Florida’s attorney general's office may bring on outside help for a possible lawsuit against petroleum giant BP over the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The attorney general’s office has started to accept bid proposals from legal professionals to serve as co-counsel if the state decides to take the case to court.

The deadline to submit a proposal is Oct. 21.

“The proposal is part of an exploratory process that is nonbinding and does not signify imminent litigation,” a statement from the attorney general’s office said.

There is no guarantee that a firm will be hired, an office spokeswoman stated.

The state has until April 2013 to file a lawsuit. Florida officials must seek financial claims against BP under the Oil Pollution Act -- and those claims must be rejected -- before a lawsuit can be brought forward.

Attorney general's office spokeswoman Jennifer Meale said the claims are still being compiled.

“We’re not in a stage that would lead to litigation at this point,” she said.

BP leased the oil-drilling platform that exploded in April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers.

On Friday, Florida’s Revenue Estimating Conference -- a multi-agency board of state economists -- will meet in Tallahassee to discuss the economic impact on Florida of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In April, Gov. Rick Scott and the attorney general's office agreed that a claim would be preferable to joining a multi-state lawsuit filed in New Orleans against Transocean Ltd., the owners of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

Last month, a federal joint task force of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard concluded that by taking construction shortcuts, BP, Transocean and Halliburton, which oversaw cementing for the base of the 18,000-foot-deep well, shared in the blame for the fatal explosion.

Last Wednesday, 24 House members introduced the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economy of the Gulf Coast Act of 2011, better known as the “RESTORE” Act, which calls for at least 80 percent of BP penalties paid under the Clean Water Act to go to Gulf states.

A similar act was introduced into the Senate in July by Sens. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., along with Sens. David Vitter, R-La., Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, a co-sponsor of the RESTORE Act, estimated the damages to the entire Gulf region between $5 billion and $21 billion.

“Our bill is similar in nature, but we took several steps to improve what the Senate offered and make it more palatable to the House of Representatives and better for Florida,” the Santa Rosa County Republican stated in a release. “First, our bill provides the states much more flexibility to use the fine money for both economic and environmental restoration. Florida suffered devastating economic consequences after the spill, while Louisiana had far worse environmental effects.”

The House bill also allows the eight most affected counties -- Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin and Wakulla -- to have influence over the direction of restoration in Florida, Miller noted.

Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859 or (772) 215-9889.

Below is a copy of the attorney general's office bid request: