Distributed Learning Systems E-Learning

This is a Sources Sought Notice ONLY. The U.S. Government desires to procure business sources that can provide Army e-learning courseware and learning management services for the Product Director, Distributed Learning System (PD DLS) on a Small Business set-aside basis, provided two (2) or more qualified small businesses respond to this sources sought synopsis with information sufficient to support a set-aside. Be advised that the U.S. Government will not be able to set-aside this requirement if two (2) or more small businesses do not respond with information to support the set-aside. We encourage all small businesses, in all socioeconomic categories (including, 8(a) Business Development Program, Small Disadvantage Business, Historically Underutilized Business Zone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Women-Owned Small Business concerns), to identify their capabilities in meeting the requirement at a fair market price. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a Request for Quote (RFQ)/Invitation for Bid (IFB)/Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFQ, IFB or RFP in the future. This notice does not commit the U.S. Government to contract for any supply or service. Further, the U.S. Government is not seeking quotes, bids or proposals at this time and will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this sources sought notice. The U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this notice. Submittals will not be returned to the responder. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future RFQ or IFB or RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Government wide Point of Entry. It is the responsibility of potential offerors to monitor the Government wide Point of Entry for additional information pertaining to this requirement. The anticipated NAICS code(s) is/are: 511210 - Software Publishers, with a size standard of $38.5M. The DLS is an information technology infrastructure that provides access to training for the Active Army, the U.S. Army Reserves, the Army National Guard, and Department of Army Civilians at no cost to the individual or unit. This procurement acquires a library of Web-based Commercial IT/Information Assurance/Certification preparatory courses, business courses, leadership courses, management courses, and self-development courses to be accessed through the DLS. The Army e-Learning will support approximately 2 million Army Active Duty, Reserve, National Guard, and civilian personnel. The initial base of users will be approximately 900,000 users. The PD DLS requires contractor knowledge, expertise, and services to provide and deliver Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) training courseware and e-Books including: 1. Commercially Developed Courseware: The PD DLS requires commercial state-of the-art courseware to enhance the business skills, desktop skills, and IT professional skills of the students and will fully support a minimum of four distinct Army knowledge centers including: Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE)/Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA), Information Technology (IT) security/DoD 8570, Leadership, and Project Management. This courseware must also provide learning paths to prepare a student to acquire certification from industry such as: a. Business certifications by Customer Service Representative, Human Resource Certification Institute, International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), IT Infrastructure Library (ITL), PRINCE2, Project Management Institute (PMI), and Six Sigma. b. Desktop certifications by Microsoft. c. IT Professional Certifications by (ISC)2, CISCO, CIW, COMPTIA, EC-Council, EMC, IBM, Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB), International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB), LINUX Professional Institute (LPI), Macromedia, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems. The technical relevance of the curriculum and courseware must be maintained by updating and adding courses to meet new or enhanced versions of information systems, software, IT applications, business processes, and analysis techniques. A significant number of the courses must be approved/accredited through the American Council of Education (ACE) for college credit and accredited by regional universities and colleges. 2. Courseware Delivery: Army e-Learning courseware shall be available 24/7/365 through a link from Army Knowledge On-line (AKO) and shall support download to user workstations to support off-line play. The system must provide a student registration link through the Army Training Requirements and Resources System (ATRRS). The system should provide a capability to search for and locate courses as well as recommend and identify learning paths for students or user groups to achieve specific learning objectives or certifications. The Web-based system shall also accommodate delivery of Government provided 3rd party courseware. All courseware and delivery methods must be compliant with DoD and Army Information Assurance (IA) and security requirements. 3. Provide e-Books: The Army desires access to a library of e-Books at no additional cost to the student to support approved learning groups and learning centers. Additional categories of e-Books may be added to support other PD DLS approved topics. The e-Book library shall be updated to maintain the technical relevance of the library materials. 4. Learning Management Services: A learning management system (LMS) is required to support the students. The contractor shall provide a secure and reliable platform to maintain and deliver the courseware without the requirement for additional hardware and software from the Army. The platform shall be assessable from both .mil and .com web domains. The LMS must download student registration data from ATRRS and maintain student courseware registration, training progress, and course completion data. The training progress and course completion data shall be available for upload to ATRRS for automatic updating of the students training records. The number of new students, courses accessed, and courses completed should be summarized in monthly reports. In addition, help desk services are required 24/7 to answer specific student questions and issues about course access and course content. 5. Marketing of Army e-Learning Support: The Army requires information to market the Army e-Learning to current users and prospective new users. The Contractor shall provide the PD DLS with information about new or updated Army e-Learning materials or opportunities to incorporate in periodic newsletters. This is a re-compete of an existing FFP contract for Army e-Learning that supports the PD DLS. The current Contract expires in 30 September 2016. The new contract will begin no later than 1 September 2016, and will be for a base year with a 1 month phase-in period and four (4) single-year option periods. The Incumbent Contractor is Milvets Systems Technology Inc. In response to this sources sought, please provide: 1. Name of the firm, point of contact, phone number, email address, DUNS number, CAGE code, a statement regarding small business status (including small business type(s)/certifications(s) such as SDB, 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, etc.) and the corresponding NAICS code. 2. Identify whether your firm is interested in competing for this requirement as a prime contractor or not. Identify subcontracting, joint ventures or teaming arrangement that will be pursued, if any. 3. Information in sufficient detail regarding previous experience (indicate whether as a prime contractor or subcontractor) on similar requirements (include size, scope, complexity, timeframe, government or commercial), pertinent certifications, etc., that will facilitate making a capability determination 4. Information to help determine if the requirement (item or service) is commercially available, including pricing information, basis for the pricing information (e.g., market pricing, catalog pricing), delivery schedules, customary terms and conditions, warranties, etc. 5. Identify how the Army can best structure these contract requirements to facilitate competition by and among small business concerns. 6. Identify any condition or action that may be having the effect of unnecessarily restricting competition with respect to this acquisition. Please contact the MICC Advocate for Competition, Dean Carsello, at dean.m.carsello.civ@mail.mil or 210-466-2419, if you believe that this action is unreasonably restricting competition. Include the subject of the acquisition, this announcement, and the MICC POC information from the FedBizOpps notice. Provide the specific aspects that unreasonably restrict competition and the rationale for such conclusion. 7. Recommendations to improve the approach/specifications/draft PWS/PRS to acquiring the identified items/services. 8. Information in sufficient detain in the form of a VPAT addressing how your company provides products and services that conform to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act section 1194 with regard to developing accessible training courses (e-learning, virtual, instructor lead, course materials, etc.). This is a mandatory requirement and must be met in order to compete and be selected for a Federal government contract. Information can be found at http://www.section508.gov