Service Operations IT Support Services

THE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ARE ATTACHED THE RFI IS REVISED AS FOLLOWS: The primary mission of CA is to protect and assist U.S. citizens abroad, to issue passports to U.S. Citizens, and to issue immigrant and non-immigrant visas to foreign nationals according to the laws of the U.S. Government. To achieve this mission, CA actively pursues business, technology, and management goals and objectives. CA/CST is tasked with providing CA's mission critical information technology (IT) resources necessary to support various CA locations including approximately 230 overseas posts, 29 domestic Passport agencies, 2 domestic Visa processing centers, and an array of information, book / card print, passport centers, DoS annexes, and contractor sites. CA/CST supports approximately 10000 worldwide clients including 1200 CA customers at locations in the Washington DC National Capitol Region (NCR). This is a Sources Sought Synopsis (SSS) in support of market research purposes only. The Department of State's Office of Acquisition Management, on behalf of the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA), Consular Systems and Technology (CA/CST) is seeking potential sources that are capable of providing services in centralized and decentralized environments to include 341 internal and external partners comprising of data center management, enterprise operations network monitoring, systems administration, telecommunications, hardware and Government off-the shelf (GOTS) and commercial off-the shelf (COTS) software application support to CA. To accomplish this objective, the services shall include necessary to engineer, build, enhance, maintain, and operate its unclassified and classified IT infrastructures, maintenance, installation of parts, systems administration and application support for CA/CST. To comply with the fast paced changes inherent in data processing and telecommunications, CST requires that contractor services provide for rapid provisioning of highly experienced and trained individuals. These contracted individuals will possess the skills to include certification for MCSE(s), CISSP(s), MCDA, CCNP, ITIL v3 Foundation(s), and Project Management Professionals (PMPs) with the IT backgrounds and the top secret security clearances required of CA's environment of Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructures. This SSS is a posting which sought potential sources that are capable of providing acquired services to specifically provide network monitoring, maintenance, installation of parts, systems administration and application support for CA/CST. The requirements described should capture a standards-based, best practices approach to providing service and support based on Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level III. The awardee shall maintain at least a CMMI Level III rating for the duration of the award. As stipulated in FAR 15.201, responses to this SSS are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. The decision to solicit for a contract shall be solely within the Government's discretion. Any information submitted by respondents to this SSS is voluntary and are not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government reimburse any costs associated with the submission of information in response to this notice. Respondents will not individually be notified of the results of any Government assessments. The Government reserves the right to consider a small business set-aside based upon responses hereto for any subsequent acquisition. The government's evaluation of the Capabilities Package received will factor into whether any forthcoming solicitation will be conducted as a full and open unrestricted competition, a set-aside for small businesses, or as a set aside for the socio-economic programs (e.g. HUBZone, WOSB, SDVOSB, etc.). SCOPE OF WORK For the purpose of this SSS, the contractor shall provide the following solution: CST has a requirement to provide operational IT services in both centralized and decentralized environments. This is comprised of data center management, enterprise operations network monitoring, systems administration, telecommunications, hardware (HW) support, and Government off-the shelf (GOTS) and commercial off-the shelf (COTS) software (SW) application support to CA. To accomplish this objective, the services are necessary to engineer, build, enhance, maintain, and operate CA's unclassified and classified IT infrastructures. The Contractor shall principally perform services at the Government's location in Washington, D.C. The Contractor is required to support IT service operations 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year inclusive of Federal holidays and inclement weather closures. CST requires that contractor services provide for rapid provisioning of highly experienced and trained individuals also to include certification for MCSE(s), CISSP(s), MCDA, CCNP, ITIL v3 Foundation(s), and Project Management Professionals (PMPs) with the IT backgrounds and the top secret security clearances required of CA's environment of Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructures. The Contractor shall support CA/CST/SO by performing O&M of IT systems, to include hardware and operating systems, Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) and Government-unique systems and infrastructure, unique imaging and archiving applications, client-server applications and specialized applications supporting multiple functions. The scope of these tasks includes the following functions: - Provide transition-in support at commencement of contract support through to transition-out support at the close of the contract; - Perform operations engineering services to design and implement physical deployment environments in multiple hosting facilities. This shall include network and hosting infrastructure engineering, inclusive of capacity planning, service continuity, and disaster recovery; - Provide O&M support for assigned enterprise systems, applications and infrastructure environments; - Maintain and uphold DoS, CA, CST, and Diplomatic Security (DS) policies and procedures for Information Assurance (IA) and Authorization and Accreditation (A&A) of production systems, to include data at rest and in-transit on OpenNet and ClassNet; - Provide Inventory Control - maintain and host specific Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE) inventory and audits (e.g., workstations, printers and scanners); - Provide communication and escalation services; - Provide warranty, service agreement and licensing management - maintain a complete and accurate product list for all HW and SW that includes vendor account information, warranty and services agreements coverage and expiration dates with no gaps in coverage; - Support IT service operations 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year inclusive of Federal holidays and inclement weather closures; - Monitor, detect, respond, support, escalate, and resolve critical incidents (lost ability to provide a service that is normally available) - with a required initial response within 5 minutes). A critical priority may also be assigned to an issue in an emergency situation, or when deemed appropriate by a CA Government Technical Monitor (GTM), then the Contractor's user support specialist shall respond immediately, and escalate to the Tier 2 or 3 support team after one (1) hour if issue is not resolved; - Perform training and provide to support to Government and other contracted system administrators at remote sites to support new IT products and services; - Track and report performance metrics; - Provide Remedy knowledge database management; - Conduct technical writing and documentation versioning and tracking. This includes managing an existing operating environment management for over 90 systems, comprising approximately 4,000 servers and 3 petabytes of storage currently in production across 3 DoS domestic data centers, over 230 overseas locations, and over 30 additional domestic locations. This will also include the engineering and implementation of physical infrastructure required to support the continued evolution and modernization of CA's IT systems. QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS It is mandatory that the awardee is required to establish, deliver, and manage services for the DOS shall be appraised for CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV) or CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC), Level 3 compliance. Their employees shall contain a rapid provisioning of highly experienced to include certification for MCSE(s), CISSP(s), MCDA, CCNP, ITIL v3 Foundation(s), and Project Management Professionals (PMPs) with the IT backgrounds and the top secret security clearances required of CA's environment of Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructures. Offerors must have a system of internal controls to manage (control, use, preserve, protect, repair, and maintain) Government property in its possession. The system shall be adequate to satisfy the requirements of FAR 52-245-1. In doing so, the Contractor shall initiate and maintain the processes, systems, procedures, records, and methodologies necessary for effective and efficient control of Government property.____________________________________________________ The NAICS code for these services is: NAICS 541512 - Computer Systems Design Security Requirement: A facility security clearance at the TOP SECRET level is required at proposal submission. RESPONSE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS INQUIRES If your organization would like to participate, you must respond to this announcement by e-mailing Darlene Watson, Contracting Officer your information regarding your services, management and transition approach, technical approach and competencies, and past performance for same or similar activity with commercial activities or government agencies, and responsiveness to this SSS. Please reference the following in the subject line of all submissions: Service Operations Support Services (SOSS)). Your e-mail must be received no later than August 5, 2015 by 5:00 p.m. EST to ensure a timely response. NO TELEPHONE CALLS WILL BE ACCEPTED. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ARE ATTACHED Vendors doing business with the Government are required to register in the System for Award Management (SAM) database before they can be awarded a contract. A template containing the information for registration can be found at: https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. All respondents with appropriate services relating to the requirements set forth in the SSS are invited to submit a Capability Statement and contact information. The Capability Statement should discuss your company's capabilities against the potential requirements, and any other specific and pertinent information that would enhance the understanding of the information submitted. INSTRUCTIONS FOR SSS RESPONSES Respondents must submit Capability Statement in responses, using not more than 25 pages in length. The total page count of 25 pages does not include the cover letter. The total page count does include all other information provided (i.e., graphs, technical, etc.). Font size should be 12 point, Times New Roman, single sided and prepared in Microsoft Word. Fold out charts for tables or graphics are allowed with a limited size of 11'x17 and each foldout count as a single page and also counts toward the total page limit. Charts and graphics must be in Microsoft Excel, or PDF format. The format for the SSS responses is described below: The cover page shall contain (1) Company name, (2) Primary Point of Contact, (3) Phone Number and Email Address, (4) Cage Code, (5) NAICS Code and (6) Socioeconomic Classification 8(a) HUBZONE, Service Disabled Veteran, etc... (7) Current GSA or GWAC contracts that are applicable to NAICS 541512 - Computer Systems Design Services, (8) Facility Security Level Clearance and (9) Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) maturity level. Introduction Provide a brief description of existing capability to perform the requirement for the service. All capability statements shall be evaluated on the same as listed below Management & Transition Approach Responses shall describe capabilities in the implementation of a comprehensive management approach to satisfy the requirements. Responses shall describe capabilities to manage requirements of similar size and/or scope. Responses shall describe capabilities to staff key personnel, and describe staffing approaches and respondent personnel qualifications to meet the needs of CA/CST requirements. Responses shall describe the ability to handle personnel / performance issues and provide management staff with the necessary support and oversight. Responses shall describe potential organizational structures for an effort of this size/scope and corporate reach back to support performance. Responses shall describe capabilities in subcontractor management to ensure accountability and seamless integration of all team members to include proposed subcontractors, roles and responsibilities, reporting and communication, quality control, accountability. Responses shall describe capabilities to establish effective and sound Quality Control Plans and how a QCP may be leveraged during performance to meet needs set forth in the requirement's size /scope. Responses shall describe its capabilities to establish a security plan and perform A&A requirements as required by the clause at 652.239-71, Security Requirements for Unclassified Information Technology Resources. 8.1.2 Transition Approach Responses shall describe capabilities to transition into a new organization and successfully establish staffing and skills to meet the needs of set forth in the requirement's size/scope. This may include: a. Planned transition activities, priorities, and key success factors; b. Transition risks and contingency plans; c. Communication and reporting; d. Transition Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and schedule with timelines and milestones; e. Resource and staffing requirements and plan, including training; f. Government and/or incumbent Contractor support requirements; and g. Demonstration of completed transition activities. 8.2 Technical Approach and Competencies Responses shall describe your technical competencies, innovative approaches, and solutions to satisfy the technical requirements described in this SSS. In particular, the Government is interested in the respondent's technical capabilities to engineer the design of physical data center footprints and establishment of active-active configurations of systems across domestic data centers. The Government will review technical capabilities to manage the transition and upgrade of physical and virtual environments of the size required by CA. The Government will review technical capabilities to establish the end-to-end monitoring capabilities. The Government will review capabilities to provide hardware, network, and COTS software configuration design and implementation services. This includes the design of local area networks within data centers and other Department of State locations both domestically and abroad. The Government will review the respondent's capabilities to to design and implement physical data center and server room configurations and networking within CA enclaves, as well as design and implement network integrations with Department of State enterprise networks managed by the Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM); The Government will review the respondent's capabilities to provide 24 hour management of deployed CA IT infrastructure and systems, to include incident management and resolution processes and expertise. The Government will review capabilities to work in close partnership with DoS and its supporting entities to derive the maximum efficiencies in managing CA/CST operating environments. 8.3 Past Performance: Provide a brief description of your corporate experience in same or similar product solution(s) and/or services to both commercial and government organizations. The respondent shall describe the dollar value, scope, and complexity of the efforts and the actual results achieved during performance. Provide a brief description of corporate industry credentials that your company has obtained that are applicable to the services described in the Scope of Work (e.g. provided support via a COTS product and/or commercially available services). Responses should contain the following background and contextual information: 1. What is your organization's experience and knowledge of services in centralized and decentralized environments comprising of data center management, enterprise operations network monitoring, systems administration, telecommunications, hardware and Government off- the shelf (GOTS) and commercial off-the shelf (COTS) software applications support to CA. 2. Advise if your respective prime, sub-contractor, products, and services can be provided via General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule Contract, NASA SWEP, NITAAC or any other Government Point-of-Entry, along with a summary of the relevant terms and conditions. 3. For existing vehicles that may be available to DoS, provide the GSA Schedule number. 4. Provide your company's DUNS Number, address, phone number, and the contact information for your primary point of contact. 5. Provide your business size status as determined by the NAICS codes 541512 as identified for the types of services described. Advise if you provide your respective products/services via General Services Administration Schedule Contract, NASA SEWP, NITAAC and any other Government Point-of-Entry, along with a summary of the relevant Terms and Conditions.