Department of Education Considering Contracting with More Small Collection Agencies

The Department of Education (ED), Federal Student Aid (FSA) is considering increasing the number of small businesses it currently contracts with for collection services of defaulted student loans. ED will be conducting a competitive acquisition under GSA Schedule 520-4 reserved exclusively for small businesses.

FSA will host a Pre-Solicitation Conference at 9:00 am EDT on Friday, July 11, 2003 at the Sam Nunn Federal Center, 61 Forsyth St. SW, 20th Floor, Room 20T110, Atlanta, GA 30303. Representatives of ED and GSA will be at the conference to provide guidance on how to become a GSA Schedule 520-4 vendor. ED is seeking to gain information on how best to structure that acquisition to ensure that ED selects small businesses that will excel in performing collection services and to help small business private collection agencies gain the knowledge of FSA?s requirements needed to propose the best methods to fulfill the requirements successfully.

The criteria for conference attendance are:

1. A collection agency that is a current GSA Schedule 520-4 vendor OR you anticipate becoming a GSA Schedule 520-4 vendor soon;
2. a collection agency that is a small business under NAICS Code 561440 (formerly SIC 7322), and
3. you may RSVP, not later than 3:00 pm EDT, Wednesday, July 9, 2003, by using the form at FSA website, http://www.smallbizcontracts.com/conference.html.

You may review the DRAFT Statement of Work and the draft Request of Quotations (RFQ) (which will be posted soon) at the FSA website: http://www.smallbizcontracts.com/index.html.

Please review these documents and provide any comments that you would like to be considered prior to the official release of the RFQ (e.g., overly restrictive requirements and improvements to the SOW or evaluation criteria). You may submit comments or questions in advance of the conference to joe.burney@ed.gov. This notice is not a solicitation for proposals and is for informational and planning purposes only. Proposals are not requested at this time and will not be considered. A determination by the Government on how or if to proceed with this requirement is solely within the discretion of the Government based on the Government’s needs and requirements. If you have any questions, please contact Joe Burney at 404-562-6055.