Mariner Credentialing Program (MCP) IT Modernization (Blanket Purchase Agreement - BPA)

The US Coast Guard (USCG) requires the rapid development and deployment of a modern, efficient, effective, and affordable IT solution to support the USCG statutory responsibility to issue Merchant Mariner Credentials and Vessel Documentation. The new solution will provide increased automation, improve data validation, decrease processing time, improve transparency, improve trust, allow easy updates to workflows, and improve overall customer experience. MCP is core to the mariner credentialing operations of NMC, located in Martinsburg, WV, with 17 Regional Examination Centers (RECs) and 2 Monitoring Units located throughout the country and its territories. NMC issues credentials to over 200,000 professional mariners in the most secure and efficient manner possible. These mariners work across the thousands of U.S. Flagged Vessels owned and operated by over 900 marine employers. To support this mission, the MCP approves and audits nearly 2,000 mariner training programs and courses for more than 300 maritime schools and 7 maritime academies; and maintains mariner records and provides data to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, for planning military sealift capabilities. On an annual basis, the MCP issues approximately 125,000 credentials and medical certificates. The USCG has a need to modernize its Maritime Credentialing and Documentation applications, including both the Mariner Credentialing Program (MCP) and the Vessel Documentation System (VDS). MCP will support the mariner credentialing operations of the USCG National Maritime Center (NMC), while VDS supports the vessel documentation operations of the USCG National Vessel Documentation Center (NVDC). In combination, they provide services to support the credentialing and documentation needs of the Maritime Public. VDS is the primary tool used by the 100+ users at NVDC for all documentation activities relating to United States (US) - flagged vessels. The application manages the business processes for vessel registration through document imaging capabilities and process workflows. VDS provides the following major functionality: Documentation processing of Certificates of Documentation (CODs), Abstracts of Titles (ATs), and Certificates of Ownership (COOs), among other vessel documentation types, reporting, vessel documentation renewal notifications, customer communications, and documentation delivery.