RFI for IVA.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Department of Homeland Security

Federal Emergency Management Agency Office of Recovery and Response Directorate / Individual Assistance Division

Individual Assistance Individuals and Households Program (IA IHP) Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) Technical Support and Services Contract

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has developed this Request for Information (RFI) to solicit market research information from industry.

FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters. One of FEMA’s responsibilities are to ensure the effectiveness of emergency response personnel in responding to emergencies and disasters.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This notice is not a Request for Proposal, a Request for Quotation, an Invitation for Bids, a Solicitation, or an indication that the Government will contract for the services detailed herein. This RFI is part of government market research efforts to determine the scope of industry capabilities and will be utilized for informational purposes only. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responses to this RFI are strictly voluntary and the Government will not pay respondents for information provided in response to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned and respondents will not be notified of the results of the review. If a Solicitation is issued, the Government does not guarantee that it will be issued to RFI respondents. The Government is also requesting that restrictive or proprietary markings not be used in response to the RFI.

Please note that this RFI does not restrict the Government's acquisition approach on a future Solicitation.

NO PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED OR ACCEPTED AND NO CONTRACT

SHALL BE AWARDED AS A RESULT OF THIS RFI.

No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this RFI or any follow up information requests.

The purpose of this RFI is to receive responses to the list of questions provided by FEMA.

Information regarding this specific requirement is included in this notice for reference.

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS: Respondents shall identify any proprietary information in its response. Information submitted in response to this RFI will be used at the discretion of the Government. Further, the information submitted will remain confidential insofar as permitted by law, including the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts.

FEMA reserves the right to utilize any non-proprietary technical information in the anticipated PWS or solicitation.

Although it is not necessary to address in their response, respondents shall be aware of any potential, actual, or perceived organizational conflicts of interests. Any real or potential conflicts must be sufficiently mitigated prior to a contract award. For further guidance, refer to the FAR Part 9.5.

BACKGROUND

FEMA staff receive phone calls from COVID-19 Funeral Assistance (CFNRL) applicants daily.

It is critical that FEMA can effectively handle and respond to callers in a timely manner. To ensure this is possible, FEMA relies heavily on software to assist with this function. To support this effort the Individual Assistance Individual and Households Program (IA IHP) worked with the incumbent to set up and configure an Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) for the COVID funeral assistance program (CFRNL). The CFRNL IVA system allows FEMA to handle high call volumes, quickly respond to any questions or requests that the caller may have and route the caller to an agent for assistance when appropriate. By utilizing the CFNRL IVA, FEMA can ensure that applicants receive critical assistance quickly and live agents are able to effectively handle and respond to callers in a timely, professional, and efficient manner when required.

PROJECT SCOPE/DELIVERABLES

FEMA requires the Contractor to provide and support software that assists FEMA to respond to inquiries from CFNRL applicants and to duplicated or customize the existing COVID funeral IVA system (CFNRL IVA) to support the continuance of the COVID-19 Funeral Assistance program and other disaster related response in both English and Spanish. The CFNRL IVA system is to operate 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It has the capacity to handle up to 18,000 calls a month and is scalable if needed to handle a surge of calls. Tasks may include systems and application modifications, including:

• Software Programming

• Software Testing

• User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with FEMA staff

• Updating IVA system responses to match new and updated FEMA policy

• Software quality assurance for integration testing

PERIOD OF PERORMANCE

POP: 08/22/2024 to 02/26/2026 (Federal Funding in place now ends 09/30/2025) The NAICS code is 541511and the PCS code is D318 or D321 (Both applicable) – Support – Management. The Small Business Size Standard for this action is TBD.

SUBMISSION OF CAPABILITY PACKAGES INSTRUCTIONS:

Interested contractors shall submit a brief capabilities’ statement package electronically to the Points of Contact listed below. The vendor’s statement of capability shall also include the information listed below:

• Company Name/Division, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number and website

• Single Point of contact name, title, telephone number and email address

• UEI Number, Cage Code, and company structure (Corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc.) Please note that companies must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to receive an award from federal agencies.

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/

• Applicable NAICS codes under which the company customarily does business.

• Company size and socioeconomic status, if qualified as one or more of the following:

o 8(a) firm (must be certified by SBA) o Small Disadvantaged Business (must be certified by SBA) o Women-Owned Small Business o HUB-Zone firm (must be certified by SBA) o Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business.

RFI Response for “(program office and requirement title)” shall be in the subject line of your email.

All responses shall be unclassified, with proprietary information clearly marked. The document format shall be either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. Pages shall be 8.5 by 11 inch and shall use a type of pitch that is no smaller than a standard 11-point font type, except for charts, graphs, or tables, which shall use a pitch not smaller than 10-point font. Responses shall not exceed 5 pages in length including images, displays, charts, graphs, and tables. Page limitation does not include: 1 cover page. Do not include promotional materials.

QUESTIONS FOR INDUSTRY

Interested parties are requested to submit as part of their statement of capability how they are capable of meeting the requirements below and provide recommendations to the Government on alternative solutions.

a. What is your experience with Intelligent Virtual Agent implementation?

b. Has your company ever supported federal and/or state emergency and disaster response / recovery operations?

c. Does your company have the capability to provide the skilled staff required to maintain this program and the ability to add staffing if needed to meet surge requirements?

d. Please describe your ability to implement operations of the IVA in a timely manner including, if necessary, reproducing the 135 topics or FAQs currently addressed in the existing IVA.

DHS/FEMA intends to assess submittals in response to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice;

however, feedback may not be provided back to respondents.

RESPONSE DEADLINE AND POINTS OF CONTACT INFORMATION

FEMA will only consider Capability Statements submitted no later than 5:00PM ET, Friday April 19, 2024. No phone calls will be accepted or returned.

All RFI submissions shall be in PDF format. All RFI submissions shall be sent with the email subject: IVA RFI_Vendor Name.

rwakeman Highlight

Points of Contact:

Ross Wakeman Contracting Officer FEMA Office of the Component Chief Procurement Officer ross.wakeman@fema.dhs.gov

Michelle Hicks Contract Specialist FEMA Office of the Component Chief Procurement Officer michelle.hicks@fema.dhs.gov