SPECIAL NOTICE
D -- CDLIS
- Notice Date
- 9/12/2011
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) - Headquarters FMCSA
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- DTMC75RFI
- Archive Date
- 10/12/2011
- Point of Contact
- Vinton M. Grant, Phone: 202-385-2348
- E-Mail Address
-
vinton.grant@dot.gov
(vinton.grant@dot.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Request for Information (RFI): Market Research / Expression of Interest Issued by: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), U.S. Department of Transportation Website: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov Disclaimer This is a Request for Information (RFI) and planning ONLY, and does not constitute a solicitation. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e) responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot form a binding Contractor commitment by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), or the United States Government to take procurement action in this matter. The purpose of this RFI is to obtain market information on capable sources of supply, industry practices, and input specific to the information, scope, and questions provided herein. The Government is not responsible for any cost incurred by industry in furnishing this information. A response to this RFI is necessary in order to assist FMCSA in determining the potential levels of interest, adequate competition, and technical capability within Large and Small Business Community to provide the required services. In addition, this information will also be used to assist FMCSA in establishing a basis for developing any subsequent potential small business participation plan and/or small business goal percentages. However, notwithstanding contract vehicle selection or a Contractor's standing, firms not responding to the RFI are not precluded from participating in any future solicitation. Summary The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is an Operating Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) with a mission to reduce commercial motor vehicle-related crashes and fatalities. FMCSA's stakeholders and business processes are supported by a suite of information technology (IT) systems and applications. It is the Government's intent to seek sources with existing Government-wide contract vehicles (please cite GSA, GWAC, other) for the future opportunity to provide FMCSA with core services for hosting information technology plus other ancillary services (e.g., hardware and operating systems configuration support, patching, problem management, ability to meet FISMA requirements, and management of Personally Identifiable Information). Quality responses to the RFI will help FMCSA inform itself around current practices for managing hosting services and in planning other support services ancillary to hosting support and maintenance (e.g., cross functional support in areas of capacity management, configuration management, problem management, and continuity of operations / backup services). Respondents to this RFI should provide capability statements as qualified prospective vendors capable of providing the services that support the objectives identified in the RFI. Scope The scope of services is basic hosting of a web-based system operated within the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration and used in compliance reviews at federal, State, and local levels. The system is primarily a database which is run on multiple Windows based servers - which shall remain under the control of FMCSA. Thus, responsibility for programming and content management shall remain the responsibility of the government and are usually made on the servers at the time of transaction (i.e., modification, deletion or insertion) to ensure data integrity and eliminate the need for nightly batch processing to ensure redundancy. In addition to the redundant database servers, all data is stored on RAID level 6 devices to increase uptime and data integrity. The point of access for the system is a web server available via an Internet log in. The current configuration provides for web servers to function as a "hot" standby with the ability to scale for multiple live servers if the need arises. The system consists of thirty-four (34) Government-owned servers (see table below) currently at facilities in the Continental US with a warm disaster recovery location. These systems support the production, test, and backup environments. Hardware Inventory Server Name Make Model Storage Serial # Dell PE 6950 600 GB Dell PE 2850 876 GB IBM X-Series345 73 GB Dell PE 1850 160 GB Dell PE 1750 292 GB Dell PE 2950 6 TB Dell PE 2950 2 TB Dell PE 1950 500 GB Dell PE 1950 2 TB Dell PE 1950 108 GB Dell PE 1950 108 GB Dell PE 1950 124 GB Dell PE 1950 108 GB Dell PE 1950 108 GB Dell PE 2950 2 TB Dell PE 2850 876 GB Dell PE 2950 2 TB Dell PE 2950 6 TB Dell PE 2950 2 TB Dell PE 1950 160 GB Dell PE 1950 160 GB Dell PE 1950 160 GB Dell PE R300 1 TB Dell PE 2970 2 TB Dell PE 1950 300 GB Dell PE 1950 300 GB Dell PE 1950 300 GB Dell PE 6950 2 TB Dell PE 6950 108 GB Dell PE 6950 124 GB Dell PE 6950 108 GB Dell PE 6950 108 GB Dell PE 6950 176 GB Dell PE 6950 170 GB Note: Although systems are currently housed in 2 separate geographic locations, they can be located anywhere within the Continental United States as long as there is adequate separation between the primary site and warm disaster recovery location. Network It is the intent of the government at this time to retain operational and financial responsibility for the network traffic up to the Service Provider's facility perimeter. All Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses use Domain Names, allowing the underlying static IP addresses to be changed when the servers are moved to a new location. Service Provider Responsibilities It is the intent of the government to seek a Service Provider (large or small business) with established qualifications and a history of successful support of hosting services. The government desires a provider that can be responsible for supporting all aspects of the infrastructure layer to include the Operating System and associated system tools (e.g., Shells, AWK, Perl, etc.), as well as providing facilities and personnel designed for hosting infrastructure services. As such, it is important for the government to understand what constitutes the best practices and standard industry solutions that can provide basic hosting services. Small Business Opportunity The Government seeks to determine what capability Small Businesses or Small Disadvantaged Businesses have to meet FMCSA's requirements for Hosting and support services. Interested parties shall briefly describe their technical capabilities and how experience is best demonstrated (e.g. as a prime or as a sub-Contractor) within areas of Transition Planning and Operations. All interested Contractors are requested to provide written response to the applicable Sections below. Respondent Instructions Section 1 - All responders (large and small business) are permitted an Executive and General Summary of no more than 5 pages explaining history and background of the firm and relevance to the work. This section should also include a general discussion of the value of services offered (e.g. operational model, facilities, backup and restoration support; and types of best practices that can be used (e.g. risk management, coordination with application team, etc.; and an understanding of issues in doing business with the Government in the Federal market. It is most helpful to FMCSA if responses show: How these things are aligned to the objectives outlined in the summary above; How FMCSA may prepare itself to better work with a Contractor by preparing a better RFP and preparing for transition; How Contractors currently gather requirements for activities defined by the scope and information needed from the government by Offerors in preparing their proposals; How best practices in Security and knowledge of security threats and trends are coordinated (e.g. root access logs, security protocols, on-site visits by government or government-contractor personnel How knowledge and application of technical / management trends (e.g. Infrastructure as a Service) is used in the Provider's business model and any constraints that are important to understanding transition; Unique requirements and problems of Federal Government markets; and Type of billing metrics offered by the provider. Note: please do not include electronic files containing company information, hardcopy information, brochures or other company items. However, respondents may include a link to its company's web-site. Section 2 - [Small Business and SDB Only] Small Businesses and Small Disadvantaged Businesses are asked to provide a statement of capabilities and experience (no more than 2 pages). This information will only be used in helping FMCSA determine the extent to which requirements may or may not be reflected in a solicitation. Interested parties shall describe their technical capabilities and how experience is best demonstrated (e.g., as a prime or as a sub-Contractor) within areas of facilities and operations, integration, accreditation, product evaluations, and technical support during functional enhancements of applications or databases. In addition, please describe challenges experienced with similar contracts and how FMCSA may work with Small Business to mitigate risk and reduce burdens. FMCSA desires to know if the scope of work described in the Summary can be effectively accomplished by a Small Business or a Small Disadvantaged Business. Respondents to this section shall also include the following information: Business size DUNS number CAGE Code North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) Section 3 - All responders (large and small business) are requested to provide succinct but detailed response to the specific questions posed below. Please limit responses to no more than average of 1 page for each question. QUESTIONS The period of performance is yet to be determined. FMCSA desires to know what period of performance bidders find optimal, and why. FMCSA also seeks to understand what billing metrics the Provider offers for different platforms (e.g. UNIX, Wintel) and for storage hierarchy (e.g. Units of measure such as disk and tape). What information would Industry require from FMCSA in terms of accurately sizing/estimating the work load (i.e., Storage Size, Tapes, and other artifacts)? How can the Government prepare and anticipate transition requirements (e.g., pre-activities that reduce risk; documentation, etc.)? How has due diligence been conducted in previous and similar situations with the Federal Government? What experience and best practices can be used to inform FMCSA in requirements for managing portal architecture and related information solutions? As the importance of data drives changes to application design and support, what kind of industry solutions may be worth considering surrounding areas such as storage management, data warehousing, and data mining capabilities? [For example, what is the trend in data storage and storage hierarchies? What impact does encryption and masking of data have on storage?] What cross-functional practices are important to Information Assurance and continuous improvements? For example, if content management, development and database management are performed by another party how is root access managed? Also, how might the government conduct business in ways that foster data integrity, capacity planning, and problem management? What are typical metrics used by the Provider or Industry to monitor and manage a hosted software or database environment? What actions can the government avoid that impact Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators? Please reply by e-mail (with attached response) to both of the following: Contract Office: Mr. Vinton Grant, Cont r acting Office Office of Acquisitions Management, FMCSA Phone: 202-385-2348 Email: vinton.grant@dot.gov Please include the following information specific to your company within your response: Company Name Address Annual Revenues Presence in Washington, D.C. Metro Area Federal Government Contracting Vehicles and Related Schedules accessible to the Department of Transportation Primary Contact Name Phone Additional Contact Name Phone Responses should be submitted no later than 12p Noon (Eastern) on September 27, 2011. All responses should be limited to Eleven (11) pages + two (2) additional pages for Small Businesses. Pages should be Microsoft Word with one-inch margins, using single-spaced, and font size 12, Times New Roman.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOT/DTMC75/75/DTMC75RFI/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20590, United States
- Zip Code: 20590
- Zip Code: 20590
- Record
- SN02572903-W 20110914/110913000435-42cf265d9479350072a49a043c680fca (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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