Addendum to RFI-ISS-20-102.pdf

Addendum to RFI-ISS-20-102

ADDENDUM TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION/SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, BUREAU OF THE FISCAL SERVICE

OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND SECURITY SERVICES

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

This is a Request for Information/Sources Sought (RFI) notice issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service on behalf of Fiscal Service’s Office of Information and Security Services (ISS). The purpose of this notice is to obtain industry information and identify potential sources that are both capable of, and interested in, providing colocation services as described below. This information is being sought for acquisition planning purposes.

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

ISS is seeking to identify potential vendors for data center colocation services. Proposed data center colocation services shall satisfy all of the requirements described in the technical requirement document included with this RFI. Potential vendors shall note that the 10G connections to both colocation centers’ on-site cloud exchange providers shall not utilize a third-party for the connections; further, the 10G connections between the data centers on the East and West Coasts shall not utilize a third-party provider for those connections. These requirements are included in the technical requirements document.

ADDENDUM TO THE RFI/SS NOTICE

Fiscal Service has received questions from potential respondents regarding the RFI/SS notice. The questions, along with Fiscal Service’s replies, are listed below.

Potential respondent question: Clarify the technical definition of “interconnection services,” "cloud service provider," "cloud services," and "onsite cloud service onramp." Paragraph 7 lists several examples of "services" that are not commonly known to be "cloud service providers." For example, ServiceNow is a cloud-based IT service manager provider, not a cloud service provider. Similarly, Verizon SDI is a software defined interconnect service, not a cloud provider.

Government reply: The intent is to connect to an exchange that provides a software-defined interconnection to cloud service providers, software-as-a-service providers, infrastructure-as-a-service providers, platform-as-a-service providers, and carrier-software-defined connections. This would provide the maximum interchanges possible with the quickest way possible.

Potential respondent question: Clarify whether the connections to cloud services must be direct or virtual. Paragraph 1 states: "The colocated data center locations shall have direct connectivity to multiple cloud providers as described in this document." This conflicts with Paragraph 7 which requires "provisioning of multiple virtual connections…"

Government reply: Because of the criticality of the Treasury Trusted Internet Connections, the intent is to have the initial 2x10G connections to the cloud interconnection platform hosted onsite and virtually assign circuits to the SDN exchange to provision the PVCs off of it. Making sure that all of the 40 “cloud providers” are located within the data center campus is to ensure that the maximum availability between the cloud exchange and the cloud service providers, software-as-a-service providers, infrastructure-as-a-service providers, platform-as-a-service providers, and carrier software-defined connections.

Potential respondent question: Clarify whether the minimum 40 "cloud providers" must be physically present at the data center or at the data center campus. Paragraph 7 of the RFI states: The on-site cloud exchange provider shall have a minimum of 40 onsite cloud provider onramps at the colocation data center campus where the Fiscal Service hardware will be housed. This is different than the requirement in Required Services Section which refers to "data center."

Government reply: Fiscal Service is aware that a colocation data center provider could have several buildings within a closed campus setting. The intent is to have all of the cloud service providers within that setting that the provider has owns all of the interconnections within the campus and does not require a third party to also maintain the interconnectivity and potentially expose FS data.

Potential respondent question: The exclusion of the use of third-party providers for network connectivity restricts competition without a justifiable reason. The stated objective is to "allow for low-latency network availability to several hosted cloud services." This can be achieved with third party providers at significant cost savings to the government.

Government reply: Because of the criticality of the Treasury Trusted Internet Connections, the intent is to have the initial 2x10G connections to the Cloud Interconnection Platform hosted onsite and virtually assign circuits to the SDN exchange to provision the PVCs off of it. Making sure that all of the 40 “cloud providers” are located within the data center campus is to ensure that the maximum availability between the cloud exchange and the cloud service providers, software-as-a-service providers, infrastructure-as-a-service providers, platform-as-a-service providers, and carrier software-defined connections. If the third party has to have connectivity outside of the data center locations, the following complications would be added:

a. If we were to utilize a third-party, we would have multiple vendors to troubleshoot connectivity issues. We would have one for Layer 1 connectivity between our cage and the third-party provider’s cage. We would have the Layer 1 link from the Data Center to the off-site third-party’s main connectivity point. The troubleshooting from third-party provider and the cloud providers on-ramp.

And then the Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity between Fiscal Services and the Cloud Service provider through the 3rd Party Fabric. Fiscal Service was eliminating third-party providers.

b. Fiscal Service was removing third-party providers to make sure that everything was contained local to the environment within our cage so that all troubleshooting could be contained and allowing for a quick remediation time, which would keep the disruptions to the Treasury TIC service to a minimum.

DEADLINE FOR RESPONSES

Vendors shall submit responses to the RFI/SS notice by e-mail to purchasing@fiscal.treasury.gov no later than 4:00pm Monday, August 24, 2020. Responses shall reference “Response to RFI-ISS-20-102, ATTN: GFETTY/AFOREMAN” in the subject line of the e-mail message.

DISCLAIMERS

This notice is not a request for proposal/quote, and this notice does not imply an obligation on the part of the Government to purchase products/services or to proceed to any request for proposal/quote for such products/services. Further, this notice does not obligate the Government to ultimately pursue a particular acquisition strategy. The Government shall not be liable for any costs incurred by vendors in preparing and submitting a response to this notice. Submission of a response confers no rights upon the responder.

NO FORMAL SOLICITATION IS AVAILABLE. Requests for additional information and/or a copy of the solicitation will not be considered an affirmative response to this posting. Telephone responses or inquiries to this request will not be accepted.

All responding vendors are advised that responses to this notice, in and of themselves, will in no way be mailto:purchasing@fiscal.treasury.gov considered for contract award. In the event that a resultant solicitation would ensue, interested parties would be required to respond separately and formally in order to be considered for contract award.

Additionally, a determination not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this request would be at the sole discretion of the Government.

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