Residential Damage Verification contracts (RFI Extension)

FEMA intends to compete disaster related residential damage verification contracts within 18 months. This request for information is intended to identify industry capability to perform the work accurately and expeditiously. Overview The responses are to include available technology, human resources and methodologies to perform residential damage inspections in routine and catastrophic disaster declarations. FEMA is interested in an inspector staffing structure that guarantees trained inspector availability for regular and catastrophic events. Just in time hiring for disaster declarations is not preferred. For catastrophic events, FEMA would like to know if the industry could interject technology along with human resources as a means to provide quick and immediate assistance to disaster applicants. Catastrophic events may only occur once during the life of the contract. FEMA wants a greater flexibility for these contracts to perform other assistance activities as deemed appropriate in a field disaster setting such as applicant recertification, home inspections without the applicant present and registration at mega-shelters. FEMA is also interested in the GIS capabilities and applications by the contractor to provide residential damage inspections via technology without a visit by an inspector to the damage site. These objectives for this RFI are to identify industry capability, time lines and realistic input to perform ten (10) twenty (20) and thirty (30) thousand inspections per day for large events that may only occur once during the life of the contract and perform as little as twenty-five (25), one hundred (100) and five thousand (5,000) inspections per day during the majority of the period of performance for these contracts. FEMA is interested in having inspector personnel prepositioned at the ready no more than two (2) hours from the impact area and capable to start inspections on the same day of the declaration. The financial objective for this RFI is to seek comments on the new Housing Inspection Service contracts to require Readiness and Inspection cost transparency. FEMA will want a cost breakdown for each to determine all cost associated with the fixed price proposed. FEMA is interested in potentially awarding contracts by sector. FEMA is planning to subdivide the CONUS to include OCONUS into four (4) sectors. A prime will be selected for each sector and will be primarily assigned for all disaster declarations in that sector. Mega-events may require tasking a contractor from one sector to assist in another sector. Failure to meet production requirements, quality control requirements and aging requirements will result in significant readiness and inspection penalties. Conversely, significant incentives for exceeding production, inspection aging and quality will be awarded. Review of information proposals will be performed by FEMA Acquisitions and Program Management personnel. Information proposals are due 10/08/2009. The RFI responses will be evaluated, the criteria provided will be used in the preparation of the Draft solicitation Organization background and Vendor information required A written response to our RFI including: Outline details about your organization - business sector, turnover, growth, locations, and number of employees Present systems - software systems, hardware (server / client), operating systems, database, network, LAN / WAN, transaction volumes, number of system users Details of the vendor's current functionality that meets FEMA's requirements to include a breakdown of a Readiness Plan that can meet routine and catastrophic disaster declarations. Vendor background, quality accreditations, experience of the systems proposed, your business sector and implementations Staff maintenance and support details, options, Service Level Agreements Implementation assistance and training Contact details of key staff involved FEMA intends to conduct an Industry Day on January 21, 2010 (tentatively) to discuss the program and answer questions. Please submit your comments or questions to Sean.g.Williams@DHS.GOV or Eddie.Murphy@DHS.GOV