Active

Contract Opportunity

Sources Sought for Title Search and Closing Services for Michigan Easement Programs

GENERAL INFORMATION:

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS. This announcement seeks information from industry, which will be used for preliminary planning purposes. No proposals are being requested or accepted with this synopsis. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS AND NO CONTRACT SHALL BE AWARDED FROM THIS SYNOPSIS.

The purpose of this sources sought is to gain knowledge of interest, capabilities, and qualifications of various members of industry.

The NAICS code for this project is 541191 – Title Abstract and Settlement Offices.

SYNOPSIS:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Production and Conservation Business Center on behalf of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Michigan State Office requires title search, title commitment, post survey updates, final title policy, and/or closing services for acquisitions of conservation easements in the State of Michigan for the federal government.

The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program Wetland Reserve Easement component (ACEP-WRE), the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), Emergency Watershed Protection Program - Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE), and the Healthy Forest Reserve Program (HFRP) each provide authorization for the United States to acquire conservation easements from willing landowners for the purpose of restoring and protecting wetlands, floodplains, or forest lands respectively. NRCS is the agency within the USDA that is responsible for administration of these programs.

The acquisition of the program easement and any access easement is governed by the following requirements:

1. Regulations of the Attorney General Governing the Review and Approval of Title for Federal Land Acquisitions (2016). Note: These regulations indicate that the time-period of the historical public land record that must be examined will vary from state to state. For Michigan, the minimum search period required is one hundred (100) years.


2. NRCS regulations and policies governing the NRCS program under which the easement is being acquired.

The Contractor shall perform the same services that are customarily provided in a commercial transaction, including chain of title, determination of ownership and interest share of surface and subsurface rights, securing and providing all underlying documents, obtaining and recording deeds, and any necessary curative instruments to ensure merchantability, insurable title to the easement are in the name of the United States of America. The contractor is responsible for having up-to-date knowledge of the requirements of state of Ohio’s laws on title searches, closing real estate transactions, and title clearance. The title insurance company and its issuing agents must comply with the State laws of Ohio, including title insurance reserve requirements. The contractor must be licensed to do title insurance business in Ohio. The title insurance company must be approved by the State of Ohio’s Insurance Commissioner.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The contractor must coordinate, facilitate, and perform the following services:

1. Obtain and update chain of title according to the Department of Justice Title Standards 2001. Provide the title commitment (or title search and/or update of abstracts), including copies of all instruments that created rights, interests, or encumbrances, for the easement boundary and ingress-egress descriptions.

2. Work with NRCS and the landowners to clear exceptions on title to the property and resolve vesting interests.

3. Update the title commitment, based upon the final legal description of the easement area, including copies of all instruments that created rights, interests, or encumbrances on the property, not included on the original title commitment, for the easement boundary and ingress-egress descriptions.

4. Record documents in the local land records office (e.g., the applicable county registrar or recorder’s office, county or town clerk records office). 5. Provide a final title insurance policy using American Land Title Association (ALTA) U.S. Policy 09-28-1991 (Revised 12/3/2012) 6. Provide other services, as necessary, to finalize the easement transaction. The contractor will provide the above-listed items to the designated NRCS contact identified on the attachment to this statement of work.

5. The title insurance commitment will cover the time periods provided in Department of Justice Title Standards 2001 (Section 3, Abstract of Title, Subsection b, What time period should it cover?), be for a sufficient period of time for the title company to insure the title without objectionable exceptions and must identify all owners of record, outstanding mortgages, liens, judgments or pending suits, outstanding tax claims, easements or rights-of-way of any type, including oil, gas, and mineral interests that have been severed, and any other exceptions that may cloud the title of the easement to be purchased. The search must show ownership interest of the surface and subsurface rights including oil, gas, coal, sand, gravel, and other minerals associated with the property. The title commitment must include a legible copy of all underlying documents of any type, whether oil, gas, or mineral interests have been severed, mortgages, bankruptcies, and any other exceptions that may cloud the title of the easement to be purchased.

Unacceptable Generalized Mineral Exception Examples

• "Title to Oil, Gas and Minerals are neither insured nor guaranteed."


• "Any minerals or mineral rights leased, granted or retained by current or prior owners."


• “Interest of others in oil, gas and mineral rights, if any, recorded in the public records or unrecorded.”


• “Interest, if any, of the United States, State of Michigan, or any political subdivision thereof, in the oil, gas and minerals in and under and that may be produced from the captioned land.”


• “Any claim to (a) ownership of or rights to minerals or similar substances, including but not limited to ores, metals, coal, lignite, oil, gas, uranium, limestone, clay, rock, sand, and gravel located in, on, or under the Land or produced from the Land, whether such ownership or rights arise by lease, grant, exception, conveyance, reservation, or otherwise; and (b) any rights, privileges, immunities, rights of way, and easements associated therewith or appurtenant thereto, whether or not the interests or rights excepted in (a) or (b) appear in the Public Records or are shown in Schedule B.”


• “Unpatented mining claims; (b) reservations or exceptions in patents or in Acts authorizing the issuance thereof; and (c) Oil, natural gas, coal, fissionable materials, or other minerals previously conveyed, leased or retained by prior owners, whether or not appearing in the Public Records or listed in Schedule B. The Company makes no representation as to the present ownership of any such interests. There may be leases, grants, exceptions, or reservations of interests that are not listed.”

INFORMATION SOUGHT:

It is requested that interested parties submit a brief capabilities package (no more than 10 pages in length) demonstrating the ability to perform the requested services. This document shall address, at a minimum, the following:

• Company name, address, point of contact, phone number, and email address. Company profile to include socio-economic business size, office location(s), and Unique Entity ID Number (if registered in System for Award Management).


• Relevant experience providing title search, title commitment, post survey updates, final title policy, and/or closing services for acquisitions of on behalf of the federal government.


• If you will be providing these services by subcontracting the work, please provide a list of subcontractors and description of your management plan.


• Map of Michigan showing the counties in which your company is capable of providing title search and closing services for acquisition of conservation easement in the State of Ohio for on behalf of the federal government.


• Credit Card Policy – Will you accept direct payment for orders under $10K via government purchase card without utilizing a third party vendor.

Interested parties who wish to respond to this Sources Sought should send responses via email no later than March 17, 2022, at 1:00 PM EST to andrew.sawyer@usda.gov. All emails must include the subject line: Michigan Title Search and Closing Services Sources Sought Response.

This Sources Sought is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as a proposal now will any award be made as result of this synopsis.

All information contained in this Sources Sought is preliminary as well as subject to modification and is in no way binding on the Government. FAR provision 52.215-3, Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (OCT 1997) is incorporated by reference into this Sources Sought. The Government will not reimburse companies for any costs associated with the submission of their responses to this Sources Sought. This Sources Sought is issued solely for information and planning purposes. Proprietary information and trade secrets, if any, must be clearly marked on all materials. All information received in this Sources Sought that is marked “Proprietary” will be handled accordingly. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned nor will receipt be confirmed.

Attachments/Links