JEDI_Cloud_Industry_and_Gov_QA_Final_RFP.pdf

JEDI Cloud Questions and Answers (Q&A) Matrix for Final RFP

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

1 RFP L4 Subfactor 1.2 75 2522

We recognize the growing importance of Africa to the National Security interests of the United States and that strategically Africa is of enduring interest for the United States. However, given the facts that the requirement for a POP will limit competition and that Camp Lemonnier is the only permanent U.S. base in Africa at this time, would the the government consider removing the requirement for a POP in Africa at time of submission?

Africa remains of critical importance to the United States, but the Department recognizes the challenges associated with getting connectivity in Africa. The SOO has been amended to reflect the Department's updated requirements. Points of presence on all continents, except Africa and Antartica, must exist and operational at time of proposal. The Africa point of presence must be available within 30 days of the conclusion of the post-award kickoff event.

2 J-6 1.3 1.3.3 4 na

Will the JEDI Cloud PMO approve a PaaS service for IL5 if it meets the cryptographic separation of data but uses a pool of compute? For example a serverless compute service that uses a multi tenant pool of compute but ensures that data is cryptographically separate.

All proposed services have to meet the requirements and guidelines specified by the solicitation.

3 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Given some of the aggressive timelines for deployment of tactical edge devices, clearly most offerors would need to keep inventory on hand. Is the government able to guarantee some type of minimum order or some sort of time frames upon which the first tactical edge deployment would happen so that it doesn't place an undue burden on the contractor?

An IDIQ by its nature is indefinite. Right now, we are not intending to add any particular guaranteed buy beyond the currently articulated minimum. A strong partnership and coordination with the awardee is going to be critical for successful performance, especially with regard to accreditation and tactical edge.

The amendment adds a statement to the SOO that the Government will not order any tactical edge devices (including both static, modular, rapidly deployable data centers and portable devices) until the first unit is assessed and authorized within each classification level. Therefore, orders for unclassified units would not be placed until one unclassified unit has been assessed and authorized for use by the DoD. The same is true for orders for units supporting classified services.

4 L-8 Factor 9 0 83 2964

Please advise what type of illustration is required for the BOE requirement "illustration of how the applicable IaaS, PaaS, and Cloud Support offerings are orchestrated together to meet the requirements of the price scenario".

An illustration is something that serves to illustrate (such as a diagram, example, or other depiction that helps make something clear) how the applicable IaaS, PaaS, and Cloud Support offerings are orchestrated together to meet the requirements of the price scenario.

5 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A So would a JV be considered one cloud? An offering team, including a JV, needs to propose a solution that meets all the requirements of the RFP.

6 L-2 Price Scenario Scenario 1 2 37

To clarfy, in pricing scenarios it says "JEDI CLOUD CDN," or "JEDI CLOUD RELATIONAL DATABASE," or "JEDI <Product>"; Should the Cloud Service Provider provide that PaaS CLOUD SERVICE FOR JEDI or is that Government Furnished Product to be housed on Cloud Provider IaaS?

Any mention of a service prefixed with the label "JEDI Cloud" is intended to refer to a relevant IaaS, PaaS, or other offering in the offeror's catalog.

7 RFP L5 Factor 3 79 2768

Will the Government refer the offeror to an applicable standard and/or guideline for quantifying electromagnetic emanations?

As cited in the JEDI Cyber Security Plan, use the National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Advisory Memoranda (NSTISSAM) Level I: Compromising Emanations Laboratory Test Standard.

8 RFP L5 Factor 3 79 2768

Will the Government refer the offeror to an applicable standard and/or guideline to control the magnitude of electromagnetic emanations?

As cited in the JEDI Cyber Security Plan, use the National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Advisory Memoranda (NSTISSAM) Level I: Compromising Emanations Laboratory Test Standard.

9 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

The three copies of data within the portable modular data center. Is that within the data centers or does that have to be geographically dispersed itself?

As specified in Pricing Scenario 5, the requirement is for three copied within a modular data center. We are trying to account for the fact that memory does occasionally fail. The DoD's requirement is for three copies within a modular data center so the data remains viable and accessible even in the event of hardware failure or data corruption.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

10 L-8 Section 3 84 2994

For the three option periods in each of the four priced catalogs, is the RFP requirement intended to limit these worksheets to a narrative explanation of the proposed pricing methodology in lieu of re-listing the entire catalog for each of the three option periods?

As stated in RFP Section L8: Volume VI – Price Submission Instructions, Factor 9: Price, Section 3., each worksheet for option periods is limited to a narrative declaration.

11 L-1 3 3.15 9 319

Please define 'automated failover' capabilities. As stated in the SOO, each data center must be capable of automated failover of computing, network and storage services to one another within a classification level. Additionally, the Offeror must provide sufficient capability for the DoD to configure applications for high availability and failover.

12 General CDRL A013 Block 4 0 0 CDRL A013 references Attachment J-4; however, there is no such attachment included in the RFP files. Please advise.

Attachments J-1 through J-5 are to be provided by Offerors.

13 L-2 Pricing

Scenario

N/A 7 213-215, 233-235

On lines 233-235, the scenario states that the ERP system will handle the synchronization of data for the ERP between the field and the JEDI Cloud. On lines 213-215, the scenario states that the edge device must do the synchronization of data for the ERP between the field and JEDI cloud. Please clarify if the ERP system will manage the sync or not.

Both infrastructure and application synchronization occur in Price Scenario

2. The edge device is expected to handle synchronization with JEDI Cloud as outlined in the SOO. Additionally, the ERP will initiate periodic synchronization of the ERP databases as outlined in the scenario.

14 RFP H H2 23 488

Numerous factors, such as scale, utilization, unique equipment requirements, networking, utility costs, and security requirements can impact the pricing of a service. Pre-established “price premiums” cannot take these unique factors into consideration, and therefore, do not result in appropriate commercial pricing. Instead of mandating the pricing practices of commercial offerors, the DoD will obtain fair and reasonable commercial pricing by allowing offerors to propose unique pricing approaches consistent with their commercial practices. We recommend deleting the words “lesser expensive premium” in Section H2, paragraph 4.a.

Clause H-2 is necessary to ensure that DoD receives competitive pricing post-award. The language remains as stated.

15 RFP H H1 23 448

CSPs have security standards and processes in place to ensure that tenants have completely vacated hardware prior to reuse. It is inconsistent with the pooled resourcing nature of commercial cloud to require CCPO approval prior to reusing classified infrastructure.

To that end, we recommend the government remove the requirement in paragraph 5 of Clause H1 that the contractor obtain CCPO approval prior to reusing infrastructure for non-JEDI user / tenants.

Clause H1 is amended to update the government's requirement.

16 RFP H H1 23 445, 453

CSPs have security standards and processes in place to ensure that tenants have completely vacated hardware prior to purging and destruction. This includes the automated purging of prior customer data from re-provisioned infrastructure and storage capacity.

Purging and destroying infrastructure is an integral part of protecting customer data. Requiring offerors to request permission for such actions will result in decreased security and the processing of hundreds to thousands of such requests each month. To avoid these issues we recommend the DoD change RFP Section H1 paragraphs 4 and 5 to require CSPs to preserve hardware upon government request, rather than requiring permission to purge or destroy.

Clause H1 is amended to update the government's requirement.

17 RFP H2 1 23 463

To minimize the administrative burden on the government, would the government consider changing the 5-day notification requirement to a monthly update of the catalog? This would ensure that there would be one monthly catalog update submission instead of multiple catalog submissions on a daily or weekly basis as new services are released.

Clause H2 remains the same. While the contractor must notify the JEDI Cloud Contracting Officer within 5 days, the timing and frequency of catalog updates will depend on multiple factors, to include the contracting officer's approval of new services and the determinations identified in clause H2.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

18 RFP H-6 0 26 626

Can the Government clarify who the “Contractor” is in item 6? Item 6 states Contractor is a third party beneficiary, is the Contractor here the RFP proposal offeror or the JEDI contractor awardee? Can the government also clarify who would the non-contractor party be under item 6?

Clause H6 applies to post-award administration of the contract.

"Contractor" in paragraph 6 is the JEDI Cloud awardee.

19 RFP H-6 3.a-d 26 558

For the access of information outlined in 3(a-d), are these situations applicable to pre-award access or post-award? Will post-award access include access to information submitted to RFP by offerors who are not awarded with the contract?

Clause H6 applies to post-award administration of the contract. Separately, Section L advises Offerors about the government's request for permission to use particular support contractors for administrative/ministerial purposes.

The listed support contractors would have access to Offerors' proposals as part of these administrative/ministerial duties. Proposals will be strictly safeguarded in accordance with all applicable regulations and laws.

20 RFP H-8 0 28 692

Are the terms of the license agreement and the price lists submitted confidential for offerors; i.e., do the confidentiality provisions in the Addendum apply only to the awardee?

Clause H6 applies to post-award administration of the contract. Separately, Section L advises Offerors about the government's request for permission to use particular support contractors for administrative/ministerial purposes.

The listed support contractors would have access to Offerors' proposals as part of these administrative/ministerial duties. Proposals will be strictly safeguarded in accordance with all applicable regulations and laws.

21 RFP H-6 0 26 607

4.c. states that the copies of such employee non-disclosure agreements shall be provided to the Government; will offerors have access to the non-disclosure agreement terms and conditions?

Clause H6 does not grant the contractor access to the non-disclosure agreements executed between the government and the third party.

22 RFP H-6 0 26 558 Will the government notify the contractor when its Confidential Information is provided to any person outside the government?

Clause H6 does not require notification to the contractor.

23 Draft RFP Section B B1 2 2 NA

CLIN 0002 is labeled "Classified IaaS and PaaS". Is this CLIN intended to cover pricing for all levels of classifiication (e.g. Secret and Top Secret pricing)?

CLIN 0002 covers pricing for all levels of classified services.

24 RFP 0 0 0 0

Why was subfactor 1.8 (Identity and Access Management) removed from the Volume II gate criteria given JEDI's focus on fortified security and the key role of identity management in establishing a secure baseline?

DoD determined that sub-factor 1.8 was not necessary for purposes of the Gate Criteria.

25 RFP L L5 82 2880

Would the government please clarify the technical evaluation criteria in Volume III that apply to scenario component 4(c) which is "...but assuming that the order for paragraph (a) is placed on January 6, 2025." as compared to 4(a)(i). It is unclear if the government is expecting vendors to forecast JEDI Cloud capabilities nearly six years into the future, and how those capabilities will be equitably evaluated and accountably delivered to DoD. Due to the nature of rapidly changing cloud services and new capabilities, we recommend the government remove any technical evaluation of future services and focus only on future pricing of existing services.

Factor 5 is amended to require a description of the technical approach to 4 (e).

26 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Are all data centers required to be accredited at time of proposal? For Gate Criteria Sub-Factor 1.2, there must be three existing data centers that are at least 150 miles apart and accredited to operate the specified services in the Gate Criteria at FedRAMP Moderate. Additional information beyond those three data centers and the specific services is not required. Post-award, the contractor must provide the unclassified data centers and services meeting all requirements in the JEDI Cyber Security Plan, which requires more than FedRAMP Moderate.

27 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Are all services at the three data centers required to be FedRAMP Moderate accredited?

For Gate Criteria Sub-Factor 1.2, there must be three existing data centers that are at least 150 miles apart and accredited to operate the specified services in the Gate Criteria at FedRAMP Moderate. The three datacenters do not need to be supporting the same offerings.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

28 L-2 Price

Scenario

15 488 and

Are Price Scenarios 4(f) and 4(g) intended to be based on paragraph (e), which follows a sequential pattern. The RFP indicates to follow paragraph (c).

For Price Scenario 4, paragraphs (f) and (g) both should reference paragraph (e). This is amended.

29 L-2 Price

Scenario

0 13 414 Regarding “the analysis application stack,” can the government confirm that it is providing software to scan the logs and that the offeror does not need to price this software?

For Pricing Scenario 4, assume the Analysis Application is installed, configured, and managed by the DoD.

We would like to clarify DoD’s objectives for adding a requirement for 3 redundant copies of storage within the modular data center, which could be interpreted as requiring 300PB of raw storage instead of 100PB, therefore significantly impacting the price of the modular data center solutions and further skewing the price evaluation.

For pricing scenario 5, three copies of the data is necessary to meet the Government's requirements for guarding against data loss or corruption.

This is amended.

Does publicly-available in the definition of CCO in Attachment J-8 Definitions mean available to anyone in the public or can it just be available to particular clients from the public?

For purposes of the CCO definition in Attachment J-8, publicly-available means the offering is available to anyone in the public commercial marketplace.

32 RFP L-3 Tab D 72 2366

What specifically does DoD want from section H2 and H3 “fill-ins”? In clause H2, the government is requesting the offeror to provide a premium to be applied to all classified offerings when a new unclassified service is offered in the marketplace and transitioned to the classified offerings. In clause H3, the government is requesting the offeror provide a percentage to be applied to the price drop as described in the subject section.

33 General 0 0 0 0

In the RFP, Cyber Security Plan, and SOO the requirements for 3 or more data centers to support each level of classification are stated.

There are no performance metrics associated with overall uptime of JEDI infrastructure and the terms 'resiliency', 'failover', 'high availability' are all used as rationale for this requirement. Can the DoD please provide more precise objectives for their data center resiliency, high availability, failover and continuity of operations objectives?

In the event of a data center failure, all JEDI Cloud services must remain available for use by the DoD. The SOO outlines a set of Performance Metrics in table 5.1.

34 J-6 4 4.4.6 7 na Please clarify requirement of 'direct fiber links' to DoD Meet-Me- Points

In this case, "direct" means dedicated. This is clarified in Attachment J-8 Definitions as part of the amendment.

35 L-1 0 0 0 0

Will there be a mandatory directive to some, or all, of the DoD to use the JEDI Cloud contract in preference to other acquisition/contract vehicles? This is important to know for purpose of determining pricing in order to understand the volume of business.

JEDI Cloud is an ID/IQ, not a requirements contract. Therefore, there is no contractual requirement limiting DoD users to JEDI Cloud. The Department's cloud strategy continues to evolve, including policy decisions.

For Price Scenario 6, what kind of latency should we assume in moving data between JEDI Cloud and the edge device? Also, is their any expectation that data outside of JEDI Cloud will be used to train the algorithm?

Latency is not specified in the pricing scenario. There will be instances where the government will not know the latency requirements when deploying tactical edge devices. You do not need to account for data outside of JEDI Cloud and the tactical edge device.

37 RFP L7 Factor 8 83 0

When the government provides additional guidance on the demonstrations, please include: 1) The number of offeror’s staff that the government will allow in the demonstration venue. 2) The duration of the demonstration. 3) Will the demonstration include a Q&A session. 4) Will Q&A occur during the presentation or separately at the completion of the demonstration. 5) What, if any, restrictions will the government place on the equipment the offeror brings to the venue for the demonstrations.

Logistical details of this nature will be provided at least 7 days before the demonstration.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

38 RFP H-10 0 32 718-719

An online commercial marketplace for third party products and services seems to be an Amazon-like requirement or intended to limit the competition to Amazon, especially since it is a gate criterion. Such a marketplace may be something run by a retail sales company like Amazon, but it is not for commercial cloud services providers. Accordingly, to enhance competition, will DoD revise this requirement to provide that the marketplace should be a contract performance requirement; i.e., the awardee shall establish and operate a commercial marketplace?

Multiple commercial cloud service providers have an online marketplace.

This is an important government requirement to facilitate the rapid adoption of cloud infrastructure and the ability to operationalize that infrastructure.

39 General 0 0 0 0 Please advise if multiple references are allowed in Columns C, D, and E in the crosswalk matrix.

Multiple references may be made in columns C, D, and E (i.e. x001 & x002 in the same cell).

40 General CDRL A004 Block 5 0 0

Please advise what, if anything, is required with the proposal submission regarding "Block 5 - TBD shall be based on the PWS reference submitted by the offeror".

No action is required with the proposal submission regarding Block 5 of the

CDRL.

41 General CDRL A005 Block 5 0 0

Please advise what, if anything, is required with the proposal submission regarding "Block 5 - TBD shall be based on the PWS reference submitted by the offeror".

No action is required with the proposal submission regarding Block 5 of the

CDRL.

42 General CDRL A006 Block 5 0 0

Please advise what, if anything, is required with the proposal submission regarding "Block 5 - TBD shall be based on the PWS reference submitted by the offeror".

No action is required with the proposal submission regarding Block 5 of the

CDRL.

43 General CDRL A014 Block 5 0 0

Please advise what, if anything, is required with the proposal submission regarding "Block 5 - TBD shall be based on the PWS reference submitted by the offeror".

No action is required with the proposal submission regarding Block 5 of the

CDRL.

44 L-2 Pricing

Scenario

N/A 2 and 3 75-79 Does the database software that the application owner installs handle replication load balancing between the clustered database server nodes?

No additional JEDI Cloud services are required to manage the database cluster or the manner in which the application communicates with it.

45 L-2 Pricing

Scenario

N/A 2 and 3 75-79 We assume that all of the storage needs for the database nodes is taken care of by the 500 GB SSD drive - Is this correct? If not, please specify what additional storage is required?

No additional storage is required to support the database cluster.

For Price Scenario 4, are you open to Offerors proposing different ways of tagging and maintaining data?

Offerors need to propose a solution that meets any specified requirements, and, so long as the particular requirements are met, Offerors are encouraged to propose innovative solutions. There are instances where a price scenario established particular parameters or limitations, and those need to be followed. Keep in mind that your proposed solution for particular price scenarios needs to be consistent with your overall proposed solution for JEDI Cloud.

47 General 0 0 0 0

Would the government please identify all security clearances required for personnel to be onsite OCONUS.

One of the requirements in the Statement of Objectives is that tactical edge devices needs to be deployable and configurable without any on-site assistance. There is no requirement for contractor personnel to be OCONUS. Even in a break fix scenario, the intention is that the contractor can remotely fix tactical edge devices or that the government will physically swap out the tactical edge device for a new one. How many extra tactical edge devices an organization decides to put on task order to have spares will be determined by their specific mission needs.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

48 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Can the government please clarify the kind of security clearances required for personnel to be on-site OCONUS for tactical edge requirements?

One of the requirements in the Statement of Objectives is that tactical edge devices needs to be deployable and configurable without any on-site assistance. There is no requirement for contractor personnel to be overseas.

Even in a break fix scenario, the intention is that the contractor can remotely fix tactical edge devices or that the government will physically swap out the tactical edge device for a new one. How many extra tactical edge devices an organization decides to put on task order to have spares will be determined by their specific mission needs.

The 14 day delivery time for modular data centers is unrealistic. Will the government revise the requirement?

One of the ways the Department of Defense projects dominance is our ability to put troops on the ground anywhere in the world overnight. To that end, we have to be prepared to operate in a variety of conditions on a variety of timelines. We need the ability to bring to bear better capabilities including compute and storage in a reasonable timeline to support our warfighters. The 14 day requirement remains. However, the Department has clarified that modular data center units will not be ordered until the first at each classification level has been assessed and authorized for use.

Additionally, the CCPO will work in close partnership with the Offeror to project the demand signal and manage expectations as practicable.

50 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Is there a date anticipated for the first tactical edge deployment?

Similarly, to how you have done with unclassified, secret, and top secret or is that more of a period of performance contract starts you can order day 1?

Orders can be placed at any time; however, DoD would note that tactical edge offerings are not a CLIN unto themselves. There are unclassified tactical edge devices and classified tactical edge devices, so the availability timeframes equally apply to tactical edge devices based on classification level.

Your attention is directed to question ID #3 released with this matrix that addresses an amendment relevant to the ordering process for tactical edge devices.

51 RFP L5 Factor 3 80 2801 Consideration for category two must include government owned platforms such as aircraft carriers. Will the Government provide the ruggedization requirements for shipboard applications?

Other than an operating temperature range as specified in the SOO, ruggedization is not required for static, modular, rapidly deployable data centers.

52 L-2 Price

Scenario

0 15 488-489 Is paragraph f in pricing scenario 4 supposed to reference paragraph e, rather than paragraph c?

Paragraphs (f) and (g) both should reference paragraph (e). This is amended.

53 RFP M 3 90 3245

Why is the PWS not scored independently of the Volume II and Volume III evaluation criteria? How will the PWS be evaluated?

Per Section M, for Factors 2 through 7, in addition to the criteria listed in Section M, the Government will consider the degree to which the proposed approach and proposed ID/IQ PWS (for the sections that are applicable to the respective Factor) are consistent with each other and reflect an understanding of the Government’s requirements (Section 3 and Section 5 of the SOO) as applicable to the respective Factor.

54 L-2 Pricing

Scenario

N/A 2 46

Does the government want the CDN to store DoD data across the globe in a shared infrastructure that is on the internet? If so, what is the global distribution of requests (percentage) for the following regions - North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia?

Pricing Scenario 1 is amended to include a breakdown of request origination.

55 RFP M 0 0 0 IaaS and PaaS offerings are not identical. How will DoD evaluate the different capabilities of the offerors?

Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with section M of the RFP.

56 RFP M 0 0 0

Section M does not include any evaluation criteria for evaluating the different PaaS capabilities offered by competing CSPs. How will differentiators and capabilities between PaaS services be evaluated?

Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with section M of the RFP.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

57 RFP L3 TAB F 72 2388

Will a DD254 be issued with each Task Order? RFP Section B5 states: "Future TO DD Form 254s are anticipated to be identical to Attachment J-7 with the exception of Block 16, Certification and Signature, and Block 17, Required Distribution. Each TO ordering activity will complete Blocks 16 and 17 as appropriate."

58 RFP L4 1.2 75 2511

Please clarify the government's intent. The RFP states that data centers must be within the customs territory of the US. This is further reinforced in the cyber security plan (4.1.1) only to be contradicted later in the cyber security plan (4.2.6) where it broadens the definition to say that infrastructure may reside on US military installations.

Section 4.2.3 requires infrastructure, excluding networks and points of presence, to be within US customs territory or on US military installations.

However, infrastructure that constitutes or is contained in a JEDI Cloud data center must be in U.S. customs territory. For example, a tactical edge device is not a data center and could therefore be on a US military installation.

59 Section C2: Program Management (page 14) – is the Deputy PM a required position?

Section C2 requires both a Program Manager and Deputy Program Manager.

60 RFP C 4 15 147

It is common commercial practice for CSPs to lease cloud infrastructure (e.g., servers). These leases allow for unrestricted physical access and the ability to rapidly affect changes within infrastructure, but are generally less than 11 years in duration due to the necessity of hardware upgrades and technological innovations.

To account for this common commercial practice, we recommend the DoD either add a paragraph 5.c. to Section C4 which allows for such leases, or remove the 11-year requirement from paragraph 5.b and allow offerors to self-certify to eliminate the need to submit excessive documentation.

Section C4 is amended to update the government's requirement.

61 General 0 0 0 0 Please clarify, in addition to Factors 2-6, should an Offeror include references to the Volume II: Factor 1: Gate Criteria that are referenced in the PWS.

Section L does not require Offerors to make PWS references as part of the Factor 1 Gate Criteria submission. Offerors should only submit the required information as instructed.

62 RFP L8 1 83 2948

In which Volume VI Price Tab should offerors provide the completed Section B CLIN tables?

Section L instructs Offerors to provide the Section B fill ins under Tab D of Volume I. Section B is not resubmitted as part of Volume VI; however, the price values need to be consistent with the values provided as part of Volume IV, Tab C, Table L-2.

63 RFP H-10 0 32 726-728

Does the solicitation require an offeror to provide the terms and conditions applicable to its marketplace users? If so, how will those terms and conditions be evaluated?

Section L requires Offerors to provide all License Agreements (whether called an End User License Agreement, Terms of Use, or some other name) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) applicable to the services that are proposed for delivery in its proposal. This would include any end user agreements that govern how JEDI Cloud users may use the online marketplace; however, the amendment clarifies that the Offeror does not need to submit third party license agreements for third party offerings provided through the online marketplace where paragraph 3 of Clause H10 applies.

64 L-1 3 3 4 129 Will the government work with the awardee to more fully define the requirements and logistics for deploying the classified instances of the JEDI cloud?

Successful contract execution of the classified requirements will necessitate a strong partnership between the government and awardee.

65 RFP M 2.2 88 3171 –

Please confirm that both Volume IV and Volume VII are submitted during Phase Two step 1.

That is incorrect. Section M has been clarified to indicate that Volumes IV and VII are submitted during Phase Two Step 2.

Is Price Scenario 5 asking for raw storage or usable storage? The 10 PB, as amended in Price Scenario 5, is for usable storage. Offerors may propose any solution that meets the requirements outlined in Pricing Scenario 5 including the usable storage requirement.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

67 L-1 5 31 18 0

By requiring offerors to deliver Modular Data Centers (MDC) within 14 days of order, offerors will need to keep a number of MDCs on hand at all times—to include pre-award—incurring significant capital expenses without any government demand signal, financial commitment, or an assessment/accreditation of the MDC design.

We recommend the 14-day performance metric start following the DoD’s initial MDC order at each classification level and accreditation of the MDC design.

The 14-day performance metric remains, however, question ID #3 provides amended language relative to the tactical edge ordering process.

Would the government consider expressing reliabilty SLAs durability and availability numbers as opposed to a specific distance and then allow providers to offer their solutions to achieve that level of availability or durability?

The 150 mile requirement remains as stated.

69 L-1

3.

Performa nce Requirem ents

3.19.3 10 385

The requirement states that, “These capabilities must also allow users to quantify and control magnitude of electromagnetic emanations.” Can the government please explain what this means by providing use case examples?

The amendment updates the SOO to remove the quantify requirement.

70 L-2 L Pricing Scenario 1 2 44

Appliation node performance seems very poor which creates the need for an unusually high number of scale out instances. Please confirm 500 requests per minute to be correct.

The application node performance metric of 500 requests per node is correct.

Section F3: Place of Performance (page 18) – services provided may necessitate effort in CONUS and OCONUS. Travel is not expected, so will OCONUS services all be remote?

The contract does not include onsite OCONUS support by the vendor. The intention is that if a tactical edge device fails, any vendor support is provided remotely.

72 RFP

Sub- Factor 1.2

High Availabili ty

1.2.2 75 2520-2526

Sub Factor 1.2 item 2 requires that the offeror have redundant and globally distributed points of presence (POP) which are controlled by the offeror. There are several industry definitions concerning implmentation of POPs. We understand the intent of Gate 1.2 for OCONUS POPs is to connect to applications and/or services running in CONUS datacenters. Would the DOD consider ammending Gate

1.2 to state this purpose?

The definition of Points of Presence in Attachment J-8 Definitions will be revised as follows: "A demarcation point or interface point between communicating entities. For purposes of JEDI Cloud, this is intended to be a network access point under the Offeror's control as defined in Section C4 of the RFP where JEDI Cloud is accessible to DoD." Connecting to the Offeror's points of presence (using a dedicated link or Internet connection), the DoD must be able to access JEDI Cloud services hosted in the CONUS data centers.

73 RFP L4 Subfactor 1.2 75 2522

Sub Factor 1.2 item 2 requires that the offeror have redundant and globally distributed points of presence (POP) which are controlled by the offeror. There are several industry definitions of POPs, including communication peering points for public Internet traffic and meet me locations for private telecommunication circuits used to interconnect enterprises with the cloud provider and alternatively as a network edge location where the cloud provider deploys edge devices near users for the purpose of caching and securing connections to applications. The RFP currently does not define a POP or specify a use case on how the DOD intends to use the points of presence. We understand a point of presence (PoP) to be an artificial demarcation or point interface between either public or private networks and a cloud provider's network for the purpose of connectivity or optimization of the delivery of applications hosted in the Cloud. Is this definition acceptable for the purposes of this solicitation?

The definition of Points of Presence in Attachment J-8 Definitions will be revised as follows: "A demarcation point or interface point between communicating entities. For purposes of JEDI Cloud, this is intended to be a network access point under the Offeror's control, as defined in Section C4 of the RFP/resulting contract, where JEDI Cloud is accessible to DoD."

Connecting to the Offeror's points of presence (using a dedicated link or Internet connection), the DoD must be able to access JEDI Cloud services hosted in the CONUS data centers.

74 RFP L7 Factor 8 83 Please confirm that the demonstration presenters must be offeror company employees.

The demonstration presenters must be employees of the proposing team;

subcontractor or JV employees, as applicable, are considered part of the proposing team.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

75 RFP 0 0 74 2455

Why must offerors meet the Gate Criteria at the time of proposal rather than at the time of award? Will the government consider allowing offerors to meet the requirements at the time of award and assess any performance concerns as part of the overall risk assessment?

The Department amended Factor 1, Sub-Factor 1.2 to allow for the Africa Point of Presence requirement to be met 30-days after the conclusion of the post award kickoff event.

76 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

What is your expected latency time on the Africa points of presence? The Department is looking for the best offerings industry can provide. The SOO has specific metrics outlining the performance requirements for various services, and Offerors should ensure their proposed solution is capable of meeting the performance metrics.

77 RFP L-4 1.2 74 2521-22

Not all commercial CSPs have expanded their business to all continents. To enhance the competitiveness of the RFP, will DoD modify the POPs requirement to focus on the continents where DoD most likely will have tasks in the initial two-year contract period and revise the date for compliance to the date of contract award instead of the proposal due date?

The Department recognizes the challenges associated with getting connectivity in certain continents, particularly Africa. The SOO has been amended to reflect the Department's updated requirements. Points of presence on all continents, except Africa and Antartica, must exist and be operational at time of proposal. The Africa point of presence must be available within 30 days of the conclusion of the post-award kickoff event.

78 L-1 3 3.0 4 129-135

In order to meet the RFP’s 30/180/270 day delivery timeline, offerors will need to: (1) incur significant capital expenses related to data center build out prior to contract award; or (2) propose solutions that meet the government’s minimum requirements in way that will not deliver long-term operational value or provide the innovation the government is seeking through JEDI. We do not believe the DoD intended either of these outcomes and recommend the DoD allow offerors to deliver the initial capability (to include high availability and automated failure) at the RFP’s 30/180/270 delivery deadlines and deliver the remaining locations post-award on an offeror proposed timeline.

The DoD and warfighters on the front line need services that are reliable and resilient. The Department's requirements were amended to clarify that classified data centers can be colocated with unclassified data centers as long as the requirements outlined in the JEDI Cyber Security Plan and the DD Form 254 are met.

79 RFP L-8 9 83 2948-2950

What specifically does DoD want offerors to provide in response to the statement: “The Offeror shall include any information in this overview necessary to support the JEDI Cloud Contracting Officer’s responsibility determination under FAR Subpart 9.105?”

The DoD specifically wants the offeror to provide any information necessary to support the JEDI Cloud Contracting Officer’s responsibility determination under FAR Subpart 9.105.

80 L-2 L Pricing Scenario 3 11 339 Does the government want the contractor to price the publication/management of the model?

The DoD updated Pricing Scenario 3 in the amendment to clarify what should be priced.

81 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Is changing to a three data center minimum a recent requirement or a change from old requirement? Because that is a change from the drafts.

The draft RFP process was iterative. The final RFP constitutes DoD's requirements for JEDI Cloud.

82 RFP L-4 1.2 75 2513

Will DoD extend the due date for FedRAMP authorization to 30 days after contract performance instead of the date for proposal submission? This change will enhance competition and the FedRAMP authorization can be evaluated as risk factor in accordance with Section M.

The due date for FedRAMP Moderate authorization is not being amended;

however, question ID #181 addresses an amendment to the FedRAMP Moderate requirement.

83 RFP L4 Subfactor 1.3 75 2552-2553 We understand that the evidence of control under Section C4 is provided in Volume I only and not submitted a second time in Volume II Subfactor 1.3. Is our understanding correct?

The evidence of control under Section C4 is only provided once in Volume I.

84 L-8 Section 3 84 3018

Is there a separate Table L-2 file included in the RFP documentation or is the Offeror responsibe for creating a Table L-2 as a MS excel workbook?

The government has provided the table in RFP Section L8: Volume VI – Price Submission Instructions, Factor 9: Price, Section 3. No additional files are being provided by the government. Offerors will need to create their own file in a manner that is consistent with the instructions in Table L- 2.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

85 L-2 Pricing

Scenario

N/A 2 48

The 5% of new reads from the CDN storage account includes the content that has expired and needs to be restored to the CDN - Is this correct? If not, what is the % inclusive of reads that are due to the 30 expiration?

The Government has removed the language around the static file store expiration as that information was not necessary for pricing. The pricing scenario has been amended for clarification.

86 General 0 0 0 0

How would the government like to handle changes to prices and or terms that occur during the evaluation period? For example, price changes that go higher or lower on the website but not reflected in the already submitted proposal.

The Government intends to conduct discussions for this acquisition, but reserves the right to forego discussions with Offerors. As such, the Offeror’ s initial offer should contain its best terms from a price and technical standpoint. If discussions are held and Final Proposal Revisions (FPR) requested, Offerors are free to revise any aspect of its proposal in accordance with the contracting officer's instructions. To the extent the cloud vendor's commercial marketplace prices change, which is required to be included as a column in the price volume, those price changes should be reflected.

87 RFP L8 0 0 0

Can the offeror add new services after preview stage (at general commercial availability)?

The Government intends to conduct discussions for this acquisition, but reserves the right to forego discussions with Offerors. As such, the Offeror’ s initial offer should contain its best terms from a price and technical standpoint. If discussions are held and Final Proposal Revisions requested, Offerors are free to revise any aspect of its proposal in accordance with the contracting officer's instructions, but Offerors are cautioned that any revisions from the initial proposal may not necessarily improve its evaluation and potentially impact it negatively depending on the specifics.

Would the government consider relaxing the FedRAMP Moderate JAB requirement to be at time of contract award rather than at time of proposal?

The government is not changing the timeline requirement for FedRAMP Moderate in Sub-factor 1.2; however, question ID #181 in this matrix that addresses an amendment to the FedRAMP Moderate requirement.

89 L-8 Item 3 85 3023

Please advise if the response provided to L5 Price Build-up, Discounts & Premiums, for each scenario meets the requirements for the information requested as a separate PDF file that will be made Attachment J-3, Contractor Discounts, Premiums, and Fees, to the contract at award.

The government is requesting a separate submission for L-5: Price Scenario Price Build-Up Template and Attachment J-3: Contractor Discounts, Premiums, and Fees. The Offeror shall identify all proposed discounts, premium rates, and/or fees as a separate PDF that will be made Attachment J-3, Contractor Discounts, Premiums, and Fees, to the contract at award.

All terms and conditions applicable to any proposed discount and premium rates and fees (including, for example, whether it applies to specific items, categories/groups of items, or entire catalog) shall be included. The format for Attachment J-3 is at the discretion of the offeror.

90 L-2 Pricing

Scenario a 17 535 – 537

For Pricing Scenario 5 items a.iv-a.v: does the government want pricing information for all 10 modular data centers or per unit for each Modular Data Center?

The government requires the offeror to price the items out as requested in the L-2: Price Scenarios and L-5: Price Scenario Price Build-Up Template.

The offerors shall provide price at a granular level consistent with their proposed catalogs and pricing strategy.

91 J-6 1 1.3.3 3 na

There is no mention of compute resources for this policy requirement. How do the means for meeting the IL5 processing requirement described here reconcile with the requirement for cryptographic certainty of processing between tenants within a virtualized environment?

The Government will consider all possible solutions industry has to offer that will meet all of the requirements of the solicitation. JEDI Cyber Security Plan 1.3.3 provides a deviation to the DoD's Cloud Computing Security Requirement Guidelines to allow logical separation as an alternative to the physical separation requirements. Section 4.3 of the JEDI Cyber Security Plan outlines the logical separation requirements that must be met to provide logical separation between tenants, and must be met regardless of the implementation choice made as a result of the optionality provided by 1.3.3.

ID #

Industry Submitted Information Government ResponseFinal RFP

Document Section Subsection Page # Line # Information Request (Question)

92 J-6 1.3 1.3.3 4 na

Please clarify the isolation requirements for compute and networking if the encryption methodology described for storage in 1.3.3 (2) is employed to meet Impact Level 5 requirements.

The Government will consider all possible solutions industry has to offer that will meet all of the requirements of the solicitation. JEDI Cyber Security Plan 1.3.3 provides a deviation to the DoD's Cloud Computing Security Requirement Guidelines to allow logical separation as an alternative to the physical separation requirements. Section 4.3 of the JEDI Cyber Security Plan outlines the logical separation requirements that must be met to provide logical separation between tenants, and must be met regardless of the implementation choice made as a result of the optionality provided by 1.3.3.

93 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Does the government have any prescribed size or organization for the vendor's PMO, based on how the government is organizing itself?

The Government will consider all possible solutions industry has to offer that will meet the requirements of the solicitation and will not be prescriptive by specifying a solution.

94 RFP C2 paragraph 1 14 71-84

Given that the size of the PMO will be dependent upon the number and size of task orders, how would the government prefer the vendors appropriately size the PMO based on initial operating capabilities?

The Government will consider all possible solutions industry has to offer that will meet the requirements of the solicitation and will not be prescriptive by specifying a solution.

95 RFP 1 1.2 75 2528

What are the 'built-in' data storage redundancy requirements for nearline storage?

The Government will consider all possible solutions industry has to offer that will prevent data loss in the scenario described in the Sub-factor.

Additionally, paragraph 3 under Sub-factor 1.2 will be amended as follows for clarity. "Built-in data storage redundancy for online, nearline, and offline storage that protects against data loss in the case of catastrophic data center failure as demonstrated by a listing and description of the existing CCO offerings that provide built-in data storage redundancy for online, nearline, and offline storage."

96 RFP L8 0 0 0

Will the government accept volume discounts granted based on annual consumption levels as opposed to the proposed monthly basis?

The Government will consider discounts for any period of time so long as it does not contradict any particular solicitation requirement.

All discounts, the prescribed algorithm for discount computation, and any terms and conditions affecting applicability of the discount must be clearly described and documented in Attachment J-3: Contractor Discounts, Premiums, and Fees as part of your proposal. Discounts unique to the pricing scenarios or otherwise inconsistent between the pricing scenarios and Attachment J-3 will not be accepted and may render the proposal unacceptable.

97 L-3 3 3.5 4 151

This section states that 60% of the ordering guide will pertain to the Government provisioning tool. Can the Government please provide any available specifications, capabilities, design documents, etc. for the Government provisioning tool so that bidders can better understand the division of responsibilities of this tool vs. the contractor's portal. For example, will the government tool provide users with a dynamic service catalog from which to provision, or will this catalog be provided in the contractor portal?

The Government will develop and provide the portion of the Ordering Guide that pertains to the use of the provisioning tool, including user profile creation, authentication, and task order management.