RFI APPLICATION HOSTING SERVICE

DISCLAIMER This is a Request for Information (RFI) for the purpose of determining market capability to explore leading application and data hosting solutions that would aid the completion of Air Force missions. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. This RFI is not a request for proposals; therefore, responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply and service whatsoever. Any formal solicitation that may subsequently be issued will be announced separately through Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOps) at www.fbo.gov. It is the responsibility of the potential offeror to monitor that website for additional information pertaining to this notice or a requirement that may relate to this notice. Neither 38 CONS nor any other part of the federal government will be responsible for any cost incurred by responders in furnishing this information. This strategy is subject to change without notice. BACKGROUND In response to growing complexities occurring across multiple warfighting domains, and in order to maintain a competitive edge over our adversaries, the Department of Defense (DoD) continues to aggressively pursue innovation. In the realm of cyberspace, the landscape continues to change at an ever-increasing rate. Therefore, similar to innovation and best-practices leveraged throughout industry, it is imperative for the DoD to creatively explore opportunities to broaden technology-based capabilities, particularly as it pertains to hosting applications and data to support operations and support functions. The Air Force (AF) is pursuing a comprehensive, hybrid application hosting service which includes migration of applications to service provider hosting environments. As a result of this RFI, proposed vendor solutions will be measured against existing DoD security guidelines and configuration standards, including relevant guidance regarding the Joint Information Environment (JIE), OMB Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI), and inventory requirements for government owned data centers IAW FITARA. If a solution does not address all of the required certifications/approvals, it is desired that the vendor provide detailed technical information explaining how the solution meets the intent of the DoD, OMB, and regulatory guidelines and status of current effort to achieve DoD approvals. OVERVIEW/PURPOSE/DESCRIPTION The purpose of this RFI is to explore leading commercial-sector service solutions to hosting applications in hybrid, on premise/cloud environments to support a wide range of applications used to execute Air Force missions. The focus is on unclassified applications and data currently using commodity information technology (IT) hardware, which are typically dispersed across Air Force bases in non-virtual environments. Preferred service solutions are expandable to support applications currently using non-commodity IT and applications on classified networks. The RFI is for a single service provider to provide an application hosting service to the AF using a fee-for-service model. The service solutions should support applications deployed in cloud environments and applications that may require hardware deployed locally IAW JIE architecture and guidance. Service provider must be able to respond to requests for service from customers at a single Air Force base, scaling up to support the entire United States Air Force (USAF), USAF Reserve, Air National Guard (ANG) installations, both CONUS/OCONUS and potentially, other DoD services. To the maximum extent possible, please submit non-proprietary information. Responses must be unclassified and any proprietary information provided must be portion marked accordingly. To protect such data, each line or paragraph on the pages containing such data must be specifically identified and marked with a legend similar to the following; "The following contains proprietary information that (name of Responder) requests not be released to persons outside of the Government, except for the purposes of review and evaluation." The Government shall not be liable for damages related to proprietary information that is not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. SCOPE OF EFFORT This is a Request for Information (RFI), as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e). This RFI is issued in an effort to understand capabilities, management and implementation strategies for delivering an application hosting service and the service to onboard applications to that hosting service from their current hosting environments. Such solutions should be delivered using a fee-for-service model and include the means to view and control cost on a per-application basis. SAF CIO/A6 is requesting information and feedback from industry to identify the optimal solution for a service to host applications that best fit the requirement/mission of application owners across the AF. Information collected from this RFI may be used to draft an RFP. While the Air Force does not intend to award a contract based on this information exchange and no acquisition strategy is yet in place, a notional RFP, depending on the circumstances, could consist of the following phases, for example: Phase 1: Hosting enterprise-level applications in cloud environments Phase 2: Hosting local applications to support AF installations (up to 10 locations TBD at a later date. Subject to change.) Phase 3: AF-wide adoption It is preferred that responses to the RFI include details for determining the need for deploying flexible hosting solutions at a local level and status of the completion of DoD certifications/requirements. More details provided below: AF Applications a) Air Force applications and data are currently deployed on various hardware solutions in local and enterprise data centers run and managed by various organizations. b) Proposed hosting service must be compatible with the DoD-mandated security policies. c) The proposed hosting service must support installation-level unified capabilities and cyber security appliances. ASSUMPTIONS When drafting your response to this inquiry, please take into account the following assumptions: 1. Government will enforce policy to ensure applications use application hosting service for local-level hosting, with limited exceptions. 2. Government will provide support to deploy validated local-level infrastructure solutions. 3. Hosting service provider will ensure flexibility lending to an enterprise-level hosting solution at non-government facility in the future. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Please describe the ability, limitations or other constraints of each solution to provide the services described above. Responses should specifically address the methodology of how objectives will be reached with each solution based on the items below: 1. Flexible local-level application hosting environments using at most one data center per installation. 2. Data center infrastructure management software to document lowest total cost of operations solutions are employed and federal data center mandates are met. 3. Customer engagement and application migration approach. 4. Life-cycle approach to ensure consistent levels of service. 5. The status of proposed hosting solution ability/limitations/constraints to meet NIAP, TAA, FedRamp, NIST, FEMP and other DoD directives if applicable. Include DISA STIG status or planned effort for each solution component listed. 6. Additional Information Requested: a. Company Name and mailing address b. CAGE Code and DUNS Number c. Point of Contact for further clarification or questions d. Telephone Number e. Email Address f. Business Size Status (i.e. 8(a), HUBZone, Woman-Owned, Service Disabled Veteran-Owned, Small Business, Large Business, Historically Black College/University) under NAICS XXXXXX; the associated size standard is XXXX employees.