D-SECTION 538 GUARANTEED LOAN PROGRAM This announcement constitutes a Request for Information (RFI) synopsis and NOT A SOLICIATION. It does not constitute an invitation for sealed bidding (IFB), or a request for proposals (RFP). The information received from this RFP may be used in a later solicitation/contract action. The Government requests responses to this RFI within 30 days from publication of this announcement. The information received will not obligate the Government in any manner, neither will be Government reimburse contractors for any costs associated with submittal of the requested information. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Rural Housing Service (RHS) an Agency of the Department, is interested in obtaining information from mortgage servicing companies, lenders, accounting firms, or similar organizations for the development of portions of an accounting and monitoring system which would support the Section 538 Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing Loan (GRRHP) Program. The information gathered as a result of this RFI may be used to develop a RFP to solicit services from such organizations. RHS is a credit Agency for rural housing and community development within USDA. The Agency's mission is to increase the availability of affordable housing and community facilities for rural residents. The section 538 GRRHP provides guarantees for loans made by private and public lenders to developers of affordable multi-family housing complexes in rural areas. The information being sought will be used to develop a program to provide regular, on-going information regarding performance of the loans made by the various lenders around the country who will be originating and servicing the multi-famiy mortgages guaranteed by the Department. RHS is requesting information on three areas of loan accounting, servicing, and monitoring. The information submitted in response to this RFI may address one or any combination of the following three areas information is being requested for: (1) Subservicer, (2) Lender monitoring and (3) Master or Default Servicer. 1. SUBSERVICER-Functions envisioned to be carried out by a subservicer would include integrated loan monitoring to support an asset management system which would manage, report, record, track, and reconcile the various servicing aspects of the multi-family portfolio of guaranteed loans made under the program. Items to be tracked may include loan and property financial performance such as unit vacanies, rent levels, reserve levels, debt service ratios, income and expense, fair housing demographics, etc. It is expected that such a subservicer function would collect and consolidate data from third party servicers who would have primary servicing responsibility for the loans made by guaranteed lenders. It is anticipated that the system to be developed would need maximum compatibility with secondary mortgage market and institutional investors reporting needs along with conformance with the USDA financial enviroment. 2. LENDER MONITORING-The functions envisioned in this role would be the monitoring and evaluation of the guaranteed lenders and their primary servicers. The role would entail conducting reviews of financial audits,and potentially on site reviews, of lenders and servicers. The reviews would be conducted to evaluate lenders and servicers operations and financial capacity and stability. RHS is interested in acquiring information as to how best to carry out this function and what should be included in these reviews. 3. MASTER OR DEFAULT SERVICER-As a master servicer, an organization would be responsible for taking over primary servicing from primary servicers who default or cease operations. RHS anticipates that it may be prudent to have such an organization preapproved for use in such an event. Information is sought on what functions should be included in a contract to provide these services. Parties responding to this RFI may choose to respond to any or all of the three types of information requests specified above, i.e., Subservicer, Loan Monitoring, or Master or Default Servicer. In addition, in response to this RFI, parties are encouraged to specify any other aspect of servicing and monitoring which may ve veneficial to RHS in managing the section 538 GRRHP portfolio and contribute towards meeting the objectives of efficiently and effectively operating the program. Posted 06/24/98

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