Sources Sought - Pouch and Mail Services (21 Apr 2021).docx

Sources Sought notice for follow on of classified and unclassified pouch and mail services.

This is a Sources Sought Synopsis, for market research purposes only, and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP).

The Department of State’s (DoS), Office of Acquisition Management on behalf of the Office of Logistics Management (A/LM) is seeking potential sources that are capable of providing a service to perform Diplomatic Pouch and Mail support services.

The Diplomatic Pouch and Mail Support Services are currently provided by FCI Federal, small business, under the contract SAQMMA16C0196. The contract is due to expire on September 30, 2021. The Government intends to compete the Department of State Unclassified and Classified Diplomatic Pouch and Mail support services contract. The intent is to award a performance-based firm-fixed price contract, with a one year base and four one year options.

All interested firms shall submit a response demonstrating their capabilities to provide the service to the primary point of contact listed below. Should your firm be interested in this requirement, please submit your company’s capability package in no more than 15 pages. Responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. The decision to solicit for a contract shall be solely within the Government's discretion.

Firms responding should indicate their socio-economic status; such as whether they are, or are not, a small business, a veteran owned small business, a service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantage business and woman-owned small business concerns.

The Government reserves the right to consider a small business set-aside based upon responses hereto for any subsequent acquisition. Respondents are further requested to indicate their status as a foreign-owned/foreign-controlled firm and any contemplated use of foreign national employees on this effort.

Any information submitted by respondents to this source sought synopsis is voluntary. This source sought notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government reimburse any costs associated with the submission of information in response to this notice. Respondents will not be notified of the results of any government assessments. The Government's evaluation of the capability statements received will factor into whether any forthcoming solicitation will be conducted as a full and open competition or as a set-aside for small businesses, or any particular small business designation (e.g. SDVOSB, HUBZone, SDB, WOSB, VOSB, etc.).

Capabilities package: All interested firms should submit a capabilities package that explicitly demonstrates company capabilities-indicating examples of services provided and specifications related to this effort. The capabilities package should include at a minimum:

1. Contractor Name

2. Address

3. Point of Contact (POC) with phone number(s) and e-mail addresses

4. DUNS Number

5. Anticipated teaming arrangements if any (delineate between work accomplished by prime and work accomplished by teaming partners)

6. GSA contract, if applicable and number

7. Provide responses of capabilities to specific work requirements.

8. Comments on objectives and draft evaluation criteria

9. Socio-Economic Status

10. Clearance Level

Diplomatic Pouch and Mail Services

DoS A/LM plans to award a performance-based services contract for the effort to deliver unclassified and classified diplomatic pouch and mail services to its customers and compliment the work of Agency staff.

The objectives of this effort and contractor requirements are:

• Form a cooperative relationship with a contractor to provide proactive solutions, cross-functional training, and values continuous process improvement.

• Provide insight into mail operations and process engineering including a deep understanding of addressing schemes, bar-code technology, mail metering, zip codes and sorting techniques.

• Provide receiving, sorting, pouching and handling resources for processing packages and mail to the correct customer in a timely, consistent, secure, undamaged and accountable way at a reasonable cost.

• Effectively operate Government developed safety and security screening procedures.

• Provide dispatch to Government provided freight forwarders and in the case of classified diplomatic pouch operations, the Diplomatic Courier Service.

• Provide efficient integration and utilization of Government provided automated sorting technology over the term of the contract period including letter, flat mail and package sorters and the DoS Integrated Logistics Management System (ILMS), a logistics tracking IT system.

• Align workforce to seasonal volume fluctuations, changes due to sorter automation and ILMS development

• Adjust quickly to emerging terrorist threats affecting diplomatic pouch and mail activities or facilities

Constraints:

Security -- The workforce deployed to process classified diplomatic pouches will require Top Secret - Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS-SCI) security clearances for the classified pouch operations. The unclassified pouch and mail operation will require background check, however no clearance is required.

Specific work requirements:

Unclassified Pouch and Mail Processing:

Inbound mail is from multiple sources including local DoS annexes, other local ICASS Agencies, USPS and commercial carriers like UPS, FedEx, etc. Mail is processed from the transporting trucks, unloaded, scanned into ILMS, and prepared for further handling. Bulk mail is separated from letters, flat mail and parcels.

Threat/hazard Screening is accomplished in specially designed containment rooms in coordination with other contract and Government resources

Mail Processing continues after the mail is cleared from screening. Mail is moved to the respective floor areas dedicated to each type of mail processing to effectively sort it by DoS destinations. Each mail type has its own process of handling, sorting, ILMS logging, and staging.

Tubs of letter and flat mail are processed with the automatic letter sorter which batches the mail for each destination. Sorted letter mail is wrapped in bundles and the bundle for each Post is then placed in the appropriate bag in the bag rack area. Large bins of flat mail (magazines, periodicals, advertising etc.) are hand sorted into separate bags by destination. Bags containing both flat and letter mail are sealed, tagged, scanned in ILMS in preparation for dispatch with pouches.

Parcels are sorted via an automatic parcel sorter and moved to the staging area established for e DoS worldwide destinations. In the staging area, pouches are loaded, scanning each item as it is entered. Diplomatic pouches are prepared in accordance with the dispatch schedule for freight forwarder pickup.

A constant vigilance for prohibited and hazardous items is present.

Classified Pouch and Mail Processing

Incoming mail is from a variety of ICASS participant agencies and via the DoS mail transportation trucks. Classified deliveries are accounted for in a chain of custody process, receipted, and logged in ILMS database tracking application. They are sorted in the facility specially designed for this purpose.

Individual pieces are aggregated into appropriate sized pouches. An invoice is generated for each pouch and placed inside the pouch. The pouches are sealed and tagged and made ready for dispatch to the Diplomatic Courier Service.

Period and Place of Performance:

The base period of performance will be one year from date of award with four one-year options.

The place of performance will be at Government facilities in the metro DC area. An unclassified mail facility is located near the Dulles airport. A classified mail facility is located near Springfield, VA.

Draft non-price Evaluation criteria

The evaluation factors listed below will be used to evaluate each Offeror’s proposal:

Technical/Management Solution The technical/management solution will be evaluated for its quality and evidence of the extent to which the Offeror’s solution will achieve the Diplomatic Pouch and Mail (DPM) objectives. The evaluation will include an assessment of how well the solution adheres to sound diplomatic pouch and mail management practices and reflects an in-depth understanding of the program’s objectives, environment and constraints. Evidence of the quality of the technical approach includes:

· A comprehensive performance statement of work and contract work breakdown structure that identifies the services to be delivered to meet the program and mission requirements set forth in the Statement of Objectives.

· A representative staffing plan that aligns with the proposed performance statement of work and contract work breakdown structure.

· A sound technical solution that clearly demonstrates how implementation of the proposed solution will deliver timely, standard, stable, reliable, secure, flexible, responsive, compliant, and cost-effective services to meet the needs of the Department of State (DoS) and its stakeholders.

· An approach to contract transition that clearly demonstrates a sound plan and accurately defines the work tasks to be accomplished in order to seamlessly both transfer from the current contract environment to the proposed solution and transfer to a new contract at the completion without interruption. The approach addresses all aspects of transition to include the process for clearing personnel, training, etc. and the identification and mitigation of transition risks. The transition plan includes a project schedule in the form of a Gantt chart that shows all critical tasks and performance dependencies.

· A management approach, including the use of Program Management processes, tools and techniques that shows the extent and depth of dedication to each of the two function business lines, that is sound and clearly demonstrates the ability to partner with the DoS to achieved the stated objectives including aggressively identifying and applying solutions to State’s business processes. The approach shall demonstrate the use of key personnel who are highly qualified and experienced with a proven track record of success in providing pouch and mail management services under performance-based contracting arrangements.

Performance Management Strategy The offerors strategy for managing performance will be evaluated to the extent performance management approach and their Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) reflect a solid understanding and approach to performance measurement and performance-based contracting methodologies. The plan and QASP utilizes metrics that measure accountability and accuracy and the performance management strategy ties proposed incentives/disincentives to the project objectives in a way that enhances meeting the DPM services objectives and encourages superior quality service.

Past Performance The past performance evaluation examines how the Contractors relevant past and present performance validates expected performance and customer satisfaction for the Department of State. The Offeror should have a track record of mail services successes as a prime contractor with the selected technical solution and management approach. In conducting the past performance assessment, the Government may use data obtained from other sources as well as that provided in the Offeror’s proposal.

The past performance evaluation will also examine the Offeror’s actual performance on similar performance-based efforts. The evaluation will also utilize information obtained during the Government’s site visits of work locations where the Offeror demonstrates performance. This review will focus on the size, scope and complexity of the past efforts, the performance measures/service levels applied, and the actual results achieved against those measures

Responses may be submitted electronically to the following e-mail addresses: brownEA1@state.gov in a Microsoft Word/Adobe compatible format. Responses are due no later than Noon EST May 10, 2021.

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED