BidNH Guidelines
(Amended 12/15/2008)

BidNH is an innovative and efficient means for investing in certificates of deposit. The program is designed to provide eligible New Hampshire financial institutions with the opportunity to interactively compete for State of New Hampshire investment dollars every quarter.

Bids will be accepted online at www.BidNH.com on the second Wednesday of every March, June, September and December for funding the next business day. The auctions will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 10:30 a.m. The New Hampshire State Treasurer will make funds available for 6-month certificates of deposit each quarter.

Registration and Entry to Auction

  • Bidders must register with BidNH. To register, bidders should go to the BidNH web site. Upon registering, bidders will receive a BidNH password and will be responsible for protecting the confidentiality of the password.
  • Registered bidders must request and receive admission to an auction to submit bids. The State Treasury reserves the right to deny access to any BidNH auction to any bidder, at any time and for any reason whatsoever, in its sole discretion.

New Hampshire Treasury Certificate of Deposit Limits

The New Hampshire Treasury must comply with New Hampshire statutes within RSA Chapter 6 with respect to the investment of state funds. Through internal policy, however, Treasury has instituted stricter investment limits for this auction process to include additional qualification limits as follows:

Community Reinvestment Act rating (per federal regulators): Satisfactory or Better
VERIBANC, Inc. ratings (most recently published):
     Color: Green
     Number of Stars: Two or More
Capital Classification by federal regulator: "Well"
Community Reinvestment Act rating (per federal regulators): Satisfactory or Better

Exceptions to these qualification limits, if any, will be based solely on the judgment of the State Treasurer.

A total certificate of deposit limit for each institution, including branches, subsidiaries and affiliates of the parent company, shall be established by the New Hampshire State Treasurer. Using the most recent financial data published by the FDIC, a parent institution will be allowed to receive State funds totaling ten percent (10%) of the institution's equity capital. These limits will be rounded to the nearest $100,000, with a minimum limit of $100,000 and a maximum limit of $5 million per auction. Such amount shall be an institution's "Approved Limit" for that auction and will be displayed on the Auction Page.

Bid Requirements

  • The minimum bid is $100,000 to a maximum of ten percent (10%) of the equity capital or $5 million per institution, including all branch offices and subsidiary and affiliates, per auction.
  • The minimum rate will be the most recent auction of 26-week U.S. Treasury Bills which will be displayed on the auction page prior to the auction. Bids below this minimum rate will not be accepted.
  • Multiple bids from the same bidder are permissible. Each bidder may make up to five bids, the total of which may not exceed ten percent (10%) of the institution's equity capital to a maximum of $5 million per auction. There is no limit as to the number of times a bid may be updated/ changed during the auction.
  • Settlement date is the next business day following the auction and will be displayed on the auction page.
  • Maturity date will be displayed on the auction page.
  • Collateral is not generally required to bid, although the New Hampshire State Treasurer reserves the right to require collateral if deemed necessary. Banks will be notified if collateral will be required following registration.
  • Winning bidders will be assessed a fee equal to 0.025% of the principal amount of the certificates of deposit awarded. Such fee will be payable to Grant Street Group by ACH debit two business days following the auction. Completion of the ACH Debit Authorization on the Confirmation Page represents the winning bidders's authorization for Grant Street Group to debit their account. Failure to make timely payments of the Grant Street Group fee will result in exclusion from subsequent auctions.
  • If qualified bids submitted in the same auction by the same or different bidders result in a tie, the first bid submitted prevails. Any change to a bid constitutes a new bid.
  • Winning bidders must confirm their award per the instructions on the Confirmation Page immediately after the auction ends.

Certificate of Deposit Requirements

  • Interest on the certificate of deposit will be calculated on a 360-day basis.
  • Certificates of Deposit will be book-entry in the name of State of New Hampshire.
  • The State Treasurer's instructions will be provided in a maturity notice sent via email to the financial institution prior to the maturity date of the certificates of deposit.
  • Financial institutions agree to incur all transaction costs.

Terror-Free Investment Representation

The New Hampshire State Treasury ("Treasury") condemns human rights violations and terrorism and acknowledges, as fiduciaries of State-owned funds, that our role and responsibility is to conform to and support the foreign, trade and national security policies of the United States government, as administered and enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury ("OFAC"). Treasury also assumes a responsibility to ensure that our banking and financial management business partners, with whom we deposit and invest state-owned funds, also conform to these federal laws and sanctions.

Treasury will therefore require representation from our banking and investment management partners participating in this CD auction that they are currently in compliance with the OFAC regulations regarding economic and trade sanctions and have internal policies, procedures and controls in place which are adequate to maintain such compliance.

For your reference purposes, federal laws and policies regarding economic and trade sanctions are directed at a continually updated list of countries, organizations and individuals that are identified and defined as follows:

  1. State Sponsors of Terrorism - countries whose governments have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. The updated list of countries and the applicable sanctions are available on the following OFAC website: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/
  2. Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons - individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries as well as individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." The list of SDN's is available on the following OFAC website: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/index.shtml
  3. Executive Orders from the President - executed to disrupt the financial support network of terrorists and terrorist organizations. The executive orders and other relevant documents can be viewed on the following website: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/publications/

For your convenience, we have included two definitions of commonly used OFAC terms:

  • Prohibited Transactions - Trade or financial transactions and other dealings in which U.S. persons may not engage unless authorized by OFAC or expressly exempted by federal statute. Because each program is based on different foreign policy and national security goals, prohibitions may vary between programs.
  • Person Subject to the Jurisdiction of the United States - The universe which must comply with OFAC regulations. It includes American citizens and permanent resident aliens wherever they are located; individuals and entities located in the United States (including all foreign branches, agencies, rep offices, etc.); corporations organized under U.S. law, including foreign branches; and (under TWEA based sanctions) entities owned or controlled by any of the above, the most important being foreign-organized subsidiaries of U.S. corporations.

More information regarding trade and economic sanctions may be viewed at http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/.

Additional Conditions

  • At the sole discretion of the State Treasurer any BidNH bid may be rejected for any reason. The State Treasurer also reserves the right to award a portion of a bank's bid subject to the minimum and multiple amounts described above.
  • Each bidder must acknowledge that he or she has read amendments to the Guidelines in each auction and indicate their agreement with the amendment electronically in order to enter the auction.
  • Submitted bids must also be verified. The bidder understands that in verifying the bid, the bidder has made a formal offer.
  • Bids that generate error messages are not accepted until the error is corrected and the bid is resubmitted. Error messages will indicate the reason for the error such as in the instance in which the bidder has entered a bid that is lower than the minimum bid requirement.
  • The bidder understands that the submitted bid may initially be a leading bid, but may be replaced by other more competitive bids throughout the auction. Bidders will know immediately if their bid continues to be a winning bid by updating their bids. A bid's status when "in the money" may change at any given time due to new bids by other bidders. It is the responsibility of the bidders to update their bid status. There is no limit to the number of times a bid may be updated.
  • A bidder submitting a winning bid is irrevocably obligated to provide the certificate of deposit at the specified rate, amount and maturity, if acceptable by the State Treasurer, as herein set forth. The bidder understands that an award has not been made until posted on the Results Page on the BidNH site. Discrepancies should be reported to Rachel Miller, Chief Deputy Treasurer, at 603-271-2073 within fifteen (15) minutes of the posting of the Results Page.
  • In the event of a BidNH web site failure, the auction will be attempted at the top of every hour the day of the scheduled auction between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. In the event that the auction is not completed on the scheduled day, the next attempt will be 10:00 a.m. the next business day. The State Treasurer will inform registered bidders of a change in the bidding format via phone, fax or e-mail.
Disclaimer

  • The Grant Street Group software, supplied by Grant Street Group, used in connection with this web site serves only as a medium through which the BidNH auctions are conducted. Grant Street Group is not liable or responsible for the terms, rates, collateral or any other condition by which financial institutions are awarded quarterly investments. Grant Street Group is not responsible for any defect or inaccuracy in the Guidelines as they appear on the BidNH web site.
  • Neither The State Treasurer nor Grant Street Group is responsible for technical difficulties that result in the loss of bidders's Internet connection with BidNH, slowness in transmission of bids or other technical problems. Neither the State Treasurer nor Grant Street Group is responsible for individual computer failures. In the event of a computer failure, bidders may contact Rachel Miller, Chief Deputy Treasurer, at 603-271-2073 for possible alternate bidding options.
  • This web site is provided "as is" without warranty whatsoever. Grant Street Group hereby disclaims any and all warranties; including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.
  • In no event will Grant Street Group be liable for indirect special, incidental, economic, cover, consequential, tort or other damages (including without limitation damages or costs relating to the loss of profits, business, goodwill, data or computer programs, even if advised of the possibility of such damages), without regard to the legal theory of such damages, arising out of the use of or inability to use this web site.

Acceptance of Guidelines

  • Bidder accepts and agrees to abide by all terms and conditions specified in the Guidelines.


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