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This RFQ is issued for ALLIANT 2 awardees only. Should anyone on ALLIANT 2 have any questions or feedback related to this Request for Quote, please fill out this Q&A form no later than December 16, 2019 at noon, eastern.
Responses for the RFQ are due no later than January 10, 2019 at noon, eastern.
Again, please note that this RFQ is open only to contractors on ALLIANT 2. We cannot commit to considering anything sent to us by anyone other than contractors on ALLIANT 2. ALLIANT 2 contractors are encouraged to review the instructions referenced in the timetable that immediately follows the cover page. Please remember to review any artifacts in the repository as well.
Additionally, we cannot commit to considering anything sent to us by contractors on ALLIANT 2 sent past the deadline or via any medium.
GSA’s Centers of Excellence (CoE), in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is modernizing the Federal Annuity Claims Expert System (FACES). Retirement Services (RS) is the OPM program division responsible for the administration of retirement benefits. RS staff members depend on FACES to adjudicate about 80,000 federal retirement benefit actions every year.
FACES is a reliable and accurate system, but it was built with tools that are no longer supported by the manufacturer, which makes it difficult to update and maintain. FACES wasn’t originally designed as enterprise software and there is limited documentation that describes how FACES works. Also, there is no disaster recovery plan in place in case the application suffers critical failure.
Legal Administrative Specialists (LAS) depend on FACES to do their jobs. Their retirement benefits expertise is essential to the adjudication of cases, but making up for the legacy app’s shortcomings forces them to squander time and focus.
OPM is replacing the FACES desktop app with a modern Web app. The design of the replacement app must help optimize the expertise of the LAS. In the short-term, hand entry of case information will continue to be an aspect of the adjudication experience, but there are opportunities to improve other key interactions between the system and its users.
The Government expects the Contractor to deeply research the needs of FACES users to inform the replacement app’s design. After research, the Contractor will continue to work closely with LAS and other users to test and revise designs iteratively in order to deliver a highly effective final product. The Government also expects the Contractor to deliver back-end code that meets the highest standards in app development.
The Contractor will create tools and design training that empowers OCIO staff and contractors to maintain the replacement app’s back-end over time. They will also create tools and design training that allows Retirement Services staff to manage many changes to the app’s front-end without requiring OCIO resources.
Please see the main repository for information on all procurement related information to the OPM and CoE engagement.