U.S. Office Of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street, NW., Room 1342, Washington, DC 20415

R -- BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS SOL Unassigned DUE 070600 POC Ray Hesson, 202-606-1045; Alfred F. Chatterton, 202-606-1004 WEB: OPM Procurement Home Page, http://www.opm.gov/procure. E-MAIL: Contracting Officer e-mail, rdhesson@opm.gov. We are planning to issue a solicitation in September of 2000 for the services of a contractor to perform background investigations and related services for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The purpose of this synopsis is to ask small business concerns to submit capability statements for us to evaluate as a basis for determining whether or not this acquisition should be conducted as a small business set-aside pursuant to Subpart 19.5 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. No contract will be awarded as a result of this notice. A separate synopsis will be published prior to the release of the solicitation. The Standard Industrial Code (SIC) is 7389. A small business is defined as having an average annual net income of $5,000,000 or less over the past three fiscal years. The contract will be for a two-year base period with three one-year options. We anticipate the award of an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with firm, fixed-prices established for each of several types of background investigations and services required. In recent years, cases requiring investigator involvement have averaged about 145,000 per year. The contractor will conduct or support conducting background investigations on Federal government applicants, employees, military personnel, contractors performing sensitive work, and individuals being investigated due to Federal regulatory requirements. The contractor must obtain investigative coverage in person in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other U.S. territories. Investigating services will include, but are not limited to, conducting personal subject interviews, obtaining personal testimonies from a variety of source types, and conducting record searches. The contractor may also be required to perform support services at the Federal Investigations Processing Center (FIPC) at Boyers, PA. These services require clerical, technical and professional personnel. Specific work requirements include, but are not limited to, processing investigations that do not require investigator involvement (averaging about 300,000 per year), processing incoming and outgoing mail, review of requests for investigative services for adequacy, extensive data entry and key verification of data, and case scheduling support. Other tasks include fingerprint processing, case control, investigative material review and filing, OPM customer support, case closeout, adjudication support services, and microfilming completed investigations. In addition to those services specified above, the Contractor must provide personnel at FIPC to support all aspects of operations. Support services include, but are not limited to, computer operation and support, automation help desk services, receptionist and telephone answering services, facility security services, janitorial, supply, and warehouse maintenance services, and support of OPM's Freedom of Information/Privacy requests. The contractor and any subcontractors must comply with the Security Agreement(DD Form 441, including the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (DOD 5220.22-M)) and any revisions to that manual. The contractor must demonstrate its ability to provide an adequate number of qualified field investigator staff by day of contract award. This means that, at time of contract award, at least 75% of field investigators must have at least one year of Federal personnel security/suitability investigation experience within the past three (3) years. The balance (up to 25%) of the current investigators and all new hires must have a BA/BS degree, comparable work experience, or a combination of college coursework and comparable work experience equivalent to a college degree, and must successfully complete a personnel security investigation training curriculum approved by OPM. In addition, no less than 20% of field investigators must hold, and the remainder must be eligible to hold, security clearances at the Top Secret/Q level. The contractor must also demonstrate the ability to provide qualified investigative support (clerical, technical) staff with the skills necessary to perform all investigative support functions. The solicitation will provide a detailed work statement as well as detailed instructions on proposal preparation and on the evaluation and selection process. Offerors will be permitted to propose 1.) the operation of the FIPC at Boyers PA only, 2.) field investigations effort only, and/or 3.) both the FIPC and the field investigations effort. We request that small business concerns submit capability statements for the option(s) for which they wish to be considered. The capability statements should include the following information: 1. Describe the company=s organization, including the facilities and financial resources available, and any foreign ownership or control of the company, of any parent company, of any subordinate company, and/or other foreign holdings; 2. Describe the company=s experience and past performance conducting investigative and/or investigative support work of this nature. Describe the size, complexity and scope of present and prior contracts for background investigations, and provide names and phone numbers of references that can attest to the company's past experience; 3. Describe the personnel resources available, or ability to obtain resources, and the qualifications and experiences of such personnel to perform or manage investigative work; and 4. Describe the plan for providing background investigations of a national scope. Capability statements will be reviewed to determine which option, if any, may be set-aside for small businesses. It is important that submitted capability statements include complete information addressing each of the above information requirements. We ask that responses to this synopsis be received no later than July 6, 2000. Please submit three copies of your responses to Mr. Raymond D. Hesson, Office of Personnel Management, Contracting Division, Room 1342, 1900 E Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20415. If there are any questions concerning this announcement, please contact Ray Hesson at 202-606-1045 (e-mail rdhesson@opm.gov). Alfred F. Chatterton III Contracting Officer Posted 06/14/00 (W-SN464789). (0166)

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