VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE

ENERGY EFFICIENCY DIVISION

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Energy Efficiency Utility Evaluation:

Residential Sector Market Assessment and Baseline Studies

For New Construction and Existing Homes

Date Issued: June 19, 2007 Response Due By: July 18, 2007

The Vermont Department of Public Service (“DPS”) is responsible for evaluating energy efficiency programs implemented by the statewide energy efficiency utility (“EEU”), Efficiency Vermont (“EVT”) and the Burlington Electric Department (“BED”). The purpose of this Request for Proposals is to select a contractor, or team of contractors, to conduct a survey and on-site assessment of existing homes in Vermont and a residential new construction baseline study. Potential contractors must have extensive experience and demonstrated abilities in all aspects of energy efficiency evaluation techniques, strategies, and principles, including study design, on-site data gathering in residential facilities, data analysis, statistical sampling design to address reliability, variance, and bias; and report writing.

Proposals are due July 18, 2007 with the goal of awarding a contract by July 27, 2007. The contract will start as soon as practicable following the contract award for work to be completed on or before March 31, 2008, with a budget not to exceed $500,000. Four original hard copies and an electronic copy of the proposal must be delivered to Robert Ide, Vermont Department of Public Service. Proposals and questions should be addressed to:

Robert Ide

Director, Energy Efficiency Division

Vermont Department of Public Service

112 State Street

Montpelier, VT 05620-2601

Phone: (802) 828-4009

Fax: (802) 828-2342

Email: robert.ide@state.vt.us

Assistance in gaining access to copies of this RFP and standard state contract provisions are available from:

Pamela Hull

Vermont Department of Public Service

112 State Street

Montpelier, VT 05620-2601

Phone: (802) 828-4056

Fax: (802) 828-2342

Email: pamela.hull@state.vt.us

Introduction

The Vermont Department of Public Service (“Department” or “DPS”) is seeking an experienced energy efficiency program evaluation contractor to provide residential sector market assessment and baseline studies related to the evaluation of Vermont Energy Efficiency Utility (“EEU”) programs. The Department conducts its evaluation efforts in cooperation with the statewide energy efficiency utility, Efficiency Vermont (“EVT”) and Burlington Electric Department (“BED”), who delivers the EEU service to electric ratepayers in the City of Burlington, and the EEU Contract Administrator (“CA’) retained by the Vermont Public Service Board (“Board” or “PSB”) to supervise the implementation of the Board’s contract with EVT. EVT provides services through a contract with the PSB. Energy Efficiency Utility programs and services are funded by an Energy Efficiency Charge (“EEC”) assessed on electric ratepayers. The total EEU budget for 2007 is $ 24 million; the 2008 budget is set at $30.75 million.

The Department requests the services of a contractor to conduct (1) a survey and on-site study of residential existing homes and (2) a residential new construction energy efficiency baseline study.

This RFP is one of two concurrent RFPs issued by the DPS to procure market assessments and baseline studies to help identify opportunities for increased energy efficiency statewide and in four specific geographic areas in Vermont. The Department also seeks information on baseline practices for targeted technologies in these markets.

Background information, work products, and project documents concerning previous EEU market assessments and baseline studies conducted by, or under the direction of, the Department, are available for review on the DPS website at:

http://publicservice.vermont.gov/pub/2003-2005summaryreport.htm

Potential respondents are encouraged to review these materials to familiarize themselves with the scope and methodology of the Department’s evaluation of the EEU over the past few years.

General information about Efficiency Vermont is available at: www.efficiencyvermont.org/.

Information concerning BED services is available at: www.burlingtonelectric.org

The DPS seeks to contract for these studies commencing the first week of August 2007, with substantial completion by the first quarter of 2008, and a maximum contract term of one year.

Scope of Work

The following studies should be designed to provide data on this market statewide.

1. Conduct a large-scale (n=100-200) on-site study of a representative sample of existing single-family homes, in order to:

a. Document existing building and equipment status and characterize current energy efficiency levels being achieved in this market and potential for additional energy efficiency opportunities, including lighting, appliances, HVAC, and building thermal shell characteristics;

b. Identify and assess barriers to achieving higher lighting and other efficiencies, to be mutually determined;

c. Assess the potential receptiveness of customers to specific energy efficiency upgrades; and

d. Gather data necessary to assess potential cost-effectiveness to customers and to the utility system, from various selected energy efficiency upgrade measures.

2. Conduct an on-site study of a representative sample of each of residential single-family and multi-family new construction dwellings, in order to:

a. Update baseline levels and characteristics of lighting, refrigeration, HVAC equipment, building shell characteristics, and other aspects of the residential new construction market impacting energy efficiency;

b. Identify additional opportunities for achieving higher efficiencies;

c. Assess barriers to increased energy efficiency in new home construction in Vermont; and

d. Gather data necessary to assess potential cost-effectiveness, to customers and to the utility system, from various selected energy efficiency upgrade measures in new residential construction.

The primary purpose of this research is to identify and provide information about opportunities for achieving increased levels of cost-effective energy efficiency in Vermont, which will be useful for program planning and design. A secondary but still important purpose is to provide baseline data on current market conditions that would be useful in future evaluations of EEU program effects. The on-site assessments would not need to include extensive energy audit type measurements and detailed modeling of specific site energy use, but rather would be used to gather basic information on current conditions and physical and economic potential for energy efficiency upgrades, plus customer perceptions and receptiveness with respect to energy efficiency upgrades.

As an additional factor, the Department is also interested in proposals that will help determine achievable efficiency potential and to provide the EEU with information to better direct program activities in four specific geographically targeted areas in the State. By order on January 8, 2007, the Public Service Board directed Efficiency Vermont to allocate additional funds to four discreet geographic areas identified by Vermont electric utilities as areas requiring T&D upgrades in the near future. These areas are referred to as (1) Southern Loop, (2) Northern Chittenden County, (3) St. Albans, and (4) Newport/Derby. Additionally, the Board ordered BED to allocate its additional funds to measures to reduce coincident peak savings in its service territory. The electric company serving the southern loop area has already done an in-depth potential assessment in that area, so the four areas of interest for this RFP are: (10 Northern Chittenden County, (2) St. Albans, (3) Newport/Derby, and (4) City of Burlington. Additional information on the geographically targeted areas can be found at: http://publicservice.vermont.gov/energy-efficiency/ee_energyefficiency.html Proposals should describe how the approach proposed would be able to contribute to the objectives embodied in this additional factor.

Work Schedule

Work on this project must commence as soon as the contractor is retained. All work must be completed and provided to the DPS by March 31, 2008.

General Requirements

The Contractor hired must meet the following General Requirements:

Contractor(s) must have extensive experience and demonstrated abilities in all aspects of energy efficiency evaluation techniques, strategies, and principles, including study design, on-site data gathering in residential buildings, data analysis, statistical sampling design to address reliability, variance, and bias; and report writing. Contractors should possess a good knowledge of energy efficiency program design, implementation, monitoring, verification, and evaluation;
Contractor(s) must be fully conversant with current energy efficiency information technology systems, DSM tracking systems, and applications.
Contractor(s) must not be currently employed by a partner firm in Efficiency Vermont, by EVT itself, or by the Burlington Electric Department, and must agree not to undertake such employment during the term of this contract.
Contractor(s) must be available to begin work immediately after the contract is awarded and commit to work completion by the first quarter 2008.
Since the Contractor(s) will work in the field, and at the offices of EVT and BED, physical proximity of Vermont or the ability to be in Vermont on short notice is an important requirement. A lead contractor and lead contact person must be identified in joint proposals.

Terms and Conditions

1. Bidders must provide an hourly rate for various personnel to be assigned to each task identified in the proposal. While actual hours by task cannot be known with precision in advance, a best estimate should be provided with the proposal. An estimate of the total annual budget for all contract work is expected to not exceed $500,000. A “not to exceed” figure will be established in the Terms and Conditions of the contract with the successful bidder.

2. Ownership of work products will vest with the Department.

3. Any work products will be delivered to the Department upon termination of the project.

4. Contractors(s) will be required to enter a confidentiality agreement to protect certain customer specific information from public disclosure.

5. The DPS reserves the right to amend or cancel this RFP at any time if the best interest of the State requires such action.

6. The DPS reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities and minor irregularities in proposals received and to accept any portion of a proposal if deemed in the best interest of the State.

7. News releases pertaining to this RFP, contract award, or the Project shall NOT be made without prior written approval from the DPS.

8. Selection of the winning bidder will be made based on the sole opinion of the DPS that the proposal submitted will be the most advantageous for the state.

9. The DPS reserves the right to make a selection without further discussion of proposals received. Therefore, it is important that each proposal be submitted in the most complete and accurate manner possible.

10. The DPS reserves the right to cancel any contract resulting from this RFP, for cause, as will be defined in the Terms and Conditions of the final contract.

The DPS assumes no liability in any fashion with respect to this RFP or any matters related thereto. All prospective service providers and their assigns or successors, by their participation in the RFP process, shall indemnify, save and hold the DPS and its employees and agents free and harmless from all suits, causes of action, debts, rights, judgments, claims, demands, accounts, damages, costs, losses and expenses of whatsoever kind in law or equity, known and unknown, foreseen and unforeseen, arising from or out of this RFP and/or any subsequent acts related thereto, including but not limited to the recommendation of a service provider and any action brought by an unsuccessful prospective service provider.

Tasks and Activity Scheduling

Kick off Meeting: Meet with DPS staff and their evaluation consultant to ensure that there is a common understanding of the project’s needs and the proposed work efforts and products. Prior to this meeting, the contractor(s) need to familiarize themselves with the operation of the EVT and the prior evaluation results. Contractors should come to this meeting prepared to identify the level of EVT assistance needed for the evaluation and the timelines associated with this assistance. EVT managers will be invited to this meeting to discuss this assistance. This meeting should occur within two weeks from the award of the evaluation contract.
Revised Work Plan: a revised work plan documenting the common understandings between the contractors and the DPS/EVT should be submitted. This plan will present the detailed schedule for completion of interim products (e.g., sampling plans, on-site data collection protocols, draft analysis plans, interim review schedules, etc.), and final work products (e.g., the two reports itemized below and final project databases). The revised plan should be provided to DPS within two weeks following the Kick-off meeting.
Draft Residential Existing Homes Report - See “Proposal Submission, 10.Timeline”
Draft Residential New Construction Baseline Practices Study Report- See “Proposal Submission, 10.Timeline”
Final Reports – Three weeks from receipt of DPS comments.
Monthly Progress Reports - Within 10 days of the end of each month

Project Management

Management responsibilities include regular project updates with the DPS manager. Each month the contractor and the DPS manager will have a conference telephone call in which the Contractor will provide a project progress review. In addition, the contractor shall prepare a monthly written progress report indicating the evaluation progress over the prior month, the planned activities for the next month, any issues that need to be addressed with suggested in-budget resolutions. These reports must be filed with the DPS manager by the 10^th day of the month.

Databases from Project

All on-site data and survey and interview data collected in this project shall be entered into an electronic database(s) and provided to DPS to support additional analysis by DPS staff and to support future evaluations. Data entry procedures shall be developed to ensure data quality and consistent entry of all fields. Data shall be submitted to the DPS in a mutually acceptable, commonly usable electronic format, along with a documented data dictionary describing the database contents. Proposals should discuss the suggested database to be used and the data quality procedures planned.

Criteria for Selection

The DPS will evaluate the bidders’ proposals according to the criteria listed below:

Responsiveness/thoroughness and practicality of the proposed approach in meeting the research objectives and for completing the tasks described in this RFP
Experience of key personnel
Experience of the contractor in successfully completing similar research and ability to provide on-time, in-budget research
The proposal presentation with respects to the following presentations / discussions:

§ Technical expertise to conduct the research.

§ Past research in other similar projects

§ Ability to accomplish both large sample on-site data collection as well as high quality research and analysis

§ Clear understanding of study requirements

§ Ability to provide high-quality written analysis and reports

§ Quantity and quality of work relative to specified budget

Proposed staffing plan of bidder, including staff assignments
Past performance of the bidder and any proposed subcontractors
Quality and completeness of the proposal (in terms of coverage, organization, graphics, grammar, spelling, etc.). The quality of the proposal (along with the sample report) will be considered an indication of the likely appearance of deliverables from the Bidder
Price

The Proposal Submission

The proposal should present a clear understanding of the issues to be addressed and a description of how the bidders proposed approach accomplishes the evaluation goals. The proposal should be structured to provide the following sections:

Introduction
Understanding of the research goals and associated issues
Overview of the proposed approach
Detailed Task descriptions
Descriptions of similar projects
Qualifications of firm(s)
Qualification of individuals
Management and staff structure
References
Timeline (all work must be completed prior to March 31, 2008)
Task and total project budget that includes a listing of all staff assigned to the project and their time allocations and billing rates
Attachment A: Sample report from prime contractor
Attachment B: Other attachments as needed.

Introduction: The introduction should present the research team and provide general information about the team and how the team will approach the project.

Understanding of the research goals and associated issues: This section should provide a discussion of the research goals and the key issues that are associated with this research. The purpose of this section is to allow the DPS to judge the bidders understanding of the research needs and the goals that need to be addressed.

Overview of the proposed approach: This section should present an overview of the proposed research approach, allowing the DPS to understand the general proposed approach in which the task are to be placed.

Detailed Task descriptions: This section should present the individual tasks proposed in order to complete the research project. The tasks should be descriptive in enough detail that the DPS can understand how the research will be conducted. This section should also address sampling approaches as well as analysis and reporting activities.

Descriptions of similar projects conducted: This section provides for a brief presentation of similar types of research conducted by the prime and other key members of the research team. The discussion should allow DPS to judge the experiences of the bidder or the bidding team relative to the goals of this project.

Qualifications of firm(s): This section is provided to allow the bidder to present their corporate qualifications that are in addition to the above descriptions.

Qualification of individuals: The proposal should detail the individuals to be assigned to the tasks described and include a resume for each of the key individuals involved in the research.

Management and staff structure: The proposals should clearly define the team’s management and operational structure.

References: The bidder should provide at least three references of similar work for other clients. The references should include a brief description of the research effort including the name, address, telephone number and e-mail address of the client’s representative for the referenced project.