Defense Research Engineering Network Telecommunications Service

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION COVER PAGE HPCMP NETWORK SERVICES July, 2009 1. The following Provision applies to this RFI: FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) 52.215-3, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION OR SOLICITATION FOR PLANNING PURPOSES (OCT 1997) (a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. (b) Although "proposal" and "offeror" are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal. (c) This solicitation is issued for the purpose of: Information to assist in finalizing the development of acquisition strategy and the statement of work by the High Computing Modernization Program Office and the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Information Systems Procurement Division. (End of Provision) 2. The FAR is available on the World Wide Web and can be found at: http://www.farsite.hill.af.mil or http://www.arnet.gov/far/. 3. RFI SUBMISSION DUE DATE: Responses to this RFI shall be transmitted electronically to deborah.benscoter@disa.mil in Microsoft Word format. Electronic submission of responses to the General Inquires, section A, and the Comments/Questions on Statement of Work (SOW), section B, only are due NLT 28 Aug 2009 at 1:00 PM Central Standard Time. Due to schedule considerations, electronic submissions received after the stated date/time may not be considered. 4. As a follow-up to this RFI, DISA may host an Industry Day(s) unclassified event, including one-on-one sessions between DOD and industry representatives, allowing for a more engaging exchange with the telecommunications industry. Attendance may be limited to businesses which respond to this RFI. Anyone who wants to attend, state so in your response to the email address listed in above paragraph. Additional information regarding the conference agenda would be released in advance of Industry Days. Request for Information HPCMP Network Services The High Performance Computing Modernization Program Office (HPCMPO) is requesting information for obtaining state-of-the-art Wide Area Networking (WAN) services to support the Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) and users in various technical communities. This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued solely for information and planning purposes - - it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP). The HPCMP is chartered to provide high bandwidth wide area networking (WAN) services to enable scientists and engineers at defense laboratories, test centers, universities, and industry sites throughout the United States to use HPCMP computing resources. The network also supports Research, Development, Test & Evaluation communities throughout the Department of Defense, and other Federal Agencies. The network that links users and high performance systems together today is called the Defense Research & Engineering Network (DREN). HPCMO is seeking the RFI information to assist them in preparing a re-compete requirements package. Small businesses are strongly encouraged to provide responses to this RFI, in order to assist DISA in determining the potential levels of interest, competition and technical capability to provide the required services within the Small Business community. In addition, this information will also be used to assist DISA in establishing a basis for developing any subsequent potential subcontract plan small business goal percentages. The current contract provides for digital data transfer services between defined service delivery points (SDPs) that make up the DREN. SDPs are specified in terms of their bandwidth requirements and the physical and transport protocols that they must support. Today, DREN provides both asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and internet protocol (IP) services for video, audio, imaging, and digital data. The current network provides site access to the wide area network at bandwidths from DS3 through OC12. The HPCMP plans to continue to upgrade DREN as technology permits. Additional information, including the statement of work pertaining to the current DREN is attached. You are invited to prepare a white paper to address the current DREN Statement of Work and RFI questions. The Government seeks industry comment on the SOW, the overall acquisition strategy, and recommendations for satisfying the HPCMP networking requirements in light of the fact that high-speed technologies are rapidly evolving. Although the Government still has residual investment in ATM, the Government will consider alternative cost-effective approaches for satisfying users and community of interest bandwidth and performance requirements. Note the following information/instructions: -- Responses are requested from those sources that can provide the total network or a substantive portion of it. If you cannot provide all network services, you should identify the aspects you can provide. -- Information should be submitted in the form of a "white paper," limited to no more than 50 pages in length. -- Responses shall follow the numbering format of the RFI questions (see below). -- All responses shall include the Company Name, Street Address, City, State, Zip Code, Point of Contact (POC), POC Telephone and Facsimile Numbers, and E-mail address. -- Respondents shall clearly identify sensitive or proprietary material. -- Any material submitted, including the white paper, will not be returned. -- The Government shall not assume any expenses incurred by any of the respondents to this RFI. -- Responses to the RFI shall be submitted as indicated in Paragraph 3 of the Cover Page to this RFI. Request for Information Questions HPCMP Network Services A. General A-1. Describe your view of emerging technology over the next 3, 5, and 10 years as it would relate to HPCMP's integrated voice and data, substantial bandwidth, and high performance requirements. A-2. Do you think the technical approach taken in the referenced SOW is the best approach? If not, what would you propose? Would you propose an evolutionary approach? If so, how would you migrate to state-of-the-art technologies as the technologies become feasible? B. Comments/Questions on Statement of Work (SOW) Please comment and respond to the questions pertaining to each section of the existing SOW attached. B-1. Section 1 - Introduction. (a) Please provide any comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. Also note that the network has been through 2 major generational changes, and what this RFI wants to look at are the potentials for generation 3. - Note that DREN customers currently include other Federal Agencies besides DoD. B-2. Standards (a) Given your approach, are there standards or documents that should be cited? B-3. Requirements Section 3.1 - Program Management (a) In Section 2.1, Program Management Office, the Government requested a PMO within 25 miles of the HPCMP office. i. Assuming this could be Lorton, Ft. Belvoir, or Arlington, is this a difficult requirement to satisfy? Are there alternatives that would still effect a smooth transition? ii. To what degree, if any, would this requirement affect the overall price to the Government? (B) Please provide any additional comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. Section 3.2 - Implementation and Transition (a) A map of current DREN sites can be located at website http://www.hpcmo.hpc.mil/Htdocs/DREN/index.html . i. In your opinion, how long will it take to transition service from the existing contract to a follow-on contract? ii. How would you transition the sites and in what order? What is your logic for your transition scheme? iii. What's the number, geographic dispersion, and size of gateways you would have between the networks during transition? iv. Based on your approach, what do you think the necessary capabilities are that the gateways should be able to handle? (b) What would be your approach to a collective test of service delivery points (sites)? i. How often should it be conducted? ii. Should NAPS and Exchanges also be tested? If so, in what way? iii. What about acceptance testing of individual service delivery points? iv. What should the approach be to performance testing (include ideas on criteria and data presentation)? (c) Given your conceived approach and technologies, what are logical security boundaries? Between this network and other elements of your architecture? Between this network as DoD and other Federal Agencies that use the network? Between this network and the Internet at large? i. At what layer(s) would they operate against the OSI 7 Layer Model? ii. Are there points that would, of necessity, be hybrid? If so, what are the risks? (d) Please provide any additional comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. Section 3.3 Steady-State Networking Actions (a) Are there key areas that need to be covered in plans for the service delivery points? i. Any special considerations for site alterations or installations/modifications? ii. How should acceptance testing be done? (b) Should we consider disaster recovery beyond best effort? Continuity of Operations? Section 3.4 Digital Data Transfer Services (c) Please review list of SDP types in the Digital Data Transfer Services section of the SOW. i. Given your architecture, are these the most appropriate sets of SDP types? ii. Do you recommend that the Government maintain a combination SDP or would you recommend separating SDPs based on type of service? How would that affect the core setup? Flexibility, schedule, and costs for changes? iii. Should a Type C SDP be point-to-point only? Switched optics or optical wave services? Hybrid? (d) Refer to Tables 3-2, 3-4 and 3-5 of the SOW. i. How would you subcategorize SDPs to indicate subscribed data rate and maximum burst data rate? ii. Is there any benefit to using non-concatenated services? If so, explain and propose. (e) Can you offer IP on optical fiber? How will you implement it? How would the Government order IP over optical fiber? What parameters need to be specified? (f) Can you offer ATM services on optical fiber? How would you implement it? How would the Government order ATM over optical fiber? What parameters need to be specified? (g) Should there be packet over SONET? What parameters would need to be specified? (h) Should there be a mobile wireless SDP? How would you support? How would the Government order packet over Mobile/Wireless? What parameters would need to be specified? (i) Refer to Table 3-5, ATM VC Service Requirements. i. Given your architectural design, are these types of services supportable? Cost efficient? ii. If supportable, can you specify maximum times for roundtrip delay and delay variation that is a function of distance between the two communication end points? How would you implement it and manage it and how would the Government verify it? (j) Do you recommend any additional key performance indicators that could be used to measure the overall success of the follow-on DREN contract? How would the Government measure these? (k) Refer to Delay Calculations starting on page 3-17. Do you agree with these calculations? (l) Please provide any additional comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. B-5. Section 3.5 - Evolution of Existing Services (a) Does this approach provide an optimal approach to new technology insertions? If not, what would you change? (b) After what contract duration would you propose a hardware refresh? What criteria would be appropriate? Should it be at no cost to the Government? (c) Please provide any additional comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. B-6. Section 3.6 - Network Management (a) How do you recommend that the Government be compensated for downtime? How should downtime be defined and measured? (b) What should be the sampling rate to measure packet delay and jitter for IP? (c) How would you recommend measuring packet loss for IP? How would you manage it? How can the government monitor packet loss performance? (d) In your opinion, what type of performance measurement and reporting capabilities should be required for optical switch solutions? (e) Please provide any additional comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. B-7. Section 3.7 - Customer Care (a) Please review Table 3-7 which depict required delivery intervals of the SOW. Do the required delivery intervals seem appropriate? If not, what would you recommend and why? (b) Please review Table 3-9, Required Response and Repair Times, of the SOW. Do the required response and repair times seem appropriate? If not, what would you recommend and why? (c) Please provide any additional comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. B-8. Section 3.8- Contract Phase-Out (a) Please provide any comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. B-9. Section 4 - Security (a) Given that this contract does not provide all the security support DREN deploys today, what is the best approach to ensure those service are able to function properly? Some examples would be: insertion of additional hardware at the NAPS/Exchanges, Tier 1 handoffs, or sites; possible in-line or passive monitoring devices. (b) Since the TIC (trusted internet connections) concept is still evolving, do you have any considerations that should be factored into this proposal? Are there any additional costs that should be considered? (c) Any additional security issues for optical / hybrid solutions? 1) Authentication before resource allocation? 2) End-to-end security for control planes? 3) Leveraging security capabilities of optical and photonic technologies at the physical level? (d) How would you approach network security metrics? 1) Response to attacks or ACL implementations? (e) Please provide any comments/recommendations pertaining to this section. B-10. Do you have any additional overall comments/recommendations?