EIS_RFP_QTA0015THA3003_-_SF30_Amendment_0014_Final.docx

OMB Approval 2700-0042

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)

CODE

General Services Administration/FAS/ITS Office of Acquisition Operations 1800 F Street, NW, 4th Floor Washington DC 20405

QTA0015THA3003

1710 H. Street, NW, 7th Floor

10/16/2015

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

X The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is __ extended, X is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning 1 copy of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATA SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and data specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor _ is not, _ is required to sign this document and return 1 copies to the issuing office.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

SEE ADDITIONAL PAGES

Except at provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

Timothy Horan Contracting Officer

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

RFP # QTA0015THA3003

Amendment #0014

Revisions to the EIS RFP

This amendment includes the following:

· Instructions for acknowledging the amendment.

· Changes to the RFP.

· Clarifications regarding the RFP.

Amendment Acknowledgement

Offerors shall acknowledge this amendment in the Business Volume of their final proposal revision.

The RFP is amended as follows:

Section B

1. Section B is amended to change the Service CLIN Prefix to "IA" for Infrastructure as a Service and to "PA" for Platform as a Service in Table B.1.2.1.1 and in the corresponding service reference table in AcquServe.

2. Section B.1.2.16 is amended to add a footnote to the first bulleted item that reads:

“In SRE Catalog Prices Table B.2.10.3.2, the value ‘-1’ in the Task Order Number column indicates a catalog price that is valid for all task orders.”

Section J

1. Section J.2.10.2.1.10 is amended to change the Value Requirement to 'If Applicable' for the following lines in the table:

* contractor_invoice_level_account_number

* quantity

* fully_loaded_price_code

* base_line_item_price

* contractor_invoice_number

* contractor_invoice_date

* billing_period

* invoice_method_code

* billing_begin_date

* billing_end_date

* total_line_item_amount

* agf_amount

* billed_aggregated_tax

* line_net_amount

* original_bill_line_item_sequence_number

* original_bill_billing_period

* disputed_charge

* disputed_detail_tax_billed

2. Section J.2.10.2.3.5:TO Key Performance Indicators is amended to insert a new line in the table immediately under the clin data element with the following values:

* Element Name: icb_number

* Element Description: Individual Case Basis number as described in Section B.2 Pricing Tables

3. Section J.4, first paragraph, last sentence, is amended to read:

“This section also defines requirements for submission of TO-specific pricing, catalog pricing, and informational submissions.”

4. Section J.4, footnote 2, is amended to read:

“Modification number is not required for TO-specific submissions, catalog submissions, or informational submissions”

5. Section J.4.1, second paragraph, second sentence, is amended to read:

“TO-specific pricing submissions shall only include TUC prices, prices for contract fixed and ICB CLINs where the prices have been established for a TO, and/or catalog device class discount tables where the percentage discounts from OLP have been established for a TO.”

6. Section J.4 is amended to add Section J.4.3 Informational Submissions, which reads:

“The contractor shall use an informational submission to update Table B.4.1.6 Network Site Code PCL Relationship Table and/or Table B.4.1.7 Network Site Code to Pricing Hub Relationship Table.

A submission of this type shall not result in a contract modification.

Informational submissions shall follow the guidelines and adhere to the requirements for contract modifications described above with the addition of the following:

1. Upon receipt of an informational submission, GSA will check the submission for proper structure and formatting and will advise the contractor if any corrections are needed. When a correct submission is received, the data will be integrated into GSA Systems. GSA shall notify the contractor if there are issues with the data being integrated.”

7. Section J.4, Appendix A, is amended to add “’i’ is an informational submission” to the list of proposed submission types.

8. Section J.4, Appendix A, fourth paragraph, is amended to read:

“The version number (‘VV’) is a two-digit version control number that begins with the value ‘01’ and increases by 01 for each subsequent version. Using version numbers after the submission number allows for all correspondence generated for a single proposed contract modification, catalog submission, TO submission or informational submission to have the same submission number.”

9. Section J.4, Appendix A, eighth paragraph, is amended to read:

“Note: It is the government’s intent to keep and maintain logs of contract modification, catalog submission, TO submission and informational submission activity using this submission numbering scheme.”

10. Section J.4, Appendix C, Overview section, first paragraph, is amended to read:

“GSA Systems will use a relational database to maintain the up-to-date contract price information. Contractors will need to maintain a reliable relational database of the complete set of current prices that shall match with GSA Systems in terms of price and location tables, their formats and contents. The contractor shall maintain its connection to GSA Systems for the duration of the contract. The GSA Systems’ database will be maintained by the government as its definitive repository of prices for the life of the EIS contract. The complete set of current prices shall include all prices in the contract including price changes due to contract modifications, plus prices resulting from approved TO-specific submissions, catalog submissions and informational submissions. The complete set of current contract prices will be used as the baseline for the preparation of proposed contract modifications that include potential future price changes to be included in the contract.”

11. Section J.4, Appendix C, Overview section, third paragraph, is amended to read:

“The term submission refers to a contractor-generated proposal for:

12. Section J.4, Appendix C, Overview section, fourth paragraph, last sentence, is amended to read:

“The contractor shall submit modification submissions, TO-specific submissions, catalog submissions, and informational submissions separately.”

13. Section J.4, Appendix C, Overview section, fifth paragraph, is amended to read:

“The contractor shall submit contract modifications, TO-specific submissions, catalog submissions, and informational submissions (initial, interim and final) via GSA Systems.”

14. Section J.4, Appendix C, Procedures section, fourth paragraph, fourth sentence, is amended to read:

“After award of any contract modification or approval of any TO-specific submission, catalog submission or informational submission that changes a price table, the government will, as part of its process for integrating the awarded or approved price data, enter the date of execution into the price-replaced date column in all new rows created in the contract archive schema (e.g. v0_eis_archive).”

15. Section J.4, Appendix C, Procedures section, Submission Contents subsection, second paragraph, second sentence, is amended to read:

“All proposals for contract modification, TO-specific submissions, catalog submissions, and informational submissions that contain pricing data shall comply with these submission requirements; those that do not will be returned to the contractor unprocessed.”

Section L

1. Section L.27.1 is amended to add ‘Official List Price (OLP) verification documentation for catalog items’ to the list of items that may have an unrestricted page count.

Clarifications to the RFP

Question:

There are words describing charging units in the various section B price tables, and there are words describing charging units with the associated charge unit code in the CHGUNT table. The words differ slightly. For example, CLIN VN21001 in Table B.2.1.1.3.2 says "Mbps per day", but CHGUNT says "Per 1 Mb increment per day." Could GSA please update the price and CHGUNT tables with consistent word descriptions of the charging units? This would enable system programming to recognize charge unit text strings.

Answer:

There is no CHGUNT table in the RFP. The government assumes the offeror is inquiring about Table J.2.10.2.2.14, which is the Charging Unit table (Data transaction code: CRGUNT). The offeror asserts that "CHGUNT says 'Per 1 Mb increment per day'" but the government is unaware of a charging unit in the RFP that is described as "Per 1 Mb increment per day". The government is unclear as to where the offeror's perceived discrepancy can be found. The government is thus unable to answer the offeror's question.

Question:

Amendment 12 made the following change: "Table B.2.10.2.1.is amended to change the footnotes associated with End of Sale Date and End of Life Date columns". We take this to mean that the STOP date for the price can be no later than the End of Sale date. Commercial practice is to stop selling something before invoicing for existing customers will end. Would GSA please make the STOP date no later than the End of Life date?

Answer:

The RFP will not be changed. The footnote added to Table B.2.10.2.1 in Amendment 12 requires the Stop Date to be no later than the End of Sale (EOS) date. This is to ensure that an SRE catalog item that has reached EOS is not ordered. Setting the Stop Date equal to the EOS date does not preclude a contractor from:

1) Invoicing for the SRE NRC (pricing element 1) after the EOS date when the order is received prior to the EOS date but the equipment isn’t installed until after the EOS date.

2) Invoicing for the SRE installment options (SRE MRC pricing elements 12/24/36/48) after the EOS date.

3) Invoicing for any of the SRE pricing elements priced in Table B.2.10.3.2 after the EOS date.

Question:

Amendment 12 updated table B.2.8.1.4.1 to include jurisdiction. Will the GSA update table B.2.8.1.3.1 to be consistent?

Answer:

Amendment 12 updated price Table B.2.8.1.4.1 to include a Country/Jurisdiction ID column because each of the CLINs in instruction Table B.2.8.1.4.2 are defined for use in CONUS or OCONUS but not in both. CLINs in instruction Tables B.2.8.1.3.2 and B.2.8.1.3.3 are not differentiated for CONUS or OCONUS, so there is no need for a Country/Jurisdiction ID column in price Table B.2.8.1.3.1.

Question:

Test case BSS-TS04-10 is for a bulk order and will include "a SO including at least 20 line items for services listed in Section C.2 of the contract". We do not see a definition of bulk ordering elsewhere in the RFP. Would GSA please clarify the definition of a bulk order?

Answer:

For purposes of BSS testing, the term 'bulk orders' is not used in a technical or contract-specific sense but merely to indicate multiple services on a single test TO or SO. This test case is intended to validate the ability of the offeror's BSS to handle orders that contain a large quantity of line items.

Question:

RFP Section C1.8.7.3 Security Assessment and Authorization (Security A&A) indicates that the A&A applies only to the Business Support System (BSS). Section F contains several duplicate deliverables which call for Initial Delivery both within 30 days of NTP and with the initial Security A&A Package. The BSS is not required to be operational until 12 months after NTP. Examples of the duplications are provided below. We assume that the A&A package, and its associated deliverables, will be submitted as part of the Authorization to Operate (ATO) for the BSS and are not required 30 days after ATP. Please comment. - Can these duplicated deliverables be deferred until submission of the A&A package for the BSS in preparation for ATO? - Since the FISMA Moderate requirements apply to the BSS, is the FISMA assessment due at NTP+30 or when submitting the A&A package for ATO? # Requirement Reference Deliverable Description Reference Deliverable Name Both SEC A&A and NTP+30 Initial 16 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CM-9 Configuration Management Plan (CMP) Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 85 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CM-9 Configuration Management Plan (CMP) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 12 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CP-2 Contingency Plan (CP) Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 78 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CP-2 Contingency Plan (CP) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 13 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CP-4 Contingency Plan Test Plan (CPTP) Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 80 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CP-4 Contingency Plan Test Plan (CPTP) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 14 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CP-4 Contingency Plan Test Report (CPTR) Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 83 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CP-4 Contingency Plan Test Report (CPTR) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 20 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CA-7 Continuous Monitoring Plan Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 92 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CA-7 Continuous Monitoring Plan Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 8 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; AC-1 GSA NIST 800-53 R4 Control Tailoring Workbook Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 74 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; AC-1 GSA NIST 800-53 R4 Control Tailoring Workbook Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 9 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; AC-1 GSA NIST SP 800-53 R4 Control Summary Table Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 75 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; AC-1 GSA NIST SP 800-53 R4 Control Summary Table Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 17 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; IR-8 Incident Response Plan (IRP) Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 87 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; IR-8 Incident Response Plan (IRP) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 18 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; IR-3 Incident Response Test Report (IPTR) Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 91 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; IR-3 Incident Response Test Report (IRTR) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 22 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CA-7 and RA-5 Independent internal and external penetration tests and reports Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 58 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CA-7 and RA-5 Independent internal and external penetration tests and reports Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 7 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CA-3 Information System Interconnection Security Agreements (ISA) Yes Within 30 days of NTP 73 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CA-3 Information System Interconnection Security Agreements (ISA) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 68 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CA-5 Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 72 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CA-5 Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 10 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; PL-4 Rules of Behavior (RoB) Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 76 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; PL-4 Rules of Behavior (RoB) Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package 11 C.2.8.4.5.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CM-8 System Inventory Yes Initial: Within 30 days of NTP 77 G.5.6.4 NIST SP 800-53 R4; CM-8 System Inventory Yes Initial: With the Security A&A package

Answer:

The offeror's statement that 'The BSS is not required to be operational until 12 months after NTP' is incorrect with regards to BSS testing and availability. Section G.2.3 states: 'The contractor shall complete and pass the BSS validation testing, as stated in the contract, within 12 months from the acceptance of the BSS Verification Test Plan (see Section E.2.1).'

RFP Section C.1.8.7.3 states "In addition to the contractor’s Business Support System (BSS) requirements identified in Section G.5.6, the implementation of any contractor IT system that stores, transports or processes federal government data requires a formal approval process known as security A&A. NIST SP 800-37, Revision 1 (hereinafter listed as NIST SP 800-37) and agency-specific IT security procedural guidance, associated with managing enterprise risk, provides guidance for performing the security A&A process."

Section C.1.8.7.3 is a general statement of coverage of security A&A requirements for any contractor IT system in addition to the BSS.

Section F provides the list of two distinct deliverables associated with BSS Security A&A [Section G.5.6], which is required, and for the delivery of MTIPS services [C.2.8.4.5.4], if offered. There are no duplicate deliverables in Section F. The BSS Security A&A deliverable timelines are clearly specified in Section F [items 41-76]. There is no deferral on delivery time lines for items defined in Section F.

Question:

Please confirm that if we are adding, changing, or removing elements in a catalog, and we are not establishing a new discount class, that we will submit the new prices to GSA as a "c" catalog submission but this submission will not result in an actual contract modification? This is similar to how we expect to load Task Order driven changes such as ICB CLINs and TUCs.

Answer:

Yes, the described change can occur without a contract modification.

If an offeror desires to add, change, or remove items in a catalog, the offeror shall do so via a "c" catalog submission, as described in Section J.4, and this submission will not result in a contract modification.

If an offeror desires to add, change, or remove a discount class, the offeror shall do so via a contract modification submission. If an offeror desires to increase the discount associated with a discount class for a specific task order, the offeror shall do so via a TO-specific submission, and this submission will not result in a contract modification.

Question:

GSA IT Security Procedural Guide 06-30, Managing Enterprise Risk cannot be found anywhere within the reachable government Internet available set of documents, or attachments to the RFP. It is a document which is referred to on many lines of the BSS Security Plan and the SSP System Security Plan sections. Can GSA advise where we may obtain this document?

Answer:

Please refer to Section J.6.

Question:

Would GSA please give some examples of the 4-character Description field? This will help the subcontractors to plan how to map the first Allowable Tax file received from GSA after contract award to our internal tax tables.

Answer:

The 4-character description field is used to capture a discrete set of coded values. The list of these values is not currently available but will be made available not later than the release of the reference tables which will occur not later than NTP as described in Section E.2.1.

Question:

Section J.2.9.2.2 states that we may compress BLOB attachments. Section J.4 also states that we may compress contract mod files. May we also compress other deliverables such as BI, BA etc.?

Answer:

Yes, single file data sets specified for submission in PSV in Section J.2.10.2.1 may be compressed in a zip file with the following caveats:

1. The compressed file must be in a zip format as specified for attachments in Section J.2.9.2.2.

2. Each data set is submitted independently - e.g., multiple BIs must be submitted separately; however, each can be zipped.

Question:

Establishing connectivity between a provider's BSS and GSA Conexus will require firewall and backend systems configuration work. The setup requires time to perform. For all incoming and outgoing files including all the reference data files, providers will require file names, destination address, and account details. In order to support timely start of BSS verification testing, by when will GSA provide data exchange details?

Answer:

GSA will provide the EIS offerors a testing environment for data exchange to perform preliminary testing with the Conexus system on November 1, 2016. GSA is preparing the terms and conditions for preliminary testing that the EIS offerors will need to accept [RFP Section E.2.1] prior to accessing the test environment. Additional reference data and technical details will be available not later than NTP as described in Section E.2.1.

Question:

Will GSA consider adding a field for NSC Code to the Allowable Tax File? This would allow vendors to map the Allowable Tax File accurately to their internal implementation of the tax rules, given that county and city names often have variations in spelling and punctuation, especially for names with embedded abbreviations or symbols.

Answer:

No, the NSC Code will not be added to the Allowable Tax File.

Question:

Would GSA confirm that the tax_item_number (Tax Identification Number) will be unique, so that each row in the file will have a different tax_item_number?

Answer:

Yes, the tax_item_number is unique to each line item.

Question:

Would GSA confirm that the tax_item_number will not change in different versions of the file, sent to vendors in different months?

Answer:

Yes, the tax_item_number will be the same across versions.

Question:

Would GSA explain the purpose of the tax_item_mod_number?

Answer:

The tax_item_mod_number functions as a version number for the tax_item_number to capture changes in the associated values.

Question:

Would GSA explain how taxes with multiple rates will be represented in the Allowable Tax File? For example, Illinois state-level Relay Service and Equipment Tax, Citation: Section 13-703 of the Illinois Public Utilities Act (220 ILCS 5/13-703). This tax has a different rate depending on the product.

Answer:

In the example provided multiple lines would appear in the table (assuming the tax is allowable).

Question:

Would GSA explain how taxes that can be both fixed-rate and percentage-based will be represented in the Allowable Tax File? For example, Arizona city-level Sales Tax, citation = Ariz. Rev .Stat. ?42-5061 & AZ TPR 99-1.

Answer:

In the event that both fixed-rate and percentage-based tax rules apply, both of the corresponding data fields would be populated in the table for that line item in the allowable tax file.

Question:

Would GSA explain how taxes that may or may not have a maximum, depending on the product, will be represented in the Allowable Tax File? For example, Nebraska state-level Telecomm Relay Surcharge, citation: Neb. Rev. Statute? 86-312.

Answer:

Multiple products would be listed in separate lines while the three 'max' data fields (max_allowed_by, max_percent, and max_fixed_rate) would capture specific limits.

The example described (assuming it is allowable) would be addressed by a combination of these specific data fields and additional line items in the allowable tax file.