U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, Acquisition Management Branch, STOP 0567, 1400 & INDEPENDENCE AVENUE, SW Washington, D.C. 20250-0567

D -- MAINTENANCE OF IBM ADVANCED 36 COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS SOL FSA-R-0001-97DC POC Scott C. Wolz, Contracting Officer, (202)-720-3736 WEB: FSA Contracting Home Page, http://wwwaix.fsa.usda.gov/amb/amb.htm. E-MAIL: Scott C. Wolz, swolz@wdc.fsa.usda.gov. The USDA/FSA is issuing this Request For Information (RFI) for maintenance services needed to ensure uninterrupted operation of the Farm Service Agency (FSA) distributed computer network. The FSA is interested in obtaining vendor information on any commercially available remedial and preventive maintenance service of IBM Advanced System 36 computers, and both IBM and non-IBM peripheral equipment located in approximately 2,500 sites throughout the United States, including Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. Service will commence on October 1, 1997. The general requirements are as follows: The vendor must be able to: (1) Provide on call service to the Washington, D.C. area, and greater Kansas City, St. Louis, and Fort Collins area offices such that operations supported by the failed equipment can be resumed within 4 work hours; (2) Provide on-call service to any of the State Offices and Field Service Centers located in the contiguous 48 states such that operations supported by the failed equipment can be resumed within 9 work hours; (3) Provide on-call service to any of the offshore offices (includes all offices located outside the 48 contiguous states) such that operations supported by the failed equipment can be resumed within 18 work hours. (4) Types of Maintenance: The type of maintenance service required by the selected vendor is remedial maintenance. Based on information provided by the OEM, preventive maintenance should be performed when remedial maintenance is required. If remedial maintenance has not been required at a specific site, a separate site visit to perform preventive maintenance is not required. (5) Methods of Maintenance: Vendor personnel are required to provide maintenance services at the location of the equipment being maintained on an On-Call basis. (6) Security: The integrity of the data stored on the equipment being maintained must be preserved. If the maintenance activity will result in the loss of data (i.e., the removal of a disk drive) the vendor must provide methods to recover the data. (7) Additional Support: The vendor must make available toll free telephone access to the OEM for use by Government personnel located at the Kansas City Management Office. This service will be used to report apparent generic problems with the hardware or OEM supplied software. The service will not be used to request maintenance support. (8) Maintenance Tracking System: The vendor must provide the Government with access to their maintenance tracking system. The Government will enter service calls directly into the vendor's maintenance tracking system via an interactive on-line system. The maintenance tracking system shall provide the status of all current maintenance calls as well as historical maintenance data to be used for analysis of equipment maintenance needs. Note: Software upgrades are provided by the OEM on an as needed basis to site license holders and are not provided under this acquisition. (9) Specialized equipment required for individuals with disabilities will be maintained using the maintenance services available through this acquisition. (10) Equipment sites where maintenance is performed are required to report the successful completion of the maintenance to the Kansas City Management Office. The FSA intends on conducting this procurement under FAR Subpart 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, and is seeking industry comments on whether the above general requirements can be met by current industry commercial practices. Firms who believe they can meet our needs using commercial practices are encouraged to respond to this RFI. Comments should address each of the general requirements listed above in the affirmative or negative. Affirmative responses should contain a brief narrative of how you plan to meet the requirements. If a response is negative, you should state why the specific requirement is not needed or that the requirement is not considered a commercial item (as defined by FAR Subpart 12). Your response to each mandatory and desirable requirement should include paragraph numbering identifiable to the ten (10) requirements listed above. In addition to your written response, descriptive literature may be provided. Unnecessarily elaborate submissions are discouraged. After receipt and review of the responses to this RFI, the FSA intends to conduct a competitive acquisition. In no case will the requirement be purchased as a result of this RFI. The results of this RFI process will only be used for the refinement of the current draft SOW and to determine if the above requirements can be obtained as a commercial acquisition under FAR Subpart 12 . The information obtained from this RFI will not be used in any way during the RFP process. The Government will not pay for any information, literature, etc. provided to the Government as a result of this RFI. In order for your response to receive full consideration it should be received by January 10, 1997. Response to this RFI may be either delivered in hardcopy or by e-mail. E-mail responses and inquiries should bedirected to: swolz@wdc.fsa.usda.gov. If submitting a hardcopy response, please mark the outside of your envelope "FSA/RFI Field Service Center ADPE Maintenance Project." Note: On November 18, 1996, the FSA published a CBD synopsis for this requirement in the form of a Request For Comments (RFC). The intent of the RFC is to provide the draft Statement of Work and Schedule to industry to obtain their comments on the government developed requirements. The purpose of this RFI is to obtain industry information on commercially available maintenance services that may meet the needs of the FSA. This RFI does not replace the RFC. (0340)

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