NFIP Direct Services

Solicitation Number:
70FA6019I00000009

Notice Type:
Sources Sought Notice

Synopsis:
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)
NFIP DIRECT SERVICES
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is procuring contracts to support the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

The NFIP aims to reduce disaster suffering by providing affordable insurance to property owners, renters, and businesses as well as encouraging communities to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations. The NFIP currently serves approximately 5.1 million policies and is aiming to double the number of structures covered by flood insurance by 2022. The NFIP is conducting transformation activities that will update the products, processes, and procedures that support the program.

NFIP contracts will support the direct sale and servicing of NFIP policies, communications, operations and maintenance of IT systems, standard business operations, and program management. Universal objectives are provided below. Additional information specific to each contract will be provided through additional industry engagement methods deemed appropriate. These universal objectives apply to all contracts that support the NFIP.

The purpose of this acquisition is to procure insurance industry leading and innovative contract support for NFIP Direct services that meet the objectives described herein in a manner that aligns with FEMA's Strategic Plan, FIMA's guiding principles and values and the Federal Insurance Directorate (FID) Strategy.
The market research is for industry capabilities in the following areas:

Universal Objective 1: The NFIP is growing. As the program works to close the nation's insurance gap and double the number of structures covered by flood insurance by 2022, support services must scale to meet the workload expected to deliver world-class operations, inclusive of day-to-day, response, and recovery activities.

Universal Objective 2: The NFIP must make it easier to sign up and maintain flood insurance. From forms, to rating, to the claims process, the NFIP must continue to evolve how it delivers the program to help close the insurance gap and communicate the value of mitigation. All providers must directly contribute to improving the customer experience.

Universal Objective 3: FEMA must reduce the complexity of the NFIP and increase the program's transparency. Leveraging process changes, improved communications, and new technology, FEMA must ensure that homeowners have insight, education, and confidence in the entire insurance lifecycle.

Universal Objective 4: To ready the nation for catastrophic disaster, FEMA must build and sustain long-lasting and mutually beneficial partnerships and coalitions with public and private organizations to leverage capabilities and influence, extending the reach of the NFIP's mission.

Universal Objective 5: The NFIP must plan for and implement changes stemming from the reauthorization and other legislative and regulatory changes.

Universal Assumptions and Constraints
• All activities will align to DHS/FEMA/FIMA/FID strategies and intents.
• Pivot will become the NFIP's System of Record (SOR) prior to contract award.
• FEMA is updating policy forms, and while some will be finalized, not all will be completely in place at the time of contract award.
• Updated rates will be implemented in a phased approach, with initial new rates going into effect on October 1, 2020.
• The NFIP will continue to operate according to the current authorization and regulations but must ensure flexibility for changes.
• The NFIP will embrace data and fraud analytics to drive better operations through improved oversight, speed, quality, and customer service.
• The NFIP will leverage data analytics and behavioral science to better inform decisions and improve the program's marketing approach.
• The NFIP will embrace industry-standard customer experience models (online sales, mobile claims through smartphone applications, agents at the call center, etc).
• The NFIP will strengthen and expand partnerships-including through incentives.
• Outreach activities are coordinated, integrated, and consistent with NFIP messaging.
• Data security and privacy issues are major focus of the federal government's information technology efforts. All program activities must be compliant with the Government Information Security Reform Act, OMB policies, DHS, and FEMA requirements.
• Solutions must include transition plans detailing how continuity of services will be maintained (e.g., operations of IT systems in various states of health and development, ongoing marketing and sales efforts, program management, etc).

This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government, nor will the U.S. Government pay for information solicited. The information from this notice will help the FEMA, Acquisition Operations Division Mitigation Branch, plan their acquisition strategy.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

The purchase will be within the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, 524292, Third Party Administration of Insurance. The business size standard for this NAICS Code is $32.5M.

Responses should include your company's capability statement. Oral Communications ARE NOT acceptable in response to this notice. However, follow-up discussions / market research may be performed.

Responses should provide the following information:

A. Company Information (e.g. name, business address, point of contact, telephone number, e-mail address). Also include DUNS Number or CAGE Code;

B. Summarization of projects showing capabilities and past performance in the applicable areas and list relevant projects.

C. Statement of current business size status (ie HUBZone small business concern, service-disabled veteran-owned small business firm, 8(a) contractor, woman-owned small business, small business, or large business firm). Also business size in relation to the NAICS code size standards assigned to this acquisition.

D. Responses are to discuss:
1. Is your software FIPS 140-2 compliant?
2. What is the estimated timeframe that your software could become FIPS 140-2 compliant?
3. What would you like FEMA to know about your ability to become FIPS 140-2 compliant/certified?
Submission requirements:
1. Page limit - Eight (8) 8 ½ x 11
2. 1 inch margins (top, bottom, and sides)
3. Times New Roman font - 10 point
4. Page limitation includes: 1 cover page or 1 letter of introduction
5. Do not include promotional materials

Any proprietary information should be clearly marked.

Questions pertaining to this RFI are due to the Contracting Officer, Michael Sutton, michael.sutton@fema.dhs.gov and Contract Specialist William Tillman, william.tillman@fema.dhs.gov not later than 2:00 PM (EST) on Tuesday, August 20th, 2019. The subject line of the email shall contain the following: Questions for Sources Sought Notice 70FA6019I00000009 - NFIP Direct Services.

Only electronic submissions will be accepted and are to be sent only to the Contracting Officer, Michael Sutton, michael.sutton@fema.dhs.gov and Contract Specialist William Tillman, william.tillman@fema.dhs.gov not later than 2:00 PM (EST) on Wednesday, September 4th, 2019. The subject line of the email shall contain the following: Response to Sources Sought Notice 70FA6019I00000009 - NFIP Direct Services.

At this time, one-on-one telephone due diligence sessions are not planned but may be considered should the government deem them necessary to obtain sufficient level of knowledge required for the completion of the market research.

This Sources Sought is an advance notice for informational and acquisition strategy planning purposes only and is not a solicitation. In order to receive an award from any resultant solicitation, should one be issued, the successful offeror must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). The SAM website is https://www.sam.gov.

This Sources Sought synopsis notice should not be construed in any manner to be an obligation to issue a contract, or result in any claim for reimbursement of costs for any effort you expend in responding to this request. No solicitation is currently available. Any future solicitation package will be made available on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website https://www.fbo.gov. Interested parties are solely responsible for monitoring the FBO website for the release of a solicitation package and/or any updates/amendments.

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