The Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), has a continuing requirement for Records Management Services (RMS).

In September 2012 the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), began scanning, indexing, and uploading images into Veterans’ electronic Folders (eFolders) for electronic claims processing. Since that time and through several industry partnerships, more than 4.3 billion images have been generated and uploaded.

The work begun in 2012 was performed under Document Conversion Services (DCS) Task Orders (TOs) awarded by the Technology Acquisition Center (TAC) under the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract and included source materials storage requirements to be performed by each DCS vendor. In 2015 the DCS TOs were re-competed and awarded as Intake, Conversion and Mail Handling Services (ICMHS) TOs, also awarded by the TAC. In conjunction with the ICMHS awards, two new Records Management Service (RMS) contracts were awarded by the Strategic Acquisitions Center (SAC) for the post-conversion storage of source materials, each aligned to a specific ICMHS vendor. All records previously stored by DCS Vendors and all source materials processed through the ICMHS TOs have been, and will continue to be, routed to RMS Vendors long-term storage facilities.

The current ICMHS TOs will be expiring during Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20). However, Offerors should anticipate new conversion TOs/contracts to be awarded during 2020 under the Veterans Intake, Conversion and Communications Services (VICCS) and/or Total Technology (T4) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Next Generation (T4NG) IDIQ contracts.

The current conversion process, from receipt through temporary storage awaiting shipment to long-term storage, is executed at each of the existing ICMHS vendors conversion locations. Specific internal procedures and systems utilized are at the vendors’ discretion. Regardless of process, a by-product of the conversion process is a need to store post-scanning source materials.

While many boxes of source materials received at conversion vendor facilities remain fully intact, an exception exists for materials containing Service Treatment Records (STR). During the de-prep (disassembly for storage) phase of conversion, the ICMHS Vendors separate (sort) STR from other source materials. The sorted STRs are then repackaged into boxes containing only STRs. A manifest is generated for each STR box, identifying its contents and tracking the STR to its original source (box or mail packet). The STR box is then assigned a unique, vendor-specific number for tracking purposes.

Source materials and STRs are primarily stored in VA and NARA approved standard records storage boxes made of corrugated fiberboard measuring 12”x14-3/4”x9-1/2” with lapped joints secured by wire stitching and having locked bottoms with hand holes. Figure 1 below, Records Storage Box, is representative of the boxes used.

The contractor shall provide support for post-conversion records management services. For purposes of this PWS, Records Management Services include:

• Receipt through transfer of constructive custody of source materials currently stored in existing RMS Vendor storage facilities
• Loading for transport and subsequent relocation of source materials received from exiting RMS Vendor following transfer of constructive custody
• Transition in, and validation of, all metadata associated with currently stored source materials
• Ongoing receipt and storage services for source materials sent from current and future scanning vendors
• Document retrieval, shipping, and refile services for materials recalled and subsequently returned by the Government
• Bi-directional data transfer with current and future VBA conversion vendors
• Disposition services as directed by the Government
• Transition out of all stored source materials and associated metadata