DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, Internal Revenue Service, (M:P), 6009 Oxon Hill Road, Suite 700, Oxon Hill, MD 20745

R -- INTERNATIONAL PRE-SORT MAIL CONSOLIDATION SERVICES SOL TIRNO97R00060 DUE 081597 POC Contract Specialist, Helen Carmona, 202-283-1514 (Fax) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires the services of a contractor to provide INTERNATIONAL MAIL PRE-SORT CONSOLIDATION SERVICES. The United States Postal Service (USPS) offers significant discounts on the price of sending international mail if that mail is presorted to the destination country before it is entered into the postal system. The use of a mail consolidator to sort the mail is essential in the continuing effort to reduce the IRS mail costs. It is extremely important to distinguish between an INTERNATIONAL MAIL CONSOLIDATOR and an INTERNATIONAL REMAILER. An international mail consolidator sorts the mail according to USPS specifications and enters the mail in the USPS system. Therefore the IRS is paying postage to an American postal system and receives all of the protections and quality of that service. An international remailer sorts the mail and enters it into the postal service of a foreign country to postmark and mail. While postal rates are sometimes less expensive in the country from where the mail is sent, service has been shown to be less reliable and the IRS would pay into a foreign mail system. Additionally, all international mail must have a return address of the country from which it is mailed. For example, if a remailer puts the mail into the Panamanian postal system, the mail must have a Panama return address in order to be delivered. This~ precludes the use of a remailer because all IRS mail processed under this contract must have a United States return address.~ The successful vendor selected to fulfill the requirements of a contract awarded from this solicitation shall be designated a PRE-QUALIFIED WHOLESALER, as outlined by the USPS Prequalified Wholesaler Program. This program allows a unique working agreement between the USPS and the consolidator so that both parties, as well as any customers, benefit from a work sharing and volume pricing arrangement. The standards that the wholesaler must meet to gain this designation guarantee that the contractor is well versed in thistype of operation and will be able to fully meet all requirements of the contract. Each potential offeror submitting a proposal must show proof of such designation by the USPS. The IRS mail pick-up points are: RICHMOND, VA; PHILADELPHIA, PA and WASHINGTON, DC. The potential international mail gateway airports are: JFK, NEW YORK; MIAMI, FLORIDA and SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. All requests for this solicitation must be in writing, via mail (see above address) or via fax (see number above). No telephone requests will be honored. Numbered Note #1 -- 100% small business set-aside. (0174)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0056 19970625\R-0014.SOL)