U -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION -- TRAINING SERVICES

Notice Date

September 19, 2001

Contracting Office

Bid Office, SPAWARSYSCEN, Code D21B, 53570 Silvergate Avenue, Bldg. A33, Room 0061, San Diego, CA 92152-5112

ZIP Code

92152-5112

Solicitation Number

N/A

Response Due

October 22, 2001

Point of Contact

POC Esther Christianson, 619-553-4333; Contracting Officer L. Joye Socha

E-Mail Address

Click here to contact the contract specialist responsible (echristi@spawar.navy.mil)

Description

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego (SSC SD) to obtain general information from vendors regarding the development of a proposed Web Based Training (WBT) system. This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. The Government does not intend to award a contract solely on the basis of this RFI or otherwise pay for the information solicited. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of submission of responses to this RFI and the Government's use of such information. Future procurement is under consideration at this time. Future procurement is not guaranteed. If there is a future procurement, it may be a separate procurement or it may be part of a larger procurement. Respondents of this RFI may be requested to provide additional information or details based on their initial submittals. General Information: SSC SD is formulating requirements for the development of a WBT system for an Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) planning tool. SSC SD seeks general information from vendors regarding the development approach and level of effort required for WBT for the planning tool. System Description: The operational system for which training is required is a UHF MILSATCOM planning tool. The operational planning tool is hosted on four geographically dispersed Unix servers with a replicated database. Each Unix server has an associated PC, known as an applications server, that provides the network interface and user login facility. A user logs into the applications server and accesses the operational planning tool from the user's remote location with a web browser on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET). The operational planning tool provides a Graphical User Interface (GUI) through which the user enters and modifies data to create Communications Plans (Comm Plans) that are used for satellite channel control. Based upon a preliminary evaluation, the GUI of the operational planning tool includes several categories of windows as follows: 1) There are approximately 20 main data entry windows with an average of about 12 data entry fields in each window. Some data entry fields within each window are mutually dependent. Data in some windows are dependent upon values entered in other windows. 2) There are approximately 20 report windows containing summaries of values entered in the main data entry windows. 3) There are approximately 20 system administration windows with an average of about 6 data entry fields per window. 4) There are approximately 6 troubleshooting windows with few data entry fields, but with complex analytical relationships to the values entered in the main data entry windows. Training System Constraints: The training system must provide training to users of the operational planning tool. The users reside at approximately sixty remote locations, with potentially multiple users at each location. Students will access the WBT application from their remote location with a web browser on the SIPRNET, using the same computer that is used to access the operational planning tool. The training system must not impact the development or operation of the operational planning tool and its associated data. The training system must accommodate different types of users that require training on different, but overlapping, sets of functions of the planning tool. The training system must provide student exercises to reinforce the training content and to allow students to demonstrate comprehension of important concepts. The training system must provide centralized training administrators with some level of information on student performance of exercises and progress through the training. The training system must accommodate simultaneous access by multiple students. The training system must enforce that each student initially performs the training in a guided sequence, but permit refresher training in any order. Training for a previous, but similar, version of the operational planning tool required approximately seven days of traditional standup training for all training modules. All students did not require every training module. Government Furnished Information/Equipment: 1) SSC SD provides a list of all user tasks that each type of user performs on the planning tool. There are approximately 60 user tasks with an average of 11 steps per task, with the complexity of each step equivalent to pressing a button or selecting from a list. In addition users must become familiar with approximately 20 background concepts, about half of which are complex. 2) SSC SD provides training objectives for each type of user. 3) SSC SD provides detailed procedures for all user tasks. 4) SSC SD provides access to the planning tool and a subject matter expert to provide the developer with technical information related to the planning tool. Contractor Developed Products: 1) Developer produces storyboards, course content, and student exercises. 2) Developer implements the WBT with common commercial development tools such as Authorware, TopClass, Quest Net, and ToolBook. 3) Developer produces the appropriate design documents to permit maintenance of the product by the government. 4)Developer updates the WBT based on the final version of the operational planning tool software. Respondent Profile: SSC SD prefers that respondents have the following characteristics: 1) Have recent WBT or CBT development experience. 2) Be located within 50 miles of the SSC SD facility in order to permit potentially frequent technical information meetings, access to the SSC SD planning tool and equipment, and direct access to an SSC SD subject matter expert. Response Format: Respondents are requested to submit responses in the following format: 1) All information is self-contained within the response, without external references such as URLs of corporate webpages. 2) Description of respondent's company to include location and specific point of contact information. 3) Summary of previous technical WBT/CBT projects including the authoring tools and other development tools used. 4) A customer reference for each of the company's five previous WBT projects. 5) Provide a development approach for the training system that will meet the requirements specified in the "Training System Constraints" section of this RFI. 6)Provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimate of cost and development time for all phases of the WBT development. 7) Address the possible cost and development time tradeoffs of 1) SSC SD developing a complete traditional stand up training course which is then provided and taught to the vendor for conversion to WBT versus 2) SSC SD providing the user task list, training objectives, and procedures to the vendor to use as a basis for WBT design. 8) Limit the response to no more than ten single-sided pages. For this Sources Sought announcement, interested firms will submit their response via the SPAWAR E-Commerce Central. The URL for the SPAWAR E-Commerce Central is https://e-commerce.spawar.navy.mil. View this "Sources Sought" by locating the "Market Survey" folder under the SSC San Diego Business Opportunities. The requirements for your e-submission are: (1) Adobe Acrobat version 4.01 or greater shall be used to create the "PDF" file, and (2) The submission may be compressed (zipped) into one, self-extracting file entitled "Market Survey.exe" using WinZip version 6.3 or greater. Any administrative questions may be addressed to Ms. Esther Christianson at (619) 553-4333 or e-mail at echristi@spawar.navy.mil

Web Link

Click here to get a copy of this annoncement and to (https://e-commerce.spawar.navy.mil)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010921/USOL013.HTM (W-262 SN50Y151)