Notice of Release of a Solicitation through FedConnect for Office of Loan Programs, Loan Guarantee Program (?LGP?) Outside Transactional Legal Counsel Services The U.S. Department of Energy (?DOE?) is competing its requirements for legal service firms that support Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as amended, or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as it may be amended. DOE is seeking advisory services from law firms with senior level experience to serve as Transactional Counsel. Transactional Counsel shall perform work in connection with specific transactions including but not limited to reviewing loan guarantee applications, providing legal advisory services and due diligence, draft and participate in negotiations of legal documents, and handling closing and related issues. Transactional Counsel, under the direction and supervision of DOE, will advise DOE on various legal aspects of projects of potential interest to DOE, including, but not limited to, projects in the following energy or energy-related sectors: * Renewable energy systems, particularly focusing on one (1) or more of the following technologies:1. biomass technologies2. geothermal technologies3. solar technologies4. wind and hydropower technologies* Advanced fossil energy technology, including coal gasification meeting certain Title XVII requirements (e.g., emission levels)* Hydrogen fuel cell technology (e.g., residential, industrial or transportation applications)* Advanced nuclear energy facilities* Carbon capture and sequestration practices and technologies (e.g., agricultural and forestry practice that store and sequester carbon)* Efficient electrical generation, transmission, and distribution technologies* Efficient end-use energy technologies* Production facilities for fuel efficient vehicles (e.g., hybrid and advanced diesel vehicles)* Pollution control equipment* Refineries, meaning facilities at which crude oil is refined into gasoline. DOE has no responsibility for the payment of the Transactional Counsels? legal service fees. All fees shall be reimbursed by the Project Sponsor and/or Borrower. This Invitation and resulting Retainer Agreement are not subject to the Federal Acquistion Regulation. The Invitation number is DE-SOL-0001510. There is no set-aside requirements in the Invitation. The Invitation can only be accessed through the DOE online procurement system known as FedConnect. The address for FedConnect is: https://www.fedconnect.net/fedconnect/. No paper copies of the Invitation will be made available. Once registered, vendors must update their profile to include Department of Energy as an agency they wish to be notified of opportunities. Vendors can search for the opportunity within FedConnect and register as an interested party. For registration and vendor profile issues, please contact the FedConnect helpdesk at
[email protected] or call 1-800-899-6665. A helpful user guide for getting started in FedConnect can be found as a PDF file on the FedConnect website. This Invitation will include two qualification criteria that firms must pass in order to move on to the second level of evaluations. Offers will be eliminated from consideration without review if the offer fails to clearly demonstrate each of the following: 1. The firm is offering two individuals, each of whom has acted as primary outside transactional counsel for senior lenders in two energy project finance transactions based on the parameters below:a) Each of the two transactions must have been closed within the last eight years;b) Each of the two projects must have had project costs of at least $300 million, with senior secured loans of at least $250 million and a structure that required intercreditor arrangements;c) Services must have included due diligence and drafting and negotiating finance documents. 2. The firm is offering two individuals each of whom has acted as primary outside transactional counsel for two project finance transactions based on the parameters below:a) Each of the two transactions must have been closed within the last eight years;b) Each of the two projects must have had project costs of at least $300 million, with secured loans of at least $250 million and a structure that required intercreditor arrangements;c) The clients for each of the two transactions must have been one or more of the following organizations: U.S. Federal Government (such as LGPO, OPIC, ExIm), or multilateral entities (such as IFC, ADB, or EBRD).d) Services must have included due diligence, and drafting and negotiating finance documents. The Invitation should be available on or around March 15, 2010. Contracting Office Address:Office of HQ PS (HQ)U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Headquarters ProcurementMA-641000 Independence Ave., S.W.Washington, DC 20585 Point of Contact(s):Lindner, Katharine N., 202-287-1540,
[email protected]