USCA18R0158_Amendment_0005_dtd_11-9-18.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO.

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

See Block 16C

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

PMDCODE

Pamela Martin, 202-502-2253 Procurement Management Division Administrative Office of the United States Courts One Columbus Circle, N.E.

Suite 3-250 Washington, DC 20544-0001

6. ISSUED BY CODE7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

USCA18R0158

CODE FACILITY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, country, state and ZIP Code) (X)

X 9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

07/27/2018

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

X XThe above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended, Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods: (a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning __1__copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14.

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return _______ copies to the issuing office.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

The purpose of this Amendment is to incorporate a tiered pricing worksheet.

All terms and conditions remain unchanged.

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print) 16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 15C. DATE SIGNED

By (Signature of Contracting Officer)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 16C. DATE SIGNED

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

USCA18R0158 /0005 - Page 1 of 92

CLIN NO. Supplies or Services Quantity Unit of Issue Unit Price Extended Amount

0001 x Original :

Change:

Total: 0

Period of Performance:01/31/2019 - 01/31/2020

B-2 Schedule of Items

The AO US Courts intends to award a single award hybrid, with a firm fixed unit price (FFUP), Labor Hour (LH), Time and Material (T&M), Fixed Price "EPA" with Award Fee contract as a result of this solicitation.

The Schedule of Items (Price Tables) are provided as attachments under Section J.

B.1 CONTRACT PRICING

The Contractor shall perform all services specified in Section C of this contract according to the pricing rates and terms as established herein.

B.2 ESTIMATED AWARD FEE

The maximum available award fee is: $300,000.00 per year.

B.3 CLIN DESCRIPTIONS

A description of each CLIN under which the Contractor may charge the Government for services provided, and costs incurred, under this contract, is provided below. Any work performed by Contractor personnel shall be performed by the lowest cost labor category necessary to perform the work. All invoices shall contain detailed descriptions of the work performed and the labor categories and hours used to perform the work if applicable.

a. CLIN 1001 (One Time Court Set-Up) (Fixed Price)

The Set-Up Charge CLIN should be used for one-time charges (if any) associated with setting-up a Court loca-tion to use the Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC). All Bankruptcy Courts now use the BNC. As of the date of this contract, only one federal judicial district without a Bankruptcy Court does not send bankruptcy notices through the BNC. If that Court decides to use the BNC, this CLIN would be used to cover the costs associated with coordinating communication connection, developing procedures, providing user training, providing docu-mentation, and other general requirements for a Court to use the BNC. Note: This CLIN shall not be used for Technical Support Service charges billable under CLINs 9002-9016.

CLINs 2001/2003 (Receipt of Government Output) (Fixed Price)

CLIN 2002 - RESERVED

The Contractor shall charge under CLIN 2001 for preparing confirmation of receipt of Government Output, as required in paragraph C.4.1.1. This CLIN includes charges for preparing electronic confirmation that must be provided to the originating Government location. (Fixed Unit Price)

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CLIN 2003 shall be used only on an exception basis to charge the Government overnight delivery fees for trans-porting noticing information in whatever format (electronic, paper, etc.) from the Court to the Contractor in the event the originating Government location must exercise contingency plans as specified in paragraph C.10. The Contractor shall use the overnight delivery service specified by the Government, and will be reimbursed for costs under this CLIN at the Government’s overnight delivery contract rate in effect at the time of the service.

Additionally, the Contractor should use CLIN 7010 to charge the Government any administrative costs of pre-paring packages to be sent for overnight delivery.

CLINs 3000 - 3003 - RESERVED

CLINs 3004-3006 (Notice Production and Servicing) (Fixed Unit Price)

This group of CLINs is divided into the two categories of Government Output:

(1) electronic (e-mail, Portable Document Format (PDF) and/or other Government-specified format) and (2) pa-per.

The Contractor shall create a separate unit price for transmission of each category of output. For electronic out-put, the Contractor’s unit price shall include all charges for processing, sorting and sending transmissions. For paper output, the Contractor’s unit price shall include all charges for processing, sorting, printing, folding, in-serting into envelopes, and providing notices to the United States Postal Service (USPS) for delivery.

For both categories, the Contractor shall charge within the unit prices under these CLINS all costs associated with preparing appropriate USPS reports; and all daily and monthly reports for the Courts and to the Contract-ing Officer’s Representative (COR). The unit prices under these CLINs shall also include all of the Contractor’s costs associated with quality control efforts.

Permit postage is paid by the Government directly to the USPS and shall not be included in the unit prices charged under these CLINs.

CLINs 3004 - 3005 (Fixed Unit Price) shall be used for preparing notices for mailing by the USPS.

CLIN 3006 (Fixed Unit Price) shall be used for preparing notices for electronic transmission to an entity.

d. Optional CLINs 3007 – 3009 (Notice Production & Servicing) (Optional-Production Cycle Commencement Every Calendar Day) (Fixed Unit Price)

CLINs 3007-3009 shall be used for of handling both categories of transmission (electronic and paper output) on days not specified as mandatory under Section C.4.1. The Contractor shall create a separate unit price for each category that includes processing, sorting, and if mailed, printing, folding, inserting and delivering to the

USPS.

The Contractor shall create a separate unit price for transmission of each category of output. For electronic out-put, the Contractor’s unit price shall include all charges for processing, sorting and sending transmissions. For paper output, the Contractor’s unit price shall include all charges for processing, sorting, printing, folding, in-serting into envelopes, and providing notices to the United States Postal Service (USPS) for delivery.

For both categories, the Contractor shall include within the unit prices under these CLINS everything associated with preparing appropriate USPS reports; and all daily and monthly reports for the Courts and to the COR. The unit prices under these CLINs shall also include all quality control efforts.

CLINs 3007 - 3008 shall be used for preparing notices for mailing by the USPS.

CLIN 3009 shall be used for preparing notices for electronic transmission to an entity.

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e. CLIN 4002 (PDF Certificate of Notice) (Fixed Unit Price)

The PDF Certificate of Notice CLIN shall be used in association with electronically transmitting notice service information, including the PDF Certificates of Notice and electronic batch information files, to each Court loca-tion in accordance with Section C.5.1.

f. CLIN 4003 (Amended PDF Certificate of Notice) (Fixed Unit Price)

The Amended PDF Certificate of Notice CLIN shall be used in association with electronically transmitting amended PDF Certificates of Notice to each Court location.

CLIN 5000 - RESERVED

CLIN 5001 (Postage) (Reimbursable Time & Material CLIN)

The Postage CLIN shall be used for foreign mail postage and unqualified (metered) domestic mail. The Con-tractor will invoice the Government only for the actual USPS charge. No dollar amount should be inserted into the unit price field for this CLIN. Also, permit postage is paid by the Government directly to the USPS and shall not be included in the unit price for this CLIN.

CLINs 5002 - 5010 - RESERVED

CLINs 6000 - 6002 - RESERVED

h. CLIN 6003 (Paper Per Sheet)(Firm Fixed Unit Price-FFUP)

The Year One Unit Price provides pricing for the first contract year per sheet. For any option years, the price is subject to an annual Ecomomic Price Adjustment (EPA) based on the U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for pulp, paper, and allied products.

CLIN 7000 - RESERVED

CLINs 7001 – 7002 (Delivery Charges) and CLIN 7010 (Administrative Service Charge for Government Overnight Delivery Service) (Exception-Based)) (Per each Overnight Delivery Service)(7001-7002 Reimburs-able Time and Material CLINs)

CLINs 7001 and 7002 shall be used only on an exception basis to charge the Government for association with mailing and delivering Certificates of Notice, Court copies of notices, reports to Courts and the COR, and other electronic media in whatever format in the event the originating Government location must exercise contin-gency plans as specified in paragraph C.10. The Contractor shall use the overnight delivery service specified by the Government, and will be reimbursed per each overnight delivery service under this CLIN at the Govern-ment’s overnight delivery contract rate in effect at the time of the service. The charges under this CLIN shall only be for actual costs incurred.

CLINs 7003 - 7009 - RESERVED

CLIN 7010 (Reimbursable Time and Material CLIN)

The Contractor should use CLIN 7010 to charge the Government any administrative costs associated with pre-paring each package to be mailed to Courts.

CLIN 8000 - RESERVED

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j. CLINs 8001-8004 (Contractor Furnished Envelopes) (Fixed Unit Price per envelope)

This is a fixed unit price CLIN for supplying the envelopes. These CLINs shall be used for supplying envel-opes, however, costs for addressing and preparing the envelopes or mailers for mailing shall be charged under and 3004-3005. The Year One Unit Price provides pricing for the first contract year. For any option years, the price is subject to an annual adjustment based on the current Department of Commerce’s Producer Price Index (PPI) for pulp, paper and allied products. If the Contractor will not be utilizing envelopes for mailings, enter “N/A” in the Unit Price field for CLINs 8001-8004.

CLINs 8005 - 8010 - RESERVED

CLINs 9000 - 90001 - RESERVED

CLINs 9002-9016 (Technical Support Services) (Labor Hour CLINs)

These CLINs shall be used to charge fixed labor rates for each labor category defined in Section J, Attachment

22. These rates shall be used by the Contractor to develop, and by the Government to evaluate, pricing for pro-posals as described in Section H.5. Note: These CLINs shall not be used for one-time set-up charges billable under CLIN 1001 or eligible initial development reimbursement charges billable under CLIN 20002.

The services associated with marketing and client support shall be charged under CLINs 9011 (EBN Marketing Specialist), 9014 (EBN Client Support Representative)(if excercised), and 9015 (EBN Client Supervisor), and 9016 (Marketing Expenses). CLIN 9011 shall not be charged unless the Government exercises its option to have the Contractor act as the Marketing Specialist pursuant to Section C.7.7. CLIN 9016 shall be used to charge for expenses associated with marketing efforts (other than expenses more properly attributable to CLINs 9014 and 9015). While the Contractor is not acting as the Marketing Specialist, CLIN 9016 shall only be charged at the direction of the CO. If the CO exercises the option to have the Contractor act as the Marketing Specialist, will be exercised via contract modification. The CO shall provide a monthly limit to the amounts that may be charged without further CO authorization under CLINs 9011 and 9016.

l. CLIN 10001 (Extended User Telephone Support Per Hour (Exception-Based)) (Labor Hour CLIN)

This CLIN shall be used to charge for providing extended periods of support beyond the operating hours spe-cified in Paragraph C.7.1. The extended service may only be provided on an exception basis and at the request of the CO.

CLINs 10002 - 10009 - RESERVED

m. CLINs 10010-10011 (Direct Costs and Miscellaneous Adjustments) (Reimbursable Time and Material

CLIN)

CLIN 10010 shall be used by the Contractor to obtain reimbursement of eligible travel expenses it incurs, as ap-proved in advance by the Contracting Officer (CO) and/or COR. All travel shall be in compliance with the Judi-ciaryStaff Travel Regulations.

CLIN 10011 (Miscellaneous Adjustments) shall be used to account for miscellaneous credits and debits associ-ated with Court monthly billing discrepancy reports. In addition, the Contractor shall use this CLIN for any pay-ment reductions provided to the Government due to the Contractor’s failure to meet established acceptable per-formance levels as set forth in the Performance Requirements Summary document at Section J, Attachment 23.

CLIN 20001 - RESERVED

n. CLIN 20002 – Initial Development Expense (Fixed Price CLIN) This CLIN shall be used by the Contractor to charge the Government for initial development to operate the

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BNC program. The Contractor shall provide the Government with a fixed price for the development of all soft-ware, systems, technology, documentation and other items or services necessary to perform the requirements of the contract.

o. CLIN 20003 – Award Fee Payment (Annually)

The Award Fee Payment CLIN shall be used by the Government to pay the Contractor any award fee that the Contractor earns based on the criteria set forth in the Award Fee Plan, Section J, Attachment 25.

p. CLINs 21001 – 21006 (Website Operations and Maintenance) (Labor Hour CLIN)

CLINs 21001 – 21004 shall be used for website Operation and Maintenance for the labor categories specified for CLINs 9002, 9004, 9006, and 9008. Amounts charged for website Operations and Maintenance that are not attributable to these CLINs shall be charged to CLIN 21005 (Miscellaneous O&M) and include a brief de-scription of the work performed on the monthly invoice. CLIN 21006 is reserved for website O&M but shall not be charged or defined absent further instruction from the CO.

q. CLINs 22001 – 22007 (Systems Security) (Labor Hour CLIN)

CLINs 22001-22004 shall be used for systems securitywork required under Section C.9.6 for the labor categor-ies specified for CLINs 9002, 9004, 9006, and 9008. CLIN 22005 shall be used to charge for amounts attribut-able to the program Information Technology Security Officer (ISO). Amounts attributable to security docu-mentation such as entering information into the CSAM system under Section C.9.6 shall be itemized so that the CO may track it. Amounts charged for systems security that are not attributable to these CLINs shall be charged to CLIN 22006 (Miscellaneous Systems Security). CLIN 22007 is reserved for systems security but shall not be charged or defined absent further instruction from the CO.

CLINS 22008 - 22009 - RESERVED

Section C - Descriptions/Specifications/Statement of Work

C-1 Description/Specification/Statement of Work

C.1 INTRODUCTION

Title 11 of the United States Code, 11 U.S.C. § 101 et. seq. (the Bankruptcy Code), the Federal Rules of Bank-ruptcy Procedure (Bankruptcy Rules) and each Court's local rules and practices require Bankruptcy Courts and certain District Courts (collectively, the Courts) to notify all interested parties of filings in bankruptcy cases.

The Government (the Courts and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO)) requires a Con-tractor to operate the Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC) to produce and transmit statutorily-required bank-ruptcy case notices. The Contractor shall provide services through the BNC that include, but are not limited to, retrieving bankruptcy case-related data from Courts to produce bankruptcy notices; distributing the notices through the United States Postal Service (USPS) and/or by electronic transmission in the most cost-efficient, timely, and effective manner; providing support to the Courts, AO, and notice recipients; and providing pro-gram-related reports and information to the Courts and the AO.

C.1.1.1 Volume of Work

The volume of BNC work depends on the number of bankruptcy cases filed and the number of Courts that use the program. Presently, all 91 Bankruptcy Courts and two District Courts utilize the BNC. In fiscal year 2017, just over 83.3 million notices were sent by the BNC. Historical noticing volume and cost information are set forth in Section J, Attachment 2. This is meant as a guide and is not a representation or guarantee of future years’ volumes. Volume going forward could be affected by potential changes to statutes or the Federal Rules

USCA18R0158 /0005 - Page 6 of 92 of Practice and Procedure, advances in technological capabilities, or other events.

C.1.1.2 Technical Environment

The Courts maintain cases electronically through the judiciary’s Case Management/ Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system. CM/ECF allows each Court to accept case filings (e.g., petitions, motions) via the internet from case participants. The BNC then interfaces daily with each Court’s CM/ECF system, in accordance with the program’s Production Cycle and other requirements, to retrieve notices and recipient addresses, and provide Courts with information (e.g., address lists for local noticing requirements). The BNC then provides Courts, through the CM/ECF system, with a full accounting of work done on their behalf. CM/ECF notice file specific-ations are set forth at Section J, Attachment 10.1. Acknowledgement and Certificate of Notice files specifica-tions are set forth at Section J, Attachment 10.2. Registered CM/ECF users, primarily attorneys, can receive e-mail notice of case activity directly from CM/ECF, but the BNC provides notices in alternative electronic formats that case participants, including some attorneys, prefer. Those formats are described below.

CM/ECF is a constantly evolving system with new versions released regularly, and different Courts may use different versions of CM/ECF. The Contractor supports Courts using different versions. Any reference to CM/ ECF in this Contract also includes any successor system(s) that may be developed and/or are currently under development. Presently, the judiciary’s CM/ECF system operates on a Linux platform with a relational data-base. See Section J, Attachment 3 for a description of CM/ECF. There are currently 68 Courts on CM/ECF version 5.1.1, 22 Courts on version 5.2, and 4 Courts on CM/ECF NextGen version 1.1.2. More Courts may be implementing version 5.2 in the coming weeks. All Courts will be gradually transitioning to NextGen in the coming years beginning with eight Courts planning to move to NextGen version 1.2 by Spring of 2018. This timetable is subject to change.

C.1.1.3 Producing and Transmitting Notices

The BNC is able to produce bankruptcy notices at a fraction of the time and cost that would be required if pro-duced and sent by the Courts. The BNC transmits notices to recipients based on the addresses that are provided by the Courts. Notice recipients may register a preferred postal or electronic address in the judiciary’s preferred address database that the Contractor must maintain. The Contractor cross-references the electronic and preferred address database to direct the recipient’s notices to its electronic or preferred physical address pursuant to §342(f) of the Bankruptcy Code and Bankruptcy Rules 2002(g)(4) and 9036. A check is first done to see if there is an electronic name/address match, and then a check is done to see if there is a preferred physical name/ad-dress match. After transmitting the notices, the Contractor provides the Courts with Certificates of Notice that are auto-docketed, and other reports that specify notice production activity for each case event transmitted to the

BNC.

The Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing (EBN) initiative is an important component of the BNC program. EBN is a money-saving alternative to paper-based bankruptcy noticing, eliminating the production of paper notices and associated postage costs, while speeding the delivery of notices. Available electronic delivery options are: E-mail and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) (for large volume notice recipients).[1] Debtor Electronic Bank-ruptcy Noticing (DeBN) is closely related to EBN, allowing debtors in bankruptcy cases to register to receive their notices electronically from the BNC as an e-mail PDF attachment. While notice recipients’ participation in the EBN and DeBN programs is voluntary at this time, expansion of the EBN program is a high priority of the federal judiciary.

Not all Courts’ bankruptcy case-related noticing is conducted through the BNC program. Guidelines issued by the Judicial Conference of the United States (Judicial Conference) encourage Courts to delegate to case parti-cipants the service of notices where practical (e.g., noticing performed by noticing agents appointed and paid for by the estate in large reorganization bankruptcy cases). Courts also send notices directly in emergency or special situations, or as needed. Through Reduced Paper Module (RPM), the Courts may remove registered CM/ECF e-mail recipients from the BNC mailing list so that the recipients’ sole method of receiving Court no-tices is through the CM/ECF system’s e-mail. As an exception to RPM, the BNC will send the Bankruptcy

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Code Section 341 Notice (B309 Form) with the debtor’s full Social Security Number to registered CM/ECF users in RPM Courts. If there is an email in the header record for the debtor’s attorney, the Contractor sends the 341 Notice to that email address rather than any on file for EBN for that attorney. EDI recipients will still re-ceive EDI notices that have also been sent by the CM/ECF system.

C.1.1.4 Service

The BNC program includes a full-range of service activities to support the AO, Courts, and notice recipients. To that end, the Contractor performs a variety of services that include managing inconsistencies in forms, and handling multiple address variations, returned mail, and bounced-back e-mails.

C.2 OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW

The following section describes the BNC’s current Production Cycle for transmitting bankruptcy notices on be-half of federal Courts.

C.2.1 Production Cycle

The BNC program is organized around a set "Production Cycle." The current BNC Production Cycle is a 48-hour period that begins at the time the Contractor retrieves case information from a Court and extends through the second calendar day after retrieval. See Section J, Attachment 19 for details on file transmission from the Courts to the BNC. The beginning of the Production Cycle is staggered across Courts based on their preferences. Typically, near the end of each Government business day, a Court runs an automated process to collect all events requiring noticing in bankruptcy cases for that day. The Court posts the output to a directory on its server for collection by the Contractor at a scheduled retrieval time. By the end of the two-day Production Cycle, the Contractor has sent the notices using any preferred addresses and means of delivery registered by the recipients.

The Contractor validates data it retrieves from each Court through a quality assurance test and sends any error reports to the Court. If discrepancies are found, the Contractor resolves them with the Court. The flowchart at Figure 1 depicts current BNC processes.

See Section J - Attachments for C.2.1, Figure 1 - Bankruptcy Noticing Center Program Process Flow.

C.2.2 Paper Mail Processing

For paper notices, the Contractor prints the files retrieved from Courts using, as necessary, any Government-re-quired, Contractor-stored forms. The Contractor considers several factors to produce quality paper notices, in-cluding the number of pages and any graphics in the file. After production, the Contractor checks notices for ac-curacy, format, readability, paper quality, and address validity.

The Contractor ensures that each notice is correctly inserted into an envelope or self-mailer. The Contractor in-serts all notices to the same addressee into a single envelope or self-mailer (known as "multi-stuffing") to max-imize savings. If the Contractor must follow USPS regulations to accomplish multi-stuffing and that results in the Contractor printing additional sheets or sides of sheets, the AO is not billed for the additional sheets used.

C.2.2.1 Recipient Address

Generally, the Contractor prints the address provided by the Court for each notice. The Contractor then adds the ZIP+4 code if no zip code is provided, or the last four digits to complete the ZIP+4 code. To comply with USPS regulations and maximize savings, the Contractor changes an incorrect zip code to one that is identified in the USPS Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS).

The Contractor also complies with other USPS regulations to maximize presort postal discounts and avoid pen-

USCA18R0158 /0005 - Page 8 of 92 alties, such as: (1) placing a bar code on mail pieces that matches the printed five- or nine-digit zip code in the outgoing address on the envelope; (2) complying with Delivery Point Validation and Locatable Address Con-version System Link procedures; and,

(3) identifying and supporting future postal regulation changes.

The Contractor uses the National Change of Address (NCOA) Database to determine the likelihood of mail be-ing returned and comply with USPS policy for taking advantage of discounts. If a change of address record has been on file for too long, the USPS will stop forwarding, and the BNC bypasses that recipient. The Contractor complies with any USPS regulations for notifying debtors’ or their attorneys of a change of address order. See Section J, Attachment 26 for National Change of Address requirements. Closed P.O. Boxes are bypassed im-mediately. These bypassed recipients are noted on the Certificate of Notice.

If both joint debtors in a case have the same USPS address, the Contractor only sends one copy of the notice ad-dressed to both debtors unless one or both are EBN or preferred address matches. See Section J, Attachment 28 for more detailed current specifications regarding joint debtor de-duplication.

C.2.2.2 Return Address

The Contractor uses the return address specified by the Court. Any mail designated to be returned to the Court, or any mail in adversary proceedings, will have the Contractor’s address inserted as the return address. For all return addresses, the Contractor determines whether the address meets USPS standards and, if not, it is changed using CASS certified software. If a valid address cannot be determined, the Contractor uses its own address as the return address. If an addressee will receive multiple notices, each with a different return address, the Con-tractor uses its own return address to mail such notices in a single envelope or self-mailer, shipping bag, or car-ton even if from multiple Courts.

C.2.2.3 Preferred Address Database

The Contractor maintains a database to comply with the preferred creditor address requirements specified under §§342(e) and (f) of the Bankruptcy Code. To that end, the Contractor redirects all notices to a creditor's nation-al preferred mailing address as required by §342(f) of the Bankruptcy Code, but ensures that any case-specific preferred address (pursuant to §342(e)) overrides the preferred address if different. Via an interface with CM/ ECF, the Contractor provides case mailing lists with preferred address substitutions to the Courts. The BNC system produces preferred address results in PDF label format and ASCII pipe delimited text. The format for mailing lists will be provided at Contract award. This can produce 3-column labels for up to 40,000 addresses at a time. For address lists of less than 10,000, CM/ECF users can choose either raw text or PDF. For address lists of 10,000 to 40,000, the BNC provides raw text only. For address lists over 40,000, the Court contacts the BNC. Case-specific preferred addresses are returned from the BNC system unchanged.

All administrative activities associated with the requirements described above, including management and maintenance of the preferred creditor address database, are the Contractor's responsibility.

C.2.3 Electronic Bankruptcy Notice Processing

The Contractor currently transmits about 39-40 percent of all BNC bankruptcy notices through the EBN pro-cesses. A notice recipient requests, in writing, to receive notices electronically and specifies a preferred format for notices. The Contractor supports EBN subscribers through e-mail a toll-free support line, and maintains a database of subscriber names and preferred addresses for re-directing notices. The Contractor provides Courts with online access to the noticing partner database.

EBN subscribers choose one or more of the following electronic formats by which to receive notice: (1) Elec-tronic Data Interchange (EDI) (only available for certain bankruptcy forms, not all notices); (2) e-mail with at-tachment in Adobe PDF format; or (3) e-mail containing a hyperlink to the PDF-formatted electronic notice.

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Notice recipients can receive notice data in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format via either of the e-mail delivery options. Notice recipients extract XML data that is embedded in the PDFs they receive from the Con-tractor in order to more efficiently manage the data they receive in multiple cases across multiple courts. XML is a syntactical markup language defined by the World Wide Web Consortium and other open standards organ-izations. It enables document definition through use of schema systems that constrain the document’s structure and content, including the order, number, and content of its data elements. The CM/ECF system transmits EDI data to the BNC, which the Contractor then imbeds within XML tags in the PDFs. The mapping of Court forms for XML is detailed at Section J, Attachment 30.

The Contractor reviews the Courts' daily output to determine which notices will be transmitted electronically to EBN subscribers. See Section J, Attachment 4, for sample EBN Noticing Agreements.[2] By comparing mail-ing lists with its database, the Contractor determines whether a particular recipient has requested electronic de-livery. Electronic notice recipients are noted on the Certificate of Notice that the Contractor provides to the Court. Duplicate addresses of EBN subscribers for a notice event are bypassed and noted as such on the Certi-ficates of Notice.

To assist notice recipients in the transition from paper to electronic noticing, the Contractor provides the sub-scriber redundant paper and electronic notices for a limited period of time. During the redundancy period, a pa-per notice is sent to the subscriber to allow recipients to test and change internal processes, and configure its software, as appropriate. The AO determines the duration of this period.

The three types of electronic formats aside from facsimile are described below.

2.3.1 Electronic Data Interchange

EDI notices are formatted, and variable notice information is provided to the recipient. EDI notices are transmit-ted through an AO-designated gateway to the recipient's account. EDI is designed for creditors that elect to re-ceive bankruptcy notice information as a data stream. The mapping implementation guide for EDI is included at Section J, Attachment 5. The BNC currently has an agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to transmit the EDI notices at no cost to the AO. Only four notices types are currently sent by EDI (Notice of Case, Notice of Assets, Notice of Dismissal, and Notice of Discharge), although the Government could expand that in the future. Roughly half of all electronic notices are sent by EDI.

C.2.3.2 E-mail with PDF Attachment

The BNC program provides several options for subscribers to receive PDF notices via e-mail:

(1) An e-mail for each Court that has a single PDF file attachment containing all the notices for that Court (Example: 20 notices would be included in one (1) PDF file and sent in one (1) e-mail); or

(2) A single e-mail for each notice that includes the title of the document received from the Court, with one PDF attachment per e-mail. (Example: 20 notices would be sent as 20 e-mails, each e-mail with one PDF file at-tachment); or

(3) An e-mail that has multiple PDF file attachments, each attachment containing one notice and the title of the document received from the Court (limited to 25 attachments per e-mail, to be broken up into multiple emails if more than 25). (Example: 20 notices would be sent as one e-mail with 20 PDF file attachments).

Examples of each type of email are included at Section J, Attachment 24. Due to the uncertainty of sending large attachments by e-mail, attachment sizes are currently limited to eight (8) megabytes (MB), but this will likely change over the life of the contract. 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. If the acknowledgment is not received, the Contractor must place the notice in the mail to the subscriber the day after the electronic notice is sent and in the same Produc-

USCA18R0158 /0005 - Page 10 of 92 tion Cycle as the other notices from the same notice event. The AO is considering eliminating this “reply rule” and is not actively promoting the use of the e-mail with PDF attachment option at sign-up. Because of this, E-mail Link is currently the mode of electronic notice delivery favored and offered at sign-up. E-mail attachment is not offered or promoted, but the option is available if the subscriber requests it.

Notices are encrypted (with a password required for viewing the PDF), and PDF attachments are currently lim-ited to up to eight (8) MBs in size. Any e-mail notice requiring a file attachment over eight (8) MBs is separ-ated into multiple e-mail messages with notice attachments no larger than the maximum size.

C.2.3.3 E-mail with Hyperlink

Subscribers can choose to receive e-mail containing hyperlinks to the notices, 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 with a list (grouped by Court and with the titles of the documents received from the Courts) of hyperlinks to individual PDF files for each notice to the subscriber for that day (limited to 25 per e-mail, to be broken up into multiple emails if more than 25). If a method is not chosen on the Noti-cing Agreement this will be the method used; or

2. Multiple e-mails per day, each containing the title of the document received from the Court and a single hyperlink to the notice; or

3. A single daily e-mail for each Court with a hyperlink to a PDF file that contains a compilation of all the notices transmitted to the subscriber for that day from that Court.

Examples of each type of email are included at Section J, Attachment 24. Subscribers receive one free look at the notice through the link once the link is activated. After this, the subscriber must pay a fee to view the notice via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. The Contractor’s system ig-nores immediate link activation from spam filters so that subscribers do not lose their free look. The BNC is also “white listed” with Palo Alto Networks, the primary service provider executing the links so that they are not activated.

C.2.3.4 Facsimile

This option is no longer available at registration. However, the Contractor must support transmission of notices via facsimile to current facsimile subscribers. The Contractor converts notice files to imaged documents suitable for sending by fax transmission. The Contractor includes one fax cover sheet per recipient for all no-tices from the same Court showing the name and address of the recipient, case number, form codes, originating district or office, date and the total number of pages included in the fax. The Contractor provides for a custom-izable fax cover sheet for each district. A notice or combined fax job cannot exceed 30 pages. Should this oc-cur, the job is broken into segments containing no more than 30 pages. If a confirmation receipt is not received after five attempts, the notice is printed and mailed in the original Production Cycle, and the Contractor contacts the recipient to resolve the fax transmission issue. Email with hyperlink shall be offered to the subscriber as an alternative after facsimile transmission failure.

C.2.4 Debtor Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing (DeBN)

The DeBN process is similar to EBN in that the Contractor maintains a database of DeBN subscribers and com-pares addresses on mailing lists with the DeBN addresses in its database to determine when a notice must be routed electronically to DeBN participants. DeBN subscribers sign up through the Courts, however, and man-age their information through the Courts. Court personnel enter and update the debtor accounts using the BNC Intranet (Section C.7.3). The BNC extracts the debtors’ information using the PACER system. The Contactor will be provided with a toll-free PACER account after contract award for use only for work under this contract.

DeBN subscribers, at the Courts’ option, may have to respond to an activation e-mail to begin receiving notices electronically. If the Court does not require this, the Contractor will begin sending e-mail notices to the sub-scriber immediately upon account creation. The notices are sent as a PDF attachment to the e-mail. If an e-mail notice bounces back to the BNC, the Contractor sends the notice to the debtor in paper form and either deactiv-

USCA18R0158 /0005 - Page 11 of 92 ates or does not activate the debtor’s DeBN account. The Contractor notes on the Certificate of Notice whether a debtor receives a notice electronically. More detailed DeBN specifications are set forth in Section J, Attach-ment 27.

C.2.5 Other BNC Production Output

The Contractor generates other output associated with notice production, including production and billing re-ports, electronic certificates of notice that are automatically docketed by Courts to the CM/ECF case record, and reports documenting production problems. Requirements for these and other deliverables are described in the Statement of Work (SOW). The BNC returns information to the Courts as detailed at Section J, Attachment 31 that allows the Courts to conduct their daily and monthly billing reconciliation.

C.2.6 General Definitions

See Section J, Attachment 6.

C.2.7 Acronyms

See Section J, Attachment 7.

C.3 STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

C.3.1 BNC Contract Scope

The purpose of the BNC Contract is to provide reliable, user-friendly, secure, and cost-effective bankruptcy no-ticing for federal Courts with an emphasis on electronic delivery. To that end, the Contractor shall operate facil-ities that produce and transmit electronic and paper bankruptcy notices on behalf of the Courts, and provide in-formation and support to the Courts, the AO, and notice recipients for the BNC program. The Contractor shall support any changes to the BNC’s processes and/or the CM/ECF system that the CO requires to accomplish the Courts’ noticing needs.

The Contractor shall, unless otherwise specified in other sections of the Contract or directed by the CO, contin-ue the processes described in Sections C.1, C.2, and J. The Contractor assumes responsibility for all require-ments contained in this Contract. The Contractor shall perform all requirements under this Contract for the agreed-upon unit price(s) per notice unless otherwise specifically provided in this Contract.

C.3.2 Efficiency Requirements

The Contractor shall achieve efficiencies in operating the BNC including, but not limited to:

1. Minimizing paper production and processing through use of state-of-the-art technology, and encouraging notice recipients to convert from paper to electronic noticing, to achieve electronic transmission of notices to the greatest extent possible;

2. Minimizing returned mail;

3. Maximizing centralization of returned mail processing for Courts;

4. Minimizing redundant noticing, such as paper notices mailed to electronic notice recipients, multiple elec-tronic notices to a single recipient of the same notice, and duplicate notices sent to the same recipient;

5. Minimizing the number of pieces mailed via USPS; this shall be achieved through multi-stuffing and other practices;

6. Maximizing postage savings; and,

7. Providing monthly reports to the Courts and the CO/COR on savings achieved.

C.3.3 Operational Requirements

USCA18R0158 /0005 - Page 12 of 92

The Contractor shall:

1. Ensure correct addressing so that each notice reaches the intended recipient at the preferred address in the preferred format;

2. Effectuate timely and complete transmission of notices within mandated or specified deadlines;

3. Fully cooperate with the Government’s marketing specialist, and, if directed by the CO, directly market the EBN program;

4. Provide support to all Courts, the AO, and notice recipients, including, but not limited to:

• Creating training and informational materials per Section C.7.5 that explain the BNC operations, and updat-ing those items, with CO approval, at least annually and upon request by the CO;

• Developing and maintaining a reliable online database of BNC production information to enable Courts and the AO to create customized reports;

• Managing program websites that provide clear and concise information for Courts, the public, and notice recipients to ensure public understanding of the BNC, and encourage registration for EBN, DeBN, and pre-ferred creditor address mailing; and

• Promptly notifying the AO and Courts of data errors and/or transmission failures and providing resolution;

5. Maintain and operate all technology solutions (software, websites, and other supporting solutions) to en-sure proper BNC operations without service disruptions. Maintenance and operations may require but not be limited to BNC software or process changes that must be approved by the AO, out-of-cycle changes for imme-diate release (e.g., to ensure compatibility with web browser upgrades, implement security measures, or fix soft-ware bugs); providing all necessary patches for corrective actions; accommodating throughout the performance period any software and hardware changes to the judiciary’s systems, including the CM/ECF system and serv-ers; and applying security remediation measures in support of security notices and updates;

6. Propose, develop and implement, with CO approval, continual service, technical, and security improve-ments to the BNC operations, websites, servers, and other hosting components in accordance with changing in-dustry standards and best practices, pursuant to Sections C.7.8, C.8, and C.9.6, as otherwise required by this contract, at the request of the AO, and/or as needed;

7. Effectively manage transition between contracts, including quickly learning to operate the BNC upon Contract award by collaborating with the incumbent Contractor and AO, and assisting other Contractor(s) or the Government in the seamless transition of BNC operations;

8. Assess and forecast workload trends and variances in order to maintain sufficient resources to meet BNC Contract requirements;

9. Support any statutory amendments or federal or local rules changes that affect bankruptcy noticing through the BNC; and

10. Make revisions to forms, notices, websites, certificates, and report language and content as directed by the AO.

The Contractor shall provide all of these services, as well as administrative and functional supervision of the BNC, including necessary personnel, equipment, tools, materials, software, systems, technology, documenta-tion, and other items or services necessary to accomplish the work.

C.3.4 Performance Standards

The Contractor shall manage and operate the BNC ensuring that it has the proper equipment, personnel, expert-ise, and other resources to effectively, accurately, and efficiently accomplish bankruptcy noticing production and transmission. To do this, the Contractor shall have management, information technology, and operational

USCA18R0158 /0005 - Page 13 of 92 capability to:

1. Effectively manage projects;

2. Quickly and accurately develop and/or implement modifications to the BNC software that interfaces with the Courts’ evolving and varying CM/ECF systems to ensure no service disruptions;

3. Develop and/or implement new interface software as the judiciary updates, modifies or otherwise alters its requirements and/or CM/ECF software over time;

4. Develop and implement extensive and accurate quality assurance and control procedures to ensure that no-tices are produced accurately and transmitted timely to the correct recipients in the preferred formats;

5. Develop and implement contingency and emergency plans that adequately address procedures to be used in the event of Contractor or Government equipment or other system failures, or natural or man-made dis-asters; and

6. Comply with and implement any applicable IT and physical security measures and controls required to meet prevailing Government standards first, and then best practices in industry.

The Contractor shall meet all the service, feature, technical, management and operational requirements specified in this contract. The AO has unlimited discretion to reject (and disfavors) any technical solution that requires changes to its CM/ECF system. Moreover, the Contractor shall perform all work to the standards specified in this Contract, or, in the absence of a specific standard, first to any applicable Government standard (including CM/ECF), then to the currently prevailing best-practices standard. If the Government deploys new versions of CM/ECF, the Contractor will need to support these along with the then-currently existing versions. If the AO determines that it requires additional work for the Contractor to support new versions of CM/ECF or alterations to current versions, the CO will request a proposal from the Contractor describing the work, desired outcome, and required timeframe. The Contractor shall then submit a price proposal and technical proposal with a feas-ible approach to meet the required timeframe that addresses the AO’s requirements.

C.3.5 Delivery of AO-Accepted Work

No later than 30 days after the issuance, publication or deployment of any AO-accepted deliverable under this Contract by the Contractor, the Contractor shall provide the deliverable to the AO (unless otherwise specified in Section F) in a format approved by the AO. This requirement includes, but is not limited to, all memoranda, re-cords, reports, computer programs, software, code, data, and all inventions or innovations created by the Con-tractor under this Contract. The AO has unlimited rights to all AO-accepted deliverables first produced under this contract, and as further specified in this Contract’s Rights in Data provisions.

C.4 BANKRUPTCY NOTICING CENTER MANDATORY PROCESSES

C.4.1 Retrieval of Government Output

The Contractor shall retrieve from each Court at least one time per Government business day at least one output (notices and accompanying address lists). The AO anticipates one retrieval of Government output (notices and accompanying address lists) per Government business day from each Court. However, the Contractor shall provide the capability for additional scheduled and unscheduled retrievals per day if required by the Court.

Each Court may change its business day hours or pick-up time upon notification to the Contractor. The AO re-serves the right to require electronic retrieval from multiple servers per Court.

The Contractor's procedures for retrieving all output shall…