W911S0-16-R-0010_Amendment_0002.pdf

0010857928-0001

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

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

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

30-105-04EXCEPTION TO SF 30

APPROVED BY OIRM 11-84

STANDARD FORM 30 (Rev. 10-83) Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

The purpose of this amendment is to provide responses to questions from Industry. Proposal due date remains unchanged.

1. CONTRACT ID CODE PAGE OF PAGES

J 1 23

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

16C. DATE SIGNED

BY 30-Jun-2016

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA15C. DATE SIGNED15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

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

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., Street, County, State and Zip Code) X W911S0-16-R-0010

X 9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

15-Jun-2016

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

X The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offer is extended, X is not extended.

Offer must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN

REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

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

CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(B).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

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

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

10A. MOD. OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO.(If applicable)

6. ISSUED BY

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

30-Jun-2016

CODE

MICC - FORT EUSTIS

705 WASHINGTON BLVD,

SUITE 126

FORT EUSTIS VA 23604-5327

W911S0 7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than item 6)

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.

CODE

See Item 6

FACILITY CODECODE

EMAIL:TEL:

W911S0-16-R-0010

SECTION SF 30 BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

The following items are applicable to this modification:

Question 38. It is mentioned in "4.2 Secret Facility Clearance: The contractor shall possess and maintain a SECRET facility clearance from the Defense Security Service. The Contractor’s employees, performing work in support of this contract shall have been granted a SECRET security clearance from the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office. The DD 254 is provided as Attachment."

Our SDVOSB partner is the in the process of getting top secret facility clearance at any moment.

We wanted to know if we need to have facility clearance during the time of submission or during the time of award.

Answer: The facility clearance must be held at the time of submission. All offerors will be evaluated on whether or not they meet the requirements in the solicitation when they are evaluated, not at the time of award.

Question 39. Does the projected workload described in the Solicitation actually reflect the historical workload? If not, what is different?

Answer: Yes, it does reflect the current and historical workload.

Question 40. Some of the requirements for the solicitation include: The offer shall ensure personnel on staff have at least 3 to 5 years of expertise with the Blackboard Learn™ application and provide Blackboard Certified Trainers certified through the Blackboard, Inc. Further requirements are tied to responsibilities for the management of LLC Blackboard Learn™ domains, IHs and VCs, and other specific integrated applications. To be competitive, outside of the incumbent’s staff, can equivalent Learning Content Management System (LCMS) qualifications and personnel backgrounds, other than Blackboard Learn™, be substituted for personnel experience for proposed Key personnel and support staff?

Answer: The key positions must have the required Blackboard Learn™ experience as specified in the solicitation.

Question 41. Beyond the Blackboard specific set of requirements, this solicitation references a series of application and operational hardware/software, system and network requirements that are project specific, such as:

SharePoint 2010/2012 using MS Server 2008R2/2012R2 Microsoft IIS v6.0 and v7.0) using MS Server 2008R2 and 2012R2

MS ADFS

AKO, AKO KCs, MSKN, CKN, MPKN], ESKN and ESKN-S Sonic Foundry Media Site, Respondus, Adobe Captivate, Camtasia, Defense Connect Online, Defense, Collaboration System and Liferay ATRRS, RITMS, SABA, SCORM, Unity and VBS3.

It is unlikely that offerors, other than the incumbent, can adequately address every requirement for their proposed Key personnel and support staff. To insure adequate competition, can equivalent enterprise, system and network qualifications and personnel backgrounds be substituted for personnel experience for our proposed Key personnel and support staff without negative evaluation impact?

Answer: If the offeror has the enterprise, system and network personnel who have the required certifications that are identified by reference in the solicitation, then equivalent experience can be submitted.

Question 42. Paragraph 2.6. is followed by subparagraph 2.5.1.

Answer: Noted. Numbering will be corrected.

Question 43. Paragraph 2.8 – “Support Desk. The support desk is the primary interface with the customer, whether it be training developer, instructors, staff member, or student. They assist customers with the technical aspects of all systems within the LLC. Support desk operations can be manned based on mission requirements: 5 days x 12 hours - Support Desk is manned Monday-Friday, 0600-1800, local time. Questions after these hours may be forwarded for action on the following duty day or left on the support desk voice mail and a technician will give a call back the next duty day.”

Paragraph 2.8.1 states: “7 days x 24 hours. Support Desk is available 7 day a week, 24 hours a day.”

Paragraph 3.1.3 states: Contractor shall operate a support desk eight (8) hours per day, Monday through Friday (0730-1530) in order to support the resident, satellite campuses, Paragraph 4.1.2. states: “The support desk … shall be available during normal business hours and limited after hours support (limited help desk technician assistance shall be available Tuesday-Friday until 2230 and Saturday from 0900- 1700). Questions after these hours may be forwarded via email or left on the support desk voice mail for action on the following duty day. The support desk shall monitor and answer any questions and trouble calls from users of the LLC website, LMS online courses, PC-based simulations, or other LLC-related functions.

What are the days and support hours of the Support Desk?

Answer: We do not staff the support desks 24/7. After hours support is provided by the Army Training Help Desk (ATHD). Each site also has the ability to get voicemails to be addressed the next business day in addition to the tickets that are entered into the ATHD system after hours.

Current Operational hours:

Ft. Eustis – 0700 – 1700 Monday - Friday Ft. Leavenworth – 0730 – 1530 Monday - Friday Ft. Gordon – 0600 – 1800 Monday - Friday Ft. Leonard Wood – 0730 – 1630 Monday – Friday; limited support desk support Tuesday-Friday until 2230 and 0900-1700 on Saturday (limited means one person, Saturdays as needed) TJAGLCS – 0800 – 1700 Monday – Friday

Question 44. Paragraph 4.4.8 – “Documentation: Contractor shall provide specific documentation to include:”

The contractor provided “specific documentation” is not specified.

Answer:

4.4.8.1. Preparation of the system security documentation for the LLC accreditation. This document will be provided by Government to the Designated Approval Authority (DAA) for the accrediting organization for approval.

4.4.8.2. Maintain and support the NEC continuity of operations plan (COOP) (disaster recovery) capabilities to include file server backup and restoring damaged and/or lost files and/or data as well as a training system for troubleshooting that includes compliance with designation of problem resolution priorities based on resolution forecast (time and resources). Contractor is only responsible for the LLC systems COOP, which is an annex to the NEC COOP. The COOP identifies actions taken during critical system outages and actions to be taken to restore the LLC to fully mission capable. FLW LLC currently falls under the single NEC concept.

4.4.8.3. Backup procedures for all systems with the LLC (daily, incremental, and full). All system backups are done by the NEC. Contractor shall archive (back-up to CD/DVD) course material, video projects, etc… we just do not back up core, application, database, files, etc.

4.4.8.4. Support desk procedures. This document shall contain items such as the daily standard operation procedures of the support desk; points of contact (POCs) for the supported schools, etc.

4.4.8.5. Develop documentation and maintaining software licenses. Contractor shall:

4.4.8.6. Develop and submit technical recommendations to Government. As system changes and operational procedures necessitate, if Contractor believes in its expert capacity a change will increase efficiency or on government request, Contractor shall develop and submit technical recommendations.

4.4.8.7. Ensure that servers are operational. Perform course-level backups on servers to ensure the server-operating environments are within the limits established for said environments by the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware or software manufacturers, perform preventive maintenance on the servers, upgrade the server configurations, and issue logins and passwords. This may require some configurations to work within the Army environment and flex to the customer’s needs.

4.4.8.8. Advise Government in its expert capacity on expiration of maintenance, service, or license agreements; such as, hardware or software. Contractor shall not negotiate on behalf of or as an agent of Government but shall provide estimated quotes for renewal.

4.4.8.9. Install software and firmware upgrades and ensure proper configuration of LLC server systems.

4.4.8.10. Provide problem diagnosis and advice on resolutions and implementation of resources (servers, hardware, and software) of LLC architecture (maintenance and buildup).

4.4.8.11. Develop and submit recommendations on evolving education and training concepts pertaining to continuous (lifelong) IT education and train.

Question 45. It is requested that the historical FTE staffing data be published for all and any supported site which can be used to formulate a reasonable bid. Without this data there is an unfair advantage to the incumbent and those who have inside information on staffing particulars and a very high risk to those proposing a staffing structure without sufficient operational or historical data including:

Labor category and labor hour descriptions by site including years of experience and educational minimums.

Part-time, surge, vendor, Subject Matter Expert or on-demand support Necessary skillsets

Answer: Offerors are to determine staffing requirements based on requirements as defined in the Performance Work Statement.

Question 46. 1.6.1.4 System Accreditation. When is/are the next system accreditation renewal(s) due?

Answer: The system was accredited in February 2016. The next accreditation is not due until February 2019. It will be done in conjunction with the ATSC data center in which the Enterprise LLC resides.

Question 47. 1.4.1. How many client workstations per classroom / per site?

Answer: We don’t maintain any workstations or classrooms in this contract. We maintain the LLC system that the schoolhouses use for both resident and distributed learning training and education.

Question 48. 1.6.11 Key Personnel. What is the current labor categories of the named key personnel per site?

Answer: Offerors are to determine staffing based upon requirements defined in the Performance Work Statement.

Question 49. 5.6.2.1 User Metrics. What is the annual student registration count average during the previous contract period and what is the average annual hours of training during the previous contract period?

Answer: Student registrations is not a metric that is collected. User numbers for each site for the time period 1 JUL 15 – 31 MAR 16 are included as Exhibit 2 in the solicitation.

As for training, for the time period 1 JUL 15 – 31 MAY 16, training has been conducted as follows:

Ft. Eustis – 124 courses taught, 2096 students. Duration of courses varies.

Ft. Gordon – 79 courses taught, 546 students. Duration of courses varies.

Ft. Leavenworth – 102 courses taught, 425 students. Duration of courses varies.

Ft. Leonard Wood and TJAGLCS do not conduct training classes.

Question 50. Does the government wish to have first right of refusal on incumbent staff?

Answer: The Government does not get involved in contractor personnel hiring decisions. The Government only reviews resumes of key personnel to determine if they are qualified. We do not tell a vendor who to hire.

Question 51. Attachment 2 – Site Specific Duties – Ft. Eustis: Section 2.8 Support Desk & 2.8.1. The section states:

The support desk is the primary interface with the customer, whether it be training developer, instructors, staff member, or student. They assist customers with the technical aspects of all systems within the LLC.

Support desk operations can be manned based on mission requirements: 5 days x 12 hours - Support Desk is manned Monday-Friday, 0600-1800, local time. Questions after these hours may be forwarded for action on the following duty day or left on the support desk voice mail and a technician will give a call back the next duty day.

2.8.1. 7 days x 24 hours. Support Desk is available 7 day a week, 24 hours a day.

Will the Government please clarify if the support desk is to be manned 7 days’ x 24 hours; or 5 days’ x 12 hours Monday – Friday?

Answer: We do not staff the support desks 24/7. After hours support is provided by the Army Training Help Desk (ATHD). Each site also has the ability to get voicemails to be addressed the next business day and to receive the tickets entered into the ATHD system.

Current Operational hours:

Ft. Eustis – 0700 – 1700 Monday - Friday Ft. Leavenworth – 0730 – 1530 Monday - Friday Ft. Gordon – 0600 – 1800 Monday - Friday Ft. Leonard Wood – 0730 – 1630 Monday – Friday; limited support desk support Tuesday-Friday until 2230 and 0900-1700 on Saturday (limited means one person, Saturdays as needed) TJAGLCS – 0800 – 1700 Monday – Friday

Question 52. Is there an incumbent for this work? If so, please provide the company name and current contract number and value.

Answer: Current contract is W011S0-12-D-0012 awarded to C4 Planning Solutions.

Question 53. How many staff are currently working on the contract?

Answer: The offeror is to determine the staffing requirements based on requirements defined in the Performance Work Statement.

Question 54. L. C3.a Volume I. Instructions for this volume include sections entitled Tab A, Tab B, etc.

Please confirm that these are just titles, and do not conflict with the instructions to submit only digital files.

Answer: That is correct, the Tabs are sections to be included in Volume I.

Question 55. How many staff are located at each site?

Answer: The offeror is to determine the staffing requirements based on requirements defined in the Performance Work Statement.

Question 56. Attachment 5: Proposed Labor Mix. Please confirm that the listed categories are sample only and not a reflection of existing staffing.

Answer: That is correct. The listed categories are samples only.

Question 57. Attachment 6, Schedule B. Could the Government please provide an excel version of the Attachment 5.

Answer: The Attachments are not available in an Excel version. Offerors do not have to price CLINS 0003 and 0004.

Question 58. CLIN 0001 provides for a 30-day phase in period, and CLIN 0002 provides for an 11-month period of performance for the base year, while the remaining CLINS for the base year specify a twelve month period. Is it the government’s intent that the Contract Start Date (CSD) is the first day of transition, and that the base Period of Performance ends 12 months after the start of transition?

Answer: That is correct.

Question 59. PWS 1.6.1.1. This mentions the requirement to create or maintain the Systems Architecture document, that identifies the associated servers, interfaces with other systems (AKO, ATRRS, ATHD), network topology, and services hosted. Is this document already created, and the contractor needs to maintain it? If so can you please provide this document?

Answer: It is created and will just be maintained. The document will be provided at the time of award.

Question 60. PWS 1.6.1.3. This requirement is to work with the Army Training Help Desk (ATHD).

Please clarify to what level of support is required? Is this Tier 1, 2, 3 support?

Answer: ATHD will provide some Tier 1 support. The LLC support desks will also provide some Tier 1 support, Tier 2 and 3 support. Some Tier 3 support will be forwarded to the Blackboard support team.

Question 61. PWS 1.6.8.1.2. Are all contractor personnel required to be cleared to the SECRET level on the day of contract award, or just designated personnel requiring access to classified networks (SIPRNET)? Please clarify this security clearance requirement timeline for SECRET access. And of the 5 locations, which locations will require SECRET access?

Answer: The only location requiring SECRET clearance for individuals is Ft. Gordon. The SECRET clearance must be in place in order for the contractor to access the facility, so it must be in place at contract award. The facility clearance must be in place for proposal submission.

Question 62. PWS 5.1.1. As part of the LLC infrastructure, what is the contractor demarcation of responsibility for the Wide Area Network (WAN) interfaces at each location?

Answer: The contractor is not responsible for WAN interfaces.

Question 63. PWS 5.1.1.3. What are the databases currently used?

Answer: SQL 2008 and 2012; Oracle 11g

Question 64. PWS 5.1.1.4 & PWS 5.3.12.4. To support PC/Workstations, are any Virtual Desktop services offered?

Answer: Yes.

Question 65. PWS 5.2.3. What is Help Desk call volume, and what level of Help Desk is required; is it Tier 1, 2, and 3? Including the Blackboard Learn tool expertise?

Answer: Support desk monthly statistics per site were provided as Attachment 1 to Amendment 0001.

Question 66. PWS 5.3. Please clarify the system availability and data availability requirement for what is defined as “networthiness,” IAW NETCOM NEC policy.

Answer: Networthiness is for system accreditation. System and data availability are not included in this paragraph.

Question 67. PWS 5.3. To scope the level of effort to maintain server operational status, what is the approximate server count at each location? What is the approximate blend of physical to virtual servers?

What are the server platforms and operating systems?

Answer: Ft. Eustis – all servers are virtual. There are 21 application servers, 7 DB servers, 6 file servers, 6 media servers.

Ft. Gordon – 4 Web servers, 4 database servers, 4 file servers, 2 application servers – mix of physical and virtual(for SIPR); 13 Web Servers, 14 Database servers, 4 file servers, 5 application servers (for NIPR, in addition to the servers that are located at Ft. Eustis.) – mix of physical and virtual

Question 68. PWS 5.3.7. To scope the LOE to maintain backup, please clarify the existing backup solution. Is backup both local and to a remote site? Is the contractor backup responsibility demarcation just to backup data, and other personnel are responsible for backup performance, such as backup testing, data recovery integrity, and recovery time objectives?

Answer: Backup is local and only for data for the contractor.

Question 69. PWS 5.3.10. To properly estimate the LOE to support installing software upgrades, is this currently done using an automated software tool to push out scheduled software updates? What is the approximate number of monthly software updates currently done per site?

Answer: For the application, updates are done semi-annually with some patches in between.

Question 70. PWS 5.4.1; PWS 5.4.2; and PWS 5.4.4. Are production servers, development servers, and testing servers located at all sites, or all in a central location, that service all five LLC locations?

Answer: For NIPRNet (.mil), servers are located at Ft. Eustis; for SIPRNET (.smil), servers are located at Ft. Gordon; For Blackboard.com, servers are located at a Blackboard hosting facility in Chantilly, VA and are not the responsibility of the contractor.

Question 71. PWS 5.5.2 to 5.5.5. For all these documents (COOP, Backup, User manuals, support desk procedures), is the requirement to create the document or maintain and update the existing document?

For example, for the documentation requirements for the COOP document, is the requirement to create a COOP document or maintain and update the existing COOP document?

Answer: The documents exist and will be maintained by the contractor.

Question 72. PWS 5.6.1. To identify the LOE for the requirement to execute the LL concept at an enterprise level, please clarify:

a) Please provide a definition for the LL concept?

b) What is the demarcation for each site the contractor is responsible for (contractor responsibilities vs others’ responsibilities)?

c) Do contractor responsibilities include hosting servers, applications, storage in a cloud environment, either now or expected to be in the near future?

d) Is any migration to the cloud in process or been completed?

Answer:

a) LL Concept: provide a capability to the Army that facilitates both resident and distributed learning instruction by offering a system to create, store, manage and deliver training content.

b) Responsibilities are listed in the solicitation

c) No. Cloud support will be provided separately.

d) We have cloud capability for the commercial side. Any other capability has not been determined.

Question 73. PWS 5.6.2.1. To interface to the Army Training Help Desk (ATHD), please clarify the level of support. Is the contractor responsible to augment the existing ATHD staff? And what software tool is used by the ATHD for ticket reporting and issue resolution tracking?

Answer: All phone calls come in to the ATHD and are directed to LLC support desk personnel. ATHD uses an enterprise version of Remedy.

Question 74. PWS 5.6.2.2 & PWS Attachment 2. To collect bandwidth utilization metrics, what tool is currently used for this, and is the same tool used at all sites?

Answer: That information has to be provided by each installation NEC.

Question 75. PWS 5.6.5. To identify the Help Desk LOE for the Tier 1, 2, 3 support, what is the approximate monthly number of tickets that get resolved at Tier 1, are escalated to Tier 2, and are then escalated to tier 3?

Answer: The support desk metrics were provided in Attachment 1 to Amendment 0001.

Question 76. PWS Attachment 2 (3.3.1). Is this site at Leavenworth, the only one requiring VMware support?

Answer: Yes.

Question 77. PWS Attachment 2 (4.4.3). Is this site at Ft. Leonard Wood the only one requiring storage and storage management support? What is the current enterprise storage solution, and databases used?

Answer: Storage refers to the content collection of Blackboard Learn™

Question 78. PWS Attachment 2 (4.4.5); PWS Section M (M-III). For the evaluation of Factor 3, Past Performance, how many past performances can be provided?

Answer: The Government prefers a minimum of two (2) Past Performance Questionnaires for contracts of similar scope and complexity if possible.

Question 79. Is the LLC infrastructure complete and running IAW mission requirements?

Answer: Yes it is.

Question 80. Are there systems development and implementation requirements that will fall within the scope of this solicitation?

Answer: No.

Question 81. To identify the LOE for the requirements to support the LLC architecture, diagnose issues, and provide advice on resolutions, please provide an architectural description and operational understanding of the of the current LLC infrastructure that includes a description of each of the infrastructure network components.

Answer: That information will be provided at the time of award. It is not publicly releasable information.

Question 82. Is the government looking to modernize the LLC infrastructure and to further leverage other technologies such as commercial and .mil cloud services?

Answer: The Government is not looking to modernize the infrastructure. However, movement to a cloud provider, whether that be military or commercial, may be considered in the future. The LLC program already has a presence in a commercial hosting center.

Question 83. Is the government looking to further centralize data and learning content?

Answer: Not specifically for this contract.

Question 84. In the interest of creating a shared understanding of some of the key operational parameters that define this work between the incumbent contractor and those potentially bidding, can the government provide the current set of key metrics that the incumbent is reporting against (User, System, and Capturing Resource Requirements/monthly metrics reports)?

Answer: User statistics were included as part of the solicitation. The support desk metrics were provided in Attachment 1 to Amendment 0001

Question 85. The current incumbent is fully aware of the number of staff (and minimum staffing requirement) at each LLC location. In the interest of making this a fair and competitive acquisition, will the government share the current staffing levels and functional distribution of incumbent staff?

Answer: Offerors are to determine staffing based on requirements defined in the Performance Work Statement.

Question 86. Is the government open to centralizing Help Desk services or is there a persistent requirement for resident support during the specified hours of operation at each LLC location?

Answer: There is a requirement to have some support local to each site for site specific reasons.

Question 87. Is the government looking to further leverage government and/or commercial cloud storage/services for classified and non-classified data assets?

Answer: Out of scope of this solicitation.

Question 88. What enabling software is currently being used in order to meet the requirements of the LLC Help Desk function?

Answer: The ATHD uses Remedy.

Question 89. Do each of the LLC locations require 365/24/7 Help Desk support in order to ensure availability across OCONUS locations and CONUS time zones?

Answer: No, they do not. The LLCs operate during designated duty times as listed below. After hours the calls are answered by the ATHD or voicemail.

Current Operational hours:

Ft. Eustis – 0700 – 1700 Monday - Friday Ft. Leavenworth – 0730 – 1530 Monday - Friday

Ft. Gordon – 0600 – 1800 Monday - Friday Ft. Leonard Wood – 0730 – 1630 Monday – Friday; limited support desk support Tuesday-Friday until 2230 and 0900-1700 on Saturday (limited means one person, Saturdays as needed) TJAGLCS – 0800 – 1700 Monday – Friday

Question 90. Do each of the LLC locations require 365/24/7 Technical SME support in order to maintain required systems uptime/availability?

Answer: Yes, but support may be remote after hours on an “on call” basis.

Question 91. PWS Section 1.6.1. Of the documents/deliverables listed in section 1.6.1 of the PWS (page 14), can the government identify which have been developed and are operational (i.e. which require maintenance only)?

Answer: The first four are to be maintained only. The Progress reports are submitted monthly and are generated by the contractor. The process documentation is either updated or generated on an as needed basis.

Question 92. PWS Section 1.6.16. Can the Government define what is meant by “standardized tool set for the LLC”?

Answer: Standard office supplies that are not available from the Government such as headsets for support desk personnel.

Question 93. PWS Part 3, paragraph 3.2. Given the requirement to support various functions on a 24/7 basis, does the Government intend to provide “hotel” space for shift workers or dedicated space for each employee on staff?

Answer: No. Current operational hours are identified in quest #89 above.

Question 94. PWS Part 3, para 3.2. If a “hotel” model will be used, what is the government’s estimate regarding the desk-to-employee ratio?

Answer: N/A

Question 95. PWS Part 3, para 3.2. What is the government’s estimate for work space and furnishings required to support the requirements of this solicitation?

Answer: Similar to government personnel at each location.

Question 96. Are all hardware and software assets needed to support the government for this solicitation GFE/S (i.e. provided to the awarded contractor)?

Answer: Yes

Question 97. Can the government identify the “…technical and tactical simulations built for specific proponent schools”? Are these COTS or GOTS products?

Answer: They could be COTS or GOTS.

Question 98. PWS Part 5, paragraph 5.2. What does the government consider the components of the Virtual Campus to be and what support do they need?

Answer: The virtual campus considers satellite campuses that are not co-located with the LLCs but access it remotely via Internet.

Question 99. PWS Part 5, paragraph 5.6. Can the government provide additional information regarding the proponent school support that is required and in-scope for this solicitation? How many proponent schools will require lifelong learning support and where, geographically, are these schools located?

Answer: All Army proponent schools and Centers of Excellence use the LLCs at various posts throughout CONUS and OCONUS.

Question 100. Are there DoD 8570.-01-M requirements for personnel assigned to this contract and if so, which functional roles require what level of compliance, what specific certifications are required, and do these certifications need to be held on day 1 of award or within 6 months of employment?

Answer: Baseline certification is for administrative rights for privileged access to the NIPRNET and is required upon contract award.

The training requirements have additional components based on job function such as system administrator or DBA, etc. and are needed within 6 months of employment.

Question 101. PWS Attachment 2, para 2.2.3; PWS Attachment 2, para 4.1.3. Can the government define and quantify the support anticipated to be required for the MSCoE Army Training Help Desk

(ATHD)?

Answer: Support Desk Metrics were provided in Attachment 1 to Amendment 0001.

Question 102. PWS Section 4. PWS section 4 on page 127 states “the offeror shall forward a copy of two (2) Past Performance Questionnaires to the points of contact responsible for monitoring performance under such contracts.” Does the government expect to receive 2 Past Performance Questionnaires for each Past Performance citation?

Answer: The Government will accept one (1) Past Performance Questionnaire for each citation.

Question 103. PWS Section 1.6.5. PWS section 1.6.5 on page 17 states “Contractor personnel work schedules may be flexed five days a week to meet the manpower requirements for weekend and extended duty periods during regular training and exercises.” Given this is a FFP contract, will contract personnel need to work beyond 40 hours in a given week and if so is there a plan to compensate the overtime or allow compensatory time to be taken in the following week(s)?

Answer: The answer was provided above with the flex statement. If after hours or weekend support is needed, the 40 hours would cover the 7-day period, provided this is approved by the Government.

Question 104. PWS Section 3.1. PWS states “For the Fort Leavenworth LLC, the Blackboard Learn™ application is hosted at a Blackboard data center in Chantilly, VA” Is this a commercial hosting and will the contractor have any responsibilities for the hardware and software at this site?

Answer: Yes, it is a commercial hosting center, and no, the contractor will not have any responsibilities for the hardware and software at that location.

Question 105. PWS Section 3.2. PWS states “The contractor shall provide instructor led training to Students and Faculty of CAC-LD&E and associated schools in the use of Blackboard Learn™, SharePoint, Defense Connect Online, Blackboard Collaborate™ and other education technology applications.” Will the government provide the number of courses and student workload so we can properly determine staffing requirements? Has courseware been developed for these courses or do they need to be developed? What is the method of instruction: classroom, distance learning, or blended?

Answer: A blended approach is used. Courses have already been developed. Course load is as follows:

Ft. Eustis – 124 courses taught, 2096 students. Duration of courses varies.

Ft. Gordon – 79 courses taught, 546 students. Duration of courses varies.

Ft. Leavenworth – 102 courses taught, 425 students. Duration of courses varies.

Ft. Leonard Wood and TJAGLCS do not conduct training classes.

Question 106. PWS Section 3.5.3. PWS states “Contractor shall develop custom modules and web parts for MS SharePoint Portal Server using Visual Studio or SharePoint Designer with ASP.NET, JavaScript, or other programming resource as required by the Government.” In order to determine the level of effort for the proposal can the government provide the scope of work to be accomplished (number of requirements, level of complexity, etc.)?

Answer: This is based on mission requirements and is not a static need.

Question 107. PWS Section 4.2.1. PWS states that work requests may take as long as several weeks, but in the same paragraph it states that the contractor must provide a solution within 5 business days. Will the government clarify?

Answer: The solution may be identified but take several weeks to implement. The proposed solution must be identified within 5 business days.

Question 108. PWS Section 4.2.1. What audio/video equipment is GFE to the contractor and is there a recording studio available for sound recordings?

Answer: The listing and facilities will be provided at award.

Question 109. Section L: L-III-C.3.c Past Performance submissions. What Is the minimum number of past performance references that are required to be submitted by the offeror?

Answer: The Government prefers that a minimum of two (2) Past Performance Questionnaires for contracts of similar scope and complexity of this requirement be provided, if possible.

Question 110. Section L: L-III-C.3.c Past Performance submissions. What is the maximum number of past performance references the government does not want offerors to exceed?

Answer: The Government does not want to receive more than five (5) Past Performance Questionnaires.

Question 111. What is the historic Level of Effort (LOE) represented by the total number of FTEs?

Answer: Offerors are to determine staffing levels based on requirements defined in the Performance Work Statement.

Question 112. What is the historic Level of Effort (LOE) represented by the total number of FTEs by site?

Answer: See above answer to Question #111.

Question 113. What is the historic Level of Effort (LOE) represented by the total number of FTEs by task requirement.

Answer: See above answer to Question #112.

Question 114. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASKS, 5.6.5. The PWS states: Operate a tiered (Tiers 1-3) Support Desk to provide application assistance to end users.Will the government clarify if there is an expectation of shared responsibilities between the Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 personnel?

Answer: ATHD will provide some Tier 1 support. The LLC support desks will also provide some Tier 1 support, Tier 2 and 3 support. Some Tier 3 support will be forwarded to the Blackboard support team.

Question 115. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASKS, 5.6.5. The PWS states: Operate a tiered (Tiers 1-3) Support Desk to provide application assistance to end users. Will the government define the expected roles and responsibilities of a Tier 1 support desk operator at each site?

Answer: Help such as: Student cannot launch or find his course, student trying to register for a course, media won’t play, application won’t load, problems with scoring of an exam.

Question 116. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASKS, 5.6.5. The PWS states: Operate a tiered (Tiers 1-3) Support Desk to provide application assistance to end users. Will the government define the expected roles and responsibilities of a Tier 2 support desk operator at each site?

Answer: Primarily at the instructor level helping instructors create, manage, load and trouble shoot courses.

Question 117. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASKS, 5.6.5. The PWS states: Operate a tiered (Tiers 1-3) Support Desk to provide application assistance to end users. Will the government define the expected roles and responsibilities of a Tier 3 support desk operator at each site?

Answer: Troubleshoot system problems that are causing access or playability issues. Coordinate with vendor (Blackboard) on issues that cannot be solved locally.

Question 118. PART 1 GENERAL INFORMATION: 1.6.11 Key Personnel. The PWS states: Certain special skilled/experienced professional/technical personnel are essential for the contractor's successful performance/delivery of the requirements of this acquisition. These are defined as "key personnel”. As deemed necessary the contractor shall propose that certain positions be staffed with key personnel and shall provide supporting rationale for so doing. (There is no intent on the part of the Government to require a specific number of key personnel.) Will the government list the key personnel titles that are historically located at each site and their specific task responsibility?

Answer: See above answer to Question #111.

Question 119. PART 1 GENERAL INFORMATION: 1.2 & Section L: Background & Exhibit 2 BLACKBOARD LEARN™ ACTIVE USER REPORT. The PWS states: That the number of users at Ft.

Eustis was 106,189 over a 7 month period. What is the projection of future growth of users over the period of performance at each site?

Answer: This cannot be determined without consulting the proponent schools. Growth can only be determined by knowing what their future use of the system will be.

Question 120. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, 5.1.1.7, and PRS Table 5.2.3 & 5.2.3.1. The PWS states:

“Contractor shall maintain 365/24/7 support desk that will provide assistance to users and/or direct calls to SMEs to assist users with technical or content issues.” The PWS also states: “Any questions after these hours may be submitted via email or voicemail and forwarded for action on the following duty day.

A technician shall contact the submitter the next duty day.” Will the government clarify what is the after hour effort required for the support desk at each site?

Answer: After hours support will be provided by the Army Training Help Desk (ATHD). The contractor will receive the voicemails and/or ATHD tickets the next business day.

Question 121. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, 5.1.1.7, and PRS Table 5.2.3 & 5.2.3.1. The PWS states:

“Contractor shall maintain 365/24/7 support desk that will provide assistance to users and/or direct calls to SMEs to assist users with technical or content issues.” The PWS also states: “Any questions after these hours may be submitted via email or voicemail and forwarded for action on the following duty day.

A technician shall contact the submitter the next duty day.” Is the government expectation that the support desk personnel will be on call during these after hour periods of performance required for the support desk at each site? If so please clarify.

Answer: No. they will not. After hours support will be provided by the ATHD.

Question 122. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, 5.2.3.1. The PWS states: “The manned support desk shall be available primarily Monday-Friday, 0700-1700, local time for each LLC. Does each support desk have the same support desk operating hours of Monday-Friday, 0700-1700, local time requirement? If not please clarify the core operating hours of each support desk?

Answer: Current Operational hours:

Ft. Gordon – 0600 – 1800 Monday - Friday Ft. Leonard Wood – 0730 – 1630 Monday – Friday; limited support desk support Tuesday-Friday until 2230 and 0900-1700 on Saturday (limited means one person, Saturdays as needed)

Question 123. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, PRS table, Portals / Knowledge Networks, 5.2.1. The PWS states: The contractor shall maintain the portals and knowledge networks from the LLC to the student with accreditation via AKO or Common Access Card. The performance standard dictates 1 defect/instance per month. Will the government please define the exact parameters of what constitutes a defect?

Answer: The portals and knowledge networks not being available to the student when needed.

Question 124. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, PRS table, Digital Library, 5.2.2. The PWS states: Contractor shall maintain 365/24/7 support desk that will provide assistance to users and/or direct calls to SMEs to assist users with technical or content issues. The performance standard dictates 3 defects/instances per month. Will the government please define the exact parameters of what constitutes defects/instances?

Answer: The digital library not being available to the students when needed.

Question 125. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, PRS table, Support Desk, 5.2.3. The PWS states: Contractor shall maintain 365/24/7 support desk that will provide assistance to users and/or direct calls to SMEs to assist users with technical or content issues. The performance standard dictates 3 defects/instances per month. Will the government please define the exact parameters of what constitutes defects/instances?

Answer: Three customer complaints

Question 126. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, PRS table, Student Management Database, 5.2.4. The PWS states: Contractor shall maintain the student management database. The performance standard dictates 1 defect/instance per month. Will the government please define the exact parameters of what constitutes a defect/instance?

Answer: The database not being available to support the students using the system when needed.

Question 127. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, PRS table, Noteworthiness, 5.3; 5.3.1 through 5.3.12.5. The PWS states: In accordance with NETCOM/local NEC policy, the contractor shall maintain the networthiness" of the LLC. The performance standard dictates 1 defect/instance per month. Will the government please define the exact parameters of what constitutes a defect/instance?

Answer: A security violation found on a routine scan that is not fixed within the given timeframe.

Question 128. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, PRS table, Servers, 5.4; 5.4.1 through 5.4.5. The PWS states:

Contractor shall support and deliver technology based documentation for:

Production servers Development servers Collaborative server Collaborative software tools Testing servers Software storage and management

The performance standard dictates 1 defect/instance per month. Will the government please define the exact parameters of what constitutes a defect/instance?

Answer: Documentation not being updated and/or delivered within specified timeframes.

Question 129. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, PRS table, Integrated Guard/Reserve Units, 5.6.4. The PWS states: Integrate Guard/Reserve units' requirements into lifelong learning material development efforts.

The performance standard dictates 1 defect/instance per month. Will the government please define the exact parameters of what constitutes a defect/instance?

Answer: Not integrating the requirements within agreed to timeframes.

Question 130. PART 5 SPECIFIC TASK, PRS table, Operate a Tiered Support Desk, 5.6.5. The PWS states: Operate a tiered (Tiers 1-3) support desk to provide application assistance to end users. The performance standard dictates 1 defect/instance per month. Will the government please define the exact parameters of what constitutes a defect/instance?

Answer: Customer complaints.

Question 131. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. Will the government define the scope of the server farm environment for each site, listing the servers by functions. (i.e. Development, Production, Collaborative, Testing, Storage, VMware Virtual, SharePoint, etc.)

Answer: That will be identified at contract award

Question 132. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. Will the government list the quantity breakdown of physical and virtual servers at each site?

Answer: That will be identified at contract award.

Question 133. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. What is the historic and expected ticket count and walk-in requirements for the Support Desk personnel residing at each site?

Answer: Metrics were provided in Attachment 1 to Amendment 0001. Walk-ins are not typical.

Question 134. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E & Section L: EXHIBIT 1CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES PER SITE. What are all the Contractor professional certifications required, please list by expected FTE (i.e. Microsoft Certified IT Professional for the Microsoft IIS.

Administer Web based service)

Answer: Baseline certification is for administrative rights for privileged access to the NIPRNET and is required upon contract award. The certification required are identified in the cited in 1.6.8.1.

The training requirements have additional components based on job function such as system administrator or DBA, etc. and are needed within 6 months of employment.

Question 135. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. How many enrollment and graduation actions are typically handled each month for each site?

Answer: Out of scope of the LLCs. Enrollment and graduation is handled by the proponent schools.

Question 136. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. What is the government’s expected estimate on the number of problems that can be resolved within one business day?

Answer: Depends on the scope of the problem.

Question 137. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. What ticket system is the support desk using to log and track the tickets (i.e. Remedy)

Answer: The ATHD uses Remedy

Question 138. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. What is the ratio of support desk requests received, via Phone, email, or walk-ins?

Answer: That data is not available. Walk-ins are very rare.

Question 139. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. How many schools are being supported under Learning Management System at each site?

Answer: All Army proponent schools and Center of Excellence use the LLCs.

Question 140. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. What type of courses are currently facilitated by LCMS at each site?

Answer: Resident, non-resident, Distributed, blended.

Question 141. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. How many courses are currently facilitated by LCMS at each site?

Answer: Ft Eustis – 14,653 Ft. Gordon – 1623 Ft. Leonard Wood – 1156 Ft Leavenworth 2638

TJAGLCS – 526

Question 142. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. How many students, faculty and staff have access to the LCMS by site?

Answer: Access is by Internet and not broken down between instructors and students. Usage metrics were provided in the solicitation package.

Question 143. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. The PWS States: A limited after hours support (available Tuesday-Friday until 2230 and Saturday from 0900-1700). What is the expected man-hour requirement for a limited after hour support desk?

Answer: One person, when needed

Question 144. ATTACHMENT 2 SITE SPECIFIC DUTIES Sections A thru E. Will the Support Desk ticket count and walk-in requirements at Fort Eustis be NIPR issues only?

Answer: Yes

Question 145. Attachment 2: B. Fort Gordon LLC: General and 2.2.1. The PWS states: For Fort Gordon, the contractor will not only administer the content on the unclassified Fort Gordon instance that is a part of the ELLC at Fort Eustis, but the contractor will also be responsible to for the Fort Gordon SIPR LLC. Are all SIPR request rerouted to Fort Gordon?

Answer: Yes.

Question 146. Attachment 2: B. Fort Gordon LLC: 2.2.8. The PWS States for 2.8: The Support desk operations can be manned based on mission requirements: 5 days x 12 hours - Support Desk is manned Monday-Friday, 0600-1800, local time. The PWS States for 5.2.3.1: States the support desk is Monday- Friday, 0700-1700, local time requirement. Will the government please clarify what will be the actual support desk operating hours requirements?

Answer: Current Operational hours:

Ft. Gordon – 0600 – 1800 Monday - Friday Ft. Leonard Wood – 0730 – 1630 Monday – Friday; limited support desk support Tuesday-Friday until 2230 and 0900-1700 on Saturday (limited means one person, Saturdays as needed) TJAGLCS – 0800 – 1700 Monday – Friday

Question 147. Attachment 2: B. Fort Gordon LLC: 2.2.8.1 & 5.2.3.1. The PWS States for 2.2.8.1: 7 days x 24 hours.