HC102810R2039 Amd 2 CSC Questions.doc

HC102810R2039 CSC Questions (2nd Set) Q1 - As a follow-up to A91, would the government consider increasing the Executive Summary to 8 pages given that the mater table of contents is included in the Executive Summary page limit? A master table of contents that provides adequate detail regarding the contents of each volume is likely to require approximately 4 pages (with spacing set to 1.5).

A1 - No, the government will not consider increasing the executive summary.

The executive summary will not be evaluated.

Q2 - Are the quantities DISA provided, for each year in the Evaluation Scenario, cumulative? For example, Tier 1a has a quantity of 1,560 ports in each Year for Years 1 through 5. Is the 5-year port total 1,560 ports or 7,800 ports (i.e., 5 X 1,560 ports per year)?Is this a new requirement? Who is the incumbent? What was the previous contract number?

A2- The port totals are a yearly total. These totals are for each individual year only.

Q3 - Is this contract covered by U.S. Status of Forces Agreements (or similar agreements) with Germany and Bahrain, such that the awardee and its subcontractors will be exempt from those countries’ taxes and their licensing requirements?

A3 - Yes, where these type of agreements are in place.

Q4 - Will the Government serve as the Importer of Record of OCONUS requirements?

A4 - Yes, we will be the Importer of Record.

Q5 - Will the Government insure the equipment for full replacement value placed within the Government facility?

A5 - The government is a self insured entity. The government will only replace equipment that is damaged by the government.

Q6 - Can the Government provide actual or sample measured throughput data to be assumed for CLIN 0003 appliance items at each of the DECCs?

A6 - No, the government is just providing an evaluation scenario. The scenario should not be construed as planned amounts or actual quantities to be ordered.

Q7 - Reference Section C 3.3.1 Delivery. Is the reference to “New equipment” mean for each instance of a device model or when a new device model is to be introduced?

A7 - The reference new equipment means any equipment, since we require new equipment that is why we us the reference. This is not limited to a new model.

Q8 - Reference Section C 3.3.1 Delivery. If for each instance why does the government require approval before the contractor purchases equipment, with contractor money, to provide service to the government subscribed on a fixed price per port basis?

A8 - This is to insure that the equipment provided meets with technical, security, and compatibility requirements to insure the operation of the communications infrastructure in an efficient and secure manner.

Q9 - Reference Section C 3.3.1 Delivery. If the Government is purchasing ports on a fixed price basis why does the Government determine the need for additional communications equipment?

A9 - The mechanism the government will use to procure this service is via ports, Mbps, and concurrent users. All communications equipment will be ordered only via one of the above mechanisms.

Q10 - Reference Section C 3.3.1 Delivery. What criteria is the COR evaluating the “new equipment” against?

A10 - This is to insure that the equipment provided meets with technical, security, and compatibility requirements to insure the operation of the communications infrastructure in an efficient and secure manner.

Q11 - Reference Section 6.2 Pricing. Will the Government provide a minimum number of ports guarantee for each location for each year of the contract?

A11 - No, there will be no minimum guarantee for any site.

Q12 - Reference Volume III – Past Performance – Factor 2, Section L, 5.0, 5.1 General. Please confirm that responses received may be formatted for inclusion with the proposal, provided they comply with the guidelines in Section L for font size and contain all of the information contain in Attachment L-2.

A12 - Responses should be formatted for inclusion with the proposal in accordance with the format contained in Attachment L-2. Table 2.2 – Proposal Organization specifies that reference responses should be limited to 4 pages each.

Q13 - Reference Section L, 2.2.1.1. Page Size and Format, (a) Pages should be typed with 1.5 line spacing. Please confirm that the 1.5 line spacing requirement does not apply to tables, charts, graphs and figures.

A13 - The 1.5 line spacing requirement does not apply to tables, charts, graphs and figures referenced in Section L, 2.2.1.1.

Q14 - Reference Volume III Past Performance, Section L, 2.2 Organization/ Page Limits, Table 2.2 - Proposal Organization; Complete Attachment L-2 for at least four references, 4 pages each. Please confirm that the page limit only applies to the Attachment L-2 information, with the other sections of this volume compliant with “no page limit”.

A14 - The page limit of 4 pages each only applies to Attachment L-2. The other sections of Volume III Past Performance do not have a page limit, but should be completed in accordance with the formats provided to the offeror.

Q15 - Reference Volume III Past Performance, Section L Section 2.2.1 Page limitations provides a page count exception to cover pages, tables of contents, tabs, and glossaries. Is the Cross reference Matrix (attachment L-1) also exempt from page count?

A15 - The cross reference matrix (L-1) is exempt from the page count, but should be completed in accordance with the format provided to the offeror.

Q16 - Reference Volume III Past Performance, Section L, 2.2 Organization/ Page Limits, Table 2.2 - Proposal Organization; Complete Attachment L-2 for at least four references, 4 pages each A16 - This is not a question.

Q17 - Reference answer to question #12. Since service is acquired by the port, is availability demarcation at the port?

A17 - Not all service is by the port. So depending on the use of ingress and egress this could mean a port on one device or a translated header on another device.

Q18 - Reference answer to question #14. How are DNS, NTP, and Web DMZ services provided measured as part of the CSC offering since it is stated as part of capacity services?

A18 - All communication devices will be ordered via one of the following mechanisms: Ports, Mpbs, or concurrent users.

Q19 - Reference answer to question #15. Why is the government measuring device by the device since they are procuring service by the port?

A19 - The government is procuring the service via one of the following mechanisms: ports, Mpbs, and concurrent users. The service restoral is based on what failed. If a port fails, then the time will be measured at the port level. If an entire device fails, the entire device service restoral will be measured.

Q20 - Reference answer to question #15. Why is repair to original state required if the Government is buying a service?

A20 - Yes, the government is acquiring a service, however, the service is coming from the equipment and the government wants to make sure this equipment is providing the service levels DISA requires.

Q21 - Reference answer to question #15. How is redundancy relevant to the Government who is buying service by the port?

A21 - If a solution has redundant power supplies or a redundant switch, the expectation is both the primary and redundant devices will be restored.

Q22 - Reference answer to question #15. How is equipment repair time related to service availability?

A22 - If we just had service availability as a measurement there is a possibility of having a single critical service/equipment being unavailable for an unacceptable amount of time. If we use two measurements we limit this risk.

Q23 - Reference answer to question #16. How is arrival time calculated into service availability?

A23 - The arrival time is a separate measurement from service availability.

Q24 - Reference answer to question #16. Why arrival time is specifically called out when availability of service is what is being paid for?

A24 - If we just had service availability as a measurement there is a possibility of having a single critical service/equipment being unavailable for an unacceptable amount of time. If we use two measurements we limit this risk.

Q25 - Reference answer to question #18. Will the Government “operational control” function be the entity which opens the trouble ticket? Will the Government notify the contractor of the incident?

A25 - The government will open a government trouble ticket when the government notifies the vendor of an incident. The vendor will notify the government help desk to open a trouble ticket when the vendor discovers an incident.

Q25a - Will the Government notify the contractor of the incident?

A25a - The contractor may discover an incident in several ways. First, the contractor may discover an issue during preventative maintenance on their equipment. Second, the equipment may notify the vendor directly that there is an incident. Thirdly, the government will notify the vendor there is an incident.

Q26 - Reference answer to question #23. Is the Call-Home capability allowed to transmit to the public Internet?

A26 - Since the call home feature is only allowed to transmit in one direction, out from the equipment, we are not concerned how it is transmitted.

Q27 - Reference answer to question #24. Since you have no deployed call-home capability, why is this required to be supported in the SOO?

A27 - This only a requirement for equipment that has the feature on and is on the maintenance section and CLINs of proposal. The call home features should cut down on response times on incidents.

Q28 - Reference answer to question #32. Will the Government be manning the “operational control” function for the capacity services infrastructure 24x7x365?

A28 - The DISA has 24/7/365 operation at all their sites. However, the vendor is responsible for providing 24/7/365 service and helpdesk.

Q29 - Reference answer to question #32. Is the Contractor responsible for configuring the Central Management tools and software system or just to provide the software?

A29 - If the software tools require configuration to deliver the service, then the contractor will be responsible for the initial configuration.

Q30 - Reference answer to question #70. Does the Government have standards defining when a Rack is acceptable and when a Cabinet is required?

A30 - A “cabinet” or rack with sides and doors should be used in all data centers. The only scenario where a two pole rack would be used is if there are space limitations that does not allow for a full cabinet. The attached documents explain the specifications required for the cabinets also known as racks.

Q31 - Reference answer to question #70. Can the contractor place equipment in racks/cabinet containing servers or must all of our equipment be located in contractor only racks?

A31 - The communication equipment on CSC will segregated into their own vendor owned racks.

Q32 - Reference answer to question #70. Will server hardware be installed in CSC owned racks/cabinets?

A32 - The only equipment that will be installed in CSC owned racks/cabinets will be that provided by CSC contractor.

Q33 - Reference answer to question #70. If CSC provided equipment may be places in racks not provided under CSC, what limitations are there (e.g., maximum number of RU’s)?

A33 - The communication equipment on CSC will segregated into their own vendor owned racks.

Q34 - Reference answer to question #79. Are all ports to be provided either 1 or 10 Gbps Ethernet interfaces?

A34 - Yes

Q35 - Reference answer to question #79. Are all ports connecting non-CSC provided equipment Ethernet 1 or 10 Gbps?

A35 - No, some connections will be 10/100Mbps ports on older hardware.

Q36 - Reference answer to question #79. Are the connectors provided to non-CSC provided equipment RJ-45 CAT 5/6?

A36 - The connectors will be RJ-45 Cat 5/6 for copper and ST, SC, LC or MTRJ type connectors for fiber optic cable.

Q37 - Reference answer to question #79. Other then 1 & 10 Gbps what requirements for capacity service exist? Are they more then Ethernet with ether frame types: ARP, IPv4, IPv6 and VLAN?

A37 - The requirement is to support an Ethernet based network at speeds of 1Gbps and 10 Gbps. TCP, UDP, IPV4, and IPV6 should all be supported on the hardware/software. Virtual LANs and other virtual technologies are very common in today’s enterprise class hardware and should also be available.

Q38 - Reference answer to question #91. It was indicated by the Government that the master table of contents is counted in the page limit of the Executive Summary Volume. Per Section L, Table 2.2 this limit is 2 pages. However Section L, Para 2.2.1 last sentence states “Each page will be counted except the following: Cover pages, table of contents, tabs, glossaries”. Is it the Governments intent to maintain this exemption or add page count? The master table of contents is estimated to be at least 4-5 pages.

A38 - The table of contents is exempt from the page count.

Q39 - I wanted to ask you who is the current contract holder for this Solicitation? HC1028-10-2039. I feel that my company has certain capabilities relating to certain aspects of this solicitation that could prove useful in lowering the cost of the next contract. There is little doubt that the incumbent is bidding on this and I’m trying to reach out to them. I’m quite sure this is public information, but could you help me find out who it is please?

A39 – This question was previously answered in the Q&As in Amendment 2 of the RFP. This is a new requirement and therefore no incumbent exists.

Q40 - For appliance device categories in CLINs 0003 and 0006, not all systems/technologies are priced or measured by Mbps, but concurrent users or concurrent sessions and/or devices under management. What options can or should be used to present an appropriate measureable price if Mbps is not the primary sizing metric for the proposed system of choice?

A40 - Each system will need to be able to measure the amount of bandwidth utilized using an external tool or a process built into the appliance. Devices of this type are generally rated based on the total throughput possible. This combined with the necessary security features should give you a range of hardware to choose from.

Q41 - Derived from Evaluation Scenario with Quantities spreadsheet: Please confirm 10G adoption. (10G in Access until year 3 and Core in year 5).

A41 - The quantities in the evaluation scenario spreadsheet will be use for evaluation purposes only. They should not be used to derive technology adoption timelines.