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DNR has RFP out for AGIA monitoring
Petroleum News
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has a request for proposals out for a contractor to assist in monitoring TransCanada’s compliance with its Alaska Gasline Inducement Act license. AGIA was enacted in 2006 and in August 2008 the Alaska Legislature authorized Gov. Sarah Palin to award the AGIA license to TransCanada Alaska.
TransCanada committed to nearly two dozen “must-haves” in its AGIA application, ensuring that the project provides the most jobs for Alaskans, the most energy for Alaskans and the greatest amount of revenue to the state. TransCanada also provided a project plan and adherence to that project plan is required under terms of the AGIA license. In consideration for TransCanada’s commitments, the state will provide up to $500 million in matching funds, helping to reduce financial risks of the project in its early stages.
The RFP budget for the four years of work is $500,000. The state said that while the licensee has obligations extending over a number of years, those will be particularly significant during the project’s development phase.
The contractor selected will monitor TransCanada’s progress and compliance with its project plan as described in the AGIA application; ensure that requests for reimbursement expenses are consistent with the project plan and with applicable regulations; and provide analysis to the commissioners of DNR and Revenue on conformance to AGIA of any proposed changes to the project plan.
The contractor may also be called on to assist the commissioners with engineering analyses as necessary to evaluate possible changes to the project’s net present value or likelihood of success.
While the work will include visits to TransCanada’s offices in Calgary and Anchorage, the RFP requires that the services under the contract be performed in the United States.
Experience required The RFP lists a number of minimum experience requirements. The contractor must be a licensed professional engineer; have at least five years of pipeline project management or project peer review experience; have at least 10 years experience in pipeline construction or operations; have at least five years of Arctic or subarctic pipeline engineering experience; have at least five years experience performing project cost estimation or analysis; and have at least five years experience interpreting statutes, regulations and other authorities, “preferably related to natural gas activities in Alaska and Canada.”
Specifics of the work required include monitoring the licensee to review performance against schedule and budget. The state said monitoring visits are initially expected to occur monthly, but that frequency may be adjusted. The contractor will also monitor reports from TransCanada to assess progress and prepare regular monitoring reports documenting that status of expenditure reimbursement and relevant facts collected from reviews of TransCanada’s reports and activities.
The contractor will also perform due diligence review of documents supporting TransCanada’s requests for reimbursement.
In addition to work the contractor may be called upon to perform for the commissioners, the contractor may also be called upon to report to the Alaska Legislature on TransCanada’s progress and compliance with the project plan.
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