Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) 10/25/2022: This Sources Sought is updated to include the Government's response to Industry questions related to the RFI. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homela... REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) 10/25/2022: This Sources Sought is updated to include the Government's response to Industry questions related to the RFI. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) –Innovation Lab (IL) Field Support Representative (FSR) Training, System Support, & Minor Enhancement Services ICEHSIILFSR-10.18.22 October 18, 2022 A. BACKGROUND/PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The U.S. (United States) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is the principal investigative arm of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the second largest investigative agency in the Federal Government. HSI’s primary mission is to promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of Federal laws governing border control, customs, trade, and immigration. HSI is in the process of transforming the Agency’s investment approach and processes for acquiring and delivering capabilities to HSI’s 10,000+-person workforce. While HSI has streamlined its investments in tools to support routine investigations, the challenges of large, complex, and unique cases invariably involve metadata analysis and the integration of large volumes of data from multiple sources. HSI is a critical asset in accomplishing the ICE mission and is responsible for investigating a wide range of domestic and international activities arising from the illegal movement of people and goods into, within, and out of the United States. As a result, ICE needs training and employee support services for special agents, criminal analysts, and task force officers assigned to HSI regarding their utilization of HSI Operational Systems Development and Management (OSDM) unit’s analytical and operations support tools. These tools provide HSI special agents, criminal analysts, and task force officers with key investigative resources: a wholly integrated, consolidated platform performing federated search, analytics, geospatial referencing, reporting and situational awareness capabilities across a broadly diverse universe of structured and unstructured law enforcement data residing in numerous, disparate source environments. Note that the incumbent contract focuses predominantly on support for FALCON which the replacement contract will focus predominantly on support for RAVEN and all Innovation lab tools. B. PURPOSE OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued In Accordance With (IAW) Federal acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(c)(7) and is solely for market research, planning and information purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a subsequent solicitation (Request for Proposal (RFP), etc.). This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. ICE is not seeking proposals at this time. Further, ICE will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this RFI. Participants in this market research are advised that the Government will not pay any costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Responses to this RFI will be used to identify potential sources, vehicles and set asides for specific small business classifications. Therefore, while not responding to this RFI does not directly preclude a vendor from participating in a future solicitation, not responding to this RFI could impact procurement decisions that affect a vendor’s ability to participate in future solicitation(s) as a prime. The purpose of this RFI is to: Identify vendors and their products and/or services that have the knowledge, skills and abilities for the initial and ongoing training and support of law enforcement and support personnel on the use of HSI’s analytical and operations tools. ICE may use the responses to this RFI in developing a procurement strategy. ICE will weigh the capability, quality and expected lifecycle of the proposed solution, technical environment, flexibility and adaptability to future needs, the quality of the implementation plan, time to implement, total cost of ownership of the system, and the level of risk in consideration of the formal procurement strategy. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Government and will not be returned. Responses to the RFI may be used to develop Government documentation. Responses to this RFI may be reviewed by Government technical experts drawn from staff within DHS/ICE and other Federal agencies. C. DESCRIPTION/SCOPE OF WORK Please see the attached DRAFT Performance Work Statement (PWS) for a description of the requirements. Please note that a representative, non-exhaustive, list of the tools used by RAVEN and the Innovation Lab is not currently available, however, it will be provided as an attachment to the final PWS during formal solicitation. The Contractor shall provide all personnel, training, expertise, customer support, transportation, system modification, engineering services, and materials, to successfully perform these requirements, unless otherwise stated. The Contractor shall comply with all ICE charters, policies, procedures and plans, processes, manuals, models, and guides. Interested Vendors are requested to submit a white paper, briefly addressing each of the following: Technical Questions: Provide a brief description of the number of organizational customers that have acquired the precise product/solution you would propose to use/configure/modify to meet ICE requirements, the daily transaction volumes for each organizational customer and the number of users at each organization (if known), along with the specific "mission" or application for which your product/solution is used by each organizational customer and the date when your product/solution began production operations with each organizational customer. Do you have any questions or recommended changes to the PWS, including task structure, to better delineate duties and responsibilities? Performance Standards are intended to allow both the Government and the Contractor to clearly understand how performance on the contract will be measured. What are some recommended Performance Standards that your firm would consider helpful to achieving this objective? Do you have any recommendations for meaningful evaluation factors? What support has your firm typically provided for Tiers 1, 2, and 3? What software solutions has your firm utilized to manage similar helpdesk/support contracts? What labor categories, skill levels and level of effort do you recommend as a labor mix to accomplish the requirements of this order? Please provide a matrix mapping Labor Categories (LCATs) found in your preferred Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) or Indefinite Delivery Indefinitely Quantity (ID/IQ), which is available to ICE for ordering purposes, that address these requirements. Include skill levels. What experience do your Tiers 1, 2 and 3 technicians typically have? Please provide any recommended changes, omissions or additions to the LCATs identified in the PWS. Contracting Strategy Questions: Identify any contract type considerations associated with your solution (i.e., Commercial Non-commercial, Labor Hour, Firm Fixed Price, etc.). Provide the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) technical staff that would be needed to support HSI Innovation Lab tools for a contract with a user base of 6000. This should include help desk staff, technical staff resources and instructional staffing for training. It is anticipated that the Contractor shall have to manage 200-300 Tiers 1, 2, and 3 tickets each month. The Government anticipates that Tier 1 and 2 support may constitute approximately 20% of the requirements and Tier 3 support may constitute approximately 80% of the requirements. There is a possibility that either Tier 1 or Tier 2, or both, may be removed entirely and supported in house, however, this decision has yet to be made. If possible, please identify approximate labor costs (Rough Order of Magnitude) to support the system and cost to install/implement upgrades or customized enhancements. D. RESPONDING TO THIS RFI Sources able to satisfy these requirements are invited to submit information describing their capabilities. Please limit submissions to a MAXIMUM of 15 pages (cover page, white paper, and product description(s)), inclusive of diagrams, photos, etc. White papers should be submitted in Times New Roman, size 12 font, with single spacing. Recommended edits to the PWS, using tracked changes, are permitted and will not be included in the page count. Multiple submissions are authorized to address various solutions. Each submission should follow the guidelines laid out the following sections: Cover Page (maximum 2 pages) Contact and company information Name* Title Company Name Number of years in business Brief overview of company history Number of employees Business type, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and company size (other than small, small business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), etc.) Personnel Security Clearance(s) Location Mailing address Phone number Website address Email address *Note that RFI responses shall designate a single Point of Contact for receipt of all information pursuant to this RFI. List of any GSA Contract or other Federal Contract appropriate to support this requirement (i.e., SWIFT, CIO-SP3, Alliant 2, GSA MAS IT 54151S). Name/type of technology or technologies proposed. E. QUESTIONS AND REQUESTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Questions and requests for additional information shall be sent to DHS/ICE via email to jordan.stovall@ice.dhs.gov and misty.weinhold@ice.dhs.gov no later than Friday, October 21, 2022 at 10:00AM local time in Washington D.C. Verbal questions will not be considered. Please include the RFI title “RFI QUESTIONS HSI - Innovation Lab Training, System Support, & Minor Enhancement Services – (Company Name)” in the subject line of your email and provide your electronic submission in Microsoft Word or Excel format. F. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Submissions shall be received at DHS/ICE via email at jordan.stovall@ice.dhs.gov and misty.weinhold@ice.dhs.gov no later than Friday, October 28, 2022 at 10:00AM local time in Washington D.C. Early submissions are encouraged. ICE reserves the right to review late submissions but makes no guarantee to the order of, or possibility for, review of late submissions. Please include the RFI title “RFI RESPONSE HSI - Innovation Lab Training, System Support, & Minor Enhancement Services – (Company Name)” in the subject line of your email and provide your electronic submission in Microsoft Word or PDF format. Any company proprietary information, performance capabilities, and/or future modification should be clearly identified and marked; please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.