Middleware Performance Based Work Statement - 101711-Ed-KISAM.doc

Middleware O&M – TIRNO-12-R-00004

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE (IRS)

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and Development Support of the Server Middleware and Test Infrastructure Division

TIRNO-12-R-00004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION

PAGE

COVER PAGE

B

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES OR SERVICES

C

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

D

PACKING AND MARKING

E

INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

F

DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

G

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

H

SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENT

I

CONTRACT CLAUSES

J

ATTACHMENTS

K

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER

STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS

L

INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO

OFFERORS

M

EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

SECTION B – SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS

Base Period – May 01, 2012 through April 30, 2013

1. Fixed Price. The contractor will provide fixed pricing and fixed billing rates for the labor categories to provide Operation and Maintenance and Software Development as stated below.

2. Operation and Maintenance and Software Development. The solicitation is divided in to two parts. The two parts are Operation and Maintenance and Software Development for the 1-year base period including four (4) 1 year option periods. The Offeror shall provide Operation and Maintenance at a Firm Fixed Price and Software Development shall be provided in accordance with Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) procedures. The IDIQ Software Development portion shall be issued by Task Orders on an as needed basis. The minimum and maximum quantity limits are expressed in terms of labor hours. The Government shall order at least the quantity of services designated in the schedule below as the “minimum quantity”. The minimum contract amount (minimum guarantee) for the entire contract period including option periods for the IDIQ portion is $10,000.00. The Contractor shall furnish to the Government, when and if ordered, the services specified in the Schedule up to and including the quantity designated in the Scheduled as the “maximum.”

3. Contract Type. The Government contemplates an award of a Firm Fixed Price/Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity type contract (reference number 2 above for more details).

4. Price. The offeror’s shall price the clins listed in the tables below. The Offeror must submit its price in accordance with the Schedule. The price shall include all costs such as labor, materials and travel. For the option years, offeror shall include escalation cost if applicable. No further escalation adjustments shall be allowed for the option periods at the time the options are exercised.

Base Year- May 1, 2012 through April 30, 2013

CLIN

Description

(per mo) Extended Total Price

Operation & Maintenance

C.3-C.3.2.8

Operation & Maintenance 7x24x365

12 months

NOTE CLIN 0002: After hours support as specified in Section C. This activity can be satisfied by on-site staff as needed, on-call procedures or remote access, as appropriate.

Section C.7

Section C.3.1

Contract Initiation Plan

Grand Total CLINs 0001-0004 for 12-Month Base:$

IDIQ

Section

C.4-C.4.20 Development Support

Labor Category Min/Max

EST Hours

0005i

EVALUATION TABLE

NOTE: The estimated number of hours and extended amounts are for evaluation of price purposes only (see itemization below).

IDIQ

Section

C.4-C.4.20

Development Support

Labor Category Hours Estimated

0005i

Grand Total CLINs 0001-0005 for 12-Month Base:

Note: Total includes FFP portion and IDIQ portion of contract

Option Year 1- May 1, 2013 through April 30, 2014

CLIN

Description

(per mo) Extended Total Price

Operation & Maintenance

Operation & Maintenance 7x24x365

12 months

NOTE CLIN 0002: After hours support as specified in Section C. This activity can be satisfied by on-site staff as needed, on-call procedures or remote access, as appropriate.

Grand Total CLINs 1001-1004 for 12-Month Option Year 1:

IDIQ

Section

C.4-C.4.20 Development Support

Labor Category Min/Max

1004i

Option Year 2- May 1, 2014 through April 30, 2015

CLIN

Description

(per mo) Extended Total Price

Operation & Maintenance

Operation & Maintenance 7x24x365

12 months

NOTE CLIN 0002: After hours support as specified in Section C. This activity can be satisfied by on-site staff as needed, on-call procedures or remote access, as appropriate.

Grand Total CLINs 2001-2004 for 12-Month Option Year 2:

IDIQ

Section

C.4-C.4.20 Development Support

Labor Category Min/Max

2004i

Option Year 3- May 1, 2015 through April 30, 2016

CLIN

Description

(per mo) Extended Total Price

Operation & Maintenance

Operation & Maintenance 7x24x365

12 months

NOTE CLIN 0002: After hours support as specified in Section C. This activity can be satisfied by on-site staff as needed, on-call procedures or remote access, as appropriate.

Grand Total CLINs 3001-3004 for 12-Month Option Year 3:

IDIQ

Section

C.4-C.4.20 Development Support

Labor Category Min/Max

3004i

Option Year 4- May 1, 2016 through April 30, 2017

CLIN

Description

(per mo) Extended Total Price

Operation & Maintenance

Operation & Maintenance 7x24x365

12 months

NOTE CLIN 0002: After hours support as specified in Section C. This activity can be satisfied by on-site staff as needed, on-call procedures or remote access, as appropriate.

Grand Total CLINs 4001-4004 for 12-Month Option Year 4:

IDIQ

Section

C.4-C.4.20 Development Support

Labor Category Min/Max

4004i

Performance Based Work Statement For

Operations and Maintenance (O&M) and Development Support of the

Server Middleware and Test Infrastructure (SMTI) Division, Middleware

Section C- DESCRIPITION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT C.1. BACKGROUND. The Middleware Support Services Section (MSSS or Middleware) falls under the Middleware Branch of the Server Middleware and Test Infrastructure (SMTI) Division of Enterprise Operations (EOPS), a key organization within Modernization and Information Technology Services (MITS). MSSS was created as the result of the re-organization of Enterprise Operations by the implementation of the Competency Based Organization (CBO).

The mission of Middleware is to deploy and support the production middleware components, problem analysis, and infrastructure application integration support and enhancements. This support is provided by a dedicated staff located at the New Carrollton Federal Building (NCFB), Lanham, MD with remote access to all components.

Middleware is responsible for the transition of middleware products from Modernization to the IRS, and for supporting the entire lifecycle of the modernized infrastructure that has been/will be transitioned to EOPS. This includes the integration, configuration, and customization of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software (e.g., WebSphere, SiteMinder, Business Objects, Informatica, and MQ Series), as well as custom developed infrastructure applications and interfaces (e.g., Application Messaging and Data Access Service (AMDAS), Enterprise Directory and Authentication Services (EDAS), Content Delivery Services (CDS), Single Sign On (SSO), and Enterprise Application Integration Broker (EAIB). These COTS and custom infrastructure applications support both the Registered User Portal (RUP) and the Employee User Portal (EUP) and associated security and subsystems.

In addition the Middleware Infrastructure Integration Section (MIIS) is responsible for developing new/enhanced products defined by future business requirements. System availability and reliability are of the utmost importance to the Government.

C.1.1. Middleware Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Stakeholders. The Middleware Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Stakeholders are the Business and Enterprise Operations organizations components, employees and contractors that have a direct or indirect stake the infrastructure supporting the Enterprise Production Environment. The SMTI Middleware Technical Support project is managed by MSSS. Middleware is responsible for the overall project and serves as the program and systems integrator and will be the only organization that assigns work under this contract. Middleware O&M is a collaborative effort among the project stakeholders. The following table lists roles of each primary project stakeholder for Middleware O&M.

Table 1 – Middleware O&M Stakeholders

· Prioritize functionality for implementation

· Manage the deployment of client modules to the users

· Manage and track schedules

· Serve as the systems integrator and provide overall architecture oversight

· Manage requirements

· Manage the lifecycle documentation (other than those identified as falling within the scope of the O&M contractor)

· Coordinate communications and activities among stakeholders

· Design and develop Middleware changes

· Monitor system status and availability

· Interface with non-EOPS organizations

· Provide Data Base (DB) support and installation

· Provide Middleware support and installation

· Provide Tier II COTS Software support and installation

· Provide Middleware problem analysis

· Provide infrastructure application support

· Provide the integration, configuration, and customization of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software (e.g., SiteMinder, CA Directory (eTrust), WebSphere, Business Objects, and MQ Series)

· Provide the development, test, integration, implementation of custom developed infrastructure applications and interfaces (e.g., AMDAS, EDAS, CDS, and SSO).

· Provide COTS and custom infrastructure application support to both the RUP and EUP and associated security and subsystems.

Middleware O&M and technical support spans several geographically separate locations including: IBM Web-Hosting centers located at Sterling, VA, and Chicago, IL; the IRS NCFB, and the Enterprise Computing Centers at Martinsburg, WV ECC-MTB, Memphis, TN ECC-MEM and Detroit, MI ECC-DET. The production environment serves internal users, external taxpayers, Third Party Tax Preparers, and States on a twenty-four hour yearly basis for seven days a week (24 x 7 x 365 days per year basis). The duty station for all contractor personnel shall be at NCFB.

C.1.2. Middleware O&M System Overview. Enterprise Operations is a large, highly distributed organization with responsibilities that span all parts of the IRS. EOPS provides enterprise level 24x7x365 support for business applications and other IRS systems. The environment is complex with all tiers of Information Technology (IT) represented including Unisys/IBM mainframes, and Solaris/Windows/Linux servers of all sizes. Software includes Oracle and DB2 database management systems, COTS (e.g., including MQ Series, Business Objects, Infomatica, WebSphere, EAIB/webMethods); and custom code.

The Middleware Section supports a variety of COTS and custom infrastructure application components within the enterprise. These components are shared among business applications, e-services, Modernized Electronic Filing (MeF), Integrated Financial System (IFS), Internet Refund Fact of Filing (IRFOF), Internet Employer Identification Number (IEIN), CADE2, etc. Middleware provides technical and O&M support from front-end portals to the back-end systems including infrastructure interfaces between systems, e.g., CDS, Security Audit and Analysis System (SAAS), and Error Store.

External taxpayers and users access the IRS systems using the RUP through both Sterling, VA and Chicago, IL. There are two types of users, self-authenticating (SA) and login-authenticating (LA). Each RUP contains both SA & LA portals. SA portals support Web-based applications only, while the LA portals support Web-based and Web-services (Application to Application) operations.

Internal IRS employees use the EUP to access business applications to perform their duties. The EUP is located at ECC-MTB and interfaces with a variety of backend systems for IRS only (e.g., Business Objects).

Middleware consists of, but not limited to, the following transitioned components that may require support:

Table 2 – Middleware Transitioned Products / Applications

C.2. OBJECTIVES. The purpose of the contract is to improve the support of production middleware infrastructure software components to include the existing middleware components as well as the transition and support of new Infrastructure Shared Services (ISS) components from Modernization to the EOps.

C.3. PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT- SCOPE: Operation & Maintenance Services. The scope of this Performance Work Statement (PWS) encompasses contractor support to provide O&M support for the existing SMTI Middleware components as well as the transition and support of new Infrastructure Shared Services (ISS) components from Modernization to EOPS. The Contractor shall be required to provide a wide range of support in the area of information systems services; specifically relating to the transition of infrastructure components. This contract encompasses the Middleware activities and functionality, hereafter known as cost account areas, in the following table:

Table 3 – Middleware Activities and Functionality by Cost Area

· After Hours 24x7x365 Support

· Production Project Support

· KISAM Support

· Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Support

· Performance Validation Support

· Subject Matter Expert (SME) Support

· System Analysis Support

· COTS Integration Support

· Technical Refresh

· Technical Documentation Support

· Infrastructure Custom Application Development Support

· Development and Engineering Lifecycle support

· Configuration Management Support

· Knowledge Transfer Support

· Security Support

· Program Strategy Support

· Staff Skills

· Travel

· Government Furnished Equipment

C.3.1.Contract Initiation. The following sections of C.3.1 describe the work to be performed associated with the Middleware O&M requirement. Section C.3.1 is organized by the following categories of support: 1) Orientation Briefing and 2) Transition Planning and Execution Support.

C.3.1.1.Orientation Briefing. The IRS Middleware Program Office (PO) shall provide the contract kick-off meeting. Agenda will be agreed to between the IRS and Contractor within 5 days of contract award. A contract kick-off meeting will be held within the 10 days of agenda formalization.

C.3.1.2. Transition Planning and Execution Support. The Middleware O&M support effort is mission essential and therefore requires a 90 day transition period starting with the receipt of the interim “staff like access” for key contractor personnel from the IRS. During the transition period, the Contractor shall follow to completion the activities outlined in the contractor proposed O&M Transition Plan (TP) and execute the transition. This section describes the activities associated with transitioning the Middleware O&M work from the Incumbent to the Contractor.

C.3.1.2.1. Transition Planning. The Contractor shall appoint a Transition Manager to lead and oversee the transition from the incumbent Contractor. The Government shall review the Contractor proposed O&M Transition Plan to develop and deliver any detailed changes to the Transition Plan. The proposed draft Transition Plan shall identify the Contractor resources and roles involved in the transition process (including for in-process activities), provide a list of risks and mitigation strategies for the transition, and contain a detailed, resource balanced project schedule developed with Microsoft Project. The project schedule shall identify the work to be performed, dependencies, deliverables and milestones, and include milestones for dependencies to other project stakeholders.

The Government shall have 5 days to review the draft Transition Plan and provide comments to the Contractor. Government and Contractor representatives will then meet to discuss the comments after which the Contractor shall have 5 days to incorporate the agreed-upon changes and deliver a final transition plan.

At contract award, the Contractor shall also deliver the project team staff roster and contact information. The IRS COTR will provide to the contractor in electronic format the SFA program and other required security investigation forms. At no time prior to the contractor’s staff receiving their “Interim Staff Like Access” memo, are they permitted to work on and access project information.

C.3.1.2.2. Transition Execution. Upon project start, the Contractor shall begin executing against the Transition Plan. On a daily basis, the contractor shall provide a status to the Government that will include, at a minimum: 1) an updated project status with percent complete, actual start, and actual finish updated; 2) any issues encountered and associated mitigation strategies; 3) any risks identified and associated mitigation strategies; and 4) updates to action items assigned. The Contractor’s key representatives will attend daily stakeholder meetings to discuss the status of the transition.

C.3.1.2.3. Transition Deliverables. The following table lists the deliverables and expected timeframes associated with the Middleware Transition work area. Deliverables listed below shall be required in accordance with the Middleware project schedule.

Table 4 – Middleware Transition Deliverables

C.3.2.

Middleware Production Support – O&M. Upon completion of the transition plan, the contractor shall provide Production Support for middleware infrastructure components including:

· Problem Resolution

· After Hours Technical Support (24x7x365) and Problem Resolution

· Production Project Support

· Information Technology Asset management System (KISAM) Support

· Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Support

C.3.2.1. Problem Resolution and O&M System Operations. As directed by the Government, the contractor shall provide day-to-day O&M support and level 2 and 3 problem resolution support for Middleware components. Contractor must be able to respond to KISAM (ITAMS) trouble tickets according to their severity within the time frames published by End User Equipment and Services (EUES) in KISAM Ticket Priorities and C.3.2.1.3 KISAM Support. In addition, the contractor shall provide support for scheduled and unscheduled activities required to provide an acceptable level of performance and availability for Middleware components. These activities include:

· Systems Operations—the scheduled and unscheduled activities required to provide an acceptable level of performance and availability

· System Support—processes to sustain or maintain a service request delivery and continuous service delivery, including asset management, technology administration, security administration, systems management,

· Service Management—activities required to manage service delivery and support processes,

· Discrepancy Resolution (DR)—activities required to correct identified discrepancies related to baseline requirements.

· Discrepancy Reports—identification and reporting of variances of existing software or procedures from the baseline. See Attachment 7 for sample priority tickets.

C.3.2.1.1. After Hours Level 2/3 Help Desk Support (24x7x365). The contractor shall provide After Hours Level 2/3 Help Desk Support (24x7x365). The contractor shall be responsible for providing all after hour support (24x7x365) for production systems assigned to Middleware. This activity can be satisfied by on-site staff as needed, on-call procedures or remote access, as appropriate. The contractor shall provide, at a minimum, Level 2/3 Help Desk support.

C.3.2.1.2. Production Project Support. The contractor shall provide Middleware project support for installation, problem troubleshooting, and resolution of the following current internal projects, as well as new and/or enhanced projects:

· MeF—Modernization e-file supports the electronic filing of corporations, partnerships, and non-profit organizations.

· CDE.net—The Compliance Data Environment provides a centralized, open-architecture information system with tax return data and other related information that Government employees who need to analyze and deliver tax returns for examination may use for such purposes.

· E-services—Electronic Services provides electronic registration, disclosure, Transcript delivery, and bulk TIN matching.

· ITIN— Internet-based Taxpayer Identification Number provides TIN creation.

· IFS— Is a CFO sponsored system that provides end-of-year budget closeout.

NOTE: The contractor shall not have access to taxpayer data.

C.3.2.1.3. KISAM Support. The contractor shall provide KISAM support for Middleware components. This includes updates to the tickets as part of the System Restoration Team (SRT) and communicates changes to the Government within the prescribed period for problem resolution. The prescribed periods of problem resolution for production problems are shown below.

· Priority 1 - (Severe Mission Critical Work Stoppage) – Assignment of tickets within 30 minutes, Hourly Problem Resolution Updates, and a 4 hour Target Resolution Time.

· Priority 2 - (Potential Work Stoppage) – Assignment of ticket within 1 Hour, 2 Hour Problem Resolution Updates, and an 8 hours/1 workday Target Resolution Time.

· Priority 3 - (Work stoppage for one customer with no work around) –Assignment of ticket within 1 hour, 4 Hour Problem Resolution Updates, and a 16 hour/2 workdays Target Resolution Time.

· Priority 4 - (non-critical problems where it is not a work-stoppage and there is a workaround) – Assignment of ticket within 2 hours, 3 workday Problem Resolution Updates, and a 32 hours/4 workdays Target Resolution Time.

· Priority 5 - (Requests for non-production related services) – Assignment of ticket within 2 hours, 5 workdays Problem Resolution Updates, and 160 hours/20 workdays Target Resolution Time.

C.3.2.1.4. Root Cause Analysis Support. A Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a process designed for use in investigating and categorizing the root cause of events related to a particular incident. The RCA is used to identify what, how and why an incident occurred. The RCA must probe the data to determine what happened during the incident, describe how it happened and to understand why.

The contractor shall provide Middleware with RCA input to RCA reports as requested by Government. RCA input and documentation is essential to establishing problem and performance trends through the infrastructure: The Contractor shall ensure timely response to calls (no more than five business days) for RCA input for problem resolutions where the Contractor was in a lead troubleshooting role in the production environments.

C.3.2.1.5. Daily status report. The contractor shall provide the Middleware POC with a daily written status report indicating support activities performed in the last 24 hours. This report will be rolled up into the monthly project status report for metrics.

C.3.2.1.6. Production Support Deliverables. The following table lists the deliverables and expected timeframes associated with the Middleware Production Support work area. Deliverables listed below shall be required in accordance with the Middleware project schedule.

Table 5 – Middleware Production Support Deliverables

Provide input to monthly project status report

C.3.2.2. Problem Analysis. The contractor shall provide Production Analysis support for middleware infrastructure components including:

· Problem Trending Tracking

· Performance Validation Support

· Subject Matter Expert (SME) Support

· COTS Integration Support

· Technical Refresh Support

· Technical Documentation Support

· Knowledge Transfer Support

C.3.2.2.1. Problem Trending Tracking. The Contractor shall collect as part of the day-to-day problem resolution efforts trending or repeating problems as documented in KISAM (see section C.3.2.1.3). The Contractor shall document, assign a risk value (High, Medium, or Low), and include in the monthly status report all known bugs, incompatibility issues, end-of-life products, custom code limitations and similar information that are issues within the infrastructure. If there are formal projects to resolve any of the tracked issues, the status of the resolution shall be tracked by the performing project.

C.3.2.2.2. Performance Validation Support. The Contractor shall support the Government Integrated Project Team (IPT) in monitoring infrastructure production performance and providing O&M support to ensure that system performance is optimized. The contractor shall support the IPT to conduct and perform engineering and analysis activities and to develop recommendations and plans to handle peaks for filing periods.

The Contractor shall work with the Government to perform Integration Coordination Services to include:

· Review lessons learned following a peak filing

· Update volumetric data based on revised estimates provided by Government

· Analyze prior year peak empirical data

· Conduct performance related testing

· Host Performance Engineering IPT meetings to develop engineering recommendations for handling estimated volumes

· Develop White Papers to support basis for engineering recommendations

· Develop Bill of Materials (BOM), as necessary, for various development, testing, and production environments

· Build out various development, testing, and production environments

· Develop hardware / software migration road map for out-years

· Support external trading partner integration testing

C.3.2.2.3. Subject Matter Expert (SME) Support. The Middleware environment is complex and changing with all tiers of IT represented by mainframes, Solaris/Windows servers of all sizes, and COTS software from numerous vendors, as well as custom coded middleware. Because Middleware encompasses a diversity of technologies the Contractor shall provide SME’s for the primary infrastructure middleware components including (but not limited to): WebSphere, SiteMinder, CA Directory (eTrust), Business Objects, WebMethods, and MQ Series. The Contractor shall develop, during the transition period, SME’s to support the following custom developed infrastructure applications and interfaces AMDAS, EDAS, EAIB, CDS, and SSO as well as any additional applications deployed during the duration of the contract.

C.3.2.2.4. System Analysis Support. The Middleware environment is complex and often requires system analysis to diagnose or troubleshoot problems. The Contractor shall perform system analysis activities to aide in the diagnosis of systemic problems within the GFE infrastructure. The Contractor shall leverage its SME, developers, vendors, and reach-back capabilities to analyze and propose solutions to the Government to resolve infrastructure problems. Delivery of this analysis will be in a mutually agreed format between the contractor and IRS.

C.3.2.3. SMTI COTS Integration Section Support. The contractor shall support all middleware COTS products that require integration with the Infrastructure. This activity may include:

· Planning support (including scheduling, test plan development)

· Integration Testing

· Problem Resolution

· Recommendations on findings

C.3.2.3.1. COTS Technical Refresh. As Government moves into asset management, it is necessary to identify infrastructure components that require ongoing technical refreshment. The management of the infrastructure Sandbox (SBX) development and test environment from a configuration perspective is a requirement. The contractor shall provide assistance, as directed by the Government, in supporting technical refreshment activities pertaining to middleware components. The work to be performed may support planning, scheduling, testing and implementing refreshment activities.

The COTS ITI Section is responsible for the delivery and installation of the non-middleware COTS programs. The contractor shall support the COTS Section with enhancements to the existing middleware Infrastructure resulting from new project releases and/or required Infrastructure COTS upgrades for existing projects.

C.3.2.3.2. COTS Installation Configuration. Following the COTS Section installation of the non-middleware packages, the contractor shall provide installation configuration SMEs to configure middleware packages; in support of development, test and operations. Installations configurations shall conform to all applicable policies, procedures, settings and evaluations necessary to make the system operational.

C.3.2.3.3. COTS Updates. The contractor shall support Enterprise Operations in maintaining current or applicable versions of installed middleware COTS packages in production. Potentially, different software releases may be required for different systems due to software compatibility issues either with other COTS packages, or with custom developed middleware. All applicable Enterprise Operations processes concerning configuration/change management shall be followed. Where Enterprise Operations does not have an applicable process, defined modernization processes shall either be followed, or changed appropriately, for Enterprise Operations adoption.

C.3.2.4. Technical Documentation Support. The Contractor shall update and deliver the Middleware documentation for each O&M change to the infrastructure delivered. It is the Government’s desire to be compliant with the Enterprise Life Cycle (ELC) documentation requirements. Exceptions are made for legacy production operations; however, as part of the Middleware O&M effort Middleware needs to comply with the ELC or Information technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as appropriate. The Contractor, when approved by the middleware PO, shall support development of necessary ELC documentation required for the Middleware maintenance releases, as documented in the IRS ELC Documents, Deliverables and Work Product Summary.

C.3.2.5. Knowledge Transfer Support. Knowledge Transfer is the formalized activities required to provide an acceptable level of understanding of the infrastructure, (e.g., a formal walkthrough/explanation of the Business Object server and scheduler, WEBI server, mail gateway, and Application Program Interface (API)’s; or a demonstration/instruction for configuration of WebSphere Application Server and Vignette).

The contractor shall participate on IPT teams with SME’s from Government, as requested by the IRS. Both Government and Contractor personnel shall accomplish knowledge transfer (communication of technical and non-technical concepts, principles, and activities).

Where appropriate, Government shall take advantage of contractor work to enhance the knowledge and skills of Government employees. The Contractor, at the Government’s request, shall provide specific support to Government SME’s in understanding both custom coded and COTS derived middleware. Additionally, the Contractor shall support Government management in the development and delivery of custom presentations on specific products, processes, projects, status and new ways of doing business. The contractor shall provide the following:

· Provide subject matter expertise in defining Infrastructure training

· Conduct technical meetings and briefings with receiving organizations’ SMEs

· Conduct Knowledge Enhancement Seminar(s) to describe specific infrastructure changes in release

A semi-annual or as required, schedule and format shall be produced jointly by Government and Contractor management that identifies appropriate topics to be presented. Presentation material on technical subjects shall be in a format mutually agreed upon by Government and the Contractor.

C.3.2.6. Problem Analysis Deliverables. The following table lists the deliverables and expected timeframes associated with the Problem Analysis work area. Deliverables listed below shall be required in accordance with the Middleware project schedule and in the quantities as set forth in Section F of this delivery order.

Table 6 – Middleware Problem Analysis Deliverables

2) Training or management briefings—as required

3) Schedule for briefing or sessions to be included in monthly status report (C 3.4.3)

C.3.2.7. Infrastructure Application O&M. The contractor shall provide Infrastructure Application O&M support for middleware infrastructure components including:

· Transition & Change Management Support

· Infrastructure Custom Application Development Support

· Current Product Changes (e.g. APIs)

· Requirements Management

· Development and Engineering Lifecycle support for new/enhanced projects

· Logical Design

· Physical Design

· Development

· Integration and Test

· Deployment

· Configuration Management Support

· Security Support

C.3.2.8. Transition & Change Management Support. Middleware is the receiving organization for new or enhanced projects with middleware components and technology. Transition & Change Management Support activities include the review and coordination of changes from a project’s Transition Management Plan (TMP) to include the closure of gaps within Middleware.

Representing a receiver organization, the Contractor shall assist EOPS customer projects in review of Transition Management Plans and provide SME support to receiving SMTI organizations, as appropriate for middleware development components. For customer projects, the contractor shall perform the following Transition Management support activities:

· Follow the current Transition Management Guidance (TMG) (except in cases where the TMG is overridden by contractual direction)

· Provide timely infrastructure input to the project TMP, gap analysis, or other transition documentation

· Participate in and carry out the Middleware activities to support Infrastructure Transition Readiness Workshops and stakeholder meetings

· Work with the infrastructure SMTI receiving organizations in the identification and initial resolution/mitigation of all Infrastructure gaps according to the TMG

· Incorporate readiness feedback from discussions with receiving organizations

· Discuss and analyze high level project infrastructure impacts with project and receiving organization managers to capture operational concerns

C.4 Software Development. This section includes detailed information concerning the software development portion of the Middleware Operation & Maintenance Support requirement to be completed as Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ). Section B of the Performance Work Statement outlines the minimum and the maximum number of hours requested for the Software Development portion of the contract.

Task 1: DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT: It is mandatory that all contractors awarded Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quality ID/IQ delivery order for any activity related to software development for the IRS shall comply with the IRS policy. All tasks that fall within the software development life cycle shall at minimum comply with Level 2 of the staged representation of the software engineering standard Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). There are no exceptions to this IRS policy.

Contractors who identify specific subcontractors as integral to the performance of software development work shall obtain evidence that the subcontractors identified are CMMI-SW Level 2 compliant, or alternatively, shall arrange for any software development work done by the subcontractor to be performed within the contractor's CMMI-SW Level 2 processes. It shall be the responsibility of the contractor to ensure that its subcontractors perform software development work within a CMMI-SW Level 2 compliant process. Contractors developing software for the IRS shall maintain Level 2 or higher in the staged representation of the CMMI-SW in order to continue to receive software tasking.

The software development, conversion, and maintenance work for this task must be performed by an organization using software development processes that are consistent with the activities described by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Compatibility Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) that satisfy level 2 Compatibility for software development. The IRS may conduct Software Capability Evaluations to evaluate the software development processes that are being used for this contract.

The contractor shall comply with the IRS ELC or ITIL as appropriate. The contractor lifecycle phases shall follow Government directed methodologies and shall assure all work under this contract is performed in compliance with applicable ELC, ELC Lite, or ITIL guidelines, processes, and products. The contractor shall verify, validate, and when necessary, assist the project in creating the relevant tailored ELC / ITIL artifacts/processes.

Table 7 – Middleware Life Cycle Management Tools

C.4.1. Infrastructure Custom Application Development Support. The contractor shall provide Infrastructure custom code development support, including the following:

· Custom Code Technical Refresh Support

· Infrastructure Application Development Support

C.4.2. Custom Code Technical Refreshment. The contractor shall manage developed middleware custom code to ensue software and hardware compatibility with the current or anticipated production environment. The support includes:

· Identification of Configuration Items (CI)

· Identification of the CI lifecycle in time (years)

· A plan to ensure components are scheduled for replacement or technical refreshment prior to End Of Life (EOL) or End Of Service Life (EOSL)

· Support for budget formulation

· Support for cost justifications

· Recommendations on product replacement rather than product enhancement or refresh C.4.3. Infrastructure Application Development Support. Infrastructure Application Development Design, Development, Test, Installation, Update and Maintenance are all part of this subtask. The contractor shall support, as applicable, the design of middleware components to support business application integration into the infrastructure. The contractor shall support the development, test and evaluation of middleware components in accordance with a Government delivery order. A GFE development and test environment will be provided for development, enhancement and maintenance.

C.4.4. Infrastructure Application Design. Infrastructure application design relates to new work coming from the Application Development (AD) function (or other source of modernized systems). As new application requirements are identified and the architecture is defined, Infrastructure application design shall follow an established infrastructure pattern or require new work for additional functionality or infrastructure enhancement. As directed by the Government in accordance with a delivery order, the contractor shall support the infrastructure application design effort to ensure proper integration of application functionality. For each new effort, a middleware design document shall be produced, at the appropriate point in the ELC that conveys the design requirements for the particular infrastructure application involved.

C.4.5. Infrastructure Application Development. The contractor shall support the infrastructure application development within the guidelines of the ELC or ELC Lite. Specific deliverable(s) shall follow existing Government policy, document formats and technically sufficient content. Development of an Application Programming Interface (API) test plan shall be part of the overall development effort.

C.4.6. Infrastructure Application Testing. The contractor shall support the testing of infrastructure application functionality. The infrastructure application testing in an end-to-end sense may be performed in various places and involve several other Government groups and contractors. The contractor shall support all test phases of the ELC. Test results shall be based on the test plan, which may or may not be developed by the contractor. Test results shall be an informal deliverable, regardless of outcome.

C.4.7. Infrastructure Application Installation. The contractor shall perform installation of the infrastructure application software, whether custom code or COTS. Government resources shall assist in the installation of infrastructure application software. This activity shall result in a need of special access to production systems requiring a full Background Investigation for those positions. The contractor shall ensure all Government policy, procedures, approvals and sign-offs are obtained prior to an installation activity.

C.4.8. Infrastructure Application Updates and Enhancements. The contractor shall install GFE infrastructure application updates or enhancements. Government resources shall assist in infrastructure application enhancements. All applicable configuration and change management policies, procedures, approvals and sign-offs shall be completed before any infrastructure application updates or enhancements are put in production (see Section J-Attachments). This category of infrastructure application changes may be necessitated by COTS compatibility issues or new infrastructure application functionality requirements.

C.4.9. Infrastructure Application Maintenance. The infrastructure application maintenance activities are those day-to-day processes or procedures that involve changes necessary to sustain current operations and mandatory changes required as a result of legislative action. Minor changes to the software may be a maintenance activity depending on complexity and system impact. These changes may be bug fixes, minor adjustments, or necessary - must-do changes brought about by external forces (e.g., COTS, Operating System (OS) patch, Security).

C.4.10. Requirements Management. The Contractor shall provide support to the Middleware PO in developing the set of software requirements that define the scope of each maintenance release. The Contractor shall be responsible for clarifying its understanding of the scope, assessing the impact of the requested changes, and estimating the size of the effort. The Contractor’s estimates must cover at a minimum the following areas:

· Application Requirements

· Design

· Development

· Documentation

· Integration, Test and Evaluation

· Deployment

C.4.11. Development and Engineering Lifecycle Support. The contractor shall provide support services for the ITI program under this delivery order for Engineering and Development Support Services. The contractor shall deliver the activities identified for the project in the appropriate path of the ELC through Ready for Use (RFU). The activities shown in this scope for required services incorporate the tasks to create and deploy the multiple environments in successive order to support the integrated system / application development: SBX Development, Applications Quality testing (AQT), Enterprise Integration and Test Environment (EITE) and then finishing with Production environments. This PWS describes tasking through Infrastructure RFU, providing design, development, test support and deployment activities during the multi-step phases under this delivery order. During these efforts, the Contractor shall support the Middleware PO in preparing for and conducting applicable milestone reviews.

The contractor shall provide technical guidance and direction to projects with a level of support services that will enable the projects to use the common, integrated, and shared infrastructure. The contractor shall deliver an enterprise approach where possible for a fully integrated shared information technology infrastructure.

C.4.12. Logical Design. The contractor shall provide logical design support, as requested, in accordance with the following guidance:

The Logical Design phase will involve creating or updating an existing logical design based on the refinement of requirements and engineering completed since that design was produced. The contractor shall perform requirements refinement, applications interface design and documentation development. The requirements activities will document infrastructure requirements traceability based on application requirements. The application design will document the subsystem design. Design documentation will include the related work products as specified in the appropriate Government methodology.