Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1710 GWYNN OAK AVENUE, BALTIMORE, MD

B -- AUDIT OF AGENCY TELEPHONE BILLS SOL SSA-RFP-98-3531 DUE 051398 POC RANDALL PICKWELL, WEB: Download Solicitation when/if available, http://www.ssa.gov/oag. E-MAIL: Contracting Officer, SSA/OAG, RANDALL.PICKWELL@ssa.gov. Social Security Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1710 Gwynn Oak Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21207. D-399 AUDIT OF AGENCY TELEPHONE BILLS-SOLICITATION SSA-RFP-3531. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is issuing a COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION pursuant to FAR 12.6 for the audit of SSA's telephone bills at SSA Headquarters offices in Woodlawn, Maryland. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. IT IS ISSUED AS AN RFP, AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. The intent of the audits would be to recover funds through analysis of billing errors, the elimination of any excess or redundant telephone, fax, or modem lines present at the site, and assessing the efficiency of current interrelated services and costs. The SSA Headquarters Office is serviced by a Northern Telecom SL-100 Private Branch Exchange (PBX) with local service provided by Bell Atlantic. The Headquarters office has 13 DOD T1's, 18 DID T1's and 2 PRI trunks for local service. Service to Headquarters buildings along the Whitehead and Whitestone Roads corridor are provided by Bell Atlantic's Centrex services. REQUIRED WORK: PRELIMINARY REQUIREMENTS- (1) The contractor shall make notice of authorization to access customer service and other records by contacting all vendors. (2) The contractor shall take receipt of these records and analyze the information obtained from the vendor and the Social Security Administration. AUDIT REQUIREMENTS- (1) The contractor shall review all rates and charges. The audit will include a complete and thorough review of local phone bills, customer service records, and dedicated private line services. (2) The contractor shall ensure all accounts are properly classified and subscribed. (3) The contractor shall review equipment rental records. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS- (1) The contractor shall provide monthly, written project updates, to SSA's Project officer in Baltimore. (2) Any errors found during the investigation by the contractor will be submitted to the proper vendor close to thetime they are found to ensure speedy recovery. (3) The contractor shall act as agent in negotiations with vendors and will coordinate all activities required to secure these refunds. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES- (1) The contractor shall provide a detailed final written report cross referencing all vendors and accounts. This report shall explain exactly how savings/refunds were found and calculated. This report will also show projected five-year savings to SSA; (2) The contractor shall provide the names and phone numbers of all vendors contacted by the contractor. (3) The contractor shall provide written recommendations for future savings, following the audit. SSA is under no obligation to follow any suggestions. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE- The contract performance period for this acquisition will be 6 months from date of award. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED INFORMATION- Before the start of the project the Social Security Administration shall provide the contractor with: (1) a dated and signed letter of authorization on an official letterhead, (2) a list of contact names and phone numbers, (3) a list of all telephone account numbers to be audited, (4) the number and location of all CO trunks and PBX stations covered by this audit, and, (5) the configuration for all systems to be audited. CONTRACT INFORMATION: SSA will award a COST SHARING CONTRACT for this service. The contractor will be compensated through sharing in the potential refunds or credits as a result of the audit. The Government has not established a compensation ratio for this service. Vendors are required to submit their cost sharing ratios plus any applicable fee with their proposal. Offerors' proposal packages shall include a formal project plan to execute the audits, copies of any questionnaires to be completed by SSA, and any obligations and time frames to be placed on SSA. In addition, the offeror must provide the names and phone numbers of five references for similar type work to demonstrate past performance. The proposed cost-sharing ratio, along with any applicable fees, must included in the offeror's proposal. Submittal of the Representations and Certifications at FAR 52.212-3 is required with the offer. Only complete proposals will be considered, and offerors should submit 4 copies of their proposal. This commercial services solicitation is prepared in accordance with the format in FAR 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This solicitation document incorporates provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular FAC 90-45. This acquisition is 100% set aside for small business. SIC Code 8721 applies and the associated small business size standard is $6M. The provisions at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors- Commercial; FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions- Commercial Items; FAR Clause 52.212-5 (c) Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders- Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition and are hereby incorporated by reference. SSA reserves the right to make multiple awards as a result of this solicitation. Proposals must be received by the Contracting Officer no later than 3:00 p.m., EST on May 11, 1998. Proposals which are being sent via regular mail (or hand-delivered) should be addressed as follows: Social Security Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants, Attention: Randall Pickwell, 1710 Gwynn Oak Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21207. All proposals must be marked SSA-RFP-98-3531 on the external wrapping. Provisions at FAR 52-212-2, Evaluation- Commercial Items apply to this solicitation. Award will be made to the responsible offeror(s) whose conforming offer is the most advantageous to the Government. The primary factor in award selection will be past performance, with price being the secondary factor. Requests for information concerning this RFP are to be referred only to the attention of Randall Pickwell, at the Social Security Administration's Office of Acquisition and Grants. Mr. Pickwell may be reached at the mailing address listed above, at telephonenumber (410)966-1325, or via e-mail at randall.pickwell@ssa.gov. (0118)

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