RFP Cover Letter 8(a) .doc

SOCIAL SECURITY

July 19, 2010 Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) invites you to submit a proposal in accordance with the requirements of Request for Proposal (RFP) Number SSA-RFP-10-1051 to provide Sign Language Interpretation and CART Services for the SSA.

The Government intends to award one requirements type contract under which the agency can place firm fixed price and labor hour task orders for the required services. SSA will make an award without discussions, to the offeror whose offer represents the Best Value to the Government in accordance with the Evaluation criteria in Section E-3 of the solicitation.

The awarded contractor will perform services at SSA Headquarters complex in Woodlawn, MD, and at other locations in the greater Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. Additionally, services may be required at other SSA locations nationwide including any of the 6 Payment Centers or 10 Regional Offices (see SSA’s website www.ssa.gov/org). All interpreters must be certified by a recognized certifying organization such as the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) or the National Association for the Deaf (NAD). The contractor and contractor’s employees shall abide by all state and local laws, in regard to certification and licensure of all interpreters. A qualified interpreter shall have a minimum of four (4) years paid professional experience within the last six (6) years.

This requirement is being conducted under FAR Part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, Part 15, Contracting by Negotiation, and FAR Subpart 19.8 Contracting with the Small Business Administration (The 8(a) Program).

This requirement is being set aside 100% for 8(a) small business concerns. In order to be eligible for contract award, the offeror must be an eligible participant in the 8(a) program by the closing date specified in the solicitation.

Offerors shall include their DUNS number and their 8(a) status on the cover letter or email of their offer.

All questions and inquiries concerning this RFP are to be referred to the attention of the undersigned via email no later than 3:00 p.m. EST on Monday, July 26, 2010.

Your proposal package must be submitted via email to Melissa.Kloman@ssa.gov no later than 12:00 p.m. EST on Friday, August 6, 2010. Late proposals will not be accepted.

In the subject line of all correspondence, please indicate the Solicitation No. SSA-RFP-10-1051. In the event that you are unable to email your proposal, please contact me.

Offerors are encouraged to read the entire solicitation package before submitting an offer. The requirements for preparation are set forth in Section E-1 and E-2 of the solicitation. The manner in which the offerors will be evaluated is set forth in Section E-3 of the solicitation. Please read these sections carefully and be sure that all requested information is included with your submission. Evaluators will neither make assumptions nor draw inferences regarding missing or incomplete data. The result of missing or incomplete data could result in the elimination of your offer from further consideration.

You are advised that the Government intends to evaluate offers and award the contract without discussions. Therefore, your initial proposal should contain your best offer in terms of technical capability, past performance, experience, and price.

Due to the high risk of virus infection of many types of files, SSA has a security policy in place to block the transmission of certain file types via E-mail. This means that any message attachments with the listed filename extensions will be stripped from all E-mail messages automatically (whether or not the files are infected with a virus). Attached is the current list of blocked filename extensions.

Sincerely, /s/

Melissa Kloman

Contract Specialist Current List of Blocked Filename Extensions