Section 20.14.025. Requests for statements of qualifications.

	(a)  The executive officer shall select investment banking firms for inclusion on the QUL on the basis of a request for statements of qualifications as described in this section. A request for statements of qualifications must contain the date, time, and place for delivering responses; a specific description of the services to be provided; the minimum qualifications required to be included on the QUL; other information required in order to evaluate the qualifications of respondents in accordance with 20 AAC 14.020 - 20 AAC 14.040; and evaluation criteria specified under (i) of this section.  
	(b)  The executive officer shall publish notice of a request for statements of qualifications by at least one of the following methods:  
		(1) regular or electronic mailings to those investment banking firms currently on the QUL as maintained by the corporation;  
		(2) publication in a trade journal, such as The Bond Buyer, and the Alaska Online Public Notice System (AS 44.62.175) at least 21 days before delivery deadline of a response to the request for statements of qualifications;  
		(3) publication through other media determined by the executive officer to provide comparable notification to those methods listed in (1) or (2) of this subsection.  
	(c)  In addition to the forms of public notice specified in (b) of this section, the executive officer may use other methods to supplement the notification.  
	(d)  An investment banking firm must timely respond by submitting a statement of qualifications if the firm intends to be considered for selection to be on the QUL. The executive officer may only consider a response if the respondent has a business license issued by this state that is valid at the time designated as the delivery deadline in the request for statements of qualifications. The firm must designate at the time of submission if it requests any trade secret or proprietary data contained in the response documents be considered for confidential treatment under (j) of this section.  
	(e)  A respondent may correct, modify, or withdraw its response by written request received by the executive officer before the time and date set for receipt of responses. Unless excused by the executive officer for good cause shown, a request made under this subsection must be delivered in a sealed envelope with the request for statements of qualifications number printed on the outside of the envelope. The request must be accompanied by written authorization by the respondent for the correction, modification, or withdrawal of its response. The corporation staff shall include all documents relating to the correction, modification, or withdrawal of a response in the file for the request.  
	(f)  The executive officer may not accept responses after the time and date set for receipt of responses, and may not accept corrections, modifications, or withdrawals after the time and date set for opening of responses, unless the executive officer determines that the delay was attributable to an error by the corporation staff.  
	(g)  Corporation staff shall open responses and response corrections and modifications at the time, date, and place designated in the request for statements of qualifications. The corporation staff shall tabulate the name of each respondent and other pertinent information.  
	(h)  The executive officer shall designate an evaluation committee to evaluate the responses received in response to the request for statements of qualifications. The evaluation committee must consist of three members of the corporation staff and the chair of the corporation, or one board member appointed by the chair. The evaluation committee shall use the minimum qualification criteria set out in (i) of this section in determining whether a respondent meets the criteria to be included on the QUL. If the evaluation committee determines that a respondent meets all of the minimum criteria, the evaluation committee shall recommend to the executive officer that the respondent be included on the QUL. The executive officer shall review the recommendation and make the final agency decision on the firms to be included on the QUL.  
	(i)  The following criteria must be used in evaluating statements of qualifications submitted under this section:  
		(1) organizational structure of the firm requesting inclusion on the QUL;  
		(2) the firm's approach to providing services to the corporation;  
		(3) the firm's experience and knowledge of public financing generally and education loan bond financing specifically;  
		(4) the qualifications and experience of staff of the firm that will be responsible for working with the corporation, corporation's financial advisors, corporation's bond counsel, and other persons designated by the executive officer;  
		(5) other information that relates to the competence of the firm to act as an underwriter for a bond issue of the corporation.  
	(j)  Corporation staff shall notify respondents of the determination of their inclusion on the QUL. The QUL and responses are open for public inspection after the corporation staff notifies each respondent of the determination. To the extent that the respondent designated under (d) of this section and the executive officer concur, trade secrets and proprietary data contained in the response documents are confidential.  
	(k)  The executive officer may cancel a request for statements of qualifications, reject any or all responses in whole or in part, or delay the opening of responses if the executive officer determines it to be in the best interest of the corporation to do so. The executive officer shall make the reasons for the cancellation, rejection, or delay a part of the file on the request for the statements of qualifications.  
	(l)  The provisions of AS 36.30.240 dealing with discussions with responsible offerors and revisions to proposals apply to requests for statements of qualifications.  

Authorities

14.42.150;14.42.200;14.42.265;44.62.125

Notes

Reference

20 AAC 14.020

Authority

AS 14.42.150 AS 14.42.200 AS 14.42.265 Editor's note: Before July 31, 2016, the substance of 20 AAC 14.025 was contained in former 20 AAC 15.830. The history note for 20 AAC 14.025 does not reflect the history of the section under its former number. As of register 160 (January 2002), the regulations attorney made technical revisions under AS 44.62.125(b)(6), and in accordance with sec. 45, ch. 85, SLA 2001, to change "student loan" to "education loan" in former 20 AAC 15.830(i)(3), now relocated to 20 AAC 14.025(i)(3).

History

Eff. 7/31/2016, Register 219

References

20.14.025;20.15.830