U.S. Department of Education, Grants and Contracts Services, 7th & D Streets, SW, Room 3633, ROB Washington, D.C. 20202

D -- STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE DELIVERY SYSTEM POC LaTonya Simpson 202-708-6498. Notice of briefing. The U. S. Department of Education (ED) invites all interested vendors to attend a briefing with ED personnel and industry representatives to discuss future requirements related to the delivery of student financil assistance. The briefing will be held in the GSA Auditorium (1st floor), Regional Office Building (ROB), 7th & D St., SW, from 2:00 - 5:00 P.M., on Thursday, February 1, 1996. The U.S. Department of Education expends over $200,000,000 annually to various contractors to operate and support the $32 billion student financial assistance programs and delivery systems. These systems include Pell Grants, FFELP, campus based aid, Direct Loans, PEPS, NSLDS and others. The Department is reengineering the delivery system and business processes to provide a consolidated and expanded facility for delivering and administering financial assistance to students and their families. A reengineering team was established last year (now called ''Project EASI''.. Easy Access for Students and Institutions) to create the vision for a new and state-of-the-art financial aid delivery system. The team has prepared a packet of descriptive information about the prospective new system/process and has developed questions to discuss with all vendors that may be interested in this business opportunity. Higher education is a $170 billion/yr industry. All interested vendors, including current ED contractors and other vendors that provide applications software or information technology assistance for delivering student financial aid, are invited to attend. Questions/requests for additional information should be submitted via E-Mail to Project_EASI@ED.GOV by January 30.* * * * * (0025)

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