eFax RFI 06.16.2025.pdf

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

FINANCE AND FACILITIES DIVISION | PROCUREMENT SECTION

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

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Electronic Fax (eFax) Solution

SHOP-PR-25-002011

Responses due:

June 23, 2025

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DISCLAIMER

THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR

QUOTE. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT

BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER

NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO FUNDS ARE

AVAILABLE TO PAY FOR PREPARATION OF RESPONSES TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY INFORMATION

SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY.

INTRODUCTION

Responses to this RFI may be used to formulate final requirements and/or to identify qualified vendors capable of meeting those requirements. The description below outlines preliminary requirements envisioned for the cloud Electronic Fax (eFax) solution. The information gathered may be used to formulate acquisition strategies for competitive solicitations.

BACKGROUND

The FBI’s Information Technology Infrastructure Division (ITID) is in the process of migrating from slow and costly manual/semi-automated fax processes to a FedRAMP authorized Software as a Service (SaaS) eFax solution. Across the FBI, multiple stove-pipe fax solutions exist with additional requirements being contracted locally, resulting in inefficient implementation and sustainment costs. With the federal

Government’s migration to “cloud first” and “cloud smart” strategies, this potential effort represents a critical opportunity to improve and simplify a vital communications requirement while simultaneously reducing the physical footprint and capital expenditures cost to the FBI.

A centrally managed, cloud hosted fax service will allow for increased efficiency and security, thus decreasing the time and cost associated with FBI staff manually processing documents while also supporting new operational requirements. FBI locations (domestic and foreign) send/receive roughly 2 million faxes per year. The largest utilizer will be located in West Virginia with usage being roughly 1.6M

Request for Information (RFI) Version 1.2 Page 3 faxes received annually. One Washington, DC location utilizes approximately 50K per year, the remaining being spread throughout domestic and foreign locations.

SaaS Definition

SaaS is an application delivery model in which the application is hosted on a cloud infrastructure outside the security boundary of FBI and is provided to the Cloud Service Customer (CSC) over the internet.

Software hosted in FBI Enterprise Cloud does not meet this definition of SaaS. The CSC uses the SaaS offering via a thin-client interface, such as a web-browser or a program interface. The CSC subscribes to the SaaS offering and is only responsible for limited application configuration settings. The Cloud Service

Provider (CSP) offering the application is responsible for management of the application, safeguarding of data stored or processed by the application, and all elements of the underlying infrastructure.

To qualify as SaaS for use at the FBI, and to align with FedRAMP requirements, the hosting for the offering must conform to the NIST 800-145 definition of Cloud Computing and thus contain the following key characteristics:

• On-Demand Self-Service: The CSP fully automates the provisioning of both the customer interface and the underlying cloud components of the SaaS offering. In some cases, the CSP may provision internal resources manually, while providing the CSC an automated interface to request and track the service.

• Broad Network Access: The SaaS capabilities are available over the internet or over a network that is available from all access points the CSC requires. The SaaS offering is accessible through common platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).

• Resource Pooling: The computing infrastructure supporting the SaaS offering is shared among more than one CSC, and resources are dynamically assigned depending on customer demand.

• Rapid Elasticity: Computing capabilities are automatically provisioned and released in a manner that scales with customer demand. In some cases, the scaling of resources may not

Request for Information (RFI) Version 1.2 Page 4 be fully automated, but it should be fast enough to support the needs of the CSC, which the

CSC would have to define.

• Measured Service: Resource usage, such as storage, processing, bandwidth, and user activity are measured and reported on in a manner that is relevant to the SaaS offering.

The SaaS offering must be hosted within the United States. Data stored, processed, and transmitted within the offering must remain within the United States.

CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS

This RFI is open to both small and large business concerns for market research only and to request input from potential providers of commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) enterprise-wide Electronic Cloud

Fax Solution technologies/products. The FBI is researching products that can be developed and implemented to interface with FBI Microsoft Exchange Servers, along with the required maintenance to ensure system functionality. Interested parties should provide detailed answers to the questions below in their response. Based on the responses received from this RFI, respondents may be invited to participate in virtual demonstration meetings. Meetings are anticipated in July 2025. These meetings will be scheduled by the contracting office, if, and when they are conducted. Please review the questions thoroughly before responding to fully understand FBI’s requirements.

The Government seeks to identify vendors with FedRAMP Authorization capable of providing eFax solutions for this contemplated requirement by identifying themselves and responding to this RFI. Listed below are key questions for the FBI related to this requirement. Interested parties should provide detailed answers to the questions below in their response.

Questions

1. Does your prospective cloud application have a FedRAMP authorization and at what categorization level?

2. Will your implementation be specific for the FBI (i.e., single tenant) or is it a multi-tenant cloud environment?

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3. Is there any limit on the number of fax pages that can be received and transmitted in a day/month/year, and what factors affect the limits?

4. How scalable is your cloud environment for future expansion and what factors, if any, limit future growth?

5. How does your solution align with the above definition of SaaS?

6. Has your solution ever been integrated with Microsoft’s Office365 Government Computing

Cloud – High (GCC-High) environment (note, Microsoft’s GCC and GCC-High clouds are two physically separate Office365 environments)?

7. Has your solution ever been configured to use Microsoft’s Azure Government Active

Directory/EntraID for its identity provider?

8. Does your solution have an Application Programming Interface (API)?

9. Does your solution have Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capability?

10. Does the product/service offer the capability to port phone/fax numbers into the product/service?

11. Explain your product/service’s cost structure (e.g., do you charge per page, a flat monthly rate, a flat rate with limit and additional costs if limit is exceeded).

12. Provide evidence to show that your company can provide the requested services and/or products required (i.e., technical ability, personnel, and experience). Please identify the proposed COTS product that meets the requirements outlined above. Information provided shall be succinct and related to the requested information in this RFI. All submissions shall be unclassified.

13. Address whether your company has a GSA Schedule, NASA SEWP contract, or other governmentwide contract vehicles and if they are capable of providing these products/services on schedule. If able to provide the products/services on schedule, provide the schedule and SIN.

14. Any other assumptions, comments, concerns, and/or questions relating to the contemplated products/services.

15. License structuring and implementation timeline to include any developmental tasks associated with implementation.

16. Provide a list of any tools (e.g., software) needed for successful implementation.

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17. Provide examples related to similar services/products that have been provided to other government agencies.

NOTE: The response must be clear, concise, and complete. The FBI is under no obligation to provide feedback to the company, or to contact the company for clarification of any information submitted in response to this RFI. The FBI will not be responding to questions about this RFI or the eFax requirement.

Required Information:

Contractor Legal/DBA Name:

Address:

Point of Contact:

Telephone:

Email Address:

UEI Number:

Cage Code:

Applicable NAICS Codes:

Standard Business Size/Socioeconomic Status:

GSA Schedule:

NASA SEWP Contract:

Other Governmentwide Contract (Name and

Contract Number):

CONTEMPLATED REQUIREMENT

The FBI's ITID is issuing this RFI to:

Gather industry information on eFax solutions.

Request information on any industry changes or improvements that the FBI should consider when looking to achieve the product/service that meet requirements.

Request information on potential barriers to obtaining eFax solutions.

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Identify vendors with FedRAMP Authorization or in process of receiving FedRAMP Authorization who can provide an eFax solution.

RESPONSES

WHAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN YOUR RESPONSE:

1. All interested parties shall submit capability packages in response to this notice.

2. Do submit succinct, thoughtful responses to the requirements/questions listed in this RFI.

3. Do submit comments that address the FBI's requirements, assumptions, conditions or contemplated approaches to this future acquisition.

4. Do submit information and suggestions that may encourage new, different, or innovative approaches that would result in products, solutions, and direct savings to the FBI.

WHAT SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN YOUR RESPONSE:

1. Do not submit proposals or offers.

2. Do not submit past performance information or general descriptions of corporate experience.

3. Do not submit requests to be considered for award or to be notified of a future solicitation.

4. Do not submit requests to be added to a mailing list or distribution list.

5. Do not submit questions or comments not related to this RFI.

6. Do not respond via telephone.

RFI SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS:

Submit responses to this RFI by email to contracting point of contact Dylan Hankins at dehankins2@fbi.gov no later than June 23, 2025, at 10:00 AM Eastern Time. Please limit responses to no more than seven (7) pages, to include cover pages, appendices and attachments. All proprietary/company confidential material shall be clearly marked on every page that contains such.

The FBI reserves the right to not respond to any or all emails or materials submitted. All current FBI requirements identified herein are subject to change at any time, without further notice being required.

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The FBI envisions that once RFI responses are reviewed, selected respondent(s) may be invited to participate in a virtual demonstration to FBI personnel to answer additional questions with respect to the response given. The FBI shall maintain sole discretion if post RFI briefings are warranted. In addition, the FBI reserves the right to identify industry partners that may be invited to provide additional market research information at such time that it sees fit.