SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Service Center Operations Support
- Notice Date
- 2/1/2005
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 561499
— All Other Business Support Services
- Contracting Office
- DHS - Direct Reports, Bureau of Citizenship, Burlington Administrative Center, 70 Kimball Avenue, Burlington, VT, 05403
- ZIP Code
- 05403
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-Service-Center-Operations-Support
- Response Due
- 3/1/2005
- Archive Date
- 3/16/2005
- Description
- This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. This is a Sources Sought Notice issued for the purpose of market research in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 to determine whether there are qualified sources that will be able to meet the requirements, as well as to allow industry an opportunity to provide comments concerning this requirement. No solicitation is being issued at this time. The Government will not pay for any comments received in response to this RFI and the Government makes no assertion that a formal solicitation will subsequently be released. The U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) currently processes approximately 5 million applications and petitions and receives over $1 billion in fees each year. The USCIS invites your comments in developing the draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) for comprehensive, onsite and offsite data entry, financial, and records management services, at four geographically dispersed USCIS Service Centers, in a manner that will ensure efficient and effective adjudication, financial responsibility, and excellent customer service. The government anticipates using NAICS Code 561499 ? All Other Business Support Services with a size standard of $6.0M. The contract type has not yet been determined; however, the Government is contemplating awarding multiple Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite Quantity type contracts with fixed price task orders. USCIS is using a performance-based approach because it is looking for innovation and new ideas in the performance of these services. You are invited to comment on the Government?s proposed approach, percent of error rates inherent in this type of work, especially areas where performance incentives could be expected to enhance performance. You are also invited to address types of incentives/disincentives that may be most effective and the contract type that might lead to the greatest efficiency. Although partnering arrangements are encouraged, special notice is given that small businesses will be subject to FAR Clause 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting which requires at least 50 percent of the cost of the contract performance incurred for personnel to be expended for employees of the concern. It is also important to note that USCIS anticipates that data entry and fee receipting and depositing will transition to a lockbox operation over the next five years. Data entry and fee receipting and depositing comprise approximately 40 percent of the overall task requirements. Accordingly, the USCIS anticipates, on an annual basis, that approximately 20 percent of data entry and fee receipting/deposits will transition to lockbox operations. Additionally, please provide responses to the following: 1. Please describe how the tasks and requirements of this performance work statement compare to your normal commercial practices. 2. Please provide recommendations for performance-based payment mechanisms that might be used for records management services, if any. 3. Please provide information on the way you price the types of services identified in the Draft Performance Work Statement (flat rates, hourly rates, fixed unit rates, etc) for your commercial customers. 4. If you believe that any of the Government?s requirements are unique, or significantly different from the services you provide to your commercial customers, please provide suggestions as to the best way to price those services that are different than those you customarily provide commercially. 5. Please comments on what you feel are the distinguishing factors that the Government should use to best evaluate firms providing record management services. 6. Please identify any applicable industry standards that you are aware of, that the Government should use to evaluate performance of record management services 7. Please describe any conflicts or impediments you see arising from this performance work statement. 8. Please provide recommendations on how to conduct an audit of a large-scale Fileroom operation without interrupting operations. Also, advise how often an audit should be conducted. 9. For this type of work, what are the actual percentages and dollars in subcontracting to small business and all sub-categories (small disadvantaged business, women-owned small business, HUBZone small business, service disabled veteran-owned small business, and HBCU/MI)? 10. Do you have any suggestions on the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan? 11. For task orders issued against the IDIQ contract: Keeping in mind that a multiple award contract is a means to promote competition during the life of the contract, what type of criteria should the Government use as a baseline to make this determination? Beginning February 1, 2005 through March 1, 2005, USCIS cordially invites comments on this document. To obtain copies of Attachment 4 Workload Data, contact the POCs listed below. Please include estimated pricing, your capability statements, suggested solutions or improvements to the draft. Do not write proprietary, sensitive or copy-write on your documents. Documents shall not be returned to industry. Please limit your responses to the questions above to not more than 10 single-sided pages. Comments on the draft are unlimited. Each submission should include one electronic (virus scanned) copy sent via e-mail to ava.morgan@dhs.gov and bertha.Johnson@dhs.gov. The information provided is informational only and its accuracy cannot be relied upon for bidding purposes. All businesses capable of providing these services are encouraged to respond.
- Place of Performance
- Address: California, Texas, Vermont, and Nebraska Service Centers.
- Country: USA
- Country: USA
- Record
- SN00743208-W 20050203/050201211520 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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