MODIFICATION
D -- RFI - Participation Management (PM) - RFI - UPDATED RESPONSE DATE
- Notice Date
- 11/6/2017
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, FSA Acquisitions, Union Center Plaza, RM 91F1, 830 First Street, NE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20202-5405
- ZIP Code
- 20202-5405
- Solicitation Number
- ED-FSA-17-RFIPM
- Point of Contact
- Keonna M Smith-Gordon, Phone: 2023774385, Kenneth C. Bell, Phone: 2023774322
- E-Mail Address
-
Keonna.Smith-Gordon@ed.gov, Kenneth.Bell@ed.gov
(Keonna.Smith-Gordon@ed.gov, Kenneth.Bell@ed.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- RFI - UPDATED RESPONSE DATE **NOTICE: THE RESPONSE DATE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 21, 2017 12:00NOON EST. ALL RESPONSES SHALL BE SUBMITTED NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 21, 2017 12:00NOON EST TO THE POINTS OF CONTACTS LISTED IN SECTION "C.Submission Process". ** *NOVEMBER 1, 2017: AT THIS TIME, QUESTIONS WILL NO LONGER BE RECEIVED. PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT LABELED "RFI - QUESTIONS & ANSWERS" FOR QUESTIONS RECEIVED BEFORE THE CUT OFF DATE* This is a Request for Information (RFI) as defined in FAR 15.201(e). The Government is requesting information regarding the availability and feasibility of attracting potentially new service providers. This announcement constitutes a Request for Information (RFI) for the purpose of determining market capability of sources or obtaining information. It does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP), a Request for Quote (RFQ) or an indication that the Government will contract for any of the items and/or services discussed in this notice. Submission of a response to this RFI is entirely voluntary. The voluntary submission of a response to this RFI shall not obligate Department of Education - Federal Student Aid (FSA) to pay or entitle the submitter of information to claim any direct or indirect costs or charges or any other compensation whatsoever. Disclaimer: This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this RFI will be treated as business confidential information, and exempted from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Nonetheless, submitters should properly mark their responses if the information is confidential. Response to the RFI will not be returned. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. A. Purpose The Federal Student Aid (FSA) is requesting information on potential service providers to develop, operate, and maintain a next-generation version of the Department of Education's user provisioning application, the Participation Management system (PM). Note: Please refer to the attached Current State and High Level Requirements documents, which provide additional system description information. The Department is seeking industry's input on both development time and high level cost associated with two potential development paths to meet the business needs identified below: 1. A completely new system using the best-available industry standard technologies; 2. A Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) product, customized by the vendor B. Background: Participation Management (PM) is Federal Student Aid's (FSA) central system for managing enrollment in and access to FSA's electronic data exchange services. These electronic services include both batch download and online data exchange services used by FSA partner organizations in carrying out their administrative duties related to the delivery of financial aid to millions of college students. In addition to developing, operating, and maintaining the PM system itself, the PM contractor provides customer support services for mailroom receipt, data processing, and (when necessary) scanning of applications and their supporting documents required for the services enrollment process. The contractor also provides customer support for user enrollment problems. The PM system interfaces closely with the systems that provide FSA's various data services and with the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) in order to provide those systems with data about who is enrolled in each electronic data service. An additional interface with FSA's Access and Identity Management System (AIMS) provides AIMS with necessary enrollment information for services that require users to authenticate when logging in over the web. PM currently manages over 21,000 new enrollments and 38,000 enrollment updates to these FSA data services annually. At a high level, FSA's business needs for this system include the following: 1. The system shall provide a public-facing interface for the capture and storage of user "access rights" requests. 2. The system shall capture and store all imaged signature (approval) documents related to each "access rights" request. 3. The system shall provide workflow capabilities to move "access rights" requests through various stages of approval, and from one approver to another, across multiple organizations (example: schools, third party servicing companies, and Federal Student Aid). 4. The system shall maintain a hierarchical system of approval, where a limited number of individuals within each organization possess a "Primary Administrator" role, and are responsible for approving (and regularly re-certifying) organizational staff requests for access to FSA systems. 5. The system shall capture and store results of all "access rights" applications. 6. The system shall be capable of generating and assigning unique "mailboxes" (a unique address identifier) for users and organizations to be used with FSA's Student Access Internet Gateway (SAIG) system. 7. The system shall interface with other FSA business systems to provide real-time user "access rights" data to those systems as part of the web login process. 8. The system shall also interface with FSA's Access and Identity Management system to authenticate user logins to FSA business systems. 9. The system shall generate periodic email notices to all key approvers ("Primary Administrators") to re-certify that the individuals they're responsible for at their institutions are still with the organization and still require access. 10. The system shall provide key approvers with the ability to electronically (and annually) re-certify each user under their purview for each electronic service that user should have access to. 11. The system shall provide FSA and contractor staff the capability to query its database and provide reports using any of the data elements stored within the database. 12. The system shall provide the capability to view, create new, modify services associated with, or delete "mailboxes" (essentially, secure electronic mailboxes that can send files to/receive files from FSA systems). 13. The system shall provide the capability to view, add new, or change an existing user's access rights. 14. The system shall include a Customer Service Website, used by support staff to conduct research and troubleshoot user problems. 15. The system shall provide a method for users to apply for access that shields Personally Identifiable Information (like SSN, mother's maiden name, etc.) from mid-level approvers. 16. The system shall be designed in such a way that it is easily (and cheaply) scaled up/down whenever new electronic services, organization types, or user types are added to or deleted from the list of items managed by the application. 17. The system shall interface with FSA's Post-Secondary Education Participant System or Integrated Partner Management system to receive and process School File data. 18. The system shall be able to store, display, and export official "acknowledgement" documents and agreements which applicants shall read and agree to. 19. The system shall be able to capture and store "e-signatures" from approvers of access rights requests throughout multiple stages of approval process. C. Submission Process This request is to gather information from interested parties and is deemed essential as part of our planning and market research process for continuing operations, support and maintenance of the FSA PM system. Documentation of technical expertise must be presented in sufficient detail for the Government to determine that your company possesses the necessary functional area expertise. Standard company brochures will not be reviewed. Submissions are not to exceed ten (10) pages in no less than 12 font size. Interested parties may submit questions regarding this RFI via email no later than October 31, 2017 by 12:00pm EST to the points of contact listed below. Questions received after this time may not be answered. Responses shall be emailed no later than November 21, 2017 by 12:00pm EST to the points of contact listed below. The preferred media is electronic files in Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel or PDF (or similar). Subject Line: ED-FSA-17-RFIPM - Participation Management (PM) RFI Response - (company name) Points of Contact: Kenneth Bell Contracting Officer Phone 202-377-4322, Email: Kenneth.Bell@ed.gov Keonna Smith-Gordon Contract Specialist Phone 202-377-4385, Email: Keonna.Smith-Gordon@ed.gov NOTE: See attachments for: A. RFI Posting (PDF) B. Attachments 1. Attachment A - Current State 2. Attachment B - High Level Requirements
- Web Link
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