Sample Template for Requesting Information/
Proposal/Quote for Default Prevention Services
The following is a sample template layout with questions to assist you in designing an effective request
for information/ proposal/quote. You may use the sample questions below as suggested information to
evaluate vendor responses and select the best partner for your needs. This document is for illustrative
purposes only — please use any forms and/or formats as required by your institution.
Title:
RFP#:
Issuing Entity:
Issue Date:
Request for Student Loan Default Prevention Services
RFP #XX-XXXXXXX
(Institution name)
(Month)/(day)/(year)
(FOR HARD COPIES)
(Institution name) will accept sealed proposals until (time) p.m., (time zone), (month)/(day)/(year).
Bidders must indicate the organization’s name and the RFP number on the front of each sealed proposal
envelope or package.
(FOR SUBMISSIONS BY EMAIL)
(Note any file size restrictions on email attachments, whether vendors should provide proposals in
Microsoft Word or PDF format, and whether they must zip files prior to sending.)
Email final proposals to (institution name) by (time) p.m., (time zone), (month)/(day)/(year). Please send
all emails and corresponding attachments to (email address).
Bids submitted via telegraph, facsimile (FAX) and telephone are not acceptable.
Send all proposals directly to (contact name) at the appropriate address shown below.
Delivered by U.S. Postal Service:
Quote #(number)
(Institution Name)
Street Address
(City), (State) (ZIP)
Attention: (Contact Name)
Delivered by any other means:
Quote #(number)
(Institution Name)
Street Address
(City), (State) (ZIP)
Attention: (Contact Name)
Direct all inquiries concerning this RFP to: (Contact Name), (Contact’s Title)
Email: (Email address)
Phone: (Phone number)
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Question/Answer Period: We will accept questions regarding the specifications outlined in this request
for proposal until (time) p.m. (time zone) on (month) (day), (year). We will post a summary of all
questions and answers as an addendum to the original RFP posting, at:
(URL)
Note: It is the bidder’s responsibility to ensure that all addenda are reviewed and, if required, signed and
returned. We will post any new addenda at the website listed above.
I.
INTRODUCTION
(Offer a brief overview of the goal of your request. This helps familiarize potential providers with
your institution’s background and your proposal request.)
(Example): (Institution name) is seeking a third-party vendor to provide comprehensive student
loan default prevention services. (Institution name) intends to award a (number of years)-year
contract with (number of renewal options), (number of years)-year renewal options, at our
discretion. Please provide all-inclusive prices for your full-service options and/or a la carte services,
explained on a year-by-year basis. Our primary goal in contracting out default prevention services is
to (lower/maintain) our cohort default rate. We also want to invest in early default prevention
outreach beginning when students enter grace status to better prevent future defaults, which will
create a CDR that is easier to maintain.
II. THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS
(Include any forms, addenda, signature pages, etc., as required by your institution and/or state. If
you do not know whether your institution has specific requirements, check with your procurement
office in advance and identify potential collaborations or points of reference.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Issue a formal request for proposals (RFP) from prospective contractors.
Set a calendar for the question/answer period.
Receive proposals according to set guidelines and timetables.
(Evaluator’s name or team) will open and review all proposals.
Request further discussion and/or presentation from interested bidders as needed.
Contact references for the bidder finalists.
Notify bidders of (Institution name)’s decision by (month) (day), (year) and provide any feedback
to non-awarded bidders on their proposal.
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III. INSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND/FUTURE GOALS & OBJECTIVES
(Share with vendors some background information about your institution, including your
institution’s mission and default prevention goals, for instance.)
(Example): (Institution name) is a comprehensive, (number of years)-year college with (number of
campuses) in the state of (state name). We offer more than (number of and type(s) of degree and
certificate program(s), and we serve as a center for specialized technical training for this region. We
recently expanded our services to include additional transfer degrees in (applicable area(s)). A
member of the (name of the college system), (Institution name) enrolls (enrollment) students and
also provides continuing education programs for approximately (number of participants)
participants per year. We seek a solution to help (lower or maintain) our cohort default rate as part
of our strategic plan and vision for (Institution name).
IV. BORROWER COHORT INFORMATION
(When building your proposal document, it is a good idea to review your borrower population and
understand the breakout so that you have a good understanding of what realistic default
prevention results might look like for your institution over time. This analytical exercise with your
institution’s data (available from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)) can help you
define your specific goals and also create a preliminary benchmark to determine your provider’s
effectiveness over time. The more detail you share with vendors, the more exact pricing they can
provide.)
Currently, our institution’s cohort default rate is (CDR) percent. We have the following numbers of
borrowers in repayment for the following (number) cohort years:
2013: XXX
2014: XXX
Grace:
X,XXX
Grace:
X,XXX
1-30 days delinquent:
X,XXX
1-30 days delinquent:
X,XXX
31-60 days delinquent:
X,XXX
31-60 days delinquent:
X,XXX
61-90 days delinquent:
X,XXX
61-90 days delinquent:
X,XXX
91-120 days delinquent:
X,XXX
91-120 days delinquent:
X,XXX
121-150 days delinquent:
X,XXX
121-150 days delinquent:
X,XXX
151-180 days delinquent:
X,XXX
151-180 days delinquent:
X,XXX
181-210 days delinquent:
X,XXX
181-210 days delinquent:
X,XXX
211-240 days delinquent:
X,XXX
211-240 days delinquent:
X,XXX
241-270 days delinquent:
X,XXX
241-270 days delinquent:
X,XXX
271-300 days delinquent:
X,XXX
271-300 days delinquent:
X,XXX
301-330 days delinquent:
X,XXX
301-330 days delinquent:
X,XXX
331-359 days delinquent:
X,XXX
331-359 days delinquent:
X,XXX
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2016: XXX
2015: XXX
Grace:
X,XXX
Grace:
X,XXX
1-30 days delinquent:
X,XXX
1-30 days delinquent:
X,XXX
31-60 days delinquent:
X,XXX
31-60 days delinquent:
X,XXX
61-90 days delinquent:
X,XXX
61-90 days delinquent:
X,XXX
91-120 days delinquent:
X,XXX
91-120 days delinquent:
X,XXX
121-150 days delinquent:
X,XXX
121-150 days delinquent:
X,XXX
151-180 days delinquent:
X,XXX
151-180 days delinquent:
X,XXX
181-210 days delinquent:
X,XXX
181-210 days delinquent:
X,XXX
211-240 days delinquent:
X,XXX
211-240 days delinquent:
X,XXX
241-270 days delinquent:
X,XXX
241-270 days delinquent:
X,XXX
271-300 days delinquent:
X,XXX
271-300 days delinquent:
X,XXX
301-330 days delinquent:
X,XXX
300-330 days delinquent:
X,XXX
331-359 days delinquent:
X,XXX
331-359 days delinquent:
X,XXX
V. SCOPE OF WORK
(Be clear with vendors about the specific products and/or services you seek, as well as which groups
of borrowers you wish for the vendor to contact, and when and how frequently. Your particular
institution’s needs may include some of the items below, and some may not be the right fit. List only
those items that are significant for your institution’s particular situation. Consider your overall goals
with contracting out your default prevention efforts. For example, do you have a high CDR, and are
you looking to start contacting borrowers earlier, and using skip tracing for later-stage delinquent
borrowers? Are you seeking a noticeable reduction in your CDR by a certain date? Or do you have a
lower CDR and want to focus primarily on those borrowers who are 90 or more days delinquent?)
(Example): The scope of this request includes providing outreach to all (number) active cohort
year(s) (20XX, 20XX and 20XX) to help (lower/maintain) our institution’s cohort default rate.
(Institution name) expects bidders to be able to provide a comprehensive approach to default
prevention services, including the following:
 Contacting delinquent borrowers who can impact our cohort default rate, to resolve their
student loan delinquency and counsel them on all available repayment options.
 Quarterly forecasts of our institutional CDR.
 Access to Web-based software for monitoring the vendor’s servicing activities.
 Comprehensive reporting with secure, 24/7 online access for (Institution name) staff.
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



Outreach services to include emails, telephone calls, and other approaches.
Skip tracing.
Online repayment information resources for our borrowers.
[Typically optional]:
 Contacting all grace borrowers to pre-counsel them on their repayment options.
 A financial literacy tool/program.
 Assistance with developing and evaluating our institution’s debt management plan.
 Assistance with preparation of annual CDR challenges/appeals.
 Default prevention consulting services.
VI. BUDGET
(Providing your budget upfront will make it easier to evaluate what each vendor can provide for
that price range. You may want to offer a couple of budgets for vendors to price out, or break down
your budget by year if you are soliciting multi-year pricing.)
(Institution name) has an approximate budget of $(budgeted amount), $(annually budgeted
amount) per year/$(monthly budgeted amount) per month for this project.
OR
Year 1: $(budgeted amount)
Year 2: $(budgeted amount)
Year 3: $(budgeted amount)
VII. PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA
(Your institution may review proposals following a prescribed format, and it may result in an
individual, group or outside consulting recommendation on the preferred service provider. You may
have only 3-5 areas for assessment purposes (to keep things easy), or you may have a longer list.
Some typical examples from which you might choose are provided below.)
(Example): (Institution name) will review and evaluate proposals based on the following:
Evaluation Areas
Scoring Weight
Background & Experience
XX%
Past Experience with Similar
Services for Comparable
Educational Institutions
XX%
Delinquency Aversion
Contact and Cure Rates
XX%
Financial Literacy/Education
XX%
Technical Approach
XX%
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Implementation Plan for the
Execution of Requested Services
XX%
Quality and Variety of Reports
XX%
Customer Service
XX%
Additional Services
XX%
References
XX%
Overall Cost Proposal
XX%
To be fully considered, all proposals must address and reference each line item listed below within
each evaluation category. Restate each of the items listed under each category, and provide the
response immediately thereafter. A simple answer of “yes” or “no” will be considered insufficient.
VIII.VENDOR BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE INFORMATION
(You can provide specific guidance to vendors here. For example, should they fill in their answers
below? Should/may they design their own response format?)
1. Service provider contact information:
a. Organization Name:
b. Address:
c. Primary Contact Name/Title:
d. Phone:
e. Email:
2. Provide your organization’s mission and focus concerning student loan default prevention.
3. Provide an overview of your organization’s background, including:
a. Years of experience providing outsourced student loan default prevention services.
b. Breakdown of number, type and size of current school-customer base.
c. Customer satisfaction ratings.
d. Financial stability of your organization. ((Institution name) may ask you to provide audited
financial statements, any ratings reports, such as Dun & Bradstreet, etc.)
e. Access to your organization’s most recent annual report.
f. Current Better Business Bureau rating.
4. Explain your philosophy and approach with regard to default prevention and improving
borrower repayment success.
5. Provide specific examples of how you have reduced the CDR of two-year higher education
institutions/community colleges with which you have worked for at least twelve months.
6. Provide general statistics detailing the success of your efforts in bringing delinquent borrowers
back into good repayment standing for the last two years, including your borrower recidivism
rates.
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IX. TECHNICAL APPROACH
(Be as detailed as possible with your questions. The more focused the questions, the better the
quality of responses you will receive.)
Debt Management Focus, Tools & Solutions
A. What type(s) of tools and solutions do you provide for debt management services?
B. For how many school customers do you currently provide default prevention services via your
software/system?
C. Do you make your software/system tools available to your school customers?
D. Does your system/software provide quarterly or monthly forecasts of current CDRs and next
year’s CDR information?
E. What processes do you have in place to ensure quality control and continuous improvement?
Analytics
A. Describe the analytics and the metrics used to project future cohort default rates, resolutions
and cures for clients.
Borrower Outreach
A. Which best practices/methodologies do you employ to determine strategies for default
prevention for institutions with different cohort default rate needs?
B. Explain in detail the services you provide for student loan default prevention. Include
information about: how you differentiate your services from collection activities, contact
strategies, methods of contact, options for contact frequency, whether you provide outreach to
borrowers in grace and to delinquent borrowers (segmented by length of delinquency), and
ability to customize services and approaches — for example, encouraging income-based
repayment plans.
C. Describe your company’s approach to using various repayment plans, deferment and
forbearance. How do you determine which approach to use with each borrower?
D. Do you employ a joint approach with institutional customers to help them determine the best
strategies for reaching out to targeted borrowers?
E. Do you initiate and conduct three-way calls with borrowers and loan servicers? If no, how do
you connect borrowers with their loan servicers?
F. What is the average time your representatives spend directly with borrowers?
G. Please provide examples of call scripts, emails or letters sent to delinquent borrowers.
H. Can you co-brand emails and letters to borrowers?
I. What type of online resources do you make available to borrowers?
J. Do you provide skip tracing? If yes, please describe.
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Measurement and Reporting
(Consider whether you will require tracking and reporting at the individual campus and/or corporate
(roll-up) reporting levels. Be clear in your requirements.)
A. How do you track borrower outreach activities? Do you focus on activity-based or outcomebased metrics?
B. Will we have online access to monitor borrower outreach and results?
C. Do you record and/or monitor calls with borrowers?
D. Explain borrower interaction activities that you measure and how you report on the
effectiveness of your default prevention efforts.
E. Please describe the types of reports that are available to us and the frequency of availability.
Provide typical report samples.
Data Exchanges
A. How do you communicate with Title IV loan servicers and the National Student Loan Data
System (NSLDS), and how often? What is your process for collecting and aggregating student
loan data from these and other servicers?
B. How frequently do you refresh data loads, and how do you cleanse and ensure accuracy of the
data?
C. What technical support would you require from us in providing cohort data to you?
Security, Data Protection & Compliance
A. Do you abide by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
B. What is your privacy policy regarding the sale of, or sharing of, borrower information with third
parties (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act)? Do you use encryption for data exchanges?
C. Describe your adherence to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), fraud
mitigation and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
D. How do you protect customer information (Personally Identifiable Information (PII)) via data
protection measures?
E. Are your systems and processes in compliance with state and federal data security regulations?
How do you protect borrower data in accordance with those regulations? What other data
security standards do you employ? Do you use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or Secure File
Transfer Protocol (SFTP)?
Borrower Support
A. Describe the personnel, experience, training and re-training programs, years of experience and
physical resources available to provide the services outlined in the scope of work if your
organization is awarded a contract.
B. What are the hours during which you normally would provide outreach to borrowers?
C. What are the ways in which a borrower can contact you, and during which hours? How do you
communicate that information to borrowers?
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Institutional Support
A. Please provide a typical, sample timeline for the implementation process with your new
institutional customers.
B. Will you provide dedicated representatives for us to contact? Describe the project team that
will be supporting (Institution name).
C. What days/hours are your staff available to institutions, and how do you handle issue
escalation and resolution?
D. What training will you provide to our staff on your system tools, solutions and call center
processes? How do you deliver that training, and how often?
E. How often will you meet with us to discuss performance and any adjustments to the borrower
outreach strategy?
F. What support is required from (Institution name) if your services are implemented?
Other Services
G. (Optional) Do you provide consulting assistance to develop institutional debt management
plans? If yes, please explain.
H. (Optional) Do you provide annual CDR challenge preparation assistance/services? If yes, please
explain in detail.
I. Please describe any other value-added service(s) you provide.
Financial Literacy Services
A. What types of financial literacy resources and training will be made available to students, and
in what format(s)?
B. Please describe the financial literacy resources and training available to our institutional staff,
including how these will be made available.
C. Provide examples of resources and materials that will be made available to us to support
financial literacy.
D. Please explain how the success of the financial literacy program will be measured.
X. REFERENCES
(The references section provides an opportunity for you learn more about the vendors and hear
what other institutions have to say about their particular strengths and weaknesses. This is also an
opportunity to see how well vendors are assisting other institutions like yours with their default
prevention efforts.)
A. Please provide a minimum of three school references for us to contact regarding your default
prevention services. References should be schools that are of a similar type and have a similarly
sized cohort of borrowers in repayment.
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Institution #1
Contact Name
Contact Title
Address 1
Address 2
City, State, ZIP
Telephone
Email
Product/Service
Institution #2
Contact Name
Contact Title
Address 1
Address 2
City, State, ZIP
Telephone
Email
Product/Service
Institution #3
Contact Name
Contact Title
Address 1
Address 2
City, State, ZIP
Telephone
Email
Product/Service
Institution #4
Contact Name
Contact Title
Address 1
Address 2
City, State, ZIP
Telephone
Email
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Product/Service
B. Describe any characteristics or capabilities you believe would make your company uniquely
qualified to be awarded this contract with (Institution name).
XI. PRICING
(This section is one of the most critical in your RFP. Indicate very clearly how you wish bidders to
respond, and it is strongly advised that you require bidders to use the same format consistently. This
consistency will facilitate an easier and more effective evaluation process for you and your team.
The following information is for illustrative purposes; the actual components of your particular
pricing guidelines should match directly the services you are requesting.)
Please provide pricing for the debt management solution you propose for our institution, including
details on the proposed model and all options associated with that model. Bidders must submit
pricing using the table outlined below. Note any exceptions below the table.
Pricing should be comprehensive and must include a clear explanation of itemized costs associated
with each of the following:










Number of borrower accounts your organization will work (counsel).
Any set-up fees, loading fees or maintenance fees.
Charges for re-working borrower accounts the return to delinquent status.
Type of outreach that you will perform (email, telephone, etc.)
Frequency of the outreach you will perform.
Specific cohort years to be included in the work.
Skip tracing activities.
Analysis and reporting.
School support and any system training/retraining as needed.
Other services indicated (such as financial literacy, debt management plan assistance, CDR
appeal assistance).
Default Prevention Components
Brief Description
Annual Cost
Grace Borrower Outreach
$
Delinquent Borrower Outreach
$
Skip Tracing
$
Analysis & Reports
$
Institutional Access to System
$
Training
$
Set-Up Fee
$
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Borrower Account Load Fee
$
Borrower Maintenance Fee
$
Borrower Re-Curing Fee
$
Financial Literacy
$
(Optional) Debt Management Plan
Assistance
$
(Optional) CDR Appeal Assistance
$
(Optional) Default Prevention
Consulting
TOTAL ANNUAL COST
$
PRICING/QUOTES: Pricing provided is valid for a term of ________ days.
Vendor Information Sheet
Title:
Request for Student Loan Default Prevention Services
RFP#:
RFP #XX-XXXXXXX
Submission Date: (Month)/(day)/(year)
Offeror:
Address:
City/State/ZIP:
Contact Name:
Contact Title:
Signature:
Date:
Note: If the contractor will not perform all proposed services, list below those services that will be
subcontracted. Provide contact information for the subcontracting entity:
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Subcontracted Services:
Subcontractor:
Address:
City/State/ZIP:
Contact:
By providing your signature above, you agree to abide by all terms and conditions set forth in this
document. Please note any exceptions below.
General Information/Contract Terms and
Conditions for Submitted Proposals
(The following is a sample list of typically requested items and sections for inclusion. It is intended to be
for illustrative purposes only. Include the appropriate requirements and items deemed necessary by your
institution and/or state policy, and provide the information in the designated required format.)
General Information:
1. Certifications.
2. Confidentiality.
3. Proprietary information.
4. Rights to submitted materials.
5. Subcontracting.
6. Vendor registration/notification.
Contract Terms and Conditions:
1. Governing law.
2. Contractor definition.
3. Performance and default.
4. Termination.
5. Payment terms.
6. Copyright.
7. Assignment.
8. Compliance with laws.
9. Insurance.
10. Amendments.
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11. Taxes.
12. Warranties.
Other:
1. Vendor Security Policy Information/Questionnaire:
a. Security: organizational, human resources and physical.
b. Access control.
c. Business continuity.
d. Compliance.
e. Network Security.
f. Data management/protection.
g. Data disclosure and enforcement.
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