SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Personnel Security Management Office for Industry (PSMO-I) Personnel Security Program Support
- Notice Date
- 3/1/2016
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 561611
— Investigation Services
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Security Service, Headquarters, Russell-Knox Building, 27130 Telegraph Rd., Quantico, Virginia, 22134, United States
- ZIP Code
- 22134
- Solicitation Number
- HS0021-16-RFI-0001
- Archive Date
- 3/26/2016
- Point of Contact
- Julie Bardo, Phone: 5713056110, Renee S Staton,
- E-Mail Address
-
julie.bardo@dss.mil, renee.staton@dss.mil
(julie.bardo@dss.mil, renee.staton@dss.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes; it does not constitute a Request For Proposal (RFP), Request for Quote (RFQ), or a promise to issue an RFP or RFQ. Furthermore, those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate feedback with regards to its submission; other than acknowledgement of receipt - IF a request for an acknowledgement is requested by the submitter. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. The Defense Security Service (DSS) is not at this time seeking proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay any cost incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the responding party's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP or RFQ. If a solicitation is released, it will be via General Services Administration, GSA eBuy, at https://www.ebuy.gsa.gov/advantage/ebuy/start_page.do. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor the website for any information that may pertain to this RFI. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned. PURPOSE OF THIS RFI This is a RFI used to identify potential sources that are interested in and capable of providing operational support to assist in the personnel clearance oversight and management as prescribed by the Department of Defense (DoD) Personnel Security Program, Industrial Security Program and National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) in support of National Security, DoD Readiness and Military Operations. SUBMISSION DIRECTIONS Responses to the RFI should be in the form of a.pdf file no longe than 10 pages with type face no smaller than 12 point and include the name of the firm which the respondent represents. The e-mail subject must contain this RFI number in the subject line. Each respondent shall provide their North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and the associated size standard. RFI submissions shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to Julie.Bardo@dss.mil, with a copy to Ashley.Maddox@dss.mil, Renee.Staton@dss.mil and DSS.AQIndustryBox@dss.mil. All responses should be unclassified and reviewed to ensure consideration of operational sensitivities. Proprietary information will be accepted and handled appropriately. Responders should indicate which portions of their response are proprietary and should mark them accordingly. All submissions are requested in writing by e-mail to Julie.Bardo@dss.mil with a copy to Ashley.Maddox@dss.mil, Renee.Staton@dss.mil and DSS.AQIndustryBox@dss.mil by 4:00pm EST, on March 11, 2016. QUESTIONS Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail Julie.Bardo@dss.mil, with a copy to Ashley.Maddox@dss.mil, Renee.Staton@dss.mil and DSS.AQIndustryBox@dss.mil. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. (No phone calls please.) DSS will respond to any question at its discretion. Any questions shall be sent via email to the above addresses and shall NOT contain proprietary information. Any responses provided by DSS will be returned to the e-mail address the question was received. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after March 7, 2016 will be acknowledged or answered. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT 1 Basic Services: The contractor shall support duties and processing requests to include Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Unacceptable Notifications, OPM Discontinue Notifications, OPM Separation/Transfer, OPM Catch ‘em in CONUS, DOHA Reapplications, Personal Identification Data Changes, Record and Data Management, Process SF-312s Non-Disclosure Agreements, Processing of Incident Reports, e-QIP Review, Triage Outreach Program, Personnel Clearance (PCL) Oversight Functions and other evolving initiatives as related to Continuous Evaluation and the Defense Insider Threat Management Analysis Center. Contractor support shall also include processing customer service requests received via email, phone, mail, portal, fax, and system notifications. Operating in the capacity as a personnel security subject matter expert, contractor staff will provide guidance and responses to customer service requests to Industry as part of the DSS Knowledge Center. The contractor duties shall also include the triaging and processing of incident reports into multiple risk categories, which provides essential support to the Department of Defense Continuous Evaluation (CE) and Insider Threat programs. 2 Unacceptable Notification: Unacceptable notifications are received from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) when an investigation request is not complete or does meet the timeline for submission. Upon receipt of an Unacceptable notification from OPM, contractor personnel shall contact the sponsoring company and provide guidance to the POC as to why an investigation may be deemed Unacceptable at OPM. If the sponsoring company does not provide the information requested in the timeframe established by OPM, the case will become Unacceptable and OPM processing will cease. Once the case becomes Unacceptable, contractor personnel updates the subject's eligibility with a status of Loss of Jurisdiction with a statement in JPAS or successor system indicating the Loss of Jurisdiction was due to an administrative action. 3 Discontinue Notifications: Contractor personnel will receive discontinue notifications from OPM via system notifications and in the mail. The contractor shall check JPAS to determine if the subject of investigation is under a new CAGE code, if so, contractor personnel shall notify OPM to reopen the case and continue processing. If the subject of investigation has not been placed under a new CAGE code, the contractor shall update the subject's eligibility with a status of Loss of Jurisdiction with a statement in JPAS indicating the Loss of Jurisdiction was due to an administrative action. 4 Separation/Transfer Notifications: Contractor personnel receive separation/transfer notifications via system notifications from JPAS. Contractor personnel review JPAS to determine if the subject has been placed under a new CAGE code. If so, the Contractor personnel notify OPM of the new category and to continue the investigation. If the subject of investigation has not been placed under a new CAGE code, contractor personnel will update the subject's eligibility to Loss of Jurisdiction with a statement indicating the Loss of Jurisdiction was due to an administrative action. 5 CATCH ‘EM IN CONUS: Contractor personnel shall process information received from FSO's regarding a subject's dates of availability for a CONUS interview with OPM. Once the information is received, the contractor personnel shall notify OPM's Catch ‘em In CONUS Team for scheduling of the subject interview. 6 Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) REAPPLICATION: Contractor personnel process the e-QIPs as received by government personnel for individuals whose security clearance was Denied or Revoked by DOHA. Contractor personnel prepare a package consisting of the e-QIP and signature pages to PSMO-I management for further processing. Contractor personnel notify DOHA of the subject's reapplication and of the subject's intent to reapply for a security clearance. 7 Personal Identification Data Changes: Contractor personnel are responsible for correcting Personal Identification Data (PID) changes upon request from FSO's or submitting a request for the correction, to the appropriate database owner. 8 Record and Data Management: Contractor personnel create and modify records in personnel security databases; add, delete, and create documents for workflow process and assignment. Contractor personnel obtains and distributes mail. 9 Process Standard Form-312: Contractor personnel shall review all submitted Classified Information Non-Disclosure Agreements (SF-312) for completeness and separate forms as either acceptable or rejected so that they can process acceptable SF-312's into designated database and process rejected messages to FSO via JPAS. 10 Incident Reports: Contractor personnel will review, analyze, and distribute all Incident Reports sent to PSMO-I in accordance with PSMO-I Standard Operating Procedures. The analysis will consist of ranking reports into three categories: Low, Medium, and High. Contractor personnel will upload the Incident Reports into CATS and determine the severity and risk of the Incident Report. Low Incident Reports will be forwarded to PSMO-I government personnel to close in JPAS and CATS. Medium Incident Reports will be forwarded by contractor personnel to the appropriate CAF for adjudicative action. High Incident Reports will be forwarded to the PSMO-I Interim Suspension personnel for immediate action and the appropriate CAF for immediate action. 11 Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing (e-QIP) Review: Contractor personnel shall review initial investigation submissions for completeness and route to government personnel for final approval and release to OPM. 12 Triage Outreach Program (TOP): Contractor personnel shall perform TOP activities for approximately 5,000 NISP facilities annually. TOP activities include: research of security involvement in the NISP, company website information, JPAS activity and PCLs, federal and state business records, transmit and suspense TOP survey to FSO via automated SharePoint workflow, evaluate and document TOP survey responses against established NISPOM criteria, conduct telephonic follow-up with the FSO to correct security relevant issues and ambiguous TOP survey responses, and transmission of facility security posture to assigned Industrial Security Representative via automated SharePoint workflow. 13 Personnel Clearance (PCL) Oversight Functions: Contractor personnel shall perform research on overdue periodic reinvestigation and aging interim clearance population and take authorized actions as directed by PSMO-I. This research includes but not limited to checking the status of the open and closed investigations and assist with pending adjudication actions as required. 14 Customer Service Requests: Contractor personnel will review, process and respond to customer service requests for issue resolution action. The customer service request may be in the form of an email (from AskPSMO-I@dss.mil), phone call, fax, Research/Recertify/Upgrade request via JPAS, or other mode of communication. 15 DSS Knowledge Center Support: Contractor personnel will answer phone calls from security professionals and subjects of investigation, focusing on issue resolution. Contractor personnel will utilize JPAS and CATS to provide responses to inquiries involving e-QIPs and PCLs. Contractor personnel will respond to inquiries on functional questions of e-QIP, perform e-QIP account resets, and respond to any issues involving the initiation/continuation of e-QIP investigation requests. In addition, contractor personnel will answer questions from security professionals regarding the status of an individual's clearance. JPAS and CATS will be utilized to determine the status of the security clearance process. Contractor Team Lead will assist in identifying trends to support the update of frequently asked questions (FAQs) and the DSS website. 16 Continuous Evaluation (CE): Contractor personnel will receive CE reports to support the DoD CE mission. The records flagged by CE will be reviewed, analyzed, and distributed into Low, Medium, High risk categories. Low Risk Reports will be forwarded to PSMO-I government personnel to close in JPAS and CATS. Medium RiskReports will be forwarded by contractor personnel to government personnel for adjudicative action. High Risk Reports will be forwarded to the PSMO-I Interim Suspension personnel for immediate action and appropriate CAF for immediate action. 17 Reports: The Contractor shall provide reports in accordance with CDRL 02 - Task Status/Progress Reportand CDRL 03 - Trend Analysis Report at Exhibit A. RESPONSES REQUESTED DSS would like information and comments on the following: 1. Provide your company name, point of contact, business size (large or small), socio-economic status for all North American Industry Classification Standard (NAICS) codes you operate under. 2. Please provide suggestions on the NAICS preferred by the contractor and explanation on the suitability of this code for the requirement described above. 3. Please email a capability statement based on the above objective and scope. Indicate if you previously supported all areas of the scope identified above and provide a detailed explanation of your efforts provided. a. Please indicate if the services provided were for commercial firms, Federal Agencies, or Department of Defense (DoD) Agencies. b. Please provide contract numbers, and dollar amounts for contracts your firm has managed along with applicable years of experience similar to the objective and scope identified above. c. Please provide names of related projects and their contract value over the last three (3) years including subcontractors/teaming partners that your company partnered with (if applicable). 4. Do you typically provide these services on-site at the client's site or off-site at your facility(s) or both? Please elaborate regarding how your support services are provided within each setting (on/off site). 5. Describe your recruiting process and ability to locate and hire skilled personnel. Provide your staff turnover rate for past three (3) years. What best practices do you employ for staff retention and recruitment? 6. The Government's preferred contract type is Firm Fixed Price (FFP) for this requirement. Please provide suggestions on the contract type preferred by the contractor and explanation if it is different than the Government's preferred contract type. 7. The Government will require a Top Secret facility clearance at time of proposal submission. 8. The Government is contemplating a multiple year contract. Please provide suggestions on the Government's approach. 9. Please provide a response on the type of labor categories that you would utilize to meet the above objective and scope. Please also identify those positions that you would believe should be considered key personnel. 10. If there are any other questions or comments, please submit them along with your response. Additional Information: Contracting Office Address: Defense Security Service (DSS), Office of Acquisitions 27130 Telegraph Road, Quantico, VA 22134. The Point of Contact for this RFI is Julie Bardo who can be reached at Julie.Bardo@dss.mil, Ashley Maddox at Ashley.Maddox@dss.mil or Renee Staton at Renee.Staton@dss.mil. Place of Performance: The majority of work for this effort will be performed at the DSS facility located in Hanover, MD 21076 and potential meetings at the DoD CAF located on Fort Meade, MD 20755. Training may be offered at the DSS (CDSE) location in Linthicum, MD 21090. Anticipated Period of Performance: A contract for a (1) one-year base period and (4) four-year option periods projected to be awarded no later than May, 2016. Those who respond to the RFI should not anticipate feedback with regards to their submission other than acknowledgement of receipt - IF a request for an acknowledgement is requested by the submitter. DSS reserves the right to review late submissions but makes no guarantee that they will be reviewed.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/ddc921a400a0d0d9996c32be50ac6f57)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Hanover, Maryland, 21076, United States
- Zip Code: 21076
- Zip Code: 21076
- Record
- SN04036024-W 20160303/160301235208-ddc921a400a0d0d9996c32be50ac6f57 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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