Initial Joint Polar Systems (IJPS) Network Communications Element

Amendment No. 0001 to the Solicitation No. DG133E-08-RP-0140 has been issued. The date for receipt of proposals has been extended from August 18, 2008, to September 22, 2008, 3:00 pm EST. This notice is being amended to correct the following sentence from the last paragraph, line nine, "The Contractor shall provide and support the design, installation, operation and maintenance of the IJPS Network Communications Element over the life of the contract." to "The Contractor shall provide and support the installation, operation, and maintenance of the IJPS Network Communications Element over the life of the contract." The word "design" has been deleted from the sentence. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Systems (NESDIS) Office of Satellite Operations has a requirement to design, install, operate and maintain the IJPS Network Communications Element. The Office of Satellite Operations (OSO) of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) currently operates a joint Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) program in conjunction with the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). This joint system consists of two fully coordinated independent polar satellite systems that are referred to as the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS). As part of their IJPS operations, OSO currently provides telecommunications, networking, and Network Operating Center (NOC) capabilities to support the mission. As part of a new contract for the existing services provided to support the mission, OSO is looking for information and innovative capabilities from industry that will enable it to continue its current mission and enhance the service offerings for telecommunications and NOC services. Communications Services: The contractor shall be able to operate an IJPS Network that will provide commercial-grade data communications capabilities within the network using industry standard network components and protocols. The IJPS network will consist of a communications link between Suitland (Maryland) and Darmstadt (Germany) that can handle a data throughput rate of at least 45 Mbps. The IJPS Network will also provide a backup link from Darmstadt to Suitland to handle telemetry and command data flows between Wallops Island (Virginia) and Darmstadt (Germany). In addition, the IJPS Network will consist of out-of-band communication links to handle the network management capabilities of the NOC. NOC Services: The contractor shall provide managed security services to monitor on a 24/7/365 basis IJPS Network and OSO enterprise networking equipment, such as spanning servers, switches/routers, firewall, servers, and network intrusion detection in Suitland (Maryland) , Darmstadt (Germany), Wallops Island (Virginia), and Fairbanks (Alaska). The NOC shall provide rapid notification and reporting of both system operational availability and/or system security issues following detection of a component failure or security intrusion incident. The overall security categorization for the IJPS Ground System is: SC IJPS = {(confidentiality, Low), (integrity, High), (availability, High)} Therefore, the contractor shall meet Federal Security Information Security Management Act (FISMA) 800-53-A controls for high security system at the NOC. The NOC service features shall also include, but are not limited to, Event Correlation across devices, Automated Inventory Audit and Reporting, Patch Management, and Vulnerability and Penetration Testing. The NOC services will be required to provide backup NOC operations at another location. Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Support Services: The contractor shall provide O&M services for the OSO enterprise networking infrastructure that supports IJPS operations. The infrastructure includes but is not limited to networking switching, routers, intrusion detection devices, firewalls, and telecommunications devices. The services will include, at a minimum, staging, configuration, updates, firewall rules changes and management. The contractor will also be responsible for preventative maintenance and equipment lifecycle management. The OSO enterprise networking infrastructure is operating in Suitland (Maryland), Darmstadt (Germany), Wallops Island (Virginia), and Fairbanks (Alaska). In addition, the contractor shall provide O&M service to software applications for NOAA servers in Darmstadt that receive and forward satellite data and products from Darmstadt to Suitland. Services to be provided include modification of a Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) software application product to correct faults, to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the product to a modified environment. The contract will be for a base year of twelve (12) months plus four (4) one-year option periods. The Contractor shall provide and support the installation, operation and maintenance of the IJPS Network Communications Element over the life of the contract. The NAICS Code is 517919. This requirement will be competed using full and open competition procedures pursuant to FAR Part 6.1.