W913FT27QA001 Questions and Answers (2) 20261027.docx

W913FT27QA001 Questions

A. SITE SURVEY AND SCHEDULE

1. Access to the site is required to prepare an accurate quote. Can the Government facilitate a site survey (in person or, if necessary, virtual) with the installation's Communications POC, and when can it be scheduled? The survey would cover the nearest fiber connection point, building entry points, cable pathways, telecommunications rooms, and the 6th- and 7th-floor demarcation locations, subject to applicable security procedures. Please identify the coordinating POC and the earliest available date. Please also confirm that a technical representative of a local telecommunications carrier may accompany the offeror during the survey, and state what advance notice, personal information, and identification the Government requires for each attendee.

Yes. A site visit will be held on Thursday October 29, 2026, at 0900 AM local time meeting at the Cemi Gate at Canton Norte.

All vendors planning to attend will be required to send the following information to SFC Kari Bolettieri at kari.b.bolettieri.mil@socom.mil No later than 4:00pm local time on Wednesday, October 28, 2026: Number of people, Name, Cedula (if Colombian citizen) or passport/photo ID that they will use to enter the installation (if US or foreign citizen). If bringing a vehicle on base, we will need vehicle plate, color, type, and brand.

2. Government answers will be issued by amendment, and the current due date is 30 October 2026. Offerors need time to obtain carrier quotations, confirm fiber availability, assess construction and permitting needs, and build a credible schedule. Please confirm that the quote due date will be extended by amendment so that offerors have adequate time to prepare quotes after the site survey is completed and the answers to these questions are issued.

No extension will be considered at this time.

3. Section F shows a delivery period for CLIN 0001 from 02 Nov to 23 Dec 2026 (51 days), while Section M caps the Service Start Date at 50 calendar days after award. Please confirm that: (a) the CLIN 0001 period in Section F is the installation period; (b) the 50 days run from the date of award; (c) the Service Start Date includes completion of acceptance testing and Government acceptance, and please state who schedules the Government's participation; (d) the Section F dates will be reset per the successful quote's Service Start Date, as Section L states; and (e) the 6-month base period begins the day after installation completes.

(a) the CLIN 0001 period in Section F is the installation period-Yes

(b) the 50 days run from the date of award-Yes

(c) the Service Start Date includes completion of acceptance testing and Government acceptance, and please state who schedules the Government's participation;-Yes, please coordinate with COR

(d) the Section F dates will be reset per the successful quote's Service Start Date, as Section L states-Yes dates in section F will be adjusted based on the dates in the accepted quote.

(e) the 6-month base period begins the day after installation completes-Yes this will align with the dates in the accepted quote

4. Please reconcile the following period and date references: (a) PWS 5.2.3.3 states a target date of 1 October 2026, which precedes the 20 October 2026 issue date, and the sentence appears to be missing words ("completed within of the approved target date"); (b) Technical Exhibit C shows four 365-day periods from 30 Sep 2026 through 29 Sep 2030, while PWS 1.5 and Section L describe a 6-month base period plus two 12-month options, and FAR 52.217-9 caps total duration at 36 months. Please confirm the controlling structure and schedule.

Technical Exhibit C was removed from the PWS and PWS 5.2.3.3 date was updated.

Section L is accurate.

FAR 52.217-9 has been updated.

B. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

5. Which telecommunications providers currently have fiber optic service installed at the facility or serving Cantón Norte? Are there any existing fiber connection points or pathways that the contractor is required or permitted to use?

The building has an existing fiber line that provides a 500 Mbps service by Novatel/Intersystem. Intent is to activate service on the existing connection. The building does not require a new fiber entrance.

6. Must the two circuits be physically diverse (separate routes, separate building entry points, or separate upstream carriers)? If so, please state the specific diversity requirements.

Because there is only one fiber run to the building, true physical diversity will not be feasible, as we are not looking to upgrade to a second building fiber entry point at this time.

The government would instead require equipment diversity (separate router per floor), and upstream carrier diversity.

7. PWS 1.3 requires "seamless failover," but the circuits terminate on different floors. Does the contractor's scope end at the demarcation handoff on each floor, or does it include routers, switches, Wi-Fi, LAN cabling, and inter-floor failover? If failover is in scope, who provides the failover equipment?

The contractor’s scope ends at the handoff. Failover is provided by the contractor such that if the upstream path to one circuit fails, it uses the upstream path to the other to maintain services. This includes the two routers failing over to one another, or a router failing over to the other upstream carrier path if the first fails.

8. PWS 5.2.1.1 specifies 10GBASE-LR (IEEE 802.3ae) optical handoffs with a 3 Gbps "line-rate" handoff. Please confirm this means a 10G optical port with a 3 Gbps committed rate. Should the on-demand upgrade to 10 Gbps (PWS 1.3) be priced in this quote, or is it a future requirement? Please also state the required IPv4/IPv6 allocation size and who provides the IP space and ASN for static routing or BGP.

Correct. 10G SFP+ optical transceiver with a 3 Gbps committed rate per floor. The government will plug the transceivers into its own internal routers to pull IP addresses via DHCP and pull services.

Do not price a 10Gbps upgrade. The 10Gbps upgrade is a future requirement.

The government has no requirement for its own BGP AS. The government will require one (1) public IPv4 address per circuit to assign as the outward facing IP address for its internal routers that will connect to the handoffs.

9. PWS 3.2 (Facilities) and 3.3 (Utilities) are "Reserved," and 3.4 states the Government will not provide equipment. Will the Government provide rack space, electrical power, grounding, and cooling at the 6th- and 7th-floor demarcation points, or must these be included in the contractor's price?

There is no requirement for contractor equipment on the 6th or 7th floors, only the terminated optical lines.

There will be space and electrical power to install any contractor equipment near the fiber entry point, but contractor must provide rack space, grounding, and cooling.

10. May the contractor use existing conduits, risers, and cable trays? Are new pathways, penetrations, drilling, or other building modifications permitted if required, and what approvals and procedures would apply?

Yes, the contractor may use existing building infrastructure to run cables. If there is a need to make additional modifications, the contractor will need to inform the government and get approval before

11. Regarding PWS 5.2.1.2 acceptance testing: (a) will the Government provide any test equipment, test endpoints, or network access, or must the contractor provide all testing resources; (b) what is the reference endpoint for the "intra-region RTT ≤10 ms" standard; and (c) please confirm that the requirement is a single 24-hour test per circuit with zero packet loss.

(a) Contractor must provide these.

(b) The region under test will be the carrier PoP in Bogota to the customer edge on Canton Norte.

(c) Confirmed.

C. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

12. PWS 5.2.3.2 requires 99.5% monthly availability, while PRS #2 (Attachment 1) states 99.9% and its deduction schedule begins below 99.9%. Which standard controls? Please also confirm: (a) that availability and restoration apply independently to each circuit; (b) that the four-hour restoration period begins at ticket or failure notification, since PRS #3 states "within 4 hours of arrival" while PWS 5.2.3.2 states a 4-hour MTTR; and (c) whether any exclusions apply, such as third-party fiber cuts, Government access delays, or scheduled maintenance.

PRS#2 has been updated.

(a) that availability and restoration apply independently to each circuit-Yes

(b) that the four-hour restoration period begins at ticket or failure notification, since PRS #3 states "within 4 hours of arrival" while PWS 5.2.3.2 states a 4-hour MTTR- PWS updated

(c) whether any exclusions apply, such as third-party fiber cuts, Government access delays, or scheduled maintenance.-No exclusions.

D. ACCESS, SECURITY, AND PERMITS

13. Most of PWS 1.6.7 and 1.6.19 through 1.6.21 (access, escorts, badging, background checks, clearances, SPOT/LOA) are marked "RESERVED." Please state the procedures, documentation, advance notice, and approvals required for contractor and carrier personnel and equipment to enter the installation and the designated buildings, including any restrictions on working hours, photography, measurements, and access to telecommunications rooms. Do SPOT/LOA requirements and DFARS 252.225-7987 apply to Colombian local-national personnel? Which permits and authorizations must the contractor obtain, and what access and coordination will the Government facilitate?

The Government will sponsor installation access. Permitting will be the vendor’s responsibility for any special construction, but no construction efforts are anticipated.

For coordination of installation access, contractors will need to provide: name, cedula, vehicle license plate if used, color, type, make of vehicle

14. PWS 1.6.10 lists CPT Johnson and SFC Vandenberg as contractor key personnel, although SFC Vandenberg is identified elsewhere as the COR. Please clarify or correct. Please also reconcile the Attachment 2 references (PWS 1.10 and 1.6.4) and provide the holiday list referenced as "Exhibit 3," which does not appear to be attached.

Updates made to holidays and removing names from 1.6.10.

E. ADMINISTRATIVE AND COMMERCIAL

15. PWS 4.5 refers to Colombia, but PWS 4.5.1.2 through 4.5.1.4 refer to the "Government of Ecuador" (GOE). Please confirm that Colombian requirements apply and state the minimum coverage limits.

Colombian requirements apply. PWS 4.5.1.2 through 4.5.1.4 have been updated.

16. Sections E and F list a Homestead AFB, Florida address as place of performance and delivery. Please confirm that all installation, service delivery, on-site work, inspection, and acceptance take place at Cantón Norte, Bogotá, Colombia.

Installation, service delivery, on-stie work, inspection, and acceptance will take place at Cantón Norte, Bogotá, Colombia.

17. Section L states that quotes are due on the date and time on the solicitation "in Eastern Time," the SF 1449 shows 10:00 AM "local time," and Section L paragraph 5 uses Central Time. Please confirm the controlling time zone and exact submission deadline.

Response Due 10/30/2026 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (UTC -5)

18. Must the offeror itself hold a Colombian telecommunications license, or may a licensed carrier participate as a subcontractor or teaming partner? Please also confirm that payment will be in U.S. Dollars and how Colombian taxes (e.g., IVA) should be shown for DFARS 252.229-7001 Tax Relief.

The offeror does not need to have a Colombian telecommunications license.

Payment and quotes shall be in U.S. Dollars.

DFARS Clause 252.229-7001 shall be completed showing the name and rate of any claimed exempt Colombian taxes. The clause states that all contract prices must exclude any taxes from which the U.S. Government is exempt under tax agreements with the host nation.

19. CLIN 0001 (installation, deployment, and activation) and CLIN 0002 (which also lists engineering, permitting, delivery, and turn-up) appear to overlap. Please clarify which activities are to be priced under each CLIN, and whether CLIN 0002 is to be priced as a monthly or a 6-month unit price.

CLIN 0001 is for installation, deployment and activation and is listed at a 1-time cost. (1 JOB). CLINs 0002, 1001, 2001 are all for monthly services costs billed monthly.

20. Scope of integration. PWS 1.4 and Part 5 require "seamless integration" of the 6th floor (100 users) and 7th floor (100 users). Please confirm whether the contractor's scope ends at the demarcation point on each floor, or whether it includes internal LAN, Wi-Fi or structured cabling beyond the demarcation. If it includes them, please provide the expected requirements.

The scope of this contract is only to provide active service connections at the 6th and 7th floors for end-users to connect to, i.e., the demarcation point on each floor.

21. Latency measurement. PWS 5.2.1.2 requires intra-region RTT of 10 ms or less. Please identify the measurement endpoints (for example, from the demarcation point to the provider's core, or to a specific Internet exchange).

The region under test will be the carrier PoP in Bogota to the customer edge on Canton Norte.

22. Bandwidth measurement. PWS 5.1.1 states that bandwidth must not drop below 99.9% of the contracted speed at any time. Please describe the measurement method and interval the Government will use, and the expected format of the monthly Bandwidth Data report (Attachment 2, Deliverable #3).

The U.S. Government will perform their own network monitoring. No specific formatting is required of the monthly report so long as it provides adequate granularity to assess bandwidth on a daily basis.

23. IP addressing and routing. Please confirm the number of static public IPv4 addresses and the IPv6 prefix size required per circuit. If BGP peering is required, please confirm whether the Government will provide its own ASN and address space.

The government has no requirement for its own BGP AS. The government will require one (1) public IPv4 address per circuit to assign as the outward facing IP address for its internal routers that will connect to the handoffs.

24. Service Start Date and site access. Section M limits the Service Start Date to 50 calendar days after award. Please confirm whether delays caused by Government site-access approvals or escort availability will be excluded from that period. Please also confirm whether a site visit can be arranged before the quote due date.

Delays due to actions of the Government or force majeure are not counted against the Service Start Date

25. NIST SP 800-171 assessment. Please confirm whether DFARS 252.240-7997 requires the offeror to have a current NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment score in SPRS at the time of quote submission or award.

No, 252.240-7997 does not require a current assessment score at either the time of quote submission or award.

26. Teaming information. Section L requires "all required solicitation information for all parties" in a teaming arrangement. Please confirm what information is required from a subcontractor, including whether the subcontractor must have an active SAM registration.

No additional information is required outside of the documents described at Section L, Addendum to FAR 52.212-1, paragraph 3. A subcontractor does not need an active SAM registration.