Department of State, Office of Acquisition, P. O. Box 9115, Rosslyn Station, Arlington, VA 22219-0244

R -- SERVICES TO PROCESS U.S. PASSPORT APPLICATIONS SOL S-OPRAQ-97-R-0036 DUE 020797 POC Sally C. Allen, Contracting Officer, (703) 875-6020 or; Tom The Departmnt of State requires contractor services to operate the National Passport Center (NPC) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where both initial and renewal passport applications are processed. The contractor must provide the personnel and management services for receipt of incoming mail applications with selected data entry and automated processing into Department of State software systems and the mailing out of printed passports to the public. Passport processing is accomplished on an computerized system known as the Travel Document Issuance System (TDIS). The Contractor must perform all necessary quality reviews to ensure the integrity of the finished passport and must conform to Government requirements to safeguard against fraudulent activities in the production of a passport book. A total of 5.5 million passports were issued in FY 1996 of which 1.5 million were issued at NPC. The domestic agencies are projected to issue 5.9 million passports in FY 1997; another 300,000 passports will be issued overseas. The NPC is expected to issue 1.75 million passports in FY 1997 and participate in the handling of some overseas passport production. This will be accomplished through both direct mailing of renewal applications to the site as well as the possible remote issuance of routine overseas cases when NPC is equipped with the enabling technology. The Department requires that the NPC be staffed according to the seasonal workload requirements of Passport Services. This currently ranges from 3,000 to 9,000 daily. Staffing will be adjusted seasonally to meet the needs of the Government. As passport demand increases in subsequent years, the NPC will be expected to increase production to 3 million passports per year through a combination of increased staffing levels. A second shift may be required in order to keep abreast of the workload. The Contractor employees will be responsible for all aspects of passport processing except duties designated by the Department which must be performed by Government employees. The contractor will also be responsible for: (1) the ordering, procuring and delivery of all expendable supplies for all 14 Passport Agencies in addition to those required by the NPC; (2) maintenance and repair of certain hardware devices at all 14 Passport Agencies and Acceptance Agencies; and (3) installation of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) computer hardware, software and networks, as required, at any or all agencies. The successful offeror must possess or be able to obtain a Secret facility security clearance issued in accordance with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Mutual (DOS 5220.22-M). Contractor employees designated as Key Personnel must have a Secret clearance. All other contractor employees must favorably pass a National Agency Check (NAC) to be conducted by the Department of State. Prior to assignment to the contract, all non-key personnel must first favorably pass an initial security check. Those personnel who successfully pass the check may be assigned to the contract while their National Agency Checks (NACs) are pending. Contractor employees who do not favorably pass the NAC must be removed from the contract at no cost to the Government. The Government estimate exceeds $10,000,000 for a Cost Plus Fixed Fee type contract for the base year plus four one-year option periods. The acquisition is a 100% set-aside for small business concerns. The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code for this acquisition is 7376 and the Small Business Size Standard is $18 million average annual receipts (past 3 years). The RFP will be issued on or about February 7, 1997, and the receipt of offers date is on or about March 20, 1997. A walk-through of NPC and a pre-proposal conference at NPC is planned on or about February 26, 1997. More detailed information concerning the date, time and location for the walk-through and pre-proposal conference will be provided in the RFP document. Facsimile (FAX) requests for the RFP document may be sent to (703) 875-6085: Attn: Tom Blankenship. SEE NUMBERED Note 1. ***** (0028)

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