Response to Questions Asked at Pre-Proposal Conference Regarding Solicitation for SharePoint Integration and Support Services
March 8, 2010 The pre-proposal conference was conducted at Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility at 500 12th Street SW, Washington, DC. The purpose of the conference was to provide general background information about the pending SharePoint Integration and Support Services contract and to answer questions from interested persons who attended the conference.
Four ICE employees conducted the meeting and answered questions at the end of the general presentation:
· Susan Erickson, ICE, OAQ, Contracting Officer
· Terry Johnston, ICE Office of the Chief Information Officer
· Rick Inzunza, ICE Office of the Chief Information Officer
· Stephen Yuter, ICE, OAQ Contracts Specialist
The conference was split into two seatings to accommodate the number of people who registered. The first seating started at 1 p.m., and the second around 2:15 p.m.
The previously released draft statement of work (SOW) drew 147 questions, which were answered in the Response to Questions on Draft SOWs, also available on this Web site. The following table picks up with questions from the March 8th conference.
| Q # |
| Questions (spoken, at 1st seating) |
| SDD/ASB/SharePoint Team Response |
| 1 |
| Will contract be on government side or on contract side? |
| Government side |
| 2 |
| What’s the estimated dollar value? |
| $245 million |
| 3 |
| With TO structure, will there be a task specifically for, say, development? Could same company be awarded TOs for different types of work-related TOs? |
| Terry: Probably being awarded one type of task would preclude awardee from doing another type of work. |
Susan: In accordance with the SOW, the Contractor shall be able to perform and support all aspects associated with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 including administration, operations, development, troubleshooting, design, and implementation of these environmental solutions.
Rick: We’re looking at including a broad task-management role among the prospective tasks to be awarded.
| 4 |
| Will 51% requirement be on TO or on IDIQ as a whole? |
| Stephen: Will be on task order basis. |
| 5. |
| What is proposal turnaround time? |
| Stephen: 30 days after the solicitation has been released |
| 6. |
| To prime, must accounting system be DCAA audited? |
Time limit?
Susan: Must have established cost and accounting system. DCAA report will be required.
We’ll look at time limit.
| 7. |
| Any minimum requirement for prime for CMAA level? |
| No |
| 8 |
| Because it’s a multi-year contract, what are plans re: SharePoint 2010 |
| We’re not going to stay with SP 2007 forever and will head toward SP 2010 in the near future, but not immediately. There are no hard dates established for that move. |
| 9 |
| Security clearance requirements? |
| Susan: Under Section H of the Solicitation the Security requirement for the IDIQ and awarded contract is Sensitive /Unclassified. No sensitive data will be housed in the contractor facility. |
| 10 |
| If no DCAA level at bidder, can still bid? |
| The Contractor can still submit a proposal if they have an acceptable accounting system. |
| 11 |
| How will reporting/analytics be handled? |
| From a requirements/development perspective any TOs will outline these types of requirements within the TO SOW. From a resource perspective; developers would use the SQL reporting environment, Analysis and Integration services to develop the appropriate solution. From a contractual perspective; any necessary reporting or analysis necessary will be outlined in the Contract or TO SOW. |
Rick: Under all task orders; a development environment will be provided. If TO requires analytics and development and a vendor bids on it, that vendor can also bid on other non-similar tasks.
| 12 |
| How will the government delineate initial bid? Will ongoing app development be included? |
| The initial task will be delineated by the four major groups of work areas described in the presentation under ICECT Support; Program/Project Management, Application O&M and Development Support, General Support System Activities and Site Admin and support activities. Any O&M required will be included in new task orders. |
| 13 |
| OCI: If bidder selected to do task management, is there potential to bid just on program manager piece? |
| Susan: Organizational Conflict of Interest is one of the evaluation factors in awarding each Contract. Each Contractor’s proposal must be technically acceptable in order to obtain an award. Each Contract awarded will have a Program Manager assigned to oversee the task orders awarded under their contract. |
| 14 |
| If offsite or onsite, where would GFE be located? |
| Work will be at contractor site. GFE will be assigned to contractors who would be responsible for the equipment. Initial task will be targeted for contractor site. But in future, depending on government requirements, there could be an option to work elsewhere at the government’s request. |
| 15 |
| Number and average size of TOs? |
| It’s difficult to estimate the number of TOs that may be executed under the IDIQ and each contract awarded.. The number will be based on the agency’s need. The value of each TO will be based on the amount of work described in the TO SOW. However, there is a minimum guaranteed valued of $2,500.00 per each contract awarded. |
| 16 |
| PM task order, would awardee be prevented from bidding on other, future TOs? |
| Susan: Each Contract awarded will have a PM to oversee the Task Orders awarded under their contract. |
| 17 |
| Security clearances, will TS facility clearance be required? Or will it be awarded based on needs of TO |
| Susan: Under Section H of the Solicitation the Security requirement for the IDIQ and awarded contract is Sensitive /Unclassified. No sensitive data will be housed in the contractor facility. |
| 18 |
| Will there be a PMO for the whole job? |
| Each Contract awarded will have a PM to oversee the Task Orders awarded under their contract. |
| 19 |
| Will requirements and testing tools be provided? |
| The Government will identify the requirements, at times this will be performed with the assistance of task support. Generally speaking tools will not be provided unless there is a specific requirement in testing that necessitates it. |
| 20 |
| What’s the size of current support team? |
| 26 people, developers, tech writers, PMs, testers, business analysts |
Stephen/Susan: However the number of people proposed for the required SOW is considered to be the Contractor’s business decision.
| 21 |
| Are system engineering and system infrastructure part of the current job; will bidder have access to backup and recovery facilities? |
| Rick: I was referring to software patches. Patches handed off to application team who then apply them. Developers would have access only to development and FQT environments. |
These aspects of the ICECT GSS are generally addressed by the ICE Systems Engineering Branch. When developing solutions it may be necessary for the development team to recommend infrastructure necessary to support solutions. However, the general O&M for infrastructure is the responsibility of the SEB. The backup and recovery process is also owned by the SEB. In the event that data recovery is required SEB will recover the data and provide to BSSB.
| 22 |
| Is there documented approach to creation of patches? |
| Rick: Patches will follow the ICE System Lifecycle Methodology that all development follows. This includes the indentification, development, testing, deployment, etc. of patches. |
Yes, automated deployment to repository, batch process, deployment to FQT environment.
| 23 |
| Out of current 26 people, what’s mix of employees / contractors. Who are they? Will they be allowed to bid on this solicitation? |
| Susan: The number of people proposed for the required SOW is considered to be the Contractor’s business decision. |
However for the current contractor’s current mix of employees information would have to be requested through a Freedom of Information Act letter requesting that information. .
| 24 |
| Is previous experience required with ICE / SLM? Yes or no? It’s not clear. |
| Rick: Familiarity with the ICE SLM process is preferred, bidders should come in with clear understanding of SLM process. Past experience is one of the evaluation factors required in Section M of the solicitation.It’ll be the Contractor’s responsibility to learn the SLM before beginning work. The SLM documentation will be reference in the Solicitation for the Contractor to review. |
| 25 |
| Is it a requirement that the project manager be PMI certified? |
Can you provide information about the types of enhancements you are considering?
Potential enhancements include moving to SharePoint service model/Common Operating Environment, Upgrading (in the future) to next release of MOSS.
| 26 |
| If a proposed team consists entirely of small business companies, is there still a 51% requirement on the prime contractor? |
| Yes, the Small Business Companies must have 51% requirement on the Prime Contractor. |
| 27 |
| What is the projected award date for this IDIQ? |
| The Projected Award date is estimated to be July 1, 2010. |
| 28 |
| With the objective of awarding 3 – 4 contracts, will there be a breakout for certain designees such as Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses “SDVOSB, Woman-Owned Small Business “WOSB”, etc? |
| We are estimating awarding more than one or more contracts, however, this is considered a Small Business Set Aside with no designated breakout of SB designees. We can award to any and all Small Business Contractors: SB, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses. Woman-Owned Small Business, Hub Zone Small Business, 8a Small Business, etc. |
| 29 |
| What mix of government contractor support is providing this service now? |
Who funds the projects occupied (?) in the other services?
26 people, developers, tech writers, PMs, testers, business analysts
Susan: However the number of people proposed for the required SOW is considered to be the Contractor’s business decision.
Congress funds all government projects. For contractual purposes all tasks will be funded by the ICE programs requesting the support.
| 30 |
| Who implemented and configured ICE current 2007 version? |
If there were two things ICE would change with regard to their current SharePoint implementation, what would they be?
SAIC is the incumbent and helped implement and configure the ICECT.
Not sure what bearing the second part of this question has on the TO SOW or the Contract.
| 31 |
| Does ICE anticipate using a specific cost schedule? If so, which one? |
| The Government will have a Price Matrix attached to Section J of the Solicitation. |
| 32 |
| How will the first task be split up? Will one company get the first task with all the work? Or will you divide it between the 3 – 4 awards? |
| 1 or more Contractor who are technically acceptable will be awarded contractors. The Government has not determined the maximum number of contracts that will be awarded. The Contractors that will be given awards will eligible to propose on future task orders placed against the contract. The initial task will be one of the tasks awarded to one of the contractors who were awarded a contract. |
| 33 |
| Will there be an SBA breakout by HUB, 8(a), Veterans, etc.? |
| We are estimating awarding more than one or more contracts, however, this is considered a Small Business Set Aside with no designated breakout of SB designees. We can award to any and all Small Business Contractors: SB, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses. Woman-Owned Small Business, Hub Zone Small Business, 8a Small Business, etc. |
| 34 |
| Will there be a list published identifying large bus. And small businesses who attended the 3/7 DHS/ICE SharePoint conferences? |
| Yes it will be posted on FEDBIDOPPS |
| 35 |
| What is the number of TOs planned or anticipated in first year? |
What is the average size (in $) anticipated for each TO?
We anticipate 3 TOs the initial year but this number is subject to change.
The dollar values are not known at this time each TO will have a different SOW. However, there is a minimum guaranteed valued of $2,500.00 per each contract awarded.
| 36 |
| To ensure consistent, high-quality delivery across this large-scope, will ICE require CMMI ML2 or ML3? |
| Not at this time. |
| 37 |
| Can you please further explain the TO structure anticipated? How many task orders will be awarded with the IDIQ award? Will multiple application development task orders be awarded that overlap? (e.g., task for DRO development vs. OI development) |
Will any task orders create a conflict for other task orders (e.g., PMO vs. development?)
The Task Order Process and Procedures will be defined under Section G of the solicitation.
We anticipate 3 TOs the initial year but this number is subject to change.
Task Orders will not overlap
| 38 |
| How long will the time period be to respond to the RFP? |
In order to prime, must you have a DCAA-audited accounting system?
In order to prime, must your rates have been DCAA audited?
The proposal due date will be about 30 days after the solicitation has been released.
The Contractor must have an approved accounting system.
No.
| 39 |
| Can you give an idea of current system in terms of current and potential users? |
| Rick: The current ICECT GSS supports all of ICE, approximately 22,000 users. It has 12 custom applications and 46 site collections, totaling about 425 gigs of data. At some time in the near future access to the ICECT will be provided to users external to ICE which will increase the user base but that timeframe is TBD. |
| 40 |
| System developed internally or externally? |
| Rick: Microsoft provided external consulting assistance with architecting certain aspects of the environment, but the environment was internally developed. |
| 41 |
| Estimate of number of awardees? |
| Stephen/Susan: We are estimating one or more awarded Contracts. The Government does not have a set number established for the number of awards they will make. |
| 42 |
| Plan to use SP for anything other than collaboration? |
| Rick: The ICECT will be used for collaboration sites, Intranet and Application hosting. |
| 43 |
| Were Web parts developed in house? |
| Rick: we have a mix of in house and 3rd party webparts. Currently, the majorities are developed in-house but ICE promotes the use of 3rd party web parts where it’s appropriate. All web parts, whether internally developed or 3rd party will be required to go through a systems assurance review as prescribed by the ICE SLM process. |
| 44 |
| Re: multiple awards, will each vendor cover multiple areas? |
| Susan: Yes, the Contractor s will be expected to be able to cover multiple areas in accordance with the SOW, but must be considered technically acceptable. |
| 45 |
| Any CMMI requirement? |
| Terry: No CMMI requirement specified. |
| 46 |
| What’s biggest challenge? |
| Rick: User Adoption - Training, introducing users to SharePoint, showing how SharePoint can add value. Migrating to the DHS Common Operating Environment. |
Terry: The ICE CIO here is very pro-SharePoint, knows value. We get a lot of support.
| 47 |
| Will SharePoint store Top Secret info? |
| Rick: ICECT is not cleared for classified info right now. Sensitive OK, but not classified. |
| 48 |
| Is budget from OCIO or from functional groups within? |
| Susan: Both |
| 49 |
| Will there be a migration to SP 2010? |
| Rick: See question 155 |
| 50 |
| Common operating environment, where is it? |
| Rick: The DHS Common Operating Environment will be stood up in two physical locations; Clarksville, VA and the NASA's John Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. These sites will be configured in an active/active failover model. |
| 51 |
| Re: security, will there be a TS requirement on offsite facility? |
| Susan: Under Section H of the Solicitation the Security requirement for the IDIQ and awarded contract is Sensitive /Unclassified. No sensitive data will be housed in the contractor facility. |
| 52 |
| How many people required to sustain current op? |
| Terry: 26 people, developers, tech writers, PMs, testers, business analysts |
Susan: However the number of people proposed for the required SOW is considered to be the Contractor’s business decision.
| 53 |
| Does TO include system engineering? Help desk? |
| Rick: Some of the O&M activities will include help desk related activities, in support of the ICECT and specific applications. But no support for installing and configuring hardware will be included in this initial task. |
| 54 |
| Fixed rate for 3 to 4 awards? |
| Susan: There will be one or more awarded Contracts. The resulting contracts will be an, multiple awarded, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) ( pre-negotiated loaded hourly labor rates), and or Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) and Cost Reimbursable (Other Direct Costs (ODC) CLINs. |
There is a minimum guaranteed valued of $2,500.00 per each contract awarded.
| 55 |
| Re: Cert & accred, contractors need ISO certification? |
| Rick: The Gov’t will provide an ISSO, Systems Assurance Division will lead the certification process. Contractor may be required to support some of the C&A activities but this will be at the directions of the Government. |
| 56 |
| Of 25 people on current contract, what’s mix? |
| Terry: There are 5 gov’t employees. |
Susan: 26 people, developers, tech writers, PMs, testers, business analysts. However the number of people proposed for the required SOW is considered to be the Contractor’s business decision.
| 57 |
| What’s dollar amount overall? |
| Ceiling is $245 million for life of contract. |
| 58 |
| Does ICE envision any other agencies within DHS to take advantage of this solicitation? |
| No, the SharePoint Service and Support awarded Contracts is for ICE use only. |
| 59 |
| Expected number of task orders? |
| Rick: We anticipate 3 TOs the initial year but this number is subject to change |
There is no way to determine the number of TOs will be awarded over the course of each contract.
| 60 |
| Will there be sample TOs in RFP? |
| . |
No sample TOs will be included. The GSS O&M TO which will be the initial TO and comprises work currently being performed.
| 61 |
| How much of existing work has been documented, and will new contractor have access? |
| Stephen/Susan: The Contractor can submit a Freedom of Information Act request for information on the current contractor. |
| 62 |
| Is there a library of existing documentation |
| Rick: There is a technical library managed by the ICE Systems Assurance section which documents all the systems/applications included in the ICECT and including the ICECT. The winning contractor will have access to this information. |
| 63 |
| Can team of small businesses be considered? |
| Yes, the government will consider partnering and teaming of Small Businesses. |
| 64 |
| All work onsite or mix? |
| Can be mix |
| 65 |
| Work under Eagle, will future SP go under it? |
| No this is not an awarded Task Order under Eagle. This is an IDIQ multiple award Small Business Set Aside. |
| 66 |
| Current contractor have to have ICE experience? |
| Susan: The Contractor does not have to have ICE experience to submit a proposal. See Sections L and M of the solicitation for instructions and evaluation factors. |
| 67 |
| EOD process chargeable? |
| Can bill for transition activities. |
| 68 |
| Why change to small business set aside? |
| Stephen/Susan: The Government is trying to open opportunities to Small Business Concerns. |
| 69 |
| Turnaround time for task order? |
| Susan: Depends on program’s requirements, how extensive. The Task Order process and procedure will be defined in Section G of the solicitation. |
| 70 |
| Details on existing backup plan? |
| Rick: Production and disaster recovery environments are in two separate physical locations, log files are mirrored between the SANS in each location. The farm infrastructure is mirrored in each location. Farms have 32 servers, 2 SANs with 5 fully populated enclosures, F-5 load balancers sit in front of each farm. |
| 71 |
| Switchover to new contract? |
| Stephen/Susan: The current contract will go beyond April 30, 2010. There will be a 30-day transition period after award., |
| 72 |
| Accounting protocol? |
| Susan: The Contractor must have a approved Accounting System . |
| 73 |
| Can small businesses bring in large as partners? |
| Yes, as long as the Small Business Prime does 51% of business |
| 74 |
| Is 51% per task order? |
| Stephen: Per task order |
| 75 |
| Is there a PMO contract part of this IDIQ |
| Susan: Each Contract awarded will have a Program Manager to oversee the Task Orders awarded under their contract. |
| 76 |
| Response to TO 1, part of it is security plan and part is quality assurance plan. Details? |
| Rick: Your proposal should include a section on how you plan to address ICE security requirements, have cleared people to work on jobs, how you will satisfy security requirements while developing solutions, etc. |
Susan: The Contractor’s Task Order 1 will be evaluated in accordance with Section L (Instructions and Notices) and M (Evaluation Factors) of the solicitation. The contractor must address all evaluation factors for both the award of the contract and Task Order 1.
| 77 |
| 12 apps meaning 12 custom developed applications? |
How frequently are builds for apps released?
What percentage of support calls pertain to custom apps?
Yes – 12 custom applications/SharePoint solutions. Releases are deployed as necessary to address system change requests, implement bug fixes, etc.
Approximately 1/3rd of support calls are generated from custom applications.
| 78 |
| How much emphasis is the agency putting into utilizing OCS? |
| Minimal at this time. OCS is currently part of the ICECT environment and provides presence and instant messaging to the OCIO. |
| 79 |
| What is the biggest challenge facing ICE concerning MOSS? Is CMMI certification required? |
| CMMI is not a requirement at this time. The biggest Challenge we are facing with MOSS is probably “User Adoption” and our ability to address enhancements resulting from input from users. |
| 80 |
| How big is the current SharePoint environment? Server farm? # of servers, etc.? |
How many 3rd party web parts are maintained? Does ICE own source code to make changes as needed?
There are currently 4 environments that support the ICECT GSS; Production (with reporting services), Disaster Recovery (with reporting services), Formal Qualified Testing and Virtualized Development environments. These environments currently total 38 physical servers and will be increased by another 10 in the near future.
Currently ICE owns 3 3rd party web parts and we are in the process of evaluating 2 others for possible acquisition. ICE does not own 3rd party source, we have licenses for use of the product only.
| 81 |
| Is there any CMMI certification required? |
What can you share in terms of past performance requirements?
Will it be possible to use teaming partner’s past performance?
No CMMI certification is required.
Past Performance is an evaluation factor and is described in detail in Section M of the solicitation. The is a section that addressing partnering and teaming with other contractors.
| 82 |
| In regards to clearances, will ICE allow people to start work under an interim clearance or do they need their full BI? |
| Contractors can begin billing/work once an interim clearance has been received. |
| 83 |
| Is the ICE Common Operating Environment at DHS Data Center 1 or 2? |
| The COE will be at both data centers. The COE will be deployed using an Active/Active failover model. At least that is the plan at the time of answering this question. |
| 84 |
| Is current ICE experience required to support the SharePoint initiative? |
| The Contractor does not have to have ICE experience to submit a proposal, |
however supporting similar SharePoint solutions as outlined in the RFP will be necessary.
| 85 |
| Beyond the task order that will be competed with the IDIQ, can you elaborate on how many additional TOs will be competed in the future and for what type of work (functionally speaking)? |
| We anticipate 3 TOs the initial year but this number is subject to change |
There is no way to determine the number of TOs will be awarded over the course of each contract.
| 86 |
| How many awards are you expecting? |
| There will be one or more awarded Contracts. |
| 87 |
| As a multiple award IDIQ, would ICE consider ensuring an award to each socio-economic small business category? (8a, Hub Zone, SDVOB) |
Do you have an estimate of the number of awardees you expect?
We are estimating awarding more than one or more contracts. This is considered a Small Business Set Aside with no designated breakout of SB designees. We can award to any and all Small Business Contractors: SB, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses. Woman-Owned Small Business, Hub Zone Small Business, 8a Small Business, etc.
| 88 |
| Does the subcontract company have to be a top secret facility? |
| Under Section H of the Solicitation the Security requirement for the IDIQ and awarded contract is Sensitive /Unclassified. No sensitive data will be housed in the contractor facility. |
| 89 |
| Will the contractor be responsible for providing an ISSO and support staff? |
Will the contractor be required to provide help desk support? If so, what tier(s)?
No, all ISSOs will be government personnel. The Contractor may be responsible for providing support staff for security related activities.
For applications in O&M on the initial task order the vendor will be required to provide help desk and troubleshooting support (tiers 2 and 3). For
| 90 |
| How many users does the system currently support? |
Who is the incumbent?
The ICECT available to all of ICE 22,000+ users.
SAIC is the incumbent
| 91 |
| How many awards are expected? |
| There will be one or more awarded Contracts. |
| 92 |
| Can you describe the current system within the areas of # of users? |
| The current system is a normal office type setting with the ICE Using Microsoft Office. |
| 93 |
| Does the facility need to be cleared? |
What is the ceiling value of the IDIQ?
Under Section H of the Solicitation the Security Requirement for the IDIQ and awarded contract is Sensitive /Unclassified. No sensitive data will be housed in the contractor facility.
The Ceiling Value of the IDIQ is $245 Million Dollars.
| 94 |
| What exactly are you using the ICECT for and what are planned uses? |
| ICECT is a collaboration tool. It is used to provide the agency with a suite of collaborative capabilities. It is also used as a .Net application platform for custom applications. |
| 95 |
| Does the collaboration tool include social networking features? |
Is there a records management tool integrated with ICECT?
Will computer-based training be required to be developed?
Will classroom training be required?
Can development occur at contractor site?
What is the average EOD process length?
My Sites has not been activated but may be at a later date.
Currently no records management capabilities have been deployed with the ICECT. The 5015.2 module and a Records Management Site capability are available if the government decides to utilize them.
CBT development may be required of the ICE program initiating the task desires one, it will be identified in the TOSOW.
Classroom training may be required if the ICE Programs initiating the task desires it, it will be identified in the TOSOW.
There is no average EOD length of time. Every individual clearance is unique. Clearance processing times vary from 2 weeks to 6 months depending on the level of adjudication required.
No the contractor will not have to propose to a minimum number of Task Orders only the Task Order 1.
�Susan
�Susan is this OK?
�Susan – I think that the answer to this is “No” isn’t it? I think that they are referring to the actual clearance process. They cannot bill for that can they? Contractors can only bill against a Contract/TO once they have been granted at a minimum an interim clearance from the ICE PSU, right?
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