SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Third-party benefits administrative services for the Federal Judiciary Benefit Programs
- Notice Date
- 6/20/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 524292
— Third Party Administration of Insurance and Pension Funds
- Contracting Office
- United States Judiciary, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Procurement Management Division, One Columbus Circle, NE, Suite 3-250, Washington, District of Columbia, 20544, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20544
- Solicitation Number
- OHR-BD13-0001
- Point of Contact
- Jennifer T. Johnson, Phone: 2025021325
- E-Mail Address
-
Jennifer_Johnson@ao.uscourts.gov
(Jennifer_Johnson@ao.uscourts.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) NO.: OHR-BD13-0001 Third-party benefits administrative services for the Federal Judiciary Benefit Programs Benefits Division (BD), Office of Human Resources (OHR) •1.0 Description This is a Request for Information (RFI) Only. This is not a Request for Proposal, Quotation or Invitation to Bid Notice. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a promise to issue an RFP, RFQ or IFB in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the AOUSC is not at this time seeking proposals or quotes and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the AOUSC will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. No solicitation exists, therefore, do not ask for a copy. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, RFQ or IFB if any is issued. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) is seeking information on how an interested contractor could provide third-party benefits administrative services for the Federal Judiciary Benefit Programs as described below. 1.1 The services required under any resulting contract include, but are not limited to: •· Hosting a secure online enrollment system and an interactive voice response system, customized to the Judiciary's positions and unique benefit programs, allowing for eligibility determination, enrollment, and administration of the benefit programs; •· Maintenance of a Judiciary Benefits Center website which offers each participant access to decision support tools, election calculators, and program materials; as well as the ability to view and/or change all benefit elections, file flexible spending claims online, and track the status of flexible spending account balances. •· Collecting, maintaining, and transferring to the AOUSC election options and appropriate enrollment data for the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program (FEGLI), the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the Flexible Benefit Program, Commuter Benefit Program, and any future programs, such as the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), for new hire elections, status changes, terminations, and annual enrollment elections. (For the FEHBP, the contractor will be expected to transmit election data to the Office of Personnel Management via the Macon Hub); •· Administering the Flexible Benefit Program and Commuter Benefit Program following the IRS rules and regulations for IRC Sections 125 and 132(f) respectively; •· Providing paperless reimbursement of FEHB and FEDVIP claims for Flexible Benefit Program health care reimbursement claims; •· Developing interfaces with the other benefit providers (specifically CNA for the Federal Judiciary's Long-Term Care Program and LTC Partners for the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program and the FEDVIP) to obtain election information to populate an online employee benefits statement; •· Exchanging data files with the AO's personnel and payroll system (Peoplesoft) and other providers as needed, via secure transfer methods. •· Staffing a service team featuring a dedicated call center and account manager; •· Developing and distribution of benefit program communications; •· Preparing standard reports which include, but are not limited to, information on enrollment, utilization, timeliness, and forfeitures. •· Ongoing quality review of data entry, data management, financial and data reconciliation, claim accuracy, system testing, and communications. •· Transition of all current services, websites, communication materials, data transfers, and election and spending account information •· The services listed above may be provided to the other judiciary organizations as appropriate. These include the U. S. Supreme Court, the Administrative Office of the US Courts, the U. S. Sentencing Commission, the Judicial Panel on Multi-district Litigation, and the Federal Judicial Center. The contractor shall provide services and data transfers that conform with the requirements set by these affiliate organizations. (Currently, all of these affiliates except the U. S. Supreme Court participate in the judiciary payroll system described above. The U.S. Supreme Court provides biweekly and monthly payrolls on a separate payroll system.) •2.0 Background The Federal Judiciary is the third branch of the United States Government and was established under Article III of the Constitution. The Federal Judiciary is composed of federal courts throughout the United States. This includes the Supreme Court, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals, 94 U.S. District Courts, 90 Bankruptcy Courts and various other special courts. The federal probation system, pretrial service program, and federal defenders program are also nationwide elements of the Federal Judiciary. The AOUSC is devoted to serving the courts in fulfilling the federal judicial system's critical mission, which is providing justice to the citizens of this country. The agency provides service to the federal courts in three essential areas: administrative support, program management, and policy development. It is charged with implementing the policies of the Judicial Conference of the United States and supporting the network of Conference committees. It is also the focal point for Judiciary communication, information, program leadership, and administrative reform. The Benefits Division of the AOUSC is responsible for development and oversight of judiciary benefits programs and initiatives, evaluating the effectiveness of new benefit programs, and managing the policy, operation and communications for the benefit programs offered to the judiciary workforce. The Federal Judiciary Benefits Program offered to judges and judiciary employees is currently comprised of the following benefit programs: Flexible Benefit Program (which includes: Premium Payment Plan (PPP), Health Care Reimbursement Account (HCRA), and Dependent Care Reimbursement Account (DCRA)) Commuter Benefit Program (which includes: Mass Transit Reimbursement Account and Parking Reimbursement Account) Federal Judiciary Long-Term Care Insurance Program Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program (federal government-wide) Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program (FEGLI) Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) Judiciary Wellness Education Program Federal Occupational Health (FOH) clinical services Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Work/Life Services Workers' Compensation Program (OWCP) Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Thrift Savings Program (TSP) Transportation Subsidy Program Professional Liability Insurance Reimbursement Program The scope of the services required include: hosting a customized online enrollment system and an interactive voice response system conducting annual enrollment and routing processing for benefit elections; administering the Flexible Benefit Program and Commuter Benefit Program; providing paperless reimbursement of FEHB and FEDVIP claims for Flexible Benefit Program health care reimbursement claims; developing and distribution of benefit program communications; and exchanging data files with the AO's personnel and payroll system (Peoplesoft) and other providers as needed. 2.1 Planned Production: 2.2 Delivery Period: 2.3 Limitations: 2.4 Security Requirements: a. Protect all sensitive and personal data. b. Comply with the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). c. Maintain and provide to the COTR on an annual basis an Application Security Plan for security measures to protect computer systems and Judiciary's employee information. The Plan must address: 1. System confidentiality: providing assurance that the information in an IT system is protected from disclosure to unauthorized persons, processes, or devices. 2. System integrity: providing assurance that information in an IT system is protected from unauthorized, unanticipated, or unintentional modification or destruction. System integrity also addresses the quality of an IT system reflecting the logical correctness and reliability of the operating system; the logical completeness of the hardware and software implementing the protection mechanisms; and the consistency of the data structures and occurrence of the stored data. 3. System availability: providing assurance that information, services, and IT system resources are accessible to authorized users and/or system-related processes on a timely and reliable basis and are protected from denial of service. d. Ensure transfer of sensitive data is done via secure methods of transfer, such as Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), which allows for secure delivery and encryption of data, as agreed to by the COTR. 3.0 Place of Performance The place of performance shall be at the contractor's facility. Requested Information Please submit a technical capability statement in no more than 15 pages. Your technical capability statement must address the following: a) A statement or list of current and/or past technical experience similar to or the same as the services described in 1.1. Include a brief description of each project scope, your firm's role in the project; project schedule, including completion date (or projected completion date); and dollar value. b) Provide a description of services provided that is similar to the services described in this RFI to at least one client/customer with 30,000 or more eligible employees for a period of at least five years; and c) Describe how your approach addresses the objectives stated in the RFI and propose a timeline for meeting the various benefit programs. d) Describe your ability to provide adequate staffing of qualified personnel with the capability to meet the requirement. e) Provide any additional relevant information you deemed appropriate. Additional information will be considered in the not-to-exceed 15 page limitation. 4.0 Responses 4.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a white paper. 4.2 White papers in Microsoft Word for Office 2000 compatible format are due on or before 2 p.m on July 18, 2013. Responses shall be sent to: Jennifer_johnson@ao.uscourts.gov. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions will not be returned. 4.3. Section 1 of the white paper shall provide administrative information, and shall include the following as a minimum: 4.3.1. Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact. 4.3.2. Recommended contracting strategy. 4.3.3 The anticipated period of performance of any resulting contract will be as follows: Base: Beginning with the 2015 Plan Year Option 1: 2016 Plan Year Option 2: 2017 Plan Year Option 3: 2018 Plan Year Option 4: 2019 Plan Year A Plan Year is defined to include: 1) the planning for annual enrollment; 2) developing, printing and distributing all communication materials before the annual enrollment period; 3) enrollment processing during the annual enrollment period; 4) the calendar year following the enrollment period; 5) the reimbursement account claim run-out period ending June 30th the following calendar year. 5.0 Industry Discussions AOUSC representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially any development and certification risks. 6.0 Questions The AOUSC reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for informational and planning purposes. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the government is under no obligation to provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. 7.0 Summary THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide third-party benefits administrative services for the Federal Judiciary Benefit Programs. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The AOUSC has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions and will not be returned. No telephone inquiries concerning this notice will be accepted. The primary point of contact is Jennifer T. Johnson, Contracting Officer, Jennifer_Johnson@ao.uscourts.gov.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/AOUSC/OIS/WashingtonDC/OHR-BD13-0001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: at the contractor's facility., United States
- Record
- SN03095756-W 20130622/130620235744-2d6209494af4be5c8d938ffc486f16b3 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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