Amendment A0001.docx

N0017322RKN01

SECTION SF 30 BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

SECTION SF 1449 - CONTINUATION SHEET

The following have been modified:

ADDENDA TO FAR 52.212-1

Proposal Submission Instructions

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

Access to classified information is not required to submit a proposal for this statement of work. Proposals shall not contain classified data. However, prospective offerors shall have the required facility clearance in accordance with attached DD254 at the time of proposal and, at a minimum, key personnel available with final DoD granted personnel security clearances required for performance of the contract.

GOVERNMENTFURNISHED PROPERTY

No material, labor, or facilities will be furnished by the Government unless requested by the Contractor and provided for in any Task Order under this contract. If Government-Furnished Property is required for the performance of any Task Order under this effort, the Task Order shall clearly identify what is required and the time it is necessary for uninterrupted performance of the effort. The items identified in any applicable Task Order will be managed in accordance with GFP regulations.

NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment

“Covered defense information,” as defined by DFARS 252.204-7012, may be collected, developed, received, transmitted, used, or stored by or on behalf of the contractor in support of the performance of this contract. To be considered for award, Offerors are required to have a current (not older than three years) NIST SP 800-171 assessment on record for each “covered contractor information system” that is relevant to the offer. The Contracting Officer will verify prior to award that the Offeror has a summary level score of a current NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment posted in the PIEE Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS). Contracting officers are not responsible for the NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment; only checking SPRS. If the Offeror does not have a current NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment posted in SPRS, the Offeror may submit their assessment to webptsmh@navy.mil for posting to SPRS in the format identified in DFARS clause 252.204-7019. DFARS 252.204-7020 provides the requirements for contractors on how to submit a request for a NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment.

INQUIRIES CONCERNING THE RFP

Offerors may submit inquiries, questions or comments relating to this solicitation within 14 calendar days from the solicitation issue date via email to the Contract Specialist(s):

kevin.nguyen@nrl.navy.mil & heather.dinsmore@nrl.navy.mil

The e-mail subject line shall read: “N00173-22-R-KN01_Questions”

The Government will consider all correspondence, but will not issue individual responses; instead, if appropriate, a solicitation amendment and/or responses will be issued via www.sam.gov. No questions will be accepted via phone. Individual meetings with firms will not be scheduled. Voicemails with questions and/or requests for meetings will not receive a response. Questions received after 10 calendar days will not be answered. Offerors are cautioned against directing any questions concerning this RFP to technical personnel at the Naval Research Laboratory.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS/OFFERS

E-mail is the only permitted submission format. Offerors are responsible for ensuring the Government receipt of a complete proposal by the submission date and time specified below. E-mail proposals shall be in either Adobe or Microsoft Word or Excel formats as required. Offerors are advised that the Government may be unable to receive other types of electronic files (e.g., .zip files). Due to file size limitations to include all attachments, offerors may submit proposals in separate e-mails identifying the specific section in the subject line. When submitting an offer using multiple e-mails, please sequence e-mail subject line so that the Government can easily determine whether all emails have been received (e.g. Vol. # email 1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc.):

“N00173-22-R-KN01_Proposal-Vol. #_Email 1 of 5”

The anticipated award date for solicitation purposes is July/August 2022.

PROPOSAL GENERAL INFORMATION

In presenting material in the proposal, the offeror is advised that quality of information is more important than quantity. Clarity, brevity, and logical organization should be emphasized during proposal preparation. It is the responsibility of the offeror to present enough information to allow the various factors to be meaningfully evaluated without discussions. The offeror shall include any data necessary to illustrate the adequacy of the various assumptions, approaches, and solutions to problems. Unnecessary elaborate brochures or other presentation materials beyond that sufficient to present a complete and effective proposal is neither necessary nor desired.

Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the instructions herein, and nonconformance with the specified required content may be cause for rejection of the proposal. Offerors are advised that material submitted in excess of that required herein will not be evaluated.

PROPOSAL ORGANIZATION

The Offeror shall prepare the proposal as set forth in the Proposal Organization Table below. The contents of each proposal volume are described in the paragraphs noted in the table.

Resumes not part of page limit

*Each Volume, including Cover Letter shall be in the following format: “Volume #_Company Name”

**Page limitations shall be treated as maximums. If exceeded, the excess pages will not be read, and will not be considered and will not be included in the evaluation of the proposal. Each page shall be counted except for the following: cover pages, table of contents, cross reference tables, tabs, glossaries, acronym lists, subcontractor/teaming agreements, past performance questionnaires, CPARS reports, staffing plans, resumes and letter of commitments.

***File packaging of electronic documents. All of the proposal files may be compressed (zipped) into one file or may be submitted as separate uploads in their native format, i.e. doc, xls, ppt, etc., All price breakout information to aid in the cost/price evaluation shall be submitted in Microsoft Office Excel Read/Write format and viewable in Microsoft Excel 2010 or higher.

(1) PAGE SIZE AND FORMAT

Page size shall be 8.5 x 11 inches, not including foldouts. Pages shall be single spaced. Except for the reproduced sections of the solicitation document the text size shall be no less than 12 point font. Use at least 1 inch margins on the top and bottom and each side. Pages shall be numbered sequentially by volume.

Legible tables, charts, graphs, and figures shall be used wherever practical to depict organizations, systems and layout, implementation schedules, plans, etc. These displays shall be uncomplicated, legible, and shall not exceed 11 X 17 inches in size. For tables, charts, graphs and figures the text shall be no smaller than 8 points.

These limitations shall apply to the electronic copy of the proposal (no hard copies required), except for the Volume III – Cost Spreadsheet (Excel). Provide Microsoft Office Excel formulas in any spreadsheets. Within all Excel spreadsheets, the Offeror shall use formulas and functions to the maximum extent possible and avoid using output type “value only” cells. Spreadsheets shall not be protected.

No hyperlinks shall be allowed within the proposal. Proposals shall not be supplemented by any additional package or reference documents.

(2) COST OR PRICING RELATED DATA

All cost or pricing data shall be addressed ONLY in the Cost/Price Proposal (Volume III) and Contract Documentation Volumes. Cost trade-off information, work hour estimates, and material kinds and quantities may be used in other volumes only as appropriate for presenting rationale for alternatives or design and trade-off decisions.

PROPOSAL VOLUME CONTENTS

COVER LETTER

The proposal volumes discussed below shall be accompanied by a cover letter (letter of transmittal), identifying the Offeror’s name, address, Unique Entity ID (UEI), Cage Code, business size, contact information for personnel authorized to negotiate and sign contract documents with respect to your proposal, and all enclosures being transmitted. It shall be used only to transmit the proposal and shall include no other information.

VOLUME I – TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

The Technical Volume shall include a Technical Proposal addressing:

Factor 1 – Technical Understanding and Capability Factor 2 – Staffing and Key Personnel

To ensure that Volume I is evaluated strictly on its merit, no cost information is to be included in this volume.

FACTOR 1 – TECHNICAL UNDERSTANDING AND CAPABILITY

The Offeror shall provide a narrative description of its experience demonstrating its capability to support each of the following tasks separately to clearly demonstrate the Offeror’s understanding and capability to perform the requirements:

System administration and User Support duties, to include but not limited to:

· Demonstrate knowledge of Commvault backup software and Spectra tape libraries. Knowledge of backup best practices, recovery solutions and overall system maintenance.

· Perform user account management, with Active Directory, LDAP and integrated security management solutions using Identity, Policy, and Audit (IPA).

· Demonstrate system trouble-shooting expertise using industry best practices.

· Experience with creating and completing system documentation.

· Perform complete system upgrades, transitions and migrations with minimal or no downtime.

· Provide and maintain disaster recovery plans and procedures for continuity of operations.

· Demonstrate experience with creating packages for dissemination with KACE software for managing windows system patching.

· Implement customized Group Policy Objects (GPOs) in support of accreditation guidelines and security findings while maintaining complete system operation for NRL MMD users.

· Experience with Microsoft Office suite, Exchange and Visual Studio.

Software administration duties, to include but not limited to:

· Demonstrate experience in building custom build Linux applications that are tied to specific hardware platforms, for customer use.

· Provide support IT and administrative staff by developing and maintaining automated tracking and reporting systems, to provide enhanced user management and tracking, software management, configuration management, and data center monitoring services.

· Experience with managing a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) with associated Online Certificate Status Protocol (OSCP), and Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs).

· Perform system patching, testing and rolling out system changes and updates.

· Produce design documentation and configuration guidelines for software platforms.

· Support Linux ROCKS cluster distribution.

· Ability to provide web management using Apache and Tomcat.

· Experience with Varonis security and insider threat detection suite.

· Experience with DeskPro ticketing system

Network administration duties, to include but not limited to:

· Effectively running, crimping, testing, and troubleshooting wires and cables.

· Demonstrate experience with Cisco appliances, devices, and software

· Adaptive Security Appliance management (ASA), Access Control List (ACL) and policy creation, patching, and maintenance.

· Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) management, policy creation, patching, and maintenance.

· Perform electrical instrument tasks; installation, support, maintenance, and teardown

· Develop strategies for conducting continuous monitoring of network devices and endpoints.

· Knowledge of troubleshooting and maintaining access to the internet via the DREN, DOD High Performance Computing Sites (HPC) sites and remote access to NRL MMD systems.

· Develop firewall standards and policies based on guidance from governing bodies and industry best practices.

· Demonstrate experience in supporting firewall and switch management.

Cyber Security / Information Assurance knowledge, including but not limited to:

· The Contractor must be able to assess risk and implement countermeasures to mitigate the compromise, loss, unauthorized access/disclosure, destruction, distortion or non-accessibility of NRL’s IT-related assets.

· Perform vulnerability management and assessments to identify and document NRL IT infrastructure risks that will lead to successful completion of Risk Management Framework (RMF) Authority to Operate (ATO).

· Perform continuous monitoring and ongoing technical analysis of network connected devices, network traffic, intrusion events and malicious activity to provide real-time visibility, threat awareness, situational intelligence and predictive threat identification.

· Provide visibility in real-time of every device and connection in NRL’s infrastructure including cloud, physical networks/SDN, endpoints, and OT/IoT to aid in mitigation of risk.

· Evaluate, analyze, integrate and correlate information from multiple intelligence and operational sources in order to detect, analyze and recommend mitigation of cyber threats and vulnerabilities.

· Implement mitigation actions and remediate system assets to acceptable levels as required by the ISSM or ISSO to plug security gaps and eliminate known threats and vulnerabilities

· Provide real-time alerting and reporting of indicators of compromise and warnings of malicious cyber activities to NRL leadership.

· Create weekly products/reports from multiple intelligence and operational sources to provide situational awareness of critical elements of the cyber environment necessary to defend NRL assets.

· Perform Information Assurance Vulnerability Alerts (IAVAs), remediation, scanning and reporting.

· Demonstrate experience using Tenable Security Center and a working knowledge of Department of the Navy Application and Database Management System (DADMS) ID Information application process for system and software compliance.

Storage management experience, including but not limited to:

· Develop strategies for installing, configuring, updating and managing storage devices

· Perform overall storage engineering and management.

· Knowledge and ability to plan, design, and roll-out storage management solutions for current footprint and future division growth.

· Knowledge of storage tuning for optimal operation and maximizing efficiency.

· Demonstrate experience in working with the following:

· Netapp ONTAP expertise.

· EMC expertise with VNX appliance management and operation

· Knowledge of and experience with Raid Inc. arrays.

The narrative should be sufficient to support both the prime’s and any subcontractors’ breadth and depth of experience as it relates to the PWS and should clearly demonstrate the relationship between the company’s capability and the tasks required; prior or current programs in the areas; and technical understanding of all the task requirements.

FACTOR 2 – STAFFING AND PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS

1. Staffing Approach -

To allow the Government to understand your approach to providing and retaining a qualified workforce, the Offeror shall address the following:

(a) Address your approach to ensuring a technical understanding of the requirements by your hiring manager which enables your company to interview and select qualified technical personnel.

(b) Describe potential challenges in finding hard to fill labor categories that could occur and risk mitigation strategies that could be utilized.

(c) Describe the Offeror’s approach to retaining highly qualified personnel.

(d) Describe the approach and provide convincing evidence that the company has, or has the ability to obtain, the non-key personnel for the first task order as described in Attachment 03 - Personnel Qualifications.

(e) Describe the Offeror’s transition process to include all steps the Offeror intends to take in order to assume responsibility from the incumbent Contractor, if applicable, within thirty (30) days after contract award.

2. Personnel -

(a) Key Personnel - The Offeror shall submit one resume and letter of intent per Key Personnel category defined in Attachment 03 - Personnel Qualifications, as well as a statement to the percentage of time the key personnel will be working on the contract for the first Task Order. The three (3) Key Personnel positions are:

· Lead Technical Administrator (1 position)

· Sr. Linux Administrator (2 positions) Senior Lead LINUX System Administrator (SLLSA) – 1 Position

· Senior LINUX Systems Administrator (SLSA) – 2 Positions

· Senior Windows Systems Administrator (SWSA) – 1 Position

Subcontract agreements and/or Letters of Intent shall be provided for all consultants, subcontractors and personnel not currently on staff if fulfilling a key position. Resumes, subcontract agreements, and letters of intent do not count against page limit.

(b) FIRST TASK ORDER STAFFING PLAN: Offerors shall use Attachment 7 – Task Order Staffing Plan to summarize proposed personnel and current resources to address the needs for the first task order. The estimated level of effort for the first task order is:

The place of performance for the first task order is NRL-Monterey in Monterey, California.

VOLUME II - PAST PERFORMANCE (FACTOR 3)

QUESTIONNAIRES AND/OR CPARS REPORTS

Offerors shall provide Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQ) (Attachment 9 – Past Performance Questionnaire) and/or CPARS Reports with their proposal for a maximum of 3 relevant efforts either completed or ongoing within the last five years as of the date of this solicitation release.

If an Offeror anticipates utilizing a major subcontractor, teaming arrangement, joint venture, etc., the Offeror may submit Past Performance Questionnaires and/or CPARS Reports for the subcontractor, teaming partner, etc, but the maximum of 3 relevant efforts still applies. Major subcontractors are defined as members of an offeror’s overall team who are expected to perform twenty-five (25) percent or more of the proposed effort.

The contracts identified should demonstrate in-depth knowledge and successful implementation of contracts of similar scope and complexity to this solicitation. Similar scope and complexity means having performed the types of support efforts identified in the PWS for this solicitation. The identified contracts can be with Federal, Commercial, or other customers. For each contract, the Offeror shall identify at least one customer Points of Contact (POCs), and provide the phone number, and e-mail address for each.

In order to expedite the assessment process, the Offeror may complete the "Contract Information" portion of the Past Performance Questionnaire for the convenience of the customer POC. The Offeror shall not, however, complete any other section of the Past Performance Questionnaire. The questionnaire shall be provided to the customer POC with instructions to complete and submit it directly to the Contract Specialist on or before the proposal due date. Electronic submission is the only acceptable method.

The Offeror's past performance volume shall contain electronic copies of the first page of the Customer's Questionnaire and the transmittal letters. The Government reserves the right to limit or expand the number of references it decides to contact and to contact other references than those provided by the Offeror. The Government reserves the right to consider any questionnaire received after the due date and contact those offices that do not respond to the questionnaire.

PREVIOUS CONTRACTING NARRATIVES

For each of the Past Performance Questionnaires and/or CPARS Reports submitted, the Offeror shall also provide a Previous Contracting Effort Narrative detailing the following information in Volume II:

(i) Describe how the scope for this past contract/task order relates to this solicitation in size, scope, and complexity.

In addition to above, the Government may review any other sources of information for evaluating past-performance. Other sources may include, but are not limited to past performance information retrieved through the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), Federal Awardees Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), using all CAGE codes/DUNS numbers of the Offeror and any team members (subcontractors, partnership, joint venture, teaming arrangement, or parent company/subsidiary/affiliate) identified in the Offeror’s proposal, and any other known sources not provided by the Offeror. While the Government may elect to consider data from other sources, the burden of providing detailed, current, accurate and complete past performance information rests with the offeror.

VOLUME III – COST/PRICE PROPOSAL (FACTOR 4)

The Cost/Price Volume shall include the following:

1. IDIQ Labor Pricing for T&M Orders (Attachment 6 – Microsoft Excel)

2. Initial Task Order Proposed Pricing (Attachment 8 - Microsoft Excel)

3. Supporting Documentation (Microsoft Word)

While the Government anticipates establishing reasonableness of pricing through adequate price competition and does not require submission of certified cost or pricing data, Offerors must provide clear and concise explanations of their pricing methodology and their labor and burden estimating practice and are cautioned against unbalanced and unrealistic pricing.

1. IDIQ Labor Pricing for T&M Orders

The Offeror shall use the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet included as Attachment 6 – IDIQ Labor Pricing for T&M, which consists of the five year ordering period for both Government site and Contractor site pricing, plus an additional year for any task order that has a period of performance beyond the five year ordering period.

The Offer shall propose ceiling rates for T&M orders by completing the template at Attachment 6. The ceiling rates are to be based upon the highest qualified employee for each labor category as described in Attachment X – Personnel Qualifications. Attachment X will be incorporated into the resultant contract.

2. Initial Task Order Proposed Pricing

All proposed pricing in this section is for the first task order and is based on a provided estimated level of effort, and shall be submitted using Attachment 8-Task Order Pricing Template. The anticipated line item and period of performance of the first task order is as follows:

Offerors shall use Attachment 8-Task Order Pricing Template to submit a pricing proposal to perform the tasks described in Attachment 1-Statement of Work with personnel meeting the requirements of Attachment 3-Personnel Qualifications, and using the following estimated level of effort for the first task order:

Offerors proposed rates shall not exceed the proposed ceiling rates included as Attachment 6 – IDIQ Labor Pricing for T&M.

ODC CLINs will be included in the total evaluated price. ODC CLINs will be cost-reimbursable and not include fee. ODCs will contain costs that are unique to the project that are presently unknown. ODC's do not include subcontractor labor and/or management costs.

The contractor shall utilize the following data for the pricing proposal spreadsheet (Attachment 8), and apply any relevant indirect costs.

The level of effort and ODC information are estimates and may be changed by the offeror in preparing the pricing proposal. Changes made to the provided LOE shall be explained in the Supporting Documentation.

3. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

The Offeror shall provide a narrative describing the basis of estimate and any assumptions made by cost element to include:

· Labor Rates: Methodology and rationale for determining fully burdened labor rates, salary ranges and/or labor rate composite(s), as applicable. If the Offeror does not currently have employees to fulfill the duties under a specific labor category under which they want to propose, the Offeror must explain its methodology for establishing prime contractor labor rates for such categories.

· Indirect Rates (if applicable): If the Offeror has indirect rates use for this proposal that have been audited by any Government agency, the Offeror shall state by whom the audit was made and when, the rates approved, and the period for which they are effective. The Offeror shall submit a copy of the latest signed forward pricing rate agreement or provisional billing rate documentation including all applicable rates. If the proposed rates are significantly different, the reason(s) shall be stated. The name, address, and phone number of the Government agency that performed the audit shall be provided. The projected indirect rates for subsequent periods shall be provided.

· Escalation: Methodology used to compute escalation.

· Subcontractors: If the Offeror’s proposed approach includes subcontractor(s), the Offeror shall include any cost/price analyses completed in accordance with FAR 15.404-3(b).

· Total Compensation Plan: In accordance with FAR 52.222-46, Offerors will submit a total compensation plan setting forth salaries and fringe benefits proposed for the professional employees who will work under the contract. Supporting information will include data, such as recognized national and regional compensation surveys and studies of professional, public and private organizations, used in establishing the total compensation structure. The compensation levels proposed should reflect a clear understanding of work to be performed and should indicate the capability of the proposed compensation structure to obtain and keep suitably qualified personnel to meet mission

· Uncompensated Overtime: The Offeror shall submit its policy on uncompensated overtime (see FAR 52.237-10), including the practices used to estimate uncompensated overtime.

· Financial Capacity: Apparent successful Offerors are subject to a responsibility determination in accordance with FAR Subpart 9.1. The Offeror shall indicate if it has the necessary financial capacity, working capital, and other resources to perform the contract without assistance from any outside source. If not, indicate the amount required and the anticipated source.

VOLUME IV – CONTRACT INFORMATION

SOLICITATION/CONTRACT FORM

The Contractor shall complete the cover page of the solicitation (SF1449). Signature by the Offeror on the solicitation constitutes an offer, which the Government may accept.

The Offeror shall make a clear statement in the proposal documentation that the proposal is valid 90 days from the date of the solicitation closing date.

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, AND OTHER STATEMENT OF OFFERORS

Completed representations, certifications, acknowledgements, and statements, applicable to this solicitation if different than those completed electronically submitted at www.sam.gov.

OTHER:

Security Requirements: Offeror shall make a statement of compliance with all security requirements set forth in Attachment 04 – DD Form 254. An inability to meet security requirements at the time of proposal will result in an offer being deemed nonresponsive and eliminated from the competition

52.212-2 EVALUATION--COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (NOV 2021)

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

Significant evaluation factors:

(i) FACTOR 1: Technical Understanding and Capability

a. The Government will evaluate degree to which the Offeror's technical proposal clearly demonstrates the capability, knowledge, and understanding, for both Prime and Subcontractors (if applicable) in performing the requirements of this IDIQ and the following key tasks, in particular:

1. System administration and User Support duties, to include but not limited to:

· Demonstrate knowledge of Commvault backup software and Spectra tape libraries. Knowledge of backup best practices, recovery solutions and overall system maintenance.

· Perform user account management, with Active Directory, LDAP and integrated security management solutions using Identity, Policy, and Audit (IPA).

· Demonstrate system trouble-shooting expertise using industry best practices.

· Experience with creating and completing system documentation.

· Perform complete system upgrades, transitions and migrations with minimal or no downtime.

· Provide and maintain disaster recovery plans and procedures for continuity of operations.

· Demonstrate experience with creating packages for dissemination with KACE software for managing windows system patching.

· Implement customized Group Policy Objects (GPOs) in support of accreditation guidelines and security findings while maintaining complete system operation for NRL MMD users.

· Experience with Microsoft Office suite, Exchange and Visual Studio.

2. Software administration duties, to include but not limited to:

· Demonstrate experience in building custom build Linux applications that are tied to specific hardware platforms, for customer use.

· Provide support IT and administrative staff by developing and maintaining automated tracking and reporting systems, to provide enhanced user management and tracking, software management, configuration management, and data center monitoring services.

· Experience with managing a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) with associated Online Certificate Status Protocol (OSCP), and Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs).

· Perform system patching, testing and rolling out system changes and updates.

· Produce design documentation and configuration guidelines for software platforms.

· Support Linux ROCKS cluster distribution.

· Ability to provide web management using Apache and Tomcat.

· Experience with Varonis security and insider threat detection suite.

· Experience with DeskPro ticketing system

3. Network administration duties, to include but not limited to:

· Effectively running, crimping, testing, and troubleshooting wires and cables.

· Demonstrate experience with Cisco appliances, devices, and software

· Adaptive Security Appliance management (ASA), Access Control List (ACL) and policy creation, patching, and maintenance.

· Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) management, policy creation, patching, and maintenance.

· Perform electrical instrument tasks; installation, support, maintenance, and teardown

· Develop strategies for conducting continuous monitoring of network devices and endpoints.

· Knowledge of troubleshooting and maintaining access to the internet via the DREN, DOD High Performance Computing Sites (HPC) sites and remote access to NRL MMD systems.

· Develop firewall standards and policies based on guidance from governing bodies and industry best practices.

· Demonstrate experience in supporting firewall and switch management.

4. Cyber Security / Information Assurance knowledge, including but not limited to:

· The Contractor must be able to assess risk and implement countermeasures to mitigate the compromise, loss, unauthorized access/disclosure, destruction, distortion or non-accessibility of NRL’s IT-related assets.

· Perform vulnerability management and assessments to identify and document NRL IT infrastructure risks that will lead to successful completion of Risk Management Framework (RMF) Authority to Operate (ATO).

· Perform continuous monitoring and ongoing technical analysis of network connected devices, network traffic, intrusion events and malicious activity to provide real-time visibility, threat awareness, situational intelligence and predictive threat identification.

· Provide visibility in real-time of every device and connection in NRL’s infrastructure including cloud, physical networks/SDN, endpoints, and OT/IoT to aid in mitigation of risk.

· Evaluate, analyze, integrate and correlate information from multiple intelligence and operational sources in order to detect, analyze and recommend mitigation of cyber threats and vulnerabilities.

· Implement mitigation actions and remediate system assets to acceptable levels as required by the ISSM or ISSO to plug security gaps and eliminate known threats and vulnerabilities

· Provide real-time alerting and reporting of indicators of compromise and warnings of malicious cyber activities to NRL leadership.

· Create weekly products/reports from multiple intelligence and operational sources to provide situational awareness of critical elements of the cyber environment necessary to defend NRL assets.

· Perform Information Assurance Vulnerability Alerts (IAVAs), remediation, scanning and reporting.

· Demonstrate experience using Tenable Security Center and a working knowledge of Department of the Navy Application and Database Management System (DADMS) ID Information application process for system and software compliance.

5. Storage management experience, including but not limited to:

· Develop strategies for installing, configuring, updating and managing storage devices

· Perform overall storage engineering and management.

· Knowledge and ability to plan, design, and roll-out storage management solutions for current footprint and future division growth.

· Knowledge of storage tuning for optimal operation and maximizing efficiency.

· Demonstrate experience in working with the following:

· Netapp ONTAP expertise.

· EMC expertise with VNX appliance management and operation

· Knowledge of and experience with Raid Inc. arrays.

(ii) FACTOR 2: Staffing and Personnel

a. The proposals will be evaluated on the offeror’s ability to provide personnel in accordance with Attachment 01 – Personnel Qualifications to carry out the SOW. For non-key personnel, the Offeror will be evaluated on its approach and ability to provide or to recruit, retain and train adequate staff with the requisite skill sets and security clearances to meet the requirements of the SOW by the start of contract period of performance. The proposal will also be evaluated on the adequacy of the offeror’s transition process, demonstrating a smooth and effective transition between the offeror’s organization personnel and the incumbent contractor’s personnel into the ongoing system development, maintenance, and operations efforts, and ability to complete all the transition activities within 30 days after contract award.

b. The proposal will be evaluated on the availability of proposed key personnel to support the effort, and the extent to which the proposed key personnel satisfy the minimum qualifications for key personnel. The evaluation will consider any qualifications that exceed the minimum qualifications (e.g., greater education, additional years of experience, relevant experiences) and whether those qualifications will benefit the Government.

c. The Government will evaluate on the Offeror’s demonstrated ability to provide the specific personnel to this effort. Failure to submit resumes and letters of intent, as required, will result in an unacceptable rating.

d. Key-Personnel and specific Non-Key Personnel as identified in Attachment – 01 shall be currently employed by the offeror or documentation included showing their immediate availability. A statement of commitment by the offeror that specific personnel will be committed to the effort is essential, and the amount of effort each will be performing against the resulting contract. Failure to submit the appropriate documentation showing the availability of the proposed Key-Personnel may result in an unacceptable rating.

(iii) FACTOR 3: Past Performance;

a. Past performance is a measure of the degree to which the Offeror satisfied its customers in previous relevant contracts and complied with Federal, State, and local laws and regulations. Each offeror’s (and major subcontractor, team partner, etc., if applicable) past performance will be reviewed to determine recency, relevancy and the quality of performance on the past contracts. A past performance confidence assessment rating will be assigned based on the offeror’s overall record of recency, relevancy and quality of performance.

b. The Government will evaluate submitted CPARS reports, Past Performance Questionnaires and Previous Contract Effort Narratives, and may contact the Offeror’s customers to ask whether or not they believe: (1) that the Offeror is capable, efficient and effective; (2) that the Offeror’s performance conformed to the terms and conditions of its contract; (3) that the Offeror was reasonable and cooperative during performance; (4) that the Offeror was committed to customer satisfaction; and (5) if given a chance would they select the same or a different Contractor.

c. The Government may consider past performance information obtained from sources other than those identified by the Offeror to evaluate an Offeror’s or subcontractors’ past performance, including Federal, State, and local Government agencies, Better Business Bureaus, published media and electronic databases. The lack of recent and relevant past performance information will result in the assignment of a neutral rating (i.e. neither favorable nor unfavorable) for this factor. The Government reserves the right to limit or expand the number of references it decides to contact and to contact other references than those provided by the Offeror or subcontractors.

(iv) FACTOR 4: Cost/Price

a. Offerors will be evaluated on the reasonableness of the proposed labor rates to be incorporated into the base IDIQ, as well as the proposed labor rates and elements comprising the total evaluated price of the task order proposal to ensure a fair and reasonable price.

ORDER OF IMPORTANCE: Technical Understanding and Capability (Factor 1) and Staffing and Personnel (Factor 2) are equally important, and are more important than Past Performance (Factor 3). All evaluation factors other than cost/price (Factor 4), when combined, are more significantly more important than price, in accordance with FAR 15.304.

(b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(c) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer's specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

(d) BASIS FOR AWARD:

The Government intends to make award to that responsible vendor whose proposal is determined to be the best overall value to the Government in accordance with the established criteria and rating methodology set forth in the RFP.

The evaluation will be based on a complete assessment of each offeror’s technical proposal, past performance information, and cost proposal. Within the best value continuum, the Government will employ a Price/Technical Tradeoff analysis of both price and non-price factors (FAR 15.101-1) in evaluating each proposal submitted. Trade-off considerations may result in the determination that it is in the best interest of the Government to award to other than the lowest priced offeror or other than the highest technically rated offeror. A best value analysis will not be performed or developed for any Offeror whose proposal is found to be technically unacceptable or unsatisfactory in any other factor or subfactor. To receive consideration for award, a rating of no less than “Acceptable” must be achieved for the Technical Factor.

(e) Evaluation Methodology / Ratings:

Proposals will be reviewed first to determine the adequacy of the response in complying with the requirements of the RFP, including proposal submission instructions and mandatory security requirements.

TECHNICAL EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

A Combined Technical/Risk Rating methodology will be used to determine the Technical Factors 1 and 2 ratings. The combined technical/risk rating includes consideration of risk in conjunction with the strengths, weaknesses, significant weaknesses, uncertainties, and deficiencies in determining technical ratings. The Technical Factors Ratings, excerpted below, focuses on consideration of risk in conjunction with the strengths, weaknesses, significant weaknesses, uncertainties, and deficiencies in determining technical ratings of the offeror’s proposal. The color rating depicts how well the offeror’s proposal meets the Technical Factor’s requirements. They will be used to assign an overall combined Technical/Risk Rating for the technical proposal for Factors 1 and 2:

COMBINED TECHNCIAL / RISK RATING

The associated risk descriptions are as followed:

Strengths, Weaknesses, Significant Weaknesses and Deficiencies ratings in the description block of the above two tables are defined as follows:

NOTE: To be considered for award, a rating of no less than “Acceptable” must be achieved for the overall technical factor.

PAST PERFORMANCE EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

The Government will evaluate the offeror’s (and major subcontractor, team partner, etc., if applicable) record of past and current performance within the last five (5) years to ascertain the probability of successfully performing the required efforts of the SOW. Absent any recent and relevant past performance history or when the performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned, the offeror will be assigned a “neutral rating” and its proposal will not be evaluated either favorably or unfavorably on past performance.

There are three aspects to the past performance evaluation: recency, relevancy and quality, which will form the basis of the performance confidence assessment:

RECENCY: The first aspect of the past performance evaluation is to assess the recency of the offeror’s past performance. Recency is generally expressed as a time period during which past performance references are considered relevant, and is critical to establishing the relevancy of past performance information. For this acquisition, recency is defined as past performance references within the last five years as of the date of this solicitation release.

RELEVANCY: The second aspect of the past performance evaluation is to assess the offeror’s past performance to determine how relevant a recent effort accomplished by the offeror is to the effort to be acquired through the source selection. Relevancy is not separately rated; however, the following criteria will be used to establish what is relevant, which shall include similarity of service/support, complexity; dollar value, contract type, and degree of subcontract/teaming.

PAST PERFORMANCE RELEVANCY RATING

QUALITY: The third aspect of the past performance evaluation is to establish the overall quality of the offeror’s past performance by determining how well the contractor performed on the recent and relevant contracts. The past performance evaluation conducted in support of this source selection does not establish, create, or change the existing record and history of the offeror’s past performance on past contracts; rather, the past performance evaluation process gathers information from customers on how well the offeror performed those past contracts. Evaluators will review all past performance information collected and determine the quality of the offeror’s performance, general trends, and usefulness of the information and incorporate these into the performance confidence assessment. A separate quality assessment rating is not required; rather, the past performance confidence assessment rating is based on the offeror’s overall record of recency, relevancy, and quality of performance.

PERFORMANCE CONFIDENCE ASSESSMENT: The final step is to arrive at a single consensus performance confidence assessment for the offeror, selecting the most appropriate rating from the chart below. This rating considers the assessed quality of the relevant/recent efforts gathered:

COST/PRICE EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

PRICE ANALYSIS: Each Offeror’s evaluated price, inclusive of base and all options, shall be evaluated to ensure that it is fair and reasonable. The Government intends to make a determination of fair and reasonable pricing on the basis of adequate competition.