Special Notice – Pre-Solicitation Announcement: Operations and Maintenance Services for the Participation Management System (PM) – ED-FSA-14-R-0014

Notice Type: Special Notice

Posted Date: 01-MAY-14

Office Address: Department of Education; Federal Student Aid; FSA Acquisitions; Union Center Plaza, RM 91F1830 First Street, NE Washington DC 20202-5405

Subject: Pre-Solicitation Announcement: Operations and Maintenance Services for the Participation Management System (PM) - ED-FSA-14-R-0014

Classification Code: D - Information technology services, including telecommunications services

Contact: FSA Acquisitions Origination and Disbursement Team, Email [email protected]

Description: Department of Education

Federal Student Aid

FSA Acquisitions

The U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), anticipates issuing a solicitation for operations and maintenance services (O&M) for the current Participation Management system (PM) in May 2014. The anticipated contract will be for a base year and 4 one-year option periods. The procurement will be conducted in two phases in accordance with Department of Education Acquisition Regulation 3415.302-70. The Phase 1 solicitation will require offerors to provide evidence through existing documentation (e.g. contract documents, contract deliverables, client endorsements, etc.) to demonstrate their capabilities to meet the solicitation requirements and to address evaluation factors. The Contracting Officer anticipates that nearly all proposal content will consist of material that is readily available to the offeror. Consequently, the offerors will likely have a period of two weeks to respond to the solicitation. This notice is issued in order to allow interested parties time to begin assembling existing documentation in advance of the solicitation.

Please hold any questions regarding the evaluation factors until the solicitation has been posted. You may find additional information about PM in the FBO Sources Sought Notice, ED-FSA-14-SSN-ParticipationManagement-SAIGEnrollmentSite.

This notice is for informational purposes only and no proposals will be accepted in response to this notice.

At a high level, the following constitutes the Phase 1 evaluation factors on which offerors will be selected for consideration for Phase 2 of this solicitation process (factors are subject to change prior to solicitation posting):

Factor 1: Socioeconomic Status, GO/NO-GO

Offeror must meet the small business standards under NAICS code 541511 (Size Standard $25.5 million). Offerors shall either reference their organization's Online Representations and Certifications at www.sam.gov or complete and submit FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (December 2012).

Factor 2: Technical Expertise, GO/NO-GO

Offeror must provide demonstrated technical experience and expertise of at least 3 years within the past 5 years (since 2009) with the following products and/or functions:

i. COBOL ii. DB2 iii. CICS iv. JCL v. CA Workload Automation ESP vi. SQL vii. Java and Javascript technologies

Offeror must provide proof of demonstrated expertise and ability using required products (i-vii) at a similar level of scope and complexity as PM as described in the Statement of Objectives (SOO) through documentation to include, but not limited to, contract terms, current company personnel resumes, current company certifications, etc. NOTE: Personnel must have employment history at the offeror's company working on requirements of similar scope and size as PM.

Factor 3: System Processing Volumes, GO/NO-GO

Offeror must provide proof of demonstrated ability and experience to operate and maintain a user enrollment system of similar size and scope (managing approximately 37,000 new and 43,000 updated service enrollments annually). Offeror must provide proof of demonstrated ability of volume processing and capacity through documentation to include, but not limited to, contract terms, deliverables, reports, performance and/or usage reports, etc. All documentation must be independently verifiable.

Factor 4: System Security Experience

A. Subfactor: System Management of PII - Offeror must demonstrate experience with managing large quantities of sensitive data such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Offeror must provide proof of experience through documentation to include, but not limited to, contract terms, deliverables, reports, performance and/or usage reports, etc.

B. Subfactor: Maintain NIST & FIPS Standards - Offeror must demonstrate experience with maintaining security standards for systems in compliance with security authorization processes as outlined in National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication NIST-SP-800-37 entitled Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems: A Security Life Cycle Approach; Federal Information Processing Standards FIPS 200 and National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST-SP 800-53 entitled Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations. Offeror must provide documented proof, to include but not limited to, contract records, contract deliverables, reports, etc. for demonstrated experience maintaining the specific security standards identified in this requirement, for an IT system of similar scope and complexity as PM.

C. Subfactor: Authority to Operate - Offeror must have obtained an Authority To Operate (ATO) for a Federal IT System after May 2010. Offeror must provide documented proof of obtaining an ATO for a Federal IT System.

Factor 5: Past Performance

Offeror must provide past performance experience, past performance references, and past performance Contracting Officers' and/or Contract Administrators' contact information. Offeror's client(s) must also submit no more than three (3) Past Performance Questionnaires. Offeror will be evaluated for past performance on systems of similar size and scope to PM based on the following factors:

A. Subfactor: Relevancy -

1. Offeror's corporate performance to operate & maintain a database as described in the Statement of Objectives (SOO).

2. Offeror's corporate experience with Title IV student aid programs and data.

3. Offeror's corporate experience with operating a mailroom, imaging, and data entry service.

4. Offeror's corporate experience with set up and day-to-day management of a customer support call center.

B. Subfactor: Quality -

1. Offeror's record of providing high quality services of a similar nature to the requirements described in the SOO in a manner that ensures overall client satisfaction.

Factor 6: Cost Estimate

Offeror must provide the estimated annual firm-fixed price for the Base Period and four Option Periods.

Link/URL: https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ED/FSA/CA/ED-FSA-14-R-0015/listing.html