24_-_FSA's_Responses_to_Questions_2.pdf

1 The RFP states “The selected Contract Awardee shall consider the technical architectures used by the Enterprise Digital Experience provider to ensure integration with FSA’s Enterprise Digital Experience at a later time.”

Please provide offerors with the technical architecture specifications used by the Enterprise Digital Experience provider to be considered in the proposed solution.

The technical architectures used by the OPS awardee shall interface with DCC via APIs.

2 The referenced Additional Tasks appear to be more appropriate for the work related to Origination & Disbursement (O&D). Should these tasks be listed with O&D? Please confirm if these tasks do not apply to Eligibility Processing.

See Amendment 0003. Additional Tasks under Eligibility Determination only apply to Eligibility Determination. See section C.2.3.2 Operating Element 2/Milestone 2: Origination and Disbursement Processing 8A-C for Additional Tasks that apply to O&D.

3 Section C.2.3.3, 3h introduces a requirement for the OPS vendor to perform credit bureau research resolution, including direct and indirect credit bureau disputes filed by customers or initiated by the credit bureau.

Does the universe of customers from which these disputes may originate include all loan holders or only those in default (DMCS)?

What are the annual expected volumes of these transactions?

OPS provider, as required per optional task Servicer Processing System, will process credit bureau disputes. Current "eOscar" volume is +/- 12% of total accounts. Given that OPS Servicer Processing System will initially process for only net new accounts, credit bureau dispute volume for the OPS Servicer Processing System is +/- 300,000 annually.

4 Does FSA have a common incident management solution that the OPS team should leverage that is connected to FSA’s Tier 1 help desk, or should we assume a separate capability for managing incidents associated with OPS?

Offerors shall assume a separate capability for managing OPS incidents.

5 Can FSA confirm if NSLDS will continue to serve as the main data warehouse for eligibility, O&D, and Servicing after implementation of OPS?

OPS awardee will provide as the data warehouse function for OPS solution. OPS will also have capability to export data to external data warehouse via APIs.

6 Please provide instructions for the Staffing Plan required in the Technical Proposal. What content is to be included in this section?

The Staffing Plan is no longer required under this solicitation. See Amendment 0003.

7 On February 25, 2018 the government stated “The March 1, 2019 due date for the Past Performance Questionnaire, Attachment 16, has been postponed and will be changed to a future date to be determined via a forth coming solicitation amendment.” The current amendment does not include the revised questionnaire due date. Will the government please provide the questionnaire due date and revised Attachment 16 to offerors for timely questionnaire completion?

Offerors shall have their Past Performance Questionnaires submitted by the proposal due date in Amendment 0003.

8 Section C.1.2 states that the Eligibility Processing Solution must be developed and Implemented by no later than October 1, 2020. The section also states that O&M will begin by no later than October 1, 2021. What is the Governments expectation for the Eligibility Processing Solution between Oct 1, 2020 and Oct 1, 2021?

See Amendment 0003. Operating Element 1/Milestone 1: Eligibility Processing Solution Development, Implementation, Integration and Deployment is to be completed by no later than October 1, 2020, preferred. Subsequent O&M shall begin no later than October 1, 2020.

9 Similarly, C.1.2 states that O&M for O&D and Servicing will begin 12 months after development and implementation is complete. What is the Government's expectation for the time period between completed implementation and O&M for O&D and Servicing?

See Amendment 0003. If exercised, a +/- 12 month Development, Implementation, Integration and Deployment period is immediately followed by O&M.

10 The table of deliverables in Section C.2.4.2 lists both a Conversion Plan and a Data Migration Plan. However, both deliverables have the same description but different delivery timelines. Would the Government clarify the difference between the Conversion Plan and the Data Migration Plan?

The Data Migration Plan requirement has been deleted. See Amendment 0003.

11 Can you please describe the structure and size of the Tier 1 contact center Technical Support Help Desk that is mentioned in the general operating requirements?

Tier 1 Technical Support Help Desk will be delivered by another vendor.

12 The performance measurement template shows a five year base period and 0 (zero) option years which does not align with the one-year base period and 9 one-year option years mentioned in the proposal. Please confirm that FSA intends for the period of performance to be a five-year base period and five one-year options.

See Amendment 0003. The period of performance will include a one-year base period with 9 one-year option periods.

13 In the Performance Measures Template, Origination and Disbursement Processing is listed as an "optional task" while Servicing Support Processing is not optional. Please confirm Servicing is an optional task.

See Amendment 0003. Both Operating Element 2/Milestone 2: Origination and Disbursement and Operating Element 3/Milestone 3: Servicer Processing System are Optional Tasks, the Government may exercise at its discretion. Offerors are expected to submit proposals for all Operating Elements/Milestones.

14 When bundling implementation and O&M, i.e., the "proposal combining implementation and O&M" (worksheet tab), will the base period be more than one year so that offerors can recoup the implementation cost?

No.

15 Would FSA consider unit-based pricing for the following O&M tasks, given the similar approach taken for EPS pricing: (i) Loan Consolidation origination, (ii) Financial reconciliation, (iii) Credit Bureau research, (iv) Compliance, (v) Payment Processing?

Offerors shall follow the instructions provided in the Attachment "18 - Pricing Template". Offerors can provide alternative pricing in the 'Alternative Pricing Methodology' tab of the Pricing Template. Offerors shall provide additional assumptions as required in accordance with Amendment 0003.

16 What borrower volume profile (i.e. by year) should bidders use to price core Servicing O&M, which is priced on a per borrower per month basis?

Volume Assumptions tab under Attachment "18 - Pricing Template" has been updated to include potential borrower volume and growth. OPS Servicer Processing Platform will initially process for only net new accounts.

17 Can the government please provide volumes for a) research and resolution of lost or mis-applied payments, and b) credit bureau research resolution including credit bureau disputes?

OPS provider, as required per Operating Element 3/Milestone 3: Servicer Processing System, will process credit bureau disputes.

Current "eOscar" volume is +/- 12% of total accounts. Given that the OPS Servicer Processing System will initially process for only net new accounts, credit bureau dispute volume for the OPS Servicer Processing System is +/- 300,000 annually. Estimated volume for lost or mis-applied payments is not readily available.

18 Amendment 0001 postponed the due date of the Attachment 16 past performance questionnaire. Please confirm that, if clients have already submitted the questionnaire using the original Attachment 16 template, they will not be required to resubmit.

Offerors who have already submitted Past Performance Questionnaires shall resubmit in accordance with Amendment 0003 by the specified Proposal Due date.

19 The answer to question 82 states, "Yes, Offerors shall list exceptions in Volume 5." Volume 5 is the Small Business Subcontracting Plan. Please confirm that exceptions are to be listed in Volume 3, Price Proposal, instead of Volume 5.

Offerors shall list exceptions in Volume 4, which includes "Other Solicitation Requirements".

20 The answer to question 113 states, “include the level of effort and material cost for each of the deliverables in the WBS.” Please confirm that offerors may present the level of effort and material cost for WBS activities at the operating element level or phase, showing how the operating element or phase maps to the milestone deliverables?

Offerors may provide alternative pricing methods, but shall fill out all mandatory information in the pricing template.

FSA's Responses to Questions 2

21 The answer to question 113 states, “Offeror shall include the Pricing Detail Spreadsheet in Volume 2.” Please confirm that offerors are instructed to provide the pricing detail spreadsheet in Volume 3 Price Proposal instead of Volume 2 Past Performance.

Offerors shall include the Pricing Template in Volume 3.

22 The answer to question 113 states, “Offeror shall include the Pricing Detail Spreadsheet in Volume 2.”

Please confirm that instructions on the pricing detail spreadsheet will be issued with Amendment 003 as they were removed in Amendment 002.

See Pricing Template Attachment in Amendment 0003.

23 Should we be prepared to deliver an Oral Presentation after the submission of the written proposal?

No.

24 Please revise the date by which completed Past Work Experience Reference Questionnaires are due to MPDSETeam@ed.gov. At present, the date is listed on Attachment 16 as March 1, 2019 under Instructions at the top of the page.

Attachment 22—Responses to Offeror Questions, mentioned the Past Work Experience Reference Questionnaires in Response #106, referring offerors to Amendment 0002. However, there was no specific due date for the Questionnaires provided in the Amendment.

See Amendment 0003.

25 Please confirm that an offeror’s ‘preliminary plan describing how it will continue to perform the contractor services listed in Section C’, which is referenced in Section F., p. 34 of the FINAL RFP, is to be submitted as part of Volume 1 and stands outside of the core page count limitations. In addition, we ask that the Government stipulate exactly where within the Volume 1 document you expect to see our plan.

The Preliminary Plan described in Section F.4 shall be submitted as part of Volume 4: Small Business and is not subject to page limits. It should appear at the end of the volume.

26 On page 91 of the RFP, the Government added a new 10-page Staffing Plan section within the Technical Proposal, but did not include further instructions within Section L.15.4.1. Can the Government specify what it expects to see within this Staffing Plan section, and how it will be evaluated?

The Staffing Plan is no longer required under this solicitation. See Amendment 0003.

27 Would the Department consider adding a requirement for a 3-page Executive Summary to the Technical Proposal that stands outside the core page count?

No. Offerors may include an Executive Summary as part of the Technical Approach that is within the stated page limits.

28 Can the Department provide the software or tool used for the Digital Engagement Layer?

Not at this time.

29 Can the Department provide the software or tool used for the Customer Care Platform?

Not at this time.

30 How many document types (e.g., FAFSA, SAR, Signature Page) could be received through mail in paper format, requiring imaging?

All processing of paper forms will be provided by another vendor. See Amendment 0003 - C.3. Expected Volumes (For Informational Purposes)

31 Page 2 of the RFP states that FSA anticipates allowing up to 12 months for Development & Implementation of Operating Elements/Milestones 2 and 3.

Does this imply that all development must be completed within 12 months of execution of each option? Would FSA be open to longer time periods for D&I, provided that both milestones could be delivered within 36 months after award?

See Amendment 0003. FSA anticipates up to a 12 month Development, Implementation, Integration and Deployment period for each Optional Task that will begin upon FSA's issuance of the Optional Task for the specified Operating Element/Milestone.

Offerors may propose an alternative improved timeline.

32 Page 8 of the RFP states: “All school, partner and FSA Digital Experiences (Mobile and Web) for Eligibility Processing, Origination and Disbursement Processing, and Servicing Support Processing will be provided by the selected Contract Awardee.” Is “Contract Awardee” referring to the Digital Experience Provider in this sentence? Our understanding is that FSA Digital Experiences are to be provided by the Digital Experience Provider through the DCC solution.

See Amendment 0003. The "Contract Awardee" in the referenced sentence refers to a separate vendor (not the OPS Awardee).

33 Page 8 of the RFP states: “These Digital Experiences shall be severable and transferable to the Enterprise Digital Experience provider if required by FSA.”

Could the Government please clarify this statement? Our understanding is that all FSA Digital Experiences are already being provided by the Digital Experience Provider through the DCC solution. What is there to be severed and transferred?

See Section C.2.2 in Amendment 0003 for OPS Operating Elements/Milestones. In addition, the solution shall be portable as modules which at the discretion of FSA, may be further developed and operated separately by a different vendor or third-party provider. This includes but is not limited to separate code management, build and deploy process, support environments, and/or production environment.

34 Can FSA provide the estimated volumes for student identity conflicts that are currently resolved manually?

Data is not readily available.

35 Can FSA provide error rates requiring manual review/intervention of the 35,000 FAFSA printed forms, 117,000 SAR correction forms, and the 307,000 signature pages?

See Section C.3 Expected Volumes in Amendment 0003.

36 Can FSA provide the volume for credit bureau research resolutions, including direct and indirect credit bureau disputes filed by customers or initiated by the credit bureaus? Can FSA also confirm that this shall be supported by personnel in the solution?

OPS provider, as required per Optional Task 3: Servicer Processing System, will process credit bureau disputes. Current "eOscar" volume is +/- 12% of total accounts. Given that OPS Servicer Processing System will initially process for only net new accounts, credit bureau dispute volume for the OPS Servicer Processing System is +/- 300,000 annually.

37 Can FSA provide monthly call volumes related to origination and disbursement by type that the solution would need to provide personnel for?

See Amendment 0003. "Back Office Call Center" activities, excluding OPS Tier II Technical Help Desk and the "Financial and Portfolio Level" functions for OPS Servicer Processing System, will be provided by FSA BPO provider.

38 How many types of record edits are processed by the legacy backend CPS? See OPS Vision, Goals, Objectives and Requirements. OPS Eligibility and O&D processing system (if awarded) will replace legacy system.

39 How many types of record edits are performed against the legacy COD record prior to Disbursement?

OPS Eligibility and O&D Processing Solution (if awarded) will replace legacy system.

40 Where is the legacy O&D system hosted? See OPS Vision, Goals, Objectives and Requirements. OPS Eligibility and O&D processing system (if awarded) will replace legacy system.

41 In considering the Next Generation Data Center (NGDC), the offeror will provide the specifications for the Optimal Processing Solution (OPS), and FSA will obtain the price from the NGDC provider. Please confirm.

Yes.

42 Will the Government please specify what security tools and sensors FSA uses for Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) so the proposed system can be aligned with FSA’s CDM requirements? Will the Government be providing those licenses?

Offerors shall assume they will provide the capabilities and licenses with the ability to provide data/integrate into the FSA solutions(s). Current CDM solutions include Tenable Security Center, McAffee ePO (AV), Forescout Network Access Control, Elasticsearch, Splunk, RedSeal, and Tanium.

43 What tool does FSA use for Cyberscope scans, and will licenses be provided? Offerors shall assume they will provide the capability and licenses.

44 To ensure that the Government receives comprehensive and fully compliant proposal responses from industry in light of answers to the new questions being provided today and the forthcoming Amendment 0003, we request that the Government extend the due date for submittal to Friday, May 17, 2019, at 3:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time. Thank you.

See Amendment 0003 for the updated Proposal Due Date.

45 Regarding the following - "Technical Support Help Desk: Solution shall provide a Tier 2 Technical Support Help Desk to address technical issues with the solution or data generated by it. Tier 1 support will be provided a separate contact center support solution, and Tier 2 is an escalation of calls from Tier 1", will OPS respond to support calls received directly from the BPO technical help desk support (Tier 1) for Schools related to Origination and Disbursement Processing?

See Amendment 0003.

46 Will OPS be providing contact center support to respond to Tier 2 help desk calls directly with borrowers, schools etc.? Who is Tier 1 call center for OPS?

See Amendment 0003.

47 As it relates to OPS, BPO states, "Provide technical help desk support to Schools for Origination and Disbursement Processing for the Direct Loans, Title IV Grant Programs (i.e. Pell, TEACH etc.), including but not limited to, origination and disbursement data submittal issues, Program funding issues, Program funds to disbursement reconciliations, Subsidized Usage Limit (SULA) escalations, Grant overpayment processing, and borrower credit appeals...", will OPS be the solution provided for the BPO servicers to use to perform this work?

See Amendment 0003.

48 When should we expect to receive the Pricing Template for OPS Solicitation?

Will bidders have an opportunity to ask questions about the template?

See Pricing Template with instructions in Amendment 0003. Offerors will have an opportunity to submit questions in accordance with Amendment 0003.

49 In this OPS Solicitation would FSA be willing to restrict the rights to use the system for FSA purposes only and not allow use by FSA or third parties for commercial purposes outside of providing services to FSA?

Use of the system(s) by FSA and its third-party party vendors will be restricted to supporting FSA activities only.

50 How does the Department envision the relationship between this solicitation and the Components formerly solicited as A and B which were recently competed under the CIO- SP3 GWAC? Will the same vendor be eligible to compete for this award/execute both contracts or does FSA believe that there is an apparent conflict of interest here?

This solicitation is a full and open competition. FSA will evaluate OPS proposals accordingly.

51 To enable FSA to gain access to past performance and learnings from a broader pool of large scale financial services companies, we request that the questionnaire submission by the reference client be made an optional compliance item, replaceable by a detailed phone referral conversation, which was the approach used in prior NextGen solicitations. We suggest the option of a phone referral in lieu of the questionnaire submission be allowed for up to two or three of the five references provided.

See Amendment 0003 for Past Performance Volume instructions.

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