R850-22-300. Lease Application Process

1. The agency may issue leases competitively, non-competitively or enter into OBAs with qualified interest owners for the development of bituminous-asphaltic sands and oil shale resources.

(a) Competitive Bid Offering: when the agency designates leasing units for competitive bidding it shall award leases on the basis of the highest bonus bid per acre made by qualified application.

(i) Minimum Bonus Bid Amount: the minimum acceptable bonus bid for competitive bid offering for leasing units shall be not less than $1.00 per acre, or fractional acre thereof, which will constitute the (advance) rental for the first year of the lease.

(ii) Notice of Offering: notices of the offering of lands for competitive bid shall:

(A) run for a period of not less than fifteen (15) consecutive days after the notice is posted in the agency's office;

(B) describe the leasing unit;

(C) indicate the resource available for leasing; and

(D) state the last date on which bids may be received.

(iii) Opening of Bid Applications: bid applications shall be opened in the agency's office at 10 a.m. of the first business day following the last day on which bids may be received.

(iv) Content of Applications: each application shall be submitted in a sealed envelope which clearly identifies:

(A) the competitive bid;

(B) leasing unit number; and,

(C) the date of offering for which the bid is submitted.

(v) The application envelope must:

(A) describe only one leasing unit per application; and,

(B) contain one check for the application fee and a separate check for the amount of the bonus bid.

(vi) Withdrawal of Applications: applicants desiring to withdraw an application which has been filed under these competitive bid filing rules must submit a written request to the agency. If the request is received before sealed bids have been opened, all money tendered by the applicant, except the filing fee, shall be refunded. If a request is received after sealed bids have been opened, and if the applicant is awarded the bid, then unless the applicant accepts the offered lease, all money tendered shall be forfeited to the agency.

(vii) Non-Complying Applications: if the agency determines prior to lease issuance that an application did not comply with these rules at the time of bid opening, the application fee shall be retained by the agency and the application returned to the applicant without further consideration by the agency.

(viii) Identical Bids: in the case of identical successful bids, the agency may award the lease by public drawing or oral auction between the identical bidders, held at the agency's offices.

(b) Non-Competitive Leasing By Over-The-Counter Filing.

(i) The director may designate lands for non-competitive leasing by over-the-counter application if the lands have been offered in a competitive offering and have received no bids.

(ii) The minimum acceptable offer for over-the-counter applications to lease designated lands shall be not less than $1 per acre, or fractional acre thereof.

(iii) Applications for over-the-counter leases, when authorized, shall be filed on approved forms received from the office of the agency or as made available on its web site and delivered for filing in the main office of the agency during office hours. Except as provided, all over-the-counter applications received by personal delivery over the counter, are to be immediately stamped with the date and time of filing. All applications presented for filing at the opening of the office for business on any business day are stamped received as of 8 a.m., on that day. All applications received in the first delivery of the U.S. Mail of each business day are stamped received as of 8 a.m. on that day. The time indicated on the time stamp is deemed the time of filing unless the director determines that the application is materially deficient in any particular way. If an application is determined to be deficient, it will be returned to the applicant with a notice of the deficiency.

If an application is returned as deficient and is resubmitted in compliance with the rules within fifteen (15) days from the date of the determination of deficiency, it shall retain its original filing time.

If the application is resubmitted at any later time, it is deemed filed at the time of resubmission.

(iv) Where two or more applications for the same lease contain identical bids and bear a time stamp showing the said applications were filed at the same time, the agency may award the lease by public drawing or oral auction between the identical bidders, held at the agency's office.

(v) If an application or any part thereof is rejected, any money tendered for rental of the rejected portion shall be refunded or credited to applicant, minus the application fee.

(vi) An applicant who desires to withdraw its application must submit a written request to the agency. If the request is received prior to the time the agency approves the application, all money tendered by the applicant, except the application fee, shall be refunded. If the request is received after approval of the application, then, unless the applicant accepts the offered lease, all money tendered is forfeited to the agency.