SN2A1 - Virtual Industry Sessions (20210113).pdf

PURPOSE OF SPECIAL NOTICE

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) intends to host a series of Virtual Industry Sessions with vendors interested in supporting its Federal Background Investigation (BI) Fieldwork Services requirement. Slated for January 26-28, 2021, these one-on-one sessions will allow vendors to engage in open dialogue with Government stakeholders about the evolution of the Federal BI mission and landscape, the challenges that lie ahead, and how industry insight and best practices could help DCSA shape its approach to fulfilling this requirement in the future.

BACKGROUND

Through vetting, industry engagement, counterintelligence support, and education, DCSA secures the trustworthiness of the United States Government's (USG)’s workforce, the integrity of its cleared contractor support, and the uncompromised nature of its technologies, services, and supply chains. DCSA optimizes its performance as the preeminent security organization to protect our nation's critical assets through enterprise risk management, continuous innovation, and excellence in mission performance and customer service.

As the primary investigative service provider for the USG, DCSA conducts more than two million BIs per year on civilian and military applicants, Federal employees or employees of Government contractors, and consultants to Federal programs. This includes as many as 500,000 cases per year that require fieldwork. DCSA also provides an end-to-end vetting service for Department of Defense (DoD) services and components (excluding Intelligence Community components)— including submissions, investigations, adjudications, and continuous vetting. In this way, DCSA serves both DoD and the whole of Government.

CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

DCSA intends to award new Federal BI contracts by June 2022 to provide the USG with timely, high-quality BIs conducted by qualified personnel in a manner that is compliant with Federal regulations, and agency rules and procedures. As the Federal BI mission evolves, DCSA seeks innovative strategies for addressing current and future statutory, policy, and technological challenges and constraints, each of which will significantly affect future investigative standards, training requirements, and operating procedures to unknown degrees during this acquisition. In this vein, DCSA seeks to meet the following objectives through these contracts:

• Implement a flexible, cost-efficient business model with the capacity to adapt to iterative policy and process changes—such as those anticipated for Trusted Workforce

2.0 and the National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) system—with agility and urgency as dictated by Executive Agencies;

• Accommodate limitations in the Government’s ability to predict future BI requests (e.g., case volume, type, timing, location, and complexity);

• Transition from the current BI case processing system to the NBIS system, with the understanding that DCSA will continue to use both legacy and NBIS systems at some point during the life of these contracts;

DCSA Background Investigation Fieldwork Services — Special Notice 2: Virtual Industry Sessions

• Retain a skilled contractor investigative workforce trained to the National Training Standards that can rapidly meet a variable, unpredictable, and nationwide (potentially worldwide) demand;

• Obtain consistent, quality investigative products at both the enterprise case level and the item level in accordance with strict timeliness mandates, Federal Investigative Standards, DoD cybersecurity policies, and DCSA protocols and procedures; and

• Balance legacy case types with emerging BI requirements—such as a growing population covered by continuous vetting, which may require on-demand targeted investigations and interviews.

INDUSTRY FEEDBACK

In consideration of the contract requirements described above, DCSA asks that vendors participating in Virtual Industry Sessions plan to address the following:

• What does your company believe would be the most efficient and effective business model for conducting Federal BIs in the future?

• What contract type(s) would best support your proposed model?

• What acquisition strategy does your company recommend (e.g., open market vs.

established contract vehicle)?

• How can the Government ensure that it maintains necessary investigative capacity in a cost-efficient manner despite its inability to predict workload volumes?

• How can the Government engage industry in planning for and accommodating the anticipated (but undefined) changes specified above?

• What are your company’s capabilities and experience in conducting Federal BIs?

(Reference other agencies for which you have conducted this work, as well as your company’s current geographic presence.)

• Knowing work is unpredictable and there is a timeliness standard for each case, what is your company’s capacity for staffing and deploying resources to meet variable workload demands?

• Understanding that BI requirements may change, how does your company recommend training the collective workforce to provide a consistent product to DCSA’s customers?

• What are your company’s thoughts on the use of disincentives and/or incentives tied to performance metrics?

• Realizing that DCSA intends to order BIs that span the nation, as well as case items at the local level, does your company have ideas the Government should consider based upon the requirements described above?

REGISTRATION FOR VIRTUAL INDUSTRY SESSIONS

DCSA intends to host multiple bilateral Virtual Industry Sessions via Adobe Connect (or a comparable platform) from January 26-28, 2021; however, DCSA reserves the right to shorten or extend this timeline depending on demand. Each session may last up to 45 minutes.

Interested vendors with missions and expertise that align with contract requirements may contact Ms. Julia Stiglitz, Investigative Contract Analyst, at Julia.M.Stiglitz.civ@mail.mil to mailto:Julia.M.Stiglitz.civ@mail.mil

DCSA Background Investigation Fieldwork Services — Special Notice 2: Virtual Industry Sessions request a session. The submission deadline for registration requests is 5 p.m. ET on Monday, January 18, 2021.* Please reference “Virtual Industry Session” in the subject line and include the following information in your email:

• Company name and website;

• Participant name, title, and email address (limited to three per company); and

• Up to three preferred session dates/times.

Note: DCSA reserves the right to accept or decline requests for Virtual Industry Sessions.

Submission of written materials is not required; however, vendors wishing to brief DCSA on their positions in advance may submit documents to Ms. Stiglitz no less than three days prior to their scheduled sessions. Consideration of such documents is at the Government’s discretion and not guaranteed.

RESOURCES

For more information about DCSA and its BI mission, please visit https://dcsa.mil/.

DISCLAIMER

This Special Notice does not constitute a solicitation. DCSA is not seeking proposals at this time. Discussion of requirements or potential future procurements does not constitute a commitment by DCSA, nor should industry rely upon this information in planning future courses of action. In the event that there is a conflict between any future solicitation‘s terms and conditions and the information contained herein or disseminated during Virtual Industry Sessions, the solicitation‘s terms and conditions shall prevail. Future solicitations and any formal amendments are the only documents that industry should rely upon in determining the Government's requirements and ultimate acquisition strategy.

The Government will provide public notice of procurements via the Governmentwide Point of Entry at https://beta.sam.gov or through an appropriate multi-agency contract portal such as General Services Administration (GSA) eBuy at https://www.ebuy.gsa.gov/. It is the responsibility of interested parties to monitor these websites for subsequent information.

*Amended on 01/13/2021 https://dcsa.mil/ https://beta.sam.gov/ https://www.ebuy.gsa.gov/