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MBSIBA Industry Day Questions & Answers
| # |
| Question from Vendor |
| Client Feedback |
| 1 |
| The Industry Day presentation makes reference, on slide 13, to ~1,036 ACH transfers per month. What proportion of those ACH payments, both by balance and by account, are typically initiated and reconciled in same-day funds vs. prior-day funds? (Slide 13) |
| The approximately 1,036 ACH per month on Slide 13 relates specifically to the collection of Guaranty Fee and P&I. In addition, there were approximately 1,000 ACH’s associated with Commitment Authority and 230 Pool Transfers in 2019. P&I ACH payments are same day funds; pay.gov Guaranty Fee transactions to Ginnie Mae under the MBSIBA will be initiated on the same day Gfee is collected; pay.gov Commitment Authority fee transactions to Ginnie Mae are initiated not more than 3 BDs after ACH collection. |
| 2 |
| The Industry Day presentation references the Non-Interest Bearing MBSIBA Accounts, on slide 84, and the reimbursement of the government at the Current Value of Funds Rate. What were the average daily balances held across the accounts for 2019 and/or February 2020 which required reimbursement? What was the dollar amount of reimbursement for February 2020? (Slide 84) |
| CY 2019 Monthly Average |
Average Available Balances in Accounts = $12.9 million Monthly Reimbursement to Ginnie Mae = $21.9 thousand February 2020 Average Available Balances in Accounts = $4 million February 2020 Reimbursements = $4.9 thousand Please note, unlike the current PPA/CPTA contract, the MBSIBA requires the Guaranty Fee pay.gov transaction be initiated on the same day as collected; therefore, MBSIBA experience may vary from 2019 averages and 2020 results.
| 3 |
| Can you please advise why the Platinum Trustee duties are not consolidated with the rotating trustees on other security types? |
(Slide 88) Ginnie Mae does not maintain an assignment of rotating trustees and Ginnie Mae does not assign trustees to support MBS I & II programs. See the MBS Guide, prospectus, and guaranty agreements for additional information about the structure of MBS I & II. If you are referring to the REMIC trustees, they are selected by the sponsor, not Ginnie Mae.
| 4 |
| General. What is the length of the contract award? |
| The anticipated period of performance is as follows: Base Year: January 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022 (18 months for Transition-In) with 9 option years for a total of 10 years. (Note: The last option period represents 6 months). Transition-Out is 18 months (Option Year 8 and 9). |
| 5 |
| Migration to cloud: What is the expected timing of additional application migration to the cloud? Can you speak to the level of commitment required for this effort (time, travel)? (Slides 23, 101) |
| There are many factors that will impact the timing and effort involved around the cloud migration effort. At this time, we are not able to provide any additional details. |
| 6 |
| Contractor advancing: What language is being contemplated in the RFP to give current offerors comfort that these advances would be 100% guaranteed by Ginnie? (Slides 67–70) |
| Ginnie Mae is revisiting the language but it will be necessary to refer to the RFP to for the final language. |
| 7 |
| How many applications have been modernized? (Slide 23) |
| On slide 23, all applications listed under IPMS – M are modernized applications and under My Ginnie Mae Enterprise portal, the portal itself is modernized, SFPDM, MFPDM, Platinum and UCF I. |
| 8 |
| FISMA compliance: What is the current contractor’s level? What level is required of the contractor under the next contract award? (Slide 96) |
| FISMA Moderate. The current contract maintains 100% compliance, no exceptions. |
| 9 |
| What technical (O&M) requirements/responsibilities fall under the MBSIBA contract vs other Ginnie contract vehicles? Are modernization activities the responsibility of the MBSIBA contractor? (Slides 26, 95) |
| The O&M responsibilities are directly related to the applications and processes that fall within the MBSIBA contract. This includes ETL's and data sharing with other contractors. An infrastructure and applications RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) (Responsibility) Matrix will be available in the reading room. Ginnie Mae's intent is to manage modernization efforts through the Ginnie Mae Software Development BPA. However, to the extent there are points of intersection with the MBSIBA Contractor, tasking for the MBSIBA Contractor will be developed to support the effort. |
| 10 |
| How will COVID-19 Pandemic impact your processes/procedures? Your RFI noted that in-person due diligence and shadowing is a requirement - will there be flexibility in these parameters if companies continue with social distancing and no travel measures? Further, have your regulators agreed to special-circumstance contract extensions should the transition take longer as a result? (Slide 3) |
| While the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted in-person engagements, we are committed to following federally issued guidance to ensure compliance with any and all directives. Given that the future is unknown, we are willing to exercise flexibility and discretion where we can. At this juncture, it is anticipated that the transition will take 18 months. If issues are encountered and the period exceeds the anticipated timeline, GSA will take appropriate action in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract. |
| 11 |
| Does the Prime Contractor need to be a federally/state chartered bank or trust company or can the Subcontractor fulfill that role? Is GNMA open to a triparty agreement where Prime Contractor and Subcontractor roles are delineated clearly? (Slide 5) |
| The Prime Contractor is required to be a federally/state-chartered bank or trust company. Ginnie Mae is not open to a triparty agreement in which Ginnie Mae is a party. The Prime Contractor shall remain responsible for the overall performance of all work under this contract and shall serve as the Platinum Trustee. |
| 12 |
| Please provide a legible image and the data to substantiate these graphs (Slide 12) |
| It will be provided in the Reading Room. |
| 13 |
| In addition to dollar value please include number of transactions for issuance and payments by type. Please also provide the dollar and transaction volumes that are further processed to the Fed on your behalf. (Slide 13) |
| 2019 Average Volumes: |
Master Agreements: 414 active participants required updated Master Agreements in 2019 (includes several documents as outlined in "Maintenance of Master Agreements" in the PWS).
Commitment Authority Requests: 82 requests per month New Pool Issuance by type:
Ginnie I/II: 5,421 new pools per month Platinum: 20 new Platinums per month REMIC: 15 new REMICS per month PIIT Pool & Bulk Transfers: 19 requested transactions per month Final Certifications/Recertifications: 155 Final or Recert transactions per month CUSIPS: April 2020 CUSIPS assigned - 1,608 Annual ACH (P&I/G-Fees): ~1,036 per month
| 14 |
| Please provide a legible image that can be enlarged easily. (Slide 29) |
| It will be provided in the Reading Room. |
| 15 |
| Please explain the use of Salesforce and if the MBSIBA is expected to utilize the platform or integrate with it. (Slide 39) |
| Salesforce is highly integrated with the IPMS-M applications (Slide 23). Salesforce facilitates workflow, decisioning and customer relationship management for the Office of Issuer Portfolio Management account executives. In response to your question, Yes, the MBSIBA is expected to provide continued support of Salesforce’s integration with Ginnie Mae’s applications. |
| 16 |
| Modernization. Would GNMA be open to a full modernization effort to maximize efficiency in conjunction with a move to a new provider? (Slides 29, 101) |
| Ginnie Mae is currently undergoing modernization. However, a full modernization effort in conjunction with a move to a new provider presents an extremely high level of risk. Ginnie Mae must maintain a conservative risk stance, as it relates to the securitization platform. |
| 17 |
| Are you amenable to using alternates to Pay.gov? (Slide 59) |
| Ginnie Mae currently requires the use of pay.gov and is not considering changes at this time. |
| 18 |
| Fed Accounts. What is your account setup at the Fed – use of GNMA Fed ABA or MBSIBA provider’s ABA? Please provide the detailed ABA structure with subaccounts and advise the flow of issuance through those accounts. (Slides 28, 29, 58, 70, 85, 96) |
| The PPA/CPTA uses their own ABA to transmit funds/transactions with the FRBNY. The PPA/CPTA utilizes one ABA with two accounts for FRBNY business. Process flows available in the reading room. Ginnie Mae anticipates the MBSIBA will use its own ABA and a similar or identical account structure with the FRBNY. This is subject to program changes over the years and the direction of the FRBNY. |
| 19 |
| General. What is the interaction with Document Custodian and data feeds required? |
| Document Custodians activities all take place in GinnieNET; this is where initial, final and recertifications take place. There are no file layouts to upload, the custodian logs into GinnieNET to perform key functions. Additional information on the roles and responsibilities of the Document Custodian can be found in the MBS Guide Appendix V. |
| 20 |
| General. Please provide details on CUSIP registration process/what happens if fails occur? |
| The assignment process for CUSIP numbers is as follows: Standard & Poor’s provides PPA/CPTA with a transmission that includes Ginnie Mae pool and CUSIP numbers. As the PPA/CPTA authenticates / issues new pools, both CUSIP and pool numbers are provided to the Investor community. |
A new CUSIP is assigned at the “Parent Level” for Serial Note Processing. At issuance, a strip relationship file is created for the Depository which delineates the parent, lot and unit. CUSIPs are allocated for the lots and units and are assigned to the lots and units when an investor requests the Depository to strip the pool. Payment for Serial Note CUSIP numbers is collected from the Investors as the numbers are used (and not at the point of allocation). This process could only fail if PPA/CPTA ran out of CUSIPs. If there was a problem with the CUSIP file, the PPA/CPTA would work with the FED for a substitute file or manual intervention.
| 21 |
| Credit Information. Please provide further details as to the recourse timeline to the government for any defaulted intraday credit extensions. (Slides 45, 68, 76) |
| For intraday overdrafts associated with P&I and collection of Guaranty Fee: Ginnie Mae will need to be informed of any ACH return by late morning as the US Treasury deadline is in the early afternoon. If ACH return notification occurs after the Treasury deadline, Ginnie will still require the Issuer to wire funds ASAP and will work with the Issuer up to Fedwire close. |
| 22 |
| Trustee. It appears that the trustee on Ginnie Mae I/IIs and REMICs is not the MBSIBA provider. Please provide details as to why the Platinums do not follow the same model of a rotating trustee and rely on the MBSIBA provider to be trustee. Please advise if there is flexibility on changing this model to be uniform with the Ginnie Mae I/II securities. (Slides 88, 89) |
| See Answer #3. |
| 23 |
| Technology Integration. Please provide a system diagram identifying the number of systems and communication protocols of each systems hosted by Ginnie Mae or the provider is required. This is to identify if any system required to communicate with a bank platform is able to do so in standard and approved communication channel. To the extent possible, it would be beneficial to be able to review the code and technical specifications of each system to be migrated during the process, with a detailed matrix of the functions of each system so we can ensure proper integration with downstream infrastructure. (Slides 27, 28, 29, 95-107) |
| All system documentation will be available in the reading room. |
| 24 |
| Day in the Life. Please provide a detailed transaction flow for each of the Ginnie Mae I/II, REMICs and Platinums. It would be helpful to see a step through of the issuance process (visually with times) from issuer through to Fed and investors, including which system each hits and any reporting required back to the issuer. It seems this varies by product, so a flow for each product is preferable. In addition, a flow of the various cash components from issuer to the Treasury would be helpful (i.e. commitment fees, guaranty fees, P&I, etc.). Something similar to page 54 for all processes on slide 45, showing us the system flows. (Slides 13, 29, 45, 48, 54) |
| Process documents will be provided in the Reading Room. |
| 25 |
| Transaction records. Please provide volumes for each process on the critical path of Ginnie Mae securitization, i.e., commitment authority requests, pools processed, securitizations, CUSIPs issued, P&I collections and outbound payments, security dissolves, new issues by class and guarantee payment collections. (Slides 13, 45) |
| See Answer #13. |
| 26 |
| P&I accounts. Please provide a full detail of the issuer trustee structure for the P&I accounts, Provider needs to understand why these accounts are arranged as trust and not agent accounts. Please provide a full description and definition of where escrow accounts are used along with the number of accounts and frequency of opening/closing and transactions. (Slides 45, 58) |
| Slide 84 has a representative listing of Contractor accounts based upon the current PPA/CPTA account structure. Issuer P&I and escrow accounts are established in accordance with the MBS Guide see Chapter 16 and Master Agreements. The MBSIBA will be drafting funds from the Central P&I Custodial Accounts and the issuer operating accounts specified by the issuer when executing a Pool Transfer or purchase of Commitment Authority. The PPA/CPTA has dedicated internal operating accounts that are titled, the Bank of New York Mellon. The MBSIBA contractor will be required to establish bank accounts in a manner and account title satisfactory to Ginnie Mae. These accounts support the collection of P&I from the Ginnie Mae Issuers and disbursement of payments to the Investor of Record. P&I payments are collected via ACH process from Issuers accounts and then submitted via Fed wire to FRBNY. Physical checks mailed for Ginnie Mae II certificated holders are also maintained in a dedicated account. P&I payments as well as Guaranty Fee payments are collected on a monthly basis on designated days as outlined in Ginnie Mae’s Guide. |
| 27 |
| Manual process review. Please provide a documented review of all functions that do not straight through process (STP), by design or exception, with associated STP rates. Provider requires this to assess our ability to support any functions and accurately identify the operational risk of Ginnie Mae’s processes. (Slides 13, 2 9, 50, 64) |
Please refer to material that will be provided in the reading room. Between the process flow, narrative descriptions and SOPs, offerors should be able to ascertain what is automated and what is manual.
| 28 |
| Personal information (PI). Please provide a full overview and documentation of any process that requires the contractor to hold any PI, where investor PI is held on any current system, and requirement of the contractor to receive, hold or maintain that PI in the course of the contract. (Slide 98) |
| Please refer to NIST SP 800-122, OMB Circular A-130 and all HUD related policies (Privacy Policy, Privacy Act Handbook (1325.1, FIPPS, Incidence Response) on guidance on protecting PII/PI. Privacy impact assessments by line of business are included on the HUD website. Systems that contain PII are Ginnie Mae Web Services (GNMA – WS), Integrated Pool Management System (IPMS), GinnieNET (GNET), Unclaimed Funds System (UFS), Ginnie Mae Reporting and Feedback System (RFS), and Ginnie Mae Enterprise Portal (GMEP). All system configuration information and documentation are available in the reading room. |
| 29 |
| Third-party contracts. Please provide an inventory of contracts held with third parties to support any processes that will need to be retained or maintained by the new provider. If the contract is to be maintained by the new provider, details of the terms will be required by the appropriate bank legal and compliance staff prior to any agreement to support the underlying processes. (Slide 20, 93, 100, 101) |
| As named in PWS-Bloomberg Services or equal/ eMBS Services or equal/ Iron Mountain or equal, all other third-party agreements via subcontracting are at the discretion of contractor. |
| 30 |
| Additional contractors. Please provide detailed roles and responsibilities matrix outlining functions supported by all other third-party contractors for Ginnie Mae, including the specified MBSOA and ITIC, which may impact the provision of services under this contract. This should include all data provided to these parties and the reasonability of the MBSIBA provider. (Slides 20, 26) |
| An infrastructure and applications RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) (Responsibility) Matrix will be provided in the reading room. |
| 31 |
| Record history. Please provide details and overview of all physical records held by the current provider on behalf of Ginnie Mae, including record type, where held, how often recalled and reason why Ginnie Mae is unable to hold these records directly. (Slide 22, 83) |
| Sample Document titles from Iron Mtn inventory include: |
1. Failed Edit Reports
2. Prospectus’
3. Ginnie Unclaimed Funds report
4. LOC Letters
5. Cancelled Certificates
Recall: not more than 10 boxes annually GM is not able to hold records because there is no direct contract with Iron Mountain for these services.
Ginnie Mae’s Records Retention Disposition Schedule 64 is on the HUD website at https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/22256X64ADMH.PDF.
| 32 |
| General. Will Ginnie Mae consider issuing a DRAFT RFP for comment prior to the final RFP submission? |
| No. A draft RFP is not currently planned to be issued. |
| 33 |
| What is the number of individuals and associated roles/responsibilities leveraged by the current service provider across the following? |
(Slide 22)
a. PPA
b. CPTA
c. Multiclass Security Services
d. Hosting/Networking
e. Application Development and Maintenance
f. Technology Operations and Maintenance It is up to each offeror to determine the number and mix of skill sets necessary to perform the work based on its available resources and understanding of the work. Current staffing will not be provided.
| 34 |
| What is the resource allocation by the current service provider for activities outside of day to day operations (Slide 22)? Specifically related to: |
a. Program Management
b. Statement of Standards for Attestation
c. Data Migration Services See Answer #33.
| 35 |
| What are the SLAs/KPIs the current service provider, other vendors, and Issuers/Servicers are subject to? (Slide 22) |
| SLA/KPI's for current contract will be provided in the Reading Room. Issuer/servicer responsibilities and deadlines are included in the Ginnie Mae MBS Guide and on Ginnie Mae's website. |
| 36 |
| Will the service provider be in possession of any Personal Information? If so, please provide how that information is received, where is it stored, and requirements on maintaining that information. (Slide 22) |
| See Answer #28. |
| 37 |
| For the last 18 months, could the following be provided: |
a. Number and size (i.e. hours) of small and large enhancements performed by the current service provider
b. Number of incidents raised with corresponding priority by the current service provider. Please provide 1-3 examples of incidents for each priority level. (Slide 22) Information will be provided in the reading room.
| 38 |
| Is the service provider responsible for QA testing for application changes, if not who is? (Slide 22) |
| Yes, the MBSIBA is responsible for QA for any changes or enhancements for the MBSIBA applications/systems. |
| 39 |
| What are the number and size of potential pilots expected to be managed by the service provider in the coming years (Slide 44)? |
| Pilots will vary in size and scope in the coming years. At this we are not able to provide additional information. |
| 40 |
| General. Will a reading room be provided with material like the following? |
a. Most recent SSAE 18, FISCAM, OMB A-123 reports
b. Current desktop procedures and operating manuals
c. Performance requirements matrix
d. Work breakdown structure
e. Business process flows
f. Technical diagrams and specs
g. Source Code
h. QA test scripts
Yes, a virtual Reading Room will be provided with dates and logistics to be included in the solicitation. The Reading Room will not include Source code, SSAE 18, A-123 or sensitive system security information but, it will include many of the other items noted in the question.
| 41 |
| For "Issue MBS", what are the types, rates [counts and % of volume], and effort related to exceptions/manual touch points managed by the current provider (Slides 45-55)? For reference, exceptions/manual touch points like the following: |
a. MBSIBA – Receives a memo from Ginnie Mae confirming issuer approval and issuer ID number and enters the new Issuer information onto IPMS PRS. (Slide 46)
b. MBSIBA – Reviews documents, retains hard copy Form 11702 and provides user assistance for MAMS (Slide 47)
c. MBSIBA provides O&M support and customer assistance to applications above except for Salesforce which is supported by the MBSOA (Slide 48)
d. MBSIBA utilizes mainframe Integrated Pool Management System (IPMS) to monitor exceptions, perform additional edits, and release the pools for issuance (Slide 50)
e. MBSIBA – uses and operates IPMS “internally” to issue and deliver MBS (Slide 51)
f. MBSIBA is required to perform daily and monthly reconciliations with FRBNY reports for all book entry pool positions (Slide 52)
g. MBSIBA prepares the prospectus for Ginnie I, Ginnie II Custom, Platinum and Multiple Issuer Pools (Slide 53)
| Response to a, b and g: |
| Year |
| New Issuers |
| 11702s |
(Initial/Renewal) Prospectus Files
(SF/MF/HMBS)
(1/1/20 - 5/6/20)
c) varies, possibly, daily; d) most every day; e) most every day; f) most every day and monthly.
| 42 |
| For "Make Bond Payments", what are the types, rates [counts and % of volume], and effort related to exceptions/manual touch points managed by the current provider (Slides 45, 56-59)? For reference, exceptions/manual touch points like the following: |
a. MBSIBA creates payment factor files for delivery to FRBNY; The FRBNY performs its calculations and the MBSIBA resolves any factor/payment edits errors with the FRBNY (Slide 57)
b. MBSIBA calculates bondholder payments using IPMS/PRS/GMBS, creates pre-collection notices which are delivered to Issuers 3rd and 6th business day using RFS e-Notification (Slide 57) In general, processes are highly automated but MBSIBA should be prepared to review reports, reconcile security issuance activity every day and troubleshoot things that go "wrong" whenever it occurs. In respect to a) payment factors need to be reconciled with Fed every time they go out; b) Pre-collection notices highly automated but if jobs are not scheduled, sequenced correctly or other unanticipated things occur, troubleshooting is required.
| 43 |
| For "Publish Data Disclosures", what are the types, rates [counts and % of volume], and effort related to exceptions/manual touch points managed by the current provider (Slides 45, 60-62)? For reference, exceptions/manual touch points like the following: |
a. MBSIBA, Ginnie Mae and MBSOA coordinate to perform ongoing enhancements to data disclosures (Slide 60)
b. MBSIBA computes the security factor for each Ginnie Mae I and Ginnie Mae II pool, including each Multiple Issuer and Platinum pool on a monthly basis (Slide 61)
c. The MBSIBA and the Deal Team (sponsor, trustee, financial advisor, and accountant) post and retrieve various data to, and from this site (Slide 62) In general, processes are highly automated. Please refer to the reading room. Between the process flow, narrative descriptions and SOPs, offerors should be able to ascertain what is automated and what is manual.
| 44 |
| For Multiple Issuer Pools, what are the types, rates [counts and % of volume], and effort related to exceptions/manual touch points managed by the current provider (Slides 64-66)? For reference, exceptions/manual touch points like the following: |
a. Establish and maintain the “shelf” which is the listing in advance of MIPs established by maturity and coupon (Slide 64)
b. Using IPMS NPPS, MBSIBA establishes prospective MIP and CUSIP numbers and publishes to Website. MBSIBA creates a new shelf if Issuer submits a loan package not conforming to MIPs already established (Slide 64)
c. MBSIBA executes pre-finalization jobs 5 business days prior to last business day (Slide 65)
d. MIP finalization runs once a month after all pre-finalization activities completed (Slide 66) In general, processes are highly automated. Please refer to the reading room and the Ginnie Mae website: https://www.ginniemae.gov/issuers/issuer_tools/Pages/multiple_issuer_pool_numbers.aspx for more information on Multiple Issuer Pools. Between the process flow, narrative descriptions and SOPs, offerors should be able to ascertain what is automated and what is manual.
| 45 |
| For Bond Administration, what are the types, rates [counts and % of volume], and effort related to exceptions/manual touch points managed by the current provider (Slides 71-86)? For reference, exceptions/manual touch points like the following: |
a. MBSIBA will sometimes need to support ad-hoc transfers and provide Issuer/Ginnie Mae support and reconciliation (Slide 74)
b. MBSIBA logs and tracks, verifies transfer requests for compliance and processes (Slide 75)
c. LOC process current and proposed (Slide 76)
d. MBSIBA enters indices in ARM Index application (GMEP) (Slide 79)
e. MBSIBA reviews Insufficient Commitment Authority Report as part of daily batch pool submission process and notifies Ginnie Mae via email (Slide 81) In general, processes are highly automated. Please refer to the material that will be provided in the reading room. Between the process flow, narrative descriptions and SOPs, offerors should be able to ascertain what is automated and what is manual.
| 46 |
| For document storage, what is the amount/size of documents currently stored, number and page counts of paper/electronic documents created a month, and number of requests for retrieval per month (Slide 83)? |
| See Answer #31. |
| 47 |
| For Multiclass securities, what are the types, rates [counts and % of volume], and effort related to exceptions /manual touch points managed by the current provider (Slides 87-94)? For reference, exceptions/manual touch points like the following: |
a. Receives and holds the underlying MBS collateral positions in trust for the benefit of the Ginnie Mae Platinum Registered Security Holder (Slide 89)
b. MBSIBA performs a verification of the MBS/Platinum assets and Cash Fee information outside of the application (Slide 91)
c. MBSIBA reconciles each LPA (CUSIPS per pool and associated total Original Aggregate Amount). MBSIBA collapses the LPAs used during current month into the main account and provides details of the holdings of each LPA used (Slide 92)
d. MBSIBA solely focuses on Acting as the Information Agent for the REMIC Services (Slide 93) In general, processes are highly automated. Please refer to the material that will be provided in the reading room. Between the process flow, narrative descriptions and SOPs, offerors should be able to ascertain what is automated and what is manual. Platinum volume: approximately 20 issuance / month.
| 48 |
| What type of interactions/hand-offs that exist between the current service provider and other vendors that assist in managing Ginnie Mae’s Programs and Securitization Platform (i.e. MBSOA, ITIC, Cloud Provider, REMIC Vendor, Software Development)? What level of support is expected to be given to other vendors (Slides 20, 25-27 ,56, 94)? For references, interactions/hand-offs like the following: |
a. MBSOA relies upon data from MBSIBA applications: Data Disclosure: Supports daily and monthly Investor Data Disclosures, GMODS: Data store supporting Risk and Information Analytics data marts, IPA: Evaluation and rating of Issuer Financials (Slide 25)
b. Ongoing Bond Administration (Slide 26)
c. Granting application access for Ginnie Mae applications hosted by the ITIC Provider (Slide 26)
d. Coordination with Ginnie Mae’s business partners on integrated projects impacting multiple business partners (slide 26)
e. MBSIBA Data to MBSOA: Daily and Monthly Data Disclosures published by MBSOA, EWODS data to GMODS for Risk and Information Analytics, EWODS data to Salesforce for CRM, workflow and decision management (slide 27)
f. Although these business activities are supported by the MBSOA, the MBSIBA hosts, operates and maintains the SFTP servers, EWODS data bases, GMEP 1.0and other activities that supports these processes (slide 56)
g. MBSIBA performs analysis and verification on some REMIC Trustee provided monthly data including receipt of MTF, SRF, FRR for each REMIIC, missing factors and incorrect payment dates analysis and calculates Monthly REMIC Deferred Fee for OCFO (Slide 94) Response to a & e:
(1) Data Disclosures: MBSIBA calculates and disseminates security factor information on a monthly basis and provides data disclosure on newly issued MBS to the MBSOA. MBSOA posts the disclosures and factors to Ginnie Mae’s website.
(2) Highly Automated: In general, MBSOA RFS activities in respect to MBSIBA are generally event driven or scheduled ETLs, and the flow of data between systems is highly automated via ETL, NDM or API's. MBSOA uses data from EWODs to update their applications.
(3) Salesforce: Ginnie Mae leverages Salesforce to provide workflow, decision management and customer relationship management. For the MBSIBA, Salesforce is highly integrated with the IPMS-M applications to support business processes for Master Agreement approval, Commitment Authority approval and transfer of servicing rights approval. The MBSIBA does not use Salesforce but does ensure that data exchange between IPMS and Salesforce are functioning properly.
(b) In general, processes are highly automated. Please refer to the reading room. Between the process flow, narrative descriptions and SOPs, offerors should be able to ascertain the types of interaction/hand-offs between Ginnie Mae providers.
(c) MBSIBA would request access from the ITIC Provider to gain access to MBSOA applications hosted at the ITIC Provider.
(d) Typically, integrated projects impacting multiple business partners would be tasked though the Enhancements, Integrated Software Development and Next Gen CLIN with specific requirements defined by T&M task orders.
(f) An infrastructure and applications RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) (Responsibility) Matrix is available in the reading room. EWODS stores all Ginnie Mae operational enterprise data and is exchanged and shared between MBSIBA and MBSOA via ETLs/APIs. The MBSOA RFS applications are accessed through GMEP 1.0 which is hosted and operated by the MBSIBA.
(g) Interaction for this requirement is between the MBSIBA and Ginnie Mae and does not require the MBSIBA to interact with the REMIC contractors.
| 49 |
| Does Ginnie Mae own IP for all code and is it in possession of all source code? |
| Yes |
| 50 |
| What infrastructure is anticipated to be required outside of the VMWare environments that is provided by Smart Cloud for Government? |
(Slide 101) Current PPA/CPTA infrastructure inventories will be provided in the reading room.
| 51 |
| What is the connectivity needed for third party connectivity to Issuers, partners and Ginnie Mae? Which technologies, bandwidth, and reliability requirements? What protocols are utilized for communications? |
(Slide 100) Connectivity requirements and configurations will be provided in the reading room.
| 52 |
| What are the hours of operations for these applications, i.e. are there overnight batch processing jobs or data sent to or from third parties during off hours? |
| The hours of operations are 24/7 for all production applications, excluding scheduled system maintenance. Nightly batch processing and data transfers does occur. |
| 53 |
| Does all your data transfer use encrypted technologies? Within internal application communications, third party communications and across data center communications? (Slides 100, 107) |
| Encryption information will be provided in the reading room. Encryption is required. |
| 54 |
| Is there an MBISBA requirements for key management and certificate life cycle management for encryption technologies and authentication technologies utilized? Please provide details of current implementations. (Slide 100) |
| Yes. Information regarding certificate management and listing of all certificates will be provided in the reading room. |
| 55 |
| What is the record retention policy you follow for applications? (Slide 100) |
| Policies will be provided in the reading room. |
| 56 |
| What is the plan, timeline, and approach for upgrading to more recent versions and/or supported version of presentation layer, application layer, database layer and operating system layer applications? (Slide 36) |
| Modernization plans and schedules will be provided in the reading room. |
| 57 |
| What is your current installed Mainframe Processor technology and capacity/usage? Please provide system model/type, current MIPS capacity, peak MSUs, processor memory in gigabytes. (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 58 |
| What is operating system type and version currently used on the mainframe? (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 59 |
| What are your current installed disk systems and technology? What is the amount of usable disk capacity on the mainframes in terabytes? (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 60 |
| What are the type of tapes, virtual tape system and the number of tapes used, and amount of VTS capacity required? (Slide 104) |
| Infrastructure information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 61 |
| Please describe your current disaster recovery solution for the mainframe applications. Are you using IBM resiliency services, Electronic mirroring of DASD or Tape Grid, or other approach? What is the Disaster Recovery RTO and RPO for your current mainframe applications? (Slide 97) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 62 |
| What is the DASD storage HQ type/model installed? What is the architecture including any flash copy or data mirroring, global mirroring used? Amount of DASD required in GB? Planned DASD Growth % per year in GB? Is DASD encryption in use? (Slide 104) |
| Mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 63 |
| Are licenses owned by Ginnie Mae for all third-party application running on the mainframe or are those provided by vendor? Please provide a list of all third-party applications running on the mainframe systems and versions of those applications currently in use. (Slide 100) |
| Mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 64 |
| What is a list of all custom applications that are running on mainframe systems? (Slide 104) |
| Reference MBSIBA IPMS Legacy apps. (Customer Service Inquiry, Generalized MBS Subsystem, New Pool Processing Subsystem, Platinum Pool System and Pool Reporting Subsystem). |
| 65 |
| For your applications running on the mainframe would you please specify the language each application is written in, current maintenance release cycle, number of lines of code and current number of contract personnel needed to maintain that application? (Slide 104) |
| All application information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 66 |
| If DB2 is installed on the mainframe please provide version, storage utilized and number of DB2 subsystems. (Slide 100) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 67 |
| If CICS is utilized for these applications, what is the version and number of CICS regions? If CICS is not utilized what is utilized for front end for the applications? (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 68 |
| If IMS is utilized, please provide the number of IMS control subsystems. (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 69 |
| If Websphere MQ series is utilized, pleas provide number of MQ series Queue Managers. (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 70 |
| If Websphere Application Server is utilized, please provide number of Websphere instances. (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 71 |
| Please identify all security packages installed, including version, such as RACF, ACF/2 and Top Secret. (Slide 104) |
| Application inventories will be provided in the reading room. |
| 72 |
| Are any additional database subsystems installed on the mainframe such as ADABAS, DATACOM, IDMS, VSAM, SyncSort, Oracle or other? Please provide version for each installed database subsystem. (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 73 |
| What is the operations, management and monitoring software installed and supported for the mainframes and applications on the mainframes? (Slide 104) |
| Monitoring application inventory will be provided in the reading room. |
| 74 |
| 43. What are the number of jobs running per month on the mainframes? (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 75 |
| What is the total disk storage utilized by your applications on the mainframe? What is the total disk storage available for applications on the mainframe? (Slide 104) |
| Application configurations, storage requirements and inventories will be provided in the reading room. |
| 76 |
| What is the total disk storage utilized by your databases for mainframe applications? What is the total disk storage available for databases for mainframe applications? (Slide 104) |
| Database configurations, storage requirements and inventories will be provided in the reading room. |
| 77 |
| What are the requirements for historical records retained and the current volume of those records that are retained? (Slide 104) |
| See Answer #31. |
| 78 |
| What are your print services required for your mainframe applications? (Slide 104) |
| High level mainframe information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 79 |
| What are the connectivity technologies used for your mainframe applications? Are these applications accessible to third parties or only to internal Ginnie Mae Applications? If accessible to third parties what is the technology used and connectivity provided to or by those third parties? What technologies are used for data transfer purposes? |
| Application architecture will be provided in the reading room. |
| 80 |
| What is the utility software installed and operated for your mainframes? (Slide 104) |
| Application inventories will be provided in the reading room. |
| 81 |
| What are the scheduling tools that are used in your applications? (Slide 104) |
| Tool inventories will be provided in the reading room. |
| 82 |
| How are the entitlements managed for your applications, at the application layer as well as DB and OS layer? Please provide information on how software license entitlements are governed, managed, and provided for your applications, databases and operating systems (Slide 104) |
| The information will be provided in the RFP/final solicitation. |
| 83 |
| What are the downtimes of the applications? (Slide 104) |
| The information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 84 |
| Do you have external connectivity and are they built with resiliency? (Slide 107) |
| Yes, all connectivity is HA. |
| 85 |
| Are there any out of support development tools version that are still being used? (Slide 100) |
| Tool inventories will be provided in the reading room. |
| 86 |
| What are all the versions VMWare software that is utilized by Ginnie Mae? (Slide 100) |
| Inventory will be provided in the reading room. |
| 87 |
| How many SDDC are utilized? (Slide 105) |
| PPA, None. |
| 88 |
| What operating systems and versions are being utilized in the virtualized machines for each SDDC? (Slide 105) |
| Operating System information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 89 |
| Are you using any clustered file systems for specific applications? If so, please provide details of the clustered file system technology, size, and applications. (Slide 105) |
| Yes. Configuration information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 90 |
| What is the Disaster recovery RTO and RPO for your current VMWare hosted applications? (Slide 97) |
| 4 hours |
| 91 |
| How many virtual machines are hosted on your VMWare environments for each SDDC? (Slide 105) |
| System inventory will be provided in the reading room. |
| 92 |
| How much storage is utilized in your VMWare environment for each SDDC? (Slide 105) |
| Storage utilization will be provided in the reading room. |
| 93 |
| What are the connectivity requirements for the applications hosted in the VMWare environments for internal applications and third parties? Are dedicated circuits provided to third parties? What technologies are used for data transfer purposes? (Slide 105) |
| Network Diagrams and Connectivity Information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 94 |
| What is a list of the applications operating on the VMWare environment, languages used for the code for those custom applications and lines of code for those applications? (Slide 105) |
| Application design and deployment Information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 95 |
| What database technologies are used for applications on the VMWare environment? What are the versions of those database technologies? (Slide 105) |
| All database and application information will be provided in the reading room. |
| 96 |
| What is the record retention policy you follow for applications? (Slide 100) |
| See Answer #55. |
| 97 |
| Program Support, many of the items included have a variable component depending on Ginnie Mae’s modernization path and speed as well as other variables. Will there be a variable T&M component for a portion of these fees? (Slide 20) |
| No, at this time we do not anticipate a T&M/LH component for program support. To the extent a program support request exceeds the O&M support that is already addressed in the PWS, Ginnie Mae may issue a tasking under the Enhancements CLIN which is T&M/LH. |
| 98 |
| Does the existing contractor have manuals, artifacts for all systems, processes, etc.? If not, will they develop them? (Slide 22) |
| Yes, the current contractor has manuals, artifacts for all systems, processes, etc. |
| 99 |
| Does any Ginnie Mae process run on a system, utilize software or hardware which will not move to the new contractor? (Slide 22) |
| Ginnie Mae owned application software will transition to new contractor. Because the incumbent is required to provide services up to completion of the transition out/in and parallel processing/validation, hardware, network and other software will not transition to the new contractor. |
| 100 |
| Can Ginnie Mae provide additional detail around “the Optional Data Center migration? (Slide 22) |
| There are many factors that will impact the timing and effort involved around the cloud migration effort. At this time, we are not able to provide any additional details. |
| 101 |
| How many projects in the “Enhancements, Integrated Software Development & Next Gen Support” category have been performed on average over the past 2 years, are currently in-flight, are expected within the next 18 months, and over the next 3 years? (Slide 22) |
| 2018-20 projects; 2019-14 projects; 2020-10 projects to date. |
Draft PWS currently states “the Government estimates that it will require ten (10) to fourteen (14) Major Enhancements per year.”
| 102 |
| Is there a timeline and specific plan to define what services will be hosted by the one or more ITIC Providers? Are there specific services that Ginnie Mae envisions migrating to these ITIC providers? What is the planned division of responsibilities between the multiple IT IC providers? (Slide 26) |
| There are many factors that will impact the timing and effort involved around the cloud migration effort. At this time, we are not able to provide any additional details. |
| 103 |
| Overall, will all domain names, phone numbers, APIs, etc. be transferred over to the new contractor? Who manages these domain names? Is any deemed propriety by the existing contractor? (Slide 28) |
| All Domain Names will be migrated. Currently the PPA provider manages the domain names. |
| 104 |
| Can Ginnie Mae clarify the role of the MBSIBA contractor in providing the centralized help desk solution and service? Will the MBSIBA contractor be required to build the ServiceNow-based system and IVR system, or only provide Tier 2/3 support to utilize the system(s) that Ginnie Mae is building separately? (Slide 31) |
| Ginnie Mae will provide the ServiceNow and IVR solution. The MBSIBA contractor will assist in implementing it to replace current help desk and provide Tier 2/3 support utilizing the new solution. |
| 105 |
| Can Ginnie Mae clarify what the expected role of the MBSIBA contractor is for any applications, systems or databases located at NaviSite. (Slide 39) |
| NaviSite is no longer a Ginnie Mae provider. System/applications they previously hosted are currently hosted by Ginnie Mae's ITIC provider. |
| 106 |
| The contractor initiates an ACH withdrawal from each servicer’s account for payment of the securities: |
a) Is there any scenario where the contractor would have an overdraft due to servicer or Ginnie Mae actions?
b) Has there been any overdrafts with the current contractor during the past 3 years? If so, what is the balance?
If there have been over drafts, what was the average balance and highest level of overdrafts? (Slide 57) In respect to P&I paid to securities, the MBSIBA executes an ACH debit with an effective date of the security payment date. The MBSIBA wires P&I to FRBNY no later than 11:00 a.m. a) If an ACH is returned then the MBSIBA will be in an overdraft condition until such time that the issuer or Ginnie Mae wires funds to cover the overdraft; b) Yes, over the last 3 years Apr 2017 to March 2020, there have been 7 P&I failures. High $2.24Billiion; Low $2.4K and Average $533 Million.
| 107 |
| Prior Ginnie Mae presentations state that existing contractor owns a proprietary ACH system. Is this factual? If yes, is there any information, records, processes or systems that the existing contractor utilizes to process ACH payments that will not come over to the new contractor? (Slide 57) |
| Ginnie Mae software creates ACH files but the MBSIBA is responsible for providing the interface, services and means to deliver to the ACH Electronic Payment Network. |
| 108 |
| On Average, what is the time gap between using the Dummy EIN/tax id vs receiving the actual number? (Slide 63) |
| The gap varies from a few days to about 2 months. This pace is controlled by the IRS and it is not yet clear how the COVID 19 pandemic will affect this experience. |
| 109 |
| Does the existing contactor have all documents stored and indexed as described on slide 83 of the MBSIBA industry day document for the period of time that the existing contractor managed this contract, as well as any time prior? (Slide 83) |
| Yes, inventory will be provided at transition |
Sample Document titles from Iron Mtn inventory include:
1. Failed Edit Reports
2. Prospectus’
3. Ginnie Unclaimed Funds report
4. LOC Letters
5. Cancelled Certificates
| 110 |
| Are all current MBSIBA contractor’s bank accounts and systems reconciled? At what frequency? Are there any differences? (Slide 84) |
| Yes, accounts are reconciled some daily, some monthly. There are some balances depending on the type of account and timing. |
| 111 |
| Are there any unclaimed funds currently being held or accounted for by the existing contractor? Are these accounts reconciled and in proof? (Slide 84) |
| There are balances for unclaimed funds in two accounts. Ginnie Mae II Unclaimed Funds has a $72K balance currently being reconciled. This is a long-standing issue from when the responsibility for processing Unclaimed Funds transferred from Ginnie Mae to the PPA/CPTA and incomplete records from Ginnie Mae and the prior Unclaimed Funds System. Ginnie Mae anticipates resolving this issue prior to transition to the MBSIBA Contractor. |
| 112 |
| Overall, will the contractor use their own or Ginnie Mae’s licenses for software? (Slide 100) |
| Ginnie Mae will provide SAP Business Objects, Oracle, Informatica, Salesforce, Webservices, and ServiceNow. Ginnie Mae owned application software will transition to new contractor. Because the incumbent is required to provide services up to completion of the transition out/in and parallel processing / validation, hardware, network and other software will not transition to the new contractor. |
| 113 |
| Does any Ginnie Mae process run on a system, utilize software or hardware which will not move to the new contractor? (Slide 100) |
| See Answer # 99. |
| 114 |
| Can Ginnie Mae share any details of all current and planned systems modernization roadmap? (Slide 101) |
| The modernization roadmap will be provided in the reading room. |
| 115 |
| What is the schedule for the migration of the cloud environment to the Future state as shown in the slide? What is the current plan for the MBSIBA to interface with the SCG and AWS cloud environments? What specific applications for the MBSIBA provider can migrate to the SCG and AWS clouds? (Slide 101) |
| There are many factors that will impact the timing and effort involved around the cloud migration effort. At this time, we are not able to provide any additional details. |
| 116 |
| Does the existing contractor have manuals, artifacts for all systems, processes, etc.? If not, will they develop them? (Slide 109) |
| See Answer #98. |
| 117 |
| Can Ginnie Mae define the planned role both currently, and over the next 3 years of the MBSIBA contractor as compared to the ITIC provider(s), and AWS? (Slide 101) |
| There are many factors that will impact the timing and effort involved around the cloud migration effort. At this time, we are not able to provide any additional details. |
| 118 |
| Could Ginnie Mae provide the average volume of the following tasks performed in terms of numbers on a monthly basis: |
a) Slide 24 – Master Agreements
b) Slide 25 - Commitment Authority
c) Slide 27 – New Pool Issuance d)Slide 37 – PIIT pools and Bulk Transfers See Answer #13.
| 119 |
| Over the last two years, on average what percentage of the contract value was allocated for: a) O&M, b) Hosting, and c) IT Enhancements. What does Ginnie Mae expect these percentages to be over the next 3 years? (Slide 100) |
| It is up to each offeror to determine the percentages allocated across these tasks. |
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GSA Federal Acquisition Service