U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW, Room 413, Washington, DC 20436

D -- IMPLEMENTATION OF A FEDERAL ELECTRONIC WHITE PAGES DIRECTORY SOL ITC-RFQ-99-0007 DUE 042899 POC Deborah Kearns, Contracting Officer, (202) 205-2736. Small Business Set-Aside, Simplified Acquisition Procedures will be utilized. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Solicitation ITC-RFQ- 99-0007 is issued as a request for quote, The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 97-10. Standard Industrial Code is 7373. Small business size is 18M. STATEMENT OF WORK -- - I. BACKGROUND: The Interoperability Committee of the US Federal Chief Information Officer's Council has set an objective of building an electronic directory of Federal employees' basic contact information, to promote communication within the Government and with the public, state and local governments, and business partners. The Interoperability Committee has assigned this task to its Directory Forum ("Forum") subgroup. The Forum is seeking support for building the White Pages from contractor with experience in implementation of similar projects. II. WHITE PAGES CONCEPT: The White Pages is a publicly accessible (via Web browser and LDAP client software on the Internet) directory of basic contact information on Federal employees: name, organizational location, work e-mail address, work telephone number. The goal is to have 80 percent of all Federal employees' entries in the White Pages by October 31, 1999 (other than entries excluded by Government policy.). The White Pages will support LDAPv2 or v3 queries, and will also have a Web browser interface. The Web interface will support navigation (drill-down) through organizations as well as top-level (Government- wide) query on name and organization. The Web interface shall be customizable. III. ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE GOALS: (1) Information will be updated in the White Pages not later than 2 weeksafter it is updated in source agency files, (2) Once it is operational, but no later than September 1, 1999, the White Pages will average 99 percent availability during "prime time" working hours (Federal work days between 8AM and 6PM EST), (3) An arbitrary query against the full directory on a partial name (e.g., "Anders*") will return results at the White Pages server interface (not necessarily to a remote client on a slow connection to the Internet) within 10 seconds, (4) The White Pages shall support at least 1,000 lookups/queries per hour, with at least 5 simultaneous users. (5) The White Pages shall have the capability of limiting query output to a specified number of entries; it shall have the ability to limit read access to a list of IP address ranges and the ability to limit read access to specified DNS domains, e.g., .gov and .mil., and (6) The White Pages shall include a facility for backup of data, programs and configuration. IV. DATA ACQUISITION STRATEGY: The aggressive implementation schedule for the White Pages project is based on the fact that little or no original data collection is expected to be needed. The Forum membership represent all major Federal agencies, and are working to get internal clearances to provide the needed data from existing internal electronic directories (LAN, E-mail system, telephone, HR.) Typically, we expect agencies to be able to provide a "flat file" of the required information via, for example, FTP, and to be able to provide an updated file at least monthly (depending on their internal data update cycles.) In some cases, agencies (Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, NASA) have already exposed their directories on the Internet. It should be possible to extract data from these directories with no work on the provider's part (after initial arrangement.) It may even be possible to link to these directories in place (e.g., via X.500 DSP or LDAPv3 referral) provided system performance goals can be met and both the Web and LDAP search interfaces can be supported via this distributed access approach. The goal of getting 80 percent of Federal employees in the White Pages by October -- instead of 100 percent -- recognizes 2 factors: (1) with over 200 Federal agencies, it may not be possible to make arrangements with all of them in this time frame and (2) some agencies or some of their sub-units will inevitably have technical or other problems delivering data. A key CHALLENGE that the contractor will face is "joining" different data sources from a single provider. Although the schema for the White Pages is very limited, we still expect that in many agencies, the e-mail and telephone number data elements are maintained in separate systems, with no reliable common "key" to link corresponding items. Handling this problem with little or no burden on the supplying agency will be crucial to the success of the project. V. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED ITEMS: In performing this requirement the Government will provide the Contractor use of: (1) A Sun computer with Oracle V8 and Cold Fusion software installed is available for this project in Washington, DC, but is not required to be used, and (2) Office space and Internet access in as needed, in Washington, DC. At time of award, the Directory Forum will provide agency technical working contacts for all agencies, and will be responsible for obtaining clearances for release of data. The Forum will also promptly address technical options or policy questions that arise in the course of the project. VI. REQUIREMENTS: All report-type deliverables (status reports, etc.) below shall be made in electronic form to the Contracting Officer at the address below. Delivery of the physical White Pages system hardware and loaded software and data shall be made at a location in the Washington, DC, area to be mutually agreed upon by contractor and the Government. The Contractor shall provide, but not limited to the following: (1) An operational White Pages system, as described above, by October 31, 1999, including test data confirming that the system meets performance and summary data showing achievement of directory population and data-currency goals, (2) the White Pages system shall include the capability to produce reports on usage of the system, including at a minimum number of queries by time period. It shall also be able to record system uptime to support measurement of this performance goal, (3) In addition, the contractor shall provide such status and other reports on progress as may be required to support interim payments and to provide the Forum and Contracting Officer information on progress at least monthly. Such progress reports should include current status of system functionality and expected progress in the next month, as well as agency-by-agency data status (entries loaded, outstanding issues.) Delivery of status reports shall be made in electronic format to the Contracting Office at the address below, (4) The Contractor shall provide not later than October 15, 1999, system documentation and written procedures sufficient to allow the Government or another contractor to operate the system, including performing data updates, (5) Contractor shall also provide not later than September 15, 1999, a brief summary (3-5 pages typed double-spaced) of operational and maintenance tasks that would be necessary to be performed for ongoing production operation of the White Pages system. The Government intends to use this summary as a component of a statement of work for contracting for ongoing operation of the White Pages past October 31, 1999, and (6) The Contractor shall provide not later than September 15, 1999, an estimate of full costs for production operation of the White Pages for the year starting November 1, 1999, broken down by major cost categories and including general estimates for agency costs of providing data. Quoters are notified of the requirement to submit a Tax Identification Number (Social Security number for individuals). The Contractor is required, as a condition of payment under a resulting order, to submit the information necessary for the Government to make payment via Electronic Funds Transfer prior to submission of their first invoice. The Quoter shall include the following in their proposals: (1) A brief assessment of the White Pages project as described, indicating their proposed approach to the major challenges described (including the "join" issue) and any areas where it may not be possible to meet objectives, (2) Proposed price, including a breakdown of major categories of cost (in particular, costs of acquisition of hardware and software licenses should be indicated separately, as it may be possible for the Government to provide these). All costs for creation and operation of the White Pages through October 31, 1999, plus other reports and deliverables should be included, (3) Although a fixed-price order is preferred, in accordance with 52.232-31, Invitation to Propose Financing Terms (OCT 1995), quoters are invited to propose other financing terms; if interim payments are proposed, then milestones shall be proposed that correspond to payments, and (4) A list of at least three of the most recent and relevant past and present projects that most closely resembles this one. Furnish the following information for each project: a.) Company/division name, b.) A brief description of the project, c.) Contracting agency (if applicable), d.) Contract/project name or number, e.) Contract dollar amount, f.) Period of performance, g.) Name, address, and telephone of the customer contact whom may be asked to confirm performance, and (5) Quoters should submit sufficient information to enable the Government to fully ascertain each quoter's capability to perform the requirements contemplated by this solicitation. The provisions at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors Commercial Items (AUG 1998) and FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation Commercial Items (JAN 1999) apply to this acquisition. The Quoter whose proposal represents the best value to the Government will be selected. Quoters's proposals will be evaluated IAW FAR 13.106-2 for best value on (1) price, (2) the extent to which payment is based on project progress, (3) the credibility of the proposed technical approach, any additional features or benefits (e.g., faster system response time.), and (4) past performance. The provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications Commercial Items (FEB 1999) applies to this acquisition. A completed signed copy of this provision shall be submitted with any quotation. The clause at FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions (APR 1998) and FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders Commercial Items (JAN 1999) apply to this acquisition. Under paragraph (b), the following clauses are incorporated: FAR 52.222-26 (FEB 1999), Equal Opportunity, FAR 52.222- 35, Affirmative Action for Specialized Disabled and Vietnam Era (APR 1998), FAR 52.222-36, Affirmative Actions for Workers with Disabilities (JUN 1998), FAR 52.219-6, Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside (JUL 1996). Inquiries regarding Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) clauses and provisions are available through Internet access: http://farsite.hill.af.mil/. Quotes are due 2:00 p.m. EST, April 16, 1999. Mailing address: US International Trade Commission, Office of Administration, Procurement Services, Attn: Deborah Kearns, 500 E Street, SW, Room 413B, Washington, DC. 20436. Facsimile copies of quotations will be accepted at telephone number (202) 205-2337. For more information regarding this solicitation, call Deborah Kearns, Contract Specialist at (202) 205-2739 or send e-mail at dkearns@usitc.gov. All responsible parties are invited to submit a quote which will be considered. See Note(s): 1. Posted 04/14/99 (I-SN320249). (0104)

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