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- Agency Name and Address:Immigration and Naturalization Service
- Chester Arthur Building
- 425 I Street NW
- HQIRM - Room 4012
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- Name of Contact Person: Soraya Correa
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- Telephone Numbers: 202 - 514 - 0573
- Facsimile Numbers: 202 - 514 - 5761
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- Presolicitation Phase: Market Research
- Pre-proposal Conference
- Survey of Would-be Offerors
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- Solicitation Phase: Face-to-Face Communications
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- Post Award Phase: Debriefing
- Contract Management
- Project Review
- Creative Contract Management
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- The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) utilizes
several
- innovative techniques to improve communications with private
industry
- throughout the information technology (IT) acquisition
process. Examples
- of these techniques during the pre-solicitation, solicitation,
and
- post-award phases are:
-
- (1) Pre-Solicitation Phase: During the pre-solicitation phase,
INS works
- to further enhance communication with private industry by
conducting
- industry and technology briefings, pre-solicitation
conferences, issuing
- draft solicitations, and conducting in-depth market surveys.
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- (2) Solicitation Phase: During the actual solicitation, INS
has
- conducted face-to-face technical discussions and price
negotiations.
- Once selection is made, INS conducts immediate, thorough
debriefings for
- the unsuccessful offerors furnishing them with complete
written and oral
- information on the evaluation process and procedures; redacted
copies of
- the business and technical evaluation reports; specific
information on
- their particular technical and cost proposals; and immediate
responses
- to vendor written questions subsequent to the debriefing. This
process
- enables INS to avoid frivolous protests.
-
- (3) Post-Award Phase: INS has undertaken several post-award
activities
- to ensure strong communications and improve contractor
performance. Due
- to the significant increase in automation activities, INS has
multiple
- contractors providing support and assistance in the
development and
- deployment of new and re-engineered systems. Because of the
amount of
- work that must be accomplished, INS has adopted a team
approach with its
- contractors. Instead of traditional roles assumed by the
- Government-contractor relationship, INS has adopted a team
philosophy
- that eliminates fingerpointing and results in more open, frank
- discussions on the work that needs to be accomplished and how
the
- government and contractor resources will be employed to meet
the needs
- of the organization. This team approach is employed whether
there is one
- contractor involved in the effort or several. Types of
meetings used to
- implement the team approach include weekly management meetings
with the
- contractor; monthly project reviews; and quarterly partnership
meetings.
- The weekly management meetings are one-hour sessions for the
senior
- contractor and INS Information Resources Management (IRM)
officials to
- discuss any issues/concerns or areas for improvement in
contract
- operations. Monthly project reviews are conducted between
contractor and
- INS technical/project managers to review the overall status of
the their
- work activities and to identify any issues/concerns associated
with
- their particular activities. The quarterly partnership
meetings are
- designed to provide an open forum for the contractor and INS
project
- managers to express their opinions, concerns, and
recommendations for
- the overall improvement of the work activities being
performed.
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- INS takes pride in its ability to communicate with its
existing
- contractors and in its activities towards promoting
competition. In the
- future, INS will continue to pursue ways to improve
communications both
- within and outside of the organization.
-
- Pre-Award Savings: INS estimates a 12 month time savings in
the
- acquisition cycle for each major IT acquisition due to the
techniques
- which are utilized in the organization to promote improved
- communications with private industry.
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- Post-Award Savings: As a result of the team approach which INS
has
- implemented with its contractors, INS has realized time
savings in terms
- of better utilization of INS resources. INS can assign its
resources to
- other tasks due to the reduced amount of crisis management
which has
- resulted from the improved planning and communication with its
- contractors.
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