A.01.235_Virtual_Industry_Day_QA_-_HITS-R.pdf

HITS-R Virtual Industry Day Q&A

HITS-R Virtual Industry Day – Questions and Answers (Q&As)

The answers provided in this document will serve as the official responses to all questions received during the Virtual Industry Day held on 13 April 2017 for High Performance Computing Integration Technical Services – Restricted (HITS-R).

The Government reserves the right to make changes to the acquisition as deemed necessary.

1. Q: Will the presentation be shared by email?

A: HNC plans to post the presentation, survey, and Q&A to FBO

2. Q: What opportunities could this cause a OCI for a team bidding?

A: At this time, we have not identified any potential OCI’s for opportunities outside of this requirement.

3. Q: Good afternoon. Is a facility clearance also required for this type of work?

A: Yes, a facility clearance will be required for this type of work. The level of security clearance will likely be Top Secret.

4. Q: Are there any OCI requirements for HITS-R?

5. Q: What is the acquisition timeline for this opportunity (i.e. DRFP, PWS, FRFP, etc?)

A: HNC currently anticipates RFP issuance via FedBizOpps May 2018 and award April 2019. The dates are subject to fluctuation.

6. Q: Are all programs today run by suppliers today ... and if so are you looking to bid out the work that they are currently doing with the current RFP

A: This effort is currently provided on a single contract by a single awardee. This effort would replace the services fulfilled by the current vendor with the new awardee.

7. Q: What is the ceiling value of this contract?

A: $248M

8. Q: Are you planning to use an existing contract vehicle to procure this requirement? (i.e., Alliant Small Business or CIO-SP3 Small BUsiness)

A: Huntsville Center plans to create an agency specific vehicle awarded and administered by HNC for this effort.

9. Q: Is there an incumbent doing this already?

A: Yes. Inuteq LLC currently performs the most of the work, but is currently not supporting Cybersecurity Service Provider and Comprehensive Security Assessments. This is being done by Phacil, Inc on the HISS contract.

10. Q: What is the end date of the current contract?

A: June 2019

11. Q: Is this a part of an existing requirement?

A: Yes

12. Q: Are there any incumbent personnel?

A: Incumbent personnel exist and no current restrictions are in place on the current personnel by contract W912DY-14-F-0095 that would prohibit incumbent capture.

13. Q: Will you require resumes for key personnel and how many?

A1: Key personnel will be determined as each RFP for the each task order is published.

A2: Key Personnel will include all Program and Project Managers, Team Leads, and personnel that will ensure continuous operations of the Network Operations Centers, and its backup site.

A3: Key Personnel will include highly technical personnel performing network and systems engineering that have a capacity to alter/support the DREN and SDREN will also be considered Key Personnel.

A4: Key Personnel will include security personnel responsible for developing and ensuring operations of the security infrastructure.

A5: Key Personnel will include Information Systems Security Officers, CSSP Analysts, and Comprehensive Security Assessors.

14. Q: Will historic workload be published for the various worksites?

A1: Network Engineering has some level of effort information already identified in the PWS.

A2: The Government anticipates providing historical workload characterization with each task order RFP, once the SATOC is awarded.

15. Q: Will this be a best value evaluation?

A: This question asks whether the solicitation will be evaluated as LPTA or using the Tradeoff Methodology. We will use the Tradeoff Methodology to identify the proposal that provides the best value to the Government.

16. Q: How many pages will be technical be? If you don’t know what was the last one?

A: The previous solicitation had a page limit of approximately 70 pages. It is still undetermined how many pages will be allowed in this solicitation.

17. Q: Will past performance from the subs be allowed?

A: Yes, primes will be allowed to submit past performance for subcontractors.

18. Q: Will there be an industry day?

A: Huntsville Center considers the forum held on 13 Apr 2017 to be the industry day for this solicitation. As a Small Business Set Aside, we are cognizant of the costs inherent to traveling to an in-person industry day event. A virtual industry day affords more flexibility in attending the event, while minimizing costs for the Government and industry.

19. Q: Can you spell the name of the incumbent?

A: ASRC/Inuteq, LLC.

20. Q: Number of current personnel, and rebadging process requirements?

A1: We need to quantify level of effort in terms of estimated hours, customer base, RMF requirements, Network Ops Center requirements, etc.

A2: This is a duplicate if answered in detail in #14.

A3: Rebadging question is still relevant.

21. Q: Can a sub be a large business?

A: Yes, as long as the Prime (Small Business) Contractor performs 50% or more of the work.

22. Q: Would teaming with an all-small team weigh differently than a small prime with large and small partners?

A: No, we highly encourage teaming; however, there is no preference as far as the evaluation.

23. Q: What technologies are being utilized currently?

A: Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN)/Secret Defense Research and Engineering Network (SDREN), HPCMP Kerberos, ACAS, HBSS, Interrogator, IRT, Redmine, Solarwinds, Juniper routers, Netscreen and Juniper SRX Firewalls, Juniper SSL VPNs, all encryptor models as well as Brocade switches in an enterprise setting.

24. Q: Will this be a straight small business opportunity or a special sub category?

A: This acquisition is anticipated to be a total small business set-aside, not a set aside specific to a particular socio-economic category.

25. Q: What is the end date of the current contract as of today?

A: June 2019

26. Q: Due to the dollar amount of the effort, what specifically makes this small business set aside possible?

A: A small business is currently performing the work. Huntsville Center also carefully considered industry feedback/interest to date in conducting Market Research. It has been determined that small businesses are, and can perform this work moving forward. Given the Government’s continued focus on supporting small businesses, this effort will remain a Small Business Set Aside.

27. Q: Will this be a FFP or a hybrid of sort?

A: This will be a hybrid FFP and cost type contract.

28. Q: When are you expecting our responses to this, specifically letting you know what our capabilities are?

A: Huntsville Center is always open to capabilities statements. We welcome any industry feedback that can support this effort. A Sources Sought was previously advertised, but we received limited feedback from industry. If you are interested in submitting a capabilities statement, please send that to HITS- R@usace.army.mil.

29. Q: Do you anticipate a 30 day response?

A: We anticipate a minimum of 30 days for industry to formulate and submit proposals.

30. Q: It currently shows $248,000,000 on GovWin. Will it really be that big?

A: The Government currently estimates $248,000,000 as the potential capacity of the HITS-R contract. While actual task order awards may vary somewhat, this is the current estimate.

31. Q: What are the key Contractor furnished items?

A: The current contract supports the procurement and management of an inventory consisting of 2215 items deployed to various areas covered by the contract to include various networking and it equipment. There is also 625 items maintained in the stock room.

32. Q: Will training be provide by the USG on Gov owned systems?

A: Training will be provided, but it will be expected that as the contractors learn the government owned system, they will support the training of new personnel to accelerate transition to regular operations.

33. Q: Is all the work to be performed on USG site or off site?

A: All work will be performed within the continental United States, Alaska, and

Hawaii.

34. Q: Are there any foreign locations?

A: As of today, all work locations are CONUS.

35. Q: Will the USG entertain one on one meetings?

A: Huntsville Center is open to one on one or face to face meetings with vendors. Please send any inquiries to HITS-R@usace.army.mil if interested.

36. Q: When you mention supercomputers, are you looking to replace some or all?

Or, are you looking for continuous support of what you have?

A1: The HPCMPO does not procure supercomputers through the HITS-R contract. Services provided by HITS-R support and may utilize supercomputing resources, but do not procure.

A2: This contract will support the network that provided access to the DREN and SDREN networks which also provide access to supercomputers. It also supports associated security requirements to maintain the network. Supercomputers are purchases on the Technology Insertion (TI) contract, and they are managed on the HITS-U contract.

37. Q: Are any of your support services thru the ACE-IT contract?

A: None of the support services related to the HITS-R contract are provided by the ACE-IT contract.

38. Q: Does the winning contractor have to have an office in a particular locale?

A: While HITS-R will require the winning contractor to provide personnel in particular locations, the contractor’s office is not required in any particular location.

39. Q: What is the anticipated structure for pricing?

A: The government will likely request labor rates for labor categories anticipated under this effort.

40. Q: Will Offerors submit a deck of labor rates?

A: We do anticipate asking offerors to provide labor rates.

mailto:HITS-R@usace.army.mil

41. Q: Will there be any sample tasks?

A: It is undetermined at this time if the solicitation will include any sample tasks.

42. Q: When sending the capability statements to HITS-R@usace.army.mil, where doe this information go? Who sees it and where is it posted?

A: Currently, only Government personnel at Huntsville Center have access to the mailbox referenced. HNC does provide the capabilities statements to HPCMP personnel for review, but does not post the information to any external site/entity.

43. Q: 51 % of work must be performed by small business or by prime?

A: At least 50% of the work must be performed by the Prime, which in this case, is also a Small Business.

44. Q: Do we need CMMI / ISO certifications?

A: The Contractor shall possess one or more of the following credentials; ISO 9001:2000, ISO 9001:2008, CMMI Level II (or higher) – DEV or CMMI Level II (or higher) – SVC.

45. Q: How soon would a DD-254 be issued and does it go to the prime or the company who has the clearance?

A: The DD254 would be issued to the awardee (Prime contractor) at time of award

46. Q: What is the relationship between the SAIC HITS contract and this HITS-R contract?

A: This question is in reference to the HITS-Unrestricted contract. HITS-U provides all of the technical and infrastructure support to field and maintain supercomputers procured by HPCMPO. The HITS-U contract supports the Supercomputers operations and infrastructure at 4 of the 5 HPCMP DSRCs and the Enterprise initiatives supporting the use of supercomputers and related ancillary services for the DoD community. The HITS-R contract will support the technical requirements for the HPCMP outside of the DSRCS which includes network engineering, network operations, all security requirements assessments, and services, along with software development support of the CREATE program.

47. Q: For my clarification--you said we can request in-person briefings with you or no?

A: In person briefings can be requested via the HITS-R@usace.army.mil address.

48. Q: How long of a transition period are you planning (i.e. 30, 60 days?)

A: 30-60 days. The actual transition period will be determined prior to RFP issue.

49. Q: Another question about security clearances-- are they required prior to submitting the proposal, or are they required to have the clearance prior to contract award?

A: Prior to submitting the proposal.

50. Q: The procurement strategy outlines a Small Business Set-Aside for a $248M - 5-Year effort under NAICS Code 541513. Given the small business limitation of $27.5M per year under this NAICS Code the winning small business will exceed the limitation in the very first year of the contract period of performance. Please clarify this strategy.

A: Because the proposed contract is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, it is only anticipated that we place orders up to that amount, but not guaranteed. The successful small business would be considered a small business for the life of the contract. Small business size status is based on a three year average of revenue.

51. Q: The PWS outlines several duties related to HPC Center oversight support, including: drafting contractual documents such as PWS and SOWs, draft IGCEs, as well as, providing the technical assessments and reviews of the PWS. Does this strategy create an organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) for the winning team?

mailto:HITS-R@usace.army.mil