NIGP 94951: Principal on State Bonds

NIGP 94951 Principal On State Bonds, an Item code, encompasses legal counsel services for municipal debt issuance, including bond counsel, disclosure counsel, and related compliance support that state and local governments procure when structuring and marketing debt instruments. Recent solicitations show municipalities and counties buying preparation of bond ordinances, legal opinions, preliminary and official statements, disclosure agreements under Securities Exchange Act Section 15c2-12, and post-issuance compliance monitoring. The issuing bodies are typically municipal finance officers and county purchasing departments acting on behalf of their debt-issuance authorities. Respondents propose tiered fee structures based on bond transaction size, minimum and maximum transaction fees for both bond deals and bank loans, and hourly rates for partner and associate services on non-bond work. Professional liability insurance requirements range from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 per claim with four-year tail coverage, and contract terms run five to seven years with optional renewal periods.

Recent activity concentrates in Florida, where the City of Winter Park posted RFP 26-5 for Bond Counsel Services on April 13, 2026, with a proposal deadline of February 24, 2026, for debt in the $25,000,000 to $50,000,000 range supporting undergrounding power lines, and Brevard County posted RFP 1-26-04 for Disclosure Counsel Services on February 2, 2026, with proposals due January 15, 2026, requiring three to five Florida governmental client references and tiered pricing for bond issues up to and exceeding $40,000,000. Winter Park's contract will span sixty months initially with optional extensions to eighty-four months total; Brevard's will run five years with no renewal option specified. Both solicitations emphasize experience in municipal bond law, evaluation of key personnel qualifications, and comprehensive insurance documentation, with no explicit set-asides for disadvantaged enterprises named.