§5217 Contracting procedures

Summary

The Secretary may waive parts of the Federal Acquisition Regulation when there are urgent and compelling reasons that make following them go against the public interest. If the Secretary does this, the decision and the reasons must be sent within 7 days to four congressional committees: the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the House Financial Services Committee, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. If the waiver touches rules about minority contracting, the Secretary must create and use standards and procedures to try, as much as possible, to include minorities, women, minority- and women-owned businesses, and people and businesses owned by people with disabilities in that solicitation or contract, including hires like asset managers, servicers, property managers, and other service providers or consultants. Despite the waivers above, the Corporation must be eligible for and considered when picking asset managers for residential mortgage loans and residential mortgage-backed securities, and the Secretary must reimburse the Corporation for any services it provides. Minorities are defined in section 1204(c) of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (12 U.S.C. 1811 note). Minority- and women-owned businesses are defined in section 1441a(r)(4) of this title. The term “individual with disability” has the same meaning as “handicapped individual” in section 632(f) of title 15.