SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- USAC Request for Information for Small Business Consideration: Rural Health Care and Schools & Libraries Support Mechanisms Operational Support Services - USAC-RHC/SL-2010-11-03
- Notice Date
- 11/3/2010
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Federal Communications Commission, Office of the Managing Director, Contracts and Purchasing Center, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20554
- ZIP Code
- 20554
- Solicitation Number
- USAC-RHCSL-2010-11-03
- Archive Date
- 12/2/2010
- Point of Contact
- Jay H. Beard, Phone: 202-776-0200
- E-Mail Address
-
jbeard@usac.org
(jbeard@usac.org)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- INTRODUCTION The Universal Service Administrative Company ("USAC") is requesting information from small businesses, including disadvantaged, woman-owned, HUB-zone, veteran-owned, and service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses, (collectively, "small businesses") capable of providing the services set forth herein. The Federal Communications Commission ("Commission" or "FCC") appointed USAC the administrator of the Universal Service Fund ("USF") and the universal service support mechanisms- High Cost ("HC" Program"); Low Income ("LI Program"); Rural Health Care ("RHC Program"), including its pilot program; and Schools and Libraries ("SL Program") as set forth in Title 47, Part 54, Section 701 of the Code of Federal Regulations. USAC administers, subject to FCC regulations, directives and oversight, the USF and the Programs. This RFI pertains to a future requirement for the procurement of services for the day-to-day operations and administration of applications and commitment processing, invoicing, customer service, and a call center for the RHC and SL programs (collectively the "Programs"). USAC currently engages a contractor to assist in performing the extensive day-to-day operations of the RHC and SL Programs. Among many other tasks, USAC's operational support services contractor provides assistance to applicants and service providers, and, based on detailed operational procedures and after extensive review, determines whether thousands of individual funding requests annually comply with program requirements. These are large-scale operations, currently employing more than 350 professionals between the programs. The contract work will be substantially performed at the selected contractor's facilities. The Programs are supervised by and directly accountable to USAC and its operating divisions. USAC will be conducting a competitive procurement to contract with a vendor that will assist with the day-to-day operations of the Programs on a consolidated basis. USAC contemplates awarding a single firm-fixed-price contract of five years duration with an additional two one-year renewal options. USAC will use the information received in response to this RFI to plan for small business participation in the competition for this contract. USAC is not a federal executive agency or a federal prime contractor, and any contracts awarded by USAC for these services will not be U.S. Government contracts or subcontracts. SCOPE OF SERVICES The operational support services include, but are not limited to, the following primary functions: (1) Providing client support services by operating and staffing a customer service and fulfillment organization; (2) Providing data processing and associated services for more than 100,000 electronic and/or paper forms annually; and, (3) Providing comprehensive review services, subject to detailed procedural requirements, to ensure that applicants and service providers comply with FCC program rules and services to ensure that funds are only disbursed to qualifying organizations for qualifying services and/or uses. There is a broad array of specific tasks that fall within the scope of these wide-ranging functional areas, each of which is governed by detailed operating procedures. The specific tasks for each program have been categorized into the following Program Modules. •· Customer Contact and Data Entry. •· Commitment Processing. •· Invoice Processing. •· Post Commitment Processing. •· Systems Modernization Support. Prospective contractors will be required to bid on all Program Modules for both the RHC and SL Programs. This contract does not include provision of information systems development, maintenance, operations or hosting, which USAC will provide to the vendor. The vendor selected to provide the services described in this pre-solicitation information request will be required to use these systems. The vendor selected must provide its own network access and client workstations, printers, routers to access and use these USAC-provided systems. DESCRIPTION OF FIRMS SOUGHT •· Firm must demonstrate experience with performing similar high volume, complex services supporting a state or federal governmental agency. •· Firms must be capable of providing resources suitable to the level of effort required to complete all work efficiently, accurately and within the time required. •· Firms must have a satisfactory record of past performance in assignments of similar scope and complexity. •· Firms must be eligible to receive federal government contracts. (USAC is not a federal government agency, and the contract resulting from a future procurement will not be a federal government contract or subcontract; but USAC does follow certain federal government contracting procedures, including requiring that its contractors be eligible to receive federal government contracts.) DESCRIPTION OF YOUR FIRM Please briefly describe your firm's ability to meet the needs of this future procurement. Your description should include: •· Your overall experience in performing services similar to those identified in this RFI; •· Your familiarity with FCC regulations governing the USF; •· Your resources for meeting the staffing and facility requirements for the large-scale operations described above; •· Your experience with financial application processing; •· Your experience conducting call center and fulfillment operations; •· Your Quality Assurance (QA) processes and internal controls to minimize the possibility of waste, fraud, or abuse; •· List of contracts in previous three years conducting similar services; •· The identity of your firm as a small business (e.g., small business, small disadvantaged, small woman-owned, small HUB-zone, small veteran-owned, or service-disabled veteran-owned businesses); and •· Your average annual revenues for the past three years. CONCLUSION This announcement is for information purposes only. This announcement shall not be construed as a commitment by USAC. This is not a request for proposals and no contract will be awarded from this announcement. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with the provision of the information requested in response to this announcement. Respondents will not be notified of the results of any evaluation. This is a Request For Information (RFI) only. Responses to the RFI should be emailed to Jay Beard at jbeard@usac.org no later than 5:00pm EDT on November 17, 2010. Submissions received after this date and time may be reviewed but may not be considered in contract planning or in the creation of a solicitation. Failure to respond to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future competition for this requirement.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/FCC/FCCOMD/FCCCPC/USAC-RHCSL-2010-11-03/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 2000 L Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, District of Columbia, 20036, United States
- Zip Code: 20036
- Zip Code: 20036
- Record
- SN02321507-W 20101105/101103233806-599a3be0502cb936f8cb9663059941b8 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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