STATE OF TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES - STREAM
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR ENERGY DATA COLLECTION & SOFTWARE / UTILITY AUDIT RFI # 32101-14102.K 10/1/2014
1. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: The State of Tennessee, Department of General Service’s State of Tennessee Real Estate Asset Management (STREAM), hereinafter referred to as “the State,” issues this Request for Information (“RFI”) for the purpose of Energy Data Collection & Software and Utility Audit. We appreciate your input and participation in this process.
BACKGROUND: Utility Auditing Services The utility audit is to review utility terms and invoices for electricity, gas, municipal chilled water, municipal steam, domestic water/sewer, waste and telecommunications to determine rate savings, credits and refund opportunities.
Data Collection, Software & Energy Management There are three main goals. The first is to establish a means for the consistent collection of utility invoice cost and consumption data. The second is to create a software solution to organize the data and provide energy management analysis and reporting. The third is to create a web-based graphical display of building performance as in a dashboard that would be fed from the collected utility data. The goal is to set up an electronic means, where possible, of utility invoice cost and consumption data collection either through the Web, e-file or electronic data interchange directly from the utility providers. Where electronic collection is not possible, the software solution should include front end for manual entry. The software solution should allow data to be normalized, sorted and analyzed to allow high quality reporting. This software solution will be the single source of utility cost and consumption data and include a data upload to existing state systems including Archibus and Oracle . 2. COMMUNICATIONS: 2.1.
Submit your response and any questions (either by email or *delivery) to this RFI to: Tammy Robbins, RFI Coordinator
1
Department of General Services William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower, 3rd Floor (Central Procurement Office) 312 Rosa L. Parks Avenue Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Phone: (615) 253-7819 Email:
[email protected] (*delivery – if delivering printed copies, please be sure to include a CD with your responses)
2.2. Please reference RFI # 32101-14102.H.K. with all communications to this RFI.
3. RFI SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
EVENT
1.
RFI Issued
2.
Written “Questions & Comments” Deadline
3.
State Response to Written “Questions & Comments”
4.
RFI Response Deadline
TIME (Central Time Zone)
DATE (all dates are State business days) 10/1/2014
2:00 PM
10/9/2014 10/15/2014
2:00 PM
10/28/2014
4. GENERAL INFORMATION:
4.1. Please note that responding to this RFI is not a prerequisite for responding to any future solicitations related to this project and a response to this RFI will not create any contract rights. Responses to this RFI will become property of the State.
4.2. The information gathered during this RFI is part of an ongoing procurement. In order to prevent an unfair advantage among potential respondents, the RFI responses will not be available until after the completion of evaluation of any responses, proposals, or bids resulting from a Request for Qualifications, Request for Proposals, Invitation to Bid or other procurement method. In the event that the state chooses not to go further in the procurement process and responses are never evaluated, the responses to the procurement including the responses to the RFI, will be considered confidential by the State.
4.3. The State will not pay for any costs associated with responding to this RFI.
5. INFORMATIONAL FORMS: The State is requesting the following information from all interested parties. Please fill out the following forms: RFI # 32101-14102.H.K. TECHNICAL INFORMATIONAL FORM 1. RESPONDENT LEGAL ENTITY NAME: 2. RESPONDENT CONTACT PERSON Name: Title: Address: Phone Number: Email: 3. Please provide a brief description of experience providing similar scope of services/products as mentioned in Section 2 of this RFI. 4. What type of company do you represent? 5. The State is in the process of procuring multiple Real Estate Services (Refer to Attachment 1) and intends to work with as many qualified vendors as possible while minimizing the number of contracts administered by the State. Accordingly, the State is trying to identify and mitigate potential organizational conflicts of interest. Respondents should discuss any potential conflicts of interest and ways to bundle the requested services to mitigate the conflicts while providing the most efficient services possible. The State recommends that Respondents refer to State Building Commission Policy and Procedure 12.02, “Organizational Conflicts of Interest” (the “SBC Conflict Policy”), when discussing potential conflicts and bundling of services.
Utility Auditing Services 6. Which utility bills does your firm analyze? 7. What minimum experience should the service provider have to qualify and to be able to respond to the future RFP? 8. What kind of time frame should be allowed for a successful utility audit? 9. Will this utility audit be scheduled by building, by utility provider or other means? 10. What type of fee structure does the industry typically use as compensation for utility auditing services? 11. Does the State need to provide the utility data, or does the Utility Audit Company acquire the data? 12. Will the utility audit company work directly with the utility provider to reconcile billing errors, credits and refunds? 13. After the initial utility audit, what kind of ongoing review should be provided?
14. How many years into the billing history does the utility audit go? 15. What is considered the minimum number of monthly utility bills needed to make such a program financially viable for a vendor and the owner? 16. What kind of software or algorithms are used to assess utility data for errors? What kind of human overview and review is provided? 17. Does you firm offer combined data collection and utility audit services? What are the advantages or disadvantages of combined data collection and utility audit program? 18. Please provide any additional comments, concerns, or recommendations you feel might help the State set up and maintain a successful retro-commissioning program.
Data Collection, Software & Energy Management 19. What minimum experience and corporate resource requirements should the service provider have in place in order to respond to the future RFP? 20. Electronic utility invoice data collection, wherever possible, is preferred. Is the set up of an electronic means of data collection from the various state utility providers a service that can be included in software development? 21. Will this utility invoice data collection be scheduled by building, by utility provider or other means? 22. What time frame should be allowed for establishing electronic data collection? 23. What time frame should be allowed for creation of the data management and energy management software? 24. What metrics are normally reported on a web based dashboard, and is this something that can be built into Energy Management software? 25. What performance guarantees or service level agreements, if any, should a provider be prepared to give on its solution? 26. Does your company offer a “Software as a Service” solution for this business need? 27. For implementation on the state network, what infrastructure components are required (hardware, database, software, connectivity requirements, peripherals, etc.) to implement your solution? 28. Does your company outsource any part of the process, and, if so, what part and what is the standard markup? 29. Please provide any additional comments, concerns, or recommendations you feel might help the State set up and maintain a successful utility data collection program.
COST INFORMATIONAL FORM
1. Describe what pricing units you typically utilize for similar services or goods (e.g., per hour, each, etc.): 2. Describe the typical price range for similar services or goods
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS 1. Please provide input on alternative approaches or additional things to consider that might benefit the State:
RFI ATTACHMENT 1
Real Estate Services Facility Management BIM – Building Information Modeling Data Collection – Enterprise System - ARCHIBUS Lease Procurement / Brokerage Location Strategy Workplace Strategy/Space Planning Occupancy Planning Construction Project Leadership Construction Project Management Program Management Cost Estimating Construction Administration Services Plans Review Scheduling J.O.C. Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment Energy Conservation Retro Commissioning Building Commissioning Building Systems Optimization Environmental Services Strategic Sourcing Utility Audit Lease Administration Designer of Record Call Center Information
