QuestionsandAnswersPostedtoFedbizopps122006.doc

Government Responses to Questions submitted on the AT21 draft RFP December 20, 2006 Q126. Reference CDD Line 92: “AT21 will provide the customer a web-enabled interface to track distribution/deployment requirements throughout the workflow process.” Also, In several places, the CDD refers to AT21 as providing a “Single Customer Point of Entry.” We assume USTRANSCOM desires AT21 to provide requirement entry capability in addition to requirement visibility, however, we cannot find this requirement clearly stated. Is this correct?

Government Response: AT21 will pull the distribution/deployment requirements from the source systems into a consolidated view. The program will also provide a requirements entry capability for selected requirements, which are generated manually today.

Q127. CDD Reference Line 1093, Table 4, and Lines 1100-1115. As AT21 is primarily a planning system, most of the data elements used to calculate a Perfect Order are not under the control of the AT21 system. Does USTRANSCOM plan to use the Perfect Order measurement as an AT21 KPP? If so, how will it be applied?

Government Response: The Government will measure those portions of Perfect Order Fulfillment that are under the contractor’s control.

Q128. Table 6 (page 49) of the CDD states “Application of automated business rules to resolve data integrity issues” including threshold and objective criteria stating percentages of “correction rates for identified data integrity issues” Does this imply that AT21 has the authority to change data (especially the critical data items: weight, cube, time and location)? Will AT21 have authority to enforce changes in the subordinate/authoritative feeder systems?

Government Response: AT21 may change data where USTRANSCOM has the ability and authority, with notification sent back to the source system. Where USTRANSCOM does not have the authority or the ability, the requirement will be to perform one of the following two options: 1) Send an automatic alert notification to the source system and the requirement generator identifying the problem data and requesting correction, or 2) provide an alert to a DDOC operator for manual intervention.

Q129. Paragraph 8.b in the CDD (page 74) refers to NIPRNet access to AT21. Is there a requirement for a NIPRNet based AT21 system for user access to unclassified data? If not, will there be NIPRNet based feeder system(s) sending data to the SIPRNet based AT21? Also, is there a need for AT21 to send data (via a system to system interface) from the SIPRNet to NIPRNet based system(s)?

Government Response: Q1: Yes, many of our commercial partners only have NIPRNet access. Q2: There are NIPRNet based feeder systems that will send data to the AT21 SIPRNet application via a guard, which will be provided to the contractor as GFE. Q3: AT21 will send data from the SIPRNet to the NIPRNet either through manual intervention or, more likely, via a GFE guard.

Q130. CDD 8.b states that the “ACTD configuration indicated that the data loading and bandwidth requirements added a negligible increase to the existing networks”. What does negligible mean in this case? Can the Government provide the specific bandwidth data that was completed during the ACTD.

Government Response: The limited scope and the likelihood of a different IT tools suite means that the ACTD is not an indicator of future AT21 bandwidth requirements.

Q131. In the CDD, Line 81 (page iv) states “optimal development and execution of force deployment and sustainment requirements”. Also, table A-1 of the CDD (page A-3) states under the Scope section that “Optimized schedules will include: passenger and cargo, force deployment, sustainment, redeployment, and retrograde information”. What is the complete list of movement requirements that are in scope for AT21 (i.e., patient requirements are not listed in this Scope section of Table A-1 but are referenced in Table A-3B under the C4A Crosswalk requirement)?

Government Response: The initial focus of AT21 is deployment/redeployment and sustainment/retrograde, as stated in Table A-1. Other movement requirements such as patient and operational support airlift may be incorporated in later increments.

Q132. Is USTRANSCOM planning on AT21 to produce optimized, executable schedules at the USTRANSCOM/DDOC level, which can then be passed to the TCCs for upload into their deployment/distribution planning and executions systems for movement execution and oversight, or is this intended to be managed within one Transportation Management System?

Government Response: As defined in the Capabilities Development Document, the strategic optimization and scheduling in Increment 2 will produce an executable schedule that will be passed to the TCCs for implementation. Increment 3 will either direct book the movement or transmit an execution order to the appropriate booking systems.

Q133. Who are the primary users of the components AT21 program? Are the primary customers the USTRANSCOM Staff, DDOC, TCCs, and the COCOMs? What are the anticipated number of users for the AT21 system? Can USTRANSCOM please identify a sample of the user access request and evaluations criteria that will be required prior to granting access to the AT21 system, once operational?

Government Response: The primary users of AT21 will be movement requirement generators in the Services, COCOMs and DLA; and the operators within USTRANSCOM, TCCs and the JDDOCs responsible for planning and executing those movement requirements. Secondary users will be individuals throughout DOD needing visibility of personnel and cargo movements.

Q134. What do you envision as the breadth of the system? Foreign Government usage?

Government Response: We do not anticipate the system to be used by foreign governments. See questions 8 above for further details.

Q135. Once established and operational, will the DTCI coordinator be considered a TCC, from the operational perspective?

Government Response: Yes.

Q136. How does USTRANSCOM anticipate that the single tracking number assigned to all transportation requirements will be made available to other stakeholder operational systems for tracking the movement of their materiel through their organic systems?

Government Response: Paragraph 6.3.3 of the CDD deals with assignment of a single tracking number and states: Assignment of a single tracking number capability from the inception of the confirmed distribution requirement to closeout of the requirement, including data warehousing for historical and execution analysis, with ability to capture execution exceptions for movement requirements that are not tracking to plan as an input to optimization for re-planning, re-optimization, modeling/simulation, forecasting and exercise support. The “single tracking number” is now called the transportation tracking number (TTN). Initial research into modifying JOPES and other systems is taking place. Initially, the TTN is to be assigned only to unit move requirements, with AT21 providing "account numbers" to JOPES for each ULN as the ULN is generated. These "account" numbers," attached to each ULN, are included in all data given to Service planning and execution systems through modified existing interfaces. As items are identified for shipment, the Service systems append a count for each item to the "account numbers," creating fully formed item level TTNs that are carried throughout the DTS and returned to JOPES. Each system tracking unit move cargo or passengers will be modified to accept, store, transmit, and report TTNs along with the associated item level requirements.

Q137. What are the anticipated data storage requirements for the AT21 program in relative size and what is the required duration of storage?

Government Response: Data storage requirements are dependent on the IT tools suite, the system design and the capabilities of the merged IDE/GTN. For proposal purposes, anticipate a requirement for 18 months of data storage. As a benchmark, the legacy GTN system currently stores approximately 200 gigabytes of information.

Q138. Increment 1 System Attributes references the requirement for re-optimization within the AT21 system during increment 1, but other parts of the CDD (i.e. Table 2 Capability Deployment Increments) identifies that optimization is not an anticipated capability until Increment 2, which is the case?

Government Response: Attribute 6.2.3 identifies the requirement for a single tracking number. The paragraph describes the purpose the single tracking number including, “…with ability to capture execution exceptions for movement requirements that are not tracking to plan as an input to optimization for re-planning, re-optimization, modeling/simulation, forecasting and exercise support.” Re-optimization will be performed manually throughout increment 1.

Q139. "The sources of the data (systems) and processes for updates need to be incorporated into standard procedures, concepts and doctrine for each of the Services, suppliers and transportation managers/operators. This two-way feedback linkage between the planning and execution systems is necessary for dynamic planning." How, and who, at USTRANSCOM will work with the contractor and each of the services to facilitate and secure the functionality described in the extracted section above? How will USTRANSCOM work with the Services and other DoD Agencies to prioritize the functional requirements for AT21 system / program are met in a timely manner to support the desired deployment schedule?

Government Response: Depending on the specific issue, the functional, technical, program management IPTs, as well as the Executive Steering Group will all have roles to play. USTRANSCOM will request Service and COCOM participation in the relevant IPT as circumstances dictate.

Q140. What COTs & GOTs Portal technology solutions are currently deployed and operating within the USTRANSCOM portfolio? Which program is each listed technology supporting?

Government Response: AT21 will leverage the GCSS-J portal but accessibility through other portals is likely.

Q141. Please define the process that USTRANSCOM expects the contractor selected to support the AT21 program would follow to validate all customer transportation requests for Pax and Cargo that are directly entered into the AT21 system (i.e. financial and authorization of individuals to request transportation)?

Government Response: Validation of requests will be part of the process reengineering activities in increment 1. Known operations will be to check the data for structural correctness/completeness and apply pertinent business rules.

Q142. Will the requirement for the AT21 program to "Provide current common operational views and shared knowledge, intuitive decision-support and modeling tools, and asset visibility in a globally networked environment" be limited to operating in a SIPRnet environment for Increment 1, as previously identified at the AT21 Industry Day?

Government Response: For Increment I, yes.

Q143. How will USTRANSCOM account for scheduled maintenance within their reliability measure?

Government Response: For the AT21 hardware and software, scheduled maintenance will count against reliability and availability metrics. For transportation assets, the contractor will only be measured against constraints that are available to the AT21 IT tools.

Q144. Please define the meaning of a "Thick Client"?

Government Response: “Thick Client” refers to the amount of AT21 specific software that is loaded on individual user’s computer.

Q145. Does USTRANSCOM anticipate that AT21 will have a "write-back" capability to JOPES, as part of the systems utilization in the creation and assessment of strategic movement plans?

Government Response: USTRANSCOM currently has an IT tool that has write-back capability to JOPES. If necessary, consideration for AT21 tools to have write-back capability to JOPES will be determined by a cost-benefit analysis.

Q146. Will USTRANSCOM provide the AT21 contractor with the basis for determining the "Service Commitment Costs" associated with the use of organic or commercially available conveyances to support multi-modal, global deployment and distribution?

Government Response: The Government will provide the necessary costing information during Increment 2.

Q147. Can USTRANSCOM please provide all potential bidders with a list of all systems that AT21 will interoperate with and identify the business processes that those interfaces will support?

Government Response: The key systems are identified in the Capabilities Description Document. The business processes those systems support will be part of the requirements definition phase of Increment 1.

Q148. What is USTRANSCOM's expectation for the integration of the TransViz program into the AT21 program and is the TransViz program going to be web-enabled for visualizing JOPES movements? Do you expect TransViz to be integrated into the AT21 portal and can the contractor assume that we can mine data and publish data into TransViz?

Government Response: 1) Initially, TransViz is intended to be the visualization tool for AT21. If the proposed AT21 tools suite includes a different visualization tool, the Government will perform a cost-benefit analysis to determine the preferred tool. 2) Assume that AT21 has a two-way interface with TransViz unless the offeror is proposing the use of a different visualization tool.

Q149. Potential future AT21 users across the DPO continuum, how will users be identified and roles be identified with access to AT21 capabilities; i.e. will you use LDAP, or certificates, or will users be managed in some unique way at the USTRANSCOM level?

Government Response: The goal is for AT21 to use the single sign on capabilities within GCSS-J, or other DOD portals, to perform the user validation and roles.

Q150. In our 1-1 session we talked about our software as a service offering. The one thing we ask you assistance on is understanding how you will evaluate a software as a service bid vs one that does not offer that option.

Government Response: Proposals will be evaluated based on the capabilities provided, not the method of delivery. Offerors are encouraged to submit questions and suggestions for specific evaluation criteria.

Q151. Would you want us to potentially submit two bids, one with SAAS and one without or have you all considered a weighting factor for these types of bids?

Government Response: Each offeror will be allowed to submit an alternate proposal as long as the technical approach is substantially different.

Q152. The CDD has a reference (page 156 requirement C7B) to a need for developing budgets/cost estimates, financial plans, and decision support tools. With the ongoing implementation of Oracle Financials at DEAMS we are interested in understanding the degree to which the need for tying the AT21 solution into the financial system for settlement and billing goes.

Government Response: Currently, AT21 is not expected to interface with DEAMS or any other financial system.

Q153. Currently, USTRANSCOM is working to catalogue the DPO Portfolio, define and revise its architecture and develop a Systems Reduction and Consolidation (SRAC) Implementation plan. Any approved SRAC may potentially have a multiplier effect on AT 21, as it will directly impact necessary interfaces, may influence data interoperability matters, and has potential to change the complexity, scope and range of the contractor effort for AT 21. What information regarding potential SRACs will be provided to bidders, and when does the customer expect that information to be provided?

Government Response: Little or no information in this area will be provided to the bidders. The proposals should be based on the current environment.

Q154. At the direction of SECDEF, DoD transitioned from the Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning process to the Adaptive Planning process in 2003-2004. Given that AP is much closer to execution than Deliberate Planning processes were, we expected a more detailed discussion of AT 21 requirements related to AP would be found in the PWS and CDD. How and when does USTRANSCOM see the implementation of the Adaptive Planning Process impacting AT 21, in terms of requirements, process, schedule and capabilities?

Government Response: Adaptive planning (AP) is still in its infancy and not a consideration for this proposal.

Q155. At the Industry Day, MG Johnson, CoS, USTRANSCOM, indicated that USTRANSCOM was looking for the following as Prime Contractor in AT 21 -- "In AT 21, USTRANSCOM will partner with a world class supply chain innovator to transform ......” We understand this, and reviewed the PWS again and found that the vast majority of the requirements talk to transportation planning, execution and optimization, which is a slightly different animal that supply chain innovation. Please clarify if your interests lie primary in supply chain management, transportation management or both.

Government Response: Transportation management is a subset of supply chain management. While AT21’s focus is primarily transportation management, the system must be built in an environment that considers the command and DOD’s broader distribution and supply chain responsibilities.

Q156. We noticed that several of the deliverables in the Section C document are marked with TBD. Will those be defined prior to bid or will the definitization of that information be handled as a Contract Change Proposal at a later date?

Government Response: The TBD dates in Section C are dependent upon the schedule for spiral deliveries. Specific deliverable dates for each spiral will be mutually agreed upon by the contractor and the Government.

Q157. Reference CDD Line 1116: Deployment and Distribution Forecast Accuracy – Please explain how “MAPE” and “Forecast error vs. Demonstrated ability to respond” will be used to measure AT21 efficiency & effectiveness? It is not referenced in the Increment I-III system attributes, thresholds, or objectives.

Government Response: The KPPs, defined in paragraph 6.1, are system-level requirements and apply to all three increments.

Q158. CDD Line 1179 – Table 5 6.2.4 – references % of transactions not needing manual intervention. Could the Government please clarify what constitutes a transaction (i.e., an order? system flat-file record? database update?)?

Government Response: A transaction is an order. The basis for this measurement is the Pareto Rule (e.g., planners should spend 80% of their time on 20% of the problems). The goal is to improve situational awareness of the distribution pipeline throughput and nodal constraints. The measure here is how well the solution can automatically handle the transactions (orders) leaving as much time as possible for the planners to perform analysis rather that correcting the data.

Q159. There is a separate funding line (CLIN) for system support that starts in year 9 and lasts for 1 year. However, we also know that we will be deploying components of the AT21 system as early as 12-18 months from project start. Assuming we have to support that system from then until year 9:

159a. Do we assume that the funding for sustainment will be part of the 3 Increments?

Government Response: Offerors should propose sustainment of all three increments.

159b. Do we need to start the 24x7 help desk with the first deployed production components or at IOC (end of Increment 1)?

Government Response: Full help desk support should begin at IOC.

159c. Have all those costs been included in the Government furnished Increment estimates/budgets?

Government Response: Yes.

Q160. Does USTRANSCOM benchmark itself against best commercial practices?

Government Response: USTRANSCOM currently has a company under contract to develop benchmarks for the command.

Q161. Need clarification on the definition of operational and strategic breakout.

Government Response: Strategic execution will apply intermodal optimization algorithms and cost information against the requirements to create a set of movement alternatives that will allow the customer to make a trade off between cost and speed of delivery. Operational execution will be the actual rating, routing and booking of the chosen alternative.

Q162. Are you looking for a mathematic solution – algorithms?

Government Response: We do envision something along that line. Multimodal, optimization …. takes math. Bring us your best solution to that problem.

Q163. Can you elaborate on the charters of the 3 IPTs?

Government Response: Winning contractor team will be fully integrated into all 3 teams. The Functional IPT will identify and prioritize all functional requirements. Assist in flowing down to an actionable level. Will be the conduit to other functional organizations that have an interest in what we are doing. The Program Management IPT– deals with management of overall acquisition. The Technical IPT – solve technical issues, ensure accomplishment of the technical requirements from tool set, etc… Complete details will be in charters, which are under development.

Q164. What are the Government requirements regarding cross – teaming? Could a company be a subcontractor to more than one prime bidding on the AT21 requirement?

Government Response: That is an industry decision. The Government will not dictate any teaming structures.

Q165. Slide 30 from industry day. Footnote at bottom – repeatable to …… Was this meant to be in Increment I or meant to be in Increment II or III?

Government Response: That would be in the later increments.

Q166. Does AT21 focus on deployment side vs. distribution side of the equation?

Government Response: AT21 will focus on movement of personnel and cargo, including; deployment, redeployment, sustainment, retrograde, humanitarian relief, etc. We will also provide limited distribution planning functions, such as: mode selection and capacity planning.

Q167. In addition to organization there are also financial systems that have impact on the proposed solution. Do the offerors have flexibility to propose changes to other financial systems?

Government Response: This will be part of process re-engineering. USTRANSCOM is moving in a direction that the command would be willing to consider it in Increment 3. The contractor will help identify areas where the command may need to change the way things are done today.

Q168. Some contractors would have worked on the CDD development. How will the Government be handling this?

Government Response: In accordance with the Section L Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) requirement, all proposals should be accompanied by a mitigation plan that addresses actual or perceived conflicts of interest with contractor effort related to the products/services. In addition, the Government will monitor the winning contractor’s performance for emerging areas of conflict of interest and take action considered necessary to avoid, neutralize or mitigate any conflicts.

Q169. Nothing was mentioned about technology enhancement during the length of this effort. Will the Government allow substitution of technological enhancements and at whose cost?

Government Response: The government has included a requirement that the selected contract team stay abreast of technology and business process changes. For likely candidates, the contractor would recommend an engineering change request, which would undergo a cost/benefit analysis to determine the value of implementation.

Q170. How will the Government assess maturity and capability?

Government Response: For IT tools, maturity will be assessed using the DOD technology readiness assessment. Capability will be assessed against the requirements in the CDD, which will be further defined into a contractor-delivered requirements traceability matrix and then, for the IT tools, to system functional specifications.

Q171. What is the make up of the AT21 executive board?

Government Response: The board members have not been defined but will likely include senior leaders from USTRANSCOM, DLA, JFCOM, and possibly the Regional COCOMS and Services.

Q172. Does the Government have a ROM for staffing? The number of people you would expect on this program?

Government Response: No. The bidders are expected to propose the appropriate staffing to support the AT21 requirements.

Q173. Will IV&V testing be joint or independent?

Government Response: While IV&V is independent, the Government has not determined whether to use IV&V or just acceptance testing. Either way, the contractor will be expected to support testing (answer questions, assist with hardware/software configuration, correct deficiencies, etc.)

Q174. How do you propose to address culture, technical organization as we move into change management?

Government Response: The government expects the contractor team to include change management experts that will work with the government to address these issues through the relevant IPTs.

Q175. At end of a particular increment usually a deliverable used as a Milestone B decision – go /no go decision to pick up with next increment. If pulling down into more parallel effort what is decision factor for deciding to go ahead for the other increments?

Government Response: The Government would conduct a Milestone B decision prior to exercising options related to a later increment.

Q176. It looks like the acquisition strategy time bounds Increment 1. If time bound, is it possible to provide prioritization of Increment 1?

Government Response: If the potential bidder believes that Increment I can be delivered in less time, given the funding constraints, they are encouraged to propose a shorter schedule. The benefits and risks would be evaluated using Best Value. If the bidder believes Increment I will take longer, recommend submitting your rationale in writing to the contracting officer.

Q177. Are there constraints on the Government side that would limit how far the Increments can be restructured?

Government Response: Funding is the primary constraint. The amount of time operations personnel are available to work with the development team is a secondary constraint.

Q178. AT21 hosted on SIPERnet – what about NIPERnet?

Government Response: Execution is generally done on the NIPRNet side. Most planning is done on the SIPRNet side.

Q179. Designs and milestones will be dependent on the guards being in place at critical times. How will this be coordinated?

Government Response: This will be coordinated through the IPTs and should be addressed in your risk mitigation plan.

Q180. For change management purposes what will the Government consider the baseline?

Focus Warfighter II.

Q181. Will the Government consider looking at past performance from any other aspect than dollar value, ie… magnitude of the program?

Government Response: Yes. The Government will take into account the size and complexity of similar work efforts as stated in Section L of the RFP and will be evaluated using the criteria listed in Section M.

Q182. How will the Government handle inconsistencies in the evaluation of past performance between DoD, commercial customers and other U.S. Government agencies?

Government Response: The evaluation criteria found in Section M of the RFP describes how the Government intends to rate past performance.

Q183. Is the purpose of demo to see current capability and what could be extended to solve situation or how well the company understands the complexity of the scenario?

Government Response: Both.

Q184. Who is responsible for paying for the product demos?

Government Response: The bidder.

Q185. Who will be the audience at the demo?

Government Response: A combination of functional and technical team members.

Q186. Is JOPES 21 ready for primetime and expected to be part of this program?

Government Response: JOPES 4.0, is deployed and will interface with AT21.

Q187. How does AT21 fit into the rest of the USTC Architecture?

Government Response: Most of Increment I is manually performed today. Most of the existing capabilities within Increments II & III are Service/mode specific. AT21 will be integrated with COP D2 and GCSS-J. AT21 will interface with many DTS source systems, using the merged IDE/GTN whenever possible.

Q188. There are several interfacing and feeder systems (external dependencies) that will be required for AT21. Will these systems be sharing the cost of interfaces?

Government Response: AT21 will be responsible for data pushes and pulls but will not pay for changes to interfacing systems.

Q189. The CDD calls for capability that will have an impact on legacy execution systems, and business process within the DPO, some of these processes and systems will have to be transformed, retired, and/or updated. Does USTRANSCOM recognize this as a risk to the AT21 program? How does USTRANSCOM see mitigating this risk?

Government Response: The entire process reengineering effort is a program risk. This solicitation includes a requirement for change management expertise to assist in developing the strategy to mitigate this risk.

Q190. In the CDD, a facilitator is referenced several times in text and architectural diagrams. Please define the facilitator (Is it the fusion cell?)

Government Response: The word “facilitator” was not found in the CDD. Other forms of the word “facilitate” were found and, in general, are used to mean “enable” or “make possible”.

Q191. How do you envision the interaction between DLA and AT21 will actually work? How much of the entirety of material requirements is envisioned to go through AT21? Will all requisitions, including domestic shipments such as parcel size requisitions, be routed through AT21, or will only a subset of requisitions, such as overseas destined traffic, be moved through AT21?

Government Response: Initially, AT21 will incorporate DLA movement information for visibility purposes to deconflict movement bottlenecks. In the long run, the goal is to use AT21 to funnel all movement requirements, with minor exceptions, in order to assist DLA sourcing decisions and movement scheduling.

Q192. Is there a complete list of systems that AT21 must integrate with?

Government Response: The known systems are included in the CDD.

Q193. Could a contractor propose both a contractor hosted solution AND a Government hosted solution?

Government Response: Yes. The RFP is being modified to allow for the submission of alternate proposals.