SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT
The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is seeking sources for “Birth Certification/Verification”
CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS:
DCSA Contracting and Procurement Office (CPO)
27130 Telegraph Road
Quantico, VA 22134
INTRODUCTION:
This is a SOURCES SOUGHT TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION to determine the availability and technical capability of small businesses (including the following subsets, Small Disadvantaged Businesses, Certified 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, HUBZone, and Woman Owned Small Businesses) to provide the required products and/or services.
DCSA is seeking information for potential sources for an electronic system or application that provides real-time verification of birth certificate information. This information is vital to the mission of DCSA in the performance of personnel vetting and conducting background investigations (BI) for the departments and agencies of the federal government. BIs are required to determine an individual’s eligibility for access to classified information, assignment to or retention in positions with sensitive duties, or other designated duties requiring such investigations. A DCSA authorized user is able to generate an electronic query to the majority of vital records office throughout the country and return an immediate response. DCSA has successfully used the National Association of Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS) Electronic Verification of Vital Events (EVVE) application to verify birth requests since 2009.
DCSA (formerly the Office of Personnel Management-National Background Investigations Bureau) has been conducting web based birth certifications since 2009. DCSA currently completes web based birth certifications for 50 of the 57 birth jurisdictions. Prior to 2009, birth certifications were conducted by mailing inquiries to the vital records office or by sending an investigator to obtain the record. Currently, if a jurisdiction does not support electronic certifications, then an inquiry is mailed to the jurisdiction. Birth Certifications are required to verify if a subject of investigation was born in the United States or U.S. territory.
Objective:
The objective of this requirement is to obtain birth certifications and verifications via automation (web service) and through a manual interface (web site). Birth certification and verification results should be returned immediately via the web service or interface. The vendor should be able to receive and return results in an XML format via the web service and an online and pdf response for the manual interface/website queries. The immediate responses via the web service and user interface will allow DCSA to immediately verify a subject’s place of birth and will support the background investigation and timeliness requirements.
- Requests will be sent to Vendor on a daily basis.
- Vendor will return birth certification/verification result immediately.
- Vendor will provide access to website for manual birth certification/verification queries.
- Vendor will return website birth certification/verification responses immediately
DISCLAIMER:
THIS SOURCES SOUGHT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE
GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE TO PAY FOR PREPARATION OF RESPONSES TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY.
CONTRACT/PROGRAM BACKGROUND:
Contract Number: HS002120C0006 Contract Type: Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP)
Incumbent and their size: National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems, Inc. (NAPHSIS) / Other than Small Business / Non-Profit Organization
Method of previous acquisition: Sole Source
The current statement of work requires the Vendor to provide birth certifications electronically for births claimed within the available jurisdictions, and appropriately safeguard the confidentiality of data exchanged. The Vendor will interface directly with the individual jurisdiction databases and provide a single connection for birth certifications/verifications.
DCSA will electronically transmit the personal identifying information (PII) to the Vendor. The Vendor will immediately (in real time access to data, within a typical stand of 120 seconds of request) transmit the requests to the jurisdiction and immediately return the results in an electronic format. Birth queries may be submitted to the Vendor via batch processing or single requests. Results shall be returned immediately via an agreed upon format.
The Vendor will also make available a web site access for manual queries. DCSA users will be able to manually enter PII and immediately receive a birth certification response.
The current contract cycle ends on March 31, 2025, and DCSA anticipates awarding a new contract effort to begin on April 1, 2025, which will consist of a base period of one year, and four optional one year periods.
Work is performed at the Vendor’s physical location, and it is expected that work will continue to be performed in this manner for the next contract cycle.
REQUIRED CAPABILITIES:
a) Describe your experience and ability to conduct records verifications in support of background investigations for the departments and agencies of the federal government.
b) Describe your ability to provide access to the EVVE application for vital record information via a web service or website.
c) Describe your experience and ability in fulling electronic records requests that will be sent to Vendor on a daily basis.
d) Describe your experience and process for returning birth certification/verification result immediately for a minimum of 50 state/territory electronically.
e) Describe your experience and process providing access to website for jurisdictions that require manual birth certification/verification queries.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
There are no specific regulations that Vendors must adhere to in the performance of this effort.
SOURCES SOUGHT:
The anticipated North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) for this requirement is 813920, Professional Organizations, (https://www.naics.com/search/), with the corresponding size standard of $16.5 million (https://www.sba.gov/document/support--table-size-standards). This Sources Sought Synopsis is requesting responses to the following criteria ONLY from small businesses that can provide the required services under the NAICS Code.
To assist DCSA in making a determination regarding the level of participation by small business in any subsequent procurement that may result from this Sources Sought, you are also encouraged to provide information regarding your plans to use joint venturing (JV) or partnering to meet each of the requirements areas contained herein. This includes responses from qualified and capable Small Businesses, Small Disadvantaged Businesses, Service Disabled-Veteran Owned Small Businesses, Women-owned Small Businesses, HUBZone, and 8(a) companies. You should provide information on how you would envision your company's areas of expertise and those of any proposed JV/partner would be combined to meet the specific requirements contained in this announcement.
In order to make a determination for a small business set-aside, two or more qualified and capable small businesses must submit responses that demonstrate their qualifications.
Responses must demonstrate the company’s ability to perform in accordance with the Limitations on Subcontracting clause (FAR 52.219-14).
SUBMISSION DETAILS:
Responses should include:
1) Business name and address;
2) Name of company representative and their business title;
3) Type of Small Business;
4) CAGE Code;
5) Your contract vehicles that would be available to the Government for the procurement of the product and/or service, to include General Service Administration (GSA) (provide applicable Special Item Numbers (SINs)), Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) (including applicable SIN(s)), or any other Government Agency contract vehicle. (This information is for market research only and does not preclude your company from responding to this notice.)
Vendors who wish to respond to this should send responses via email no later than (NLT) 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on or before December 23rd, 2024. It is requested that a subject line of “Birth Certification/Verification Capability” should be used for this email.
Interested businesses should submit a brief capabilities statement package (not to exceed five pages) demonstrating ability to perform the services listed in this Technical Description.
Proprietary information and trade secrets, if any, must be clearly marked on all materials. All information received that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.
All government and contractor personnel reviewing responses will have signed non- disclosure agreements and understand their responsibility for proper use and protection from unauthorized disclosure of proprietary information as described 41 USC 423. The Government shall not be held liable for any damages incurred if proprietary information is not properly identified.
