Notice Type: Synopsis/Pre-Solicitation No.16PBGC20R0003 Title: Single-Employer Pension Plan Sponsor Valuation and Restructuring Financial Advisory Services Engagement 2020 Contracting Office Address: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), Procurement Department, 1225 I Street NW, Suite 3333, Washington DC, 20005 Point of Contact(s): Primary: Fiorela Kvalevog Contracting Officer, Procurement Department Email:
[email protected] Secondary: Francesca Rodriguez Contract Specialist, Contractor Support Email:
[email protected] Subject: This is a Synopsis/Pre-Solicitation. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. Due to sensitivity of the Request for Proposal (RFP) content, a solicitation will be issued at a later date, on or about November 12, 2019. PBGC will provide the solicitation to interested Offerors via email, only after interested Offerors submit an Intent to Bid and a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement (‘NDA Form') to the PBGC Procurement Department at the POC email listed above. Requirement Background Information, Purpose and Objective: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) established Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) as a federal corporation to encourage the growth of defined benefit pension plans, provide timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits, and keep pension insurance premiums at a minimum. Defined benefit pension plans promise to pay a specified monthly benefit at retirement, commonly based on salary and years on the job. PBGC, a wholly owned United States Government corporation, administers the insurance program and termination process for most private-sector defined benefit pension plans that are tax-qualified under the Internal Revenue Code. PBGC is headed by a Director who reports to a board of directors consisting of the Secretaries of Labor, Commerce, and Treasury, with the Secretary of Labor as Chairman. General tax revenues do not fund PBGC. PBGC collects insurance premiums from employers that sponsor insured pension plans, earns money from investments and receives the assets of the pension plans it terminates. PBGC monitors the corporate events and transactions of defined benefit pension plan sponsors to mitigate risks to the insurance program and increase overall plan funding levels. The purpose of this Synopsis/Pre-Solicitation is to notify potential Offerors that PBGC intends to solicit proposals to select a valuation and restructuring financial advisory services contractor to assist the agency in reviewing its interests in the Single Employer Plan Sponsor and exposure to the underfunded defined benefit pension plan(s) sponsored by the Single-Employer Pension Plan Sponsor. For this engagement, PBGC will require the assistance of an experienced financial advisory services firm with proven US prime market financial advisory mandate track record leading large distress valuation and turnaround engagements and / or representing clients in lead capacity on large and complex in- or out- of court restructuring transactions involving enterprises with debt capitalization exceeding $1 billion. Request for Proposal Release Information: Enclosed is an Intent to Bid Form and a Non-Disclosure Agreement (‘NDA Form'). The interested Offeror must sign and return the NDA Form to PBGC via email to PBGC Procurement Department at the POC email listed above. PBGC will countersign the Non-Disclosure Agreement and email the fully executed Non-Disclosure Agreement back to the interested Offeror, along with the solicitation package, containing both the RFP and an Attachment. The Attachment will disclose certain sensitive information in connection with the Single-Employer Pension Plan Sponsor Valuation and Restructuring Financial Advisory Services engagement. This information is pertinent for a proposal preparation. The Offeror shall confidentially maintain all applicable information released by PBGC in connection with this requirement, and not allow said information of any type to pass to unauthorized parties. NDA Form submission instructions are as follows: Please submit the singed and scanned NDA Form via email to Fiorela Kvalevog and Francesca Rodriguez at
[email protected] and
[email protected] by November 6, 2019 by 4:00PM ET. Calls, facsimile, mail or email inquiries about NDA Form submission will not be entertained. This announcement only contains the Synopsis/Pre-Solicitation. The RFP is anticipated to be issued as full and open and is under the NAICS code is 523930 (Investment Advice). The Government contemplates award of a Firm-Fixed- Price (FFP) contract for a period of approximately two years, divided into three option periods in accordance with FAR Part 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items. Offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) located at https://www.sam.gov. The RFP will be available via email on or about November 12, 2019. The RFP will guide thereafter and will contain instructions to Offerors. Due to sensitive / secure nature of RFP package, it shall not be accessible through FedBizOpps at www.fbo.gov. RFPs will be emailed to interested Offerors in response to NDA Forms that are signed and returned by the interested Offerors to PBGC Procurement department in accordance with the NDA Form submission instructions outlined in this Synopsis/Pre-solicitation. Interested Offerors are invited to submit a technical and price proposals for Single-Employer Pension Plan Sponsor Valuation and Restructuring Financial Advisory Services engagement separately and formally, in accordance with the terms and conditions outlined in the RFP package, in order to be considered for contract award. As stated in this Synopsis/Pre-Solicitation, the RFP will only be released to interested Offerors which submit a signed NDA Form.