U.S. Postal Service Sources Sought Notice Network Optimization 

This sources sought notice is to request information for planning purposes only. This is not a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to solicit responses from interested suppliers to determine which are capable of providing the potential services described.

The U.S. Postal Service announced, in September 2011, a number of proposals designed to significantly reduce its operational costs.  One proposal under consideration is a study to redesign the mail processing and transportation network.  This study may result in consolidation of processing centers from 461 mail processing facilities to approximately 200 facilities.

As a part of the review and planning stage, it is important to understand the sources available in the transportation and distribution industries that can meet the potential future demands.  The purpose of this sources sought notice is to solicit responses from interested suppliers to determine which are capable of providing potential transportation management services to the U.S. Postal Service.

If the Postal Service moves forward with the consolidation, the suppliers may be required to route trucks to transport mail from processing and distribution centers to post offices within a broad service area. The supplier also may be required to provide a cross-dock distribution hub between facilities to consolidate mail for distribution to down stream offices.  The service requirements will include the critical entry times (CETs) and dispatch of value (DOV) times for processing and distribution centers (P&DCs), Mailers, and the Administrative Offices (AOs).  The day-by-day estimated volume of mail to be transported also will be provided as a tool for the suppliers to determine the labor and vehicle requirements for the service.  Suppliers may be required to load and unload vehicles when requested by postal officials.

The number and type of vehicles required will be determined by the suppliers based on the estimated volumes in the future service requirements. The suppliers will be required to have readily available sufficient stand-by equipment to perform all transportation requirements, to permit vehicle maintenance, and to prevent delays in emergencies such as mechanical failures and poor weather conditions.

In December 2011, the U.S. Postal Service agreed to delay the closing or consolidation of any Post Office or mail processing facility until May 15, 2012. The Postal Service will continue all necessary steps required for the review of these facilities during the interim period, including public input meetings.

With that said, pending managerial approval to move forward with consolidations, the U.S. Postal Service plans to pre-qualify suppliers based on a geographical area and a maximum contract dollar value.  The geographical areas likely will be national, regional, or local.  National would be across all Postal Service Areas.  Regional level would be within a Postal Service geographical area.  Local level would be defined as within a reasonable distance of the processing facility.  There may also be different dollar values associated with the prequalification (e.g., contract awards up to $250,000-$499,999, $500,000-$999,999, $1,000,000-$4,999,999, $5,000,000-$10,000,000, above $10,000,000).

Suppliers interested in and capable of providing the potential services identified must register on our eSourcing tool [https://uspsesourcing.emptoris.com/sso/jsp/login.jsp] where details of the prequalification opportunity are available. Once the supplier’s eSourcing application has been approved and training for using the tool is completed, the supplier must send an email to the address below indicating that they would like to participate in the prequalification event, and the supplier will be invited.  This event will close on March 2, 2012.  There may be future prequalification events for suppliers who wish to submit applications after March 2.  The Postal Service will hold two supplier informational conferences on the prequalification process.  The first conference is scheduled to be held at the Golden Nugget Hotel, 136 Fremont Street, St. Andrews Room, Las Vegas, NV, on January 25, 2012.  Another conference will be held at Postal Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC, on February 23, 2012. For the February 23rd event, interested suppliers may attend via Webinar as well.  To register and receive the details on the informational conferences, suppliers should submit their company name, contact name, telephone numbers, and email addresses to: