Q A_FBO_March_31 _2014.pdf

NO. VENDOR QUESTIONS FEDERAL STUDENT AID (FSA) ANSWERS

Would FSA like the evaluation matrices included in the PDF/MS Word submission file or should they be submitted as separate Excel files?

Please reference page 6 - section 4 (under Format Requirements) and page 7 - section 2 (under Submission Instructions) of the solicitation.

In the solicitation, will the information being requested on page 13 - section d (Planning) be counted against the 35 page limit (page 6 - section 3 (under Format Requirements)) ?

Yes, the information provided by the vendor for sections d1, d2, and d3 (under Planning) will be counted against the proposal's 35 page limit.

Will the evaluation matrices and its attachments be counted against the proposal's 35 page limit?

No, please reference page 6 - section 3 (under Format Requirements ) of the solicitation.

Can FSA provide annual origination and disbursement processing volumes over the ten year period of performance of the new contract for cost estimating purposes?

For cost estimating purposes, vendors may utilize the projected volume information on page 4 -section 4 (under Evaluation Factors ) of the solicitation.

5 Does FSA intend for performance testing to be included in the system enhancement process?

If performance testing is required as part of a system change, then it will be included in the system enhancement process. If performance testing is required in order to meet the terms and conditions of the contract, then it will not be part of the system enhancement process.

To clarify the business rules, does FSA intend to provide the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) Technical Reference to potential bidders as part of the solicitation?

Please go to the following website for the COD Technical Reference:

https://www.fsadownload.ed.gov/docsStudentAidGateway.htm

SOLICITATION ED-FSA-14-R-0013 (PHASE ONE)

Q&A

All references to the solicitation in this Q&A spreadsheet are referring to the solicitation in the Revised Solicitation Package, posted on FedBizOpps.

Please clarify customer service hours. Sections 9.2.1 and 10.2.1 (of the Requirements) indicate Mon-Fri, 9:00am – 6:00pm EST, and Appendix D (of the Requirements) indicates Mon-Fri, 8am - 8pm EST.

Customer service hours are to be at least from 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM (ET), Monday through Friday.

Will Origination and Disbursement Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) have edit access to Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailboxes and be expected to restore files to mailboxes upon school request?

No

Will customer service support Income Based Repayment (IBR) / Pay as You Earn (PAYE) / Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) / Loan Consolidation applications?

Yes

Is FSA seeking mobile applications that replicate website functionality or is FSA seeking websites which are suitable for use on mobile devices?

FSA is seeking websites which are suitable for use on mobile devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, iPads, etc.

11 Can FSA provide historical loan and grant origination and disbursement volumes?

Please reference the following website for historical origination and disbursement volumes:

http://studentaid.ed.gov/about/data-center/student/title-iv

This website does not show the origination volume of grants though. Below is the grant origination volume information, by award years.

Award Year 2010: 10M; Award Year 2011: 11.7M; Award Year 2012: 11M; Award Year 2013: 10.5M

12 Can FSA provide historical customer service volume? Please refer to the Customer Service Volume table on page 5.

Does the “base period” for the new provider begin at award, or at some later milestone (e.g., new solution into production at some level)?

Please reference the Statement of Need section, starting from page 2 of the solicitation. The base period will begin at the time the contract is awarded. Also, the transition period (where the COD system and the new Title IV Solution may be operated concurrently) will be counted against the base period.

14 Is this is a single or multiple award procurement? Single award to a single vendor

Related to the statement "The loan distribution function also delivers repayment applications to servicers." on page 3 of the document entitled “OD Reqs - Sec 1 - Introduction”, how is FSA defining “repayment applications?”

Repayment applications would be: The Agreement to Serve, the IDR application, the Loan Consolidation application, etc.

Related SAIG requirements – should all data be retrieved/sent in Common Record format or are there proprietary file layouts that will be received/need to be sent out?

All COD file formats sent via SAIG are FSA established file layouts published in the COD Technical Reference Documentation.

COD Technical Reference:

https://www.fsadownload.ed.gov/docsStudentAidGateway.htm

Is the contractor responsible for the Origination & Disbursement (O&D) website(s) and their corresponding support? Does the scope include the replacement of StudentLoans.gov and Teach-ATS.ed.gov or is the contractor expected to integrate with the existing web sites?

Yes, the vendor is responsible for the Origination & Disbursement websites. StudentLoans.gov and Teach-ATS.ed.gov functionality must be present in the solution.

Appendix F contains a significant list of “recommended enhancements”. Are these “nice-to-haves” or hard requirements?

At this time, FSA would prefer to have as many enhancements as possible. However, these enhancements can be implemented over time.

Would the loans be distributed to the servicers per ad hoc requests from FSA or does logic have to be built into the solution?

Logic would need to be built into the Title IV solution.

Please confirm that the successful vendor would be responsible for hosting the core Originations and Disbursement system (vs. FSA or another vendor).

Yes, the successful vendor would be responsible.

Regarding “eCampus-Based System” – does this already exist? Is this system available to be integrated into the new O&D system?

FSA desires to move the school funding function of eCampus-Based System into the Title IV Solution.

The successful contractor will not be responsible for the processing of campus based student level data. The eCampus-based system creates an initial authorization in the spring for the two Campus Based programs for all +5,000 schools in each program. eCampus-based will continue to generate this funding job. But when the file is generated, eCampus-Based System will hand the file off to the Title IV Solution for processing the school awards into the Title IV Solution and create the file for the interface with FMS/EDCAPS. The Title IV Solution will also process the common output file back from the handoff back from EDCAPS/FMS. This process does not exist now. Also, any subsequent individual school funding adjustments will be made in the Title IV Solution.

Related to monetary transactions, is the O&D solution expected to perform the actual monetary transactions and fund movements?

No

Is the contractor required to use the existing COD document imaging solution or can the contractor implement/interface with a different document imaging solution?

The contractor may implement its own document imaging solution.

24 Does the O&D Operations Portal exist today (Section 5.3 of the Requirements) ? Yes, and the Title IV Solution will need to provide one as well.

25 Does Applicant Web use the Common Record Format (Section 3.4 of the Requirements)? Yes

Will Credit Check services, functionality and / or systems be included as Government Furnished Equipment?

No, this will have to be part of the Title IV Solution.

Will call center Automated Call Distribution (ACD) equipment and software be included as Government Furnished Equipment?

No. However, circuits and lines will be furnished by the Government.

28 Will the O&D Operations Portal be included as Government Furnished Equipment? No, the Title IV Solution will need to provide one.

FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013

October 83,469 46,888 56,971 22,066 28,827 35,488 November 58,915 42,870 31,080 16,479 29,622 24,671 December 44,610 37,694 24,906 15,405 25,969 16,874 January 53,709 53,460 30,056 20,858 41,948 29,167 February 37,318 40,149 22,579 11,539 34,209 19,186 March 38,029 38,299 21,392 13,337 26,818 19,386 April 37,489 46,430 33,984 16,567 32,998 32,912 May 48,527 64,855 49,041 24,401 45,895 41,886 June 60,770 74,692 45,826 30,673 62,279 45,737 July 88,982 114,735 81,748 52,596 79,352 55,209 August 133,130 164,794 104,955 84,885 110,014 69,543 September 74,147 75,679 50,550 37,633 51,090 36,770

TOTALS 759,095 800,545 553,088 346,439 569,021 426,829

Customer Service Calls Emails

CUSTOMER SERVICE VOLUME