Compliance Services in support of the Public-Private Investment Partnership (PPIP)

This is a sources sought notice. This announcement is for market research and preliminary planning purposes. No proposals are being requested or accepted in response to this notice. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS AND NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED AS A RESULT OF THIS NOTICE. The U.S. Department of Treasury has an ongoing requirement for compliance services in support of the Public-Private Investment Partnership (PPIP) and associated activities. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this notice or any follow up information requests. Treasury expects to issue a Request for Quotation utilizing schedule 520.8 (Complementary Audit Services) in August 2009 for the award of a single Blanket Purchase Agreement pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 8.4, Federal Supply Schedules. The agreement is intended to provide Treasury with specialized expertise in investment portfolio management to support current and future programs for a term of up to five (5) years. The Treasury requires technical assistance in assessing compliance with PPIP fund managers' obligations in the PPIP program. These include: examining allocation decisions fund managers make in trading non-agency residential mortgage backed securities and commercial backed securities in both their individual Public-Private Investment Funds (PPIFs) and their non-PPIFs; screening PPIP trades for potentially fraudulent transactions performed by the PPIFs; screening trading activity for system "gaming" in violation of ethical standards and conflicts rules, including: checking for asset "flipping" (i.e., reselling within short time of purchase); checking for proprietary front-running of trades for proprietary accounts; checking for asset crossing between PPIFs; and checking for asset "roundtripping" (i.e., passing assets from a PPIF to an affiliate or other PPIF and then taking them back into the PPIF through collusion in a short manner). Treasury may also require ad hoc technical advice on matters requiring attention and/or material weaknesses coming out of regular external audits performed on the PPIF, including on the Investment Advisors Act of 1940; Federal securities client screening laws (e.g. Know Your Customer, Office of Foreign Asset Control, Anti-Money Laundering); compliance with valuation methodology obligations; compliance with PPIP investment strategy objectives and also on internal controls documentation. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541219. The small business size standard for this acquisition, based upon the NAICS code, is $8.5M. The purpose of this notice is to gain knowledge of the interest, capabilities, and qualifications of prospective offerors for this requirement. Treasury is particularly interested in understanding the industry standard method for pricing of services obtained under similar contracts in the private sector, and the capabilities and qualifications of interested small business concerns, including woman and minority owned small businesses, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB). Interested firms are requested to provide a written response to this notice which shall be limited to no more than 3 pages. The response should include: 1) Firm's name, address, point of contact, phone number, and e-mail address; 2) Firm's small business size status, including whether the vendor is a woman owned, minority owned, or SDVOSB firm; 3) A description of the firm's capabilities to satisfy the Treasury's requirement; 4) A description of the pricing structure for similar services furnished in the private sector Interested prospective offerors shall respond to this sources sought notice no later than 12:00 Noon ET on 31 July 2009. Responses shall be sent via e-mail to Nicholas.Olson@do.treas.gov. Telephone inquiries shall be considered non-responsive. All information in response to this notice must be sent via e-mail.