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>> Good morning. I want to welcome you all to
U.S. department of housing and urban development's office of
small and disadvantaged business utilization small business
outreach event. My name is Michelle muhays and I
am a business utilization specialist.
This event is a wonderful opportunity for small businesses
to gain a wealth of insight into PD&R's procurement opportunities
and meet their personnel. It also allows the agency to
learn more about the diverse small businesses, resources
available to meet our procurement needs.
The group continues to be available to you.
We are responsible for ensuring that small businesses are
treated fairly and that you have an opportunity to compete for
the agency's small amount of dollars.
For fiscal year 13, the prime contract goal remains at 37%,
and our subcontracting goal is 55%.
The process for negotiating the FY 14-FY 15 prime and
subcontracting goals with the SBA will begin soon.
Again, I want to thank you all for taking the time to attend
our event. And I hope that you find it a
valuable resource of information but also an opportunity to meet
with and network with other small businesses.
Now, it is my pleasure to 3 introduce Ms. Jin Lynn-Powell
general director for the office of policy and director research.
She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of PD&R
which houses current information on housing needs, market
conditions and existing programs as well as conduct research on
priority housing and community development issues.
Without further ado, please welcome Ms. Jean Lynn-Powell.
[applause] >> Well, thank you for your very
kind introduction and thank you for your ongoing support for our
efforts to reach out to small businesses.
I welcome all of you here today. This is a great turnout, and we
also have viewers on our webcast.
This is the first time that we are actually webcasting our
small business fair. And welcome to all of you.
I know many of you have traveled long distances and also have
joined us two years ago, so it's great to see some familiar
faces. And ongoing interest in our
work. What do we do in PD&R?
Our mission is to provide data analysis, policy analysis, we
provide demonstrations and research basically to inform the
hud leadership to help them make informed decisions when it comes
to policies and programs. The chief of staff came to our
senior management meeting and he described us as the brain center
for hud. I liked that and I told him I
was going use that line. In terms of PD&R's budget, I
just wanted to give you kind of 4 a top line.
We are appropriated funds from congress, and our main program
account is called research and technology.
And this fiscal year, they've appropriated $43 million.
But a good chunk goes to our administration of major housing
market surveys in which we administer partnership with the
census. Part of that goes to
dissemination of our research products, and you'll be hearing
more in terms of our efforts with Rochelle Lovitz's
presentation and what she does in our office.
The other portion of funding is through our transformation
initiative, and that's to fund our major program evaluations
and demonstrations, and this year we're expecting to fund
just over $11 million in those types of investments.
In terms of our workforce, we have a highly professionalized
workforce. We have many Ph.D, economists,
social scientists, geographers, architects and engineers, and so
it's a wide variety, multidisciplinary workforce.
We are predominantly here in headquarters, close to 100
employees, but we do have nearly 40 field economists that provide
us with local market economic intelligence.
We are one of the smallest units here in the department, but we
certainly support all of the program areas with our work.
Outside of the auditorium, you should pick up some of our
materials. We have brochures about the PD&R
organization as well as a 5 schedule of procurements that we
are planning to do this summer. Actually, one of the vendors
told me in terms of exact timing, and I was told that the
listing that we have, we should be advertising those
opportunities by the end of this month or shortly thereafter.
I also want to let you know that we'll be holding a
post-conference opportunity, so that you can have more of a one
on one dialogue with the office directors here.
We also have some special gists. We have our procurement
colleagues with us. Joinsin' us -- joining us are
Cathy baker. She is all the way in the back
but you will get to meet her later as well as her contract
specialist ken truesdale and they have come a long way to
support us to support you. I do encourage you to take
advantage of the resource so we have a packed agenda for you.
We have a number of presentations from our office
directors, and they're going to share with you a little bit
about their office and the capabilities that they're
seeking. So we'll have Dr. Curt, our
deputy director for economic affairs.
He is going to speak to you about the housing analyses his
shop does and the capabilities he seeks.
We'll have Dr. Mark Schroeder who is the acting deputy
secretary for the office of research, evaluation monitoring,
and he's going to speak to you about the demonstrations and
program evaluations that he 6 oversees in his office.
And I mentioned Mr. shell Leavitt.
She oversees the hud user web site as well as convenings that
we do, and I know many of you have that background as well.
And lastly, I do want to recognize patry tewy, our budget
office, and his staff, they made this conference happen.
He is a major resource, and I hope that you get to meet him
after the session as well. But we have a special guest from
our sister agency. Mr. Anthony rue ez-- Ruiz is the
assistant business director for business development from the
U.S. small business administration, and just to give
you a little background about Anthony, if you get to Google
him, you will find he has had an extraordinary career, and he's a
former business owner of various firms, primarily manufacturing,
construction, and government contracting.
And he's 30 years in the private sector.
And as an entrepreneur, he's had 15 years experience in
international and business management consulting.
And for 10 years, he was a CEO turnaround manager.
He also has a decade of experience in international
commercial banking. He's also decorated veteran.
He was awarded the purple heart and bronze star for his service
in Vietnam. And he has a number of advanced
degrees. He's got a law degree in
business and international trade from university of Arizona, an
MBA in finance, marketing 7 international business, and he's
got a B.A. in international relations from California state
Los Angeles. So let me welcome Mr. Anthony
Ruiz. It's delightful to have you
here. [applause]
You can speak more about the mentor protege program.
>> Good morning. I'm very happy to be here, and
particularly sharing with you the mentor protege and joint
venture program. And it's becoming very, very
popular and become an excellent tool for our companies to
accelerate their growth and development where some of them
when they entered into it with a mentor, they are a few hundred
thousand dollars in revenues and after completing their
relationship two, three years later they are at the 5,
$6 million mark. But it's also a challenge that
at the same time, it's improving the management of their firm.
And their infrastructure, but it is excellent vehicle for growth
and development. So I'm very happy to share that
with you. It's in this conversation with
you, I would like to know with whom I'm speaking, so show me
by, by hands how many of you are ADA firms already?
Wow, very good. How many of you want to be 8 A
firms. Excellent, excellent.
How many of you are large businesses?
Any large business here? One, excellent.
And the program has dramatically 8 changed in large businesses are
highly interested in this. And I'm going to explain why
later on. The -- let me share with you
where to read up on this. This is highly governed by the
code of federal regulation, and for the metro protege program 13
CFR 124520 and we use that also to enforce compliance with the
program. The joint venture program 13 CFR
124513. You do not need to get if you
are just at a small business level, you do not need to get
involved in the metro protoGE side.
Only applicable to you would be 124513.
I encourage you to read this, to obtain a thorough understanding,
in how these two programs are governed.
The purpose of the metro protege program, this is all about the
8(a) firm, and we hold the mentors accountable for training
and developing the protege, and and we look at that, that is the
reason you want to enter into this relationship and not just
do contracts. It's to enhance capabilities of
the protege, to assist the protege in meeting its business
goals as are established within the 8(a) annual firm plan.
Every business plan indicates very specifically what are their
strengths and their weaknesses. And there we want to see those
weaknesses specifically addressed and who, what person
entitled within the mentor company is going to train there
proteJay and then how soon, how many days after the agreement is
approved by SBA and then we 9 expect it to be ongoing
throughout the life of the agreement.
Although the agreement itself is for one year, it can go up to
five years without updating the mentor-protege agreement.
And finally to improve the protege's ability to
successfully compete in the marketplace.
Notice I didn't say contracting, one of the weaknesses of 8(a)
firms is they become too reliant on the 8(a) program so what we
want them to do is wean off the reliance and learn to compete in
the commercial marketplace as well as in non8(a) federal
contracting so there we look to the mentor to show them how and
show them to way. the way.
Both parties, mentors and proteges, can have multiple
relationships. Mentors can have up to three
proteges, so long as they are not in competing codes.
Now, mentors, and proteges, even though the primary prutuJay are
different, even if the codes are too similar, we will not approve
it. We will not approve it.
And so we need to see a clear distinction that they are
different, and in the scheme of their business and industry.
Proteges may have up to two mentors so long as those mentors
are not in competing codes. And so there we look, they can
complement one another, and they're even for the protege
that creates some synergy as well in its marketing efforts.
All mentor-protege agreement documentation must be approved
by SBA in advance following our 10 regulation and guidelines.
When we initially meet with the proposed mentor and protege
through mentoring specialist assigned to service the protege,
we provide you guidelines and we provide you template for the
application and a list of the documentation we are requesting.
There's basically two types of joint ventures, and this is very
critical as to how you can form your joint venture and even
share profits. There's populated and
unpopulated joint venture. A populated joint venture is
when the mentor and protege have formed a separate legal entity
like a limited liability company.
That's very popular. And then they place employees in
that LLC. So they have populated that LLC
with employees. And the unpopulated JV is where
they form a DVA for the joint venture, and but they are using
the employees within the protege and the mentor.
They are doing this on a contract by contract basis.
It does not mean the protege is going to do all the business the
mentor is doing. It's contract by contract.
Joint venture features. In the unpopulated joint
venture, the 8(a) must perform at least 80% of the work, and
the mentor can perform up to 60%.
Now, there are instances where the mentor is not going to do
60%. They are going to do 40% also
and the 8(a) is going to do 40%.
They can subcontract the other 11 20% but in most cases we see
mentors doing the 60, and when the, the protege can only do 40,
this is a big improvement from the past.
In the past it was 51% from the 8(a) firm and the 8(a) did
not have the capacity to perform on these large contracts.
Now, mind you, this 40% applies to direct costs.
It does not include the administrative costs of the
contract. So we're talking the 40% is
contributed to materials and labor.
For the populated, the, for the unpopulated JV, the profit is
shared commensurate with work. What that means then if the
protege is doing 40% of the work, then they will obtain 40%
of the profit and then if the mentor is doing 60% of the work,
they would obtain 60%. The -- fisthe -- if this is a
populated JV where you have the separated entity, the JV must
own and control 51% of the firm. And profit is shared
commensurate with ownership. So what that means, mentors, if
the 8(a) firm can only do 40% of the work, they are still
going to get 51% of the profit. And and it's neither to say the
most popular applications we're getting are the unpopulated
JVs. Every now and then we get the
populated JVs but far and wide the most popular are the
unpopulated JVs. The protege must be the, in the
joint venture, the managing venturer, and the project
manager, so one of the employees of the 8(a) firm will be the
project manager for that 12 contract.
And if you form an LLC, then the 8(a) firm is the managing
member of that LLC. And had -- when we evaluate the
agreement between us, we go through it with a fine tooth
comb looking for language that would give even the hint of
negative control, meaning where the 8(a) firm is put in a
position of abdicating control or the mentor or the mentors
tf -- mentor's attorney or mentor's CPA would have decision
control over the firm. And because that runs against
the regulations. The 8(a) firm within its own
company and now within this JV must have unconditional,
absolute control, particularly when it's a separate entity.
SBA protege mentor eligibility. The SBA, the protege must be an
8(a) certified firm and in good standing.
If you are a sole source, you are still in good standing
however you have to let the mentor know you are on sole
source restriction and then you cannot pursue sole source
contract even though it may be temporary.
The ADA firm -- 8(a) must be in the developmental stage of
the program, that means years one through four of the program.
Then years five through nine is the transitional stage.
Or or the 8(a) never received a contract or the small business
size standard of that 8(a) firm is half the size standard
of the primary NAICS code for that firm.
I have an 8(a) firm they have one year left of the program,
they have gotten several 8(a) 13 contracts but they are still
very, very small and so they're a fraction of the size standard
of the next code for that company's primary NAICS code.
So they're still eligible, and that 8(a) firm must have less
than six months remaining in the program.
We have so many firms that are not mentors, which an 8(a)
firm cannot be a protege and a mentor.
There are distinct benefits to the mentor-protege program.
One is corporate development of the 8(a) firm, and I gave you
an example of that, how that is happening.
The when that doesn't happen, either the protege or mentor may
inform SBA by 30 days' notice that we would like to terminate
this relationship, and we don't count that against them.
The mentor then can find another 8(a) firm and then pursue this
new relationship. The, although mentors may be a
large business, an affiliation with an 8(a) firm when there
is an approved mentor-protege agreement, affiliation is
obviated and in addition to that, now it's when they form
the joint venture under an approved SBA mentor
relationship, this large business with a small business
in a joint venture are now considered a small business
together. Where they could pursue 8(a)
contracts and small business set aside contracts as well.
The ventures and 8(a) program firms may pursue federal 8(a)
contracts as a prime contractor or as a sub, where there's
another large business with a 14 megacontract and now this JV can
come in and say, hey, we're an 8(a).
The JV is an 8(a), and we'd like to be a subcontractor, and
now the prime contractor is able to achieve their small business
goals in hiring an 8(a) firm. Opportunities for non-8(a)
firms, and there are a number of you out there, and there are
many opportunities. One is the large and non8(a)
small business can expand their market base into the 8(a)
federal contracting and small business program.
Well, what kind of market is that?
Well, 23% of an over $4 billion market.
That's the size of the market. That's why this program is
becoming very, very popular with the mentors, particularly now
where sequestration is causing a shrinkage to the market, and so
they're looking for new ground. The, and that in itself provides
opportunities for the 8(a) firm as well.
Where they become, it's popularly sought after.
The small business that is not 8(a), you can form without a
mentor protege agreement. You can form a joint venture
approved by SBA if you are going to be in the 8(a) program, and
so long as the two of you combine are less than the small
business size standard for a solicitation that you're
pursuing on a contract, you are eligible.
You are a small business, and now together the non-8(a)
small business and the 8(a) small business under a joint
venture approved by SBA, you are 15 8(a).
And so those of you that would find it impossible to be 8(a),
that's your ticket to ride to get into the 8(a) program.
And women-owned small businesses, it's you could also,
you don't need the WSB but now this, this is another market
opportunity for you as well. And I need to mention one of the
misconceptions of the 8(a) program is that you have to be a
minority to be 8(a) certified. And I've certified about a dozen
nonminorities, and it's a higher threshold under the
preponderance of the evidence and one of my former clients
here in the audience that I certified about four years ago
so learn about that under the SBA web site, preponderance of
the evidence. The other opportunities is where
other agencies are rapidly adopting the mentor-protege
program as well and where in addition to 8(a) contracting,
it's small business set aside under the mentor-protege
program. Some of them are just doing it
following 8(a) and not adopting theirs, and some of
those are adopting it for themselves where in addition to
the 8(a) program they are doing the small business set
aside under mentor-protege. Keep this is on your radar.
In the near future, because of its popularity and success, the
mentor-protege joint venture programs will be expanded to
women-owned businesses, up zones, and disabled veterans.
I thank you very much, and do we want to open it up for questions
right now? 16 Okay, very good.
Are there any questions? >> Yes, sir.
On this last one that you talked about small business of
8(a) -- JV -- why do they stay within the size standard
[inaudible] >> Yes.
The question is, is the size standard based upon the
three-year average? And that's very common that
under the NAICS standards, the size is number of employees for
some NAICS codes and revenues for other NAICS codes and that's
based on a running three-year average so you may have one
really good super year, but then that won't get you out of the
program because we look it at over three years and that also
applies even to like your net worth as well.
And your adjusted growth income as well and still being
qualified and eligible as economically disadvantaged under
the program. >> Thank you.
>> Yes. Yes?
>> His question with the SBA JV, does revenue sharing -- maintain
51% or does it -- like you said previously with the large
businesses, [inaudible] However the JV is set up with
disadvantaged partners -- >> If you have an unpopulated
joint venture, it's the revenue, the income is shared
commensurate with work. But if it's a populated joint
venture, the profit is shared commensurate with ownership.
Okay? Does that answer your question?
>> [Inaudible] 17 >> Yes.
Yes. Yes, ma'am?
>> [Inaudible] >> I'm with business management
associates and I have a question about the mentor protege program
and affiliation. So you mentioned that an 8(a)
company can become a protege of a large firm and together those
firms can pursue 8(a) opportunities.
Is there a certain number of opportunities or certain number
of wins that they can pursue together before affiliation
kicks in? Can you explain the affiliation
rule? >> No.
Affiliations are waived. They are going back after big
contracts. >> For that one-year period.
So you can go after as many as you want for that one-year
period? >> It goes beyond the one-year
program. The mentor-protege when it's
initially written up, it's for a one-year period, but under that
same original mentor-protege agreement, they can go on
indefinitely and now the way it works, glad you brought that up,
in the old days, and this is another reason why the mentors
did not like the program. A joint venture was limited to
three bids. Now under the reform program, a
joint venture is unlimited bids, three contract awards.
Now after they have achieved three contract awards and if
they still like working together, hey, this works real
good, let's do some more, they 18 can then create a new joint
venture under a different name and under the same preexisting
mentor protege agreement. And now even though the revenues
of the 8(a) firm, they are in affiliation of the mentor, the
affiliation is obviated. >> So in a mentor-protege
relationship you must also always form a JV or no?
>> It's if the mentor and the protege are going to pursue and
want to pursue contracts together, then it has to be an
SBA-approved joint venture if it's going to go into 8(a),
yes. >> Thank you.
>> You're welcome. Let me get somebody.
Yes, ma'am? Use the microphone, please.
>> Hi, Rachel hunt with a consulting.
Does the size of the JV affect the size of the small business,
the 8(a), so if you exceed the size standard for your primary
NAICS codes within the JV, will that bounce you, will that kill
the JV? >> Okay.
We will monitor the 8(a) firm during its progression with the
mentor to make sure the 8(a) firm is a small business and
still economically disadvantaged.
And some of them have outgrown and some of them have become a
relatively well off, you are going to early graduate with our
blessing, you achieve success in the program, and so we're going
to have to impose early graduation, and so then we give
them a hug, a blessing, and go on and prosper.
But so long as you remain a 19 small business and economically
disadvantaged, then you can continue within the program also
within the regulations of the program itself.
Yes, ma'am? >> I'm interested in knowing if
the revenues from the JV are counted into the revenue from
the original certification of the 8(a) firm or will the
revenues that are awarded under the JV, are they separate, so
for instance, for the graduation, description you just
described can you continue to have awards but never really
graduate because your original contract does not have those
awards. >> Good question.
We do not consider the total revenues under the JV.
Only the portion attributed to the 8(a) firm.
And when the 8(a) firm does its tax returns and the mentor
does its tax returns, they also report only the revenues that
they share. Any other questions?
>> Can the government limit a contract to the mentor-protege
program? Is there such a set aside?
>> Can they limit? >> Can they limit the
contracts -- >> You know how in 8(a) you do
a 8(a) contract and only 8(a) firms can compete.
Is there a similar set aside for mentor-protege arrangements?
There isn't I guess? >> Meaning an agency say I am
going to set aside a contract only for mentor-proteges?
We have not seen that yet. >> Okay.
>> And it's, it's so far it's 20 been set aside like for 8(a)
or small businesses or women's owned.
>> I didn't know if there was an additional.
>> But we have seen where JVs are competing with other small
businesses but now they have a clear advantage because of the
capacity and past performance of the mentor and supporting the
overall proposal. >> All right.
Okay. Thank you.
>> You had a question earlier. Very good.
Any other questions? >> You talked earlier about
people that might want to become 8(a).
I'd like to start now but there's this two-year
requirement. Is there a way around that if
someone -- [inaudible] >> There is a way.
A five-point test. It is a very rigorous test.
It is spelled out on the SBA web site.
However, you must have at least one year of revenues.
But my recommendation to you, I've been consulting 8(a)
firms since 1986, and 99.99% of the 8(a) firms I've met in
years seven and eight regretted becoming 8(a) when they became
8(a). Why?
Because they were not well versed in federal contracting,
and it took them three to four years to actually become
productive. What does that mean?
They wasted 33 to 40% of a valuable resource.
My advice to you is don't become 21 8(a) for four years.
Learn federal contracting. Learn it.
You could be a sub and you could be a 1099 it's learn it.
And because federal contracting is very structured and a
complicated process. And so you have to learn the
process. You have to learn compliance.
You have to learn the vocabulary.
You have to get acquainted with the players because people do
business with people they know, people they like, and people
they trust. You're just a brand new 8(a).
That in itself is not going to guarantee you anything.
We have many 8(a) firms, many that are not achieving
contracts. Why?
They got into the program way too early.
They qualified on paper soy they couldn't -- so they couldn't be
refused but somebody should've told them, hey, bud, learn it
first. Once you are productive you are
truly going to be successful in the 8(a) program.
The most successful ones in the program, they did learn it
first, either through prior employment and/or through their
own firm. That's my advice to you.
To all my listeners out there, hold off.
I've told many companies. I advise against them to not
apply, and it has paid off. Any other questions?
All right. Thank you very much.
[applause] 22 >> Our next speaker -- thank you
very much, Anthony. It was a very informative
presentation. Our next speaker is deputy
secretary for the office of economic affairs.
>> Curt. >> Thank you.
I didn't know I had any fans in the room.
I am deputy secretary for economic affairs as Jean said.
I want to tell you a little bit about my office and I want to
tell you about the contracting opportunities we have and the
future contracting opportunity that pay be around next fiscal
year the congress be willing. I am not going to have a
PowerPoint presentation so you don't need to strain your eyes
trying to see that. So the office of economic
affairs is made up of four divisions as well as our field
economist, Jean mentioned that we have 40 people in various
field offices around the country.
They're part of the office of economic affairs.
They become experts in local housing markets, and the local
economies that they investigate, and they help the department by
evaluating the markets for where developers are applying for FHA
multifamily loans to build new housing projects to make sure
that there is sufficient market there that the project is likely
to be successful. We also have the economic market
analysis division. That group in headquarters, the
field is part of the group but the headquarters side of that
shop works on supporting the hud 23 housing programs, the housing
choice program and other subsidy programs.
Their major functions are estimating the fair market rents
used in the voucher program by the housing authorities to set
the payment standards on vouchers, and they also set the
income limits for eligibility as well as at last count 28 other
programs throughout the federal government use our, the
median -- area median income estimates and income limits for
setting program eligibility. They also have, that's the site
of one of the future opportunities I'll be discussing
in a little bit. We have the housing finance
division. That's experts of housing
finance, mortgage origination and the way the numerous firms
interact when a mortgage is originated to secondary markets,
and they also provide a lot of support to the federal housing
administration, FHA, in terms of fair formulation of policy, and
also the development of the model that goes into the FHA
total scorecard, which is used for doing preliminary or
automated underwriting for FHA single-family loans.
And we have the housing and demographic analysis division.
That's where most of the money that Jean was talking about for
surveys goes. That group works very closely
with the census bureau. Their major product is the
American housing survey, and that's the survey we do every
two years which is federal government's principal data
source on the nature and 24 condition of the nation's
housing. Housing stock.
So what the AAS does is follows longitudinally, it goes back
every two years to the same housing unit, maybe a different
family living there, maybe the same family, but then take --
woo we do the survey every two years and collect the
information and see what's -- happened to the housing units
out there. They also conduct different
surveys with the census bureau, the survey of construction,
survey of market absorption of multifamily units, new
multifamily units and the manufactured housing survey.
We have the economic development and public finance division.
That group kind of catches a lot of the other assignments that
come to the office of economic affairs.
They spend most of their time these days working on economic
analysis of hud's regulations. And the -- whenever hud has --
wants to issue a new regulation governing one of its programs or
maybe regulating some aspect of the market like manufactured
housing construction standards, the regulation has to be
evaluated for any economic effect, and OMB is very
particular that we do this for every single rule, whether it
has a major impact or not. So that keeps that group very
busy. They also work on issues around
taxation, public finance is what economists use to refer to
taxation, and that means that they spend a lot of time working
on the low-income housing tax 25 credit and trying to collect
data on the projects that are produced with low-income housing
tax credits, as well as the tenants.
We've been -- we're given a mandate a few years ago to try
to collect data on tenants. Since we don't administer the
program, we had no data on the tenants, and it's been a
struggle for us to try to cobble together a system to collect all
that data from the state housing agencies that actually
administer this federal tax credit, which is the biggest
housing program but not part of hud.
Are there any hud-owned businesses here.
That office always designates the qualified census tracts that
are the hub zone areas throughout the country and
especially in the metropolitan areas.
So we work closely with the small business administration in
helping with the administration of the hub zone program.
So the contracting opportunities that we have available actually
the one in 2013 is related to the American housing survey.
In order to help us produce the American housing survey, we hire
a contractor that helps us with quality control, so we examine
the data -- quality control. So we examine the data before it
gets released to the public, make sure it makes sense, that
the weights were done when we look at the data we get what
looks like consistent and accurate counts of various parts
of the housing stock. So what this contract will help
do, it's a multiyear contract 26 open for small business
competition that will assist with the quality control of the
2013-2014 survey data. Create the document -- 2013 and
2015 survey data. Create the documentation and
assist the survey users both inside and outside of hud.
They prepare various reports, one of the important ones is
change and rental dynamic reports which looks at what
happened to the housing stock between two surveys so you look
at what the housing stock as it was in 2011, and compare that to
2013 kind of going in both directions seeing where things
came from and where things went and then the rental dynamics
report focuses specifically on the rental housing part of the
stock, and characterizes it by affordability of rents relative
to income. Also, that contract will be
preparing the characteristics of hud assisted representers and
their units. The American housing survey
includes an oversample of identified hud subsidized
housing that then we, we aggregate that data and we, want
to produce reports that tell us about the tenants and the
condition of the housing that they're in.
And because it's hud subsidized and we want to be sure that hud
subsidies are going to produce high quality housing for
tenants. They will also be developing and
maintaining a bibliography of documents that use AHS data so
surveying the academic literature to see who's using
AHS to write reports and do 27 research with the AHS and
compile that so we have a list to show people how useful the
survey is. Also, every year they prepare
two or three technical reports on special areas of interest to
hud using the AHS data. So the kind of skills we're
seeking there, we want people that preferably people that have
experience using the American housing survey so deep
familiarity with that survey is use the data for past research.
That have econometrics and statistical skills so they
understand the information used in creating a survey and making
it nationally representative, and a good writers.
Because we're producing reports and we want to have high-quality
products produced. Now, looking a little bit
further ahead to 2014, congress willing and we get a budget for
it, we'll be doing a, an evaluation, this is out of
economic market analysis division.
We will be doing an evaluation of a demonstration that we have
started on small area fair market rents.
So back up a little bit, in general fair market rents are
estimated at the metropolitan level or the nonmetropolitan
county level so you have the same fair market rent for
everybody operating a voucher program in the Washington, D.C.,
metro area, all the way from Berkeley county, West Virginia,
to P.G. county, Maryland. So it's a wide area.
Everybody starts with the same rent before they set their
payment standards for the 28 voucher program.
Well, what we started a couple of years ago was to allow a
certain set of housing authorities to operate with,
with fair market rents that we estimate at the ZIP code level.
So it takes into account the wide variation that you would
see, expect to see in rents within a metropolitan area.
And we have a limited number of housing authorities that have
been operating under that for a little while, and by about 2015
after the 2014 contract is awarded, we think we'll be in a
position to study what has been happening in those voucher
programs. And so that's, that will be a
study we will be looking to compete among small businesses
in 2014. Skill set we are looking for
there, again, strong econometrics accountabilities,
knowledge of the hud housing programs and good writers.
writers. So next up is mark Schroeder
from the office of evaluation and monitoring.
He has a thick packets of contracts to talk about.
>> Thank you, curt. Hi.
I'm the office of research evaluation monitoring consists
of three divisions, and we are going to have a wide variety of
very specialized skills that we are going to be looking at in FY
13, FY 14, and FY 15. And I hope there are people in
the room or on the web who can help us to fill them.
First of all, the program evaluation division uses applied
social science methods to report 29 on the uses and outcomes of
hud's programs. The division is conducting
innovative and objective assessments, for example, of
housing discrimination of various kinds.
It's creating objective framework for allocating
administrative fees in the voucher program.
It is rigorously testing four alternative approaches to
solving homelessness among families with children.
That's the program evaluation division.
The affordable housing research and technology division brings
engineering and planning skills to the physical structures that
hud gets involved with. This division reports, for
example, on what happens to LIHTC properties after their
15-year commitment to low-income housing expires.
It explains the construction deficiencies that caused public
housing projects in New York City to become uninhabitable
after sandy even when none of the units were flooded.
It disseminates residential design in Indian country.
So that's affordable housing research and technology.
The program monitoring and research division monitors the
families that hud serves and where they live.
This division handles geographic information systems, data
quality management, many types of internal reporting.
For example, it reports on assisted tenant characteristics
for all developments and geographies, and it manages the
postal service vacancy data. 30 Which gives commercial and
residential vacancy rates for any small area, likely to be of
interest to hud. For FY 13, I'm going to be
referring to this handout a fair amount.
The first four -- I'm going to first be describing the first
four projects, which are all restricted to small business.
For those projects, we are interested in receiving
capability information about firms in this following
category. An excellent record of past
performance providing engineering, architectural, or
community planning services in the areas of predisaster
planning, disaster resistant construction, energy efficient
construction materials and methods, evaluating the
durability affordability trait -- tradeoff of
construction materials and methods.
Approving the mutual accessibility of affordable
housing and transportation. Strong report writing capability
is expected in this category. So there are four projects for
FY 13. The first is disaster
resilience. I am not going to read the whole
thing. The contractor will review the
available state-of-the-art models that are used to predict
the ebs tent of flood -- extent of the flooding as a result of
coastal storms and rivereen flooding and develop strategies
to allow those models to be integrated into local planning
processes. 31 Disaster resilience.
Web based utility allowance model.
In this project, the purpose is to develop a web based utility
analysis model that will enable the department to estimate
reasonable levels of usage in two housing programs, housing
voucher and low-income housing tax credit in which utility
expenditures are paid by the tenants.
The utility allowance modeling. The third project, durability by
design. A handbook with that title was
published in 2002. But since then, there have been
many new concepts identified. They can serve to make homes
more durable. Floods, tornadoes and hurricanes
have also demonstrated that consideration of durth issues in
design and -- durability issues can improve performance in those
situations. This project will update our
durability by design guidebook to reflect current knowledge.
Finally, for FY 13, the integration guide for innovative
building technology. Many organizations that operate
and upgrade assisted housing are not sufficiently knowledgeable
of key decision making factors and issued related to innovative
building technologies. The intent of this research
effort will be to develop an integration guide for choosing
appropriate building technology projects and systems in both new
construction and renovation of single and multifamily housing,
the guide will include simplified best practices and
tools for several aspects, 32 economic decision making,
performance expectations, application feasibility.
Now,ium on the last page of your handout, it gives some contact
information for this, for these projects in general, and in
general, that contact is Elizabeth ***.
However, she will be represented today if you would like to talk
to somebody about these projects, by regina gray who I
think I saw behind the pillar. Is that?
Regina, could you come out so everybody can take a look at
you? Yeah, all right, so if you think
you have some capability in one of those areas, please talk to
regina in the breakout session. Second area.
This will be for FY 14 and FY 15.
We are putting in place an enterprise GIS platform.
We will be looking for firms to help us develop, itch --
implement and support platforms in FY 2014 and FY 2015.
Here we are looking for an excellent record of past
performance providing geographic information systems or geo code
services in the following areas: program and project
management, study state operations and maintenance, geo
database design and implementation, programming and
application development, whether for mobile, internet, or
desktop, requirements analysis, systems integration, service
oriented architecture design and implementation, model analysis
and reporting, training and technical support.
Your contact for GIS is rob 33 Brenner.
Come out from behind the pillars so people --
[Laughter] Okay.
But and that will be not only today but throughout.
And his, his e-mail address is listed on the last page of your
handout. A word of advice for generalized
I.T. firms that don't have specialized GIS experience: you
may find that conversation frustrating.
The program evaluation division has several specialized needs
that we may issue procurements for in FY 2014.
As curt says, congress willing. An excellent record of past
performance and survey research. Especially among difficult
groups. Two of the difficult groups are
small landlords, low-nm -- low-income households, that's
a -- one capacity we're looking for.
A second capacity: capacity to match records for hud assisted
tenants with Medicare or Medicaid records in order to
determine whether our programs are assisting tenants in
reducing their health problems. Your capacity would be
demonstrated by past successful engagements involving Medicare
or Medicaid mike -- micro data. Number three, there are probably
many firms who could do this, but my hunch is that most of you
wouldn't want to. Willingness and capacity to
redesign a medium size database and probably reenter all the
data from scratch. [Laughter]
There is a tragic story behind 34 this.
So the division also has an FY 13 procurement, which is listed
in your handout that I am not putting a lot of stress on.
It is not restricted to small business, it is a very large
contract that is a follow on, and that is the one titled,
"homeless family study follow on description" that's on page 3.
So anyway, your contact for survey research, federal health
micro data, data set reconstruction is carol starr,
carol? And both today and if you have
follow-up e-mail contacts that you want to make.
Finally, we have a miscellaneous social science category.
We think we know pretty well the landscape of firms that can
offer applications of social science to federal agencies
pretty well. But we are willing to be
surprised by what we don't know. So if you have social scientists
on staff and they have demonstrated capabilities to
assist federal agencies or other similar customers, and if you
think we don't know about it, please come talk to me.
Once again, I'm mark Schroeder. Thank you.
Rochelle Leavitt. >> Good morning, I'm Rochelle
Leavitt director of the research utilization division within the
office of policy development which is within the office of
policy development and research. And today when I'm going to
describe are quite a few contracts that we have that are
existing or up for proposals in the next couple of years.
I will also describe something 35 that is in a different part of
the office of policy and development in the other
division. So let me run through each of
them. The first, and the largest is
our web site operations, and the clearing-house content within
the web site and the broader content.
Those are ongoing contracts that we have but I thought I'd raise
them because all contracts eventually end, and so if you
keep track of the functions that we have within the research
utilization division, you will see that this could become
available. So look at hud user.org.
Huduser.org is where we have great deal of our information,
where you'll see what we do throughout PD&R, and we are --
have maybe cut three more years within the existing contract,
but it has two components. The first part is the web site
operations which is the IT side, and then the content, which
includes the content on the web site as well as several other
functions that we have that exist in terms of help
deafenings and so -- help desks and so forth within the
clearing-house. But both of those are ongoing
right now, so I won't dwell on those.
The first one that is coming up this spring is editorial
services. We will be looking for a company
that can provide on the go editing of our reports, our
publications, our brochures, and so forth.
This would be a company that has 36 the capacity to do copy editing
and small graphics. And so you should be looking for
that if you have that skill set. It will be a small business
contract. The next is a student design
competition development. This is new for us.
We are looking for someone that will help us in designing a
student competition that will occur next year in the spring.
And so we need an organization that has experience in designing
competitions. That's a specific skill.
If an organization does not have that, they would find it
difficult to help us organize that.
It would be a student competition for teams that would
be organized around a problem that we would have with that hud
would define. If you have had experience in
developing competitions, we would be very interested in you
pursuing that. Otherwise, it would be difficult
for a company to demonstrate that they have that skill set.
The next is graphic arts. That will also be coming up
spring 2014. If you are a graphic arts
company, we would be very interested in talking to you.
We have a lot of graphics that we do for large reports, small
reports, we have a kind of demand that is ongoing over the
year. There's a lot of quick
turnarounds as well as some ongoing work.
The graphics has been going on for a long time, so we have an
experience with it, but we are 37 looking for another small
company starting next year. Also next year, our meeting
planning contract expires, and we will be looking for an
organization that has the meeting planning venings --
convenings experience that can operate in usually quite small
meetings. We don't do large scale
conferences, so with 100 people or less organizations that have
done that in the past should be interested in looking out for
this one. We are very interested in 8(a)
firms for this, so if you are an 8(a) firm and you have a
meeting planning experience, you should be on the lookout for
this kind of skill. Lastly, not in my division, but
in the office of policy development, there was a
multidisciplinary research team, but that is under procurement at
the moment. I just want to mention it to you
all so that you see that we have quite a broad breadth of things
within the research utilization division.
We are the support side of PD&R and so you can see we have quite
a group of contracts that you can expect to see from us.
Do you have any questions? >> [Inaudible]
>> You have to come to a mic. >> You didn't speak about the
expert convening. Is that something that --
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Expert convening is closed
pending review, but it is a contract that will help us form
convening, small convenings within hud to solve specific
problems that we would identify 38 within PD&R.
And would have the capacity to travel and so forth and then
write reports up on what those convenings will be about.
That is pending review at the moment so it isn't available
right now. And our staff will be available,
I think I see that they're sitting behind the pole for me.
If you might all stand up. Eileen faulkner is here.
She will be sitting at the desk. Linda dephilippeo, and is
Michelle here? Okay, and one other person is
Michelle. The three of them will be at the
desk outside if you have specific questions about what to
expect in each of these areas. Any other questions?
No? Okay.
Thanks. >> Good morning.
What we are going to do now is, end the session, and but any
other questions for the panel members?
And in the, on the webcast, anything coming in on e-mail?
Okay. So what we're going to do is I'm
going to direct you outside and we set tables up, and the way
we've arranged it by each office.
Oh, I'm sorry. There are questions?
Go ahead. >> Thank you.
You mentioned an 8(a) for one of your projects.
Do any of the other offices have contracts that are 8(a) or
woman' owned small business or hud specific set aside.
It says small business but it 39 didn't designate beyond that?
>> Go ahead. >> I think generally, we try to
keep it as open as we can. We do have set aside for small
business contracts, but we like to have a wider competition in
general. Some contracts are specifically
8(a). >> So ones that I described are
primarily small business, and a number of them are 8(a)s.
So we in fact all of the contracts within my division are
small business. So that, and we target all of
them for that purpose. >> And we've also had success
getting small business firms not just 8(a) firms through the
GSA schedules. I strongly recommend that you
pursue those schedules. We use MOVIS quite a bit, and
aims, so we've had success in reaching small businesses on the
GSA schedules in the past. Yes, sir?
>> Question. On the presentations --
[inaudible] Will it be posted on your web
site? If so, where can we find it?
>> It is being archived. It is being posted for hud.
I will -- I will make sure it's on hud user.org.
>> We can do that. >> We can do that.
>> Where do we go? Huduser.org.
That's our research portal. There's also hud.Gov and you can
find PD&R through hud.Gov but we have our own information portal
that's hud.org. >> Before we leave I want to
give the arrangement to talk to 40 people.
We have arranged tables outside with each of the offices, and
for instance, if you refer to your business contracting
opportunities handout, you will see office of research
evaluation and monitoring. So if you're interested in this
particular procurement, you would go to that table.
And the people will be there to talk with you.
And I think they spelled out -- they might be using acronyms.
But I think they spelled out the whole name.
And also I encourage you to get some of our publications that
are outside. We have limited copies because
of sequestration. [Laughter]
But you can download them on huduser.org but we -- I think we
might have enough for the folks here.
Anyway, there's one, this little pamphlet gives a good overview
of PD&R. Our assistant secretary left for
other -- to pursue other interests of course but we will
have a new one soon. But the information's still
valid. We have one on data sets, and
then we have the biannual report that gives you a really good
synopsis of what we do and the type of contracts we seek, and I
think this is a great publication.
You can get it online if we've run out, and I apologize if we
run out, but that's how it is these days.
>> I mention that the biannual report is an example of the kind
of graphic arts that we do 41 produce so that you can look at
the style we use and it's a good way to learn about what we do.
>> And we'll be outside as well so if you don't know who to go
to, just come to myself or any of the panel members and
Mr. Ruiz is going to stay and then we are also having a table
for our contract procured in Ft. worth, Texas.
Cathy baker will be here if you have contracts for procedures.
So we're adjourning but not for good so we will see you outside.
Thank you. [applause]