Answers to Questions 2.docx

Mar. 29, 2010 Q&A from Progressive Solutions

MailCentral: a commercial off the shelf mail services automation and efficiency product

1.) What opportunities are available to better understand the current FEMA mail utility and its scope?

The contracting officer should be able to provide this information.

2.) Are ODBC connections available to your Oracle database?

We are not aware of any reasons why ODBC would not be available.

3.) What mail volumes should we be considering?

FEMA averages over 4 million letters per year. The daily output is highly dependent upon disaster activities. The historical maximum daily production was more than 525,000 letters/day.

4.) As long as the print job matches what is available for your review, is the PDF format required during the data transport phase?

We are open to the print solution and the file format transmitted to the vendor to print while keeping the following in mind:

· The print solution must accommodate the letter template in Rich Text Format

· The vendor can successfully receive the file and print the file/solution

· FEMA is able to view the printed letter in our existing NEMIS application for each applicant

· The print solution is on DHS TRM (Technical Reference Manual) -If it is not on the DHS TRM it must go through the approval process to get a waiver request.

5.) Are you open to using our mail service vendor?

The actual printing of FEMA correspondence is provided through a separate contract and is not a part of this RFI.

6.) How many additional mail vendors does the software need to support?

During high disaster activities there might be a need for additional vendors and/or additional facilities for the same vendor to accommodate the high letter volume.

7.) Would you be willing to provide details of your existing FEMA mail utility and service costs for our review so we may evaluate our ability to reduce costs?

The printing of FEMA correspondence is provided by a separate contract. This RFI is for a software replacement of the Mail Utility which we would like to modernize while maintaining the printing industry standards and implement new methods to reduce postage costs. We are aware of Postal requirements such as the Intelligent Mail Barcode that is used in postal discounts which, when implemented at the software level, could pre-sort and track letters after they are printed.