Through this Request for Proposals (“RFP”), Lake County is seeking a Program Administrator (“PA”) to provide services in developing, launching, and operating a Property Assessed Clean Energy (“PACE”) program. The PACE program must meet all requirements included in 50 ILCS 50/1 et seq., which authorizes local governments in Illinois to develop and administer PACE programs.

Lake County (“the County”) intends to issue bonds to provide the source of capital for PACE projects. As per the requirements of 50 ILCS 50/1 et seq., any bonds issued for PACE projects will not be General Obligation bonds, but the bonds will rather be secured by payments of assessments on benefitted properties (properties). Bonds may be issued on a pooled basis for multiple projects, or may provide single-issue bonds on a project-by-project basis. The program is envisioned to allow flexibility depending on the number and size of projects, as well as market conditions.

The authorization for establishing a PACE program is contingent upon final approval by the Lake County Board.

Lake County reserves the right to modify its PACE program in order to maintain compliance with the Illinois PACE Act as well as to create consistency or align with other local governments in the State of Illinois that may authorize PACE programs. Further, Lake County may update the program to make revisions when the program is not producing the results sought by the Lake County PACE executive steering committee in comparison with similar markets, and/or after six months after review for effectiveness. By submitting a proposal, the Proposer agrees to negotiate any revisions to the PACE program in good faith with Lake County.