SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Recordkeeping Services
- Notice Date
- 1/20/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541219
— Other Accounting Services
- Contracting Office
- U.S. Department of State, Office of Logistics Management, Acquisition Management, P.O. Box 9115, Rosslyn Station, Arlington, Virginia, 22219
- ZIP Code
- 22219
- Solicitation Number
- SAQMMA11RTBD
- Point of Contact
- David R. Marr, Phone: 7038756056
- E-Mail Address
-
marrdr@state.gov
(marrdr@state.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Sources Sought Announcement for ARP Financial Recordkeeping Services. Due date for responses is 7 FEB 2011. This is a sources sought synopsis to conduct market research for developing a procurement strategy for an upcoming contract. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) seeks to gather information from industry, which will be used for planning purposes for the procurement of services in the area of post employment benefits recordkeeping. The value of the effort is anticipated to be $3 million over 5 years. This notice is for market research purposes only and does not constitute a Request for Quote or Request for Proposal; and, it is not considered to be a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. No basis for claim against the Government shall arise as a result from a response to this Sources Sought notice or Government use of any information provided. The purpose of this notice is to gain knowledge of potentially qualified small business, women-owned small business, 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), or HUB Zone prime contractor business sources to complete the effort. At this time, no solicitation exists; therefore, DO NOT REQUEST A COPY OF THE SOLICITATION. The Government reserves the right to consider any arrangement as deemed appropriate for this procurement, including the ultimate acquisition approach. Responses to the Sources Sought Synopsis should be received as soon as possible but no later than 1:00 pm (local Washington, D.C. time) on 7 FEB 2011. All responses should be sent via email to David R. Marr at marrdr@state.gov. BACKGROUND: DOS has a need for financial recordkeeping services to support implementation and administration of its Alternate Retirement Plan (ARP) program. The ARP is intended to provide end-of-service benefits upon separation in the form of a lump sum payment to USG employees who are hired and working at U.S. posts overseas (known as locally employed (LE) staff). DOS, by law, establishes Local Compensation Plans (LCPs) and associated benefits at overseas posts based on local prevailing practice to the extent consistent with the public interest. Local practice may include both specific retirement benefits as well as other end-of-service benefits. Payrolling is conducted centrally at U.S. Government offices. The ARP is a plan that may be used in lieu of or in addition to (as in a supplement to) various components of end-of-service provisions in specific LCPs such as (but not limited to) when: problems exist in local practice, or no viable local institution exists for managing USG assets in order to provide post-employment benefits. There are approximately 53,000 local staff worldwide, the vast majority of which are not U.S. Citizens and do not reside in the U.S. DOS anticipates that the number of initial participants in the ARP could eventually approach 30,000. Contributions to participants' accounts will consist of USG contributions, employee required contributions, and/or employee voluntary contributions. Investment activities of the ARP will be administered and conducted by the DOS. The amount of ARP investment earnings and administrative fees will be reported by DOS to the recordkeeper to allocate to participant accounts. Also, the DOS will administer and make all post-employment end-of-service lump sum benefit payments based upon amounts reported for a participant by the recordkeeper. RECORDKEEPING SERVICES: At a minimum, DOS envisions requiring the following recordkeeping services: • Working with the DOS financial services centers (FSCs) and the Bureau of Resource Management's Deputy Chief Financial Officer's (RM/DCFO) staff to establish a manual and/or automated interface between DOS' payroll system and the contractor's recordkeeping system to process biweekly, ad-hoc and conversion amounts for each participant's required and/or voluntary contributions and USG contribution. • Accounting by participant for each component of the participant accounts (USG contribution, required contribution, and voluntary contribution) with daily and balance forward reconciliations, • Reporting on participant accounts on a quarterly and annual basis via electronic reports transmitted via e-mail (minimum requirement); along with the ability to provide secure Internet-based or telephone-based account review in the English language that will allow participants to review their balances either real time or at pre-determined periods of time, • Allocating net earnings/fees to each component of a participant account, • Processing data change requests for participants' account data such as name, agency code, etc., • Processing of data merge requests for participants with two payroll IDs (one inactive and one active due to transfers between agencies), • Calculating participant account totals for distribution to participant of amounts upon separation (e.g., retirement, death, termination) as notification is received from DOS, • Processing of "catch up/retroactive" or adjustment contributions for any participant who was mistakenly not established as an eligible participant, as well as recording of the personnel data to establish the participant account, • Calculating distribution amounts for the return of contributions to post for individuals who were mistakenly deemed eligible for the program, • Preparing and transmitting the quarterly participant statements (including the updating of quarterly comments provided by DOS), • Calculating distribution amounts (broken out by each component account) for the quarterly separation list that results in the payment of ARP benefits by the financial service center, • Calculating end-of-service distribution amounts (broken out by each component account) on an ad hoc basis as requested by DOS for participants missed in the usual separation processing, • Preparing a Census Data Request to capture relevant missing participant personnel data (not captured in the biweekly contribution file) to support the accurate capture of participant data and generation of the quarterly reports, • Populating the record keeping system with the personnel data provided by DOS from the Census Data Request (i.e., upon receipt of the completed spreadsheet back from DOS), • Reconciling the participant accounts with the monthly balance for the ARP provided by DOS. • Participant account data elements may include, but are not limited to, the following: - Employee Name - Employee ID - Country Code - Agency Code - Allotment Code - Date of Birth - Date of Hire - USG Contribution Amt - Admin Fees (for each component account) - Amt of Interest Earned (for each component account) - Amt of Mandatory Contribution - Amt of Voluntary Contributions - Period Covered - FSC Name - Valuation Balance - Distribution Amount The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541219, Bookkeeping Services. For this NAICS code, a concern is considered a small business if its annual receipts total no more than $6M. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Your response to this Sources Sought announcement shall be no more than 6 pages and shall be submitted via email. Your response shall include company name, address, DUNS number, CAGE number, point of contact and contact information. The response shall also identify if the company is a large business, small business, women-owned small business, 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), or HUB Zone. If you can provide all of the above required services via schedule, please identify the type of schedule (i.e., GSA) and your schedule number. The Government does not intend to pay for any information provided under this Sources Sought announcement. Your response shall address the following questions/points in the order listed below: 1) What is your capability of creating/loading and maintaining participant accounts from periodic data transmissions from DOS financial service centers, and providing routine and expedited reports regarding overall ARP status as well as individual participant account status required by the Government? Contractor shall provide a narrative depicting past experience performing similar work. Contractor shall have demonstrated history and references, specific to the kinds of services being sought and describe up to two project examples. 2) Do you have adequate personnel, facilities, equipment, and other resources available, as required, for performing the services specified? 3) Have you attained any accreditations under industry programs or attained high quality standards (i.e., ISO 9001)? 4) Does your recordkeeping system(s) have an adequate level of security, durable storage, back up communication plan, and an approved certification and accreditation so as to protect the privacy and integrity of participant data? 5) Describe any insurance, bonding, or other security your company holds in the event of default or service failure. Contracting Office Address: U.S. Department of State Office of Acquisition Management (A/LM/AQM) 1701 No. Ft. Myer Drive Arlington, VA 22209 Place of Performance: Contractor's Office (TBD) Point of Contact: David R. Marr, (703) 875-6056 marrdr@state.gov
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/State/A-LM-AQM/A-LM-AQM/SAQMMA11RTBD/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Contractor's Workspace, United States
- Record
- SN02363708-W 20110122/110120234700-ce1d852d46eede7bdf5bd3b75fd53459 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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