SOURCES SOUGHT
70 -- WORK INCENTIVES ADVISORY SOFTWARE
- Notice Date
- 2/23/2005
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 511210
— Software Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Social Security Administration, Deputy Commissioner for Finance, Assessment and Management, Office of Acquisition and Grants, G-C-7 East High Rise Building 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD, 21235
- ZIP Code
- 21235
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-022305
- Response Due
- 3/11/2005
- Archive Date
- 3/26/2005
- Description
- The Social Security Administration (SSA) is seeking commercial off-the-shelf products that, as developed or with minimal modification, can provide an educational, user-friendly web site to house a benefits analysis calculator focused on the affect of earned income on federal and state benefits. The primary audience for this site and calculator will be SSA beneficiaries who receive benefits based on disability and seek information about the impact on benefits of returning to work. The web site must have a strong educational component and contain information on state and federal benefit programs typically used by individuals with disabilities, including access to health care. The site must contain information on the return to work policies associated with these programs and local supports and services for which they may be eligible. The web site and the benefits calculator must: 1. be designed with a strong focus on usability, following standard usability guidelines for web design and content (www.usability.gov); 2. be written using plain language principles; 3. contain a strong help and information system, with multiple levels of complexity (i.e., information on SSA work incentive policies will link first to the RedBook, then to SSA Program Operations Manual System for more detailed information); 4. be designed in a modular fashion to allow for timely update and a staged rollout of state program information as it becomes available; 5. meet or exceed W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/; 6. minimize problems encountered through slow computers or dial up access; and 7. provide information to SSA about users through tracking usage and user surveys. The web site specifically must: 1. provide information on state and federal benefit programs, explanations of work incentive policies, information on service providers, support services, educational opportunities, and programs in the users local area for which they may be eligible; 2. have a search engine; 3. contain scenario-based examples of beneficiaries who returned to work and the impacts of earned income on benefits; and 4. have a well organized FAQ section. The benefits calculator specifically must: 1. be designed to gather information about the user?s household income and then make benefit calculations and projections based on the introduction of earned income or an increase in earned income, and where applicable, guide the user to work incentive policies that may benefit them; 2. be housed within the web site and contain links to information within the site; 3. use an interview Q and A format, similar to tax preparation software; 4. consider the information of the household to determine calculations, up to a minimum of six members; 5. contain edits to alert the user if information about benefits input appears inconsistent with program policies; 6. contain edits to alert the user if information provided is incomplete (e.g., calculations provided before inclusion of state-based program information, or the scenario becomes too complex for the calculator to handle). Must clearly state the calculations are incomplete; 7. allow the user to make projections about changes in earned income and compare scenarios by changing variables (i.e., full time vs. part time work, using a Plan to Achieve Self Support (PASS); 8. display and provide a printed output of the scenario comparisons utilizing different formats (i.e., graph, text); 9. provide projections of events relative to benefits on a time line of 10 years; 10. produce self help tools, such as a checklist to remind users of their responsibilities, alerts of upcoming program related events (i.e., SSDI benefits will end), a trial work period and extended period of eligibility tracking tool; 11. provide for the anonymity of the user; 12. allow the user to save case information under a self created user name for a minimum of three months; and 13. clean up after itself leaving no identifying information if the web site is accessed on a public computer. Vendors capable of providing and supporting a technically compliant product (already existing or one that can satisfy the above requirements with minimal modification) are invited to submit information that includes a detailed description of how each requirement would be met, product literature, company experience on providing the product and support in an environment similar to the SSA target audience and objectives stated above, customer references (names, telephone numbers, and contract numbers), and GSA or commercial prices. Strictly marketing information, reference to a vendors web site, or incomplete responses to the requirements will not be considered a valid response to this notice. Your electronic response to this announcement should refer to WORK INCENTIVE ADVISORY SOFTWARE and should be submitted to the address cited above by SSA's close of business on March 11, 2005. The Government does not intend to pay for information received and does not intend to provide evaluation results to the sender. Instead, the knowledge obtained from information submitted will be factored into any future procurement set-aside determinations and/or solicitation requirements.
- Place of Performance
- Address: BALTIMORE, MD
- Zip Code: 21235
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 21235
- Record
- SN00757212-W 20050225/050223213032 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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