1.0 INTRODUCTION The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is the sole provider of Precise Time and Astrometry (PTA) data products to the DoD under CJCSI 4650.01H and DoD Instruction (DoDI) 4650.06. PTA data products include Precise Time (PT) and time dissemination tools, Celestial Reference Frame (CRF) data products and applications, and Earth Orientation Parameters (EOPs). These products are critical to navigation for any DoD system, and, most importantly, the United States Global Positioning System (GPS). The security and integrity of the transport systems from which these systems disseminate data is paramount, requiring 24/7 monitoring, life cycle replacement, and regular sustainment activities 2.0 SCOPE The purpose of this contract is to obtain the infrastructure and services required to build and sustain security services that ensure the integrity and availability of PTA Enterprise systems. In addition to the hardware and software required for the security infrastructure, the services requested herein will require timing transport engineers, observatory control engineers, cyber security operators, and project specialist experts to provide technical support, cyber monitoring, and operations and maintenance support for PTA dissemination systems. The contractor services and hardware/software procurements shall fall within the scope of work delineated herein. Services to be furnished under this contract shall be set forth in individual Tasks Orders. It shall be the responsibility of the Contractor to organize, furnish, and supervise a working force which, within the limitations of the provisions of the proposed contract, is capable of effectively performing the work as established in paragraph 3.0 and further defined in the individual Task Orders and supporting Statements of Work (SOWs). It shall be the responsibility of the Contractor to ensure all contractors possess the specialized education and experience specified under personnel qualifications in Section C of this document and as identified in the task order issued. The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) promptly with hiring status and changes of personnel for each Task Order. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Quote (RFQ) or promise to issue an RFQ in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the Navy is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondees are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFQ, if any is issued. 3.0 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS The Contractor shall provide infrastructure and manpower for support in the disciplines of transport engineering, cyber security, cyber engineering, Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) management, instrumentation engineering, and computer sciences. Work shall be in accordance with tasks such as the following as ordered on individual task orders for specified PTA research, engineering or operations and maintenance projects. Technical Services Requirements Implement, operate and maintain PTA transport systems capable of meeting the requirements in Section 3.2. Collect, develop, and analyze transport and SCADA data for cyber security and readiness with hardware meeting the requirements outlined in Section 3.3. Supply the necessary skillsets to monitor and interpret the data. Design, develop, and deploy SCADA control hardware. Supply the necessary skillsets to analyze and monitor data Review, analyze and document specific operational procedures; and/or perform feasibility studies. Develop and maintain cyber security monitoring infrastructure. Provide the necessary skillsets and hardware to perform cyber screening, incident detection and response, and risk assessments. Hardware shall adhere to the requirements in section 3.3. Assist in the design, development and maintenance of PTA-specialized Internet and Intranet web sites. Design, develop, test computer software, models, and/or develop computer libraries and databases. Lend expertise, assistance, consultation and/or coordination services for all engineering, maintenance, monitoring, computer science or project management activities Transport Maintenance and Sustainment Requirements The system maintenance and sustainment shall ensure availability greater than 99.999% The system maintenance and sustainment activities shall ensure data backup capability and capability to recover backed up data The system maintenance and sustainment shall include cyber and resource monitoring The system maintenance and sustainment activities shall meet the requirements for Navy Risk Management Framework as required by DoDI 8510.01 and defined by the U.S. Navy Risk Management Framework Process Guide The system maintenance and sustainment shall include monitoring, controlling, and securely operations of remote telescopes and instrumentation The system maintenance and sustainment shall provide compute stability of 0.5 nanoseconds Security Monitoring Hardware Requirements Security monitoring system shall be mobile with dimensions no greater than 24 x 14 x 9 inches Security monitoring system shall be EMP protected Security monitoring system shall be capable of modeling system architecture Security monitoring system shall be capable of modeling data, data dissemination and data acquisition traffic Security monitoring system shall be capable of alerts within 60 seconds of detection The Government may provide technical guidance to contractors providing these services. As used herein, technical guidance includes the amplification of the specifications of a particular piece of work and the furnishings of relevant information needed for performance, which fills in details, supports possible avenues or methods of approach, or outlines alternate solutions. In no instance will either Navy civilian or military personnel exercise supervision of the employed contractor personnel. 4.0 PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS The Contractor will be required to provide the labor categories identified below that possess the appropriate education requirements for each class. The labor categories required for this contract are: PTA IP Transport Engineer, PTA RF Transport Engineer, Risk Management Framework (RMF) Analyst, Program Manager, SCADA Infrastructure Engineer, Physical Security Engineer, Technical Writer, and Security Operator. The labor categories are defined in Attachment 1. Within each labor category, the contractor must be able to provide qualified employees with Junior, Mid-level, Senior, or Principal levels of experience. The Junior, Mid-level, Senior, or Principal classifications are defined in Attachment 1. SECURITY All contractors under this contract will be required to obtain and uphold a Secret Clearance. Some positions will require up to Top Secret Security Clearances with SCI tickets (TS//SCI clearance). Clearance requirements will be specified in individual task Access to Personally Identifiable Information (PII) will be required and training related to PII will be required and provided by the government. USNO security requirements automatically limit employment to U.S citizens. Employees will be required to submit a Standard Form 87A (SF-87A) Fingerprint Card, and receive a favorably adjudicated background investigation. Any determination that is "other than favorable," or "undetermined" will render any employee ineligible for access to the United State Naval Observatory. 6.0 TRAVEL All travel requirements shall be accomplished in accordance with the Joint Travel Regulations. Travel in performance of this contract is estimated at $635,928.00. inclusive of any indirect charges including G&A. All travel requirements related to this PWS are accounted for in the Government’s estimated travel cost of $635,928.00. Travel will be reimbursed in accordance with the Joint Travel Regulations and Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 31.205-46. The Contractor shall request travel funding in writing to the Contracting Officer, at least 30 business days prior to any travel. Travel is subject to preapproval by the Contracting Officer Representative (COR). 7.0 MATERIALS The Government will fund the purchase of materials by the contractor, on an FFP basis, that are identified in an individual task order. The contractor shall not purchase materials without the prior written approval of the COR and the contracting officer. The Government will not pay the contractor for any materials not identified in an individual task order or purchased without the prior written approval of the COR and the contracting officer. The contractor shall obtain approval from the COR prior to the purchase of any equipment. Equipment such as laptops, switches, firewalls, servers, cyber monitoring tool kits and software licenses in performance of this contract are inclusive of any indirect charges including G&A. All equipment requirements related to this PWS shall be accounted for in total, represented as individual CLINs in the solicitation and contract. 8.0 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE The primary place of performance for contractors working on specific USNO tasks orders will be at the United States Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC, 20392-5420. However, in rare cases, contractors may work at a different work site, which will be specified in the task order. Telework may be permitted depending on the requirements outline in the task order. 9.0 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS Access to IT systems requires candidate to in process with the USNO Security Manager and Information Assurance Manager upon arrival at USNO and shall out-process prior to their departure at the completion of the individual's performance under the contract. Completion and approval of a System Authorization Access Request Navy (SAAR-N) form is required for all individuals accessing Navy Information Technology resources. The SAAR-N shall be forwarded to the USNO Security Manager to the candidate accessing any Navy IT system. When required to maintain access to required IT systems or networks, the Contractor shall ensure completion of annual Information Assurance (IA) training, and maintain a current requisite background investigation. The Contractor's Security Representative shall contact the Command Security Manager for guidance when reinvestigations are required. 10.0 INFORMATION ASSURANCE/INFORMATION SECURITY Contractor shall protect DoD sensitive unclassified data regardless of the location or ownership of the transport media, including, but not limited to mobile computing devices and removable storage media, whether Government furnished or contractor owned/leased. Contractor shall comply with all current information assurance and information security policies, procedures, and statutes applicable to DoD information technology, including the July 3, 2007 DoD CIO Policy Memorandum on Encryption of Sensitive Unclassified Data at Rest on Mobile Computing Devices and Removable Storage Media. 11.0 IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS All Contractor personnel performing under this Performance Work Statement shall identify themselves as Contractor employees to avoid creating any impression that they are Government officials. Such identification shall be made in all meetings attended, when answering Government telephones, on all e-mails and when working in other situations where their Contractor status is not obvious to third parties. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by Contractors are suitably marked as Contractor products or that Contractor participation is appropriately disclosed 12.0 GOVERNMENT PROPERTY The following Government items shall be made available for employees who work on-site at USNO in accordance with FAR 45.000(b)(5): office space and office furnishings together with equipment and supplies necessary for the performance of the work will be provided. Equipment may include access to such items as computers, department and laboratory instruments, and supplies. 13.0 REPORTS AND DELIVERABLES Management Reports. The following report shall be required as a minimum: Monthly Task Detail Report. To include delivery order numbers, work sponsor names and codes, begin/end dates of tasks, names of employees on each task, total hours remaining and hours allotted on each task, and a year to date total of money and hours used thus far on the contract. This report shall be due no later than the 10th day of each month. The deliverables required to be submitted will be assessed against the specifications for the deliverables detailed in specific task orders. 14. Responses Request Responses by Friday 29 November 2024, 1:00pm EST . The response shall be submitted via e-mail only to the Government Point of Contract (POC): Erica Morris, Program Analyst,
[email protected]. Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing to the POC. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted via telephone. The Government does not guarantee that all questions received will be answered. The RFI should address the following: 1. Capability Statement/Ability to meet specifications 2. Previous similar experience 3. Company Information. Name, mailing address, phone number, CAGE/and or DUNS, business size status and e-mail of designated point of contact