RFI_BEQ_4-28-23.docx

Examination and Supervisory Survey of National Banks and Thrifts Request for Information

Request for Information— Examination and Supervisory Survey of National Banks and Thrifts RFI Number: 2031JW23N00004 Notice Type: Request for Information (RFI)

SYNOPSIS

The United States Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) is conducting market research to determine feasibility for a potential procurement requirement. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information from industry contractors regarding their interest, capabilities, and recommendations for conducting web-based surveys of OCC supervised institutions and developing analysis reports of the survey response data. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this request is 541611 for Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services. The small business size is $24.5 million. SMALL BUSINESSES ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESPOND. Include whether or not you are a small business; 8(a) small business; HUB Zone small business; service-disabled veteran-owned or veteran-owned small businesses; women-owned or economically disadvantaged women-owned small business; or small disadvantaged business in order to assist the government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. Lastly, please include your GSA number if you have a GSA contract on GSA’s e-Buy.

GENERAL PURPOSE

1.0 Purpose

Purpose of the work. The OCC charters, regulates, and supervises all United States national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks (hereafter referred to collectively as banks). The OCC is an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is led by the Comptroller of the Currency. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the OCC has offices nationwide.

The OCC’s mission is to ensure banks operate in a safe and sound manner, provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

Bank supervision is the core activity of the agency. The OCC’s nationwide staff of examiners conducts onsite examinations and provides ongoing supervision of banks. The agency issues rules, legal interpretations, and corporate decisions concerning banking, bank investments, bank community development activities, and other aspects of bank operations.

The OCC surveys the banks it supervises using the web-based Examination and Supervisory Survey (Examination Survey). As of December 31, 2022, there were 778 national banks, 257 federal savings associations, and 49 federal branches for a total of 1,084 institutions. The survey is designed to gather direct and timely feedback from bank points of contact (POCs) on their experience with the content and conduct of OCC examinations and supervision.

The survey includes a total of thirty-nine (39) questions grouped into five sections: Work, People, Products, Usefulness, and Intent to Remain Under OCC Supervision. All survey questions are voluntary, i.e., the respondent may skip any or all questions and submit the survey.

· Thirty-one (31) questions are provided to all respondents using a satisfaction scale of 1 (completely agree) to 5 (completely disagree).

· One (1) question with sub-parts is available to all respondents using a usefulness scale of 1 (very useful) to 4 (not at all useful).

· Remaining seven (7) questions request multiple choice and narrative responses from the survey respondent.

Since September 2013, the OCC has achieved an average response rate of 67%. The OCC has an expectation that the Contractor will maintain or exceed this response rate.

1.1 Acquisition Approach

The OCC has not determined the acquisition approach. This market research will allow the OCC, and the Procurement Office, to make an informed decision about how to proceed.

RFI REQUIREMENTS

2.0 Description of Information Requested

The OCC is requesting information from contractors regarding industry practice and contractor capabilities in conducting surveys and preparing analysis reports to support internal operations within the Department of the Treasury. Contractors should provide documentation demonstrating specific experience performing these services using industry best practices.

1. Provide company information including:

a. Company name and address.

b. Business size of company, including specific type (Small Business, Woman-Owned, etc.).

c. Point(s) of contact including name, phone number, address, email, and position.

d. Provide any other pertinent information that will assist us in this assessment.

e. General Schedule number (if awarded a Schedule contract).

f. Provide feedback on planned Scope of Work.

g. Answers to listed questions.

h. Any other pertinent information, place here.

PLANNED SCOPE of WORK:

The Office of Enterprise Governance and the Ombudsman (EGOMBD) seeks to procure services from an independent Contractor to conduct web-based surveys of OCC supervised banks and develop analysis reports of the survey response data. The OCC will provide the examination survey upon award. If the OCC elects to revise the survey in future contract periods, the OCC may request for the vendor to assist with this task.

The EGOMBD Office contemplates surveying a population of approximately 70 OCC supervised banks monthly. The EGOMBD Office will provide the Contractor with an electronic file monthly containing information necessary to survey the banks.

The survey will be used to gather specific feedback about the OCC and the value of the federal charter from banks. Survey data can also help to identify relevant internal performance benchmarks and metrics.

2.0 TASKS

The Contractor shall perform the tasks identified below to start the survey process, administer the survey to participants, and analyze and report survey results.

2.1 Lead-Time

This award includes a two-month lead-time. The Contractor will submit the Lead-Time Plan within fourteen (14) calendar days of contract award. Survey data previously collected will be provided to the Contractor at time of award. Based on this information, the Contractor will develop a Lead-Time Plan. The Government will review and comment on the Lead-Time Plan within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt. The Contractor shall address the comments within seven (7) calendar days of receipt of the Government’s comments. The Lead-Time Plan shall be declared final in writing once all comments are addressed and the Government accepts the Plan. The Lead-Time period will begin upon Government acceptance of the Lead-Time Plan. The Contractor shall conform to the Lead-Time Plan developed by the Contractor and approved by the Government.

The Contractor’s Lead-Time Plan shall include a project plan and milestones for meeting the requirements outlined in the contract. In addition, the Lead-Time Plan will include a plan and milestones for the following:

· Developing and implementing an acceptable platform for survey administration that meets the requirements noted in the contract. This includes product demonstration and user acceptance testing.

· Developing templates used for communications sent via postal mail and email to the bank POCs.

· Delivering survey response data in Microsoft Excel format (i.e., Survey Response file).

· Developing templates to convey survey response data (i.e., Survey Report, Semi-Annual Report, and Annual Report as detailed in Section 3.0: Deliverables).

· Developing an effective Quality Control Plan.

· Identifying a go-live date for beginning survey administration.

· Developing a project plan for administering the survey and for submitting deliverables due for the first contract year.

The Lead-Time Plan will plan for and acknowledge that developing trend analyses of survey responses will require analyzing survey responses previously collected up to three (3) years before contract begin date.

The Contractor shall be responsible for a Transition-Out Plan. Upon completion of the contract or the government’s decision not to exercise all option years, the Contractor shall be responsible for assisting in the transition of this requirement to another Contractor. The transition out process will be dictated in part by the incoming Contractor’s transition plan as well as transition guidance provided by the OCC. Irrespective of when the OCC gives direction to develop the Transition-Out Plan, the Contractor shall provide it within thirty (30) calendar days of request from the Contracting Officer.

2.2 Survey Administration Requirements

The Contractor shall:

· Administer and collect survey information from the banks with no more than five (5) communications sent via postal mail and email, excluding the thank you email, to the bank POC.

· Monthly, the OCC will provide the Contractor a list of banks to survey. Occasionally, during the survey period, the OCC may add or delay the survey to one or more POCs.

· Within two (2) business days of receiving the OCC’s list of POCs and prior to sending an email with the survey link, the Contractor shall send a letter via postal mail to the bank’s POC. The letter shall be printed on OCC letterhead at the Contractor’s place of business. The letter will notify the POC of an upcoming survey link they will receive via e-mail. The OCC will provide a template upon task order award. (This counts as one (1) communication.)

· If the bank POC provided by the OCC asks to send the survey to another individual, the Contractor shall inform the OCC before sending the survey link to a different individual. The OCC may confirm the change in POC or provide another POC to survey at the institution. The Contractor shall submit a monthly report identifying all changes to the POCs for a given survey when submitting the monthly Survey Report.

· The Contractor shall send an email with the survey link to the bank POCs no later than 14 calendar days after receiving the list of POCs from the OCC. (This counts as one (1) communication.) The Contractor may send, via email or postal mail, a copy of the survey to the bank, if requested. The Contractor shall notify the OCC of all such instances for a given survey when submitting the monthly Survey Report.

· The Contractor shall provide up to three (3) weekly electronic mail reminders to the bank POCs who have not submitted the survey. The reminders will cease if the POC submits the survey or at the POC’s request. (Each reminder counts as one (1) communication, up to a total of three (3) communications.)

· The Contractor shall assist bank POCs with technical issues related to the survey. The Contractor will report these technical assistance incidents in the Survey Report.

· The Contractor shall send bank POCs a thank you letter electronically after survey completion.

· The Contractor shall ensure the survey link is active and available to bank POCs for 30 consecutive calendar days from the date the survey link becomes active.

· Utilize a web-based platform to administer the surveys to banks.

· The OCC will provide survey questions to the Contractor.

· The Contractor shall select a web-based platform that allows completion and submission of the survey via a desktop or mobile device.

· The Contractor shall upload questions into its survey administration platform and follow OCC instructions when creating survey rules on the platform. The Contractor shall follow the Lead-Time Plan, developed by the Contractor and approved by the Government, to develop and implement the survey platform. OCC will test the survey and the Contractor will make all necessary changes prior to finalizing and implementing the survey platform in production.

· The Contractor shall create unique survey links for distribution that can track responses by individual institutions.

· Monthly, provide survey response data to the OCC in specified Excel format (Survey Response File). The OCC will provide a template upon contract award.

· The Contractor shall annually provide industry benchmarks for survey response rates.

· The Contractor shall periodically provide suggested best practices to improve survey response rates. The frequency of this information will be as deemed necessary by the OCC or Contractor and when the trend of survey response rates falls below the historical average rate.

2.2.1 Survey Analysis and Validation

The Contractor shall:

· Provide an overall summary of survey results.

· Provide analysis reports of survey results, based on the criteria that will be provided by the OCC upon contract award.

· Use the calculation provided by the OCC to compute averages for individual questions and sections in the Examination Survey.

· Implement an effective validation approach to ensure accuracy of survey response date and analysis of results, calculation of data used for analysis reports, and content of analysis reports.

2.3 Validation of Examination Survey Questions (AT THE OCC’s OPTION)

Should the OCC wish to revise the wording or order of survey questions during the contract period, the Contractor shall:

· Recommend verbiage to alter or add survey questions based on OCC direction.

· Recommend re-ordering of survey questions based on OCC direction.

· Validate that the changes to survey question verbiage and/or order do not alter the meaning of the question.

An optional, nonrecurring contract line item number (CLIN) will be assigned to this service, to be used at the OCC’s option during the contract period.

2.4 Host Data

The Contractor shall maintain the survey response data for data analysis and reporting purposes.

2.5 Data Security

The Contractor shall maintain data security as follows:

· Secure survey response data through the use of firewalls or other means and ensure that the survey, survey data, communications with the Government, and other deliverables are not accessible on the Internet. See Section 8.0 Information Security and Privacy Requirements for additional details.

· Information transmitted between an OCC location and a Contractor location must be encrypted during transmission.

· Email communication must be secure and encrypted, except for the Contractor’s emails related to survey administration transmitted to banks. However, the Contractor shall host the survey on a secure server.

· Authenticate bank POCs throughout the survey process.

· All storage media, including written or printed media, shall be secured or shredded.

· Encryption standard will be Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS 140-2, as superseded).

· All OCC data will be deleted or destroyed from the Contractor’s records upon completion or termination of the contract. The Contractor will provide evidence of data destruction in accordance with Section 8.0 of the performance work statement (PWS).

· The Contractor shall provide to the OCC, a copy of its written data security program. The Contractor shall notify the OCC if the written program will be revised and shall submit the revised program within 30 calendar days of the revision. At each calendar year-end, the Contractor shall confirm that the most recent written data security program submitted, with effective date of the program, remains unchanged. The Contractor will be required to work with the OCC CyberSecurity Office in accordance with Section 8.0 of the PWS.

2.5 Communication

· Meetings will be held via conference call unless an on-site meeting is requested by the OCC.

· Bi-weekly meetings between the OCC and the Contractor shall be held to discuss the status of the surveys and other issues or concerns related to the deliverables. The Contractor will provide a bi-weekly meeting agenda to the COR. At least one member identified as key personnel from Section 9.0 of the PWS will attend the bi-weekly meetings.

· In addition to the bi-weekly meetings, upon the OCC’s or Contractor’s request:

· meetings will be held between the OCC and the Contractor to discuss any survey issues or discrepancies.

· Meetings shall be held prior to the creation of each annual and semi-annual report to discuss report analysis criteria and incorporate any OCC organizational changes.

2.6 Business Continuity

The Contractor will communicate with OCC designated POCs within one (1) hour of any survey outage incident, regarding any business continuity issues related to the contract, such as delay in survey availability. The Contractor shall provide contact information for all information technology (IT) POCs to the OCC POCs upon contract award. The Contractor will provide any updated contact information for these designated POCs within seven (7) calendar days of the change.

3.0 DELIVERABLES

3.1 Required Deliverables

Table 1, Required Contract Deliverables, lists the deliverables to be produced by the Contractor under this contract. The Contractor shall provide one semi-annual and one annual analysis report to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) each calendar year, analyzing the quantitative and qualitative survey data for the respective reporting period. Reporting periods will be January 1st through June 30th for the semi-annual report and January 1st through December 31st for the annual report. The Contractor shall report on the salient trends observed in the survey responses, with supporting analysis and data visualization (e.g. charts and/or graphs) with trend analysis included for the prior two calendar years. Reports must be timely, accurate, grammatically correct, and free of calculation errors. Typos should be minimal.

The Contractor shall provide a Quality Control Plan (QCP) to the OCC that outlines the quality control actions necessary to meet the performance requirements outlined in this PWS. The QCP should also discuss the method for validating the accuracy of data and analysis reports derived from manual and/or technology systems employed by the Contractor. The Contractor with update and resubmit the QCP to the OCC, as required, based on changes to its organization, processes, staffing, errors in deliverables, and other relevant factors.

Table 1 Required Contract Deliverables

Initial Lead-Time Plan

Quality Control Plan

No reminder will be sent to the POCs who have completed the survey.

Seven (7) calendar days after the first email and weekly thereafter on an agreed upon day of the week.

No

Bi-weekly meeting agenda

3.2 Submission of Deliverables

The Contract will send all deliverables to the COR using encryption. The subject line or title of the submission shall clearly identify that it is a deliverable notification. Further, the Contractor shall identify the POCs who are to receive notification of the outcome of the OCC’s review. The COR may specify additional recipients to be copied on the deliverable notification for a given deliverable. The COR may forward deliverables to employees within the OCC for review, as necessary.

3.3 Review Times

The COR will have five (5) business days to review the monthly deliverables and ten (10) business days to review the semi-annual and annual report deliverables. The COR will provide written comments to the Contractor. (The Contractor shall incorporate this requirement into the Project timeline/Deliverable schedule for planning purposes.) If the COR does not provide written comments within the specified review time indicated in this paragraph for review, the Contractor shall consider the deliverable accepted by the OCC. Deliverables receiving comments from the COR are considered unacceptable. Any previously submitted unacceptable deliverable is considered acceptable when the COR affirmatively accepts the deliverable.

Upon receipt of comments from the COR, the Contractor will have three (3) business days to revise the monthly deliverables and five (5) business days to revise the semi-annual and annual deliverables. (The Contractor shall incorporate this requirement into the Project timeline/Deliverable schedule for planning purposes.) The Contractor may occasionally request an extension by sending the request to the COR and Contracting Officer. The OCC will evaluate these requests on a case-by-case basis.

3.4 Remediation of Unacceptable Deliverables

The OCC will require the Contractor to re-work and re-submit any version of a deliverable that is unacceptable. The Contractor will correct deliverables produced under fixed-price tasks without additional cost to the OCC. The Contractor may not invoice for unacceptable deliverables until the COR informs the Contractor that the final version is approved.

4.0 PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY (PRS) – PENDING

5..0 GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED INFORMATION

Government-provided information may take the form of policies, standards, guidelines, technical data, specifications, or other applicable documents. The OCC will provide historical data required to perform analysis, document samples, and required formats. The safeguarding and disposition of this information shall be in accordance with Agency regulations and/or the direction of the PWS. The Contractor shall protect from unauthorized disclosure of any materials or information made available by the Government or that the Contractor has access to, by virtue of the provisions of this task order that are not intended for public disclosure.

6.0 TRAVEL

Travel is not required or intended for this contract.

7.0 IT ACCESSIBILITY – SECTION 508 COMPLIANCE – PENDING

8.0 INFORMATION SECURITY AND PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS – PENDING

9.0 KEY PERSONNEL

The following positions have been identified, at a minimum, as Key Personnel:

· Project Manager

· Data Analyst

The Project Manager must have three (3) years of experience in project management and must possess a bachelor’s degree in management, business, or computer science.

The Data Analyst must have a minimum of three (3) years’ experience in data analysis, extracting raw data for the purpose of reporting, as well as data validation techniques, and must possess a bachelor’s degree in math, statistics, computer science, or business.

The Contractor shall have processes in place to ensure knowledge and skill transfer in the event of a key personnel change. Key Personnel changes must be submitted to the OCC for review and approval.

QUESTIONS:

Scope Specific:

1. Please provide feedback and suggested revisions to the PWS.

2. Please provide possible solutions and approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace, along with information on innovative ideas or concepts for delivering the service in question.

3. Please provide proposed formats for the required contract deliverables.

4. Please provide the following sample documents:

· Capability Statement

· Examples of reports to other customers that are similar to this PWS Required Contract Deliverables, if available

5. Please estimate the amount of lead time a vendor would need before beginning to administer the first survey.

6. Please provide reasonable performance metrics for the required tasks.

7. Please provide feedback on prescribed disincentives for meeting performance metrics. Please also offer suggestions for any prescribed disincentives deemed unreasonable.

8. Please describe your Information Security and Privacy Requirements practices.

9. Please provide industry norms for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) 18 compliance, including your company’s practice.

10. Please estimate the labor category and number of hours it would take to meet the optional “Validation of Examination Survey Questions” section of the PWS.

11. Please describe marketplace abilities and processes for asking scaled questions to survey recipients.

12. Please discuss any methods used by the marketplace for aggregating and summarizing narrative comments received from survey respondents.

13. Does your company have a physical common site where employees routinely work?

14. Does your company utilize physical servers for data storage or use a cloud-based system?

Contracting Specific:

1. Company Background - Provide summary information including company name, DUNS number, CAGE code, and designated point of contact's name, title, email address and phone number.

2. Is your company registered in the System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) to do business with the Federal government? If so, what is you SAM Unique Entity ID (UEID) number? Is your company registered in SAM as a Small Business or any of the socio-economic categories (Woman Owned, 8(a), HUBZone, Veteran Owned, etc.)?

3. Does your company have a GSA federal supply schedule contract or any other Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) that provide the required product/services? If so, please provide that information to include agency and contract number.

4. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code, Size Standard, Product Service Code (PSC), and Company's Business Type Classification under NAICS Code – Provide recommended NAICS Code, if you feel the one listed is not accurate, to include Size Standard and your Company's Business Type Classification under the recommended NAICS Code (e.g. large business, small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, HUBZone business, woman-owned small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, etc.). Provide recommended PSC.

5. Solution and Service Overview – Describe services available through your organization and provide a statement of capability demonstrating your ability to meet the requirements outlined in the requirement description. Describe any other additional tasks/services you think are essential to the project as described.

6. What would the estimated price (rough order of magnitude) be for the requirement listed above? Please provide a price breakdown to include a base year and four optional years to provide survey services as outlined above. Provide price lists or catalogs. If applicable, provided information on volume discounts, prompt payment discounts, contract financing, and payment methodology. Provide recommendations on potential CLIN structure and if the requirement is suitable for firm fixed-price contract.

7. Other Information (e.g., commercial practices, market information, capabilities for planning purposes, subcontracting, etc.) – Provide information on:

0. Commercial practices (e.g., licensing restrictions, licensing restrictions upon termination, limitation of liability, retention of data from databases, etc.). A copy of a license agreement if applicable.

0. Vendor's possible solutions and approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace, and information regarding innovative ideas or concepts regarding the product or service in question;

0. Commercial practices regarding industry evaluation of / or measuring performance; and

0. Subcontracting possibilities, specifically for small businesses.

INSTRUCTIONS AND RESPONSE GUIDELINES

The response must be specific to each of the RFI requirements, from 2.0, listed above to demonstrate that the respondent has the requisite skills and experience. Experience is requested of qualified, prime respondents only; partner or team member capabilities should not be included. Responses to this RFI shall not exceed 25 pages and must clearly describe the contractor’s capabilities in relation to conducting web-based surveys and analysis reporting to support the OCC. Responses must be submitted electronically, viewable in the most current version of Adobe PDF, printable on 8.5” x 11" paper, in an 11-to-13-point font, with margins at least ½ inch, and with each page containing a page number in the footer or header.

This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Government to issue a Request for Proposal/Request for Quote or award a contract. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted, for the contractor-sponsored demonstration or the Government's use of such information. Contractor’s responding to this RFI should submit the information necessary for the Government to make a determination that the source is capable of satisfying the Governments anticipated need.

Acknowledgment of receipt of responses will be made once a response is received. However, respondents will NOT be notified of the Government's evaluation of the information received. Should a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against the Government shall arise as a result of a response to this RFI or the Government's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. Responses should be identified with 2031JW23N00004 and are due no later than May 26, 2023; 12:00 Noon ET.

All interested parties must submit their responses via email to: John R. Baumert and Christian Fowler via email at John.Baumert@occ.treas.gov and Christian.Fowler@occ.treas.gov. Questions regarding this RFI will NOT be entertained. Telephone calls or emails regarding this RFI will not be accepted. This RFI is for planning purposes only and does not commit the government to pay for the information requested, issue a solicitation, or award a contract. No solicitation document exists at this time.