HI 16-9 - Security Software Architecture
VA701-16-N-0106
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE
SECURITY SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE (PROJECT NO. HI 16-9)
A.1. INTRODUCTION
In accordance with Federal Acquisition regulation (FAR) 52.215-3, "Request for Information for Solicitation or Planning Purposes," this Sources Sought Notice/Request for Information (SS/RFI) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The Department of Veterans Affairs, Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC) is conducting market research and is seeking written responses with information to assist the Government with identifying potential sources that are interested in, and capable of, performing the work described herein and as described in the Performance Work Statement (PWS) (See ATTACHMENT 1).
A.2. REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION
The Department of Veterans Affairs, Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC) is in the process of planning a procurement in which a contractor will be required to provide support to a wide range of security and privacy standard generally to related activities both external and internal to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
More specifically, Software Security Architecture is focused on activities specific to VHA's legal responsibilities as VHA's designated Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) provider for healthcare, healthcare security informatics, healthcare security and privacy business workflow including healthcare security and privacy information models requirements and requirements management. Application analysts support the development of healthcare domain security and privacy vocabulary and standards within Health Level 7 (HL7) crucial to the analysis of security and privacy requirements supporting VHA clinical systems and programs. Software Security Architecture provides:
" Healthcare standards support related to creating, balloting and maintaining information, information models, vocabularies and code sets defining security and privacy healthcare domain concepts and attributes.
" Support for managing healthcare business security and privacy requirements including those that are cross-cutting requirements across the Department.
" Monitors VHA relevant external security and privacy standards.
Core activities include support to VA's engagement with healthcare security standards and standards influencing organizations such as:
" American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
" ANSI International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS)
" Health Level Seven (HL7)
" Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
" Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)
" International Standards Organization (ISO)
" KANTARA
" National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
" Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Systems (OASIS)
" Object Management Group (OMG)
" World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
In addition, the VHA must integrate healthcare security and privacy standards into its business processes and health information systems. In particular, standards affect the way that information is stored and used, and the protocols that must be observed to achieve interoperability between/among systems and business partners. Accordingly, healthcare standards must be integrated into all aspects of line of business requirements and health informatics affecting health information system design and engineering.
See the PWS (ATTACHMENT 1) for more information and full background.
A.3. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
(a) SUBMISSION
(1) Responses shall be submitted electronically via email to Michelle Rhodes at michelle.rhodes@va.gov with a cc to the Contracting Officer (CO) Laurie Walker at laurie.walker@va.gov. Only emailed responses will be accepted.
(2) Responses shall be received on or before June 1, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time); however, the Government may continue to accept responses after the aforementioned due date until the market research process is complete.
(b) GENERAL QUESTIONS
All general questions shall be submitted electronically via email to Michelle Rhodes at michelle.rhodes@va.gov with a cc to the CO Laurie Walker at laurie.walker@va.gov. The cut-off date and time for receipt of general questions is May 23, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time). Questions received after this date and time may not be answered.
(c) TECHNICAL QUESTIONS
Questions of a technical nature that respondents require answered in order to prepare their SS/RFI response shall be submitted via email to Michelle Rhodes at michelle.rhodes@va.gov with a cc to the CO Laurie Walker at laurie.walker@va.gov. Oral questions of a technical nature are not acceptable due to the possibility of misunderstanding or misinterpretation. The cut-off date and time for receipt of technical questions is May 23, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time). Technical questions received after this date and time may not be answered.
A.4. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
(a) RESPONSE PREPARATION COSTS
The Contracting Officer is the only individual legally authorized to commit the Government to the expenditure of public funds in connection with any procurement. This SS/RFI does not commit the Government to pay any costs for the preparation and submission of a response in response to this SS/RFI notice.
(b) GENERAL
All potential sources with the capability to provide the requirements referenced in this SS/RFI and in the PWS are invited to submit, in writing, sufficient information within the page and format limitation (listed below). This information must demonstrate the responder's ability to fulfill the requirements and be responsive to the technical questions in this SS/RFI as indicated below.
(c) FORMAT
The response shall be clearly indexed and logically assembled. Arial or Times New Roman fonts are required. Characters shall be set at no less than normal spacing and 100% scale. Font size shall be no smaller than 12-point. The response must be submitted as a single application-generated (not scanned) PDF document that is less than or equal to 15MB in size.
(d) CONTENT REQUIREMENTS
All information shall be confined to the appropriate tab. The requirements for each tab are shown in the table below:
Tab Information Page Limit
Tab I Cover Page 1 Page
Tab II Capability Information 5 Pages
Tab III PWS Comments No Limit
(e) TAB I - COVER PAGE REQUIREMENTS
The cover page shall include the following information:
(1) SS/RFI Title [Applied Informatics Portfolio Support (VA701-16-N-0015)];
(2) Company Name;
(3) Company Address;
(4) Company Point of Contact (Name, Phone Number, Email Address);
(5) Company Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number;
(6) Company Business Size;
(7) Company Business Type (i.e. Large Business, Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Woman-Owned Small Business, HubZone Small Business, etc.);
(8) Company's Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Contract. Provide the GSA Contract Number and relevant Special Item Number(s) (SINs) applicable to this requirement.
(f) TAB II - CAPABILITY INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
Respondents shall provide a general capabilities statement to address the following information:
(1) Provide no more than five (5) contracts that your company has performed within the last three (3) years that are of comparable size, complexity, and scope to this requirement. Please include the following information, at a minimum:
i. Contract Name;
ii. Contract Scope;
iii. Awarded Price/Cost;
iv. Government's technical representative/Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) and current email address, telephone, and fax numbers (or commercial point of contact equivalent);
v. Describe your self-performed** effort (as either Prime or Subcontractor). Describe self-performed work in terms of dollar value and description;
**Self-Performed means work performed by the company themselves and is NOT work performed by another company for them for any of the project examples provided.
vi. A brief narrative that describes the details of each project and why it is relevant to this requirement, including difficulties and successes.
(2) Capabilities/Qualifications: A written response providing clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate the capacity to fulfill this requirement. Description of the capabilities, qualifications, and skills the company possesses to perform services described in the scope of the work.
(g) TAB III - RESPONSES TO GOVERNMENT PERFORMACE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)
Respondents shall provide responses to the following questions concerning the PWS included with this notice:
(1) Provide any comments and/or questions your company may have regarding the draft PWS.
A.5. DISCLAIMER
This SS/RFI Notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation or obligation on the part of the Government. Per FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not considered offers, shall not be used as a proposal, and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Neither unsolicited proposals nor any other kinds of offers will be considered in response to this notice. No evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents; however, the Government does reserve the right to contact any respondent and/or respondent reference to obtain additional information. At this time, no solicitation exists; therefore, please do not request a copy of the solicitation.
(a) Any resulting procurement action will be the subject of a separate, future announcement. The information is provided for discussion purposes and any potential strategy for this acquisition may change prior to any solicitation release. The acquisition strategy, evaluation methodology, contract type, and any other acquisition decisions are to be determined.
(b) Respondents are advised the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this SS/RFI. All costs associated with responding to this SS/RFI will be solely at the respondent's expense.
A.6. ATTACHMENTS
ATTACHMENT 1 - PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT
Michelle Rhodes
Program Contracting Activity Central
6150 Oak Tree Blvd, Suite 300
Independence OH 44131
Office Email
