SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Request for Information for computer assisted system relating to Lost and Stolen Program
- Notice Date
- 9/10/2002
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Administrative and Personnel Management, Procurement and Contracts Branch, 6432 General Green Way, MS 0-20, Alexandria, VA, 22312
- ZIP Code
- 22312
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-45000-02-6989
- Point of Contact
- Lynda Theisen, Contract Specialist, Phone (202) 942-4984, Fax (202) 914-9226, - K Davis, Chief, Procurement and Contracting, Phone (202) 942-4993, Fax (703) 914-9226,
- E-Mail Address
-
theisenl@sec.gov, daviskh@sec.gov
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - The U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission invites industry review and comments on the draft statement of work to efficiently operate and maintain a computer-assisted system to receive, process, and disseminate all information relating to the Lost and Stolen Securities Program. Purpose: The purpose of this Request for Information is to: 1.Request ideas from industry on how to improve the operation and efficiency of the existing system. 2. Request ideas on how to change/update the fee structure. 3. Obtain industry interest in the program. 4. Gather information to assist the SEC in updating system specifications. The government is open to alternative concepts. Respondents are encouraged to provide information about any alternatives that can be demonstrated to provide improvements/enhancements to the Lost and Stolen Securities Program, including its database, reports, inquiries and fee structure. 1.0 Background: On August 5, 1977, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced the implementation of the Lost and Stolen Securities Program (the "Program") under Section 17(f)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule l7f-1 (17 CFR 240.17f-1) there under. The purpose of the Program is to reduce the trafficking in illicit securities by making available to brokers, dealers, and federally-insured banks, among others, information that identifies missing, lost, stolen, and counterfeit securities. To implement Rule 17f-1, the Commission determined that a computer-assisted system should be used and that a non-Government entity should receive, process, and disseminate all information relating to the Program. As of December 31, 2001, the Program's database contained data on approximately 26 million certificates reported as lost, stolen, missing, or counterfeit, and 25,296 reporting institutions were registered in the Program. During 2001, reporting institutions reported as lost, stolen, missing, or counterfeit 2,954,692 certificates. Those reporting institutions also reported the recovery of 218,744 certificates previously reported during 2001 as lost, stolen, missing or counterfeit. 2.0 Draft Statement of Work - The Contractor shall (1) design, develop, test, implement, operate, and maintain the software for a computerized database of the missing, lost, stolen, and counterfeit securities; (2) process missing, lost, stolen, recovery, and counterfeit reports from reporting institutions and add the information contained on the missing, lost, stolen, and counterfeit reports (e.g., the reporting institution's Financial Industry Number Standard ("FINS number"), the certificate's CUSIP number, certificate number, etc.) to the database or match up each recovery report with the appropriate lost, stolen or counterfeit report in the database filed by the same reporting institution that filed the recovery report and delete the reported information from the database ; and (3) process inquiries from reporting institutions concerning the data captured and stored in the database. The operational process involves two basic functions: reporting and inquiring. First, under the Program all reporting institutions (brokers, dealers, federally insured banks, and registered transfer agents, among others) must report missing, lost, stolen, counterfeit, and recovered securities to the contractor in a standardized format using Form X-17F-1A. Pertinent information contained in each report is entered by the Contractor into a computerized, cumulative database. Second, reporting institutions must inquire of the Contractor to determine if certain securities certificates being presented to them have been reported as missing, lost, stolen or counterfeited. The Contractor operates and maintains the database, processes reports, and responds to inquiries. 3.0 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS - Although the Contractor may choose its own particular mix of manual and computerized functions, the electronic database must accommodate certain minimum information identified on Form X-17F-1A (e. g., the Financial Industry Number Standard ("FINS number") of the reporting institution, the certificate?s CUSIP number, its certificate number, and the number of shares of an equity security or the face value of a debt security) on all certificates reported as lost, stolen, missing, or counterfeit. The Contractor shall have the capability to "flag" a particular CUSIP number or a subset of a particular CUSIP number (e.g., by issuance date(s) or within a range of certificate numbers). A flag only indicates a potential match but it may become an actual match if, for example, the securities certificate being inquired about has been cancelled on the books of the issuer (meaning that the lost, missing, or stolen certificate is worthless). The system must accommodate all reporting institutions, which are required to register as either direct or indirect inquirers under Rule 17f-1. A direct inquirer is a reporting institution that inquirers of the contractor directly, i.e., by computer terminal, telephone or by other means (as distinct from indirect inquirers who inquire only through direct inquirers). As of December 31, 2001, there were 25,926 reporting institutions registered in the Program [consisting of 1,693 direct inquirers and 24,233 indirect inquirers]. The Contractor shall have the facilities and capacity to process inquiries and reports from several different types of communications: 1. Host-to-host communication, 2. PC dial-up communication, 3. Interactive telephonic communication, 4. Facsimile machine communication, 5. Mail communication, 6. Other. The Contractor shall furnish adequate telephone coverage to provide electronic hook-up for host-to-host communications and PC dial-up communications within a maximum of thirty (30) seconds after the call is placed. The Contractor must provide direct inquirers access to PC dial-up communications during regular business hours. The Contractor shall provide adequate telephone coverage to respond to an interactive telephonic communication with an electronic response indicating that the caller has reached the system, within a maximum of thirty (30) seconds after the caller places the call and to provide the caller with a live operator to respond to the caller's inquiry within a maximum of two (2) minutes. The Contractor shall be open for operation from at least 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on any day a registered national securities exchange is open for business. The Contractor shall provide a system to accommodate the existing database and allow for additional storage space to accommodate all additional data gathered over the life of the contract. The Program's database and all forms, files, and other information associated with the Program are the property of the Commission. Thus the Contractor is prohibited from using such information in any manner other then to operate this Program. Based on current operations, the system to be offered must accommodate at least thirty-four (34) gigabytes of on-line disk storage and allow for an approximate growth rate of thirty percent (30%) annually. Additionally, the system must provide for off-line data storage for archived materials (e.g., reports and confirmations) of the database and must maintain adequate storage space to accommodate additional off-line and on-line data, forms, files, and other information associated with the Program gathered over the term of the anticipated contract (base year plus four one year options). 4.0 TECHNICAL - SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - The computer language currently being used by the current contractor is C. The successor Contractor, however, is not required to use the computer language of the current Contractor as long as the existing database can be transferred into the new computer system. 5.0 FEES - The Contractor shall perform all tasks associated with this contract at no cost to the Commission or the U.S. Government. In order to maintain a no cost environment, the Contractor will be compensated for its service by directly charging direct inquirers. These fees received by the Contractor shall cover the entire cost of operating and maintaining the system. This solicitation does not include any Government furnished equipment, installation or training. The Contractor must set a fee for each service that it will provide. In setting the fees, the Contractor shall develop its fee structure giving consideration to the size and classification of the various inquirers and ensuring that the fees do not discourage the use of the program. Currently, inquirers are divided into three (3) classifications: banks, securities organizations, and non-bank transfer agents. Further, within each classification these organizations are divided into sub-classes according to their size. Fees are to be fair and reasonable, and the fees shall be part of the contract. The fee schedule shall cover all Contractor costs; i.e., facilities, equipment, equipment maintenance, installation, training, labor, labor overhead, G&A, profit. The current fee structure generates income from six categories: registration fees, volume fees, indirect inquirer file maintenance fees, prompt written confirmation service fees, direct port access fees, and computer to computer (host-to-host communications) inquiry fees. All fees are currently charged to direct inquirers on a semi annual basis. 6.0 FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS - The Contractor shall have the financial resources to meet the contract's start up costs and the ongoing costs and the other contingent costs and operating losses that may arise due to fluctuations in usage, inability to collect fees, inadequacies in its fee structure, or losses due to other causes (e.g., obligations relating to the Contractor?s own contractual liabilities or lawsuits involving negligence or other misconduct on the part of the Contractor). The importance of this contract to the public interest requires such precautions. 7.0 PHYSICAL SECURITY - The Contractor shall be responsible for restricting access to operational areas (e.g., through use of alarm systems, access controls, etc.) and for providing environmental safeguards to protect operations from manmade or natural catastrophes (e.g., fire, flood, etc.). The Contractor shall store at least one copy of all reports and inquiries (whether maintained on premises or preferably at off-site storage) in locked, fireproof cabinets located in a restricted access area for the life of the contract and shall turn over such records to the successor contractor. The Contractor shall state specifically the medium on which it will keep the copies of all reports and inquiries. DISCLAIMER: This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. In accordance with FAR 15.202(e), responses to this notice are not an offer and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. All information received in response to this RFI marked proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Respondents will not be notified of the result of the review. NOTE: At this time the government does not plan to have informational meetings with contractors, however, the government reserves the right to hold such meetings at a later date. If meetings are held they will be limited to only the best responses received as determined by the Commission. HOW TO RESPOND: Firms that wish to respond to this RFI shall provide the following information: (1) a brief summary of the responder?s ideas and suggested improvements being offered in response to this RFI, (2) a statement indicating an interest and the capability to provide the services as described, (3) a technical approach to perform the required services described above, (4) suggestions for updating the Program's Fee Structure, and (5) suggested improvements to any aspect of the Program. Questions regarding this RFI may be submitted by email to Lynda Theisen at Theisenl@sec.gov and Kim Davis at DavisKH@sec.gov. Please include Company name, size, technical and administrative points of contacts, telephone numbers, and email addresses with your inquiry. Please submit responses via email to Lynda Theisen at ThesienL@sec.gov in Microsoft Office Format by 4:30 on September 23, 2002. If mailing a response please send the information to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Operations Center, Room 1300, Mail Stop O-20, 6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, VA 22312, Attention: Lynda Theisen.
- Place of Performance
- Address: 450 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC
- Zip Code: 20549
- Zip Code: 20549
- Record
- SN00162851-W 20020912/020910214050 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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