SOURCES SOUGHT
70 -- Request for Information (RFI) - Certificate of Coverage System
- Notice Date
- 11/21/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Social Security Administration, Office of Budget, Finance, Quality and Management, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1540 Robert M. Ball Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland, 21235, United States
- ZIP Code
- 21235
- Solicitation Number
- SSA-RFI-15-0019
- Archive Date
- 12/2/2014
- Point of Contact
- Joe Speca,
- E-Mail Address
-
Joe.Speca@ssa.gov
(Joe.Speca@ssa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NOTE: This is an RFI, and, as such, is for informational and planning purposes only. This is NOT A solicitation or announcement for quotes or proposals. The Government will not reimburse vendors for any costs associated with providing information in response to this RFI or any follow-up information requests. The Government will not accept any telephone calls, or requests for a solicitation at this time. In order to protect the procurement integrity of any future procurement that may arise from this announcement, the Government will not provide information regarding technical points of contact. The Government will not make appointments for presentations. If interested, please see the [Action Item] section below for further instructions on how to respond to this RFI. PURPOSE: Inform industry of a potential future requirement to expand the capabilities of the current SSA Certificate of Coverage system. BACKGROUND: The United States has bilateral agreements with 25 countries to address special tax circumstances where U.S. citizens are temporarily working abroad. These agreements eliminate dual social security coverage and taxation. The agreements also provide benefit protection for workers who divide their careers between the United States and a foreign country. Without the agreements, a U.S. citizen working abroad and his or her employer would be required to contribute to both the U.S. Social Security system and the social security system of the country of employment. The agreements allow workers and their employers to contribute to one social security system (either the U.S. or the foreign system depending on terms of the agreement). To prove an exemption, a worker must obtain a U.S. Certificate of Coverage. Certificates of Coverage are legal documents that exempt U.S. employees from paying foreign social security taxes when temporarily working overseas. Each determination involves research on the country specific provisions of the Totalization agreements. The Social Security Administration (SSA) processes requests for Certificates of Coverage received from employers and from self-employed individuals. Requests are received via mail, fax, and via the Certificate of Coverage application available on the SSA internet site (www.socialsecurity.gov/coc). An SSA intranet application allows agency personnel to review and process the requests, resulting in a printed country-specific Certificate of Coverage document. The current application was developed in java/JSP, and executes on an IBM WebSphere platform. Information is stored in a relational database (Oracle 11.2.0.3.0). In addition to processing internet certificate applications, agency personnel access the Certificate of Coverage application to: • Record incoming correspondence • Control and assign work • Maintain applicant, foreign and U.S. employer information • Run various management reports The United States is currently in various stages of the negotiations process to implement four new agreements. The agency anticipates implementing new agreements within 6-9 months, and requires a more agile solution to process Certificates of Coverage. Agreements with new countries typically require several months of development and testing activity to be implemented into the current system. SSA seeks an improved system that, in addition to the functionality outlined below under the Scope section, must: • Reduce our current 6-9 month time constraint of accommodating a new agreement to one month. • Enable SSA employees to dynamically add or modify certificate documents • Provide international language support for certificate documents. • Provide documentation and training for the new system. SSA also seeks to enhance its ability to leverage its automated services to verify employer and employee information. SCOPE: SSA requires a system that will provide the current functionality of the existing system with the additional ability to create and modify Certificate of Coverage forms and documents. Any solution must enhance the existing system, possibly by providing a commercial off the shelf (COTS) equivalent, to deliver the following functionality: • Create new/additional internet web forms and certificate documents for future bilateral agreements • Preserve the current (historical) data and associated certificate processing capability • Provide the current reporting, storage and retrieval functions In addition, any solution must comply with general requirements for SSA application development standards including (but not limited to) the following: • 508 accessibility standards • Security standards relating to applications that collect personally identifiable information (PII) • Inter-operability within the SSA network and operating environment ACTION ITEM: Interested parties believing they have the capability to offer suitable supplies and services must submit sufficient information (to include your business size status) to allow SSA to determine the availability and technical capability of qualified businesses with experience integrating and customizing one or more automated tools. In your capability statements, provide narrative responses (no more than 5 pages) addressing the bulleted items above, and information supporting your experience(s) and qualifications in previous work pertinent to this effort. Interested vendors must indicate if they are able to provide these services under an existing vehicle, such a through the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Schedules Program, other Governmentwide Agency Contract, or through other commercial sources. Submit your responses via email to Joe Speca, Contract Specialist, at Joe.Speca@ssa.gov NO LATER THAN NOON, EASTERN STANDARD TIME ON 12/01/2014. Facsimile responses are not acceptable. Please reference SSA-RFI-15-0019 in the email subject line. The file size limitation for e-mail attachments is 5 megabytes.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/SSA/DCFIAM/OAG/SSA-RFI-15-0019/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Social Security Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1540 Robert M. Ball Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland, 21235, United States
- Zip Code: 21235
- Zip Code: 21235
- Record
- SN03579758-W 20141123/141121234858-f11e61cf9b87ab544e08464e5a6bec55 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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