U.S. Department of Education, OCFO, Contracts & Purchasing Operations, Support Services Group, 7th & D Street, SW, Room 3616, ROB-3, Washington, DC 20202-4443

D -- PUBLIC INQUIRY CONTRACT SOL EDOOPE-98-005031 POC JoAnne Lane, Contract Specialist, (202) 260-6219 Notice of Availability of Draft Statement of Work and allied documents. The U.S. Department of Education is seeking contractual support to provide prompt, thorough and accurate responses to telephone and written inquiries about the postsecondary student aid programs established under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended, and about the policies and procedures related to those programs, the collection of defaulted program loans, as well as for related miscellaneous ancillary services. It is anticipated that one contract will be awarded. The period of performance for this contract is one base period and four option years. Potential offerors are invited to review the Draft Statement of Work will be announced on or about March 18, 1998. These documents will be available on the OCFO Web site from the Contract Information/Contract Documents On-Line page. Internet address is http://ocfo.ed.gov/Coninfo.htm. For technical questions only on OCFO Web, contact Gary Weaver at (202) 401-0083. For questions relating to actual document posting, call the contract specialist listed above. With this posting, the Department is requesting public comments and advice on the content, time schedule, feasibility and other aspects of this Draft Statement of Work. Please submit your comments via E-mail to JoAnn_Lane@ed.gov or FAX (if less than 15 pages) at (202) 708-9964, or by mail to the attention of JoAnn Lane, U.S. Department of Education, Contracts and Purchasing Operations, ROB-3, Room 3624/MS 4446, 7th and D Streets, SW, Washington, D.C. 20202-4446. All comments are due by 12:00 noon EST April 1, 1998. THIS IS NOT A SYNOPSIS OF A SOLICITATION. A solicitation synopsis is expected to be released by the end of May 1998. At that time, potential offerors may request a copy of the actual solicitation. Requests to be placed on the mailing list for the solicitation may be directed to the Attention of Yolanda Abney by telephone (202) 708-6498. (0070)

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