RFP PRC-2018-4 - IT SUPPORT_RFP_20180501_POSTED

POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION Washington, DC 20268-0001 Office of the Secretary Request for Proposal (RFP) For Postal Regulatory Commission: IT Support Services RFP number: PRC-2018-4 Date: 5/1/2018? Contents 1. Introduction and Purpose of the Request for Proposal (RFP) 4 1.1. Background on Postal Regulatory Commission : IT Support Services 4 1.2. Postal Regulatory Commission: IT Infrastructure Overview 4 2. About the Commission 4 3. Objective 5 4. Scope 5 5. Tasks 6 6. Outcomes, Performance Priority, and Service Level Requirements 8 7. Disclosure 10 8. Qualifications 10 9. Timeline 10 10. Deliverables/Delivery Schedule Guideline 10 11. Assistance from the Commission 11 12. Place of Performance 11 13. Quality Control 11 14. PRC Rights 12 15. Contract Type, Period of Agreement, and Expected Terms 12 15.1. Labor Hours 12 15.2. Payment for Unauthorized Work 12 15.3. Disclosure of Information 13 15.4. Limited Use of Data 13 15.5. Government Furnished Information and Equipment 13 15.6. Travel 13 15.7. Additional Contract Terms 13 15.8. Technical and Documentation Requirements: 14 16. Proposal Format and Submission Instructions 14 16.1. Accurate and Complete Information: 14 16.2. Required Format for Proposal 14 16.3. Documents Required with Proposal: 14 16.4. Items and/or Questions that should be Addressed in Response: 15 16.5. Failure to Adhere to Instructions: 15 17. Proposal Evaluation Criteria 15 18. Contractor Desired Qualifications 15 19. Due Date for Proposal 16 20. Meetings and Discussions 16 21. Questions 16 22. Commission Contract Personnel 16 23. Schedule 16 24. Appendices 17 Appendix 1 - Organizational Chart 17 Appendix 2 - Vendor Information 18 Appendix 3 - Client References 19 1. Introduction and Purpose of the Request for Proposal (RFP) 1.1. Background on Postal Regulatory Commission (Commission or PRC): IT Support Services The Commission is an independent agency that has exercised regulatory oversight over the Postal Service since its creation by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, with expanded responsibilities under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. The Commission promotes high quality universal mail service for the American people by ensuring Postal Service transparency, accountability, and compliance with the law, particularly on its rates, product offerings, service quality, and competition as a government entity. The Commission is the primary regulator of the Postal Service and provides analyses on postal financial operations to Congress, stakeholders, and the general public. The Commission's job of regulating the Postal Service, the nation's second largest civilian employer, which is currently facing significant financial challenges, could not be more important than it is now. 1.2. Postal Regulatory Commission: IT Infrastructure Overview The Commission's Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, General Support System (GSS), consists of an Electronic Document Records Management System (EDRMS), approximately 100 workstations (various thin clients and personal computers (PCs), 30 Microsoft (MS) Windows Servers (2008 & 2012), MS Security Center (M/S SecCtr), MS Active Directory, Cisco Catalyst Switches and Firewalls, and two external website servers containing the Drupal website. 2. About the Commission The Commission is an independent agency that is part of the executive branch of the Federal government. The Commission is composed of five Commissioners, each of whom is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for a term of six years. Assisting the Commission is a staff with expertise in law, economics, finance, statistics, and cost accounting. The Commission is organized into four operating offices: - Office of Accountability and Compliance (OAC) - Office of the General Counsel (OGC) - Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations (PAGR) - Office of the Secretary and Administration (OSA) The Commission maintains an independent office for its Inspector General. OAC (39 CFR 3002.12) is responsible for technical analysis and formulation of policy recommendations for the Commission in both domestic and international matters. It provides the analytic support for Commission review of rate changes, negotiated service agreements, classifications of new products, post office closings, amendments to international postal treaties and conventions, among other issues. The General Counsel (39 CFR 3002.13) directs and coordinates the functions of the OGC and is directly responsible for the counseling and advisory services set forth in 39 CFR 3000.735-102. In accordance with 3001.8 of the rules of practice, the General Counsel does not appear as an attorney in hearings in any proceeding before the Commission and takes no part in the preparation of evidence or argument presented in such hearings. PAGR serves as the public face of the Commission. As such, it is the Commission's primary resource in support of public outreach and education, media relations, and relationships with Congress, the United States Postal Service, and other government agencies. PAGR provides information for consumers and responds to their inquiries; informal complaints regarding individual rate and service inquiries are referred to the Consumer Advocate of the Postal Service. PAGR staff also work closely with members of Congress and their staff. OSA (39 CFR 3002.11) provides management and staff support to the Commission's operational offices (including the Office of Inspector General), the Commission's strategic plan, and various initiatives of the Executive Branch. OSA ensures that the Commission has the physical, financial, technological and human capital infrastructure needed to accomplish its mission. The effort led by OSA provides financial management, records management, administrative and organizational support, planning and human capital resources for the Commission. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was established in June, 2007, as required by an amendment to the Inspector General Act of 1978 included in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-435 sec. 605). 3. Objective The purpose of this contract is to augment IT support provided by the Commission IT team. The Contractor shall provide staff augmentation support for the Commission IT infrastructure, which encompasses the areas addressed within this document. Qualified Contractor personnel shall support on-site and remote users with Tier-2 Help Desk duties during designated Commission business hours. Limited assistance should also be available after hours. The Contractor should be able to have an appropriate bench sufficient to scale resources to meet technology support demands. The Contractor should have the qualifications and expertise to provide any indirect or supplemental IT support services, such as, Web development service, on an as-needed basis. The Contractor shall provide server administration for the Commission server environments (physical and virtual). Support activities include but are not limited to the staging of hardware/software, performance monitoring, preventive maintenance and ensuring security standards are implemented. As part of the support activity, the Contractor shall be expected to maintain state of the art expertise on the operation of all hardware contained in the Commission Data Center. In addition to the technical functions listed above, the Contractor shall also be responsible for research of technical issues, consulting, documentation, reporting, presentations, training, and coordination with other groups as needed. Additionally, the Contractor shall adhere to and ensure compliance with all Commission policies, especially the Operational and System Security Plan, and those provisions required under the Federal Information Security Management (FISMA) Act of 2014. 4. Scope The Contractor shall provide the following support services to the Commission as directed by the IT Manager. 4.1. End-User Desktop Support ? Training ? Hardware and Software support 4.2. Network and IT infrastructure Support ? Server Management o Desktop and Server (physical and virtual) maintenance o Desktop and Server rollout\refresh ? System Integration and Engineering support ? Continuity of Operations (COOP) and Disaster Recovery support ? Rapid Response for unexpected items ? Cybersecurity Security Operations and Remediation ? Web Site hardware and software updates ? Provide any indirect or supplemental IT related tasks as needed 4.3. Period of Performance The period of performance for this contract is 12 months from July 6, 2018 through July 5, 2019 with 3 option years. In the event options are exercised, the maximum periods of performance for each shall be: Option Year 1: From July 6, 2019 to July 5, 2020 Option Year 2: From July 6, 2020 to July 5, 2021 Option Year 3: From July 6, 2021 to July 5, 2022 5. Tasks Task 1: End-User Desktop Support: The Contractor as directed by the Commission IT Manager shall provide desktop support to the Commission user community. End-user devices requiring support include, but are not limited to, desktop computers, thin clients, and laptop computers, personal and network printers, scanners, and mobile devices (including tablets and smartphones). The scope of support shall include: a) Provide end-user technical assistance on Commission approved hardware and software as directed by the IT Manager; b) Test, install, and configure new PCs, thin clients, and laptops; c) Install, upgrade, and maintain operating system and application software for all Commission furnished equipment in accordance with Commission configuration management procedures; d) Ensure Commission's PCs, thin clients, and laptops are current with virus scanning software versions, software patches and updates; e) Troubleshoot and resolve hardware issues such as printer jams and hardware configuration settings. If the scope of resolution efforts goes beyond this, refer issues that require outside repair back to the Help Desk for them to escalate the problem to an external service provider for warranty repair; f) Work with the warranty service providers as required; g) Perform hardware move and change tasks; h) Maintain inventory and licenses; i) Provide tablet and smartphone support. The Contractor shall ensure that adequate staffing levels are available to address any end-user support issues that may arise. The contractor staff shall be cross-trained at various levels to ensure appropriate support for all contracted functions. Task 2: Server/Operating System (OS) Management The Contractor shall provide server support services to the Commission. The Server and OS support services shall include comprehensive server management services and administration support for Commission, COOP/DR, and Cloud servers. Contractor responsibilities shall include the full range of server management activities, from initial setup to ongoing operations within the following guidelines: Server Support: a) Support for servers (virtual and physical) running Commission applications shall be limited to hardware and operating system support as outlined in this section, and assisting Commission employees in loading and upgrading applications on the respective system; b) Database servers shall be supported in accordance with this section for physical and operating system support; and c) Web application server shall be supported in accordance with this section for physical hardware and operating system support. Content and content applications shall be managed by the Commission and other Contractors. Monitoring: a) Monitor the performance of Commission servers for optimal system performance; b) Establish automated server management procedures that can rapidly respond to performance fault conditions; c) Respond to and resolve server performance problems and outage situations; d) Provide server outage status reports within 30 minutes of outage and hourly updates until resolved; e) Perform capacity planning, trend analysis and notify IT Manager of requirements for server upgrades (such as adding memory, increasing disk space, etc.); and f) Provide monthly reports for processor and memory utilization, availability, response time, system uptime, and other statistics that are collected by the government provided monitoring software. Backup, restore, and disaster recovery: a) Perform and monitor all server backups; b) Restore files and directories in response to user help desk requests; c) Integrate data backup and restore activities into the disaster recovery process; and d) Ensure data backup and transfer to the Commission designated COOP facility in accordance with the Commission COOP and disaster recovery process. Server and Operating System maintenance: a) Maintain and provide improvements to the Commission's MS Active Directory infrastucture; b) Maintain and provide improvements to the Commission's PKI infrastucture; c) Maintain and provide upgrades to the Commission's Microsoft Hyper-V virtual infrastructure; d) Provide expertise in managing the Commission's Storage Area Network; e) Maintain current knowledge of vendor upgrades and patches to the server operating systems and firmware; f) Evaluate vendor provided system changes/upgrades and provide recommendations to the Commission; g) Apply all patches, upgrades, and enhancements as approved by the Commission IT Manager and in accordance with Commission configuration management procedures; h) Perform hardware maintenance; i) Ensure all server components are fully operational; j) Maintain a complete and current inventory of all servers; k) Ensure warranty and service contractors are current, and maintain a current list of service provider contractor numbers and contact information; l) Troubleshoot and perform initial repair of hardware fault conditions; m) Work with the maintenance provider to resolve hardware problems when necessary; n) Maintain servers for optimal performance in memory utilization, availability, response time, system uptime, and other performance statistics; o) Perform routine server maintenance according to the off-hours maintenance schedule established by Commission; p) Perform refresh of servers on a periodic basis and as the need arises to maintain a current server environment; and q) Develop and implement a Server Management Plan that describes activities, procedures, responsibilities, and reporting. Configuration Management: a) Support the Commission change management process; b) Follow all Commission change control policies and procedures; c) Update technical documentation (diagrams, SOPs, etc.) as changes to the configuration are completed, and provide to the IT Manager in hardcopy and electronic formats. Cyber Security: a) Ensure compliance with all Federal, Commission, and FISMA security rules and regulations; b) Adhere to the Commission system security plan; c) Maintain up-to-date security devices; d) Ensure up-to-date virus scan software is loaded and running on all Commission servers; e) Ensure password creation and reset policies are enforced; f) Review security solution system logs to assess possible server vulnerabilities, attacks, and/or problems; g) Review US CERT reports and remediate applicable vulnerabilities. Facilities Management: a) Maintain areas around network components (data center and wiring closets) in a neat and orderly manner to minimize clutter; b) Label all equipment using an industry-standard method as approved by the Commission; and c) Ensure remote connectivity to all server resources. Work with the network manager to ensure users can remotely access the resources on the network necessary to perform their duties. The Contractor shall ensure that adequate staffing levels are available to address any issues that may arise. Server management support shall be available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, on the following basis: a) Staff available to meet Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time, excluding holidays observed by the Commission; b) On-call support for all other hours and days (auto page and callback within 30 minutes, with onsite support as needed on a priority basis); and c) Provide staff augmentation and Tier II leave coverage for Commission IT Staff. d) The Contractor should have the qualifications and expertise to provide any indirect or supplemental IT support services, such as, Web development service, on an as-needed basis. 6. Outcomes, Performance Priority, and Service Level Requirements Within the scope of activities identified above, the contractor shall be accountable, at the highest level, for achieving specific outcomes, outputs, and tasks as identified below. Achieving the desired outcomes shall require consistently high levels of performance. 6.1. High-Level Outcomes From a top-level perspective, the expected outcome of this contract is that Commission employees have access to Commission systems, applications, networks and end-user workstations at the level of availability and performance necessary for the employees to accomplish the Commission business and mission objectives. 6.2. Specific outcomes by requirement There are more specific expected outcomes for each of the functional areas within the scope of the contract, plus several cross-functional area outcomes. They are: 6.3. Priority 1: A significant problem that affects multiple users, a critical function, or an entire application is inaccessible. For example: - Systems are down (E-mail, Network unavailable, Commission website unavailable, EDRMS unavailable, etc.) - Network performance degradation that impedes access to Commission applications - Unauthorized root access 6.4. Priority 2: A significant problem that affects multiple users but not the entire Commission. Examples include: - Network switch down or having performance issues - Performance issues with email or network 6.5. Priority 3: Operational performance is impaired while most other business operations continue to function. User typically needs the information to complete business function. Example includes: - How to access shared drive - Need new printer cartridge - A document will not print - Need desktop/thin client component fixed - Phone not working, no dial tone, static on line 6.6. Priority 4: Problems that are defined as Service Requests. Work is typically scheduled and requires planning. Examples include: - Installing new printer - Configuring new desktop - Setting up email account for a new employee - Installing new software - Request for WebEx or setting up projector 6.7 Service Level Requirements The ultimate goal of this project is for the Contractor to provide staff augmentation support for the Commission IT infrastructure, which encompasses the areas addressed within this document. Qualified contractor personnel shall support on-site and remote users with Tier-2 Help Desk duties during designated Commission business hours. Limited assistance should also be available after hours. The Contractor should be able to have an appropriate bench sufficient to scale resources to meet technology support demands. To achieve this goal, the Commission has outlined the requirements for the following areas: Primary Support Days and Hours - Monday thru Friday 8am until 5pm (Excludes Federal Holidays) Uptime Availability Required Percent Desktop \ VMs 99% File \ Application Servers 99.9% Printers 96% User Administration Services Time Deliver Loaner Laptops 24 Hrs. Update \ Reset Passwords 15 Mins Restore Files 2 Hrs. Conference Room Setup (WebEx \ PowerPoint) 1 Hr. Priorities Server Hosting Services \ Applications P1 P2 P3 P4 Incident response time (Time after initial call for tech. to respond) 30 Mins 30 Mins 2 Hrs. Schedule Time to restore services or escalate if restoration time is exceeded 2 Hrs. 6 Hrs. 12 Hrs. Schedule Desktop Services Incident response time (Time after initial call for tech. to respond) 30 Mins 30 Mins 2 Hrs. Schedule Time to restore services or escalate if restoration time is exceeded 2 Hrs. 6 Hrs. 12 Hrs. Schedule Note: Incident follow up report \ email required within 1 day of incident 7. Disclosure The contractor must disclose all current and previous work performed for USPS or any other federal agency. The contractor must disclose any pending negotiations for professional engagements with USPS or other federal agencies, apart from this SOW. 8. Qualifications The contractor shall provide a description of qualifications, proposed work methods, an estimate of the length of time and schedule needed to complete the project, the total cost of the project, and the basis for the calculation. 9. Timeline The contractor shall acknowledge that if selected to provide professional services pursuant to this SOW, all work will be conducted with the understanding that time is of the essence in meeting the contractual deadline and that no extension of the proposal deadline will be allowed. 10. Deliverables/Delivery Schedule Guideline The Contractor shall be responsible for providing the Commission with (1) electronic copy of the reports outlined in the table below. The Contractor shall be responsible for the technical accuracy of all reports submitted under this contract. The IT Manager reserves the right to review and return any reports to the Contractor for revision. All deliverables are due by the close of business (normally 5:00 pm Eastern Time) on the specified delivery date. Section -Requirement Deliverable Description Delivery Schedule End-User Desktop Support Help Desk Tickets Create and update help desk tickets in the Commission defined ticketing system Daily Server Management Server Maintenance Report Describes specific maintenance tasks performed, when it was performed, testing conducted, and an analysis of any issues, problems, or concerns regarding the maintenance. 1st working day after monthly maintenance Server Management System Uptime Report Describes the percentage rate of the server uptime. Monthly Server Management Server Capacity and Health Report Describes drive space capacity and utilization, memory, and CPU (Central Processing Unit) usage and performance. Monthly Server Management Incident Report Describes the events leading to, the cause and corrective action taken, to address unscheduled downtime, security breaches, remote access problems, LAN performance, or application availability problems. Initial report within 2 hours of incident detection. Full report completed within 1 business day of incident and updated accordingly. Server Management Backup Report Describes all back-up/restore activities performed and any issues or problems encountered with the back-up process. Weekly Contractor Activity Status Report Summary of activities to support invoice billing Monthly 11. Assistance from the Commission The Commission will provide the contractor with background documents and data, as well as make the IT staff available to answer any questions the contractor may have while completing the deliverables. 12. Place of Performance Commission's office at 901 New York Avenue NW, Suite 200W, Washington DC, 20268 and at place of business. 13. Quality Control As a small-agency, the Commission has found that contractors can contribute significantly to the Commission and its mission success. Whenever the Commission awards a contract, it expects to receive top quality service. This section provides the crucial foundation for identifying, measuring and ensuring quality standards for consultative services. The contractor will provide information, guidance, and support to the Commission for its Quality Assurance (QA) of the services provided under the contract. QA is a systematic and planned pattern of actions taken to ensure that necessary technical requirements are established, that the deliverables conform to these requirements, and that acceptable performance is achieved. Thus, the contractor will help the Commission to verify that the contractor's own Quality Control (QC) is sufficient and that their deliverables meet the agreed upon criteria. To plan and conduct QC, the contractor considers among other factors, the generic criteria listed in the next paragraph. A useful service for the government is delivered in a timely manner, thus the quality of performance exhibited by the contractor will depend on their ability to deliver their services by established deadlines. The Commission expects accuracy of the services and deliverables rendered on time by the contractor. Procedures and communication between the contractor and the Commission concerning the contract shall be unmistakably clear to avoid misunderstandings and ambiguities. The procedures and deliverables of the contractor shall be consistent, in compliance with this statement of work, and shall result in services rendered that effectively meet the Commission's needs. The contractor's work shall be done in an efficient manner, and their services under the contract shall meet the highest standards (e.g., user friendly, innovative, and provide the best value to the government). With the signatures of the contractor and the Contracting Officer on a finalized contract and any associated task orders, the contractor certifies that it can meet the quality standards and criteria as cited within the agreed-upon cost framework. For substandard contractor performance under the contract where delays, cost overruns as well as deviations from the agreed upon acceptable quality levels occur, the contractor will perform rework of the deliverables at no additional cost to the Government. An example of a delay that deviates from an acceptable quality level would be where timelines and contract specifications are not implemented, requiring rework of deliverables and additional cost. If the Commission is responsible for the delays or cost overruns, the Commission will incur the additional cost. 14. PRC Rights - The Commission reserves the right to amend this RFP, and/or to make no award or cancel this RFP. - The Commission reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals received as a result of this solicitation, to negotiate and award separately with competing respondents, and to accept that proposal which, in its judgment, is in the best interests of the Commission. This does not necessarily mean the lowest bid. - The Commission reserves the right to make a full or partial award in response to this RFP. - At any time prior to the deadline for submission of bids, the Commission may amend this RFP by issuing addenda. Any addendum issued shall be part of this document and shall be communicated in writing to all who have obtained this RFP directly from the Commission. To give prospective contractors sufficient time in which to consider an addendum in preparing their bids, the Commission may, at its discretion, extend the deadline for the submission of offers. - The Commission reserves its right to rescind an offer at any time for any reason. - Pre-award Survey: The Commission reserves the right to perform a pre-award survey that may include, but is not limited to: (1) interviews with individuals to establish their ability to perform contract duties under the project conditions; (2) a review of the prime contractor's financial condition, business, and personnel procedure; and, site visits to the offeror's institution. 15. Contract Type, Period of Agreement, and Expected Terms The Commission intends to issue a Time and Material contract for this effort. The work is expected to be completed no later than 12 months from July 6, 2018 through July 5, 2019 with three option years. 15.1. Labor Hours The contractor can only charge the Commission for "Productive Direct Labor Hours." "Productive Direct Labor Hours" are defined as those hours expended by Contractor personnel in performing work under this effort. This does not include sick leave, vacation, Government or contractor holidays, jury duty, military leave, or any other kind of administrative leave such as acts of God (i.e. hurricanes, snowstorms, tornadoes, etc.), presidential inaugurations, funerals, or any other unexpected government closures. 15.2. Payment for Unauthorized Work No payments will be made for any unauthorized supplies and/or services or for any unauthorized changes to the work specified herein. This includes any services performed by the Contractor of their own volition or at the request of an individual other than a duly appointed Contracting Officer. Only a duly appointed Contracting Officer is authorized to change the specifications, terms, and conditions under this effort. 15.3. Disclosure of Information Information made available to the Contractor by the Commission for the performance or administration of this effort shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the written agreement of the Contracting Officer. The Contractor agrees to assume responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of Government records, especially those that are not public information. Each sub-contractor or employee of the Contractor to whom information may be made available or disclosed shall be notified in writing by the Contractor that such information may be disclosed only for a purpose and to the extent authorized herein. 15.4. Limited Use of Data Performance of this effort may require the Contractor to access and use data and information proprietary to a Government agency or Government Contractor, which is of such a nature that its dissemination or use, other than in performance of this effort, would be averse to the interests of the Government and/or others. The Contractor and/or Contractor personnel shall not divulge or release data or information developed or obtained in performance of this effort, until made public by the Commission, except to authorize Government personnel or upon written approval of the Contracting Officer (CO). The Contractor shall not use, disclose, or reproduce proprietary data that bears a restrictive legend, other than as required in the performance of this effort. Nothing herein shall preclude the use of any data independently acquired by the Contractor without such limitations or prohibit an agreement at no cost to the Government between the Contractor and the data owner, which provides for greater rights to the Contractor. The Commission considers knowledge management a critical aspect of its ongoing ability to service its end-users. Therefore, the Commission will retain ownership off all data or other related information collected, analyzed, developed and reported in connection with providing services in connection with the scope of this statement of work. 15.5. Government Furnished Information and Equipment Space and facilities on site will be provided to the primary Contractors if required. In addition, appropriate information and access to Commission personnel and managers will be provided. The selected Contractor will provide required hardware and software and will have access to the Commission's systems if necessary. 15.6. Travel All travel under this contract must be approved by the CO prior to commencement of travel. The Contractor will be reimbursed for travel to provide support at a Government or other site as may be specified and approved by the CO under this effort. 15.7. Additional Contract Terms In addition to other deliverables listed throughout this RFP, the Commission requires the following clauses to be included in all vendor contracts for this project: - Contractual provisions or conditions that allow for administrative, contractual, or legal remedies when a contractor violates or breaches the contract terms, and provide for remedial actions as may be appropriate. - A provision for Commission termination of the contract for cause or convenience. In addition, contracts shall describe conditions under which the contract may be terminated for default as well as conditions where the contract may ...