SOURCES SOUGHT
58 -- SSA Video Broacasting Monitoring Systems
- Notice Date
- 9/21/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 512191
— Teleproduction and Other Postproduction Services
- Contracting Office
- Social Security Administration, Office of Budget, Finance, and Management, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1st Floor, Rear Entrance, 7111 Security Blvd., Baltimore, Maryland, 21244
- ZIP Code
- 21244
- Solicitation Number
- SSA-EGC-12-0001
- Archive Date
- 11/1/2011
- Point of Contact
- Edwin G Casswell, Phone: 4109659490, Tyrone K. Lewis, Phone: 4109653446
- E-Mail Address
-
ed.casswell@ssa.gov, tyrone.lewis@ssa.gov
(ed.casswell@ssa.gov, tyrone.lewis@ssa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Request for Information The Social Security Administration (SSA) is seeking companies under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 512191 who have GSA Federal Supply Schedules who can provide ongoing maintenance and ancillary equipment for the SSA Video Broadcasting and Monitoring Systems (VBMS). The VBMS consists of the Interactive Video Teletraining (IVT) network, Visual Communications Control Center (VCCC), Audio/Video (A/V) Monitoring Walls, Office of Communications (OCOMM) High Definition Broadcast Studio, and Social Security Television (SSTV). SSA has a staff of approximately 62,000 employees with headquarters in Woodlawn, Md. The field organization, which is decentralized to provide services at the local level, includes 10 regional offices and approximately 1,600 Field Office locations. The VBMS acquisition shall provide on-going nationwide maintenance services for government-owned hardware and software, support services, on-site technical support, equipment relocations and technical training. The IVT network provides real-time training via satellite broadcast to students at SSA offices who are geographically dispersed throughout the continental United States including Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the United States Virgin Islands. The IVT network is one-way video and two-way audio. Students interact directly with instructors through the One-Touch viewer response system (VRS). The IVT network uses satellite as the media for transmitting the training broadcasts to SSA's Field Offices (FO). NOTE: Satellite services and satellite equipment are a separate entity and are not part of this requirement. SSA's IVT network consists of approximately 1,600 classrooms/locations, broadcast studios (4 in Baltimore, Maryland Headquarters; one each in Kansas City, Missouri; Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and a mini studio in New York, New York), editing rooms, one Visual Communications Control Center (VCCC) and video walls. The Headquarters' studios transmit broadcasts through SSA's local services called "Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)." Each regional studio transmits training broadcasts over four T1s, equating to six Megahertz of bandwidth. All studio training broadcasts are transmitted to the VCCC, then to the satellite uplink system, and lastly, it is dispersed to the downlinks where the IVT classrooms are located in approximately 1,600 FO's. The m ajority of FO's have one IVT classroom; however, there are some FO's with two or more IVT classrooms. Each classroom is equipped with a TV monitor, a videocassette recorder, a One Touch site controller and One Touch viewer response units. The VCCC serves as the support desk for the VBMS but is primarily tasked with providing support services for the transport of the IVT broadcasts to the Agency's downlink locations. The studios transmit their broadcasts using Asynchronous Serial Interface (ASI) to the VCCC using terrestrial point-to-point T-1 circuits and the headquarters studios traverse the local SONET. Once received, the feeds are multiplexed and delivered to the satellite uplink system for transmission to the downlink sites. The VCCC consists of decoders, patch panels, routers, switches, A/V monitoring wall system, closed captioning decoders, circuits, AMX touch panel, and two (2) One Touch VRS (including One Touch Presentation Servers, site controller, and keypads). The OCOMM high definition broadcast studio consists of a control room, cameras, teleprompters, monitoring equipment, vector-scope, sync generators, A/V testing equipment, routers, switches, taping devices, microphones, televisions, chyron, scan converters, a virtual set system, and a storage and real-time ingest system. The OCOMM high definition broadcast studio is a stand-alone system. It does not communicate directly with Agency field offices. The studio does have a feed to the VCCC allowing transmission to the Agency field offices if needed. The studio is located on the ground floor of the East Low Rise building in Woodlawn, Maryland. The OCOMM high definition broadcast studio contains a government-owned 3.5-meter agile (steerable) dish, which is designed to receive both C-Band and KU-Band satellite signals. This allows the OCOMM broadcast studio to receive programs in order to reach a large Agency internal audience. SSTV is a specialized form of broadcasting in which video and multimedia content is displayed in the reception areas of Agency FOs. This system is used to inform, influence, educate the public about the requirements for their visit, provide information concerning the Agency's programs and services, and to encourage the use of the web and automated telephone services for a viewer's future needs. SSTV features a digital display of key messages, images, background music, real-time weather and traffic, emergency information and notifications, and severe weather alerts. Content can be distributed using different languages based on the office's cultural environment. The SSTV network is currently being integrated into 1,218 offices. The network consists of 3 Helius MediaSignage Servers, 1,398 Helius SST-Mi computers, 1,427 Sharp 46" LCD and LED TVs, Cisco SD205 switches, Cisco USB300M USB to Ethernet adapters, and all associated TV wall mounts, cart stands, and cabling. In addition to these devices, the SSTV network also leverages existing Helius MediaGate Routers (MGR), Helius MediaLock servers, satellite communications equipment, transponder airtime, and the Agency's MPLS network. The acquisition shall provide the Agency the opportunity to expand and upgrade the VBMS by purchasing additional equipment, software and support services throughout the life of the contract. VBMS expansion will include new IVT broadcast studios and classrooms, additional SSTV locations, new A/V monitoring walls and VCCCs for any additional data centers. VBMS upgrades shall include high definition and the latest technological broadcasting equipment for the existing IVT and OCOMM studios. The contract shall provide the Agency with an optional solution to integrate the existing IVT network with a new training to the desktop solution. GSA Schedule contractor holders must be able to provide maintenance and support services including ancillary equipment during the principle period of maintenance (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., local time) with a four (4) hour response for emergency maintenance and an eight (8) hour response time for remedial maintenance for all 1,600 sites. SSA also requires on-site maintenance support at its Headquarters location for thirteen and one-half (13 1/2) hours per day (7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.) Monday through Friday. Vendors must have the capability to provide maintenance support for the estimated 1,600 sites through the contract life. Companies must be able to provide One Touch software support and upgrades, a tracking system for trouble calls and security suitability. Companies must have technical experience, knowledge and training certification for all the equipment in the IVT network including servicing Frame Relay/ATM connectivity to the One Touch IVT equipment in the classrooms, studios and VCCC. Vendors must provide a copy of their appropriate GSA Schedule. Vendors shall also provide information about their company and include the number and qualifications of employees, detailing previous related experience and projects similar in scope to SSA's requirement. Locations where similar equipment has been installed and maintained by the vendor shall also be provided. Vendors responding shall indicate whether the products and services are available on their GSA Schedule and your current GSA Schedules period of performance. Vendors must provide verifiable proof that they will be able to meet the maintenance performance requirements through a national on-call maintenance system. No cost or pricing data is required or requested. This is not a request for proposal, and the Government does not intend to pay for the information solicited or received. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation of the source data received. Requests for copies of a solicitation will not be honored or acknowledged. No solicitation is being issued at this time. Any interested organizations must submit appropriate data electronically to Ed Casswell at ed.casswell@ssa.gov no later than October 17, 2011. Note that SSA email has a size limit of 5Megabytes.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/SSA/DCFIAM/OAG/SSA-EGC-12-0001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Nationwide, United States
- Record
- SN02586734-W 20110923/110922000625-2d1d6c764482c7ce1a595aa7f432e07e (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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