SOURCES SOUGHT
70 -- House Mobile Computing Program (IEEE.802.11 Wireless LAN)
- Notice Date
- 8/4/2004
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 517212
— Cellular and Other Wireless Telecommunications
- Contracting Office
- United States House of Representatives, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, Office of Procurement, Room 359, Ford House Office Building, Washington, DC, 20515
- ZIP Code
- 20515
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-HIR08052004
- Response Due
- 8/23/2004
- Archive Date
- 9/7/2004
- Point of Contact
- Jim Caskey, Senior Procurement Specialist, Phone 202-226-2108, Fax 202-226-3850, - Lawrence Toperoff, Procurement Director, Phone 202-226-2523, Fax 202-226-2214,
- E-Mail Address
-
Jim.Caskey@mail.house.gov, Lawrence.Toperoff@mail.house.gov
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON CURRENT TECHNOLOGY AND SOLUTIONS. This is a request for information only. This is not a notice of RFP or RFQ issuance. The objective of this Request for Information is to gather information from commercial enterprises which currently provide IEEE 802.11 series wireless LAN hardware and software systems. This information will be used by the House to deepen its knowledge of commercially available technologies and to assist in the development of requirements and terms of any subsequent, competitive solicitation. Respondents of interest to the House may be invited to demonstrate their systems. The House Mobile Computing Program (HMCP) was created to develop wireless LAN network services to support the U.S. House of Representatives. While the HMCP effort is not intended to provide ubiquitous wireless LAN access, it will greatly improve the access to information in a variety of important locations. It is currently envisioned that candidate areas for wireless coverage include the following: Committee hearing rooms and ante rooms Conference rooms Self-scheduled meeting rooms Banquet rooms Cafeteria areas This notice is initiated to compile a list of companies that can provide assistance to House Information Resources (HIR) in the development of a secure, reliable, manageable, and scalable wireless LAN network. Program Goals The House desires a technology solution that meets the goals listed below: A. Data Transport Goals 1. Provide data transport between wireless client devices and the wired campus LAN network for services such as access to Internet, intranet, e-mail, file and print services, and other network applications in such a way that it is transparent to these services and does not affect them in any way. 2. Provide the necessary mechanisms to support user mobility (allowing users to access the wireless network at any House location with wireless coverage). 3. Provide mechanisms for efficient use of the wireless medium such as adjustable transmit power, ability to use external antennas, automatic radio frequency (RF) channel selection, load balancing between multiple access points (APs), and adjustments to the 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol and Physical (PHY) layer parameters. 4. Interoperate seamlessly with the wired campus LAN infrastructure interfaces, services, and protocols such as 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet, 802.1Q VLANs, DHCP, Spanning Tree Protocol, and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol. 5. Provide device compatibility by using components that are WiFi CERTIFIED for IEEE Std 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g. 6. Provide mechanisms supporting reliability such as the ability to operate in a hot-standby mode. 7. Provide flexibility of device placement by using APs that may be located in areas such as above drop-ceilings and in plenum areas, and by using APs that may be powered via IEEE Std 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet (POE). 8. Provide system flexibility by supporting upgrades to provide features defined in forthcoming IEEE standards such as 802.11e, 802.11i, 802.11k, and 802.11n once they are published. B. Security Goals 1. Provide appropriate user authentication such as Extensible Authentication Protocol - Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS), EAP with tunneled TLS (EAP-TTLS), and Protected EAP (PEAP). 2. Provide appropriate data confidentiality (privacy) such as that found in WiFi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2 (IEEE Std 802.11i). 3. Provide appropriate data integrity such as that found in WPA and WPA2 (IEEE Std 802.11i). 4. Provide detection, reporting, and (if possible) the location of any unauthorized wireless infrastructure equipment, such as rogue APs. 5. Provide detection and reporting of unauthorized activity on the wireless medium such as wireless peer-to-peer connectivity, denial of service, client hijacking, and spoofing. 6. Provide the ability to protect sensitive information on an AP (e.g. access lists, passwords, and authentication lists) if it is physically removed or stolen. 7. Provide mechanisms to implement or support security policies such as disabling SSID broadcast; data traffic filtering; differentiation of access and privileges by user group (guest, standard, admin); alerting, reporting, and logging; and authentication lockout after failed attempts. 8. Provide transport of security services such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in such a way that it is transparent to these services and does not affect them in any way. 9. Interoperate with a variety of other network security architecture components such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and authentication databases. 10. Provide mechanisms to enable administrators to effectively monitor and respond to a variety of system security conditions. 11. Provide flexibility of device placement by using security sensors that may be located in areas such as above drop-ceilings and in plenum areas, and by using security sensors that may be powered via IEEE Std 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet (POE). C. Management and Support Goals 1. Provide management of the wireless access infrastructure from a centralized system. 2. Provide mechanisms such as system logging, syslog logging, SNMP traps, and diagnostic utilities to enable administrators to effectively monitor and respond to system fault conditions. 3. Provide mechanisms to enable administrators to observe, modify, store, and restore system configuration state, and to allow such operations to be done on many devices in an efficient way. 4. Provide mechanisms to enable administrators to manage system resource accounting in areas such as administrator activities and physical assets. 5. Provide mechanisms to enable administrators to monitor and adjust system performance conditions. 6. Interoperate with a variety of network management platforms (e.g. HP OpenView) using SNMP v2 and public Management Information Bases (MIBs). 7. Provide mechanisms to enable administrators to monitor, troubleshoot, and resolve any problems with end user operation. 8. Support the development of a central repository of information on all authorized and active wireless users and devices. Such a repository would include data such as user identification, end station IP and MAC addresses, associated AP, and other end station attributes. 9. Provide a mechanism to support multiple classes of administrators with different privileges, and to enable administrator authentication, authorization, and accounting through the use of services such as Terminal Access Controller Access Control System (TACACS). System Description The House welcomes any information received from interested parties. Specifically, please provide the information requested below. Part 1: A description of the system or reference architecture that is offered as a solution to meet the goals of the HMCP program. The description should include: The specific name and model number of each component The function of each component Standards with which the system complies System certifications (For hardware components) Descriptions of all physical interfaces Any other pertinent information necessary to understand the function and operation of the system Part 2: A description of how the system provides a solution to each of the Program Goals listed above. Please organize this response according to the instructions provided in the "Instructions for Submitting Requested Information" below. As a result of the broad nature of these goals, it is not expected that any single vendor product or system will address them all. If the system solution involves components from partnership arrangements, list all partner companies, and submit a single response describing the entire solution. Pricing Please provide a pricing estimate for a system that would provide wireless LAN service and meet the program goals above (or a clearly-defined subset of them) in the following scenario: A total of twenty five (25) conference rooms in several buildings on campus. Each room measures approximately 25 feet by 25 feet, and contains windows. Thirteen (13) of the rooms have drop-ceiling. The other twelve (12) have dry wall ceilings. Rooms are geographically dispersed, so RF coverage must be provided individually (not shared among rooms) and no rooms share a common wiring closet. APs and security sensors should receive power via IEEE 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet. Assume a maximum of 20 occupants in each room and no more than 15 of those would be actively using the wireless LAN at any moment (accessing the network services listed in the Program Goals above). Wireless clients in each room will be assigned addressing via DHCP from a separate IP subnet per room. Assume that wireless clients are procured through a different program. Pricing on wireless client devices should not be included in the pricing estimate. Price is intended for ROM budgetary purposes only and firm quotes are not required. Instructions for Submitting Requested Information Respondents are asked to provide the information requested above as well as references describing where systems are installed. For System Description part 1, the response should be no more than three (3) pages in length. For System Description part 2, organize the response by group (A. Data Transport, B. Security, C. Management and Support) and within each group by numbered item just as they are presented above. The response to System Description part 2 should be no more than ten (10) pages in length. Interested parties must submit written responses in Microsoft Word format to be delivered as an attachment to an e-mail only. The response should be sent no later than Monday August 23, 2004. The response should include the company name, address, telephone number, fax number, point of contact, e-mail address, and company Web site, if available. E-mail your responses to Jim.Caskey@mail.house.gov and reference this RFI number and title. Please direct technical questions to Linda Nagel via e-mail at: linda.nagel@mail.house.gov. This RFI is for information and planning purposes only. It does not constitute a solicitation and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. These e-mail addresses are provided for responses to this RFI only and are expressly not intended to be added to general solicitation lists, i.e., consider this an "opt-out" notice.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Washington, DC
- Record
- SN00637102-W 20040806/040804212654 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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