National Qualified Representative Program

The Department of Justice, Justice Management Division seeks a contractor to provide qualified legal representatives to unrepresented, detained individuals found incompetent to represent themselves in immigration proceedings, with proposals due July 13. The procurement encompasses legal representation, interpretation services in the respondent's language, and third-party expert services, and is not set-aside.

Place of performance spans all 84 EOIR Immigration Courts nationwide and includes major ICE detention facilities across the United States. Qualified Representatives must be licensed attorneys, law students or law graduates under attorney supervision, or DOJ-accredited representatives with at least one and a half years of immigration court or Board of Immigration Appeals experience. The contract covers two categories of respondents: Franco NQRP Respondents detained in Arizona, California, or Washington, and Nationwide Policy NQRP Respondents detained elsewhere.

The contract employs fixed-price pricing with a twelve-month period of performance and four optional one-year renewal periods. Estimated annual caseload includes 600–800 carried-over cases and 300–400 new cases, with cases averaging approximately 100 hours of work. Contractors must enter appearances within specified timeframes: 35 calendar days for standard Franco cases, 21 days for Forensic Competency Evaluation cases, 15 days for cases with 180 or more days detention, and 35 days for Nationwide Policy cases. Core services include initial case assessment, evaluation of safeguards and motions, representation at all immigration court hearings, and release and repatriation planning. Additional legal services include termination, voluntary departure, asylum and withholding of removal, cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, administrative closure, bond proceedings, and BIA appeals. Monthly invoicing in electronic format is required with payment by Electronic Funds Transfer. Performance standards require 100% compliance on initial assessments and client meetings and court hearing representation, 95% compliance on appearance entry and legal filings without material error, 90% completion of release and repatriation plans, and zero substantiated ethical violations. The NAICS code is 541110, Offices of Lawyers; PSC is R418, Support–Professional: Legal.