R499--IT Strategic Communication (ITSC) Support (VA-21-00001461)

CONTINUATION PAGE: The purpose of this Amendment A0001, to Request for Proposal (RFP) 36C10B21R0007, titled Information Technology Strategic Communication (ITSC) Support, is as detailed below, and captured in track changes. 1. Responses to the Questions have been provided as an attachment to Amendment A0001. 2. Extend the Offer Due Date to 01/08/2020 10AM ET. 3. In Section B.4 Performance Work Statement , subsection 4.1 Performance Period, The second sentence is being change to read This PWS also includes a 2-month optional task for Transition Out Services/Transition Plan, an optional task for web support, and an optional task for intra-division communication support. 4. In Section D Contract Documents, Exhibits, or Attachments Attachment B - Bingo Card has been added. 5. In Section E Basis for Award and Proposal Instructions subsection D. Proposal Submission , subsection 1. Introduction, the sentence Offerors are encouraged to register for the Vendor portal in order to ensure timely transmission of their proposal to the government has been removed. 6. Attachment A ITSC Price Spreadsheet, tab T&M Labor the section Government Task Order Labor Category has been re-arranged to properly line up and link to the T&M labor Rate Table tab. 7. Except as provided herein, all other terms and conditions of RFP 36C10B21R0007 remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

CONTINUATION PAGE:

The purpose of this Amendment A0001, to Request for Proposal (RFP) 36C10B21R0007, titled Information Technology Strategic Communication (ITSC) Support, is as detailed below, and captured in track changes.

1. Responses to the Questions have been provided as an attachment to Amendment A0001.

2. Extend the Offer Due Date to 01/08/2020 10AM ET.

3. In Section B.4 Performance Work Statement , subsection 4.1 Performance Period, The second sentence is being change to read This PWS also includes a 2-month optional task for Transition Out Services/Transition Plan, an optional task for web support, and an optional task for intra-division communication support.

4. In Section D Contract Documents, Exhibits, or Attachments Attachment B - Bingo Card has been added.

5. In Section E Basis for Award and Proposal Instructions subsection D. Proposal Submission , subsection 1. Introduction, the sentence Offerors are encouraged to register for the Vendor portal in order to ensure timely transmission of their proposal to the government has been removed.

6. Attachment A ITSC Price Spreadsheet, tab T&M Labor the section Government Task Order Labor Category has been re-arranged to properly line up and link to the T&M labor Rate Table tab.

7. Except as provided herein, all other terms and conditions of RFP 36C10B21R0007 remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

Page 2 of 2

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services/items prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice.

This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested. This solicitation is issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP); the solicitation number is 36C10B21R0007 (see attached document: 36C10B21R0007).

BACKGROUND:

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Information and Technology (OIT) enables world-class delivery of care and benefits to millions of Veterans. Every day, the OIT team supports each of VA s lines of business. OIT s 8,000 employees and 8,000 contractors enable the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States; a benefits processing organization equivalent to a medium-size insurance company; and one of the largest integrated memorial and cemetery organizations in the country.

Multiple subordinate divisions comprise OIT: Account Management Office (AMO); Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps), which includes Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO), IT Operations and Services (ITOPS), and the Office of Technical Integration (OT); Office of Information Security (OIS); IT Resource Management (ITRM); Quality, Performance and Risk (QPR); Office of Strategic Sourcing (OSS); the Chief Technology Officer (CTO); and the Office of IT Program Integration (ITPI) and Chief of Staff. OIT also includes support to enterprise-level organizations such as the Office of the Electronic Health Record Management (OEHRM) and the VA/DoD Interagency Program Office (IPO).

In Fiscal Year 2016, OIT established a centralized, integrated communication office for the first time since OIT centralized in 2006. IT Strategic Communication (ITSC) launched in November 2015 to develop OIT s Communication Strategy and implementation plan. ITSC is responsible for OIT s engagement with VA and OIT employees, VA business partners, oversight bodies, IT industry partners, and media, and is accountable for the delivery of all strategic messaging products associated with that engagement on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, and even ad hoc basis.

In 2021, ITSC seeks to mature the strategic communication functions and the approach to developing and delivering high impact communication products and services through a variety of sophisticated and highly professional media, techniques, and campaigns, as well as provide planning services to anticipate key current and future environmental and strategic communication requirements that VA s IT organization must consider to best serve its VA business partners, VA s workforce, and OIT s workforce. In 2019, OIT introduced VA s Digital Transformation Strategy. The VA Digital Transformation Strategy is OIT s roadmap; it guides everything the organization does in support of VA s priorities (Customer Service, MISSION Act Implementation, Business Transformation, VA/DoD Collaboration). This disciplined approach will yield maximum positive impact on Veteran care and services, as well as strengthen VA s and OIT s stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

During VA s initial and on-going COVID-19 pandemic, strategic communication support both internal and external to VA was a critical component of OIT s unprecedented and aggressive response to enable enterprise-wide remote work, remote access to healthcare and benefits, and deploying improved and new IT services and products for approximately 400,000 users. In light of this support and the on-going nature of VA s COVID-19 response, OIT requires experienced, adept, strategic communication support that is familiar with complex IT system development and delivery for wide-ranging communication support of emergent, large scale IT operations.

As ITSC intends to become the gold standard in large-scale government strategic communication organizations, OIT requires specialized strategic communication, marketing, and public affairs expertise to supplement a partially-staffed government team that will provide proactive, synchronized, industry-leading strategic communication services to the largest Federal IT workforce currently engaged in the largest IT modernization effort in its history.

The period of performance shall be one 12-month base period and two 12-month option periods.

The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this effort is 541613.

This solicitation shall close on January 6, 2021 at 10AM EST.

Questions are due December 22, 2020 at 10am ET and shall be submitted via email to Contract Specialist, Michael Levchenko at Michael.Levchenko@va.gov, and Contracting Officer, Heather Utt, at Heather.Utt@va.gov. Please include the solicitation number, 36C10B21R0007 in the subject line. Questions directed to the end user/customer are prohibited.

See attached document: 36C10B21R0007.pdf

See attached document: Attachment A ITSC Price Spreadsheet.xlsx