Health Center Loan Guarantee Program Lender Coordinator
SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE
Agency/Office: HHS/HRSA/OAMP
Contracting Office Location: 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857
Title: Health Center Loan Guarantee Program Lender Coordinator
NAICS Code: 522320 Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities
Incumbent:Primary Care Development Corporation
This is a SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE (hereafter referred to as "notice) issued for the purpose of planning and market research. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations and this does not obligate the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to award a contract now or in the future.
The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified small businesses only (including 8(a), service-disabled-veteran-owned-small business (SDVOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small business, small disadvantaged business (SDB), veteran-owned small business (VOSB), and women-owned small business (WOSB) to provide loan guarantee program lender coordination services to the Health Center Program (330)and Federally Qualified Health Centers.
This sources sought is seeking responses from small businesses from the following source:
• All sources.
No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement and any follow-up information requests. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the capability assessment. All information submitted in response to this announcement must arrive on or before the closing date.
THIS IS STRICTLY MARKET RESEARCH. HRSA WILL NOT RESPOND TO QUESTIONS REGARDING THE RESULTS OF THIS MARKET RESEARCH. REQUESTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL NOT BE PROVIDED.
Background
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) mission is to improve the health of the Nation's underserved communities and vulnerable populations by ensuring access to comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary health care services. The purpose of the Health Center Program is to improve the health of the Nation's underserved communities and vulnerable populations by assuring continued access to affordable, quality primary health care services. The Health Center Program supports patient directed public and private nonprofit organizations and urban Indian and tribal organizations that provide primary and preventive health care services to the nation's medically underserved.
The Health Center Program is authorized by section 330 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 254b). The Health Center Program funding targets the Nation's high need geographic areas and populations by currently supporting nearly 1,400 health centers that operate more than 11,000 service delivery sites in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. Nearly 26 million patients, including medically underserved and uninsured or underinsured patients, receive accessible, affordable, quality primary health care services through the Health Center Program.
The purpose of the HRSA Health Center Facility Loan Guarantee Program (LGP) is to facilitate access to capital funding and reduce financing costs for health centers by guaranteeing up to 80 percent of financing needed to support capital infrastructure projects. The LGP supports loans to eligible Health Center Program awardees for the construction/expansion, alteration/renovation and modernization of health center facilities. HRSA expects that loan amounts will vary and that terms and conditions will be unique for each loan or financing transaction.
Health centers have historically encountered difficulty in obtaining loans for infrastructure projects. While individual health centers across the country have taken advantage of successful local, state and nationally based financing programs, many other health centers have not been so fortunate. In addition, access to capital for the development of health center owned and controlled managed care networks and plans has generally been available at venture capital rates, if at all. To help health centers thrive so that more vulnerable and underserved people receive quality care, funds have been appropriated to enable health centers to access capital previously unavailable or available only at high rates of interest by partially guaranteeing loans made by non-Federal lenders.
The fiscal year (FY) 1997 Appropriation authorized the provision of loan guarantees under part A of title XVI of the Public Health Service Act. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 provided additional authority to fully expend the remaining prior year appropriations from FYs 1997, 1998, and appropriated an additional $20 million to support Health Center Facility Loan Guarantees.
HRSA is authorized to guarantee up to 80 percent of the principal and interest on loans made by non-Federal lenders to health centers as defined and funded under section 330 of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. 254b) The LGP guarantees loans secured from non-Federal lenders; these loan guarantees are not direct loans or grants.
Project Requirements
The purpose of this requirement is to provide transaction management to assist HRSA with the administration of the Health Center Facility Loan Guarantee Program including assistance, processing applications, completing financial viability sustainability reviews, and program monitoring.
The Contractor will have knowledge and experience with lending programs and loan guarantee programs, and possess banking and/or community development lending experience. The Contractor's expertise shall be required to perform the following tasks:
• Consultation assistance to ensure applicants fully develop and describe the project and obtain all loan documentation required for a complete application package;
• Develop review protocol tool for assessing an applicant's financial viability and sustainability;
• Conduct comprehensive financial and operational analysis of application packages for HRSA loan guarantees to include a desk review to assess the lender and applicant's organizational capacity, project viability, and operating and financial performance; and on-site review to obtain and confirm the information from the Lender's underwriting documentation and tour proposed project site;
• Conduct lender eligibility review; review proposed terms and conditions for reasonableness in conjunction with the applicant's operational and financial projections;
• Review depth of the Lender's credit analysis and underwriting of the proposed financing to ensure an appropriate assessment of any risk associated with making the loan;
• Review borrower's agreement with the guarantor and loan guarantor agreement to ensure that HRSA's interest is protected within the scope of the financing;
• Assess applicant organizational capacity and conduct interviews with management and the board at the on-site visit;
• Provide loan closing services by reviewing closing documents and Lender's Certification and provide feedback to HRSA;
• Conduct program monitoring site visits to review applicant's compliance with the terms of the loan guarantee, as well as to carry out programmatic and financial monitoring;
• Maintain and update standard underwriting criteria for the evaluation of applications for the health center facility LGP;
• Identify and manage problem loans including arranging calls/visits with representatives to resolve problems; write notices; and recommend strategies to resolve problems.
The contractor shall have staff and subject matter expert consultants qualified and experienced in a range of specialty areas.
The contractor shall have and maintain a roster of consultants that are geographically, racially/ethnically, and linguistically diverse as well as represent a range of expertise.
The contractor shall provide all personnel, materials, facilities, services, and equipment necessary for the performance of work.
Capability Statements
In response to this Sources Sought Notice, HRSA is seeking capability statements from small businesses who can demonstrate experience with federal loan guarantee programs, lending programs and banking and/or community development lending experience to assist with the administration of the HRSA Health Center Facility Loan Guarantee Program. Capability statements are NOT proposals and do not address price/cost. The contractor community is asked for information by answering the below questions to prove that they have the expertise and capacity to meet the requirements of this work. Respondents should provide enough information for HRSA to make an informed determination of their capability to perform the work. Please provide a list of contract numbers that your organization has had (if applicable), your role on the contract (prime contractor or subcontractor) and the dollar value/percentage of the work performed. If you were a subcontractor on a particular contract, please clarify the work that you did on that contract.
No marketing literature should be submitted in response to this notice. When responding to this notice, vendors must demonstrate their experience in providing assistance of a similar capacity and nature for federal clients, grantees, grantee-like entities or similar entities. A mere statement that the vendor has a required capability is not sufficient.
Responses to the listed questions in this notice are required. When answering each of the following questions, vendors must provide specific and detailed examples of work that was performed that demonstrates the required capabilities and the attendant level of effort that was involved. Answers to each question shall be no more than half a page per question.
1. Describe your knowledge, understanding, and experience in applying statutory, regulatory, and sub-regulatory requirements and policies.
2. Describe your knowledge and experience with Health Centers and/or Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).
3. Describe your ability and experience in evaluating and managing federal loan guarantee programs.
4. Describe your knowledge and experience with community development financial institution (CDFI).
5. Do you have applicable formal credit training from a commercial bank?
6. Do you have experience working as a lender for a bank or CDFI?
7. Do you have working knowledge of community banks?
8. Describe your ability and experience in structuring financial transactions involving federal loan guarantee programs.
9. Describe your ability and experience in structuring financial transactions involving New Markets Tax Credits.
10. Do you have working knowledge of health care financial transactions and facilities?
11. Describe your ability and experience in evaluating credit risk.
12. Describe your experience with construction lending.
13. Describe your experience managing construction lending projects, reviewing draw schedules, and change requests.
Responses Requested
Please submit your responses by 9:00 AM EDT on April 1, 2019, to Patrick Mauro at PMauro@hrsa.gov in the following format:
• Microsoft Word (or PDF) document with page size 8.5 by 11 inches, with a minimum of 1" margins.
• Times New Roman, font size 12 with single spacing between lines.
• Submission shall not exceed 7 pages and no more than half a page per question. Cover page is not included in the total page count.
Respondents are requested to state their capabilities and expertise in clear and concise language.
Respondents are strongly encouraged to avoid use of excessive marketing and sales language.
Note: Language in any resultant RFP will require all small businesses to recertify their size status at the submission of proposal. You are not required to respond to this sources sought notice if you cannot recertify your size as small.
Cover Page
Vendors shall include the following Business information on the Cover Page:
a. Sources Sought Notice number, title, and date of issuance.
b. DUNS.
c. Company Name.
d. Company Address.
e. Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email address.
f. Current GSA Schedules appropriate to this effort.
g. Validation of small business status under NAICS: 522320 - Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse (Size Standard: $38.5 million). Additional information on NAICS codes can be found at www.sba.gov.
Confidentiality
No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
Disclaimer and Important Notes
This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this market research. Capability statements will not be returned, and will not be accepted after the due date for responses.
Teaming Arrangements
Firms seeking to respond to this notice as a team or to rely on subcontractors to perform any portion of the work must include the above-requested information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team or each proposed subcontractor. Responses must clearly indicate the nature of the teaming arrangement.
The contractor and any subcontractors must not have any relationships or arrangements through business operations or its employees that could be considered as possibly lessening the company's objectivity concerning any aspect of the proposed tasks. If such relationships or arrangements exist, contractors or subcontractors shall be required, during the procurement process (if one occurs), to identify potential conflicts of interest and discuss how the conflicts will be addressed and mitigated.
Patrick Mauro, Contracting Specialist, Phone 3019455151, Email pmauro@hrsa.gov
