Operating System Requirement

The Department of State Bureau of Information Management Solicitation Number: 19AQMM21N0028 Agency: Department of State (DOS) Office: Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM) Places of Performance: SA-09 - American Red Cross Building 2025 E Street, N. W., Arlington, VA 20006 Solicitation Number: 19AQMM21N0028 Notice Type: Sources Sought Synopsis: Request for Information (RFI) 19AQMM21N0028 Information Resource Management, Business Management and Planning, Information Technology Acquisitions, Software Sourcing Management IRM/BMP/ITA/SSM OPERATING SYSTEM AND MAINTENANCE This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposals or Quotes (RFP or RFQ) or an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any services. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to determine how to proceed as a result of this notice. Those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback from their submission. The Government will not pay any cost incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with response to this RFI will be solely at the responding party's expense. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The Department of State currently has various agreements to utilize the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Suite of products/tools. The Department is seeking information from all licensed authorized small business reseller that provide a similar suite of capabilities. Specific capabilities are enumerated below in Section 2. The Agency is surveying the market for potential small business software resellers capable of providing software requirements covering a full range of Information Technology (IT) software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Software License, maintenance support, or similar operating system; and for related incidental services or a similar product. The licenses, maintenance support and related incidental services must be commercial in accordance with the definition of commercial items in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.101. Items provided must meet all of the capabilities listed. The Period of Performance is a six month Base and Four One Year Option Periods. Please carefully review the RFI required capabilities and respond according to the directions below: Contact information: a. Name of company b. Business title c. Institution or organization affiliation d. Email Address e. Phone Number f. Company's business size, socioeconomic status: DUNS number. g. NAICS codes associated with your company 2. Required Capabilities: The Reseller shall provide for the purchase of Commercial off-the-Shelf (COTS) product that meet the following capabilities. Resellers must be able to fulfill the agency's total solution requirements as identified herein. The Department requires a product that provides the following capabilities: Operating System Requirements: A. Provides for an open source code operating system; B. Provides for ability to completely administer server software via the command line--- either local to machine or via remote command line session; and C. Provides for built-in orchestration and automation tools requiring no additional licensing for 100+ nodes. Other Requirements: a. The Reseller shall be able to provide for new technologies and refresh their product offerings in accordance with the Resellers commercial business practices, and in accordance with the resultant contract, over the life of this contract. These new technologies enable the agency to keep pace with changes in technology and may include, but are not limited to: i. enhancements and upgrades of current products and future products within the contract scope; ii. Provide a stable operating system by which the Splunk software application can operate. b. Allow for agency-wide use. All DOS Bureaus and Offices shall be able to: i. renew current versions or upgrade; subscribe to any version of the product; ii. purchase new, renew current versions, or upgrade and subscribe to any version of the operating system; and iii purchase any operating system Product Subscriptions and Services. c. Allow any expiring agency contract to co-term under the agreed upon contract to obtain subscription pricing and terms; (adjusting your subscriptions so that they all come up for renewal at the same time). d. Provide DOS a vehicle for purchasing any version of your product at fair and reasonable prices. e. Specific Questions: a) What operating system Licenses or subscriptions can your company provide? b) What operating system your company not provide? c) Is your company a reseller of the software referenced in your response? d) What contracting vehicles can your company utilize to contract with the Government for this requirement? e) Please describe the type of reports your company generates for clients. f) Service Level i. Please describe the level of support and the support structure in narrative form. ii. Please describe how your firm addresses urgent requests. iii. Please describe how your firm addresses normal daily requests. g) Please put forth any other alternative operating systems that you are able to propose to meet the capabilities noted in this RFI. Do not include the following in the response: Do not submit formal proposals or offers; Do not submit requests to be considered for award or to be notified of a future solicitation; Do not submit requests to be added to a mailing or distribution list; Do not submit questions or comments not related to this RFI; and Do not respond via telephone. RFI Instructions: Submit the required information in a MS Word document to: TurnerD2@state.gov with copy to dicksonms@state.gov no later than 4:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time on June 1, 2021. Please include "19AQMM21N0028 - Operating System and Maintenance Requirement" in the e-mail subject line. RFI Key Dates: RFI Release: 05/17/2021 Questions Due: 05/21/2021 Response to Questions/ Clarifications Posted: 05/27/2021 RFI Response Due Date: 06/01/2021 Classification: NAICS: 541519 - Other Computer Related Services; 511210 - Software Publishers; PSC: DB10 -IT and Telecom - Computer As A Service: Mainframe/Servers