MODIFICATION
D -- E-mail Forwarding
- Notice Date
- 9/2/2005
- Notice Type
- Modification
- NAICS
- 518210
— Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Peace Corps, Office Of Acquisitions And Contract Management, OACM, 1111 20th Street, N.W., Room 4413, Washington, DC, 20526
- ZIP Code
- 20526
- Solicitation Number
- PC-05-R-012
- Response Due
- 9/13/2005
- Archive Date
- 9/28/2005
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The closing date and time for receipt of proposals is Thursday, September 8, 2005 at 2:00PM ET (local time), proposals should be submitted electronically to rnelson2@peacecorps.gov, 1111 20th Street; Room 4441; Washington, DC 20526; Attn: Rodney Nelson, Contracting Specialist, (202) 692-1781. The deadline for submitting vendor questions is Monday August 29, 2005 at 10AM ET (local time). All questions should be submitted electronically to Rodney Nelson at rnelson2@peacecorps.gov by this deadline. The NAICS Code is 518210, Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services, and the small business size standard is $21,000,000. The solicitation number is PC-05-R-012 and is issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP). The Peace Corps intends to award a firm fixed price contract for a base period of one year effective from the date of award, with four option periods of one year. REQUIREMENT: The Peace Corps seeks a vendor to provide e-mail forwarding services to alumni volunteers. The service will provide volunteers with a Peace Corps branded e-mail address acting as an intermediary that receives and transmits messages to a third party e-mail box (i.e. Comcast, Hotmail, Yahoo!). The vendor is expected to provide initial setup and maintenance of the service. Ongoing administration of the technical systems supporting email forwarding will be performed by the vendor as well. Routine customer service requests will be managed by Peace Corps staff. Users? opt-out process will be automated; however Peace Corps staff will have the option to manually administer modifications to a user?s account. Additionally, the Peace Corps administrator will have the ability to create and delete accounts, as well as edit usernames and e-mail forwarding addresses. This service is not required to address the issue of bounce back e-mails due to a user incorrectly administering their account (i.e. not keeping address up to date, mailbox storage limits, etc.). Should the Peace Corps provide the vendor with incorrect user data, the Peace Corps administrator for this service will have access to correct such mistakes (i.e. user name misspellings, incorrect birth date, etc.). The contractor shall provide the following services: 1) E-mail forwarding for a pilot group of 4,000 to 8,000 users with the potential to increase to a total of up to 150,000 users over the course of the five year (including option periods) duration of the contract (ability to accept and transmit e-mail messages through an alias e-mail address); 2) Fully customizable interface for end-user: Secure hosted solution for users to administer forwarding account, Username and password functionality, User management of passwords and e-mail address to which e-mails will be sent, Create profiles to manage user accounts; 3) Verify user information by interfacing with Peace Corps data; 4) Administration interface for use by Peace Corps to include: Ability to export user e-mail addresses, Manually administer modifications to a user?s account (add/delete/edit user accounts), Create multiple groupings of users and multiple administration of groupings, Create custom queries and produce reports based on user metadata, Provide customizable administrative access levels; 5) Experience developing privacy policies and terms of use for e-mail forwarding service; 6) Offer expert advise on e-mail forwarding best practices and potential enhancements to the service; 7) Will not resell, market to, or solicit information from Peace Corps provided users. PROCESS: Protocol for this service is as follows: 1) Alumni receive notice from the Peace Corps that e-mail forwarding service is available, includes URL to website where they can register their account; 2) User visits website, has identity verified by website (data provided by Peace Corps for verification); 3) User receives predetermined username and e-mail forwarding address as defined by the Peace Corps; 4) User inputs e-mail address where messages will be sent; 5) User manages changes to e-mail address to which e-mails will be sent. REJECTION OF WORKMANSHIP: Inferior and unsatisfactory workmanship as determined by the Peace Corps COTR shall be rejected and reported to the contractor who shall correct the deficiency, at no additional cost to the Peace Corps, within 1 week following receipt of written notice of rejection. TESTING: Testing and acceptance of the services set forth in this contract shall be performed by the Peace Corps Offices of Communications and Volunteer Recruitment and Selection. Testing and acceptance will include the vendor accurately verifying incoming test users, assigning an e-mail address, and properly forwarding e-mail messages to a designated e-mail account. SCHEDULE: The Peace Corps and its vendor will negotiate a production schedule after a contract is signed. Delivery date will be on or near date mentioned in this statement of work. Milestones that must be met include: 09/30/05, Kickoff Meeting; 10/10/05, Develop Project Plan; 01/09/06, Begin Testing; 02/09/06, Conclude Testing; 02/14/06, Launch Product to Internal User Group; 03/01/06, Begin Launch of Product to 4,000 Pilot Users. MATERIALS PROVIDED BY PEACE CORPS: The Peace Corps will provide the contractor with the data and database schemes necessary to authenticate users registering for the forwarding service (within the parameters of Federal security guidelines). In addition, the Peace Corps will provide the initial list of up to 8,000 users and updates to the user list as required over the course of the contract for the forwarding e-mail address service. RIGHTS: Important Note: All materials produced under this contract become the exclusive property of the Peace Corps. Materials provided by the Peace Corps must be returned to the Peace Corps within one week of completion of this project. The contractor may not retain or use any materials produced under this contract. PROJECT DESCRIPTION SPECIFICATIONS: Programming Languages: ColdFusion, .NET; Databases: Oracle, SQL. COST/CONTRACT: The contractor shall be paid, upon submission of proper vouchers, and acceptance of deliverables, the amounts specified in the accepted proposal, as full consideration for all effort provided herein. Payment will be based on an annual fee. The vendor may not transfer this contract to another provider without prior Peace Corps consent. DELIVERABLES FOR THIS RFP: The delivery address for all deliverables is: Peace Corps, 1111 20th Street; Washington, DC 20526. This solicitation document incorporates provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-05. 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. Offerors shall submit two separate proposals: one technical (including samples ? see below) and one cost. The technical proposal shall be limited to ten (10) pages (not including samples or resumes). EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD: 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items, para. (a) is filled in as follows: ?The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price, and other factors considered. The following factors, listed in descending order or importance, shall be used to evaluate offers: 1) Prior relevant experience: Provide list of federal and academic clients using e-mail forwarding services similar in size and scope for up to and including 150,000+ users. Provide at least four (4) companies which can be contacted for past performances. This should include the company name, contact person, phone number and brief description of the effort.); 2) Technical approach; 3) Price. The offerors shall include in their proposal to the Peace Corps fixed prices for the e-mail forwarding product as follows: $________ up to 8,000 users; $________ 8,001 users up to 25,000 users; $________ 25,001 users up to 50,000 users; $________ 50,001 users up to 100,000 users; $________ 100,001 users up to 150,000 users. Additional costs such as programming and coordination with Peace Corps databases should be broken down by line. Costs may be further broken down into sub-components for payment purposes if preferable. Evaluation factors shall be scored by percentage as follows: 1) Past Performance 2) Technical Approach 3) Price. Offerors must include a completed copy of 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items with their offer. 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items and 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes of Executive Orders-Commercial Items apply to this acquisition. Amendment One (1) is issued to Peace Corps Request For Proposals number PC-05-R-012 dated August 23, 2005. Changes are as follows: The closing date and time for receipt of proposals is hereby extended to Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 2:00PM ET (local time), proposals should be submitted electronically to rnelson2@peacecorps.gov, 1111 20th Street; Room 4441; Washington, DC 20526; Attn: Rodney Nelson, Contracting Specialist, (202) 692-1781. The following change is made to the REQUIREMENT: The contractor shall provide the following services: 1) E-mail forwarding for a pilot group of 4,000 to 8,000 users with the potential to increase to a total of up to 25,000 (reduced from 150,000) users over the course of the five year (including option periods) duration of the contract (ability to accept and transmit e-mail messages through an alias e-mail address). The following change is made to Price Proposal: The offerors shall include in their proposal to the Peace Corps fixed prices for the e-mail forwarding product as follows: $________ up to 8,000 users; $________ 8,001 users up to 25,000 users. The following Vendor questions were received, and Peace Corps responses are hereby provided: Question 1: Under PROJECT DESCRIPTION SPECIFICATIONS it specifies the Programming Languages used be ColdFusion or .NET. Is this firm, or would a system coded/produced in Perl be acceptable. Response 1: No. Peace Corps is moving to a .NET environment and it is required to have future solutions implemented in ColdFusion or .NET framework. Question 2: Will Peace Corps accept the project using Java (J2EE), or must it be either Coldfusion or .Net? Response 2: No. Peace Corps is moving to a .NET environment and it is required to have future solutions implemented in ColdFusion or .NET framework. Question 3: Is the technical environment of .net, and Coldfusion negotiable? Would you consider an open source - Linux environment with LDAP, Apache, PHP, Sendmail or other open source frameworks? Response 3: No. Peace Corps will not accept Open Source solutions. Question 4: The database ?SQL?, is it specific to Microsoft SQL server, or includes other relational SQL databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, or does it matter if we can integrate the application with Peace Corps Systems. Response 4: The SQL reference here is to the SQL query language. Peace Corps does not implement Open Source solutions such as MySQL. Question 5: (Requirements Section #3) - What is the operating environment of the Peace Corps Data? Is the data stored in an Oracle Database? Is there to be specific documentation available for the current Peace Corps data structure and operating environments? Is documentation available for any interface requirements for legacy systems? Response 5: Peace Corps environment include VM mainframe, oracle client server, Coldfusion web applications and Microsoft Office solutions. The data is stored in Oracle Enterprise server databases. Documentation on the schema and data structures, and data interfaces exist and shall be made available after the contract is awarded. Question 6: Is the data from Peace Corps already in a digital format or will it be forwarded in hard copy format that will need to be entered by the Vendor? Response 6: The data is in digital format and will be exported from the database. Question 7: How many records, and what are the database schemes? Response 7: The pilot project will have data for 8000 users. The data will be exported into a flat text file format. The schema and the mapping of the database elements will be made available as necessary at the time of the export. Question 8: 10/10/05, Develop Project Plan ? What type of Project Plan Methodology is Required? Response 8: Peace Corps follows the best practices in Project Management derived from the Project Management Institute (PMI) and Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology. Question 9a: We assume that since no security software specifications are mentioned in the technical requirement it is not required, is this true. Response 9a: This assumption is false. The RFP states that the solution will be ?secure hosted? and that it will function ?within the parameters of Federal Security guidelines.? Federal Security guidelines are listed in the SECURITY REQUIREMENTS section below. Question 9b: Are there any personnel security requirements for working on the resulting contract? Response 9b: Yes, the activities specified in the RFP are considered by the Peace Corps to be moderate risk development and administrator activities. Peace Corps Manual Section 542, Section L: IT Personnel Investigation Policy, subsection 94.3.2 states that, "Privileged access to sensitive systems by users in moderate risk positions may be provided after: ?A completed Form SF-85P is submitted to the Personnel Security Office [at least three business days prior to beginning the work]; and The user favorably passes a Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) [involving a credit check and a Security Investigations Index check before work begins].? Therefore forms for each of the developers and administrators of the application/service and those who otherwise handle sensitive Peace Corps information must be coordinated with and submitted to the renamed Information and Personnel Safety and Security Office. Response 9: Peace Corps policy is to comply with the Federal Information Security Management Act. In further response to Questions 9a and 9b and any other security concerns relative to this RFP, general guidelines on security are as follows: SECURITY REQUIREMENTS, Security/Privacy Standards: The Contractor shall incorporate procedures that comply with policies outlined in OMB Circular A-127 (Financial Management Systems), OMB Circular A-130 (Management of Federal Information Resources), especially Appendix III, "Security of Federal Automated Information Resources", and subsequent memorandum, e.g. the September 29, 2003 OMB Guidance for Implementing the Privacy Provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107-347, sections 301-305, Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), the Computer Security Act of 1987, the Privacy Act of 1974, and federal standards and guidelines published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), e.g., Federal Information Processing Standards 199 and 197, as well as NIST Special Publication 800-37, Guide for the Security Certification and Accreditation of Federal Information Systems, and Special Publication 800-53, Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems. Conditions and deliverables required by NIST 800-37 include: 1) A NIST 800-30-based Risk Assessment Report that includes NIST 800-60 and FIPS 199 results; 2) A NIST 800-18-based System Security Plan that includes a mapping to the Moderate level security controls specified in the NIST 800-53; 3) A NIST 800-34-based IT Contingency Plan explaining how the service/application will continue to operate in adverse conditions; 4) The coordination and allowance of independent third party security testing of the application/service; 5) A NIST 800-26-Based Self-Assessment annually thereafter. In addition, the Contractor shall comply with all Peace Corps policies and any further policies and procedures developed under this task. The contractor is responsible for the protection and confidentiality of all Peace Corps technical data and vulnerability findings. The contractor must ensure that all information systems under the purview of this contract are protected in a manner that is consistent with levels for Sensitive but Unclassified and Privacy Act information at all times. The contractor must protect the information and information technology resources of the Peace Corps as proprietary to the Peace Corps. Data Security Requirements: Peace Corps information systems contain sensitive information, as defined in the Computer Security Act of 1987 (PL 100-235), and contain personal information subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (PL 93-579 and amendments). It will be the Contractor's responsibility to familiarize and brief employees and subcontractors on the provisions of the Privacy Act. FAR clauses, 52.224-1: "Privacy Act Notification" and 52.224-2: "Privacy Act", are hereby incorporated by reference. The confidentiality and disclosure provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the American with Disabilities Act prohibit disclosure of any charge or charge-related information. The contractor shall agree that such information will not be disclosed and will only be used for the performance of their responsibilities under this task order. Personnel Security Requirements: It is the policy of Peace Corps to exclude from employment any persons who have engaged in intelligence activity or related work or who have been employed by or connected with an intelligence agency. Contractor personnel include subcontractors as well. All Contractor personnel assigned to these tasks must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English. All Contractor personnel accessing the Peace Corps HQ Data Center, where the majority of the LAN/WAN equipment and network server are housed, must be U.S. citizens. All Contractor personnel who will be working onsite and certain offsite personnel, designated by the CO, shall complete either a Limited Background Investigation (LBI) or Access National Agency Check with Inquiry (ANACI). Peace Corps representatives shall have the option to validate all clearance levels and authorities. Question 10: Will the application be hosted on Peace Corps equipment or Vendor equipment? Response 10: The application will be hosted on vendor equipment at the vendor site. Question 11: Will the application be hosted at Peace Corps or at the Vendor?s site? Response 11: The application will be hosted on vendor equipment at the vendor site. Question 12: (Place of Performance Section) - It is stated in the RFP that the place of performance is Address: 1111 20th Street, NW Washington, DC Postal Code: 20526 Country: USA Question 12a: Does this mean that all work must be accomplished in the Peace Corps Facilities? Response 12a: Work can be completed at a remote site after ensuring Federal Security and Privacy standards are in compliance. Question 12b: Does mean that the email system must be hosted out of Peace Corps owned facilities on Peace Corps owned hardware and software? Response 12b: It is required that this system will be hosted outside of Peace Corps facilities on contractor supplied hardware and software. End user validation and authentication process will have to be in compliance with Federal Privacy and Security standards (also see Question and Response 9). Question 13: Do you have any restrictions on hosting Can the service be hosted anywhere in the US? Response 13: Remote hosting in the US is permitted after ensuring the Federal Privacy and Security standards are in compliance. Question 14: Will an onsite office be available to the selected Vendor? Response 14: Peace Corps will not provide an onsite office for the vendor. However, we can provide temporary workspace for the vendor if they are in our HQ for meetings and such. Question 15: (Requirements Section #4) - Do you have the specific reports that have to be developed or are you looking for just the facility for the administrator to create reports using Cold Fusion and Oracle? Response 15: Reports content, layout and parameters will be discussed in detail during the requirements gathering phase after the contract is awarded. The reports query page will be a ?Query by Example? style that allows the administrator to set values for user variables from drop down lists, check boxes, radio buttons, text or numeric input values, and sorting criteria for the results page. Question 16: Are you requesting a cost and technical proposals that will include the purchase of hardware and software environments which will become the property of the Peace Corps after the end of period of performance of the resulting contract? Response 16: Peace Corps does not anticipate procurement of software or hardware specifically for this project, however, be reminded that as stated in the RFP all materials produced under this contract become exclusive property of the Peace Corps. Question 17: Is a proposal submitted by two partner companies acceptable, (One does development and support and the partner company does hosting (geographically proximate)? Response 17: The Peace Corps will contract with one prime contractor, the contractual relationship concerning this contract will be between Peace Corps and that contractor. The relationship between the prime contractor and any partner companies does not concern or affect the contractual relationship between Peace Corps and the prime contractor. Question 18: Evaluation Factors for Award: What is the percentage (weighting) for the three (3) evaluation factors? Response 18: Evaluation factors will be scored in descending order of importance, as follows: 1) Past Performance, 2) Technical Approach, 3) Price. All evaluation factors other than price, when combined, are significantly more important than price. Question 19: In terms of ?Past Performance?, the most important factor in winning the project, how will Peace Corps judge the past performance of the vendor? Response 19: Per the RFP, Peace Corps has requested offerors provide a list of federal and academic clients using e-mail forwarding services similar is size and scope for up to and including 150,000+ users, and at least four (4) companies which can be contacted for past performances. Peace Corps will assess the information provided by all qualified offerors and will contact companies to confirm past performances for similar requirements. Question 20: ?Payment will be based on an annual fee.? We assume that annual fee is to be billed per an agreed schedule. Is this correct or do you prefer an annual payment. Response 20: Peace Corps will pay a firm fixed price for the appropriate user group size anticipated for the base year and each of the four contract option periods. Invoices should be submitted for payment on a monthly basis, payments will be made in accordance with applicable Federal Acquisition Regulations including FAR subpart 52.2. Question 21: What is the budget range for the project? Response 21: The Peace Corps cannot release Agency budgetary information. Question 22: Is there an incumbent on this project? Response 22: This is a new requirement, and as such there is no incumbent.
- Place of Performance
- Address: 1111 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC
- Zip Code: 20526
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 20526
- Record
- SN00886353-W 20050904/050902212711 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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