VSS_Site_Visit_2018_-_KCC.pdf

Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA)

Office of Visa Services (VO)

The Visa Support Services (VSS) Program

Solicitation Number: 19AQMM18R0428

Center Site Visit

November 8 (NVC)/15 (KCC), 2018

Site Visit Logistics

KCC

• Restrooms

Evacuation Procedures

Escorting

Electronic Devices

Printed Materials

Site Visit Logistics

Ground Rules

This site visit is to help improve the understanding of Government requirements and to provide basic familiarization with the center and its operations.

Please limit verbal questions to the brief Q&A session; otherwise written questions regarding information gained from the visit can be submitted on the index cards provided.

All Q&A as well as a copy of this presentation will be posted on www.fbo.gov

Statements or representations made during the conference are not legally binding, and any official changes to the solicitation will be made only as an amendment to the Request For Proposal (RFP).

Direct all inquires to the Acquisition Office c/o Kathleen Mejia:

mejiakj@state.gov

Site Visit Agenda

The Visa Support Services (VSS) Program (~30 minutes)

VSS Overview

Center Overview

Break (~15 minutes)

Facility Walk-through (~30 minutes)

Q&A (~30 minutes)

VSS Overview

Consular Affairs

Our Mission

The Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is the public face of the Department of State for millions of United States citizens and foreign nationals around the world, a service-oriented global enterprise and policy partner.

CA is responsible for the welfare and protection of U.S. citizens abroad, the issuance of passports and other documentation to citizens and nationals, and works to protect U.S. border security and facilitate legitimate travel to the U.S.

Within CA, the Visa Services Office (VO) encompasses all aspects of visa policy, procedures, and information related to U.S. visa adjudication for foreign citizens, who apply at U.S. Embassies and Consulates, seeking to come to the United States.

Consular sections overseas issued nearly 560K immigrant visas and nearly 9.7M non-immigrant visas in FY2017

Where VSS Fits

Services provided through the VSS program support CA’s strategic priorities and enable the

Bureau to satisfy mission-critical national security and customer service objectives

Process cases for immigrant, diversity, and petition-based non-immigrant visa applicants before they are adjudicated overseas

Coordinate with the public, petitioners, beneficiaries, DOS stakeholders, and interagency partners

Accept and review petitions

Forward approved petitions to DOS

Review revocation requests from DOS

Receive and review VSS inputs

Adjudicate visa applications at 220+ locations worldwide

Request petition revocations

Posts VSS Program

USCIS

Perform facial recognition checks for all visa and passport applications

Modernization of Visa Services

Digital / Paperless Workflow – The Modern Immigrant Visa (MIV) is one example of the technology transformation that CA is undertaking; this and similar efforts will greatly affect how the centers and posts interact with customers and perform adjudications.

National Security – Driven by world events and policy direction, CA requires a growing suite of vetting capabilities commensurate with its constantly evolving, important, and visible role in national security.

Resource Constraints – Balancing growing visa demand, national security, and customer service requirements within the limitations of available resources, CA must continue to realize opportunities to streamline and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of global visa operations.

TWO PAPER-BASED

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSES

AN INTEGRATED DIGITAL

CUSTOMER SERVICE

OPERATION

TO:FROM:

• Services configured for a digital environment

• Flexible operating and delivery models

• Paper heavy warehouse and logistics operation

• Siloed units / centers

• Reactive responses

• Volume as primary driver of work

• Lack of interoperability

• Largely distinct operations

• Increasing visa volume

• Technology advances

• CA resource constraints

• Immigration reforms

• Policy changes and increased vetting requirements

• Mission-wide enterprise system rollout

ADDITIONAL INFLUENCES

AFFECTING MODERNIZATION

• Full end-to-end processing capability across centers

• Integrated national security and customer service

• Interagency involvement

• Greater transparency, outreach, and quality

VSS Program Evolution

Preparing for the Future

VSS will encounter higher demand for increasingly complex services in support of mission-critical national security and customer service objectives with an increasingly lower tolerance for risk and service disruption. Examples include:

Digitization and interagency collaboration – DHS/USCIS transmitting scanned NIV petitions, eventually transmitting NIV and IV petition data

Customer Service – Shifting model toward self-service, more efficient inquiry resolutions, and proactive outreach to reduce inquiry volume and enable greater flexibility to respond to a wide array of stakeholders

Overseas Collaboration – Expanding the connectivity between overseas and domestic processes to achieve greater global visa operations efficiency

Immigration Roles – Additional types of vetting and investigations to support new policies, fraud prevention, and national security standards

Service Portfolio Overview

Defining VSS Program Support for Global Visa Operations

As global visa operations have grown more dynamic and complex, so have the requirements of the VSS program

Rather than enumerating all of the transactional processes that are performed today, the PWS identifies and articulates the scope of VSS in terms of the underlying capabilities and services that contribute to and ultimately enable the program to meet its objectives.

This enables VSS to accommodate future products and processes while facilitating ongoing improvements to existing operations

This emphasizes necessary outcomes without artificially limiting flexibility and innovation (e.g., by location)

This highlights the importance of successfully integrating mission-facing capabilities (national security and customer service) with mission-enabling capabilities (logistics, administration, and management)

Service Portfolio Overview

Data Verification

2.1 Inquiry

Management

Tier 0/1/2

Inquiry Resolution

Process

Communications

2.2 Outreach

Data Entry Document

Review

1. National Security Services 2. Customer Services

1.1 Case Fulfillment

Biometric Validation

1.3 Biometric

Validation

Fraud

Documentation and Reporting

Fraud

Research and

Analysis

Stakeholder

Management

1.2 Investigation, Authentication, & Analysis

Interview Scheduling

4. Management Services

Performance

Management

Recruiting &

Retention

4.3 Personnel Management

Labor

Management Workload

Distribution

Operations

Reporting

Quality

Management

4.1 Service Management & Quality

Demand

Management

Contract

Management Training

Information

Systems

Maintenance

Database Admin

IT Testing

4.2 Information Systems Management

IT Collaboration

Network

Admin

IT Inquiry

Support

IT Strategy

Security

Clearance

Management

FOIA Management

Operations

Excellence

Document Sort

3. Logistics and Administrative Services

Document Filing Document Intake

& Case Creation

3.1 Intake

Document

Digitization

Document

Destruction

Case

Transport Case Storage

3.2 Paper Handling

Case Shipment

Preparation

3.3 Distribution

Equipment

Maintenance Facilities Support

3.4 Site Support

Vehicle

Maintenance

Administrative

Support

3.5 Office Management

Safety and

Security

Center Overview

Scope of Center

FY 2018 Center-Specific Statistics

Workload:

NIV Fulfillment: 439,472 cases

DV Fulfillment: 71,518 cases

Inquiry Management: 23,230 telephone inquiries; 61,430 written inquiries;

Biometric Validation: 20,293,592 facial recognition reviews

Staffing (as of June 2018):

Government: 5 at KCC

Contractor: 350+

Products and Services

Diversity Visa (DV) Fulfillment

KCC administers, in coordination with VO and Office of Consular Systems and

Technologies (CST), the DV program

There are nearly 14 million entrants for the 50,000 DVs made available each fiscal year

Tasks vary depending on the stage in the DV program cycle

Provide Public and Post Liaison support for entrants, selectees, and consular sections abroad

Provide case management, case transfer, and applicant scheduling for around

70,000 DV applicants.

Inquiry

Management Outreach

National Security Services Customer Services

Case

Fulfillment

Biometric

Validation

Investigation, Authentication, &

Analysis

Management ServicesLogistics and Administrative Services

Intake Paper

Handling Distribution

Personnel

Management

Service

Management &

Quality

Information

Systems

Management

Site

Support

Office

Management

Non-Immigrant Visa (NIV) Intake

KCC receives copies of approved non-immigrant visa (NIV) petitions from the

Department of Homeland Security’s USCIS agency. These are mostly form I-129.

Core services include petition intake, case creation, document preparation, and document scan.

KCC staff open USCIS shipments, review manifests, and log the petitions into the appropriate database(s).

Processing priority is assigned based on predetermined criteria. All staples, bindings, and other debris are removed.

Cases are scanned in high volume bulk scanners and processed into digital files.

Inquiry

Management Outreach

National Security Services Customer Services

Case

Fulfillment

Biometric

Validation

Investigation, Authentication, &

Analysis

Management ServicesLogistics and Administrative Services

Intake Paper

Handling Distribution

Personnel

Management

Service

Management &

Quality

Information

Systems

Management

Site

Support

NIV Fulfillment

KCC data enters the approved petitions (I-129s) into the Petition

Information Management Service (PIMS) and associates with the scanned electronic case files.

Core Services include data entry and verification. KCC employees provide full data entry from the approved petitions into the electronic PIMS record, e.g. Visa classification, Validity Period, Petitioner information, Beneficiary information, etc. All cases have quality verification performed.

Once case fulfillment is completed, all petitions are shredded and recycled

NIV Fulfillment – Additional responsibilities

KCC manages any DS-156 files received and handles appropriate storage shipments to the National Archives and Records Administration

KCC also manages Category I (CAT-I) files received from posts for processing into the appropriate systems, INK and CCD

Core Services are the same for I-129 which include full intake, document preparation, digital file uploading, data entry, and verification.

Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU)

VSS Fraud Prevention efforts specialize in U.S. entity research using

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Techniques

Currently1 140 total research analysts and support staff

102 at KCC

38 at NVC

Provides in-depth entity research and report writing which can be used to brief law enforcement agencies

Adaptive and agile units with specialized programs to address emerging concerns and policy changes

1As of June 2018

Inquiry

Management Outreach

National Security Services Customer Services

Case

Fulfillment

Biometric

Validation

Investigation, Authentication, &

Analysis

Management ServicesLogistics and Administrative Services

Intake Paper

Handling Distribution

Personnel

Management

Service

Management &

Quality

Information

Systems

Management

Site

Support

FPU efforts at KCC

Touching on various service areas

Different process streams

Etc.

Initial I-129 Petitioner Verification

H&L Visa Prescreening and E Visa Preprocessing

End Client Verification and Property Management Verification

J1 Summer Work Travel and J1 Interns and Trainees

Post Referral and Full Petitioner Research

Department of Labor Violation Referrals

Process Consular Petition Returns to USCIS

The Facial Recognition (FR) Unit

The FR program is a shared workload between the centers, with KCC performing as the primary. FR is a frontline biometric validation for national security services.

Core Services include providing biometric validation services to posts (Visa

FR, 17.8M) and to passport processing centers (Passport FR, 17.9M).

Reviews are sent to a center and entered into an electronic queue within the

Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). Contract staff then review a gallery of possible matches to determine whether the visa or passport applicant has a matching biometric record in Government databases.

Both centers are expected to perform this service, with workload sharing and coordination communication occurring in real-time.

Inquiry

Management Outreach

National Security Services Customer Services

Case

Fulfillment

Biometric

Validation

Investigation, Authentication, &

Analysis

Management ServicesLogistics and Administrative Services

Intake Paper

Handling Distribution

Personnel

Management

Service

Management &

Quality

Information

Systems

Management

Site

Support

Management Services

Service Management and Quality

Information Systems Management

Personnel Management

Inquiry

Management Outreach

National Security Services Customer Services

Case

Fulfillment

Biometric

Validation

Investigation, Authentication, &

Analysis

Management ServicesLogistics and Administrative Services

Intake Paper

Handling Distribution

Personnel

Management

Service

Management &

Quality

Information

Systems

Management

Site

Support

Break

Facility Walk-Through

Facility Walk-Through

Reminders / More Ground Rules

Touching on various service areas

Different process streams

Etc.

Hold all questions; use the index cards

Take everything with you

Phones and electronic devices off

Stay with the group; refrain from side conversations or other group distractions

Submit questions as you turn in your visitor badge before exiting the building

Q&A / Dismiss