TSEMD_Questions_and_Responses.docx

HSTS04-17-R-CT3017

Questions & Responses

Solicitation Questions:

1. We have taken notice the TSEMD Data Analytics scope of work in the solicitation is at a depth not foreseen in the preceding Request for Information. Given the Government's stance this is a (direct) re-compete of the current Logical Essence contract, has the scope of work increased from the current Logical Essence contract, and if so will the Government define (to us) that increase in the scope of work?

Response: The scope of the work increased is in developing IT architecture and building the database.

2. If the scope of work for the current solicitation has increased from the current Logical Essence contract, does the Government have in place increased funds?

Response: Yes

3. Given the depth in the scope of work and the time required to accurately and properly respond to the Government, will the Government extend the due date by two (2) weeks?

Response: The proposal due date has been extended.

4. In RFP Part C, Section 8.1, Paragraph 3, what are the TSA approved data tools and software to be used to process and Analyze the data.

Response: Offerors may contact the government via the TSA_EA_TechSP@tsa.dhs.gov e-mail address. Offerors will state that they are submitting a proposal in connection with this solicitation and can then inform the government what products they plan to propose. They will then be told if it has been previously approved or is currently in use.

5. In RFP Part C, Section 8.1, Bullet point 2, approximately how many records does TSA receive in a month?

Response: TSA receives approximately 6,000 corrective maintenance ticket and 14,000 preventative maintenance ticket records monthly.

6. In RFP Part C, Section 8.1, Bullet point 2, what is the format of the received data.

Response: The data received is in Microsoft access and excel format; and historical data is in Microsoft SQL server and Oracle.

7. In RFP Part C, Section 8.1, Bullet point 2, how do MSP/OEM data transferred to TSA, is there an application used to collect the data at the airports etc.

Response: It is a manual (delivery or email) collection process.

8. In RFP Part C.8.2, is there a current database in place fulfilling this requirement?

Response: No.

9. In RFP Part C.8.2, is a certain type of database software requested or required, i.e. Oracle, MySQL, etc.?

Response: Please see response to #4 above.

10. In RFP Part C.8.2, are there any other technologies that the government expects the contractor to be expert/knowledgeable in?

Response: Please see response to #4 above.

11. In RFP Part C.8.2, what is the sensitivity level of this system?

Response: Security Sensitive Information (SSI)

12. In RFP Part C.7.9.2, what is the minimum clearance level for personnel for this requirement?

Response: Public Trust (SSI vetting)

13. In RFP Part D.10 5200.237.004, are personnel located on government site full time?

Response: No, contractor personnel are located off-site and are required to travel to TSA System Integration Facility (TSIF) or TSA HQ for meetings.

14. In Attachment A – TSE Maintenance Database, some of the required T-Values e.g. T4 is missing in many of the Work Orders like 123019. This is necessary to calculate the M4. How can the M Value be calculated in case the required T value is missing.

Response: With the correct assumptions, requested answer can be calculated with missing T4.

15. What is the scope of work of the incumbent contract (HSTS04-13-C-CT3017)?

Response: The scope of the incumbent contract consists of the TSEMD Data Analysis requirements. See response to question #45 below.

16. In Section C.8.1 - Data Analysis Services of the TSEMD Solicitation Document mentions "The Contractor shall utilize Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) for receiving, calculating and processing TSA data. TSA approved software and tools should be used to process and analyze the data." Please provide the list of software that will be utilized for this contract for data analysis, Business Intelligence (BI) and ETL.

Response: Please see response to #4 above.

17. What databases are currently being used by the MSPs to maintain the work order information?

Response: Maximo and Siebel

18. Where are the operating hours for the airport and the list of all the assets maintained? Are these available in a central TSA database that is accessed by all the MSPs?

Response: The Airport Operational hours and the list of all TSE assets required to determine the response to Factor 2 – RMA Calculation Assessment are provided in Attachment A. Any additional information will be provided to the successful Offeror.

19. How many incumbent personnel are supporting the current contract?

Response: It is up to each offeror to determine the appropriate staffing level/labor mix.

20. Does each MSP have assigned certain assets and/or airports that they are responsible to maintain?

Response: Yes.

21. In Section C.8.1 - Data Analysis Services of the TSEMD Solicitation Document mentions "The maintenance data analysis service shall include: Validate the procedures and assumptions used by the MSP to calculate performance metrics calculations. Confirm whether the assumptions used by the MSP meet contract requirements and maintenance data can be accurately audited; submit evaluation results and recommendations to TSA." Are there Standard Operating Procedures currently available for validating the procedures and assumptions?

Response: Yes, the attached “TSE Metrics Terms and Definitions and RMA Metrics” provides the procedures and assumptions. Each MSP also have Service Level Agreement metrics but these metrics are all spin off from the “TSE Metrics Terms and Definitions and RMA Metrics” document.

22. How many monthly Work Orders on average are processed by each MSP? Can TSA provide the number of work orders for each MSP during the past 3 months?

Response: Please see response to #5 above.

23. DID OPAM-ILS-001_TDAP and DID OPAM-ILS-009_TSE_Databse_BI_Tool_Plan each require an Organization Chart. Do we need to provide two separate ORG Charts - one for Tab 1 (Data Analysis Services) and another one for Tab 2 (BI Tool Development)? Can we provide an integrated organization chart?

Response: Updated DIDs have been posted.

24. DID OPAM-ILS-001_TDAP and DID OPAM-ILS-009_TSE_Databse_BI_Tool_Plan each require a Schedule. Do we need to provide two separate schedules - one for Tab 1 (Data Analysis Services) and another one for Tab 2 (BI Tool Development)? Can we provide an integrated schedule?

Response: Updated DIDs have been posted.

25. DID OPAM-ILS-001_TDAP requires a transition plan. Transition plan is also required as part of Tab 4 (Management Approach). Do we need to provide two separate Transition Plans?

Response: A Transition Plan is required as defined in DID OPAM-ILS-010_PMP Section 10.2.3 Transition Plan and has been posted along with an updated with DID OPAM-ILS-001_TDAP.

26. DID OAPM-ILS-010 document is missing from the HSTS04-17-R-CT3014_CDRLs_and_DID zip file. Can TSA provide this document?

Response: CDRL A010 has been posted.

27. CDRL A008a & A008b are also missing from the HSTS04-17-R-CT3014_CDRLs_and_DID zip file. Can TSA provide these documents?

Response: Section C.8.1, Paragraph 1. has been corrected to state "The contractor shall analyze the data and provide results to the Government (CDRL A007a & A007b)"; CDRL A007a & A007b has been posted.

28. Since the place of performance is at the contractor site, what are the TSA - GFE that the vendor will use for receiving, calculating and processing MSP data?

Response: GFE laptops that have VPN access.

29. Is there any specific key technical and management personnel requirement?

Response: No key personnel are required on this contract.

30. In Question 1 - Attachment A - Our assumption is that all the metrics in Question 1 need to be calculated for all the TSEs as one number. Is this assumption correct?

Response: All assumptions should be submitted with answers.

31. In Question 1 - Attachment A - Do we need to provide metrics in Question 1 at any specific group level (for e.g. airport, airport category)?

Response: All assumptions should be submitted with answers.

32. In Question 2 - Attachment A - Do we only compute the Ao for March 2017?

Response: Yes.

33. In Question 3 - Attachment A - Do we only compute the Ao for March 2017?

Response: Yes.

34. In Attachment 2, are the Uptime Hours (period of time TSE is available to perform it's required mission) same as the Airport Operational Hours?

Response: This question is answered in the metrics document.

35. Section 4.7 of the TSE Metrics and Definitions document mentions "All high level metrics shall include only installed operational units in the calculations." Is it correct to assume that all the serial numbers provided per Airport in the Assets tab of Attachment A - TSE Maintenance Database file can be considered as installed and operational?

Response: Yes.

36. Can TSA please provide us a list of the raw data elements currently included in the monthly performance file of each MSP?

Response: The sample data is the raw data from one of our MSP. Other MSP’s raw data contains the same information as required by their contracts but in different formats.

37. There are Serial Numbers (for e.g. 030020) on the CM worksheet in the Attachment A - TSE Maintenance Database file that do not appear in the Assets worksheet. Please clarify.

Response: An updated Attachment A has been provided.

38. There are Serial Numbers on the CM worksheet in the Attachment A - TSE Maintenance Database file starting with 0s but we do not see these Serial Numbers (e.g., 040609) in the Assets worksheet. Please clarify.

Response: An updated Attachment A has been provided.

39. There is a work order (for e.g. 123060 with Airport A023 and Serial Number SN053) in the CM worksheet in the Attachment A - TSE Maintenance Database file. However, there is no Serial Number SN053 associated with Airport A023 in the Assets worksheet. Please clarify.

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

40. There are Work Orders in the T-VAL worksheet in the Attachment A - TSE Maintenance Database file with no corresponding work orders in the CM worksheet. Please clarify.

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

41. There are Work Orders (e.g. 123365) in the CM worksheet in the Attachment A - TSE Maintenance Database file with no corresponding T-Values in the T-VAL worksheet. Please clarify.

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

42. There are work orders (for e.g. 123003) in the TVAL worksheet that have blank T Values with only logoff time provided. Should these rows be ignored from the calculations?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

43. There are work orders (for e.g. 123022) in the CM worksheet that have blank in the Relevancy column. Please clarify.

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

44. There are work orders (for e.g. 123050, 123051) in the CM worksheet in the Attachment A - TSE Maintenance Database file where the Airport Category is listed as UKN. How do we determine the airport operating hours for UKN category?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

45. Does the scope of Work of the incumbent contract (HSTS04-13-C-CT3017) include both the tasks TSEMD Data Analysis as well as IT Architecture Development and Maintenance?

Response: The incumbent contract consists of a scope similar to the TSEMD Data Analysis requirements. IT Architecture Development and Maintenance is a new requirement.

46. How often do the operating hours for the airport and the list of all the assets change? Can the airport operating hours change in the middle of a reporting period?

Response: Airport Categories that define the operating hours rarely change and do not occur in the middle of a reporting period. The list of TSE assets changes all the time with TSE deployments, TSE relocation and TSE decommissioning.

47. In Section C.7.9.14 - Maintenance of the TSEMD Solicitation Document mentions "The contractor shall perform customer support twenty-four (24) hours, seven (7) days a week within the continental United States only." Does TSA expect customer support as part of this contract?

Response: Solutions that reside on TSA network would meet the Maintenance requirements identified in Section C.7.9.14 and the Offeror would not be required to provide this service.

48. Can TSA describe the current processes and tools to derive and report operational RMA metrics?

Response: The processes and tools are part of the PWS requirements and are specific to each Offeror’s proposed approach.

49. What IT architecture does the government currently use to generate reports and charts? Does the government have additional requirements/restraints/constraints related to the type of technologies it will consider for this tools and infrastructure associated with this procurement?

Response: The contractor will utilize TSA GFE laptops and will be able to use TSA approved technologies. See response to #4 above.

50. In the CM worksheet, the values under Priority column are 1 and 2. What is the meaning of 1 and 2? Can we assume that 1 is for Critical and 2 for Non-Critical?

Response: Yes.

51. In T-VAL worksheet, if there is no T-value between T3 and T9, do we consider that as NO downtime (e.g. Work Order 123001)?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

52. Referencing Section D.5 5200.204.004, paragraph (b), for cloud-based solutions, TSA has not required cloud-based solution's personnel not working directly on the project to sign NDAs. Please confirm that TSA continues to hold this interpretation for this solicitation.

Response: Confirmed.

53. Referencing Section D.5 5200.204.004, paragraph (e), please provide the data classifications that the new system will store and what security classification each one has.

Response: Security Sensitive Information (SSI).

54. Referencing Section D.5 5200.204.004, paragraph (e), the prime will notify TSA within one hour of learning of the breach. Is this acceptable to TSA?

Response: This is acceptable.

55. Referencing Section D.10 5200.237.004, paragraphs (G) and (H), for cloud-based solutions, TSA has not required the cloud-based solution provider to notify TSA when personnel not working directly on the project are terminated. Please confirm that TSA continues to hold this interpretation for this solicitation.

Response: See response to #52 above.

56. Referencing Section C.7.9.1, for cloud-based solutions, are you willing to accept FedRAMP compliance in lieu of requirements listed in this section?

Response: The Contractor shall comply with all DHS and TSA security controls to ensure that the Government's security requirements are met.

57. Referencing Section C.7.9.3, for cloud-based solutions, TSA has not required the cloud-based solution provider to conduct IT training for employees not working directly on the project. Please confirm that TSA continues to hold this interpretation for this solicitation.

Response: Confirmed.

58. Referencing Section C.7.9.5, for cloud-based solutions, TSA has accepted multi-tenant architecture solutions for other projects. Please confirm that TSA continues to hold this interpretation for this solicitation.

Response: Confirmed.

59. What are TSA's standard Extract, Transpose, and Load (ETL) tools? We want to minimize cost to TSA and explore use of existing tools in place today.

Response: See response to #4 above.

60. Referencing Section C.7.9.10, for cloud-based solutions, TSA has used the cloud-based solution provider's continuous monitoring and the results are shared with the TSA SOC. Please confirm that TSA continues to hold this interpretation for this solicitation.

Response: Confirmed.

61. Referencing Section C.7.9.11, for cloud-based solutions, TSA has used the cloud-based solution provider's forensic software and the results are shared with the TSA SOC. Please confirm that TSA continues to hold this interpretation for this solicitation.

Response: Confirmed.

62. Based on the Ao formula provided in Attachment 2, the work orders that would be included in calculating Ao are:

· Relevant-Critical

· Non-Relevant Critical

· Relevant Non-Critical Thus, Non-Relevant Non-Critical work orders will not be included in the Ao calculation. Is this intentional?

Response: The answer is provided in the metrics document.

63. In reference to the work order numbers provided without time stamps (Section E.1.7.1.2), the M-values cannot be generated and therefore the downtime and other metrics cannot be calculated. In this case, can we assume that these work orders can be ignored?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

64. For areas where there are missing data values (Section E.1.7.1.2), will it be permissible to make assumptions as long as the assumptions are documented and explained in Tab 3?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

65. Reference: RFP page 24, Section C.8.1, Paragraph 1. The solicitation references "The contractor shall analyze the data and provide results to the Government (CDRL A008a & A008b)". The referenced attachments were not included in the documents posted to FBO. Will the Government please provide these attachments?

Response: Please see response to #27 above.

66. Reference: RFP page 64, Section E.1.7.1.3, Tab 4 - Management Approach, Paragraph 1. The solicitation states "Offeror shall provide a Program Management Plan (CDRL A010) to include the Contract Transition Plan and specific implementation of these plans." Are these to be provided as attachments outside of the Volume I 20-page count?

Response: No, this needs to be included in the 20-page count.

67. Reference: RFP page 64, Section E.1.7.1.3, Tab 4 - Management Approach, Paragraph 1. The solicitation states "The approach shall address and describe the elements identified in CDRL A010/ DID OAPM-ILS-010." The referenced attachment was not included in the documents posted to FBO.

Response: Please see response to #26 above.

68. Reference: RFP page 63, Tab 1 - TSE Data Analysis Plan (CDRL A001, See Sections C.8), Paragraph 1. The solicitation states "Offeror shall provide a TSE Data Analysis Plan (CDRL A001) to include the specific implementation of this plan. The technical approach shall address and describe the elements identified in CDRL A001/ DID OAPM-ILS-001." The CDRL A001 document states in Block 4 that "The TSE Data Analysis Plan shall be prepared in accordance with the referenced DID." The referenced DID OAPM-ILS-001 document states that the TDAP plan "describes the organizational structure and the plans and procedures that will be employed to accomplish the contract TSE Maintenance Data Analysis Program" and references topics to be addressed that are related to program management such as Program Management, Management Organization, Resource Planning and Control, etc. Will the Government please clarify the content that the Government expects bidders to address for Tab 1. Is it the task requirements for C.8?

Response: An updated with DID OPAM-ILS-001_TDAP has been posted that should clarify what is required.

69. Reference: Attachment A, are the elements presented in this spreadsheet a representation of all the expected raw maintenance data elements? Additionally, will the Government provide a data element description document of the inbound data elements?

Response: Yes, the elements presented represent all expected raw maintenance data elements. Yes, the Government will provide a data element description.

70. Reference: RFP page 64, Tab 3 - RMA Calculation Assessment (Attachment A). Is the Government expecting bidders to provide a narrative explanation response or an excel spreadsheet showing formulas?

Response: It is up to the Offeror to determine how it explains their methods to calculate RMA metrics.

71. Reference: RFP page 24, Section C.8.1, Paragraph 1. Is there a standardize format for all of the raw maintenance data provided from the MSPs? For example, standard fields in an e-mail?

Response: There is no standardized format.

72. Reference: RFP page 24, Section C.8.1, Paragraph 1. The solicitation offers to give examples about how “unstructured” the maintenance data from different MSPs. The example provided is a report. Are there examples of Unstructured data?

Response: An example is provided in the RFP.

73. Reference: TSE_Maintenance_Database_RFI_Questions, Section RFI Q&A #24. When asked "What IT architecture does the Government currently use to generate reports and charts?" the Government responded that "TSA approved software which will be provided to potential offerors when the RFP is posted." Would the Government please provide an answer to this question at this time? The only software provided was Microsoft Office Tools set listed on RFP page 15. Additionally, are Excel and Access used as TSE Database and BI tool?

Response: Please see response to #4 above.

74. Reference: TSE_Maintenance_Database_RFI_Questions, Section RFI Q&A #25. If a vendor has determined to provide an ETL and BI solution, what ETL and BI products will the Government accept for the development of the ETL and BI solutions? Is there a specific planned architecture that vendors should expect to conform to?

Response: Please see response to #4 above.

75. Reference: TSE_Maintenance_Database_RFI_Questions, Section RFI Q&A #4. Are there plans for iShare to include the SSIS products?

Response: TSA’s network supports many Microsoft products. Please see response to #4 above.

76. Reference: Attachment A. Question 1 states: "Calculate fleet Mean Down Time, Mean Time Between Critical Failures, Mean Uptime, and Operational Availability (Ao) for March 2017 as described in “TSE Metrics Terms and Definitions and RMA Metrics” using airport operating hours. Apply airport operating hours to all the metrics. Please round it up to hundredth place". The sample provided has XRAYs with different serial numbers in different airports. To answer the above question, are you looking for a MDT value per airport or one MDT value for all the data provided (all of March) as answer in the proposal response? Each airport has different uptimes. How will that be calculated for a whole month?

Response: Sufficient information is provided within the RFP to address this.

77. Has there been a web application or solution developed in use in the environment now?

Response: No

78. Is there any conflict of interest clause for working on this opportunity should there be future work opportunities with other Departments within TSA? Specifically training systems for OTD, OSO – would this potential transition fall under the OCI clause?

Response: This information is not adequate for a firm determination of whether an OCI exists or not, as the specific requirements for this potential future work have not yet been established. A determination of whether an OCI exists would have to be made at the time the future requirement is released. Please review FAR subpart 9.5 and HSAR clause 3052.209-73 – Limitation on Future Contracting. The potential for OCI is not disqualifying. If an Offeror believes there is potential OCI, it should identify the potential OCI and submit a mitigation plan.

79. Section C.1: “The scope of this contract encompasses the analysis, validation, and storage of government furnished data to support the TSA, OAPM, and ILS branch.” Will TSA provide on premises or cloud environment for the storage of all government furnished data? Will TSA provide on premises or cloud environment for the storage of the contractor’s solution?

Response: TSA will provide the storage capability required to meet PWS requirements.

80. Section C.1: “This Section includes Program Management, Quality Assurance (QA), TSE Maintenance Data Analytical Services, TSE Maintenance Database and Business Intelligence Tool development and the associated Information Technology (IT) infrastructure to support all the required services.” Please confirm that TSA is responsible for all costs associated with the IT environment to house TSA data, TSE Maintenance Data, Business intelligence tools.

Response: Confirmed.

81. Section C.1: “This Section includes Program Management, Quality Assurance (QA), TSE Maintenance Data Analytical Services, TSE Maintenance Database and Business Intelligence Tool development and the associated Information Technology (IT) infrastructure to support all the required services.” Please confirm that maintenance of the environment and solution, including any required software and services, will be the responsibility of the contractor.

Response: The contractor is required to develop the solution utilizing approved TSA software (see answer to question #4). The solution would be located within the TSA environment, which the contractor is not responsible for maintaining.

82. Section C.1.2: “This contract also requires the contractor to build an IT architecture of TSE maintenance database.” Please confirm if the government intends for the contractor to provide recommendations of the hardware/cloud environment as part of the performance of this contract.

Response: See question #4 above.

83. Section C.1.2: “This contract also requires the contractor to build an IT architecture of TSE maintenance database.” Please confirm if the contractor will be required to procure the infrastructure for the solution subsequent to contract award and subject to final approval by Government, or if this will be procured separately by the Government.

Response: Infrastructure for the solution will be procured separately by the Government, if needed.

84. Section C.7.9.10: “The tools shall be hosted on the DHS’ Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) program.” Please confirm that services required to deploy CDM tools will be procured separately from this contract by a CMaaS vendor, and that the intent is to coordinate and assist in embedding CDM products in to the contractor’s solution.

Response: Solutions that reside on TSA network would meet the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation requirements and the Offeror would not be required to provide this service.

85. Section A.5: “The work and project planning activities of the contractor shall be primarily performed at the contractor site. The contractor work shall require close coordination with the OAPM staff, which will require frequent electronic and dial-in communications or office visits to TSA HQ and other facilities as directed.” Please confirm that the Contractor site must be in the Washington Capitol Region (NCR) and preferred in close proximity to TSA HQ in Arlington VA?

Response: The contractor must be able to meet the requirements as stated in RFP Section A.5.

86. Section C.7.1: “CDRL A010, Program Management Plan” Could TSA please include A010 in the attachments on FBO?

Response: Please see response to #26 above.

87. Section C.7.9.14: “The contractor shall perform customer support twenty-four (24) hours, seven (7) days a week within the continental United States only.” Please confirm if this is a hard requirement for this system.

Response: Solutions that reside on TSA network would meet the maintenance requirements identified in Section C.7.9.14 and the Offeror would not be required to provide this service.

88. Section C.8.1: “The Government will provide the contractor with raw maintenance data from all Maintenance Service Providers (MSP)s and Original Equipment Manufacturers that provide ILS support services on TSE. The data will be provided to the contractor via email, physical delivery or a method to be established later. The contractor shall analyze the data and provide results to the government (CDRL A008a & A008b).” What is the size of the raw maintenance data from MSPs and OEMs that the contractor should expect to receive on a monthly basis? In what data format will the data be provided?

Response: Please see response to #5 above; the raw maintenance is approximately 250GB and historical data will be provided in Microsoft SQL, Oracle, Excel, and Access.

89. Section C.8.2: “The contractor shall develop and build TSE maintenance database IT architecture on TSAs network in order to create a TSE maintenance database and apply business intelligence (BI) tool.” Does TSA plan to keep the maintenance database and BI tool in a TSA environment and on a TSA network for the life of the contract?

Response: Yes.

90. Section C.8.2: “The contractor shall develop and build TSE maintenance database IT architecture on TSAs network in order to create a TSE Maintenance Database and apply Business Intelligence (BI) Tool.” Has the government identified the specific database system in which the TSE Maintenance Database must reside?

Response: No.

91. Section C.8.2: “Import historical TSE maintenance data (2008 to present) onto the TSE Maintenance Database” What is the estimated size of the historical TSE maintenance data going back to 2008, on an annualized basis? In what data format will the data be provided?

Response: Please see response to questions #5 and #88 above.

92. In Attachment A: What does it mean when a work order has a timestamp record with no associated T-VAL? For example: Work Order # = ‘123000’ and row 8 on T-VAL tab has Jan 17, 2017 3:55 PM but no associated T-Value. What does this mean?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

93. In Attachment A: How should the work orders on the T-VAL tab that are not on the CM tab and therefore do not have any descriptive attributes like location, priority, relevancy be considered in the low and high level calculations? For example: Work Order # = ‘4938309’ is on the T-VAL tab but not on the CM tab. Should these work orders be excluded?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

94. In Attachment A: How should the work orders on the CM tab that are not on the T-VAL tab and therefore do not have any T-Values associated with them be considered in the low and high level calculations? For example: Work Order # = ‘123305’ is on the CM tab but not on the T-VAL tab. Should these work orders be excluded?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

95. In Attachment 2: How should M values be calculated for a TSE that is missing some T-Values? In the T-VAL tab of “Attachment A- TSE Maintenance Database,” there are several work orders that do not follow one of the documented paths. From Attachment 2 we are given the two possible scenarios below.

A) Parts replacement needed as shown in Figure 1: Repair Cycle Paths, utilizing T-Values 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

B) No parts replacement needed as described in Section 4.6.1 omitting T-Values 5,6,7 therefore utilizing T-Values 1,2,3,4,8,9.

However Work Order # = ‘123004’ only has T1, T2, T3, T7, T8, T9.

· How do you calculate M3 when T4 is missing?

· Do you omit calculating M4 because T4 is missing?

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

96. In Attachment 2: Can you clarify how to calculate “Uptime Hours” as needed for the MTBCF and MUT calculations? How does “Uptime Hours” differ from “Airport Operational Hours”? “Airport Operational Hours” are used in a similar manner for the Operational Availability calculation. If “Uptime Hours” are not the same as Airport Operational Hours, how do you aggregate “Uptime Hours” across multiple days for one TSE? How do you aggregate “Uptime Hours” for multiple TSE’s or an entire fleet?

Response: Attachment 2 – TSE Metrics Terms and Definitions & RMA Metrics explains this.

97. In Attachment A: For recursion paths, which M-values do you allocate the recursion time to? For instance, Work Order #= ‘12300’ recourses from T8 directly to T3 then T9. The time from T8 to T3 is over 3 days long.

· Which M-value should be assigned to this 3-day timeframe to?

· Where do you assign the time from T3 to T9 to?

Response: Attachment 2 – TSE Metrics Terms and Definitions & RMA Metrics explains this.

98. In Attachment A: For recursion paths, do you sum repeated M-values into a single M-value for calculation purposes? For instance, Work Order # =’123319’ has two M3s due to recursion. Do you sum them together for a total M3 value to be used in high-level calculations?

Response: Attachment 2 – TSE Metrics Terms and Definitions & RMA Metrics explains this.

99. For Volume I would a Cover Page and Table of Contents count against page count requirements? For Volume II would a Table of Content count against page count requirements?

Response: A Cover Page is a specific requirement in the submission under Volume II. This is limited to 1 page and must be in accordance with Section E.1.7.2.1. Regarding page limitations, Section E.1.6.2 states “Title pages, tables of contents, and section/tab dividers are excluded from the page counts.” This is applicable to the entire proposal submission. E.1.6.2 additionally states “The maximum of 25 pages for Volume I is inclusive of the executive summary, charts, graphs, tables, figures, acronym lists, etc.” These items are not required, but if they are included, they will count towards the page limit.

100. The contractor assumes analysis of between 10,000 and 11,000 devices across all airports. Is this an accurate assumption and does TSA anticipate the amount of devices to increase over the life of the contract?

Response: Yes, and the number the TSE may either increase or decrease over the life of the contract.

101. In Appendix A, to clarify the timeframe for questions 2 and 3, should we be calculating the various Ao metrics for March 2017?

Response: Yes.

102. Per Section C.3, is Microsoft Access currently being used as the database software?

Response: Microsoft Access is one of the software tools being utilized now.

103. Section C.3 does not list a BI tool. What is the current BI tool being used if any?

Response: See response to #4 above.

104. Could you please confirm that Section C.7.9.10 is within the scope of work?

Response: Solutions that reside on TSA network would meet the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation requirements and the Offeror would not be required to provide this service.

105. In Attachment A, “Asset” sheet, is this asset list exclusive and represent the entire fleet to be addressed?

Response: The “Asset” sheet is exclusively created and provided for the metrics questions in the RFP.

106. In Attachment A, “CM” sheet, please explain the difference between two types of Serial Number, i.e., 030020 and SN010.

Response: The Attachment A, “CM” sheet with raw data ticket data has been corrected.

107. Section C.8.2 states “The contractor shall develop and build TSE maintenance database IT architecture on TSAs network in order to create a TSE Maintenance Database and apply Business Intelligence (BI) Tool.” Can the contractor utilize TSA’s existing SharePoint (iShare) infrastructure to store and maintain data, and provide a Microsoft Office based desktop tool that connects to this data?

Response: Offerors may provide any solution that meets the requirements as stated in the RFP.

108. In Sections C.7.9.10 and C.7.9.11, if a SharePoint and Microsoft Office based application is acceptable, are all of the TSA network hardware and software requirements still applicable?

Response: TSA OIT requirements are always applicable. Solutions that reside on the TSA network will meet the IT security requirements indicated.

109. In Section C.7.9.12, if a SharePoint and Microsoft Office based application is acceptable, is a password required for a desktop application if it uses the user’s SharePoint credentials to access the data?

Response: Password is not required for desktop application as PIV credentials will be provided to allow access.

110. In Section C.7.7, if a SharePoint and Microsoft Office based application is acceptable, are all COOP requirements applicable in a SharePoint based solution (e.g., Ensure all TSA data is incrementally backed up on a daily basis.)?

Response: In developing and building a solution to put on TSA’s network, the Offeror is not required to provide a method to back-up the data.

111. In A.3 Contract Pricing – The two CLINs listed (TSEMD Data Analysis, IT Architecture Development and Maintenance) require a monthly number and multiplied by 12. Does the government need to see the details behind how the contractor arrived at each number?

Response: No, the Government only requires a monthly unit price for each CLIN as entered in Attachment D. Attachment D is the only submission requirement for Pricing, and the extended price per year and the grand total are calculated automatically within the spreadsheet. Do not otherwise alter Attachment D.

112. C.8.2. Development of TSE Maintenance Database and Business Intelligence Tool – Has any work been performed by the prior contractor on development of the BI tool?

Response: No.

113. Could the government share how many resources have been working on the contract HSTS04-13-C-CT3017 awarded to Logical Essence?

Response: See response to #19 above.

114. In Section E 1.7.1.3, Paragraph 1 references files CDRL A010/DID OAPM-ILS-010. These files were not found in the solicitation package.

Response: See response to #26 above.

115. In Section C.7.9.14, Paragraph 1 states that “The contractor shall perform customer support twenty-four (24) hours, seven (7) days a week within the continental United States only.” Can government please provide more information regarding this support and what is needed?

Response: Solutions that reside on TSA network would meet the Maintenance requirements identified in Section C.7.9.14 and the Offeror would not be required to provide this service.

116. In Section C.8.1, Paragraph 1 states “The Government will provide the contractor with raw maintenance data from all Maintenance Service Providers (MSP)s and Original Equipment Manufacturers that provide ILS support services on TSE.” Are the data submissions by the TSE contractors all provided in a standard format and what is the frequency of submission?

Response: Frequency is monthly and the format is not standardized.

117. Reference: Section C.5. Please clarify the extent a contractor needs to secure GFE at their location.?

Response: GFE is to be used in accordance with RFP Sections C.7.9.2, C.7.9.5, C.7.9.9, and C.7.9.10.

118. Reference: Section C.5. To what extent are there existing data analysis tools, existing data bases and BI tools and if so can they be made available as GFE to the vendor?

Response: There are no existing data analysis tools, data bases or BI tools to be made available.

119. Reference: Section C.7. Is the Program Manager considered a “Key Person” for this contract? Are there any other key person requested? Are resumes required to be included with the submission?

Response: No key personnel are required on this contract.

120. Reference: Section C.7. This is a first reference of a “Business Intelligence Tool” being required but we could not find any functional requirements for the tool. Please identify where the tool specifications are defined so the effort may be estimated.

Response: See Section C.8.2 for the requirements of the development of TSE Maintenance Database and Business Intelligence Tool.

121. Reference: Section C.8.1, Paragraph 3, bullet 4. Where are the referenced maintenance contract performance requirements stated and how can the TSEMD contractor access them?

Response: Once the contract is awarded, the contractor will have access to the maintenance contract performance documents.

122. Reference: Section C.8.1.1. “CDRL A007b, PSP and EBSP Report (quarterly ranking reports, Measure of Effective (MOE) data, Region 7 data, DIVE tool data, Area Based Metrics data, Monthly RMA metrics)” Please clarify what is required. The DID does not provide sufficient information to estimate the effort.

Response: Additional detail on the reports is hereby provided:

1. 12 months moving data of calculated downtime, number of failures, and age of TSE by serial number

1. List of all critical failures tickets with airport location, T1, and T9

1. List of all tickets from Region 7 airports

1. Calculated Ao by airport and TSE model

1. 12 months moving data of calculated Ao, MDT, MTBCF, age, number of failures by serial number

1. Calculated Ao, MDT, and MTBCF by technology fleet

123. Reference: Section E.1.7.1. Volume 1 requires:

All this must be included in 20 pages. Does the government want the framework for the CDRLs or an initial copy? If the latter, 20 pages may be unrealistic.

Response: The page limit for Volume I is increased to 25 pages.

124. In Sections C.7.1 and E.1.7.1.3, these paragraphs reference CDRL A010, Program Management Plan, but this CDRL was not included with the RFP. Can the Government provide the correct CDRL and corresponding DID?

Response: Please see response to #26 above.

125. In DID OAPM-ILS-001, the requirements identified (specifically Program Management; Management Organization; Resource Planning and Control; Continuity of Operations; Manpower, Personnel and Training; and Transition Plan) align closely with the elements of a Program Management Plan and the requirements in PWS – C.7. Paragraph E.1.7.1.3 specifically calls for a Contract Transition Plan as part of the Program Management Plan. Can the Government clarify the differences between the requirements for Program Management Plan and the TSE Data Analysis Plan?

Response: DID OAPM-ILS-001 TDAP and DID OAPM-ILS-010 PMP have been updated and posted; the transition plan is a requirement to be provided as part of PMP.

126. In CDRL A001, block 5 references “PWS – C.7.1”. Should this refer to “PWS – C.8.1”?

Response: Yes, this has been corrected and reposted.

127. In Section E.1.6.3, will the Government allow offerors to submit Volume I and the narrative portion of Volume II in PDF format in lieu of MS Word?

Response: PDF format is acceptable for all submissions except Attachment D – Price Evaluation Template. PDF submissions must be searchable.

128. Section C.8.1 states “The Contractor shall utilize Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) for receiving, calculating, and processing TSA data. TSA approved software and tools should be used to process and analyze the data.” Can the Government provide a list of approved analytical and statistical software packages (e.g., SAS, R, MATLAB, Analytica, etc.)?

Response: Please see response to #4 above.

129. Section C.8.1 states “The Contractor shall utilize Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) for receiving, calculating, and processing TSA data. TSA approved software and tools should be used to process and analyze the data.” If the vendor has preferred software and tools that are not TSA approved how long does the approval process take?

Response: No, vendor cannot use preferred software and tools. Required to use TSA approved IT products. Please see response to number #4 above.

130. The content listed under section 10.2 of DID OAPM-ILS-009 lists the following sections for the Development Plan: Introduction; TSE Maintenance Database Design, Development and Testing; BI Tool Development Plan; and Uniform Template for MSP/OEMs raw maintenance data delivery plan. Should this also include “Import historical TSE maintenance data (2008 to present) onto the TSE Maintenance Database”?

Response: Yes, an updated version of DID OAPM-ILS-009 has been posted an includes section 10.2.3 Import historical TSE maintenance data.

131. Regarding Section C.8.2, can you specify how much historical maintenance data currently exists?

Response: From 2008 to present. TSA receives around 6,000 corrective maintenance activities monthly. Please see response to number #5 above.

132. Will the Government extend the due date for this solicitation to allow offers adequate time to address the requirements in the missing CDRL A010?

Response: The proposal due date has been extended.

133. Referencing Section E.1.7.1.2, in instances where data is missing but pertinent, how should calculations be handled. E.g. Airport category “UNK” (no operating hours) or where Relevancy is Null.

Response: “UNK” airport category means non-airport location. Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

134. Referencing Section E.1.7.1.2, for work orders not listed on the “T-VAL” tab how is their downtime to be calculated.

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

135. Referencing Section E.1.7.1.2, for M values that do not follow procedure listed in Section 4.5 how is their calculation handled e.g. work order 123410 that skips from T3 to T9 especially if M values would otherwise be skipped in calculation.

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

136. Referencing Section E.1.7.1.2, what does Fleet mean as the “Assets” tab does not contain a full set of Serial numbers listed in the “CM” tab.

Response: Make an independent assumption and use that to calculate. Provide all assumptions with the answers.

137. Reference: Section C.5. All paragraphs refer to the contractor’s off-site work location requirements. Must this facility be cleared for secure holding and work on TSA sensitive and classified information? How big a facility is required? Must this facility be within some specified distance of the TSA facility?

Response: There is no specified size or distance from the TSA facility. Contractor facility must meet the requirements as stated in the RFP.

138. Reference: C.7.6.1, last bullet. Refers to a Creation of a Maintenance Ticketing Database but this is not specifically referenced in section 8 of the Technical Requirements. Is this a component of the current database or the same thing just referred to as a Ticketing Database here? What is the status summary of:

i. Maintenance Ticketing Database Creation.

ii. Financial position (obligated, expended, invoiced, remaining) by Option Year

Response: For (i), this has been edited in the PWS to indicate the summary of meeting requirements of Section C.8.2, Development of TSE Maintenance Database and Business Intelligence Tool. For (ii), the contractor would provide a summary of the funding obligated to date, how much has been expended, invoiced and how much funding remains on the contract.

139. Reference: C.7.7. Bullets 9 and 13 of this paragraph appear to require the contractor to provide a second (2d) off-site location. Must this facility be cleared for secure holding and work on TSA sensitive and classified information? How big a facility is required? Must this facility be within some specified distance of the TSA facility?

Response: The solution will be hosted on the TSA Network and the Offeror will be provided GFE to access the TSA Network. Any back-up plan should be in the form of where the Contractor can function and work.

140. Reference: C.8.1. What is the file format of the data coming from the MSP’s.

Response: Currently either Microsoft excel or access, but this could change in the future.

141. Reference: C.8.1. Fourth paragraph reads:

“The maintenance data analysis service shall include (but are not limited to):

· Validate the procedures and assumptions used by the MSP to calculate performance metrics calculations. Confirm whether the assumptions used by the MSP meet contract requirements and maintenance data can be accurately audited; submit evaluation results and recommendations to TSA.

· Utilizing the raw maintenance data provided by the MSP/OEMs accurately calculate the RMA metrics (i.e. some examples of the metrics are (but are not limited to) Mean Down Time, Operational Availability, Mean Time Between Critical Failures, Technician Response Time, etc.).”

Please clarify the difference between bullet 1 and 2.

Response: First bullet is validating the calculation assumptions. Second bullet is validating reported metrics by the MSPs.

142. Reference: C.8.2. Will you provide or direct us to where we can get a list of the approved software and tools.

Response: Please see response to #4 above.

143. Reference: C.8. Are there existing tools and if so will you still use them or are all Business Intelligence Tools to be developed?

Response: There are no existing tools; the TSA requires these BI tools to be proposed and developed based on the response to question #4.

144. Reference: C.8.2, “The contractor shall develop and build TSE maintenance database IT architecture on TSAs network in order to create a TSE Maintenance Database and apply Business Intelligence (BI) Tool. The data shall be protected in accordance with TSA MD 1400.3. The task should proceed in the following phases.” Please clarify that the database and associated tools will reside on government servers. Can the BI tools be third party tools?

Response: Please see the response to question #4 above.

145. Reference: C.8.2, “For Phase II. Import historical TSE maintenance data (2008 to present) onto the TSE Maintenance Database Import TSE maintenance data one (1) month after implementation of TSE Maintenance Database.” What is the current database in use (e.g. SQLServer, Access, Oracle etc.)? Will we be able to get a schema?

Response: The TSA does not have a current database. The current and historical raw data is in SQLServer, Access, Oracle and Excel formats; this data will need to be imported. No, the government will not be providing a schema.

146. Reference: C.7.9.13. Paragraph states the contractor will utilize PIV as the primary means to access TSA resources to include IT application and physical facility.