The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a requirement for inbound mail operations support.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is authorized, pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. Chapter 68), to assist individuals and households following Presidentially-declared disasters and emergencies. In cooperation with state governments, FEMA provides assistance to disaster victims in accordance with the Act. These programs receive extensive visibility from the highest levels of federal, state, and local governments and are continually reported on in the public media.

Disaster declarations and resulting assistance applications create a need to process large quantities of inbound applicant correspondence in a short timeframe. Privacy, accuracy, and timely delivery of services are required to ensure that the needs of the disaster applicant are met through the most expedient means possible.

FEMA has determined that contractor support services are the most efficient way to manage the inbound mail operations.

The contractor shall:

• Pickup/receive, at the Hyattsville, Maryland FEMA Recovery Service Center (RSC), formerly known as National Processing Service Center (NPSC), or the U.S Post Office identified by the COR, all inbound applicant mail from a variety of public and private sources, including
  but not limited to USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEx on a regular, recurring basis, Monday through Saturday (Sunday if required to meet Service Levels).
• X-Ray all inbound letters, flats, parcels, and other material entering the mail operating system upon receipt at the facility using Computed Tomography (CT) X-ray detection equipment. The CT equipment shall presumptively classify scanned materials into a three-dimensional image for security assessment by the operators.
• All inbound applicant mail documents are scanned except for those identified in Attachment A” Job Guideline for Inbound Mail Special Handling”. Correspondence containing cash, checks, money orders, etc., shall be separated & handled in accordance with Attachment A.
• Open mail and stamp with date and time of receipt.
• Translate non-English correspondence to English, regardless of language, and scan the English translation and associated correspondence as one document.
• Associate a document separator/identifier with each document/batch.
• Import scanned documents into FEMA’s database using an import application approved by Cybersecurity.
• Import fax/eCorrespondence documents into FEMA’s database using an import application approved by FEMA Cybersecurity.
• Ensure scanned documents and imported faxes/eCorrespondence contain complete information for only one applicant (faxes/eCorrespondence containing information for more than one applicant shall be split into separate documents).
• Ensure translations are true, accurate and formatted in accordance with Attachment E: “Job Guide for Translations”.
• Ensure translated mail, faxes, and eCorrespondence include a copy of the translation and the original document.
• Faxes/eCorrespondence will be available to the contractor via FEMA’s system of record and will not be faxed directly to the contractor. Ensure imported fax/eCorrespondence and mail images are legible, and with proper page orientation.
• Ensure imported fax/eCorrespondence contain no blank or duplicate pages.
• Provide copies of original documents not yet sent to the National Archive Records Center at the request of the COR in accordance with Attachment B. Copies should be identified as “Certified True Copy of Original Document # (enter doc ID#)”.
• Re-scan identified documents at the FEMA COR’s or designee’s request.
• Sort and file scanned documents and FEMA Form 90-69 B (Privacy Act Statement/Declaration of Citizenship), in accordance with Attachment B, “Job Guideline for Document Sorting, Filing and Archiving”. At the direction of the COR, completed/filed work six months of age or older will be properly shredded and disposed of, or will be scheduled for transition to the National Archives Records Administration (NARA) in 3-month intervals by the COR or designee’s request.
• Provide production reports as outlined in Section 9 of this SOW.
• Maintain hours of operation sufficient for accomplishing all requirements of this SOW.
• Disruptions or problems affecting the contractor’s ability to meet daily performance standards and any security issues including privacy breaches shall be reported by the contractor to the COR within 30 minutes of identification.
• Maintain a capability to process a minimum monthly volume of 50,000 images of inbound mail. Surge conditions may require increased monthly production to process up to 1,250,000 images of inbound mail.
• Maintain a capability to QC/review a minimum monthly volume of 100,000 fax/eCorrespondence images of inbound mail. Surge conditions may require increased monthly production of up to 6,000,000 inbound fax/eCorrespondence images.
• Maintain a capability to process a minimum monthly translation volume of 400 inbound mail/fax/e-correspondence documents. Surge conditions may require increased monthly translation volume of up to 90,000 inbound mail/fax/eCorrespondence documents.
• Process all mail that requires special handling. FEMA estimates the amount of mail requiring special handling to be approximately 1% of the inbound monthly mail documents. Attachment A describes special handling procedures.
• High Priority Processing – The contractor shall, from time to time, at the request of FEMA provide for high priority processing. High priority processing requires the contractor to accelerate the service level for prepping, scanning, importing documents and usage of a unique identifier for tracking purposes. FEMA will advise the contractor in writing, no less than one day (24 hrs) prior to the need, with the estimated number of documents and the expected timeframe that they will arrive for processing.
• As appropriate and when directed by the COR, the contractor shall arrange for and ensure proper shredding and destruction of any documents no longer needed to be retained for FEMA.