Request for Qualifications for Underwriter Services

KATHY HOCHUL RUTHANNE VISNAUSKAS
Governor Commissioner/CEO
Solicitation Issuance Date: August 27, 2026
Proposal Submission Date: September 27, 2026
Solicitation Number: HCR-RFQ-260827US
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, NY 10022
www.hcr.ny.gov
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Table of Contents:
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 5
1.1 New York State Housing Finance Agency ............................................................... 5
1.2 State of New York Mortgage Agency....................................................................... 5
1.3 State of New York Municipal Bond Bank Agency ..................................................... 5
1.4 Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation ........................................................... 6
2 Purpose..................................................................................................................................... 6
3 Calendar of Events and Milestones ....................................................................................... 7
4 Minimum Requirements Section ........................................................................................... 8
4.1 Senior Managing and Co-Managing Underwriters PQL Requirements ...................... 8
4.2 Selling Group Members List Requirements ............................................................ 8
5 Scope of Services ("Scope of Work") .................................................................................... 9
5.1 General Scope of Services (Scope of Work) for Tier 1 Senior Managing Underwriters 9
5.2 General Scope of Services for Tier 2 Co-Managing Underwriters ........................... 10
5.3 Engagement Requirements ................................................................................ 10
6 Terms of Engagement ........................................................................................................... 11
7 Diversity and SDVOB Requirements .................................................................................. 11
7.1 Minority and/or Women Owned Business Enterprise Participation ......................... 12
7.2 Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise Participation ..................... 12
8 Proposal Submission Requirements and Instructions ....................................................... 12
8.1 Proposal Redactions - Freedom of Information Law / Trade Secrets ...................... 13
9 Contents of Proposal ............................................................................................................. 15
9.1 TAB 1: Proposal Coversheet, Cover Letter and Proposal Certification ..................... 15
9.1.1 Proposal Coversheet ................................................................................... 15
9.1.2 Proposal Cover Letter .................................................................................. 15
9.1.3 Proposal Certification .................................................................................. 16
9.2 TAB 2: Technical Proposal .................................................................................... 16
9.1.1 TAB 2-A ...................................................................................................... 17
9.1.2 TAB 2-B ...................................................................................................... 17
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9.3 TAB 4: Administrative Proposal .......................................................................... 17
9.3.1 Insurance Requirements .............................................................................. 17
9.3.2 Financial Responsibility ............................................................................... 18
9.3.3 Licenses, Certifications and Other Credentials .............................................. 18
9.4 TAB 5: EEO, Diversity and SDVOB Proposal ............................................................ 18
10 Evaluation of Proposals and Selection Process .................................................................. 18
10.1 Evaluation and Criteria for Selection ................................................................... 19
10.2 Scoring of Written Proposals .............................................................................. 19
10.3 Interviews ......................................................................................................... 20
10.4 Selection and Notification Process ..................................................................... 20
10.5 Annual Recertification Process ........................................................................... 21
11 Amendments and Addenda .................................................................................................. 21
12 Questions and Answers ......................................................................................................... 22
13 Exhibits, Appendixes and Attachments............................................................................... 22
Attachment I .................................................................................................................................. 24
Attachment II ................................................................................................................................ 26
Attachment III ............................................................................................................................... 27
Attachment IV ............................................................................................................................... 30
Attachment V ................................................................................................................................ 32
Attachment VI ............................................................................................................................... 33
- REMAINDER OF THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY-
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IMPORTANT NOTICE: A Restricted Period, pursuant to New York State Finance Law 139j
and 139k (the "Procurement Lobbying Law") is in effect for this procurement and will remain
in effect until approval of the Contract(s). During the Restricted Period, Proposers may not make
"Contacts," as defined in State Finance Law 139j(1)(c), 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 any of their
Affiliates1, except for 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 qualifications or would like to contact HFA,
SONYMA, MBBA or TSFC, regarding issues not relating to prohibited Procurement Lobbying
Law Contacts, please forward inquiries via email to contractunitinfo@hcr.ny.gov. The subject line
of the email should indicate "Underwriters Services".
Further information regarding the Agencies' Lobbying Procurement Law policies is available in the
Agencies' Standard Clauses and Requirements for Solicitations, provided as Exhibit A.
[1]
Affiliates 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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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" or "NYS"), including 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"). HCR includes
other agencies (i.e., Affiliates) not directly involved in this Solicitation process.
1.1 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.
Since 2020, HFA has been one of the nation's primary issuers of municipal bonds for affordable
housing, issuing more than $8.51 billion to finance over 30,000 housing units. As of fiscal year
October 31, 2025, more than $7 billion remain outstanding under the Affordable Housing Revenue
Bond Resolution.
1.2 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 ("HMRB") Resolution and
(ii) Mortgage Revenue Bond ("MRB") Resolution. The Agency is the only State issuer of single-
family housing bonds. Since 2020, the Agency has issued more than $2.26 billion in bonds and
funded over 9,588 mortgages. As of the fiscal year October 31, 2025, more than $31.6 billion in
bonds remain outstanding under the Homeowner Mortgage Revenue Bond Resolution and
approximately $126 million in bonds outstanding under the Mortgage Revenue Bond Resolution.
Together with HFA, the two agencies combined were one of the top three largest housing issuers in
the nation last year.
1.3 State of New York Municipal Bond Bank Agency
The State of New York Municipal Bond Bank Agency provides access to the capital markets for
special programs and purposes that benefit the municipalities of the State of New York. MBBA
was created in 1972 to help municipalities gain access to the capital markets. The Agency has the
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authority to issue bonds and use the proceeds to purchase bonds and notes issued by local
governments to finance public improvements.
In its 54-year history, MBBA has issued bonds for various projects and purposes consistent with its
mission including Build America Bonds and bonds on behalf of the City of New York and the City
of Buffalo.
1.4 Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation
The Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation was created in 2003 as a subsidiary of MBBA and
monetizes the State's Tobacco Settlement Revenues. Pursuant to the Tobacco Settlement Financing
Corporation Act, TSFC was authorized to issue bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to
exceed $4,200,000,000 (excluding costs of issuance and refunding bonds). TSFC's authority to
issue bonds, other than refunding bonds, expired on June 30, 2004. TSFC used its total new money
bond authority through bond issuances in 2003. Since then, it has issued refunding bonds in 2008,
2011 and 2013. TSFC has no bonds outstanding.
2 Purpose
The Agencies are issuing this Request for Qualifications ("RFQ") to solicit proposals from
qualified firms ("Firms" or "Proposers"), registered with the Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC"), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") and/or the Municipal
Securities Rulemaking Board ("MSRB"), as the basis of establishing Prequalified Panels ("PQLs")
of Senior Managing Underwriters and Co-Managing Underwriters (collectively "Underwriters")
as well as a list of Selling Group Members ("List"), in connection with the sale and issuance of the
Agencies' bonds. Through this RFQ process, the Agencies intend to select multiple qualified Firms
for inclusion on the PQL of Underwriters and to establish a corresponding list of Selling Group
Members.
Senior Managing Underwriters ("Tier 1") lead the underwriting syndicate and are responsible for
coordinating the underwriting process, which may include structuring and pricing the bonds,
marketing the offering, managing the order book and allocations, coordinating investor outreach
and executing the bond transaction. Co-Managing Underwriters ("Tier 2") are members of the
underwriting syndicate that support the Senior Managing Underwriters in marketing, distribution,
investor outreach and execution of the bond offering. The Selling Group Members ("Tier 3")
support the underwriting syndicate by distributing bonds to investors without assuming
underwriting responsibilities, duties, or risk as set forth in the scope of services. Firms can submit
proposals to be considered for either one or both of the PQLs. Any Firm placed on a PQL receives
automatic inclusion on the Selling Group Member list. Firms can also submit solely for the Selling
Group Members list. All responding firms must meet the minimum requirements for PQLs and the
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Selling Group Member list as outlined in Section 4 of this Solicitation. Proposals must be submitted
for all Agencies (HFA, SONYMA, MBBA and TSFC) collectively. The Agencies expect to sell
numerous bond issues to fund HFA's Affordable Housing Revenue Bond program and stand-alone
multifamily housing finance program as well as SONYMA's Single Family program. Additional
bond issues may be sold from time to time by the MBBA and the TSFC.
The Agencies may add new qualified Firms to the Selling Group Member list and may elevate Firms
from CoManaging Underwriters to Senior Managing Underwriters only through the annual
recertification process, consistent with the structured PQL Annual Recertification Process.
This Solicitation seeks to replace, not supplement, the Agencies' Prequalified Panel(s) for Senior
Managing Underwriters and Co-Managing Underwriters. Accordingly, firms on any existing
Senior Managing or Co-Managing Prequalified Panels must respond to this Solicitation if they
would like to continue to be Prequalified. Issuance of this Solicitation will not affect any existing
engagements already entered into by the Agencies and any firm on the Agencies' current
Prequalified Panel of Underwriters relating to one or more of the Agencies' initiatives.
3 Calendar of Events and Milestones
It is anticipated that a Contract will be awarded in response to this Solicitation process based on the
following schedule:
Event Date
August 27th, 2026 (4:00 pm Eastern Daylight
Issuance of Solicitation
Time)
Deadline for Solicitation Question September 4th, 2026 (4:00 pm Eastern
Submission Daylight Time)
Deadline for Response to Solicitation September 14th, 2026 (4:00 pm Eastern
Question Daylight Time)
September 28th, 2026 (4:00 pm Eastern
Deadline for Proposal Submission
Daylight Time)
Interviews / Demonstrations / Walk Throughs To Be Determined
Anticipated Notification of Selection October 24th, 2026
Anticipated Date for Execution of the
December 24th, 2026
Contract(s) *
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*Subject to the approval of the Agencies' Boards of Directors ("Boards").
The Agency reserves the right to modify this schedule at its discretion.
Notification of changes in connection with this Solicitation will be made available to all interested
parties via the Agency's website at: https://hcr.ny.gov/procurement-opportunities. It is the
responsibility of the Proposer to check the web site for notifications relating to this Solicitation.
4 Minimum Requirements Section
The minimum requirements for proposers applying to the Senior Managing Underwriters and / or
Co-Managing Underwriters PQLs as well as any proposer being added to Selling Group Members
list are listed within this section:
4.1 Senior Managing and Co-Managing Underwriters PQL Requirements
Firms who wish to serve as Tier 1 Senior Managing Underwriters and / or Tier 2 Co-Managing
Underwriters must:
1) complete the Solicitation Proposal Coversheet, provided as Attachment I;
2) be registered with SEC and FINRA and/or the MSRB (must provide registration numbers);
3) must provide proof of a physical office in the State of New York; AND
4) submit a proposal that meets the requirements in Sections 8 and 9 of this Solicitation,
including Tab 2-A and/or Tab 2-B, as applicable.
4.2 Selling Group Members List Requirements
Firms who wish to serve as Tier 3 Selling Group Members must:
1) complete the Solicitation Proposal Coversheet, provided as Attachment I;
2) be registered with SEC and FINRA and/or the MSRB (must provide registration numbers);
3) must provide proof of a physical office in the State of New York; AND
4) submit a proposal that meets the requirements in Sections 8 and 9 of this Solicitation, but
Technical proposals (Tab 2) are not required to be submitted.
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The Agencies may add new qualified Firms to the Selling Group Members list and may elevate
Firms from CoManaging Underwriters to Senior Managing Underwriters only through the annual
recertification process, consistent with the structured PQL Annual Recertification Process.
5 Scope of Services ("Scope of Work")
5.1 General Scope of Services (Scope of Work) for Tier 1 Senior Managing
Underwriters
The overall responsibilities of the Agencies' Senior Managing Underwriters shall include:
1) providing the most cost-effective pricing and marketing of the Agencies' bonds at the lowest
interest rates possible and the distribution of such bonds;
2) identifying new strategies and initiatives as well as ideas which could be utilized by the
Agencies to enhance the Agencies' operations and the performance of the Agencies'
programs;
3) identifying refunding opportunities for the Agencies to reduce interest costs on their
respective portfolios;
4) review and advise on bond structure, size of the bond issues, programmatic cash flows and
individual transaction cash flows for the Agencies' programs;
5) prepare market commentary, Net Interest Cost / True Interest Cost / Weighted Average
Maturity ("NIC/TIC/WAM") calculations, financing schedules and calendars of events;
6) prepare pricing memos to discuss marketing conditions (including comparables) and
preliminary pricing scales, syndicate rules, syndicate price views, pricing progression
(including subscription levels and unsold balances) and marketing compensation prior to
pricing;
7) manage the underwriting process and provide advice on market timing and investor demand;
8) conduct bond sale conference calls and coordinate information with the syndicate group;
9) commit capital as required in underwriting the Agencies' bonds;
10) provide post-closing analysis of debt issuances including pricing, orders, allotments,
subscription levels, designations;
11) provide support for the Agencies' bonds in the secondary market;
12) as remarketing agent, provide weekly/daily reset rates;
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13) undertake certain market-related analysis of various financial products, as may be requested
by the Agencies;
14) coordinate information meetings with institutional investors, credit analysts, financial
advisors and other public presentations, as may be requested by the Agencies;
15) assist the Agencies in expanding its investor base, including growing impact and
Community Reinvestment Act Investors;
16) prepare "Roadshows" relating to bond offerings;
17) participate in discussions with the Agencies upon the occurrence of unexpected events, such
as the dislocation or disruption in the credit and liquidity markets generally or in particular
sectors of any market that may adversely affect the Agencies' bonds, and assist the Agencies
in developing strategic and tactical responses;
18) provide balance sheet, including direct purchase, Standby Purchase Agreements ("SBPAs"),
Letters of Credit ("LOCs,") or other credit instrumentalities; and
19) provide a commitment to assist Agencies meeting their missioned based goals through
social, economic, environmental and operational outcomes including working with
Agencies on their disclosure document and practices.
5.2 General Scope of Services for Tier 2 Co-Managing Underwriters
The overall responsibilities of the Agencies' Co-Managing Underwriters shall include (unless
otherwise provided):
1) assist in marketing and distribution of bonds;
2) commit capital as required in underwriting the Agencies' bonds;
3) provide support for the bonds in the secondary market; and
4) perform other services as requested by the Agencies from time to time.
5.3 Engagement Requirements
1) Underwriting Partnerships
At the direction of the Agencies, the firm must be willing to partner with other firms,
including Minority-and/or Women-owned Business Enterprises ("MWBEs") and Service-
Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses ("SDVOBs").
2) Financial Information
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