Secure Ingest of Data

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION-MARKET RESEARCH U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service Office of Satellite Ground Services, System Engineering Division NOTICE: This is not a solicitation. This is not a request for quote (RFQ), and does not assume the government will award a contract or proceed with any solicitation in the near future. The information requested herein is for information purposes and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that a procurement action will be issued or awarded. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect cost or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the submission of information. All information considered proprietary shall be marked accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any improperly identified proprietary information. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with Government regulations. Responses to this notice will not be returned. This is a request for information (RFI) for informational purposes in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 10 Market Research. The purpose of this request is to solicit input from industry on the approaches to securely ingest data from external sources. Description 1. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is seeking information on technical approaches to Secure Ingest of Data (SID). NOAA is entering an era of increasing data collaboration with mission partners, commercial, foreign data providers and based on this has identified a need to ensure that data from external sources entering NOAA systems are free from threats to ground system security and integrity. An enterprise solution to secure data ingest would allow for better management, consistent security and more reliable access for NOAA offices and its partners. NOAA is interested in a secure data ingest enterprise solution that will: (1) authenticate data providers, (2) ensure incoming data is free of viruses and other threats, (3) prevent data providers from accessing or changing data from other providers, (4) limit data providers from impacting NOAA systems in any negative way, (5) verify that provided data meets the expected formats and integrity, (6) support near-real time transfers, (7) provide a distribution mechanism to make the provided data available to NOAA systems, (8) be easily scalable to meet future capacity needs, and (9) comply with all NOAA IT security requirements, including capturing and preserving audit trails of system actions. This RFI requests industry ideas, inputs and commercial products/solutions that will help NOAA achieve this goal. Respondents are encouraged to address the relationships and trade-offs between the secure data ingest goals, and meeting cost and latency requirements. Ideas to reduce costs with innovation through modification of these goals are also encouraged. This should be realized in conformity with Export Administration Regulations (EAR) 15 C.F.R. Secs 730-774 (https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/regulations/export-administration-regulations-ear). Respondents may address any or all of the topics of interest below. Topics of Interest 2. The Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is exploring options for two topics in Secure Ingest Gateway services to ensure that data from external sources entering NOAA systems is free from threats to ground system security and integrity. NOAA is primarily interested in two topics for this RFI: A. Information about technologies, products, systems or architectures that can be used to achieve the secure data ingest goals in part or whole, and B. Examples and lessons-learned from similar systems that have been implemented in other contexts (e.g., for secure exchange of data between commercial businesses). NOAA encourages respondents to provide their own technical knowledge, experience, commercial products/solutions available and any information that would help NOAA in achieving this goal. Instructions 3. DOC/NOAA will use the information gathered in the RFI to help assess the best technical approach. 4. Failure to respond to the RFI does not preclude proposal submittal should a formal acquisition be announced 5. All proprietary information should be clearly identified (marked) with appropriate restrictions on Government use identified. The Government will accept company literature or marketing materials. 6. DOC/NOAA request responses to this RFI as follows: a. DOC/NOAA will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion and shall not provide comments to any contractor's submission. However, responses to the RFI submitted may be reflected in a future solicitation. DOC/NOAA reserves the right to contact any contractor that responds to this RFI for the sole purpose of enhancing DOC/NOAA's understanding of the RFI submission. b. Responses must be submitted as Microsoft Word documents, using Version 2010. Each element should be clearly delineated with an appropriate heading as noted above, and all recommendations should include specific examples of secure data ingest. The submission shall be no more than 50 single-sided, single-spaced pages (excluding the cover page), and use a minimum of 12 (Times New Roman). Submissions must be electronic and sent via e-mail to Jay Parsick, Contract Specialist, at Jay.Parsick@noaa.gov and a copy to the Contracting Officer Susanna Wiedmann, at susanna.wiedmann@noaa.gov by 11:00 a.m., Friday, December 22, 2017.