Answers to Questions to Solicitation.pdf

Request for Quotation FHF-24-Q-0015 Questions and Answers

Question: If there is an incumbent, who is it and what is the contract value?

Answer: Bulletin Intelligence, LLC. The contract value is approximately $1,000,000.00 covering a 5 year term.

Question: What is the price range the government plans to spend on this contract?

Answer: Approximately $1,000,000.00, inclusive of a base year plus 4 optional years.

Question: Is it possible for a company who does not have prior experience but demonstrates responsibility to be the best value over an incumbent with experience? If so, under what scenario?

Answer: Yes, the incumbent is not guaranteed to be the successful quoter. Please see the solicitation which outlines the evaluation factors that defines best value.

Question: When you ask for "Base Year: News Clipping Service for FHFA Users (approx 650) and Base Year: News Clipping Services for FHFA-OIG Users (approx. 200) do you mean a total of 850 unique users?

Or are you looking for these (850) users to have the ability to receive content from the vendor?

Answer: These 850 unique users will need to have the ability to receive daily news clips and briefings from the vendor.

Question: Cells in Attachment B do not include formulas. Will they be added?

Answer: The cells do include the formulas. However, another Excel worksheet will be uploaded requesting the same pricing information where the layout appears on one-page to prevent any confusion.

Question: "FHFA may use any other available information in the evaluation of past performance." Can small businesses use individual's past professional experience as an equivalent for past performance?

Answer: No, an individual’s past professional experience may not be substituted for an example of a contract. Specifically, the solicitation states, “Quoters may submit up to three (3) examples of contracts performed by the Quoter or subcontractors, demonstrating recent and relevant past performance.

Recent is defined as within the last 3 years from the date of this RFQ. Relevant is defined as work similar in scope, complexity and magnitude to that identified in the work requirements defined in Attachment A

– Statement of Work; particularly, recent experience with federal housing industry, housing finance, and/or financial regulators.” Please see the solicitation for additional details.

Question: "The Contractor shall deliver news clips..." Are deliveries made via email, government SharePoint site , or other means?

Answer: The deliveries are made via email.

Question: Are you interested in a software/platfom as a DIY option for the Ad hoc reports?

Answer: No, FHFA is not interested in software for Ad hoc reports.

Question: Regarding the comment "FHFA’s COR shall review daily deliverables. FHFA will provide notification of rejection within two calendar days of receipt. If rejected, FHFA will provide details regarding the basis for rejection. Contractor shall revise or correct the deliverable in timely manner."

Will FHFA require a pre-approval process for the daily briefing? Could FHFA clarify what "rejection" means?

Answer: Pre-approval is generally not needed before submission. Rejection means the denial of the daily deliverable and the contractor will have to resubmit that day’s news clips and briefing based on the COR’s feedback. Rejection generally happens when the content delivered are not sufficient, irrelevant, or outdated.

Question: What does FHFA define as "late delivery"? Is there a grace period beyond the publication deadline? Are there allowances for technical issues on the side of either party?

Answer: Late delivery is defined as deliverables submitted after 7 AM Eastern Time and there will be a 30-minute grace period. There are no allowances for technical issues on the Contractor’s end.

If after a review it is deemed that the delay of deliverable was no fault of the Contractor, FHFA will not penalize or deduct from the monthly invoice.

If a technical issue does occur on the Contractor’s end, they are still expected to send the deliverables by the daily deadline.

Question: Does the FHFA require global content for online, print, social, broadcast media? Or does the FHFA prefer US only?

Answer: FHFA prefers U.S. content and does not require global content for online, print, social, and broadcast media.

Question: Is FHFA open to automating the weekend clips in order to reduce the price driven by weekend labor costs?

Answer: No, FHFA is not open to automating weekend news clips.

Question: In section 5.0 the Government refers to a breaking/special edition news summary. Does the Government expect the news summary to be a collection of clips, or a full-length brief on particular articles with human-generated analysis?

Answer: For the breaking/special editions, FHFA expects the news summary to be a collection of full-length briefs of particular news articles using human-generated analysis.

Question: Can FHFA provide a list of topics, topic categories, and keywords used to monitor relevant news for inclusion into the daily clips?

Answer: The following list is an example of keywords used to monitor relevant FHFA news, but should not be considered exhaustive. Both ‘AND’ and ‘NOT’ keywords are boolean operators used as conjunctions to combine or exclude words in a search:

• Sandra AND Thompson AND Federal AND Housing AND Finance AND Agency

• Thompson AND FHFA

• Calabria AND FHFA

• capital requirement

• capital requirements

• capital rule

• Federal AND Housing AND Finance AND Agency AND Thompson

• Federal Home Loan Bank NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT

Marketwired

• Federal Home Loan Banks NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT

Marketwired

• Federal Housing Finance Agency AND Inspector General

• Federal Housing Finance Agency AND OIG

• Federal Housing Finance Agency NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire

NOT Marketwired

• FHFA AND Inspector General's Office

• FHFA AND Office of Inspector General

• FHFA AND OIG

• FHFA AND price AND index

• FHFA NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

• Sandra AND Thompson AND federal housing

• Sandra AND Thompson AND FHFA

• shared equity AND deed restriction

• shared equity AND inclusionary zoning

• shared equity AND land trust

• shared equity AND non-profit

• shared equity AND nonprofit

• Priscilla AND Almodovar AND Fannie

• collateralized AND mortgage AND obligation

• David AND Benson AND Fannie Mae

• Michael AND DeVito and Freddie Mac

• Mike AND Hutchins and Freddie Mac

• Fannie Mae NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

• Freddie Mac NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

• Ginnie Mae

• Hugh AND Frater AND Fannie

• John AND Roscoe AND FHFA

• McCargo AND Ginnie

• Michael Williams AND Fannie Mae

• Mike AND Crapo AND reform

• Mike Williams AND Fannie Mae

• Mortgage Help Center AND Natomas

• real estate owned

• Credit AND Score AND Fannie NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE

NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Credit AND Score AND FHFA NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE

NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Credit AND Score AND Freddie NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE

NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• FICO AND Fannie NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• FICO AND FHFA NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• FICO AND Freddie NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• VantageScore AND Fannie NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• VantageScore AND FHFA NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• VantageScore AND Freddie NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• housing finance reform NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT

Marketwired

• non-performing loans AND Fannie Mae NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe

Newswire NOT Marketwired

• non-performing loans AND Freddie Mac NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe

Newswire NOT Marketwired

• non-performing loans NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT

Marketwired

• Principal Reduction Modification NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

• private activity bonds AND finance NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

• private AND mortgage AND insurance NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT Globe NOT Newswire NOT Marketwired

• private AND mortgage AND insurer NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT Globe NOT Newswire NOT Marketwired

• QM NOT Quality Matters NOT quality management NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT Globe NOT Newswire NOT Marketwired

• qualified mortgage NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT Globe NOT Newswire NOT Marketwired

• single-family AND rental NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT Globe NOT Newswire NOT Marketwired

• housing finance NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

• AND Daniel AND E. AND Coates

• AND Naa AND Awaa AND Tagoe

• Bao Nguyen AND Federal Housing Finance Agency

• Bao Nguyen AND FHFA

• Federal Housing Finance Agency AND Otting AND Calabria

• Jason Cave

• John Roscoe AND Federal Housing Finance Agency

• John Roscoe AND FHFA

• Joshua Stallings

• Mark AND Calabria AND Federal Housing Finance Agency

• Mark AND Calabria AND FHFA

• Mark Calabria

• Mel Watt AND Federal Housing NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire

NOT Marketwired

• Nataliya AND Polkovnichenko

• Nina Nichols

• Sandra L Thompson

• Sandra Thompson

• Appraisal Subcommittee

• ASC AND appraisals

• capital rule NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• federal home loan bank NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired

• federal housing finance agency NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE

NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• FHFA AND House Price Index

• FHFA AND housing price index

• FHFA AND inspector general

• FHFA AND Office of Inspector General

• FHFA AND OIG

• FHFA AND price AND index

• fhfa NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT

/PRNewswire/

• FHLB NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired

• Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative

• Simone Grimes

• uniform mortgage-backed security AND UMBS

• VantageScore AND FHFA NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT

NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• common securitization platform

• conforming loan limit

• Credit Risk Transfer

• FHFA AND House Price Index

• government sponsored enterprise

• GSE NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired NOT NOT

Ghana NOT Stock NOT Exchange

• GSEs NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT Globe NOT Newswire NOT Marketwired

• HARP AND finance NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT

Marketwired

• Home Affordable Refinance Program NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE

NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• REO NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT Globe NOT Newswire NOT Marketwired

NOT Te Reo NOT NOT Risk AND Examinations AND Office NOT casa NOT REO Magnetic NOT REO Speedwagon

• secondary mortgage market

• single security

• single security initiative NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• ability to repay AND CFPB

• cancel rent

• capital AND requirement NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT

NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• capital AND requirements NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT

NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Capital Magnet Fund

• CECL

• chattel lending

• climate AND resiliency AND financial

• climate AND risk AND financial NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT

NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• climate AND risk AND housing

• common securitization platform

• Common Securitization Solutions

• conforming loan limit NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Credit AND Score AND Fannie NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Credit AND Score AND FHFA NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Credit AND Score AND Freddie NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Credit Risk Transfer NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired

• CSS AND joint AND securities

• DTI AND borrower

• DTI AND loan

• duty to serve

• Environmental Social and Corporate Governance

• ESG AND investing

• Financial Stability Oversight Board

• Financial Stability Oversight Council

• government sponsored enterprise NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire

NOT Marketwired

• green bonds

• GSE NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT

Ghana

• housing AND finance NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/ NOT businesswire.com

• housing finance reform

• housing market

• Housing Trust Fund

• impact bonds

• Libor NOT Hájek

• Low Income Housing Tax Credit AND LIHTC

• manufactured housing NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired

• Mike AND Crapo AND reform

• mortgage AND technology NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT LifeLock Protection

• non-bank servicers AND nonbank servicers

• principal reduction

• private activity bonds

• Property AND Assessed AND Clean AND Energy NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire

NOT Globe NOT Newswire NOT Marketwired

• qualified mortgage

• rent moratorium

• rent strike

• secondary mortgage market NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

• single security

• single security initiative

• single-family rentals NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT

Marketwired

• SOFR

• sustainability bonds NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT NEWSWIRE

NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Systemically Important Financial Institutions

• CoreLogic AND Home Price Index

• Housing Industry Forum

• Black Knight NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired

NOT /PRNewswire/

• credit scores AND mortgage NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT

NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• debt to income NOT PRNewswire NOT Business NOT Wire NOT GLOBE NOT NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• homeownership NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/ NOT businesswire.com

• Housing and Treasury NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT

Marketwired

• Housing Bubble NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired NOT /PRNewswire/

• Laurie Goodman

• multi-family NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

NOT businesswire.com

• multifamily NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT Marketwired

NOT businesswire.com

• NAR NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired

• Predatory lending NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT

Marketwired

• Treasury and GSE NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT Globe Newswire NOT

Marketwired

• Fair Housing NOT PRNewswire NOT Business Wire NOT GLOBE NEWSWIRE NOT Marketwired

NOT /PRNewswire/

Question: What is the expected volume of news stories expected on an average daily basis, recognizing some days have higher volumes?

Answer: FHFA does not have an expected daily volume of news stories.

Question: Does the FHFA have a current design template that it would like followed in the next term, or would FHFA like a new design?

Answer: FHFA does not have a current design template and is open to a new design. However, there is a content structure that we would like to follow:

• Header: FHFA logo with the title “FHFA Briefing” and current date

• News Clippings – headlines of relevant FHFA news topics

• Brief summary of each article within the News Clippings section

Question: The requirements outlined in the SOW contemplate some potentially subjective content decisions to be made on relevancy. We note the invoice penalties outlining “irrelevant” content, which could also be interpreted in a subjective manner. We would like to request FHFA provide a more concrete/objective criteria or waive the penalty for irrelevant content as this could be very difficult to meet with 100% accuracy according to OCAC’s opinions. Is this possible?

Answer: No, FHFA will not waive the penalty for irrelevant content. If an unrelated content has been identified for the first time, the COR will meet with the Contractor and discuss what and why the content is irrelevant with no penalties or deductions. Irrelevant content that will be penalized are those that FHFA has previously identified with the Contractor but still subsequently appear in the deliverables.

Question: Certain technical issues, especially around email deliverability, size of email, volume of news content, and more, can cause emails to be delayed in arriving to FHFA inboxes due to circumstances outside of Contractors’ control. The way the requirements are written in 10.0, it appears Contractors could be penalized for delays that are no fault of their own. Can FHFA adjust the performance standards to accommodate for this or waive this penalty?

Answer: No, FHFA will not adjust the performance standards or waive the penalty. FHFA will work with the Contractor to resolve any email deliverability issues. If after a review it is deemed that the delay of deliverable was no fault of the Contractor, FHFA will not penalize or deduct from the monthly invoice.