STATEMENT_OF_WORK_CONTRACT_USCA-08-C-0506.pdf

SECTION C

DESCRIPTION / SPECIFICATION / PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

C.1 INTRODUCTION

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (hereinafter known as either the AO or Government) requires the Contractor to provide services for a Government program, hereinafter known as the Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC), and support services for the production and transmission of notices for the United States Bankruptcy Courts (Bankruptcy Courts). The services provided by the BNC program include, but are not limited to, receiving bankruptcy case-related data in electronic format, producing bankruptcy notices, distributing notices through the United States Postal Service (USPS) and by electronic transmission in the most cost-efficient, timely and effective manner, and providing program-related reports to the AO and Bankruptcy Courts.

The volume of work depends on the number of bankruptcy cases filed and the number of Bankruptcy Courts that use this program. Presently, 90 Bankruptcy Courts utilize the BNC as detailed in Section J, Attachment 1.1 At this time, it is estimated that the number of notices prepared and served by the Bankruptcy Courts in Fiscal Year 2007 (October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007) will be approximately 105 million. Historical volume information and program cost information is detailed in Section J, Attachment 2. Projected volumes are provided in Section B.

The Contract is a fixed price, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity Contract (IDIQ).

This requirement will be a performance-based Contract with an award fee incentive.

C.1.1 Background

Title 11 of the United States Code [11 U.S.C. § 101 et. seq.] (Bankruptcy Code), the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (Bankruptcy Rules) and each Bankruptcy Court's local rules and customs require Bankruptcy Courts to notify all interested parties of the filing of a bankruptcy case and to provide notice of certain subsequent events. A notice is a legal document that informs interested parties of the filing of a petition and of significant events subsequent to the filing of a case.

The process of producing and preparing notices for transmission is done by the Bankruptcy Court staff and other entities, such as Contractors, debtors, attorneys and trustees.

Under a Contract managed by the AO, the BNC electronically retrieves data from participating courts' case management systems and automates the printing, addressing, batching and mailing process. The BNC is able to generate notices at a fraction of the time and cost that would be

1Does not include the Districts of the Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, which are United States District Courts that accept and process bankruptcy case filings.

required if produced by local courts. Since its introduction in 1994, the BNC program has saved the Judiciary over $67 million in noticing costs and has improved service to the Bankruptcy Courts and notice recipients.

The BNC interfaces daily with the Bankruptcy Courts' Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system to retrieve notices, provides courts with address lists for local court noticing requirements, and returns to the court a full accounting of work done on the courts' behalf. Courts maintain case documents electronically through CM/ECF which provides each court the option of receiving case documents (e.g., pleadings, motions, petitions) filed with the court over the Internet. Presently, CM/ECF operates on the Linux platform with a relational database. See Section J, Attachment 3 for a description of CM/ECF. The BNC exchanges information with each court system on a daily basis based on the program’s Production Cycle and reporting requirements. Registered CM/ECF users, primarily attorneys, may receive an e-mail notification of case activity from CM/ECF as the sole form of notification based on court preference.

The addresses for the notice recipients are obtained by the Bankruptcy Courts from official case documents filed with the courts. Prior to notice production, the Contractor cross-references the Bankruptcy Courts' preferred address database, maintained by the Contractor, to identify notice recipients that have registered a preferred USPS or electronic address to receive notices, and redirects notices to the preferred address pursuant to § 342(f) of the Bankruptcy Code and Bankruptcy Rules 2002(g)(4) and 9036. The Contractor provides the Bankruptcy Courts with Certificates of Notice and other reports that specify notice production activity for each case notice event transmitted to the BNC.

The Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing (EBN) initiative is operated through the BNC program. EBN was introduced as an innovative money-saving alternative to USPS-based bankruptcy paper noticing. EBN eliminates the production and mailing of traditional paper notices, and associated postage costs, while speeding public service of the notices. Available options include Internet e-mail and fax services, and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for large volume notice recipients. In FY 2006, approximately 15 million notices were sent electronically.

Participation in the EBN program by creditors or other recipients is voluntary. Additional program growth is expected in the near future through administrative and rules-based initiatives recently adopted. Expansion of the EBN program is a high priority of the Bankruptcy Courts.

The Contractor's involvement as the Government's marketing agent and technical expert is critical to the program's success.

The Bankruptcy Courts are expected, but not required, to use the BNC. However, not all noticing is conducted through the BNC program. Guidelines issued by the Judicial Conference of the United States (Judicial Conference) encourage delegation of court noticing functions to case parties where practical, e.g., noticing performed by noticing agents appointed and paid for by the estate in large reorganization bankruptcy cases. Bankruptcy Courts may also send notices locally for emergency or special situations, or as needed.

C.2 CURRENT PROGRAM OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW

The BNC program has served the Bankruptcy Courts' noticing needs for more than a decade. The BNC's primary purpose is to save the Judiciary money by centrally producing and transmitting electronic and paper notices for all of the bankruptcy courts. The BNC operation encompasses customer service to courts and notice recipients, and has evolved to provide sophisticated recipient address management options and support for noticing stakeholders. The Contractor works closely with the AO and the courts, and the Contractor’s systems interface with CM/ECF, to ensure notices are retrieved correctly and timely from the courts, generated and addressed accurately, electronically rendered in the proper format for EBN recipients and inserted into the correct envelope for paper recipients, and transmitted on-time. The Contractor electronically returns an accurate Certificate of Notice in a timely manner. The BNC Contractor also manages inconsistencies in forms, multiple address variations and bounced-back e-mails.

The scope of the BNC program has been expanded to provide a full-range of customer service-oriented features, in addition to notice production activities, resulting from multiple operational, statutory and rules-driven enhancements requested by the Government.

The flowchart on page C-15 depicts current processing within the BNC program. A brief review of the BNC process follows for illustrative purposes. The program is organized around a "Production Cycle." A Production Cycle is defined as the time between a scheduled notice retrieval time for Government output by the Contractor from an originating Government location on a Government business day, and both the delivery of resulting notices to the USPS that fully meet the requirements of Section C.5.4, and, if electronically transmitted pursuant to Section C.5.4.1, the time an electronic notice is transmitted. The current BNC Production Cycle begins at the scheduled notice retrieval time for Government output by the Contractor from an originating Government location on a Government business day and ends on the second calendar day following retrieval. The beginning of the schedule is staggered across all of the courts based on court preference. Typically, near the end of a Government business day in any district, the court will run an automated process to collect all of the notice events for all cases for that day.

The courts then post the notice output to a specific directory on their respective public access servers for collection by the Contractor at the scheduled retrieval time.

The BNC Contractor retrieves this information, validates the data through a quality assurance test, and creates any error reports. When discrepancies are found, customer service agents interact with the courts to resolve the issues. If needed, the data retrieval can be rescheduled. Once the output is reviewed, the BNC Contractor begins to process the data based upon recipient preference (electronic or mail). The Contractor identifies all addresses in the courts' data and determines the delivery method based upon the combination of recipient name and address.

C.2.1 Current Mailed Notice Processing by the Bankruptcy Noticing Center Contractor

For printed notices, the Contractor accurately prints the notices from the PDF files retrieved from the court and any Contractor-stored forms. The Contractor considers several

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C M /E C F factors when producing the paper, including the number of pages for the notice and any graphical elements included in the file. Once the notice is produced on paper, it is quality checked for accuracy, format, readability, paper quality and address validity.

The Contractor ensures that each notice to be mailed is correctly inserted into an envelope/self-mailer. Also, the Contractor employs methods to insert multiple notices to the same addressee (termed "multi-stuffing") into a single envelope/self-mailer in order to maximize postage savings. The Contractor complies with all postal regulations to maximize presort postal discounts such as:

1. Placing a bar code on mail pieces that match the printed five- or nine-digit zip code in the outgoing address on the envelope;

2. Inserting missing ZIP codes or replacing incorrect ZIP codes;

3. Complying with all USPS regulation changes, including the recent modifications to Delivery Point Validation and Locatable Address Conversion System Link procedures; and,

4. Identifying and supporting future postal regulation changes.

Generally, the Contractor prints the address as provided by the court. The Contractor adds the ZIP+4 code if no zip code is provided. In order to comply with USPS regulations, and to maximize postage savings, the Contractor can change the ZIP code that is provided to match the correct zip code identified through the U.S. Postal Service Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS), if different. The Contractor adds the last four digits to complete the ZIP+4 code, when the original five digits are correct. The Contractor prints the postal delivery bar code using the CASS certified correct address.

If the Contractor's addressing process requires the printing of additional sheet(s) or side(s) to accomplish multi-stuffing, the Government is not billed for such sheet(s) or side(s).

The Contractor uses the return address specified by the court, except that the address is verified to ensure it meets the standards of the USPS Domestic Mail Manual. If the return address is invalid as determined by CASS certified software, the Contractor uses the return address specified for multi-stuffing. The originating Government location has the option of having returned mail sent to the originating Government location, debtor, debtor's attorney, or plaintiff's attorney (in adversary proceedings).

If an addressee is provided multiple notices, each having a different return address, the Contractor uses its own return address and mails all such notices to the addressee in a single envelope/self-mailer, shipping bag, or carton even if from multiple originating Government locations and/or districts. However, should the mail be returned, the Contractor uses the preapproved method to forward returned mail to the Bankruptcy Courts, or to return each individual notice(s) to the address specified by each court with appropriate transmittal documentation.

The Contractor supports the preferred creditor address requirements under §§ 342(e) and

(f) of the Bankruptcy Code. The Contractor redirects notices to a creditor's national preferred mailing address as required by § 342(f) of the Bankruptcy Code. However, the Contractor also ensures that any case-specific preferred address flagged by CM/ECF, pursuant to § 342(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, is used as that creditor's address for that case. These features provide more efficient and accurate notification to notice recipients while reducing the Judiciary's postage expenses. All administrative responsibilities associated with these features, including management and maintenance of the preferred creditor address database, are the Contractor's responsibility.

C.2.2 Current Electronic Bankruptcy Notice Processing by the Bankruptcy Noticing Center Contractor

As the Government's preferred alternative to the paper production process, the Contractor electronically transmits approximately 14 percent of the total notice volume through the Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing (EBN) program. Any improvements to the electronic delivery methods that reduce the total number of paper notices should result in significant savings to the Government. Accordingly, continued growth of the EBN program is a high priority of the Government.

The Contractor is responsible for marketing EBN to notice recipients. Currently the EBN program provides the capability for notice recipients to receive electronic transmission of notices using: 1) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI); 2) facsimile (fax) transmission; 3) e-mail with attachment in Adobe PDF format; or 4) e-mail containing a hyperlink to the PDF-formatted electronic notice. The electronic transmission of notices is permitted only upon written request of the entity entitled to receive the notice. Through the National Creditor Registration Service (NCRS), the Contractor manages all aspects of the EBN program on behalf of the Bankruptcy Courts. The NCRS provides direct contact with EBN subscribers through a toll-free customer support line, and maintains subscriber name and address lists used for re-directing notices to the appropriate electronic address. The Contractor provides Bankruptcy Courts with web access to the EBN noticing partner database.

The Contractor reviews the Bankruptcy Courts' daily notice output to determine which notices will be transmitted electronically to EBN subscribers. See Section J, Attachment 4, for sample EBN Noticing Agreements. By comparing the notice mailing lists with the NCRS database, the Contractor determines whether a particular notice recipient has requested electronic notice delivery.

Exact match duplicate incoming addresses of EBN subscribers within a notice event are listed as duplicates in the bypassed recipients section of the Certificate of Notice. When names and addresses of EBN subscribers are not exact matches within a notice event, individual electronic notices are transmitted to the EBN subscriber for each name and address combination listed on the mailing list.

The Contractor provides redundant paper and electronic notices for a limited period of time to assist subscribers and to facilitate a successful transition from paper to electronic-only processing. During the redundant period, a paper copy of the notice is sent to the subscriber to allow for testing, software configuration and internal process changes. The Government determines the duration of this period.

The types of EBN services currently offered are described below.

C.2.2.1 Electronic Data Interchange

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) notices are formatted in accordance with the ANSI ASC X12 Court Notice transaction set standard as detailed in Section J, Attachment 5. Variable notice information is provided to the recipient. EDI notices are transmitted through a Government-designated gateway to the recipient's account. EDI is designed for creditors that elect to receive bankruptcy notice information as a data stream.

C.2.2.2 Facsimile Noticing

The Contractor converts notice files to imaged documents suitable for sending by fax transmission to registered noticing partners. The service is particularly suitable for mid-size and smaller creditors. The Contractor includes one fax cover sheet per recipient for all notices from the same district showing the name and address of the recipient, case number, form code, originating district or office, date and the total number of pages included in the fax. The Contractor provides for a customizable fax cover sheet for each district. A notice or combined fax job cannot exceed 30 pages. Should this occur, the job is broken into segments containing no more than 30 pages.

C.2.2.3 Electronic mail with PDF attachment

The BNC program provides several options for subscribers to receive e-mails with PDF attachments of the notice:

1. An e-mail that has a single PDF file attachment containing multiple notices.

(Example: 20 notices would be included in one (1) PDF file and sent in one (1) e-mail as an attachment). If a method is not chosen on the Noticing Agreement this will be the method used.

2. A single e-mail for each notice, with one PDF file attachment per e-mail.

(Example: 20 notices would be sent as 20 e-mails, each e-mail with one PDF file attachment).

3. An e-mail that has multiple PDF file attachments, each attachment containing one

(1) notice (limited to 25 per e-mail). (Example: 20 notices would be sent as one

(1) e-mail with 20 PDF file attachments).

Due to the uncertainty of sending large attachments through Internet e-mail, attachment sizes are limited to two (2) megabytes (MB). The subscriber's Internet Service Provider (ISP) or e-mail server must have the capability of providing an automatic electronic acknowledgment upon receipt of each e-mail to ensure that the notice attachments were delivered.

Notices are combined into one PDF attachment of up to two (2) MBs in size. Any e-mail notice requiring a file attachment over two (2) MBs is separated into multiple e-mail messages with notice attachments no larger than the maximum size.

C.2.2.4 Electronic mail containing hyperlink

Subscribers can choose to receive e-mail containing links to a PDF version of the notice in place of paper. All notice types can be sent by E-mail Link. Three subscriber options are available:

1. Single e-mail, per day and court, with a list of links to individual PDF files for each notice to the subscriber for that day (limited to 25 per e-mail); or

2. Multiple e-mails per day, with each e-mail containing a single link to a single PDF file for each notice transmitted to the subscriber for that day, separated by court; or

3. A single daily e-mail with a link to one (1) PDF file that contains a compilation of all the notices transmitted to the subscriber for that day, separated by court.

C.2.3 Other Production Output Generated by the Bankruptcy Noticing Center

The Contractor generates other output associated with notice production, including production and billing reports, electronic certificates of notice that are automatically docketed by Bankruptcy Courts to the CM/ECF case record, and reports documenting production problems.

Requirements for these and additional outputs are described in the appropriate sections that follow the Performance Work Statement (PWS).

C.2.4 General Definitions

See Section J, Attachment 6.

C.2.5 Acronyms

See Section J, Attachment 7.

C.3 PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

C.3.1 BNC Initiative Objective

This PWS is a performance-based requirement for a Contractor facility and support services for the production and transmission of notices for the Bankruptcy Courts. Services include receiving bankruptcy case-related data in electronic format, producing accurate and complete bankruptcy notices, distributing notices through the USPS or electronic transmission in the most cost-efficient, timely and effective manner, and providing program-related reports to the AO and Bankruptcy Courts. The Contractor shall also provide customer service and support on all required BNC program requirements to court personnel, notice recipients and current and prospective EBN and NCRS program participants.

The Contractor shall meet all the service, feature, technical, management and operational requirements specified in this PWS.

C.3.2 Operational and Economic Efficiencies

The Contractor shall perform the required elements so as to achieve operational and economic efficiencies, including:

1. Minimizing paper production, physical processing and postage costs through utilization of electronic technology and transmission to the maximum extent possible;

2. Minimizing the instances in which redundant paper notice is mailed to electronic notice recipients;

3. Minimizing the number of pieces mailed through the USPS;

4. Maximizing postage savings; and,

5. Providing monthly reports to the Government detailing all savings achieved through the BNC program and any other means identified by the Contractor and approved by the Government.

C.4 PWS SCOPE AND PURPOSE

The purpose of the BNC Contract is to provide reliable and cost-effective notice preparation, transmission and delivery of notices from the Bankruptcy Courts to all intended recipients with an emphasis on electronic delivery. The Contractor shall:

1. Submit plans to shift the Bankruptcy Courts' noticing program from a predominantly paper process to a predominantly electronic process through marketing and outreach to notice recipients and continue to provide recommendations to develop cost-effective electronic program enhancements and services that appeal to notice recipients;

2. Ensure the correct addressing of notices so that each notice reaches the intended BNC recipient;

3. Effect timely, complete transmission and delivery so that each notice is sent or mailed within the mandated or specified deadline;

4. Provide support services for all originating Government locations, including:

problem notification and resolution, training that covers all aspects of BNC operations, web access to all court-related production reports and related information, to include any new processes added to the BNC operation, data quality services, information technology services and document preparation services;

5. Provide support services to electronic and preferred address notice recipients to ensure that notice is transmitted in the appropriate format to the specified address;

6. Achieve operational and economic efficiencies described in Section C.3.2;

7. Effectively manage the transition to a new BNC Contract, at both the award and conclusion phases of this contract, whether the contract is retained by the incumbent, transferred to another vendor, or assumed by the Government; and,

8. Maximize future advances in technology to reduce program costs and improve the ease-of-use and performance of the BNC for all participants.

The Contractor shall provide all administrative and functional supervision, personnel, equipment, tools, materials, software, systems, technology, documentation and other items or services necessary to accomplish this work. The Contractor shall perform all work assigned to the standards specified in the contract, or, in the absence of a specific standard, to the best practice standards currently prevailing in the industry. Following issuance, publication or deployment by the Contractor, the Contractor shall deliver to the Government within 30 days, all Government-accepted deliverables including memoranda, records, reports, computer programs, data and inventions developed by the Contractor under the contract. The Government will have unlimited rights to all Government-accepted deliverables first produced under this contract.

The Contractor shall meet all the service, feature, technical, management and operational requirements specified in this contract. The Contractor shall manage and operate the BNC, inclusive of all operations, project management, quality assurance and quality control, contingency planning and security measures and controls. After approval by the Contracting Officer (CO), the Contractor shall draft and provide to the Bankruptcy Courts documentation of procedures required for using BNC services as set forth in Section C.5.5.4. The Contractor shall assume total responsibility for all requirements stated herein on the commencement date of the performance period.

C.5 BANKRUPTCY NOTICING CENTER MANDATORY SPECIFICATIONS

C.5.1 Government Output

The Government anticipates one (1) retrieval of Government output (notices and accompanying address lists) per Government business day from each originating Government location. However, the Contractor shall provide the capability for additional scheduled and unscheduled retrievals per day. Each originating Government location may change its business day hours or pick-up time upon notification to the Contractor. The Contractor shall process and transmit accurately all notices contained in a Government business day's output within a Production Cycle as defined in Section C.2 and Section J, Attachment 6. The production cycle shall be no longer than two calendar days following retrieval of Government output.

On an exception basis, the Courts may also create Government output on non-Government business days. In its proposal, the Contractor shall detail its procedure for retrieval of such output. Output retrieved on a non-Government business day will not commence a Production Cycle, but instead the Production Cycle for such output shall commence on the Government business day that immediately follows its receipt.

The Contractor shall electronically retrieve Government output from the CM/ECF server address specified by each originating Government location, and do so on each Government business day unless the Contractor will retrieve Government output and commence a Production Cycle on every calendar day. If the Contractor will commence a Production Cycle on every calendar day, it is anticipated that volumes will be low on weekends and Federal holidays.

The primary retrieval method is through the https secure transaction protocol. The Government reserves the right to require electronic retrieval from multiple servers per originating Government location. The Government will not accept any retrieval method that requires changes to its established CM/ECF interface software and related processes or operating system.

Under special limited circumstances, such as during Government server outages, Government output may be submitted to the Contractor by Internet e-mail, and the Production Cycle for such output shall commence upon the Government business day of receipt.

On an exception basis, the Contractor shall accept Government output provided on paper, and the Production Cycle for such output shall commence on the Government business day of receipt. The Contractor shall have the ability to merge and simultaneously process all output retrieved by all retrieval methods on the same Government business day.

The retrieval details for each originating Government location will be provided at contract award.

C.5.1.1 Notice Formats Processed by the Bankruptcy Noticing Center

Each case notice event provided by an originating Government location through CM/ECF consists of a completely formatted PDF file or instruction to print a Contractor-stored form and an address file. A standard set of official bankruptcy forms is mandated by the Judicial Conference. Each bankruptcy court may modify the forms to conform with local rules and customs. The Contractor will only be responsible for supporting stored forms specified in Section C.5.1.1.2. With the exception of the forms specified in Section C.5.1.1.2, all notices retrieved by the Contractor from the originating Government locations will be preformatted in their entirety.

Section C.5.4.2 and Section J, Attachment 8, contain the minimum Adobe version, Acrobat functionality, fonts and file formats that shall be supported by the Contractor. The Contractor shall specify:

1. Any additional font types and point sizes that it will support;

2. Support plans for future Adobe upgrades;

3. Plans for identifying improperly formatted PDF documents; and,

4. Plans for advising third-party software vendors of known PDF formatting deficiencies.

If the PDF document dimensions are larger than 8.5 x 11 but smaller than 9.5 x 12, the Contractor shall scale the PDF to fit on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.

Printing in simplex or duplex format will be dictated by the resultant number of printed sheets as provided in an Originating Government Location's individual notice file (including paper output as specified in B.4.d). The Contractor shall print all notices front-to-back. Single page notices shall be printed in simplex format. Multiple page notices shall be printed in duplex format, or in a combination thereof, if the production of an individual notice file would result in an odd number of pages.

The Contractor shall comply with the paper standards set forth at the U.S.

Government Printing Office’s website.

http://www.gpo.gov/acquisition/paperspecs/htm.

C.5.1.1.1 Notices Containing Social Security Numbers

The Contractor shall comply with any Judicial Conference policy on privacy and public access to electronic case files for bankruptcy courts. In accordance with current policy, the courts transmit two PDF files to the Contractor when the notice template includes Social Security Number (SSN) properties and the notice is a Bankruptcy Code § 341(a) meeting notice.

The first file contains the full SSN to send to address list recipients. The second file contains a "court copy" version of the notice with a redacted SSN displaying only the last four (4) digits.

The Contractor transmits to the creditors the first file containing the complete SSN. The Certificate of Notice, as defined at Section C.5.4.3, transmitted to the court for docketing, includes a copy of the second file. The Contractor provides to the court access to the redacted creditor version of the notice through a secure web site, more fully described in Section C.5.5.2

The Contractor, after obtaining Government approval, shall implement its plan for promptly notifying debtors, in writing by first class mail with postage paid by the Contractor, should debtors’ names and Social Security Numbers be released in error to unintended parties.

At a minimum, the plan shall offer credit monitoring services for a period of one year from debtors’ activation of credit monitoring services, which shall be provided at the Contractor's expense. Debtors shall be given a minimum of 30-calendar days from the post-marked mailing date of the written notification to activate the offered credit monitoring services. The plan shall acknowledge that notification to affected debtors will be issued within five (5) business days of the Contractor's discovery of an inadvertent violation of the Judiciary's privacy policy and related rules and laws. For each occurrence, the Government will provide the Contractor with approved text that shall be used for notifying affected debtors. All follow-up action under the Contractor's plan shall be performed in addition to the required follow-up activities required under Section F.7, Liquidated Damages.

C.5.1.1.2 Support of Stored Forms

The Contractor shall provide the capability for originating Government locations to store and modify form templates, such as the Official Form B10 (Proof of Claim or B10) and the Director's Procedural Form B 210B (Notice of Transfer of Claim Other Than for Security or B 210B). The Government will provide the existing stored forms to the Contractor in Adobe.pdf format after award. The Contractor shall maintain a configuration file of court information that may be included on a form. The data shall include name of the Clerk of Court, court address and court telephone number. In addition, the mail data may be inserted on the notice.

For the B10, the Contractor shall match the form with other forms as specified by each

Bankruptcy Court that uses a Contractor-stored B10. The Contractor shall insert recipient-specific information, including Bankruptcy Court district name, case number, name of debtor, creditor name and creditor identification number, as specified by each originating Government location. The Official Form B10 and specifications are detailed in Section J, Attachment 9. The Contractor shall attach the B10 to other forms as specified by each originating Government location, whether the national or modified version of the form is specified by each originating Government location including unique specifications at the District and Divisional office level, or by Judge. The CM/ECF file structure is detailed in Section J, Attachment 10.

For the B 210B, the Contractor shall follow instructions provided by the court so that recipient unique data regarding the transferor is provided on each notice. The B 210B and specifications for preparing the recipient and court copies of the B210B are detailed in Section J, Attachment 11.

A court may also require additions, replacements and/or modifications to the Contractor-stored forms. The Contractor shall make the changes and provide an electronic draft to the court for approval within three (3) Government business days of the court’s transmission to the Contractor. Corrections resulting from Contractor error shall be made within one (1) Government business day after notification by the court. The Contractor shall not place customized stored forms into production until approved by the Court. Corrections are defined as errors by the Contractor in making the original additions, replacements and/or modifications.

Any new additions, replacements and/or modifications requested by the court will begin a new time cycle.

In addition, the Contractor shall respond to new rules-based form changes when required by the Government. New Judiciary rules requiring a global change to the stored national form templates will be presented to the Contractor by the AO. The Contractor shall make the changes to the stored templates within ten (10) calendar days. During the Government's implementation of the change, the Contractor shall have the capability of providing service to the courts that use the stored national form templates and those that use customized stored form templates.

The Contractor shall ensure that stored form language may be customized to meet specifications defined at the District and Divisional office level or by a Judge.

C.5.1.2 Confirmation of Receipt of Government Output

Within 30 minutes of receipt of any Government output, the Contractor shall transmit electronic confirmation of receipt to the originating Government location. The Contractor shall provide its plans to immediately contact the Court if there is any evidence of a failure to receive all Government output. At a minimum, the plan shall include a provision to immediately call the primary court's primary BNC point-of-contact.

C.5.1.2.1 Government Output Transmitted through CM/ECF

The confirmation of the receipt of Government output from CM/ECF shall be based on the CM/ECF specification, as detailed in Section J, Attachment 12. The Contractor's confirmation shall include the date and time of receipt, originating Government location, number of files received, and, for each file received, the file name and number of bytes of information in each file.

C.5.1.2.2 Government Output Transmitted by E-mail and/or Paper

The Contractor shall electronically transmit a confirmation of receipt of Government output transmitted to the Contractor by e-mail and/or paper. The Contractor shall include in its confirmation at a minimum the date and time of receipt, originating Government location, retrieval method, number of notices received and the number of address lists received.

C.5.2 Government Output Volume Estimates

The Government output volume estimates are provided below.

C.5.2.1 Average Bankruptcy Notice Event File Size

1. The file size of each PDF notice transmitted to the Contractor averages approximately 40,500 bytes.

2. Each addressee consists of approximately 63 bytes of data with an average address file size of 3,351 bytes.

3. Currently, each notice is sent to an average of 17 addressees. However, the number of addressees varies from one to many thousands per notice event.

C.5.2.2 Annual Volume Estimates

The historical notice volumes for the Contractor are provided in Attachment J-2, Historical Notice Volumes and Program Costs.

C.5.2.3 Increases in Daily Workload and Annual Growth

Requirements for production capacities above the daily workload and annual growth are defined in this section.

Due to the fluctuation in the quantity of daily notice volumes, on any given day the Contractor shall have the capacity to process at least double the average daily volume of notices produced during the preceding 90 production days. The average daily workload is determined by adding total number of notices produced during the preceding 90 production days and dividing that amount by 90.

C.5.3 Addressing of Notices

The Contractor shall receive address information from the Bankruptcy Courts and verify that the format of each address is correct as provided in all subsections of this Section C.5.3. In addition, the Contractor shall maintain and update USPS-deliverable address lists periodically for the purposes of correcting and/or supplementing zip codes to ensure accuracy.

As approved by the Government, the Contractor may use additional or alternative addressing methods that promote correct delivery, provide efficiencies to the recipient and/or the Government, and comply with USPS regulations. Commingling of mail pieces from the BNC program with other non-related mail pieces is acceptable as long as the Contractor can accurately account, and certify postage charges, for postage expenses attributable to the program. Under no circumstances shall the Contractor combine bankruptcy notices with non-bankruptcy related documents to the same recipient within the same envelope or other mailing container.

C.5.3.1 Compliance with USPS Regulations

For USPS mailed notices, the Contractor shall comply with all pre-sort regulations including:

1. Adding the ZIP+4 code if no ZIP code is provided;

2. Adding the last four digits to complete the ZIP+4 when the original five digits are correct;

3. Replacing the incomplete or incorrect five-digit ZIP or ZIP+4 code with a correct ZIP+4 when it can be determined using the USPS CASS certified correct address; and,

4. Printing the postal delivery bar code using the USPS CASS certified correct address.

The Contractor shall possess and maintain expert knowledge on current and pending changes to USPS regulations and maximize postage discounts. The Contractor shall immediately notify the Government of any changes in USPS regulations or rates that require modification to BNC program mailing processes, and how the Contractor proposes to implement such changes.

The Contractor shall use penalty indicia permit mail and ensure that all envelopes are prepared in conformance with USPS regulations. The Contractor shall use metered mail for all mail not qualified by postal regulations to use penalty indicia permit mail. The Government will reimburse these charges to the Contractor. The Contractor shall account for all metered mail first class postage charges, and separately bill the Government for reimbursement. The Contractor shall ensure that all envelopes display the following information:

1. "United States Bankruptcy Court, Official Business, Penalty for Private Use $300."

2. "PRE-SORTED FIRST CLASS MAIL", as required by the Postal Service.

3. Mailing permit number. (To be provided at time of award.)

C.5.3.2 National Creditor Registration Service

The Contractor shall support the preferred creditor address requirements under § 342 (e) and (f) of the Bankruptcy Code and Bankruptcy Rule 2002(g)(4), along with EBN subscriber preferences, through the BNC National Creditor Registration Service (NCRS). The Contractor shall redirect notices to a creditor's preferred electronic or mailing address and also recognize case-specific preferred address exceptions flagged by CM/ECF. All administrative responsibilities associated with the NCRS, including management and maintenance of the national preferred creditor address database, shall be the Contractor's responsibility.

The Contractor shall review each incoming mailing address to determine whether the recipient had previously registered a preferred address through the NCRS. The Contractor shall propose a methodology for determining how it will identify and redirect notices to a preferred address.

With sufficient validation of the authority of the notice recipient, and proper maintenance of the resulting electronic agreements, the Contractor may implement a process by which future EBN Noticing Agreements, both NCRS and EBN subscriber, and creditor notifications of preferred address may be executed on-line. The Contractor shall propose the data entry screens, processes and validation procedures for generation of the electronic agreements. Additional operational characteristics of the EBN program are detailed in Section C.2.2.

The Government will provide current court setup, historical notice information and NCRS databases to the Contractor. The current database format is detailed in Section J, Attachment 13-1.

C.5.3.2.1 National Preferred Addresses Maintained by the Contractor

The Government will furnish forms for use by entities to register a preferred address, or addresses, with the Contractor as detailed in Section J, Attachment 4. The Contractor shall manage both the EBN and creditor preferred U.S. mailing address registration services under the

NCRS.

The forms, instructions and other program-related information shall be made available on a Contractor-provided public web site. Forms shall be available on-line for completion, submission and/or printing through the web site. For electronic noticing, the Contractor shall use the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) www.EBN.uscourts.gov. For preferred U.S. mailing addresses, the Contractor shall use the URL www.ncrsuscourts.gov. The Contractor shall obtain the Government's approval of the proposed web site content. The Government will provide access to the URLs for Contractor use following contract award. Domain names are owned by the Government, and the Contractor shall be responsible for hosting the sites.

The Contractor shall implement its method(s) for reviewing address lists submitted by courts to identify creditors and other entities that have provided a notice of preferred address for bankruptcy court notices using the methodology currently employed by the BNC program as detailed in Section J, Attachment 13-2.

The Contractor shall develop and implement a procedure for processing notices of preferred address, making modifications to name and address lists, and responding to requests to terminate mailing arrangements. All notifications to register or terminate a national preferred mailing address shall be processed not later than 30 days from receipt.

The Contractor shall support single-district, multiple-district and national address notifications filed pursuant to § 342(f) of the Bankruptcy Code. The Contractor shall thoroughly review incoming address notifications for required fields and attachments and bring any deficiencies to the attention of the filing entity.

C.5.3.2.2 Case Specific Exceptions

The Contractor shall adopt a process to recognize the CM/ECF "do not change address" flag (CM/ECF flag) for specific addresses in a case that should not be included in the Contractor's name/address matching process. With the exception of evaluating the address using the CASS, and making changes to the printed and bar coded zip code, any addresses containing the CM/ECF flag shall be printed and mailed as provided by the originating Government location as detailed in Section J, Attachment 14.

Section 342(e) notices inadvertently transmitted to the Contractor by a filing entity shall be forwarded to the court with a transmittal form letter. The form letter shall state:

"Attached please find a case-specific "preferred address" request erroneously submitted to the court's Bankruptcy Noticing Center Program Contractor. This document is forwarded to the Clerk of Court for the District in which this case was filed for appropriate action."

A copy of the transmittal letter and notice shall be sent to the party that submitted the notice.

C.5.3.2.3 CM/ECF Interface with NCRS

The Contractor shall provide an interface for synchronization of CM/ECF-produced mailing lists with the NCRS database. Case mailing lists are requested real-time through the interface by court personnel or public CM/ECF users. The interface will be used for the review of mailing lists created from the court’s case file in order to identify and substitute registered preferred U.S. mailing addresses. The Contractor shall not substitute electronic mail addresses through the CM/ECF Interface. Through the interface, the Contractor shall return a PDF-formatted 3-column address label file to facilitate case mailing list queries and noticing performed locally at the court or by an outside party.

CM/ECF is accessible 24 hours per day, seven (7) days per week. CM/ECF is a mission critical Judiciary system. The Contractor shall provide for around-the-clock, uninterrupted access to the NCRS database through the interface with CM/ECF. The uninterrupted operation of the CM/ECF interface is subject to the terms set forth in Section C.6.3, Quality Control. The acceptable quality level for NCRS database access is 99.9%, which allows for one hour of cumulative downtime per month before deduction for interruption to NCRS service. See Attachment, J-23 Performance Requirements Summary.

The Contractor shall notify court contacts and the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) by e-mail within 15 minutes of any partial or full service interruption of the CM/ECF interface. Follow-up e-mail shall be sent immediately upon service restoration. A status e-mail shall be transmitted to court contacts and COTR every one (1) hour from the initial e-mail if service had not been previously restored. (See Section 6.5)

The Contractor shall comply with the detailed technical specifications provided in Section J, Attachment 15.

C.5.3.3 Eliminating Duplicate Notices to Addressees

The Contractor shall not send duplicate notices to an addressee listed more than once on the mailing list, for the same notice event. The Contractor shall verify the match of the name, address, case number, form file name and form code in identifying and eliminating duplicate addressees. The Contractor's process shall include identifying and storing the duplicate addressee information. The number of duplicate addressees for the same notice event shall be reported on the Daily Batch Summary. The Certificate of Notice shall identify the duplicate addressees, and the electronic summary batch file transmitted to the court shall include the number of duplicate addressees. The Certificate of Notice is further described in Section C.5.4.3.

C.5.3.4 Bypassing Incomplete Addresses

If the notice recipient is not an EBN subscriber, the Contractor shall bypass the paper notice for the addressee only when the addressee information for domestic mail does not include city and state, or for foreign mail, does not include city and country, or if the addressee is duplicated on the mailing list. For purposes of maximizing postage discounts through the use of permit mail, the Contractor shall develop and maintain a list of specific place names or abbreviations that will be treated as valid in order to deliver a notice. If the city and state or city and country data provided is not considered valid in order to qualify for permit mail, the Contractor shall use the metered mail process described in Section C.5.3.1.

For addresses bypassed due to missing address information, the Contractor shall prepare and provide a Production Bypass Notice to the debtor and/or debtor’s attorney, based on court preference. The Production Bypass Notice shall show each affected address transmitted from the originating Government location. The specific text to be added to all Bypass Notices is detailed in Section J, Attachment 16. Each originating Government location may provide customized changes and/or additions to the Bypass Notice text.

The Production Bypass Notice shall be included with the notice sent to the debtor and/or debtor's attorney. The Production Bypass Notice shall be sent to the originating Government location, if requested, not later than 12:00 noon, originating Government location time, on the next Government business day after completion of a Production Cycle. Under all circumstances a list of the bypassed addresses and bypassed duplicates shall be included as part of the Certificate of Notice.

C.5.3.5…