Vendor Q and A from RFI for RFP.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 44 KB Posted
- Attached to
- DA01--Infrastructure as a Managed Service (IaaMS) Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- 36C10B21R0001
About this file
This document outlines a solicitation for Infrastructure as a Managed Service (IaaMS) issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center Austin. The solicitation seeks proposals to replace Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) Imaging systems at 156 VA facilities across the United States with an IaaMS solution. Key requirements include deploying 11 petabytes of on-premises storage and disaster recovery capabilities within 7 months, as well as ongoing support and maintenance services. Proposers must submit questions by January 25, 2021 and price proposals in a per-terabyte, per-month format. The solicitation also includes optional tasks for additional compute, storage, and professional services.
View the file
Other files for this federal contract opportunity
Show all 18
On GovTribe
Work with this file on GovTribe
- Download the original file
- Contacts named in this file
- Similar government files
- Ask GovTribe AI about this file
Text version
Requirements Questions
| Vendor Questions and Answers for Infrastructure as a Managed Service | ||||
| # | Section | Question | Answer | |
| 1 | Performance Work Statement (PWS) 3.0, | |||
| Scope of Work | The IaaMS solution shall initially deploy a Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) Imaging (VI) storage systems solution to 158 VA facilities as detailed in Attachment A – VI Facility-Specific Quantities, Capacities, and Locations. |
| Attachment A – VI Facility-Specific Quantities, Capacities, and Locations only specifies 156 facilities. Please resolve this discrepancy. | 156 VA facilities is the correct quantity. Paragraph 3.0 of the PWS has been revised accordingly. | |
| 2 | PWS 3.0, | |
| Scope of Work | The Draft PWS describes 158 VA facilities, but the Price Evaluation Spreadsheet shows a quantity of 150 Base Task - 5.5 - Installation Cost, and 75 Optional Task – 5.5 – Installation Cost. |
Question(s):
Part 1 - Will VA update the Base Task quantity to 158 sites?
| Part 2 - If not, which sites will be excluded from the Base Task? | 156 VA facilities is the correct quantity for the Base Task and the Price Evaluation Spreadsheet has been revised accordingly. | |
| 3 | PWS 3.0, | |
| Scope of Work | The Draft PWS indicates that VA will furnish VAEC capacity as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) [for cloud-based compute or storage capacity]. |
Question:
| Will VA please provide a comprehensive list of all GFE they intend to provide to the IaaMS contractor in service of this requirement? | All GFE that will be provided to the contractor is detailed in the PWS Section 6.6. | ||
| 4 | PWS 3.0, | ||
| Scope of Work | Please clarify which Attachment is referenced as “XXX”? | The correct reference is Attachment C - IaaMS Storage Modeling Requirements. PWS Section 3.0, Scope of Work has been updated to reflect the correct Attachment. | |
| 5 | PWS 4.1, | ||
| Performance Period | PWS Section 4.1 stipulates that it is VA’s intent for the vendor to have the flexibility to “deliver, install, and configure optional tasks within six months of option exercise”. However, PWS 5.2.3 stipulates that “additional out-of-band capacity” should be implemented “within 60 calendar days of request by VA”. Please resolve this apparent discrepancy. | 60 days is the correct timeframe. The PWS Section 4.1 has been updated to reflect 60 calendar days of option exercise. | |
| 6 | PWS 5.11 | The Price Evaluation Spreadsheet’s Evaluated Detailed tab includes “(VI)” as part of the description on rows 39-42 for FFP Optional Tasks, PWS 5.11 – 5.14 |
Question(s):
Part 1 - Does VI refer to VistA Imaging?
Part 2 - Does VA intend to execute the optional quantities of foundations and nodes in concurrence with the Base VistA Imaging CLIN? 1) VI refers to VistA Imaging, see PWS Section 1.0
2) VA will determine whether or not to exercise the optional quantities of foundations and nodes at the time of award.
| 7 | PWS 5.2.1, | |
| SRM | This requirement describes a single SRM platform and interface for the IaaMS solution. |
Question:
| Given the continually improving nature of SRM technology and breadth of supporting tools that could enhance reporting and capacity planning, how will VA accommodate complementary technologies, applications or dashboards that offer comprehensive insight into the data management requirements? | VA will accept any SRM solution that meets the requirements of PWS section 5.2.1, insofar as it incorporates "a single interface that covers all capacity from all storage systems provided as part of this contract." VA has removed the term "single" from the Storage Resource Management (SRM) platform requirement in section 5.2.1 of the PWS. | |
| 8 | PWS 5.2.2.5, | |
| Storage Media Retention and PWS Section 5.16 Optional Task - Contract Transition | The draft PWS stipulates that “All storage media devices delivered to VA shall be retained by VA. The Contractor shall not remove storage media from VA facilities without the prior written approval of the CO.” |
Question(s):
Part 1- Does this mean that VA will own all hardware and software at the end of the contract?
Part 2 - Or, buy it back from the Contractor?
Part 3 - Or, will it be the responsibility of the vendors to decommission hardware and software and remove from the VA sites upon completion of the contract?
Additionally:
PWS 5.16.1 states that “the parties shall enter into mutually agreeable agreement as to the disposition of such infrastructure.” Please clarify what terms and conditions are considered within the “mutually agreeable agreement”.
PWS 5.16.2 states that the “Contractor shall be responsible for the removal of any Contractor provided IaaMS infrastructure.”
Please clarify which aspects of the requirement for removal of IaaMS infrastructure might be impacted by the mutually agreeable agreement referenced in PWS 5.16.1. PWS Section 5.2.2.5 refers specifically to storage media, e.g. as disk drives. PWS Section 5.2.2.5 has been revised to state that VA will permanently retain all storage media devices. VA will own all storage devices at the end of the contract.
Section 5.16.1 refers specifically to equipment the contractor desires to surrender to VA at the termination of the contract. The Contractor is required to remove all hardware (except for storage media) unless surrendered to VA in accordance with section 5.16.1. The Contractor may propose to surrender hardware to the Government at the end of the contract and will be allowed to do so upon Government concurrence at no additional cost. This agreement would cover the disposal of assets that no longer have tangible value to either party. In some circumstances, it would be easier for VA to dispose of this equipment versus having the contractor return to each facility to remove it.
| 9 | PWS 5.3.1.2, | |
| Capacity | There is no description under “2. Initial Installation”. | |
| Please Clarify and provide appropriate description. | This section was relocated previously. The erroneous header has been removed from the PWS. | |
| 10 | PWS 5.3.1.4, | |
| VI Data Efficiency | This requirement stipulates that the Contractor shall only bill VA for the capacity utilized to store an image one time at a given facility. However, PWS Sect. 5.3.1.6 Redundancy stipulates that the Government requires original versions of all files to be retained for an indeterminate duration. | |
| Please resolve this apparent discrepancy in the PWS. | Section 5.3.1.6 refers to retention of previous versions of altered files. Altered copies of a file are not considered duplicates for the purposes of section 5.3.1.4. | |
| 11 | PWS 5.3.2, | |
| IaaMS VI Solution Initial Deployment | This requirement stipulates that the Contractor will obtain VA concurrence of a “fully functional solution” via a demonstration at the OH VA Lab. | |
| Please identify the specific PWS requirements which must be satisfied in order for the solution to be considered “fully functional”. | A fully functional lab solution shall implement all requirements in PWS sections 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.6.1, and 5.6.2. Further, the solution shall implement all requirements in section 5.5 as it relates to the lab implementation. Should VA choose to exercise compute and storage options at award, the lab solution shall further implement the requirements of the governing section (5.10 - 5.14). The solution shall also implement all requirements of Attachment B and all applicable portions of Attachment C. | |
| 12 | 5.3.2, | |
| IaaMS VI Solution Initial Deployment | This requirement stipulates that the Contractor will obtain VA concurrence and approval of a “fully functional solution” via a demonstration at the OH VA Lab prior to implementation at any other VA site. Considering the scheduling requirements for this site (initial deployment within 7 months of award at 158 sites): |
Question:
| Will the Government provide on-site representation at the OH VA Lab to facilitate the concurrence and approval of the solutions? | Yes there will be on-site representation at the OH VA lab for the demonstration. | |
| 13 | PWS 5.3.2, | |
| IaaMS VI Solution Initial Deployment | This requirement stipulates that the Contractor will, in coordination with the VA, “identify VA critical sites to prioritize IaaMS VI solution deployment.” |
Question:
| Will VA ensure that regardless of the agreed to prioritization, VA facilities/sites will be made reasonably available to the IaaMS project team to meet the aggressive deployment and data migration scheduling requirements? | Yes, VA facilities/sites will be made reasonably available to the Contractor. | |
| 14 | PWS 5.3.2, | |
| IaaMS VI Solution Initial Deployment | This requirement stipulates that the “Contractor deliver, implement, configure, and test the IaaMS VI solution at the Cleveland, OH VA lab site within 45 days of award.” |
Question(s):
Part 1 - Does this activity require PIV and GFE?
Part 2 - Does the PWS 5.5.2 Shipping requirement (The Contractor shall deliver all hardware no more than two weeks and no less than one week prior to installation at any facility) apply to this event? 1) No, PIV is not required for this activity. GFE in the form of Cloud Resources (credits) will be provided to support the Contractor's proposed DR solution .
2) Yes PWS Section 5.5.2 Shipping Requirements are applicable to the IaaMS VI Solution Initial Deployment.
| 15 | PWS 5.3.2, | |
| IaaMS VI Solution Initial Deployment | PWS 5.3.2 describes an expected growth rate of 17%, but the Price Evaluation Spreadsheet indicates 20%. Please clarify. |
Question(s):
Part 1 - Is it also possible for the data volumes to decrease during the execution of this contract?
Part 2 - If so, what is the expected lead time for notification to the Contractor of such events?
Part 3 - What would be the expected process for removing the data from the solution? The quantities in the price evaluation spreadsheet include additional overhead to account for unexpected growth. 17% is the expected growth rate, 20% is the ceiling rate. PWS Section 5.3.1 has been updated to state "An annual sustained growth rate of 17 percent up to a maximum of 20 percent is expected for the VI storage."
1) Yes, it is possible for the data capacity at a given site may decrease through day to day operations.
2) The contractor will monitor capacity in real time and thus would become aware of any decrease in capacity in real time. Reference PWS section 5.2.3.
3) VA is responsible for removal of data from the system. The exact technical process would vary based on the nature of the data.
| 16 | PWS 5.3.2, | |
| IaaMS VI Solution Initial Deployment | The Draft PWS stipulates that “A fully functional solution shall be demonstrated at the lab and the Contractor shall obtain VA concurrence and approval prior to implementation at any other VA site.” |
Question(s):
Part 1 - If VA decides that the solution is not approved at that time, does the vendor have an opportunity for remediation?
Part 2 - If so, will the VA provide a timeline for remediation before proceeding with implementation and migration at additional facilities? 1) Yes, PWS section 5.4 (#7) has been incorporated to clarify.
2) The Contractor shall remediate any shortcomings in the lab system within seven days. The PWS Section 5.4 has been updated to clarify this requirement.
| 17 | PWS 5.3.2, | |
| IaaMS VI Solution Initial Deployment | The Draft PWS stipulates that “the Contractor shall replace the VI architecture with approximately 11 PB of on-premises storage and 11PB of IaaMS VI cloud disaster recovery repository, with the remainder eliminated through use of data efficiency technologies.” |
Question(s):
Part 1- In Attachment A the “Used Storage Capacity” summation equals 14.2 PB. Which of these values, Attachment A (11 PB) or PWS 5.3.2 (14.2 PB), should the vendor use for total used on-premise and cloud capacity (excluding the additional 25% unused capacity defined in PWS 5.2.3)?
| Part 2 - Will the Government please resolve this ambiguity? | 14 petabytes is the correct approximation. The PWS has been updated to reflect this. There are 1,024 terabytes in a petabyte. 14,145TB is equivalent to 13.8PB, which we rounded to 14PB for simplicity. | |
| 18 | PWS 5.3.2.1, | |
| Data Migration, Subsection 5 | This requirement stipulates that “No data shall be migrated to the IaaMS VI solution until cloud data replication is fully functional.” We assume this refers to migration to either MS Azure or AWS within VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC). |
Question:
If so, will VA be responsible for testing, or will VA observe the IaaMS contractor testing the VAEC data replication to verify that it is fully functional? VA will observe Contractor testing to validate this requirement. PWS Section 5.3.2.1 has been updated accordingly.
| 19 | PWS 5.3.2.1, | |
| Data Migration, Subsection 5 | This requirement stipulates that “No data shall be migrated to the IaaMS VI solution until cloud data replication is fully functional.” However, in PWS Sect. 5.3.3 VI Cloud Disaster Recovery Repository, page 24, stipulates that the IaaMS VI cloud disaster recovery repository functionality shall be “operational no later than two weeks after the implementation of any corresponding onsite capacity.” | |
| Please resolve this apparent discrepancy. | Section 5.3.3 requires the contractor to implement cloud DR functionality within two weeks of installing the hardware at a given site. Section 5.3.2.1 states the contractor shall not migrate data prior to cloud DR functionality being operable. | |
| 20 | 5.3.3 | |
| Subsection 2.d | Under what circumstances would VA not approve the cloud capacity requirements? | VA would not approve cloud capacity requirements that are not in line with the associated workload. It is difficult to document every possible scenario that would be problematic and would be unique to each specific solution. |
| 21 | PWS 5.3.3 subsection 1d., | |
| VI Cloud Disaster | The Draft PWS stipulates that “In the absence of on-premises architecture, the disaster recovery repository shall be capable of providing SMB presentation of all files directly, allowing VistA Imaging applications to continue reading and writing data without interruption.” However, in PWS Sect. 5.6.1.4 VI Cloud Disaster Recovery Repository Maintenance, VA stipulates that “All data read and write operations shall failover to the IaaMS VI cloud disaster recovery repository with 15 minutes.” |
Question:
| Will the Government please clarify or provide additional details on the intent of recovery requirements as each statement could imply Continuity of Operations (COOP) or Disaster Recovery (DR) response? | 15 minutes is the maximum permitted failover time following loss of on-site functionality. PWS Section 5.3.3 1d was modified to remove "without interruption" to clarify this requirement. | |
| 22 | PWS 5.5.2, | |
| Shipping | The Draft PWS stipulates that “All IaaMS solution hardware and intra-solution cabling (as required in Attachment B - IaaMS Solution Infrastructure Requirements) shall be installed in solution rack(s) prior to shipment. For facilities that cannot accept a structured rack solution, the Contractor shall ship all hardware, cabling, and ancillary equipment to the site and perform an on-site installation in VA-provided racks.” |
Question:
| Will VA please amend Attachment A to indicate sites/locations that both can and cannot accept a structured rack solution? | No, VA cannot amend Attachment A to indicate what sites can and cannot accept a structured rack solution because the contractor will make that determination as part of the Site Readiness Activity described in PWS Section 5.5.1. | |
| 23 | PWS 5.6.1.4, | |
| VI Cloud Disaster Recovery | The Draft PWS uses the statement: “If a local on-premises VI site becomes unavailable.” In this statement, does “VI Site” equate to the unique IaaMS solution rack of that impacted VA facility? | |
| Please clarify and define “VI site.” | "VI site" was changed to "IaaMS system" in the PWS to clarify this requirement. | |
| 24 | PWS 5.6.2, | |
| IaaMS SLA | The IaaMS SLA in this section stipulates that the “Contractor shall provide an SLA Monitoring Plan within 30 business days of award that defines how SLA metrics will be monitored…” |
Question:
| Are 100% of the required SLA metrics identified within PWS sections 5.6.2.x, 5.6.2.x.y, and 5.6.2.x.y.z? | All SLAs covered by the SLA Monitoring Plan are defined in 5.6.2 and subordinate sections. | |||
| 25 | PWS 5.6.3, | |||
| ATO | Does VA anticipate adding additional workloads, other than VistA Imaging, to the IaaMS portfolio at a later date? If so, would these workloads require significant revision to the ATO achieved for the VistA Imaging workload? | VA anticipates adding additional workloads to IaaMS. VA does not anticipate this impacting the VistA Imaging ATO. | ||
| 26 | PWS 5.15, | |||
| Optional Task – Ad Hoc Professional Services | The Ad Hoc Professional Services section of the PWS stipulates that the “VA may require additional Professional Services from the Contractor to plan and execute operational changes, including but not limited to site preparation support, network modifications, and system integration.” The Price Evaluation Spreadsheet indicates this task will be labor hour based. Does the Government intend to execute this option in increments of 2,080 hours? If not, please specify the increments. | This Optional Task may be exercised multiple times from time to time up to the Not to Exceed value that will be set in the awarded Contract, there are no set increments. | ||
| 27 | Should the offerors responses include the additional cost for Backup and Recovery solutions that go beyond the Government’s current usage of their existing CommVault footprint? | No. For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with VAs existing backup systems as specified in PWS section 5.11 and Attachment C. | ||
| 28 | CommVault and Veritas were called out by name in the Draft SOW, Is the Government willing to accept other Backup and Recovery solutions or is the Government only willing to accept the bands mentioned? | For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with VAs existing backup systems as specified in PWS section 5.11 and Attachment C. | ||
| 29 | We noticed the Government specifically called out CommVault and Veritas in the solicitation, however, we did not notice any attached J&A, Is the government open to a more modern cloud native Backup and Disaster Recovery solution other than CommVault/Veritas? | No, backup software is not required nor within the scope of this effort. The Offeror's proposed solution is required to be compatible with VA's existing CommVault Simpana and Veritas NetBackup platform, therefore a J&A is not required. |
| 30 | Will the government provide CommVault licenses in support of the CommVault software mentioned in this requirement or are offerors expected to include CommVault back-up software license costs as part of their bid? | For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with VAs existing backup systems as specified in PWS section 5.11 and Attachment C. PWS section 5.11.2 (2a) has been updated accordingly. |
| 31 | Is CommVault software to be provided to the contract award winner as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)? | No. CommVault software will not be provided as GFE. CommVault software is referenced as it is the current solution utilized by VA for enterprise data backup. For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with VA's current backup solution. |
| 32 | Should the response include cost for backup and cloud disaster recovery in the cost proposals? | No, the cost of backup and cloud disaster recovery (section 5.3.3 notwithstanding) should not be part of the cost proposal because backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract. However, the solution must be compatible with CommVault HyperScale in accordance with Attachment C. For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. |
| 33 | We assume any and all cost associated with backup and disaster recovery requirements should be included in offerors response. Will the Government please confirm? | For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only, therefore, no costs associated with backup and disaster recovery (section 5.3.3 notwithstanding) will be included in the offerors response. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with CommVault HyperScale in accordance with Attachment C. For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. |
| 34 | Based on reference in Attachment C in section2.5 “The solution shall be a CommVault HyperScale validated platform”, is the Government dictating that the solution proposed must only be a CommVault solution. | For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with VA's existing CommVault environment in accordance with Attachment C. For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. |
| 35 | Is the Government willing to accept a backup and disaster recovery solution other than CommVault and/or Veritas? | For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with CommVault HyperScale in accordance with Attachment C. For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. |
| 36 | Our assumption is the Government has existing CommVault licenses which will be provided to the awardee as GFE in support of its legacy environment, is this correct? | For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible. |
| 37 | Based on D Section 5.3.3 (page 47) VI CLOUD DISASTER RECOVERY REPOSITORY “The IaaMS VI solution shall incorporate an automated data replication mechanism that copies all on-premises files to an IaaMS VI cloud disaster recovery repository. The Contractor shall implement IaaMS VI cloud disaster recovery repository functionality and perform the initial ingestion of all VI objects into the cloud platform. The Contractor shall provide any licensing and professional services required to implement this functionality at no additional cost.” |
| Our assumption is the government will not be providing CommVault licenses for data and workloads migrated to a modernized environment (i.e. The cloud) and that a modern, cloud native data protection capability (including relevant software licenses) is required to be included in all offerors responses. Is this correct? | VA will not provide any licensing to implement the cloud disaster recovery repository. VA does not require any cloud disaster recovery functionality to be provided beyond what is stated in PWS Section 5.3.3. | |||
| 38 | As this draft SOW does not have a brand name justification, The Commvault Hyperscale validated platform (Attachment C, Section 2.5 Backup Capacity) and CommVault Simpana as well as Veritas NetBackup (Attachment D Section 5.11.2.5.h) are a name brand proprietary capability that only Commvault and Veritas can provide. We respectfully request that the VA remove all Commvault and Veritas requirements to ensure all vendors provide like-for-like solutions. Removing the Commvault and Veritas requirements will also allow for fair and open competition by OEMs other than Commvault and Veritas. | There is no brand name justification as CommVault and Veritas are identified as solutions already in place at VA. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with the solutions already in place. For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. | ||
| 39 | Will the Government please insert the words “or equivalent” after all name brands called out in the solicitation (i.e. | |||
| CommVault, Veritas)? | No. CommVault and Veritas are identified as solutions already in place at VA. Backup services and software are beyond the scope of this contract, however the solution must be compatible with the solutions already in place. For backup purposes, this contract is intended to provide server and storage resources only. | |||
| 40 | Attachment 0001 - IaaMS Price Evaluation Spreadsheet DRAFT | On the Evaluated Price Tab – the term is appended to several of the priced line items. How does the “Not-to-Exceed” work/evaluate when you are using a fixed unit price? Are we committing that our UNIT price is NTE or are we committing to a NTE amount for a total evaluated total price of Unit price * qty * months regardless of any customer imposed challenges, requirements, rules, policies, etc.? Our assumption is that NTE means not-to-exceed for a fixed unit price. | Refer to Solicitation B.4 Price Schedule for definitions of NTEs in each applicable line item. | |
| 41 | Price Schedule, B.4 | The IaaMS solution shall be priced as a consolidated service, $/TB/Month/Used. There are approximately 150 sites, with a capacity range from 1 TB to 500+TB. VA draws no distinction between any sites. Does the VA acknowledge the broad set of functional requirements will unduly affect pricing, so as to over-burden smaller sites (100 sites less than 100 TB) over larger sites? | The basic functional requirements are identical regardless of size. Performance requirements are either outcome-based (e.g. performance in file delivery latency) or scale linearly based on the number of terabytes used. If there is a particular requirement that is concerning, please specify. |
The functional requirements for installation are identical regardless of size and shall be priced and in accordance with PWS Section 5.5.
The Government has determined the delta in installation price per site is negligible and VA would not benefit from breaking installation costs into size-related categories.
42 Price Schedule, CLIN 0005 Does the VA have an existing plan or schedule for the deployment of the 150 sites? If yes, can the VA share a schedule or list or site priorities? VA does not have a pre-existing schedule for prioritizing the 156 facility installations. VA will provide the list of critical sites and provide to the Contractor at the kickoff meeting.
Contractor may schedule all remaining sites at their convenience.
| 43 | Attachment B | Attachment B specifies fixed infrastructure requirements, this is a relatively high fixed cost per site. As many of the 150 sites are small, 52 sites under 50 TB, this places a higher cost burden on these smaller sites. Is this the firm position and requirement direction of VA? | The Government has considered your comments, but the Government will continue with the requirement as written relative to fixed infrastructure requirements. |
| 44 | PWS 4.1 | PWS 4.1, states all sites installed ‘within seven months of award at all 158 sites’. Can VA verify this intention, and provide some guidance on which sites in what order, or which sites in parallel? Also, Attachment A lists 150 sites, which is the correct number of sites? | VA does not have a pre-existing schedule for prioritizing the 156 facility installations. This list will be developed and shared at the kickoff meeting detailed in PWS section 5.1.2. The PWS and Attachment A have been updated to reflect the correct number of sites as 156. |
| 45 | PWS 5.2.2.4 | Key Management. This functionality, mandatory for all sites (as written) places a high fixed cost on every site; and a high cost component integrated into the VistA capacity price? Would VA consider a distributed, equivalent functionality, solution; regionally concentrated? | Due to the critical nature of the system, it must be capable of booting from a complete power-down situation in the absence of WAN connectivity. Any proposed solution must meet the requirements of the PWS. |
| 46 | PWS 5.3 | PWS 5.3 states ‘VA will take and maintain responsibility for day-to-day administrative work including patch management, access control, and ongoing configuration maintenance. How will VA address potential outages, if VA administration caused, with Uptime requirement of PWS 5.6.2.1? | VA will not hold the contractor responsible for outages caused solely by VA actions. PWS section 5.6.2 has been updated. |
| 47 | PWS 3.0 | PWS states 'VA will furnish VAEC capacity as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)'. What compute and storage/capacity resources are available for IaaMS solution? Are there any limits on this usage? | We will provide compute and storage functionality required to host the cloud DR solution. There are no specific limits, but VA retains the right to review resource requests for appropriateness. |
| 48 | PWS 5.3.5 | PWS 5.3.5 and Attachment A, RecoverALL. VA specific contractor shall provision and maintain three RecoverAll systems at Chantilly, VA location; 100/200/500TB. These are physical functional systems with real, but unused, capacity. Will VA pay for this 800 TB of real but standby storage capacity? | The Contractor shall invoice each RecoverAll system at the Used Storage Capacity (TB) value listed in Attachment A.. PWS Section 5.3.5 has been updated. |
| 49 | PWS5.2 | VA is requiring entire IaaMS solution 'stack' at 'all facilities'. Given there are a number of small sites (52 sites under 50 TB), this requirement imposes a disproportionate cost burden on these smaller sites. Is VA open to a 'regional' approach for smaller sites, for cost savings? | No. VistA Imaging application locality requirements are not compatible with offsite primary storage or offsite application presentation. |
| 50 | PWS 5.3.3, 2. D | Contractors can optimize, lower costs, with more VAEC usage; if permitted. This option architecture greatly depends on resources available. Can the VA provide more details on the amount and type of compute and storage resources are available for use with in the VAEC? Is there a cost associated for these resources that the IaaMS solutions need to account for? | This is governed by PWS section 5.3.3 which specifies exactly which data and services belong in the cloud. There is no cost to the contractor for the use of VAEC resources. Cloud resources (compute and storage) will be provided to the Contractor as GFE to support its proposed DR solution. |
| 51 | PWS 5.2.1 | Section 5.2.1 (item 5) requires an SRM platform to provide alerting and health reports for all storage. Attachment B outlines infrastructure requirements that also includes compute and networking resources, in addition to storage. Would the government be willing to amend their PWS to add a requirement for alerting and health reports for compute and network as well and all from a single platform? | No. VA has pre-existing tools for alerting and health reports monitoring for compute platforms. |
| 52 | PWS 5.2.1 | Section 5.2.1 (item 3) requires for SRM platform to provide global capacity dashboards. Item 5 requires health reports. Will the government also require live dashboards for real time health? | No, the Government will not require live dashboards for real time health. |
| 53 | PWS 5.2.1 | For the SRM platform in 5.2.1, what integrations will the government require with this platform? | Integration with external platforms is not required. |
| 54 | Price Schedule, B.4 | The IaaMS solution shall be priced as a consolidated service, $/TB/Month/Used. There are approximately 150 sites, with a capacity range from 1 TB to 500+TB. VA draws no distinction between any sites. Does the VA acknowledge the broad set of functional requirements will unduly affect pricing, so as to over-burden smaller sites (100 sites less than 100 TB) over larger sites? | The functional requirements for installation are identical regardless of size and shall be priced and in accordance with PWS Section 5.5. |
The Government has determined the delta in installation price per site is negligible and VA would not benefit from breaking installation costs into size-related categories.
55 Price Schedule, CLIN 0005 The site-specific deployment order would be part of the Contractor Project Management Plan described in section 5.1.1. VA will provide a list of priority sites as part of the technical kickoff meeting in section 5.1.2. VA does not have a pre-existing schedule for prioritizing the 156 facility installations. VA will provide the list of critical sites and provide to the Contractor at the kickoff meeting.
Contractor may schedule all remaining sites at their convenience.
| 56 | Attachment 0001 | On the Evaluated Price Tab – the term “NTE” is appended to several of the priced line items. How does the “Not-to-Exceed” work/evaluate when you are using a fixed unit price? Are we committing that our UNIT price is NTE or are we committing to a NTE amount for a total evaluated total price of Unit price * qty * months regardless of any customer imposed challenges, requirements, rules, policies, etc.? Our assumption is that NTE means not-to-exceed for a fixed unit price. | Refer to Solicitation B.4 Price Schedule for definitions of NTEs in each applicable line item. |
| 57 | PWS 5.3.3, 2. D | We understand the VA leverages both Azure Government and AWS GovCloud. Can the VA provide more details on the amount and type of compute and storage resources are available for use with in the VAEC? Is there a cost associated for these resources that the IaaMS solutions need to account for? | This is governed by PWS section 5.3.3 which specifies exactly which data and services belong in the cloud. There is no cost to the contractor for the use of VAEC resources. Cloud resources (compute and storage) will be provided to the Contractor as GFE to support its proposed DR solution. |
| 58 | PWS 5.2.2.1 | ENCRYPTION…”The IaaMS solution shall be implemented in a manner that allows all encryption requirements to be met without interfering with deduplication, thin provisioning, compression, compaction, or other data efficiency mechanisms offered by the solution.” Does the storage solution have to support deduplication of encrypted same objects/files/data? | Yes, the storage solution does have to support deduplication of encrypted same objects/files/data. |
| 59 | PWS 5.2.2.4 | There are various levels of access protection to a Key Management System (KMS) – FIPS 140-2 Level 1 validated KMS need only password-based administrative protection at a minimum, but there are higher level protection mechanisms for protecting access or managing these systems with their high-value keys (a.k.a. “Keys To The Kingdom”) therefore, would the DoVA have a preference or actually require a PIN ENTRY DEVICE (PED) with Role-based Access Controls for a higher level of control and protection for all KMS physical appliances? Note that virtual appliances are typically only password protected. | VA has no preference and does not require a PIN entry device. |
| 60 | PWS 5.2.3.1 | DATA EFFICIENCY…the requirement is “The IaaMS solution shall deduplicate redundant data stored within any given storage tier at any given facility. Deduplication efficiency shall not be inhibited by the use of data encryption within the IaaMS solution. ….” Encryption normally breaks deduplication in most, if not all storage solutions. What product(s) is the VA expecting to have within the solution to allow deduplication of encrypted objects? | The contractor may propose any solution that meets the requirements of the PWS. |
| 61 | PWS 5.2.2.4 | Is there a preference for a physical or virtual KMS solution? | VA has no preference, however, the solution must be able to boot from a complete power-down state to a completely functional state in the absence of WAN connectivity. PWS Section 5.2.2.1 has been modified to clarify this requirement. |
| 62 | PWS 5.2.2.4 | In 5.2.2.4 KEY MANAGEMENT…it states that “….The key management system shall maintain a local copy of each encryption key in the same location as each copy of the encrypted data.” This generates questions: |
a. Currently the VA has EEKMS that provides DoVA enterprise KMS infrastructure. Is this EEKMS expected to be “part of” the overall IaaMS VI solution at initial deployment?
b. If not, the requirements specify having a local KMS at each site, with this approach will these be net-new purchases to cover the 158 sites?
c. And, will this be a parallel-to-EEKMS deployment to allow for & during the migration/transition to the new Vista VI solution? a. No the EEKMS is not expected to be part of the overall IaaMS VI solution at initial deployment.
b. The onus is on the contractor to provide a functional solution to the requirements in PWS section 5.2.2.4. The Contractor shall provide a KMS solution as required to support its proposed solution at each site as part of this effort.
c. Assuming this is asking if IaaMS and EEKMS will be deployed in parallel, no.
63 PWS 5.3.3 In 5.3.3 VI CLOUD DISASTER RECOVERY REPOSITORY… is the DoVA envisioning to use the KMS systems specified in 5.2.2.4 as an external, on-prem KMS to maintain ownership/control of the encryption keys for cloud-based data? Or purchase additional cloud-based KMS’s to protect cloud-based data? All cryptographic keys must be stored in the same location as the underlying encrypted data, thus requiring both on-premise and cloud KMS functionality. The purpose of the key management requirements in 5.2.2.4 is to protect any cryptographic keys necessary to meet the requirements of section 5.2.2.1.
| 64 | PWS 5.2.2.1 | In 5.2.2.1 ENCRYPTION…the last requirement of this paragraph states “The IaaMS solution shall be implemented in a manner that allows all encryption requirements to be met without interfering with deduplication, thin provisioning, compression, compaction, or other data efficiency mechanisms offered by the solution.” Is it the intention or preference of the VA to purchase a solution that actually provides “deduplication of encrypted data/files/objects/etc.”? | VA does not seek deduplication of data encrypted outside of the IaaMS systems. Any data provided by VA would be unencrypted up to the point of ingestion. |
| 65 | PWS 5.2.2.4 | In 5.2.2.4 KEY MANAGEMENT…there is reference to “exporting keys to a VA-provided key management infrastructure”. Is the VA-provided key management infrastructure also known as “EEKMS” within the DoVA? If not, what is this VA-provided key management infrastructure? | All KMS appliances follow industry standards for key import/export functions. The target KMS may vary from facility to facility. |
| 66 | PWS 5.2.2.4 | In 5.2.2.4 KEY MANAGEMENT…there is reference to “The key management system shall maintain a local copy of each encryption key in the same location as each copy of encrypted data.” Is it the VA’s expectation that this will require a KMS (virtual or physical) at each of the 158 sites identified? And, that this would be a parallel architecture to the existing EEKMS architecture/footprint? Would these Vista VI KMS systems tie directly to the EEKMS solution at any time in the future? | A local key management system is necessary to meet the requirements of PWS section 5.2.2.4. Although VA has no preference regarding physical or virtual KMS implementations, the IaaMS solution must be able to boot from a complete power-down state to a completely functional state in the absence of WAN connectivity. PWS Section 5.2.2.1 has been modified to clarify this requirement. | |
| 67 | PWS 5.2.3.1 | In 5.2.3.1 DATA EFFICIENCY… there are requirements that a) “The IaaMS solution shall deduplicate redundant data stored within any given storage tier at any given facility.” And b) “The deduplication efficiency shall not be inhibited by the use of data encryption within the IaaMS solution.” Can the VA provide additional details around this requirement with respect to expectations for deduplicating encrypted data and the vision to achieve it? Multiple copies of a single data item normally do not dedupe when encrypted. Please advise. | Although VA has no preference for implementation method, deduplication would generally occur prior to encryption. This would permit the deduplication process to detect identical blocks/chunks/files across disparate files prior to encryption. Assuming controller-based encryption or a comparable software-defined encryption methodology is used, the deduplication process would be accessing clear-text data from an encrypted storage pool that has been decrypted in real time. | |
| 68 | 5.2.2.5 STORAGE MEDIA RETENTION | Will VA assume responsibility for the destruction of media as it is replaced and at the end of the contract? | Yes, VA will assume responsibility for the destruction of media as it is replaced and at the end of the contract. | |
| 69 | 5.2.2.6 OPERATING ENVIRONMENT | What VA document(s) describes VA’s software security and deployment baselines that are applicable to this procurement? | Please see PWS section 2.0, Applicable Documents. | |
| 70 | ATTACHMENT B, 1.0 Server Cabinets, d. Note: | The note states that an unidentified number of sites will not have the space for additional cabinets and that existing non-contagious rack RUs will need to be used and that all transceivers, cabling, and other ancillary hardware to connect the solution will be the contractor’s responsibility. Site survey’s will be required to determine the components requirements and the associated costs so that they can be used in determining the Terabyte per month cost. Will VA identify sites that fall into this category and allow site survey visits during the solicitation process? | These sites will be identified as part of the Site Readiness Activity identified in PWS section 5.5.1 and there will be no site survey visits allowed during the solicitation process. | |
| 71 | 5.5.1 IaaMS SITE READINESS ACTIVITY | Site Readiness Activity will require that a site survey be conducted at each site prior to finalizing configuration of equipment and infrastructure. Is the cost of conducting these site survey’s to be considered a part of the installation cost? | Yes, the cost of conducting site surveys is to be considered a part of the installation cost. | |
| 72 | 5.6.3 AUTHORITY TO OPERATE (ATO) | Will a set of ATO documentation and formal ATO be required for each site or will a VA system wide set of ATO documentation and ATO be allowed? | VA expects a single ATO for VistA Imaging as an application. | |
| 73 | 5.6.4 CATASTROPHIC FACILITY RECOVERY | Will the VA pay the cost for the equipment, delivery, installation, and configuration of a fully functional replacement solution? | Determinations will be handled on a case by case basis. | |
| 74 | 5.10 OPTIONAL TASKS – STORAGE CAPACITY | In this section “Attachment C – IaaMS Storage Modeling Requirements” is referenced as the guide for the section. However, in the remainder of the section the phrase “service modeling requirements” is used. Is this by mistake and should it be storage modeling requirements? If not, can VA provide the required documentation describing the service modeling requirements? | The PWS has been updated to reflect "storage modeling requirement" versus "service modeling requirement." | |
| 75 | ADDITIONAL VA REQUIREMENTS, CONSOLIDATED | |||
| 1. Cyber and Information Security Requirements for VA IT Services | In this section the government states that, the Contractor’s firewall and web server shall meet or exceed VA minimum requirements for security. In what document are the VA’s minimum requirements for security defined? | All services under this contract are provided on the VA network and thus the web server and firewall requirements are not within the scope of this effort. VA's minimum security requirements are brand specific and would be made available upon request to support an Offerors specific proposed solution. |
| 76 | Will the VA consider releasing specific details at RFP release of the current environments space for expansion of capacity at each site? | No. The current systems have reached end-of-life and cannot be expanded. | |
| 77 | 4.1 | The installation for the IaaMS VI is 12 months for all 158 sites. Is the 12 months included in the base period? | Yes, the 12 month period for data migration is included in the base period. The IaaMS VI initial deployment delivery, installation, and configuration shall be completed within seven months of award at all 156 sites, as detailed in Attachment A – VI Facility-Specific Quantities, Capacities, and Locations. |
| 78 | 4.1 | If any of the optional tasks are exercised. Are there any data migration requirements? If so, do they need to be done in the 6 month period? | No, there are no data migration requirements beyond VistA Imaging. |
| 79 | 5.1.1 | Is the project plan deliverable for IaaMS VI only or will a project plan also be a deliverable if the optional CLIN's are exercised? | The Contractor Project Management Plan is a living document and will need to be updated throughout the POP to address expansion associated with exercising optional CLINs. |
| 80 | 5.3 | All on premises elements of the VI solution shall be provided as minimally managed services as defined in Attachment C (see question 23 with definition of minimally managed) in which the Contractor provides professional services necessary for installation, initial configuration, data migration, ongoing capacity expansions and top tier technical support. The Contractor shall remain responsible for all Operations and Maintenance as defined in PWS Section 5.6 and ensuring capacity Requirements a defined in PWS Section 5.2.3 - The required activities listed in PWS section 5.6 and section 5.2.3 do not fall within the defined parameters of minimally managed as they are inclusive of software, operation and maintenance activities, monitoring and reporting responsibilities: for example 5.6.1 includes OEM Support, Software Upgrades-Planned Maintenance and Cloud Disaster Recovery Repository (Operation) and Maintenance: 5.6.2 IAAMS SLA's includes deliverables of IaaMS SLA Monitoring Report and After Action Report etc. Please further define "Minimally Managed". Please clarify all services that are to be included in the Minimally Managed pricing. | Section 5.3 was revised to address this inquiry. Be aware that Section 5.6 does not necessarily require the contractor to perform all elements. For example, software upgrades are not an element of a minimally managed service and thus the contractor is not responsible for performing routine software upgrades. |
| 81 | 5.3.2 | Is the 45 days for demonstration included in the base 12 month period of performance? | Yes, the 45 days for demonstration is included in the base 12 month period of performance. |
| 82 | 5.3.2.1 | Can the data migration be done remotely? | Yes, data migration can be done remotely. |
| 83 | 5.3.2 first paragraph | "10 billion images of 40 billion files" - Do the remaining 30 billion files constitute dedupable/compressible files that account for the 14PB reduction to 11PB data footprint? The paragraph references the 11PB as on-premise storage. Does this not intend to imply actual capacity, but rather data footprint? | 14PB is the correct approximation for on-premises storage. The PWS has been updated to reflect this. |
| 84 | 5.3.2 first paragraph | The annual sustained growth rate of 17% is an aggregate across all VI faculties. Do you have actual growth rate metrics for each facility? | Yes. The facility-specific growth rates can be provided at time of award. This list will be developed and shared at the kickoff meeting detailed in PWS section 5.1.2. |
| 85 | 5.5.2 | Can the VA provide a list of sites that cannot accept structured racks? | No. This will be determined by the contractor as part of the Site Readiness Activity described in PWS section 5.5.1. |
| 86 | 5.6.1.4 | If an on-premises VI site become unavailable, what is failing over to the VAEC in terms of requiring storage operations? | If the on-premise IaaMS solution is not functional, all operations will fail over to the cloud disaster recovery repository in accordance with PWS section 5.3.3. |
| 87 | 5.6.2 | IAAMS Service Level Agreements (SLA) - What are the SLA's that are to be included in the monitoring plan. The deliverable calls for a SLA Monitoring Report and After Action Report which are activities that are not covered in the minimally managed service definition provided. | All SLAs described in PWS section 5.6.2 and its subsections should be included in the SLA Monitoring Report. |
| 88 | 5.6.2.4.2 | Assumes the contractor in monitoring the VI infrastructure. Under Attachment C there are no monitoring requirements for minimally managed service. | Attachment C section 1.1 was revised to address this inquiry. |
Services designated as minimally managed shall meet the following requirements:
The Contractor shall prepare, ship, install, configure, and monitor all hardware required to make the usable capacity fully available to the target application.
| 89 | 5.6.2.4.4 | Assumes the contractor in monitoring the VI infrastructure. Under Attachment C there are no monitoring requirements for minimally managed service. | Attachment C section 1.1 was revised to address this inquiry. Services designated as minimally managed shall meet the following requirements: The Contractor shall prepare, ship, install, configure, and monitor all hardware required to make the usable capacity fully available to the target application. |
| 90 | 6 | The Tasks identified above and the resulting Position Sensitivity and Background investigation requirements identify, in effect, the Background investigation requirements / the background investigation requirements for Task 5.5 (Implementation) requires a Tier 1/LOW/NACI whereas Task 5.7 (for a tech refresh) requires Tier 2 /Moderate / MBI. Will position sensitivity/background investigation requirements change for fully managed? | Initial implementation is rated as less sensitive than a technical refresh as the equipment will not be hosting sensitive data at the time of initial implementation. |
VA does not anticipate position sensitivities changing based on the service model.
| 91 | Col C Header |
This is the start of the file's text. The full file is on GovTribe.
File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated .