Sol_SOL-R5-15-00007_Amd_000002.pdf

Questions and Answers for SOL-R5-15-00007

Region 5, Information Technology Support

These are most of the questions received from January 20, 2016 through January 22, 2016. EPA will provide cumulative responses via FedConnect and not individually.

Question 1: How many Reasonable Accommodation (RA) users at off-site residences will require support?

Answer 1: Region 5 currently has 8 RA users who work at alternate work sites.

Question 2: May the offeror assume that all RA residences are within 50 miles of an office listed in this section?

Answer 2: Yes.

Question 3: How many Reasonable Accommodation (RA) users at off-site residences will require support?

Answer 3: Region 5 currently has 8 RA users who work at alternate work sites.

Question 4: Can the Government please provide an estimate of the number of employee separations in a typical month or year? Can the Government provide an estimate for each site, as well as for the region as a whole?

Answer 4: During the month of December – end of calendar year – 13; During an average month in

2015 – 8; No information is kept by IT on sites.

Question 5: How much travel is required to the alternate, remote, and satellite offices?

Answer 5: Travel is done on an as needed basis. Last year only four visits to the COOP site.

Questions 6: Will the Contractor be required to provide full-time staff at every site?

Answer 6: No, most sites have a possible sporadic visit and they share and are monitored by local

EPA department staff for connection services. Support for equipment maintained by this contract are sent to the contactor staff via UPS.

Question 7: We are interested in the numbers of EPA and non-EPA staff. We also request the numbers of business units, call centers, and executives to be served, if that information is available.

Answer 7: Chicago Primary office -- 1190 to 1250 users ( high temporary user count)

For IT support EPA vs. non-EPA are not tracked. R5 does not have a business but we do have a conference floor of 11 meeting rooms. R5 has one Regional call center – Agency has one Call Center.

There is an estimate of 12 top executives across the R5 Divisions and Offices; none at the satellite offices. See below for more information.

Question 8: Please provide number the following information at each location.

Answer 8: Note information in the table below does not contain information about the main office site in Chicago.

Location Number of Users Number of

Network

Devices

Number of

Conference

Rooms

Number of Servers

Number of

Physical and

Virtual servers

EPA Chicago Regional

Laboratory (CRL)

43 10 2 5

Criminal Investigations

Division (CID)

300 South Riverside

Chicago, IL 60606

7 – All networking managed by HQ-

CID.—Offices will move to main

Chicago site 2016

0 0 0

Grosse Ile, MI office 13 - ORD operated. All equipment controlled by

ORD. The R5 users simply use the existing infrastructure.

Westlake, OH office 18 4 1

Middleburg Heights, OH office

Middleburg is HQ operated. CID users 3 from above count

Saginaw, MI office 2 - Library office

– remotes to

Chicago Site.

Continuity of

Operations Plan

(COOP)

Facility/Superfund

Warehouse, Willowbrook, IL

N/A 4 4

Office of Superfund, Emergency Operations

Center, Des Plaines, IL

Site – open to all

Fed. and St.

agencies involved in emergency situations user are remote to Chicago site network

GLPNO 77 users –

Located in

Chicago – Use site Network and

External network connections

9 No proprietary rooms – uses

Chicago Site rooms

19 77

Question 9: Is the winning bidder responsible for one channel of EM (e.g. phones), or does the responsibility blend into other channels, e.g. e-mail, chat, etc.?

Answer 9: The Task for telecommunication services is responsible for phone support and other services as laid out in the solicitation.

Question 10: The Performance Matrix does not provide definite response times for parts of Task 1. What are the standards for 4.1.1 and 4.1.3?

Answer 10: These services are timed by dates provided in the TSR which will be requesting these services. Delays beyond the TSR dates may be acceptable when approved by Task Manager over the

Task or Project Officer.

Question 11: The Performance Matrix gives "within 24 hours" as the standard for performance under paragraph

4.1.2. Is this the same as the standard "within 1 working day" given for paragraph 4.2.5.2? If not, please describe the difference.

Answer 11: No, because 4.1.2 requests are user driven and could be called in the late afternoon or require user availability. Requests under 4.2.5.2 are Regional phone system breakdowns that require working with Agency lead telephone support and require immediate attention with the Agency support

Question 12: Can the Government please describe which Regional Telephone Database and VoIP Inventory

Tracking System Database are currently in use at EPA Region 5?

Answer 12: Databases are currently Lotus Notes driven and are on the list for conversion per Agency decision.

Question 13: When in 2016 are EVS and ENS expected to be deployed?

Answer 13: So far, third/fourth quarter and then in stages.

Question 14: What is the anticipated delta between the current environment and the ‘to-be’ environment once EVS and ENS are deployed?

Answer 14: Centralized management of our network by RTP and desktops will be regulated and updated through RTP designed controls. – This will take quite a bit of time.

Question 15: Which of the Server and Network components have (or don’t have) a vendor maintenance agreement

(see PWS para 5.5.3)?

Answer 15: 2 EOL Switches

Question 16: What application tool is used to capture audit logs for network and server components? [Para. 5.5 &

5.6]

Answer 16: Arc Sight – HQ access only.

Question 17: Is the Microsoft Exchange server running on a local Region 5 server, in the Cloud with Microsoft

Office 365, or both? Please explain.

Answer 17: For Region 5 No –MS Exchange server is running; there is a server for GLNPO and it is secluded to their external network in the NOC

Question 18: To better understand current and potential future capabilities at EPA, can the Government please indicate which level of Microsoft Office365 subscription the EPA currently has in Region 5?

Answer 18: Windows 7 Enterprise

Question 19: How many Cisco devices are in the network and what buildings and cities are they located in?

Answer 19: 40 Switches 30 AP’s – Main Office, CRL, EDO, COOP

Question 20: Provide number of database servers Oracle and MS SQL Servers.

Answer 20: 10 – Oracle database Servers and 1 – MS SQL Server

Question 21: Are the databases for Oracle and MSSQL clustered?

Answer 21: No.

Question 22: How many virtual servers are running on physical servers?

Answer 22: 60.

Question 23: What are the locations of the NOC and NOC core switch?

Answer 23: 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago

Question 24: This vendor believes that NOC staff is required only at locations listed in paragraph 1.3. Is this correct? If not, please explain.

Answer 24: Not correct, not all locations listed have NOCs managed by Region 5.

Question 25: Does the Government maintain more than one Inventory database that the Contractor will need to maintain? If so, do the systems require double data entry or is there automation for syncing?

Answer 25: Contractors maintain inventories specific to their areas – phone – workstation equipment – NOC. Areas are not related

Question 26: In order to better estimate the time required to perform backups, can the Government please indicate the size of an average full system backup?

Answer 26: 30 TB

Question 27: How many Terabytes/Petabytes are in the storage environments (SAN & NAS)? How many user folders/files?

Answer 27: 300 TB; Unable to provide information on number of user files and folders.

Question 28: Can the Government please provide an estimate of the number of media productions in a typical month or year? Can the Government provide an estimate for each site, as well as for the region as a whole?

Answer 28: Contractor does not perform productions. Depending on activates being performed contractor may be required to backup their data or archive their data according to vendor requirements. Contractor does copy separated user files for archive for Records Management for every separation see above numbers. No site information available.

Question 29: Are the Region 5 Network Operations Center (NOC) and Regional Hotline/3Help Desk in the same location?

Answer 29: At the same location but not the same floor.

Question 30: Will offerors have access to EPA enterprise-level tools for managing and patching GFE computers?

Answer 40: Yes.

Question 31: How many workstations have an EPA Enterprise standard configuration compared to a Region 5 or

Local unique configuration?

Answer 31: All user desktops and laptops are required to have the Agency Enterprise image as its basic: over 1600 computers.

Question 32: Can the Government please provide an estimate of the number of evaluations in a year? [para. 6.2.2.]

Answer 32: 2.

Question 33: In order to provide a more accurate fixed price bid, can the Government please provide an estimate of the number of USGCB updates per year?

Answer 33: Images are controlled by HQ and change with major enterprise changes. Roughly three per year.

Question 34: Are there any specialized telephony workloads (e.g., call centers) in Region 5? If so, please provide locations, call center names, and numbers of staff to be supported.

Answer 34: The Help Desk is the only Regional call center needing support.

Question 35: Does the Region 5 3-HELP Desk have a central location? If so, where is it?

Answer 35: Yes, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago

Question 36: Will the contractor be given access to the existing procedures for 3-HELP Desk operations?

Answer 36: Yes, after award.

Question 37: Is there an Automated Call Distribution (ACD) process or are they direct calls to an agent? If so, what is the nature of the ACD?

Answer 37: Help Desk is a simple setup of phone agents answering calls and assisting users. Calls beyond the Help Desk Agents are forwarded to voice mail where agents will attend to the calls within an hour.

Question 38: What software version of Remedy is used by EPA region 5? Additionally, what modules of Remedy are used within EPA?

Answer 38: Remedy is expected to have a version upgrade to version 8.1 by the time this contract is in place. Noted modules are Change Control and Incident Reporting

Question 39: What part of the organization controls/owns Remedy and how does the requests for enhancements, that supports request submissions, routing, tracking and consistent metrics, occur?

Answer 39: Remedy is managed by OEI (Office of Environmental Information) in Research Triangle Park

(RTP). The majority of the users including the Help Desk support have rights-driven usage of the system for tracking support calls (creating and closing). Reports may be requested. The new upgrade is expected to allow limited/approved support users to create their own Regional and site reports.

Question 40: Is the REMEDY call-tracking database named here the same as the Government provided "EPA enterprise help desk ticketing system" described in paragraph 3.1.2? If not, please explain.

Answer 40: Yes.

Question 41: Does the Government's REMEDY system have the Asset Management module?

Answer 41: Yes, but not available to regions.

Question 42: Does the current Help Desk operation use an ACD system that collects and reports call center metrics like Call Wait Time, Abandoned Calls, Length of Call, etc. and if so what system is used?

Answer 42: Not in the Regional center.

Question 43: In order for offerors to develop an accurate fixed-price bid, an accurate estimate of ticket count serviced by the 3HELP Desk is necessary. The ticket count provided in section 6.1 is significantly different from the count provided in Appendix B. Can the Government please provide the accurate counts offerors should use to calculate the workload for its proposed staff?

Answer 43: Calls are driven by user need – problems. Calls average at 950 to 1300. With 980 as the mean.

Question 44: In Appendix B, the Government provided a one-month "Example" list of ticket counts. Are these accurate counts for the entire region or an estimate?

Answer 44: The number is an actual number for one month for the entire Region.

Question 45: In Appendix B, the Government has provided a one-month "Example" list of ticket counts. Is this a typical month? Will the Government provide an estimate of the highest ticket count for the busiest month of the year?

Answer 45: The number was an actual sample of a high month. Number fluctuates with enterprise activities from 950 to 1300. With 980 as the mean.

Question 46: The Government has provided a one-month "Example" list of ticket counts. What are the ticket counts by site?

Answer 46: Customers are not identified in the Remedy system by site but by Division due to the small number at the site which is an extension of a division. We are not able to provide this information.

Question 47: In order to ensure offeror’s proposals and staffing levels are as accurate as possible, can the

Government please provide the average monthly count of tickets resolved at each tier (1, 2 3)?

Answer 47: This information is not available.

Question 48: Will the Government provide total number supported PC’s, Laptop, printers, servers, counting

Windows and UNIX/Linux separately? Will the Government provide a breakdown by location?

Answer 48: Upon award.

Question 49: PWS Section 7.1.1 states “The contractor shall install, configure, and maintain Region 5 databases used by EPA as the database engines for application data.” Can the Government please indicate how many databases currently exist and how many new databases were added in the last year?

Answer 49: There are 14 database. New ones are added approximately one every other year.

Question 50: How many Lotus databases does the Government currently maintain across the Region 5 enterprise?

Answer 50: Lotus Notes is a legacy system which will expire in 2018, maintenance is minimal and handled by EPA personnel either in the IT area or in the Divisions. Contractors handle user connections from their desktops.

Question 51: The Government has stated that your Lotus Notes migration must be completed by 2017/2018. Does this include all Lotus applications or just the email services?

Answer 51: Email Service was discontinued 3 years ago. Database owners are reviewing options in converting their Notes databases to other database programs with HQ assistance.

Question 52: PWS 7.1.2 states “The contractor shall provide maximum database availability and recoverability”.

However, the Government does not prescribe a performance metric nor an SLA for this activity. Can the

Government please indicate what it defines as “maximum database availability”?

Answer 52: While Contractor will maintain these DBs, the owners of the DBs will drive the need and assistance required and are included in any DB activity due to licensing and usage time-frames.

Question 53: Is Xacta support required for the entire Region 5 enterprise, or just for the GLNPO R5 AA and

GLNPO External 5LAKES environments?

Answer 53: Xacta is an Agency used system that is required to be used by the Regional Security

Contractor in supporting the SIO, including GLNPO’s external network.

Question 54: Please clarify: Will contractor personnel be entering any data into Xacta, or are they just supplying the information to the Security Manager who will be entering data?

Answer 54: Contractor updating up Xacta is possible and will be a permission driven activity approved by the ISO and under his guidance.

Question 55: The RFP requires submission of, and evaluates, the Information Technology Security and Privacy

Plan (ITSPP) with the proposal, while the PWS states that the “further detailed” Information Technology Security and Privacy Plan (ITSPP) is due 45 days after contract award. Several PWS references cite important security and privacy information that will be made available after contract award:

a. 1.10.1. The contractor shall comply with the security policies established by EPA Region 5. The policies will be provided to the contractor upon contract award (Refer to Standards and References Section).

b. Section 10: Other documents listed can be accessed thru the following EPA intranet websites. The contractor will have access to these documents upon contract award … Applicable Publications and Forms.

– list on Agency Intranet http://intranet.epa.gov/ITSecurity/compoversightassit/epapol.html#3 - EPA

Policies, Procedures, Technical Operations and Standards, and Guidance

c. We respectfully request that the ITSPP delivery be required post award when the winning vendor will have access to the required documents, in lieu of with the proposal. If the ITSPP remains an evaluated section of the proposal, we request that all bidders have equal access to the security documentation and guidance that is currently posted on the EPA Intranet.

Answer 55: The ITSPP evaluation will not include the PWS deliverable post award deliverable. The ability of an offeror to describe the purpose, scope, roles, responsibilities, management commitment, coordination among organizational entities, identification, classification and risk mitigation plan, and compliance with applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidance should not be impacted without post award documents. The further detailed approach should reflect the post award documentation.

Question 56: Do the GLNPO External 5LAKES Network and associated servers have a central location? If so, where are they?

Answer 56: Yes, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago – Region 5 NOC.

Question 57: Does the GLNPO external LAN have a central location? If so, where is it?

Answer 57: GLNPO external network is housed with the Regional network in the Region 5 NOC.

Question 58: Are the GLNPO Data Center and NOC located at 77 West Jackson Blvd?

Answer 58: GLNPO’s Data Center and NOC are interchangeable terms. Yes, all GLNPO NOC is housed in the main Chicago site on Jackson.

Question 59: Is the "Great Lakes Communications Center (Audio-visual Conference Room)” the same as the "12th floor Conference Center" described in paragraph 4.5? If not, where is it?

Answer 59: No, this AV center is a conference room with AV abilities, It is house with GLNPO staff at 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago

Question 60: Paragraph 9.1.2 states that users access the GLNPO External 5LAKES Network "via connection though dedicated ports in their cubicles." Are these dedicated ports clearly labeled ?

Answer 60: Yes.

Question 61: Paragraph 9.1.2.2 states that GLNPO External 5LAKES network support "includes the administration of the Juniper VPN device." This vendor found no other references to Juniper systems in the body of the PWS. Who will have responsibility for Tier 1 help desk calls and other aspects of support for the Juniper VPN?

Answer 61: This is an External network that is isolated for public use and assigned to specific

GLNPO Contractor administrators

Question 62: Paragraph 9.4.1.1 states the Contractor "shall reset network passwords as they expire." Does this include local passwords on PCs?

Answer 62: No, The passwords referred to in this section are taken out of context – this is in reference to external account passwords.

Question 63: Paragraph 9.4.1.1 requires the Contractor to "contact new users with expiring password notices."

Does EPA have an automated system to support this task?

Answer 63: This is a GLNPO requirement for their external network. It is automated to flag accounts and disable them until the non-EPA user sends a message per instructions on site.

Question 64: Paragraph 9.5.7.2.3 mentions "server-change log file entries for each network." Does EPA have a

Change Management System? If so, please describe it, including the software release.

Answer 64: this is part of the external network that operates in GLNPO. EPA does have a Change

Management System; however, this external network is not part of it because it is secluded.

Question 65: Regarding the 27 FTEs, what are the job categories and FTE breakdown per category?

Answer 65: This will vary and be based upon each prospective vendor’s technical approach.

Question 66: Can submission date be moved to a weekday?

Answer 66: The submission date is a weekday.

Question 67: Revised due time of 7 AM on 8th Feb 2016 is too early and out of regular office hours. Could this be extended to end of business hours on 8th Feb’ 2016?

Answer 67: Due to the expected number of responses, delays could impact award and continuity of operations.

Question 68: Reference: EPAAR 1552.215-75 Performance Information. Is the $150,000 per year or over the life of the contract?

Answer 68: $150,000 per year.

Questions 69: Travel arrangements must be performed by corporate personnel not onsite and not directly billed to the effort. Therefore, will the Government allow the contractor to add material handling fee or G&A to travel?

Answer 69: No. Any overhead expenses should be included in the fixed monthly price. The continuation of

SF 1449 requires all fixed labor rates for incidental Time-and-Material to be include all other G&A expenses.

Question 70: Is there a page count requirement on corporate capabilities in section 2.2 of the RFP

Answer 70: The overall document must comply with the electronic file size limitations of 2 Gigabytes.

Question 71: Do we need to include Attachment 5 (Past Performance Questionnaire) as part of our response documents? If yes, in which volume?

Answer 71: The Client Authorization requests for the organization completing the questionnaire to submit directly to us.

Question 72: On the SF1449 (page 2 of 41), we noticed that the base year period of performance is not specified for

CLINs 0002A and 0002B. Will the government issue a revised SF1449 with the period of performance included?

Answer 72: The anticipated base year period of performance is includes on the SF 1449 continuation form, Part (b).

Question 73: Solicitation page 23 of 38 under section, “EPAAR 1552.215-75 PAST PERFORMANCE

INFORMATION. (OCT 2000)” in regards to requirement, “(g”) Past Performance Questionnaire identified in attachment 5. Since EPA generally does not provide PPQs for its contractors, will the Government accept CPAR evaluations to meet the requirement?

Answer 73: FAR 15.305(a)(2)(ii) includes government officials considering other sources.

Question 74: The latest Mod has the due date for questions as COB on Thursday, Jan. 22. Is it Thursday, Jan 21 or

Friday, Jan. 22? Thank you.

Answer 74: Jan. 22

Question 75: Please confirm that this is a professional services contract, and that the CLINs include labor only [SF-

1449 CLINs 0002, 0002A, 0003A, 0004A, and 0005]

Answer 75: The technical approach defined by the offeror will determine labor categories. Offerors may choose to include Department of Labor Service categories.

Question 76: Please confirm that pricing by labor category is not required and no further pricing breakdown is required by task area, besides unit price X 12 months.

Answer 76: For Time-and-Material [Refer to the continuation of SF-1449 CLINs 0002, 0002A, 0003A, 0004A, and 0005], pricing by labor category is required. The evaluation of price will also include the professional compensation plan.

Question 77: Can the Government please clarify what is required under the “Prime Contractor/Key Subcontractor

Corporate Resumes” section? Does this section require a corporate capabilities write-up for the Prime Contractor and Subcontractor or actual resumes from key corporate executives?

Answer 77: Actual resumes from key corporate executives are not requested. The resume focus should be on the organization. Prospective vendors may include if they choose.

(x)

SOL-R5-15-00007

x x

1 copies 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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT

THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE 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 date specified.

x

R5

Chicago IL 60604-3507 77 West Jackson Boulevard US Environmental Protection Agency Region 5

01/22/2016000002

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) is not extended.is extended, Items 8 and 15, and returning

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

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

FACILITY CODE CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)CODE 6. ISSUED BY

PAGE OF PAGES

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.3. EFFECTIVE DATE2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

01/08/2016

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority) appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

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

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

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

This is a solicitation for Region 5 Information Technology Support Services: Voice/Data

Telecommunication Support, Network Infrastructure Support, Help Desk and End User Support, Database Administration Support, Computer/Network System Security Support, and External

Network Support for the Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO). Requests for proposals are being requested at this time.

The purpose of amendment 2 to the solicitation is to post most of the questions and answers received from January 20, 2016 through January 22, 2016.

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

15C. DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer)

Darlene McGary

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

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

01/22/2016