Climate Tech Finance Financial Consultant

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) seeks a financial consultant who will provide financial development support services for the Climate Tech Finance (CTF) Program including ongoing deal sourcing, deal development, and project management of CTF loan guarantees.

The Air District established the CTF Program in 2018 to scale up technologies that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This program provides financial and technical support to small businesses, entrepreneurs, and lenders to encourage commercialization of climate technologies. The program's overall goal is to accelerate climate technologies and practices that deliver measurable GHG reductions in the state of California. CTF helps entrepreneurs secure debt financing for equipment, project implementation, or working capital from lenders. The program encourages lenders to lend to climate entrepreneurs by offering a loan guarantee of up to 80% of the eligible loan amount. The loans can be up to $20 million, with a maximum guarantee of $5 million and up to seven years term. 

Through this Request for Proposals (RFP) process, the Air District anticipates entering into contract with one (1) firm to provide financial development support services to begin services in October 2026. The anticipated duration of the contract will be for a period of up to five (5) years. The Air District, at its sole discretion, will determine the initial duration of the contract and any subsequent extensions.

Background

The Air District is the government agency responsible for protecting air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Air District is tasked with regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southwestern Solano, and southern Sonoma counties. It is governed by a 24-member Board of Directors composed of locally elected officials from each of the nine counties. The Air District’s mission is to improve air quality to protect public health, reduce historical and current environmental inequities, and mitigate climate change and its impacts.

The Air District aims to achieve its mission through many strategic goals, including: reducing and eliminating health problems caused by air pollution, achieving and maintaining air quality standards, leading the Bay Area’s efforts to fight global climate change, creating high-quality regulatory programs, and applying environmental best practices in all operations. To do so, the Air District regulates air pollution emissions from stationary emission sources such as factories, refineries, and power plants, and from smaller facilities like gas stations and dry cleaners. The Air District ensures that such facilities comply with air pollution laws and regulations, provides incentives to replace older, higher-emitting vehicles and equipment with cleaner alternatives, and gives grants and provides outreach to encourage healthy clean air choices by businesses and consumers. The Air District implements these efforts with an equity focus, aiming to reduce air quality disparities and promote environmental justice by targeting local air pollution in overburdened communities.

Project Details

• Reference ID: 2026-007
• Department: Technology Implementation Office
• Department Head: Anthony Fournier (Officer)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-05-22T23:00:00.000Z
• Answers Posted By: 2026-05-29T01:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Expertise (30 pts) —

  Technical expertise, size and structure of the firm and personnel assigned to RFP tasks; firm’s ability to perform and complete the work in a professional and timely manner.

  Experience of the team working on projects of similar scope in assessing whether a company is bankable including credit analysis, financial modeling, and risk assessment. Experience in climate technology in key sectors.

  “Size and structure of firm” refers to the ability of a firm’s size to meet the needs of the District. It does not give absolute preference to larger or smaller firms.

• Approach (40 pts) —

  Responsiveness of the proposal, based upon a clear understanding of the work to be performed. Identify and vet bankable opportunities across California through proactive marketing and partnership development. Speed and thoroughness of responding to inquiries and requests.

• Cost (20 pts) —

  Cost or cost effectiveness and resource allocation strategy.

• References (10 pts) —

  Quality and applicability of references.

Submission Requirements

• Technical Proposal
• Cover Letter (required) —

  Include the name, address, and telephone number of the firm, and signed by the person(s) authorized to represent the firm.

• Contact Information (required) —

  Provide the following information about the firm:

  • Address and telephone number of office nearest to San Francisco, California and the address and phone number of the office that each of the proposed staff members are based out of if different
  • Name of firm’s representative designated as the contact and email address
  • Name of project manager, if different from the individual designated as the contact
• Summary (required) —

  State overall approach to Climate Tech Finance Financial Consultant, including the objectives and scope of work.

• Experience and Qualifications (required) —

  Provide a statement of your firm’s background and experience in delivering similar services to governmental organizations, if any. Describe the firm’s technical capabilities, specifically highlighting expertise in climate technology and innovation across the energy, mobility, buildings, agriculture, and circularity sectors. Please also detail any experience working within the framework of environmental regulations.

• References (required) —

  Provide a minimum of three (3) references of other, similar projects including company name or government entity, contact name, title, phone number and e-mail address for all references listed. For each reference, include a description of services provided and dates the services were provided.

• Project Approach and Methodology (required) —

  Provide a detailed description of the approach and methodology to be used to accomplish the scope of work.

• Project Schedule (required) —

  Provide projected milestones or benchmarks for completing the project within the total time allowed.

• Project Organization (required) —

  Describe the proposed management structure, program monitoring procedures, and organization of the proposed team. Provide a statement addressing your firm’s ability and willingness to commit and maintain staffing to successfully conclude the project on the proposed project schedule.

• Assigned Personnel (required) —

  Provide the following information about the staff to be assigned to the project:

  • List all key personnel assigned to the project by level and name. Provide a description of their background, along with a summary of their experience in providing similar services for governmental agencies, and any specialized expertise they may have. Background descriptions can be a resume, curriculum vitae, or summary sheet. Substitution of project manager or staff will not be permitted without prior written approval of the Air District’s assigned program manager.
  • Provide a statement of the availability of staff in any local office with requisite qualifications and experience to conduct the requested project.
  • Provide a statement of education and training programs provided to, or required of, the staff identified for participation in the project. Make particular mention of, with reference to, experience dealing with governmental agencies, procedures, and environmental regulations.
• Retention of Working Papers (required) —

  All working papers are the property of the Air District. Proposer hereby acknowledges that if Proposer's firm is awarded the contract, firm will retain project related papers and related reports for a minimum of five (5) years.

• Subcontractors (required) —

  List any subcontractors that will be used and be sure to provide the following for each subcontractor:

  • Subcontractor Name
  • Work to be performed by Subcontractor
  • Total number of hours or percentage of time subcontractor will spend on the contract.
• Conflict of Interest (required) —

  Address possible conflicts of interest with other clients affected by contractors’ actions performed by the firm on behalf of the Air District. The Air District recognizes that prospective bidders may have contracts to perform similar services for other clients. Include a complete list of such clients for the past three (3) years with the type of work performed and the total number of years performing such tasks for each client. The Air District reserves the right to consider the nature and extent of such work in evaluating the proposal.

• GenAI Use and Reporting (required) —

  “Generative AI (GenAI)” means an artificial intelligence system that can generate derived synthetic content, including text, images, video, and audio that emulates the structure and characteristics of the system's training data (Gov. Code § 11549.64.). Proposers must include a statement disclosing:

  • Whether GenAI was used in the preparation of the proposal submission; and
  • Whether GenAI is anticipated to be used in the performance of any work under the resulting contract.

  If GenAI will be used during contract performance, the proposal must include a brief description of its use.

  If awarded a contract, all work performed must comply with applicable state, federal, and local laws and regulations, including any restrictions or disclosure requirements related to the use of GenAI.

• Self-Certification for Local Business or Green Business —

  If applicable, include a statement self-certifying that your firm qualifies as a local business and/or certified green business. “Local business” means that a firm’s headquarters is located within the nine counties of the Air District’s jurisdiction. A green business must be certified by a government agency or independent private rating organization.

• Cost Proposal
• Cost Proposal and Fees (required) —

  Upload your cost proposal and list of fees here. Please provide the firm’s fixed monthly fee structure. The Air District has established an all-inclusive annual budget of up to $108,000, plus future annual CPI adjustments, for this project.

  If submitting alternative cost proposals, please be sure to include the following:

  • List the fully-burdened hourly rates and the total number of hours estimated for each level of professional and administrative staff to be used to perform the tasks required by this RFP. In addition, costs should be estimated for each of the components of the Scope of Work.
  • List of anticipated reimbursable expenses, such as expenses for travel, presentation materials, supplies, deliveries, black/white and color printouts and copies, faxes, photo scans, copywriting and copyediting services and the rate charged for each.
  • Any other fees or charges.
• Submittal Confirmation
• Additional Information (if needed) —

  For any additional information requested or required by any of your previously provided answers or as stated within this RFP please upload the additional documentation here.

  This includes any other essential data that may assist in the evaluation of your proposal.

  NOTE: DO NOT INCLUDE ANY COST INFORMATION HERE

• Submittal Confirmation (required) —

  Proposer hereby certifies that all information provided within this proposal is accurate to the best of their knowledge. Proposer acknowledges that they have examined and carefully studied all Contract Documents and any Addenda and that they have provided any necessary proof of their authority to submit a proposal on behalf of the Company Name stated on the proposal thereby committing the Company to the information contained within.

• Brief Description of Services (required) —

  Briefly describe the services within which you are looking for qualified service providers.

  Provide your response in a format as if filling in the highlighted blank of the statement below:

  The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (“Air District”) seeks proposals from qualified firms to provide _____________________.

• Budget? (required) —

  Has the Air District established a budget for this project?

• Budget Amount (required) —

  What is the established budget amount for this project?

  NOTE: Please input just the number. Do not type the "$"

• Local/Green Business (required) —

  Is local/green business criteria applicable to this RFP?

• Technical Proposal Format (required) —

  Select all pieces of the technical proposal that you wish to require. You will be given the ability to modify existing requirements and add any additional requirements as necessary for this individual RFP by updating the Proposal Format, Content, and Submittal (Vendor Questionnaire) section.

• Cost Proposal Format (required) —

  Do you wish to utilize the electronic pricing table available within OpenGov Procurement? Do you wish to obtain a full breakdown of fees and other costs submitted by Proposers within the Vendor Questionnaire? You may choose to use both if you wish.

  An example of when you may wish to use both is to obtain consistent pricing for a project through the electronic pricing table for an easier evaluation process but you may also wish to receive a more in depth breakdown via an uploaded file as well.

• Evaluation Criteria (required) —

  Select the evaluation criteria that you will be applying to the review and scoring of the proposals received in response to this RFP. The evaluation committee will be scoring all criteria that you select here and any additional criteria you add to this individual RFP. You may add additional criteria and modify the options for these later in the creation process.

• Applicable Contract? (required) —

  Which contract type is the applicable type that will be awarded as a result of this RFP?