U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Procurement and Grants Management, 409 3rd Street, SUITE 5000,5th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20416

R -- SOLE SOURCE SERVICES FROM THE NATIONAL COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT COALITION SOL 070230117 DUE 081500 POC Billy C. Jenkins 202-205-6622 The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) intends to procure on a sole source basis from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) under the authority of FAR 6.302-1. No solicitation will be issued. It is anticipated that award of the requirement shall be on or about August 15, 2000. Services include developing and implementing a marketing and outreach program to support the Agency's expansion of the Community-Express program to the target markets (the New Markets) and SBA's commitment to these markets. The marketing program must encompass both direct and indirect channels of communication, but with major attention to promoting Community-Express through local community and economic development groups and organizations associated with serving Low and Moderate Income comminutes. The program must also address local and national lender. T/A providers, and prospective borrowers, including existing and start-up businesses. Technical Assistance is viewed as a key element in the Community-Expressprogram and critical to the success of its New Markets borrowers. The contractor will thus assume major responsibility for coordinating and administering the technical assistance component of the program as it expands to additional lenders and additional markets. This responsibility will include developing systems and procedures to be used to identify capable T/A providers as well as actually identifying and screening potential T/A providers. The contractor will also oversee and coordinate the development of T/A provider agreements that will define the obligations and responsibilities of the lenders and T/A providers with, as the ultimate objective, enhancing the Community-Express borrowers' prospects for success. The contractor will provide participating lenders and T/A providers guidance, instruction and support materials to ensure their understanding of the objectives of the Community-Express program, its key features and requirements, and its special operating and reporting policies and procedures. The contractor will also provide guidance to lenders and T/A providers on the special needs of New Markets small businesses as well as liaison with key local groups and organizations with unique access to these communities. The contractor will develop systems and procedures to ensure that each applicant under the program is screened at the outset and that any significant management and/or technical weaknesses are identified and documented. The contractor will monitor and analyze the quantity, quality, and impact of the technical assistance provided under the Community-Express program. This evaluation will require the continuing and systematic collection, maintenance, analysis, and reporting of appropriate evaluative information through out the course of this pilot and at its conclusion. Because the contract requires in-depth knowledge of the Community-Express program, award through competition would require substantial duplication of cost that the Government would not recover through competition and would create unacceptable delays in fulfilling the SBA's mission requirements. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government. In doing so, interested sources must submit detailed technical capabilities, pricing, and any other information which demonstrate their ability to meet the SBA's needs. Detailed capabilities must be submitted to the above address (Attn: Billy C. Jenkins) All information shall be furnished at no cost or obligation to the Government. This synopsis is not to be considered a request for quotations or proposals. No solicitation document is available and telephone requests will not be honored. No contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice, but will be used to determine if a comparable source is available and more advantageous to the Government. If no affirmative written response is received, the contract will be awarded without further notice. Posted 07/25/00 (W-SN478534). (0207)

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