Commercial Data Housing Files Request_for_Information 02_21_24.pdf

Notice Type:

Request for Information (RFI)

Agency/Office:

United States (US) Census Bureau

Title:

Commercial Data Housing

Primary NAICS Code:

TBD

Identification Number:

ECON-24-0006

Primary Point of Contact:

Matthew Gore (Matthew.S.Gore@census.gov)

Alternate Point of Contact:

Leeann Washington (Leeann.Washington@census.gov)

Synopsis:

THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. REQUESTS FOR A

SOLICITATION WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE. This is not a Request for Proposal or an indication that a contractual commitment will exist for this requirement. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this market research. Submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary. The Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred and the respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation.

The RFI is in support of Market Research being conducted by the Census Bureau to identify potential sources capable of providing Commercial Data Housing services for the US Census

Bureau. Additionally, the US Census Bureau wants to understand best practices and seek recommendations from vendors on how to best acquire the needed industry expertise and achieve benefits in accordance and compliance with federal requirements.

As permitted by FAR Part 10, this market research tool is being utilized for informational and planning purposes. The result of this market research will assist the Government in the development of its acquisition strategy for a Request for Proposal (RFP), to be issued at a later date, and in determining whether any type of small business set-aside is possible for this procurement or whether full and open competitive procedures should be utilized. If full and open competition is determined, response to this notice will be used to aid in establishing small business participation and subcontracting goals.

mailto:Matthew.S.Gore@census.gov mailto:Leeann.Washington@census.gov

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION for COMMERICAL DATA HOUSING FILES

Economic Reimbursable Surveys Division (ERD)

1. Description

1.1. The U.S. Census Bureau (USCB) in support of the Economic Reimbursable Surveys Division (ERD) is seeking information on how an interested contractor could provide datasets so that USCB can assess the value, taxation, leverage, and listing activity for housing units and buildings in the US (the 50 states the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico where possible). The USCB will use the datasets for research and production operations.

1.2. Administrative Data - The data acquired under this Request for Information shall consist, at a minimum, of the following types of datasets, as of 2024:

1. Property Tax Assessment and Sales

2. Mortgage Information

3. Modeled Housing Value data

4. Multiple Listing Service data

5. Foreclosure data

6. Rental data (when properties are available for rent, go off the market, rent amount/period, etc.)

7. Parcel Boundaries data

8. Homeowners Association/Condominium Owners Association listing data

9. Master Address list for each parcel

- A dataset that provides, for each parcel, a list of valid addresses at that tax parcel

10. Enhanced Characteristics List

- Files which utilize modeling of various data sets to generate characteristics of housing units

1.3. Data Elements:

Census is interested in what data from the following list of data elements your company can provide.

USCB is seeking the following Commercial Housing Data Elements

Location Information

APN and/or other parcel ID

Vendor-internal unique parcel ID that allows linking across files/years from the vendor

Latitude/Longitude

Full property address** string - including unit number (having the string and unit number is crucial for correctly identifying apartments, condos, etc.)

Name of apartment complex (if part of one)

Census geography (State, County, Tract, Block)

Geospatial Parcel Data

APN and/or other parcel ID (for linking across all files)

Preferred Shapefile Format: ESRI shapefiles

Full parcel street address

Lot size (acreage)

Number of buildings on parcel

Number of units on the parcel

Land-Based Classification Standards (LCBS) activity, function, structure, site and ownership codes or similarly detailed land use

Property owner

Commercial property indicator

Business name if non-residential

Walkability score

Bike Score

Nearby Public Transportation

Crime Data

Noise Levels

Flood Risk

Fire Risk

School Ratings

School Test Scores

Nearby Grocery Stores

Property/Housing Unit Characteristics

Year built

Lot size (acreage)

Recent natural disasters in the area - fires, earthquakes, landslides, floors, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.

911 calls or reports of fires on the property

Traffic, food delivery, rideshare use in area around property

Whether the home is on active farmland

Zoning (residential, industrial, commercial, mixed, etc.)

Land-Based Classification Standards (LCBS) activity, function, structure, site and ownership codes or similarly detailed land use

Building Type (single family home, detached, mobile home, multifamily (with number of units)

Mobile home type (single, double, triple wide)

Building ownership structure (condo, coop, apartment, other, etc.)

Number of stories

Number of buildings at the property; number of units per building

Units on property by bedroom count and housing for low-income families and individuals

Square footage

Number of rooms

Number of bedrooms

Number of bathrooms

Presence of porch, deck, balcony

Facilities (kitchen, etc.)

Presence of swimming pool or other structures on property

Heating source

Fuel source

Sewer connection/type of septic system

Year last renovated

Air conditioning (preferably for all units, not just owned properties)

Presence of kitchen appliances

Home energy upgrades: new windows, new insulation, heat pumps, induction stove, EV charger, heat pump water heater, rooftop solar, smart thermostat, home battery storage system

Detailed structure characteristics, including roof type, wall type, basement, garage

School district/school catchment area

Building quality

Foliage near house

Flooding history

Any other property quality or renovation history information

Ownership/Financial Characteristics or Information (information should be current and cumulative historical - i.e., ownership/rental histories)

Owner-occupied vs. renter-occupied vs. vacant indicators

Flag if property is registered on a short-term rental site (AirBnB, VRBO, etc.)

Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) indicator

Number of owners on the current deed (if available)

Current owner(s) names

Current owner(s) residence address

Current owner(s) mailing address

Lawsuit records of owner (housing discrimination / civil rights related)

Borrower credit score

Information on private businesses run out of the home - licenses, type, ratings from yelp, bbb

Commercial owner flag

Date property was put on market

Sale date/Deed date

Sale indicator (e.g., was the new deed the product of a sale, was it a transfer among family members, or a deed correction, etc.)

Interfamily purchase indicator

Arms-length transaction indicator

Sale price

Seller names (for PIKing) [Names of all parties to transactions]

Buyer names (for PIKing) [Names of all parties to transactions]

Lender institution

Loan identifiers to link different records together across life of loan

Whether land rent is paid and how much

Will the property be used for principal residence, second residence, or as an investment property?

Was the loan insured/guaranteed through a government program (FHA, VA, etc.)

Loan origination date

Original loan amount

Type/Reason for loan (purchase, refinance, home improvement, cash-out refinancing, etc.)

What type of loan is it - HELOC, RAM, etc?

Terms of loan (fixed rate vs variable rate vs balloon; interest rate; length; initial value)

Interest rate

Remaining balance at specific dates

Mortgage payment

Foreclosure indicator

Eviction indicator

Assessed property value(s) and assessment year (e.g., assessed, market value, alternative valuation models, last sale price)

Best estimate of property value, with information on how it is calculated

Property appraisal date

Property appraisal value

Property taxes

Notice of delinquency

Mortgage release dates

Real estate taxes paid

Real estate tax rate (exclusive of other levies, e.g., school tax, etc.)

Property tax rate (inclusive of other levies, e.g., school tax, one time assessments, etc.)

Condo fee, if any

HOA fee, if any

Vehicles owned at address

Rental property indicator

Current rent (and reporting year)

Rent term of current rent (e.g., monthly, annually, etc.)

Business name(s) if leased property

Types of insurance required/held (e.g., homeowners, flood, etc.)

Demographic profile of the housing unit occupants

Race/ethnicity

Age

Education level

Gender

Relationship to head of household

Place of birth

Citizenship

Owner profile

Individual owner or corporation, government entity, etc.

Race/ethnicity

Age

Education level

Gender

Place of birth

Country

Citizenship

Master Address list for each parcel A dataset that provides, for each parcel, a list of valid addresses at that tax parcel

Multiple Listing Service data Specific fields for addresses (anytime address is mentioned above)

Building number

Street direction

Street name

Street suffix

Street quadrant

Unit prefix

Unit number

City

State

Zip

Zip+4

Rural route box number (if appropriate)

Rural route (if appropriate)

Other address description information (if appropriate)

1.4 General Notes about data files:

1. Files should provide an update date specifying the last time information was checked by the vendor, either by source or item.

2. Codebook with data dictionary specifying ranges of valid values, labels, and descriptors for coding of discrete values in each field as well as. The codebook should include a data model and schematic showing keys that join relational tables. See section 3.4 Data Transfers/ Submission instructions for data transfer instructions.

3. Referential integrity so that keys match up across tables, e.g., each property has a unique identifier that is consistent across address, assessment, and mortgage tables etc.

4. Once data formats are specified, data files shall be delivered in those formats unless both parties agree to change the format.

5. If a data element is for a particular record is missing/not reported/not filled in the data, USCB wants the vendors to report missing values (defined by the vendor, could be a blank, an NR, etc.) in a way that is easily differentiable from any potentially valid value on the file, and should be noted in the codebook/data dictionary. In other words, we wouldn't want the vendor to fill a data element with a zero if the information was not available from one of their sources, unless it was accompanied by a flag that flagged a missing/not reported value.

6. American Community Survey (ACS) Production Operations will need datasets delivered annually ON September 1st.

a. ACS will need sample datasets to review the format and test ACS’s process before purchase.

b. Ideally, ACS would also like an annual test datasets a couple months prior to the Sep 1st delivery (to prepare for unexpected changes).

7. The Contractor shall describe the origin and processing of the data contained in the database.

2. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue a RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the USCB is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondees are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI;

all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on Sam.gov or if the market research results in a GSA schedule buy it will be announced on GSA’s E-Buy website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

3. Background

The U.S. Census Bureau (USCB) conducts research and production work using administrative records data to enhance numerous programs and products. The Census Bureau enters into agreements with data providers, including federal, state, and private entities, to acquire data files. These data are used to support planning and conducting future decennial censuses, current surveys such as the American Community Survey (ACS), and other Census Bureau demographic and economic research and production work. The Census Bureau will use the data acquired in the contract to continue to carry out the aforementioned production work that is underway as well as continue our research to find new uses for the data we obtain.

In support of the USCB’s mission, the Economic Reimbursable Surveys Division (ERD) is responsible for acquiring and maintaining a broad range of administrative records datasets, with the express purpose of enhancing the value of data from household surveys and censuses, resulting in reduction of respondent burden and data collection costs.

Surveys conducted by the USCB collect the following information about occupied housing units:

Ownership (owner’s name) Lot characteristics (size, zoning, sewer connection) Structure characteristics (type, size, stories) Unit characteristics (rooms, bathrooms, size, year built) Heating and cooling equipment and kitchen appliances Demographic profile of the housing unit occupants Mortgage characteristics (owner-occupied only) Housing costs (rent, utilities) Property tax and other assessment information

The USCB is exploring ways to use administrative records data to reduce the burden on respondents, to validate respondent-provided information, and to lower the cost of operations. The USCB believes that matching survey data with information from public records may reduce the need for certain survey questions such as housing unit type, lot size, financing, and number of stories in the structure.

4. Period of Performance:

The Base year of performance will be one year from date of award with four 12-month option periods.

During the life of the contract Census may want to purchase annual, quarterly, or semi-annual files to both test and meet production needs.

5. Interested contractors should provide the following information:

1. Company Overview

a. A brief description of your company.

b. Socio-economic status, business size, and standard/applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.

c. UEI.

d. Web site address.

2. Company Capabilities:

a. Given your company’s current capabilities, which of the types of datasets listed in Section 1.2 would your company be able to produce, and which types would your company not be able to produce?

b. In general, would your company be willing to provide some context for your data sources? For example, when extracting and aggregating data for your products, does your company:

i. go directly to municipalities (e.g., state, county, townships, etc.) for the data?

ii. purchase data from real estate data aggregators (e.g., Zillow, Redfin, etc.)?

iii. purchase data from several other data vendors (e.g., a vendor purchases CoreLogic, Black Knight, and DataTe) and then integrates them into a new product; or

iv. something else?

c. Given your company’s current procedures, how often does your company update the different data types (e.g., monthly, annually, biennially, less frequently)? Please estimate the most frequent update rate, least frequent update rate, and average update rate (e.g., how frequently does your company obtain an updated value for owner address, assessed value, mortgage information, etc.).

d. Given your company’s current procedures, how flexible is your company’s data refresh process? Does your company update the data on a fixed schedule? Would your company be able to adjust the data update schedule to fit Census’s needs?

e. Would your company be able to provide us with information about your data processing/formatting procedures? For example, how are elements reported when they are missing from the data sources (e.g., are they recorded as zero fills, blanks, specific codes for missing or not reported, etc.)? Would your company be able to change these processing formatting procedures to fit Census’s needs?

5.1 Sample Data Files (data request from section 1.2):

For the following zip-codes, the contractor can provide data from section 1.2 of this

RFI.

Census request sample datasets to account for different types of housing unit situations.

The contractor can provide Census sample data for the following zip-codes:

• Stable Zip-Code 48070 (Detroit Suburbs)

• High New Construction Zip-Code 78252 (San Antonio, TX)

• Renter-Heavy Zip-Code 90012 (Los Angeles, CA)

• Condo-Heavy Zip-Code 11360 (Queens, NY)

• Mobile-Home Heavy Zip-Code 32189 (Satsuma, FL)

5.2 Data Transfers/ Submission instructions:

1. ERD Data Quality Branch will assist in account creation and request a test file.

2. Data Extract: the data should be provided as a delimited text file or a non-delimited fixed length text file (ASCII). The Census ingest team will need to know the delimiter.

3. Delivery Method: The data will be transferred via Managed File Transfer (MFT).

4. The Contractor shall provide technical support regarding file structure and delivery, file contents and completeness, and data consistency over time. The contractor shall work to resolve technical issues Economic Reimbursable Surveys Division (ERD) within 48 business hours of being notified.

5. The Contractor will provide adequate documentation and support of transferred files for the Census Bureau to be able to interpret the data:

• File layout:

o Contains column (variable) name o Description of the column o Maximum length of the column o Starting position (if it's a fixed length file) o Formats of the data (example: date formats, implied decimals, etc.)

• Data Dictionary: a Codebook and/or any other information required so an analyst can understand the data

• File structure (delimited or fixed length)

• Total record count

• Data vintage (what year(s) does the file cover)

6.0 Responses

6.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI.

6.2 Responses shall be in Microsoft Word for Office compatible format are due no later than 6 March 2024, 12:00 EST. Responses shall be limited to 10 pages for Section 2 and submitted via e-mail only to the CO Matthew Gore, Matthew.s.gore@census.gov and Contract Specialist Leeann Washington, leeann.washington@census.gov. 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.

7.0 Industry Discussions

USCB representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially any development and certification risks.

8.0 Questions

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted.

Questions will be answered by posting answers to the Synopsis on the SAM.gov website; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information.

The Government does not guarantee that questions received after 26 February 2024, 1:00pm, EST. will be answered.