SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- THRIFT INDUSTRY ACCOUNT POLICY
- Notice Date
- 1/16/2009
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541219
— Other Accounting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Treasury, Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), Procurement and Administrative Services, 1700 G Street, N.W., 3rd Floor, Washington, District of Columbia, 20552
- ZIP Code
- 20552
- Solicitation Number
- TOTS-D-09-Q-00007
- Archive Date
- 2/14/2009
- Point of Contact
- Isabel Roman-Cogswell, Phone: 2029066137
- E-Mail Address
-
isabel.romancogswell@ots.treas.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), a bureau under the Department of Treasury, regulates and supervises the Thrift Industry nationwide. OTS hereby publishes this intent to negotiate and enter into a sole source contract with Timothy J. Stier /Cape Coral, FL for on-going expertise pertaining to thrift industry high level accounting policy issues. Pursuant to FAR 36.302 and FAR 13.5, the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source for the continuation of services that include, the following minimum mandatory performance requirements: Accounting services to be provided include but are not limited to assisting OTS with: •Interagency Call Reports Task Force-OTS participates in 24 conference calls per year to discuss changes to the Call Report. These meetings include discussions of complex accounting issues and require write-ups of issues to be presented to the committee; •Specific Savings Association or Holding Company Topics as needed-The Chief Accountant and his staff receive numerous requests from the regional accountants and examiners on specific accounting issues for savings associations and holding companies. These requests require many hours of research, conference calls with OTS staff, external auditors, FASB, and SEC staff; •Topics as needed-on specific accounting issues for savings associations and holding companies. These requests require many hours of research, conference calls with OTS staff, external auditors, FASB, and SEC staff; •Thrift Activities Handbook-The Chief Accountant is responsible for updating, writing and reviewing certain sections of the Thrift Activities Handbook. Throughout the year, Accounting Policy is requested to participate in projects for other sections; •Reviewing, interpreting and determining GAAP, GAAS and regulatory issues in response to inquiries, requests or examination of materials from staff, auditors, other regulatory agencies, and thrifts; •The review and analysis of the financial performance of saving associations, and holding companies under OTS authority using such tools as the thrift financial report, the OTS NPV model, audit reports, SEC filings, H(b)-1 I and HC reports, business plans, and customized financial analysis department reports. Supervise the preparation and transmittal of financial reviews to communicate pertinent findings to appropriate levels of management; •Assisting in all activities of a complex regional accounting support function. Specifically, this unit is responsible for: (a) The review, interpretation and determination of GAAP, GAAS and regulatory issues in response to inquiries, requests or examination of materials from staff, auditors, other regulatory agencies, and thrifts, (b)The review and analysis of the financial performance of savings associations, and holding companies under OTS authority using such tools as the thrift financial report, the OTS NPV model, audit, SEC filings, H(b)-11, and HC reports, business plans, and customized financial analysis department reports. Supervise the preparation and transmittal of financial reviews to communicate pertinent findings to appropriate levels of management; •Assisting in the development of policy and procedures for regional accounting departments. •Assisting with the preparation of responses to inquiries from executive offices and OTS; •Assisting in the development of seminar training material, informational releases, etc. on a variety of topics to keep OTS staff current on new pronouncements, trends, policies and issues; •Performing other projects as needed-The Chief Accountant and his staff receive unanticipated requests throughout the year that require immediate attention and often involve a large number of hours of research, and •Completing other assignments, special projects, programs and studies as specified in individual technical direction letters (TDLs). •W/P reviews-Meet with audit personnel. Review selected audit working papers. Produce report with conclusions; and •Holding Company Accounting Issues-As issues arise with regard to holding companies and conglomerates, attend meetings, research issues offsite, and provide guidance. General Security Requirements: The contractor shall comply with all Federal Acquisition Regulations regarding Information Technology (IT) Security, the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, appendix III, National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines, and other federal guidelines as determined necessary by the Treasury Department. Pursuant to the FISMA requirements, all contractor IT personnel are to complete a security awareness and privacy awareness training classes annually. The contractor must provide a list of their personnel who have completed the awareness training on an ongoing basis. The training awareness program must be approved by the government. The government reserves the right to require the contractor to provide either specific or specialized training to those personnel deemed critical to the overall mission of the contract or whose contractual obligations within the contract require them to have access to sensitive information, systems or applications. The Contractor shall follow all applicable NIST and Treasury guidelines/directives during the contract lifecycle. The contractor shall include the appropriate information technology securitypolicies and requirements, including use of common security configurations available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology'sWeb site at: http://checklist.nist.gov. Information Systems Security/Information Security Where Treasury's Information System (IS) access will be provided to the Contractor as part of the Government-Furnished Property, the Contractor shall abide by the Treasury IS security policy and procedures, particularly in the area of obtaining access and systems usage. Contractor employees that fail to adhere to the Treasury IS security policy will be removed from the contract and all access privileges to agency information systems and networks terminated. The contractor shall provide the designated Treasury Security Office with documented violations of local IS security policy, such as, password sharing, performing personal work, file access violations or browsing files outside the scope of the contract. After two letters of noncompliance, the Contractor shall remove the documented Contractor employee(s) from performance on the contract. Egregious violations will result in immediate removal. The Contractor's Project Manager shall notify the COTR when Contractor employees no longer require access due to personnel resignation, reassignments, termination, or completion of portions of the contract. All systems used for this contract will be secured in accordance with Treasury Information Systems Security directives, policies, Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), and guidance. If required, Treasury security officials will be allowed unrestricted access to Contractor facilities to conduct security site surveys and to perform duties associated with IS security and information security oversight. The Contractor must return all information provided by the Government or developed for the Government by the Contractor. Sensitive information (working papers, copies, etc.) must be disposed of by shredding with a Government-approved shredder. Any attempt by unauthorized persons (known or unknown) to obtain the Government's information, or results of the work performed under this contract, must be reported by the contractor to the designated Treasury Security Office and Government COTR immediately upon discovery. CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS : The following describes the general knowledge and expertise required to meet the minimum mandatory requirements specified above. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive list. •The Contractor must have expertise and possess knowledge of assigned functions including, but not limited to: 1. Expertise working with interagency chief accountants and staff on interagency policy statements, notices, bulletins, and guidance, including publication in the Federal Register; 2. Expertise and professional knowledge of accounting principles, standards and practices in the financial services industry necessary to provide technical assistance and advice to the operations and enforcement staff and other regulatory agencies; 3. Certified Public Accountant; 4. Extensive knowledge of banking, economics, finance, capital markets and general management and risk techniques in order to provide the necessary technical and analytical guidance to OTS staff and savings associations; 5. Strong financial and statistical analysis skills to resolve financial issues that require the innovative application of expert knowledge; 6. Extremely high level of analytical ability required to evaluate capital regulation and other risk management orders to determine its impact and methods for regulating the industry to manage risk; 7. Ability to stay abreast of new issues and developments by rigorous self-study and completion of continuing education training. Must be able to provide accurate and supported judgments on highly subjective matters; 8. Extensive experience and knowledge of OTS policies, procedures, organization structure and thrift industry laws and regulations in order to manage assigned tasks; 8.Superior interpersonal and communication skills to interact well with both operations and support staff. Strong communication skills to effectively communicate accounting determinations and other conclusions and guidance to staff. Effective interactive skills are required to discuss detailed and complex theories, issues and findings to savings association management and directorate, independent public accountants, management consultants, other regulatory agencies, and all levels of the OTS organizational structure; 8. Analytical skills are necessary to review financial, accounting, procedural and policy information in order to provide support and guidance to operations staff and related organizations. Superior analytical skills are necessary in order to review technical reports for content, accuracy, representational faithfulnesses and conclusions to provide advice, professional opinions, and guidance to staff on highly complex issues. Also analyzes impact on industry of new policies and emerging trends; 9.Ability to respond quickly to other project assignments as needed - The Chief Accountant receives unanticipated requests throughout the year that require immediate attention and often involve a large number of hours of research; and 10.Expertise in conducting second reviews of securities filings and applications. An Indefinite Delivery - Indefinite Quantity purchase order with a not to exceed ceiling of 500 hrs for labor for the base period and not to exceed ceiling of 750 hours for the option year. Contractor invoices for work performed for tasks specified in Technical Direction Letters must contain the number of hours along with the negotiated fixed hourly rate and travel amount to be reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations. The period of performance is date of award through September 30, 2009 with 1 one year option period. Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement by submitting technical information. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes. However, all information received with pricing and sufficient technical documentation to establish a bonafide capacity to meet the requirement must be received by 2:00PM EST, January 30, 2009 to be considered by the Government. Any response to this notice must show clear, compelling, and convincing evidence that competition will be advantageous to the government. 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 normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation document is available. Such information, if submitted, shall be emailed to isabel.romancogswell@ots.treas.gov. Question must be submitted via email by 4 :00 P.M. EST, January 26, 2009. TELEPHONIC QUESTIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. If this procurement is competed, no additional synopsis will be published and a request for proposal will only be forwarded to the intended vendor and firms that respond to this synopsis of intent See Numbered Note 1.
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=1912eeca7ab8864e380c089aa3c28bfc&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 1700 G STREET NW, WASHINGTON, District of Columbia, 20552, United States
- Zip Code: 20552
- Zip Code: 20552
- Record
- SN01733812-W 20090118/090116215043-1912eeca7ab8864e380c089aa3c28bfc (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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