CSRO Industry Engagement Event 8.13.26 for posting_final.pdf

Office of Procurement Operations

August 12, 2026

U. S. Department of Homeland Security Comprehensive Support for Removal Operations

Industry Engagement Event

Welcome

LeDina Nelson

Industry Liaison

DHS Office of Procurement Operations

Agenda

• Purpose

• Rules of Engagement

• Introduction of Presenters

• Opening Remarks

• Requirement Overview

• Evaluation Factors

• Upcoming Key Dates

• Q&A/Panel Discussion

• Closing

Purpose The purpose of this Industry Engagement Event is to:

• Provide an overview of the requirement

• Provide additional information on Evaluation Factors

• Share upcoming key dates

• To provide responses to selected questions from Industry

Rules of Engagement

• This presentation does not constitute a final version of the Government’s requirement and is not binding

• Please place your questions in the Chat Pod

• Any responses provided during this presentation may be subject to change in the Final solicitation

Today’s Presenters Frank Wuco

Senior Advisor, DHS Under Secretary for Management

Michael Sheridan Program Manager, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Detailed to DHS Management Directorate)

Cynthia Aki

Senior Contracting Officer, Office of Procurement Operations

Tracy Miller

Senior Contracting Officer, Office of Procurement Operations

Opening Remarks

Frank Wuco, Senior Advisor, DHS Under Secretary for Management

Requirement Overview – Michael Sheridan

• The contractor will establish a process to receive enrollees from CBP Home and coordinate voluntary returns to the enrollee’s country of origin

• Focus areas:

• Articulated plan to receive thousands of CBP Home referred cases and cover all critical coordinating steps to final departure

• Initial outreach

• Traveler coordination

• Travel document verification

• Booking

• Transportation

• Verified departure

• Stipend issuance/collection

• Contractor will establish a process to receive cases from ICE custody to participate in voluntary departure

• Focus areas:

• Articulated plan to receive thousands of ICE referred cases and cover all critical coordinating steps to final departure

• Traveler coordination

• Travel document verification

• Booking

• Transportation

• Verified departure

• Stipend issuance/collection

• The contractor will support the Department of Homeland Security by coordinating information technology flows with operational components: CBP, ICE, TSA, OCIO, etc.

• The contractor will provide direct Program Management Support to DHS MGMT by generating operating metrics for multiple government stakeholders

• Ex. Active Cases Managed, # of returns, # of stipends issued, # of stipends collected, etc.

• Establish a dashboard to reflect various workflows and processes to achieve the outcomes of the March 2025 Presidential Proclamation

• The contractor, at the direction of the Government, may charter aircraft for return missions, support enforcement operations through mass voluntary enrollment, etc.

• The contractor shall provide novel approaches and methods to expand the program, increase enrollment, establish a national messaging campaign

Evaluation Factors – OPO Contracting Team

• Factor 1 - Technical Approach

• Factor 2 – Demonstrated Prior Experience

• Factor 3 – Price

• Pricing Scenario

High-Level Notional Timeline – OPO Contracting Team

• Posting of Slides: August 13, 2026

• Final RFP Release: August 19, 2026

• Vendor questions due on Final RFP: August 21, 2026

• Government Response to RFQ Questions: August 24, 2026

• Quotes due: September 2, 2026

• IDIQ Planned award: September 29, 2026

• Task Order One Planned award: October 7, 2026

Selected Questions from Industry

• Question 1: Given that performance may require coordination with U.S. Missions abroad and interagency diplomatic elements, will the Government clarify whether any Contractor personnel will be required to hold a Secret or Top Secret personnel security clearances, either at the IDIQ level or as anticipated at the task order level? If clearance requirements will be defined at the task order level, will the Government confirm that expectation so Offerors can plan personnel and facility clearance readiness accordingly?

Government Response: The Contractor does NOT need to hold a Secret and/or Top Secret Personnel security clearance for the performance of Project Homecoming. Solely a Public Trust will be sufficient for the work to be managed as there is no intersection with classified information in the performance of this work.

• Question 2: According to L.7.1, the Government will provide a Scenario which the

Offeror must price. The Pricing Scenario will then serve as the evaluated price for purpose of this competition.

• We recommend that the Government publish the Scenario as soon as possible. The earlier the scenario is published, the more refined and competitive pricing the Government will receive.

Government Response: Thank you for the recommendation. We are definitely seeking competitive pricing. We intend to release the scenario with the final RFP.

As previously covered Industry will have an opportunity to ask questions once the final RFP is released.

• Question 3: Will the contractor have access to a list of eligible voluntary removals already documented by DHS? Is outreach to be performed in detention centers as well as in "public"?

Government Response: Yes, the Contractor will be provided a list of cleared individuals, in addition, there will be an orderly transition between current caseload to facilitate adequate tracking among the current steps in the process (various enrolled and vetted enrollees). Yes, per the PWS, the vendor will be responsible for providing personnel for up to 35 ICE detention facilities that the Government will identify. Enrollment of aliens that are eligible for Voluntary Departure (VD) or Incentivized Voluntary Departure (IVD) will be coordinated with the Contractor to facilitate their ultimate return to their respective Country of Origin.

• Question 4: "Support block-booking or charter services as directed.“ Does the contractor have the option to suggest when charter services/ block booking would be most economical? Or is this strictly at the discretion of DHS?

Government Response: Yes, the Government welcomes novel or approaches that utilize the program funding in the most efficient means. Ultimately, the CO and/or COR shall approve or deny and provide technical direction based on options presented.

• Question 5: This 7-page draft PWS seems short on detail for an IDIQ with a $2.341 Billion dollar ceiling. We understand the nature of an IDIQ, but we also want to ensure we have sufficient detail to be able to competitively price the IDIQ as well as the Scenario. Upon release of the final RFP, we recommend that the Government provide interested companies the opportunity to submit final questions.

Government Response: Thank you for the question. The Performance Work Statement (PWS) is intentionally written in a broad manner because this is an IDIQ contract.

Individual task orders will provide more detailed information on the government’s requirement as appropriate. As Mike just stated, the government welcomes novel approaches.

In addition to this Industry Engagement Event today, interested vendors will have the opportunity to review any additional detail contained in the Final RFP release, and interested vendors will also be provided an opportunity to ask any additional or follow-up questions regarding the RFP, the CSRO requirement, and any attachments.

• Question 6: The PWS applies AVR workflows to both detained and non-detained populations, while the detailed Enrollment Operations requirements are limited to detention facilities and Attachment 1 separately identifies Enrollment Management and Case Management Teams.

Please clarify whether the Contractor will have enrollment, identity-verification, biometric-coordination, or related status-handoff responsibilities for non-detained participants, and identify which such functions remain Government-performed.

Government Response: Non-detained participants are being vetted through CBP Home biometric processes to validate the identity of the enrollee and then vetted by ICE personnel to ensure eligibility to receive the benefits from Project Homecoming. The Contractor is responsible for all other functions to facilitate the voluntary return of the enrollee; to include but not limited to: initial outreach leveraging the contact information provided by the Government, validating departure/coordinating departure flight, verifying travel documents, coordinating travel documents if not viable for travel, facilitating transportation (if required) to the point of departure, ensuring boarding and return actions, issuing stipend payment and validating stipend collection and/or ensuring reimbursement to the Government if not collected within the collection period.

• Question 7: Section C.4.6 requires multilingual communications and community-level outreach through trusted local networks. Please clarify whether DHS expects these trusted local networks to be direct capabilities of the Prime Contractor, or whether the requirement may be satisfied through specialized community-based, regional, country-specific, or language-specific subcontractors operating under the Prime Contractor’s management and DHS-approved messaging.

Government Response: The Contractor will need to facilitate communication with a diverse population of enrollees consisting of multiple nationalities. Given the statistics of most of the returnees to date, Spanish is a driving language but is not all encompassing of the multiple languages/dialects needed to be supported.

The work can be accomplished via the Prime or through a subcontractor. Prior to implementation, the Contractor shall coordinate all outreach approaches and media strategies with DHS to ensure continuity of approved communications and methods.

Coordination with the CO and/or COR, Project Homecoming Program Manager/Director and associated DHS Stakeholders will be key during the execution and proposed methods envisioned by the Contractor.

10 Minute Break

Q&A/Panel Discussion

• Question 1: Will you email this presentation to participants from industry?

Government Response: The presentation as well as answers to the Q&As will be posted tomorrow, Thursday, August 13th, 2026, on SAM.gov.

• Question 2: Will the Government furnish aircraft, or does the contractor provide all aircraft for removal?

Government Response: The government will furnish aircraft for charter actions.

• Question 3: Has a final decision been made on the contracting way forward/contracting vehicle that will be used for this RFP?

Government Response: The contract vehicle that will be used will be identified in the final RFP.

• Question 4: Will this be a multiple award IDIQ or single award?

Government Response: This will be a single award IDIQ.

• Question 5: Historically, what has been the ratio between air charter vs commercial ticketing?

Government Response: Commercial ticketing has covered the vast majority of all of the missions under Project Homecoming. So, over 99% would be completed via commercial ticketing and less than 1% were completed via air charter.

• Question 6: Will the answers to the questions that were just presented on the slides also be included with those questions?

Government Response: Yes.

• Question 7: If an otherwise authorized participant independently purchases transportation before Contractor-arranged ticketing. Can that departure remain within the CSRO workflow for departure verification, case closure, and any remaining authorized incentive processing - and who owns the pre-departure coordination?

Government Response: In the event that an enrollee purchases their own tickets for return to their home country, there is a built-in functionality in CBP Home that the enrollee can validate their departure from the US. There is a function in CBP Home that validates their departure outside of the United States. Then that enrollee would be, if they have been deemed eligible through ICE vetting, entitled to the stipend for issuance by the Contractor. The tracking of the stipend issuance and collection is the responsibility of the Contractor. Pre-departure coordination can be unilaterally performed by the alien or coordinated directly with the Contractor.

• Question 8: How many passengers per movement, and roughly how many flights per month? What types of aircraft does DHS anticipate using for these efforts?

Government Response: Question 8a: The government will provide this information at a later date. Question 8b: The type of aircraft will be dependent upon the actual mission anticipated for execution by the Government and/or presented as an option by the Contractor. Factors that influence aircraft type depend on the range, departure/arrival destinations, passengers manifested, etc. Therefore, various types of aircraft could be leveraged to facilitate direct transfer and/or multiple destinations throughout the globe. Ultimately, this is the responsibility of DHS to coordinate the type of aircraft for those charter missions.

Closing Remarks