SPECIAL NOTICE
70 -- SSA's Notice of Intent to Advise Industry of SSA's Intent to Continue Usage of Specific Microsoft Products
- Notice Date
- 5/9/2008
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 511210
— Software Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Social Security Administration, Office of Budget, Finance, and Management, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1st Floor, Rear Entrance, 7111 Security Blvd., Baltimore, Maryland, 21244
- ZIP Code
- 21244
- Solicitation Number
- SSA-Microsoft-FY09-CS
- Response Due
- 5/20/2008
- Point of Contact
- Cynthia M Spencer,, Phone: 4109653369
- E-Mail Address
-
cynthia.spencer@ssa.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- In June 1996 the Social Security Administration (SSA) competitively awarded a contract to Unisys Corporation for the hardware and software required to support SSA’s new intelligent workstation and Local Area Network (LAN) environment. Through the Unisys contract SSA acquired 108,922 licenses for Microsoft Windows Operating System software and 102,354 licenses for Microsoft’s Office Professional suite of desktop software as well as the associated Server software and Client Access Licenses (CALs). As a result of this competitive procurement, Microsoft Windows Desktop Operating System, Microsoft Office Professional Suite products, companion server software products (i.e., exchange Server, System Management Server, Windows Server, SQL Server and Host Integration Server), Project and Visio were officially established as the Agency Standard for SSA desktop and LAN software. Since that time, SSA has competitively awarded a follow up contract to Softmart Government Services Incorporated to continue the hardware and software support established under the Unisys contract. Licenses for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems have grown to 128,547 and 116,835 for Microsoft’s Office Professional suite of desktop software as well as the associated Server software and CALs. Due to the evolving nature of Microsoft’s products and SSA’s desktop and LAN infrastructures, this notice is to advise the industry of SSA’s intent to continue its use of Microsoft’s Windows Desktop Operating System, Office Professional Suite, companion server software products (i.e., Exchange Server, System Management Server, Windows Server, SQL Server and Host Integration Server), Project and Visio as SSA desktop and LAN software standards and add the following Microsoft products: Microsoft’s Enterprise Client Access License Suite, Project Server, Systems Center Data Protection Manager, Desktop Optimization Pack, and Terminal Server Access License. SSA’s business case is predicated on the fact that SSA intends to protect its $220 million plus financial investment in these competitively acquired Microsoft products. SSA’s investment is a result of its license acquisition and maintenance and support costs over the life of the two contracts. It should be noted that the business case does not include the costs associated with SSA’s application software dependence on the Microsoft operating software and office suite programs. SSA has written custom application systems that invoke and interoperate with MS Office suite software and many more that will only run on Microsoft operating systems. These two categories of applications would have to be re-developed at costs that would likely equal or exceed SSA’s investment in training. SSA’s technical case is based on the need to optimize the administration and efficiency of its intelligent workstation and LAN environment. The ability of SSA to continue to economically deploy, maintain and provide user support for the Microsoft products is predicated on using a standard configuration wherever possible. This standard configuration is Microsoft’s Windows technology, for the operating system, and Office Suite Professional Suite at a common release level. This permits the mass distribution of a desktop software image with minimal manpower for individual customization. Similarly, it expedites system recovery and software troubleshooting. Microsoft’s Office Professional Suite is comprised of the following major components: Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint and Outlook. There is a significant sharing of technology and features among these products and the Windows operating system that makes it desirable to use these products in conjunction with each other. SSA has considerable experience with Microsoft’s Office Professional Suite, having 116,835 copies deployed. The training and hands-on experience during this period, the document compatibility needed by current users, and documents created during this period make the continued use of Microsoft’s Office Suite the most efficient and effective technical solution. Although certain other products claim to be compatible, each have significant deficiencies (e.g., lack of an integrated Web browser, e-mail client, and group scheduling or serious compatibility problems with Microsoft Office products). Using any other product eliminates or greatly restricts access to all of the existing Microsoft Office legacy files. Certain companion Microsoft products maintain similar benefits from their interoperability and compatibility with the operating system and Office Professional Suite. Currently Microsoft’s server based products (i.e., Exchange, System Management, Windows, SQL, Host Integration, Enterprise Client Access License Suite, SharePoint Server, SharePoint Server Client Access License and Terminal Server Access License) are considered necessary companion products to the desktop suite and share this interoperability, as do the desktop and server versions of Project and Visio software and Systems Center Data Protection Manager and Desktop Optimization Pack. All of these Microsoft products enjoy the interoperability and compatibility advantages. Also the products have met all known SSA requirements for planning and technical drawings. The use of the Microsoft Project and Visio products, wherever feasible, permits the interaction with the Office Professional Suite and the sharing of information among SSA users. Systems Center Data Protection Manager interacts with SQL to allow faster more efficient database backups and restores. Desktop Optimization Pack provides an efficient, cost effective desktop deployment and management system in support of SSA’s programmatic and business functions. Therefore, Microsoft products are the only known products capable of satisfying SSA’s requirements. Written responses to this synopsis shall contain sufficient documentation to establish a bona fide capability to fulfill this requirement. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. SSA’s investments shall be assessed when accomplishing a comparison to determine if it is in the Government’s best interest to switch to a different operating system. This document does not constitute a solicitation for offers. Request for copies of a solicitation will not be honored or acknowledged. Pricing data is not requested or required. No contract award will be made on the basis of responses received; however, this information will be assessed before a final determination is made. Respondents will not be notified of the results of any Government evaluation of submitted information. Any responses to this notice should be submitted electronically by 3:00 p.m. ET on May 20, 2008 to Cynthia.Spencer@ssa.gov. The size limitation for email attachments is 10 megabytes and MS Word is the Agency’s standard word processing software. Respondents should refer to SSA-Microsoft-FY09-CS.
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=ca7efea2ecacabde23b50ec7117d53cc&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Social Security Administration, National Computer Center, 6201 Security Blvd., Baltimore, Maryland, 21235, United States
- Zip Code: 21235
- Zip Code: 21235
- Record
- SN01570516-W 20080511/080509220547-ca7efea2ecacabde23b50ec7117d53cc (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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