Department of Energy, Oakland Operations Office, 1301 Clay Street, Room 700N, Oakland, CA 94612-5208

X -- CHECKS PAID-METHOD OF LETTER OF CREDIT FINANCING SOL DE-RP03-95SF20792 DUE 091495 POC Gloria Castro, Contract Specialist, (510) 637-1872, Ronna Promani, Contracting Officer, (510) 637-1874 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Oakland Operations Office, is soliciting proposals from interested commercial financial institutions to provide financial services for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) by means of a ''Special Demand Deposit Account'' for use in conjunction with the ''Checks-Paid Method of Letter of Credit Financing'' used by DOE. LBNL is managed and operated for DOE by the University of California. Administration of the resulting banking agreement will be handled by the DOE Oakland Operations Office, Finance and Accounting Division. The ''letter of credit'' is an advance financing method utilized by the Federal Government for financing grants, contracts, and other programs. The ''checks-paid method'' is a modification of the letter of credit whereby the recipient (LBNL) issues checks for program costs. The commercial financial institution (bank) will total the checks presented for collection and draw funds from Treasury's Account represented by the letter of credit at the servicing Federal Reserve Bank or Branch. The drawdown should be sufficient to maintain the daily account balance as close to zero as administratively possible without the necessity of a float. Normally, the amount of the draw will be the total of the checks cleared net of the recipient's miscellaneous deposits made by the commercial bank's cutoff time. The estimated volume is $300 million per year involving an estimated 100,000 transactions. To be eligible for an award, the bank must reside within the continental United States and maintain an account with the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as meet other requirements specified in the solicitation. The bank will be required to establish a special demand deposit account with controlled disbursement subaccounts for payroll and accounts payable. In addition to complying with applicable state laws and regulations concerning payroll processing and disbursements, the bank will be required to maintain a relationship with a branch or bank in the San Francisco Bay Area in order to provide local payroll check cashing services. The bank will be compensated to cover the cost of servicing the accounts using rates established for specific services as agreed to by all parties. The solicitation is scheduled to be issued on or about 8/14/95. Proposals will be due thirty days from issuance of the solicitation. Prices are being solicited on a firm fixed price basis for a five year period. Letters of interest should include the financial institution's POC, address, phone number, and five self addressed mailing labels. (0202)

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