Sources Sought Notice – National Flood Insurance Program Direct Servicing Agent (DSA)

Notice Type: Sources Sought Notice

Posted Date: 14-APR-15

Office Address: Department of Homeland Security; Federal Emergency Management Agency; Recovery Branch; 500 C Street SWPatriots Plaza -- 5th Floor Washington DC 20472

Subject: National Flood Insurance Program Direct Servicing Agent (DSA)

Classification Code: 99 - Miscellaneous

Solicitation Number: HSFE60-15-I-0009

Contact: Marianne McCallum, Contract Specialist, Email marianne.mccallum@fema.dhs.gov

Setaside: N/AN/A

Place of Performance Country: US

Description: Department of Homeland Security

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Recovery Branch

Source Sought Notice National Flood Insurance Program Direct Servicing Agent (DSA) This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE is for small businesses only. The purpose of this sources sought notice is to determine the interest and feasibility of small business set-asides. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government, nor will the U.S. Government pay for information solicited. The information from this notice will help the FEMA, Acquisition Operations Division Mitigation Branch, plan their acquisition strategy or plan. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME. FEMA, Acquisition Operations Division, Mitigation Branch, is conducting a market survey to determine the availability and technical capability of qualified small businesses, including small business set-asides, small disadvantaged businesses (SDB), 8(a) small businesses, woman-owned small businesses (WOSB), veteran owned small businesses (VOSB), service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB), and Historically Under-utilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses capable of issuing and servicing flood insurance policies, collecting premiums, adjusting and settling claims and disseminating information on the National Flood Insurance Program to the public, lenders and agents. Currently the Direct Servicing Agent contractor services over 744,000 NFIP Flood Insurance Policies, which account for $536 million in premiums and provides over $175 billion in flood insurance coverage. FEMA expects the Direct Servicing Agent contractor to have program knowledgeable personnel to handle the nearly 8,500 flood insurance claims a year and associated payments of close to $77 million annually. All responding small business firms are requested to identify their firm's size and type of business to the anticipated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code. For this acquisition, the NAICS code is 524292 and the Small Business Standard is $7.4 million. Teaming arrangements and joint ventures will be considered based on the Government's market research, provided the prime contract is awarded to an applicable small business and that small businesses provide over fifty percent or more of the work or services/hardware solicited. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created by an Act of Congress in 1968 and makes flood insurance available to residents and businesses of participating communities that commit to sound floodplain management practices. The NFIP sells and administers Standard Flood Insurance Policies in two ways: 1. Through an arrangement with private Write Your Own (WYO) insurance companies (under authority of 44 CFR Section 62.233); and 2. Through a contractor, known as the NFIP Direct Servicing Agent, which directly sells and services NFIP policies. The Write Your Own (WYO) Program is the primary vehicle for delivering and servicing flood insurance with participating insurance companies, who write nearly 86% of the NFIP's policies in their own names. The Government bears the underwriting risk for these policies, as well as for the policies issued by the Direct Servicing Agent. This Sources Sought notice is for the NFIP Direct Servicing Agent for the NFIP Direct Business. The DSA must: * Provide uninterrupted day-to-day servicing of: o Directly written standard flood insurance policies, currently 713,952 polices serviced o Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) policies, currently 21,856 policies serviced, and o Group [National] Flood Insurance Policies (GFIP), currently 8,765 policies serviced. * The NFIP is a complex program with contractor support in various roles. The DSA Contractor will need to be aware of these contractors because at various times there will be interaction. Some examples are listed. o The NFIP Systems and Services contract will provide policy information and is the program System of Record, housing financial information, historical policy information, rate tables, and other program information o The NFIP Marketing contract is in tasked with marketing to the General Public to increase flood insurance policies o The NFIP Training contractor provides training to certify NFIP adjusters and insurance agents o During disaster response the NFIP Systems and Services contractor will establish the Flood Recovery Office, and the DSA Contractor will coordinate Adjuster Control Office and Flood Insurance Claims Office at the disaster site with the COR and the Systems and Services Contractor. * The Contractor shall operate and maintain all computer and telecommunications hardware and software systems needed to fully support the DSA Requirements. All information technology equipment and systems uses by the Contractor to fulfill these obligations must satisfy all Federal Government audit, financial control, security and privacy requirements. * Act as a fiduciary agent for flood insurance premiums and other collections; and meet Federal Government deposit and NFIP accounting requirements. The Contractor must be able to produce financial reports and documents in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). * Meet reporting requirements - including the statistical and other reporting requirements contained in the WYO Transaction Record Reporting and Processing (TRRP) Plan. * Provide and operate an information management system that encompasses cash management, policy administration, claims management, performance management reporting, and financial and statistical reporting. The NFIP Direct Servicing Agent - on behalf of the Federal government - will maintain servicing operations, set management controls and reporting requirements, and adhere to related regulations, requirements and policy as outlined below: * The Contractor will establish and maintain NFIP flood insurance servicing operations that are similar to the NFIP-related operations of a Write Your Own (WYO) insurance company. DSA servicing operations will conform to WYO statistical and financial reporting requirements. Additionally, the DSA shall conform to the NFIP program schedules and changes required of the WYO companies, such as changes to policy forms, coverage, rating and reporting requirements and associated information management system changes.

Note: The Government, through this contract, reserves the right to establish unique policies, operations, standards and reporting requirements, such as those found in Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) policies, Group Flood Insurance Policies (GFIP), and the federal debt collection procedures.

* The Contractor shall establish and maintain management controls and reporting requirements to assure full compliance with NFIP statutes, regulations within 44 CFR, parts 61-62, and other relevant FEMA directives and instructions. Flood claim payments are critical to the mission of the NFIP and are crucial to helping survivors recover from flood disasters, The Contractor must be prepared in times of disaster to deploy experienced flood insurance claims adjusters so claims are paid in a timely manner. The Contractor will need to be able to show the experience to manage a team of sub-contractors, i.e., claims adjusters in disasters. In 2014, the Contractor handled nearly 8,500 flood insurance claims, paying close to $77,000,000. The NFIP expects the Contractor to employ flood insurance experienced personnel, to include a project manager, financial personnel, underwriters, claims examiners and claims adjusters to provide daily servicing of the flood insurance policies. The current contract is a Firm Fixed Price type contract. Please submit the following information: 1. Name and address of company and or companies (if there is a teaming arrangement or joint venture) 2. Technical expertise relevant to the requirement 3. Technical approach relevant of the requirement 4. Management approach relevant to the requirement 5. Corporate experience relevant to the requirement 6. Relevant past performance, including: a. Contract name b. Contracting Agency or Department c. Yearly contract value (in $) d. Period of performance e. Description of work and how it relates to the requirements Submission requirements: 1. Page limit - eight (8) 8 1/2 x 11 pages 2. 1 inch margins (top, bottom and sides) 3. Times New Roman font - 12 point 4. Page limitation does not include (1 cover page or 1 letter of introduction page) 5. Do not include promotional materials Interested small business firms responding to this market survey must provide a capability statement demonstrating their experience, skills and capability to fulfill the Governments requirements for the above in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 19.502-2(b). The capability statement shall be in sufficient enough detail, but not exceed eight (8) pages in TOTAL, so that the Government can determine the experience and capability of your firm to provide the requirements above. The Government technical team will then assess the experience & capabilities based on: 1) technical expertise relevant to the requirement; 2) technical approach relevant to the requirement, 3) management approach relevant to the requirement, 4) corporate experience relevant to the requirement, and 5) relevant past performance. Please specify one primary and one alternate Point of contact (POC) within your firm, including telephone numbers and email addresses Your capability statement needs to include a list of three customers (Government/non-Government) within the past 5-years highlighting similar work in nature, scope, complexity, and difficulty and a brief description of the scope of work.

Only electronic copies of capability statements will be accepted and should be emailed to: marianne.mccallum@fema.dhs.gov. The e-mail shall contain the following subject line: Response to Sources Sought Notice HSFE60-15-I-0009 Requirement. A determination by the Government to proceed with the acquisition as a set-aside is within the discretion of the Government. If capability statements are not received from at least two (2) responsible small businesses or if the Government determines that no small business concerns are capable of performing this requirement based upon an assessment of the capability statements submitted, the Government may proceed with a full and open competition. Proprietary information should be kept to the minimum and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please submit all information to Marianne McCallum at marianne.mccallum@fema.dhs.gov by May 5, 2015 by 08:00 AM EST.

NO TELEPHONE REQUESTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Contracting Office Address: 395 E Street SW Washington, DC 20732 United States

Primary Point of contact.: Marianne McCallum email: marianne.mccallum@fema.dhs.gov

Link/URL: https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DHS/FEMA/OAMOPSDA/HSFE60-15-I-0009/listing.html