USDA, Rural Development, Operations & Management, Procurement Management Division, NASA Stop 0741, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20250-0741

R -- DEBT MANAGEMENT COUNSELING POC Brinder Ransom, Procurement Analyst(202) 692-0247, Elaine Larison, Contracting Officer. USDA, Rural Development is intending to award a contract on September 30, 1999 on a sole source basis to the National Foundation for Consumer Credit to provide debt management counseling to financially distressed Section 502 direct loan borrowers in up to four states and design individualized programs for these borrowers to improve their credit and bring their debt current. The borrowers will be referred to the contractor by the Centralized Servicing Center (CSC). The contractor, in coordination with CSC and National Office staff, will set up a system to help determine whether the counseling intervention increases a delinquent borrower's likelihood of moving out of unmanageable debt and becoming a successful homeowner. The contractor and CSC will then track the progress of the borrowers who receives counseling. This will be a one-year pilot project. There is currently no internal management approval for this project as of this writing. The project may, therefore, be cancelled entirely on, or before, September 30, 1999. Brinder Ransom's facsimile number is (202)692-0235. See numbered note 22. Posted 09/15/99 (W-SN380719). (0258)

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