IT Services IDIQ RFI - 2024-09-09.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION – MANAGED ENTERPRISE NETWORK SUPPORT

SERVICES (MANNUS)

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) OR REQUEST FOR QUOTATION

(RFQ)

This is a Request for Information (RFI) and does not constitute a solicitation by the government.

The information gathered from this request is for planning purposes only. If a solicitation is issued, it will be issued at a later date. The Government is not obligated, nor shall it pay, for any information received from potential sources as a result of this RFI. No official solicitation exists in connection to this notification.

This RFI is to determine the availability and capability of sources to potentially provide the services contained in RFI Attachment 1 – Draft Performance Work Statement.

SUMMARY OF WORK

DARPA is seeking sources for a contractor to provide the services contained in RFI Attachment

1 – Draft Performance Work Statement. The Government anticipates the use of an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract type for these services. The objective of this requirement is to provide DARPA IT Enterprise, DARPA Technical Office, and DARPA

Support Offices with all IT services and product lifecycle support, to include commodity and episodic mission IT. The primary objective of RFI Attachment 1 – Draft Performance Work

Statement, is to provide an enhanced organizational capability that allows ITD to support

DARPA’s operational and research requirements. This enhanced capability must have the flexibility to programmatically and contractually incorporate episodic IT requirements.

SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

The Government acknowledges that responses to this RFI are not binding offers. The information obtained will assist in our market research and future solicitation processes. Please note DFARS Provision 252.237-7017, Notice of Supply Chain Risk, and DFARS Clause

252.225-7021, Trade Agreements, may apply to the requirements contained in this RFI.

Submitted Capability Statements shall concisely address the following items to demonstrate the contractor’s capability to provide the services contained in RFI Attachment 1 – Draft

Performance Work Statement.

The Capability Statement shall be concise and focus on 1) demonstrating capability to provide the services contained in RFI Attachment 1 – Draft PWS and; 2) fully respond to the RFI Items listed below and. Cost or price information is not requested and will not be reviewed.

RFI ITEMS

1) COMPANY PROFILE: Company name; company address; business size; CAGE code;

UNIQUE Entity ID; NAICS codes; point‐of‐contact name, telephone number, and email address.

2) QUESTIONS:

a) What is your recommended approach to standardizing DARPA networks to maximize efficiencies and economies of scale? Please include how your recommended approach impacts day-to-day operations and administrative requirements as well as future iterative adjustments to align with change.

b) Describe your past experience in providing IT services to the Department of Defense

(DoD) agencies. Please include a description of any significant challenges you had to overcome as well as examples of successful audits and assessments conducted by regulatory bodies.

c) PWS Section 2.2: Summarize your experience and approach with providing Program

Planning and Management Office (PPMO) support that includes effectively managing collaboration and communication, as well as the potential conflicts or challenges associated with coordinating multiple teams and stakeholders (i.e. other contractors, Government Agencies, and teams) to achieve project objectives. Please include the size of the project.

d) Resilience, high-availability, response, and customer service are very important to

DARPA. How do you approach meeting those objectives from an engineering, operations, and support perspective?

e) PWS Sections 2.1.1 – 2.1.5: Summarize your experience in providing Engineering

Services for multiple networks at multiple classification levels. Please include your approach to ensure your staff is trained and certified with current Engineering industry certifications as well as if you recommended a unified or siloed approach to providing these services.

f) PWS Section 2.1.6: Summarize your experience with providing Network Operations and

Security Center (NOSC) services at multiple classification levels and supporting multiple networks. Please include your approach to ensure your staff is trained and certified with current NOSC(s) industry certifications as well as if you recommended a unified or siloed approach to providing these services.

g) With technology and methodologies changing and evolving at a rapid pace, please describe how your organization hires, retains, and trains your personnel to keep up with the rapid pace of IT evolution. Please include how your organization stays up to date with emerging technologies and how your organization integrates innovative solutions into your IT services. Also include examples of how your organization has successfully implemented cutting-edge technology solutions in classified environments.

h) Describe innovative approaches your organization has implanted for contract quality management to ensure that the contract is being performed at requisite levels of productivity, quality, and reliability. Please include the project management methodology used (e.g., Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid), key performance indicators/acceptable quality levels, and the size of the contract being managed.

i) Describe your experience or provide specific examples where you have demonstrated organizational change management (OCM) and handling project scope changes in a complex, multi-classification environment. Please include your recommended approach to scalability and flexibility in the network infrastructure to adapt to evolving

Government requirements.

j) Describe your approach to expediting the cloud migration process.

k) Describe your organization’s experience with configuration management baselines and the risk management framework. Please include your experience with establishing and maintaining a Change Management Database (CMDB).

l) List any recommended suite of tools, capabilities, and service level agreements (SLAs) to address the services in the RFI Attachment 1 – Draft PWS. Please include your recommended approach to implementing those recommended tools and capabilities.

m) What is your approach to incident detection, response, and recovery for potential cyber threats? Please provide examples of previous projects where you have successfully implemented end-to-end cybersecurity programs, including DevSecOps practices, for networks with varying classification levels, from unclassified to SCI and SAP. Also include a summary of your incident response plan for cybersecurity events for both unclassified and classified networks.

n) Describe how your organization ensures the security and integrity of IT systems and data across different classification levels.

o) Describe your organization’s experience engagements use of the Scaled Agile

Framework (SAFe) with similar complexity and similar domain to those found within

RFI Attachment 1 – Draft PWS. Please include the type of Lean-Agile Framework you believe would work best to plan and execute the work contained in RFI Attachment 1 –

PWS. This should include both technical implementation and management processes to support the Lean-Agile delivery practice as well as any recommended streamlining of documentation artifacts and testing cycle time for agile product delivery.

p) Describe any challenges your team has faced in implementing Lean-Agile products with

Government customers and the steps you took to overcome them. Please include your approach to managing backlog of work and any challenges experiences and resolutions to those challenges.

q) Describe your approach to management of a Lean-Agile product with external dependencies.

r) Providing continuous monitoring and management of cloud operations in a multi-cloud or hybrid environment is crucial for maintaining compliance and performance. Describe would you approach continuous monitoring and management of cloud operations to include compliance with DoD standards from an engineering and operations perspective, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

s) Integrating program-specific cloud infrastructures with DARPA enterprise cloud services while ensuring compliance with DoD regulations is essential. Describe your approach to this integration task, ensuring alignment with DARPA’s objectives from an engineering, operations, and support perspective, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

t) Designing and implementing scalable, secure cloud architectures that comply with DoD requirements is fundamental to our operations. Describe your approach to this designing and implementation task, to include previous work examples, ensuring compliance and scalability from an engineering and operations perspective, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

u) Adapting cloud services to meet emerging threats and changing mission requirements is critical. Describe your approach ensuring adaptability in cloud services, from an engineering, operations, and support perspective, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

v) Continuous training on the latest cloud technologies and DoD-specific requirements, including cybersecurity and CSSP integration, is essential. Describe your approach to ensure your team remains up to date, from a training and development perspective, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

w) Managing multi-cloud environments while ensuring seamless integration and compliance with DoD policies across various CSPs is vital. Describe your approach to this task, from an engineering, operations, and support perspective, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

x) Implementing and managing cloud operations across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS environments while ensuring compliance with DoD and DFARS requirements is critical to our operations. Describe your approach to these tasks, from an engineering and operations perspective, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

y) Embedding security within the development and operational processes of cloud services is crucial. Describe your approach to ensuring security at every stage, from design to operation, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

z) Seamless integration between on-premises and cloud environments is essential in our operations. Describe your approach to this integration, ensuring compliance and operational efficiency from an engineering, operations, and support perspective, to include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

aa) Successfully executing cloud migration projects within a DoD or similar federal agency requires overcoming significant challenges. How would you approach these migrations, addressing potential challenges from an engineering, operations, and support perspective, include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

bb) Ensuring effective management and optimization of cloud resources while maintaining performance and security across multiple CSPs is essential to our operations. How would you approach these tasks, ensuring alignment with our objectives from an operations and support perspective, include your approach to staffing and resource allocation.

cc) What is your recommended CLIN structure? What CLIN structures have you seen work best for this type of requirement?

dd) What is your recommended NAICS for this requirement?

ee) What is your recommended number of option years/periods for this requirement (if any)?

ff) What experience do you have with, and interactions to, Defense Accountable Property

System (DPAS) and Item Unique Identification (IUID) assignment and assimilation with acquisitions?

3) RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: If responses to the questions in Section 2 does not fully demonstrate your ability to meet the requirements contained in this RFI, please provide any projects completed within the last ten years that are similar in size, scope, and complexity to the current requirement. Submit the location of the work, a brief summary of the work, and statement of the firm’s involvement in the work (prime contractor, subcontractor, and approximate percentage of self-performance) for each project.

4) SUBCONTRACTORS: If applicable, provide established subcontractor arrangements or partnerships with other companies that your firm could potentially use in the execution of this requirement. Provide a brief description of each subcontractor and the nature and extent of your firm’s past, current, and planned future work together.

5) ATTACHMENT 1: Submit any comments or questions that your firm may have regarding

Attachment 1. The Government will consider them as it finalizes Attachment 1 for this requirement.

Please send your Capabilities Statement no later than 4 October 2024 4:00pm EDT to

DARPA_ITD_IDIQ@darpa.mil with the following subject: “RFI – MANNUS”