Response To Vendor Questions.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 26 KB Posted
- Attached to
- DAU Cyber Training Range-Enterprise Systems Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- HQ003425QE154
- Issued by
- DOD Washington Headquarters Service
About this file
The document is a "Response To Vendor Questions" spreadsheet for solicitation HQ003425QE154, providing detailed clarifications about a cyber training range contract for the Defense Acquisition University (DAU). The solicitation seeks a firm-fixed price contract for 310 total licenses (300 student, 10 instructor) with 200 programming hours per period, covering a comprehensive cyber training range service. Key details include annual subscriptions for virtual machine environments, LMS integration requirements, and specific technical capabilities such as OVA format VM uploads, Capture the Flag functionality, and 24/7 range access.
Pricing and contractual terms allow for flexibility, with offerors able to choose escalation rates for option years and invoice methods (upfront or monthly billing). The contract will support DAU's cyber training needs with specific technical requirements like 4GB RAM VMs, 25Mbps minimum student bandwidth, and integration with Cornerstone OnDemand LMS. The solicitation is unrestricted, uses NAICS code 611420, and includes a base period with four 12-month option periods. The virtual training environment will support classes ranging from 2 days to 2 weeks, with expected concurrent user ranges between 150-200 students and an average daily student usage of 8 hours.
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Other files for this federal contract opportunity
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| Solicitatiion HQ003425QE154 Amend 1.pdf | ||
| Performance Work Statement.docx | DOCX document | |
| Solicitation - HQ003425QE154.pdf |
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Text version
Solicitation
| Question Number | Page Number | Paragraph | Question | Government Answer |
| 1 | 2 | CLIN 0001–0002 table | Are student and instructor licenses intended to be concurrent or named users? Please clarify usage expectations. | Concurrent. Licenses for students will be issued to students prior to a class and withdrawn after completion of the class, then reallocated to other students for future classes. The same concept applies for instructor licenses. |
| 2 | 2 | CLIN 0001–0002 table | Will all 310 accounts be active simultaneously, or staggered across sessions? What is the largest concurrent user course size projected? | Typically the licenses will be staggered across classes (sessions). When multiple classes are ocurring at the same time the number of licenses in use will increase but will not exceed the stated amount. |
| 3 | 2 | CLIN 0003 | What qualifies as a billable 'programming hour' under the Level of Effort line item? | See response to question 4 |
| 4 | 2 | CLIN 0003 | Are programming hours strictly technical (e.g., VM support), or do they include curriculum services and integration tasks? | Programming hours capture non-administrative (corporate or contract related, e.g. G&A) labor effort associated with LMS integration, VM support and infrastrucure modifcations/sustainment for DAU unique requirements not included in the student & instructor licenses cost. DAU develops and maintains the curriculum within the VMs - student guides, challenge flags, attacker and target VMs. |
| 5 | 2 | CLINs 1001–4003 | Should option year pricing remain flat or include escalation? If escalation is preferred, what rate/index should be used? | Offeror may choose to escalate license and labor cost with option year CLINs. Offeror may choose escalation rate. Final price used for evaluation will include the sum of the base and all option years for all CLINs. |
| 6 | 2 | Section B Pricing Table | Will the Government provide a pricing template, or may we submit our own format aligned to CLIN structure? | No - Offeror format is acceptable as long as it aligns with the CLIN structure and complies with the Instructions to Offerors Subparagraph C on page 43 of the solicitation. MS Excel file preferred for the pricing tables. |
| 7 | 2 | CLINs 0001–4002 | Does firm-fixed price for licenses include infrastructure, support, and platform maintenance? | Yes |
| 8 | 4–5 | PWS & Delivery Terms | Will there be any reimbursable travel or ODCs associated with technical demonstrations or support? | All B&P costs are at Offeror expense. Technical usability demonstrations will be conducted virtually using MS Teams. ODC costs in sustainment (infrastructure support) shall be included in the licenses cost. No travel is necessary during proposal evaluations or execution of the contract. |
| 9 | 10 | Delivery Schedule | Are licenses invoiced upfront for the full quantity or incrementally as users activate? | Upfront or Level Monthly Billing - Offeror's choice |
| 10 | 45 | Evaluation Factor 2 | Should Offerors include any associated cost for conducting the Technical Usability Demonstration? | No - All B&P costs are at Offeror expense |
| 11 | 2 | CLINs 0001–4001 | Should license pricing reflect annual subscriptions, monthly user fees, or a flat delivery total? | Annual subscription |
| 12 | 2 | CLINs 0003–4003 | Can programming services be invoiced partially (as incurred) or only after all 200 hours are completed? | Partial billing is acceptable |
| 13 | 2 | Section B Pricing Table | How do you want Pricing formatted and submitted? | See reponse to question #6 |
| 14 | 5 | Requirements | Is this a new DAU requirement or an existing requirement that is currently being performed. | This is an existing requirement currently being performed by a commercial entity. |
| 15 | 43 | Instructions to Offerors | What is required in the Administrative Volume? What are the submissions requirements or do we follow the directions for the Technical Volume? | Administrative volume will contain an introduction to the offeror, introduction to the offeror's proposal and sufficient corporate information to complete all administrative tasks associated with award of a contract by the US Government. Submission requirements - follow the Instructions to Offerors Subparagraph C on page 43 of the solicitation. |
PWS
| Question Number | Section Number | Heading | Question | Government Answer |
| 1 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | What specific formats (beyond OVA) are accepted for target VM uploads? Are there any tools required or restricted when uploading these VMs to the platform? | Per the threshold requirements, the only format DAU uses is OVA. DAU expects to see a "Import Virtual Machine", "Deploy OVF Template", or similarly worded function in the software for deployment of uploads within the virtualization platform. |
| 2 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Does the Government expect each course to utilize a new set of static IPs, or will static IP assignment be reusable across sessions? | As the machines get reset between sessions static IPs can be reused across sessions but need to be unique by user environment. |
| 3 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | For the CTF functionality, are there minimum expected features or preferred platforms/tools that the contractor should align to? | Immediate feedback on answer correctness, hint functionality, ability for DAU professors to accomplish real-time edits to CTF qustions/answers. CTFd is a tool that DAU instructors use regularly however, we are not dictating the offeror's solution platform/tool. |
| 4 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | What level of real-time instructor visibility and control is expected over student VM environments (e.g., remote control, observation only, intervention)? | Although not a threshold requirement, the ability to observe student's virtual machines and be able to interact with those virtual machines is requested. Ideally, we would like to have remote control/intervention and observation. |
| 5 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Is there an expectation that the contractor will provide custom-built curriculum content aligned to DAU course objectives, or is all curriculum Government-provided? | There is no expectation that the contractor will provide custom built curriculum, however DAU wants access to any existing curriculum the vendor may have and ability to edit that content for DAU course objectives. |
| 6 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Can the Government clarify if the contractor must provide technical support for students during live training sessions, or only during integration and setup? | DAU students require access to the cyber training range 24/7 except for the days noted in paragraph 1.7.3. For example, DAU may conduct a virtual class for students in a time zone which is ET plus 12 hours. Range performance (availability) during and outside of the business hours stated in paragraph 1.7.4 will be evaluated IAW Part 5, Performance Requirements Summary table. |
| 7 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Is SCORM API integration with the DAU LMS already scoped out by DAU, or is the contractor responsible for proposing and executing the integration path? | SCORM or xAPI is supported by the LMS |
| 8 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Please explain what is being requested by “real-time”?? | Real-time references the ability to make curriculum changes, save the changes, and see them immediatley reflected in environment. |
| 9 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Can DAU provide the types of content and format of the content that will be provided? Ex. Will this all be OVA files or SCORM packages or other? | No, there will be more content such as student guide files with CTF capability. |
| 10 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Can you please clarify the LMS role. | The LMS is used to allow students to register, Single-Sign-on (SSO), and have grades sent back to the LMS as the system of record. DAU IT does not approve students directly using username/email and password to log into non-DOD systems. DAU leverages the LMS as an approved system of record and our Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM)/SSO platform. |
| 11 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | What APIs are currently supported by the DAU LMS? | The LMS supports many API's, but does not allow direct vendor access. Vendors may leverage any API's available through the xAPI/T in Can framework for a standalone package. |
| 12 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | What is the role of the contractor’s student management system – we typically expect the LMS to provide student management if used? | DAU feels this is more like license management, but the LMS should provide student and registration management. The tool selected should have some admin functions that allow searching for users, seeing what they are consuming, and total license utilization. |
| 13 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | What LMS is DAU currently using? | Cornerstone OnDemand (CSOD) https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/ |
| 14 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Does the current DAU LMS support LTI v1.1 or LTI v1.3? | Not currently, but CSOD is exploring this potential in the future. |
| 15 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Is DAU open to using a different LMS? | No. |
| 16 | 1.4 | Additional System Design Features | For 'Over-the-Shoulder' monitoring, are there any security, privacy, or logging requirements the contractor must adhere to? | Yes, monitoring/control shall be limited to only the student virtual machine(s). |
| 17 | 1.5 | Scope | Do all 300 students attend at the same time for the entire year or are they only in class for a specified period of time? | No. All students do not attend at the same time. Typically each class includes 20-30 students and the duration of each class ranges from 2 days to 2-weeks |
| 18 | 1.5 | Scope | Of the 300 Annual - proposed students - How many do you expect to utilize the range concurrently? | We expect to use 300 licenses concurrently. Estimated concurrent users can range from approximately 150 to 200 users on average when there are overlapping classes. |
| 19 | 1.5 | Scope | What is the average daily utilization of the cyber range per student? | Students will average 8 hours per day of usage. |
| 20 | 1.5 | Scope | What is the average RAM utilization of the OVA labs from DAU? We typically see lab sizes from 0.5GB to 50 GB of RAM utilization – XXXXX average lab is around 15 GB RAM – is that a good estimate? | Average usage for a VM is 4 GB RAM with 2 vCPU with 40-50 GB of storage. |
| 21 | 5.1 | Specific Tasks | Are there any established SLAs or support response times required during training events (e.g., VM resets, technical issues)? | See availability performance standard in the PWS Part 5. The offeror may include SLAs or support response times in the post award conference and/or management plan deliverables if they so desire (see Technical Exhibit 2). |
| 22 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | What version of SCORM is required for LMS integration? Are there existing APIs or documentation? | SCORM or xAPI is supported by the LMS |
| 23 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | What are the minimum software specs for the student and instructor VMs? | See PWS Section 1.3.c |
| 24 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | What is the expected average and peak bandwidth per student during training? | Students are expected to have a minimum bandwidth connection of 25Mbps. |
| 25 | 1.3 | Threshold Technical Requirements | Does the Government/DAU require that the infrastructure and virtual environment be originally built, or is there an existing environment that needs to be used? | This is a services contract, therefore the expectation is that the offeror will already have an existing infrastructure and virtual environment to provide to DAU for use in conducting training classes. |
| 26 | 1.7.4 | General Information | What support services are expected outside of the 8am-4pm ET window? | DAU students require access to the cyber training range 24/7 except for the days noted in paragraph 1.7.3. For example, DAU may conduct a virtual class for students in a time zone which is ET plus 12 hours. Availability of the range outside of the business hours stated in paragraph 1.7.4 is the responsibility of the contractor. Range performance outside of the stated business hours will be evaluated IAW Part 5, Performance Requirements Summary table. |
| 27 | 4.1 | Deliverables Schedule | What is the turnaround time for government review and acceptance of deliverables? | 30 - 45 days, depending on the deliverable |
| 28 | Technical Exhibit 3 | Estimated Workload Data | Should CV/Resume be attached for the proposed FTE? | No |
File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated .