U.S. Postal Service, Headquarters Purchasing, Room 4541, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20260-6230

R -- TELEMARKETING AND FULFILLMENT SERVICES SUPPORTING USPS RETAIL MERCHANDISE PROGRAMS DUE 041299 POC hfagan@email.usps.gov OR jschrum@email.usps.gov E-MAIL: click here to contact the contracting officer via, hfagan@email.usps.gov. Commerce Business daily (CBD) Announcement of Solicitation for TELEMARKETING AND FULFILLMENT SERVICES SUPPORTING USPS RETAIL MERCHANDISE PROGRAMS DESC: This is not a solicitation. The United States Postal Service (USPS) desires to prequalify commercial contract sources to provide a retail merchandise center supporting USPS retail merchandise programs. The required support service areas are: 1. Telemarketing/ Customer Care; and 2. Fulfillment. Potential suppliers will be permitted to prequalify for one or more of the required services. USPS encourages the use of partnering or subcontracting arrangements as long as they can assure USPS of performance accountability, quality, and specific value added contributions (e.g., greater technical efficiency or cost containment). Although USPS may award up to, two contracts (one for each of the required support services); it should not be assumed that USPS prefers making multiple awards. The best interests of the Postal Service will determine the number of anyresulting contract awards and the best overall value obtained from the performance arrangements proposed by prequalified suppliers. However, it should be noted that USPS does not desire to spilt awards supporting a particular service area. OVERVIEW: The United States Postal Service (USPS) requires one or more suppliers that can deliver comprehensive state-of-the-art supply chain management for Postal retail outlets, direct mail, and catalog merchandising. The USPS seeks to grow its revenue in this area, maintain high customer satisfaction, reduce costs over the current contract approach, develop efficient and economical retail merchandising, and develop and improve a management information system for reporting and program performance data. The supplier (s) must demonstrate relevant retail merchandise experience, extensive customer call center experience, world-class warehouse and fulfillment operations, comprehensive real time, on-line information systems, and the Postal Service commitment to quality service. The major functions the supplier shall perform are: staff and operate a customer service center to receive orders twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week (via telephone, facsimile, mail, internet, and e-mail); answer customer inquiries and concerns; provide product information; collect sales data; perform outbound telemarketing; and maintain a sales, a customer, and an inventory database; collect and provide relevant operational and performance data on-line, real time, according to USPS specifications (see Attachments B, Relational Database Requirements)receive; inspect for quality assurance, and stock merchandise from suppliers; pick, pack, and distribute merchandise and catalogs to Postal sites and customers; perform mail manifesting for outbound mailings; process, and fulfill product reorders from Postal sites; receive, inspect, make ready for resale (as necessary), and stock merchandise returns (end of promotion bulk unsold stock return); provide advance notice of retail merchandise shipments to Postal locations; receive and process product exchanges and returns from customers; meet specific contract requirements according to performance work standards (e.g., order and inventory receipt and processing, collect and maintain sales data, pick and pack response times, etc.); perform additional related tasks as instructed by the USPS (e.g., providing additional ad hoc reports or the receipt and distribution of retail merchandise fixtures and signage). REQUIREMENTS: TELEMARKETING/CUSTOMER SERVICE. The telemarketing / customer service supplier will be required to process orders and information requests from the public. Orders will come by telephone, fax, email, mail, and over the Internet and website. It will collect and maintain a customer and order history database. This database will be used to provide data for campaign and product analysis as well as supplier performance. All calls come into a variety of toll free numbers owned by the USPS. In addition, customer requests may be through FAX, Internet, bounce-backs, and self-mailers. The supplier will be required to take incoming requests for information and product orders; promote and cross-sell or up-sell products using integrated database technology; track and recognize customer loyalty and buying trends; transmit orders to the fulfillment supplier and other suppliers on a timely basis; provide accurate, detailed, and timely information on-line, be capable of outbound telemarketing; access inventory information on products and promotional items; and provide training to its representatives. The following payment processing services are required: credit card (MC/Visa/Discover) secure environment facility; check and money order secure environment facility, and a secured Merchant Number. Telemarketing services shall be provided 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The supplier must have a relational database with the capability and capacity to store the projected volume of data. Data includes, but is not limited to, customer information, order information, inventoryinformation, promotion or campaign information, and product information. The system must be capable of exporting data to Oracle 7.0 or above and Microsoft Access 7.0 or above or Excel 7.0 or above. This data will be used for effectively planning and executing retail marketing programs, developing predictive response models, decision support, campaign management, and customer care. 2. FULFILLMENT. The supplier will process orders received by the telemarketing provider. The supplier must have a sophisticated distribution facility operation with an appropriate degree of mechanization. Product and kit fulfillment will be an ongoing process. Competencies needed to meet critical requirements are: maintain and monitor inventory levels, pick and pack orders, assemble kits, ship orders and kits in a timely manner using Postal services. The supplier must maintain transaction record histories and generate packing slips for each order. The supplier must have a robust and modern warehouse and inventory management system offering real-time, on-line processing. The supplier must maintain accurate inventory control over al items stored. The supplier's system must be capable of distinguishing among various inventory statuses on like items, such as in-transit, in receipt, on hold, firsts, seconds, waste, available, and assigned, etc., the sum of which must always equal the total balance on hand (BOH). The supplier shall have appropriate data back-up and recovery processes in effect in case of a system failure. The supplier will be required to provide access to the data to authorized USPS personnel. This is instead of printed reports. Normally, data will be downloaded to user's personal computers for analysis and report generation. The supplier shall have receiving facilities that can scan bar codes and be able to rapidly process electronic receipts based upon either advance shipment notices, or physical receipts on-line. The supplier shall have electronic data interchange capability. The supplier shall be capable of processing large volumes of field outlet returned merchandise. Twice annually, the field outlets are authorized to return unsold merchandise. The USPS expects the volume to decrease over time with improved information provided by the supplier. This merchandise must be opened, 100% inspected for quality, repackaged, inventoried, and stored. HOW TO RESPOND: Interested parties MUST first demonstrate that they are qualified to perform the work in at least one of the two service support areas in order to compete for a contract. Respondents are to provide, BY TWO O'CLOCK EASTERN TIME ON APRIL 9, 1999, for each service area for which they are seeking to prequalify, a SEPARATE Capabilities Statement that shall detail: 1. TELEMARKETING/CUSTOMER SERVICE: Your switch and the technology that you support (i.e., ANI, DNIS, IVR, etc.); Your software support capabilities, including your ability to incorporate multiple scripts and multiple campaigns into a specific operational database system; Your philosophy behind hiring, training, motivation and retaining your employees; Your process flow (describe or illustrate) for two telemarketing programs you currently support; Your minimum and maximum requirements in telemarketing; Specific reference (including project identifier and description, period of performance, dollar amount, client name and telephone number) for previous related work that your firm is currently performing or has completed within the last two years; Your change/ enhancement management process for system modifications and new capabilities; and Your technical approach and capability for assuring real time or near real time database updates. 2. FULFILLMENT: Your operational environment and physical facilities; Your core and ancillary services; Your software support capabilities, including access available to clients to order and inventory data, and your ability to fulfill large orders for several sizes of kits (promotional or campaign orders) Your working environment supporting a typical pick-and-pack client and the quality assurance steps taken to produce "zero defect" shipments; Your philosophy behind hiring, training, motivating and retaining your employees; Your minimum and maximum requirements in fulfillment; and Specific reference (including project identifier and description, period of performance, dollar amount, client name and telephone number) for previous related work that your firm is currently performing or has completed within the last two years. Your change/ enhancement management process for system modifications and new capabilities; and your technical approach and capability for assuring real time or near real time database updates. The Capabilities Statement should not exceed TEN PAGES IN LENGTH (excluding the cover letter). The cover letter must be prepared on your firm's letterhead, must not exceed one (1) typed page, and must specifically identity: The USPS project title and one of the three service areas: The full legal name and address of your firm; The date of submission; and The name, title, telephone number, FAX number, and Internet e-mail address of your firm's principal point of contact. The Capabilities Statement must be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" (letter size) paper, with a font no smaller than 10 pitch, 1" margins all around. Printing on both sides of the paper is encouraged and counts as two pages. Pages should be numbered. Respondents shall submit their Capabilities Statement in original and four (4) copies to: Diane Fagan, Contracting Officer, Headquarters Services Purchasing, United States Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW Rm 4541, Washington, DC 20260-6237. EVALUATION: Your Capabilities Statement will be evaluated based on your ability to take on USPS as a client (full technical solution provided; established partnerships, range of services offered); your history of successful completion of similar projects; and your history of delivering high quality services, on schedule and with budge; technological flexibility, strength and leadership; and currency, quality and depth of staffing, facilities and logistics. The USPS evaluation team will review all responses and assign an overall "pass/fail" score. An overall passing score will indicate that you firm is qualified to compete for contract award for the service area evaluated. Your firm may be prequalified to compete for contract award in one or both areas. The contracting officer will make the final decision concerning a respondent's qualifications. All qualified suppliers may not be placed on the prequalified list if the purchase team determines (a) that a smaller group will provide adequate competition or (b) that some respondents are considerably more qualified than others, thereby precluding contract opportunities for the less qualified. The USPS decision to prequalify suppliers is a business decision of the contracting officer. Prequalification does not constitute contract award. It is the intent of the USPS to award any resulting contract(s) using the prequalified list of suppliers. Upon completion of the prequalification process, all respondents willbe notified of the USPS' decision. SELECTION: Following review of all Capabilities Statements, a list of those deemed most qualified to perform the work in each of the service areas will be established and those firms will be notified and provided additional proposal instructions and contract requirements. USPS intends to award one or more performance based commercial contacts using PS Form 8203, ORDER/ SOLICITATION/ ORDER/ AWARD. The period of performance of any resulting contract(s) will be three(3) years with three (3) two-year options. Successful contractors will be entitled to full payment for services that fall within the maximum allowable deviation from standard technical performance. Standards are based on commercial and industry practice. Performance below the acceptable limit will affect the price computation system, and may result in a payment less than 100 percent of the maximum payment for services. The solicitation will fully describe the price computation system. The resulting contract will also include Award Fee provisions for performance that exceeds the technical performance standards as well as for subjective rating areas, such as contract management, quality assurance, efficiency and continuing process improvement, and cost control. The principal purposes of the payment computation system and Award Fee provisions are to motivate the contractor(s) to make the best possible use of company resources and to improve performance. END OF NOTICE Posted 03/30/99 (W-SN314226). (0089)

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