1._Amendment_Eight_Final_Portion_Q&As.pdf

Industry Questions and Government Answers

United States Army Regional Cyber Center – Continental United States

Information Technology (IT) Support Services

Final Portion Second Round

Questions and Answers

1. Reference Amendment Six, Section L.3 Proposal Submission Requirements, item 10.

Technical Capability/ Risk. Technical proposals shall exclude company names and any other identifying information and Section L.6 VOLUME 2 – TECHNICAL CAPABILITY/RISK

(FACTOR 1), item (a) Technical proposals shall be submitted both SANITIZED and

UNSANITIZED. “UNSANITIZED” Technical proposals are complete Technical proposals that include all required information. “SANITIZED” Technical proposals shall exclude all company names, employee names, specific contracts worked or any other identifying information. Based upon the above underlined statements in regards to the SANITIZED version, is it acceptable for the Offeror to reference the customer’s name for which it has gained relevant experience and knowledge? Allowing the Offeror to substantiate a claim of relevant experience or knowledge, which supports their proposed approach and solution.

Answer: No. References to organizations that helped develop on Offerors’ depth and breadth of experience is not relative to the Volume II - Technical and should be confined to the Volume II-

Past Performance. SANIIZED Technical Proposals shall exclude all company names, employee names, specific contracts worked or any other identifying information" in order to allow for an unbiased evaluation. The evaluation for Volume II-Technical shall rest of the merits of the proposed approach, in accordance with solicitation requirements, that demonstrates an adequate response, understanding of the requirements and feasibility of approach.

2. The spreadsheet "7._Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook.xls" appears to have cells being computed incorrectly in the tab "Schedule B-CLINs".

a) There is no formula is cell "I3"

b) Please confirm the formula in cell "I14" should be "I6+I18+20" (it is currently

I6+I19+I20). Similarly, the formula's in cells I14, I25 and I36 appears incorrect.

c) The formula in I47 appears to be incorrect. Should the formula in I147 be

"I3+I14+II25+I36". Similarly, the formula's in cells J47 & K47 are incorrect

Answer: The formulas in the Cost Workbook, Schedule B-CLINs worksheet have been corrected. Please feel free to overwrite formulas as necessary.

3. Reference: Attachment 7. Amendment Four_Cost_ WorkBook, Cost Build tab, column H.

The column titled, “Shift Work (May add separate worksheet(s))” has been added. Will the

Government please clarify as to what information are they expecting to be presented in this column?

__. Reference: The WBS tab of Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook added column F (Hours per

Shift). In rows 15-16, the Government provides sample values of 1920 and 1880. These sample values seem to indicate annual billable hours.

Question: Please clarify the intent of the Hours per Shift column?

__. Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook, WBS Tab

Question: Can the government clarify the “Hours Per Shift” Field. Standard person year hours is not directly correlated to shift hours and schedules. The formulas in the workbook further confuses shift hours (the product of “Shift hours” and FTEs equaling the total hours). Can the government clarify its intent and revise the workbook accordingly?

Answer: Reference PWS at 4.3 USARCC-C Work Hours. “Core hours for normal operation are

0600-1700, Monday through Friday local time zones, excluding Federal holidays and such other times as identified by the KO. The core hours apply to all the major services except for

NIPRNet/SIPRNet Network Management, paragraph 5.1.1, Enterprise Voice Over Internet

Protocol (VOIP), paragraph 5.3.2.45.4.2.4, Computer Network Defense, para 5.5, and CONUS

DoDIN-A Operations , paragraph 5.6, which require contractor support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

DCO Incident Investigation and Mitigation requires Contractor support 24-hours per day, 7 days a week. DCO support for Penetration Testing Evaluation, Threat Detection Analysis, Security and Information Assurance, and Computer Network Defense Application Development core hours are Monday – Friday, 0630-1700.”

Attachment 7. Amendment Eight_Cost_ WorkBook, Cost Build tab, column H. column title has been changed to state, “Shift Work Differential (May add separate worksheet(s))” has been moved to column J.

Offeror needs to account for 24-hours per day, 7 days a week for some support services. Offerors are free to create worksheets to map out the shift work and related costs.

The FTE is 2080 hrs. 1920 is FTE productive hours if employee gets 80 hrs. Vacation, 40 hrs.

Holiday and 40 hrs. Sick leave. 1880 would be 80 hrs. Vacation, 80 hrs. Holiday and 40 hrs. Sick leave. See Sample Cost Build worksheets added to the Cost Workbook: Sample Cost Build

Prime rate, Sample Cost Build Sub Rate and Sample Cost Instructions.

WBS - The intent is to remind Offerors to account for the 24-hours per day, 7 days a week requirements for some support services. This might mean three times the normal FTE for 24 hr.

7 days per week support. If this doesn’t apply to your approach, then explain this in not Cost

Notes, revise the Cost Workbook accordingly or insert N/A for mandatory fields. Note: An alternate WBS has been incorporated into the Cost Workbook for Offers to use, if preferred.

4. Attachment 7. Amendment_Four_Cost_ WorkBook, Cost Build tab, column A.

It is not clear in the example provided with Amendment Four in the Cost Build Tab whether the

Government wants to see a subtotal by Team Member for each Period of Performance or a subtotal by Labor Category by Team Member for each Period of Performance? Will the government please clarify?

Answer: Subtotals of Labor Categories by Team Member for each Period of Performance proposed separately. Separate worksheets should be used for each performance period, excluding phase-in that will not be priced as of Amendment Seven.

5. Solicitation section M.5 Evaluation Approach 4. Factor 3 _Cost Factor and M.6 (c).

Would the government like bidders to price the six-month extension and include it in their total price?

Answer: No. The cost of this option is set at the cost of the performance period prior to the exercise of the option. I added a worksheet to the Cost Notebook to make this clear.

6. According to section M.4 Factor 3 -Cost Factor, first paragraph "The base program and all option years, including the option to extend services, shall be included in the cost/price calculation."

However, section M.6 (c) states "For evaluation purposes, the Offerors’ proposed cost for

Option Period Two will be divided in half and added to the total proposed cost...The evaluation will therefore assume that the addition of the cost of any possible extension under FAR 52.217-8 to the total cost for the basic requirement and the total cost for the priced options has the same effect on the total cost of all proposals relative to each other, and will not affect the ranking of proposals based on cost, unless, after reviewing the proposals, the Government determines that there is a basis for finding otherwise."

Answer: The RFP at M.4 Factor 3 -Cost Factor, first paragraph has been revised to state "The base program and all option years, including excluding the option to extend services, shall be included in the cost/price calculation."

7. Reference: The WBS tab of Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook added column E (FTE, Including Shift Work). In rows 15-16, the Government provides sample values of 3 and 2.

Question: Please confirm that fractional FTEs may be proposed, based on BOE calculations?

Answer: Yes. However the use of fractional FTE shall be explained in the Cost Notes and correlate properly with the Volume II-Technical.

8. Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook, WBS Tab

Question: Please clarify the intent of columns H through O. What data is the government specifically requesting in the open cells since they are undefined, contain no formulas, and appear to not link to any other cells throughout the workbook?

__. Reference: The Consolidated Q&A question #33 seeks clarification on the WBS model. The

Government’s answer states: “The WBS has been revised to remove the duplicate columns.”

However, the Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook still includes columns H – O.

Question: Please clarify what information should be provided in columns H – O?

__. Reference: The Consolidated Q&A answer #111 states: “the Cost Workbook / WBS tab has been updated to provide clarity” regarding the various levels of the WBS. However, the updated

WBS structure is still not clear about what information should be provided at each level of the

WBS.

Question: How are the WBS 5.1.1 component tasks (rows 15-18) different from the WBS

5.1.1.1 subtasks (rows 19-23)? This same question also applies to all other WBS sections.

Answer: An alternate WBS has been added to the Cost Workbook titled, “WBS New.” Offerors are free to use either format and modify each as needed to illustrate the staffing levels and skill mix assigned to perform the PWS requirements.

9. Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook, WBS Tab

Question: On row 14 of the WBS, the Government has consolidated the WBS third level onto a single line. This is typically where hours are provided for each third level individually. For instance, 5.1.1 should be a rollup of hours estimated for activities 5.1.1.1, 5.1.1.2, etc. This type of rollup is currently not possible with the format of the new WBS. The current workbook WBS tab incorrectly rolls ups Levels 3 and 4 tasks. As currently configured, the WBS will capture a single FTE multiple times. This results in excessive labor hours as the data is rolled up. Please advise.

Answer: Column B of the “WBS Original” has been revised to illustrate that the tasks and subtasks roll up to the second level and the program level represents the third level.

10. Reference: The Consolidated Q&A question #314 asked: “Will the government accept searchable PDF files for electronic submission with the exception of the Cost Workbook in

Excel?” The Government’s answer was: “Yes.” However, the Government’s answer #21 stated:

“Due to the large amount of documentation and image files required in Volume I-General, the

Government will allow this volume to be submitted in PDF format. All other documents shall be submitted in MS Word.”

Question: These two answers contradict each other. Please clarify if Volume 2, Volume 3, and/or the Volume 4 Cost Notes can be submitted in PDF format?

Answer: The answer to question 314 is hereby corrected to state “No.” All page counted submissions shall be submitted in MS Word (.docx) to allow the Government to verify compliance with formatting instructions. Offerors are free to provide searchable. PDF files in addition to the MS Word required documents.

11. We have a cost workbook of our own. May be embed those cost worksheets within the

RFP Cost Workbook and tie in those costs to populate the information required in the RFP

Cost workbook worksheets (Cost Build, summary costs, etc).

Answer: Yes.

12. Reference: The Consolidated Q&A answer #412 states: “The Cost Workbook and WBS have been revised in response to Industry’s questions in an attempt to make it more intuitive and provide some flexibility.” However, there are still many segments of the Cost Build tab that are not intuitive, and the RFP does not provide instructions on how to complete it.

Column AH is titled “Hourly CPFF Overtime Labor Rate”. A labor rate should be an actual dollar value, but the Government’s format has a “%” noted in that column. Therefore, it is not clear if a sum or a percentage should be provided here.

Question: Please confirm if a percentage should be provided in column AH?

__. Reference: The Consolidated Q&A answer #412 states: “The Cost Workbook and WBS

Column AF is titled “Total Cost Plus Fixed Fee”. Since the Government’s template did not include any formulas, it is not clear how this should be calculated.

Question: Should column AF be calculated by multiplying column AG (Hourly CPFF Labor

Rate) * column I (Unloaded Direct Labor Hours/Productive Hours)?

Column AE is titled “Total Fixed Fee”. A total fixed fee should be an actual dollar value, but the

Government’s format has a “%” noted in that column. Therefore, it is not clear if a sum or a percentage should be provided here.

Question: Please confirm if a percentage should be provided in column AE?

Column AD is titled “Total Cost”. A total should be a sum of the costs, but the Government’s format has a “%” noted in that column. Therefore, it is not clear if a sum or a percentage should be provided here.

Question: Please confirm if a percentage should be provided in column AD?

Column AC is titled “Subtotal Indirect Rates”. A subtotal should be a sum of the indirect rates, but the Government’s format has a “%” noted in that column. Therefore, it is not clear if a sum or a percentage should be provided here.

Question: Please clarify what information the Government is requesting in column AC?

Column AA is titled “G&A” which is a percentage. However, a “%” is not noted for this column, the way it has been for the surrounding columns.

Question: Please confirm if a percentage should be provided in column AA?

Columns V, W, and X are related to Other Direct Costs (ODCs). However, since each row of the spreadsheet is supposed to be a separate labor category, it is not clear if the ODC plug numbers are to be allocated across each labor category or if those columns should be left blank for each labor category.

Question: Please clarify the intent of Columns V, W, and X and how they are to be completed?

Column T is titled “Total Direct Labor, all Labor Categories”. However, since each row of the spreadsheet is supposed to be a separate labor category, Direct Labor for all Labor Categories cannot be totaled per row. It is not clear what should be provided here.

Question: Please clarify the intent of Column T and how it is to be completed?

Column T is titled “Total Direct Labor, all Labor Categories”. However, since each row of the spreadsheet is supposed to be a separate labor category, Direct Labor for all Labor Categories cannot be totaled per row. It is not clear what should be provided here.

Question: Please clarify the intent of Column T and how it is to be completed?

Column L is titled “Escalated Direct Labor Rate”. However, row 1 of the Cost Build tab states:

“This worksheet shall be duplicated for each performance period: Phase-in, Base Period, Option

Period One, and Option Period Two.”

Question: Please confirm that Column L can be left blank for the Phase-in Cost Build and Base

Year Cost Build?

Column M is titled “Composite Direct Labor Rate, if applicable” and column N is titled “Total

Hourly Direct Labor Rate”. It is not clear how these two columns are different.

Question: Please explain what information should be provided in column M, what information should be provided in column N, and how they are different?

Column S is titled “Total Annual Employee Compensation”. It is not clear what information should be provided here.

Question: Please clarify what information the Government is requesting in column S?

Column B is titled “WBS/PWS Elements”. It is not clear what is meant by “elements”.

Question: Should Column B provide a WBS number, PWS number, both WBS and PWS numbers, or some other data?

Column H is titled “Shift Work (may add separate worksheets)”. It is not clear what should be provided here, or why separate worksheets may be needed.

Question: Please clarify what information the Government is requesting in column H?

Column I is titled “Unloaded Direct Labor Hours/Productive Hours”. It is not clear if this information should be linked to the WBS tab.

Question: Should the hours in this column match the WBS tab’s column G (Total Hours) for the corresponding labor category(ies)?

__. Attachment 7. Amendment_Four_Cost_ WorkBook, Cost Build tab, column S.

The Cost Build has a Column for Total Annual Compensation, it’s not clear what should make up this figure, will the government please clarify what type of data is to be included? What is considered Total Salary? (salary plus fringe, salary plus overtime estimates and or shift differential, etc)

Answer: In response to the above line of questioning, the Amendment Eight_Cost Workbook has been revised to incorporate three Sample Cost Build Worksheets: Sample Cost Build Prime

Rate, Sample Cost Build Sub Rate and Sample Cost Instructions. Additional guidance has been included in the Cost Build Worksheet (highlighted in green) to enhance understanding of the totals columns and to capture Subcontractor percentage of indirect rates, if applicable.

Instruction worksheet has been updated to direct Offerors to enter N/A for costs that are not segregated in accordance with a company’s accounting system, such a Facilities Capital Cost of

Money (FCCM), or Material and Handling (M&H).

13. Here is a question based on Amendment 7 release

The Section L Staffing instructions seem pretty clear that offerors are to propose the workforce they see fit. Based on reply to Question 11 of Amendment 7, there seems like a major change in direction and a contradiction to Section L requirements

1. SUB-FACTOR 1 – STAFFING. The Offeror shall provide its proposed staffing methodology/approach. The Offeror shall provide an overall staffing structure and staffing level based on the Offeror’s proposed technical approach to performing the requirements. Offerors shall develop their own proposed number and type of workforce to perform work requirements.

Offerors shall provide manpower and man-hours associated with each proposed position. The

Offeror shall provide position descriptions for personnel that reflect the technical and functional qualifications in the PWS (PWS Section 4.0, Table 1 and Table 2). All personnel shall possess the minimum clearances and certifications required at the start of contract performance. Position descriptions must reflect actual duties, functions, and responsibilities that relate to the training, technical and functional certifications, education, experience, and security clearance requirements within the PWS. The staffing approach will identify organizational and key position responsibilities to accomplish all requirements to include administrative requirements.

The Offeror’s staffing approach will also include subcontractor breakdown and basis of estimate, where proposed. Staffing worksheets that illustrate the proposed staffing methodology shall be provided and will not be counted as part of the Technical Capability/Risk page count. However, any narrative discussion accompanying the worksheets will be counted in the page count. Lines of authority must be clear in the delineation of staffing. The proposal should address why the proposed labor categories are the most appropriate for the work to be performed in support of each task. The SANITIZED proposal shall not provide the names of proposed personnel.

Answer: Q&A 11. Reference PWS Section 4 Table 1. Question: Skill Certifications for Key

Technical Personnel on page 7 of 67 of the revised PWS lists the certifications required for those positions listed in the table. The solicitation does not specifically define if these positions are government-required Key Personnel positions. Can the government provide a definitive list of minimum Key Personnel positions required by the government to be submitted within the proposal or clarify that Key Personnel positions are those that the Offeror considers essential to effective performance of the proposed approach, as specified in the answer to Question 376? Can the government update the RFP to reflect the answer to this question to ensure it is the official government direction?

Answer: Reference the PWS 4.2.2 Key Personnel and subsequent paragraphs for more details.

PWS 4.2.2.5 The USARCC-C services in Table 1 below, as a minimum, require additional technical oversight from IT-certified key personnel. Key Technical Personnel are a requirement.

Table 1 is the minimum Key Technical Personnel.

Either way, the government, at a minimum, requires those Key Technical Personnel discussed in paragraphs 4.2.2.3/4/5 and identified in Table 1. There is also a requirement identified in 4.2.2.1 that discusses the requirement for Key Personnel as discussed in 4.2.2.1/2, which includes management, administrative and technical interface with COR requirements. These don't necessarily need to be different people depending on how the vendor wants to leverage their personnel.

14. Can you please let me know what forms require original signatures? Is it only the SF33?

SF33 and Cover Letter?

Answer: Electronic signature are legally binding so original signatures are not required.

15. Section L.4.2 states that “All electronic copies must be submitted using the Safe Access File

Exchange described in RFP Section L.1.” Section L.1 does not describe a “Safe Access File

Exchange.” Please confirm proper procedures for submission.

Answer: Amendment Six provided attachment J.11 Getting Started Guide for the SAFE Access

File Exchange and referenced the attachment in RFP Section L.1; however, Amendment Seven didn’t include that change. Amendment eight captures all the changes made in Amendment Six that were not captured in Amendment Seven, including the revised proposal due date of 22

August 2018.

16. The current requirement to provide an extensive BOE without the Government providing detailed workload requirements provides an unfair advantage to the incumbent. We request the

Government provide workload data.

__. Reference: The Consolidated Q&A answer #151 states: “The WBS will illustrate the technical and the BOE will aggregate the costs.” However, the Government’s recommended

BOE format in Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook does not include any cost information.

Question: Please confirm that the BOE should not include cost information.

17. Question 131 and Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook, WBS Tab

Question: The Cost workbook instructions row 28 states that we are to include cost information in the WBS tab. However, there is no place for us to input cost information within the WBS tab.

The provided answer to question 131 does not address the WBS, rather it addresses the BOE.

Can the government clarify?

Answer: The Government answer provided for question 131 is hereby corrected. Row 28 in the

Instruction worksheet of the Cost Workbook has been revised to replace WBS with BOE.

Offerors shall provide a Basis of Estimate (BOE) to support all cost elements. All BOEs shall include documentation of all assumptions, qualitative methods employed, and Basis of Data or

Information. An example has been provide, however, the actual format used is chosen by the

Offeror.

18. Question 106, page 32: The Government responds to the question about where to provide the sanitized cost workbook and sanitized cost notes:

a. “Section L.3 Table two has been revised to require the SANITIZED Cost Workbook to be submitted as part of Volume II – Technical. This will include the SANITIZED version of both the WBS and BOE.”

Answer: Yes. The WBS and BOE are part of the SANITIZED Cost Workbook. Reference RFP

Section L.1 for submission requirements. This also includes the SANITIZED Cost Notes. The

SANITIZED version of the Cost Notes is required of the Primes because this often contains information concerning assumptions that might be provided to the technical team in order to make a trade off decision. The SANITIZED Notes contain all the information in the UNSANITIZED Cost

Notes except for the costs. The same applies for the SANITIZED Cost workbook.

19. Reference: The WBS tab of Amendment_Four_Cost_Workbook added column E (FTE, Including Shift Work). In rows 15-16, the Government provides sample values of 3 and 2.

Question: Please confirm that fractional FTEs may be proposed, based on BOE calculations?

Answer: Yes. However the use of fractional FTE shall be explained in the Cost Notes and shall correlate with the technical approach in the Volume II-Technical.

20. Reference: RFP Section L.1 . Please confirm that teaming partners are not required to submit Volume I.

Answer: Reference RFP SectionL.1.3 as posted below (► ►added here only).

3. Offeror Submission: Prime and Subcontractor.

For clarification, Primes are responsible for all solicitation requirements and shall submit all four volumes (General, Technical (SANITIZED and UNSANITIZED, Past Performance, and Cost (SANITIZED and

UNSANITIZED).

►►Teaming Partners shall submit proprietary General Volume and Cost Volumes as UNSANITIZED volumes delivered directly to the government. If the subcontract type is CPFF, the Teaming Partner is also required to submit a SANITIZED version of the Cost Workbook. The SANITIZED version of the COST NOTES is not required from Teaming Partners.

►►Teaming Partner information required under Volume I - General and Volume IV - Cost shall be submitted directly to the Government in both hard copy and soft copy as described above.

4. Offerors are cautioned that “parroting” of the Technical requirements or the PWS with a statement of intent to perform does not reflect an understanding of the requirement or capability to perform.

Offerors are responsible for including sufficient details to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each proposal. Proprietary information shall be clearly marked.

21. In the original set of questions, question 259 asked about a 5.7.2 requirement for Security and

Information Assurance which has to do with Security Accreditation, IATO, JPAS verifications, access control to the NOF, etc. does not seem to relate at all to the DCO functions in 5.6. The

Government’s response to this question was: “Oversight. The PWS at Section 5.7.2 was revised to delete the sentence “The Contractor shall provide support during core hours except for task

5.6.2.12 which is 24x7x365.” The PWS at Section 4.3 was also revised to include “Security and

Information Assurance” with other DCO support for Core Hours. Oversight. The PWS at Section

5.7.2 was revised to delete the sentence “The Contractor shall provide support during core hours except for task 5.6.2.12 which is 24x7x365.” The PWS at Section 4.3 was also revised to include

“Security and Information Assurance” with other DCO support for Core Hours.”

Can the Government please clarify whether the 5.7.2 Security and Information Assurance function is to be taken as a Mission Support Services requirement and therefore a core hours, on call 7x24 mission area like the rest of the 5.7 mission area; or is it a DCO function which is outlined in para 4.3 as a DCO core hours function 0630 - 1700? We need this information to accurately project BOE and Staffing table requirements for this mission area PWS reference.

Answer: 5.7.2 Security and Information Assurance is a sub paragraph of 5.7 Mission Support

Services, therefore the PWS excerpt applies: 4.3 USARCC-C Work Hours. Core hours for normal operation are 0600-1700, Monday through Friday local time zones, excluding Federal holidays and such other times as identified by the KO.

Deleted Security and Information Assurance from paragraph 4.3

22. In the latest amendment, the Government deleted the word NOC in 5.1.1.4, which implies support to the 5.5. DoDIN-A Operations Center which is also a 7x24x365 service area and replaced it with the words Network Operations Facility (NOF). In the previous round of the questions (#358) and amendment four, the Government stated, “Network Operations Facility.

The PWS at Section 5.7.2.12 was revised to, Monitor access into the “Network Operations

Facility” (NOF) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Contractor shall issue visitor badges, maintain visitor logs, and arrange for/provide visitor escort within the USARCC-C areas of support. The PWS at Section 9.2 Abbreviations and Acronyms was also revised to include “NOF

- Network Operations Facility.””

Can the Government please clarify what 5.1.1 Network Support is to be provided to the "NOF" when the "NOF" appears to be the entire USARCC facility? Did the Government mean to state that the 5.1.1.4 support will be provided to the DoDIN-A Operation Center 7x24x365?

Answer: NOF - Network Operations Facility is update language for NOC. PWS 5.1.1.4 correctly identifies provide support at the NOF requirement of 24/7. PWS 5.5.1 CONUS DoDIN-A

Operations correctly identifies requirement of 24/7. PWS 5.7.2.12 Monitor access into NOF the correctly identifies requirement of 24/7. CONUS DoDIN-A Operations resides in the NOF.

Not all services are located inside the NOF but in Government provided work space on FT

Huachuca, currently in close proximity.

23. PWS Ref: 4.3. The Government added clarifying information in amendment 4, [paragraph that reflected that para 5.1.1 is an exception to the core hours of 0600 - 1700 local which requires the contractor to provide 7x24x365 for all exception paragraphs. Based on the amendment 7

PWS version, it appears that the Government has further clarified that only paragraph 5.1.1.4 requires 7x24x365 support, while the remainder of the 5.1 section has an on-call 7x24 support requirement. Can the Government please clarify that only the 5.1.1.4 is required for 7x24x365 support.

Additionally, in para 4.3, the PWS states, “The core hours apply to all the major services except for NIPRNet/SIPRNet Network Management, paragraph 5.1.1.4, Computer Network Defense, para 5.5, and CONUS DoDIN-A Operations, paragraph 5.6, which require contractor support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” The way this sentence is written is confusing as CND is associated with para 5.4 of the PWS, DoDIN-A Operations is associated with para 5.5, and DCO is associated with para 5.6. Further, there is verbiage in the third and 4th level paragraphs of 5.5 and 5.6 which appears to contradict the language in paragraph 4.3 that requires 7x24x365. Can the Government please clarify whether the entire 5.4 Computer Network Defense section, the entire para 5.5 CONUS DoDIN-A Operations section, and the entire 5.6 DCO section is required to be supported 7x24x365? If not, will the Government please validate which level 3 and 4 paragraph within para 5.5 and 5.6 are further exceptions to the requirement for 7x24x365 support.

Answer: PWS 4.3 identifies as a major service NIPRNet/SIPRNet Network Management, 5.1.1.4 further identifies as a 24/7 requirement.

PWS changed to correct paragraph reference. PWS 4.3 identifies Computer Network Defense, para 5.4, and CONUS DoDIN-A Operations, paragraph 5.5 as a 24/7 requirement.