N00039-18-R-0009 - RFP QA Set 3 - 5 Apr 18 - Final.pdf

CANES Training Virtual Environment - N00039-18-R-0009

# QUESTION GOVERNMENT RESPONSE WILL RESULT IN A

RFP CHANGE?

155 Draft SOW Task Order 1, Section 5.3.2 - Page 8. Question: SOW states “The VE solution shall be required for existing SW baselines 1.0, 1.2, 2.0, 2.0.1 and 3.0, and shall be able to train all of these baselines simultaneously, geared towards each student and their ship’s specific baseline.” Is the intent for there to be students for multiple SW baselines in each Instructor Led Training (ILT) or will the training be computer based where an individual accesses the training for their specific baseline any time throughout the five week course on their own?

The intent is for each class to accommodate students who require training in various SW baselines. Any of the SW baselines should be available/ accessible to students in each class.

No.

156 Section L.3.1.2, Factor 2 – Corporate Experience, states “Offerors shall describe their relevant corporate experience on a maximum of five (5) previous contracts, relevant to the T.O. 0001 CANES Training Virtual Environment scope of work, with specific emphasis on hosting in a virtual environment, and training instructors…. Question: Will the Government confirm that the term “Offerors” in Section L.3.1.1 includes the “prime Offeror and any subcontractors”?

The Government confirms that the term "Offerors" in Section L-3.1.1 includes the Prime and any subcontractors. The Government has made an update to Section L-3.1.2 Factor 2 - Corporate Experience to state that at least two examples of corporate experience shall be from the prime contractor.

Yes, see Amendment 0004 for revision to Section L.

157 Attachment 1, Page 4, Scope. Question: What database operating system is current CANES student completion data stored in? Oracle, SQL, etc.

Current CANES course completion data is stored in the Fleet Management and Planning System (FLTMPS) and the Corporate Enterprise Training Activity Resource System (CeTARS)

No.

158 Attachment 1, Page 4, Scope. Question: What online learning standards are CANES online administrator course components compliant with e.g. AICC, SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 4th edition, TinCan, etc.

The Interactive CourseWare (ICW) Components of the CANES Administrator course are compliant with Navy Integrated Learning Environment (ILE) course content & development requirements

No.

159 Attachment 1, Page 4, Scope. Question: Has the Navy standardized on the use of a particular Learning Content Management System (LCMS) platform?

No, the Navy has not standardized on the use of a particular Learning Content Management System (LCMS) platform.

No.

160 Base SOW Attachment 1 Page 8 / 5.3.1 Training Requirements Planning - “Existing FEA and JDTA information will be provided as Government Furnished Information (GFI) to the contractor.” Question: In ATTACHMENT (2), page 14, Section H - Special Contract Requirements, the list of GFI does not appear to contain Training Front-End Analysis (FEA), Job, Duty, Task Analysis (JDTA). Please clarify.

The existing Training Front-End Analysis (FEA) and Job, Duty, Task Analysis (JDTA) will be provided as necessary concurrent with Task Order 0001 award.

No.

161 Base SOW Attachment 1 Page 9 / 5.3.3 Curriculum Delivery and Maintenance - “The contractor shall receive the existing CANES training curriculum, background analysis and documentation as GFI.” Question: In ATTACHMENT (2), page 14, Section H - Special Contract Requirements, the list of GFI does not appear to contain ‘background analysis’. Is the ‘background analysis’ identified in another section, or is another document name used, or was it inadvertently left off the list?

If required, "background analysis" will be provided as necessary concurrent with Task Order 0001 award.

No.

162 Attachment 1 SOW Page 12, 5.4.1 - “Pursuant to SPAWARINST 4440.12, the contractor shall procure items listed under the Contractor Acquired Property (CAP) paragraph.” Question: Please provide the Contractor Acquired Property (CAP) paragraph as the referenced paragraph is not in the SOW.

A revision to Attachment (1) - CANES Training VE Base SOW was made to edit Section 5.4.1.

Yes, see Amendment 0004 for revision to Attachment (1) - CANES Training VE Base SOW.

163 Attachment 2a T001, Section 5.3.1 - The contractor will conduct a training requirements analysis and deliver a FEA and Business case analysis for the migration of training. Question: Will a unique FEA and BCA be required for each course and course path?

Upon review of CDRLs A007 and A008 as described in Attachment (2b), the Government will make the determination if a unique FEA and BCA will be required for each course and course path.

No.

164 For inclusion in the IMS, what government testing events will occur after the delivery of the system? How much time should be allocated to government testing?

Government testing will consist of verification / validation of curriculum materials, especially the job sheets while utilizing the CANES Training VE to ensure virtual environment is capable of conducting the job sheets as described and all steps are included.

No.

165 TO 0001 SOW section 5.3.4 states, “In addition to representing the CANES system, the training environment shall simulate surrounding users and behaviors to model / represent a fully connected and active ship to include: modeling/representing connected systems including NAVSSI, ADNS, SATCOM links, and the NOC, modeling/ representing at least one other CANES ship to emulate remote endpoints (e.g. for email transfers), modeling/ representing multiple users that are active on the system, and multiple user accounts, and simulating system failures and cybersecurity events.” That requirement is very open ended and the degree to which the Contractor will represent an active ship is unclear. Could the Government please provide additional specifications to provide a basis of estimate for Offerors?

The Government has no additional specifications to provide. The offeror shall provide a solution that is capable of training the current CANES training requirements as shown in the existing curriculum.

No.

166 Attachment 2a – TO 0001: Sections 5.1 and 5.2 are designated as OPN funds in the section headings. However, Section

5.3 does not have a designation as to being OPN or OMN or a combination. Could the Govt. please provide the designation for heading 5.3 as OPN or OMN or a combination?

Attachment 2a – TO 0001 - CANES Training VE SOW - Section 5.3 has been revised to state OPN.

Yes, see Amendment 0004 for revision to Attachment (2a)

167 Attachment 2a – TO 0001: Section 5.3 lacks a designation as to being OPN or OMN. However, Attachment (1), the Base SOW for the IDIQ designates 5.3 as being OPN & OMN. If in TO 0001 section 5.3 is supposed to be OPN & OMN, how on Attachment 4, SECTION L Contractor Cost Summary Spreadsheet does the Offeror list the OMN portion of estimated costs since the spreadsheet lists OPN only as an APPN in tabs 4-2 and 4-3?

Attachment 2a – TO 0001: Section 5.3 has been revised to state that the paragraph is OPN. Attachment (4) - Section L Cost Summary tabs 4-2 and 4-3 has been revised to remove APPN columns.

Yes, see Amendment 0004 for revision to Attachment (2a) and Attachment (4)

168 Is the Government responsible for licensing all required software and the cost of licensing, outside of the cost proposal provided by Offerors?

Software licenses for use under Task Order 0001 will be provided to the Contractor as Government Furnished Information (GFI). Any proposed licenses that are associated with an offeror's technical approach should be priced in an offeror's proposal

No.

169 Is all the software in all BOMs that Offerors must install unclassified? Yes, all the software is unclassified. No.

170 Can all software that the Offeror must install be run at the FedRAMP Moderate level? No. NIPR Software (SW) shall be run at Level 4 "CUI or Non-CUI Non- Critical Mission Information, Non-National Security Systems."

No.

171 Will the CANES software be provided to the Contractor as a set of packages or Gold Disk with all required components in the BOM (versus the Contractor obtaining and loading each individual software product listed in the BOM)?

The Government will provide (on either VM or via Toolkit). No.

172 Where do any software license costs for years 2-5 need to be provided? Are they included in the pricing proposal? If so, which CLIN should they go under?

Software license costs for future orders will be included under CLIN

No.

173 Is the Radiant Mercury software required as listed on the SW1 BOM available as unclassified software? Yes, Radiant Mercury Software is unclassified. All software provided will be unclassified.

No.

174 Can the Government give examples of how items in 5.3.4 on simulating surrounding users and ships are used in existing CANES training?

Please reference the material provided for existing CANES training examples. The Government will not provide additional examples

No.

175 In Subfactor 1.5, how many trainers does the Government consider sufficient to satisfy the subfactor? The offeror will need to determine adequate manning to meet the requirement specified in Subfactor 1.5.

No.

176 Reference: VE Base SOW 5.3.2 reads in part, “As directed by individual task orders the contractor shall deliver a full VE solution as described below in SOW Section 5.3.4, to include the hosting environment and interfaces that will replace the existing Technical Training Equipment currently used in San Diego, CA and Norfolk, VA.” More detail regarding these interfaces is required to fully describe the approach to virtualize the CANES physical environment and external interfaces.

Current versions of DoDAF 2.0 products SvcV-3b and SV-1 could provide the needed information. Question: Would the Government consider providing current DoDAF 2.0 products SvcV-3b and SV-1?

No, the Government will not provide DoDAF 2.0 products. No.

177 Request the Government clarify whether it wants the offeror to “deliver” a Learning Management System (LMS); or to deliver the capability to interface with the Government’s LMS (e.g. TWMS, FLTMP).

The training product should be integrated with a Learning Management System (LMS) - meaning that bookmarking and student progress can be tracked throughout the conduct of the course.

TWMS and FLTMPS are not LMS - they are databases that store data.

No.

178 If the Government requires an LMS be delivered as part of the CANES VTE solution, what are the security, functional and performance requirements for the LMS?

An LMS is required, as specified in the SOW. Section 5.3.2 of the SOW specifies LMS requirements. The TVE will include an integrated Learning Management System (LMS) which services as a training management platform to access training tools and accelerates the insertion of training materials and updates. LMS abilities include links to all instructional media associated with training, enabled student tracking and reporting queries, and securely storing class and student information.

No.

179 If the Government requires interface between the CANES VTE solution and an existing Government LMS, what are the Information Exchange Requirements for the interface? Where is the LMS hosted and what is the required connectivity method? What are the security requirements for the information exchange?

The Government does not require the CANES Training VE Solution to interface with an existing Government LMS.

No.

180 Pages 71-72, Amendment 2 RFP Section 3.2.1 for Estimated Level of Effort under CLIN 0004. The table providing the labor categories and hours per Ordering Period include the labor category of Instructional System Designer (ISD) Technical Analyst twice: once with 520 hrs per period, and another with 2,080 hrs per period. Please confirm offerors are permitted to combine these two line items for a total of 2,600 hrs per period.

See Amendment 0003 for revision to Section L - Labor Category Table.

No.

181 Pages 72-73, Amendment 2 RFP Section 3.2.1 for Estimated Level of Effort under CLIN 0004 and Labor Category Descriptions. The table providing the labor categories and hours per Ordering Period includes a Configuration Management Logistician labor category, however, the Labor Category Descriptions beginning on page 72 do not include a definition for this labor category. Consistent with the Amendment 2 response providing labor category definitions for all other labor categories, request the Government provide the description for the Configuration Management Logistician category.

See Amendment 0003 for revision to Section L - Labor Category Table.

182 To what extent does the Government intend for students to be able to interact with the virtualized hardware?

a. To what extent is the hardware response to be emulated?

b. To what extent shall the emulation allow students to take subsequent actions based on the emulated response?

CANES Training VE is predominantly concerned with the virtualization of the software elements, for example if a router (hardware device) is virtualized - the focus would be the Router software functionality. Emulation is needed to show proper operational view of lights and indicators. Emulation could also be used to show connection of a management laptop or device to the CANES components. Emulation or simulation via animated drawings would be helpful to identify the physical location of racks and system components. The current curriculum can be used as an example of how hardware-related tasks should be emulated in this virtual environment. The offeror should propose any emulation or simulation required for their proposed solution to meet the training requirements.

No.

183 Is it the intention of the government to virtualize both the hardware and software environments associated with CANES?

a. If the intention is to virtualize the hardware environment, can the government provide a detailed hardware BOM for anything intended to be virtualized?

The Intention is to virtualize software and emulate hardware tasks.

The current curriculum can be used as an example of how hardware-related tasks should be emulated in the virtual environment. The offeror should propose any emulation or simulation required for their proposed solution to meet the training requirements.

No.

184 References: RFP 3.1 VOLUME 1 - TECHNICAL PROPOSAL, states, in part, “General Guidelines for Content. The required content of each technical proposal section is described below. The technical proposal shall not include any cost information.” Further, RFP 3.1.4 FACTOR 4 – SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION, states in part, “All Prime Offerors Large AND Small Businesses shall submit a completed Small Business Participation Data form -RFP Attachment 7, Small Business Participation Data Form.” The Small Business Participation Data form includes: “ Total Acquisition Value: $ fill in with Total Proposed Cost Note: The TAV must equal Section B total” as well as “Total Proposed Cost for SB” as a header with “$” in the cells below that header for both a Direct Labor table as well as an Other Direct Costs table. L-TXT-16 SUBMISSION OF ELECTRONIC PROPOSALS - 3. Cost or Pricing Type Data: All information relating to cost and pricing type data shall be included only in the section of the proposal designated by the Contracting Officer as the Cost Proposal. Under no circumstances shall cost and pricing type data be included elsewhere in the proposal. Paragraph cross-referencing between Cost Proposal paragraphs and technical/management proposal paragraphs is requested to provide clarity.

Question: Would the government accept a version of the Small Business Participation Data Form with only percentage values for this section, or accept the Small Business Participation Data Form as an element of the Cost or Contracts volume?

See Amendment 0003 for revision to Section L No.

185 References: RFP 3.1 VOLUME 1 - TECHNICAL PROPOSAL, states, in part, “General Guidelines for Content. The required content of each technical proposal section is described below. The technical proposal shall not include any cost information.” Further, RFP 3.1.4 FACTOR 4 – SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION, states in part, “All Prime Offerors, Large AND Small Businesses shall submit a completed Small Business Participation Data form - RFP Attachment 7, Small Business Participation Data Form.” The Small Business Participation Data form includes: “ Total Acquisition Value: $ fill in with Total Proposed Cost Note: The TAV must equal Section B total” as well as “Total Proposed Cost for SB” as a header with “$” in the cells below that header for both a Direct Labor table as well as an Other Direct Costs table. RFP section L-TXT-16 3.

reads: “3. Cost or Pricing Type Data: All information relating to cost and pricing type data shall be included only in the section of the proposal designated by the Contracting Officer as the Cost Proposal. Under no circumstances shall cost and pricing type data be included elsewhere in the proposal. Paragraph cross-referencing between Cost Proposal paragraphs and technical/management proposal paragraphs is requested to provide clarity.” RFP Section 3.3.2 calls for inclusion of “Completed RFP Section B, “Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs,” with your estimated cost and proposed fee if applicable for each priced contract line item. ” Question: The government specifies to include RFP Section B, which includes pricing data, in the contracts volume, and elsewhere requires all information relating to cost and pricing type data to be included only in the Cost proposal. Would the government consider relaxing the prohibition on cost data for the Contracts volume?

Amendment 0002, Section L-2.1.2 was revised to state, "Do not include cost information in any volume other than the Volume II Cost/Price Proposal and Volume III Contract Documents, (unless otherwise specified)."

No.

186 What is the level of cloud hosting security required for securing Training Access i.e. IL2, IL3, IL4 etc...? The level of cloud hosting security required for CANES VE is IL-4, "CUI or Non-CUI Non-Critical Mission Information, Non-National Security Systems" with the following caveats/assumptions:

- VE represents UNCLAS enclave only

- VE doesn't include any hosted system's data (could drive it to be National Security System)

- if VE includes HBSS, it only includes out of the box software (no USG-tailored policies or GOTS associated)

- any passwords must be encrypted or not stored on the network (e.g., passwords included in installation instructions)

No.

187 Hardware Interfaces - Ref Q&A Set #2 - Question #125. The answer states, “The solution will be transitioning from HW to SW, and may require hardware interfaces or hardware simulation.” QUESTION: In the case of hardware interfaces, what hardware would be available for the solution to interface with?

The hardware interfaces and hardware simulation are intended to be part of the CANES Training Virtual Environment effort. No hardware or hardware interfaces will be provided by the Government.

188 Unique CANES Hardware. Pursuant to our Trainee Guide review, several unique Hardware / Software Suites were identified that cannot be hosted in a Virtual Environment (VE) due to hands–on hardware interaction required by the student (e.g. with IBM DS3512 Storage NAS). QUESTION: Can Offerors make use of such hardware in the current TTEs in the proposed solution?

Intention is to virtualize software and emulate hardware tasks. The current curriculum can be used as an example of how hardware-related tasks should be emulated in the virtual environment. The offeror should propose any emulation or simulation required for their proposed solution to meet the training requirements.

No.

189 Unique CANES Hardware. Pursuant to Trainee Guide review, several unique Hardware components were identified that cannot be hosted in a Virtual Environment (VE) due to hands–on hardware interaction required by the student (e.g. with IBM DS3512 Storage NAS). QUESTION: If the proposed solution includes simulation of unique hardware, can Job Sheets concerning training for such hardware be modified to accommodate the use of simulation for the solution delivered for

TO 0001?

Intention is to virtualize software and emulate hardware tasks. The current curriculum can be used as an example of how hardware-related tasks should be emulated in the virtual environment. The offeror should propose any emulation or simulation required for their proposed solution to meet the training requirements.

No.

190 DOD SRG requirements for an Impact Level 4 system with the privacy overlay for PII. Ref Q&A Set #2 - Question #58, 77.

We recognize from Q58 that Attachment (2a) - TO 0001 SOW does not specify that the solution must be cloud-based.

However, for Offerors that are proposing a leased cloud effort, all the services necessary to achieve IL-4 and the CANES requirements from a Commercial Cloud Service Provider (CCSP) will not be available by the delivery date of 150 days after award. However, many of the necessary additional CCSP features, services and resources are scheduled to be available in the future. Procuring the CANES requirement before this feature gap is solved will negatively impact the total cost of ownership to the Navy and might require the short-term use of physical hardware to provide a solution. QUESTION:

Would the Navy consider changing the requirements to allow a VE that achieves IL-2 in the first 150-days, and subsequently achieves IL-4 in the first option year?

No, the Government will not change the requirements for the CANES VE solution. The solution will not be usable to the Fleet until it is IL-4, so an IL-2 delivery will not be acceptable. The Government has revised the dates for "Determination of Incentive Bonus for Schedule Performance" for CLIN 0001 in Section B and in Attachment (2) - Draft TO 0001.

Yes, see Amendment 0004 for changes to Section B NOTE and Attachment (2) TO 0001.

191 Extent of Existing Developed Curricula. Ref Q&A Set #2 - Question #104, 140. Responses to Q104 and Q140 confirms that all existing current curricula and differences training information has been provided with the RFP. In the RFP Attachment

(8) and associated AMRDEC file transfer package, there is no SW2.0.1 differences training material. TO 0001 SOW 5.3.3 states that GFI would include SW2.0.1 existing curriculum, background analysis and documentation, implying that SW2.0.1 differences curriculum has been developed. QUESTION: Request confirmation that SW2.0.1 differences training is a new curriculum development requirement in this solicitation.

SW2.0.1 training was not provided since it is still under development.

SW 2.0.1 differences curriculum will be provided as available, after contract award.

192 SW Differences Training Development. Ref Q&A Set #2 - Question #53, 110. GFI provided with this RFP, thus far, have not provided sufficient information needed from which to base an estimate of the effort required to develop new SW differences training curricula. As is, bidders would have to guess and assume an estimating/scaling factor with no link to a client requirement. The Government’s responses in Q53 and Q110 rightfully state there will be solution-specific variability in this solicited revision effort, but for Offerors to provide a justifiable Basis of Estimate as required in the RFP, Offerors need an RFP requirement that quantifies the difference in training requirements between each SW version and the SW1 course. For example, Offerors do not know if 5% or 50% of the material changes between SW versions, making knowledge of the effort associated with the OPNAVINST 1500.76 process insufficient for a Basis of Estimate. QUESTION: Would the Government please provide a point of reference from which to build differences curriculum development estimates for SW2.0.1 and SW3, such as: a) estimated hours of differences training, or b) estimated number or percentage of SW1 job tasks that would require revision, in addition to number of new and deleted job tasks, for SW2.0.1 and SW3 differences training? Such engineering estimate/scale factors are typically provided by Navy training development or revision solicitations.

The Government will not provide curriculum development estimates. No.

193 Existing Interactive Courseware (ICW) Learning Content. Ref Q&A Set #2 - Question #104, 140. Responses to Q104 and Q140 confirm that all existing current curricula and differences training information has been provided with the RFP. The following curriculum components are missing from the RFP:

- SW1.2 Lessons Plan(s) (LPs) and Instructor -Led Training (ILT) content

- SW2 LPs and ILT content QUESTION: Can the missing curriculum components listed above be provided as GFI to bidders to enable full understanding of the artifacts required for training in Task Order 0001 and to enable Offerors to derive a basis of estimate as required by the RFP that accounts for these components?

SW1.2 and SW2 training was developed as a differences course and did not require the use of Lesson Plans and Instructor Guides. The entire curriculum package for these two differences courses has been provided.

No.

194 Connectivity to Classroom. Ref Q&A Set #2 - Question #58. QUESTION: What is the typical bandwidth available into/out of each classroom that can be used by the remotely hosted solution?

Each Electronic Classroom is connected via T-1 connection through

TRANET.

No.

195 Delivery Date. Ref Q&A Set #2 - Question #110, 125. Given that part of the solution addresses hardware in CANES rather than just hosting existing software in a central system, that the Government is unable to provide an estimated percentage of the 5 week course that would require initial revision for TO 0001 for various variants, that SW3 may not be available when TO 0001 starts even though SW3 training must be provided, and that all the services necessary to achieve IL-4 and the CANES requirements from a Commercial Cloud Service Provider (CCSP) will not be available by the delivery date of 150 days after award, the 150 day delivery period may not be sufficient no matter what degree of planning an Offeror performs prior to award. QUESTION: Would the Government consider changing the “by date” periods in RFP section B to 180, 210, and 330 days after Task Order Award?

The Government has revised the dates for "Determination of Incentive Bonus for Schedule Performance" for CLIN 0001 in Section B and in Attachment (2) - Draft TO 0001.

Yes, see Amendment 0004 for changes to Section B NOTE and Attachment (2) TO 0001.

196 For past performance as a subcontractor - who should fill out the questionnaire - the prime or a USG POC? Past Performance Questionnaire should be submitted by the individual responsible for evaluation of the subcontractor, preferably from a Government employee.

Q&A Set #3