General Information Document Type: Sources Sought Notice Posted Date: February 8, 2011 Response Date: February 24, 2011 Contracting Office Address General Services Administration GSA/FAS/QTAEA 10304 Eaton Place Fairfax, VA 22030 Description This is not a solicitation announcement. This is a sources sought synopsis to gather information concerning potential offerors who are interested in participating in the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Relay (FedRelay) program that provides telecommunications accessibility to federal employees who are deaf or hard of hearing. This sources sought synopsis is for information and planning purposes, and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for information solicited. Since this is a sources sought announcement, no evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents. The Government seeks companies who can provide end-to-end, proven commercially available, comprehensive Relay service solutions to Federal Government agencies nationwide. Contractor shall provide Relay services (text telephone and speech to speech as a minimum) for domestic and non-domestic locations. Domestic locations are those within the fifty United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Marianas. All other locations are defined as non-domestic for the purpose of this effort. Any long distance service shall be provided as a part of the service, and will not be separately priced in response to the Request for Proposals (RFP), when issued. Contractor shall be required to maintain and publish, online, the Government TTY directory. The Federal Relay Service provides an intermediary telecommunications service for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, and/or have speech disabilities, including federal employees, for communications with and within the Federal Government. Public Law 100-542 requires the General Services Administration (GSA), among other things, to continue to operate an existing Relay service for text telephone (TTY) users and to maintain and publish a TTY directory. The FedRelay is intended to provide telecommunications Relay services for the Government. The scope of the FedRelay contract includes any services necessary for the Government to satisfy its worldwide Relay services requirements. The contractor shall operate and maintain an ordering and billing system with reports generation capabilities in support of greater than 200 billable entities (departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions, tribes, and other authorized users). The contractor shall provide telecommunications and site facilities, personnel and equipment as required to meet the workload requirements of this effort. The contractor shall provide toll-free access numbers for access to services, customer support, and technical support. The contractor shall also provide work site redundancy features that will ensure continuity of service to include, but not limited to: network failure, uninterruptible power, battery backup, standby central processing unit (CPU), administrative/maintenance terminals, and other service interruptions. The contractor shall ensure that services remain operational in the event of power outages or other outages. In the event of a power or other outage, telecommunications and ADP equipment shall remain operational at work site facilities to ensure personnel can continue working. The contractor shall maintain fully redundant capabilities as a backup in the event of a service failure or a natural disaster. The contractor shall provide a full time outreach liaison to promote FedRelay awareness, through the application of creative and innovative outreach. This would include direct interaction with Government agencies, field offices, and participation in Federal Government conferences nationwide with hearing managers, deaf, hard of hearing and/or speech impaired individuals and communities. Length of contract is projected to be ten years, consisting of a base period, and several option periods. Potential contractors or their subcontractors must be established providers that are: 1. Currently offering Relay services through one of the states' programs or are certified by the Federal Communications Commission's certification process for the provision of Video Relay Service and/or IP Relay and, 2. Are in compliance with the existing mandatory minimum standards prescribed in the Federal Communications Commission's rules (47 CFR 64.604). There are currently six (6) services provided by the General Services Federal Relay Program in both English and Spanish: 1) TTY/ASCII, 2) CTS, 3) Speech-to-Speech, 4) Video Relay Service (internet-based and non-internet-based), 5) Relay Conference Captioning, and 6) IP Relay. The service descriptions may be found at www.gsa.gov/FedRelay. The estimated total annual usage is approximately 2,000,000 minutes. Disclaimer: The following requested information to be provided is for planning purposes only, and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), nor does it restrict the Government as to the ultimate acquisition approach. The government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI, or to otherwise pay for the information solicited. Any contract that might be awarded based on information received or derived from this RFI will be the outcome of the competitive process. Requested Information: Company Name, Company Address, Point of Contact, Telephone Number, e-mail Address, Size of your Organization (i.e. Large Business, Small Business), and DUNS Number. Relay services provided and list of customers. Please include the volume of activity by minutes, segregated by service provided and language. Please focus on the information requested above, and refrain from including excessive or irrelevant marketing material. Structure of Responses Contractors should respond to this RFI by e-mail (only) to
[email protected]. Point of Contact The Point of Contact (POC) for this RFI is as follows: Edward Smith FedRelay Program Manager
[email protected] Please submit electronic responses (via email) to the POC identified above, no later than February 23, 2011. GSA appreciates your cooperation in this matter.