Department of State, Office of Acquisition, P. O. Box 9115, Rosslyn Station, Arlington, VA 22219-0244

D -- THE APPLICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTERACTION OF MEMBERS OF VARIOUS FEDERAL FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS AT A SPECIFIC LOCATION SOL S-LMAQM-99-R-0111 DUE 060799 POC Points of Contact: Vincent Chaverini Jr., (703)875-6849, Contract Specialist or Ann Truitt, (703)875-6040, Contract Officer Overseas Presence Advisory Panel Request for Information The Overseas presence Advisory Panel was established to analyze the current organization and operation of the overseas of the United States government. The Department of State serves as the host organization at these overseas offices to a number of representatives of various government organizations to support the conduct of foreign policy. These organizations, generally referred to as the foreign Affairs Community (FAC), include the Department of State at all foreign locations and may also include any of the organizations listed below: Treasury Department Department of Justice Department of Defense Immigration and Naturalization Service Federal Bureau of Investigations Drug Enforcement Agency Foreign Commerce Service Foreign Agriculture Service National Aeronautics and Space Administration U.S. Agency for international Development U.S. Information Agency and/or Various other organizations The Panel believes that the foreign affairs mission ofthe U.S. Government can be strengthened through the improved operation of its foreign offices by the application of information technologies to increase the effectiveness of the interaction of the members of the FAC at a specific location. Specifically, the Panel is interested in exploring the use of information technology to: Support the location specific service requirements for each participating FAC agency; Support the member organization specific service requirements for each participating FAC agency; Improve interaction among Foreign Affairs Community members; and, Promote the localized public diplomacy functions at each foreign location including interaction with foreign government organizations, the business community and the public. It is believed that to accomplish this, it is necessary to provide: Applications to enable communication and collaboration among members of the FAC including secure collaborative tools; effective location specific and intra-agency email with file transfer, improved voice and video communication services; and, full access to the Internet to support browsing, publishing, data transfer and public communication. A robust systems architecture to support voice, data, video and graphic services. Logistics services to effectively support the operations and maintenance of these systems and applications. System security sufficient to protect the integrity of the proprietary, sensitive and classified information in communications among the members of the FAC. The panel is seeking the guidance of industry to assist the Panel in the identification of readily available "off-the-shelf" technological approaches and strategies to address the issues identified above. The panel is seeking to identify solution alternatives and strategies, which should be considered by the Panel, and not to commit to a particular strategy or course of action. The panel is soliciting the submissions of "white papers" from interested organizations with technical expertise which can be used by the Panel toassess the various strategies or approaches which could be considered to meet the technology, telecommunication and information security needs of the Foreign Affairs Community. Interested organizations should address the following issues in their submission: Identify readily available technologies that can be applied to support a secure, collaborative approach for conducting the business of the embassies and posts abroad. Describe various strategies for supporting effective communication among and between all organizations participating as members of the FAC at a foreign location. Describe the challenges in implementing and maintaining solutions using the identified technologies. Discuss the various factors associated with, and the financial resources necessary to support the alternative strategies described or proposed. Describe the technology and approaches that could be used to accommodate the distinct information security concerns of the organizations participating in the FAC while supporting the needs of various inter-organization communities of interest. Describe the significant success factors or constraints that must be addressed in order implement the identified solutions. Offer some perspectives on the "best practices" in use by multi-national organizations to address the issues of interest to the Panel. The "white paper" should be submitted by June 7, 1999; not exceed 50 pages, and be written with detail sufficient to inform senior executives of the options and alternatives available, and upon which high level strategic directions could be identified. Referenced "white paper" should be sent to the attention of Ann H. Truitt, Contracting Officer, at the address noted above. Posted 05/27/99 (W-SN336646). (0147)

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