R -- COLLECTIONS ATTORNEY

The U.S. Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation (GCEL) has a requirement for contract services of an attorney with a background in finance and/or collection matters. It is anticipated that this requirement will be awarded for a period of 12 months. The Government anticipates this requirement will result in the award of a time-and-materials effort in accordance with simplified acquisition procedures with a budget of $60,000 to $70,000 for one year of full time labor. Travel is anticipated and excluded from this estimate. Any travel will be reimbursed separately from labor. Legally enforceable debts are processed by GCEL and the referred to NOAA Finance for accounting, billing, and collecting civil monetary penalties. Cases in GCEL fall into several categories, i.e., pre-debt not referred to Finance for billing and collecting, time payments, delinquent debts, Treasury cases, and write-offs. Case file packages must be reviewed and a determination must be made as to which procedures to follow to resolve debt processing in a timely and accurate manner. The Contractor shall assist GC staff (located in Gloucester, MA, St. Petersburg, FL, Long Beach, CA, Seattle, WA, Juneau, AK; and Silver Spring, MD) with meeting obligations as stated in Compendium of Debt Processing Guidelines and Procedures for Collection of Civil Monetary Penalties. The Contractor shall (1) Review and assess cases for valid debt, availability of debtor information, collection efforts to date, final disposition of seized proceeds, and likelihood of collection success; (2) Follow proper procedures and guidelines prior to referral of cases to NOAA Finance; (3) Incorporate necessary procedures for GCEL action, including corresponding Enforcement Management Information System (EMIS) entries; (4) Utilize standard forms and EMIS reports to ensure consistent submissions of case to Finance; (5) Identify other ways to evaluate what/how frequently dollar amounts of cases being sent to or returned from Finance; and (6) help modify assessment, settlement, and collection practices to increase percentage of full payment. A minimum amount of travel may be required. All applicable travel expenses will be paid by GCEL. All contractor candidates for this position must (1) possess a J.D. degree and have passed the bar; (2) possess knowledge of legal terms and references; (3) possess and have knowledge of financial terms and applications; (4) possess and have knowledge of collections procedures and terminologies; (5) be familiar with computer software applications; and (6) posses good oral and organizational skills, and be adept at communicating the Government's viewpoints. All qualified applicants will be interviewed by the requesting office, and must submit a writing sample. It is anticipated that the solicitation will be made available on or about April 4, 2002. The complete solicitation will be available electronically at the following web site: http://www.rdc.noaa.gov/~amd/SOLINDEX.HTML. For any questions, please contact Mark Highfield at Phone (301)258-4505x427, Fax (301)258-4525, E-mail [email protected].