Notice of Intent to Award Sole-Source: Subscription for Continuing Legal Education and Continuing Professional Education Training

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), hereby gives notice of its intent to solicit, negotiate, and award a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) purchase order with Practising Law Institute (PLI), 1177 Ave of The Americas, New York, NY in accordance with FAR Part 13 under the authority of "Only One Responsible Source” for PLI Access via their Privileged Membership subscription service.  The anticipated period of performance is for a base period of one year with four (4), one-year options.

Background: 

On September 1, 2022, purchase order 95314322P0025 was awarded on a sole source basis to PLI for continued legal educational, whereby for one year the Office of General Counsel’s entire staff attended/participated in various formats and durations of on demand, live in person, and live webcasts in the areas of law, financial regulation, and mortgage finance that were tailored to FHFA’s mission, as well as with continuing legal education (CLE) and other professional training programs.  On August 31, 2023, purchase order 95314323P0039 was also awarded to PLI on a sole source basis for one year.   

FHFA requires continued legal education (CLE) and other professional training programs and PLI’s proprietary content facilitates OGC staff maintaining certification for state bar associations by providing courses that allow staff to earn CLE and continuing professional education (CPE) credits. 

PLI is the only vendor that meets the following salient characteristics of the requirement:

• Facilitate access to OGC staff to live webcasts and groupcasts (allowing multiple staff members at a single office location to participate in live or on-demand webcasts) that predominantly allow CLE/CPE credits suitable for the purpose of maintaining professional certification and for state bar associations.  These live webcasts and groupcasts can be held virtually (all participants are remote), in-person, or with hybrid audiences (in-person and remote participants). 
• Access to live and on-demand learning accessible by a mobile app.
• Offers various types of professional educational credits (depending on the program): CLE, Paralegal CLE, CPD, CPE for CPAs, IRS CE, Privacy CE for IAPP-certified privacy professionals, CFE for Certified Fraud Examiners, CCB CEUs for Compliance Certification Board-certified professionals, HRCI and SHRM for HR professionals, Non-ACAMS for ACAMS-certified AML professionals, financial pros certified by the American Bankers Association (ABA), CFP for Certified Financial Planners (live webcasts only).
• Briefings, courses, seminars, fora, etc. on subjects particularly relevant to FHFA’s legal environment such as financial regulation and mortgage finance.
• Audio and/or video downloads from previous programs (live webcasts, live groupcasts, audio, etc.).
• Electronic versions of the written materials are available for download at no extra charge.
• Discount on SEC Institute Workshops and other non-standard programs.
• “Focus on AI” collection of programs.
• Access to program attorneys, pro-bono specialists, CLE management group, library and librarian, and customer service to answer questions related to their field or function.

FHFA anticipates that this action will result in a Firm Fixed purchase order.  There are no set-asides identified for this procurement.

This notice is neither a request for quotations nor a solicitation of offers. No formal solicitation package is available.

Interested sources may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement and should furnish detailed data concerning their capabilities to provide the services sought including pricing data and technical data sufficient to determine that a comparable source to the Government is available. Responses must be supported with clear and convincing evidence to clearly be able to provide the services outlined in this notice.   A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. 

The Government will consider all expressions of interest received prior to the close of this Special Notice.  Telephone responses and requests will not be received.  Only written responses sent via electronic mail to Carmen.Rios@fhfa.gov will be accepted. The responses shall be received by no later than the response date and time indicated on this Special Notice. 

The Government will not be responsible for any costs in the preparation of responses to this announcement.