AMENDED JULY 14, 2020.  DESC: MARKET SURVEY AND BIDDERS LIST DEVELOPMENT – SOURCES SOUGHT REQUEST FOR THE SENATE’S INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE (IaaS) SOLUTION.  The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice (SSN or Notice) is to gather information about qualified cloud service providers that can provide the U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA) an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution.  Cloud service providers who submitted their responses to the Notice originally published on May 12, 2020, need not submit their responses to this amended Notice.

Responses to this SSN will assist the SAA in reviewing the current IaaS solutions offered in the marketplace that meet the SAA’s requirements and guidelines below. The SAA requests responses outlining IaaS solutions that meet or exceed the requirements set forth herein and provide a description, including the scope, services offered, and method of implementation.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This SSN is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This SSN does not commit the SAA to contract for any supply or service. The SAA will not accept unsolicited responses or proposals or pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this SSN. All costs associated with responding to this SSN will be solely at the interested party’s expense. This synopsis contains the currently available information and is subject to change at any time. It is the interested party’s responsibility to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this Notice.

REQUIREMENTS:

All requirements listed below are mandatory unless otherwise noted. Each item in the following sections requires a response. 

A – Mandatory Requirements

Cloud Service Providers responding to this Notice must meet or have the following Mandatory Requirements for their proposed IaaS solutions –

1. FedRAMP high compliant
2. FIPS 140-2 Level 3 Compliant Crypto
3. US government cloud offering on dedicated hardware that is only accessible by US government customers (preferred, not mandatory requirement)
4. All data stored within the United States
5. Kubernetes container services
6. Integrated IaaS+PaaS that meets the following criteria:

a. Unified self-service experience: The IaaS and PaaS components exist within the same portal and service catalog

b. Unified identity and access management: The same identity is used to access IaaS and Pass components, with unified authentication and authorization (including RBAC) for the portal, CLI, and API.

c. Single integrated low-latency network context: The IaaS and PaaS components must exist within the same network, with low local-area network (LAN) latency.

d. Unified security: The customer must be able to apply security controls across both the IaaS and PaaS components.

e. Unified billing and support: The IaaS and PaaS capabilities are part of a single offering construct, under a single brand. The customer must be able to buy all of the IaaS and PaaS components on a single contract.

B – Guidelines

In addition, Cloud Service Providers or their IaaS product or solution must qualify under the following guidelines:

1. They must be cloud service providers with their own COTS IaaS product or solution. The SAA will not evaluate responses submitted by VARs or third-party integrators.
2. They must base their responses on their own COTS IaaS product or solution’s native capabilities. The SAA will not evaluate or consider custom or uniquely customized products or solutions, nor will they consider solutions designed on top of another cloud service provider.
3. They must be U.S. companies and based in the United States.
4. The SAA will not evaluate or consider planned or future IaaS product enhancements when reviewing responses.
5. The SAA will evaluate the SSN responses to qualify them for the next round of procurement consideration, if any.  NOTE:  Cloud Service Providers whose SSN responses are not selected for the next round of procurement consideration, if any, will not be debriefed nor provided information on the evaluation of their response.
6. Cloud Service Providers whose SSN responses are deemed qualified by the Senate will be invited to the next round of procurement consideration, if any, in a format deemed appropriate by the Senate. The SAA will notify these Providers directly wherein the format for this next round of procurement will be announced. 
7. If there will be a product demonstration or Proof of Concept test conducted at a Senate facility on proposed IaaS solution, it may be not all cloud service providers who qualified under 5. or 6. above will be invited.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cloud Service Providers should respond to this Notice by submitting an information package in accordance with the following instructions.

1 - The qualified Cloud Service Providers must submit the following in their response to this SSN –

a) A Narrative identifying the proposed IaaS solution, with a brief and concise description of the scope of services offered and method of implementation for the proposed solution.

b) For each mandatory and preferred requirement listed under section A – Mandatory Requirements above, the Cloud Service Providers must provide a concise explanation for meeting the requirement.

c) For each guideline 1., 2., 3., and 4., under section B – Guidelines above, the Cloud Service Providers must provide specific information for meeting each guideline.

d) Business information including the following –

• Company Name and;
• Division or Department (if applicable);
• Submitter’s Name;
• Company/Division/Department Address, Telephone and Fax Numbers;
• Point of Contact (if different from Submitter), Title or Position, Mobile Number and Email Address;
• Company SAM Registration, CAGE, or DUNS and Tax Identification numbers

2 - The response shall not exceed twenty-five (25) pages. Unnecessarily elaborate submissions are discouraged. Pages over the page limitation may be discarded. SAA access to information in any files attached to the response is the submitting party’s responsibility. Neither the SAA nor the Senate is responsible for any failure to access vendor's information.

3 - Responses to this Sources Sought Notice are due to the SAA on July 29, 2020, and shall be submitted electronically, via email, to the attention of Cora R. Carag at [email protected]. The subject line of the email message shall be: “SSN 2020-S-00011 entitled "Infrastructure as a Service Solution.” No other method of transmittal will be accepted.

The information contained in this Notice is the most current and the only information provided by the SAA during this phase of the Sources Sought process.  It is the responsibility of the potential Offerors to monitor this site for additional information, if any, pertaining to this requirement.

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. THIS NOTICE CONSTITUTES THE ENTIRE SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE AND IS THE ONLY INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE SAA OR SENATE. ANY QUESTIONS OR REQUESTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL NOT BE HONORED OR ACCEPTED.