SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Single Family Homeowner Refunds & Claim Support Services
- Notice Date
- 3/31/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 561421
— Telephone Answering Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Housing and Urban Development, OCPO, Office of Policy and Systems, Community Service/Housing Support Div, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20410, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20410
- Solicitation Number
- 2014-H-0007
- Archive Date
- 4/26/2014
- Point of Contact
- Brenda K Lee, Phone: 202-402-3504, Brenda K Lee, Phone: 202-402-3504
- E-Mail Address
-
brenda.k.lee@hud.gov, brenda.k.lee@hud.gov
(brenda.k.lee@hud.gov, brenda.k.lee@hud.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION: RESPONSES TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WILL NOT BE RETURNED, NOR ANY ENSUING DISCUSSIONS OR DEBRIEFINGS OF ANY RESPONSES. This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE to determine the availability and capability of qualified small businesses (including certified 8(a), Small Disadvantaged, HUBZone firms; veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and women-owned small businesses) to provide services that consist of maintaining and operating Single Family Insurance Operations Division's (SFIOD) Support Service Center (SSC) and providing a variety of financial services to assist HUD. Such services include handling at least 5,000 to 15,000 weekly telephone inquiries and written inquiries from the public concerning issues related to Single Family Mortgage Insurance, updating and correcting data related to homeowner refunds, and Distributive Shares payments. Additionally the Service Center staff will review and research data found on the application for refunds and letters received from HUD. The required outcome is to provide telephone support services to enable SFIOD to ensure prompt customer service in response to the high volume of inquiries from homeowners, lenders, Home Ownership Center personnel, Third Party Tracers, Spanish speaking individuals, and the public with issues related to single family mortgage insurance premium refunds, Distributive Shares payments, refinance of single family mortgage insurance, and Tracer Found cases and forms. Also, the support services will assist SFIOD in meeting the customer service standards of the Department. The final approval for refund requests will be performed by HUD staff. Background: SFIOD is responsible to provide information services, via SFIOD Systems, to homeowners, lenders, the public, Home Ownership Centers, and other government organizations related to Single Family Mortgage Insurance, such as homeowner refunds and data correction, and to provide a variety of technical services to assist HUD. The SFIOD Systems used are the Single Family Insurance System (SFIS/A43), Distributive Shares & Refunds Subsystem (DSRS/A80D), and the Single Family Premium Collections Subsystem-Upfront (SFPCS-U/A80R). The objective is to provide prompt customer service in response to the high volume of inquiries from homeowners, lenders, the public, and other government organizations. Operate a Support Service Center to provide telephone assistance/data update service to respond to telephone requests from the homeowners, lenders, the general public, Third Party Tracers, and the Home Ownership Center staff. and support for functions such as: Professionally, courteously, and accurately answer telephone inquiries and perform research and financial analysis for SFIOD. The topics of the inquiries may include: SFPCS; distributive shares; premium refunds; Tracer Found Cases and forms; Upfront, and data corrections/updates; Professionally, courteously, and accurately take telephone messages and requests. When necessary, make referrals for actions listed above in item a; Refer inquiries, referrals, and messages requiring further action to appropriate SFIOD offices daily, but more often if changed circumstances require; Provide system generated daily, weekly, and monthly reports to HUD on telephone assistance/data update services. The format for reporting must be approved by the GTR prior to use; Complete outbound calls that includes callbacks to homeowners, lenders, Home Ownership Center staff and Third Party Tracers from retrieved calls on the after hours voicemail box and referrals that require additional information; Perform an initial review of received Forms HUD-27050-B, Application for Premium Refund or Distributive Share Payment, (Part-B) and additional documentation for proof of eligibility of MIP refund or refund payment status or verify scanned Form HUD-27050-B documents are imaged on CDs. Provide for normal day-to-day maintenance and operation of call management (Interactive Voice Response System) services used in conjunction with the telephone assistance/data update service. The call management services shall be available seven (7) days a week. Changes to messages must be approved by the appropriate GTM and the GTR prior to use. All services shall be available five (5) days a week (Monday through Friday), with the necessary software to accommodate the data transmission requirements. Ensure that each employee is able to use selected screens in the HUD databases and/or appropriate HUD approved or HUD supplied materials to respond to most of the basic types of inquiries that may be received and prepare referrals of telephone messages to HUD personnel for daily transmission. Hands-on training on the various HUD mainframe screens needed to respond to homeowner/lender inquiries will be provided. Subsequent training of provider personnel will be the responsibility of the provider. Interfaces with HINET and the HUD mainframes. Also provide one adequate technical staff to support the users, as well as the daily operations of the SFIOD Support Service Center. Staff and maintain a facility of sufficient size to accommodate the personnel and equipment necessary for performance of the requirements specified in this task. The facility must be secured to protect Government property, which will be stored/installed on the premises. Maintain a Disaster Recovery Site as a backup to the SFIOD Support Service Center in the event of system failure, such as power outage or server damage, or in the event of a shortage of service representatives at the main site. 1. Telephone assistance and data update service staff shall respond to telephone inquiries Received from the homeowners, lenders, the general public, Third Party tracers, Home Ownership Center personnel, and referred calls from HUD Headquarters concerning distributive shares, and Upfront refunds, using a combination of both on line and printed materials to answer verbally and through data updates to generate appropriate correspondence or forms. Inquiries may include, but are not limited to such items as: • General information about the distributive shares; • Upfront mortgage insurance refund programs; • Person's eligibility to receive a payment of distributive share or an Upfront mortgage insurance premium refund; • Status of processing a claim for payment (Form HUD- 27050-B); • Information on Third Party Tracer procedures; • Status of Third Party Tracer claims; • Verification and request for changes to mailing addresses and issuance of claim forms and correspondence; • Requests for initiation of check tracing action; and • Information on erroneous payments and requirements for "proof of ownership". 2. Each refund inquiry shall result in one or more actions: • Immediate resolution by the appropriate verbal response at the time of the telephone call; • Resolve by generating the appropriate form or letter through the HUD application during the telephone call; and • Referrals including supporting documentation are sent via email twice a day at 11am and 3pm on a daily basis to HUD Headquarters staff for further action. • Responsible to alert HUD on any referral if a check tracer request has not been processed within two weeks of receipt to HUD staff. • Alert HUD on any unprocessed applications from the previous week by 11am Wednesday. Provide written procedures, checklists, and scripts in order to answer inquiries. Responding to inquiries and generating referrals will be covered in the contractor staff training. Notified by the GTM when referrals are sent to HUD Headquarters staff that should have been addressed by the contractor personnel. Referrals including supporting documentation should be prepared and sent via email to appropriate HUD staff on a daily basis. The estimated number of referrals sent to HUD staff will be 100 to 1,000 per month. 3. The telephone assistance and data update service staff shall answer SFIOD telephone requests from homeowners, lenders, Third Party Tracers, the general public, and Home Ownership Center personnel concerning single family mortgage insurance programs; premium calculation and billing; portfolio servicing and reconciliation; and mortgage insurance premium refunds or Distributive Shares. Requests include, but are not limited to such items as: Clarification of Mortgagee Letters related to Single Family Insurance Premium programs; Issuance of a Premium Endorsement Report (PER) for a lender; Clarification of specific refinance transactions; Verification of correct FHA case number; Verification of correct property address; Distributing correspondence requests for check tracing to HUD; and Verification of correct mailing addresses for upfront premiums. 4. Each request shall result in one or more of the following actions: Immediate resolution by the appropriate verbal response at the time of the telephone call; and resolve by data update corrections and generation of an appropriate form or letter through the appropriate HUD application at the time of the call. 5. IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) call management services shall be available 24 hours a day, seven (7) days a week. The system should provide for a separate lender mailbox for lender inquiries. 6. The contractor services will handle an average 4,800 to 7,000 operator assisted calls per month. The average monthly volume of operated assisted calls from November 2013 to January 2014 was 6,099. Operators will utilize professional headsets. 7. The contractor shall process and complete 500 to 2,000 callbacks per month which includes returned calls from the after hour voice mailbox and when additional information is needed for referrals. The average monthly volume of callbacks from November 2013 to January 2014 was 763. 8. The contractor shall maintain two Spanish speaking operators who have the capability to read documentation in Spanish returned with applications, to assist customers over the phone that are Spanish speaking, and to assist Spanish speaking inquiries. HUD Headquarters staff shall refer and forward the calls and documentation from Spanish speaking customers and lenders to contractor staff to respond. 9. The contractor shall perform a review of approximately 750 to 2,500 Applications for Premium Refund or Distributive Share Payment (Form HUD-27050-B) per month. The contractor will verify on HUD system that refund payment was made and will verify that Form HUD-27050-B is properly imaged on CD. The average number of monthly Forms HUD-27050-B processed from November 2013 to January 2014 was 1905. process callbacks on up to 700 suspended claims and complete 700 per week this includes tracers and referrals. The NAICS Code is 561421 Telephone Answering Services and the size standard is $14M. Interested small business offerors are encouraged to respond to this notice. However, be advised that generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective evaluation of the respondents' capacity and capability to perform the specific work as required. Response must directly demonstrate the company's capability, experience, and/or ability to marshal resources to effectively and efficiently perform each of the tasks described above in sufficient level of detail to allow definitive review of the capability statement and evidence that the contractor can satisfy the minimum requirements listed above in compliance with FAR 52.219-14 ("Limitations of Subcontracting"). Failure to definitively address each of these requirements will result in a finding that respondent lacks capability to perform the work. Responses to this notice shall be limited to TEN pages, and must include: 1. Company name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone and FAX numbers, website address (if available), and the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of a point of contact having the authority and knowledge to clarify responses with Government representatives. 2. Name, title, telephone number, and e-mail addresses of individuals who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the responses. 3. Business size for NAICS XXXX (size standard $ or number of employees) and status, if qualified as an 8(a) firm (must be certified by SBA), Small Disadvantaged Business (must be certified by SBA), Woman-Owned Small Business, HUBZone firm (must be certified by SBA), and/or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (must be listed in the VetBiz Vendor Information Pages). 4. DUNS number, CAGE Code, Tax Identification Number, and company structure (Corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc.). Companies also must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM, at www.sam.gov) to be considered as potential sources. 5. Identification of the firm's GSA Schedule contract(s) by Schedule number and contract number and SINs that are applicable to this potential requirement are also requested. 6. If the company has a Government approved accounting system, please identify the agency that approved the system. Please submit copies of any documentation such as letters or certificates to indicate the firm's status (see item #3, above) Teaming arrangements are acceptable, and the information required above on the company responding to this announcement, should also be provided for each entity expected to be teammates of the respondent for performance of this work. To the maximum extent possible, please submit non-proprietary information. Any proprietary information submitted should be identified as such and will be properly protected from disclosure. This notice is for planning purposes only, and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, a Request for Proposals, a Solicitation, and a Request for Quotes, or an indication the Government will contract for the items contained in this announcement. This request is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any cost associated with submission of the information being requested or reimburse expenses incurred to interested parties for responses to this announcement. Responses to this announcement will not be returned, nor any ensuing discussions or debriefings of any responses. However, information obtained as a result of this announcement may be reflected in the subsequent solicitation, and HUD, OHP may contact one or more respondents for clarifications and to enhance the Government's understanding. This announcement is Government market research, and may result in revisions in both its requirements and its acquisition strategy based on industry responses. RESPONDENTS MUST SUBMIT CAPABILITY STATEMENT VIA E-MAIL to Brenda K. Lee at brenda.k.lee@hud.gov no later than April 11, 2014, 3:00 PM Eastern Time for consideration.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/0e82e192c0fcc7526ccc3a69f030fb5c)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 451 7 th Street, Washington, District of Columbia, 20410, United States
- Zip Code: 20410
- Zip Code: 20410
- Record
- SN03324315-W 20140402/140331234214-0e82e192c0fcc7526ccc3a69f030fb5c (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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