ResearchService_SOW_20240723.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

OFFICE OF HOUSING COUNSELING

STATEMENT OF WORK

FOR

LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR RESEARCH SERVICE SUBSCRIPTION

I. BACKGROUND

The Office of Housing Counseling (OHC) is responsible for the approval process of housing counseling agencies within the Department’s Housing Counseling Program. The primary objective of this program is to educate consumers on home buying, expand homeownership opportunities, improve access to affordable housing and preserve homeownership. Through the Housing Counseling program, housing counseling agencies participate by providing education on home purchases, reverse mortgages, refinancing, foreclosure prevention, predatory lending, and general financial education. In the past, information submitted by such agencies wishing to do business with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been verified through a research service.

There are over 2,700 HUD-approved housing counseling agencies that serve low to moderate income families. OHC is responsible for receiving and approving housing counseling agency applications. To help verify the validity of these organizations and their capacity and functionality, OHC staff use the research service to access background information on each housing counseling agency that applies for HUD approval. HUD staff also use this information to monitor compliance of each agency. OHC is preparing this statement of work to continue its validation and monitoring activities for the HUD Housing Counseling Program.

OHC is required to review housing counseling applications for Housing Counseling Program.

Under this procurement, OHC is requesting a subscription to a research service that has a digitized database that contains information on charitable organizations, principals, and board members.

This research service is used to verify the names of board members, physical location of agency, mission statements, financial information including IRS form 990’s and other relevant information on an organization. OHC can determine if board members are compensated and if a nonprofit agency has sufficient financial capacity to perform housing counseling services reliably. If an agency has no listing in this research service, the review may conclude that the agency is not experienced or has been formed only for the purpose of making an application to HUD.

II. OBJECTIVE/PURPOSE

The purpose of this procurement is to gain access to a research subscription service for use in the HUD Housing Counseling program so that the Department can continue to have access to information on nonprofit organizations.

III. SCOPE OF WORK

The primary service to be acquired under this agreement is access to a subscription service which includes the following:

1. Provide up to 50 licenses for access to the search database

2. Verify legal standing of organization;

3. Verify board member status and background;

4. Review organizational mission;

5. Validate organizational location;

6. Check financial information of organization and its capacity;

7. Access salary information of key personnel, and other relevant agency information for all nonprofit organizations requesting to participate in the following FHA activities (See IV.

TASKS)

IV. TASKS

1. The contractor shall provide staff with 50 licenses, User IDs, and passwords

2. The contractor shall provide access to the digitized database that contains information on charitable organizations

3. The contractor shall distribute its quarterly newsletter to HUD Users

4. The contractor shall provide customer service support to HUD Users

5. The contractor shall provide electronic organizational reports

V. DELIVERABLES

The contractor shall submit deliverables in accordance with the schedule set forth in this agreement.

The table below summarizes the timeline for deliverables:

Task Task Details Deliverable Due Date (After Contract Award)

Acceptance

A. Provide access to a digitized database

Provide access to a digitized database containing detailed information on the status of applying non-profit organizations, their principals, and their board members within 3 days of contract award.

50 Passwords and User IDs to HUD staff covered under annual subscription

As requested by

COR

On-going – during the period of performance

Acceptable service approved by COR/SME and all functions and features operational for a digitized database.

B. Customer Service Support

Contractor shall provide customer service support to assist database users resolve any service issues that HUD users may encounter.

Customer Service Support – Monday –Friday 8:00 AM -

8:00 PM

On-going – during the period of performance

Customer support acceptable to the Program Office with resolution of issues within 24 hours of contact with Customer Service team.

C. Provide Housing Counseling Agency Reports

Provide system generated reports on nonprofits, detailing such information as the nonprofit’s most recent Form 990, organization’s mission and financial data, IRS status, board members, salaries of key staff, etc.

System generated on-line Organizational Reports as requested by 50 authorized HUD users

On-going – during the period of performance

As requested by 50 authorized HUD users

Housing Counseling Agencies reports acceptable to Program Office and accepted and approved by the

SME/COR.

D. Newsletter Contractor shall provide quarterly newsletters to 50 HUD users.

Newsletter includes updates on services and products and other important information relative to the Nonprofit Sector.

Electronic Newsletter delivered via e-mail to 50 HUD subscribers

Quarterly Electronic newsletter acceptable to the Program Office shall be delivered at a minimum of once every three (3) months accepted and approved by the

SME/COR.

VI. CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE

The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) is TBD.

DATA INTEGRITY AND DOCUMENT HANDLING

The file storage facility provided by the Contractor shall meet all Federal requirements for storage of Federal records and financial assets. The files shall be located in a facility that permits files to be made available to the contractor and/or COR/SME within 24 hours.

The Contractor shall safeguard the service of record and all service data while at the same time affording necessary access. Controls to protect data from accidental or malicious alteration or destruction shall be established by the Contractor in addition to procedural controls to protect information that must be held in confidence.

VII. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance for this purchase order shall be one (1), twelve (12) month base period and four (4), twelve (12) month option periods.

VIII. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT REQUIRMENTS

Projects shall be completed within the designated timeframes 100 percent of the time, unless revised by the COR as a result of constraints and other priorities. Requests for extensions must be made two weeks in advance of the established due date. Extensions must be approved in advance by the COR. Penalties for unscheduled service outages shall be assessed as follows:

If the service is down for more than 2 continuous hours Monday-Friday 6am (Eastern Time) – 10pm (Pacific Time), the Contractor will be assessed a penalty for the number of hours or partial hours the service is unavailable.

The monthly rate will be decreased by a percentage calculated by the formula:

number of hours or partial hours the service hours per day x 21 days per month).

Natural disasters and acts of God are not defined as unscheduled outages.

IX. CONFIDENTIALITY AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

The disclosure of HUD/FHA data, proprietary information, or government information obtained through this contract to parties outside of HUD is prohibited. Unless otherwise specified, all information, including but not limited to organizational, product, financial and/or personal data which is produced or otherwise available to the Contractor during their performance of this requirement is considered confidential and proprietary and shall not be used for any purposes other than performance of the work under this requirement. The products of the Contractor’s work shall not be shared with anyone or group without written permission of FHA management. Regardless of the form of this data, the Contractor agrees that no employee will disclose or allow disclosure of any such data or derivatives thereof to third parties, except as may be required in the performance of this request during the contract period. All data shall be returned to FHA at the completion of the contract. Working papers, drafts and final guides in hardcopy and electronic formats (and related documentation) are the property of HUD and shall be made immediately available by the Contractor as requested by the COR/SME.

Furthermore, in the event credit data are utilized in performance of work under this request, the Contractor shall be required to execute an agreement governing their use. The Contractor shall implement procedures that will assure that individual employees or subcontractors are made aware of this provision. Any data of a personal nature may also be subject to Privacy Act protection and penalties under the law.

X. ACCEPTANCE OF PRODUCTS

The review of final products for each task will be coordinated by the COR/SME within the timeframe prescribed after receipt of product. The COR/SME will also review the final product for its technical accuracy and quality and return to the Contractor within the timeframe prescribed by the COR/SME. The Contractor shall make all required changes in support of clarity, system development, and presentation by the deadline provided by the COR/SME. The final product shall reflect the revisions based on the SME’s comments.

XI. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

Unless otherwise specified, all information, including but not limited to organizational, product, financial and/or personal data which is produced or otherwise available to the Contractor during their performance of this requirement is considered confidential and proprietary and shall not be used for any purposes other than performance of the work under this requirement. The products of the Contractor’s work shall not be shared with anyone or group without written permission of FHA management. Regardless of the form of this data, the Contractor agrees that no employee will disclose or allow disclosure of any such data or derivatives thereof to third parties, except as may be required in the performance of this request during the contract period. All data shall be returned to FHA at the completion of the contract.

Furthermore, in the event credit data are utilized in performance of work under this request, the Contractor shall be required to execute an agreement governing their use. The Contractor shall implement procedures that will assure that individual employees or subcontractors are made aware of this provision. Any data of a personal nature may also be subject to Privacy Act protection and penalties under the law. The products of the Contractor’s work shall not be shared with anyone or group without written permission of HUD management. Regardless of the form of this data, the Contractor agrees that no employee will disclose or allow disclosure of any such data or derivatives thereof to third parties, except as may be required in the performance of this request during the contract period. All data shall be returned to HUD within fifteen (15) days from the completion of the contract period either electronically or in CD format as requested by the Program Office. All paper and electronic documents shall be delivered in a format consistent with HUD’s current desktop.