6-Attachment D technicalcriteria.docx

ATTACHMENT D: TECHNICAL CRITERIA

1. Firm Safety, Soundness & Regulatory Compliance (100 points)

1. Describe the financial position and strength of the firm.

2. Provide copies of your firm’s registrations with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB).

3. Describe any current litigation or investigation by a regulatory authority that your company, its officers, principals, or employees have been involved in within the last three years relative to your services as Municipal Advisor. Detail any related contingent liabilities to which your firm may be subject.

4. Please describe your firm’s affiliation or relationship with any broker-dealer.

5. Please detail the amounts and types of insurance carried, including the deductible amount, to cover errors and omissions, improper judgments, or negligence on the part of your firm.

6. Detail any existing or potential conflict of interest that the firm might have if selected to serve as primary Municipal Advisor. Describe your plans and procedures for identifying conflicts of interest, providing timely notice about the conflict, and managing or resolving the conflict once identified.

2. Personnel (400 points)

7. List the names, titles, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses for all personnel that will have ongoing responsibility for servicing the State’s account, and provide a brief summary of each person’s background and experience in public finance. Include relevant professional designations, securities licenses held, and involvement in industry associations. Describe the role of each person listed in servicing the State. Describe also each individual’s experience with:

a. General obligation, lease revenue debt, and tax increment financing

b. Charter school financings

c. Variable rate debt programs

d. Revolving loan fund recapitalization bond issues

e. Public Private Partnership (P3) financings

8. Provide an organization chart showing the operating interrelationships and authority within public finance and the entire organization, highlighting staff members in key roles. Please indicate your firm’s total number of offices, the location of each office, and the number of employees in each office location.

9. Will one primary contact be assigned to the State’s account? If so:

a. How many clients does this person serve as primary contact?

b. Does this person serve clients solely in the capacity as MA, or does the person serve any clients also as underwriter?

i. Percent of this person’s time dedicated to work as MA?

ii. Percent of this person's time dedicated to work as underwriter?

c. How is the State’s account handled when our primary contact is not available?

d. Does this person have management duties? If so, how will s/he balance those duties with providing service to the State under this contract?

10. Where is the location in which the primary contact is based?

11. Regarding those personnel (other than the primary contact) that will have ongoing responsibility for servicing the State’s account, please provide the location(s) in which those personnel are based.

12. If bidding for primary Municipal Advisor, how frequently would you be available for in person meetings at the State Capitol? How much advance notice do you prefer for meetings?

13. If bidding for deal-specific advisory work, how many in person meetings do you anticipate holding for each bond issue? How many remote or tele-conferencing meetings?

14. Does your firm provide personnel that are dedicated solely to disclosure and continuing disclosure work?

a. If so, please provide their resumes and indicate the number of official statements those personnel have written in the past three years.

b. If so, please describe the extent of support such personnel provide in the area of continuing disclosure.

3. Firm’s Experience (400 points)

15. Provide a history of your organization and describe its ownership structure.

16. Describe your firm’s overall qualifications and experience in municipal advisory work and investment banking, with particular emphasis on your municipal advisory relationships. Briefly describe the work performed as municipal advisor for organizations of similar size to the State, including the dollar amount (with emphasis on transactions which exceed $100 million) and types of issues within the past three years.

17. The State prefers competitive bond sales, whenever practicable. Describe your firm’s experience during the past three years with online competitive bond sales. List the electronic services you have used and the extent of your involvement in setting up and conducting competitive bond sales. In addition, describe your experience with and ability to electronically publish and distribute preliminary official statements and final official statements.

18. Describe any innovations you have developed for the benefit of tax-exempt issuers.

19. Outline and explain the software applications, analytical tools, and market data subscriptions your firm would utilize to provide the State with debt structuring, monitoring of refinancing opportunities, modeling, and technical analysis.

20. Describe your firm’s experience during the past three years with national rating agencies and your approach to helping the State retain its current ratings.

21. Describe your firm’s experience providing municipal advisory services to state governments and other large issuers.

22. Describe your experience with structuring and marketing refunding issues. What alternatives to advanced refunding have you recommended to your clients?

23. Describe your firm’s familiarity with the economic, political, legal and organizational structure of Utah State government.

24. Provide a recent example of an official statement prepared by your firm in which you acted as Municipal Advisor. Detail who prepared the official statement and the role played by your firm.

25. Please describe your approach to maximizing accessibility and responsiveness in your role as Municipal Advisor to the State.

26. Describe your firm’s experience assisting clients in the development of debt management policy and/or debt affordability studies.

27. Describe how your firm, in the role as a Municipal Advisor, has assisted clients with investor relations, meetings, webinars, investor information websites, and other forms of investor outreach to expand the buyer base of clients’ bonds and enhance transparency to the investor community.

28. Describe your firm’s approach to accessing and providing pricing data on the date of negotiated bond sales.

29. List other specific services to be offered to the State.

30. Provide any other information you believe will be useful to the State in evaluating your qualifications for serving the State as a Municipal Advisor.

4. References (100 points) Provide two references of municipal issuers for which your firm has served as Municipal Advisor in the last five years that can be contacted by the State. Identify the primary contact (name, title, address, telephone and e-mail) and identify the relevant transaction(s) or extent of the relationship. States or public sector entities of similar size to the State or its scale and frequency of debt issuance are preferred.