Description
*** NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD SOLE-SOURCE** The Department of Labor (Department), Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Office of Unemployment Insurance (OUI) intends to award a $9 million sole-source contract to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies' (NASWA) Center for Employment Security Education and Research (CESER) for the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Integrity Center to enhance functionality and maximize fraud and improper payment prevention and detection capabilities of the Integrity Data Hub (IDH), which is used by states administering UI programs. This work will directly benefit the Federal Government by supporting OUI in its oversight of the UI program and its compliance with improper payment laws by improving states’ fraud prevention and detection capabilities and reducing overpayments of federally-funded unemployment compensation (UC) benefits. This action is conducted under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 – Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The UI Integrity Center is a critical integrity resource for states, providing technical assistance, consultations, tools, products, and training to state UI agencies to prevent and detect improper payments, reduce fraud, and bring the UI program into compliance with the requirements of the Payment Integrity Information Act (PIIA) of 2019. The UI Integrity Center is operated by CESER through a cooperative agreement with the Department. CESER is a 501(c)(3) entity incorporated in August 1994 as an education and research arm of the NASWA, which is a national organization of state administrators of the publicly-funded state workforce system and is a leading provider of information technology (IT), education, and research support focused exclusively on UI and workforce development initiatives and activities. ETA and state UI agencies have an immediate need for enhancements to the IDH, which consist of expanding data collection and analytics to include employer data; integrating additional external data sources to improve fraud prevention and detection, including data sharing with other Federal agencies; and providing IDH training to states to more effectively utilize the IDH. In September 2017, the UI Integrity Center implemented the IDH, which is a centralized, multi-state data system that allows participating states to cross-match state UI data against a variety of datasets to aid states in preventing and detecting UI fraud. Over the past several years, states’ participation in and use of the IDH has increased significantly, enhancing the IDH’s ability to offer a more powerful multi-state fraud detection tool. All 53 state UI agencies now have IDH participation agreements in place, which detail IDH data sharing protocols and usage of data. The UI Integrity Center has also expanded its IDH capabilities to support states in combatting fraud and will continue to play a vital role in this effort, providing tools, technical assistance, resources, and training to states to prevent and detect fraud and reduce improper payments in the UC programs. Past enhancements have included the implementation of an identity verification (IDV) solution in July 2020, and integration of a bank account verification service (BAV) in February 2022. NASWA/CESER is uniquely qualified to implement IDH enhancements, integrate additional external data sources in the IDH, and provide training to states on more effective IDH utilization for the following reasons: NASWA/CESER already has in place the IDH infrastructure along with other data sets that similarly support UI program integrity. NASWA/CESER operates the UI Information Technology Support Center (ITSC), which is knowledgeable of states’ UI IT infrastructure that must interface with IDH and has played a key role in shaping the business requirements and architecture of modernized UI benefits and tax systems in partnership with ETA. NASWA/CESER leverages its UI ITSC staff to support states in integrating the IDH into their UI IT systems. NASWA also operates the Interstate Connection Network (ICON) and the State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES), which have infrastructure and/or functionality that is leveraged to support UI program integrity. NASWA/CESER manages the IDH participation agreements among the states that enables data sharing across states. Currently all 53 state UI agencies have signed participation agreements to use the datasets in the IDH. These agreements, and the function NASWA/CESER plays in managing them, are foundational to the data sharing that is facilitated by IDH to aid in the prevention and detection of improper payments and potential fraud, and to improve the overall integrity operations of the states’ UI programs. Through the work previously done by the UI Integrity Center in working with the states and developing the IDH, NASWA/CESER staff have gained an in-depth understanding of the fraud being experienced by the UI system. NASWA/CESER staff possess a full range of knowledge, skills, and resources, including a cadre of qualified UI program and technology experts who are available to effectively implement, manage, monitor IDH enhancements and provide IDH training to states. NASWA/CESER is the only entity with the expert knowledge of IDH and the capacity to immediately take on development and implementation of IDH enhancements and provide IDH training to states with no break in service. In developing, operating, and maintaining the IDH, NASWA/CESER staff have acquired detailed expert knowledge of the workings of the IDH and have an in-depth understanding of the IDH’s network topology and configuration, performance parameters, and security framework. NASWA/CESER staff have the necessary expertise, experience, and resources to coordinate and conduct functionality and performance testing to ensure that IDH enhancements meet business and technical requirements. NASWA/CESER staff are experienced with procurement, testing, and established performance benchmarks from prior integration of external data sources (IDV solution and BAV service) in the IDH. This expert experience makes NASWA/CESER unique and uniquely suited to enhance the IDH and integrate additional external datasets in the IDH. NASWA/CESER is the only entity with the in-depth working knowledge of IDH to actively engage with states and provide training and technical assistance to connect to the various datasets available through the IDH and to support states in fully optimizing their usage of the IDH, which requires significant state engagement. Parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement by September 28, 2023 at 08:00 AM. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Federal Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination not to compete this proposed award upon response to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Federal Government. No reimbursement for any cost connected with providing capability information will be provided. *** NO PHONE CALLS WILL BE ACCEPPTED***