THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE AND NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION OR PROPOSAL. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION PACKAGE AVAILABLE FOR THIS ACTION. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO), located in Washington, DC, intends to negotiate and award a sole-source Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract to Fitch Solutions, Inc (33 Whitehall St, NY, NY 10004). This acquisition is being conducted using the policies and procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Subpart 13.5, “Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items” under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901. The FAR Part 12 “Acquisition of Commercial Items” as supplemented by the Housing and Urban Development Acquisition Regulation (HUDAR) will be used to evaluate the quote and award this requirement. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 519290: Web Search Portal and All Other Information Services with a size standard of 1,000 employees.

Background & General Description of Work: Ginnie Mae securitizes over $2.4 trillion in mortgage-backed securities that are brought to market and serviced by various business partners, or counterparties. These entities include commercial banks, thrift institutions, savings and loans associations, mortgage banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions that perform a variety of critical functions, such as collecting monthly mortgage principal and interest payments from borrowers and forwarding those payments to investor bondholders. Considering the continued growth in Ginnie Mae’s portfolio and the current turmoil in the financial markets, Ginnie Mae continues to improve and increase our ability to monitor the financial health of our counterparties and thus better manage our risk profiles. This data is also crucial to Ginnie Mae’s ability to produce GAAP compliant financial statements. The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) located in Washington, D.C., Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae/GNMA), Office of Enterprise Risk (OER), requires a suite of comprehensive financial content covering credit ratings and reviews of the global banks, residential and commercial mortgaged-backed securities research, complex risk models and an electronic ratings delivery service of corporate and structured ratings. This content will be delivered on-line as an electronic financial subscription service. The current task order was awarded through the General services Administration (GSA) and expires on December 20, 2023.

Unique Characteristics of the Requirement: The circumstance of the requirement deems only one source reasonably available. The nature of the acquisition is a subscription-based tool that will allow Ginnie Mae to accomplish its mission. Fitch Solutions services are uniquely qualified to provide the services needed. Although there are several Credit Rating Agency (CRA) relative to the housing market, the request to use Fitch Solutions ratings is driven primarily by the desire of the purchasers of securities in the housing market/industry. Many of HUD’s biggest loans are rated/analyzed by Fitch Solutions; a function of the decisioning between the debt issuer, the lenders, and investors involved. HUD has no proximity to the third parties’ choice of Fitch Solutions nor is HUD involved or privy to the decisioning or rationale behind their lender/their debt investors’ selection of Fitch Solutions to rate their debt. However, HUD/Ginnie Mae does benefit from having access to the reports. The environment is shaped by a demand/pull model where the purchasers of the securities are the ones that are requesting the Fitch Solutions rating. To give the credit ratings integrity, the objectivity of the rater must be valued. Furthermore, the Government does not intend to incur additional costs that will result in either substantial duplication of costs or experience any unacceptable delays fulfilling HUD’s needs. In addition, awarding to any other contractor than Fitch Solutions will create even more risk and undue hardship for the government.

General Information & Instructions: This is NOT a solicitation for quotations, quotation abstracts, a request for competitive quotations; or request for competitive proposals; however, all responses received within 3 days from the date of publication of this synopsis will be considered by the Government. Any responses to this notice must clearly and thoroughly defend claims or assertions that attempt to refute the government’s stance. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action based upon responses to this notice is solely with the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement, but the information must eliminate the governments concerns and address how the items can be provided without jeopardizing the requirement. Simply submitting a brochure or capabilities statement is not a guaranteed way to alleviate or eliminate the governments concerns. Responses must be specifically tailored to address (1) exactly how the offeror’s services can be provided without jeopardizing the Government’s mission, (2) how the approach overcomes the barrier to competition the Government faces, and (3) how the approach is more advantageous to the Government than the sole source approach. If no affirmative responses are received within 3 days of this notice, a contract will be issued to Fitch Solutions. Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to the Contracting Officer at Che.U.Logan@hud.gov.

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