This is a sources sought announcement. There is no solicitation available at this time. The VA Network Contracting Office 18 in Mesa, Arizona, is conducting market research to determine the existence of companies that can perform the work described below in any one, or any combination of, these localities: Arizona: Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott, Mesa, Surprise, Globe, Sierra Vista, Yuma, Casa Grande, Safford, Green Valley, Anthem, Cottonwood, Flagstaff, Kingman, Lake Havasu City New Mexico: Albuquerque, Clovis, Hobbs, Taos, Artesia, Santa Fe, Silver City, Truth or Consequences, Farmington, Raton, Gallup, Rio Rancho, Las Vegas, Espanola Texas: El Paso, Amarillo, Big Spring, Lubbock, Abilene, Odessa, San Angelo, Stamford, Fort Stockton Colorado: Durango The Government anticipates award of a firm fixed price contract with a period of performance of a base year (1 December 2012 - 30 November 2013, estimated) and three (4) subsequent option years. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 517210, and the small business size standard is 1500 employees or less. Any interested sources are requested to provide a brief capabilities statement and letter of interest to Greg Wilde via e-mail at
[email protected]. As part of your capabilities statement, please include any current or past contracts you have been awarded or the ability to obtain sufficient proof of capability for this type/magnitude of contract. In addition, you must include a statement of what socio-economic category your company qualifies as (i.e. a Small Business, SBA Certified HUB-Zone Firm, SBA Certified Small Disadvantaged Business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Woman Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, etc.) Any information provided is strictly voluntary. The Government will not pay for information submitted in response to this Sources Sought Notice. To be considered in this research, please provide the information above not later than 11:00 A.M. EST on 30 September 2012. Technical Requirements The following are the vendor technical requirements included in the Performance of Work Statement. WIRELESS GUEST INTERNET ACCESS REQUIREMENTS The Contractor shall deliver a public wireless guest internet access that meets the following requirements. 1. The Contractor shall provide public wireless access points supporting wireless protocols of 802.11 b, 802.11 g, and 802.11 n. 2. The contractor shall perform a site visit to test for RF interference and to identify optimum installation locations for access points. This may include the analysis of building floor plans, inspection of the facility, and interviews with VA IT management. 3. The contractor shall provide a site survey to include the effective range boundary and the minimum signal to noise ration needed to support the wireless system 4. The Contractor shall collaborate with medical centers to prevent potential interference with medical center's wireless access. 5. The Contractor shall provide an alternative to 802.11 b/g/n access at VHA medical center facility service areas where wireless is determined not to be appropriate in consultation with the medical center staff. 6. The Contractor's solution shall provide bandwidth throttling, aggregation, and bonding. 7. The Contractor's solution shall provide sufficient connectivity/response time such that the experience of the user is an acceptable experience. 8. The Contractor's solution shall provide ability for content filtering for internet access. 9. The Contractor shall monitor the typical usage of access points, where high usage areas are noted, the Contractor shall reevaluate and upgrade the bandwidth. (If the link/usage averages in excess of 85% per month, the Contractor shall reevaluate and provide additional bandwidth.) Provide as part of the quarterly utilization report. 10. The Contractor shall adhere to the standards outlined by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA-101 Life Safety Code). SECURITY 1. The Contractor's solution shall provide for public and private security. 2. The Contractor's solution shall provide for Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Compliance. 3. The Contractor's solution shall provide for Layer I air gapped isolation to provide isolation from any other network within each facility. 4. The Contractor shall provide for the physical security of Contractor equipment, as needed. The VA shall provide the Contractor with access to the wiring closets. 5. The Contractor shall provide a homepage at login displaying information security warning, public access information, VA non-liability disclaimer. The VA will provide the information homepage to the Contractor. 6. The Contractor shall provide an introduction page with usage agreements for acknowledgement at the time of login with information on the program, rules and restrictions and usage agreements. If no agreement acknowledgement is received from the user, access is denied. [Users of the guest access to acknowledge they are aware of the risk of using a public network] RELIABILITY 1. The Contractor shall be responsible to maintain the operation for the hardware and all infrastructure. 2. The Contractor shall provide service availability with an expected 98% uptime. 3. The Contractor shall provide sufficient bandwidth to provide a satisfactory user experience for customers using the wireless service. 4. The Contractor shall provide to COR a monthly Quality Management Plan. The plan shall address and describe, for the prior month of each facility, the percentage of service availability for the number of service calls needed and the resolution of the calls, the amount of time taken to resolve the calls, as well as any user complaints and the contractor action taken on those user complaints. MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT 1. The Contractor shall provide 24 hour /365 day user (Veteran) support through a call center. 2. The wireless internet access shall be available to a user on a 24x7x365 except during periods of scheduled maintenance. 3. Provide the ability for the VA to send failed items back to the Contractor for replacement. 4. Maintenance shall be scheduled during off peak hours, after 2100 local time relevant to the affected facility(ies). 5. The Contractor shall provide 24 hour /365 day technical support through a call center for VHA medical center IT staff utilizing the wireless service. 6. The Contractor shall provide on-site support when required. 7. The Contractor shall provide timely service both telephone and onsite that promotes customer satisfaction. 8. The Contractor shall respond within 24 hours for on site hardware issues. 9. The Contractor shall provide oversight and monitoring of the installed wireless network(s), and provide the COR with monthly trouble ticket reports that identifies network status/outages, trouble tickets received, and resolution of those trouble tickets. The Contractor shall provide a notification of an event that poses a risk of extending a scheduled maintenance period that requires the service to be offline or which may degrade system performance shall be disseminated to the user community 7 days prior to the event. 10. The Contractor shall provide quarterly utilization reports at the physical location facility. The utilization report shall address and describe, for the prior month of each facility, typical usage of access points, any areas that require upgraded bandwidth, amount of network traffic and peak simultaneous connections. INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS 1. The Contractor shall install, and test each location to meet the technical requirements identified in this PWS. The COR in conjunction with the facility managers will be responsible to inspect and approve the Contractor's work performance before VA acceptance is granted wireless guest network. 2. The Contractor shall be responsible to assess each facility for all required cabling, switches and other equipment needed for installing their solution. If required the Contractor is responsible to conduct telephonic or in person site surveys. 3. The vendor shall be responsible for all cabling, switches and other equipment needed for their infrastructure. All cable and fibers use for this service shall become the property of the VA. 4. If existing cable fibers are used for the project, the fibers must be air gap isolated from the VA's wiring and any repair or maintenance will be the responsibility of the vendor and not VA. Testing Requirements 1. The vendor will submit a draft testing plan for acceptance and comment. 2. The vendor will perform sufficient testing following installation to ensure access points and wireless service are functioning at a minimal data rate of 11meg, and with acceptable signal to noise (68db) and power settings (24 meg). 3. The vendor shall discuss and confirm suggested speed test criteria in Testing Requirement 2 with the program manager at each site. 4. The vendor shall submit a post survey heat map. 5. The vendor will test for interference with existing medical center systems.