RFP_ED-FSA-13-R-00017_Task_Order_One_PWS.pdf

RFP #ED-FSA-13-R-0017 Page 1 of 5

TASK ORDER ONE

Title IV Additional Servicers

Attestation and Management Support Services Performance Work Statement

1.0 Background

Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the Department, plays a central and essential role in America's postsecondary education community. FSA's core mission is to ensure that all eligible individuals benefit from federal financial assistance—grants, loans and work-study programs—for education beyond high school. FSA administers the programs that comprise the nation's largest source of student aid.

In 2008, Congress enacted the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA), which authorized the Department to purchase or enter into forward commitments to purchase certain Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loans. In June 2009, FSA awarded four (4) contracts, known as the Title IV Additional Servicers (TIVAS) contracts to service and manage all Title IV aid starting September 2009. In March 2010, Congress enacted the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA). This legislation eliminated the authorization to originate FFEL loans. Beginning July 1, 2010, all federal student loans are originated through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (DL) program. As a result, the vast majority of schools participating in the FFEL program transitioned to the DL program.

The four (4) TIVAS are as follows:

Sallie Mae (SLM) located at 12061 Bluemont Way Reston, VA 20190 Nelnet (NN) Servicing, LLC located at 121 South 13th Street, Ste.201, Lincoln, NE 68508-1904, Great Lakes (GL) Educational Loan Services located at 2401 International Lane., Madison, WI

53704-3121 Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance (PHEAA) located at 1200 North 7th St., Harrisburg.

PA 17102-1444

2.0 Objective

The goal of this effort is to obtain objective review of each TIVAS’ invoicing and pricing practices so that FSA Contracting Officer (CO) can certify them as accurate. That is, the contractor shall ensure that their methods/practices used are accurate, complete, and within proper internal controls as to protect the taxpayer from fraud and waste.

3.0 Scope

FSA requires attestation and management services to support FSA in determining the:

1) Adequacy of cost or pricing data in the contractor’s proposals against actual expenditures. That is, the contractor will review and evaluate the servicers’ change request (CR) proposal pricing represent appropriate compensation for the actual work performed in order to assist the government in estimating level of effort for future CR requirements.

2) Compliance with contractual invoicing/billing terms to ensure proper payments is being made to the TIVAS. That is, the contractor will ensure that the servicers’ invoices accurately reflect the number of borrowers to be billed and under what the status.

From January 1, 2009, through September 30, 2011, FSA processed 112 invoices totaling $337,363,472 and accepted 993 contract deliverables due to modification changes.

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Place and Period of Performance

The base period of performance shall commence on the date of award and conclude six (6) months thereafter with two (2) option periods lasting six months each.

Task order term will not exceed 18 months, unless an extension of services is required.

The majority of the work will be performed at the contractor’s facility except for occasional meetings at FSA’s headquarters located at 830 First St., NE, Washington, DC 20202.

However, the contractor may need to travel to the servicers’ facilities. All such costs require documentation support to accompany all invoices in accordance with FSA 31-1 Contractor Travel Expenses (April 2013). Local travel is not subject to reimbursement.

4.0 Contract Type

Work under this Task Order shall be performed on a Time and Material (T&M) basis.

5.0 Deliverable Schedule

Contractor shall produce, maintain, and deliver the following:

Title/Format Brief Description Due Date Updated Master Schedule/ MS Project

Task activities, duration, start/end dates, and assigned resources (by name/labor category) with a work breakdown structure (WBS) at level 3 identifying critical path task and milestones.

Five (5) business days after post-award conference/project kickoff meeting.

Changes shall be incorporated and submitted with the monthly status report unless immediate notification to the government is deemed necessary by the contractor.

Monthly Status Report/ MS Word 2010

Activities completed and planned along with key risks and issues.

Summary of labor cost incurred including non-local travel expenditures as well as invoiced amount and remaining balance of funding.

Third (3rd) Thursday of each month

Preliminary Finding Report/ MS Word 2010 with line numbering

Summary identifying all results/conclusions reached on the subject matter or the assertion being reported on and state the character of the engagement.

Complete and accurate working papers that document all work performed, support conclusions reached and are consistent with American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) standards and in accordance with GAGAS.

TBD

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Title/Format Brief Description Due Date Final Findings Report/ Adobe Acrobat

Incorporation of the government’s comments and proposed recommendation to address all findings.

Five (5) business days after receipt of the government

6.0 Acceptance Criteria

All deliverables shall be delivered electronically to the Contracting Officer and his/her representative and shall adhere to the standards indicated in paragraph 6.0.

The government shall review the deliverable to determine that:

It addresses the government’s requirement as stated in the paragraph 2.0 - Scope;

It is organized appropriately and written clearly;

The information incorporated is accurate, complete, and relevant;

It is formatted in either MS Word or Adobe Acrobat; and It adheres to industry (e.g., AICPA), government (e.g., DCAA), and FSA standards, guidance, and regulations as they related to documentation content, format, quality, and contractual terms.

Note: Non-conforming services/deliverables will be corrected at no additional cost to the government.

7.0 Performance Measures/Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

Desired Outcomes Reports/Plans Work Products/ Assignments Performance Standard The Contractor must submit these reports/plans in accordance with the deliverable schedule and acceptance criteria.

The Contractor must submit these documents or perform these assignments in timely manner as directed in advance by the Contracting Officer and/or COR.

Performance Indicator Quality and Timeliness Quality and Timeliness Place of inspection Destination – FSA headquarters Destination – FSA headquarters Due Date of Deliverable/ Performance of Service

In accordance to the deliverables schedule.

As required by CO or COR throughout the contract period.

Acceptable Quality Level

(AQL)

95% 95%

Monitoring Method Review of the initial or revised report.

Review of documents or observation of performance of the work outlined in the

PWS.

Notification of Conformance

Written/Conditional Acceptance or Rejection with Supporting Rationale.

Written/Conditional Acceptance or Rejection with Supporting Rationale.

No. of Days Provided to Correct Non-conforming Service/Deliverable after Rejection

Five (5) business days (unless an extension is authorized by the CO or COR in writing (including e-mail).

Five (5) business days (unless an extension is authorized by the CO or COR in writing (including e-mail).

Total Number of Corrections Authorized After Rejection

One (1) - unless an exception is authorized by CO in writing.

One (1) - unless an exception is authorized by CO in writing.

RFP #ED-FSA-13-R-0017 Page 4 of 5

Department Directive ACS OM 5_01.pdf

8.0 Constraints

The contractor shall perform services in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies, and guides as outlined in BPA Paragraph E.9: Applicable Laws, Regulations, Policies, and Guides.

For contractor employees and subcontractor employees who will perform under this effort are required to have or obtain Moderate Risk (5C) security clearances in accordance with the Department’s Directive OM 5-101, Contractor Employee Personnel Security Screening (see embedded document below).

Security screening forms and paperwork may be obtained from the COR. These forms must be completed and submitted to the Contracting Officer’s Officer (COR) a minimum of twelve (12) business days prior to the expected employees’ arrival/work start date.

9.0 Staffing and Responsibilities

9.1 Government Staffing and Responsibilities

FSA shall provide a Contracting Officer’s Officer (COR) who will serve as the primary point of contact on technical matter and perform the following activities:

Define, monitor, and assess Contractor activities and deliverables Provide clarification on business requirements and technical design issues Review and approve the Contractor’s project plans and proposed technical solutions Recommend acceptance or rejection of submitted deliverables to the Contracting Officer who is the sole individual responsible for issuing final inspection and acceptance notice to the contractor.

9.2 Contractor Staffing and Responsibilities

Any access to necessary facilities, IT systems, and/or data will be based on the contractor’s personnel ability to obtain the requisite security clearance stated in paragraph 9.

Ownership of information and documents prepared in accordance with this contract shall become and remain property of the Federal Student Aid. It is the contractor’s responsibility to ensure system and data security as well as all individual personal data security.

10.0 Key Personnel Requirement

The Contractor shall provide key personnel who are committed to this project and available as needed.

Key personnel are defined as personnel assigned to the labor categories that the Federal Student Aid has designated as essential to the work to be performed. Federal Student Aid retains the right to review qualifications for all staff assigned or proposed to be assigned to this agreement.

Key personnel identified in the Contractor’s proposal must perform the work defined unless the Contracting Officer has approved any substitutions in writing. Any proposed substitutions shall possess qualifications equal or superior to those of the key person being replaced. Before removing, replacing, or diverting, any of the proposed key personnel, the Contractor shall:

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Notify the Contracting Officer and Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) a minimum of thirty (30) calendar days in advance

Submit justification in sufficient detail to permit evaluation of the impact on this replacement Provide a resume and qualification’s statement for the proposed substitute Ensure that the replacement is fully aware of the status of work in progress and is briefed on key decisions and upcoming deadlines Demonstrate that the replacement has been sufficiently prepared so that work may continue without interruption or delay

10.1 Qualifications by Position Type

a) Audit Manager Minimal qualifications: a bachelor's or graduate degree with at least ten (10) years of auditing experience and is a Certified Public Accountant. Three (3) or more years in managerial positions.

b) Supervising Senior Auditor/ Senior Auditor Minimal qualifications: a bachelor's or graduate degree in area of accounting, finance, or related discipline with at least 5 years of auditing experience. Certified Public Accountant certification is preferable but not required.