R--RFI- Financial Analysis and Modeling

This Request for Information (RFI) is being issued by the Department of the Interior (DOI), Interior Business Center (IBC), Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD) on behalf of the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support a requirement for financial credit analysis and modeling services. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement for a subsequent acquisition. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 541611 with a size standard of $14 million. This is restricted to small businesses. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME. This request for capability information does not constitute a request for proposals; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. After a review of the responses received, a pre‐solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, response to this notice will not be considered an adequate response to a solicitation. Marketing brochures and/or generic company literature will not be considered. Submissions shall be submitted electronically and shall not exceed five (5) pages. Paper copies will not be accepted. Late responses will only be accepted if they demonstrate extraordinary value to the Government. The responses must include the business size of the vendor under NAICS code 541611. Submissions should be in a Microsoft Office compatible format (i.e., Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) or Adobe Acrobat and should not contain text smaller than 12 font. The maximum file size of the submission shall not exceed 8 MB. Tables, graphs, etc. will count against the total page count. Font size smaller than 12 may be used to label tables and graphs, but may not be smaller than 8 font. All data received in response to this Request for Information that are marked or designated as corporate or proprietary information will be fully protected from release outside the Evaluation Panel. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. No classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non‐proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. All Government and contractor personnel reviewing RFI responses will have signed non-disclosure agreements and understand their responsibility for proper use and protection from unauthorized disclosure of information as described in 41 USC 423. The Government shall not be held liable for any damages incurred if proprietary information is not properly identified. Background and Goals The SBA is in the process of enhancing loan program related models and performance capabilities for several existing direct and guaranteed loan programs credit reform cash flow models, including: Disaster Assistance Loans, Section 7(a) Small Business Loans (7(a)), Section 504 Certified Development Company (CDC) Loans, Secondary Market Guarantees (SMG) and other SBA loan programs. The models forecast the cash flows associated with the SBA's direct loans and loan guarantee programs. Forecasts of loan repayments, prepayments, defaults, fees, recoveries, expenses, and related cash flows are developed based on actual historical loan performance data. The SBA's models are built using a variety of software programs including SAS, STATA, and Excel. The SBA's objective for this procurement is to ensure sufficient resources to meet the Office of the Chief Financial Officer's goals in the following areas: • Maintaining an unqualified financial statement audit opinion. • Providing timely and accurate formulation estimates for loan programs that should maintain zero percent subsidy rates in a constantly changing environment. • Ensuring cash flow models meet all existing Federal Credit Reform Act (FCRA) requirements, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directives, and Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) standards, statements, technical releases and other requirements. • Enhancing the Disaster Assistance credit model to improve operation efficiencies, produce subsidy estimates, and function as a tool to assess the performance of the program. • Streamlining and automating credit reform modeling processes. General Information The SBA is seeking a subject matter expert in the credit reform area. The contractor must have demonstrated experience developing and establishing government-wide policies, guidance, and procedures in the area of credit reform modeling. Strong statistical modeling experience and training experience in the credit reform field are required. Knowledge of the SBA's loan and investment programs, credit reform cash flow models, accounting and data collection systems is also required. Knowledge of SAS and Excel, including Visual Basic, to build and maintain credit reform cash flow models, and an ability to work with large data bases is also required. Additionally, a deep knowledge of statistical methods for financial modeling and forecasting purposes is required. These requirements will allow the SBA to remain in compliance with the FCRA, maintain an unqualified audit opinion, and facilitate the resolution of the differences of opinion between SBA, OMB and the U.S. Congress. This is a Request for Information only. Do not submit a proposal or quote. Interested parties are invited to review the information and to make comments or suggestions. Nothing in this document should be considered binding nor does it obligate the SBA to conduct any future activities (including procurements). No telephone calls will be accepted requesting a bid package or solicitation. There is no bid package or solicitation. In order to protect the procurement integrity of any future procurement, if any, that may arise from this announcement, information regarding technical point of contact will not be given and no appointments for presentations will be made. Please refer all questions/comments to Contract Specialist, Ms. Jennifer McHale at [email protected]. FedBizOps will be the sole repository for all information related to this RFI. Please indicate if you have a GSA schedule contract. Vendor questions and Government responses will be posted to FedBizOps. No questions will be addressed via oral communication. If your organization has the potential capacity to perform these contract services, please provide the following information: 1) Organization name, DUNS, address, email address, Web site address, telephone number, and size and type of ownership for the organization; and 2) Tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. The government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to 1) provide services consistent in scope and scale with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated; 2) secure and apply the full range of corporate financial, human capital, and technical resources required to successfully perform similar requirements; 3) implement a successful project management plan that includes: compliance with tight program schedules; cost containment; meeting and tracking performance; hiring and retention of key personnel and risk mitigation. Submission Instructions: Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to perform the above-listed service are invited to submit a response to this Request for Information (RFI) Notice by 5:00 PM eastern time on April 9, 2013. All responses under this RFI must be emailed to [email protected].