FEHO Modernization - Property Appraisal Valuation and Equity

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) is seeking contractor services to provide business development services, business process improvement services, change management and organizational development services, and program management and support services. FHEO seeks to leverage leading industry best practices to streamline business processes, improve performance, and reduce operational risk. The Contractor shall work closely with FHEO offices to document and map processes, develop and implement effective measurement metrics, and provide practical recommendations on the development of new business processes and business process improvements. The Contractor shall assist the FHEO offices with the development of policy and procedural documentation, requirements analysis, organizational studies, strategic planning documents, and functional and mission statements.

General Description of Work:

The over-arching goal is to FHEO in the modernization of oversight efforts to ameliorate complex, structurally embedded, and systemic forms of appraisal and lending discrimination as prohibitions in the fair housing act.

In support of FHEO efforts, the Contractor shall:

• Utilize their fair housing and fair lending and appraisal expertise to assist FHEO in the development of a comprehensive framework to combat valuation discrimination and other forms of bias in the mortgage lending process.
• Assist FHEO in the development of an investigatory process to resolve fair lending (e.g., redlining, pricing discrimination) and valuation complaints to include systems that support access to data and data analysis.
• Assist FHEO in the development of a specialized cadre of experts (i.e., Center of Excellence) to address Secretary-Initiated Investigations and Complaints.
• Assist FHEO in the identification of consumer needs by leveraging resources to increase consumer education through the use of media campaigns and partnerships with advocacy organizations.
• Assist FHEO in the development of an outreach and support program that facilitates the exchange of information, resources, and support services for partnerships with industry, advocates, academics, and other stakeholders.
• Support FHEO in the implementation of engagement activities with civil rights organizations, advocacy, industry, and philanthropic entities to increase awareness of FHEO's fair lending and property valuation complaint oversight efforts.
• Support FHEO in the establishment of cross-agency collaboration protocols to ensure that FHEO efforts are consistent with government wide policies and procedures.
• Support FHEO in the development of information sharing protocols that support trend analysis in the lending and real estate appraisal markets. Examples include loan originations, refinance, and denials associated with the misvaluation or devaluation of property).
• Support FHEO in the creation of standard operating procedures and best practices for monitoring Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) (e.g., algorithmic bias).
• Assist FHEO in the development of best practices in the identification of discriminatory practices.
  • This may include, among other things, disparities in mortgage denial rates; marketing certain loan products to targeted neighborhoods; refusing to offer loans in targeted neighborhoods; steering borrowers with good credit into higher cost loans; charging excessive broker fees, loan fees, or points; presenting borrowers with written loan terms that differ from those explained orally; charging higher interest rates; and failing to offer borrowers appropriate loan product choices.
• Possess experience working with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data and methodologies for fair lending compliance monitoring, such as HUDs internal procedures and the methodology used by the Federal Reserve Board (See Robert B. Avery, Glenn B. Canner, and Robert E. Cook (2005) "New Information Reported under HMDA and Its Application in Fair Lending Enforcement, Federal Reserve Bulletin, Summer).

The tasks require the following approximate set of skill categories:

(Fair Housing and Fair Lending Expert) Consultation Services

Business Development Support Services

Business Process Re-Engineering Support Services

Strategic Planning and Change Management Support

Communications and Engagement Support Services

Project Management and Support Services