SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE MARKET RESEARCH

For

Bureau’s Appraisals

1. SUBMITTAL INFORMATION

ISSUE DATE: September 4, 2026

DUE DATE FOR RESPONSES: November 5, 2026, 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SUBMIT RESPONSES TO: Carolyn.Lethert@dot.gov and Myla.Wyatt@dot.gov

QUESTIONS: Submit any questions on this RFI no later than 9/22/26.

See below Section 5 entitled “REQUESTED CONTENT OF RESPONSES TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT” for submittal content instructions.

2. INTRODUCTION

This is a Sources Sought (SS) notice (also known as a Request for Information (RFI)). This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is conducting a market survey to identify potential sources for an anticipated contract for the Build America Bureau. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information for planning purposes regarding the availability and capability of qualified sources to perform the work.

Pursuant to 48 C.F.R. Part 10, the Government is conducting market research to:

• Determine what Commercial sources exist that are capable of satisfying the Government’s requirements listed below in Section 4,

• Determine the practices of potential contractors,

• Determine the size and Small Business status of potential sources, and

• Determine the level of competition and possible acquisition strategies (i.e., 8(a), set-aside or full and open).

This SS is issued solely for informational, market research, and planning purposes and does not commit the Government to any further contract actions, i.e., solicitation and/or contract.

Respondents are advised that the United States Government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in responding to this SS request. Not responding to this SS does not preclude participation in any future Request for Proposals (RFP) that may be issued.

Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the U.S Government to form a binding contract.

3. BACKGROUND

The purpose for this SS is to conduct market research to identify potential offerors having an mailto:Carolyn.Lethert@dot.gov mailto:Myla.Wyatt@dot.gov interest in performing the work, and the resources required to accomplish the work described herein. Consideration will be given to small business concerns, including the sub-categories of Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone), 8(a), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) and woman-owned as well as identifying Best in Class and Spend Under Management solutions as identified in OMB Memorandum M-19-13 and subsequent memos. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement.

This document contains a draft scope of work (Section 4 below). Your firm’s response regarding your firm’s experience and capabilities will be used to determine the availability of potential businesses, both large and small, and their capabilities in meeting the Government’s requirement.

Through this SS notice, FHWA is seeking not only to identify potential sources for an anticipated contract but also to solicit feedback on the draft Scope of Work (SOW) itself, including on the content of the tasks and deliverables and reasonableness of the schedule that is described below.

4. DRAFT SCOPE OF WORK

The proposed NAICS codes and proposed product services codesfor this requirement are

Categories NAICS PSC

Real Estate Appraisals

531320

Offices of Real Estate Appraisers

R411

Support Professional: Real Property Appraisals

Personal Property & Equipment

541990

All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

R499 or R429

Support Professional: Other

Business Valuation

541990 or 541219

Other Accounting Services

R704

Support-Management: Audit Services / Financial Reviews

BACKGROUND

The Build America Bureau (the Bureau) within the U.S. Department of Transportation serves as a central hub for financing and technical assistance, facilitating infrastructure investment across the nation. Through federal credit programs (Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF)) the https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/M-19-13.pdf https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/M-19-13.pdf

Bureau provides direct loans, loan guarantees, and credit lines to public and private sponsors.

Further information about the Credit Programs can be found at https://www.transportation.gov/buildamerica.

The eligible project universe (below) is unusually broad for a single lender:

Asset Classes Representative asset types

Highway Managed lanes, toll roads, bridges, tunnels, interchanges

Transit Heavy/light/commuter rail, BRT, streetcar, facilities, fleet, systems

Intercity passenger rail Conventional and high-speed rail, stations, corridor programs

Freight rail Class I–III infrastructure, yards, intermodal terminals, equipment, PTC

Ports and maritime Landside and waterside infrastructure, intermodal connectors, terminal equipment

Aviation Terminals, airfield and landside infrastructure, people movers, CONRAC, airport P3

Transit-oriented development (TOD)

Multifamily, mixed-use, commercial, hospitality, parking, station-area infrastructure

Crosscutting Alternative fueling, resilience, technology and OT cybersecurity

Historically the Bureau has procured appraisal services through its financial advisors as needed.

However, we anticipate working on more TOD transactions, and would need the ability to procure appraisal services directly.

TOD lending differs fundamentally from the balance of the Bureau's portfolio. Instead of being secured by a pledge of tax, toll, fare, rate, or system revenues from a going-concern public enterprise, TOD credits are secured principally by real property, a fee or leasehold interest in an income-producing asset and recovery in default realizes on what that asset can be sold for, net of the costs of getting it to a sale. Valuation is therefore not a supporting input to the Bureau's TOD underwriting; it is the primary determinant of loan sizing, advance rate, credit enhancement requirements, and loss given default.

In addition to appraisals producing a market value conclusion, the Bureau requires every full appraisal assignment must produce a net liquidation value conclusion, net of all costs to complete, carry, market, and transfer the asset, stated at each relevant stage of the project's life.

This conclusion feeds directly into the Bureau's loss-given-default estimation and credit risk rating framework.

OBJECTIVE

The objectives for any resulting acquisition are to:

• General appraisers and valuation consultants that can deliver Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP) compliant appraisals in any US market, including secondary and rural markets.

• Contracts that can cover the full range of valuations required by the Bureau, including as-is, as-complete, as-stabilized, land, leased fee and leasehold, restricted and unrestricted, contributory component, insurable, going concern, and net liquidation and disposition values, as specified by assignment, across the various asset types.

• Ensure that appraisers are engaged by and report to the Bureau, not the borrower or sponsor, regardless of who bears the cost, and that no other party with an interest in the credit decision influences scope, value, or appraiser selection.

• Support the full loan lifecycle, cover pre-closing valuation, construction-period updates and recertification, stabilization confirmation, periodic portfolio revaluation, event-driven reappraisal, and workout and disposition support. In addition to making routine and recurring assignments updates, recertifications, annual revaluations, restricted-format reviews, on a cost-efficient basis.

• Accommodate surge demand, concurrent transactions in a single asset class, and growth in portfolio monitoring obligations as the loan book seasons, without renegotiating the underlying vehicle.

• Develop standardized appraisal review packages, tiered fixed-price fee schedules, and desktop appraisal review protocols that significantly reduce advisory costs for small-scale Borrowers.

SCOPE OF WORK / TASK AREAS

The following describes the anticipated scope. It is provided for market research purposes and is subject to change. Work would be ordered by task order; not all tasks would be exercised on every transaction, and the Bureau anticipates scaling scope to transaction size, complexity, and risk. The selected Real Estate Appraisal Advisor(s) shall provide independent valuation analysis, appraisal review, technical market research, and collateral risk assessment across five core task areas throughout the loan lifecycle. Once assigned, appraisals are anticipated to be completed in several months.

• Task 1: Pre-Closing Appraisal Review and Technical Due Diligence

The advisor performs rigorous technical reviews of applicant-submitted real estate appraisals, property valuations, and market feasibility studies to support the Bureau's credit underwriting team (Desktop Review). The advisor verifies that all appraisal reports comply with USPAP standards, Title 49 CFR Part 24 requirements, and federal credit policies. Key technical tasks include: Market Feasibility & Highest and Best Use analysis, Valuation Methodology Review, Real Estate Interest Analysis.

In addition to the Market Value, the Contractor should include the net liquidation value.

• Task 2: Comprehensive Appraisal Report The Contractor shall, once instructed by the Bureau, prepare (or have prepared) a Comprehensive Appraisal Report on the project to support the Bureau’s credit evaluation of providing a term loan for the Project. The Comprehensive Appraisal Report must include three values: As-Is Market Value; As-If Complete Hypothetical Market Value; and As-If Complete and Stabilized Hypothetical Market Value.

In determining the Market Value, the Contractor should use three approaches or propose alternative approaches if more appropriate: Income approach; Sales comparison; and Cost comparison.

In addition to the Market Value, the Contractor should include the net liquidation value.

• Task 3: Market, Feasibility, and Absorption Studies Where ordered separately from or in support of an appraisal: submarket supply and demand analysis; competitive property survey; rent, concession, and occupancy trend analysis;

absorption and lease-up forecasting; analysis of the transit proximity effect on rents, values, absorption, and parking demand; construction pipeline and shadow supply assessment; and demographic and employment base analysis.

• Task 4: Post-Closing Portfolio Valuation and Monitoring (ad hoc) As requested by the Bureau or required under the loan agreement, perform re-appraisal.

• Task 5: Programmatic Guidance and Streamlined Framework (ad hoc) The advisor provides strategic advisory services to continuously provide guidance to the Bureau.

5. SKILLS AND EXPERTISE REQUIRED

To successfully execute comprehensive appraisal support services for the Bureau, prospective vendors must demonstrate deep expertise in federal valuation standards and regulatory compliance. Key personnel must maintain active certifications and high-level proficiency in the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions (UASFLA / "Yellow Book"). Assigned staff must possess a thorough understanding of public land laws, statutory mandates, eminent domain procedures, right-of-way valuations, and agency-specific policies governing federal, state, or tribal trust real property to ensure all deliverables withstand rigorous legal and administrative scrutiny.

Contractors must evidence robust technical and analytical capabilities across diverse property classes, ranging from broad rural, agricultural, and resource-rich public lands to complex urban and special-purpose real estate. Technical teams must be skilled in executing the full spectrum of standard valuation methodologies (including the Sales Comparison, Cost, and Income Capitalization approaches) backed by comprehensive market research, comparable sales verification, and local economic trend analysis.

Prior experience with institutional lenders, HUD-insured multifamily lending, GSE lending, special servicing, or government credit programs is the most directly relevant background.

6. REQUESTED CONTENT OF RESPONSES

Interested parties who consider their firms qualified to perform the above-listed services are invited to submit responses to this SS as follows:

Format requirements are:

• Electronic responses only. No hard copy submissions will be accepted.

• 8.5”x11” size pages, with 1” margins on all sides and prepared in Microsoft Word or PDF format.

• Submissions shall include a cover page as described below.

• Not more than seven pages in length, including all items submitted (not including cover page, table of contents, and acronym list).

• Font size should be 12 point or larger.

• Proprietary information must not be submitted in response to this SS.

The response to this SS must include:

Cover Page: The cover page does not count towards the page limit. The cover page should contain at a minimum the following information:

- Company name

- Primary Point of Contact, including phone number and email address

- SAM.GOV Unique Entity ID (UEI)

- NAICS Code – a statement on which NAICS your firm believes is the most appropriate NAICS for these services as well as a list of any other NAICS codes that you think could be applicable.

- General Services Administration (GSA) Contract Number and Schedule, if applicable.

- GSA OASIS+ Contract Number, if applicable.

- Other Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts available for DOT use, if applicable

- Business Size: identify all applicable classifications for your organization under

NAICS 541330 as well as any other NAICS identified for this work. Please note if certain classifications only apply to certain contract vehicles.

• Small business?

• Woman-owned business?

• 8(a) business?

• Small disadvantaged business?

• HUBZone business?

• SDVOB business?

• Non-profit?

• Other relevant business type information

- Would you be able to fulfil this entire requirement alone or would you work with subcontractors? If subcontractors are used, which work would you subcontract?

SS Response: To support the Government’s review of the Contractor’s technical ability and the market capacity, the following questions should be directly addressed with regard to both the responding business entity and proposed personnel (no more than 2 pages):

a. Describe your experience providing lending-purpose appraisals for institutional lenders, government credit programs, GSEs, or HUD-insured lending, as distinct from owner, investor, tax appeal, or acquisition work.

b. Describe your capability by product type: market-rate multifamily; LIHTC and income-restricted housing; mixed-use; retail; office; hospitality; senior and student housing;

structured parking; and ground-leased and air rights interests.

c. Would you provide nationwide coverage (staff appraisers, affiliated offices, a managed panel of independent appraisers, or a combination) or limit to geographic regions? How do you maintain quality and consistency across markets you do not staff directly?

d. What is your capability in secondary, tertiary, and rural markets, and in markets within comparable sales data? How does that affect turnaround and cost?

e. What is your capacity for concurrent assignments and for recurring annual portfolio revaluation across a growing loan book?

f. Do you also perform appraisal review, market and feasibility studies, and rent comparability studies, or would these be separately sourced?

Note: Responses may include links or web addresses that demonstrate evidence of your technical expertise (i.e., final reports, technical journals, peer reviewed papers, etc.).

In addition, to support the Bureau’s effort to improve the acquisition process, we request feedback (if any) to the questions below (no more than 5 pages) You may respond to as many questions as desired so long as responses fit within the page limit. Please note the appropriate question number in your response.:

• Acquisition strategy and contract structure

1. Should appraisal be procured as a standalone vehicle or combined with the Bureau's technical, insurance, or financial advisory acquisitions? Note that net liquidation value requires coordination with construction cost expertise.

2. If standalone, what contract vehicle and structure would best deliver speed and flexibility, a multiple-award IDIQ with fair-opportunity competition, a multiple-award IDIQ with directed or streamlined ordering below a threshold, blanket purchase agreements under GSA schedules, a single award BPA or IDIQ, an existing government-wide vehicle, or another approach? What are the trade-offs from your perspective?

3. How should the Bureau structure technical qualifications and competition requirements at the task order level to allow rapid selection among pre-qualified appraisal firms without creating lengthy proposal preparation cycles?

4. What team composition (e.g., MAI-designated appraisers, CRE counselors, real estate economists, P3 valuation specialists) is required to ensure complete technical coverage across residential, commercial, retail, and joint-development rail/transit ROW real estate assets?

5. Would you recommend separating awards according to asset types or geographic regions (or both)? What are the trade-offs from your perspective? If grouped, which ones?

What specific Conflict of Interest (COI) requirements or disclosure processes could hinder your firm from bidding, and what concrete simplifications, such as streamlined disclosure forms, standard ethical wall protocols, or pre-clearing mechanisms, would enable you to submit proposals while maintaining institutional integrity?

• Speed of acquisition and task order execution

6. In your experience with Federal technical advisory procurements, what specifically drives the longest delays: solicitation development, proposal preparation, evaluation, COI resolution, security or onboarding, or task order pricing negotiation?

7. What proposal simplifications would most reduce your response time and cost without materially reducing the Bureau’s ability to discriminate among offerors: low page limits, resumes and pricing only, phased down-select, self-scoring?

8. How should individual task order (TO) for project be awarded: compete each TO with panel, automatically assign (work down list) or other?

• Pricing

9. What pricing arrangement is most appropriate by task type? What are market standards for pre-close, post close, annual / periodic re-appraisals?

10. Can front-end due diligence be firm-fixed-priced when project information is incomplete at task order award? What scope definition or assumptions would you need? What re-pricing triggers would be reasonable?

• Other

11. Identify any assumptions in this RFI you believe are unrealistic, and any scope elements that should be added, removed, or restructured.

12. Provide any other recommendations that would improve the speed, quality, or cost-effectiveness of the Bureau's acquisition and use of appraisal and valuation services.

13. What would make this vehicle attractive to firms that do not currently pursue Federal work, including firms whose lender’s advisory practice is primarily commercial?

14. Are there billing or administrative practices associated with federal government contracts that materially increase your cost of doing business with the Bureau that could be simplified?

Questions: As a part of this SS, you may submit any questions or comments on the Section 4 Draft Scope of Work. This will not count towards the page limit if the questions are submitted in a separately labeled document. FHWA reserves the right not to provide responses to these questions and comments but will use these questions and comments in continuing to define its requirement.

7. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

To fully comprehend the information contained within a response to this Sources Sought, there may be a need to seek further clarification from respondents. This clarification may be requested in the form of brief verbal communication by telephone; written communication;

electronic communication; or a request for a presentation of the response to a specific FHWA group or groups. FHWA reserves the right to seek additional information from respondents identified with unique solutions that are determined to be beneficial to FHWA.