Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road,Mail Stop 285, Menlo Park, CA 94025-3591

70 -- DEDICATED REMOTE ACCESS SERVICE SOL RFI98WRSS1004 DUE 071798 POC Rita A. Leach, MS-285, (650) 329-4162 E-MAIL: Click here to contact the contracting officer via, rleach@usgs.gov. This is a sources sought synopsis/request for information which was originally published in the Commerce Business daily o/a 5/27/98. The U.S. Geological Survey is interested in qualified, responsible vendors who have the capability of meeting the following requirements. Alternate suggestions are also welcome. Deadline for responses is Friday, July 17, 1998. The U.S. Geological Survey is interested in expanding its remote access services to provide local or toll free access to USGS facilities from remote office, field or travel locations throughout the country. This request for information is intended to determine what dedicated services are available from telecommunication service providers that would allow the USGS to expand the current capability of its private network. Respondents should address their ability to provide the following required services. Responses should include methodologies for providing each function or capability, and (if possible) provide associated cost estimates or breakdowns. Respondents should also provide information on their ability to offer any or all of the "optional" item, and any associated details and estimated pricing, if possible. Required Functionally or Capabilities: 1) Users must be able to individually change their own password. 2) Minimum modem speeds of 33.6kpbs, with 56kbps within one year. 3) Provides local dial access in the cities listed in Attachment 1. 4) Must have 800 access (toll free) for cities not providing local dial access. 5) Must allow registration of users to be controlled by selected USGS personnel. 6) Vendor (8:00 a.m. EST until 8:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday), with messaging capabilities during non business hours. 7) The USGS support staff furnishes all hardware configurations using the recommended setup from the vendor. 8) the IP address used for remote access will be located in the USGS DNS Domain or can be mapped to a USGS domain via application proxy. 9) All user logins will be encrypted when sent over the network. 10) Redundancy will be built into the remote accesss system in order to prevent network outages and long down times for the users. 11) The connection for remote access can either be directly connected to the USGS or be via the internet. 12) Vendor provides magnetic tape or CD of individual usage (including length of call, source of call, and destination of connection). Bills are submitted to one USGS account. 13) Vendor support a 7 x 24 help desk which has access to technical support for technical issues requiring escalation for resolution. 14) Each registered user is to provide a unique userid that can be used to access the service nationwide. Vendor generates unique userids. Optional Functionality or Capabilities: 1)Service can map IP addresses to usernames (userids); 2) Supports ISDN services; 3) Supports ADSL services; 4) Provides local dial access to the extended list of cities in Attachment 2; 5) Provides 800 dial access with accounting functionality to the individual user level; 6) Has the potential for grouping userids into logical billing groups; 7) Vendor can provide bills broken down into at least five separate categories (identified by USGS). Invoices are submitted to five (or more) USGS accounts; 8) Registration of users is done by the contractor; contractor provides USGS with access to registration database for monitoring and report generation purposes; 9) Help line is provided and staffed by technical personnel 7 x 24; 10) All registered users are allowed to call the technical help line; 11) Vendor furnishes workstation configuration instructions for all platforms identified in Attachment 3. These instructions are available online (e.g. web site); 12) Session encryption is available for selected user (e.g. administrative applications) upon request; 13) Vendor must provide access to USGS Intranet via an dedicated access circuit into Reston, VA and Menlo Park, CA; 14) Vendor provides all hardware. All costs must be itemized; 15) Vendor provides overview of technology upgrade strategy; 16) USGS provides vendor with list of unique userids for use by USGS employees. See Numbered Note 25. (0160)

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