The file's text, extracted by GovTribe without its formatting.
Private Counsel Debt Collection
Northern District of Texas
Solicitation DJJB-11-RFP-0705 Amendment 001
1. The following changes are hereby incorporated into subject solicitation:
a. Section L.6 “Preproposal Conference”:
A preproposal conference will be held on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, from 9:00-10:00 a.m. Central Time (10:00-11:00 a.m. Eastern Time), at the following location:
United States Attorneys Office, Northern District of Texas
801 Cherry Street, 17th Floor Fort Worth, TX 76102-6882
Attendance and/or participation at the preproposal conference is voluntary. Send name(s) and firm affiliation to Melissa.J.Kerns@usdoj.gov not later than April 21, 2011 to be placed on the Security Access Roster for that day. All visitors will be required to show a picture identification and walk through a metal detector. For special needs related to this screening procedure (e.g., pacemaker), please let us know in advance via email.
b. Section M.4. Price/Cost Evaluations:
Correction is hereby made to remove “TBD” in the “Estimated Quantity” column and substitute in lieu thereof “$14M”, as shown below:
| CLIN |
| DESCRIPTION |
| FIXED UNIT RATE |
| ESTIMATED QUANTITY* |
| EVALUATED PRICE* |
| 0001 |
| Contingency fee for collecting unsecured debts |
| ___% |
| $ 16M of deferred debt |
| $________ |
2. The following information is provided in response to solicitation questions submitted. The due date and time for proposals remains unchanged by this amendment.
| # |
| RFP Reference |
| Question |
| Answer |
| 1 |
| General |
| What is the annual total of potential placements, both number of accounts and dollars? Alternately total annual potential placement and average balance would be fine. |
| The Department is unable to accurately predict the number, type and value of cases to be referred for collection by other Federal agencies. However, the approximate number and value of cases currently held in this district are as follows: 338 cases with $16M est. value. |
| 2 |
| General |
| What is the percentage of unsecured versus secured? |
| 100 % unsecured. 0% secured. |
| 3 |
| General |
| What is the percentage of commercial versus individual? |
| The Department is unable to provide that percentage as it does not track cases based on debtor type. |
| 4 |
| General |
| As the bid for Northern Texas states that some accounts may have been issued by the Health and Human Services, would any accounts be considered medical debt? |
| The solicitation (or bid as used in the question) makes no mention of Health and Human Services, but no anticipated debts will be considered medical debts. |
| 5 |
| General |
| In previous private counsel debt collection RFP’s, a requirement was included that a majority or large minority of the firm’s debt collection practice be in the district at issue. I did not see that in this solicitation. Is that part of this solicitation? Is that requirement waived in this solicitation in particular or is that going to not be a part of all future solicitations? |
| No, that eligibility requirement is not part of this solicitation. |
| 6 |
| General |
| What is the anticipated number of student loan cases that will be referred to each private counsel retained under the proposed contract for the Northern District of Texas? What is the average amount owed on cases that will be referred to private counsel under the proposed contract for the Northern District of Texas? |
| See answer to question 1. |
| 7 |
| B.3 & J.2 |
| CLIN 0004A – Can any more detail be provided as to expected attorney’s services covered by this paragraph? J.2 primarily relates to foreclosure matters, which are not subject of the Solicitation. |
| Any time authorized for litigating a contested case would be reimbursable under CLIN 0004A. |
| 8 |
| C |
| Are private counsel retained under the proposed contract able to utilize wage withholding under 20 U.S.C. § 1095a as a collection tool with respect to student loan debtors residing in the Northern District of Texas? |
| No. 20 U.S.C. § 1095(a) is an administrative remedy specific to the Department of Education. The applicable enforcement statutes for the debts referred pursuant to this contract are found at 28 U.S.C. 3001, et seq. (The Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act - see C.3. Applicable Statutes, Standards and Rules) |
| C.2 |
| We see that there will not be court costs for suing in US District Court, and how to handle that with debtor. What is not clear is secured debt that would be handled in state or local court. Would we handle the same way as US District Court, or if not, who would pay for the court costs in these cases? |
| No debts will be handled in state or local court. Per Section C.2, “All litigation required to collect unsecured debts must be brought in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.” Court costs are reimbursable under this contract. |
| 10 |
| C.5 |
| Does each computer using the Government’s program need to be a stand alone computer? Are we correct in reading that only WordPerfect may be used to generate documents? What fields are available from the Government’s program to generate WordPerfect documents? |
| No. Section C.5 requires WordPerfect Version 12, full installation and/or Microsoft Office Suite. However, WordPerfect is the “preferred” word processing program for use in this district. Training on the Government’s program will be provided to awardees. |
| 11 |
| C.5.2 |
| Is there a process in place to get initial approval of a large batch of documents to be generated? Does the US Attorney’s Office have standard documents that it will require be utilized? |
| No. Approval is not required to generate batch documents on the Government system. Yes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has standard documents that will be required for use. |
| 12 |
| C.6 |
| What documents are provided with unsecured referrals? Are the documents provided in paper form or in .pdf? If the documents are provided in .pdf, do we have to maintain hard copies of the documents provided? |
| Documentation varies with each referral, and files will be provided in paper form. Maintenance of hardcopy files is required. |
| 13 |
| C.7.1.1 |
| Please explain the computation of contingency fees when there are filing, service and other reimbursable fees. |
Example: Assume debt of $10,000 plus filing fee of $350 and service fee of $60 and the debt is settled for an approved settlement fee of $9,000. On what sum is the contingency fee paid?
As stated in C.7.1.1, all costs are subject to payment of contingency fee except for the $290 Federal filing fee that must be allocated to the special Treasury fund.
| 14 |
| C.9.3 |
| How does this provision related to the payment of debts in 90 days relate to C.9.4 and C.9.4.1? |
| There is no relation between C.9.3 and C.9.4 . C.9.3 refers to compromise or settlement of debts. C.9.4 does not involve a settlement or compromise and speaks to payment of debts by installment. |
| 15 |
| C.10 |
| Can you give an estimate of the work that might fall under this paragraph? How will the volume of work be distributed over time? |
| That information is undeterminable. |
| 16 |
| C.15 |
| Will the current Certificate of Indebtedness used by the Department of Education be changed before work begins on the contract? |
| The Department of Justice cannot speak for matters under the purview of the Department of Education. |
| 17 |
| C.15.1 |
| How does the Department determine the amount of a loss? |
| That amount varies on a case-by-case basis. |
| 18 |
| C.15.2 |
| What is the availability of the U.S. Marshals Service to private counsel? Particularly, what is the availability of the U.S. Marshals Service for post-judgment processes? |
| The U.S. Marshals Service is not generally available pre-judgment. However, upon court order, they can be available for certain post-judgment processes. |
| 19 |
| H.5 |
| How much professional liability insurance is required? |
| That amount is left to the discretion of each counsel/firm. |
| 20 |
| L |
| Our firm utilizes our network of attorneys to complete legal collection and litigation. Will there be an issue with this type of arrangement, as long as all attorney qualifications are met? |
| Sections C.20 and H.4 are relevant to this question. If the networked attorneys are direct hires of the firm, there would be no issue. If they are not, several issues and concerns would arise, making that an unsuitable arrangement for this work. |
| 21 |
| L |
| Must private counsel retained under the proposed contract maintain offices or employees in any or all of the divisions contained within the Northern District of Texas? |
| No. |
| 22 |
| L.4 |
| I had a question on the Past Performance Questionnaire. I don't understand what to put into each section: First, is this a document that I need to fill out or are you sending to our clients for reference check? If so, do I just fill out the first section? |
| See Section L.4.d and instructions on the questionnaire form itself. Offerors are to send a form to each reference cited in the proposal after completing Section 1. References should be instructed to complete Sections 2-4 and send completed forms directly to me via fax or email. |
PAGE
