SOLICITATION NOTICE
70 -- Assessment of the DNS capabilities existing in the marketplace comprised of single and multiple vendors leading to a solution for the US Courts. - Functional Requirement Document
- Notice Date
- 12/19/2012
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 423430
— Computer and Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software Merchant Wholesalers
- Contracting Office
- United States Judiciary, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Procurement Management Division, One Columbus Circle, NE, Suite 3-250, Washington, District of Columbia, 20544, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20544
- Solicitation Number
- IMD130013
- Archive Date
- 2/6/2013
- Point of Contact
- Michael Leichtman, Phone: 2025023147
- E-Mail Address
-
michael_leichtman@ao.uscourts.gov
(michael_leichtman@ao.uscourts.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Background and scope of RFI. Functional Requirment Documentation T H I S I S A REQUEST F O R I N FORMA T I ON ( R FI ) O N L Y. T H I S I S N OT A R EQUE S T FOR PROPOSA L S. N O SO L I C I T A T I ON I S AVA I L AB L E AT T H I S T I M E. I. B A C K G R O UND. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) is currently performing a market survey to identify vendors and solutions that can meet their current and future requirements for Domain Name System (DNS). The AO's o b j ec ti ve i s t o a l l ow i ndus t r y m a x im um f l e x i b i l i t y t o i nnov a ti v e l y d e s i g n, d e v e l op, a nd p r opose a notional design f or po t e n ti a l im p l e m e n t a ti on. The Judiciary's Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructure is the communications highway that allows internal and external voice, data, and video communications to reach courthouses and other judiciary locations across the country. This connectivity includes several OCONUS (outside the continental United States) locations, such as sites in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Saipan. The Judiciary WAN consists of three primary components: the Data Communications Network (DCN), the Public Access to Court Electronic Records Network (PACER-Net), and the Internet Data Centers (IDCs). Each of these components offers a different level of networking service to the Judiciary and the public. The DCN is the Judiciary's internal network and provides interconnectivity to the more than 600 Judiciary locations where the daily business of the courts takes place. The DCN is an AT&T Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network. It provides access lines, switches, and routers from every court location to the AT&T "cloud." In addition to connecting court locations, the DCN provides access to several application hosting sites. These sites host national applications, such as enterprise e-mail, Lotus Notes; the financial system, FAS4T; replication services for the court-hosted Case Management/Electronic Case Filing, CM/ECF; and the probation officer case management system, PACTS. While the DCN serves the internal networking needs of the Judiciary, a second network, PACER-Net, serves the public's need to access court documents. PACER-Net is a public e-commerce network that provides the public with access to court records for a fee. Through PACER-Net and the electronic case filing (ECF) portion of CM/ECF system, attorneys can file cases with the court electronically. This requires the network to be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days of the year. The third component of the Judiciary's WAN infrastructure is the IDCs. The IDCs provide a "gateway" for courts on the DCN to access the Internet and for the public to access court records through PACER-Net. There are two IDCs. The IDCs, in addition to providing Internet access, provide several other network-related services, including the following: · Domain Name Services (DNS); · Network Security Services (firewall and intrusion prevention systems); · DCN remote access capabilities (client based and SSL); · Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) services; · VoIP (Voice over IP) Services; and · VTC (Video Teleconferencing) bridging services. Redundancy and failover are key features of the WAN. The network has become so integral to the day-to-day business of the courts that it must be available at all times. All court headquarters locations (locations that host national applications), application hosting centers, and IDCs have redundant circuits and hardware. There are 11 Circuits (plus DC = 12) nationwide, that in most cases, act as the hub for all network services access to courts in their Circuit. However, the Judiciary is unique, in that there are no requirements to do so. Each court within the Judiciary has a varying degree of budgets, technical interest and capabilities. Offering solutions that give maximum flexibility to being centralized or de-centralized is critical to the success of any solution. II. P UR P OS E O F R F I. Th i s RF I i s i ssu e d so l e l y f or i n f o r m a ti on a nd p l a nn i ng pu r pos e s a nd do e s not c ons tit u t e a so li c it a ti on. I n a c c o r d a n c e w it h Volume 14 Guide to Procurement Policy § 210.60.40, Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (JAN 2003) The judiciary does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited. (1) Although "offer" and "offeror" are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It will not be used as an offer. (2) This solicitation is issued for the purpose of a ss e ssing t he DNS ca p a b iliti e s e x i s t i ng i n t he m ar k e t p l a c e comprised of single and multiple vendors leading to a solution. T h e Gov er n m e nt w il l not re im bu r se c o m p a n i e s f o r a n y c os t s a sso c i a t e d w it h t he p re p a r a ti on a n d sub mi ss i on or RF I re spons e s. A l l p r op r i e t ar y i n f o r m a ti on r e ce i v e d i n re sponse t o t h i s RF I m ust be m a r k e d " P r op r i e t a r y " a nd w il l be h a nd l e d a c c o r d i n g l y. R e spons e s t o t he RF I w il l not be re t u r n e d. III. R EQ U ESTE D T E C H NICAL I N F O R M A T I O N. I n t e re s t e d v e ndo r s sh a l l s ub mi t t h e i r t ec hn i ca l ca p a b iliti e s and a notional design. •A. Know l e d g e, e x p er ti se a nd p re v i ous e x p er i e n c e i n im p l e m e n ti ng a n i ndus t r y - s t a n d a r d, best practice for DNS i n a large centralized/de-centralized enterprise environment. •B. Review and comment on requirements document (see attached). This helps drive the appropriate solution for the Judiciary. •C. Notional Design based on requirements given, and demonstrating industry-standard, best practices for an enterprise class DNS solution. IV. R EQ U ESTE D C O N T R AC T UAL I N F O R M A T I O N. Interested vendors shall submit company Point of Contact Information (i.e. company name, point of contact, address, phone number, and email). V. A SSE S S M E NT CR I T E R I A. The a ss e ss m e nt of ca p a b ili t y s t a t e m e n t s w il l be b a s e d on t h e c r it er i a li s t e d b e l ow. R e spon d e n t s shou l d lim i t sub mi s s i ons t o d a t a e ss e n ti a l t o t he a ss e ss m e n t. A n y a nd a l l i n f o r m a ti on ob t a i n e d f or t h e s e pu r po s e s w il l b e us e d so l e l y t o a ss i st t h e Gov e r n m e nt i n un d er s t a nd i ng t he ca p a b iliti e s a v a il a b l e i n t he m ar k e t p l ac e a nd t hus re su lt s w il l not be d i s c l os e d t o re spond e n t s; th a t no t w it hs t a nd i n g, t he G o v er n m e nt r e s er v e s t he r i g ht t o e n g a g e i n p r e- so l i c it a ti on e x c h a ng e s w it h re spond e n t s t o ob t a i n a d d iti on a l i n f o r m a ti on t o s u ppo r t t he m ar k e t r e s e a rc h p r o ce ss, i f n e ce ss a r y. A l l v e ndo r s w il l be a ss e s s e d b a s e d on t he f o ll ow i ng c r it er i a : •A. Know l e d g e, e x p er ti se a nd p re v i ous e x p er i e n c e i n im p l e m e n ti ng a n i ndus t r y - s t a n d a r d, best practice for DNS i n a large centralized/de-centralized enterprise environment. B. There will be a brief question and answer period to allow vendors to fully understand our requirements prior to developing a notional design. Review and comment on requirements document (see attached). This helps drive the appropriate solution for the Judiciary. C. Notional Design based on requirements given, and demonstrating industry-standard, best practices for an enterprise class DNS solution. VI. S U B M I SS I O N I N S T R U C T I O N S. R e spons e s m ust sp ec i f i ca l l y d e s cr i be t h e c on t rac t o r' s ca p a b ili t y t o m ee t t he re qu i r e m e n t s ou tli n e d i n t he R F I. S u b mi ss i ons m a y not e x cee d 10 p a g e s ( o n e- s i d e d ), s i n g l e sp a c e d, 12 - po i nt t y pe w it h a t l ea st a o n e - i n c h m a r g i n on 8 1 / 2 " X 11" p a g e s i z e. Add iti on a l p a g e s sub mitt e d ov e r t he sp e c i f i e d p a g e l i mit a ti on w il l not be a s s e ss e d. R e spons e s m a y a l so i n c l ude a n y c on c er ns t h a t c ou l d be re v i s e d or shou l d be c ons i d ere d b y t h e Go v er n m e nt a s p a r t of t he R e qu e st f or P r opos a l ( R F P ). H ar d c o p y or f ac s imil e sub mi ss i ons w il l not be acce p t e d. C ov e r l e tt er s a nd e x t ra n e ous m a t er i a l s ( b r o c hu re s, e t c.) w il l not be c ons i d ere d. Fa il u r e t o a d d re ss a l l r e qu i re m e n t s of t h i s RF I w il l re su l t i n a d e t er mi n a ti on t h a t t he re spon d e nt i s not c a p a b l e of f u l f illi n g t he En t er p r i se P e r f o r m a n c e M a n a g e m e nt C e n t e r M o d e l re qu i re m e n t. Qu e s ti ons or c l a r i f i ca ti o ns t o t h i s RF I m ust be s ub mitt e d, v i a e m a il, t o t he C on t rac ti n g O f f i c e r Michael Leichtman at Michael_Leichtman@ao.uscourts.gov no l a t e r t h a n 1100 E D T, Tuesday, 8 nd January 2013. The oppo r t un i t y f or c l ar i f i ca ti on of t h i s RF I w il l not c h a n ge t he sub mi ss i on d a t e. O ra l c o mm un i ca ti ons ar e not p er mi ss i b l e. Fe d B i z Opps w il l be t he so l e re p o s it o r y f or a l l i n f o r m a ti o n re l a t e d t o t h i s RF I. Responses to questions will be provided on FedBizOpps by January 15 th. Final r e spons e s t o t he RF I m ust be sub mitt e d, v i a e - m a il, t o t he C on t rac ti ng O ff i c e r c it e d b e l ow no l a t e r t h a n 1100 E D T, Tuesda y, 22 January 2013.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/AOUSC/OIS/WashingtonDC/IMD130013/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02952397-W 20121221/121219234952-8ffbaf186524b3b1ac5ad1046c0b2714 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |