Sources_Sought_-_NFIP_Rating_and_Policy_Forms_-_HSFE60-17-I-0005.pdf

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Solicitation Number:

HSFE60-17-I-0005

Notice Type:

Sources Sought

Synopsis:

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

FIMA – NFIP Rating and Policy Forms

Sources Sought Notice: The purpose of this sources sought notice is for market research purposes only for Rating and

Policy Forms services in the field of flood insurance for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) within the Federal

Insurance & Mitigation Administration (FIMA) under Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government, nor will the

U.S. Government pay for information solicited. The information from this notice will help the FEMA, Acquisition Operations

Division Mitigation Branch, plan their acquisition strategy.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

The purchase will be within the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, 524298 All Other Insurance

Related Activities. The small business size standard for this NAICS Code is $15.0M.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created in 1968 as a result of the continuing periodic flood disasters experienced by communities throughout the US that damaged or destroyed infrastructure, buildings, and homes, making it difficult for the communities and their residents to recover. The mission of the NFIP is to (1) identify the special flood hazard areas (SFHAs), (2) develop standards for effective floodplain management in those SFHAs and (3) provide flood insurance to building and home owners.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) conducted an assessment on the NFIP to ensure that the customer’s experience aligns with FIMA’s survivor-centric vision, mission and approach. Out of the customer-experience assessment, FIMA identified the following gaps within the NFIP: (1) policyholders didn’t understand their flood risk and (2) coverage-to-value varied person to person. Therefore, FIMA is redesigning and modernizing their current risk rating approach, in order to address these gaps and improve overall customer experience. This modernization of risk rating requires wholesale rewriting of the NFIP rating and policy forms to support its new approach.

The current policy forms are overly prescriptive, written in complicated language, and inconsistent between what is described and what is provided.

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FIMA has a requirement for NFIP rating and policy forms services to support the establishment of the Risk Rating 2.0

Program.

This market research is for industry capabilities in the following areas:

Objective 1: Conduct assessment of the NFIP’s current flood insurance policy forms

• Evaluate current coverage vs. standard industry practices

• Understand the newly developed risk rating approach

Objective 2: Scale the new risk rating approach for national level delivery

Objective 3: Iteratively draft NFIP policy forms and test against newly developed risk rating approach to develop recommendations for policy form upgrades

• The policy forms should:

o Align with current industry standards o Be understandable to policyholders o Offer coverages at attractive price points to policyholders o Be within statutory limitations

• Identify statutory limitations

Objective 4: Evaluate the recommended policy forms against the market’s appetite for coverage at certain price points

• The Government will conduct the product market research independent of the Contract. The Contractor may be asked to assist in the development of materials and evaluation of results.

Objective 5: Finalize policy forms and risk rating approach

Objective 6 (option): Provide reach-back support during implementation of NFIP policy forms and risk rating

Responses should include your company’s capability statement. Oral Communications ARE NOT acceptable in response to this notice. However if the Government deems necessary, follow-up discussions / additional market research may be performed.

Responses should provide the following information:

A. Company Information (e.g. name, business address, point of contact, telephone number, e-mail address). Also include

DUNS Number or CAGE Code;

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B. Summarization of projects showing capabilities and past performance in the applicable areas and list relevant projects.

C. Statement of current business size status (ie HUBZone small business concern, service-disabled veteran-owned small business firm, 8(a) contractor, woman-owned small business, small business, or large business firm). Also business size in relation to the NAICS code size standards assigned to this acquisition.

D. Responses are to discuss:

1. How do you define/understand how rating and Policy Form development is carried out in the private sector?

2. Overall, please describe your experience with Rating and Policy Forms services.

a. Please highlight any experience with developing insurance policy forms for the following policy types:

i. HO-3: Owner occupied homes, including primary, seasonal, and secondary

ii. DP-3: Tenant occupied homes

iii. HO-4: Contents only policy for renters

iv. HO-6: Owner and tenant occupied condominium units

v. CP 17: Owners or associations of condominium buildings or apartment buildings

vi. CP 10: Owners of commercial non-residential buildings

b. Please highlight any experience testing and upgrading risk rating approaches for the state or national level

c. Please highlight any experience rating new insurance products

d. Please highlight any experience analyzing market research for new products

3. What are the components needed to successfully develop NFIP Rating and Policy Forms?

4. What are major challenges in developing NFIP Rating and Policy Forms?

5. How would you see the phases of this effort unfolding?

a. How would you upgrade or change the objectives described above?

6. Do you have familiarity with the NFIP’s current policy forms and/or risk rating structure?

7. What data sources and/or other tools would you recommend using when developing NFIP Rating and Policy

Forms?

8. What is an appropriate scope or level of effort for a project like this? What are the biggest cost drivers?

9. If applicable, please describe any previous experience helping the government or quasi-governmental entities develop insurance rating and policy forms?

10. Do you currently have a GSA schedule? If yes, please provide your GSA schedule.

Submission requirements:

1. Page limit – ten (10) 8 ½ x 11 pages (front and back)

2. 1 inch margins (top, bottom, and sides)

3. Times New Roman font – 10 point

4. Page limitation does not include: 1 cover page or 1 letter of introduction

5. Do not include promotional materials

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Any proprietary information should be clearly marked.

Questions pertaining to this RFI are due to the Contracting Officer, Michael Sutton, michael.sutton@fema.dhs.gov no later than 2:00 PM (EST) on Friday, 5 May 2017. The subject line of the email shall contain the following: Questions for

Sources Sought Notice HSFE60-17-I-0005 – NFIP Rating and Policy Forms.

Only electronic response submissions will be accepted and are to be sent only to the contracting officer, Michael Sutton, michael.sutton@fema.dhs.gov not later than 2:00 PM (EST) on Monday, 15 May 2017. The subject line of the email shall contain the following: Response to Sources Sought Notice HSFE60-17-I-0005 – NFIP Rating and Policy Forms.

At this time, one-on-one telephone due diligence sessions are not planned but may be considered should the government deem them necessary to obtain sufficient level of knowledge required for the completion of the market research.

This Sources Sought is an advance notice for informational and acquisition strategy planning purposes only and is not a solicitation. In order to receive an award from any resultant solicitation, should one be issued, the successful offeror must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). The SAM website is https://www.sam.gov.

This Sources Sought synopsis notice should not be construed in any manner to be an obligation to issue a contract, or result in any claim for reimbursement of costs for any effort you expend in responding to this request. No solicitation is currently available. Any future solicitation package will be made available on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website https://www.fbo.gov. Interested parties are solely responsible for monitoring the FBO website for the release of a solicitation package and/or any updates/amendments.

mailto:michael.sutton@fema.dhs.gov mailto:Marianne.McCallum@fema.dhs.gov