Request for Proposals for Legal Services for Municipal Finance Transactions
| Agency: | State Government of New York |
|---|---|
| State: | New York |
| Type of Government: | State & Local |
| NAICS Category: |
|
| Posted Date: | Feb 6, 2026 |
| Due Date: | Mar 20, 2026 |
| Original Source: | Please Login to View Page |
| Contact information: | Please Login to View Page |
| Bid Documents: | Please Login to View Page |
Request for Proposals for Legal Services for Municipal Finance Transactions
Attachment Preview
Kathy Hochul, Governor
RuthAnne Visnauskas, Commissioner/CEO
Request for Proposals
for
Legal Services for Municipal Finance
Transactions
Issuance Date:
Submission Deadline:
February 5, 2026
March 20, 2026, 12pm, EDT
Number: HCR-RFP-260205
NEW YORK STATE HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
STATE OF NEW YORK MORTGAGE AGENCY
STATE OF NEW YORK MUNICIPAL BOND BANK AGENCY
TOBACCO SETTLEMENT FINANCING CORPORATION
641 LEXINGTON AVENUE ▪ NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10022
www.nycr.org
NEW YORK STATE HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
STATE OF NEW YORK MORTGAGE AGENCY
STATE OF NEW YORK MUNICIPAL BOND BANK AGENCY
TOBACCO SETTLEMENT FINANCING CORPORATION
641 LEXINGTON AVENUE ▪ NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10022
www.nyshcr.org
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................2
1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................4
2. Purpose ...............................................................................................................................4
3. Overview of the Agencies....................................................................................................4
3.1 New York State Housing Finance Agency ....................................................................5
3.2 State of New York Mortgage Agency ...........................................................................5
3.3 State of New York Municipal Bond Bank Agency .......................................................5
3.4 Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation ..................................................................5
4. Assessment of Practices relating to Diversity and Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business
Enterprises (“SDVOBs”).............................................................................................................6
4.1 Minority and/or Women Owned Business Enterprise Participation ...............................6
4.2 Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise Participation: ............................6
4.3 MWBE and SDVOB Partner/Subcontractor Interest: ....................................................7
5. Calendar of Events and Milestones ......................................................................................7
6. Scope of Services (“Scope of Work”) ..................................................................................8
6.1 General Scope of Services ............................................................................................8
6.3 Disclosure Counsel and Co-Disclosure Counsel Services..............................................9
7. Questions and Answers...................................................................................................10
8. Amendments and Addenda ................................................................................................11
9. Contract.............................................................................................................................11
10. Proposal Requirements ...................................................................................................12
11. Contents of Proposals .....................................................................................................12
11.1 TAB 1: Proposal Coversheet, Cover Letter and Proposal Certification ........................13
11.2 TAB 2: Technical Proposal.........................................................................................14
11.2.1 Overview and Experience.................................................................................14
11.3 TAB 3: Cost Proposal .................................................................................................16
11.4 TAB 4: Administrative Proposal.................................................................................17
11.4.1 Insurance Requirements...................................................................................17
11.4.2 Financial Capacity............................................................................................17
11.4.3 Licenses, Certifications and other Credentials...................................................17
11.5 TAB 5: Diversity, SDVOB and Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) Proposal ...17
12. Proposal Submission Requirements ................................................................................18
13. Evaluation of Proposals ..................................................................................................19
13.1 Preliminary Review ....................................................................................................19
13.2 The Evaluation and Criteria for Selection ...................................................................19
13.2 Scoring of Written Proposals ......................................................................................19
13.2.1 Technical Proposal Evaluation – 70 Points .......................................................19
13.2.2 Cost Proposal – 20 Points .................................................................................20
13.2.3 MWBE Scoring – 10 Points..............................................................................20
13.3 Interviews...................................................................................................................20
13.4 Selection and Notification Process ..............................................................................20
Proposal Checklist.................................................................................................................21
Exhibits, Appendices, Schedules and Attachments ................................................................21
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NEW YORK STATE HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
STATE OF NEW YORK MORTGAGE AGENCY
STATE OF NEW YORK MUNICIPAL BOND BANK AGENCY
TOBACCO SETTLEMENT FINANCING CORPORATION
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
FOR
LEGAL SERVICES
IN CONNECTION WITH MUNICIPAL FINANCE TRANSACTIONS (i.e.,
Bond Counsel Services and/or Disclosure Counsel Services)
IMPORTANT NOTICE: A Restricted Period under the Lobbying Procurement Law is currently
in effect for this procurement process and will remain in effect until approval of the Contract(s).
Proposers are prohibited from Contacts related to this procurement process with any employee of
the New York State Housing Finance Agency (“HFA”), State of New York Mortgage Agency
(“SONYMA”), State of New York Municipal Bond Bank Agency (“MBBA”) and Tobacco
Settlement Financing Corporation (“TSFC”) (individually or collectively “Agency” or
“Agencies”) or its Affiliates1, other than the Designated Contact Officer listed below.
Lobbying Law Designated Contact Officer:
Kathryn Mazzeo, Associate Counsel
New York State Homes & Community Renewal
38-40 State Street
Albany, NY 12207
Kathryn.Mazzeo@hcr.ny.gov
If you have inquiries regarding this request for proposal or would like to contact the Agencies
regarding issues not relating to Lobbying Procurement Law Contacts, please forward inquiries via
electronic email to contractunitinfo@hcr.ny.gov. The subject line of the email should indicate
“2026 Municipal Finance Legal Services RFP.”
1Affiliates shall mean the other agencies comprising New York State Homes and Community Renewal being the
Housing Trust Fund Corporation, New York State Affordable Housing Corporation and New York State Division
of Housing and Community Renewal.
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Further information regarding the Agencies’ Lobbying Procurement Law policies is available in
the Agencies’ Standard Clauses and Requirements for Solicitations, hyperlinked herein as Exhibit
A.
1. Introduction
New York State Homes and Community Renewal (“HCR”) consists of all the major housing and
community renewal agencies of the State of New York (“State”), including HFA, SONYMA,
MBBA and TSFC. HCR includes other agencies (“Affiliates”) not involved in this request for
proposals (“RFP”) process.
2. Purpose
The Agencies are seeking proposals from qualified law firms (“Firms” or “Proposers”) (“Firms”
or “Proposers”) in the State as the basis of re-establishing prequalified lists (“PQLs”) to serve as
potential bond counsel and/or disclosure counsel (“Legal Services”) to one or more of the
Agencies for various issues of bonds, notes, obligations, and other municipal finance matters.
Using the PQLs, the Agency may select one or more firms to serve as lead bond counsel and/or
co-bond counsel (collectively, “Bond Counsel”), in addition to a lead disclosure counsel and/or
co-disclosure counsel (collectively, “Disclosure Counsel”), on an as-needed basis for its
issuances. MWBEs and SDVOBs are encouraged to apply. The Agencies will make a
determination during the evaluation process of proposals whether an MWBE and/or SDVOB
applicant has the qualifications and experience to serve as (i) lead bond counsel and/or disclosure
counsel; or (ii) co-bond counsel/co-disclosure counsel.
This solicitation seeks to replace, not supplement, the Agencies’ PQLs for Legal Services
(excluding PQLs that pertain to legal services other than municipal finance matters). Accordingly,
firms on any existing Bond Counsel and/or Disclosure Counsel PQL must, if they wish to continue
to be pre-qualified, respond to this RFP. Proposals may be submitted separately for HFA,
SONYMA, MBBA or TSFC programs or may be submitted for all the Agencies collectively.
3. Overview of the Agencies
The Agencies are public benefit corporations of the State of New York, co-located and co-
administered from their New York City (“NYC”) office.
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The Agencies actively participate in the issuance of their respective bonds and the Agency staff
supervises each step of the financing process.
More detailed information relating to the Agencies and their respective programs may be found at
the Agencies’ website, hyperlinked herein.
3.1 New York State Housing Finance Agency
The New York State Housing Finance Agency is a public benefit corporation created in 1960 to
finance low- and moderate-income rental housing. HFA issues taxable and tax-exempt bonds to
provide mortgage loans to developers of affordable multifamily rental housing. HFA’s mission is
to create and preserve high quality affordable multifamily rental housing that serves communities
across the State of New York. Today, HFA is one of the nation’s most prolific issuers of
multifamily housing bonds.
3.2 State of New York Mortgage Agency
The State of New York Mortgage Agency is a public benefit corporation, created in 1970, to
provide single-family homeownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income New Yorkers.
The Agency funds its mortgage lending activities through the issuance of taxable and tax-exempt
bonds under two resolutions: (i) The Homeowner Mortgage Revenue Bond Resolution and (ii)
Mortgage Revenue Bond Resolution. The Agency is the only State issuer of single-family housing
bonds. In 2025, the Agency issued over $385 million in bonds and funded over 1,384 mortgages.
Together with HFA, the two agencies combined were one of the top four largest housing issuers
in the nation last year.
3.3 State of New York Municipal Bond Bank Agency
The State of New York Municipal Bond Bank Agency was created in 1972 as a public benefit
corporation to help municipalities gain access to the capital markets. MBBA has the authority to
issue bonds and use the proceeds to purchase bonds and notes issued by local governments to
finance public improvements.
3.4 Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation
The Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation, created in 2003 as a subsidiary of MBBA, to
purchase all or a portion of New York State’s share of the Tobacco Settlement Revenues. TSFC
has no bonds outstanding.
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This page summarizes the opportunity, including an overview and a preview of the attached documents.
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