Active

Contract Opportunity

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: 541618 – Other Management Consulting Services

Incumbent: Primary Care Development Corporation

Response Due Date: 09:00 AM (ET), February 21, 2024

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 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 approximately 15,000 service delivery sites in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. More than 30 million patients, including medically underserved and uninsured or underinsured patients, receive accessible, affordable, quality primary health care services through the Health Center Program.

Since their inception, health centers have encountered difficulty in obtaining loans for building and equipment projects. While individual health centers across the country have taken advantage of successful local, state, and national financing programs, many other health centers have not been so fortunate. To help health centers thrive so that more underserved people receive quality care, additional funds have been appropriated to enable health centers to access capital by partially guaranteeing loans made by non-Federal lenders.

Congress appropriated funds in fiscal years (FYs) 1997 and 1998 that will remain available until expended for Federal guarantees of loans made by non-Federal lenders for health centers funded under section 330 of the Public Health Service (PHS) 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 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 Loan Guarantee Program (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 for the Health Center Facility Loan Guarantee Program (LGP). This includes consultations with applicants; reviewing and processing applications to include independent evaluation of lenders’ underwriting and on-site visits to review/confirm documents; loan closing document review to ensure HRSA’s interests are protected; and program monitoring to ensure compliance with program requirements.

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 provide all personnel, materials, facilities, services, and equipment necessary for the performance of work.

Capability Statements

A statement that the vendor has the required capability is not sufficient.

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.

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 demonstrate 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 pertaining to Health Center Program authorities.


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 09:00 AM (ET) on February 21, 2024 to Cynthia Dmitrijev at cdmitrijev@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 seven (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 solicitation 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:

1. Sources Sought Notice number, title, and date of issuance


2. Unique Entity ID


3. Company Name


4. Company Address


5. Company Point of Contact, Phone, and Email address


6. Validation of small business status under NAICS: 541618 - Other Management Consulting Services (Size Standard: $19 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.

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