AED RFI Final.pdf

Request for Information Award Eligibility Determination (AED)

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS AN RFI ONLY. This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a request for proposal (RFP), or a promise to issue a RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supplier service whatsoever. Further, the Government is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding Government in any way. The Government has not made a commitment to procure any of the RFI requirements discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or authorization to incur costs for which reimbursement would be required or sought. The RFI responders are advised that the Government will not pay for any administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all cost associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested parties expense.

Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released it will be posted on beta.SAM.gov or GSA eBuy. It is the responsibility of the potential offers to monitor these sites for additional information and instructions.

DISCLAIMER: Please identify any proprietary information in your responses. Proprietary information, if any, should be kept to a minimum and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. If the information is not marked as proprietary, FSA may make this information public and shareable. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

DISCLAIMER: This RFI refers to Award Eligibility Determination (AED) only. Common Origination and Disbursement (COD), as well as loan servicing, are NOT included or referenced in this RFI, nor will it be part of a future AED solicitation.

1.0 Description & Purpose

Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the Department of Education (ED), serves over 40 million student customers with a loan portfolio in excess of $1.3 trillion. Each year, FSA processes roughly 50 million student loan disbursements totaling over $125 billion on behalf of students and parents.

FSA continues its Next Generation (Next Gen) FSA initiative. As part of this effort, FSA will modernize its legacy processing systems that will improve operational flexibility; efficiently and effectively integrate new and existing capabilities and features; drive greater operational efficiency, reduce complexity; and improve the stability and cybersecurity of its systems.

The purpose of this RFI is to gain information on current industry capabilities for creating and implementing a system that can support, in totality, the processing of federal student aid applications. FSA plans to modernize its Central Processing System (CPS), which currently receives information from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) and other federal systems to calculate applicants’ Expected Family Contribution (EFC). FSA will modernize CPS under the Award Eligibility Determination (AED) system, the subject of this RFI.

This RFI is kept brief for ease of reading, but vendors may acquire more information via the Student Aid Data Center and FSA’s 2019 Annual Financial Report, linked below:

• https://studentaid.gov/data-center/student

• https://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/2019report/fsa-report.pdf https://studentaid.gov/data-center/student https://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/2019report/fsa-report.pdf

2.0 Background and Key Information

In this section, FSA provides further description of AED to aid vendors in responding to this RFI. Vendors are encouraged to ask additional questions that clarify information needed to confidently calculate expected costs, time, and complexity for this system modernization.

AED will serve as a modernized CPS. In doing so, AED will consolidate the fragmented student aid processing landscape by streamlining redundant technical processes, reducing miscommunication across different vendor systems and providing a consistent customer experience. AED will serve as a nexus that transfers calculated data fields to other FSA systems for machine-learning capable analysis and digital interfaces with FSA partners like Financial Aid Administrators (FAA) Access.

CPS is currently written in Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) and stored on a mainframe. Under AED, FSA would like to re-write all legacy code and migrate the technology off the mainframe in leveraging modern open standards and services-based architecture, and allowing better integration with DCC and other systems in to a Government cloud, to determine eligibility for Title IV funds. .

AED will adopt CPS’s operations and maintenance functions, fully replacing CPS. AED will continue to perform the major processes CPS currently performs. CPS receives FAFSA data from students via FAFSA on the Web, the myStudentAid mobile app, from schools via FAA Access to CPS online and Electronic Data Exchange, and mailed applications, which are scanned, imaged, and converted into data fields. CPS cleanses the data and creates calculated data fields given other system inputs. CPS then sends the data onwards to other FSA systems for further analysis and reporting.

AED will run the operations and maintenance of a separately built Federal Tax Information (FTI) module, whose information will be stored in an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 1075-compliant environment. This FTI module will interface with the rest of AED in order to perform any of the functions that require any of the data received from IRS. In addition, the FTI module also performs functions requiring IRS data for both the Income Driven Repayment (IDR) and Total Permanent Disability Discharge (TPD) systems.

Integration across the enterprise and potential to further scale solutions: Solutions will need to be integrated with existing and future solutions from multiple vendors that enable the lifecycle of FAFSA processing and compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. Accordingly, all solutions should be implemented with both integration and future scalability in mind, ensuring third parties can “plug in” using common industry tools and allow access to data through industry common interface methods, e.g. APIs.

Adherence to FSA Next Gen Target State Architecture: Vendors should expect to follow and adhere to the Next Gen Target Architecture vision using common components and methods for capabilities like single sign-on, cloud platform services, etc. which will be published in the future. The Next Gen Target Architecture adheres to a series of guiding principles, directional goals for the Next Gen platform, which take into account FSA’s organizational values, support for the business mission, and long-term strategy to serve customers and partners.

3.0 Capabilities

Please provide a Capability Statement (not to exceed 5 pages), which demonstrates your organization's ability to meet the Government's requirements identified herein. The Capability Statement shall detail the responder's capabilities to meet the proposed AED requirements, to include:

a. Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, company website, and e-mail of designated point(s) of contact.

b. Relevant and pertinent experience in production of system upgrades consistent with FSA’s business needs:

o Description of similar modernization efforts (scope, size, and complexity) completed within the past five years. What was the development timeframe for that effort?

o Detail the service capabilities that the responder does not possess that are required to meet AED’s requirements. If the responder does not possess a certain required capability, what resources could be leveraged to ensure that required capability is met (ie. teaming arrangement, subcontracting, etc.)?

c. Recommended security infrastructure used to modernize IT systems and facilitate data migration between legacy and new systems. Describe industry standards for security, including experience working with similar projects with federal entities. What practices do respondents employ to protect government information?

d. Notional schedule and type of plan for transition-in and transition-out (based on previous or similar work efforts).

e. Extent to which the responder is aware of any potential Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) issues in accordance with FAR Part 9.5 or any non-mitigable OCI related to current development work at FSA.

f. Extent to which the responder could perform this system modernization.

g. Business size based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541519 - Other Computer Related Services applicable to this acquisition, the responder is to provide answers to the following questions:

h. What NAICS code do you believe represents these requirements, and why?

i. What is your DUNS number?

j. Accounting system, if applicable? Date of last audit? Audit performed by? Determined adequate/inadequate?

k. Purchasing system? Date determined adequate or inadequate?

To be considered for a Small Business set-aside, at least 50 % of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the responder.( FAR 52.219-14, Limitation of Subcontracting (MAR 2020))

RESPONSE

Are you a Small Business? (FAR 19.102), If so, which type: ☐ YES ☐ NO

Small Disadvantaged small business? (FAR 19.304) ☐ YES ☐ NO

Service-Disabled small business? (FAR 19.14) ☐ YES ☐ NO

8(a) Small Disadvantaged small business? (FAR 19.8) ☐ YES ☐ NO

HUBZone small business? (FAR 19.13) ☐ YES ☐ NO

Woman-Owned Small Business? (FAR 19.15) ☐ YES ☐ NO http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/sssd/naics/naicsrch?chart=2012 http://www.naics.com/naicsfiles/Size_Standards_Table2013.pdf http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2019_1.html http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2019_3.html http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2019_14.html#wp1093836 http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2019_8.html#wp1092796 http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2019_13.html#wp1094801 http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2019_15.html#wp1094868

l. Timekeeping system? Date of last audit? Who performed? Determined adequate/inadequate?

m. What GSA schedule contracts do you currently have? Do you hold a GSA Federal Supply Schedule

(FSS) contract applicable to the NAICS code (s) identified above? If yes, provide contract number(s).

n. Are you registered in SAM?

o. Are you interested in: Prime contract? Teaming to include Joint Venture? Subcontractor opportunities?

Include additional details that are not already requested based on the constraints of the information requests.

4.0 Recommendations

Responders are invited to review the following attachments and provide feedback and recommendations for an eventual solicitation:

01 – Award Eligibility Determination Requirements

02 – Pricing Template

03 – Security Technical Requirements

04 – Additional Current State Technical Constraints

05 – Hosting Environments with Approved Agency ATOs

06 – FSA NARA Universal Electronic Records Management Requirements, Version 2

07 – Initial Authorization to Operate Timeline

08 – FSA Identity & Access Management Solution Overview

09 – FSA Current State

10 – AED Draft SLAs

11 – ED CSF Risk Scorecard Overview_July 2020

12 – CPS 101 with FA impacts 09102020

Recommendations shall not exceed 4 pages and may include anticipated contract terms & conditions, incentives, key performance indicators, service level agreements, variations in delivery schedule, price and/or cost proposal support, staffing requirements, data requirements, contract pricing, and any other areas that the responder believes is relevant for the government to achieve its stated objectives for AED.

In addition to these recommendations, the responder may describe what portion of the work could be set-aside for small businesses if all the required work cannot be provided by a small business only. Details to support any recommendations for partial small business set-asides should be included.

5.0 Government’s Questions (No Page Limitation)

Implementation Vision:

a. What new technologies are available to meet the Government’s need? Is there any Commercial Off-the-Shelf technology that would meet the Government’s need?

b. What project management methodology would you employ to approach this system modernization?

c. What are some of the key characteristics of the system you would create and implement to meet

FSA’s high-level requirements, as described in this RFI?

d. Are there any specific sections that should be included in the solicitation pricing template that would be imperative for pricing this type of work?

Communication and Collaboration:

a. How would your team interface with the multitude of FSA stakeholders affected by this system modernization, and what would you ask of them in order to perform this implementation effectively? What can FSA do to ensure coordination among all stakeholders to prevent project delays?

b. What mechanisms and procedures would you put in place to ensure working transparency, so that FSA can easily monitor vendor activity specifically with regards to areas such as risk, issues, and improvements? FSA is looking for analytical explanations of work performed, not simply raw data reporting.

c. What is your suggested process for gathering and housing requirements, design and project information? Would this process be easy for FSA to access, understand and use for validation of the system? How would you ensure that FSA’s needs and preferences are prioritized throughout this process?

d. How would you ensure that critical project activities are effectively documented and easy to audit?

e. FSA believes it is important to promote the agency’s technical/software independence and its own knowledge management. How would you ensure proper instruction and knowledge transfer between vendor SMEs and FSA staff?

Process Improvement

a. How would you manage large data sets and utilize to inform decision making and to identify areas for process and productivity improvements?

b. What recommendations do you have on how to deal with the time constraints caused by the FAFSA 2023-2024 cycle October 1, 2022 release cycle deadline?

c. Describe any industry best practices and lessons learned you would provide regarding large scale IT system modernizations in the public and private sectors. Please provide specific examples.

d. Do you see any potential complications or risks in the development and implementation of AED? What can the government do to mitigate these challenges?

Do you have any further recommendations concerning successful strategies for implementing this processing system? Provide examples that show your ability to communicate and adapt to uncertain structural conditions with FSA and other vendors.

What other questions do you believe are critical for properly planning and executing this system modernization that have not yet been asked?

6.0 Responses

All responses shall include a Capability Statement (in accordance with Section 3.0), Recommendations (in accordance with Section 4.0), and responses to the Government’s questions (in accordance with Section 5.0).

All responses must be received no later than 12:00pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Monday, September 28, 2020. Responses shall be submitted electronically and the email subject line should be titled: Request for Information - FSA Next Gen AED. All electronic responses to this RFI shall be submitted to the following point of contacts (POC):

Carolyn Dickens Executive Business Advisor/Contracting Officer Email: carolyn.dickens@ed.gov Phone: 202-377-3607

Zakia Hannie Contract Specialist Email: zakia.hannie@ed.gov Phone: 202-377-4169

Federal Student Aid Headquarters Address:

Federal Student Aid Union Plaza 830 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20202

All questions concerning this initiative should be directed to Carolyn Dickens and Zakia Hannie. The best way to communicate with Ms. Dickens and Mrs. Hannie is via email at the above addresses.