ExPRESS

Last spring, this effort was put on hold. To remind you, ExPRESS was intended to improve the participant experience by: modernizing technology, adding further channels of communication, providing participants with self-service options, and raising the TSP service delivery standards to those commensurate with contemporaries in financial services sector. FRTIB made a conscious decision to pause ExPRESS due to feedback from industry. FRTIB is pleased to announce that we are re-starting that effort along with other various procurement efforts.

FRTIB is currently in the market research phase, exploring how to best coordinate the various procurement efforts and achieve the best outcome for TSP participants and beneficiaries. A Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought has been posted at www.FBO.gov under the number TIB-2017-RFI-0004 and describes the various outcomes desired along with questions for industry to respond to.

The purpose of this Amendment to TIB-2016-RFP-0002 - Expanding Participant Retirement Engagement Service & Solution (ExPRESS) is to give notice to industry that the release date of the ExPRESS Request for Proposal (RFP) will be delayed due to changing priorities of the Agency.  This requirement may be modified and reissued again at a later date.  Updates will be posted on FBO.gov.

All explicit access requests for the DRAFT ExPRESS RFP (TIB-2016-RFP-0002) are hereby revoked.

Additional information is provided to amend the following RFP sections:

C.1.6(a)(1) "...One contract is a government-owned, Contractor-operated call center located in Clintwood, VA (Incumbent: Serco Services Inc, Current contract value: $28,984,513). The other contract is a Contractor-owned, Contractor-operated call center located in Frostburg, MD (Incumbent: Active Network LLC, Current contract value: $57,283,563).

C.1.6(a)(2) "There is a back office mail and document processing services contract that is Contractor-owned, Contractor-operated facility located in Birmingham, AL (Incumbent: Serco Services Inc, Current contract value: $45,134,222)..."

C.1.6(a)(3) "There is a contract for back office operations centers located in Fairfax VA (Contractor-owned, Contractor-operated; Incumbent: Serco Services Inc, Current contract value: $91,476,463) and Birmingham, AL (Subcontractor-owned, Subcontractor operated [see paragraph C.1.6(a)(2) for incumbent information])...."

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) will be soliciting for a qualified and experienced Contractor to provide state-of-the-art technology and participant operations services to the Thrift Savings Plan.

THIS NOTICE IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. Do not use this draft Request for Proposal (RFP) as the basis for your proposal. The documents enclosed are a "DRAFT" product and the formal RFP may change substantially from this draft based on feedback from Industry on this draft.

A draft RFP is now available for viewing. The draft RFP is located at this FBO site and access to the ExPRESS Document Library will require Explicit Access (see FBO.GOV Vendor Guide). Once FRTIB receives an Explicit Access request from vendors through FBO.GOV, vendors will be directly contacted by FRTIB to complete a required Non-Disclosure Agreement prior to Explicit Access being granted. If you have a completed Non-Disclosure Agreement on file with FRTIB from the ExPRESS Draft PWS site, access will be granted once a request has been received.

Prospective Offerors who have been granted Explicit Access to the documents are reminded to ensure that before they share the documents with either team members or potential sub-contractors/teammates that they submit a completed NDA for each individual who will be viewing the documents. Any individual desiring direct access to the documents via FBO must submit to the FBO Explicit Access process. The authorization to view Explicit Access documents process is managed by FBO, not by FRTIB.

Prospective offerors are responsible for downloading the final RFP and all attachments. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the FedBizOpps web page for the release of the solicitation and any amendments that may follow. Solicitation TIB-2016-RFP-0002 is tentatively scheduled to be available on the World Wide Web at https://www.fbo.gov. in August 2016. The tentative scheduled date and time for submission of proposals for TIB-2016-RFP-0002 will be on or about 30 business days from the date of publicizing the solicitation. Offerors are cautioned to include the Solicitation Number TIB-2016-RFP-0002 on all documentation submitted in response to this requirement with strict adherence to Section L of the solicitation.

This procurement will be a full and open competition.

Vendors are encouraged to provide comments and response to questions at ExPRESS@tsp.gov with the subject title: ExPRESS Draft RFP Response. Responses are due NLT 03 June 2016, 1:00PM Eastern. FRTIB will not respond to or post any questions/comments from Industry. At 1:00PM ET on 03 June 2016, all Explicit Accesses will be revoked.

ExPRESS Draft RFP
The FRTIB requests industry comments to inform its overall ExPRESS requirements, acceptance criteria, pricing methodologies, and evaluation methodologies. Industry comments received in response to this draft RFP will help the FRTIB evaluate the feasibility of all aspects of the RFP and minimize changes to the final RFP. The FRTIB welcomes comments on all aspects of the draft RFP and Documents Library. The FRTIB is especially interested in obtaining input and feedback on the areas of focus listed below.

1. Evaluation Sub-Factor 1 - In accordance with Sub-Factor 1, a "knock-out" sub-factor where Offeror responses receiving a rating of Fair or Poor will eliminate their proposal from evaluation and eliminated Offeror will be notified upon approval of the Competitive Range.

2. Pricing methodology is to have Phase-In Firm Fixed-Price, and Base and Option periods Cost-Plus Fixed-Fee (CPFF) with the potential of converting Option period CPFF structure to a performance based contract structure, e.g. Cost-Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF), Cost-Plus Award Fee (CPAF), etc.

3. ExPRESS procurement is strictly for Services. It is the Offeror's responsibility to procure Participant Engagement Hub (PEH) equipment/material for their solution, and then to maintain all components/piece parts of their PEH solution, i.e. Technical Refresh, COTS/CAS integrity, licenses, and maintenance through contract performance. Note that any PEH updates as a result of Transformational requirements will be handled through the Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) Task Order (TO) process.

4. FRTIB is undergoing a conversion of its IT environment in order to establish a Service Oriented Architecture to support ExPRESS interfaces with its Record Keeping system. However, there is a possibility that this architecture will not be in place by contract award. Given this potential constraint, please provide feedback on any foreseeable challenges to interfacing with legacy systems while relying on documentation of the nature provided in the document library. See H. 44 and Document library 4.1 Current State and Desired Future Interaction Patterns, 4.2.1 Functional Design Document - Agency Payroll - Data Submission (DSUB), and 4.2.2 Functional Design Document - Agency Payroll Interface.

5. FRTIB has established a minimum Go-Live timeframe of 9-months. See Section C.1.8 - Phase-In Operational Outcomes on Go-Live minimum timeframe, and provide comments on any concerns or issues that this constraint might impose for Offerors Phase-In.

6. FRTIB has established a rigorous acceptance process throughout Phase-In from Evaluation Sub-factor 2 and Section E.8 Acceptance Criteria. This acceptance approach is critical to FRTIB to assure success at Go-Live.

7. Section C has been significantly revised since the draft PWS was released. For example, the Special Processing services and functions are no longer in scope, the web site is not in scope until the Transformation phase, and phases have been consolidated. Also at FRTIB's discretion, transformation planning, analysis, and development activities may be authorized during the Steady State phase.

8. Information, Personnel, and Physical Security is a critical piece of ExPRESS, see Section H for specific clauses and provide any comments or concerns. Specifically, how do the Security requirements in H.1 affect Phase-In, and how does meeting a FISMA medium or high categorization affect the Phase-In timeframe?

Current ExPRESS Procurement Schedule
• Fourth Quarter FY2016 - ExPRESS RFP posting
• Fourth Quarter FY2017 - Contract Award