IESE200632BT RFI Instructions.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION AND

CAPABILITY STATEMENTS

for

Cloud Hosting, System Administration, and Website Support and Development for the Institute of Education Sciences

Request for Information

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit feedback on the on draft Statement of Work (SOW) and query industry for information regarding different approaches and methodologies for meeting the procurement objectives. Industry feedback on the draft SOW is vital to determining the feasibility of this requirement. Specifically, the Department is seeking feedback on the following topic areas:

• Unclear sections of the SOW.

• Additional information that an offeror would require from the Department before it could submit a proposal (e.g., necessary updates to the SOW or technical exhibits).

• Concerns over the timeline(s) or performance period described by the Department in the

SOW.

• Disagreement over the planned NAICS codes for this procurement.

• Identification of innovative and cost-effective approaches to deliver the types of service areas and requirements listed.

• Identification of innovative technological solutions and/or tools to deliver the types of service areas and requirements listed.

• Identification of any barriers to subcontracting.

• Best-in-Class (BIC) Contract Vehicles- The Department is actively working to determine whether this requirement can be procured using contracts designated as Best in Class. BIC-designated contracts represent a preferred government-wide solution and provide a unique opportunity to leverage the government's buying power. As a part of this RFI, the Department is seeking feedback on whether sufficient capability exists amongst BIC contract holders to satisfy the requirements of this award.

Note: The contents of the SOW are subject to change. This draft version is provided only to engage industry as early as possible.

Request for Capability Statements

The Department invites any offeror that believes that it is capable of fulfilling the requirements of this procurement to submit a capability statement. The Department has created a quick YouTube video at the following link, to provide interested offerors with additional information about this requirement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IoBoUskD38. As part of the capability statement, offerors may demonstrate its technical capabilities vis-à-vis the SOW, its relevant corporate experience, the expertise of key staff.

Format Requirements: The response to the Request for Information and Capability Statements shall be a single document that is either MSWord or PDF format. In addition to the one-page cover page (more details below), an additional five (5) pages of content are permitted. These five (5) pages shall have font no smaller than 12-point (single spacing permitted) (though the font-size restriction does not apply to charts or tables) and one-inch margins.

The one-page cover page shall include:

• “Capability Statement for Cloud Hosting, System Administration, and Website Support and Development for IES”

• Company Name

• The website address of the company (if applicable)

• The point of contact (name, phone number, email address) of a company representative who can answer any questions that the Department may have.

• The vendor’s DUNS number.

• A statement certifying that the vendor has active System for Award Management (SAM) registration, or a statement describing the current status and when the vendor expects to achieve active SAM status.

• Corporate structure (corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, professional corporation, etc.).

• A statement as to whether the submitter qualifies, under the NAICS code provided on page 1 of this document, as any of the following: (i) Small Business, (ii) Small Woman-Owned Business, (iii) Small HUB-Zone Business, (iv) Small Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business, (v) Small Disadvantaged Business.

Submission Requirements: The responses/questions shall be emailed to Endrias.Leuleseged@ed.gov, with a cc: to Dayna.Myers@ed.gov. The subject line of the email shall be “Response to RFI for Cloud Hosting, System Administration, and Website Support and Development for IES”.

Deadline: Responses are due by Nov 2, 2020, 4:00pm EST, though the Department reserves the right to accept late submissions at its discretion.

Note:

Parties that submit responses to RFI are not guaranteed any response from the Department. If questions are received from industry, the Department will post a list of responses, however offeror’s will not receive direct responses. The Department does not plan to notify submitters whether their capability statement was rated as “Capable” or “Not Capable,” nor does the Department plan to provide submitters with any analysis of the capability statement.

However, the Department will review all capability statements submitted that meet the requirement set forth below.

Parties are permitted to submit clarification questions as part of a response to the Request for Information, however the Department guarantees no response to any questions submitted.

A party’s failure to respond to this request will have no impact on its ability to submit a proposal in the event of the release of a solicitation. In the event that the Department releases a solicitation for this procurement, whether or not a party submitted a response to the Request for Information will have no impact on the Department’s evaluation of the proposal submitted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IoBoUskD38

A party submitting a response to both the Request for Information and the Request for Capability Statements shall send these submissions as two separate emails, in accordance with the instructions above