Modification of Railroad Credit Risk Assessment (RCRA) System

The Federal Railroad Administration intends to award a contract on a other than full and open competitive basis, under the authority of FAR Part 6.302-1(a)(2) , with BancLab, LLC for the acquisition of services to maintain the  Railroad Credit  Risk Assessment (RCRA) System and modify  it  as necessary, assist the FRA in generating  yearly re-estimates of subsidy costs for each outstanding loan in the portfolio, create a web-based Loan Management System, and provide support for the FRA's Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program in connection with the RCRA model.  The contract is expected to have a one (1) year base period and two (1) year option periods.   

A competitive solicitation for the award of a contract to any vendor other than BancLab would involve the public disclosure of proprietary information describing how the RCRA model functions and sensitive data inputs which are shared only with a very restricted number of federal officials.  The disclosure of this information to industry, potential RRIF applicants and other unauthorized outside parties would pose a significant threat to OMB's approved Credit Risk Premium calculation methodology.

BancLab, LLC has proven expertise in all the necessary requirements to successfully make the necessary modifications and design and build the new application.  The original desk top applications for both the RCRA and LMS were designed and built by BancLab.  They have maintained and updated RCRA for 10 years and when FRA exercised the option to make it web-based, BancLab successfully made the changes including the government security measures.  LMS has out-lived its desk top and Program capabilities and needs to be built completely new and made to be web-based also.  BancLab has worked with the Budget Office, the Office of the Secretary of Transportation and the Office of Management and Budget in assisting the RRIF staff with running an effective loan program.  BancLab has 10+ years of knowledge both with the systems and the parties involved in the running and management of the RRIF Program.  BancLab, LLC has the requisite qualified staff and background understanding of the RCRA model and its importance to the RRIF Program to successfully complete the modifications to the model and build the new LMS application.  Establishing another source without the requisite experience and corporate resources with a fundamental understanding of the RCRA model and the RRIF Program would require a substantial amount of time and investment of financial resources.  It could be cost prohibitive to amortize this substantial investment in the period of time required for completion of this action and a duplication of costs.  Also, the learning curve and transition time required for another contractor to satisfactorily provide the required services would negatively impact the ability of the FRA to successfully fulfill the requirements of OMB and the RRIF Program.  A specific concern in this instance would be the ability of an alternative contractor to complete the necessary modifications and updates to the RCRA model per OMB standards and provide immediate analytical support for several pending high visibility multi-billion dollar transactions requiring complex modeling expertise.

THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTATIONS. A determination by the Government not to compete this acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Sources wishing to be considered MUST submit documentation prior to response date identified in this notice, in writing, to tremayne.terry.ctr@dot.gov.