Dept. of Ed. Gears Up for Collection Contract Conference

The collection contract for the U.S. Department of Education is up for renewal this year, ultimately being awarded in September. But the process collection agencies must go through to be considered for a place on the lucrative contract will officially kick off later this month.

ED’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) division – the unit that administers a federally-backed student loan programs – will hold a pre-solicitation conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, January 22.

FSA will also hold a meeting the next day for current vendors on the student loan collection contract that will focus on specific issues they are facing. Agencies that attend the Tuesday conference are invited to the meeting on Wednesday as well.

FSA announced the pre-solicitation conference will educate the ARM industry on the requirements of the contract and solicit input from the collectors on how the contract acquisition process can best select the vendors. FSA anticipates 15-17 firms being chosen to work the contract, with a handful of spots reserved for small businesses. In 2004, 17 agencies were selected for the contract with five of them categorized as small businesses.

The ED collection contract is a highly-desired contract in the ARM industry. The FSA began the current contract round in February 2005 and has forwarded more than $49 billion to the 17 vendors.

The FSA is considering collection agencies with a GSA FSS Schedule 520-4 contract, and other firms.

FSA has already been getting the word out to the collection industry. In November, the agency presented at the ACA’s Fall Forum in Memphis, Tenn. The presentation offered guidance on the three opportunities to collectors under the contract: the unrestricted – or large business – competition, the small business set-aside, and opportunities to subcontract with contract winners.

A small business is defined as a for-profit firm with average revenues under $6.5 million per year over the past three years. The company also cannot be controlled by a larger firm.

Participants interested in attending the pre-solicitation conference must register no later than January 17 at http://fsaconferences.ed.gov/conferences/pcaprocurement.html. The conference will be held in Washington in the Barnard Auditorium in the Lyndon B. Johnson building, near the National Mall.

No bid proposals will be accepted at the meeting. FSA will post a draft request for proposal on its Website about a week before the conference. The official RFP will be issued in May with vendor proposals due in June.