Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF JANUARY 13, 2006 FBO #1509
MODIFICATION

D -- Mainframe Hardware Maintenance and Mainframe Software Maintenance Services

Notice Date

1/13/2005
 

Notice Type

Modification
 

NAICS

541519 — Other Computer Related Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), National Office Procurement (OS:A:P), 6009 Oxon Hill Road, Suite 500, Oxon Hill, MD, 20745
 

ZIP Code

20745
 

Solicitation Number

TBD
 

Response Due

1/28/2005
 

Point of Contact

Shawna Petersson, Contracting Officer, Phone 202-283-1269, Fax 202-283-1437, - Cathy Mann, Contract Specialist, Phone 202-283-1143, Fax 202-283-1437,
 

E-Mail Address

Shawna.L.Peterson@irs.gov, Cathy.M.Mann@irs.gov
 

Description

NAICS: 811212 Computer and Office Machine Repair and Maintenance The IRS hereby issues the following Request for Information (RFI) regarding mainframe hardware maintenance and technical support/program management services and mainframe software maintenance services. A. PURPOSE: The Internal Revenue Services’ (IRS), Modernization & Information Technology Services (MITS) is seeking industry capability statements for the contract work related to two specific areas of information technology (IT) support. The IRS is conducting market research and analysis of industry capabilities for the contracts designed to replace the current Long-Term Maintenance, Computing Centers (LTMCC), Corporate System Modernization/Mirror Image Acquisition (CSM/MIA), and to incorporate Tier 1(Mainframe) hardware and software maintenance provided under other IRS contracts. Currently some of this effort is covered by the LTMCC and CSM/MIA contracts expiring September 30, 2005. The resulting contracts will provide for performance measures with incentives and specific socioeconomic goals to include participation by small business firms. B: GENERAL: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking information regarding Mainframe Hardware Maintenance services and Mainframe Software Maintenance services. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP). Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the responding party’s expense. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked PROPRIETARY will be handled accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Small Businesses are encouraged to provide responses to this RFI in order to assist the IRS in determining potential levels of competition available in the industry. In accordance with FAR 15.2019e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the U.S. Government to form a binding contract. When the solicitations are released, they will be synopsized in the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website and the IRS procurement web page. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this RFI. General Cost estimates are requested to assist in planning, cost estimates provided will not be binding for the company. C. BACKGROUND: The IRS’ MITS Organization’s Enterprise Operations Services mission is to provide efficient, cost effective, secure and highly reliable computing (server and mainframe) services for all IRS business entities and taxpayers, and to manage the day-to-day operations of the network and contact center environments. To accomplish parts of its mission, Enterprise Operations Services deploys and maintains an infrastructure capable of supporting the business and administrative needs of the Service for both the current environment and modernized operations; standardizes, consolidates and manages the mainframe computing infrastructure, and ancillary systems/software; maintains and modifies systems software products for the IRS mainframe-computing environment; implements appropriate security and mission assurance tools, processes, procedures, and infrastructure related to corporate computing services; provides services to business units/divisions within established Service Level Agreements (SLA); provides enterprise network operational support; and performs design, deployment, and maintenance of the contact center environment. D. DESIRED INFORMATION: Md (7) performs design, deployment, and maintenance of the contact center environment. D. DESIRED INFORMATION: MITS is in the process of analyzing and reviewing their approach, practices, and procedures for performing Tier 1 Mainframe Hardware Maintenance and Software Maintenance activities. The Government is interested in finding out about new approaches, best practices or industry standards that could better meet its needs. The information obtained from this RFI is intended to provide the Government with a better understanding of the methodologies, best practices, performance metrics, and service level agreements available to them in todays marketplace. The intent is to establish two Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts – one titled Mainframe Hardware Support Maintenance Contract (MHSMC) and a second titled Mainframe Software Maintenance Contract (MSMC). The effort contemplated will cover two separate acquisitions. The first effort will cover hardware maintenance (remedial and preventive), warranty support, technical support, and project management. The second effort will cover software maintenance, software upgrades, and associated program management. The Government anticipates that the majority of resulting delivery orders issued against these contracts will be firm-fixed price. However, given the technical support services requirements, it is likely that there will be time and materials task orders issued for services as needed. The duration of the planned contracts is one base year (FY06) and 4 option years (FY07 through FY10). In order to determine whether these contracts will be set-aside for small business concerns, interested vendors are encouraged to submit Capability Statements addressing their ability to perform the requirements for Area 1 - Tier 1 Mainframe hardware maintenance and/or Area 2 - software maintenance as described below. Interested vendors may submit Capability Statements for one or both of the following two areas. AREA 1 - TIER 1 MAINFRAME HARDWARE MAINTENANCE AND ASSOCIATED SUPPORT SERVICES (Estimated 5 Year Value $60M) 1. Hardware maintenance for all equipment described under Area 1 will consist of 24 X 7 remedial and preventative maintenance with a two (2) hour response time performed under a set of performance-related requirements. This includes coordination of warranty maintenance for equipment still under OEM warranties. Hardware maintenance services are currently required at the five (5) sites: Detroit Computing Center (DCC), Detroit, Michigan; the Enterprise Computing Center, Martinsburg (ECC-MTB), Martinsburg, West Virginia; the Enterprise Computing Center – Memphis (ECC-MEM), Memphis, Tennessee; the New Carrollton Federal Building (NCFB), Lanham, Maryland; and, the Main IRS Building in Washington, D.C. 2. The BASE Hardware Maintenance requirement consists of IBM/IBM-compatible equipment located at DCC, ECC-MTB, ECC-MEM, and NCFB. DCCs inventory currently includes approximately 850 IBM/IBM-compatible peripherals including a large number of tape drives and printers and one IBM z990, Model 302. The inventory at ECC-MTB currently includes approximately 1,425 IBM/IBM-compatible peripherals including tape drives, monitors, and printers. The inventory at NCFB currently includes several printers and miscellaneous hardware items. 3. As OPTIONS, the Government will obtain hardware maintenance services related to Tier 1 systems at the following locations: Martinsburg Computing Center (ECC-MTB): (a) Security and Communications System (SACS): Two IBM ZSeries 800 mainframes and associated peripheral equipment. (b) MasterFile: Two IBM ZSeries 990 mainframes, Models 308 and 311 and associated peripheral equipment. (c) Integrated Collection System/Automated Collection System/Print System (IAP): One IBM ZSeries 900 (2064-103) and associated peripheral equipment. Enterprise Computing Center - Memphis (ECC-MEM): (a) Disaster Recover (DR)/Tri-Plex: Two IBM ZSeries 900 (2064-1C1) and associated peripheral equipment. (b) SACS: Two IBM ZSeries 800 mainframes and associated peripheral equipment. (c) IAP: One IBM ZSeries 900 (2064-103) and associated peripheral equipment. New Carrollton Federal Building (NCFB): (a) IAP: Include peripherals such as a Magnetic Tape Sub-system and ESCON Adapters. NOTE: The above references to “and associated peripherals” encompasses numerous peripheral devices among the various systems. These include such items as various DASD sub-systems, Virtual Tape sub-systems, ESCON Directors, Magnetic Tape sub-systems, Tape Libraries, 9-track tape drives/controllers, 36 track tape drives, and various other peripherals. All peripheral equipment will be itemized in the RFP. 4. Technical Support Services: The support services shall include, but not be limited to: equipment relocation, equipment and cable deinstallation, on-site support during scheduled power outages/disaster recovery exercises, and configuration management. AREA 2 – SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE, UPGRADES, AND ASSOCIATED SUPPORT SERVICES (Estimated 5 Year Value $110M) The IRS requires a vendor experienced in the administration of a large-scale, enterprise-class program of software license maintenance and upgrade support for a large inventory of IBM mainframe (ESA/390) compatible software products. These products are currently deployed across multiple computing center sites (DCC, ECC-MTB, and ECC-MEM). The IRS inventory of ESA/390 compatible software products includes more than 430 individual items, licensed for use on the various IBM mainframes (Enterprise Servers). The software inventory includes COTS titles from IBM and more than 30 other Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and third party publishers. Software License types include: Enterprise; Site; Dual-Site; MIPS; MLC-MSU; CPU; CPU-GROUP/Tier; LPAR(Sub Capacity); and FEP/Communications Machine. These assets represent an enterprise-class investment component of the IRS Tier-I IT infrastructure, and are central in supporting the processing of numerous critical IRS tax administration workloads. Interested vendors should possess capabilities specific to the following five (5) disciplines associated with software license maintenance and license upgrade support: (1) License Models (salient characteristics) and Licensee Rights: scope of use, migration rights, definitions, version and release rights, perpetual rights, renewable rights, transfer rights, end-of-term provisions, documentation rights, access rights, and object and/or source code rights. (2) Software License Support/Maintenance (full Software product life cycle): activation, codes and keys, technical support channels (electronic, telephone, on-site, hours of service), communication channels, DR testing policies, and methods of delivery. (3) Software Asset Management Trends and Practices: software product life-cycle costing model support, licensing trends (sub-capacity pricing, etc), product displacement trends, value investment, and pricing model trends, and ESA/390 specific pricing metrics and definitions. (4) Software License Upgrades and Conversions: residual value credits, new or replacement products (functionality assessment), bundling and unbundling, cross platform conversion rights/costs, market research and administrative capacity, and price proposal documentation and preparation. (5) ISV Practices, Policies, and Training Support: GSA schedule availability/plans, ISV discounting, Price Caps/Basis and Price protection, standard inclusions/credits, overlap period for processor or data center moves, training scope, cost and location, inspection, usage audit tools, policies and rights, suspension/reinstatement costs, and escalation procedures. E. SUBMISSION OF CAPABILITY STATEMENTS/AREAS OF INTEREST/INDUSTRY COMMENTS: The capability statements are not to exceed 2ervice Level Agreements (SLAs), c) approach to performance metrics, d) reporting mechanisms, and e) approach to continuous process improvement 2. Mainframe HW & SW Maintenance Processes and Procedures. How commercial vendors perform the systems lifecycle from receipt of trouble tickets to close out, asset tracking, capacity planning, and delivery methods. 3. Repair Services. How the provider plans, manages, implements, and monitors all component of repair services. 4. Preventive Maintenance. How the provider plans, manages, implements, and monitors preventive maintenance services of hardware and software. 5. Equipment Disposal. How the provider plans, manages, implements, and monitors the activities associated with the removal and disposal of excess, broken and outdated material. 6. Warranty Management. How the provider plans, manages, implements, and monitors a comprehensive process for warranty management services. 7. Software Support. How the provider plans, manages, implements, and monitors a comprehensive process to maintain and upgrade software (commercial and firmware) with the latest versions available. INDUSTRY COMMENTS: The release of this RFI affords industry the opportunity to comment on any perceived issued with regard to the initiative and to allow the Government to receive the benefit of industry comments. The Government’s purpose in providing an opportunity for industry comment is to identify potential problem areas, and provide alternative recommendations in order to enhance the success of the initiative. The Government believes industry feedback is important, and is receptive to any and all ideas from industry which would result in limiting unncessaarily constraining requirements, realizing cost savings, or highlighting potential technical or contractual problem areas associated with the initiative. What new capabilities within the past five years have provided the biggest ROI, are industry standards, and describe what you see as the industry trend over the next five years. What has been your experience in performance-based delivery methods and techniques? Describe your experience with performance-based and/or incentives-based contracts. SERVICE LEVEL/PERFORMANCE METRICS. The Government is extremely interested in Service Level Agreements and Performance Metrics used by industry to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of this mainframe HW & SW maintenance support. The Government is interested in operational metrics (those used to monitor day-to-day activities) and management metrics (those used by management to gauge key indicators of success, executive dashboard, etc.). Additionally, the Government is interested in how industry balances using leading (forecasting) and lagging (static) metrics. Since the Government is exploring the use of a performance-based contracting approach, it would be helpful to understand the service levels/performance metrics used to manage the operations, and those metrics used as a basis for payment. Questions to the Government may be included under separate cover for all submissions. NOTE: THIS NOTICE MAY HAVE POSTED ON FEDBIZOPPS ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (13-JAN-2005). IT ACTUALLY APPEARED OR REAPPEARED ON THE FEDBIZOPPS SYSTEM ON 11-JAN-2006, BUT REAPPEARED IN THE FTP FEED FOR THIS POSTING DATE. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
 

Web Link

Link to FedBizOpps document.
(http://www.fbo.gov/spg/TREAS/IRS/NOPAP/TBD/listing.html)
 

Place of Performance

Address: 6009 Oxon Hill Road Oxon Hill, MD

Zip Code: 20745

Country: US
 

Record

SN00965127-F 20060113/060111214019 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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