Pre_and_Post_Conference_Questions.docx

Pre-Conference:

1) What is the procurement timeline?

A: Please refer to the FBO website, which offers much of the draft RFP as well as the industry day slides that provide a notional timeline for upcoming milestones

2) Is the Government acquisition strategy fully approved?

A: Yes.

3) Is the funding for continuing the work approved or is there contingent funding?

A: Funding for the VSS program continues to be incorporated into all relevant budget formulation materials and is not dependent on contingent funding.

4a) Is the Government using a GWAC, MAC, or other ID/IQ (e.g. PSS, Aliant, OASIS, Etc.) for this procurement?

4b) Please confirm for planning purposes that, as with the current contract, the Government does not plan to issue the RFP under any GSA Schedule or other vehicle.

A: The Government does not intend to use a GWAC, MAC, IDIQ, or other pre-existing contracting vehicle for this procurement.

5) From the DPWS C.3.1 Pg. 4: “Upon release of the RFP, reading room material may be requested from the DOS …” Without the reading room material, industry will be challenged to develop a fully responsive, high quality, detailed Technical and Pricing solution. Delaying the release of the Reading Room material until the RFP is released will significantly degrade the quality of proposals the Government will receive, significantly increasing cost/price risk to the program. Is it possible to get the reading room material released as soon as possible, prior to the release of the final RFP?

A: No.

6) When will the Government be conducting Site Visits to NVC and KCC?

A: Please refer to the industry day slides on the FBO website.

7) Will the Government be releasing additional workload data that shows seasonal ebbs and flows of the workflow? E.g. NIV Fulfillment is 600,000 / year. Does this mean 50,000 per month or are there months where the CSC processes 75,000 per month and other months where the CSC processes 25,000 per month for an average of 50,000 per month?

A: The Government will consider providing additional historical details with the RFP. For now, please note that seasonality and the unpredictable nature of USCIS receipts affect the volatility of each unit-based type of work differently and in varying degrees.

8) In order to develop a fully responsive, high quality, detailed Technical and Pricing solution, industry will need processing procedures used at each of the facilities. Without such, risk to the program is significantly increased. Will the Government release processing procedures and flows for all visa processing?

A: The reading room, available to vendors who express interest upon RFP release, will provide sufficient information in this regard.

9) Will the Government release current staffing levels by labor category and location?

A: The Government will consider providing more detailed information regarding a recent staffing snapshot in the RFP; however, current staffing is commensurate with the current vendor’s operating model that is delivering on the scope of the current contract, and therefore provides little to no utility for informing a future operating model delivering on the scope of the new contract.

10a) We assume that the Government has a roadmap/plan for moving the centers from their current state to a more electronic, digital, modernized state. If correct, will the Government make that plan available to bidders?

10b) Can the Government please provide more detail about automation and digital workflow and processing capabilities implemented to date under the MIV initiative and planned for the new contract term. As part of this information, please include the names of information systems, the functions to be implemented, the affected process areas, and rollout timeline for implementation.

A: Please refer to the draft Section J, Attachment B – Current State Snapshot for additional information on technology modernization. Additional details will be available in the Reading Room materials to be released to interested vendors with the final RFP.

11a) Is the Security Clearance required at the time of Submission or at the time of Award? Will the Government sponsor the awardee for the required level of clearance?

11b) The requirement for Secret / Top Secret Facility Clearance. Should a new joint venture be formed that is unpopulated and the parties to the joint venture possess the required TS Facility clearance would the JV be allowed to bid. As the JV is new and unpopulated it would not itself have the security clearance but State could sponsor it knowing that the members do hold the required clearance. Please advise.

11c) In the prior VSS solicitation, a Secret facility security clearance was required for contract performance, not in order to be eligible for award. Please confirm that the same will be true for the upcoming solicitation. If so, please confirm that the Department will sponsor the awardee’s Secret facility security clearance (if necessary).

A: A Top Secret facility clearance is required for contract performance. No matter what the corporate structure, if the selected firm does not have a Top Secret facility clearance, they will be sponsored for the Top Secret clearance.

12) In order to appropriately and effectively staff this opportunity, industry needs the required qualifications for key personnel. The government has identified required key personnel, will the government release required/desired qualifications for each of the key personnel required?

A: The Government does not intend to prescribe this information and is looking to industry to propose individuals, based on the requirements of the RFP, who they believe are fully qualified and competent to serve in key personnel roles. Please refer to position descriptions of Key Personnel in Section C.5 of the draft RFP.

13) What percentage of the New Hampshire work force is subject to the Wage Determination (WD) released 26 Sep 2018?

A: Approximately 88% of the staff in New Hampshire under the current contract are subject to the WD released 17 April 2018, revision 7.

14) What aspects of the current operation are managed differently at CSCs today or why is the government making this point that the provider must manage the CSCs in an integrated manner, with consistent and consolidated management reporting and oversight spanning the entire scope of services?

A: The Government does not believe it is efficient, effective, or a prudent investment of its resources to nurture operational and management silos within VSS operations.

15) The next five-year contract will require a professional cadre of staff capable of supporting the enhanced national security mandate and sustaining and further developing the new processes, systems, and aforementioned digital enhancements, has the government budgeted for or sized in any way this cadre of professionals or determined the professional requirements of such a staff?

A: Yes; And the Government encourages industry to review the draft scope of services and other documents posted on FBO for a detailed accounting of the “professional requirements” that staff on the new contract will need to satisfy.

16) The CSCs plan to significantly increase both Fraud Research Analysts and Post Liaisons, do these labor categories get filled as contractor or federal staff?

A: The increase in fraud research analysis and post liaisons will come from contractor staff.

17) C.4.2.1 Inquiry Management page 25 does the current operations meet the performance standards as set on page 25 for Inquiry mgmt.?

A: Current operations are not required to meet all of the performance standards being applied to the future (new) contract. Regardless, however, the future vendor will be required to meet these (or comparable) performance standards for the new contract.

18) Will the Government measure visa application facial requests received from 12:30am-7am from the 7am shift start time for 8-hour compliance?

A: Yes, the Government will assess 8-hour compliance from the 7am shift start time.

19) Has the call center software received an ATO to operate on the DOS network? Does the contractor have the ability to configure the call center software to optimize communication channels and options for call routing?

A: A: The call center software will be approved for use on OpenNet. The government will provide a detailed update when available.

20) Will CA be providing the customer relationship management (CRM) software or is this specific requirement for the purpose of establishing a new data interface? Is this requirement CRM centric or knowledge base (KB) centric?

A: The Government is interested in the full suite of alternatives that a vendor is able to offer for delivering Tier 0 inquiry resolution; however, implementing enabling technology must remain cognizant of and compliant with all CA and Department-wide technology approval processes as referenced under Information Systems Management.

21) Are volumes available for each channel type? What are the handle times for each channel?

A: Refer to the draft of Section J, Attachment B – Current State Snapshot posted on the FBO site for information.

22) What percentage of call volumes require bilingual support currently?

A: Approximately 26% of all calls received at NVC are answered in Spanish by bilingual staff members.

23) Is this an initiative to staff both the NVC and KCC with personnel supporting Inquiry Management operations?

A: If the question is whether both sites will eventually be be capable of supporting concurrent Inquiry Management operations, then the answer is “yes”. At this time, the infrastructure is not yet available to provide full-scale phone inquiry management operations at KCC.

24) What telephony platform is being leveraged for the inquiry work today?

A: NICE and Avaya’s Call Management System

25) Please confirm all required key personnel including the number of individuals under each key position.

A: Section C.5 in the draft version of Section C posted on the FBO site details the key personnel roles for the VSS program. Unless explicitly stated in Section C.5, the Government is not prescribing the number of individuals for each key personnel role.

26) To enable small businesses and their teams to determine their capability to bid and be fully responsive to the requirements, can the Government define the criteria for past performance references prior to the final RFP release?

A: The Government believes that industry will have sufficient time to review any past performance criteria once the RFP is released. The Government is likely to seek multiple past performance examples for programs that are comparable to VSS in terms of size, scope, and complexity.

Solicitation #19AQMM18R0428 Industry Day Questions

Written / Verbal Questions Received at Conference:

Site visits

1) Is the Prime contractor required to attend or can any member of the team attend?

A: At least one member of the small business Prime contractor is required to attend.

Due Diligence

1) Would you please clarify what is meant by “due diligence,” how does an Offeror qualify to attend, and what should an Offeror expect to learn during the sessions?

A: In accordance with FAR 15.201, the Government may hold one-on-one sessions with potential Offerors to improve the understanding of Government requirements. In order to qualify for an invitation to participate, at least one member of the Prime contractor must attend each site visit.

Facilities

1) Are there plans to expand to a third Center?

A: There are no plans for a third center at this time.

2) Could you confirm if the two CSCs are U.S. Government or Contractor facilities? If Contractor, are you essentially looking for a contact center as a service? –i.e. facility, infrastructure, PII.

A: The National Visa Center and Kentucky Consular Center are U.S. Government facilities.

Clearance and Badging

1) Is TS Facility Clearance required at the time of submission?

A: No, a TS facility clearance is required for contract performance.

2) Will the Government provide clarification if the Offerors are required to have Facility Security Clearance? If not, will the Government sponsor the awardee on Facility Security Clearance at the time of the award?

A: If an uncleared firm or a firm with a Secret facility clearance is selected for award, they will be sponsored for a Top Secret facility clearance.

3) Is there a process that CA has for allowing Contractor staff to get badges before the contract award?

A: No.

4) If badges and clearances are decided upon based on a particular contract, how are contractors able to obtain these in advance as instructed by CA?

A: The intent of the guidance provided during the presentation was to emphasize the importance of the badging and clearance processes and should not be understood as an indication that badges can be obtained prior to award.

5) Can or will DOS expedite processing of clearances and badges for the Awardee?

A: No. Personnel security clearances will actually be issued by Defense Security Service; Moderate Risk Public Trust (MRPT) determinations will be issued by DoS’s Office of Personnel Security and Suitability (DS/SI/PSS). Badges will not be issued until the contractor personnel have either been issued an MRPT or personnel security clearance. It is incumbent on the contractor to expeditiously submit the required paperwork for processing its personnel for security clearances or MRPTs.

6) Are subcontractors also required to hold an active TOP SECRET FCL at the time of performance?

A. Not necessarily, as it depends on the positions that the subcontractor will fill. If the subcontractor is only filling positions which require a Moderate Risk Public Trust (MRPT) determination, the subcontractor does not need to have a facility security clearance (FCL). If the subcontractor is filling positions that require a Secret personnel security clearance (PCL) issued by Defense Security Service, then the subcontractor must have at least a Secret FCL. If the subcontractor is filling IT manager/administrator positions for the classified system (which requires a Top Secret PCL), then the subcontractor must have a Top Secret FCL.

Past Performance

1) What will be the past performance threshold requirement?

A: The Government intends to require multiple, recent examples of performance that is comparable to the size, scope, and complexity of the VSS program.

2) Will there be any past performance or other requirements that restrict actual small businesses from qualifying?

A: As this procurement is a 100% small business set aside, the Government invites all qualified small business vendors to submit a proposal.

3) Will the Government release the criteria for past performance before the release of the RFP so that small businesses and their teams can determine their capability to bid and be fully responsive to the RFP?

A: The Government believes that industry will have sufficient time to review any past performance criteria once the RFP is released. The Government is likely to seek multiple past performance examples for programs that are comparable to VSS in terms of size, scope, and complexity.

4) What does the Government anticipate will be the past performance requirements to entail, i.e. size, scope and complexity?

A: As noted above, the Government intends to require Offerors to demonstrate recent examples of performance that are comparable in size, scope, and complexity to the VSS program.

5) Would the Government consider 200 FTEs as a threshold for similar size in the past performance section?

A: The Government will take all circumstances into account when evaluating past performance, and cannot provide a meaningful response based on FTE count alone.

6) (Request) If a minimum FTE threshold is required, the Government should consider reducing the FTE threshold below the 250 FTE threshold for one (1) prime relevant past performance reference.

A: Noted. The Government will take all circumstances into account when evaluating past performance, and cannot provide a meaningful response based on FTE count alone.

Backlog

1) Is the IV workload still experiencing backlogs? If so, which processes are causing this?

A: The Government cannot give specifics on current contract performance; however, at this time, NVC anticipates that there will be no IV-related backlogs at the start of the contract.

Incumbent Contractor

1) Is the incumbent contractor a small business? Has DOS been satisfied with the incumbent’s performance?

A: The current contract was awarded to a small business prime contractor, FCi Federal, which was subsequently acquired by PAE. Past Performance information is considered to be Source Selection Sensitive and is not releasable.

Technology

1) Does all technology used at the Centers have to be FedRAMP Certified?

A: Government review, accreditation, and approval is required for all software systems developed to support VSS services. Specifically, all technology deployed off-premise in a Cloud Service Provider-managed environment must deployed / available from a FedRAMP-certified service provider and receive a Department of State Authority to Operate (ATO). Technology solutions deployed on-premise at Department data centers or Department server rooms must be accredited and receive an ATO in accordance with 5 FAM 1066.1-3.

2) What is the current Document Management System being used (i.e., open text, documentation, etc.) and does the Government anticipate changing or modernizing this system?

A: CA enterprise technology solutions for electronic documents to include MS SharePoint for collaboration and case management and related support tools such as PIMS and IVIS.

NVC uses IVIS and ancillary systems to track paper mail and files. These systems are not going to be updated to the best of my knowledge.

3) The draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) suggests ongoing advances in digital processing capabilities and enabling technologies. Can the Government provide current examples of this?

A: The Government believes that the information provided in the industry day presentation, as well as those examples already referenced in the draft PWS and the Current State Snapshot (Section J, Attachment B) provide ample and relevant context regarding ongoing efforts. We also encourage qualified Offerors to participate in the site visits to get a better sense of current operations.

MIV and Shift to Digital

1) Using the diversity visa (DV) lottery as an example of a completely digital visa process, can the Government share their perspective on any challenges on implementing a fully digital process to the extent that it might be applicable to challenges facing the shift to digital processing for nonimmigrant visa and immigrant visa processes?

A: From a digital processing perspective, the implementation of the DV program is not comparable. Additionally, the DV program is wholly administered by the Department of State, whereas all other petition-based visas involve other Federal agency stakeholders.

2) Is there a timeline that identifies the milestones and expected completion date for the MIV process?

A: The Government anticipates that MIV implementation will be complete before the award of this contract and will be the method of processing for most IV petitions. However, paper processing will continue for I-130s that began processing prior to implementation, as well as for other petition types.

3) What is the largest IT issue associated with the MIV modernization efforts?

A: The MIV IT systems development effort is managed by CA/CST under separate acquisition scope. VSS services are not expected to develop enterprise solutions to support the MIV modernization effort.

Post-Liaisons

1) Do larger posts have multiple liaisons?

A: No

FPU

1) It was mentioned that 33% of I-129 forms are referred to the FPU. Is this based on random selection or is there a specific factor that triggers the referral?

A: Roughly 10% of petitions are referred to the FPU. All petitioners filing their first petition as well as petitions attached to petitioners which the FPM has identified need subsequent screening.

2) What training and/or certification requirements exist for analysts supporting the Fraud Prevention Units (FPU) at each center?

A: Similar to facial recognition, all current training and certification materials were developed in collaboration with the current vendor, are wholly owned by the Government, and will be available to the awardee for the new contract. The awardee will be responsible for developing and maintaining training content and supporting materials as well as executing all related training.

3) What are the personnel clearance requirements for analysts in the FPU?

A: Please refer to the Draft PWS Facial Recognition

1) Are the KCC staff completing FR processing trained on performing facial recognition comparisons? Are they trained to a specific standard? If so, what is standard or training certification?

A: Analysts performing facial recognition activities are trained in performing comparisons. Please refer to Section J, Attachment B – Current State Snapshot for more information regarding certification and standards.

2) What training and/or certification requirements exist for analysts performing facial recognition activities, and will the vendor be responsible for developing and maintaining supporting materials as well as for executing all related training?

A: All current training and certification materials were developed in collaboration with the current vendor, are wholly owned by the Government, and will be available to the awardee for the new contract. The awardee will be responsible for developing and maintaining training content and supporting materials as well as executing all related training.

Oral Presentations

1) Do you anticipate requiring orals to be part of this solicitation? If so, can you provide more insights about potential criteria?

A: Yes, the Government anticipates requiring an oral presentation to be part of this solicitation. Please note the Government may make a competitive range determination prior to conducting oral presentations, which would result in only those Offerors determined to be in the competitive range participating in and being evaluated on oral presentations. Further detail will be provided in Section L of the RFP upon its release.

Travel

1) How much international travel is expected during the contract?

A: Historically, the amount of international travel has been once to twice per year and outreach related to MIV and the Post Liaison program in the realm of less than a dozen personnel traveling in a given year. Because the amount of international travel in the future may be highly dependent on VSS and VO priorities as well as the Offeror’s proposed solution, the Government cannot anticipate how much travel to expect under the new contract.

2) Will the Government be providing a plug number for travel based on historical data?

A: Yes, the Government intends to provide a plug number for Travel / Other Direct Costs.