Western Area Power Administration
Rocky Mountain Customer Service Region
Request for Proposals
Regarding the Purchase of Renewable
Energy Certificates
1. BACKGROUND – Western Area Power Administration (Western) is a power marketing administration
within the U.S. Department of Energy.
Western’s primary mission is to market electrical power and energy from
certain Federal hydroelectric plants located throughout its regional service
territories. Western also provides purchasing
assistance for electrical power and energy and other electricity-related
products to certain entities, primarily Western preference customers and other
Federal agencies. Western’s Rocky
Mountain Customer Service Region (RMR), the purchaser for this Request for
Proposals (RFP), markets power and energy from a series of hydroelectric plants
located in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, and its marketing area encompasses Colorado
and Wyoming east of the Continental Divide, western portions of Nebraska, and
northern and western portions of Kansas.
The following four Federal entities
(Parties) have requested that RMR purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs)
for the following four Federal agencies:
Department of the Army, Fort Carson, CO
Department of Energy,
Department of Energy
for:
a.
Pantex Plant
b.
c.
Sandia National
Laboratories, NM
d.
Denver Federal Executive
Board, CO
Offers
to this RFP must be received via mail or fax by RMR on or before
2. DEFINITIONS – The definitions of certain terms used in this RFP
are as follows:
Contactor
– The successful offeror for sale to RMR of RECs under this RFP.
Renewable
Energy – The electric energy produced by solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass
generation resources, as set forth in section 710 of Federal Executive Order
13123, 64 Fed. Reg. 30851 (
Renewable Energy
Certificate (REC) – The intangible environmental benefit, and any other such
attribute, associated with generating one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electric
energy by a renewable resource located in the Western Area and Bonneville Power
Administrations’ service territories.
RECs may also be known as green tags, green certificates, or tradable
renewable certificates.
REC
Contract – The separate agreement which shall be executed between RMR and the
successful offeror(s) for transfer of RECs associated with this RFP.
REC
Certificate – The document to be provided to RMR by the contractor at time of
payment that transfers the title of the invoiced RECs.
3. STATEMENT
OF WORK AND SPECIFICATIONS
3.1 RMR is
requesting firm fixed “per MWh” unit price offers for the transfer of RECs on the
behalf of the Parties for 5 years:
|
The
Parties |
Annual
MWH’s |
Annual Dollar Amount |
|
Department of the Army, |
|
$40,000 |
|
Department of Energy, |
25,000 MWh |
|
|
Department of
Energy--Pantex Plant Amarillo, TX, Kansas City Plant, KS, Sandia National
Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM |
25,700 MWh |
|
|
|
20,000 MWh |
|
|
Total |
70,700 MWh |
$40,000 |
3.2 Proposal
Criteria – RMR will consider REC proposals for each Party or for all four Parties specified in Section 3.1. RMR
will not consider proposals for RECs in amounts less than those specified in
Section 3.1. Two or more vendors may
aggregate resources and present them together as one REC proposal.
3.3 Start
Date – The expected start date for transfer of the RECs shall be as soon as
practicable after contract award, although it is anticipated that the start
date shall be no later than July15, 2005.
3.4 Term of
the REC Contract – The initial term of the REC Contract shall be for one
year. If and when the Parties request, a
provision in the REC Contract may be unilaterally exercised by RMR that allows
for the extension of the REC Contract’s term by one year intervals for up to
four additional years.
3.5 Transfer
of REC Title – RMR will pay for and take title to the offered RECs on behalf of
the Parties. Title of the RECs shall
pass to RMR at the time of payment. RMR
will then transfer title of the RECs to the Parties on a pass-through cost
basis under separate terms and conditions agreed upon by the Parties and RMR. A template Certificate of Transfer shall be
provided for use by the contractor in an exhibit to the REC Contract. The Certificate must verify that the RECs are
certified green as described in the verification plan (Sect. 4) and have been certified
as retired.
3.6 Invoice
and Payment – All invoicing shall be based on the total RECs purchased by RMR
on an annual basis, beginning on the actual start date of the REC
contract. The RECs invoiced under this
contract must be generated during the contract year of the period of
performance, and six (6) months immediately preceding each contract year of the
period of performance, and six (6) months immediately following each contract
year. The contractor may only invoice
for charges allowed under the terms and conditions of the REC Contract. The invoicing address will be specified
therein. All invoices must be
accompanied by a Certificate of Transfer.
3.7 Additional REC Amounts – The Parties may
request RMR to contract for (1) the transfer of RECs for additional facilities or
(2) the transfer of additional REC amounts for the Parties described in this
RFP. If the request is considered within
the original scope of the REC Contract, RMR shall provide the contractor with
the desired REC amounts, and the two parties shall mutually agree as to whether
to extend the full terms and conditions of the REC Contract, including any extensions
of term, to the proposed additional facilities or REC amounts. Adding facilities or REC amounts shall be
accomplished by the bilateral execution of an amendment to the REC Contract.
4. RFP SUBMISSION
REQUIREMENTS – Offerors must fully address
each of the following submission requirements to be considered for this
solicitation:
4.1 Company name, address, contact person,
email, and fax number.
4.2 Renewable Energy Facilities and REC
Amounts – Offerors must specify the Party(ies) they propose to serve with RECs,
the facility generating the RECs, and the annual amount of RECs offered from
each of the proposed renewable energy facilities.
4.2 Cost – Offerors must specify a firm fixed
“per MWh” unit price for the offered RECs for the full five (5) years. The possibility of an extension to the REC
Contract for one or four additional years must be taken into account when
submitting the REC unit price offers.
4.3 Renewable verification and certification plan
– Offerors must submit a renewable energy verification and certification plan
as part of the RFP submission that will become part of the final contract. The plan is subject to Western and agency
representative’s approval prior to REC Contract award. The plan must include documentation indicating
third party verification of the supplied RECs as well as retirement
certification. The approved plan will be
part of the final contract award.
4.4 Past
Performance – Documentation must be submitted describing any relevant past
experience and performance regarding the transfer of RECs, including non-Federal
customer references. The offeror agrees
to permit Western’s representatives to contact the listed references and
inquire about the past performance of the offeror.
5. EVALUATION
CRITERIA
5.1 The purpose of this RFP is to have RMR, a
power marketing administration within the U.S. Department of Energy, purchase RECs
on behalf of another Federal agency.
Consistent with exceptions set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulations
(FAR) Part 41, Western considers this acquisition exempt from competition
requirements set forth in FAR Parts 6, 7, and the remainder of Part 41.
5.2 Utilizing
the flexibility allowed under Western’s power marketing authority, RMR intends
to award one or more REC Contracts to any offer(s) that RMR considers as
providing the best value and that otherwise meet the terms of this RFP. RMR encourages small and minority owned
businesses to apply.
5.3 Offers
will be considered for evaluation only if they fully comply with the submission
requirements set forth under section 3 above.
REC unit price and offeror past performance (if any) shall be considered
in evaluating which qualified offers provide the best overall value, with REC
unit price weighted more heavily than past performance. Offerors with no past performance will
receive a neutral, rather than negative, past performance assessment.
5.4 REC
offers for two or more Parties shall
be given a more favorable consideration.
6. POTENTIAL
LEGAL AND REGULATORY ISSUES
6.1 Where activities
provided for in the contract extend beyond the current fiscal year, continued
expenditures by both parties are contingent upon Congress making the necessary
appropriations required for the continued performance under this Agreement. In case such appropriations are not made,
both parties are released from their contractual obligations and from all
liability due to the failure of Congress to make such appropriation.
6.2 Contract
Work Hours and Safety Standards – The REC Contract, to the extent that it is of
a character specified in Section 103 of the Contract Work Hours and Safety
Standards Act (Act), 40 U.S.C.A. 329 (1986), will be subject to the provisions
of the Act, 40 U.S.C.A. 327-333 (1986), and to regulations promulgated by the
Secretary of Labor pursuant to the Act.
6.3 Equal
Opportunity Employment Practices – Section 202 of Executive Order No. 11246, 30
Fed. Reg. 12319 (1965), as amended by Executive Order No. 12086, 43 Fed. Reg.
46501 (1978), which provides, among other things, that the offeror will not
discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race,
color, religion, sex, or national origin, will be incorporated by reference
into the REC Contract.
6.4 Use of
Convict Labor – The offeror agrees to not employ any person undergoing sentence
of imprisonment in performing the REC Contract except as provided by 18 U.S.C.
4082 (c)(2) and Executive Order 11755, December 29, 1973.
7. PROCESS
AND TIMING
7.1 Timing –
Offers to this RFP must be received by RMR on or before
7.2 7.2 Submission
of Responses – RMR will accept offers that are submitted by mail via the U.S.
Postal Service or an equivalent private mail carrier (e.g., United Parcel
Service or Federal Express). The address
for submission of responses via the U.S. Postal Service is:
Western
Area Power Administration
Rocky
Mountain Customer Service Region
ATTN:
REC Project Manager (J6000)
The address for submissions of responses via private mail
carrier is:
Western
Area Power Administration
Rocky
Mountain Customer Service Region
ATTN: REC Project Manager (J6000)
Offers
may also be faxed to RMR at (970) 461-7204, ATTN: REC Project Manager (J6000). Fax verification is 970-461-7221. Offers submitted via hand or electronic
delivery methods will not be considered.
7.3 Questions
– Questions regarding this RFP will be accepted only via email and all answers
to questions will be sent to all potential offerors.
7.4 Notification
of Receipt – An acknowledgement of receipt of offers will not be provided. Offerors therefore are strongly encouraged to
ensure that adequate tracking measures are taken with respect to their mailed
or faxed offer.
7.5 Evaluation
of Offers – RMR will evaluate all offers received on or before the date and
time set forth in section 7.1 of this RFP.
RMR may seek additional information for, or clarification of, individual
offers as needed. RMR reserves the right
to request best and final offers from one or more offerors, and to award or not
award any REC Contract(s) as RMR ultimately deems appropriate. REC Contract award decisions will be made by RMR’s
Power Marketing Manager after consultation with the Parties’ representatives
involved in the evaluation process.
7.6 Notification
of Award and Subsequent Contracting – RMR will notify successful offeror(s)
regarding the award of REC Contract(s), and will seek to negotiate and execute
these REC Contract(s) as soon as practicable.
A direct notification to unsuccessful offerors will not be provided;
however, RMR will post a general notification on its web site
(http://www.wapa.gov/rm/rm.htm) within one week after award of the REC
Contract(s).
8. USE
OF INFORMATION IN OFFERS – RMR will
share submitted offer documentation with other Western staff and with the
Parties and their designated representatives.
In the interest of encouraging additional Federal purchases of RECs, RMR
and the Parties may share nonspecific offer information (e.g., range of offer
prices and any winning offer prices for The Parties with other Federal
agencies. Neither RMR nor the Parties will
divulge proprietary offer information to anyone outside of their respective
agencies unless required to do so by law, or at the direction of a court or
government regulatory body of competent jurisdiction.
9. CONFIDENTIALTY – Offerors wishing to have part or their entire offer
not made available to the public should so indicate by marking the applicable
portions “Confidential.”
Peggy Plate
Western Area Power
Administration
970-461-7227
970-461-7204 (fax)
Western Area Power Administration
Request for Proposals for
Renewable Energy Certificates--
Clarifications
In response to questions we have received regarding the RFP,
we provide the following information to better clarify the purchase
requirements. For additional questions
or comments, please email Peggy Plate at plate@wapa.gov.
Date of resource to be on line to qualify as green is
Section 3.6. What
this section is defining is the timeframe of approved renewables. It gives a two year window to produce
qualified RECs that you could sell annually.
Disability preference.
Since we are not operating under Federal Appropriation Regulations, we
do not give special preference, but encourage you to submit a proposal.
Section 5.3. Offers will be considered for evaluation, only
if they fully comply with the submission requirements set forth under Sections
3 and 4.