R -- OVERSEAS BANKING SUPPORT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CENTERALIZED FUNDS ACCOUNT.

Notice Date

September 7, 2000

Contracting Office

Defense Supply Service-Washington, 5200 Army Pentagon, Rm. 1D245, Washington, DC 20310-5200

ZIP Code

20310-5200

Solicitation Number

DASW01-00-R-3043

Response Due

October 10, 2000

Point of Contact

Joseph Spencer, 703-681-2803

E-Mail Address

Joseph.Spencer@ha.osd.mil (Joseph.Spencer@ha.osd.mil)

Description

Defense Supply Service-Washington (DSS-W), on behalf of TRICARE Management Activity, under the Office of the Secretary of Defense is pleased to announce that the Government is conducting a Market Survey for "Overseas Banking Support and Implementation of centralized funds account for the Statement of Objectives. Section 647 of the Fiscal Year 2000 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Secretary of Defense to implement a program of Supplemental food benefits and nutrition education overseas. The Tricare Management Activity is the functional activity responsible for supporting the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) overseas Program. The WIC overseas program will initially be implemented at five (5) pilot sites with an anticipated effective DATE OF January 1, 2001 and then to be fully implemented in Europe, the Pacific, and Latin America by the close of Fiscal Year 2001. The five pilot sites are Yokosuka, Japan, Okinawa, Japan, Baumholder, Germany, Lakenheath, United Kingdom and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. TMA/RM has worked extensively with the TMA functional area, the Services, DFAS and DeCA to conceptualize, design and foster implementation of the program. The current operational vision of the WIC Overseas Program is that each MTF will have a WIC office to perform beneficiary WIC eligibility review/validation and program authorization responsibilities. Once authorized, eligible beneficiaries will be issued WIC Drafts (CHECKS) which will be utilized at DoD commissaries and NEXMARTS to purchase authorized food supplements products. The commissaries and NEXMARTS will deposit the WIC drafts into the local in-country bank (same as done with checks). The local in-country banks will reimburse DeCA for the cost of the food products. The HQ DFAS has mandated a process that DoD must use to reimburse for the cost of these WIC drafts. Part of the process requires TMA to Contract for Banking Support and Implement a centralized funds account for the Statement of Objectives. It is anticipated that a single Firm-Fixed Price Performance Based award will result from this Solicitation (DASW01-00-R-3043). The process will be similar to FAR 14, Subpart 14.5, TWO-STEPPED BIDDING. After offers are received the Government may ENGAGE in technical discussions to help determine the acceptability of the offer. These discussions MAY BE used as clarifications to determine IF technical submissions ARE acceptable. Step two will involve the submission of sealed price bids by those who submitted ACCEPTABLE TECHNICAL proposals in step one. Bids submitted in step two WILL BE evaluated and AN award WILL BE made in accordance with Subparts 14.3 and 14.4 of the FAR. A base YEAR plus four option years of 12 months each is anticipated. The technical and cost proposal shall be incorporated by reference to the contract. C-1 OBJECTIVES The Contractor shall furnish the necessary personnel, materials, facilities and other services required, unless otherwise specified, to perform the following: a. Establish one bank account for WIC Overseas drafts. b. Receive drafts presented for settlement through the banking system; c. Review and verify each draft presented for payment. d. Perform review to confirm the authenticity of the draft to include: dates of issues and signatures. e. Daily forward listing of WIC drafts presented for settlement, f. Provide monthly bank statements to TMA. g. Receive from WIC Agents reports of drafts issued. h. Perform reconciliation between WIC drafts presented for settlement and WIC Drafts issued. i. Maintain legacy data for six years and three months. j. Obtain and provide acceptable paper draft stock adaptable to WIC software. C-2 OBJECTIVE a. The objective of this contract is to acquire a Banking Institution to support the payment of drafts for the Women Infants and Children (WIC) Overseas Program. b. The Women, Infants, and Children Program is a supplemental food program to assist expectant mothers, newborns, and infants with supplemental nutritious food, nutrition counseling and education, and nutrition screening and referrals to other health and social services. The legislative basis for the program is Section 764 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-65) which revises section 1060a of Title 10 of the U.S. Code. c. WIC Overseas beneficiaries will be issued WIC drafts to purchase food supplement products at DoD commissaries. Upon acceptance of WIC drafts, the Commissaries will deposit the WIC drafts to authorized depositories for reimbursement. The depositories will in-turn present the WIC drafts to the contractor for settlement. C-3 WIC PROGRAM OVERSEAS LOCATIONS In order to comply with the Congressionally directed mandated to implement the WIC Overseas Program expeditiously, the Department intends to begin offering the WIC Overseas benefit effective January 1, 2001 at five pilot sites: a. Yokosuka AB, Japan. b. Okinawa AB, Japan, c. Baumholder, GE. d. Lakenheath AB UK. e. Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following implementation of the pilot sites, full implementation of the WIC Overseas Program will occur in Europe, Pacific and Latin America prior to the end of Fiscal Year 2001. C-4 DETAILED WORK REQUIREMENTS C-4.1 PROVIDING WIC BANKING SUPPORT SERVICES a. The Bank (hereafter referred to as the Contractor) shall provide WIC draft receipt, review, validation and tracking support throughout the term of this contract, to include all option periods. b. The Contractor shall not change the terms and conditions of the WIC benefit/operations during the term of this contract, including all option periods. If new legislation or regulations are enacted during the effective period of this contract that require changing the terms and conditions of the program, the Contractor and contracting officer will negotiate procedural changes to meet all new legislative or regulatory requirements, but only after the Government reviews and approves the changes to the policy. c. The Contractor shall keep constant for at least one full year the costs of providing bank support services. The Contractor shall provide written notice of at lest sixty (60) working days prior to implementing any proposed increase in fees after the expiration of one year tot he Contract Officer's Representative (COR). In the written notice, the Contractor shall list and explain each reason, which requires a fee increase. d. The contract may be extended four (4) separate one (1) year periods at the discretion of the government. A sixty- (60) day notice will be provided by the incumbent if this option is not going to be exercised or if the contract is going to be recompeted. C-4.1.1 ELIGIBLE BENEFICAIRES FOR THE WOMEN, INFANTS, AND CHILDREN (WIC) OVERSEAS PROGRAM The following beneficiaries are eligible to participate in the WIC Overseas provided in accordance with the terms and conditions of this contract. Eligible beneficiaries described in Title 10, U.S.C, Chapter 53, Section 1060a. Special Supplemental Food Program. C-4.1.2 RECEIVE WIC DRAFTS FOR SETTLEMENT THROUGH THE BANKING SYSTEM a. The Contractor will establish one US dollar demand account for the DoD Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Overseas program. This account shall always maintain a zero dollar balance. b. On a daily basis the contractor will receive WIC drafts from in-country banks for settlement. The contractor will also receive daily listings of WIC drafts issued by DoD MTFS for beneficiaries for food supplement purchases. c. The contractor is to develop a tracking system to track and reconcile these two separate data sets to determine out-of-balance conditions (Ref C.1.). C-4.1.3 WIC DRAFT REVIEW AND VALIDATION a. The Contractor will daily review each WIC draft presented to determine: 1. WIC draft contains appropriate signatures (beneficiary/issuing WIC Agent) 2. Executed in the prescribed time frame. 3. Negotiated value does not exceed authorized value 4. Contains authorized draft serial #. 5. Report any discrepancies resulting from the reconciliation to TMA WIC Certifying Official (electronically) C-4.1.4 FORWARD WIC DRAFT LISTING DAILY TO TMA a. The Contractor will daily provide a list to the TMA WIC Funds Manager detailing all WIC drafts presented for settlement. The information contained in the listing must include: 1. WIC Draft serial #. 2. Location (Country/base). 3. Draft amount. b. This listing is to be provided daily to the TMA WIC Funds Manager electronically (via e-mail). C-4.1.5 FUND DAILY WIC DRAFT SETTLEMENT FROM ASAP ACCOUNT a. The Contractor will daily conduct a withdrawal of funds from the TMA WIC ASAP account to settle the negotiated drafts. To accomplish this withdrawal of funds and to assist TMA in ensuring sufficient funding continuation is contained in the WIC account the Contractor will: 1. Withdraw funds from the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) ASAP Account (Automated Standard Application for Payments) that will be established by TMA. 2. Withdrawal of funds from the ASAP account for settlement of the WIC drafts is to be accomplished every business day. 3. Notify the TMA WIC Funds Managers daily of the FSB ASAP withdrawal amount. This notification will be accomplished electronically with a supporting spreadsheet to detailing the WIC drafts/amounts (C-3.1.4.a) C-4.1.6 WIC DRAFT BANK ACCOUNT REQUIREMENT a. Contractor must provide full stop payment capability. b. Contractor must provide monthly bank statements with the negotiated instrument to the WIC funds manager. C-4.1.7 WIC DRAFT PAPER STOCK a. The Contractor will obtain, maintain and issue to participating overseas MTFs the WIC Draft paper stock to be used by the WIC agents when issuing drafts for approved beneficiaries. b. The Contractor will coordinate the purchase of the Draft stock with the TMA WIC project officer to ensure the Draft stock is printable/compatible with the WIC software being purchase (or provided by the contractor) for use at the WIC overseas locations. C-5 MAINTAIN LEGACY DATA a. The contractor shall maintain a database of all WIC drafts received for settlement and fund withdrawals from the ASDAP account for a period of six years and three months. The database shall be keep electronically with paper backup. The database shall be available for review by TMA and other governmental officials (i.e., Department of Defense Inspector General and General Accounting Office). C-6 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS The following documents are applicable to the performance under this contract. a. Section 674 of the FY2000 National Defense Authorization Act. b. Section 1060a, United States Code, Chapter 53, which is amended by Section 674 of the FY2000 NDAA. c. United States House of Representatives US Code Internet Law Library, http://uscode.house.gov/download.htm. d. TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) web page, http://www.tricare.osd.mil.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20000911/RSOL001.HTM (W-251 SN493921)