SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Certifying Immigration Records of Proceedings for the Board of Immigration Appeals Executive Office for Immigration Review
- Notice Date
- 1/22/2003
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- Department of Justice, Justice Management Division, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Contracts and Procurement Staff 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 1711, Falls Church, VA, 22041
- ZIP Code
- 22041
- Solicitation Number
- BIA-1-15-03-01
- Archive Date
- 2/26/2003
- Point of Contact
- Carol Stambach, Contracting Officer, Phone 7033051634, Fax 7033051160, - Janet Hall, Contracting Officer, Phone 7036050441, Fax 7033051160,
- E-Mail Address
-
Carol.Stambach@usdoj.gov, janet.hall@usdoj.gov
- Description
- The Executive Office for Immigration Review (hereafter EOIR) in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is requesting market information for a litigation-support contractor to manage and administer the entire ROP certification service provided to Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL) in the Civil Division of DOJ and the Federal courts. This is a request for information only! No solicitation will be issued as a result of this request for information. Please provide information on your GSA schedule, if applicable. A comprehensive turnkey operation is required to include, but not limited to: (1) receiving, tracking and fulfilling all OIL requests for certified Records of Proceedings (referred to as ROPs); (2) meeting all performance requirements set by internal and external customers; (3) establishing and maintaining effective liaison and coordination with OIL to plan for, adjust and respond to customer requests, priorities, concerns and process issues; and (4) inventorying and storage of all ROPs during and after the certification process for a temporary period of time; after the short-term storage, ROPs are returned, by commercial overnight service to the appropriate immigration court. The contractor must have the capacity to: receive requests for certified ROPs directly from OIL; enter certification requests into a case-tracking database; determine the location of the ROP in EOIR and make request to retrieve the ROP; generate and review a copy of the ROP that can be certified by a trained expert; paginate the copy of the ROP to be certified; make multiple copies - up to five (5) additional copies; create a comprehensive, quick reference index of the certified ROP; certify the ROP, with a formal transmittal memorandum attesting to the same; deliver certified ROPs to OIL by special messenger; make special deliveries to OIL for priority requests; provide certified supplemental documents to OIL; serve as a liaison between EOIR and OIL for ROP certification; store and return ROPs during and after the certification process; provide routine performance-based reports and program status briefings to EOIR; manage and administer OIL priorities; and; implement technology tools to facilitate the timeliness, quality and efficiency of the entire certification process (e.g., document imaging systems, etc). Additional Information on Certifying Immigration Records of Proceedings for the Board of Immigration Appeals Executive Office for Immigration Review Traditionally EOIR, has provided certified copies of its ROPs for litigation in Federal courts. Since 1996, the clerk?s office for the Board of Immigration Appeals - a quasi-judicial appellate body within EOIR - has managed this ROP certification service. The primary internal customer of this certification service is the OIL. The important external customers are the United States district and circuit courts throughout the country. When the caseload was manageable and much smaller than today, the entire certification process was assigned to one government employee and four contractors. To respond quickly to a ten-fold increase in certification requests, EOIR recently increased the amount of on-site contractors from four to thirteen. Despite this effort, backlogs continue and critical Federal court due dates are not being met. What?s needed is a more flexible, dynamic and innovative approach to provide certified ROPs to OIL and the Federal courts. Outsourcing the certification function, at this time, will provide that approach and, in turn, allow government personnel to refocus upon the work of a traditional appellate clerk?s office, such as processing appeals and motions, setting briefing schedules, managing the docket and issuing Board decisions. The Board is currently engaged in a major backlog reduction initiative for its overall caseload of immigration appeals. The Attorney General issued a final rule requiring an enhanced case management procedure designed to reduce delays in the immigration appellate process and, during a transition period, reduce the Board?s backlog of pending cases (see 67 Fed. Reg. 54878; August 26, 2002). Currently, the clerk?s office at the Board is responsible for receiving, tracking and responding to all OIL requests for certified ROPs. Some requests are generated by Assistant U.S. Attorneys through OIL to the Board. Generally speaking, the certification process has six steps: Step 1. OIL staff (paralegal(s)) submit daily requests for certified ROPs using a standard form that is faxed to the clerk?s office; Step 2.The clerk?s office reviews the OIL request to verify alien?s name and number and to determine the location of the ROP - many times the ROP is with the local immigration court, retired at the Federal Record Center or it may be pending at the Board. Step 3. Once the clerk?s office has determined the location of the ROP, the request for certification is entered into an automated case tracking system and the ROP is ordered to be delivered to the Board.(The average ROP is approximately 2 inches thick). Step 4. Upon receiving the ROP, the automated case tracking system is annotated to reflect the received date. The ROP is filed and copied according to the court due date provided by OIL, placed in the proper order per established procedures and requirements by the Federal courts, paginated and indexed for easy reference. Step 5. Multiple copies of the certified ROP are made. The number of copies varies and usually does not exceed five copies depending upon the requirements of the particular Federal court to receive the certified ROP. Step 6.The certified ROP and copies, along with an official memorandum attesting that the documents are certified ROPs, are delivered daily to OIL by special messenger. During Fiscal Years (FY) 1998 through 2001, the clerk?s office received and processed between 1,500 to 2,000 requests to certify ROPs. On average, the clerk?s office received 166 requests per month. During FY 2002, the number of monthly requests for certified ROPs increased, significantly, as a result of an unprecedented volume of BIA decisions issued each month and, in turn, increased litigation and judicial review of immigration matters in Federal courts. From June 2002 through September 2002, the clerk?s office received nearly 2,000 new requests for certified ROPs and averages approximately 550 requests per month. Currently, the clerk?s office has over 1,200 pending requests for certified ROPs with a backlog of 830 cases now overdue to the Federal courts. The Federal courts and OIL demand and expect quick turn-around times (TAT) for certified ROPs. Generally speaking, the certified ROP is due to OIL between 6 days to 2 weeks from the date of its request. Certified ROPs for Federal district courts require the faster TAT - one week. On occasion, OIL will request - and receive approval from - the Federal courts for an extension of time to deliver the certified ROP. Quality is determined by OIL and generally means that the certified ROP reflects the complete and accurate legal documentation reviewed and considered by local and appellate immigration judges. The quality goal is zero-tolerance due to the urgent nature of the certification process, and the time standards and demands placed by the Federal courts. The certification function requires at a minimum the following staffing composition: Requesters (requesting and receiving the ROPs), Copiers- personnel to copy the initial ROP and provide multiple copies of the certified ROP, and Verifiers (compare the initial copy to the ROP). Any certification process issues and customer concerns are addressed through existing OIL and EOIR working groups. Daily operational communications are handled by a single point of contact for OIL and for the clerk?s office. OIL provides a weekly report, by internal DOJ e-mail, identifying priority requests. The clerk?s office reviews this priority, adjusts work assignments and provides a status report, by return DOJ e-mail, to OIL within 24 hours of receiving the report. After completing the certification, the ROP is stored for 3 month at the clerk?s office. After this temporary storage, the ROP is returned to one of the 50+ local immigration courts for retirement to a Federal Records Center (FRC). While the ROP is in the custody of the clerk?s office, it is bar coded and its location in a central file room is documented, by function, cabinet and date/time in its automated case tracking system. Attention to detail is vital when certifying ROPs for OIL and Federal courts. These customers are accustomed to receiving high quality (i.e., accurate, complete, well-organized, and a comprehensive index for quick reference by attorneys and court personnel) ROPs certified by EOIR. Continuous staff training and regular quality checks of certified ROPs are required.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Falls Church, VA
- Zip Code: 22041
- Zip Code: 22041
- Record
- SN00244480-W 20030124/030122213333 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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