Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF APRIL 07, 2006 FBO #1593
SOURCES SOUGHT

D -- Infrastructure Optimization Initiative

Notice Date

4/5/2006
 

Notice Type

Sources Sought
 

NAICS

541519 — Other Computer Related Services
 

Contracting Office

General Services Administration, Office of the Chief Acquisition Officer (V), GSA Headquarters Contracting Division (VC), 18th & F Streets, NW Room 4020, Washington, DC, 20405
 

ZIP Code

20405
 

Solicitation Number

GSV06PD00088
 

Response Due

5/5/2006
 

Archive Date

5/20/2006
 

Point of Contact

Kisha Emmanuel, Contracts Specialist, Phone 202 219-3457, Fax 202 501-3161, - Kisha Emmanuel, Contracts Specialist, Phone 202 219-3457, Fax 202 501-3161,
 

E-Mail Address

kisha.emmanuel@gsa.gov, kisha.emmanuel@gsa.gov
 

Description

NO QUESTIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED BY TELEPHONE. ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED TO it-infrastructure@gsa.gov. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. NO PURCHASE WILL RESULT FROM THIS ACTION. The General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Government-wide Policy, in conjunction with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), seeks information related to Federal-wide Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure Optimization. The objective is to further refine the opportunities for IT infrastructure consolidation and optimization, and develop government-wide common solutions. The IT Infrastructure Optimization Initiative (IOI) will define specific common performance measures for service levels and costs, identify best practices, and develop guidance for transition plans within agencies and/or across agencies. This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP). The IOI Task Force intends to assess the capabilities and determine the potential effectiveness and efficiency improvements in the government’s IT infrastructure. This may lead to the issuance of one or more RFP’s at a later date. Responses to this RFI will not affect a potential offeror's ability to respond to any RFP that might follow. Please ensure that any sensitive or protected information is marked as such and the government will ensure this information is not released. Practitioners Day Respondents are invited to attend the Infrastructure Optimization Initiative Practitioners Day for Government, Industry, Non-profit organizations and other stakeholders. The IOI Managing Partner and representatives from OMB and the PMO will be present to discuss the LoB. Practitioners Day for the IOI LoB will be on April 19, 2006 from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT in Washington, DC. The location of this event will be emailed to registrants. Due to limited space, please register in advance and limit your participation at this event to two attendees per company or organization. You may register to attend at http://www.estrategy.gov/lineofbusiness/ through 5:00 pm, April 14, 2006. Registered attendees as well as those who are interested, but not able to attend, are requested to submit their questions related to the IOI LoB in advance to it-infrastructure@gsa.gov by 5:00 pm EDT, April 14, 2006. Questions and Answers will be available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/c-6-9-ioi.html approximately ten days after the event. RFI Questionnaire Response Responses to the RFI must be submitted by e-mail to GSA by 5:00 p.m. EDT, May 5th, 2006. In responding to the RFI, please use the template attached to this notice and place your responses in-line in Part II of the document, retaining the question number and question text before each answer. Your e-mail should be clearly marked in the subject line with reference to RFI-GSV06PD00088 and your organization. Please include a point of contact your organization. E-mail your response in Word (version 2000 or higher) to it-infrastructure@gsa.gov. The Government recognizes that respondents may have information pertaining to only some infrastructure areas. Limited, “best of breed”, information can still be of high quality and significant value to the ultimate common solution(s) for the IOI. Therefore, while the government seeks to define common solutions that address the entire IOI, it does not discourage partial responses. If you choose not to respond to a question, indicate “no response” and identify the rationale. No more than 20 additional single-sided pages with print no smaller than 11 point is suggested; however, text included in graphics, tables, and figures can be smaller than 10 point. The submissions must be in sufficient detail and clarity to provide the information needed to assess your solution approach. Please do not include marketing materials with your response at this time. Infrastructure Optimization Initiative Request for Information (RFI) April 6, 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 PART I: BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1 1.1 Overview 1 1.2 Purpose 1 1.3 Scope 2 1.4 Guiding Principles 2 1.5 Vision, Goals, Objectives 3 1.6 Areas Included Within IT Infrastructure Optimization Initiative 4 1.7 Instructions for Responding to the RFI Questionnaire (Part II) 5 2.0 COMPLETE RFI INCLUDING PART II QUESTIONS - ATTACHED IN SEPARATE DOCUMENT 1.0 PART I: BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1.1 Overview The General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Government-wide Policy, in conjunction with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), seeks information related to the IT Infrastructure Optimization Initiative (IOI). The objective is to further refine the opportunities for IT infrastructure consolidation and optimization, and develop government-wide common solutions. The IOI will define specific common performance measures for service levels and costs, identify best practices, and develop guidance for transition plans within agencies and/or across agencies. Consolidation and optimization of IT infrastructure represents a significant opportunity to realize future cost savings by taking a more coordinated approach to spending on commodity IT infrastructure. IT infrastructure consolidation and optimization case studies also demonstrate that agencies could improve IT service levels and, when relieved of the burden of managing these non-core functions, concentrate more on mission priorities and results. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.215-3, Request for Information for Solicitation and Planning Purposes (October 1997), this notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP). The IT Infrastructure Optimization Task Force intends to assess the responses to inform its decision-making. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the government to contract for services. The government will not pay for any information provided as a result of this notice and will not recognize or reimburse any cost associated with RFI submission. Responses to this RFI will not affect a potential offeror's ability to respond to any RFP that might follow. Please ensure that any sensitive or protected information is marked as such and the government will ensure this information is not released externally. The overarching objective for this RFI is information gathering and not development of possible government acquisition of products or services. 1.2 Purpose The purpose of this RFI is to provide industry, government (federal, state & local, and tribal), and non-profit organizations with a vehicle to describe solutions and implementation approaches for achieving the government’s IOI vision and goals through the development of common solutions integrated with the Federal Enterprise Architecture. This will enable the government to incorporate strategies, alternatives, experiences and innovative practices in developing and implementing common solutions. The ultimate goal is to achieve an optimized federal IT infrastructure to better serve the citizen. This requirement builds upon the existing E Government framework and facilitates a federal enterprise-wide effort. Responses to this RFI should be from the perspective of being an IT infrastructure user, provider or consultant at the enterprise level. The government does not need at this time, information marketing a firm’s products for use in a common solution. The RFI is to: • Solicit information from industry, government, and non-profit organizations on strategies, alternatives, and experiences in developing and implementing programs and innovative practices that have been effective in increasing IT infrastructure effectiveness and efficiency; • Solicit lessons learned from enterprises that have overcome similar challenges as those faced by the government (e.g., large geographically dispersed work force, decentralization, multi-platform environments, legacy systems, and limited resources); and • As necessary and appropriate, support development of joint business cases to implement any common solutions and to inform agencies’ FY 2008 budget requests and OMB’s decisions. 1.3 Scope This RFI is soliciting information supporting improvements in the federal government-wide IT Infrastructure Optimization Initiative. The Managing Partners for this initiative are the: • Office of Management and Budget (OMB) • General Services Administration (GSA) The IT Infrastructure Optimization Task Force comprises: • Executive Sponsor; • Managing Partners; • Participating federal agency partners; as well as • Federal experts in the areas of IT management, Enterprise Architecture, and information technology specialties. The following high-level milestones provide the context of this RFI activity: • RFI released: 4/6/06 • IT Infrastructure Optimization Practitioners Day: 4/19/06 • RFI responses received: 5/5/06 • Final Common Solution, Concept of Operations and Target Architecture: 6/9/06 • Final Joint Business Case for IOI Common Solutions: Early August 2006 1.4 Guiding Principles OMB and the established Task Force are focused on business-driven, common solutions integrated with the Federal Enterprise Architecture. The definitions of these key characteristics include: • Common Solutions – Service solutions needed to meet operational requirements through a target architecture that includes common business processes and services • Concept of Operations – The Infrastructure Optimization Initiative and common solutions will be organized, governed, and measured through a defined CONOPS • Federal Enterprise Architecture – Common solutions will be integrated within layers of the Federal Enterprise Architecture (ref http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/a-1-fea.html ) • Business Driven vs. Technology Driven – Solutions address distinct business improvements that directly impact IT infrastructure performance goals 1.5 Vision, Goals, Objectives The Federal Government’s vision for the Infrastructure Optimization Initiative is: An effective and efficient IT infrastructure enabling government-wide customer-centric services The goals and objectives supporting this vision are: Goal 1: Infrastructure enables interoperability of functions across agencies and programs. • Objective 1.1: Single-faced/one-stop services. • Objective 1.2: Users of the infrastructure realize interoperability of functions across all sectors, partners, and government levels. • Objective 1.3: Proprietary standards and implementations do not impede interoperability of common services. Goal 2: Optimize the infrastructure to enable collaboration within and across agencies, sectors, and government levels. • Objective 2.1: Capable of supporting multiple security enclaves. • Objective 2.2: Improve optimization awareness and commitment. • Objective 2.3: Establish seamless and efficient mechanisms for information exchange across users of infrastructure. • Objective 2.4: Establish the minimum standards to enable collaboration. Goal 3: Efficiencies realized from infrastructure investments will be recapitalized in support of agency mission. • Objective 3.1: Reduce total cost of ownership. • Objective 3.2: Establish key performance indicators and metrics while not degrading performance and optimally improving services to users. • Objective 3.3: Establish actionable service level agreements. • Objective 3.4: Establish transparent and comparable unit cost structure and standards across infrastructure providers. Goal 4: Infrastructure investment governed to achieve agency mission and government-wide goals. • Objective 4.1: Be responsive to changes in national requirements including presidential directives and government-wide initiatives. • Objective 4.2: Use modular approach to design and acquisition of services. • Objective 4.3: Shared approach to identifying, evaluating and selecting new technologies, methodologies and services within commodity infrastructure. • Objective 4.4: Operationalize security and privacy standards to foster cross-agency confidence in infrastructure common services’ implementation of federal guidelines. • Objective 4.5: Provide scalable capabilities to meet needs of different size organizations. 1.6 Areas Included Within IT Infrastructure Optimization Initiative The Task Force has identified five areas it believes are important for IT Infrastructure Optimization. • DATA CENTER – A data center is any facility (room or building) used for equipment for the storage, management, and dissemination of electronic data and information to multiple users. Examples of costs included in “data center” are building/facilities costs (lease, purchase, utility costs, property management), building/office assets (desks, chairs, office supplies, server racks), data center staff (in-house and contractor), hosting and storage servers (all levels including mainframe to file server, as well as storage management/provision devices such as silos, SANS, data center class printers, etc), and software (licenses) running on hosting and storage servers (including licenses for mission-oriented/enterprise apps and application development components). • TELECOMMUNICATIONS (VOICE NETWORKS) – Telecommunications (telecom) refers to communication over long distances and typically covers all forms of distance and/or conversion of the original communications, including radio, telegraphy, television, telephony, data communication, and computer networking. Examples of costs included in “telecom” are land line service, cellular service, telephones/wireless devices, and VOIP appliances, servers, handsets, and software added to a data network to allow voice communications. • DATA NETWORKS – Data networks refers to the hardware, software, and communication services that allow any two computers or other devices to exchange data between them. Examples of costs included in “data network” are communication lines/bandwidth, routers, switches, firewalls, intrusion detection and other security infrastructure, lease/purchase/operation of devices to transport data electronically and all devices, staff, and software to manage the same. • DESKTOP/SEAT MANAGEMENT – Desktop/seat management typically refers to the acquisition, deployment, and ongoing support of the technology associated with the desktop computing environment. Examples of costs included in “desktop/seat management” are workstations, desktop/local network printers/scanners, office automation software (e.g. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Project, etc.), and desktop management/support staff and service contracts (e.g. outsourcing contracts). This does not include help desk or network costs that are defined separately in this section. • IT HELP DESK – A help desk is an information and assistance resource that troubleshoots problems with computers and other information technology products. Examples of costs included in “help desk” are staff, help desk support contracts (outsourcing), and incident (ticket) tracking software. We understand that RFI respondents may identify additional areas they believe to be critical in an effective federal IT infrastructure. Therefore, Part II, Section 8 has been created for respondents to provide information regarding any additional area identified. 1.7 Instructions for Responding to the RFI Questionnaire (Part II) The RFI Questionnaire (Part II) is divided into the following sections. • Section 1 - requests information about your organization. You MUST respond to this section. • Section 2 - addresses the overall Infrastructure Optimization Initiative without regard to individual infrastructure areas. You MAY choose to respond to this section. • Sections 3 to 7 - addresses the infrastructure areas identified in Part I-6. You MAY respond to the sections for any, or all, of the infrastructure areas. There is a common set of questions that should be answered for each of the infrastructure areas to which you are responding. In addition, there are a small number of specific questions for each infrastructure area. • Section 8 - MAY be used to address any additional infrastructure area you believe the IOI should include, beyond the five areas already identified in Part I-6. Please respond to the appropriate sections based on your experience with infrastructure service optimization for complex, disparate organizations or component subdivisions. We are interested in both your actual experience and your recommendations about what would work best to achieve the goals of the Federal government-wide Infrastructure Optimization Initiative. For purposes of this RFI, the term “optimization” means implementation of common solutions to improve effectiveness and reduce the cost of IT services. Common solutions can vary widely but include consolidation, shared services, establishment of centers of excellence, standardization and aggregate buys. Part II presents the questions asked by this RFI. To assist the government Task Force in analysis of the submissions, this section has been pre-formatted with tagged fields. Please download this section as a template, and use the template to respond to each question. You will find the template including Part II attached to this RFI. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO FEDBIZOPPS ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (05-APR-2006); HOWEVER, IT DID APPEAR IN THE FEDBIZOPPS FTP FEED ON THIS DATE. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
 

Web Link

Link to FedBizOpps document.
(http://www.fbo.gov/spg/GSA/V/VC/GSV06PD00088/listing.html)
 

Place of Performance

Address: Washington, D.C.

Zip Code: 20405

Country: USA
 

Record

SN01021648-F 20060407/060405221613 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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

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