R7 Advanced Metering Contract Solicitation Question and Answer 8_3_2011.docx

Advanced Metering-BAS / AMS Maintenance Contract-Solicitation Number: GS-07P-11-JUC-0113 Question and Answer for BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor Q: Are we required to provide a quote for all options? (pg 6-8) I see where it states on page 10 that some part may be excluded but I wanted to be sure that if we did not bid an option that it would not exclude us from the bidding process.

A: All portions of the solicitation require a bid. By excluding certain parts of the solicitation, the bidding agency will exclude themselves from the overall solicitation during the source selection. To clarify based upon the needs of the government, one or more of the options may be eliminated from the contract award.

Q: If we did not quote the options, are we still required to have someone on staff that has Microsoft SQL, certifications?

A: As a break out option on the price bid sheet, the bidding contractor is required to include Microsoft SQL technical expertise to be ale to manipulate a Microsoft SQL database. This expertise can either be in house or sub contracted by the prime contractor who will be selected for this government contract.

Please Note: any contractor or sub contractor working with the Microsoft SQL data base on the GSA server requires HSPD-12 Final Favorable NACI clearance.

Q: If we do not have a staff member that has a VES certification at the time that the contract is proposed, does this eliminate us from bidding? If not, will we need to have someone on staff during the contract period attend and receive that certification?

A: No, However, the contractor needs have previous experience on the Niagara R2 and AX Framework and have a current Niagara R2 and AX Certifications. From previous experience, the contractor needs to know the basic fundamentals of the Niagara VES software and be familiar with the VES Reference Guide. Because the VES training workshops are offered only a few times a year, the contractor needs to be VES certified within six (6) months after the date of the contract award. From the date of award until VES certified, the technician is expected to perform the contractual scope of work obligations with the use of the VES Reference Guide with and aptitude of confidence in his/her skill set.

Q: Will the AMS Contractor be required to purchase and update license as newer revisions come out for the AMS server alone? What about the other servers and field level JACEs?

A: No, the AMS/BAS Maintenance Contractor will be expected to updated software/firmware licenses on five (5) Niagara AX Web Supervisor servers. Niagara AX firmware revision 3.6 or 3.7 with 128 bit SSL license will be the standard for the upgrade(s), and shall be included in the base bid price to upgrade the five (5) servers once during advertised contract term. Two (2) R2 VES servers and Microsoft SQL license revisions are not anticipated.

Field level JACE software/firmware upgrades shall be handled on a case by case basis as a contract modification; however, the government has a need to know what it will be charged for these services once the contract is awarded to the winning bidder.

Please Note: Provide as an additional break out on your price bid sheet, a cost for labor and materials on upgrading ten (10) AX JACEs remotely from Niagara AX firmware revision 3.5 to Niagara AX firmware revision 3.6 with 128 bit SSL licenses.

Q: Will updating licenses change after the first year warranty is up on the job sites?

A: Yes, Licenses for five (5) Niagara AX Web Supervisor servers will not need revision updates until October 2012.

Q: Because some of the sites bring metering points through a secondary, localized BAS system will the AMS contractor be required to call and pay a local contractor to assist with possible metering point issues or will this be the responsibility of the BAS Contractor or the onsite GSA Operations and Maintenance Contractor because it is on the BAS system?

A: Full responsibility of the BAS/AMS components such as the AX JACE and the BAS unitary controllers that the gas, water, electric points are hard wired into are the responsibility of the on-site Operations and Maintenance contractor on AX JACE sites.

R2 JACE sites, are responsibility of the BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor to maintain the R2 JACE along with the pulse meter hardwired point’s connectivity. Travel is anticipated on the part BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor to correct gas and electric point loss connectivity issues on R2 sites only.

The opening paragraph of the BAS/AMS Maintenance Contract breaks down the sites that will remain with R2 JACEs. There is a discrepancy with the New Orleans sites where it states that these sites will remain as R2 sites. The four (4) New Orleans site R2 JACE’s will be removed and the meter point data will be added to an on-site unitary controller, therefore, eliminating the R2 JACE responsibility at the New Orleans sites. New Orleans R2 JACEs currently remain in place and will remain for approximately eight (8) months of this contract.

Please Note: It is important to be mindful that these systems are in transition from all R2 AMS sites to converged AX BAS/AMS sites. The R2 JACEs are being removed from the buildings. Of the 84 sites in this contract that most were all R2 sites last year, 25 have been migrated over to converged AX AMS/BAS sites, at the rate of approximately eight (8) per month. After the gas and electric data points are mapped into the AX JACE on-site, the local O&M contractor has full responsibility of both the BAS and AMS on-site hardware and hard wired pulse meter points. However, the BAS/AMS Maintenance Contract will bear the burden of reporting to GSA any areas where point data is missing per the contract language. GSA will intern, report the findings to the on-site O&M contractor which they will work to resolve remotely with the BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor. The BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor will not be required to travel to the AX JACE sites under any circumstances.

Q: The one inventory JACE will be the R2 JACE, correct?

A: Yes, for the R2 JACE sites. GSA has a contingency of R2 JACEs that will be provided as Government Furnished Property (GFE), therefore, purchasing or supplying of R2 JACEs within this contract is not required.

However, in the FAST Action Ax JACE Option, if exercised, the BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor will need to maintain a small contingency of AX JACEs such as the AX JACE 545 EM, AX JACE 6, and AX JACE 7. At the end of the contract period, there will not be a requirement to turn FAST action JACEs over to the government since they are to be considered as contractor bench stock parts. When supplying parts to GSA, please consider using .40 multiplier extended to GSA from (VSD).

Contract SOW Area: Page 6 – Base Price Proposal, Comprehensive Labor Fee - shows labor, maintenance, repairs, reports – “All in-house and on-site labor” Q: How is the GSA looking at labor for repairs?

A: Within the Base Price Proposal, all labor, maintenance, and repairs are to be included as a lump sum price with exception of Ax JACE license upgrades as clarified in this Q&A session and the revised bid sheet. The BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor will be responsible for providing operational analysis of the Region 7 Building Automation System (BAS) and Advanced Metering System (AMS) by daily checking server health on R2, AX, and SQL servers and coordinating this effort with GSA IT Server Managers in Central Office, Washington D.C. Access to region 7 Ft Worth servers is performed remotely. Per the contract requirements and reporting, provide AMS operational analysis to ensure that point data is collecting and being stored on Microsoft SQL database. If issues with AMS points are identified, the BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor shall troubleshoot, isolate and repair point connectivity on the Niagara network. Notify GSA Ft Worth and/or involve on-site GSA property manager and O&M contractor when required. For R2 sites, the BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor is responsible for the JACE on-site and ensuring continuity with the utility provided meters, so travel shall be included in the lump sum price for repairs. The BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor shall make every effort to ensure that utility meter pulse weights are accurate with the utility providers. The BAS/AMS Maintenance Contractor shall fulfill the any and all scope of work items as indicated in the Request for Proposal.

Q: We can figure maintenance, however repairs would have to be figured as a risk amount or percentage… Is this what you are looking for?

A: It is common for a contract such as this to have a full time staffed member that will take care of reporting, daily maintenance, and repairs remotely by working with on-site GSA property managers and O&M contractors with the use of regularly updated address contact list from GSA, do not present much risk. The R2 JACE sites, specifically the (revised) 10 sites [Seven Oklahoma sites, two El Paso, TX sites, and, one Las Cruces, NM site] are the only area that travel or sub contract for on-site repairs are foreseeable where risk may be assessed. It shall be stated that the JACE platform is reliable. R2 transition sites are occurring fairly rapidly, so efforts will be required to keep these JACEs on line, however, educated decisions can be made with use of construction project schedules in GSA Region 7 to make determination on the level of intervention at these sites.

Q: The “Monthly Price” appears to be the “24 Months” price divided by 24. Is that correct, and does it include repairs?

A: YES

Q:The “Total” price – Please clarify what options are to be added together for this price.

A: BASE CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS (excluding on-site AX JACE license revision upgrades) PLUS OPTION OF THE MICROSOFT SQL COMPONENT Contract SOW Area: Page 6 & 7 – Option “A” Q: How many existing R2 sites or R2 JACEs are we pricing for this proposal?

A: None. FAST Action requirement is a quick field deployment of a AX JACE serving in the capacity of BAS and AMS in the field. This option’s intent is to be a reasonable option to get provisioned files off of the server on the AX JACE and in the hands of the O&M contractor to install on-site in the event of a hardware failure.

At the end of the contract period, there will not be a requirement to turn FAST Action JACEs over to the government since they are to be considered as contractor bench stock parts. When supplying parts to GSA, please use .40 multiplier extended to GSA from Zonal Niagara Vykon Systems Distributor (VSD).

Q:How many existing Ax sites or Ax JACEs are we pricing for this proposal?

A: For the FAST Action Option, it is the contractor’s discretion, one of the AX JACE 545EM, AX JACE 6, and AX JACW 7 as shop stock initially would be suggested. Currently there are roughly 25 sites migrated over to full AX JACE sites.

Q: How many of the R2 JACEs/Sites will be changed over per;

A: BELOW

Year? Approximately 70 within the first contract period from September 2011 through September 2012 Month? Approximately eight (8) sites.

Total contract term? All, with exception of 10 permanent R2 JACE AMS sites [Seven Oklahoma sites, two El Paso, TX sites, and, one Las Cruces, NM site] .

Contract SOW Area: Page 7 & 8 – Option “B” To figure the “Monthly Price” over the term of the contract;

Q: How many “Fast action replacements” are to be anticipated?

A: Very Few. The AX JACE 545EM, AX JACE 6, and AX JACE 7 are a fairly reliable hardware platform. However, there are expected to be appx. 250 in the region, so having a quick and easy source for O&M contractors to be able to reach out to as a reliable quick source of pre-programmed hardware shipped overnight seemed prudent.

Per year? Possibly 1 or 2 Per month? N/A Per contract term (24 months)? Possibly 2 or 3 Q: Do we figure labor, material, shipping, etc… and provide a unit price per JACE?

A: YES, When supplying parts to GSA, please consider using .40 multiplier extended to GSA from (VSD).

Contract SOW Area: Page 13 Paragraph 3 – Gas Pulse Modules Q: How many gas pulse modules are included under this contract?

A: None in terms of hardware replacement. Sites have local utility provided pulse meters that the AMS point pulse weight is set up off of.

Q: How many gas pulse modules are supplied by the gas company?

A: All.

Q: How many gas pulse modules are not supplied by the gas company?

A: None.

Q: Are replacement or repairs of the Non-Gas Company modules to be figured into our monthly, yearly, and contract term (24 months) pricing?

A: Not applicable in terms of hardware since all gas meter pulse modules are provided by the local gas utility. The only responsibility is to report if a pulse gas meter sends flat lined pulse meter output to the GSA property manager and O&M contractor so they can notify the gas company. Pulse weights need to be verified annually.

Q: If they are to be included in our pricing for the contract, how many failed devices or repairs do you want us to anticipate;

A: GSA shall not be held liable for the provided answer if the repairs exceed the provided numbers, however, these numbers are being provided as an example of past historical records.

Monthly? See Yearly.

Yearly? Five to Eight; Pulse weights verified annually with the local utility.

Total contract term? Ten to 16; Pulse weights verified with the local utility twice within the contract period. GSA utility billing center to help with task of verifying pulse weights.

Contract SOW Area: Certification on Software Package Q: In our research of “Vykon Energy Suites”, there appears to be no specific “Certification” program for this software. We do know that there is training available, but not a specific “Certification” process/program. Please advise if the training program will suffice as certification for this software.

A: Provide receipt of training from attending the VES class within six (6) months of the contract award date.

Contract SOW Area: Contract Start Date vs. Bid Date Q: Please confirm bid date, as contract start date shows 08-01-11 and bid date shows 08-08-11.

A: Date will be amended once we had the contract awarded.

Contract SOW Area: Page 16, 1st paragraph: The “Technician” certifications requirements list; Niagra Network R2, Niagra Ax, Vykon Energy Suite (VES), Microsoft SQL, Two of the four certifications need clarification:

Q: Vykon Energy Suite (VES) – There is a training class, but no certification. It is not a tested certification according to Vykon management. We have technicians with the product/software training, but there is no certificate to submit. Will a letter confirming the training suffice for your bid package?

A: Provide receipt of training from attending the VES class within six (6) months of the contract award date.

Q: Microsoft SQL – There are multiple certification types associated with this product/software to include but not be limited to; MCTS, MCITP, SQL Server 2008 / Microsoft Certified Master, Database Administrator SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Certified Architect / SQL, etc…We have SQL trained programmers at our disposal, but do not know which specific certification you are asking for. Please advise as if a letter of capability or capability/technology statement would suffice for this bid requirement. Please define the specific SQL certification that was intended under this contract.

A: Certification of MCITP with Database Developer Contract SOW Area: On page 11 – BAS/AMS Maintenance Contract, it is stated that there are 84 total sites, 9 of which will remain as R2 with a total of 71 R2 sites to be upgraded.

Q: Does this imply that the 4 remaining sites are already AX?

A: No. Restated, 84 Total sites, 10 sites (revised from 14) to remain R2 JACE sites, 74 to be transitioned from R2 to AX JACE sites as a result of upgrade and/ or new site construction where AX JACEs are being installed.

Q: We will need to get HSPD-12 clearances. Can we start the process now or do we need to wait until we are awarded a contract?

A: Need to wait until the contract is awarded.