USSOCOM SITEC - Industry Day Q A - Post To FBO
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- Solicitation number
- H92222-10-R-0014
- Issued by
-
United States Special Operations Command
About this file
The attached document contains the SITEC Industry Day questions and Government answers/responses.
Text of this file
Gen-Misc QUESTIONS (General-Miscellaneous) FOCUS ANSWER
| Will the questions and answers, that are being asked throughout the industry day be available or posted on FedBizOpps? If so when? | Gen. | Yes. |
| Will the questions and answers (which you are verbally addressing today and tomorrow) be posted of FedBizOpps for all to see? | Gen. | Yes. |
| Will you be posting the questions asked on FedBizOpps? | Gen. | Yes. |
| When and how are these slides going to be available? | Gen. | Industry Day slides were posted to FBO.gov on 7 April 2010 |
| Will slides from today be sent out or posted somewhere? | Gen. | Industry Day slides were posted to FBO.gov on 7 April 2010 |
| Will the presentations slides be made available to us? | Gen. | Industry Day slides were posted to FBO.gov on 7 April 2010 |
| Where can we get copies of all the presentations? | Gen. | Industry Day slides were posted to FBO.gov on 7 April 2010 |
| Will the briefing charts be made available to the attendees? | Misc. | Industry Day slides were posted to FBO.gov on 7 April 2010 |
| When presenting the Service Towers, will you please give some general examples of services you foresee for each. | Gen. | See slides posted to FBO.gov on 7 April 2010 |
| Will today's slides showing network sites be posted on line? If so where? | Gen. | Industry Day slides were posted to FBO.gov on 7 April 2010 |
| When will bidders library be available to us? | Gen. | USSOCOM is currently establishing the SITEC Bidders Library and will post an announcement on FBO.gov on access procedures as soon as possible. |
| When and how will access to the bidders library be granted? | Gen. | USSOCOM is current establishing the SITEC Bidders Library and will post an announcement on FBO.gov on access procedures as soon as possible. |
| What's the process to request access to the bidder's library? | Gen. | USSOCOM is current establishing the SITEC Bidders Library and will post an announcement on FBO.gov on access procedures as soon as possible. |
| Library Access: request/recommend 2 person per company allowed access vice one..In case of illness/injury | Gen. | USSOCOM is current establishing the SITEC Bidders Library and will post an announcement on FBO.gov on access procedures as soon as possible. |
| Will retired military ID substitute for CAC card for entrance to bidders library? | Gen. | No. The KTR must have the appropriate PKI certificate to access the bidders library). |
| What is the anticipated timing of draft RFPs for single award Tower? | Contract | USSOCOM will issue draft RFPs for the Service Towers. |
| We would strongly recommend issuing draft RFPs for the Service Towers. | Gen. | USSOCOM will issue draft RFPs for the Service Towers. |
| Why no Draft RFPs for Service Towers? | Gen. | USSOCOM will issue draft RFPs for the Service Towers. |
| Why are there no draft RFPs scheduled for Wave 2 competitions? | Gen. | USSOCOM will issue draft RFPs for the Service Towers. |
| Release of Attendance list: we understand that some companies or individuals wish to remain unidentified with regard to their interest in the SITEC effort. Most do not have an issue. Would the government consider requesting individuals who would like their name removed from the list by a certain date (one week) then a redacted list could be made available to all on FBO. | Gen. | USSOCOM will publish a list including the names of Industry Day attendees and their companies as soon as possible. |
| Why are not publishing the industry day attendance list? | Gen. | USSOCOM will publish a list including the names of Industry Day attendees and their companies as soon as possible. |
| Differences between companies listed on FBO, 80+ and 250 + who actually showed up in Tampa? Will all 250 + be posted w/ points of contact? | Gen. | USSOCOM will publish a list including the names of Industry Day attendees and their companies as soon as possible. |
| Is the SITEC team accepting meetings with product vendors who want to brief SITEC on new products and technologies prior to and after RFP for ITSM is released? Technology is always moving forward. | Gen. | Yes. The Government will release this information in the C4I Production Bidders Library. |
| Clarification on communications. Mr. Cluck and Mr. Davis stated we could communicate with them directly until final RFP. You stated all communications must go through you. | Gen. | Mr. Cluck is deferring all meetings to Mr. Davis at this time. Mr. Davis will continue to meet with contractor representatives interested in the SITEC acquisitions until the release of the final ITSM RFP. Those with specific questions regarding the SITEC draft RFP and related documents posted to FBO.gov, should contact the KO (Dr. Joseph Daum, contracting@socom.mil). |
| Please confirm the ITSM contract base plus inventive option years (= 6 1/2 years) ceiling is estimated at $495M. Does this include all CLINS (0001-7009)? | $$ | The ITSM contract is planned for 6.5 years (inclusive all incentive terms) and the revised ceiling is published in the RFP. |
| For us to determine which Towers to bid on, will you release your ceiling estimates for all Towers within the next 2 weeks? | $$ | USSOCOM has yet to finalize ceiling estimates for Towers other than the ITSM. |
| Will ceilings for all Towers be provided before draft RFP release (needed to make cost/benefit tradeoffs on which Towers to bid)? | $$ | USSOCOM has yet to finalize ceiling estimates for Towers other than the ITSM. |
| Since the acquisition decision memorandum has been approved, please identify the ID/IQ ceiling per each Tower. | $$ | USSOCOM has yet to finalize ceiling estimates for Towers other than the ITSM. |
| What are the current ordering ($) ceiling on each Tower (you said it was $495M for ITSM support to ITMO)? | $$ | USSOCOM has yet to finalize ceiling estimates for Towers other than the ITSM. |
| What is the total awardee pool for SITEC? Will there be a small business prime pool? | $$ | USSOCOM has yet to finalize ceiling estimates for Towers other than the ITSM. |
| What is estimate of % of budget for each Tower? | $$ | USSOCOM has yet to finalize ceiling estimates for Towers other than the ITSM. |
| So that we can assess the tradeoffs between bidding on ITSM and the Towers, given the OCI clause, can SOCOM provide an estimate of the LOE for ITSM (e.g., FTE, period of performance, small business %)? | Gen | USSOCOM has yet to finalize ceiling estimates for Towers other than the ITSM. The Government is expecting industry to provide USSOCOM the FTEs for the ITSM. For the ITSM contract, the small business goals are contained in the RFP. |
| Support contractors/consultants supporting the government in preparation of SITEC acquisition plans, documents, procedures, plans/definitions. Gartner? Others? Are they OCI'd out (excluded) from participation on SITEC ITSM and other service Towers? | Gen. - Gartner | In addition to Gartner Consulting, other advisory companies working as subcontractors to Gartner in supporting USSOCOM with SITEC include: Octo Consulting, Inc.; Evermay Consulting Group, Inc.; Alakai LLC; Robert J. Guerra & Associates; and Isham Associates LLC. |
| Are there other contractors, beyond Gartner, OCI'd out of the ITSMP? Who are they? | Gen - Gartner | In addition to Gartner Consulting, other advisory companies working as subcontractors to Gartner in supporting USSOCOM with SITEC include: Octo Consulting, Inc.; Evermay Consulting Group, Inc.; Alakai LLC; Robert J. Guerra & Associates; and Isham Associates LLC. |
| Will Gartner advisory clients be OCI'd out of ITSMP award? | Gen - Gartner | No. Gartner advisory services clients are not conflicted out of the ITSMP award. Gartner Consulting is a distinct business unit with Gartner, Inc. Gartner Consulting staff supporting USSOCOM are under Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and are physically and technologically isolated from Gartner Advisory staff. Gartner Consulting is not supporting industry clients with support for any SITEC-related engagements. |
| Gartner is not an impartial and unbiased contractor for purposes of source selection. Gartner accepts payments for services from industry partners for purposes or evaluating those companies products and services this fact creates a real OCI relative to evaluating SITEC proposals | Gen - Gartner | Commentary. |
| If you bid on advisory can you bid on other Towers? What is the scoring criteria? Who is in charge of the advisory relationship? | Misc. | USSOCOM is not clear as to what the question is as it relates to "advisory." If responses provided elsewhere in this document do not answer your question, please submit a new question to contracting@socom.mil. |
| If each Tower is responsible for their own Computer Network Defense (CND) features what is your view on how a standard enterprise wide security area is implemented. Where are network and security management centers and what Tower responsibility? | Misc. | The Enterprise Network Provider performs CND. This is a supporting role for the ITSM. Day-to-day IA operations functions are within each of the Towers. |
| Will the IT solutions developed under each Tower be acquired under that Tower's contract to assure the right products are acquired and effective management of cost, schedule and performance vs. on external acquisition strategy that injects greater risk to deadlines and building the "right" solutions. | Misc. | The Tower providers are supporting the O&M environment. The Government will manage the process for identifying, funding, and acquiring technology solutions and facilitate their implementation into the "as is" environment. Each Service Area Provider contract will include a Value Engineering/Innovation clause that requires the Service Area Provider to bring forward new process, technology, and other innovations for consideration by the Government. In all cases, the Government retains final authority for approving and directing implementation of IT solutions. |
| Will SOFSA IT and IT requirements be moved under SITEC and out of SOFSA contract? | Misc. | The SOFSA intranet will still be supported by SOFSA. The goal is eventually to move all IT to SITEC over time. |
| Is there a risk mitigation plan or time built into the schedule for protests? | Misc. | The Government is accounting for all scenarios and developing contingency plans. |
| Will the ITSM RFP come out after SOFIC in June? Would allow Q&A at/during SOFIC. | Misc. | The Government's intent is to have the ITSM RFP final and released by mid-June. External activities will not likely have a bearing on the release of the ITSM RFP - the Government will allow sufficient time for companies to develop their RFP responses. |
| SOFIC conference is scheduled in June. If dropping SITEC RFP in Jun, can you please drop it afterward otherwise you deplete our available manning/resources to cover both! | Misc. | The Government's intent is to have the ITSM RFP final and released by mid-June. External activities will not likely have a bearing on the release of the ITSM RFP. The Government will allow sufficient time for companies to develop their RFP responses. |
| Is DCGS-SOF included in SITEC? If so which Tower? | Misc. | The Distributed Common Ground System - SOF (GCGS-SOF) will be part of SITEC. The DCGS-SOF is in the early planning phases. Once a complete set of requirements is defined, the Government expects most of DCGS-SOF to fall within Application Management Service Area, with the associated servers within the Data Center Service Area. |
| If the prime contractor on a Service Tower "responds" to the ITSM and the ITMO, what is the relationship between the Service Tower prime and the SORDAC PM/APM? | Misc. | SORDAC Programs will continue to fund and acquire solutions for introduction into the USSOCOM SIE. Once acquired, implementation coordination will occur through the ITMO, using the ITMO defined and managed processes. The Service Area Providers are responsible for day-to-day operations and maintenance of their respective Service Areas. |
| Command Centers (which are highly integrated dependent environments): Is SOCOM considering standardizing command center design build as part of SITEC. | Misc. | Command Centers are not within scope of the SITEC acquisitions. |
| What is ISR FMV? | Misc. | Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Full Motion Video (FMV) |
| Which Tower will perform direct program support to SORDAC APMs? (i.e., Socrates, SOJICC, etc.) | Misc. | The ITSM will provide planning and engineering support to SORDAC Programs. |
| After all Towers are awarded, what role will SPAWAR, NAVAIR other organizations play for SOCOM? | Misc. | The scope of the SITEC acquisitions generally covers what is included in the current EITC contract, while also incorporating the scope of the TACLAN contract. The Government will have some continuing support from SPAWAR and others. Over time, the Government will look to see if it makes sense to include these external providers, recognizing there will be reasons to go outside SITEC for proprietary tools and independent services. The Government's intent is to do as much as possible in the IT area within SITEC. |
| Will all IT acquisitions and support fall under SITEC (versus external agencies like SPAWAR)? | Misc. | See above. |
| Will J2 and J6 fall under SITEC? | Misc. | The majority of IT service support for J2 and J6 is within SITEC. |
| If you were a contractor who believes it could successfully prime any of the Towers, which one(s) would you choose if your goal was to maximize revenue? | Misc. | It would be inappropriate for the Government to respond to this question. |
Contract & Strat QUESTIONS (Contract & Strategy) FOCUS ANSWER
| Is the acquisition strategy for us SOCOM SITEC approved? If not when is approval anticipated? | Strat | The SITEC Acquisition Plan has been approved by both USSOCOM and DOD senior leadership. |
| Will the single award Towers fall under the $100M far requirement? | Contract | It is anticipated that all towers will exceed $100M. In accordance with FAR 16.504 the Contracting Officer has determined that the projected orders under the ITSM contract are so integrally related that only a single contractor can reasonably perform the work. The appropriate approvals have been obtained. The final determination on the other towers has not been completed. |
| Distributed Computing - Will any sites be available for survey/walk-through? | Contract | The Government does not plan to conduct site surveys/walk-throughs. |
| Has this acquisition process been utilized before? If so, how well did it operate and what was the program? | Strat | The Government has conducted extensive market research in developing the SITEC Acquisition Plan. The approval SITEC Acquisition Plan has been guided by USSOCOM Senior Management objectives, federal statute, DoD guidance and direction, and industry best practices. The Government is confident in the Plan and is investing in internal capabilities to successfully implement the approach. |
| Did SOCOM model this contract structure (SITEC) after an existing DOD or Federal contract? Where/what examples can industry look to for example of successes using this contract structure? Where/what examples can industry look to for example of successes using this contract structure? | Strat | The Government has conducted extensive market research in developing the SITEC Acquisition Plan. The approval SITEC Acquisition Plan has been guided by USSOCOM Senior Management objectives, federal statute, DoD guidance and direction, and industry best practices. The Government is confident in the Plan and is investing in internal capabilities to successfully implement the approach. |
| Will the seven separate service areas (Towers) be unique awards or will they be task orders awarded under the sites multiple award contracts? | Contract | The Government intends to award distinct contracts for each of the SITEC Service Areas. Each contract will be tailored to the needs of USSOCOM. Please refer to the Industry Day slides on FBO.gov for more information. |
| For multiple awards: How many prime contract awards are expected? What will be the small business percentages? | Contract | The Government has yet to decide on the number of awardees under the SITEC multiple award contracts. None of the multiple awards will be set aside for small business. However each contract will mandate that the prime contractor subcontract 30% of the effort to small business. |
| Multiple Award: How many awards are anticipated? | Contract | The Government has yet to decide on the number of awardees under the SITEC multiple award contracts. |
| For the multiple award IDIQ Towers do you have a vision for how many awards will be made? | Contract | The Government has yet to decide on the number of awardees under the SITEC multiple award contracts. |
| How many awards to you intend to make for the multiple award Towers? | Contract | The Government has yet to decide on the number of awardees under the SITEC multiple award contracts. |
| Please provide logic in TACLAN small business set aside sizing. A NAICS Code for # 517110 would provide much more competition than a 150 employee NAICS code as presented. | Contract | The final small business coordination for TACLAN has not been completed. All industry comments concerning the NAICS codes are being considered by the Government. The RFPs for TACLAN will include the appropriate NAICS Codes. |
| Please indicate what "color" funding (e.g., Proc, O&M, P.E.) will be allocated to the ITSM contract, and each of the Service Towers. | Contract | The ITSM contract will use O&M funding as will most other SITEC contracts. Some of the Applications Management and C4I Production TACLAN contract funding will likely include Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation (RDT&E). |
| Will RDT&E funding be executed under any of the SITEC Towers? If yes, which? | Contract | The Government will potentially use RDT&E funding within the Applications Management and C4I Production TACLAN Service Area Provider contracts. |
| Has USSOCOM completed independent cost evaluations such that unrealistically low priced proposals are recognized? | Contract | Yes, the Government has completed independent estimates for the SITEC contracts. |
| Contract Question: Will the evaluation factors be the same for all solicitations? | Contract | The Government is still drafting the evaluation criteria for the other towers. Many of the criteria for the ITSM tower will be similar. |
| If a small business pursues an ITSM award, will the Government consider the entire small business team's qualifications or just the small business prime qualifications in terms of meetings the RFP requirements (i.e., past performance, etc.)? | Contract | The Government intends to evaluate the past performance qualifications based on the Past Performance Information Sheets submitted by each offeror as identified in Section L of the draft ITSM RFP. |
| For all Towers: Will the past performance requirements for the proposal be for the entire team or just the prime? | Contract | The Government intends to evaluate the past performance qualifications based on the Past Performance Information Sheets submitted by each offeror as identified in Section L of the draft ITSM RFP. |
| Will you be evaluating past performance citations from select subcontractors as well as primes? | Contract | The Government intends to evaluate the past performance qualifications based on the Past Performance Information Sheets submitted by each offeror as identified in Section L of the draft ITSM RFP. |
| Section M Metrics: Recommend or past performance also include evidence of "best practice" use both within the prime team companies and on past programs. Rationale: Too often best practices are cited for use…but they are not very mature or even used internally. Believe SOCOM will benefit from getting detailed evidence of well documented and mature "best practices." | Contract | Thank you for the suggestion - the Government will consider this in developing the final RFP. |
| Will you migrate from cost to FFP in service Towers or ask your offerors to sign up to rigid SLAs from the start? (Not clear) | Contract | The final decisions on contract type for the service towers have not been made. The Government has identified preliminary contract types for each tower as stated in the Day 1 Industry slides posted on FBO.gov. |
| Will SLA's be proposed at proposal or will government provide SLA's? | Contract | The SLA's will be determined by the Government and included in the RFP and resulting Contracts. |
| Given the relative immaturity of the ITMO and ITIL processes, how does the Government propose to incorporate the requirements of ITIL and integration points into the SOWs for the Service Towers given the timeline of the ITSM RFP and Service Towers RFP. Is the ITSM just getting stood up while the service Towers competes are on going? | Contract | The Government has defined enterprise ITIL processes, procedures, and timelines for the service tower contracts that are to be implemented by the respective contractors regardless of the timing of the RFPs. |
| Will most, if not all, software be provide as GFE under separate ELA? | Contract | The government will provide software as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). |
| Please elaborate on the types of agreements that will be mandated between the SITEC awardees to ensure performance across the enterprise. | Contract | Each SITEC contract will require establishment of Associate Contractor Agreements (ACAs) and Operating Level Agreements (OLAs) among all Service Area Providers to identify integration points and help ensure coordination, integration, and synchronization of services occurs. Details will be provided within each of the SITEC RFPs. |
| Associate Contractor Agreements: The ACA referenced in the draft RFP are to be between the ITSM and the other Tower group of contractors (such as contractors embedded in the ITMO)? | Contract | The ACAs referenced in the draft ITSM RFP are to be established among and between all SITEC prime contractors (with flow-down requirements to all subcontractors). |
| Non-ITSM: Do Tower contractors have to establish ACAs with others non-ITSM Towers? Or Does all communication have to go through ITMO? | Contract | The ACAs referenced in the draft ITSM RFP are to be established among and between all SITEC prime contractors (with flow-down requirements to all subcontractors). |
| Has SOCOM conducted a customer focused six sigma review to determine SLA objectives? | Contract | No, the Government has not specifically used the Six Sigma framework in developing the SLA objectives. The Government has looked at SLAs carefully and gone through a rigorous process to develop SLAs that address both operating and customer needs, that drive the intended behaviors, and that are manageable in number. |
| Mr. Cluck indicated there would be SLAs for industry to propose and price to. But then he said that irrespective of the agreed SLAs, only 100% success is acceptable. If that case, the RFP should say so, that way it can be priced appropriately - your thoughts? | Contract | The Government is approaching the SLAs in the SITEC contracts to measure how well the Command is providing service to its customers. With the SITEC framework, the Government is identifying minimal acceptable performance, and targets levels of performance necessary to earn incentives. The RFPs will clearly identify the penalties for failing to meet minimum requirements and the rewards for exceeding target objectives. |
| Have you considered using fixed price redetermination or fixed price successive targets contract types for later years of the contract us FFP? | Contract | The Government is considering all alternative contract types. The final determination on contract type will be published in the final RFP. |
| Have you applied your -1, 0, +1 scoring methodology to some sample performance to ensure it will accurately (dis-) incentive and punish/reward the contactor appropriately? (Don't want unintended consequences) | Contract | Yes, the Government SITEC Team has tested the Performance Incentive Calculation methodology using sample measures. |
| Will Government continue to provide office space for specific task orders or will contractor be require to provide space? | Contract | Yes, the Government will provide office space for the ITSM. |
| Are multi-award contractors required to bid on all task orders or can they opt out on some? | Contract | This is to be determined. Details will be provided in the multiple award RFPs. |
| Will there be other Towers identified beyond the six that have been reviewed? Notionally what are they? Do the same restrictions apply for pursuing the unnamed Towers? | Contract | The Government is not currently planning on any additional Towers beyond those currently identified. |
| Are you contemplating increasing the number of core services? | Contract | The Government is not currently planning on any additional Towers beyond those currently identified. |
| Do you anticipate the Service Tower proposals providing technical solutions or will the Service Area Providers be implementers of ITMO plans and operational concepts? | Contract | The Service Tower RFPs will include a technical approach requirement. The Government is open to considering new, unique, and/or innovative technical approaches and has/will included the Value Engineering/Innovation requirement with to solicit the contractor ideas in this regard. The SITEC services generally speaking are for day-to-day operations and maintenance of the existing USSOCOM IT environment. |
| The draft RFP for ITSM provides for savings sharing to contractor and ability to stand up components within ITSM. What will prohibit ITSM contractor from pulling work from Tower contracts (labeling as cost savings or Evolutionary Technology Insertion or as add-ons)? | Contract | The Government is committed to a fair and open Value Engineering / Innovation process; each SITEC RFP will include a mandatory Value Engineering / Innovation clause, with regularly scheduled meetings among all SITEC contractors and key Command IT decision makers to discuss potential opportunities. The Government will make all final decisions and determine appropriate allocation of share in savings and SITEC contractors. |
| Concerning incentives around efficiencies. If the ITSM contractor indentifies an improvement in a Tower how will the incentive be allocated among the two contractors (ITSM, Tower)? | Contract | The Government is committed to a fair and open Value Engineering / Innovation process; each SITEC RFP will include a mandatory Value Engineering / Innovation clause, with regularly scheduled meetings among all SITEC contractors and key Command IT decision makers to discuss potential opportunities. The Government will make all final decisions and determine appropriate allocation of share in savings and SITEC contractors. |
| If a contractor recommends a component change (upgrade or replacement) and it is rejected, is that contractor then exempt from being held responsible if a failure occurs with that component? | Contract | Contractor's will be required to deliver services in accordance with the individual contracts. Those services must be delivered regardless of whether the Government initiates recommended changes. The contractor will be held responsible for meeting the minimum contract requirements and cannot be exempted from that performance if the Government rejects a contractor's recommendation. |
| If FFP units are quantities of equipment, how is service provider incentivized to reduce costs by consolidating equipment? | Contract | The Government is providing incentives through the Value Engineering / Innovation program. Also, the Government will be managing and monitoring the number of widgets; the incentive is on the Government to determine where reductions are prudent and warranted. |
| When performance measures cross Towers occurs (e.g., enterprise network and data center), how will that be measured against each contractor? | Contract | Each RFP will include area specific, common, and shared Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The SLA framework is intended to promote cooperation and an unified delivery model. Specific SLAs will be detailed in each SITEC RFP. |
| How will the ITMO use performance across the enterprise as a rating factor for the ITSM if large portions of the enterprise (SPAWAR-NAVSOC, MARSOC) won't fall under the ITMO? | Contract | The large majority of core IT services fall within the scope and structure of the SITEC contracts, and the Government is confident that effective SLAs can be developed to incentivize enterprise-wide performance. |
| More precision with regard to "the requirement" would allow "best of breed" resources to be more reliable (and cost effectively) provided. How can we get this precision prior to the follow on task users? Not clear? | Contract | Please review the draft ITSM RFP as well as Industry Day slides for more detail on USSOCOM requirements. The question lacks specificity; if the answers provided here and the draft ITSM RFP and Industry Day slides do not provide the necessary specify, please contact the KO at contracting@socom.mil. |
| Enterprise networks seems like a fairly broad Towers. What is the rationale for single award vs. multiple awards? Not clear | Contract | The Government believes all requirements within the Enterprise Networks Service Area are so integrally related that it would be inefficient and would risk service disruptions if more than one source performed the work. |
| How can you award Service Towers without a developed IOC/FOC service approach. Especially if you are looking for FFP. | Contract | Most Service Towers are responsible for the day-to-day operations and maintenance of USSOCOM IT services. The ITSM contract will be awarded to develop, maintain, and enforce enterprise processes and procedures. The Government intends to award the ITSM contract several months before other Service Area contracts. The ITMO, with ITSM support, will be defining the Initial Operating Capability (IOC) and Full Operating Capability (FOC) service approach. |
| Please clarify: Is the ITMO a contract? | Contract | The ITMO is a Government-led division established within the USSOCOM headquarters J6 organization with the mission to establish, maintain, and implement ITIL processes for the SIE and SITEC. |
| The ITSM includes a lot of effort that is not typical CAAS/SETA/Acquisition related, but yet carry the same OCI award restrictions. Will the Government consider moving Service Desk, IA, CM, and other non-CAAS elements to the other Towers? | Contract | The Government does not intend to move Service Desk, Information Assurance (IA), CM, and other non-CAAS elements to the other Towers. |
| Section L requires a key person obtain "an ITIL manager's certification in IT service management" within the last 12 months. "Manager" is an ITIL v2 certification level. What is the ITIL v3 certification requirement? Foundation, intermediate, expert or master? | Contract | The Government will provide clarification in the final RFP that a minimum of Expert ITIL certification is required. |
| What, if any, hardware or software will be GFE (in other words - already owned today)? | Contract | The Government will provide all in scope hardware and software as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). |
| Will the incentive weights be published in the RFP? | Contract | Yes. The Government will publish incentive weights in the final ITSM RFP. |
| Given a base period of performance for 2 years 3 months and incentive periods of 1 year + 9 months (for a total of four years) over what period will a successful Service Area Provider have an opportunity to earn financial incentives? | Contract | The Government intends that the ITSM contract will include a 6 month transition |
| Can you explain more about how the AbilityOne 2 for 1 credit works. | Contract | Large businesses will be required to submit a subcontracting plan with their proposal that will contain small business goals. During the execution of the contract the contractor will receive twice the credit towards the small business goals if they subcontract with AbilityOne. |
| Will funded task orders still be awarded under the current EITC? | Contract | Task orders will still be awarded under EITC with an expiration date of 31 Mar 2011 |
Limitations incl. SB QUESTIONS (Limitations including Small Business) FOCUS ANSWER
| Is the EITC incumbent OCI'd from Tower opportunities? Are they restricted to compete for ITSM only? | Limitations | No. |
| Please explain how rule of two (2) enhances competition? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If the goal is to encourage competition, doesn't limiting awards to 2 Towers conflict with that goal? Can you please provide some insight into that decision? | Limitations | Same as above. |
| Would you consider exempting small businesses from the OCI limitations? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| What part of the FAR allows for the limiting of competition as proposed in the "rule of two" (with the exception of socio-economic standards)? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Which section of the FAR specifically allows for the legal exclusion of a team from competing on additional Towers once they have won two? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| What is the thought process behind only 2 seats (either prime / subcontractor) for awards? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Are companies allowed to bid in more than 2 areas? Is there a limit on how many areas a company can bid as a prime or a subcontractor? Are award and/or bid limits the same for larger small business? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Please clarify rule of 2: Companies can only bid two Towers? Or Companies can get no more two awards? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Please address the preclusion from bidding/winning ITSM vs. the Service Areas? | Limitations | The Provider team who is awarded the ITSM contract is OCI'd from participation in the other service towers IAW FAR 9.5 |
| Will there be OCI's in the Towers other than ITSM? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If we are a subcontractor on two Towers would we be allowed to provide training services to teams in the other Towers? | Limitations | End User Training will be conducted in the App Dev/Mgt tower. OCI restrictions will be determined at the task order award level. |
| Please address any industry restrictions, OCI or training, that might apply to bidding the various SIE elements? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Any limit or how many a large company can bid / win? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Can a single vendor (Team) compete for multiple Towers? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Can a company bid all Towers (except ITSM) without running afoul of the 2 Tower restriction? If so how? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Is the ITSM the only Tower that precludes award of another Tower under SITEC? *on an OCI basis | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If you participate in ITSM proposal but do not win an award, does it preclude you from participating in any other Tower? | Limitations | No. Only the ITSM contractor awardee is precluded from award of the other tower contacts. |
| If I (company) submit proposals for 5 Towers outside the ITSM and we are ranked # 1 evaluated proposal for 3 or 4 Towers, how will the Government determine which Towers to award to the company? And will the Government automatically award to the 2nd place company for the other Towers? | Limitations | The Government intends to award the SITEC contracts based on the following order of precedence. |
ITSM
Enterprise Network Services Data Center Services Distributed Computing Services Application Management Services Specialty Services IT Production Services In the event an offer is the apparent winner on 2 contracts, the contractor will be awarded the contract for the highest precedence tower and will be ineligible for award of other towers if they are restricted in accordance with the OCI limitations.
| Order of Awards: If a subcontractor is on Data Center award and on your Distributed Computing team and the Data Center prime with that subcontractor wins, what happens to the prime-subcontractor on Distributed Computing? Thrown out? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| What happens to my proposal if one of my subcontractors is successful on two earlier awards? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Teaming Restrictions: How many teams will we able to: Form as Prime? Join as subcontractor? Are any of the Tower competitions being considered as small business set-asides? | Limitations | See FAR 9.6 for restrictions on Contractor Team Arrangements. Contractor teams or joint ventures will be subject to the same limitations as individual contractors. All primes (to include joint ventures) will be required to submit an OCI mitigation plan to address OCIs of their subcontractors (team members) related to the tower restrictions. |
| Just to Clarify: A company can only be apart of 2 Towers max as a prime or as a subcontractor or both correct? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If companies merge how will you deal with revoking an award if the companies merging have been previously awarded an opportunity either as a prime or subcontractor? | Limitations | The OCI restrictions will carry through to contract performance. If companies merge, the Government will evaluate all mitigation alternatives including termination of contracts. |
| Post award, who will track what subcontractors are on what teams? If a subcontractor performs in 2 Tower in year 1 only, could that subcontractor perform in 2 other Towers in other years? | Limitations | All contracts will contain subcontracting reporting requirements. The OCI restrictions will carry through to contract performance. |
| Can you join teams after the award of the Towers? Can awardee bring on team members after the award? | Limitations | Subcontractors may be brought on board at any time as long as OCIs are mitigated in accordance with the prime's OCI plan. |
| Can the ITSM or other Tower service provider subcontractor a task order to a company not on their team at time of award? | Limitations | Subcontractors may be brought on board at any time as long as OCIs are mitigated in accordance with the prime's OCI plan. |
| If a contractor wins multiple Towers, will they be able to "decline" a higher precedent Tower in favor of other Towers they have won (e.g., if you win ITSM + 2 other Towers, can you decline ITSM in favor of the other two)? | Limitations | No. You can not decline a contract after it has been awarded. |
| For subcontractors: since they are limited to 2 awards it would be unfair for them not to participate in completion for all SITEC Towers for fear of their prime's proposal being disqualified. Will it be permissible for them to use language to voluntarily withdraw from a team if they have already been awarded 2 SITEC Tower awards with other teams? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If a subcontractor is on more than 2 proposals that are to be awarded, who will decide which 2? Will the total proposal on others be rejected or can subcontractor withdraw from other proposals after 2 awards? (Questions not referring to ITSM) | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Is a separate corporation not allowed to receive a contract award as a prime or a subcontractor if a separate subsidiary receives an award as a subcontractor or a prime on the ITSM contract? | Limitations | The restrictions on prime contractors for the ITSM, Enterprise Networks, Data Center, Distributed Computing, and C4I Production also apply to the prime contractor's subsidiaries. |
| Acquisition strategy-clarification: We are one separate operating company within a corporation; outside of ITSM, can our subsidiaries compete for more than 2 Towers as separate subcontractor/contractors? | Limitations | The restrictions on prime contractors for the ITSM, Enterprise Networks, Data Center, Distributed Computing, and C4I Production also apply to the prime contractor's subsidiaries. |
| Given the "rule of 2" awards, can you describe the impact of a corporate acquisition (e.g., If a company holding 2 awards is acquired by a company also holding 2 awards, what happens?) | Limitations | The OCI restrictions will carry through to contract performance. In the event of a corporate acquisition, the Government will evaluate all mitigation alternatives including termination of contracts. |
| The limit of only being allowed to either prime or subcontractor on a limit of 2 awards apply to different divisions of large companies? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Large corporations are often comprised of separate legal entities/companies. Does this limit participation at the corporations level or the Legal separate company level? Different companies within a large corporation offer different services/products, just like vendors such as Dell! Each of these large corporations have companies with core capabilities across the SOCOM enterprise. This is true for L3, NG, GD, LM, etc… | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Limitations: Large corporations are composed of separate companies with unique capabilities and expertise. Your limitation for prime and subcontractors to 2 awards across SITEC-does this apply to the entire corporate entity or is defined as these lesser companies? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Is a wholly-owned subsidiary restricted from further procurements if it's parent wins ITSM as a subcontractor? | Limitations | The restrictions on prime contractors for the ITSM, Enterprise Networks, Data Center, Distributed Computing, and C4I Production also apply to the prime contractor's subsidiaries. |
| As a wholly owned subsidiary, am I restricted if my parent organization is obligated in this procurement (i.e., if they are prime or subcontractor on ITSM, am I restricted from participating on other Towers)? | Limitations | The restrictions on prime contractors for the ITSM, Enterprise Networks, Data Center, Distributed Computing, and C4I Production also apply to the prime contractor's subsidiaries. |
| Going back to your rule of two Towers, am I correct in understanding that if a company wins two Towers, as either a prime or subcontractor, it cannot participate in a third Tower? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Given your stated desire to have the best of breed, what is your perspective on how this will be negatively affected based on contractual participation limitations. | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If a provider wins more than 1 award under apps management, does that count towards the limit of 2 or is that just Tower based? | Limitations | Award of a task order on application Management tower will not preclude the contractor from being awarded another tower contract. However, a contractor may be ineligible for award of some task orders awarded under the application management tower if there is an OCI. |
| Is a company planning to propose a product as an ETI solution precluded from being on the ITSM team? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If a contractor has 2 other Towers, does this mean that this contractor cannot bid later (non-TACLAN) C41 production contracts? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Are there any later award restrictions (i.e., limited to two award plays)? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Is Application Management also under the "rule of two"? Seems illogical since you have competition built into the multiple award contract. | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| How does SOCOM intend to access technology and/or missions capability for the various Towers that is available from the ITSM prime team; given the current OCI structure which apparently prevents the ITSM from participating in the respective Towers. | Limitations | The Provider team who is awarded the ITSM contract is OCI'd from recommending their product solutions IAW FAR 9.5 |
| Q1: Is the ITSM precluded from all Tower work, even re-competes? | Limitations | The Provider team who is awarded the ITSM contract is OCI'd from participation in the other service towers IAW FAR 9.5 |
| Q2: Is the ITSM precluded from other non-SITEC opportunities at SOCOM or other Commands? | Limitations | At this time it is not anticipated that the ITSM contractor will be precluded from Non-SITEC awards. However, as required by FAR 9.5 all contracts will be evaluated for OCIs prior to award. |
| Q3: Assuming one company wins two non-ITSM awards, is that vendor precluded from winning a third if the third is a recompete of a Tower other than the two that are company holds? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Will the OCI restriction for ITSM awards extend to those company relationships outside the SITEC program (e.g., Company A on the ITSM contract has a teaming arrangement with Company B who is a winner on Tower B+C)? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If you are a subcontractor to the ITSM prime specifically for the Service Desk, why should that preclude you from other Towers work? | Limitations | The Provider team who is awarded the ITSM contract is OCI'd from participation in the other service towers IAW FAR 9.5 |
| If a prime in Specialty Services Tower wins a task order and they excluded from further award? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If the company wins the C4I Production Services Tower and you are on a team that has won another Tower - You have met the two Tower limit. Is the company allowed to bid on additional contracts that are added to the C4I Production Tower. | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Is there an OCI issue between development contract and production support contract? Firewall is needed to protect production applications. | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| How would consulting services support be provided from commercial hardware and software vendors (ODC or labor categories)? Can federal supply schedules be used by primes? Will OCI apply if labor categories used? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Would you consider exempting the Specialty Services "team" from the OCI restrictions (e.g., would make sense for the same vendor who's won the Distributed Computing, Networks, Data Center Tower be competing for the Specialty team)? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If a small business is a subcontractor on Distributed Computing for example; then is on 2 teams on a particular MATOC Towers does that mean one MATOC winner gets disqualified? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| If your company is on a team for 2 other Towers outside C4I Production are you unable to bid on future contracts that come out under this Tower - contracts no one knows about today? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| Does the award of the Global Battlestaff Program Support (GBPS) as a prime or subcontractor preclude you from bidding the SITEC ITSM? What was the rationale for not putting the ITMO under GBPS? | Limitations | GBPS contractors are not precluded from award of any SITEC contracts. The SITEC ITMO requires IT specific skill sets that are not within the scope of the GBPS contracts. |
| Multiple awards will be awarded...will primes be able to win multiple Towers? If so, which Towers (multiple) can be awarded to a single prime? What combinations (i.e., Data Center and Enterprise Network)? | Limitations | The Government is reviewing comments from industry regarding limitations. See Special Notice on FBO. |
| What is the SOCOM position on exclusive teaming? If SOCOM wants "Best of Breed," it would seem exclusive teaming would preclude this. | Limitations | USSOCOM has no position on exclusive teaming. |
| NDAs are NDAs - you are requiring primes to seek information from subcontractors on their relationship w/ other primes that may be protected. Could this be viewed or a potential violation of Procurement Integrity Act? | Limitations | Contractors will be required identify subcontractor OCIs and provide a plan to mitigate those OCIs. This is not a violation of the Procurement Integrity Act. |
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