MICS_ID2_Q A_120316.docx

Missile Defense Agency Information Technology Collaboration Systems (MICS) Industry Days 2 (Schriever AFB, CO) - Questions & Answers

Future MKO Customer funded Site Management could be located in other regions as well.

NOTE: TSF: 3 is notional and is not being priced or executed.

NOTE: TSF: 3 is notional and is not being priced or executed.

L-03.1.1 The Offeror shall submit a signed Standard Form 33 (SF33), complete with Sections A-K and all Section J attachments. The Offeror must complete Section A Solicitation/Contract Form blocks 12, 13, 14, 15A, 15B, 15C and provide signature and date for blocks 16, 17, and 18; block 12 must state 180 days. The submission of Section A-J and Section J Attachments constitutes an offer, which the Government may accept. The original unbound copy should be clearly marked under separate cover and should be provided with three (3) holes punched on the side of pages.

1.) This statement seems to indicate is the Govt’s desire to receive a completely reproduced copy of the RFP Sections A – J, to include Section J attachments. Should Section J attachments such as the PWS, IFP, etc. be reproduced and re-submitted? Section J – Attachment 2 Management Plan is marked as Contractor provided and per Section L instructions, is to be included in the Management Volume. Is it the Govt’s intent that the Management Plan should also be included in Tab 1 of Volume II – Contract?

1).Yes, the Government requires a reproduced copy of Sections A-J. The Offeror shall prepare the proposal as set forth in Section L Table L-01-1 “Volume Organization” (Pages 9 and 10). The title and contents of the volume are defined in the table. All Section J attachments, including Offeror provided attachments, should be included in Volume II-“Contract”. The Management Plan is a Section J Attachment and should be submitted Volume II “Contract”.

No: Except for the reproduced sections of the solicitation document, the text shall be Microsoft Word Times New Roman and no less than 12-point font.

1.) Will the Govt. provide an estimate of how many TS cleared personnel are required for performance under the MICS contract?

2.) Are Interim Secret Clearances at Phase In start or Contract start acceptable?

3.) At what location(s) do most of the TS cleared personnel reside or at what location(s) is most of the activities performed requiring TS classified personnel?

1.) No: The Offeror should refer to Section L, Attachment 6 “Workload Data” to determine the appropriate requirement for TS requirements.

2.) Yes, for those areas and positions that require a Secret clearance. A Top Secret/SCI is still required as a minimum for those areas and positions that require a Top Secret Clearance/SCI.

3.) Refer to Section L, Attachment 6 “Workload Data”, Section 6.0

The instructions for this volume regarding Basis of Estimate Narratives, The Basis of Estimate Summary form and the EPE forms in the Cost Volume do not seem to align properly. See specific questions below:

1.) Reference L-08.1: Tab 1, Basis of Estimate Narratives

The instructions call for nine (9) BOE narratives, specifically for the labor CLINs - CLINs X100 and CLINS X500-X507. However, the Basis of Estimate Summary form (Exhibit B) is structured by PWS tasks and not CLINs. Furthermore, the PWS tasks included on the Basis of Estimate Summary form do not map to CLINs X501-507 which are the FFP Customer Support Tasks. Therefore, the hours associated with the FFP CLINS X501-X507 will not be included on the Basis of Estimate Summary form (Exhibit B). Please clarify the following:

2.) Reference L-08.2: Tab 2, Basis of Estimate Summary

The instructions state that all hours recorded in Exhibit B, BOE Summary must match the total hours in the EPE, Cost Model Exhibit A. As noted in question 4.a above, the hours associated with CLINs X500-X507 CLINS are not accounted for in the BOE Summary form (Exhibit B) but they are included in the EPE. Therefore, the hours would not match. Can you please provide clarification?

3.) Reference Section_L_FRFP_120215 Exhibit B, BOE Summary attachment

In this exhibit, there are certain tasks that appear to be identified separately from the PWS tasks that are grouped together under specific buckets – see Execution, Operations, and Maintenance. Is it a correct assumption that the government wants to see the labor category(ies) and hours specific to the uniquely identified task called out separately, as well as have those hours included in the overall hours count for their respective task groupings? For example, the BOE Summary appears to individually identify Task 3.1.1.4 under the Execution bucket (Column E). However, the labor category and hours for task number 3.1.1.4 would also be summed in Column F (Tasks 3.1 – 3.1.1.4). Similar scenarios occur in the Operations and Maintenance buckets.

1.) The CO will amend the RFP (Section L) to provide more clarification to this section and add ten (10) Basis of Estimate Narratives (BOE) including CLINS X501-X507. The BOE Narratives should not be written to the associated CLIN(s) but should be written to specific tasks in the PWS. The CLINS are provided as a reference to ensure that Offerors would not attempt to bid to the Discrete Tasks (CLIN X600—X699).

2.) Offeror should construct Narratives to the PWS tasks and not the specific CLINS. The RFP will be amended to provide more clarification.

3.) The CO will amend the RFP to include a notes section to say “The Offerors BOE Narratives (Reference Section L-08.1 and L-08.2) shall be aligned to the PWS sections identified in this spreadsheet (e.g., Phase-in 3.6, Execution 3.1 - 3.1.1.4, etc.), NOT to the CLINs. BOE Narratives will apply ONLY to work being proposed to in this proposal under CLINs 0001, X100, and X500 - X507. Offerors shall not align the BOE Narratives to CLINs.

Will overtime be authorized for special events and surge requirements?

All requests for overtime will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and be approved if justified.

Will the Govt. provide detail on the anticipated amount of CBT training versus desk-side training delivered by technicians?

The Govt. has provided the historical number of training events in Section L Attachment 6 “Workload Data”, which includes all methods of delivery. There is no specific amount of CBT training versus desk-side training required. The method of delivery and approach to training is up to the Offeror to propose (ref. Section L). The CO will amend the RFP to include additional training workload to include number of courses (classroom, virtual, CBT), delivery method, and region.

Industry Day #1, Slide 144 (p 72) provided a breakdown of classes taught. Can MDA provide further training details, such as the schedule of all of the instructor led training classes that were conducted last calendar year, including the title of the training, the dates, the duration, the technology trained, the # of students, and whether or not the class was offered via VTC or another remote attendance capability?

The CO will amend the RFP to include additional training workload to include number of courses (classroom, virtual, CBT), delivery method, and region.

Please provide a breakout of the 263 conference rooms (# of Small, Medium, and Large).

Refer to “Configuration and Maintenance List” Section L Attachment 9.

Can the MDA provide a deeper breakout of service desk tickets? Including the following information:

1.) The # of tickets per month that are for MKO vs. VTC?

2.) The # of tickets per month that are resolved at Tier I, II and III?

3.) The # of tickets per month that represent request, incident and problem records?

4.) The average resolution times for the tickets of the various types identified above in this question?

1.) Response: Annual ticket data is provided for MKO and VTC. Refer to Section L, Attachment 6 “Workload Data”.

2.) We do not have this data identified by Tier.

3.) Currently, the data is not accurate enough to rely on the categorization due to immature procedures when tickets were created.

4.) While Remedy contains the resolution times associated with resolved tickets, the relatively immature processes of using Remedy to track MKO and VTC tickets has resulted in data significantly skewed that it provides no reasonable basis of estimate. (e.g., many tickets have been opened then immediately closed to document work performed after the fact.)

When calculating the % availability of the MKO systems for the correlating CPO, are the classified and unclassified systems weighted equally?

The availability of each system (UMKO and CMKO) will be considered independent of each other.

Is the CPO for % availability for the MKO systems broken out in any way other than overall system availability? For example, if the MKO sites are up and running, but the search component of the system is not returning results, is that factored into the % availability of the system?

All outages will be reviewed on a monthly basis for relevancy to MICS requirements. The Government’s intent is to validate any negative performance in order to determine the root cause of the issue prior to making a final determination of performance. Any negative performance beyond the MICS contractor’s control will not be assessed against the MICS contractor.

This PWS task is mapped to CLIN X100, X200, X300, X600-699, X700-799. As a future task with no requirements defined at this time, please provide clarification on how this task should be factored into the pricing for CLINS X100, X200 & X300.

The tasks described in PWS Section 3.2 could be funded under the baseline efforts (CLINS X100-X300) or Discrete Tasks (CLINS X600-799). There is currently no defined requirement for Offeror(s) to bid this task for the MICS RFP.

Task 3.3 is listed in the Exhibit B, BOE Summary located in Section L. This task is mapped to CLIN X600-699, X700-799. Section L -07.5.7 and L-07.5.8 state, “While at this time MDA does not have any definitized [….] requirements, these CLINS are included as placeholders for future requirements. Should Task 3.3 be removed from the BOE Summary? If not, will the Govt. please provide direction on how Offerors should project labor for this future task and correlate that to the EPE, as directed?

MDA does not have any definitized Routine Projects and Discrete Tasks requirements; these CLINS are included as placeholders for future requirements. Task 3.3 in the BOE Summary will be reflected as “Reserved” and no BOE narrative is required for Task 3.3.

Will the Govt. provide additional information on the existing Life Cycle Mgmt. Plan (to include hardware and applications?)

There is no existing Life Cycle Management Plan. All existing data that could be used for the development of a Life Cycle Management Plan has been provided. Refer to “Configuration and Maintenance List” Section L Attachment 9 and “Workload Data” Section L, Attachment 6.

Will the Govt. provide a sample of a current SLA and OLA?

Not at this time. We currently do not have a standard document to serve as an example.

Does the Govt. have a spares management policy?

No.

1.) For VTC service desk requirements, where do Tier I, Tier II and Tier III resources reside currently?

2.) For all other collaboration services, where do Tier II and Tier III resources currently reside?

1.) VTC resources reside across the Enterprise with Video Control Centers (VCC) located in NCR and Huntsville and Video Services Operation Centers (VSOC) located in Huntsville and Colorado Springs.

2.) Currently, MKO Tier II and III resources reside in Huntsville and National Capital Region.

Do the Core Hours of 0730 – 1830hrs EST include the Service Desk, as well?

The MDA Integrated Service Desk (ISD) supported by the Associate Contractor is Operational 0500hrs-2300hrs EST, Monday through Saturday. The Core Hour requirements for MICS remains as stated in Section J, Attachment 1- Performance Work Statement (PWS).

Is any of the vendor-specific training currently developed for existing systems/products either proprietary or copy-righted such that it would prevent the awarded Contractor’s trainers from using the existing, product-specific training information without being in violation of a copyright or proprietary data restriction, etc?

No, we have not discovered any current training products that are proprietary or copy-righted.

Is there an existing customer satisfaction survey tool? Is the Govt. looking for the Offeror to recommend a survey tool?

We currently use SharePoint and Remedy as our tools for capturing customer satisfactions. We are not asking the Offeror’s for recommendations on survey tools.

Is there a “Train the Trainer” type class structure?

Currently, we do not have “Train the Trainer” type classes, but do not have objections to this method if it proves appropriate for the subject.

The 2012 “MDA IT Services Annual Summary Report” is now available and will be provided via e-mail as an update to the final Offerors Library.

All information provided during both Industry Days was an overview of the solicitation. In the event there are inconsistencies, the RFP/solicitation shall prevail over information presented at Industry Days 1 & 2.

The second paragraph references “CLINs X001” in three (3) places. Should these instances read “CLINs X100”?

Yes the Contracting Officer will amend the RFP to correct L-07.5.2 to read X100.

The instructions in the above referenced Section L specifies to calculate all labor costs associated with the Baseline tasks and include the totals in the Target Cost lines of the SF 33 Contract Section B. The Target Cost line item is included in both the X100 CLIN structure and the X200 (Performance Incentive Fee for X100) CLIN structure. Further, the Target Cost total is added to the target fee in each CLIN - CPIF in CLIN X100 and PIF in CLIN X200. Is this potentially a double counting of Target Costs?

No, this is not double counting Target Costs. The instructions in Section L.07.5.2 clearly states the Offeror shall propose all labor associated with Program and Collaboration Services – Baseline in CLINs X100 of the EPE and include the totals in the Target Cost lines of the SF33 Contract Section B. Reference “Note” in Section L-07.5.2.

The Cost Incentive Fee amount should go into CLINs X100; the performance Incentive Fee amount should go into CLINs X200.

Reference Industry Days #1 (day 2) briefing charts 21 – 24.

What level of access will the MICS team have to the MS SQL servers that are dedicated to the MKO systems? For example:

1.) Will the MICS team be able to create and configure SharePoint content databases, or will operations like that take the form of a request from the MICS team to the associate contractor responsible for the “Managed Web/App/DB Hosting” technical service?

2.) Will the MICS team be able to apply database updates that correlate with SharePoint patches, or will that also have to be a request to the associate contractor?

3.) Will the MICS team be able to query the MKO databases directly (read-only) to aide in the troubleshooting process?

The Government is unable to provide a response to this question/request at this time. If a response is available in the future it will be provided via FedBizOpps.

What tool(s) does the MDA use for source code control, e.g. versioning, branching, etc. of .NET source code?

Visual Studio Team Suite 2010

1.) What iterative development methodologies are currently used at MDA? Does MDA employ any forms of Agile methodology, or does MDA have any preferences regarding methodologies to be used?

2.) How does MDA manage requirements currently? Does MDA employ formal requirements management tools such as DOORS or MS TFS with underlying databases to store and manage requirements artifacts throughout the life cycle, or are requirements artifacts simply documented in Microsoft Office productivity tools and managed outside a specific tool environment?

3.) What tools are currently used by quality assurance testers to test custom SharePoint applications and other custom applications aside from a web browser? Is the Govt. looking for the Offeror to recommend a testing tool?

4.) Attachment J7 indicates the MDA will provide software development workstations. What unique tools are available/licensed for software developers, e.g. Visual Studio? Which versions of the tools are in use at this time?

5.) Which programming languages are in use by current solutions at the MDA that are expected to be maintained by the MICS contractor, aside from C#.NET? Is Java, Cold Fusion, or others in use?

6.) How many SharePoint development projects are completed per year? How many development projects are completed per years that are not SharePoint based solutions?

7.) Is the MICS contractor responsible for database administration for the development and testing environments used by the MICS development and testing efforts?

1.) Development approach is dependent on the project. However, a spiral development model is most commonly used.

2.) Requirements artifacts are generally documented in Microsoft Office productivity tools and managed in the SharePoint environment.

3.) The Government is unable to provide a response to this question/request at this time. If a response is available in the future it will be provided via FedBizOpps.

4.) Visual Studio Pro 2010, SharePoint Designer 2007, iDashboard - xPlatform, iDashboard Enterprise Edition, Quest LiteSpeed Enterprise for SQL Server v6.0, Quest SpotLight on SQL Server v7.6, Quest - TOAD for SQL Server Xpert Edition, Snagit v10 - Multi User, Quest - TOAD DBA Suite for Oracle, Nintex Reporting 2008, Adobe Technical Suite v3.5, Quest Recovery Manager for SharePoint, & Quest Site Administrator for SharePoint.

5.) Programming languages most commonly used are: C#.NET, ASP.NET, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flash/Action Script, Silverlight, XML, and SQL.

6.) Reference Section L, Attachment 6 – Workload Data (2.7)

7.) Yes

“The Offeror shall submit, in this Tab, a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and/or provisions included in the solicitation. Exceptions, if any, to the terms, conditions, and/or provisions of this solicitation shall be included in this Tab. Exceptions to the terms, conditions, and/or provisions of this solicitation in any form (identified as exceptions, assumptions, clarifications, etc.) shall not be included elsewhere in the proposal.” [Emphasis added] AND

L-08.1 Tab 1: Basis of Estimate Narratives “…The Offeror shall submit a Basis of Estimate (BOE) Narrative for CLINs 0001, X100, and X500 – X507 which includes Labor Categories and summary labor hours for each 12-month period of performance. …. Each of these narratives must explain all assumptions and rationale inherent in the Offeror’s proposed staffing approach; additionally, Offerors shall describe their proposed RBA structure. Discuss all proposed staff in terms of Labor Categories and labor hours thoroughly so that evaluators will understand the role each proposed Labor Category plays in the proposed approach to the subject PWS tasks. Also, thoroughly explain assumptions and rationale inherent in the quantity of labor hours proposed for each Labor Category.” [Emphasis added]

The instructions in L-03.2 and L-08.1 Tab 1 seem to…