Immigration & Naturalization Service, Procurement Division, 425 I Street, N.W., Room 2208, Washington, DC 20536

48 -- COMMUNICATIONS SOL HQ-96-31 DUE 082696 POC Jim Bannister, Contracting Officer, 202-514-0017. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has identified a need to establish a one (1) year pilot project, with two (2) possible six (6) month option periods, in support of the Department of Justice Laboratory, Citizenship USA. The pilot will be in support of the New York City Metropolitan area, encompassing the jurisdiction of tehe New York City INS District Office. The Pilot will provideINS with multi-lingual, culturally sensitive hotline assistance in informing immigrants and citizens about the naturalization process. A contract for the hotline services will be awarded by September 30, 1996. The Government will evaluate all proposals as submitted and intends to award without discussions. Any comments or questions must be submitted in writing within 12 days of release of the solicitation. Comments and questions will be addressed if the government feels they would impact the ability for the contractor to provide a fair and reasonable proposal. Extensions will not be granted during to the proposal response period unless the Governmemt elects to respond to questions. The contractor must meet the following minimum requirements to be eligible for contract award: 1. Be located in New York City Metropolitan area or must ensure that an 800 service is in place within 45-60 days after award. 2.Provide call center agents with language capabilities at a minium in English, Spanish, French/creole, and Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese). 3.Be able to document existing call center experience in responding to telephone inquiries and requests for assistance and/or referrals to the public. 4. Operate during the hours of 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday through Friday and have a message system in place for after hour and weekend calls. 5. Be able to document an existing program that assesses customer satisfaction and quality of servie. 6. Be able to provide performance measurements that at a minimum tracts call volumes, call answering rates, average queue time and average call processing time,(all measurements which will be monitored by the INS). 7. Prior exprience contracting with the government and experience in preparing the necessary paperwork for employee security clearances is required. 8. Must be able to start operations within 30 to 45 days after award of the contract to include obtaining proper security clearences. 9. Prior interface with immigrant community is a plus. 10. Document Staff qualifications and specific training of telephone agents who are providing Naturalization information to callers. 11.Provide all staff(including attorneys and/or accredited representatives meeting requirement of 8 CFR 292), facilities, services, equipment and other resources needed for the pilot project. The Government will not pay for any preperation costs incured in contractor's solicitation response. Proprietary information is not being sought. Interested parties should request copies of the solicitation in writing to Immigration and Naturalization Service, 425 I Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20536, no later than 31 July 1996. No telephone requests will be entertained. A copy of solicitation HQ-96-31 may be requested by facsimile by calling 202-514-3353 attention Jim Bannister, Contracting Officer. (0197)

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