The Challenge
The lending platform responsible for over 8 million student loan borrowers was a legacy system that was becoming more at-risk each year, limiting innovation, and reducing the agency’s competitive edge.
Agency leadership wanted an outside, objective assessment of commercial loan platforms that could handle the ever-changing and complex requirements of the student loan industry, along with recommendations on vendor selection and considerations to reduce operational costs and improve service delivery.
Project Description
Further Advisory provided strategic clarity on the viability of utilizing a commercial product to modernize loan servicing technologies and create financial sustainability by managing RFI tools and process, objectively evaluating vendor platforms, designing the implementation path forward, and launching a pilot to further validate the vendor selection.
Outcomes Delivered
- A clear process for vendor identification, Request for Proposal (RFP) submission, scoring, and evaluation, consistent with agency regulations and industry best practices
- A current snapshot of 68 vendors in the loan management & servicing industry landscape, with initial diligence around qualifying criteria for the agency and strategic alignment
- A thorough Request for Proposal (RFP) document including program goals, business requirements, regulatory & budget considerations, technology factors, pain points, and desired future state enhancements, all captured via stakeholder interviews and secondary research
- Evaluation of vendor submissions via a robust scorecard that combines quantitative and qualitative scoring methods to prioritize capabilities specific to the student loan processing and servicing needs of the agency
- Final vendor recommendations, along with an implementation roadmap including migration approach / options, timelines, milestones, etc., and a 60-day detailed plan.
