The proposed contract is for IT services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1 "Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements" as supplemented with additional information included in this notice.

One of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) primary access to the internet is via the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) maintained by CIT/Network Services. Over the past 2-3 years there have been multiple DDoS attacks aimed at disrupting HHS's service. A DDoS attack occurs when an attacker sends traffic to a targeted organization's network with the intent of disrupting or making unavailable that organization's internet connection(s), web-facing systems or web-facing applications. Attack methods may vary, but the goal is always to achieve disruption or make internet-facing resources unavailable. The attacks have been costly and a major threat to Network security. In each case, hacker flooded the network from multiple locations (addresses) which caused network, slowness, outages, and resources to dedicate hours to tracing and tracking of the cause. Century Link is the current circuit provider for the TIC connections and will need to provide a solution on the current Century Link equipment.

The Network Services division is looking for mitigation services that can detect and detect & prevent 1. Traffic, 2. Bandwidth, and 3. Applications attacks.

Objectives:
24x7 On Demand Service
Prevention

Location: 44480 HASTINGS DR ASHBURN VIRGINIA 20147 6043 UNITED STATES

Service:  DDoS Mitigation Site- Service Type = Internet Direct DDoS Clean Traffic Return Path Flow Based Monitoring

Location: 9000 ROCKVILLE PIKE BETHESDA MARYLAND 20892 0001 UNITED STATES

Service: DDoS Mitigation Service -Clean Bandwidth = 4Gbps -Protection Type = On Demand

DDoS Additional Protected Subnets - Block Quantity (per Quantity of 16 /24 subnets) = 241

Location: 9000 ROCKVILLE PIKE BETHESDA MARYLAND 20892 0001 UNITED STATES

Service: DDoS Clean Traffic Return Path Flow Based Monitoring

Deliverables:
Access to SOC 24x7x365 on-call service to clean traffic at the point of attack

24x7x365 monitoring of traffic to prevent potential attacks.

Anticipated performance/delivery date: The period of performance is anticipated to be six months from September 23, 2019 through March 22, 2020 with one, six (6) month option period from: March 23, 2020 through September 22, 2020.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. A determination by the Government to not compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government, and information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

The Government/NIH/NLM will not be responsible for paying for any of the costs incurred and associated with the development of any responses submitted to this posting. The North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) is 517311 Wired Telecommunications Carriers and the small business size standard is 1,500 employees. Capability statements or other documents submitted in consideration of this announcement must be submitted in writing by email no later than 11:00 AM Eastern Time, September 10, 2019. All responsible sources having the ability to provide the services provided by this notification should submit a comprehensive capability statement that shall be considered by the agency in determining if alternative procurement methods are appropriate.

All Capability Statements to be considered by the agency must be emailed to LaDonna Stewart, Contract Specialist at [email protected] referencing "NLM-75N97019Q00087 - DDoS Mitigation" in the subject line. Capability statements must also include the vendors DUNS and business size for the proposed NAICS.

FEDERAL ACQUISITION REQULATION (FAR) CLAUSES
The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference. Full text may be found at https://www.acquisition.gov/Far.
FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items
FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items
FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items
FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes and Executive orders

Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. 

Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s)