Solicitation
Health Insurance for Locally Employed Staff
Department of State
AI summaryThe U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (State Department) wants one insurer to provide health insurance for its locally employed staff (LE Staff, the Embassy's Malaysian-based employees). Only insurers authorized to sell health insurance in Malaysia can qualify, and the prime contractor must do all the work with no subcontractors. The contract is one base year starting April 1, 2027 plus four one-year options; the response due date is November 20, 2026, 12:00 PM UTC+8. More in the summary
AI summary Beta
The U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (State Department) wants one insurer to provide health insurance for its locally employed staff (LE Staff, the Embassy's Malaysian-based employees). Only insurers authorized to sell health insurance in Malaysia can qualify, and the prime contractor must do all the work with no subcontractors. The contract is one base year starting April 1, 2027 plus four one-year options; the response due date is November 20, 2026, 12:00 PM UTC+8.
Who can bid (5)
- Licensed, certified or accredited by the Government of Malaysia (or its agent) to provide health insurance in Malaysia, with a notarized copy; or licensed by another government and able to show capacity to provide the required benefits in Malaysia
- An established business with a permanent address and telephone listing in Malaysia, or a plan to open an office in Malaysia within 30 days of contract award
- The prime contractor must meet all contract requirements itself; subcontractors may not be used
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- Active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) before submitting the proposal
- Hold all permits and licenses needed to do the work, and perform in line with Malaysian local laws, at no added cost to the Government
How to submit: Email to KualaLumpurDTO@state.gov, in English, as MS Word, MS Excel or Adobe PDF files, each email under 30MB (split into separate emails if larger). What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (9)
From the version posted Oct 15, 2026.
- Serious: Must be authorized to sell health insurance in Malaysia. Offers from firms that cannot show a Malaysian license, certificate or accreditation (or another government's license plus proven capacity in Malaysia) are grounds for rejection, which shuts out most U.S. small businesses.
- Serious: Malaysian address and phone, or an office within 30 days of award. You need a permanent Malaysian address and telephone listing, or a plan to open an office in Malaysia within 30 days of award.
- Serious: No subcontractors allowed. Amendment 0001 says the prime contractor's obligations cannot be transferred and subcontractors are prohibited, so you cannot team with a licensed local insurer as a subcontractor.
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- Worth checking: Currency, Malaysian taxes and local fees. Foreign firms price and are paid in Malaysian ringgit, while a U.S. corporation may choose U.S. dollars. Sales and Services Tax (SST) of 8% is a separate line item, and the contractor pays Malaysian permits, taxes and fees.
- Worth checking: Benefit levels must match exactly. The notice encourages off-the-shelf plans that meet at least the minimum benefits, but the evaluation says offers with extra benefits, even at no added price, may be rejected as technically unacceptable.
- Worth checking: Defense Base Act insurance costs must be in the price. Section L requires the offer to include Defense Base Act insurance premium costs covering employees, which can be bought from a Department of Labor approved provider.
- Worth checking: Prices adjust only after the first 12 months. Fixed prices can be adjusted based on claims experience only after the first twelve months, and the retention amount (overhead and profit) is fixed and never adjusted.
- Minor: Pre-proposal conference on October 28, 2026. The Embassy intends to hold a conference at 10 a.m. at the U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur; contact the Procurement Supervisor by October 23, 2026 before 12 p.m. to arrange entry. Attendance is not called required.
- Minor: Copies and delivery address differ from email submission. Section L lists paper copies and an address in Block 15, while the notice says to submit electronically to one email address; confirm with the contracting officer.
Read from the notice and 2 attachments. Show which files.
- Amendment RFP for Solicitation 19MY3027R0001-0001 Health Insurance for LE Staff KL.pdf (read)
- Cover Letter for Amended Solicitation 19MY3027R0001-0001.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Provide health insurance for U.S. Government locally employed staff in Malaysia and their eligible dependents, meeting the minimum benefit levels in Section C (for example hospitalization and emergency care at 100%, outpatient care at 80%)
- Price three plan types for the base year and each option year: Self Only (estimated 66 employees), Self Plus One (spouse or child) (estimated 36), and Family Plan (3 or more people) (estimated 137)
- Cover Official Residence Expense (ORE) staff of the Chief of Mission and Deputy Chief of Mission only as a rider (an add-on billed directly to them)
- Settle medical claims within two weeks of submission and send employee reimbursement checks not later than two weeks after a claim is submitted
- After award: give the contracting officer's representative (COR, the Embassy's Human Resources Specialist) a benefits brochure within seven business days of award
- Send monthly claims reports to the COR by the 10th day of each month
- Keep employee personal and medical data confidential and keep medical insurance files for each covered person
- Contract type
- Requirements-type contract with fixed prices and economic price adjustment (prices can be adjusted up or down based on claims experience), with firm-fixed-price task orders
- Period of performance
- 1 base year starting April 1, 2027 + four 1-year options; total duration not to exceed five years, plus a possible extension of services of up to 6 months
- Place of performance
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (outside the United States)
- Estimated value
- No Government estimate given. Orders total at least RM5,000,000 (the contract minimum, in Malaysian ringgit) and all orders for the base and option years may not exceed RM66,000,000 (the contract maximum).
- How they'll choose
- Lowest priced, technically acceptable, responsible offeror; award may be made on initial offers without discussions
- Offers due
- November 20, 2026, 12:00 PM UTC+8 (Kuala Lumpur time)
- How to submit
- Email to KualaLumpurDTO@state.gov, in English, as MS Word, MS Excel or Adobe PDF files, each email under 30MB (split into separate emails if larger)
What they'll judge offers on
- Technical acceptability (pass or fail): (a) meets each mandatory minimum benefit in Sections C through H and the Exhibits, with an acceptable Management Plan, (b) licensed, certified or accredited to provide health insurance in Malaysia, (c) acceptable relevant experience and past performance, (d) meets all other terms and conditions
- Price: total evaluated price is the base year plus all option years at the estimated quantities in Section B
- Profit-sharing credit plan: used only to separate otherwise equal, technically acceptable offers, not to decide the lowest price
What to include when you submit
- Volume 1: executed Standard Form 1449 (SF 1449: the form you sign and return as your offer; complete blocks 12, 17, 23, 24 and 30) and completed Section K, Representations and Certifications; Section L lists 2 copies
- Volume 2: price proposal on Section B for the base year and all option years; an option year price with no base year price will not be considered, nor a base year price without all option years; Section L lists 2 copies
- Section B.3: fill in fixed monthly retention amounts (the part of the premium kept for overhead and profit) for each period and each plan type, in the same currency as the premium and not as a percentage
- Volume 3: technical proposal with Management Approach (understanding of the requirement and plan administration), Experience and Past Performance, Licensing Information, Profit Sharing Credit, and Employee Pool; Section L lists 4 copies
- Past performance: list all contracts and subcontracts held over the past three years for the same or similar work, with customer name, address and phone, contract number and type, dates and place of performance, scope including types of insurance, population covered and dollar amount, comparability, and any major technical problems and how they were resolved
- Licensing: include a notarized copy of your current license, certificate or accreditation to provide health insurance in Malaysia, valid through at least the end of the base period and eligible for renewal for the options, and describe any probation or disciplinary actions
- Include proof of SAM registration with your SAM UEI number
- Include evidence that you run an established business with a permanent address and telephone listing in Malaysia, or plan to open an office there within 30 days of contract award
- Include Defense Base Act (DBA) insurance premium costs for employees in your price (DBA is workers' compensation insurance for employees of contractors working abroad for the U.S. Government)
- Offer only the benefit levels stated in Section C; offers above or below those levels may be rejected
- If the Contracting Officer asks, provide a financial statement certified by a third party: five years of income statements, a balance sheet and a cash flow statement
Current contractor
No incumbent insurer, previous contract number or follow-on wording is given.
Not in the notice text
- No claims history, past premium rates or Government estimate is given; only employee counts by age and gender in Exhibit A and estimated plan counts in Section B.
- Whether attending the pre-proposal conference is required is not stated.
- Which part of the price is subject to Sales and Services Tax is not listed in the text read (Section B.2.1 says local law decides).
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside: any business, large or small, can bid unless the notice says otherwise.
- How to submit, from the AI summary: Email to KualaLumpurDTO@state.gov, in English, as MS Word, MS Excel or Adobe PDF files, each email under 30MB (split into separate emails if larger). Check it in the notice before you send anything.
- Service contracts usually set minimum pay rates (the Service Contract Act). Price the labor with the SCA price calculator.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 15, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Office
- U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur
- Product/service code
- G007 · Social – Government Health Insurance Programs
- Business type
- Consulting & professional services (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 524114)
- Versions
2 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 15, 2026 · Amendment 0001 (this version)Due Nov 20, 2026 (changed)
- Oct 2, 2026 · SolicitationDue Nov 16, 2026
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
Terms on this notice: Solicitation
Full notice text from SAM.gov
The Embassy of the United States of America invites you to submit a proposal for locally employed staff health insurance coverage. The Embassy encourages prospective offerors to offer off-the-shelf plans that meet at least the minimum benefit levels required in this solicitation. The U.S. Government intends to award a contract to the responsible company submitting an acceptable offer at the lowest price. We intend to award a contract based on initial proposals, without holding discussions, although we may hold discussions with companies in the competitive range if there is a need to do so. The Embassy intends to conduct a pre-proposal conference. The pre-proposal conference will be held on October 28, 2026 at 10 a.m. at the U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur. Prospective offerors should contact the Procurement Supervisor; Punitha Ratnasingam at ratnasingamp@state.gov by October 23, 2026 before 12 p.m. for additional information or to arrange entry to the building. Proposals are due on November 20, 2026 before 12 p.m. No proposals will be accepted after this time. Proposals must be in English and incomplete proposals will not be accepted. Your proposal must be submitted electronically to KualaLumpurDTO@state.gov .It is important to make sure the submission is made in specific size and format; in MS-Word 2007/2010 or MS-Excel 2007/2010 or Adobe Acrobat (pdf) file format. The file size must not exceed 30MB. If the file size should exceed the 30MB, the submission must be made in separate files and attached to separate emails with less than 30MB each. In order for a quotation to be considered, you must also complete and submit the following: 1. SF-1449 2. Section B, Pricing Schedule. 3. Section B, Retention Amounts in B.3 4. Section K, Representations and Certifications; and 5. Additional information as required in Section L. 6. Proof of SAM Registration Offerors shall be registered in the SAM (System for Award Management) database at https://www.sam.gov prior to submittal of their offer/proposal as prescribed under FAR 4.1102. Failure to be registered at time of proposal submission may deem the offeror’s proposal to be considered non-responsible and no further consideration will be given. Therefore, offerors are highly encouraged to register immediately if they are interested in submitting a response to this requirement.
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