A0004 SF 30

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. CONTRACT ID CODE

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6) CODE

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

FACILITY CODE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION

NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO.

IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15C. DATE SIGNED

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16C. DATE SIGNED

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

PAGE OF PAGES

6. ISSUED BY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code) (X)

CODE

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

FSA-FS-2

The purpose of this amendment is to provide additional Questions & Answers (Q&A) as attached.

All other terms and conditions remain unchanged.

United States Department of Education Federal Student Aid/Mission Procurement Division 830 First Street, NE - Suite 91F4 Washington, DC 20202

NFP-RFP-2010

1 7

11/09/2010

09/29/2010

No. Topic Question Response 1 PROPOSAL As part of the Project Schedule that must be included in the proposal

(Solicitation Section D.2), what should the Offeror identify as the schedule start date?

Offerors shall assume that the date of MOU execution is the start date. All milestones identified in the schedule shall be identified as "calendar days after" the date of MOU execution.

2 PROPOSAL If an offeror submits a Project Schedule that is summarily acceptable to the Department, but may require some fine‐tuning or slight adjustment of the dates, will the Department allow for some flexibility with the Project Schedules as proposed?

Project Schedules must show that the criteria for qualification can be satisfied by the offeror. However, individual schedules and/or specific dates identified may need to be adjusted prior to the execution of the MOU, to allow for efficient implementation prior to award.

3 PROPOSAL If an offeror believes it is potentially eligible as an NFP, and also has a potentially eligible affiliated entity as defined in the statute, may the offeror submit separate proposals for both the NFP and the affiliated entity, and then choose which one to accept a potential award?

Yes.

4 PROPOSAL The Project Schedules being developed will have the Federal Student Aid high level requirement number next to the associated Activities in the Project Schedule; however, the Federal Student Aid requirement numbers will not necessarily be in the order as listed in A‐2 and A‐6.

Will Federal Student Aid allow a mapping document to be included as an appendix? This document would then list the 64 Federal Student Aid requirements, in order as listed in the RFP, and the associated Project Schedule activity number(s) would be next to them in a second column. This would allow Federal Student Aid the ability to reference their requirements to project activities or read the submitted Project Schedule and see associated Federal Student Aid requirement numbers. Basically a two way mapping is provided to assist Federal Student Aid review the proposal and Project Schedule. We are asking that the appendix not be included in the page limitation. No other documentation would be included in the appendix.

Answered in Amendment 0003.

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5 PROPOSAL In section D.2.(a)(iii) Teaming /Governance, page 30 is the narrative described in this section required if a Not for Profit entity (NFP) is not going to initially have Key Subcontractors? Or should the NFP describe the internal management and organization governance of the contract?

Each offeror should review the solicitation and carefully consider the best approach that will clearly and succinctly demonstrate the qualifications that satisfy the solicitation requirements.

6 PROPOSAL Section B.13.N.15 Key Subcontractors is described in part as “considered essential for the purpose of determining the …capability to perform under this contract”. While most of this section refers to the inclusion of other NFP’s in the team, a third party system provider organization is critical for an NFP to meet the requirements of the contract. Is it the intent of Federal Student Aid for third party system providers and other operational subcontractors to be listed in this section?

Each offeror should review the solicitation and carefully consider the best approach that will clearly and succinctly demonstrate the qualifications that satisfy the solicitation requirements. This would include determining what subcontractors are “essential” or “material.”

7 TEAMING Please consider the following scenario. A Not for Profit entity submits a proposal, is considered qualified, receives and successfully executes a MOU and receives a servicing contract with resulting servicing accounts. That initial not for profit organization is then asked to lead a consortium by eligible NFP entities in a subsequent bid period. This consortium shares a common servicing system and platform. The new entities now forming the consortium will be performing servicing activities and functions. Only the new entities are requesting to be considered as being a qualified servicer and only those entities would receive new account volume. This scenario is common with NFP entities as several would like to be in a consortium however the consortium agreements cannot be finalized or agreed upon before December 1, 2010. What concerns does Federal Student Aid have that would prevent an initially approved NFP entity from being the lead in this example?

The Government will not award more than one prime contract to an entity. As provided under prior communications, the Government will not award a contract to a consortium.

8 REQUIREMENTS Does Federal Student Aid have a Security Handbook that contains requirements federal contractors must comply with or standards they must meet? If such a document exists and could be reviewed, NFP’s would be better able to ensure associated costs are accounted for when estimating account costs. If such a document exists, can it be provided to the NFP’s?

This document has been referenced within the solicitation attachment A‐1:

General Security Requirements for Contractors Doing Business with the Department of Education can be found at http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/business/library.html

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9 PERFORMANCE In the course of planning for managing Direct Loan borrower accounts currently serviced at ACS, it would be valuable to understand call center metrics or standards. Can Federal Student Aid provide call center metrics, standards or performance information to Not for Profit entities to help ensure that borrower service, consistent with the service borrowers are accustomed to receiving today, is maintained or exceeded? This metric or performance information will also allow associated service cost to be better planned and accounted for when estimating account price.

No. It is not a commercial practice to provide servicing metrics with loan transfers. Service levels will be an independent determination for each offeror.

10 SOLICITATION/CONTRACT Are the Representations and Certifications considered part of the “Content of Offers” described in Section D2 (i.e. included in page counts)? Or are the Representations and Certifications considered an attachment to the Offering? Based on the wording of the proposal content it is not clear that the Representations and Certifications are accounted for or accommodated in the page count described in section D.3.D Page Limitation.

There is no page limitation associated with an Offeror's Representations and Certifications submission. Reps and Certs should be included as a proposal attachment.

11 PROPOSAL The Original Solicitation and each of the subsequent amended versions have different cover pages. Which of these cover pages needs to be signed and submitted with the Solicitation Response?

The SF‐1449, with acknowledgement of all amendments.

12 PROPOSAL Should the Solicitation Response be addressed to the Primary (Nicholas Chung), to the Alternate (Michael Whisler), or to both gentlemen?

The former should be addressed.

13 PROPOSAL If a Not for Profit entity decides that it’s "Affiliated Entity" should be its Offeror, what documentation, information or explanation should be included in the proposal to demonstrate eligibility of the Affiliated Entity?

Each offeror should review the solicitation and carefully consider the best approach that will clearly and succinctly demonstrate the qualifications that satisfy the solicitation requirements.

14 PROPOSAL Is it possible for Federal Student Aid to provide certification of an Affiliated Entity prior to submitting a response to the proposal?

No.

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15 PROPOSAL If an “Affiliated Entity” responds to the solicitation, and subsequent to submission of the proposal it is determined that servicing functions could be performed at a lower cost if the original or parent Not for Profit is the offeror, can the solicitation response be amended to have the Not for Profit be the service offeror? Would such amendment negatively impact the acceptance of the response or the timing of approval of our proposal?

In this example, the proposal would have to be withdrawn and submitted appropriately prior to a later proposal deadline.

16 PROPOSAL In the description of the submission the offeror is given the choice to include a Title page and a Table of Contents page without these being included in the total page count. Can the offeror include a cover letter on top of the proposal in addition to the Title page and Table of Contents or does the Title Page need to be used as a one page cover letter? If a cover page is submitted as the Title Page will it be counted against the offeror?

Each offeror should review the solicitation and carefully consider the best approach that will clearly and succinctly demonstrate the qualifications that satisfy the solicitation requirements.

17 SOLICITATION/CONTRACT Under the Prime/Sub situation, would all NFP's in a consortium have to select either the National or State option, or can there be a mix under such an arrangement?

The prime will select. There shall not be a mix.

18 ALLOCATION Do the state loan amounts ED published in the October 28 Q&A’s contain any Put loans, or just Direct Loans? It seems that the amounts would be higher if they include Put loans.

Direct Loans only.

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19 PROPOSAL A few questions relate to requirements 61 and 63 in Attachment A‐2;

• What date does FSA expect to see in the project schedule?

• Does FSA expect to see the date the plans will be created?

• Does FSA want to see the date when gaps will be remediated or the date when it is expected the SSP will be complete?

• If FSA wants to see the expected date when gaps are remediated or the expected date to have the SSP complete, how will that date translate into the MOU?

• What happens if it takes longer than originally expected? For example, as part of the project schedule, let’s say an entity submits the date the remediation plan being created as mid‐January, with gaps being remediated in April.

• However, in January after the RFP response, it is discovered that gaps won’t actually be remediated until May. Will the MOU process allow this date change?

Each offeror should review the solicitation and carefully consider the best approach that will clearly and succinctly demonstrate the qualifications that satisfy the solicitation requirements. Further, on a case by case basis, schedules might be revised for prudent cause.

20 MOU With regard to the MOU process:

• Do ED and the offeror jointly develop a schedule of deliverables and agreed upon terms? When can NFP’s that submit a response to the RFP by December 1, 2010 expect to see a MOU?

• Does ED have estimated timelines for contract award after submission of schedules, deliverables and other terms?

See Question #1. As indicated previously, the Department will move prudently forward under this acquisition process.

An MOU will be presented to each offeror after they have been determined eligible and able to become qualified. It is anticipated that dates within each MOU, including subsequent contract award, will vary for each offeror.

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21 PROPOSAL Section D.2 (a) (ii) B (2) requests a narrative dedicated to each Key Subcontractor, describing the activities and methodologies that the Key Subcontractor will perform or put in place in order to become “qualified.” If a Key Subcontractor, specifically a key subcontractor who has a material impact on the ability to perform under the agreement, is already qualified to service ED‐owned loans, and this key subcontractor already has an ATO, what additional information needs to be provided? Is a brief statement about that key subcontractor’s status and qualification with FSA acceptable? (Note: Key functions the subcontractor will perform will be provided in the D.2 (a) (iii) Teaming/Governance section, as requested the proposal.)

Yes, although any alterations to an already approved and/or qualified system or configuration must be identified.

22 PROPOSAL If an organization submits a response prior to December 1 as a consortium, and an additional NFP would like to join, is it acceptable to simply update the same plan to add one more member, and deem it as a 30‐day notification of a change in plan or will an additional request need to be filed for the March 1 period?

As indicated previously, the Department will not contract with consortia. A prime offeror may amend their proposal at any time. A “substantive” change to the proposal may materially impact the eligibility and qualification timeline.

Adding a new subcontractor may or may not be determined material depending upon the role of the subcontractor.

23 ALLOCATION If an organization becomes fully operational and certified by ED for DL servicing in the middle of a quarter, will ED allocate volume at that time or would organizations have to wait until the beginning of the next quarter?

That determination has not been made at this time.

24 TEAMING In a consortium arrangement, would the team members be audited concurrently (faster) or consecutively (would take longer)?

As indicated previously, the Department will not contract with consortia. The prime and subcontractors will be reviewed, investigated and/or audited as determined necessary by the Government. Typically, the contracted entity is the responsible party that will actually be audited and be responsible for providing all audit information/documentation.

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