Defense Health Agency (DHA) – Network Engineers and Specialists (NE&S) Information Technology (IT) Services Request for Information (RFI)
The DHA is issuing this Sources Sought RFI as a means of conducting market research to identify resources, capabilities, and unique methodologies to provide network sustainment information technology (IT) services for the DHA domain and the Network Modernization Branch (NMB). This activity is being identified a Service Provider within the Enterprise Information Technology Service (EITS) integrated environment.
The DHA mission is to plan, program, acquire, implement, and sustain peacetime IT infrastructure and to train personnel and provide support services for the Military Health System (MHS) centrally managed products to improve and maintain the health of the MHS beneficiaries. Military health care delivery is heavily dependent upon automated information systems (AISs) which rely on a robust network infrastructure to transport data within and between Medical Treatment Facilities (MTFs). Numerous medical and administrative systems use the network. The NMB, Infrastructure and Operations Division of DHA, provides deployment, engineering, and sustainment services for the Local Area Network/Wireless Local Area Network (LAN/WLAN). The NE&S will provide these services to the DHA and Department of Defense (DoD) mission partners.
The scope of this NE&S effort is to provide LAN/WLAN network sustainment and operations services to the MHS MTFs and related activities, including DHA headquarters and training locations, both inside and outside the continental United States (CONUS and OCONUS). This includes functions such as network performance measurement and monitoring, assistance with network design and development, network measurement. It also includes customer service in the form of trouble tracking and troubleshooting, at the Tier 2 and Tier 3 level, for escalated trouble tickets and maintenance and sparing support. Currently, this escalation support is conducted primarily via on-site resources, in a centralized and decentralized mode. Currently, on-site network specialists are the primary 24/7 on-call decentralized points of contact within the supported activities. Additional support and guidance for the on-site network specialists is provided by the NE&S regional and senior network engineers, as well as the DHA centralized infrastructure sustainment team. Additional support information provided below:
Current sites with on-site contract network support – 102 locations
Current total sites – 137 MTFs, over 500 Geographically Separated Units (GSUs), and related activities
Current user population – approximately 179,000
Current LAN vendors – Brocade, Juniper, and Cisco
Current network monitoring software – SolarWinds NPM
Current ITSM software – ServiceNow
Current logging software – Splunk
Current comply-to-connect- Cisco ISE
Please also note that compliance and integration is required with the following DoD references, but not limited to:
DoD Zero Trust Reference Architecture Version 2.0 July 2022
DoD Zero Trust Strategy dated October 21, 2022
INFORMATION REQUESTED
Responses should not exceed 10 pages in length, to include diagrams, tables, etc., be in Times New Roman, single spaced, 11-point font, with 1” margins. No exceptions will be granted on formatting requirements. Responses should be in a Microsoft Word compatible file or a Scan & Optical Character Recognition (OCR) text readable PDF file emailed to the Points of Contact (POCs) below.
Responses should include a single page cover page, NOT counted in the page limit, with the following information (If submitting a team response, please include the requested information for all companies on the team.):
a) Company Name
b) Address
c) POC
d) POC Phone Number
e) POC email address
f) Company CAGE code and SAM Unique Identity
g) Business Type (e.g., Large Business, Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, etc.) Indicate if you anticipate transitioning to other than a “Small Business” in the next eighteen months.
h) Indicate if your company possesses a Facility Security Clearance. If so, indicate at what level.
If the Government has additional questions, the Company POC may be contacted with follow-on questions in writing or in a one-on-one session.
EXPERIENCE TEMPLATE
Please use the template provided in the attached document.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
Responses should demonstrate your company’s experience corresponding to the scope of this effort and include responses to the following questions. (If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, responses should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements.):
Given the scope described above, with a similar number of sites and a geographically dispersed environment, how would you recommend the support model and capabilities be structured to gain efficiencies for providing network operations and sustainment support to large medical/hospital networks?
How would you recommend providing 24X7X365 support to an environment of this size while minimizing downtime, network impact to end users, and improving Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)?
Describe what factors should be considered when providing network sustainment support to medical facilities/networks.
What factors should be considered for the level of network support required for a hospital, other than network or end-user device counts?
Given your responses provided above, what Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) would you use to manage and monitor success of services provided? What unique incentive/disincentive arrangements, e.g., financial, would you recommend or have successfully experienced for performance above/below KPIs? What mechanisms or capabilities do you recommend for validating and reporting KPIs?
Responses to this Sources Sought must be received by 3 MAY 2024 9:00 AM CDT (local time in San Antonio, Texas). All responses must attached and emailed to the Contracting Officer, Stephani Preusser ([email protected]), and the Contract Specialists, Mallory Vasquez ([email protected]) and Dawn Windham ([email protected]). The Subject line of the email must read “(Type Here Business Name) – Response to Sources Sought DHA – Network Engineers and Specialists (NE&S) Operations and Sustainment. Emails greater than 20MB cannot be transmitted through the network firewall.
DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT NOTES
THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP). This notice constitutes solely market research as described under FAR 10.002. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a potential contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use results of the communications with industry for any purpose consistent with, and not otherwise prohibited by FAR Part 10.
Submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the Government assumes no financial responsibility for any information or costs incurred. All costs associated with responding to this notice will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued.
No proprietary, classified, confidential or sensitive information should be included in your response. Industry responses will be shared with DHA staff for the purpose of market research. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
