91003118R0022.pdf

SOLICITATION, OFFER AND AWARD 1. THIS CONTRACT IS A RATED ORDER

UNDER DPAS (15 CFR 7900)

RATING PAGE OF PAGES

2. CONTRACT NUMBER 3. SOLICITATION NUMBER 4. TYPE OF SOLICITATION 5. DATE ISSUED 6. REQUISITION/PURCHASE NUMBER

CODE7. ISSUED BY 8. ADDRESS OFFER TO (If other than item 7)

NOTE: In sealed bid solicitations "offer" and "offeror" mean "bid" and "bidder".

SOLICITATION

9. Sealed offers in original and copies for furnishings the supplies or services in the Schedule will be received at the place specified in item 8, or if hand carried, in the depository located in until local time

CAUTION - LATE Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals: See Section L, Provision No. 52.214-7 or 52.215-1. All offers are subject to all terms and conditions contained in this solicitation.

10. FOR

INFORMATION

CALL:

A. NAME B. TELEPHONE (NO COLLECT CALLS)

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

C. E-MAIL ADDRESS

11. TABLE OF CONTENTS

(X) SEC. DESCRIPTION PAGE(S) (X) SEC. PAGE(S)DESCRIPTION

A B C D E F G H

I

J

K

L

M EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

INSTRS., CONDS., AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER

STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS

PART IV - REPRESENTATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

PART III - LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS AND OTHER ATTACH.

CONTRACT CLAUSESSOLICITATION/CONTRACT FORM

SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS

DESCRIPTION/SPECS./WORK STATEMENT

PACKAGING AND MARKING

INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

NOTE: Item 12 does not apply if the solicitation includes the provisions at 52.214-16, Minimum Bid Acceptance Period.

OFFER (Must be fully completed by offeror)

12. In compliance with the above, the undersigned agrees, if this offer is accepted within calendar days (60 calendar days unless a different period is inserted by the offeror) from the date for receipt of offers specified above, to furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the set opposite each item, delivered at the designated point(s), within the time specified in the schedule.

13. DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

(See Section I, Clause No. 52.232-8)

14. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF AMENDMENTS

(The offeror acknowledges receipt of amendments to the SOLICITATION for offerors and related documents numbered and dated):

10 CALENDAR DAYS (%) 20 CALENDAR DAYS (%) 30 CALENDAR DAYS (%) CALENDAR DAYS(%)

DATEAMENDMENT NO.AMENDMENT NO. DATE

15A. NAME AND

ADDRESS

OF OFFER-

OR

CODE FACILITY 16. NAME AND THE TITLE OF PERSON AUTHORIZED TO SIGN OFFER

(Type or print)

15B. TELEPHONE NUMBER

AREA CODE NUMBER EXT.

15C. CHECK IF REMITTANCE ADDRESS IS

DIFFERENT FROM ABOVE - ENTER SUCH

ADDRESS IN SCHEDULE.

17. SIGNATURE 18. OFFER DATE

AWARD (To be completed by Government)

19. ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS 20. AMOUNT 21. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION

22. AUTHORITY FOR USING OTHER THAN FULL OPEN COMPETITION:

10 U.S.C. 2304 (c) 41 U.S.C. 253 (c)

24. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 7)

26. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

IMPORTANT - Award will be made on this Form, or on Standard Form 26, or by other authorized official written notice.

AUTHORIZED FOR LOCAL REPRODUCTION

Previous edition is unusable

23. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN

(4 copies unless otherwise specified)

25. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE BY

27. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

28. AWARD DATE

CODE

ITEM

STANDARD FORM 33 (REV,. 9-97)

Prescribed by GSA - Far (48 CFR) 53.214 (c)

SEALED BID (IFB)

NEGOTIATED (RFP)

(Hour) (Date)

PART I - THE SCHEDULE PART II - CONTRACT CLAUSES

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SECTION B, SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS

See Attachment 13, Pricing Template. This template includes instructions, pricing categories, and an opportunity for offerors to include their volume and pricing assumptions.

SECTION C, DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1 - INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), is embarking on a transformation known as the Next Generation Financial Services Environment (NextGen). Through this initiative, FSA seeks to implement a flexible, world-class financial solution to leverage support for our customers, school partners, and taxpayers. Initially, FSA will modernize its technical and operational architecture, in a manner that provides flexibility to expand and support other financial services. In addition to improving the overall customer experience, the new environment will improve operational flexibility, enhance cost and operational efficiency, and generate better outcomes for customers and taxpayers.

This solicitation is for Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities (a Transitional Digital Engagement Layer, and Transitional Business Process Operations solution), previously referred to as “Component D” in the Phase I Solicitation dated February 20, 2018.

C.1.2 Contract Type

The resulting award will be a firm-fixed priced contract. The Government anticipates a base period of five years, with five one-year option periods.

C.2 – BACKGROUND, GOALS, AND VISION

C.2.1 Background

FSA’s core mission is to ensure that all eligible customers benefit from Federal financial assistance – grants, loans, work-study programs, etc. – for education beyond high school. The programs FSA administers comprise the nation’s largest source of student financial aid. Every year, over 18 million students apply for Federal aid and FSA has over 42 million customers across the student aid lifecycle. FSA’s total lending portfolio is $1.4+ trillion in outstanding loans including $1.1 trillion that is directly serviced. The lending portfolio is growing at 7% per year, driven by nearly $100 billion in annual disbursements across more than 17 million annual loan originations.

In conjunction with institutions of higher learning and third-party vendors, FSA provides student aid information and services across the full Federal student aid lifecycle, including:

■ Application and eligibility determination: Customers learn about their options, then apply for Federal student aid through the FAFSA;

■ Disbursement: For eligible customers, FSA originates most aid through higher educational institutions to FSA customers;

■ Student aid servicing: FSA assigns customer loans, specialty aid programs, specialty claims, and consolidation origination, among other processes, to be serviced by one of nine loan servicers across four loan technology platforms;

■ Recovery: For customers who fail to pay their loans and enter recovery, FSA contracts with a debt management vendor and Private Collection Agencies (PCAs) to engage with those customers.

Within student aid processing and servicing, servicers perform a complete set of Federal student loan servicing activities including: customer service; loan counseling; loan consolidation; billing and payment application and processing; repayment plan adjustments and application of benefits such as deferments, forbearance, or loan forgiveness/discharge; outreach and default aversion; quality control; and financial and other data reporting. Individual customers may have several loans on different repayment plans and may have entered special programs (e.g., Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), Total and Permanent Disability (TPD), or Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH)).

Each of the nine servicers operates its own engagement layer with proprietary branding (e.g., websites, mobile tools, contact centers), utilizes one of four servicing platforms, and maintains certain additional technical systems (e.g., identity and access management solutions). The separate engagement layers, contact centers, and back-end processing operations limit FSA branding opportunities and increases customer confusion and operational complexity. Across service providers, data management and cybersecurity practices are inconsistent, siloed, and are not optimized. Additionally, the four different servicing platforms perform redundant data processing, further increasing operational inefficiency.

The servicing platforms are customized to service Federal student loans, which include over 30 permutations of repayment plans and additional unique rules related to forbearance, deferment, discharge, loan forgiveness, and recovery reporting. A servicer will typically retain a customer account until it is paid in full, the customer defaults, or the customer receives a loan discharge.

Today’s fragmented landscape has created many issues, including:

■ Inconsistent customer experience: FSA customers move through the student aid lifecycle working with multiple vendors and partners, each of which have different interfaces, processes, and standards;

■ Limited branding opportunities for FSA: The lack of consistent branding can leave customers confused and unclear about the role the Federal government, particularly FSA, plays in their student aid journey; and

■ Operational complexity and inefficiency: Each servicer has built redundant technical and operational solutions.

Additional information about FSA can be found in Exhibits 1 and 2, below, in the attachment “01 – As Is Updated” and the 2017 Annual Report located at: https://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/2017report/fsa-report.pdf.

EXHIBIT 1: TODAY’S ENVIRONMENT ACROSS THE STUDENT AID LIFECYCLE

C.2.2 Goals and Vision

FSA holds one of the largest consumer loan portfolios in the world and believes it should deliver an experience for its customers on par with world-class financial services organizations. To do that, FSA has established four goals for the future state environment that apply to the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities, including:

First, FSA intends to provide a world-class customer and partner experience throughout the student financial aid lifecycle to ensure:

https://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/2017report/fsa-report.pdf

■ Easier, more seamless customer interactions with FSA through an enterprise-wide, FSA-branded, omni-channel digital platform, featuring a mobile-first, mobile-complete, and mobile-continuous solution (i.e., allowing FSA to maintain a relationship with its customers throughout the customer lifecycle) to enable customers to receive additional support through the channel most appropriate to their needs;

■ Customers receive an experience informed by a holistic understanding of the financial aid lifecycle and customer needs, refined through ongoing analysis of customer data and feedback and continuously improved through activities like iterative user testing;

■ Customers better understand the financial implications of their student debt and make more informed decisions regarding the various repayment options and protections available to Federal customers; and

■ Customers receive a consistent experience solely under the FSA brand across all vendors.

Second, FSA intends to improve its operational flexibility by creating an environment that can efficiently and effectively integrate new and existing capabilities and features, continuously improve and innovate, and adjust to stay in compliance with changing Federal rules, regulations, and law.

Third, FSA intends to drive greater operational efficiency; reduce complexity; improve the stability, resiliency, enterprise risk management, and cybersecurity of its systems; and ensure effective and efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

Fourth, FSA intends to measure its success in part on how well it improves customer outcomes and facilitates compliance with Federal consumer protection standards and Title IV legal requirements. Examples of improved customer outcomes include:

■ Increased customer satisfaction scores;

■ Better informed borrowing decisions;

■ Decreased percentage of borrowers in delinquency or default;

■ Reduction of borrowers in deferment and forbearance;

■ Increased borrower repayment rate;

■ Increased digital self-service by customers (instead of calls to FSA); and

■ Reduction in mail correspondence and payments (in favor of digital solutions).

FSA intends to accomplish those goals by deploying a new technical and operational architecture that will provide a world-class customer (i.e., student, parent, borrower) and partner (e.g., schools) experience across the entire student aid lifecycle, including both enterprise-wide solutions and solutions specifically for student aid processing and servicing. This architecture will include:

Omni-channel, enterprise-wide customer engagement led by a mobile-first, mobile-complete, and mobile-continuous solution

To enable a world-class customer experience, FSA intends to procure an enterprise-wide, FSA-branded omni-channel digital platform featuring a mobile-first, mobile-complete, and mobile-continuous solution. The digital platform will be FSA’s “digital front door” for all customer journeys to replace FSA’s multiple customer facing websites. To realize this vision, the digital platform will consolidate the functionalities of the multiple websites, mobile applications, and contact centers that currently exist across the full customer lifecycles (from application to school to servicing to default). This will require the digital platform to be closely integrated with the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities, existing FSA systems, including legacy systems and those that serve partners, and be easily able to integrate with future-state solutions. This layer will provide customers with a personalized, self-service experience across multiple channels, robust self-service options, and seamless escalation to additional support when needed.

Common, integrated data management

FSA envisions a solution to ensure customer touchpoints feed into a common integrated data management platform which contains all of a student’s information throughout the lifecycle. This common, integrated data management system will allow FSA to:

■ Generate customer and loan portfolio insights through advanced analytics that improve services and reduce risk;

■ Reduce error rates to lessen customer frustration and processing expense; and

■ Lower operating expenses through efficiency gains; and

■ Consolidate loans that are currently processed on four different systems onto new or enhanced platform(s).

Robust cybersecurity and data protection

State-of-the-art cybersecurity protection shall be integrated into all existing and future-state solutions, and enterprise-wide cybersecurity will be holistically assessed and tested on an ongoing basis to ensure customer and FSA data is consistently protected.

Integration across the enterprise and potential to further scale solutions

Solutions will need to be integrated with existing and new solutions and vendors from across the student aid lifecycle.

Accordingly, all solutions will be implemented with both integration and future scalability in mind, ensuring third-parties can “plug in” to use common tools and feed into common interfaces.

Implementation approach that minimizes risk and disruption for customers while deploying world-class solutions

FSA anticipates the near-term need for multiple loan processing solutions while moving towards the future-state of a single platform operating environment, such as the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities. FSA will need to migrate, through conversion, nearly 200 million loan accounts from existing servicers on a rapid schedule that minimizes disruptions for customers while ensuring complete migration.

Given that the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities will service existing customers and legacy products.

FSA anticipates that this solution will be capable of servicing specialty programs (e.g., TPD, TEACH, and PSLF) and specialty claims (e.g., discharge, forgiveness). Solution will need to provide an enhanced environment that supports FSA’s goals and vision more effectively and efficiently than today’s existing environment, and will continue to deploy enhanced features going forward. Solution will need to seamlessly integrate with existing and future solutions provided by FSA or other vendors. Those solutions include NextGen solutions such as the FSA-branded digital platform, contact center technical backbone and support, CRM, business process operations, identity and access management, and analytics platform. Further, the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities will provide some transitional support activities until other NextGen solutions are implemented, namely the digital platform, servicing contact center, and student aid back-office processing. Timing for the phasing out of transitional support activities will be later determined by FSA.

FSA will have dedicated resources to validate vendor accountability by monitoring the operational environment and vendor performance to ensure a higher caliber of service than current state.

C.3 – OBJECTIVES, REQUIREMENTS, AND MILESTONES

C.3.1 Solution Objectives

The Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities will serve as the student aid servicing environment for FSA’s existing customers, with capabilities enhanced beyond those present in today’s loan servicing environment. Solution will rapidly migrate existing loans from current servicers, through loan conversion (maintaining dynamic and complete customer historical data) while minimizing customer disruption, per target milestone #2 and #3 (Section C.3.5). Solution will initially provide the full suite of current capabilities associated with student aid servicing in the FSA environment, including the transitional digital engagement layer, servicing contact center (personnel support and technical backbone), and student aid back-office processing solutions. Solution will later phase out certain customer engagement capabilities as new solutions (e.g., Digital Platform, CRM, and Business Process Operations) are fully implemented, at the discretion of FSA. Solution will also deploy advanced capabilities to provide customers with a world-class experience, improve automation and system flexibility, and reduce operational complexity and inefficiency for FSA.

C.3.2 General Operating Requirements:

The Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities shall satisfy these general requirements across all solutions:

a. Integration: Solution shall include features, at no to minimal additional cost, to allow them to easily integrate with existing FSA or third-party solutions and future state solutions from NextGen or otherwise. Solution shall allow FSA, other government agencies, and other vendors to interface or engage with it as necessary.

b. Adaptability, flexibility, and ongoing innovation: Solution shall efficiently and effectively adapt to changes in the FSA operating environment (including changing Federal rules, regulations, and laws), innovation in commercial financial services, and FSA’s goals. Solution shall easily scale to handle changes in account and transaction volumes and have the flexibility to enable incremental modifications without necessitating full production implementation efforts or additional costs.

c. Customer experience focus: Solution shall prioritize customer and partner needs and preferences to deliver a world-class customer experience throughout the student aid lifecycle. Helpful additional context on the current state can be found in the “05 – Customer Tasks,” “06 – Partner Tasks,” and “07 – Top Customer Pain Points” attachments.

d. Adherence to and monitoring for changes in laws and regulations: Solution shall meet or exceed existing Federal rules, laws, regulations, agency guidelines or court mandates applicable to the FSA operating environment (including all accessibility elements such as 504/508 compliance). Solution shall establish a process for monitoring new or pending changes to applicable laws and regulations, and then proactively partner with FSA to determine the implications to technical design and/or operational procedures.

e. Cybersecurity: Solution shall include and demonstrate robust cybersecurity protections and features to protect customer data. Technical requirements for existing security standards are included in the attached “02 – Security Technical Requirements”.

─ Solution shall be hosted in a secure environment. If any aspect of the proposed solution is hosted in the cloud (e.g. virtual desktops), a list of hosting environments with existing ATOs can be found in attachment “09 – Hosting Environments with Approved Agency ATOs.” Note that this list is provided for informational purposes only; vendors are not required to host in these pre-approved hosting environments. Please note that the FedRAMP-approved cloud shall also require a Department/Agency-level ATO, followed by the FSA-issued ATO for the system. The solution shall require an Authorization to Operate (ATO), which shall be FISMA and/or FedRAMP-approved at either a FIPS-199 High level or Moderate level, depending on the proposed architecture and corresponding FIPS-199 category of the system. FSA’s preference is that the solution be FISMA and/or FedRAMP High. Prior to award, FSA will determine the level of FISMA and/or FedRAMP compliance required.

─ The contractor shall comply with the security requirements that are provided in IRS 1075 Publication:

Publication 1075, Tax Information Security Guidelines for Federal, State and Local Agencies. This impacts the IRS DRT and the 6103 exemption process.

f. Identity and access management: Solution shall eventually implement and use FSA’s chosen identity and access management (IAM) solutions for authorization, authentication, single-sign-on (SSO) via standards-based federation, self-services, and identity management. This will enable FSA to build a future state environment with a consistent and scalable set of security services for provisioning and managing all users. The Transitional Digital Engagement Layer must immediately implement FSA’s IAM solutions for customers. Long-term, it is intended that the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities will also implement FSA’s IAM solutions for its personnel, other vendors or third-parties, and FSA staff – eventual timeline will be determined by FSA. Attachment “10 – FSA Identity & Access Management Solution Overview” provides an overview of FSA’s IAM solutions.

g. Financial accuracy and compliance: Solution shall include and demonstrate robust measures for ensuring the compliance and accuracy of financial transactions and reporting. Technical requirements for existing financial standards are included in the attached “03 - Finance Technical Requirements”.

h. Additional current state technical constraints: In addition to security and financial requirements, vendors also must understand other categories of current state technical constraints as relevant (e.g., processing, websites, and communications).

─ For a broader informational view of FSA’s current servicing environment, vendors are encouraged to review the attached “04 – Additional Current State Technical Constraints,” which provides a representative, though not comprehensive set of technical constraints.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1075.pdf

─ These constraints are derived from existing laws, regulations, agency guidance, and business rules, and will change based on acts of Congress, updates to Federal regulatory and non-regulatory guidance, and FSA goals.

─ Vendors may propose solution-relevant alternative, more efficient, accurate, or customer-centered approaches and processes (vs. those detailed in the current state technical constraints) to accomplish FSA’s outcomes.

─ Student aid lifecycle functions such as application processing (e.g., repayment, consolidation, deferment, forbearance, specialty claims) impact the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities, among other existing and future solutions, and often relate to multiple constraints/requirements.

─ Specialty programs (e.g., Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH), Total and Permanent Disability Discharge (TPD)) and specialty claims (e.g., discharge, forgiveness) require special handling as well as specific and unique processing rules that impact the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities, along with other existing and future solutions, and often relate to multiple constraints/requirements.

i. Trained personnel: Solution shall ensure personnel are trained and aware of pertinent changes in laws, regulations, programs, or FSA’s performance expectations.

j. Performance management: Solution shall have performance management mechanisms that would enable improved and ongoing achievement of metrics to be defined at award. Example metrics may include, but are not limited to processing error rates, conversion error rates, first call resolution, customer satisfaction (compared to a common index), manual processing rates, and speed of complaint resolution.

k. Quality control: Solution shall be supported by documented policies/procedures on the vendor’s quality management system to ensure that best-in-class service can be provided.

l. Software licenses: Commercial software licenses acquired under this contract shall be licensed to the Government.

C.3.3 Operating Elements and Related Requirements:

a. Customer accounts conversion: Solution will convert historical and current customer loan and grant accounts from existing servicers. See the “01 - As is Updated” attachment for further details on loan breakdown across current servicers and across loan types.

─ Solution shall ensure the conversions are completed a schedule, aligned with Milestones 1 and 2 (Section 2.4), that maximizes operational and cost efficiency while minimizing customer disruption.

─ Solution shall ensure that the migration successfully converts and maintains complete and accurate (error free) customer data, including, but not limited to, borrower’s historical record of balances and transactions, loan consolidation origination records, auto-pay preferences, prior loan transfer imaged records, customer service data (e.g., call center audio files or transcripts).

─ Solution shall tag all accounts with a unique FSA account number (FAN) identifier, which will be used to retrieve and share customer/partner data with other solutions enterprise-wide.

─ Solution shall support the development and execution of customer communications about the conversion of their accounts before, during and after the conversion, working effectively with the Customer Outreach and Communications solution.

─ Solution shall also demonstrate the capability to eventually effectively and efficiently migrate customer accounts to the Future State Core Platform solution, if FSA so determines.

b. Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities/ student aid servicing: Solution will execute consolidation origination, and servicing functions, including for specialty programs (e.g., PSLF, TPD, TEACH grants), and specialty claims (e.g., discharge, forgiveness), in addition to relevant reconciliation, reporting, and audit support functions for all of FSA’s current portfolio, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness.

─ Solution shall relevant functions across the full FSA student aid portfolio which includes, but is not limited to varying:

□ Loan statuses (e.g., In school, In grace, In delinquency, In default, In forbearance, In deferment);

□ Customer segments (e.g., military customers);

□ Traditional repayment plans (e.g., Standard, Graduated, and Extended);

□ Income-driven repayment plans (e.g., Income-Contingent, Income-Based, Pay-As-You-Earn, and Revised-Pay-As-You-Earn);

□ Grant programs (e.g., TEACH); and

□ Loan forgiveness and discharge programs (e.g., PSLF, TPD).

─ Solution shall execute student aid servicing functions, including, but not limited to:

□ Payment processing and applications to accounts;

□ Loan status tracking;

□ Eligibility requirement assessment and annual recertification, and payment recalculation for income-driven plans tied to a customer’s income, family situation, and other characteristics that may fluctuate;

□ Loan consolidation origination, including application, pay off, booking new loans, maintaining account histories, performing all reconciliation and financial reporting, among other activities;

□ Switching between repayment plans; and

□ Retroactive processing, (e.g., retroactive application of deferments, forbearances, payments).

─ Solution shall perform financial-related functions, including, but not limited to:

□ Financial reconciliation and variance research;

□ As needed support of audits (e.g., annual audit reports such as the Service Organization Controls Type II Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE18));

□ Research and resolution of treasury issues;

□ Comprehensive cash management;

□ Dynamic loan portfolio management; and

□ Effective internal financial controls.

─ Solution shall automate all possible servicing and other functions to minimize manual processing. Solution may only rely on streamlined manual processing by Business Process Operations in the cases where automation is not feasible.

─ Solution shall maintain a robust data history, including retroactive processing (e.g., “as-was” vs “as-is”), and tracing loans through consolidation transactions. This data shall be available and shared with other components and systems as directed by FSA.

─ Solution shall work with the Command Center on common knowledge resources, contact scripts, agent desktop guides, and other training materials. The Command Center is responsible for coordinating the development, improvement, maintenance, and distribution of knowledge and training for Business Process Operations personnel. The Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities must support this to ensure customer-facing instructions and resolution steps as well as back-office processing procedures are accurate in relation to student aid servicing functions.

c. Imaging, printing, and mailing: Solution will receive, image, and route servicing-related physical mail to the appropriate destination and will also be responsible for all printing and outbound mail needs. Solution will also provide tracking of and reporting on outbound mail items. Solution will identify cost efficiency opportunities and work with FSA to implement changes to processes and practices (e.g., statement or envelope design).

─ Solution shall enable the Customer Communications and Outreach and Contact Center Support solutions to submit and track outbound print and mail requests.

─ Solution shall image and index inbound mail, including physical checks, and provide access or visibility to the images and metadata to other components.

d. Transitional digital engagement layer: Solution will provide the temporary (transitional) digital engagement solution for customers to be able to interact with FSA and complete tasks currently provided by existing servicers (e.g., view statements, make payments). Solution will remain in place until the future state digital platform solution is fully implemented or as otherwise determined by FSA. In proposing enhancements, solution must take into consideration customer pain points (see “07 – Top Customer Pain Points” attachment), customer and partner tasks (see “05 – Customer Tasks,” “06 – Partner Tasks” attachments).

─ Solution shall ensure a seamless transition of customers to transitional digital engagement layer (e.g., customer payment and communication channel preferences).

─ Solution shall present to customers solely under the FSA brand, adhering to FSA’s brand guidelines. Current brand guidelines are detailed in attachment “08 - FSA Brand Guidelines” – these may change over time at FSA’s discretion, requiring updates to be made to the Transitional Digital Engagement Layer.

─ Solution shall implement and use FSA’s chosen identity and access management (IAM) solutions for authorization, authentication, single-sign-on (SSO) via standards-based federation, self-services, and identity management of customer online profiles.

□ Vendor shall not utilize FSA’s IAM solutions for non-FSA approved purposes (e.g., authentication for private/commercial products).

□ Further details are included in the “10 – FSA Identity & Access Management Solution Overview” attachment. FSA’s IAM solutions include:

‒ FSA ID/Person Authentication Service (PAS);

‒ Access and Identity Management System (AIMS);

‒ Two-Factor Authentication (TFA); and ‒ Privileged Access Management (PAM/CyberArk/ezPIV).

e. Transitional business process operations: Solution will provide transitional business process solutions until the future state business process operations (responsible for contact center support, student aid back-office processing) are fully implemented or as otherwise determined by FSA.

─ Solution shall provide transitional contact center support to respond and resolve inbound servicing customer inquiries across multiple channels.

o Solution shall continue using its own technical infrastructure to enable the contact center, including the contact center technical backbone, CRM, agency desktop solution, etc.

─ Solution shall care for outbound communications currently handled by existing servicers or as determined by FSA.

─ Solution shall efficiently execute transitional student aid back-office processing activities that cannot be automated. These tasks will include, but are not limited to, the review, validation, and processing associated with enrollment, applications, and requests for various borrower programs and loan status adjustments.

─ Solution shall assist with financial reporting, reconciliation, and audit functions.

─ Solution shall conduct error and dispute resolution investigation and processing.

C.3.4 Deliverables

C.3.4.1

Deliverables shall be provided electronically whenever possible. Electronic delivery via e-mail shall be acceptable, with the deliverable files in both Acrobat.pdf and a current Microsoft Office format suitable for the report (Word or Excel) unless FSA requests a different format.

Deliverables shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer and the COR.

C.3.4.2 The Contractor shall furnish deliverables specified herein in accordance with the delivery schedule and requirements, to the delivery point(s) specified in the table below:

FSA Deliverable Table Deliverable Description Due Date and

Frequency Acceptance Criteria

Project Kick-Off Meeting Kick-off meeting to begin discussions on detailed requirements and the project schedule.

• Presentation

• Meeting Minutes

Within five business days of award

Project Management Plan

Detailed project management plan and project schedule for the complete contract scope. Includes Scope Management Plan, Cost Management Plan, Risk Management Plan, Quality Management Plan, Resource Management Plan, Schedule

Three weeks after award

FSA Deliverable Table Deliverable Description Due Date and

Frequency Acceptance Criteria

Management Plan, Communication Management Plan, Performance Management Plan, and Performance Monitoring Plan.

Status Meetings and Status Reports

Status report on progress, performance metrics, schedule, incidents, action and issue log, and risk log/risk register.

Weekly

Integrated Master Project Schedule

Planned dates to start and complete tasks and milestones, including work to be done by FSA as well as any vendors participating in the project.

Updated weekly

Requirements Management Plan

Defines how requirements will be elicited, structured, and prioritized;

how requirements will be recorded;

how requirements will be modified;

and how requirements will be traced and reconciled.

• Initial plan to cover all system functionality at least five days prior to Requirements Stage gate and annually thereafter

• Updated for each release; Final version for each release delivered prior to Requirements Stage Gate

Requirements Documents

• High Level Requirements

• Product backlog

• Requirements Traceability Matrix

(RTM) – requirements mapped to test cases

• Initial documents to cover full system functionality at least five days prior to Requirements Stage gate and annually thereafter Final version for each release delivered prior to Requirements Stage Gate

Data Migration Plan (Does not apply to Initial Conversion)

Defines processes associated with completion of data migration effort, including conversion strategies, data mapping requirements, data clean up, and testing.

Updated for each release; Final version for each release delivered prior to Requirements Stage Gate

Conversion Plan Defines processes associated with completion of data migration efforts, including conversion strategies, data mapping requirements, data clean-up, and testing.

Within thirty days of award

Solution Architecture and Detailed Design Document

Combines both a high-level and detailed view of the solution architecture

• Includes description and diagrams of infrastructure, network, security, data, and application architectures

• Addresses all Technical Quality Control (TQC) factors and sub-factors identified as applicable and in scope

• Includes mitigation strategies for all risks identified in the Technical Quality Control reviews

• Includes Interface Control Documents (ICDs) to document all interfaces between systems and

• Initial documents to cover full system functionality at least five days prior to Design Stage gate and annually thereafter

• Final version for each release delivered at least five days prior to Design Stage Gate

Frequency Acceptance Criteria subsystems, including APIs, data required, data returned, error handling, and communications, etc.

• Conveys detail necessary to allow coders to develop the system, and to support critical design reviews before beginning development

Developers’ Integration Guide

Documents how internal and external parties will integrate with and consume the APIs/services that are exposed.

• Initial document to cover full integrations at least five days prior to Design Stage Gate and annually thereafter

• Final version for each release delivered at least five days prior to Design Stage Gate

Configuration Management Plan

An overview of the organization, activities, overall tasks, and objectives of configuration management;

addresses: baseline work products, describes the mechanism to track and control changes/change requests, and the mechanism to establish and maintain baseline integrity

• Initial plan to cover full system functionality at least five days prior to Test Readiness Review and annually thereafter.

• Final version for each release delivered prior to Test Readiness Review

Master Test Plan Details high level and overall test planning and test management

• Includes System, User

Acceptance, Performance, Inter-system, etc. Test Plans

• Master Test Plan includes objectives for the security control assessment and procedures for testing each security control

• Initial test plan to cover full days prior to Test Readiness Review

• Final version for each release

Testing Documentation • Test Suites - test scenarios, test cases and test scripts for a component or system under test

• User Acceptance Test Summary Report

• System Test Summary Report

• Defect Management Report

• QA and QC records

• Initial testing documentation to cover full system functionality at least five days prior to Test Readiness Review

• Final version for each release

Solution Source Code

• Provided in a usable/human readable format as approved/agreed to by FSA

• Initial Source code to cover full days prior to Test Readiness Review

• Prior to each release and available upon request

Database detail • Data Dictionary: Field name, field definition (in simple to understand terms), valid values for the content, field

• Data Dictionary/documentation thirty days after award and yearly thereafter to include volume of data or Upon Request

Frequency Acceptance Criteria format/length for data stored in the servicing system (i.e.

databases, access databases, tables, and spreadsheets).

• Dictionary includes: Historical transactional data for all actions(financial and non-financial) taken on an account including but not limited to payments, refunds, schedule histories, credit reporting, and communication (Paper, email, fax, etc.) data

• Volume of Data

• Procedures and Training

Materials (Catalog and actual documents.

• Procedures and training materials prior to o Initial Test Readiness Review, prior to each o release Test readiness review, o annually thereafter

Implementation Documentation

• Release Version Description Document

• Solution User Manual

• Implementation Plan

• Transition Management Plan

• Training Plan

• Operations and Maintenance Plan

• Standard Operating Procedures

• Production Readiness Review

(PRR)

• Implementation Plan (Hour x

Hour)

Prior to receiving Authorization to Operate

Lessons Learned Reports All aspects of the project or project stage are analyzed, and results and opportunities for improvement are documented

Within two weeks after each release

System Security and Privacy Documentation

Privacy Artifacts:

• Privacy Threshold Analysis (PTA)

• Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)

• System of Records Notice (SORN)

External Data Exchange Artifacts:

• Memorandum(s) of

Understanding (MOUs)

• Computer Matching

Agreement(s)

• Interconnection Security

Agreement(s) (ISA)

Continuity of Services Artifacts:

• Business Impact Assessment (BIA)

• IT Contingency Plan (Includes Test

Plan)

• Disaster Recovery Plan

Prior to receiving Authority to Operate

Frequency Acceptance Criteria

System Security Documentation Artifacts:

• Data Sensitivity Worksheet

• System Authorization Boundary

• System Security Plan (SSP)

• Incident Response Plan (IRP)

• Breach Notification Policy and

Response Plan

Security Risk Assessment Artifacts:

• Security Assessment Plan

• System Security Documentation

Checklists

• Security Assessment Report

• Plans of Actions and Milestones

(POAMs)

• Data Retention Schedule

Security Documentation Post-ATO

Property Management Plan

• FISMA Metrics Report

• Annual Self-Assessment (if not in

OSA program)

• Incident Response Test Plan and

Test Report

• Contingency Test Plan and Test

Report

• Standard Operation Procedures

• System Retirement Plan

• System Disposal Plan

Updated as changes occur or directed by FSA

Transition Support (Phase-Out)

Phase-Out Plan Sixty calendar days prior to the completion of this contract (to include option periods)

Database Actual system databases for all functionality, including all historical data and transactions

Sixty calendar days prior to the completion of this contract (to include option periods)

Security Reports CyberScope Report Clearance and Suitability Report Application Access Report Staffing Change Report Recertification of User Access and Authenticator Activation

Monthly

Contractor PIV and PIV-I Card Deliverable

Monthly Vendor Employee Report (FAR 35-9 deliverable)

First business day after the close of each month

Contractor Solution Development Processes

Contractor’s System Development Lifecycle Contractor’s Software Development Lifecycle Contractor’s Software Engineering Handbook

Upon request

C.3.5 Target Milestones

FSA has identified important target milestones for the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities solution based on broader NextGen goals and needed integration across new solutions and existing solutions. It is critical that solutions are designed and implemented against the following milestones to ensure FSA can achieve its goals. Solutions shall consider three specific dependencies: large scale, complexity, and an aggressive timeline.

C.3.5.1 Milestone 1 – Establish a transitional digital engagement layer and transitional business process operations within six

(6) months of award

Solution shall establish and be able to start operating a transitional digital engagement layer and transitional business process operations within six months of award.

C.3.5.2 Milestone 2 – Begin migrating existing customer accounts to an enhanced environment: upon completion of Milestone 1 (no later than six months after award)

Solution shall begin migrating existing customer accounts to the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities upon completion of Milestone 1 (no later than six months after award). FSA expects customer accounts to be converted as the migration approach.

C.3.5.3 Milestone 3 – Complete conversion of existing customer accounts to an enhanced environment: ten (10) months after migration start

Solution shall complete conversion of all existing customer accounts by no later than ten months after the start of the migration. Customer accounts are expected to be converted so that their full data set is migrated and available for use in managing accounts and supporting historical analytics. Enhancements to the Transitional Core Processing and Related Support Activities can also be ongoing during customer migration.

C.4 EXPECTED VOLUMES (For Informational Purposes)

FSA expects that many of the customer and partner engagement figures will significantly change in the future as new solutions are implemented (e.g., a digital platform with greater self-service functionality will create less need for inbound calls and outbound postal mailings). These are NOT guarantees of work or volume in the future.

Illustrative, but not comprehensive volumes relevant to today’s loan servicing environment include the following:

■ Size of business ─ >37 million customers being serviced in the FSA environment (with an additional 5 million serviced through the FFEL program outside of the FSA environment) ─ Lending portfolio that exceeds $1 trillion in outstanding principal ─ Over 18 million loans assigned to servicers last year with a significant portion (58%) assigned between

August and October ─ Customer base projected to grow over 40% between 2017-26 ─ ~6,000 Partners plus state agencies, accreditors, States Attorneys General and other relevant entities that support Title IV disbursement, administration, and compliance/enforcement

■ Servicing customer engagement: the current servicing environment supports a high volume of inbound and outbound customer engagement.

─ Inbound communications

□ ~43 million online accounts accessed each month, of which 30 million access via desktop and 12 million via mobile or tablet

□ ~3 million inbound calls per month with an average handle time of ~7 minutes

□ ~400,000 incoming physical mail items per month

□ ~125,000 incoming emails per month

□ ~40,000 customer complaints per month ─ Outbound communications

□ ~45 million outbound emails per month, 30 million of which are non-collections related and 15 million are collections

□ ~25 million outbound calls initiated per month, 2 million of which are non-collections related and 23 million are collections

□ ~18 million pieces of outbound mail per month, 13 million of which are non-collections related and 5 million are collections

■ Loan payments processed ─ Over 200 million payment transactions are processed per year

■ Student aid processing ─ Over 450,000 customers submit annual re-certifications for an income-driven repayment plan each month ─ Over 300,000 loans are closed or discharged each month due to death, disability, payment in full, or other reasons (not including consolidation) ─ Over 250,000 customers change their repayment plan each month, impacting the status of ~1.3 million loans ─ On average, over 350,000 loans are transferred from servicing to FSA’s Debt Management and Collection

System (DMCS) each month ─ ~75,000 customers submit certification for TEACH grants each month ─ ~70,000 customers consolidate their loans each month impacting an average of five loans per borrower ─ ~35,000 customers submit certification for PSLF each month ─ Over 10,000 customers submit certifications for TPD each month

■ School partner participation oversight ─ ~500 program reviews in process at any given time ─ ~5,500 eligibility applications processed annually

□ 1,200 re-certifications

□ 2,100 acknowledgments

□ 2,200 other ─ ~4,000 compliance audits processed annually

□ ~1,600 deficient audits ─ ~3,000 financial statements processed annually

□ ~950 flagged financial statements ─ ~1,200 method of payment packages processed annually

□ ~650 schools on HCM1

□ ~135 schools on HCM2 ─ ~7,000 student/school complaints processed annually ─ 60 adverse actions initiated annually ─ 60 FAD or FPRD appeals processed annually ─ 10 debarment/suspension actions initiated annually ─ 350 administrative action referrals, concurrences, preliminary evaluations, or extensive research completed annually

SECTION D, PACKAGING AND MARKING

FSA 27-1 Labeling of Documents (JUN 2007)

The Contractor shall not label any data produced in performance of this contract in a way that would restrict the Government's right to use or release the information. If applicable, the Contractor shall include a legend that identifies sensitive data that should not be released for security reasons. Under FAR clause 52.227-14, Rights in Data-General (or 52.227-15, -16, -17) clause, this data may be used for any purpose the Government deems appropriate. Deliverables shall not contain vendor-specific logos, mottos, watermarks, or holograms.

The Contractor shall not use, particularly for proposals, U.S. Government logos, such as the U.S. Department of Education or Federal Student Aid.

(End of Clause)

SECTION E, INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

52.246-4 Inspection of Services – Fixed Price (AUG 1996)

SECTION F, DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

52.242-15 Stop Work Order (AUG 1989) 52.242-17 Government Delay of Work (APR 1984) 52.247-55 F.O.B. Point for Delivery of Government-Furnished Property (JUNE 2003)

FSA 37-2 CONTINUATION OF MISSION CRITICAL CONTRACTOR SERVICES (OCT 2012)

(a) Definition. As used in this clause—

(1) Mission Critical Contractor System or Other Services are defined as a system or other services that have a material impact on the accomplishment of the Federal Student Aid mission.

(b) The services under this contract are vital to the mission of the Department of Education (ED). The Contractor shall be responsible for the availability of all systems operated, or other services performed by the Contractor for ED, regardless of location.