VOL. 7 – September 30, 2022

Summit Hosts Live Webinar on Program Evaluation October 6

Next week, Summit is hosting a live webinar! Join us on Thursday, October 6, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. to learn about program evaluation from our experts. Balint Peto, Kassim Mbwana, Teresa Kline, and Sarah Cunningham will walk viewers through the types of program evaluations, how to design an effective one, and trends in federal evidence-building today. The event is moderated by Summit director Kate Lynch Machado, and you can register for free here.

Summit director moderates panel for AGA members

On September 7, Summit director Sarah Cunningham moderated a discussion with federal and state leaders in evidence-informed policy. Panelists covered the importance of standards, resources like evidence clearinghouses, what’s next for collaboration, and the National Secure Data Service demonstration project.

Summit director speaks at MBA Risk Management, Quality Assurance, and Fraud Prevention Forum

Summit director Josh Goldberg spoke at the MBA Risk Management Forum on September 12 on managing valuation processes in changing market conditions.

Summit is attending the 2022 OFN Conference in New York City on October 18–21

Summit director Sarah Cunningham will be moderating a panel on October 20 that focuses on how philanthropic foundations and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) can work together to close the racial wealth gap. The panelists will be the California Endowment, Living Cities, and Google.org.

Summit Founding Partner Albert Lee Featured on “Conversations with Cal” Podcast

On June 29, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) hosted a podcast-style event featuring Summit founding partner Albert Lee. The series, called “Conversations with Cal,” is led by OSDBU director Calvin Mitchell and involves interviews between Mitchell and stakeholders from the small business community. Listeners learn about different perspectives on small business contracting and related topics.

“It was a pleasure talking with Calvin Mitchell on his ‘Conversations with Cal’ podcast,” Lee said. “We had a great, insightful discussion about Summit’s history and growth, and I’m looking forward to a part two in the future.” Click on the image below to watch, or find the video on YouTube.

What’s New on Federal Credit Fridays

Episode 7: On the Road with Anthony Curcio

Curcio hits the road to teach credit underwriting skills to 300 U.S. Department of Agriculture Community Facilities Direct Loan underwriters. Hear what several underwriters think of the training.

Episode 8: Zach Ducheneaux on the Farm Service Agency’s Loan Programs

Ducheneaux, an administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, discusses his priorities for the agency’s loan programs, which address conservation, commodity production, disaster mitigation, and farm marketing.

Episode 9: Joaquin Altoro of the Rural Housing Service Talks Priorities for Loan and Grant Programs

Altoro, the administrator of the Rural Housing Service (RHS), discusses his priorities for RHS loan and grant programs that address rural single- and multifamily housing, childcare centers, fire and police stations, hospitals, libraries, nursing homes, schools, first responder vehicles and equipment, and housing for farm laborers.

Episode 10: Summit Senior Manager Samuel Seong on Annual Reestimates

Seong, an expert in performing large numbers of annual reestimates for federal credit programs, discusses credit subsidy reestimates for large, individual loans.

Episode 11: USDOT’s Dr. Morteza Farajian on the Changing Role of Infrastructure Finance

Farajian, executive director of the Build America Bureau at the U.S. Department of Transportation, discusses the changing role of infrastructure finance. Dr. Farajian is responsible for a growing $29 billion loan guarantee portfolio that supports the development of large-scale and multimodal transportation infrastructure.

Missed an episode? Listen to past Federal Credit Fridays here.

About Federal Credit Fridays: The U.S. government is one of the largest lenders and credit guarantors on earth. Its portfolio is estimated at over $3.6 trillion, as measured by loan assets and the face value of loan guarantees. The government uses credit for a wide variety of policy missions, including housing, higher education, small businesses, rural and urban economic development, infrastructure, and export promotion, among others. This podcast will familiarize you with the vast world of federal credit, and we hope that you’ll learn about similarities and differences between these programs as well as the importance of their work to achieving policy missions within the framework of public-private collaboration.

Applications for Summit’s 2023 Internship Program Are Now Open

Looking for a fun and impactful internship or know someone who is? Applications for our 2023 program are live on our Careers page! We’re always searching for talented undergraduate and graduate students to join us as summer associates. Read a recap of our summer 2022 program, written by summer associate Grey Curcio, on the Summit blog. 

We’ve got our eyes on the pies...for the Summit partners! Anthony Curcio, Albert Lee, and Gob Juntima were all served a pie to the face by the winners of our silent auction during our August staff meeting. We were proud to raise $2,192.31 for Bread for the City, which gives clients a $75 debit card to spend as they see fit.

Our Newest Case Studies

Surveillance Reviews Evaluation for the U.S. Small Business Administration

To increase opportunities for small businesses, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Government Contracting conducts surveillance reviews to assess whether agency Procurement Centers are providing maximum practicable opportunity for small business participation in federal contracting. Summit conducted a mixed-methods evaluation that used qualitative and quantitative data to determine how reviews could be made more effective and efficient, and the team made nine recommendations to the SBA.

An Acquisition Management Success for the U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) is responsible for processing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for approximately 20 million federal student aid applicants each year. FSA requested Summit’s support for the Award Eligibility Determination (AED) project in 2020—the revamped effort to modernize the legacy FAFSA back-end system. Summit’s support resulted in the successful award of the AED Modernization contract in 2022 with no protests. For the first time, FSA is moving forward with modernizing the FAFSA back-end system and incorporating the changes mandated by Congress. 

Risk Management for the U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid

With a $1.5 trillion loan portfolio, FSA is the largest provider of the nation’s federal student aid. Since 2019, the Summit team has been instrumental in supporting the Next Gen Program Office and SABER teams at FSA. Due to the ongoing support of the Summit team, FSA has further expanded internal collaboration among department staff, optimizing organizational performance and mission delivery of critical funds to student borrowers and families seeking higher education. 

 We’re hiring!

See all open roles here: https://www.summitllc.us/careers

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), 8(a) Service Delivery Evaluation

Summit has been contracted by the SBA to evaluate the 8(a) Business Development Program, which offers opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses to gain a foothold in federal contracting. 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ginnie Mae, Economic Model Validation

The Summit team just won a new 5-year contract at Ginnie Mae (base year and four option years) to continue to validate a suite of economic and financial models and provide model risk management oversight.

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Summit received additional funding under the DOL EBSA contract. The additional funds added to the contract will be used to support the web development of health investigation tools as well as statistical support using healthcare claims data.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (ERS)

Summit will automate the data import/export, modeling, and documentation for several branches within the Market, Trade, and Economics Division of ERS by using R the programming language.

Government-Sponsored Enterprise, Model Support and Monitoring

Summit is assisting with the development of a new model at a government-sponsored enterprise. Summit has also been enlisted to develop policies and procedures for ongoing model performance monitoring.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Production and Conservation Agency

Summit provides federal credit budget and program support for Farm Service Agency and Credit Commodity Corporation programs, including model and fee calculator maintenance, reestimate, budget formulation, and budget execution support.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Impact Estimates for Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Fiscal Year 2022

The Summit team will support NIST by calculating estimates for national impacts generated from collective activities undertaken by MEP centers and clients during the 2022 fiscal year.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Risk Management and Capital Assessment Projections (RMCAP)

RMCAP is a highly visible suite of econometric models used for loan loss guarantee, credit subsidy calculations, and the Annual Report to Congress on the Financial Status of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. The Summit team will continue to support HUD and risk management at the Federal Housing Administration.

Missed a newsletter? Read past editions in the archive.