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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF JUNE 08, 2018 FBO #6041
DOCUMENT

D -- Strategic Sourcing Support - Attachment

Notice Date

6/6/2018
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

541519 — Other Computer Related Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of Veterans Affairs;Technology Acquisition Center;23 Christopher Way;Eatontown NJ 07724
 

ZIP Code

07724
 

Solicitation Number

36C10B18Q2673
 

Response Due

1/16/2018
 

Archive Date

4/25/2018
 

Point of Contact

Amy Schmalzigan
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

Virtual Industry Day Questions and Answers Strategic Sourcing Requirement Which incumbents are currently supporting the office? What are their contract numbers? This is the first contract for Strategic Sourcing support within the Office of Strategic Sourcing. There is no incumbent. What were the offices major accomplishments since it was formed? Provide skilled acquisition and subject matter expertise to offices within OIT to include requirements development, cost analysis, and technical evaluations. Centralize CIO and delegated authority for approval of OIT based acquisitions. Introduced new policy and procedures as it relates to acquisition standardization. Monitor, collect, and report IT investment data for the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act to the Office of Management and Budget. Identify and implement policies and process to remain compliant under law. Develop position descriptions and organizational structure to staff Office of Strategic Sourcing. Identify Now, Near, and future goals to Leverage an enterprise view of supplier solutions and performance to improve the quality and value of services received Establish new processes to build stronger relationships with industry to promote innovation and transparent category management program optimize supplier performance. Will an organizational conflict of interest exist for firms who provide professional services to providers of the categories in question? That is, if a firm provides advice to a commercial or government-to-government Telecom services provider, is that firm conflicted from providing advice to the buyer of Telecom servicer? We do not fully understand this question; however, OCI s are fact specific and will be evaluated on a case by case basis. As the Government continues to refine its requirements it will continue to evaluate for any potential or future OCIs that may arise and handle them according to Federal Laws and Regulations. If you would like to further clarify this question, please reach out to the CO. What are the challenges that the Office of Strategic Sourcing has had to overcome/ faces as it tries to reach its objectives? The Office of Strategic Sourcing faces the challenges of overhauling the way that VA OIT identifies future requirements, streamlines acquisitions, and identifies innovative technologies while continuing to provide best in class services and hardware to support the need of the veteran. Immediate challenges include but are not limited: Developing/Implementing OIT wide policies Identifying OIT investments Tracking current and future OIT investments Organizational awareness For the Asset Management deliverables on pages 13-14, (e.g. hardware/software inventories), what tool or tools, if any, does VA currently deploy to collect such information? Internal databases are currently used to collect the information. The Asset Management tasks on pages 13-16 represent a substantial level of effort. Does the Government expect offerors to include the price of an asset management toolset as part of their offer, or is an asset management toolset out of scope for this solicitation? An asset management toolset is out of scope for this solicitation. What is the anticipated level of effort (i.e. FTEs) for this requirement? The Government will not identify how many FTE s are appropriate to successfully accomplish the identified requirements. Offerors should bid what they deem appropriate along with their technical approach. What is the intent of this program compared to the recently expired, but still active Commodity Enterprise Contract Next Generation program? Can you provide details on the similarities and differences? Or is the intent that the Strategic Sourcing initiative replaces the CEC Next Gen? The Office of Strategic Sourcing is not a program, but newly Congressionally authorized office within VA s Office of Information Technology. The Category Management Division within the Office of Strategic Sourcing will continue to use the Commodity Enterprise Contract Next Generation as a tool to purchase best in class products and services. The Category Management portion of this requirement is to Improve spend and demand management, identify effective cost avoidance and cost savings strategies, create operational and evidence-based category management strategies to include documented and vetted long-term category management roadmap with interim phases/stage gates. How much notice will be given if the optional tasks are to be exercised? A 30-day notice will be given through a Notice of Intent prior to exercising the optional task. Will the agency provide a list of products and versions that are to be considered Government Furnished Information (GFI)? How will this information be communicated to the SMEs assigned to this area and others? In terms of deliverables for this task area and others listed, what is the frequency of submittals the agency would like to see from the resources (Bi-Weekly, Monthly, Bi-Monthly etc.)? Yes, we will provide the data and identify the version for GFI. Information will be provided electronically. The frequency of each task area varies; a deliverables table will be included in the final RFQ. Is it expected that the contractor will make use of specific GFE tools, or are they to propose their own solutions/equipment to meet each task and requirement? It is expected that the contract will make use of current Government provided tools as well as existing tools within its own arsenal to meet each task and requirement. We are not looking to develop a new system under this requirement. Will the VA provide documentation around existing processes and procedures or is the contractor expected to conduct their own assessment? Yes, we will provide documentation around existing processes and procedures to the awardee. Based on what is provided and the awardees knowledge of best practices, we expect the contractor to perform an assessment and provide recommendations. The Draft Strategic Sourcing Support PWS does not appear to include access to acquisition sensitive information that would cause future potential conflict of interest (COI). Could the Government please confirm its position on potential future COI given the current PWS scope? If there is the potential for future COI, please specify the task areas and activities that could cause the COI. If there is COI, would the Government allow the awardee to establish a firewall to mitigate potential future COI issues? Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCIs) would arise whenever a contractor, by virtue of its work, gains access to information which provides it with an unfair competitive advantage impacting a future contract; precludes it from rendering impartial advice; or impairs its objectivity. Each potential OCI is fact specific and the Government would evaluate the circumstances on a case by case basis to determine what, if any, plan may be used to mitigate concerns. OCIs generally fall into one of three categories of conflicts of interest: Biased ground rules, Impaired Objectivity and Unequal access to information. The PWS section 5.6, entitled Acquisition Planning and Execution Support, is one section of the PWS where a potential OCI might exist. As the Government continues to refine its requirements it will continue to evaluate for any potential or future OCIs that may arise from this effort and will handle them according to Federal laws and regulations. Will the VA provide all software required for the successful execution of the PWS, for example Dashboard or Discover/Analyze Usage Patterns software, or should a Contractor be prepared to propose software in its bid? VA has some dashboard software and analysis software. It is highly recommended that the offeror provide software in its bid. This will be further detailed within the RFQ. Section 5.2.1 (IT Hardware Category Support) of the PWS calls for a category profile for hardware in the deliverables section, but there is not a similar deliverable listed in sections 5.2.2 (Software Category Management) or 5.2.3 (Telecommunication Category). Is the omission intentional or should there also be a category profile deliverable for software and telecommunications? There should be a category profile deliverable for software and telecommunications under Category Management. A number of the areas within the PWS call for supporting responses to various Federal, OIT, and VA data calls. Is there an established or expected cadence of how often this support is required? Are the requests ad hoc or reoccurring? Currently these responses occur quarterly and are reoccurring. There are rare occasions when the responses are ad hoc. In relationship to knowledge transfer, what is the expected timeframe for the Contractor to transition operational duties to Government personnel? Is there an approximate timeframe for achieving Initial Operating Capability or Full Operating Capability during the anticipated period of performance? There is no exact timeframe for identified for knowledge transfer, but should be reasonable and based on the level of complexity. The estimated time frame for Initial Operating Capability is 3 months after the initial start date. Full Operating Capability is 6 months after the initial start date. What Schedule will this be procured from and will the government consider releasing this requirement as a SDVOSB set-aside? We are anticipating releasing this off of either GSA PSS or Schedule 70. Yes, we do believe that this can be a SDVOSB set-aside. For the Asset Management deliverables on pages 13-14, (e.g. hardware/software inventories), what tool or tools, if any, does VA currently deploy to collect such information? VA currently uses SCCM Laptops Desktops Servers IEM Big Fix Airwatch Mobile assets Cisco Network Collector (CNC) Network gear IIC Portal CDW SQL Excel Tableau Additional Virtual Industry Questions and Answers What's the timing of the release of the RFQ? We are anticipating releasing the solicitation in July. Is this FFP or T&M or Hybrid? FFP Will a copy of the slides be posted... when? The slides will not be posted. Do you happen to know the size of this opportunity? The RFI requested a ROM, but without workload data and based on what I heard at industry day, we would be augmenting Government personnel. We would like to correctly plan based on knowing the workload and differentiate between Government LOE versus contractor LOE. The Government might include an estimated LOE within the solicitation. This is still being decided.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/8cda41aa3c911f65974f80fe44df6052)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: 36C10B18Q2673 36C10B18Q2673_3.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=4366110&FileName=36C10B18Q2673-009.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=4366110&FileName=36C10B18Q2673-009.docx

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN04946230-W 20180608/180606230531-8cda41aa3c911f65974f80fe44df6052 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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

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