DTAM Industry Questions - Master Spreadsheet - FINAL.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 49 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- YA1323-24-DTAMRFISS-0001
- Issued by
-
Department of Commerce US Census Bureau
About this file
This document is a Request for Information (RFI) and Sources Sought Notice (SSN) for the Decennial Transformation & Application Modernization (DTAM) effort by the U.S. Census Bureau. The key details are:
The Census Bureau is seeking information from industry on providing Decennial Transformation and Application Modernization services. This includes application modernization, cloud migration, DevSecOps, data science, and other IT services to support the 2030 Decennial Census. A draft Performance Work Statement is provided detailing the key task areas. Industry is invited to a virtual Industry Day on December 12, 2023 to learn more and provide questions, which are due by December 4, 2023. Responses to the RFI/SSN are due by December 20, 2023. The information gathered will help the Census Bureau develop the acquisition strategy and determine if a small business set-aside is possible for this procurement. Relevant lower-level details are provided throughout the document.
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Other files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| Notice to Vendors - CENTAM Announcement.docx | DOCX document | |
| DTAM Registration Vendors (Revised).xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| DTAM Registration Vendors.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| DTAM Industry Day Script - Industry Release.pdf | ||
| Decennial Transformation and Application Modernization (DTAM) Industry Day Presentation.pdf | ||
| UPDATED_Sources Sought and Request for Information_FINAL_ Amendment 001.docx | DOCX document | |
| Draft PWS_Decennial Transformation and Application Modernization_Industry Draft.docx | DOCX document | |
| Sources Sought and Request for Information_FINAL.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment _DTAM Question and Comment Submission Template.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet |
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Standard Non-Answer Key
| Standard Non-Answer | Meaning | Action |
| We plan to release additional information as needed with a solicitation. | If this is information is needed for offerors to submit a bid, then it will be provided as part of the final solicitation | Determine whether or not the information will be needed to be included in the final RFP |
| This information will be provided as needed at the task level. | This information is not needed at the main contract level, rather it will be detailed at the Task Order level. | No immediate action |
| This information will be provided after award |
Industry Release
| Item Number | Question Topic | PWS Section Number & Name | |||||
| (if applicable) | PWS Page Number(s) | ||||||
| (if applicable) | PWS Line Number(s) | ||||||
| (if applicable) | Question/Comment Submitted | Census Answer | |||||
| 1 | PWS | Scope | 3 | When will an inventory of “existing applications” and their underlying technologies (databases, middleware, etc.) be made available for review? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||
| 2 | PWS | Scope | 3 | Can an overview of the “existing applications” and their associated lifecycle management provided? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||
| 3 | PWS | Scope | 3 | Apart from Jira/GIT and SharePoint, can an inventory the “existing applications” in-house developed and/or 3rd party software used to support the lifecycle of these applications be provided? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||
| 4 | PWS | Cloud Migration | 40 | Can a brief summary of any past cloud migration experiences be provided, whether internally performed by the Census or with 3rd party assistance? | The Census Bureau will not providing this information. | ||
| 5 | PWS | Project Management Support | 13 | Is the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) supported by a 3rd party or internally developed solution and if so, can a description of it be provided? | The selected DTAM contractor shall provide scaled agile (using SAFe) services by using industry best practices within the parameters of the Census Bureaus environment. | ||
| 6 | PWS | Change Control Management Support | 16 | Can a copy of the existing the change control process guidelines be provided? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. | ||
| 7 | PWS | IT Operational Delivery Management | 19 | Can a copy of the existing the operational delivery management process guidelines be provided? | This information will be provided to the selected vender after award. | ||
| 8 | PWS | System of Systems Engineering and Architecture | 20 | Can a copy of the existing the systems and their respective architectures be provided? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. | ||
| 9 | PWS | Systems Engineering Management | 22 | 943-944 | Can a copies of the existing SEMP, TEMP and SOPs documentation be provided? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |
| 10 | PWS | Systems Engineering Management | 22 | 974 | Can a copies of the current eSDLC be provided or is the “2017 2020 Census Detailed Operational Plan for: | ||
| 34. IT Infrastructure Operation (ITIN)” still representative of the current state? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||||||
| 11 | PWS | What are the technologies in the legacy footprint? | We plan to release additional information as needed with a solicitation. | ||||
| 12 | PWS | Has Census performed an analysis on which workloads will be migrated to which cloud provider? Or will that be done as a part of Task 3.3.1 System of System Engineering and Architecture? | The Census cloud migration strategy is on-going. The DTAM contract will play a support role in analysis for native application development for the cloud and cloud-migration. | ||||
| 13 | PWS | Will any technologies remain on-prem for any period of time during the period of performance? | Yes, applications may remain on-premises based on the results of application rationalization. The Decennial Program’s target is to leverage secure cloud technologies as much as possible. | ||||
| 14 | PWS | How long is the typical time needed for Security processing? | Currently, the adjudication of the Census Public Trust Background Investigations (BI) for U.S. citizens typically takes between 1-2 months. Foreign Nationals are eligible to support the DTAM procurement but must be located within the U.S. for 3 out of the last 5 years. This is also a requirement for U.S. citizens. Please note that the BI process for foreign nationals may take up to 4 months or longer. All work shall take place in the United States. |
The Government expects contractor to provide support and monitor the on-boarding clearance process for all personnel, to include subcontractors. Clearance documentation submitted shall go through Contractor’s quality assurance review prior to submission to Census and have minimal issues on accuracy, completeness, and timeliness for requested deadlines.
For the DTAM procurement, there are no additional clearance requirements beyond the Census BI for non-sensitive public trust clearance (T1/Low Tier).
15 PWS Are there additional clearance requirements? Currently, the adjudication of the Census Public Trust Background Investigations (BI) for U.S. citizens typically takes between 1-2 months. Foreign Nationals are eligible to support the DTAM procurement but must be located within the U.S. for 3 out of the last 5 years. This is also a requirement for U.S. citizens. Please note that the BI process for foreign nationals may take up to 4 months or longer. All work shall take place in the United States.
The Government expects contractor to provide support and monitor the on-boarding clearance process for all personnel, to include subcontractors. Clearance documentation submitted shall go through Contractor’s quality assurance review prior to submission to Census and have minimal issues on accuracy, completeness, and timeliness for requested deadlines.
For the DTAM procurement, there are no additional clearance requirements beyond the Census BI for non-sensitive public trust clearance (T1/Low Tier).
| 16 | PWS | Are there existing systems for Risk Management/Program Management/EVMS that all contractors will be expected to integrate with? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award |
| 17 | PWS | Are Decennial policies and procedures (i.e. Decennial Program Configuration Management) documented and accessible by contractors prior to award? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. |
| 18 | PWS | Are Readiness Review templates available to be reviewed by contractors prior to award? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. |
| 19 | PWS | Is there a content management system where runbooks are stored, versioned, and accessed? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. |
| 20 | PWS | Are there any requirements around the format or distribution of runbooks? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. |
| 21 | PWS | What application scanning tool will be made GFE? | GitLab is the primary tool. |
| 22 | PWS | Is there a requirement to apply STIGs or other secure baseline configurations on operating systems, database, and/or applications? | Offerors will be provided the location where publicly available information is located. If anything additional is needed to respond to the solicitation, then it will be provided accordingly. We do not anticipate this will be required prior to contract award. |
| 23 | PWS | Are there limits on citizenship for service providers and data residency for cloud providers? | Currently, the adjudication of the Census Public Trust Background Investigations (BI) for U.S. citizens typically takes between 1-2 months. Foreign Nationals are eligible to support the DTAM procurement but must be located within the U.S. for 3 out of the last 5 years. This is also a requirement for U.S. citizens. Please note that the BI process for foreign nationals may take up to 4 months or longer. All work shall take place in the United States. |
The Government expects contractor to provide support and monitor the on-boarding clearance process for all personnel, to include subcontractors. Clearance documentation submitted shall go through Contractor’s quality assurance review prior to submission to Census and have minimal issues on accuracy, completeness, and timeliness for requested deadlines.
For the DTAM procurement, there are no additional clearance requirements beyond the Census BI for non-sensitive public trust clearance (T1/Low Tier).
| 24 | PWS | What are the security requirements for the data? | Data requirements will be handled with the selected vendor after award. | ||||
| 25 | PWS | 3.3.1 System of Systems Engineering and Architecture | 20 | 824 | What is the nature of the Decennial Program Interface Catalog? Is this a documentation artifact or is this a programmatic resource queryable by code? Does the USCB use tools or processes that would enable automated updates of the Catalog? If not, what process(es) does the USCB envision for updates? For example, does the USCB envision a review board or similar process(es)? | ||
| The Interface Catalog is a reference document. | |||||||
| 26 | PWS | 3.3.1 System of Systems Engineering and Architecture | 21 | 839 | Does the Census Bureau currently use processes/tools which may enable generation of code from workflow diagrams, or which enable generation of workflow diagrams from a an existing code base? | Not Currently | |
| 27 | PWS | 3.3.1 System of Systems Engineering and Architecture | 21 | 840 | Does the Census Bureau currently have licensing in place for tools that may be used to support a compliance process? If so, what are the tools? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. | |
| 28 | PWS | 3.3.3 Systems Engineering Management | 22 | 892 | Can the Census Bureau provide a list of Change Management (CM) tools that are currently in use? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. | |
| 29 | PWS | 3.3.3 Systems Engineering Management | 22 | 906 | Can the Census Bureau provide a list of the relevant programming languages in current use, as well as any additional languages which are expected to be used in the lead up to the 2030 Census? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |
| 30 | Other | Sources Sought | 2 | NA | The "Complexity" bullet mentions both IT transformation services and cloud native application development. Additionally, 100+ applications are mentioned. Are all of these applications to be developed as cloud native applications, or are some of them already existing and need to be transformed? If the latter, can you provide an estimate of the mix (e.g. 50/50)? | In the Draft PWS - Task 4 Application Management Services, the Cloud Migration subtask requires migrating applications from on-prem to the cloud. The Application Rationalization sub-task will identify the modernization approach. | |
| 31 | PWS | 3.4.2.3 | Cloud and Cloud Native Application Architectures | 28 | 1156 | Regarding, "Refer to requirements on overall Cloud Native Architecture for additional guidance" is specified. Is this a reference to the section that this is listed (e.g. the previous six items) or is there a location specifying additional requirements? | This will be corrected this in the final solicitation. |
| 32 | PWS | 3.4.2.6 | Application FINOPS Architecture | 29 | 1182 | What additional constraints will the selection of open source tools be subject to? As examples: |
Must a support contract be purchased for the open source?
Does the Census Bureau envision contributing any necessary updates back to the open source product or does the Census Bureau envision a maintenance cycle that includes applying custom patches?
Are there specific open source licenses that the tool must be licensed under?
Are there related Bill of Materials requirements for such tools?
| And does this apply only to the selection of tools related to FINOPS, or is it applicable across all of DTAM? | Census is a only a consumer of open source products. Any open source product purchase are subject to the requirements of the Standards Working Group (SWG) Process. | ||||||
| 33 | PWS | 3.4.6.5 Dashboard Development | 40 | 1663 | What software does the Census Bureau envision being used for the creation of dashboards (e.g. Splunk, Kibana, AWS Cloudwatch Dashboards, etc.)? | This information will be provided to the selected vendor after award. | |
| 34 | PWS | 3.5 Advanced Data Science and Data Management | 41 | 1760, 1764, and 1770 | To what extent are these policies implemented in digital formats, especially algorithms which might check for policy/procedure compliance? | Data management, analytics, and/or advanced data science policies and procedures will evolve over time. All policies and procedures are not currently implemented in digital formats or algorithms. | |
| 35 | PWS | Advanced Data Science | 42-43 | 1776, 1784, 1814, and 1833 | Are licenses for data science tools/platforms to be provided as government furnished equipment ( GFE)? | Yes. They will be GFE. | |
| 36 | PWS | 3.5.1 Advanced Data Science | 42 | 1776, 1784,1788,1791, and1794 | Will there be a security-approved sandbox environment with access to Census data in which the advanced data science and data management practices can be explored, tested, and verified before committing to production-level systems? | The development and test process will involve multiple environments on the Census network with varying access to Census data. | |
| 37 | PWS | 3.5.2.3 Data Lineage | 45 | 1902-1921 | Are data governance policies/practices, data catalogues, lineage-provenance audits, and other data quality practices in an automated or semi-automated state with defined internal roles and responsibilities, e.g., data stewards (functional and enterprise)? | Data governance policies/practices, data catalogues, lineage-provenance audits, and other data quality practices will evolve over time. | |
| 38 | PWS | 3.5.2.1 Data Engineering and Integration | 44 | 1872 | Are business processes, existing dataflows, ICDs, digital twins, and similar data engineering artifacts captured in digital models, e.g., Model-Based System Engineering, Appian-process maps, Idera data models, etc.? | Business processes, existing dataflows, ICDs, digital twins, and similar data engineering artifacts will evolve over time. | |
| 39 | PWS | 3.5.2.6 Business Intelligence and Reporting | 46-47 | 1969 | Are there specific BI tools to be provided (GFE) or used, e.g., preferences for visualization, on-line dashboards, etc.? | The Census Bureau will provide GFE licenses needed within reason to meet DTAM requirements. | |
| 40 | PWS | 3.4.2.3 Cloud and Cloud Native Application Architectures | 31 | 1158-1159 | There are 3 primary hyperscaler cloud providers. Is the government intending to have workloads on all three? | One of the Census Bureau's architectural tenets for the Decennial is to support a multi-cloud environment to leverage best practices and services available among cloud providers. Census Bureau Decennial division plans to leverage the Census’s Cloud Services BPA for its cloud service providers. | |
| 41 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 DevSecOps Processes and Tools (CI/CD), 3.4.5.1 Application Security , 3.4.5.2 Zero Trust, 3.4.5.7 Security Testing | 33, 37, 39, 40 | 1290, 1449, 1529, 1555 | The draft refers to comprehensive SBOM requirements as well as meeting NIST and FISMA requirements while using open source software to drive down the cost of ownership. Is the government's intent to use unsupported Free Open Source Software (FOSS), or do you envision a mix of FOSS and Vendor/Enterprise Supported Open Source Software? | Any software used by the Decennial division will need to be supported. The Census Bureau is currently aiming to be open source as much as possible, however, if there are tools that are commercially available and reasonable to use, the Census Bureau will consider the use of those tools as well. | |
| 42 | PWS | n/a | n/a | n/a | Is the government's focus on building the platform itself or modern applications that need to be built? | The focus of this procurement will be modern application development. |
Task 4 of the Draft PWS, Application Management Services, requires application rationalization services for the Decennial Program to determine the desired modernization plans (i.e., refactor, rehost, replatform, retain, retire, etc.)
| 43 | PWS | n/a | n/a | n/a | Has the government considered the importance of a COTS security & application life-cycle management and governance tool which operates across multiple Kubernetes clusters from a single console, as opposed to custom integration of multiple disparate solutions? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. |
| 44 | PWS | n/a | n/a | n/a | Will there be a preference for vendor attestation of software supply chain security via SBOM as it relates to both open and closed source technologies? | The Census Bureau will follow Federal Regulations & guidelines on attestation. |
| 45 | PWS | 3.4.2.3 Cloud and Cloud Native Application Architecture | 31 | 1151-1153 | The document refers to containerization and cloud native applications - this suggests the use of Kubernetes, which is the de-facto standard in container orchestration. Does the government prefer Cloud provider native kubernetes or will the requirement for portability across clouds drive utilization of kubernetes platforms available in multiple cloud providers? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. |
| 46 | PWS | n/a | n/a | n/a | Has the government considered the Forrester identified leaders in multicloud container platforms in the report from Q3 2023, which speaks directly to this draft? | No |
| 47 | PWS | n/a | n/a | n/a | Is it important for the solution to offer managed services as a nativeconsole, joint support, and management across all of the major cloud providers? | This is out of scope for this contract. |
| 48 | Other | Sources Sought Notice (SSN)/Request for Information (RFI) & Industry Day Announcement | 3 | The industry is advised to submit our questions to the DTAM Box no later than 9:00 am on December 4, 2023. I wanted to point out that December 4th is a Sunday. Maybe you are aware of this and maybe not. So, my question is would it be possible to change the due from the 4th of December to the 5th of December which is an actual work day? | This was addressed pre industry day but the date was found to be correct as listed. | |
| 49 | PWS | 3.4.2.3 Cloud and Cloud Native Application Architectures | 28 | 1143-1145 | What is the current state of cloud migration of the applications in the DTAM portfolio? Which are on-prem? Which are in the cloud? Which are hybrid? Which cloud providers are in use? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 50 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 DevSecOps Processes and Tools (CI/CD) | 30 | 1249-1250 | Can the Government provide a full list of all the applications in the DTAM portfolio, including the purpose or function of each application, and its basic architecture? Which applications are COTS? Which are GOTS? Which are SaaS applications? Which are custom designed for Census? Would Census provide this list and overview as part of the final RFP? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 51 | PWS | 3.5.3 Data Management | 43 | N/A | What current prototyping and/or piloting initiatives are already underway among DTAM systems (e.g. CMMU, DRPS, etc.)? What is the status of these efforts? What findings have been identified so far? What technologies are being evaluated? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 52 | Other | SSN/RFI (Data, Data Systems, and Data Governance) | SSN/RFI page 5 | N/A | Of the 3 bullets in SSN/RFI section "Data, Data Systems, and Data Governance", should bullets 1 and 2 be considered part of the same question, with bullet 3 being its own separate second question? | Yes, bullet 2 is related to your experience identified in bullet 1. The Census Bureau issued an amendment to the RFI that combines the two bullets. |
| 53 | PWS | 3.3.1 | page 20 | 804/805 | What system are they using now? COTS product, developed in--house or by current contract holder? If it's in-house what coding language was used? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 54 | PWS | 3.3.5 | page 23 | 926/927/928 | Do you currently use JIRA Server, Cloud, or Data Center | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 55 | PWS | 3.4.2.2 | page 27 | 1132/1133 | What tools are you using today and are we to use yours or provide new ones? If new ones, are there restrictions for the types of tools used? | Any and all tools needed will be provided by the Government as GFE. |
| 56 | PWS | 3.4.5.2 | page 35 | 1488/1489/1490 | What Identity and Access Management solution are you using today and are we to use yours or provide one? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. The contractor will be required to use the Census IAM solution |
| 57 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 | page 30, 31 | 1240-1295 | Are the tools described customer provided or contractor provided? If contractor provided, are there restrictions for the types of tools used? | Any and all tools needed will be provided by the Government as GFE. |
| 58 | PWS | 3.5.1 | Page 42 | 1176 - 1781 | Do they already have a suite of tools that they use for a data platform? Are there restrictions for the types of tools used? (e.g., ATO, IL4, TRL-X) | All and any tools needed will be provided by the Government as GFE. |
| 59 | PWS | In general, the sections talks about finding vulnerabilities and assessing risk; however, I do not see a section that addresses the capacity to remove risk (address the security technical debt) either through remediation or mitigation in a modern way. The question, is this a priority and should the contractor be able to reduce technical security debt at scale? | Please See Draft PWS Section 3.4.5.3 | |||
| 60 | PWS | 3.4.5.8 | Adjudication of Findings and Vulnerabilities section 4 specifically calls out using SAST, DAST and IAST. But does not call out using GFE. The question, the Contractor is able to supply their own SAST, DAST, IAST technology | Any and All tools needed will be provided by the Government as GFE. | ||
| 61 | PWS | 3.4.5.4 | Software Security Architecture talks about the contractor shall perform 5 items. The question, is the contractor free to implement the industry best practice security controls since GFE is required? | The selected DTAM contractor, in coordination with the Census Bureau and other decennial contracts, is expected to use industry best practices for security within the Census Bureau environment. This may include recommendations on new approaches and technologies that can be used. | ||
| 62 | PWS | 3.4.5.1 | Application Security section 9, the contractor shall generate Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs). The question, should the contractor generate SBOM with the GFE application security tooling or should the contractor use their own technology? | Any and All tools needed will be provided by the Government as GFE. | ||
| 63 | PWS | 3.4.5 | Application Security Execution in sections “2” and “3”, it denotes using GoveA2:F64+C49:F64t Furnished Equipment (GFE) application security testing tooling as part of the development workflow and automation of application release pipelines including DevSecOps and Scan application components within DevSecOps pipeline, including but not limited to container images and infrastructure as code (IaC), with GFE application security testing and software composition analysis (SC) tooling to detect outdated, vulnerable libraries and license issues in third-party libraries. The questions are below: A. What are the current GFE tooling? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||
| 64 | PWS | 3.4.5 | B. Is Census open to modernizing the GFE tooling as part of this exercise? | Yes, the selected DTAM contractor can provide recommendations on new tools / software that can be brought on network. | ||
| 65 | PWS | 3.4.4.1 | “l” the contractor shall perform Security Testing. The 1st question, is there a specific type of security testing? In section 3.4.5.7 Security Testing is denoted as penetration testing. The 2nd question, Is this the only definition? | This requirement will be updated within the FINAL solicitation for clarity. | ||
| 66 | PWS | 3.4.3.2 | ` | DevSecOps Application Architecture Section 2 a, in e the contractor shall perform pen testing/ penetration testing. The question, is there a specific type of pen testing Census wants performed? | This requirement will be updated within the FINAL solicitation for clarity. | |
| 67 | PWS | 3.4.3.1 | DevSecOps Engineering section 2, the contractor shall create and/or adhere to DevSecOps security gates for all environments used for development and promotion of software and application code from the development, testing and stage environments. The questions are below: |
a. Where do we go to understand the technology stack used for environments?
| b. Are all the environments using the same technology stack? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||||||
| 68 | PWS | 3.3.2 | Cloud-Native Engineering, it explains that the Decennial Program aims to leverage Cloud (Public, Private, SaaS) as much as possible to drive scalability and innovation while remaining adherent to Decennial’s security requirements. In section 10, the contractor shall use FedRAMP or other relevant service-oriented architectures to comply with federal regulation. The question, Is there a minimum FedRAMP Authorization level? | The minimum FedRAMP Authorization level is Moderate. | |||
| 69 | PWS | Q. Will CMMI Level 3 be required for application development? Task (3.3 & 3.4) | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||||
| 70 | PWS | Q. Are there vendor-specific (Azure, AWS, GCP) cloud certifications that will be required? (3.3 & 3.4) | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||||
| 71 | PWS | To what extent will the existing enterprise technology ecosystem, namely the cloud infrastructure, be leveraged as part of this transformation? | While the existing technology ecosystem at Census plays a role, the selected DTAM contractor shall assist the government in performing analysis for future state modernization that does not exclude new technologies. | ||||
| 72 | PWS | 3.3.2 | 21 | 873 | Does the entire solution need to be ran in a FedRAMP environment, will there be a private cloud/ on Premises presence for workloads and data? | Decennial applications are considered to be a system of systems. As individual systems are designed, there may be some workloads and/or data which reside in a private cloud or on premise. | |
| 73 | PWS | 3.3.2 | 22 | 875 | Will the cloud control plane provide management to multiple cloud providers? | One of our architectural tenets for the Decennial is to support a multi-cloud environment to leverage best practices and services available among cloud providers. Decennial plans to leverage the Census’s Cloud Services BPA for its cloud service providers. | |
| 74 | PWS | 3.4.59 | 38 | 1571 | What is the expected Recover Point Objective "RPO"? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |
| 75 | Industry Day | Sources Sought Requirement, under SIZE | 2 | Are H1B's, non-citizens permitted ? | Currently, the adjudication of the Census Public Trust Background Investigations (BI) for U.S. citizens typically takes between 1-2 months. Foreign Nationals are eligible to support the DTAM procurement but must be located within the U.S. for 3 out of the last 5 years. This is also a requirement for U.S. citizens. Please note that the BI process for foreign nationals may take up to 4 months or longer. All work shall take place in the United States. |
The Government expects contractor to provide support and monitor the on-boarding clearance process for all personnel, to include subcontractors. Clearance documentation submitted shall go through Contractor’s quality assurance review prior to submission to Census and have minimal issues on accuracy, completeness, and timeliness for requested deadlines.
For the DTAM procurement, there are no additional clearance requirements beyond the Census BI for non-sensitive public trust clearance (T1/Low Tier).
76 Industry Day Sources Sought Requirement, under Requirements 2 To evaluate capabilities and corporate experience of potential bidders to a greater degree, would the government add language to that requires bidders to: Demonstrate prior experience for management of cloud size under a Master Contract/Master Payer Account where the metrics are:
a) where/are valued at $40M/year in cloud spend as a CSP reseller
b) 1000 VMs/year for one organization
| c) 50 applications simultaneously running in the cloud for one organization | Instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria will be included in Sections L & M of the Final solicitation. | ||||||
| 77 | Industry Day | Sources Sought Requirement, under Requirements | 2 | In reference to size, scope, and complexity, add language for bidders to provide Past Performance with a Federal Customer (vice commercial) and performing a Multi-Cloud Service Provider capability. | Instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria will be included in Sections L & M of the Final solicitation. | ||
| 78 | PWS | Draft 3.1.9 | 11 | Given that DTAM is a new contract, will the government identify the existing contract(s) that are transitioning into DTAM? | Current/existing contracts will remain in place until their end of the Period of Performance. DTAM will provide resources for Decennial to support the Census Bureau's new initiative to transform to a data centric, modern, cloud-based IT solutions. | ||
| 79 | PWS | Draft 3.1.9 | 11 | To better understand the level of effort, how many Agile product teams and/or personnel are supporting efforts that will transition into DTAM? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | ||
| 80 | PWS | Draft 3.0 | 7 | To validate proposed solutions, would the government consider including a requirement for a live demonstration of cloud management, security, and DevSecOps management capabilities. | Instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria will be included in Sections L & M of the Final solicitation. | ||
| 81 | PWS | Draft 3.0 | 7 | Does the government plan to include Sample Tasks that involve multiple Task Areas to allow Census to evaluate the capabilities and complexities involved in receiving a complete service and outcome? | Instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria will be included in Sections L & M of the Final solicitation. | ||
| 82 | PWS | 3.1 - Task Area 1 - Contract Management | 4 | 140 | Are there currently internal policies, procedures, and guidance for managing projects within the Bureau? Will PMO training need to be conducted for the Census Bureau teams? | As it relates to Contract Management, PWS Section 3.1 provides the requirements for managing the contract activities. PWS Task 3.2 outlines requirements for managing project activities. | |
| 83 | PWS | 3.1 - Task Area 1 - Contract Management | 4 | 144 | Is there a Portfolio/Project management (PPM) tool currently in place and used for managing portfolios/projects? If so, what is the name of the tool and how many teams/program offices are using the tool? | The Final solicitation will be updated with Census provided tools required for portfolios/projects management. | |
| 84 | PWS | 3.1 - Task Area 1 - Contract Management | 4 | 146 | Will federal staff employees assist in PMO efforts, working in tandem with the contractor team and is there currently a roles and responsibilities document for program/project teams? Does program/project management documents/guidance exist to include governing boards and committees? | The projects will be a mix of Federal and contractor staff and will solution based. | |
| 85 | PWS | 3.1 - Task Area 1 - Contract Management | 4 | 149 | Does a project management process, guidance, templates currently exist? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. | |
| 86 | PWS | 3.1 - Task Area 1 - Contract Management | 5 | 151 | What collaboration/communication tools are currently used in the Decennial Program/ within the Bureau? Are there processes in place for developing, managing and tracking collaboration/communication activities? Is there a POC list within the program/bureau that is accessible or will one need to be developed? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. | |
| 87 | PWS | 3.1 - Task Area 1 - Contract Management | 5 | 152 | Is there an existing POC list that can be accessed and/or will needed updates that can be leveraged? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award | |
| 88 | PWS | 3.1 - Task Area 1 - Contract Management | 5 | 154 | How many programs/teams exists within the Decennial Program and IT | ||
| Directorate Program/Project teams? Is there a relevant/updated organizational chart that can be utilized when contract is awarded? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed within the Final solicitation. | ||||||
| 89 | PWS | 3.1.1 - Contract Management Plan/3.1.2 - Staff & Subcontractor Management | 5 | 154 | Can you please give examples of possible certifications that may be required for the expected work? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed within the Final solicitation. | |
| 90 | PWS | 3.1.1 - Contract Management Plan/3.1.2 - Staff & Subcontractor Management | 5 | 157 | What is the average clearance processing time for contractors? Days/weeks/months? | Currently, the adjudication of the Census Public Trust Background Investigations (BI) for U.S. citizens typically takes between 1-2 months. Foreign Nationals are eligible to support the DTAM procurement but must be located within the U.S. for 3 out of the last 5 years. This is also a requirement for U.S. citizens. Please note that the BI process for foreign nationals may take up to 4 months or longer. All work shall take place in the United States. |
The Government expects contractor to provide support and monitor the on-boarding clearance process for all personnel, to include subcontractors. Clearance documentation submitted shall go through Contractor’s quality assurance review prior to submission to Census and have minimal issues on accuracy, completeness, and timeliness for requested deadlines.
For the DTAM procurement, there are no additional clearance requirements beyond the Census BI for non-sensitive public trust clearance (T1/Low Tier).
| 91 | PWS | 3.1.1 - Contract Management Plan/3.1.4 - Compliance | 5 | 163 | Will the contractor have POC within the Decennial Program or a Program to assist with receiving the require compliance documents and ensuring the processes are identified to comply with when delivering services for all the tasks? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 92 | PWS | 3.1.6.3 Monthly Cost & Schedule Report | 8 | 292 | What is the average time for a baseline to be approved? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 93 | PWS | 3.1.6.3 Monthly Cost & Schedule Report | 9 | 330 | Who governs the IBR process and is the review process an automated process? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. |
| 94 | PWS | 3.1.9 Transition In | 11 | 422 | No system access is mentioned; i.e. passwords, keys, is mentioned - will this be included in the documentation received as part of the transition in plan… | The on-boarding process will be covered during the contract kick-off meeting with the selected vendor. |
| 95 | PWS | 3.1.11 Travel | 15 | 412 | How much travel is anticipated and what would be the expected travel timeframes throughout the year? | Mission critical travel will be expected for selected staff. Additional travel information will be provided in the final solicitation. |
| 96 | PWS | 3.1.12 Data Call & Audit Support | 15 | 476 | Can examples of the internal and external contract audits and provide an approximate number of audits based on in the past and history. Is there a process in place for responding to audits? Is there a tool in place to track and manage all audit inquiries/requests and responses? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 97 | PWS | 3.1.12 Data Call & Audit Support | 15 | 477 | Can examples of the type of internal and external contract audits and provide an approximate number of audits based on in the past and history. | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 98 | PWS | 3.1.12 Data Call & Audit Support | 15 | 479 | Can you provide examples of the type of materials used to support program data calls and oversight requests? Is there a process in place for receiving and managing data calls? Is there a tool in place to track and manage all data calls and responses? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 99 | PWS | General | For AI toolsets, it Census looking to leverage commercially available tools such as ChatGPT and/or Google’s Bard along with integrating their available APIs? If yes, what additional guardrails are Census expecting to be placed around these open AI Services? | Any and All tools needed will be provided by the Government as GFE. | ||
| 100 | PWS | 3.3.2 Cloud-Native Engineering | 21 | 1156 | What are the various clouds approved for potential multi-cloud solutions? | One of our architectural tenets for the Decennial is to support a multi-cloud environment to leverage best practices and services available among cloud providers. Decennial plans to leverage the Census’s Cloud Services BPA for its cloud service providers. |
| 101 | PWS | 1.3 Decennial Information Technology Division | 2 | 52 | What is the coordination between this Census efforts and existing and ongoing DITD Census modernization programs? |
A diagram of the Business Ecosystem is included in the Industry Day presentation posted on SAM.gov
| 102 | PWS | 1.3 Decennial Information Technology Division | 2 | 57 | Regarding ‘Application & Data Security’ - Are there any remote device/mobile integration needs for infield personnel such as surveyors who interview members of the community? | The DTAM procurement does not plan to support application modernization for mobile applications for the field as the Decennial plans to leverage the Business Ecosystem for data collection. |
| 103 | PWS | 3.4.3 DevSecOps Methodology | 29 | 1211 | What specific industry standards or regulatory requirements do you foresee as critical to integrate into our DevSecOps methodology? | The government expectation is that the DTAM contractor have expertise in the application of DevSecOps within the federal public sector, including associated best practices for integration of industry best practices with federal and agency-level requirements. |
| 104 | PWS | 3.4.3 DevSecOps Methodology | 29 | 1211 | Could you provide insights into the existing practices for communication and collaboration between different teams (development, security, infrastructure)? | The primary mechanism DTAM will use for communication and collaboration are Integrated Product Teams. Additionally, Decennial plans to employ Scaled Agile Framework methodology for value streams. |
| 105 | PWS | 3.4.3.2 DevSecOps Application Architecture Development | 30 | 1223 | What tools or mechanisms do you currently use for security tracking and remediation? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 106 | PWS | 3.4.3 DevSecOps Methodology | 29 | 1214 | Are there any predefined DevSecOps security gates for different environments, or should we establish these gates based on project needs? | The DTAM contractor will collaborate with the Census Bureau on determination of suitable DevSecOps practices. |
| 107 | PWS | 3.4.3.2 DevSecOps Application Architecture Development | 30 | 1226 | What do you current use for application performance monitoring; do you leverage tools such as Datadog, Dynatrace? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 108 | PWS | 3.4.3.2 DevSecOps Application Architecture Development | 30 | 1230 | Is the penetration testing performed by third parties or internally? | The Census Bureau will update this requirement in the FINAL solicitation for clarity. |
| 109 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 DevSecOps Processes and Tools (CI/CD) | 30 | 1246 | What existing DevSecOps processes and tools are currently in place, and how adaptable are they to change or integration with new tools? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. |
| 110 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 DevSecOps Processes and Tools (CI/CD) | 30 | 1246 | Could you highlight critical criteria for software tool selection within the eSDLC and the IT governance board's approval process? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. |
| 111 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 DevSecOps Processes and Tools (CI/CD) | 30 | 1266 | Could you detail the database change and management practices currently in place and how they align with the CI/CD pipeline? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. |
| 112 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 DevSecOps Processes and Tools (CI/CD) | 30 | Do you have a preferred cloud service provider? Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure? Are there FedRAMP approved CSP's we should avoid? | One of our architectural tenets for the Decennial is to support a multi-cloud environment to leverage best practices and services available among cloud providers. Decennial plans to leverage the Census’s Cloud Services BPA for its cloud service providers. | |
| 113 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 DevSecOps Processes and Tools (CI/CD) | 30 | Do you have a preferred GIT, CICD toolset you’d like to leverage for code repositories and CICD pipelines? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |
| 114 | PWS | Section 2.0 (Scope) | page 3 | lines 1-7 | Could you provide more specifics on the desired modernization technologies and new applications, particularly those that are priorities for early deployment? | The focus of this procurement will be modern application development. |
Task 4 of the Draft PWS, Application Management Services, requires application rationalization services for the Decennial Program to determine the desired modernization plans (i.e., refactor, rehost, replatform, retain, retire, etc.)
115 PWS Section 2.0 (Scope) How does the Census Bureau envision balancing the modernization of existing applications with the development of new ones? The focus of this procurement will be modern application development.
Task 4 of the Draft PWS, Application Management Services, requires application rationalization services for the Decennial Program to determine the desired modernization plans (i.e., refactor, rehost, replatform, retain, retire, etc.)
| 116 | PWS | Section 3.3 (Compliance) | page 5 | lines 17-32 | Are there specific compliance-related issues, such as privacy or accessibility, that have been challenges in the past? | This information will be provided with the selected vendor after award. | |||
| 117 | PWS | Section 3.6 (Scaled Agile/Program Increment Planning & Management Support) | page 9 | lines 24-32 | How does the Census Bureau envision the integration of SAFe within existing processes? | The integration of SAFe within existing processes is part of the requirements under Task Area 2 of the draft PWS. | |||
| 118 | PWS | Section 3.7 (Operational and Performance Metrics) | page 16 | lines 37-40 | What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics for evaluating contractor performance? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||
| 119 | PWS | Section 3.9 (Risk Management and Quality Control) | page 8 | lines 1-6 | What is the detailed process for risk identification, assessment, and mitigation planning? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||
| 120 | PWS | Section 3.9 (Risk Management and Quality Control) | page 8 | lines 9-28 | Can you provide examples of past quality control issues and resolutions? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||
| 121 | PWS | Section 3.11 (Travel and Audit Requirements) | page 9 | lines 57-67 | What are the specific expectations for supporting internal and external audits? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||
| 122 | PWS | Section 3.12 (Development and Innovation Expectations) | page 19 | lines 1-12 | How does the Census Bureau envision the role of R&D in this project? | As indicated in Task Area 4 of the PWS, Research, Development, and Innovation is part of the scope of the DTAM contract. | |||
| 123 | PWS | Section 3.12 (Development and Innovation Expectations) | page 19 | lines 13-20 | What are the expectations regarding application prototyping and exploring emerging technologies? | As indicated in Task Area 4 of the PWS, Research, Development, and Innovation is part of the scope of the DTAM contract. | |||
| 124 | Industry Day | 2.0 Scope | 3 | 71-76 | Which existing applications are planned to be modernized as a part of the DTAM contract? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||
| 125 | Industry Day | 2.0 Scope | 3 | 89-103 | Which existing Decennial applications will be replaced by the planned new application development of the DTAM contract? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||
| 126 | Contracts | General | n/a | n/a | Will the Government confirm who the current incumbent is supporting this contract? | No incumbent, this is a new requirement. | |||
| 127 | Industry Day | 2.0 Scope | 3 | n/a | Are there any existing projects or contracts that could affect this solicitation? And in what way (i.e. acquisition timeline, Modernization timeline, etc.)? | The Census Bureau does not anticipate any existing projects that would affect this solicitation in any way. | |||
| 128 | Industry Day | 2.0 Scope | 3 | n/a | Are there any potential conflicts of interest or overlaps with existing contracts that should be considered? | None at this time. There could be future Decennial contracts where a conflict of interest will exist. | |||
| 129 | PWS | 3.4.4.4 | Can the government provide any details on the testing technical stack? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||||
| 130 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 | Can the government provide any details on the eSDLC technical stack? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||||
| 131 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 | Has SAFe been customized for the eSDLC and can the government describe those customizations? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||||
| 132 | PWS | 3.4.1.2 | Can the government provide more details concerning 'Model Management'? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||||
| 133 | PWS | 3.1.9 | What does the government anticipate for the amount of time for the Transition-In ? | The Census Bureau plans to release additional information as needed with the final solicitation. | |||||
| 134 | PWS | What is the anticipated makeup of an Agile Team with respect to Government FTEs and Contractor FTE's by roles? | The use of the federal contractors will depend on the project. The project will determine if it will be a complete vendor solution vs a hybrid vendor government solution. | ||||||
| 135 | Industry Day | 2.0 - Scope | 6 | What expected date do you want all modernization to be done? | Please refer to the presentation from Industry Day (posted on SAM.gov) for the modernization timeline. | ||||
| 136 | Industry Day | 1.2.1 - Life Cycle | 5 | Is the Decennial Census CIPPS Vendor expected to interface with the DTAM Vendor? | |||||
| The DTAM vendor will interface with other vendors supporting the Decennial Census Program. | |||||||||
| 137 | Industry Day | Can the same vendor bid on CIPPS and DTAM? | DTAM will provide architects, engineers, data scientists, developers, testers, IT project management and other services for Decennial to support the Census vision to transform to a data centric, modern, cloud-based IT solutions. CIPPS will provide a Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) compliant cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to support the Census Integrated Personnel and Payroll (CIPPS) ecosystem. There are no requirements overlap between the two procurements so there is no conflict of interest. There could be other future Decennial contracts where a conflict of interest will exist. | ||||||
| 138 | PWS | 3.4.3.3 DevSecOps Processes and Tools (CI/CD), 3.4.5.1 Application Security , 3.4.5.2 Zero Trust, 3.4.5.7 Security Testing | 33, 37, 39, 40 | 1290, 1449, 1529, 1555 | The draft refers to comprehensive SBOM requirements as well as meeting NIST and FISMA requirements while using open source software to drive down the cost of ownership. Is the government's intent to use unsupported Free Open Source Software (FOSS), or do you envision a mix of FOSS and Vendor/Enterprise Supported Open Source Software? | Any software used by the Decennial division will need to be supported. The Census Bureau is currently aiming to be open source as much as possible, however, if there are tools that are commercially available and reasonable to use, the Census Bureau will consider the use of those tools as well. | |||
| 139 | PWS | n/a | n/a | n/a | Has the government considered the importance of a COTS security & application life-cycle management and governance tool which operates across multiple Kubernetes clusters from a single console, as opposed to custom integration of multiple disparate solutions? | Any software used by the Decennial division will need to be supported. The Census Bureau is currently aiming to be open source as much as possible, however, if there are tools that are commercially available and reasonable to use, the Census Bureau will consider the use of those tools as well. | |||
| 140 | PWS | n/a | n/a | n/a | Will there be a preference for vendor attestation of software supply chain security via SBOM as it relates to both open and closed source technologies? | The Census Bureau will follow Federal Regulations & guidelines on attestation. |
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