SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Mobile Communications
- Notice Date
- 11/19/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 517210
— Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite)
- 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-RFI-14-630B0
- Point of Contact
- Madeline R. Bryant, Phone: 4109659464
- E-Mail Address
-
Madeline.Bryant@ssa.gov
(Madeline.Bryant@ssa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Mobile Communications Acquisition RFI Synopsis The Social Security Administration (SSA), Office of Acquisition and Grants (OAG), in conjunction with its customer, the Office of Telecommunications and Systems Operations (OTSO)/Division of Integrated Telecommunication Management (DITM), is currently performing market research to determine the availability of sources to provide a Cellular Phone/Smartphone solution for the agency. We are looking for sources capable of providing Service Enabling Devices (SED), airtime, and support. DITM manages many of the smartphones, cell phones, pagers and broadband cards throughout SSA. Additionally, DITM is the main point of contact with the current in-building systems in place that enhance signal strength throughout many of SSA's buildings. These locations are located in the main Headquarters campus in Woodlawn, MD and in Durham, NC. The SSA continues to support and purchase smartphones. Currently, there are nearly 4,500 BlackBerrys being utilized across the agency. The agency purchases hand-held units and accessories, licenses and usage fees. These support SSA's executives, senior staff, senior management staff and technical support staff, as well as selected knowledge worker positions requiring extensive mobility and communication. The smartphones allow users to access and manage SSA e-mail, calendars, tasks, notes, address books and the Internet. In addition, these smartphones have built-in cellular phones and the ability to emulate a pager. These features allow SSA staff to work more efficiently and effectively while away from their workstation. The SSA has a continuing need for cellular phones. We anticipate the inventory of cellular phones to remain stable through FY 2018. OTSO receives requests for cellular phones from management for technical staff that provide after-hours support in situations where a BlackBerry or smartphone is not necessary. OTSO currently provides local and national paging services for those employees that require minimal communication, either on an occasional basis or to gain alerts from various automated systems. OTSO provides both numeric and alphanumeric paging capabilities with options for basic paging, one-way text messaging via a web page or e-mail account, and two-way paging. The two-way pagers allow users to communicate with other two-way users or e-mail users immediately without the need for a phone, Personal Computer, or Personal Digital Assistant. Broadband cards are used to quickly and easily transform a laptop into a mobile office by allowing access to the Internet and e-mail, including attachments; almost anywhere a wireless signal is received. Currently, there are approximately 200 broadband cards in service at SSA Headquarters. A large number of executives and support staff at SSA are using cellular and BlackBerry services in the buildings in which they work. Therefore, demand for reliable in-building cellular service is increasing as more people acquire wireless devices. Currently, the locations that have an in-building system are located in the main Headquarters campus in Woodlawn, MD and in Durham, NC. As we go forward, there is a need to have in-building coverage in most of our buildings on campus. We request information from businesses that believe they have a bona-fide capability to meet the agency's cellphone/smartphone requirements. Specifically, interested firms should submit the following information: 1) General Information:Include the company name, address, point of contact name, point of contact number, DUNS Number, business size status for the indicated NAICS code. 2) Capabilities:Please provide a detailed explanation for how your firm has the capability and experience to support the agency's wireless infrastructure. Include details of how you provided similar services to other Federal Government clients (include contract number, date of award, dollar value, and explanation of how support relates to the potential requirements stipulated within this notice). We will not consider simple marketing information or incomplete responses. We will not consider reference to vendor web sites as a valid response. Respondents should also indicate whether their services are available on GSA FSS. In addition, please address the following questions. * What options are there for coverage in areas where your coverage is not optimal? * We have several buildings at both our Headquarters (HQ) campus and other standalone buildings that require enhanced coverage (Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) or other in-building signal enhancement). We are striving for a multi-carrier environment. a. What is your approach to enhance signal strength in buildings with limited coverage? b. Can you work with an existing infrastructure (cellular or emergency responders DAS)? c. How will you cooperate with other carriers to provide one infrastructure? d. If you do not win the award, what options does SSA have to enhance your signal in our buildings? 3) Services and Devices: Provide information you have related to the following areas. * Please provide a complete list of retail pricing on services and devices. * What promotions are available to government agencies? a. Are there any spot discounts or special offers and for how long? * Are there any newly available SEDs? * What is the maximum seed stock we can get at no cost? * What Open Market devices do you offer and what is the retail cost for each? * What is the minimum refresh rate, in months, for Federal customers to be eligible for free replacement devices? *Please provide your paging service details. a. Is your paging service cellular or is it the standard paging platform? b. What paging devices are available and what is their retail cost? * How do provide service in international locations? In what areas are you NOT able to provide cellular service? We have Foreign Service Posts in: Mexico City, Mexico Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Guadalajara, Mexico San Jose, Costa Rica Santo Domingo, DR Buenos Aires, Argentina Frankfurt, Germany Krakow, Poland Paris, France Warsaw, Poland London, England Dublin, Ireland Lisbon, Portugal Madrid, Spain Oslo, Norway Manila, Philippines Tokyo, Japan Rome, Italy Jerusalem, Israel Athens, Greece * We have miscellaneous users throughout the country with cell phones, smartphones and broadband cards. How can you meet our requirements of providing them with reliable cellular service and devices on an as needed basis? What is your plan for providing coverage in areas where your coverage isn't available, both domestic and international? 4) Availability of Services through Existing Contracts: Identify if your firm believes that a Government Wide acquisition Contract (GWAC) exists that could meet these requirements. If so, provide specific details that could assist the agency evaluate the identified source of supply. 5) Equipment Requirements: Provide information you have related to the following areas. * Will you be able to maintain and provide service for our Government Furnished Equipment shown below? If not, how will you handle continuation of our current service? a. BlackBerry 9000, 9360, 9900, Z10, Q10, A30 b. Cell phones i. Nokia 2610, 3120, 6010, 6030, 6200, 6340i ii. LG GU292, CU405 iii. Samsung SGH-A157, SGH-A227, SGH-A237, SHG-A657 SGH-D347 iv. Motorola V190, V540, M900, V9 c. Broadband/Air cards i. Novatel u730 ii. Sierra 885 Mercury, AC 860, AC881 Unity, Shockwave, Force, Velocity, Lightning, Momentum, Beam d. Hotspots i. Sierra 754S Elevate Mobile Device Configuration Requirements: The agency requires SEDs to accept and enforce the following configuration options below. Please provide details as to whether the SEDs you offer support or do not support each of these configuration options. 1. Device passcode enforcement (complexity, length, presence) 2. Installation of applications 3. Camera (enable / disable) 4. Control all radios / communications: a. Wi-Fi (enable / disable) b. Bluetooth (enable / disable) c. Near Field Communication (NFC) (enable / disable) 5. Ability to enable or disable specific hardware component and uses: Enable blue tooth headphone, disable Bluetooth keyboard 6. GPS (enable / disable) 7. Store enterprise data to removable media (disable) 8. Ability to support a secure Personal Information Manager (PIM) capability with email, calendar, and address book capabilities 9. Ability to lock the device or to erase (wipe) ONLY the managed data on a device 10. Ability to read/send (Encrypt and Signed) messages that use PKI or S/MIME encryption 11. (Optional) Roaming (enable / disable) 12. (Optional) - Microphone (enable / disable) 13. (Optional) - Geofencing for device features; enable or disable features based on device location In addition, the device must also have the ability to report the following information back to a Mobile Device Management (MDM) tool either natively or through an installed agent: 1. Device Manufacturer/Model 2. Government Furnished (GFE) or personal (BYOD) device 3. Carrier 4. Wireless Number 5. MAC Addresses 6. International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) 7. SIM module data 8. Storage capacity 9. OS and Version 10. Device up time 11. Encryption Capability 12. User Name 13. Email 14. Phone number 15. Agency information 16. Roaming status 17. Last policy update time 18. Last synchronization time 19. Jailbreak / root status 20. Available program memory 21. Available storage memory 6) Administration: Please explain what account management tools you can offer to assist in managing our account on a day-to-day and long term basis. Please address the following areas. * We are looking for optimal pooling arrangements and service plans for the approximate number of devices listed below * 4,500 Smartphones, 450 cell phones, 200 broadband cards, 61 emergency only SIM (parking lot phones), 80 text only SIMs * Explain how overages are calculated on pooled plans. * What are excess usage alerts and how do they work? Are alerts sent to end users or account administrators? * Explain how billing accounts work with pooled plans. Can you pool across the main account level or at a billing Account level, or both? * Explain your device recycle/disposal process. * What Management Information (MI) will you provide to us for analysis of billing and rate plans. * Will you provide Automated Data Exchange for billing data? * What mechanism do you have in place to alert SSA of device changes made on our account? 7) Transition: Provide information regarding a plan to transition (our current wireless products to) the new wireless devices you will be providing. Please explain the process and how this may affect the agency in terms of potential downtime, a budgetary estimate of cost, additional equipment necessary, or any other considerations. Interested sources that believe they have the bona fide capability to perform these services should submit a detailed statement of their solution via email to Madeline Bryant, at Madeline.Bryant@ssa.gov no later than December 4, 2013 5:00 PM EST. Facsimile responses are not acceptable. Please reference SSA-RFI-14-630B0 in the email subject line. The file size limitation for e-mail attachments is 5 megabytes. ***Any questions regarding this RFI should be sent to Madeline.Bryant@ssa.gov no later than November 22, 2013 5:00 PM EST.**** Synopsis Terms and Conditions: • This is a sources sought announcement, a market survey for written information only. • This is not a solicitation announcement for proposals and the Government will not award a contract from this announcement. • The Government will not reimburse for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information requests. • The Government will not accept any telephone calls, or requests for a bid package or solicitation. There is no bid package or solicitation. • In order to protect the procurement integrity of any future procurement, if any, that may arise from this announcement; the Government will not give information regarding the technical point of contact. • The Government will not make appointments for presentations. This synopsis is for planning purposes only, not a commitment by the Government. • The Government will use responses to this sources sought/market research notice to make appropriate acquisition decisions.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/SSA/DCFIAM/OAG/SSA-RFI-14-630B0/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Main Headquarters Campus in Woodlawn, MD and National Computer Center in Durham, NC, United States
- Record
- SN03237273-W 20131121/131119234710-155ccb5fb62cc1676b524a9d96c21714 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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