Financial Assessment Services Related to DesertXpress RRIF Loan Application

This is a notice of a proposed contract action. The Federal Railroad Administration intends to issue a competitive solicitation for a contractor to perform financial assessment services that will assist in determining the creditworthiness of the a loan applicant under FRA's "Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement Financing" (RRIF) loan program. The applicant, DesertXpress (a Nevada based consortium), has requested a $4.9 billion RRIF loan to finance construction of a High Speed Rail network to run from Victorville, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. The services to be provided by the contractor may include, but are not limited to one or more of the following: Evaluate the economic soundness of the project and creditworthiness of the applicant for credit assistance. This evaluation will include analyzing (1) the financial viability of the project, including the plan of finance (capitalization plan) and its assumptions; (2) the financial projections of the borrower and other relevant parties to the overall transaction; (3) the business plan including all projections for revenue, ridership studies, financial modeling, and assessment of future ability to meet all repayment obligations; (4) project risks, including reasonableness of the applicant's revenue and expense forecasts, validation of ridership studies, project schedule and project costs; and (5) cost/benefit analysis regarding the overall cost to the government versus the public benefits derived from the project. FRA anticipates issuance of the competitive solicitation on or before March 1, 2011. However, it is yet to be determined whether any type of set-aside shall be used. The NAICS Code for the desired services is 523930. Interested sources may submit (1) an expression of interest limited to 3 pages describing their qualifications, staffing capacity, and past experience performing projects of a like or similar nature and magnitude reflected above; and (2) a written request to be placed on the mailing list to be notified once the solicitation has been released. These should be submitted by email to [email protected] . No telephone requests for the solicitation package will be accepted, and no paper copies will be available.