THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION BUT A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY UPDATE: See attached RFI Log reflecting Questions and Answers - -12/17/2019 1. Description: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Rural Development (RD), National Financial and Accounting Operations Center (NFAOC), St. Louis, MO is soliciting information for potential sources to provide NATIONWIDE APPRAISAL SERVICES for its Foreclosure activities and Real Estate Owned (REO) properties. The requirement is national in scope, supporting an RD portfolio that is located in all 50 United States, in addition to the U.S. Territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. Inventory would include single family homes, condominiums, manufactured homes, and vacant lots. The NFAOC is issuing the sources sought as a means of conducting market research to identify SMALL BUSINESS concerns having an interest in and the experience, ability, capacity and resources to provide the supervision, labor, materials, equipment, and supplies necessary to provide appraisal services nationwide. Status as a small business concern is determined in accordance with 13 CFR parts 125.8 through 125.13. Please refer to the Federal Acquisition Regulation at www.acquisition.gov, Part 19 for additional detailed information. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code to be assigned to this procurement is 531320 - Offices of Real Estate Appraisers. THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY and a SOLICITATION IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. This notice is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or an obligation on the part of the Government to issue a Request or Proposal (RFP) in the future. Further, the USDA, Rural Development is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary. The government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred associated with this RFI. Not responding to the sources sought does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on beta.SAM.gov. It is the responsibility of the potential offeror to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement. Responses do no guarantee award nor exclude/include you in the acquisition process. No feedback on evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions. 2. Background Rural Development is a nationwide lender and provides loans to low and moderate income applicants located in rural geographic areas to assist them in obtaining single family housing through multiple programs. RD maintains a portfolio of approximately 232,525 Single Family Housing borrowers. Section 502 Direct loans are generally secured by first mortgages on modest dwellings located on non-farm tracts of one acre or less. A limited number of homes are located on larger than one acre of land. The Single Family Housing Direct loans are located in each of the 50 United States, in addition to the U.S. Territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. RD currently processes all loan originations through State Offices and approximately 550 Field Offices. The NFAOC, located in St. Louis, Missouri provides support to the field offices for loan originations and are responsible for most servicing functions. RD is currently utilizing a decentralized model for servicing foreclosure and inventory properties in approximately 40% of the country. The Foreclosure and REO portfolios are currently serviced in a “mixed servicing” environment. Approximately 60% of the states are serviced by NFAOC with the remainder being serviced throughout the country by the State and/or field Office. The purpose of the centralized default management division is to minimize risk to the Federal Government, the taxpayer, as well as reduce the cost associated with servicing defaulted customers. 3. Requested Information Your response should provide: A capability statement that demonstrates existing capacity as well as knowledge and past experience within the last 5 years. (For the purposes of this Capability Statement, capacity shall refer to matters such as the magnitude of the tasking, the amount of equipment or facilities involved, and the size of the staff needed). The scope of Appraisal Services shall encompass all 50 United States, in addition to the U.S. Territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, all serviced by RD. a. Are you currently providing Appraisal services nationwide? If so, in what capacity? b. Provide your demonstrated experience in developing appraisal reports according to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and/or familiarity with the property standards of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Handbook 4000.1. c. Companies must possess competence and recent experience in appraising residential property and have access to a suitable source of Market Data relevant to the properties to be appraised. What experience do you have in providing residential appraisal services for foreclosure activities nationwide and/or managing this specific kind of tasking? Do you currently utilize or maintain an electronic database for locating appraisers nationwide that hold advanced designations? If so, please list the databases. Experience must be similar in size, scope, and complexity to this requirement. d. Demonstrate what experience you have dealing with unique state/county laws, regulations and licensing applicable to nationwide appraisal services. State any known concerns with providing these services nationwide. e. Briefly explain your “quality assurance standards” for performing appraisals and submitting appraisal reports. f. Do you have experience interfacing through the MortgageServ/FiServ/system or some other Mortgage Servicing System? If so, please list the systems with which you have experience within the last 5 years. g. Describe your capability of providing appraisal reports electronically within 14 business days from receipt of order. h. Will your appraisal pricing include volume based pricing and/or an agreed upon nationwide (contiguous United States) flat-fee for specific routine recurring appraisal services? If so, briefly explain your discount strategy structure. If not, please state your reasons. i. Companies will be required to be knowledgeable about the required licenses necessary to conduct business in the various states and their respective counties, to include any specialty licenses. Companies must also have a nationwide AMC License. Please provide evidence as to how your company can meet this requirement. You must demonstrate your existing capability, or your potential to acquire this capability. j. Companies may be asked to provide up to 1,000 appraisal reports per month for the base period and up to 500 appraisals per month during each option period. Please provide existing capabilities. k. Provide a cost estimate for nationwide appraisals for each of the 50 continental United States, in addition to the U.S. Territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. The government anticipates a Firm-Fixed Price Contract with a 12 month base period plus four one year option periods. l. Provide details regarding proposed joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances, or other business arrangements to satisfy the above requirements. Offerors are encouraged to identify teams, indicating each team member’s size based upon the NAICS code of the work that the team member may be doing. 4. Responses a. Submission Instructions: Interested parties are encouraged to respond to this Sources Sought request. All communication shall be in writing and submitted electronically via email, referencing this RFI number to:
[email protected] and
[email protected]. No information will be taken by telephone. b. Written responses are to be in Portable Document Format (PDF) and are due no later than 12:00 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST) DECEMBER 20, 2019. c. Your entire submission shall be PDF limited to 8 pages (8x11), single spaced, 12-point font and should be separated by Sections. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. 5. Questions Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitting writing, via e-mail to the Contract Specialist
[email protected] . Verbal questions will not be accepted. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after December 16, 2019, 2:00 PM EST will be answered.