U.S. Department of Education, Grants and Contracts Services, 7th & D Streets, SW, Room 3633, ROB Washington, D.C. 20202-4337

D -- PELL GRANT RECIPIENT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SOL RFP-96-010 DUE 061096 POC YOLANDA L ABNEY, 202-708-6498; Contract Specialist: Roscoe H. Price, III; Contracting Officer: Marilyn J Goldstein. The following is for planning purpose only and does not constitute a Request for Proposal. The purpose of the RFC is to afford industry an opportunity to comment on any perceived issues and to allow the Government to receive the benefit of industry comments. The Government's purpose in providing an opportunity for industry comment is to identify potential problem areas, and provide alternative recommendations in order to enhance the success of the program. The Government believes industry feedback is important, ans is receptive to any and all ideas from industry which would result in limiting unnecessarily constraining requirements, realizing cost savings, or highlighting potential technical or contractual problem areas associated with the program. Any comments provided should not be viewed as a vehicle for presenting a specific approach or product intended to be proposed but as an opportunity to improve an eventual solicitation package. Comments are solicited regarding the following: 1) ED is considering a firm-fixed price indefinite quantity ''Performance Based'' contract, 2) Selection will be made on a best-value basis and significant emphasis will be afforded to past performance as an evaluation creiterionin determining award, 3) Comments, whether supportive or critical, are earnestly solicited regarding every aspect of the proposed initiative. Replies are not mandatory. Replies will be separted from, and have no bearing on, subsequent evaluation of proposals submitted in response to any resulting formal Request for Proposals. The use of comments recieved from the industry to complete final statements of work and resulting solicitation documents will be at the discretion of ED. Any subsequent solicitation will be synopsized prior to its release. Eligibility in participating in a future acquisition does not depend upon a response to this notice. The Government will not critique a potential offeror's comments and the RFC should not be used by offerors to market their products/services. The Government does not intend to pay for the information solicited and will not recognize any costs associated with submission of the RFC. Proprietary information, if any, should be identified as such. Responses to this synopis should be submitted electronically to FAX # 202-260-8376; Reference RFP 96-010 ATTN: Roscoe H. Price. Anticipated issue date of Request for Proposal (RFP) is 4/26/96, and anticipated closing date is 6/10/96. Additional information including a Draft Work Statement is currently available through the ED Bulletin Board. The ED Bulletin Board is accessible to all callers. There are no pre-registration requirements or user charges (except for long distance telephone costs). The telephone number is (202) 260-260-9950. There are four 14000 bps modems with setting of 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity. To log on the bulletin board enter First Name, Last Name, Location, and Password ( New user will create a password when logging on for the first time). After logging on: 1) proceed to the Main Menu; 2) on the BBS Main Menu, press ''F'' to select the ''Pell Grant System'' submenu; 3) select a download protocol (Xmodem, Zmodem, etc) for the BBS and then 4) select the same protocol for your PC. The file should begin transferring automatically. The workstatement is in WordPerfect 5.1. format and is compressed file (Pkzip). After dowloading, uncompress with Pkunzip which is available on BBS. Type ''Pkunzip wide.zip'' to uncompress file. ED Board is also now listed on the FedWorld Gateway to Federal BBSs. Users can connect to FedWorld by phone (703)-321-8020 or by Internet (See below). On FedWorld, ED Board is BBS number 110. Users can access it from the Top-level FedWorld Menu by entering: DD110(enter). INTERNET Users can connect to ED Board at FedWorld via Internet to Telnet at fedworld.gov. (0096)

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