Operations of the Lending.gov platform

(a) Responsibilities of the Provider The Provider shall— (1) operate, maintain, and continuously improve the Platform, including all associated systems, tools, infrastructure, and customer-facing services necessary to support Federal loan programs; (2) provide onboarding, technical assistance, and ongoing operational support to agencies migrating to, or utilizing, the Platform; (3) provide participating agencies loan servicing and portfolio management solutions encompassing both financial and non-financial elements necessary to support service levels, cost benchmarking, program oversight, risk management, and customer experience metrics for both agencies and borrowers; (4) ensure that the Platform complies with all applicable Federal requirements relating to cybersecurity, privacy, information security, data governance, cloud authorization, financial management, and credit program management; (5) integrate commercially available loan management technology appropriate for the efficient operation of Federal loan programs, including tools for application intake, underwriting, servicing, reporting, fraud detection, and customer-experience management; (6) enter into interagency agreements, service-level agreements, or other arrangements necessary to provide shared services to customer agencies and to recover costs as appropriate; (7) include auditable financial management and subledger capabilities in the Platform that support agency oversight, reconciliation, and documentation of borrower remediation; (8) ensure that customer agencies retain ownership and full access to all program data generated or maintained through the Platform; and (9) ensure the portability of customer agency data, including the ability to export all records in standardized, non-proprietary formats. (b) Program manager satisfaction (1) Primary performance standard Program manager satisfaction at customer agencies shall be a primary performance standard governing the operation of the Platform. (2) Annual survey The Provider shall, not less frequently than annually, conduct a standardized survey of relevant program managers and staff at each customer agency to assess satisfaction with the performance, functionality, service quality, and reliability of the Platform. (3) Publication of results The Provider shall— (A) transmit survey results to the Administrator and the Director; (B) provide such results to each customer agency; and (C) make survey results publicly available in a manner consistent with applicable law and protection of sensitive information. (4) Remediation plans If survey results indicate that satisfaction for any customer agency or functional area falls below thresholds established jointly by the Provider and the Administrator, the Provider shall— (A) develop a remediation plan to address identified deficiencies; (B) submit the plan described in subparagraph (A) to the customer agency and Administrator not later than 60 days after survey results are finalized; (C) implement the plan described in subparagraph (A) promptly; and (D) report quarterly to the customer agency and Administrator on progress in resolving deficiencies until satisfaction thresholds are met. (5) Consultation requirement In developing remediation plans under paragraph (4), the Provider shall consult directly with the program managers and senior officials of the affected customer agency. (c) Customer agency access Employees of the Provider shall be provided with appropriate badges and system access by customer agencies to facilitate seamless service provision and communications with employees of the customer agency. (d) Performance dashboards and reporting The Provider shall establish, maintain, and make available to the Administrator, the Director, and customer agencies performance dashboards and regular reports on Platform availability, processing times, service levels, system performance, and other operational metrics, including metrics derived from subsection (b). (e) Coordination and oversight The Provider shall carry out its responsibilities under this section in coordination with the Administrator and the Director and subject to oversight under section 7.