DRAFT Open Season PWS 2026.pdf

(1)Performance Work Statement

1. BACKGROUND

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provides Federal employees, retirees, and their families with a benefit program and services that offer choice, value, and quality to help maintain the government’s position as a competitive employer.

The Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) and Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) programs, administered by OPM’s Health Insurance (HI), is the world's largest voluntary employer-sponsored health benefits insurance program and currently covers about 9 million individuals. These include active employees, annuitants, and eligible dependents. HI contracts with health benefits carriers and negotiates rates and benefits with the carriers to provide eligible employees and annuitants with a wide choice of health benefits coverage. HI also administers an annual "Open Season" to give employees and annuitants the opportunity to change their enrollments.

The Federal Employee Health Benefits Act (FEHBA) mandates an annual health benefits Open Season enrollment period. OPM regulation specifies that the Open Season enrollment period must be held from the Monday of the second full workweek in November through the Monday of the second full workweek in December unless the Director of OPM specifies a different date.

The statute also requires OPM to notify all employees and eligible annuitants of the Open Season enrollment period and to provide health plan information to all employees and eligible annuitants so that the selection of a health benefits plan and option can be made with as much information as possible.

Retirement Services (RS) is the Program Management Office that administers the health and life insurance benefits for Federal annuitants/survivors under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement Systems (FERS). RS programs consist of the Retirement Operations DC, which reports directly to the Deputy Associate Director. RS is committed to providing quality service and customer care to the group of PSHB program participants. For annuitants that change enrollment, RS is charged with processing each individual change so that the annuitant’s check will reflect the proper premium deduction each month.

The annual Open Season enrollment period is one of the most critical components of administering the health benefits insurance program for Federal annuitants and their eligible dependents. Most of the annuitant population comprises elderly individuals on fixed incomes, many of whom have severe medical considerations and need their requests processed immediately so that the notification is sent to their new insurance carrier to ensure access to medical benefits services on January 1 of the upcoming year. Using a database of approximately

1.7 million individuals and data on approximately 295 health options and 650,000 PSHB and 32 health options that are primarily state-specific, the contractor must distribute all Open Season materials to annuitants in a timely manner so that each annuitant receives current health plan information specific to the geographical area in which the annuitant resides.

The annuitant population consists of a group of retirement-aged and medically disabled individuals whose usage of their health benefits services is great. This population notably expresses their concerns and confusion when Open Season information they expect to receive is delayed and/or their requests are processed erroneously. The annuitant's concerns and confusion translate into follow-up letters, telephone calls, and/or calls from their representatives, which can include a member of Congress. The Federal Open Season process is under constant Congressional scrutiny and is of considerable interest to the media. Therefore, the distribution of Open Season materials must be accomplished within the specified time frames so that the annuitant's annuity payments will accurately reflect the health benefits change requests in a timely manner (i.e., January 1).

There are four major workload factors:

● Number of annuitants requesting information and changes

● Processing time

● Number of plans

● The amount of variation in rates and benefits from the previous year

2. SCOPE

In support of its mission, RS requires a contractor to provide call center support, distribution, and processing of health benefits enrollments in support of the Health Benefits Open Season and other related retirement notices for Federal annuitants and survivor annuitants and their dependents. These services must be performed in compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148 (the Affordable Care Act or ACA), Federal Employees Health Benefits Act (FEHBA) of 1959 (5U.S.C. 8901), Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA) of 2022 (HR 3076), and the Federal Employee Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) governed by 5 USC 8955 (b) and 8985 (b) and Code of Federal Regulations 5

CFR894.

3. APPLICABLE CONDITIONS

The services are required to ensure OPM’s compliance with the dates set forth in the Federal regulation below:

The Code of Federal Regulations 5 CFR Chapter 1, Part 890, establishes how the PSHB program, within the FEHB Program under 5 U.S.C chapter 890, is to be conducted by OPM. The Open Season is the opportunity for FEHB and PSHB Program participants to change health plans on an annual basis.

Title 5 United States code (5 U.S.C) 8955(b) and 8985(b) and code of Federal Regulations 5 CFR 894 established the FEDVIP, which affords Federal employees and annuitants the opportunity to enroll in dental and vision benefits plans.

4. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED MATERIAL/INFORMATION

The Government shall furnish the following:

● 1 PDF file for Former Spouses (Retirement Information (RI) 70-5) and CSRS and FERS enrollees (RI 70-9)

● Text for messages and notices

● Master File of Plans

● Master File of active Annuitant/Survivor names and addresses

● Master File of active

Annuitant/Survivor Ex- spouses’ names and addresses

● Continuous New Case File

● Electronic file for annuitants who have suspended FEHBP enrollment

● Electronic file for ex-spouse annuitants who have suspended FEHBP enrollment

● Electronic files of elected survivors

5. SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall be fully aware that the basic components of the Open Season process in terms of the number of plans, options, and participants are fluid, and may change within the period of the contract, identify affected individuals, complete special mailings, as well as completing the other tasks specified concurrently within the strict time frames with a high level of accuracy. The contractor shall be required to maintain quality standards; and also adhere to the strict timeframes within this contract.

To ensure the effective and efficient execution of the annual Open Season enrollment period the contractors shall be required, but not be limited to the following:

5.1 Distribution, and Contact Center Services

The contractor shall be required to distribute, and mail Open Season materials within the time frames specified without exceptions to ensure that annuity payments to the individuals will accurately and timely reflect their health benefits change requests. These services shall include the following activities for our annuitants during the Open Season enrollment period, but are not limited the following:

● Print letters, notices and envelopes.

● Use postage for overseas and other mailings.

● Personalize or individualize certain notices.

● Coordinate and conduct large scale mailings.

● Receive mail via a U.S. Post Office Box.

● Process thousands of enrollments and request for information.

● Provide enrollment change information to OPM and to the various health plans including dependent and other insurance information.

● Provide management information system data and reports.

● Perform enrollment within the Postal Service Health Benefits and Federal Employees

Health Benefit systems.

● Provide contact center performance and health benefits enrollments reports.

● Set up a call center to respond to annuitants inquires staffed with an appropriate number of trained Customer Service Specialists; Call Center shall operate during each annual open season period Monday through Friday 8:00am - 8:00pm, EST; additionally, for PSHBP Pre-Open Season, 2 weeks before the beginning of Open Season and Post-Open Season, 16 weeks after the end of Open Season for both PSHBP and FEHB.

● Receive and transmit encrypted data electronically.

● Provide continuous monitoring of data.

● Enter data transmitted for address and enrollment changes within the Postal Service

Health Benefits and Federal Employees Health Benefit systems.

● Store responses within the time frame specified in this contract.

The contractor shall process a variety of requests made by annuitants to include address changes, requests for cancellation of coverage, requests for suspension of coverage, requests for re-enrollment from suspension of coverage, requests for other information related to the PSHB Program, including the plan accreditation or requests to change health benefits enrollment coverage using available health plan options, each containing three to six enrollment category types.

The contractor shall process information and change requests using the World Wide Web with the demonstrated capability of successfully performing the specialized functions and addressing security and privacy issues; and at a minimum a toll-free Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology, Web Chat (including Co-Browsing), mobile application, email, or other advanced technologies.

5.2 Data Collection and Data Reporting

Data Collection: The contractor must closely adhere to the estimated data collection dates below for the processing of the Open Season Enrollment. Subsequent Open Season enrollment periods will be identified in later contract modification. In the event that these dates shall change, OPM will immediately notify the contractor of the change.

Date Description September OPM delivers Annuitant, Spouse

Equity, Suspended, Non-FEHB and Elected Survivor Master File.

October Continued New Cases File sent daily by OPM.

October-December New HB Enrollee file sent daily by OPM

October Initial Mailing of Foreign Annuitant, Spouse

Equity, Suspend, Non-FEHB and Elected Survivor notifications by Contractor.

October Initial mailing of Domestic Annuitant, Spouse Equity, Suspend, Non- FEHB and Elected Survivor notifications by Contractor.

October-December New HB Enrollee file sent daily by

OPM.

November Start PSHBP Pre-Open Season Support November Start of the Open Season period. (Monday of the 2nd full work week in November)

December End of the Open Season period. (Monday of the 2nd full work week in December)

December-March Start PSHBP and FEHB Post-Open Season Support

Data Reporting: The Contractor shall provide data reporting services through the annual Open Season processing period. This data will enable RS to monitor and analyze the quantity and type of processing activity performed. The data collection requirement is of critical importance to the agency's management of future Open Seasons. The hard copy data collection and data reporting required should be submitted in a MS Word, MS Excel or PDF format and is comprised of two types of submittals: 1) ongoing reports, as specified below, during Open Season processing and

2) a final report after Open Season processing is completed.

The Contractor shall submit the following reports during the contract period:

IVR Statistics Report: Daily during the Open Season enrollment period. This report shall include total number of calls, call duration, total number of early hang-ups, total busy time, total call time, total enrollment changes made, and other beneficial statistical information.

Open Season Survey Results: Annually, within 5 days of the completion of Open Season enrollment period. This report shall contain all responses to survey questions relating to customer satisfaction.

Reconciliation Information Report: Upon the completion of each transmission of a file. This report must accompany each transmission to ensure that the number of transactions transmitted by the Contractor and the number of transactions received by OPM are in agreement.

Workload and Processing Reports: Every Monday and/or upon the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) request, this report shall capture all requests received by the contractor during the Open Season enrollment period that is processed and unprocessed. The unprocessed items should estimate the number of pieces of mail on-hand. This estimate should be based on the number of trays of mail or another methodology that has been explained by the Contractor and approved by the COR. The format of this report will be agreed upon after contract award.

Open Season Year End Report: Annually, within 5 days of the completion of the Open Season enrollment period. The report is due for both PSHBS and FEHB. The reports shall contain the following PSHBS/FEHB information, if available:

● Number of annuitants who change address only and through what source.

● Total number of address changes

● Number of annuitants who changed type of enrollment (self only to self plus one or vice versa; self only to self & family or vice versa; self & family to self plus one and vice versa) and through what source.

● Total number of enrollment changes and through what source

● Number of annuitants using the web defined by age (year of birth)

● Number of change requests processed by week (weeks numbered consecutively) and number processed. Changes processed should equal the number reflected on data records sent to OPM.

● Number of new enrollees generated via OPM file.

● Total number of new enrollees generated from all sources.

● Number of requests referred to OPM for denial because of untimely filing.

● Number and nature of complaints about the materials, processing, or any other type of information with the potential of being useful for internal planning purposes.

● Total number of cancellation requests and through what source.

● Total number of direct premium payment requests and through what source

● Total number of satisfaction survey requests and through what source

● Total number of reenrollments

● Number of annuitants who made multiple enrollments change requests in a week and the total number of requests made by each annuitant

5.3 Specific Tasks

The Contractor shall be required to strictly adhere to the Performance Standards and Acceptable Quality Levels for the specific tasks indicated in the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (Table

2) during performance of the contract. These Performance Standards and Acceptable Quality Levels will be closely monitored by the COR.

1. Proofs The Contractor is required to provide proofs to OPM within five workdays, after OPM's approval of the basic design. Proofs shall consist of a composite printing showing registration of the colors, text, and data elements if applicable. More than one proof cycle may be required to develop information/instructions that meet program needs and are consistent with processing specifications. The information/instructions will enable the annuitant to:

1) Make an enrollment status type change (from self only to self & family and vice versa, etc.)

2) Make a coverage change (from one plan or option to another)

3) Make an address change (permanent or alternate address)

4) Request cancellation/suspend information

5) Request information about direct premium payments

6) Request satisfaction survey plan accreditation and customer satisfaction survey information

7) Request re-enrollment from suspend status.

The contractor shall be required to personalize all information/instruction, which incorporates data from the records (names and addresses) to ensure the preprinted information/instructions sent to each annuitant containing that annuitant's information. OPM will provide the Contractor with the specific data of all annuitants, survivor annuitants and former spouses active on the annuity roll. It is critical that the information/instructions to the annuitants is easy to follow and readily understood.

2. Acknowledgment/Confirmation of Processed Enrollment Changes

The Contractor shall provide all annuitants who make an enrollment change, cancel, or suspend the enrollment or reenroll in the FEHB/PSHB programs with a confirmation of the enrollment transaction. This shall include notification to the new health plan as well as the annuitant's former health plan. The Contractor shall mail confirmation notices on a weekly basis capturing enrollment changes processed during the entire week.

However, if an annuitant makes multiple changes during the week, the Contractor will send the annuitant and the affected health plans acknowledgment/confirmation notices of only the last change made during that week. Text shall be provided by OPM.

3.Email Notification

The contractor shall personalize and email approximately 1,000,000 FEHB and 450,000 PSHB notices during the last week of October to all annuitants with valid email addresses. The email notification shall be comprised of the same Open Season enrollment information indicated in the standard Processing Requirements initial mailing. OPM will provide the contractor with the email addresses of record.

5.5 Annuitant Requests

The Contractor shall process Open Season requests from annuitants for address changes, cancellations, re-enrollment from suspension, enrollment changes, and other information related to the Open Season enrollment period within the time frames specified in the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (Table 2).

2. Address Changes The Contractor shall be required to process annuitant's address changes for PSHB/FEHB.

Note: OPM requires address changes to be processed before any other request made by the annuitant is processed.

If an address changes to another state includes a request for an enrollment change to a managed fee-for-service plan the Contractor shall process both requests.

Address changes to another state which include a request for an enrollment change to a Point of Service or Health Maintenance Organization plan (located in the state of the former address) will be handled by processing the address change and informing the individual of the plans available in the new state. If an annuitant selects a plan that is available in his new state, the contractor shall process the enrollment change.

3. Requests for Cancellation/Suspend The Contractor shall be required to process requests for cancellation or suspension of their PHSB/FEHB program coverage. This will require the Contractor to obtain supporting documentation and written confirmation from the annuitant.

Upon confirmation by the annuitant of the PSHB/FEHB program coverage cancellation and receipt of the supporting documentation, the Contractor shall process the request with an effective date of January 1st of the following year and forward the action to OPM within the timeframe specified in the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (Table 2).

4. Requests for Direct Premium Payment The Contractor shall answer calls and route annuitant requests to pay health benefits premiums directly NFC.

5. Enrollment Changes The processing of enrollment changes is fundamental to the entire Open Season. Annuitants may choose from the following three types of health plans: 1) managed fee-for-service type plan that annuitants are eligible to enroll in without regard to the annuitant's geographical location; 2) a Point of Service Product and 3) Health Maintenance Organizations. The Point of Service Product and Health Maintenance Organizations require the annuitant to live within a certain geographical area in order to obtain medical benefits under the plan. Included in available plans options are the High Deductible and Consumer Driven Health Plans.

Within each plan the annuitant can choose either a self only, self plus one or a self and family enrollment and, in some cases, either a high, standard, or basic option of coverage. Please note that while OPM estimates receipt of up to 200,000 enrollment change requests during the year, changes in benefits or premium rates negotiated with the various PSHB/FEHB program plans may result in more or less changes received. All annuitants enrolled in the program are eligible to change their enrollment.

The Contractor must have the capability to process all enrollment change requests received during the contract period within the time frames specified in this contract.

The Contractor must capture and store specific dependent information for the self plus one and self and family enrollments as well as other insurance information within the PSHB/FEHB. They shall also have the capability to make corrections to dependent information without requiring an enrollment change within the PSHB/FEHB.

The Contractor must have the capability to store records associated with processing of changes within the PSHB/FEHB which are acceptable to OPM until the date specified in this contract.

The Contractor shall process enrollment change requests from the annuitant/enrollee or an OPM approved representative only.

For enrollment change requests received after the Open Season period ends;

or after the authorized extension period; or after the cut-off date established by OPM, the Contractor shall indicate the date that the request was received and send to OPM in the next weekly transmittal.

6. Special Handling

Our past experience indicates that during Open Season, annuitants will send to the Contractor other forms, information and miscellaneous items that are not health benefits or Open Season related. In some cases, based upon OPM's instructions, the Contractor shall send a response directly to the annuitant using text provided by OPM and/or transmit these items to OPM. We estimate up to 25,000 FEHB and 39,292 PSHB items must be processed under these special handling procedures. In addition, the contractor may receive correspondence containing Open Season requests from Congressional offices, unions or other organizations which are time sensitive and must be handled in a more controlled and expeditious manner than the normal processing items.

During Open Season, annuitants will send to the Contractor other forms, information and miscellaneous items that are not health benefits or Open Season related. In some cases, annuitants will send Open Season Related forms that based upon OPMs instructions cannot be processed. For both of these cases the contractor shall scan and email the files to OPM with one file sent per email to limit email size or mail them if requested.

5.6 Timeliness Requirements

All references to timeliness or time frames within this contract shall mean workdays.

1. The Contractor shall process requests for enrollment changes only and provide the output to OPM within two days of receipt of the change request (20,000 FEHB and 28,471 PSHB potentially expected).

2. The Contractor shall process requests for address changes only and provide the output to OPM within two days of receipt of the request (10,000 FEHB and 1,000 PSHB potentially expected).

3. The Contractor shall generate personalized information/ instructions with a late authorization message, provided by

OPM.

4. The Contractor shall process a request for an address change and provide the output of the address change within two days of receipt (60,000 expected).

5. The Contractor shall process requests for either an enrollment cancellation or suspension of program coverage only and obtain written confirmation if required, within two days of receipt (29,000 FEHB and 40,000 PSHB potentially expected).

6. The Contractor shall process requests to make direct premium payment only and obtain written confirmation if required within two days of receipt of the request (4,000 expected).

7. The Contractor shall process requests for an address change, cancellation, suspension, and obtain written confirmation if required, within two days of receipt (40,000 expected).

8. The Contractor shall process requests for PSHB information within two days of request (3,000 expected).

5.7Systems Requirements

The Contractor must already be FEDRAMP certified at the time of proposal submission.

All systems and programming undertaken for this contract, whether designed and/or developed by the Contractor, in whole or in part, shall become the property of the Government.

OPM is customer focused and strives towards meeting customer satisfaction through innovative technologies such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology, the World Wide Web, SMS messaging option and Voice to Text capabilities. The chosen technology should have the capability to count IVR calls and IVR numbers in real time.

The Contractor must have these technologies available to annuitants and must conform to OPM's current web requirements and standards.

The Contractor shall be required to provide self-service enrollment transactions options via the web or telephone. The Contractor shall also be required to build and manage a website that interfaces with OPM's website and reflects FISMA compliance and OPM's branding and marketing strategy.

To ensure compliance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) M-06-16 and with the NIST SP800-53 recommended security controls for Federal information systems and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data files containing PII data transmitted to or from OPM must have the data encrypted as well as the connection.

The Contractor will always provide Continuous Monitoring of data (during transmission and at rest).

In late September, OPM will send the Contractor an annuitant master file containing records of all annuitants and survivors who are eligible to participate in the FEHB/PSHB/FEDVIP Open Season. OPM will also send a separate file containing records for those annuitants who previously suspended enrollment but are eligible to reenroll in the program and a separate file for annuitants eligible for the FEDVIP notification. These annuitants will not have access to the Open Season IVR or Web.

The Contractor shall use this file to create a direct access file which will allow random as well as sequential retrieval of the records by either the annuitant's OPM claim number, by their name or their social security number for browsing, editing, updating and additions. This file will then serve as master reference file for the Contractor and will be kept current with data from each request for action received from annuitants and survivors. The Contractor shall update the annuitant master file daily with updates of all new cases processed by OPM since the last update file was received.

Updates shall be sent daily throughout the Open Season Enrollment period through electronic data format.

The Contractor shall produce an electronic data format of captured data from the processed requests (address and enrollment changes), which must be acceptable to OPM. The Contractor shall be responsible for the quality of the formatted data.

1.Processing System The contractor must have backup processing system capability at the primary processing site in the event of a systems failure or work stoppage so that this contract will not be delayed in any way.

2.Data Entry Requirements The Contractor must have data entry/key verification capability for meeting processing quality and timeliness requirements for the requests for enrollment and address changes, health benefits plan brochures, cancellation/suspension letters and direct premium payment elections. The Contractor must provide OPM access to the same data entry system.

3.Electronic Transmissions The Contractor must have the capability to electronically transmit enrollment information to a centralized location for disbursement to the various FEHBP carriers in a format specified by OPM. The electronic enrollment file must follow the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, format 834. The Contractor must transmit the same information to OPM in a format that may be different than that transmitted to the carriers.

4.Data Exchange Specifications OPM's method of exchanging data records currently is through electronic data formats of the type specified below. Only the specification required for this format is shown. However, OPM is open to other formats which are compatible with existing systems, and which meet the timeliness and quality requirements of this contract. Both the Contractor and OPM will use IBM standard EBCDIC data files.

Overview

The Office of Personnel Management uses IBM’s Connect:Direct software to transfer data to and from OPM and its partners. Connect:Direct is a robust secure method for securely transferring data between two systems. Connect:Direct runs on a variety of platforms, including enterprise servers and distributed systems, including Windows, Unix, Linus, etc. In order to do business with OPM, the partner needs to acquire from IBM the Connect:Direct software appropriate to the platform on which it will be installed. The Connect:Direct software is the only approved method of electronically transferring data to and from OPM.

Security and Encryption IBM also bundles with Connect:Direct a security module called Secure+. This provides session- level encryption using x509 PKS SSL/TLS certificates. The level of encryption provided meets the FIPS 140-2 standard. OPM requires that all partners turn-on the Secure+ utility to transfer data to or from OPM.

The Partner must obtain a third-party SSL certificate. Self-signed certificates are not allowed. The partner must provide OPM a copy of the following certificate files:

● CA Signer (Certificate Authority)

● Root certificate

● Any intermediate certificates.

Paperwork requirements The Data Exchange Team (DAEX) requires two to three weeks to set up a connection after receiving the completed and signed Data Exchange Technical Questionnaire (DEQ).

Miscellaneous The partner/vendor is required to have Connect:Direct installed on their machines for both Test and Production environments.

The OPM Business Unit rep will provide separate and unique file names for OPM files and the type of access. Filenames are unique between test and production environments.

The partner will work in with the OPM’s Technical Staff to set up connectivity and validate the data has been successfully transmitted.

5. Data Records

OPM will provide the following six types of data records as part of the initial load files for the Contractor to populate into their database at the start of each Open Season Enrollment period:

1) Master File of Annuitant Name and Address (Attachment 3)

2) Spouse Equity Master File (Attachment 4)

3) Suspended Enrollment Master File (Attachment 5)

4) Spouse Suspended Enrollment Master File (Attachment 6)

5) Elected Survivor File (Attachment 8)

The Contractor shall provide data records to OPM using the formats prescribed in the attachments provided.

OPM will provide the Contractor with the following files daily (combined as a single file), beginning at the start of the Open Season Enrollment Period:

1) HB New Enrollee Record (Attachment 9)

The contractor shall be required to submit a HB Changes file to OPM daily throughout the Open Season Enrollment period using the formats prescribed in attachments:

1) Change of Record Address Format (Attachment 11)

2) Open Season Change Record Format (Attachment 12)

3) Open Season Suspend Record Format (Attachment 13)

4) Open Season Add Record Format (Attachment 14)

5) Open Season Cancellation Record Format (Attachment 15)

The Contractor shall provide data records to OPM using the Header Sequence record (one per file), two Address Change records (where applicable) and the Open Season transaction records.

6.Correction of Errors

Processing Errors

When errors exceed 1% of the processed work within any one area of the key tasks (distribution, printing, or processing) the COR may unilaterally decide to take either one of the two following courses of action to have them corrected:

1) Arrange with the Contractor to reprocess an entire batch or make annuitant corrections within a batch or batches. Contractor agrees to accept work for correction and to make corrections on batches at no charge to the Government. To ensure that errors have been corrected to OPM's satisfaction, a test of the Contractor's system may be required before further processing of work continues. In addition, OPM may require the Contractor to furnish photocopies of source documents as part of this test.

2) Determine that OPM processing schedules will not permit the delay involved in returning work to be corrected by the Contractor. In this case, the COR may unilaterally have the corrections made through a source other than the Contractor.

If the latter alternative is chosen, a deduction will be made from the Contractor's invoice for that work. This deduction will be at the contract rate applicable to that job times the number of record errors in the batch(s) to be corrected. Contractor will be notified, in writing, each time this option is exercised. This notification will include the job name, cost code, batch number, date of delivery, and total number of records.

Missing or Incorrect Cases or Batches

When the COR determines that cases are missing within a batch or batches sent to OPM, a deduction will be made from the Contractor's invoice for that work. This deduction will be based on estimated costs incurred by the organization(s) that do/does the corrective work. The Contractor will be notified in writing each time this option is exercised.

The notification will include the date, cost code, cost of the deduction broken down by its elements, and the number of records recovered.

Contractor Review of Documentation

To personally verify the accuracy of the information provided, the Contractor may visit OPM's Washington Data Center during any regular OPM work hours (8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday), within a 48-hour period after receipt of the notification and review the available documentation. If the Contractor decides to make such a visit, notification must be made to the COR at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled visit.

Additionally, the requirement to correct rejected work will not relieve the Contractor from responsibility to complete all other work according to the terms of the contract. The provisions of this item are in addition to and not in lieu of any remedies available to the Government under the Default Clause referenced elsewhere herein.

5.8 Key Personnel

The Project Manager and Programmer/Computer Analyst have been identified as Key Personnel.

The Project Manager shall be responsible for notifying the COR, on a same day basis, of any difficulties or problems which result in either a processing delay or a re-processing of transaction. The Contractor must also provide a direct telephone contact to the COR and be able to provide case specific status information within 2 hours of receipt of such a request from OPM.

The Programmer/Computer Analyst shall provide on-going support to the Open Season processing. The Programmer/Computer Analyst serves as the contractor's direct point of contact for the OPM designated system analyst and is responsible for overseeing data record transfers, formatting, and encryption; handling program functionality issues, testing initial file loads, analyzing data, and providing feedback on Open Season system processing and data transfer concerns.

5.9 Phase-In/ Phase-Out Transition Continuation of Services

The transition period shall consist of two phases, Phase-ln for service transition between the incoming and outgoing contractors, and Phase-Out for service transition between the outgoing and incoming contractors, as required. The contractor shall prepare a detailed Phase-in/ Phase-out Operations Plan, not to exceed a period of 90 days from contract award, to be submitted with the proposal. The Phase-in/Phase-out Operations plan shall outline the significant transition steps and the associated timeframes for completing both the Phase-in/Phase-out periods to assure seamless, timely, effective, and efficient transition of the required services in the statement of objectives for each period. At the sole option of the Government, the phase-in/phase-out periods may commence either 30 days prior to the expiration or immediately upon termination of the contract term, or any extension thereof.

6. DELIVERABLES

The contractor shall provide all management, supervision, labor, materials, supplies and equipment (except as otherwise specified); and shall plan, schedule, coordinate, and assure the efficient performance of all Postal Health Benefits System, including management and operations described herein at the Performance Work Statement.

These services shall include, but not limited to the following:

o Annual Open Season Communications Services o Annual Open Season Distribution Services o Annual Open Season Health Benefits Processing Services

6.1 Reports

OPM requires that management information system reports (i.e., data collection and data reporting) be provided by the Contractor to monitor and analyze the quantity and type of processing activity performed by the Contractor during the Annuitant Open Season. The data collection requirement is of critical importance to the agency's management of future Open Seasons. The contractor shall submit the reports identified below in both electronic and hard copy format during the contract period as follows:

Daily Reconciliation Information Report Call Center Statistics Report

Weekly Workload and Processing Reports Statistics Report:

Workload and Processing Reports

Annually Open Season Survey Results Open Season Year End Report

Data Files The contractor shall submit the following data files daily:

Change of Record Address Format (Attachment 11) Open Season Change Record Format (Attachment 12) Open Season Suspend Record Format (Attachment 13) Open Season Add Record Format (Attachment 14) Open Season Cancellation Record Format (Attachment 15)

End of Open Season The contractor should provide the following metrics in autogenerated reports:

1. All transactions completed

2. Special Handling

3. Split Transactions

4. Carrier Plan Changes

5. Errors

6. Mailed vs. Emailed Transaction

6.2 Subcontracting/Teaming Agreement Changes

The contractor shall provide letters of commitment with the following information to the Contracting Officer within 15 days prior to the substitution/addition of the proposed change:

1. Signatures of the principles and/or owners of the respective parties; and

2. Statements on the division of tasks, relationships of the parties, and responsibilities of parties.

The Offeror shall request a confirmation receipt, if required, from the Contracting Officer with the submittal of proposed subcontracting and/or teaming agreement change.

6.3 Current Key Personnel Contact Report

In accordance with OPM-Specific Clause 1752.209-71, the Contractor shall provide a listing of Key Personnel, as part of its proposal in response to this solicitation, their contact information within 10 days of contract award, within 15 days of any change in Key Personnel, and annually to coincide with exercise of contract option periods. The Project Manager and Programmer/Computer Analyst have been identified as Key Personnel.

6.4 Contractor Staffing Change Report

In accordance with OPM-Specific Clause 1752.239-72, the Contractor shall provide a Contractor Staffing Change Report (Attachment 2) no later than the fifth day of each month for all contractor staff member who has access to OPM's Information Technology System.

6.5 Signed Nondisclosure Forms

The contractor shall have every contract employee sign a Nondisclosure Form within 15 days from the date of contract award. In the event of a new hire during the contract period, the contractor shall ensure the newly hired employee signs a Nondisclosure Form within 5 days of their employment.

6.6 Deliverables Chart

Pre-Contract Award

Contract Deliverable Description

When Delivery Is Due Performance Work Statement Section/OPM-Specific Clause

Phase-In Transition Continuation of Services Operations Plan

Part of the Technical Proposal Volume in response to the solicitation

5.9

Phase-Out Transition Continuation of Services Operations Plan

Part of the Technical Proposal Volume in response to the solicitation

Key Personnel Part of the Technical Proposal Volume in response to the solicitation

5.8

Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan relative to contract level deliverables

Part of the Technical Proposal Volume in response to the solicitation

VETS-4212 Report Part of the Technical Proposal Volume in response to the solicitation

1752.222-71

Post-Contract Award

Contract Deliverable Description

When Delivery Is Due Performance Work Statement Section/OPM-Specific Clause

Reconciliation Information Report

Upon completion transmission of a file

5.2

IVR Statistics Report: Every Monday during the Open Season Enrollment Period

5.2

Description

When Delivery Is Due Performance Work Statement Section/OPM-Specific Clause

Workload and Processing Reports

Every Monday and/or Upon OPM's request

Open Season Survey Results

Annually, within 5 days upon completion of the Open Season Enrollment Period

Open Season Year End Report Annually, within 5 days upon completion of the Open Season Enrollment Period

Data Files:

1. Change of Record Address

Format

2. Open Season Change

Record Format

3. Open Season Suspend

Record Format

4. Open Season Add Record

Format

5. Open Season Cancellation

Record Format

Daily 5.7

Key Personnel Contact information within 10 days of contract award, within 15 days of any change in Key Personnel, and annually to coincide with exercise of contract option periods

6.3

Contractor Staffing Change Report

By the 5th day of each month throughout the contract period

6.4

Signed Nondisclosure Forms Within 15 days from the date of contract award; or 5 days from the date of employment

6.5

Description

When Delivery Is Due Performance Work Statement Section/OPM-Specific Clause

VETS-4212 Report No later than September 30 of each contract year

1752.222-71

Redacted electronic copy of base contract

No later than five business days after contract award

1752.224-71

Proof of Insurance Coverage Within 10 days from award and 5 working days from the execution of each option period

1752.228-70

Insurance Policy Change or Cancellation Notice

Within 10 days of change or cancellation

1752.228-70

Certificate of Policy or Insurance

Within 10 days of contract award

1752.228-70

Deliverables Associated with The Information Technology Clauses

OPM-

Specific Clause

Clause Title

Deliverable(s) and Due Date(s)

1752.224-77 Information Security Incidents (ISI) (Dec 2015)

The Contractor must report all security incidents to the SMC immediately upon becoming aware of the ISI but no later than thirty (30) minutes after becoming aware of the ISI.

1752.224-78 Information Security Inspections (Dec 2015)

The Contractor must provide a formal response to the OPM Post-Inspection Report within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the report for critical/high risk findings and within thirty (30) days for all other findings.

1752.239-70 Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPV6) Compliance (Dec 2015)

The Contractor must certify that its products have been tested to meet the requirements for both a dual-stack IPV4/IPV6 and IPV6 only environment.

1752.239-73 Section 508 Standards (Dec 2015) The Contractor must document that the deliverable conforms to the Section 508 Standards.

1752.239-77 Federal Reporting Requirements (September 2014)

The Contractor must provide OPM with FISMA and OPM continuous monitoring

Deliverables Associated with The Information Technology Clauses

OPM-

Specific Clause

Clause Title Deliverable(s) and Due Date(s) information.

1752.239-81 Specialized IT Security Awareness Training (Dec 2015)

The Contractor must certify that IT security personnel have completed the requisite training.

The Contractor must provide proof of a CISSP for the ISSO and Information Security Specialists within six (6) months of contract award.

1752.239-82 HSPD-12 Compliance (Dec 2015) All Contractor employees must sign an access agreement.

1752.239-83 Secure Technical Implementation (Dec 2015)

The Contractor must certify applications are fully functional and operate as intended on systems using the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) / US Government Configuration Baseline (USGCB).

1752.239-84 Data Protection Requirements (Dec 2015)

The Contractor must provide the validation certificate number for FIPS 140 as validated by the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP).

1752.239-86 Contractor Information Technology (IT) System Oversight / Compliance (Dec 2015)

All Contractor systems must perform vulnerability scanning as defined by OPM IT Security Policy and provide scanning reports to the OPM CIO (or designate).

All Contractor systems must participate in the implementation of automated security controls testing mechanisms and provide automated test results in Security Compliant Automation Protocol (SCAP) compliant data to the OPM CIO (or designate).

1752.242-71 Return of OPM and OPM-Activity- Related Information (Dec 2015)

Within forty-five (45) days after the end of the contract performance period of after the contract is terminated, the Contractor must provide OPM with an associated Certification of Verified Return of all original (and at least one duplicate copy of those information types specified by OPM)

OPM

and OPM-Activity-Related Information.

7. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The Government anticipates the work will be performed remotely. However, there may be requirements when the contractor is required to be at the OPM Theodore Roosevelt Building for the purpose of meetings. The Government anticipates meetings might occur once a year. The contractor must account for any travel in CLINs 00002. The Government will not travel to the Contractor's facility in the event of a meeting request.

8. QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN

(a) A Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) will be used as OPM's codification of its method of implementing FAR 37.601, which requires that performance-based contracts for services shall include:

(1)A performance work statement (PWS).

(2)Measurable performance standards (i.e., in terms of quality, timeliness, quantity, etc.) and the method of assessing contractor performance against performance standards and (3)Performance incentives where appropriate. When used, the performance incentives shall correspond to the performance standards set forth in the contract.

(b)The QASP will be in the form of a matrix, as shown at the end of this section. Following is a description of the elements contained in the QASP:

(1) Deliverable

The finished product to be delivered by the Contractor.

(2) Performance Standard

Deliverables Associated with The Information Technology Clauses

OPM-

Specific Clause

Clause Title Deliverable(s) and Due Date(s)

1752.242-72 Secure Destruction of All OPM and OPM-Activity-Related Information (Dec 2015)

Within seventy-five (75) days after the end of the contract performance period or after the contract is terminated, the Contractor must provide OPM with Certification of Secure Destruction of all existing active and archived originals and/or copies of all OPM and OPM-activity-related files and information.

1752.242-73 Mandatory Requirement for Contractor Return of all OPM- Owned and Leased Computing and Information Storage Equipment (Dec 2015)

Within seventy-five (75) days after the end of the contract performance period or after the contract is terminated, the Contractor must provide OPM with Certification of Verified Return of all OPM-Owned and Leased Computing and Information Storage Equipment.

The level of performance which the Government considers acceptable.

(3) Acceptable Quality Level (AQL)

The range of deviation which the Government will consider performance to be acceptable.

(4) Monitoring Method

The method OPM will use to determine the extent to which performance has met the standard.

(5) Performance Incentive/Reduction

The reward for performance that exceeds the AQL and the reduction that will take effect for performance that fails to meet the AQL.

CLIN Deliverable Performance Standard

Acceptable Quality Level

(AQL)

Monitoring Method

Performance Incentive/ Reduction

Center Readiness Initial Mailing

Agent Assisted Calls

Statistics Report

Average Speed of Answer

AQL: 90

seconds Target: 45 seconds

Weekly delivery of system generated reports plus final.

Summary

Positive/ Negative Evaluation in CPARS

Agent Assisted Calls

Open Season Survey Results

Percentage of Contact Center Survey Respondents with Overall Experience Rating of "Good"

AQL: 85

percent Target: 90 percent

Weekly delivery of system generated reports plus final.

summary

Positive/ Negative Evaluation in CPARS

Program Management Office (Retirement Services)

Reports:

1. Reconciliatio n on Information

2. Statistics

3. Workload and

Processing

4. Open Season

Survey

5. Open Season

Year End

6. Key Personnel

7. Contractor

Staff Change

Timeliness of Post Contract Reports

AQL: 95

percent Target: 99 percent

Delivery timestamps of reports compared to the deliverable due date table in contract

Positive/ Negative

Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan Execution Responsibilities

The QASP will be supported by an independent Quality Specialist with a reporting structure external to the project. The Quality Specialist will be responsible for developing monitoring procedures consistent with QASP requirements, ongoing assessment of performance, weekly reporting of current and cumulative results, and certification for incentives and reductions. The Project Manager will have responsibility for the results and will have direct access to the Quality Specialist in order to clarify results or to request additional context related to performance.

Inquiry support will be made available throughout the year and not just during the Open Season.

Measuring and Reporting

Assessment of performance will use automated processes whenever possible. The Quality Specialist will maintain specific measurement procedures consistent with the monitoring method in the QASP for all metrics and make them available to OPM upon request.

Performance will be reported within the deliverables mentioned above,…