Sources Sought
HRBCC
Department of Defense · Department of the Navy
AI summarySources sought notice N69199HRBCCFY272 (HRBCC) is market research only, set aside for 8(a) businesses (small firms in the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program); no contract will be awarded from it. The Navy's Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk wants a contractor to run the Navy's Civilian Human Resources Benefits Contact Center (HRBCC), answering phone, email and chat questions from Navy civilian employees about federal health and life insurance, the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP: the federal retirement savings plan) and retirement. The planned contract is one firm-fixed-price (FFP: one set price, whatever the work ends up costing) award with a 12-month base period and four 12-month option years. The response due date is November 2, 2027 on SAM.gov but November 2, 2026 in the request for information. SAM.gov lists Portsmouth, VA as the place of performance. More in the summary
Market research, not a bid. Replying is free and tells Department of the Navy who could do this work. Send a short reply to the contracting contact; no price is needed. See the contact
AI summary Beta
Sources sought notice N69199HRBCCFY272 (HRBCC) is market research only, set aside for 8(a) businesses (small firms in the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program); no contract will be awarded from it. The Navy's Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk wants a contractor to run the Navy's Civilian Human Resources Benefits Contact Center (HRBCC), answering phone, email and chat questions from Navy civilian employees about federal health and life insurance, the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP: the federal retirement savings plan) and retirement. The planned contract is one firm-fixed-price (FFP: one set price, whatever the work ends up costing) award with a 12-month base period and four 12-month option years. The response due date is November 2, 2027 on SAM.gov but November 2, 2026 in the request for information. SAM.gov lists Portsmouth, VA as the place of performance.
Who can bid (4)
- Be a business in the SBA 8(a) program (SAM.gov set-aside: 8(a) Set-Aside, FAR 19.8)
- Have an active SAM.gov registration showing UEI, CAGE code and representations and certifications
- Show a current facility clearance with a NISS verification or a corporate officer's letter
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- Key personnel: a Contact Center Manager with 5 or more years of supervisory contact center experience, a Lead Functional Assistant with 3 or more years of federal benefits experience in the last 5 years, and a Computer Specialist with 2 or more years of Windows and server experience (draft requirements for the later solicitation)
How to submit: Email to Kristen Dunlow at kristen.m.dunlow.civ@us.navy.mil, referencing N69199HRBCCFY272, due November 2, 2027, 10:00 AM Eastern (SAM.gov response deadline); the request for information says 10:00 AM EST, November 2, 2026. 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 23, 2026.
- Serious: Only 8(a) businesses can respond. The notice is set aside for the SBA 8(a) program, and respondents must state their size as 8(a). Firms outside the program are not the target.
- Serious: Facility clearance proof requested with the response. A facility clearance is the government's approval for a company to handle classified work. Respondents must send a National Industrial Security System (NISS) verification from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) or an officer's letter stating the level. A firm without one may not qualify.
- Serious: Secret clearance eligibility and U.S. citizenship for every employee. The draft performance work statement (PWS) says all staff must be U.S. citizens with Secret clearance eligibility, and the contractor pays for the background checks. This slows hiring and adds cost.
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- Serious: Cloud contact center platform with AI chatbot and security approvals. The contractor must provide the platform, including an AI chatbot and AI agent assist. The Government must approve the chatbot in writing. The platform needs Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) cloud security approval, Section 508 accessibility conformance and Department of Defense cloud security compliance.
- Worth checking: Key staff must work alongside the call center staff. The Contact Center Manager and Lead Functional Assistant (LFA) must be located with most of the customer service representatives (CSRs). Key staff cannot be swapped in the first 120 days except for illness, death or leaving the company.
- Worth checking: Workload numbers are out of date. The draft PWS gives fiscal year 2020 volumes, such as 70,609 calls connected to a representative and 22,834 emails, and says current volume is much higher. Updated figures are promised before the solicitation.
- Worth checking: Answer-time targets. Calls must be answered within an average of 2 minutes, or 7 minutes from November through January. Email replies are due within 2 business days. Staffing must cover 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM Eastern.
- Worth checking: Contractor pays for equipment, postage and licenses. The contractor supplies laptops, Common Access Card (CAC: the government ID badge used to log on) readers, scanners and software licenses, and pays for first-class postage on required mailings.
- Minor: Work continues during a funding lapse. The contractor must keep working during a furlough or lapse in appropriations unless the contracting officer says otherwise in writing.
Read from the notice and 2 attachments. Show which files.
- HRBCC PWS DRAFT.pdf (read)
- Request for Information - HRBCC 8(a).pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Run a dedicated contact center for current, separated and prospective Navy civilian employees on Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB), Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI), the Thrift Savings Plan and retirement questions, with limited retirement information from approved scripts only
- Serve callers by toll-free phone line, email, an AI-powered chatbot for simple first-level questions, scheduled callback, and a teletypewriter (TTY/TDD) line for deaf and hard-of-hearing callers
- Staff the center 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM Eastern, Monday through Friday except listed federal holidays, with later hours on the last 3 business days of an open season
- Meet response targets: calls answered within an average of 2 minutes (7 minutes from November through January) and email answered within 2 business days
- Process benefit transactions and fix daily rejected transactions, enter work in the Navy's tracking system, mail forms with first-class postage, and scan documents into the electronic Official Personnel Folder (e-OPF) within 15 business days
- Provide and run an omnichannel platform (voice, live web chat, AI chatbot, text messaging, callback, email) with call recording, AI agent assist, a real-time performance dashboard and a secure document upload portal
- Provide key staff (Contact Center Manager, Lead Functional Assistant, Computer Specialist), train all staff on federal benefits, and send a monthly report within 10 calendar days after the month ends
- Supply its own laptops, Common Access Card readers, scanners, printers and software licenses, and use the Navy's Nautilus Virtual Desktop to reach government systems
- Contract type
- Planned single-award firm-fixed-price (FFP) commercial services contract
- Period of performance
- 1 base period of 12 months + four 12-month option years, estimated to start March 1, 2027
- Place of performance
- Portsmouth, VA, USA (as SAM.gov gives it)
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- Contract vehicle
- Not decided: the Government has not yet determined whether an existing strategically sourced vehicle will be used. Respondents are asked to give any Seaport NxG, GSA schedule or GSA 8(a) STARS III contract number.
- How they'll choose
- Not applicable: this is market research and no award is made from this notice
- Offers due
- November 2, 2027, 10:00 AM Eastern (SAM.gov response deadline); the request for information says 10:00 AM EST, November 2, 2026
- How to submit
- Email to Kristen Dunlow at kristen.m.dunlow.civ@us.navy.mil, referencing N69199HRBCCFY272
- Page limits
- Response: not more than 10 standard typewritten pages in 12-point font or larger
What to include when you submit
- Put the solicitation number N69199HRBCCFY272 on the response
- Give company name, address, point of contact, phone, fax and email
- Give your Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code and Unique Entity ID (UEI)
- If the services can be bought through Seaport NxG, a GSA schedule or GSA 8(a) STARS III, give that contract number
- State your business size as 8(a) and give a rough order of magnitude (ROM: a ballpark price estimate)
- Include a copy of your active SAM registration showing UEI, CAGE code and representations and certifications
- Include a National Industrial Security System (NISS) verification from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) or a letter from your corporate officer certifying your current facility clearance level
- Include a capability statement showing you can do the work, with only relevant same or similar past performance from the last 5 years, giving contract or task order numbers, dollar value and period of performance for each
- Say whether you plan to be the prime contractor or a subcontractor
- Add technical questions, suggested changes to the Government's NAICS code choice, and any conditions or issues the Government should consider
- Mark proprietary information clearly; standard company brochures will not be reviewed
After award, you must have
- Every contractor employee must be a U.S. citizen and obtain and keep Secret clearance eligibility, with a favorably decided Tier 3 (T3) background investigation at minimum; the contractor pays for the vetting From HRBCC PWS DRAFT.pdf:
U.S. citizen. Each contractor employee must obtain and maintain Secret Clearance eligibility.
- Contact center platform must keep a valid FedRAMP authorization (Moderate or higher) or an equivalent Department of Defense provisional authorization, and meet Section 508 accessibility rules, shown before system acceptance From HRBCC PWS DRAFT.pdf:
…maintain a valid FedRAMP authorization (Moderate baseline or higher, as applicable) or…
Current contractor
No incumbent is named. The draft PWS gives fiscal year 2020 workload figures and says updated volumes will be provided before the solicitation.
Not in the notice text
- Which response due date is right: SAM.gov shows November 2, 2027, 10:00 AM Eastern, and the request for information says 10:00 AM EST, November 2, 2026.
- The evaluation factors, the Government's price estimate and the date the solicitation is expected are not given; this notice is market research only.
- The standard operating procedures (SOPs: written step-by-step benefit processes) and the Civilian Benefits Center retirement FAQ that the draft PWS cites as attachments are not among the two documents posted.
- Where the contact center must be located: SAM.gov gives Portsmouth, VA, the draft PWS says employees are located worldwide, and it mentions a possible non-approved Navy network site.
- Whether an existing contract vehicle (Seaport NxG, a GSA schedule or GSA 8(a) STARS III) will be used.
- Updated current-year call and email volumes, and the quality assurance surveillance plan (QASP: how performance will be scored), are not provided yet.
- The contract's total value is not stated; the $25.5M figure in the request for information is the small business size standard for the NAICS code, not a contract value.
Eligibility and how to respond
- If it goes ahead as planned: only firms in SBA's 8(a) program can bid as the prime contractor. Not in the 8(a) program? How the 8(a) program works. More open 8(a) set-asides under NAICS 561422
- To respond, send a short reply to the contracting contact near the top of this page. No price is needed.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 23, 2026
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Office
- NAVSUP FLT LOG CTR Norfolk, VA
- Product/service code
- R431 · Support – Professional: Human Resources
- Business type
- Administrative & staffing support (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 561422)
- 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 answer a sources sought notice
- Open 8(a) set-aside contracts
- What's changing in the 8(a) program
- Limitations on subcontracting
Terms on this notice: Sources sought notice, 8(a) program, Set-aside
Full notice text from SAM.gov
This requirement is to provide all contact center personnel and management, and services necessary for the operation of the Department of the Navy (DON) Civilian HRBCC, a dedicated single service contact center (contractor personnel will be dedicated to the taskings within this contract). The contractor will provide the full range of support to current and separated Navy civilian employees and prospective employees. The contractor will provide technical guidance, employee entitlements, advice, and information to employees about the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB), the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI), the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), the Federal Dental and Vision Insurance Programs (FEDVIP), and the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCP).
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