Attachment_1_-_Statement_of_Work.pdf

Statement of Work Certificate in Securities and Financial Regulation Program

1.0 Background

The SEC’s mission is to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly and effective markets; and facilitate capital formation. In support of this mission, SEC University’s College of Securities and Professional Development (CSPD) works to enhance SEC staff’s knowledge and understanding of securities laws and financial regulations in a way that better equips staff for their day-to-day responsibilities. CSPD does this by providing the design, development, delivery, and evaluation of technical skills/operations and instructional programs in securities, law, finance, accounting, regulations and economic analysis.

2.0 Scope

The contractor shall provide CSPD with instructor led off-the-shelf LLM level (graduate) law school courses on a wide range of securities law topics (including, but not limited to: securities fraud, fiduciary duties, hedge funds, mergers and acquisitions, corporations, corporate governance, securities litigation, federal regulation of financial institutions, global risk regulation, capital markets, white collar crime, and accounting) in a video on-demand format as outlined below.

3.0 Objectives

In order to enhance SEC staff knowledge and understanding of securities law and financial regulation, the SEC requires a qualified contractor to provide LLM level (graduate) law school courses on a wide range of securities law topics.

4.0 Requirements

Requirements are as follows:

1. The Contractor shall be a nationally-ranked ABA accredited law school that offers an LLM degree or an Executive LLM degree in securities and financial regulation.

2. The contractor shall offer under the contract 1 to 5 LLM level law school classes per contract year with 2 academic credits per class.

3. All courses shall be offered in an online “on-demand” format to be administered by the Contractor.

4. At least 3 months prior to the first day of each semester, the Contractor shall confer with the SEC’s program manager(s) for the Certificate Program to discuss and make determinations about the courses offered during the semester, including the following:

a) Determine available course offerings;

b) Determine whether a course would be available under the Program; and,

c) Identify and resolves issues regarding instructors, teaching assistants and the exam.

5. All courses will be recorded live at the Contractor’s location without SEC enrolled students being physically present and shall be video and audio recorded for the benefit of SEC enrolled students. For each course, the Contractor shall provide video and audio recordings of each class no later than one week after recording. The Contractor will be responsible for administering, maintaining and distributing the recordings to all SEC enrolled students.

6. All classes offered shall accommodate an unlimited number of SEC employees.

7. The Contractor shall arrange for instructors and at least one teaching assistant for each course. Except for textbooks, all materials for the course shall be made available in electronic form. Payment for textbooks shall be the responsibility of the SEC enrolled students.

8. For each course, the Contractor shall arrange for all SEC students to access assignments, syllabi, materials (other than textbooks) and course communications through an online platform maintained for this purpose.

9. Each course shall carry academic credits based on the number of hours of instruction. For example, a course with 26 hours of instruction will be expected to carry 2 credits.

10. The Contractor shall administer the exam for each course online to SEC enrolled students.

The format for each exam shall be multiple-choice, true/false or short answer or a mix of any of these formats.

11. The SEC and the Contractor shall award a Certificate to each SEC employee who earns at least 10 academic credits in courses and receives a grade of B- or better offered by the Contractor as part of the SEC Securities and Financial Regulation Certificate Program.

12. SEC employees who hold a Juris Doctor (JD) degree will have the ability to transfer credits earned as a part of the program toward an LLM degree or Executive LLM degree offered by the Contractor at no additional cost. Credits earned as part of the program may be transferred if earned within five years prior to transfer towards the degree. An SEC employee who wishes to earn the degree may apply to the Contractor directly and complete the degree through courses offered by the Contractor.

Candidates that are admitted to an LLM program may transfer up to 4 credits earned as part of the SEC program toward the requirements. Candidates who are admitted to an Executive LLM may transfer up to 10 credits earned as part of the SEC program towards the degree requirements. The Contractor will reserve the right to make all decisions related to these programs, including all admissions decisions, and whether to alter or discontinue its programs at any time. If either program is discontinued, the Contractor shall give the SEC notice of such discontinuation and make reasonable efforts to allow admitted and continuing students to complete the degree program.

13. The Contractor must accept credits from all SEC employees who participated in and earned credits through a similar SEC-sponsored program with an institution other than the Contractor. Such employees shall have the ability to count each credit toward the Certificate.

Once these credits are transferred to the Certificate all the requirements outlined in paragraph 12 shall apply.

14. The target audience for the Certificate Program will be all SEC professionals throughout the agency who need to understand various aspects of securities law and financial regulation to fulfil their mission, regardless of whether they hold a JD degree.