RFI - Communications as a Service

Request for Information (RFI) for Communications as a Service Contracting Office Address Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Acquisition Directorate, DITCO-Scott, 2300 East Drive Bldg 3600, Scott AFB, IL, 62225-5406 DESCRIPTION: THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR COMMUNICATIONS AS SERVICE FOR THE DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY (DISA) COMPUTING SERVICES DIRECTORATE IN SUPPORT OF DEFENSE ENTERPRISE COMPUTING CENTER (DECC) COMMUNICATIONS. 1.0 SUBJECT The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to seek to find solutions that achieve the following: reduce cost, reduce failures, find a technology resource to assist in the expansion DISA's communications capabilities, standardize equipment, achieve efficiencies from new technologies, technically refresh outdated equipment, maintain present government owned equipment, and at minimum provide the present levels of operational availability. 1.1 HIGH-LEVEL CAPABILITIES Ideally, the communication as service solution will meet the following operational requirements: - Provide dynamically scalable network communications capability utilizing an on-demand service approach at the required levels of availability of 99.95%. - Provide new equipment and/or network communications capabilities for new requirements and/or technical refreshment of present government equipment. - Must be able to meet all DISA's security requirements and support all DISA's DECC sites. - Have noticeable effect on the communications network performance. - Provide technical expertise and support to DISA. - That the solution and/or equipment have no adverse effect on DISA networks or equipment. - Have the capability to support DISA equipment presently located within existing DECC sites, at present levels of support. - Must include the ability to offer other network based services over the DISA operated NIPRNet and SIPRNet WANs as required. Examples include: o Delivery of various forms of digital content in DISA DECCs and at the extreme edges of the DISA managed WANS, including end user enclaves attached to same, and o Implementation of bandwidth reduction, server offload, and WAN acceleration technologies in DISA DECCs and at the extreme edges of the DISA managed WANS, including end user enclaves attached to same. 1.2 CAPABILITY REQUIREMENTS Vendors are asked to recommend a solution to DISA's communications as a service concept that provided the following attributes: reliable, responsive, and cost effective communication infrastructure services in both DISA and other DISA-approved locations. DISA's goal is to obtain a dynamically scalable communications capability utilizing an on-demand service approach, for new equipment (i.e., routers, switches, firewalls, etc) that will readily adjust to changes in communications requirements, both increases and decreases, and is priced on a utility ("as used") basis. The vendor's solution must operate in Computing Services' hardware/software environment. The solution must be capable of working with DISA's present information technology and security requirements. The solution must have no adverse effect upon DISA's server equipment, storage systems, and/or networks. 1.3 TECHNICAL 1. Describe how your solution provides communications as a service on the following requirements: - Network communications on-demand basis. - Maintenance of existing equipment. - Technical refreshment and provisioning equipment/capability for new requirements. - Technical assistance to DISA. - On-Demand communications engineering support at a hourly rate - Maintaining DISA's high levels of availability for equipment. 2. Describe how your solution will minimize downtime, reduce costs, time and expertise required and improve the capabilities of the DISA communications network. 1.4 AVAILABILITY 1.4.1. - 1.4.1. Describe how you would be able to meet DISA high availability requirements. The requirement is for a level of availability 99.95%. 1.4.2. Describe how you can support all present DISA sites. Sites may increase or decrease depending on DISA mission requirements. The present list of sites requiring service is as follows: H98304 DISA Columbus ATTN: Denise Pence, (614) 692-4591 3990 East Broad St., Bldg. 23 Columbus, OH 43213 H98278 DISA San Antonio ATTN: Joseph Garza, (210) 925-5336 3326 General Hudnell Dr San Antonio, TX 78226-1834 H98271 DISA St. Louis ATTN: John Cruthird, (314) 260-0035 Bldg. 103, 2nd Floor, Post D-2 4300 Goodfellow Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63120-0012 H98263 DISA Mechanicsburg ATTN: Melinda Bowling, (717) 605-6318 Bldg. 308 North End, 5450 Carlisle Pike Mechanicsburg, PA 17050-0975 H98292 DISA Montgomery ATTN: Harvey Green, (334) 416-1887 401 East Moore Drive, Bldg. 857 Maxwell AFB/Gunter Annex Montgomery, AL 36114-3001 H98297 DISA Ogden ATTN: Carma Rochell, (801) 605-7418 7879 Wardleigh Road, Bldg. 891 Hill AFB, UT 84056-5996 H98280 DISA Oklahoma City ATTN: Chris Dozier, (405) 739-2454 Gate 33, SE59 and Air Depot Rd 8705 Industrial Blvd., Bldg. 3900 Tinker AFB, Oklahoma City, OK 73145-3064 H98273 DISA Chambersburg ATTN: Judy Orth, (717) 267-5637 1 Overcash Ave., Bldg. 3 South Letterkenny Army Depot Chambersburg, PA 17201-4186 H98320 DISA Dayton ATTN: Rasiklal Dalsania, (937) 257-3028 2721 Sacramento St., Bldg. 271 Suite 1, Wright-Patterson AFB Dayton, OH 45433-5061 H98260 DISA Warner Robins ATTN: Jerry Williams, (478) 926-8024 205 Perry St., Bldg. 228 Robins AFB, GA 31098-1607 H98316 DISA Denver ATTN: Mark French, (303) 224-7070 6760 E. Irvington Place Denver, CO 80279-8000 H98275 DISA Huntsville ATTN: Dennis Fitzgerald, (256) 876-9070 Bldg. 5201, Martin Road Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-7340 DISA DECC Europe ATTN: Bruce Shortnacy, DSN (314) 434-5600 Unit 30403 APO AE 09131-0403 H98339 DISA DECC Pacific ATTN: Mark O'Lague, (808) 473-2020 ext. 239 1942 Gaffney St., Suite 200 Bldg 475, 3rd Floor Pearl Harbor, HI 96860 1.4.3. Describe your technical abilities to provide communications as a service. 1.4.4. Describe your ability to meet DISA security requirement. This should include a staff with secret IT level clearances and facility clearance. 1.4.5. Describe how you have the ability to provide maintenance and associated technical support. The potential manufacturer of equipment DISA may request support on are follows: a. Cisco b. Brocade c. Dell d. Hewlett-Packard e. Juniper f. Bluecoat g. Datapower h. F5 i. Foundary j. Ironport k. Ncipher l. Netscreen m. Niksun n. Visara o. Datapower p. Riverbed ** This is a representative list of manufacturers and should not be used as an all inclusive manufacturer list. 1.4.6. Describe your technical skills/training/ability to meet the engineering support requirements for support of DISA's communications networks. 2.0 DISCLAIMER THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT INTEND TO AWARD A CONTRACT ON THE BASIS OF THIS RFI OR OTHERWISE PAY FOR INFORMATION RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO THE RFI. This RFI is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to the RFI that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Responses to the RFI will not be returned nor will the Government confirm receipt of the RFI response. Whatever information is provided in response to this RFI will be used to access tradeoffs and alternatives available for determining how to proceed in the acquisition process. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The anticipated North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) for this requirement is 334119 (size standard 1000 employees). Other consideration NAICS 541519 (size standard $25M). Upon review of the above stated NAICS codes, the vendor may determine that a different NAICS code is applicable. If so, you are encouraged to submit your suggested NAICS code with a short explanation. Service Disabled, Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB's) are strongly encouraged to provide responses to this RFI, in order to assist DISA in determining whether the levels of interest, competition and technical capability to provide the required services exist to process any subsequent procurement as a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Set-Aside. 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. 3.0 SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Responses should include the (1) business name and address and (2) name of company representative and their business title. The responses should be in a white paper format, no longer than eight (8) pages in length. Address the questions posed in sections 1.3 and 1.4, with one (1) appendix that consists of a typical email data collection implementation schedule. Please note that this is a RFI and not a proposal submission. Limit the technical questions to the central theme of the actual requirement that is being procured. The resulting vendor submission should be a technically sound response. Responses to this RFI are due NLT (21 calendar days) 18 June2009, at 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Contact Timothy Linn with any applicable questions at Timothy.Linn@csd.disa.mil, or telephone number (717) 267-9416 or Jody Swartz, Jody.Swartz@csd.disa.mil, (717)-267-9413. (Questions should be submitted in writing)