Four major RFPs for the Cap and Trade Program are out for public review.
Essentially the four RFPs are for: 1) An operator to run the auction; 2) A contractor to provide financial services for participants that need to purchase emission allowances; 3) An entity to monitor the market and report activities in various jurisdictions that may impact the market; and 4) Trainers to train the CARB staff on how to monitor allowance markets.
Excerpts and links to the four RFPs in their entirety are below.
The auction operator is responsible for the auction platform. ARB will designate an auction and reserve sale administrator to be responsible for the entire auction and reserve sale process. The auction and reserve sale administrator is the contract manager that oversees work done by the auction operator and financial services contractors. The auction administrator ensures that the auction contractors will have all their actions approved by ARB.
ARB is seeking a qualified contractor to provide client financial services for participants in the California cap-and-trade program that seek to purchase GHG emission allowances at ARB auctions, consign emission allowances to an auction, or purchase emission allowances from the Allowance Price Containment Reserve (Reserve). The Contractor will also communicate directly with the ARB staff for approvals and completion of financial transactions. As California is intending to link its cap-and-trade system with others as part of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), the Contractor will need the capacity to complete auction transactions with Canadian entities as well as U.S. entities.
The objective of this service is to administer financial and transaction services to support up to six (6) quarterly GHG allowance auctions and up to six (6) “reserve sales” to implement the California cap-and-trade program. ARB is anticipating the first California allowance auction will take place in late 2012. The auctions will continue based on the calendar quarter for the remainder of the program.
The Contractor will be required to monitor the conduct of allowance auctions and bidder behavior in each auction and report to the participating jurisdictions any activities that may have a material impact on the efficiency and performance of the auctions. The Contractor will also be required to evaluate pre-implementation market activity and provide ongoing monitoring of allowance holdings and allowance transfer activity. In doing so, the Contractor will be required to consult with ARB and the WCI Partner jurisdictions on results and issue reports to the participating jurisdictions that outline the observations and results of the market monitoring efforts.
The objective of this market monitoring training service is to assess the training needs, design training, identify appropriate instructors, and deliver training to ARB staff on the theory and practice of select areas of market monitoring of emissions or other commodity related primary (auction) market, secondary physical market, and financial derivatives markets. The Contractors targeted for this service are training specialists with extensive training design, development, and delivery experience in technical areas such as economics, engineering, and/or environmental regulation. When assessing training needs and designing the training programs, the Contractor must identify potential subject matter professionals, to be approved by ARB, who will serve as training material content providers and instructors.
For information regarding the Bidders’ Conference currently scheduled for September 22, 2011 and related bid documents that set out the requirements in detail click here.