Specifications include, but are not limited to: Successful Respondent will provide the Board with Services on an as-needed, as-requested basis in a variety of matters requiring expertise in the laws, regulations and official guidance regarding federal and state securities, including disclosure requirements for issuers of municipal securities and FINRA and MSRB rules as they apply to municipal securities distributed by broker/dealers; contracts; intellectual property; and fiduciary responsibility. Other preferred areas of expertise include federal taxation and federal entitlements, including Social Security and Medicaid.; 1. Hourly Rates. The hourly rates for each partner/shareholder, of counsel, associate, paralegal, patent agent, and technical specialist working on Comptroller matters will be in accordance with the hourly rates or ranges as agreed between Comptroller and Outside Counsel. The hourly rate or rate range will remain unchanged during the Contract term. If a rate range is specified, an attorney may be moved within the range or reclassified no more often than once in each 12-month period, with the approval of Comptroller.; 2. Billable Time.; A. Comptroller will only pay for the services of attorneys, paralegals, patent agents, and technical specialists. All time must be billed in no more than one-tenth hour increments and must reflect only actual time spent. Block billing (where the description of legal services rendered is given without dates, attorney's time spent, etc.) will not be reimbursed. Formula or value billing (where billing is based on the result or value to the client rather than actual time spent) will not be reimbursed. Time entries must note the date performed, identify the legal professional performing the task, describe the task(s) completed, identify the program plan related to the work, show the time taken to complete each task, and state the applicable hourly rate for the individual performing the task. Tasks referencing correspondence and filings must describe the document received or authored. Comptroller expects to be billed for the actual time it takes to modify standardized forms, filings, and/or correspondence for use on the matter being billed. Comptroller will not reimburse Outside Counsel for the time it originally took to prepare or update any such standardized documents. Comptroller will not pay for review, execution, and processing of the Contract.; B. Comptroller will not pay for the education or training of attorneys, paralegals, patent agents, or technical specialists of Outside Counsel, including assigning such staff on a transient basis to a Comptroller matter. Each designated professional is expected to perform work of a type commensurate with his/her professional title. Without prior approval, Comptroller will not pay for more than one attorney or legal professional to perform any task. Comptroller will also not pay for duplicate review, analysis, or legal research of or on documents unless prior approval is obtained. Comptroller's view is that the most efficient use of attorney time is to maintain continuous contact with the file so that it is not necessary to review the file to become reacquainted with it. Thus, repeated time spent reviewing the file should not be necessary and will not be reimbursed.; C. To be paid under the Contract, billable hours related to extensive legal research must be pre-approved by Comptroller’s Project Manager. A request to undertake legal research should provide Comptroller’s Project Manager with an estimate of either time or dollar amount to be expended. The need for legal research will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. In general, Comptroller should be paying Outside Counsel to apply their knowledge and expertise for which it was hired, not paying them to obtain that knowledge. However, Comptroller understands that situations arise that justify research on how best to proceed in order to achieve a desired result.; D. All billings for attendance at Comptroller meetings, whether in person or by telephone, must describe the attendees and purpose of the meeting and, if more than one Outside Counsel member is in attendance, a justification for multiple attendees from Outside Counsel. Outside Counsel will not be compensated for travel time.; E. Comptroller will not pay for law clerks, law interns, summer interns, or administrative staff, such as secretarial support, librarians, case clerks, and accounting and billing clerks, including, but not limited to, the following: overtime, file opening, file organization, docketing, and other administrative tasks; and preparation of billing, invoice review, budget preparation, and communications regarding same or any other accounting matter.; 3. Non-reimbursable Expenses. Comptroller expects Outside Counsel to anticipate and include expenses and disbursements as part of overhead and, therefore, part of the basic hourly rates. Accordingly, Comptroller will not reimburse Outside Counsel for: A. Office supplies; B. Local, long distance or cellular telephone charges; C. Local travel (within 20-mile radius of Outside Counsel’s office), including mileage, parking, and tolls; D. All delivery services incurred by internal staff, unless specific delivery services related directly to services provided; E. Air-conditioning; 4. Reimbursable Expenses. Comptroller will reimburse the actual cost for the following expenses: A. Pre-approved volume copying; B. Overnight courier charges and third-party courier services, with an explanation of the nature and purpose of the charge (i.e., why the task was not completed in a timely manner to permit reduced rates); and; C. Travel expenses as stated in the Contract.; All expenses not listed in this Paragraph 4 are considered included within the hourly rates of Outside Counsel unless such expenses are truly extraordinary and Comptroller's Project Manager has given advance approval before Outside Counsel incurs the expense.; 5. Personnel. The names of the attorneys expected to perform valuable services for Comptroller and the method and amount or rate of their compensation shall be specified in the Contract. Any replacement of Outside Counsel personnel listed in the Contract must be of equal or greater experience or skill as the person replaced. Such replacement is subject to Comptroller’s prior written approval. Outside counsel will also obtain prior written approval from Comptroller before subcontracting any services under a Contract.
