Social Security Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1710 Gwynn Oak Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21207-0696

70 -- SCHEDULING SOFTWARE. DUE 101896 POC Elizabeth Clark Tel: 410-965-9465 The Social Security Administration (SSA) is seeking qualified potential sources who can provide software products that will enable the scheduling of disability claims hearings in the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA). The OHA hearings office scheduling process requires significant time and effort. Currently this process is handled manually through the Legal Clerk. The scheduling of a hearing requires the coordination of the schedules of the administrative law judge, the claimant, and /or the claimant's representative, hearing reporters, interpreters, vocational experts, medical experts, hearing rooms, and any necessary audio/visual equipment. Scheduling of a photocopier is also required to provide services to claimants and/or representatives who require material to prepare for hearings. Many administrative activities require repetitive record keeping by various office staff and hearing assistants, either by hand or by typewriter. These activities include travel document processing, check writing, record keeping, use and maintenance of rolodexes, purchase order requests, and the preparation of various forms. In addition, staff attorneys create daily decision-writer reports. The software will enable the hearings clerk to coordinate the schedules of the above individuals. In addition, the software must also permit the user to prepare travel vouchers, calculate per diem, and print forms available through optional software. SSA must be able to integrate this software product with an existing case monitoring software and in an intelligent workstation (IWS) / local area network (LAN) token ring architecture. Retrieval of existing information is done through the CICS/CCS and Hearings Office Tracking System (HOTS) databases and is transferred to other documents/files by hand. Case information in CICS/CCS that needs to be entered into HOTS also requires manual transfer of data, thus requiring duplicate data entry for some transactions. The re-keying of information creates a greater opportunity for data input errors. For case tracking purposes, HOTS tracks a case within a hearing office and CICS/CCS tracks a case throughout the entire hearings process. There are certain constraints, assumptions, and restrictions inherent in the target environment that will affect the selection of a viable alternative for meeting the user's requirements. The following listed criteria do no apply to every alternative but will be considered when weighing alternatives; (1) hardware and software must comply with and be compatible with the IWS/LAN standards; (2) data base interface compatible - solutions will take into consideration HOTS - the database which is the backbone of the system for tracking case folders in the hearings offices and is written in dBase IV; (3) alternatives will not duplicate systems already in use; (4) cc:mail is used extensively throughout SSA and an interface with cc:mail is important; (5) alternatives recommended for handling sensitive information should include security constraints; (6) some alternatives may require provisions for an audit trail; and (7) any alternatives will require compliance with SSA standards. Firms possessing the capability to furnish the above software and who wish to be considered for any future procurement are invited to submit complete information discussing such capabilities, i.e., descriptive literature/brochures, and if applicable GSA schedules. The information respondents provide shall pertain to this synopsis only. Cross-referencing to material previously submitted will not be acceptable. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation of the source data received. No cost or pricing data is required or requested. No contract award will be made on the basis of responses received; however, this information will be used in SSA's assessment of capable sources. The Government does not intend to pay for the information solicited or received. This is not a request for proposals and requests for copies of a solicitation will not be honored or acknowledged. Interested parties must respond in writing within 15 calendar days from the date of this publication and refer to OHASOFT/CLARK. (0269)

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