Section J_ATTACHMENT C_Constraints and Mandatory Program Requirements.docx

ATTACHMENT C – CONSTRAINTS AND MANDATORY PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

The Global Support Strategy (GSS) Program covers all consular sections overseas, including those established during the contract period of performance. The following constraints and mandatory requirements shall apply to the GSS Program:

1. Overall Contract Performance

a. Any Government furnished materials, data, or property shall remain the property of the Government and shall be returned upon completion of the support services. Government furnished equipment shall be tracked through applicable procedures that will be provided by the Contracting Officer in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Bureau requirements.

b. Contractors shall be able to operate in multiple countries, languages and regions.

c. Task order solutions shall be flexible in order to accommodate new requirements, program priorities, and/or volatility in service demand.

d. Contractors shall ensure that all services reflect the realities and both cultural and social norms of the foreign locales in which GSS operations are conducted, including the infrastructure of the host country.

e. All services shall be performed using methods and constructs appropriate for the population served by a given consular section.

f. Contractors shall follow and demonstrate adherence to sound and generally accepted program/project management practices.

g. Contractors shall abide by all applicable federal laws, regulations, policies, and procedures as they apply to DoS and/or the work being performed.

h. Contractors shall maintain full and open communications with the DoS Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and/or Government Technical Monitors (GTM) on all matters including security.

i. Contractors shall be able to tailor their management and technology solutions to local variances in business processes and technical demands.

j. Contractors shall comply with all security, legal, and practical requirements particular to any locale in which GSS operations are conducted.

k. Contractors shall ensure no interruption in services because of staffing shortages (e.g., having more than one person with the appropriate clearance to perform any one task).

l. The prime contractor shall have its employee providing oversight (as directed by each task order), not simply a subcontractor, and provide 24/7 contact details to the Government.

m. Contractors shall hire, train, and manage reliable staff.

n. Contractor staff shall understand their role in providing services, and specifically that they may not provide any information, advice, or guidance to visa applicants other than basic information about the visa process that has been cleared by the Government, and that they may not give the impression that they are involved in any way in the decision-making process.

o. Contractor automated systems shall provide full coverage of the GSS process, integrating recordings of telephone conversations with customers, CCTV recordings (including audio if feasible and when permitted by local law) of the applicant’s interactions with OFC staff, and the actual case records created in their systems.

p. Contractor automated systems used for auditing shall be accessible to the Government at the supported embassy or consulate as well as at DoS headquarters.

q. Contract personnel shall not engage in other activities directly related to visa services that result in a conflict of interest. For instance, an employee working at an OFC shall not establish their own U.S. visa application preparation service and promote that service based on their connection to the U.S. consulate through GSS services.

r. Contractor facilities providing GSS services shall be operated such that they are compliant with any host country’s Occupational, Safety and Health, and legal requirements.

2. Security

a. The contract shall follow the requirements stated in the DD-254, Department of Defense Security Classification Specification.

b. The contractor shall perform security screening for all GSS employees as required by the Government.

c. All subcontractors proposed by the prime contractor shall be subject to review and approval by Diplomatic Security prior to engaging in any GSS activities.

d. The contractor shall, upon request, provide the Government with information regarding their GSS employees, their mandatory vetting process, and the results of all required vetting.

e. The contractor shall employ a written fraud prevention program to mitigate process risks, and shall immediately investigate any employee’s possible involvement in inappropriate, unethical or illegal activities upon suspicion by the contractor or upon request by the Government.

f. The contractor shall ensure all GSS facilities employees and subcontractors are aware of the contents of the fraud prevention program and sign a disclaimer saying they understand and shall agree to adhere to the program.

g. The contractor shall report back in writing to the Government within one (1) working day of receiving a Government request to investigate any suspected or actual malfeasance on the part of contractor personnel.

h. The contractor shall notify the USG in writing within one (1) working day of discovering any suspected or actual malfeasance on the part of its own personnel.

i. Should any GSS employee become involved in any inappropriate, unethical, or illegal activities, the contracting company shall notify the Government prior to any adverse action being taken against the GSS employee, and shall provide full cooperation in any investigation conducted by the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

j. The contractor shall meet minimum security standards to be specified by the Government for the collection of physical and electronic data, for the custody and delivery of that data to and from USG facilities, and for preventing loss and misuse of personal and application data.

k. Services shall conform to global standards to be set by the Department of State for protection of data collected from applicants and for compliance with U.S. privacy laws applicable to any information collected from U.S. persons.

l. Employees shall protect the privacy of all applicant information and shall not disclose applicant data to any person outside of their supervisory chain or the USG. The contractor shall ensure that information technology systems meet minimum specifications to be provided by the Government, including but not limited to Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) and Series 800 Special Publications (SPs) published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce.

m. The contractor shall collect and deliver physical documentation (including but not limited to application forms, supporting documents, and passports) according to a specified schedule and timetable.

n. The contractor shall not use applicant data for any purpose other than that specified by the Government, including sharing or selling that data for other uses (including commercial).

3. Service Performance and Quality

a. The Contractor shall assess customer satisfaction using surveys and survey methods approved by the USG, and provide the results of those surveys to the Government within a determined timeframe and format.

b. The Contractor shall have a written corrective action approach for addressing operational malfunctions and/or malfeasances, including root cause analysis, implementation of corrective action and at least one follow up audit, at no cost to the Government.

c. The contractor shall ensure that all services being provided conform to standards as set by the Government for security, efficiency, reliability, and accountability.

d. The contractor shall meet government specified metrics related to data quality.

4. Management Information

a. The contractor shall collect data regarding appointments, fee collection, public inquiries and delivery of documents as well as a complete audit trail of applicants and applications as they move through the process.

b. The contractor shall collect and transmit all data (e.g., applicant data, management information, etc.) in ways that are compatible with Government systems, including those used to queue applicants.

c. Contractors shall submit management information in a data exchange file in an agreed upon format, to be incorporated into a Government system used by both Washington and post users. The data shall be used in multi-dimensional reporting about applicants, fees, backlogs and more. The data shall also be used to collect contractor reports of performance metrics.

d. The contractor shall provide a person-centric record of dealings with the applicant. At a minimum, records shall provide specific data fields as described in Section J, Listing of Attachments, Attachment D1, Global Support Strategy (GSS) Management Information and Attachment D2, GSS Notional Data Definition for Management Information.

e. Cases shall be linked to or shall reference related applications, such as multiple applicants from the same household.

f. Information about the applicant shall be available from the first encounter, be it through an information, appointment, or fee payment service (versus the current state in which consular managers often do not know who is in the appointment/fee queue until they receive an appointment list).

g. Data shall be submitted to the USG by the contractor daily or, if specified by the task order, more often.

h. The system shall include a complete audit trail of all instances when any employee accesses, modifies, or otherwise “touches” a record. The system shall include employee ID, action taken, time and date.

i. The data shall provide a reference to searchable, archived phone recordings (for call centers) and CCTV recordings (for Offsite Facilitation Centers) of the applicant’s interactions with contract staff.

j. In addition to person-centric transaction records, the contractor shall provide contract performance and quality data required to assess incentives and disincentives.

5. Customer Service

a. The contractor shall deliver services at hours and via channels that allow for convenient access for applicants, including evening hours and weekends as local conditions permit. Any changes to support schedules shall be approved by the Government and shared with the interested public no less than 14 calendar days before implementation.

b. The contractor shall ensure that all services and facilities can accommodate peak seasonal demand without any degradation in service.

c. The contractor shall be required to provide shuttle service to applicants from an offsite location, if logistically necessary and included in the task order.

d. Contractors may provide value-added services to applicants at additional cost to the user. The contractor shall clearly communicate that such services have no impact on the visa adjudication, and shall not be required of applicants. The contractor shall receive prior authorization from the Government before offering any such services.

e. The contractor shall ensure that GSS facilities provide access for those with physical disabilities, comply with Department standards for applicant comfort, and shall provide sufficient waiting space to avoid applicants having to wait outdoors in inclement weather.

f. The contractor shall provide contact information for written applicant complaints regarding GSS services being provided.

g. Complaints directly related to GSS services provided shall be shared with the consular section, and the contractor shall provide timely responses to the customer for no additional cost.

h. For complaints not relevant to the GSS services provided (e.g., regarding consular services outside of GSS, the cost of services, etc.) the contractor shall ask the customer to redirect their inquiry to the consular section.

The following constraints and mandatory requirements shall apply to the GSS Program by Service Type:

6. Information Services

a. All scripts and public information published by the contractor regarding GSS services shall be approved by the supported consular section.

b. Information services shall include phone, website, and new networking platforms as they become useful.

c. The contractor shall devise a manner to minimize the time spent on live-operator phone services.

d. The contractor shall perform call monitoring, including recording of digital audio records, for any services provided via telephone. Archives of these recordings shall be archived and searchable for twelve (12) months.

e. Changes to the agreed upon information shall be provided to the Government for review and approval no less than seven (7) business days of said change.

f. The contractor shall not alter USG forms.

g. Where information services are provided by website and where the GSS provider provides both information and document delivery services, these information services shall also provide the ability for applicants to obtain general status tracking information for their issued travel document.

7. Appointment Services

a. Each applicant shall have an appointment. (For instance, a family of four would need four appointment slots, not one, even if two of the applicants were minors.)

b. The contractor shall coordinate with consular sections regarding details of scheduling applicant interviews (e.g., grouping by visa category, whether to set aside certain numbers of appointments for particular categories, etc.)

c. Where fee collection services are also provided by the GSS contractor, payment of the appropriate fee shall be required before an appointment can be given.

d. The contractor shall collect all data required for the performance of GSS services, such as delivery location for issued travel documents.

e. The contractor shall re-schedule applicants when required due to emergency closure of the consular section.

f. The contractor shall schedule follow-up appointments when required by the consular section.

g. The applicant data provided by the contractor shall be in a prescribed format which can be fed into Government management information and queuing systems.

h. Appointment services shall include a mechanism for limited classes of applicants to request priority or emergency appointments, per USG operational guidelines and business requirements.

i. Appointments shall be provided on a first-come, first-served basis (within any categories designated by the Government), and appointment systems shall be designed and managed in such a way that prevents private parties from booking and reselling appointments. Appointment services shall also include controls designed to prevent appointment fraud.

j. While cancelled appointments should not be immediately released for rebooking for a minimum of three (3) hours in order to prevent reselling of appointments, cancelled slots shall be made available for re-booking within twenty-four (24) hours unless directed otherwise by post managers.

k. It shall be clear to both post managers and customers on what date the next available appointment is. A report of the number of appointments booked each day, and the number of open appointment slots remaining, shall be reported to post managers or through the MIS daily.

l. The contractor shall perform call monitoring, including the ability to sample digital audio records, for all services provided via telephone.

8. Fee Collection Services

a. The contractor shall collect the entire fee, and no more than that fee, at an exchange rate agreed with the Government. In other words, a contractor shall not collect the fee at an exchange rate advantageous to the contractor and keep the remainder – nor could they accept less than the full fee for convenience (easier to make change, etc.).

b. When the exchange rate designated by the USG for consular fees is changed by the Government, the contractor shall apply this new rate at all collection sites within five (5) business days.

c. Fees shall be matched to the applicant, one by one, not tracked by lump sum.

d. The contractor shall deposit all fees collected from applicants into a USG account within twenty-four (24) hours of acceptance, and shall provide receipts to the official cashier at the supported consular section within twenty-four (24) hours of deposit.

e. Organizations dealing with financial transactions on behalf of the Department of State shall be Payment Card Industry (PCI) and/or Visa International’s Account Information Security (AIS) compliant.

f. A schedule of fees collected by the contractor shall be posted to contractor websites as well as at any contractor cashiering locations.

9. Document Delivery Services

a. The contractor shall provide a service that allows applicants using courier passback and/or offsite facilitation center services to check on the contractor's website to see if their documents are with the contractor or the consular section for no additional cost.

b. The contractor shall provide a service that includes two-way service for select NIV and IV cases, either revalidation cases or when the consular section specifically requests an applicant send it additional paperwork (221g cases). In such instances the applicant will deliver that documentation to the courier, the courier shall deliver to the consular section, and the consular section will return the documents by courier along with the applicant's passport/visa.

c. The contractor shall transfer all documents to and from the consular section according to an agreed schedule.

d. The contractor shall be responsible for passports and listed supporting documents from the moment received from the applicant until delivery to the consular section. The contractor shall be responsible for verifying that all documents and passports are in the package at the time it is returned by the consular section and assumes its responsibility from that moment until satisfactory acceptance by the applicant.

e. The contractor shall document and retain as proof of acceptance the applicant’s receipt of travel documents.

f. Under limited circumstances, the contractor shall be required to provide more than one (1) delivery service per customer. (For instance – a customer discovers an error in their visa after the contractor delivers it. The customer will be able to send the visa back for correction and have it delivered again.)

g. Packaging used for delivery of issued travel documents shall not be marked as such or visibly identifiable as a U.S. visa, in order to prevent theft.

h. The contractor shall provide a service that allows applicants to either personally pick up their issued travel documents or present an authorizing document to allow pickup by a designated party (whether such authorizing documents will be allowed and requirements for such documents will be specified at the task-order level).

i. Applicant passports and issued visas shall be locked in safes when being stored prior to delivery. The combinations for those safes shall be changed annually or when employees with access to those combinations leave employment.

j. The contractor shall use CCTV to record operations at all delivery service facilities, where feasible.

k. If the document delivery is subcontracted, the agreement shall be a fully executed contractual agreement, a copy of which shall be provided to the Government for review.

l. Courier subcontractors shall comply with all information control requirements articulated above.

10. Greeter Services

a. The contractor shall provide a service that involves coordinating with local guard services and mission security staff to facilitate applicant entry into and movement through consular section facilities.

b. Greeters shall wear a uniform of some type that makes them easily identifiable to applicants and staff.

c. Greeter staff shall be rotated through the various functions and areas on a regular basis rather than assigned to a single duty.

11. Offsite Data Collection Services

Facility

a. The contractor shall ensure that GSS facilities allow for easy and secure access by the public to a clean, professional, secure, and comfortable facility that does not detract from the image of the Government.

b. The contractor shall implement appropriate physical security standards and access controls to ensure a safe and orderly environment for all GSS facilities, their employees, and their clients.

c. The contractor shall not use any facility without prior approval from the Government.

d. All OFCs shall have nondescript exteriors that do not mention a U.S. Government connection through symbols, flags, or writing. For example, the outside of the building might state “General Services Corporation Applicant Service Center.” Individuals shall only come to the OFC after having been given an appointment and directions to the facility. The facility shall not be an advertisement for services.

e. Offsite facilitation centers shall meet requirements outlined in 12 FAH 5 Appendices D, F, and G, including but not limited to:

i. Exterior doors shall provide five (5) minute Forced Entry (FE) protection.

ii. Building exterior windows shall provide five (5) minute FE protection to a minimum of 16 ft (5 m) above grade or accessible platform. Windows shall be treated with eight mil (0.2 mm) or performance equivalent shatter-resistant window film.

iii. All man-passable non-window openings in exterior walls below 16 ft (5 m) above grade or accessible platform shall be grilled or louvered to provide five (5) minute FE protection.

iv. There shall be a five-minute interior barrier separating the employee work area from the applicant waiting area. This includes walls, doors, and teller windows from floor to ceiling (slab to slab construction).

v. The enrollment stations shall have upper walls constructed of materials that allow observation from all areas, by other booths and by supervisory personnel alike, to guard against malfeasance.

vi. DS-approved locks, or equivalent, shall be installed on all access points to include both interior and exterior doors.

vii. Centrally monitored alarm system shall be installed to provide both active and passive protection.

f. There shall be adequate external lighting at all access points.

g. All OFCs shall include provisions for active inspection of belongings before allowing passage through to the applicant waiting room.

h. DVRs recording internal and external camera coverage shall be located within a secure area.

Staff:

a. The contractor shall have designated supervisory personnel on location at the OFC during all operating hours.

b. OFC management employees shall possess either Secret personnel security clearances or favorable Moderate Risk Public Trust (MRPT) clearances.

c. All other OFC employees and subcontracted staff shall be vetted by the supported embassy or consulate prior to hire.

d. OFC staff shall wear a uniform of some type that makes them easily identifiable to applicants and staff.

e. Should any OFC employee leave their jobs voluntarily, the contracting company shall notify the Government prior to their departure and shall provide full cooperation in any investigation conducted by the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

f. OFC staff interfacing with USG IT support staff shall, at a minimum, be able to communicate in English.

Information Security:

a. The contractor shall only use the hardware and software furnished by the Government for biometric data collection.

b. The contractor shall not permit wireless networks to share a data access point with the USG system. .

c. To protect applicant data, the contractor shall not use wireless computers at the OFC.

d. The equipment furnished by DOS shall not vary from the original configuration unless specified by DOS.

e. No personal computers, media, flash drives, USB devices, or other peripherals shall be permitted in OFCs. No peripherals of any sort, including contractor-owned equipment, shall be attached to the Government-supplied equipment unless authorized by the Government.

f. All computers, including those belonging to the contractor, shall be subject to inspection by post personnel at any time.

g. The contractor shall install USG-provided security software updates on a monthly basis.

h. Implementation of the local LAN at each contractor facility shall be properly protected with firewalls and other access controls.

i. All users of GFE shall possess their own user account, restricted to only what is operationally necessary. Accounts with administrative access shall not be used as general user accounts.

j. GFE shall be configured with restricted access control to the Internet, only allowing authorized access to required business process sites. Use of firewalls shall be mandatory, configured with no allowed inbound connections and only those outbound connections necessary for transmission of biometric data via GFE.

k. If appropriate to the network configuration, the contractor shall implement network monitoring tools (NAC, NIPS, etc.) to alert managers of the presence of an illegitimate system.

Scheduling:

a. The contractor shall be able to accommodate all requests for appointments at GSS facilities (no arbitrary appointment cut-offs).

Biometrics Collection:

a. The contractor shall collect biometrics in 100% of cases that are supported by OFCs unless specifically advised by the Government.

b. The contractor shall meet minimum quality standards for all biometrics collected. If an applicant's biometrics cannot be captured at minimum standards due to the physical quality of their prints, the applicant shall be referred to the consular section for processing.

c. The contractor shall not exceed a 0.01% error rate (or other threshold as specified by a task order) for matching applicant’s electronic visa application data and biometric data.

d. The contractor shall transfer applicant data to the consular section according to an agreed schedule. The contractor shall not refuse to transmit an applicant’s data unless specifically advised to do so by the Government.

e. The contractor shall ensure that bandwidth and line speed will allow for the transmission of required data over the internet within one (1) minute, even at peak applicant volume.

f. The contractor shall capture biometric enrollment of applicants within GSS facilities on closed-circuit TV (CCTV) searchable by date and time, and archived for a minimum of a year. CCTV shall capture enrollment on both sides of the enrollment station. If feasible, and when permitted by local law, this CCTV feed shall capture sound as well.

g. All OFC employees collecting biometrics shall complete USG-provided training on fraudulent passports, detecting impostors and identifying altered/mutilated fingerprints.

h. To prevent malfeasance, OFCs shall employ some type of queuing system to ensure that applicants are unable to select a particular employee for biometric enrollment.

Application Document Collection and Delivery:

a. The contractor shall transfer all documents to the consular section according to an agreed schedule.

b. The contractor shall be responsible for passports and listed supporting documents from the moment received from the applicant until delivery to the consular section. The contractor shall be responsible for verifying that all documents and passports are in the package at the time it is returned by the consular section and assumes its responsibility from that moment until satisfactory acceptance by the applicant.

c. The contractor shall provide more than one delivery service per customer, when required on a limited basis.

Quality Assurance:

a. The contractor shall confirm applicant bio-data on the documents identified by the USG (e.g., a CEAC barcode) against the applicant's passport to ensure no errors were made in the application that would affect screening, including spelling/order/completeness of name and date of birth. If errors are discovered, the contractor shall report that information to the supported consular section by the end of the working day, using secure email or other communication methods.