TACOMA POWER CONSERVATION RESOURCE MANAGEMENT REQUEST FOR INFORMATION DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE MODERNIZATION SPECIFICATION NO. PE14-0125F
Form No. SPEC-010C
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SECTION 1 – SCOPE 1.01
INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE
Conservation Resources Management (CRM), a work group within Tacoma Power, is responsible for acquiring and reporting energy conservation savings. CRM has identified a need to acquire software to drive CRM business processing and act as the primary user interface for CRM employees. The following functionalities are of particular interest: A. B. C. D. E. F. G.
Track, report, and manage Demand Side Management (DSM) projects and programs Reconcile DSM data with The City of Tacoma’s SAP enterprise systems Built-in QA tools and data checking systems Report DSM savings accomplishments and budget status Perform data analysis of program, project, and customer data Generate correspondence using system information Provide secure service interfacing with other systems
The following functions are of ancillary interest: A. Provide portals for utility customers and Trade Allies B. Manage Trade Allies 1.02
INQUIRIES
A. Questions and requests for clarification of these specifications may be submitted in writing by 3:00 p.m., Pacific Time, March 5, 2014, to Richelle Krienke, via email to
[email protected]. Please indicate the RFI specification number and title in the email subject line. No further questions will be accepted after this time and date. The City of Tacoma will not be responsible for unsuccessful submittal of questions. B. Written answers to questions will be posted with the specification on the Purchasing website at www.TacomaPurchasing.org on or about March 10, 2014. The City reserves the discretion to group similar questions to provide a single answer or not to respond when the requested information is confidential. The answers to the questions are not typically considered an addendum to this document. C. To receive notice of the posted answers, you must register as “bid holder” for this solicitation. The specification may be found at www.tacomapurchasing.org: Navigate to Current Contracting Opportunities / Supplies, and then click Specification for this RFI. 1.03
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The anticipated schedule of events concerning the RFI is as follows: Publish and issue RFI Week of 02/17/2014 Questions due (see Section1.02) 03/05/2014 Questions and answers posted 03/10/2014 Submittal deadline 04/01/2014
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These are tentative dates only. The City reserves the right to adjust these dates at its sole discretion. FORMAT AND PRESENTATION Provide complete and detailed responses to all items using the same numbering format as presented below. Organization of the submittal should follow the sequence of contents below so that essential information can be located easily during evaluation. Submittals that are incomplete, conditioned in any way, contain alternatives or items not called for in this RFI, or not in conformity with law, may be rejected. 1.04
CONTENT TO BE SUBMITTED A. Name of Firm 1. 2. 3. 4.
Main office address Primary contact (name / telephone number / e-mail address) Additional contacts (name / telephone number / e-mail address) Internet address
B. Provide information regarding the following software functionalities of primary interest to Tacoma Power: 1. Track, report, and manage DSM projects and programs. Includes projects and programs with custom engineering calculations, aggregated deemed measures, and a mix of custom calculations and deemed measures. a. Track and report Key Performance Indicators (KPI) i. Energy savings ii. Incentive payments iii. Program budget and expenses iv. Benefit/Cost ratio v. Levelized cost b. Administer program business rules i. Create new programs with varying business rules ii. Modify existing program business rules iii. Create temporary business rules to accommodate special promotions. c. Manage business needs i. Report work flow status of all projects ii. Track individual projects iii. Identify work flow pinch points d. Automatically update deemed measure information based on changes to Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) deemed measures list 2. Reconcile DSM data, including incentive payments and project status, with City of Tacoma’s enterprise SAP system, including financial records and customer information. Solution may be built-in or use a service interface to enable synchronization data. a. Payments made to trade allies and customers b. Program budgets and expenses
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c. Customer account and address information 3. Built-in QA tools and data checking systems 4. Report DSM saving accomplishments and budget status for all CRM programs with varying levels of data granularity a. Year-to-date and Biennium-to-date savings accomplishments b. Ability to enter project forecasts for future time periods c. Ad hoc reporting as required 5. Perform data analysis of program, project, and customer data a. Recurring reporting on metrics b. Create new reports and broadcast as needed c. Perform ad-hoc analysis 6. Print production quality correspondence using system information. Correspondence should be able to be sent hard copy via mail or electronically via e-mail. 7. Provide secure service interfacing with other systems, specifically SAP a. Payments b. Customer information C. Provide information regarding the following secondary functionalities: 1. Capability to offer web portals for utility customers and Trade Allies a. Submit project data b. Self-serve project status c. If unavailable a service needed to retrieve/upload information may be needed in a partner/customer portal must be outlined 2. Manage Trade Ally relationships a. Central repository for all trade ally information b. Report number of projects completed c. Inspection success rate D. Provide a detailed description of software implementation at other utilities. Specifically identify which utilities are within BPA service territory. If available, provide contact information for staff who may discuss DSM software implementation and operation. E. Provide a detailed description of manufacturer’s experience accommodating various types of reporting activities (e.g., BPA, Washington State Department of Commerce, or similar organizations.). F. Provide information about development services if customizations to the product are necessary. G. Provide information about assistance in implementation of the product.
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H. Description of manufacturer’s long-term involvement on maintenance, maintenance costs, software updates, and whether the tool is cloud-based, or would be a hosted on premise solution. If the proposed solution is cloud-based, include a specific example of implementation at another public utility – specifically identify measures taken to meet security requirements. All else being equal, CRM would prefer a hosted on premise solution. I.
On-site demonstration Please indicate if your firm is able to provide Tacoma Power an on-site demonstration. Tacoma Power may request an on-site demonstration of DSM software following review of material received through this RFI. The purpose of the demonstration is to discuss software capabilities with the intent of assisting Tacoma Power in finalizing elements for a potential RFP. NOTE: A firm’s willingness to provide an on-site demonstration and Tacoma Power’s decision to request an on-site demonstration in connection with this RFI will NOT be a factor in evaluating any potential future Request for Bids (RFB) or Request for Proposals (RFP).
J. Please provide as much general information as possible about your firm’s pricing and fee structure. Tacoma Power is interested in assessing the cost of long term implementation. Note: Information provided in response to this RFI will be considered “General Industry Estimates” and WILL NOT be used for the selection of vendors or to limit participation in any potential future RFBs or RFPs. Pricing information is requested only to develop general budgetary guidelines. K. Provide a diagram of the solution’s technical architecture. 1. How PII information is secured within data stores and in system communications 2. Outline of interface security measures 3. Rough data flow diagrams and basic system outline 4. Please do not submit server level diagrams or in depth data connections 1.05
SUBMITTAL PACKAGE REQUIREMENTS A. Provide one original and one copy, and one electronic copy (CD or flash drive in either Word or PDF format, arranged as indicated in Section 1.4 above), of your complete submittal in a sealed envelope or package labeled with the: 1. Specification number 2. Specification title 3. Respondent name and address
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B. Submittals must be received by the City of Tacoma Purchasing Division by the date and time specified in the Request for Information page or subsequent addenda. Delivery City of Tacoma Purchasing Division Tacoma Public Utilities Administration Building North 3628 S. 35th Street Tacoma, WA 98409
Mail City of Tacoma Purchasing Division Tacoma Public Utilities Administration Building North PO Box 11007 Tacoma, WA 98411-0007
SECTION 2 – PROPRIETARY OR CONFIDENTIAL DESIGN INFORMATION Washington State Public Disclosure Act (RCW 42.56 et seq.) requires public agencies in Washington to promptly make public records available for inspection and copying unless they fall within the specified exemptions contained in the Act, or are otherwise privileged. Documents submitted under this Specification shall be considered public records and, with limited exceptions, will be made available for inspection and copying by the public. Information that is confidential or proprietary must be clearly marked. Further, an index must be provided indicating the affected page number(s) and location(s) of all such identified material. Information not included in said index will not be reviewed for confidentiality or as proprietary before release.
SECTION 3 – DISCLAIMER Please note this RFI is not a Request for Bids or a Request for Proposals, and there is no guarantee that either a RFB or RFP will be issued. A Respondent’s decision to respond, or not to respond, to this RFI will NOT be a factor in evaluating any later RFB or RFP. While the intent of this RFI is to help identify vendors who meet various requirements for a competitive solicitation, there is no guarantee that any specific information presented by any Respondent will ultimately be included in any future solicitation issued by the City. Each Respondent shall bear all expenses incurred by the preparation and presentation of its RFI response. The City will therefore reject any claim made against them in this matter, regardless of the results of the subsequent processes, if any.
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