy, resilient forests and grasslands while bolstering thriving communities.”

3. Enable FAM to provide science-based software to assess fire risk: “Our fire managers use science-based software to help them assess fire risk.

Using the latest tools, we decide when and where to suppress a fire and when and where to use fire to achieve our objectives for long-term ecosystem health and resilience.”

4. Enable FAM to evaluate the impact of action: “We will make sure that the actions we take, whether to use fire or control fire, are socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable.”

5. Enable FAM to safely use firefighters and other assets: “Respond to fires based on a protocol for managing risk, leading to a safe, efficient, and effective use of firefighters and other assets.”

6. Enable FAM to build effective partnerships with internal USDA, external agencies, external commercial entities, and international partners at all levels: “Build partnerships at all levels to reduce risk from wildfires by managing for healthy forests and grasslands and making communities safer when a wildfire does occur.”

7. Enable FAM to incorporate improved technology: “Continually review the fire program to incorporate improved technology and to develop more efficient and cost-effective fire management techniques and processes.”

While not explicitly stated in these Goals, CIO-FIT also recognizes the critical role it plays in the support of Interagency needs and the importance of its relationship with, and support of, its Interagency partners.

3.2. CIO-FIT Support Needs

CIO-FIT is looking comprehensively across all support needs now and for the foreseeable future and developing a holistic sourcing and acquisition strategy for acquiring the needed services in a thoughtful and strategic manner. The OCIO will use the contracts that result from these efforts to manage and meet technical requirements of CIO-FIT.

Potential respondents should note that the Forest Service has not yet selected an acquisition or contracting strategy for this/these acquisition(s) and potential respondents are encouraged to identify, in their response, any contract vehicles through which their services and products can be procured.

Broadly speaking, the scope of the intended contract includes, among other tasks:

1. Program management including project scheduling, project control, resource planning, workload management, progress and status reporting, etc.;

2. Preparedness of the rental equipment inventory (equipment preparation, Quality Assurance (QA) and licensing/deployment of specific software, maintenance of cellular contracts, and readiness to deploy inventory by a particular date).

3. Logistical expertise to deliver equipment to the government:

a. Accurately including all equipment ordered, in working order, and with an agreed upon quantity of consumable materials

b. Quickly with minimal time expended between order placement and delivery of all requested equipment

c. Ready to use with all necessary equipment included, computers imaged and software licensed, tablets configured with active cellular data plans, printers functional and including supplies, etc.

d. In sufficient quantity to meet the needs of many separate incident management organizations and dispatch instances simultaneously

e. Process returns including reimaging and necessary cyber hygiene, and prepare to reissue equipment to the government as needed

f. Develop efficient ordering portal to view equipment and pricing, place orders, and pay balances available to Federal, state, and local agencies

3.3. Overview of the National Fire IT Rental Equipment Contract

CIO FIT supports Forest Service and partner agencies in wildland fire and emergency management. Much of the emergency management activity occurs in the field, in close proximity to wildfires or other emergencies, and is comprised of interagency personnel.

This interagency effort includes USDA-Forest Service, Department of the Interior - Bureau of Land Management (DOI - BLM), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Department of Homeland Security – Federal Emergency Management Administration (DHS-FEMA), State Forestry Agencies from all 50 States and many Municipal Agencies, Tribal, County and Local Governments and Non-Government and public partners.

Rental IT equipment is heavily used across the country in the emergency response effort. Previous contracts with rental vendors have been region specific or nationwide but all such contracts are expired. Information is requested by the USDA Forest Service to determine how to best meet the national interagency need for rental IT equipment contractually.

Equipment that is typically rented includes standard (non-ruggedized) laptop computers with standardized end user specifications and a separate class of laptop computers with specifications for geospatial applications. Additional equipment necessary to support incident management includes networking equipment, printers, associated peripherals, cellular capable tablets, and audio/visual equipment. The duration of use for equipment rented during a specific incident can range from two weeks to several months depending on the requirements of the emergency and the management personnel assigned to it. At the conclusion of the Government’s use of the equipment, it is returned to the contractor and the contractor can prepare the equipment to be reissued as the Government need arises.

4. Please provide responses on the following questions. In all cases, please provide information on your company’s solution to the specific challenge, where applicable.

1. CIO-FIT exists today in an environment supported by multiple contractors with scope and task areas which are highly related and sometimes overlap. If a multi-contractor model should persist into the future and support the transformation discussed above, what steps do you suggest CIO-FIT take to

(1) design contracts that minimize accountability challenges (i.e., “finger-pointing” between contractors), (2) incentivize collaborations between contractors despite their divergent corporate goals, and (3) maximize performance of each contractor as well as that of the entire “team” as a whole?

2. CIO-FIT is in the process of developing a series of processes and standards to govern and manage information technology requirements in emergency management. Based on your experience across your Federal and private sector clientele, what should an office such as CIO-FIT do to maximize the effectiveness of their emergency response IT equipment requirements? What are the greatest sources of equipment delivery/support inefficiencies and how do you recommend mitigating them?

3. Emergencies can happen any time but large wildfires typically are reserved to the summer months. During these months, many incident management teams are deployed simultaneously. What is the most efficient way to deploy equipment, receive it after use, and deploy it again given the volume of needs during this condensed period?

4. CIO-FIT seeks to rent most of IT equipment necessary to establish incident command posts. Ordering and payments are not centralized and may come from many individual purchasers acting on behalf of different agencies. How would you set up an ordering platform and process to make placing orders and paying bills the most effective for the contractor and for the Government?

5. A contract may be awarded to multiple vendors that are each responsible for serving a single region or multiple regions. In your experience, is this an effective way to provide the necessary equipment for the emergency management mission described throughout this document? What are positive and negative outcomes that might arise from multiple contractors being awarded?

6. If multiple contracts are awarded, how should individual contractors work together to provide similar rental equipment, optimize the speed of delivery, and offer the best value to the Government? What is an example(s) of contractor cooperation that has had a positive outcome for the Government?

7. A consistent challenge for Government agencies is to maintain awareness of new technologies and solutions, understand the manner in which these products and services can be employed to solve their problem(s), and maintain the flexible contractual mechanisms for acquiring these technologies and solutions. What is your view of this challenge? How do you suggest the Government address this challenge?

8. When equipment management and distribution is performed by the CIO or a subsidiary organization within a Government agency (whether insourced, outsourced, or a hybrid) navigating the relationship with the business customer can be a challenge. Business customers, for example, understand the mission but are not technologists. Sometimes, however, they think of their needs in terms of specific technologies which may or may not be the best solution to their problem. The agency CIO teams who work with these customers can often be challenged to help the customer both recognize and understand new technology, and adapt (i.e., relax) their specification to take advantage of that technology. What do you propose is an approach to addressing this challenge? Where have you seen this, and similar challenges, successfully addressed?

5. Instructions for Submittal of Responses

The Government asks that Respondents submit compliant packages to the Contracting Officer no later than 11:59 PM MT on August 23, 2021. Packages should include very minimal marketing material and only if absolutely necessary to an understanding of the Respondent’s response. Narrative text shall be in font Arial, size 12, and packages shall not exceed ten (10) one-sided pages and a one (1) page executive summary. The Government cannot guarantee the consideration of packages received after the due date/time.

Packages should be submitted to the below point-of-contact:

• Name

• Phone

• Email

Packages should be organized as follows:

5.1. Section 1: Company Information:

In Section 1, please provide the below information:

• Organization Name (if organization has experienced name changes, please list all previous names used)

• Industry (NAICS) Codes (North American Industry Classification System) and business size for each NAICS code

• Vehicles and contracts held (vehicle, agency, expiration date)

• Year company was established/founded

• Company ownership (public, private, joint venture)

• Business Classification / Socio-Economic Status (e.g., large, small, 8(a), women owned, hub-zone, SDB, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned)

• Location of corporate headquarters

• Locations of facilities

• Overview of Products and Services provided

• Overview of experience in delivery of services similar or identical to those discussed above

• Relevant certifications and appraisals held

5.2. Section 2: Relevant Company Capabilities and Experience:

In Section 2, please provide a description of your company’s capabilities and experience as related to the scope discussed above. In particular, where company capabilities and experience reflect innovative solutions to similar needs, please highlight these solutions and describe “the universe of the possible”. Please assist CIO-FIT in understanding how your innovative solutions can be applied in new and better ways to our specific needs.