Question and Answers for RFP HSFE50_12_R_0044.pdf

Question and Answers for RFP HSFE50-12-R-0044: NAWAS Conference Bridge System

1. Will vendors have an opportunity to demonstrate and present their product/technology to FEMA?

The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror’s initial offer should contain the offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all offers if such action is in the public interest; accept other than the lowest offer; and waive informalities and minor irregularities in offers received.

2. Does DHS have a preferred buying vehicle to purchase this system?

This procurement is being solicited on an unrestricted, full and open competition basis under North American Industry Classification system (NAICS) Code 334210 Telephone Apparatus Manufacturing with the business size standard of 1,000 employees. It is the Government's intent to award a contract to the offeror providing the best overall value to the Government, price and other non-price factors considered.

3. Will there be an industry day to learn more about the opportunity?

No

4. With fully duplicated systems in Hot-standby mode, will each of the systems have its own dedicated T1s and 4-wire circuits? Or is the vendor expected to provide automatic switch over equipment for both T1s and 4-Wire circuits that will change-over in the event of failure?

Each system will have its own dedicated circuits.

5. Make and Model of the Local and Remote PBXs

This is immaterial as PBX interfaces to conference bridge are T1’s (TDM).

6. Can the PBXs support VoIP/SIP interfaces as well as T1/PRI?

PBX’s currently do not support VoIP interfaces, thus the requirement for “Six (6) T1 (TDM) circuits with a minimum of 138 ports per system”. A “VoIP (unicast) interface” is also required to allow for future upgrades.

7. What is the station equipment on the remote ends of the 4-wire lines? Is it a simple loudspeaker and microphone?

4-Wire circuits connect to Communications Laboratories (ComLabs) Micro Controller Unit (MCU) terminals at the remote ends (through an AT&T Digital Multipoint Bridge at AT&T office). The MCU is a 4-wire telephone designed to terminate Telephone Company provided, private line, category two, voice grade circuits. The terminal includes an internal amplifier, speaker, volume control, visual warning indicator (light), push-to-talk button on the handset; and all the circuitry required for decoding an alert signal.

8. In main SOW under “Requirement”, it mentions “Primary and Secondary systems”.

Will these two systems operate as a “Hot-Standby” pair with completely duplicated interfaces (i.e., 2 x 7x DS1s, plus 2 x 12 4-wire), or can they operate in a “Load-sharing mode” with the ports split between the two systems (our system can operate in either mode, but the Hot-Standby option is more expensive)

Each system will operate as separate systems (primary and secondary) with duplicate interfaces. Vendors are encouraged to provide details on options such as “load-sharing”, particularly as it pertains to future capabilities.

9. What is the timeframe for deployment?

120 Days after Task Order is issued.

10. Alerting of the NAWAS circuits, the activation of the EAS system – page 2

• How is alerting setup, in-band or out-of band??

NAWAS utilizes 4-Wire circuits (no signaling) connecting to Communications Laboratories (ComLabs) Micro Controller Unit (MCU) terminals at the remote ends. The MCU is a four wire telephone designed to terminate Telephone Company provided, private line, category two, voice grade circuits. The terminal includes an internal amplifier, speaker, volume control, visual warning indicator (light), push-to-talk button on the handset; and all the circuitry required for decoding an alert signal. Alerting is in-band.

The EAS conference is a separate conference (one of the four typical conferences described in the SOW). FOC Extension 6900 (connected via voice port to the local PBX) and the EAS ENDEC are members of that conference. Upon activation of an EAS Alert, the conference bridge “blast dials” the EAS Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations and adds them to the EAS conference. The EAS Operator initiates an alert from the ENDEC that sends out an alert (audio message) to all conference members. The Operator may also utilize the Extension 6900 handset to speak additional message information. EAS Signaling is in-band.

11. Sound Quality management-

In general, this category of features and functional requirements are system configurations to optimize sound quality for different acoustic requirements through the use of Echo Cancellation, DTMF Clamping, Tone Clamping, and minimum latency management voice compression. DTMF Clamping traps tones from telephone keypads, preventing them from playing into a conference call. This is often important because many conference call systems rely on using telephone keypad controls to activate special features like recording or muting. This if implemented, would eliminate unnecessary DTMF beeps (tones in the case of Tone Clamping) from playing into the conference.

• DTMF tone cancellation Can you describe more fully this term? Is this related to static lines, dial in or both?

Requirement should state DTMF Clamping as opposed to DTMF tone cancellation. This is related to dial in only. Not for use in the NAWAS conferences or EAS conferences which are static lines (4-wire circuits using in-band signaling).

• Tone clamping. Can you describe more fully this term? Is this related to static lines, dial in or both?

This is related to dial in only. Not for use in the NAWAS conferences or EAS conferences which are static lines (4-wire circuits using in-band signaling).

• Minimum latency management- Please clarify the terminology, is this pertaining to conference bridge algorithms?

The “minimum latency management” requirement is in the context that the product must exhibit predictability of the voice processing delay and that any delay introduced by the conferencing of voice is minimal. The conference bridge platform must have favorable voice processing characteristics that exhibit a predictable processing delay for conferencing static lines. It is the predictability of this voice processing delay that is referred to as “minimum latency management”

12. Moderator initiated Dial-out Conferencing (DTMF Operator Dial-put); the moderator has to be logged into the GUI for dial-out or Blast Dial

• Please clarify, is there a separate moderator dial pad as opposed to the GUI and the COMLABS unit

Individual and Blast Dial conferences will be initiated from the Operator Console using the GUI interface. Moderator initiated Dial-Out Conferencing requirement will be deleted.

13. With regard to the ComLab

• How is alerting setup in-band or out-of band

In-band

14. Under “Requirements”, on page B-2, it states:

“This requirement provides for a turn-key implementation of two (2) conference bridges that can function as either separate bridges or as a single bridge that enables FEMA to effectively and efficiently operate and administer primary and secondary conference bridges.” How does DHS envision making the connection and joining the 2 bridges into 1 unit?

As a result of government conducted market research, it was learned that some product offerings can have two geographically separated systems that can be interconnected in such a way as to allow the two conference bridges to act as one. The government does not intend to interconnect the two conference bridges at this time, but stated this as a requirement to allow for future upgrades.

Each system will operate as separate systems (primary and secondary) with duplicate interfaces. Vendors are encouraged to provide details on options such as “load-sharing”, particularly as it pertains to future capabilities. The method(s) of interconnection (circuit, bandwidth requirement, etc.) for the proposed solution should be stated by the vendor.

15. Are the installers and trainers required to have TS clearances?

System installers and maintainers will require TS clearances. Trainers will require TS clearances if training includes hands-on training at the FOC(s).

16. What is meant by “Minimum Latency Management” as referenced under the Sound Quality Management section on page B-4

The “minimum latency management” requirement is in the context that the product must exhibit predictability of the voice processing delay and that any delay introduced by the conferencing of voice is minimal. The conference bridge platform must have favorable voice processing characteristics that exhibit a predictable processing delay for conferencing static lines. It is the predictability of this voice processing delay that is referred to as “minimum latency management”.

17. “Participant mute/unmute listening”, on page B-3. How is this used and what would be a situation where it would be used?

This feature allows the FOC Conference Bridge Operator to selectively “toggle” individual NAWAS users (endpoints) so that they can be heard in the conference, but cannot listen. This accomplished by selecting an icon to mute/unmute listening without removing the user from the conference or without moving the user to a sidebar.

18. On bottom of page B-4, “Search/filter capability for static lines”. What do you mean by “Static Lines”? Do you mean static ON the lines?

“Static Lines” refers to the NAWAS conference dedicated circuits which are static lines (4-wire circuits using in-band signaling). This terminology is typical of a system that is configured as a “hoot-n-holler” system. Search/Filter in general refers to the ability for items to be searched and displayed. For example, an operator can type the letter “a” within a search text box, all items containing “a” are displayed. “Search/filter capability for static lines” refers to the ability to filter/search static lines “labeling” in a similar manner.

19. How is VoIP unicast used on the existing system?

VoIP is not used on the current system. “VoIP (unicast) interface” is stated as a requirement to allow for future upgrades.

20. How does DHS handle Operator Assisted Conferencing? Is it scheduled, unscheduled, dial-in, dial-out?

The requirement is for Operator Attended/Assisted Conferencing that is scheduled or unscheduled dial-out. Dial-in participants can be added to the conference by the Operator.

21. Can we get samples of the reports that are referenced on page B -5 under “Preconfigured end user, conference, broadcast, usage and static line reports”?

Graphic examples are not available, but a basic description is provided below:

End Users – This report lists all users on the “bridge” with their User ID and Conference Memberships.

Conferences – This report lists all the conferences on the bridge. It contains the membership ID details and all users who are members of the conferences.

Conference Users – This report generates a summary of the time period conferences have been attended to users.

Conference Usage - This report generates a summary of how long a conference was used for. It requires the Administrator/Operator to enter a start and end date in order to generate the report.

Department Usage - This report generates a summary of the time period a “department” has been in conference mode for. It requires the Administrator/Operator to enter a start and end date in order to generate the report.

User Usage - This report generates a summary of the time period a user has been in conference mode for. It requires the Administrator/Operator to enter a start and end date in order to generate the report.

Static Lines by Conference - This report generates a summary of what static lines are being used by each conference.

Static Lines by Port - This report generates a summary of what conference is using each port.

22. Under the description of the current system on page B-2, it states: “the system passes DTMF signaling generated by the MCU terminal operator to remote terminals to provide the NAWAS alerting function.” Does this mean the Alerting Function is a “Blast Dial”?

No, NAWAS endpoints are always connected via dedicated circuits. NAWAS utilizes 4-Wire circuits (no signaling) connecting to Communications Laboratories (ComLabs) Micro Controller Unit (MCU) terminals at the remote ends. The MCU is a four wire telephone designed to terminate Telephone Company provided, private line, category two, voice grade circuits. The terminal includes an internal amplifier, speaker, volume control, visual warning indicator (light), push-to-talk button on the handset; and all the circuitry required for decoding an alert signal.

Alerting is in-band DTMF.

The EAS conference is a separate conference (one of the four typical conferences described in the SOW). FOC Extension 6900 (connected via voice port to the local PBX) and the EAS ENDEC are members of that conference.

Upon activation of an EAS Alert, the conference bridge “blast dials” the EAS Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations and adds them to the EAS conference. The EAS Operator initiates an alert from the ENDEC that sends out an alert (audio message) to all conference members. The Operator may also utilize the Extension 6900 handset to speak additional message information. EAS Signaling is in-band.