Request for Proposal s74

City of Georgetown Request for Proposal

CITY OF GEORGETOWN

SOUTH CAROLINA

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Requestor: City of Georgetown Post Office Drawer 939 (29442) 120 North Fraser Street (29440) Georgetown, SC Contact: Bonnie L Infinger 843.545.4043 [email protected]

PROJECT: Advanced Metering Infrastructure System

Return Proposal No Later Than October 31, 2011 at 12:00 Noon EST (local time) Posting Date: September 27, 2011

Return Proposal To: Express/Hand-Carry To: City of Georgetown City of Georgetown 120 North Fraser Street (29440) 120 North Fraser Street Post Office Drawer 939 (29442) Georgetown, South Carolina 29440 Georgetown, South Carolina Attention: Bonnie L Infinger

1 City of Georgetown Request for Proposal

Attention: Bonnie L Infinger Purpose

The City of Georgetown will receive proposals from qualified firms to provide an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) System for the City of Georgetown (City). The City’s primary objective is to have a fixed network Advanced Metering Infrastructure System designed and implemented to work with an expected accuracy of 99% or more for the service area inside the City containing approximately 11,000 electric and water meters. It is expected that the system will collect and process meter time of use/rate of use/site data; record operating statistics; report alarms, alerts, and exceptions; provide for remote connections and disconnections; provide two-way load management control; and enable other advancements in customer services. The City is the service utility provider offering electric and water/wastewater service to the citizens of Georgetown and the surrounding area. The City’s total customer base is approximately 5,300 electric customers, 4,800 water/sewer customers, and less than 800 water only customers. The City appreciates the Bidder’s expertise and capabilities and does not intend to write a detailed specification to address every feature and component of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure System for the City. However, the intent of this RFP is to allow vendors to provide the City with the best solution given the requirements set forth by the City. This approach enables the City to take advantage of the most technologically advanced system available while allowing fair evaluation of all responses and remaining within standard purchasing procedures established by the City. Bid Process The City of Georgetown will conduct the selection of an AMI vendor and contract award in the following manner. 1) This document will be made available to interested vendors and accessible on the City’s website (www.cogsc.com). 2) A bidder's conference will be held to answer any questions arising from the RFP prior to their bid submittal. 3) The proposals will be received and evaluated as described in this RFP. At the City of Georgetown’s discretion, a short list of the most qualified vendors may be compiled and these vendors asked to make oral presentations and/or demonstrations to the City of Georgetown. The City may also choose to conduct site visits to vendor installations similar to the one proposed. 4) At the conclusion of the bid process, qualified bids will be presented to the Georgetown City Council for review and approval. 5) A contractor will be selected for contract negotiations.

Schedule of Events The following is the schedule of events listed in the order of occurrence, showing the major milestones from issuance of the RFP to the contract award:

MILESTONE EVENT DATE 1. RFP Issuance September 27, 2011 2. Bidder's Conference-Highly Advised Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 12:00 Noon EST (local time) 3. Proposal Due Date Monday, October 31, 2011 at 12:00 noon EST (local time) 4. Proposal Evaluation Completed Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by 5 pm EST (local time) 5. City Council Contract Award December 15, 2011 6. Project Begins January 2, 2012 7. Project Completion Date October 31, 2012

The City of Georgetown reserves the right to change the schedule of events as it deems necessary. In the event of a major date change, the City of Georgetown may notify known vendor participants. The City of Georgetown also reserves the right to issue addenda to this RFP up to seven days before the bid date as needed to clarify the City of Georgetown’s desire or to make corrections. The Bidder will acknowledge receipt of all addenda in their proposals. Bidder’s Conference All prospective vendors are highly encouraged to attend the Bidder's Conference to be held at the Georgetown City Hall Council Chambers on Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 12:00 noon EST (local time) at 120 North Fraser Street, Georgetown, SC 29440. The City of Georgetown may not consider bids from vendors that did not attend the Bidder’s Conference. At this conference, the City will make a short presentation regarding the desired system and then open the floor to Bidder questions. An Addendum to the RFP will be issued as soon as possible after the conference answering all submitted questions and notifying vendors of any changes to the RFP. All questions must be submitted in writing and received by Tuesday, October 11, 2011 by 5 pm EST (local time) to the following address: The City of Georgetown Attn: Bonnie L Infinger PO Drawer 939 (29442) 120 North Fraser Street (29440) Georgetown, South Carolina Phone: 843.545.4043 (office) Email: [email protected]

The City has designated Jessica H. Miller to be responsible for coordinating communications between the City and potential contractors. Jessica H. Miller may be contacted at: The City of Georgetown Post Office Drawer 939 (29442) 120 North Fraser Street (29440) Georgetown, South Carolina Phone: 843.545.4032 (office); 843.325.9276 (cell) Email: [email protected] Bid Submittal Instructions Vendors are to submit 1 (one) unbound original, 1 (one) electronic version on portable media, and 3 (three) bound copies of their proposal on or before 12:00 noon EST (local time) on Monday, October 31, 2011 to: Bonnie L Infinger, Purchasing Agent City of Georgetown 120 North Fraser Street (29440) Post Office Drawer 939 (29442) Georgetown, South Carolina  All bids should be clearly marked "Proposal for Advanced Metering Infrastructure.”

 Bidder questions must be received by 5 pm EST (local time) on Tuesday, October 11 2011.  It will be the sole responsibility of the vendor to have their bids delivered to the City of Georgetown before the closing hour and date. Late bids will not be accepted nor considered for any reason.  All bids must be valid for a period of 120 days following the bid opening.  Bids must address all RFP requirements. Partial or incomplete proposals will be rejected.  All costs incurred by the vendor in preparing the proposal, or costs incurred in any other manner by the vendor in responding to this proposal will be wholly the responsibility of the vendor. All materials and documents submitted by the vendor in response to this specification become the property of the City of Georgetown and will not be returned to the vendor.  Any proprietary information contained in the proposal should be so indicated as follows: Vendor Disclosure -- Notice of SC Freedom of Information Act “The parties acknowledge that all material submitted may be subject to release under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and will be released to the public unless exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. We discourage you from including any information you consider proprietary or trade secret, as this material is subject to the FOIA once it’s in the City’s possession. If you must include any such information in your submission, please identify it by color, labeling, and/or bold font so that it can be readily recognized. In the event the City receives a request for this material, the City will notify those parties who have identified information they believe is proprietary or trade secret of the request. The City has a fifteen day deadline to produce the material. This is your window to file an action challenging the release. Please be on notice that if the City is not served with such an action, the information will be released.”

 The City of Georgetown will notify winning Bidder of the Bid Award.  Proposals will be considered as specified herein or attached hereto under the terms and conditions of this proposal.  Proposals must be made in the official name of the firm or individual under which business is conducted (showing official business address) and must be signed in ink by a person duly authorized to legally bind the person, partnership, company or corporation submitting the proposal. Bids having any erasures or corrections must be initialed in ink by the vendor.  Offertory is to include all applicable requested information and any additional information they wish to be considered. RFP submittals should be limited to 75 pages. Submittals exceeding the 75 page limit will not be considered. Tab dividers and cover page will not be counted in the 75 page proposal limit.  1 (one) unbound original, 1 (one) electronic version on portable media, and 3 (three) bound copies of your proposal are required.  Due to the possibility of negotiation with any offeror submitting a proposal which appears to be eligible for contract award pursuant to the selection criteria set forth in this Request for Proposal (RFP), prices will not be divulged at time of opening.  Proposals will be received by the City of Georgetown Finance Department until 12:00 noon EST (local time) on the opening date shown.

 PROPOSALS SUBMITTED VIA THE FACSIMLE MACHINE ARE UNACCEPTABLE AND WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR ANY REASON

1. General Conditions and Instructions to Proposers Proposal Format Responses to this RFP should be provided in the following numbered format as listed below: Cover Letter A one-page cover letter, signed by an authorized representative of the Bidder, must be included in the submittal. It must contain the name and address of the corporation or business submitting the proposal, as well as the name, address, telephone number, and title of the person authorized to represent the Bidder. Contents 1. Executive Summary The vendor will describe its approach to the installation of systems of this kind and identify any unique or distinctive features of the system that the vendor wishes the City of Georgetown to give particular attention. 2. Response to Terms and Conditions The vendor will indicate its agreement to the specified terms and conditions addressed in this RFP, identifying any exceptions taken. The vendor will also enclose a sample contract. 3. System Description

The vendor will provide a clear and complete description of the proposed system. The description will be sufficient to enable the City of Georgetown to determine that the proposal satisfies the RFP requirements and meets the needs of City of Georgetown. The description will describe how the system meets the General System Requirements outlined in this RFP. 4. Compliancy Table The vendor will complete a compliancy table as indicated in this RFP. 5. Implementation Plan As stated in this RFP, the vendor will present a schedule for implementation of the system. The schedule will highlight important milestone dates with a description of what these tasks include. Please include a Gantt chart depicting the project from start to final acceptance. As part of the installation plan, the vendor will describe activities to be undertaken as part of the installation. Of particular importance is the identification of activities and/or responsibilities that the vendor would ascribe to the City of Georgetown during, or as part of the installation. 6. Warranty/Maintenance The vendor will include in this section a description of the proposed warranty and maintenance plans available based on the requirements in this RFP. 7. Training Plan The vendor will describe its plan for training the City of Georgetown staff in the use of the proposed system as outlined in this RFP. 8. Vendor Qualifications A. Provide a brief description of the firm, including the number of years the firm has been in existence, range of professional services, office location(s), and staff size. B. The City is interested in the experience of the firm and/or the proposed project leaders on similar projects. Please provide information regarding three (3) similar projects and include the following items in the narrative:  Project name and location;  Year completed;  Owner representative’s names, title, address, and phone number;  Population of project study area;  Project description; and  Name of project manager and members of the project team. (Projects must have been completed in the last five (5) years). C. Include an organizational chart that indicates the project’s key personnel and their respective responsibilities. This chart should also include any proposed subcontractors. D. Provide for each of the key personnel and subcontractors related work experience, education, training, and any other pertinent data that would demonstrate competence and experience in this type of work. This portion of the submittal shall include a resume for each proposed individual. Please note if any proposed individuals would be a subcontractor or consultant outside the lead firm. Explain the firm’s past experience with each subcontractor listed. No change in the proposed subcontractors will be approved without express written consent of the City.

9. Price Proposal The vendor will use the forms provided in the RFP for this purpose.

10. Appendices Evaluation Criteria Evaluation Factors Proposals will be evaluated by the following criteria: Vendor Qualifications; System Suitability; Price; and Schedule. It should be understood that these factors are approximations and that vendors must be acceptable in all areas to be considered. The City of Georgetown reserves the right to waive any irregularities and technicalities and to request re-bids. It is the City of Georgetown’s intention to award the contract to the vendor that best serves the interests of the City of Georgetown Vendor Qualifications The City of Georgetown is requesting proposals from organizations that are qualified as system contractors and are either the manufacturers and/or developers of the system offered or authorized agents of such manufacturer or developer. Vendors with the following qualifications are encouraged to participate in the RFP process and submit proposals:  Demonstrated experience in the design, installation, and maintenance of, and training for the proposed system;  Ability for the hardware to be maintained by the City of Georgetown with no special tools or expertise;  Maintenance plans that allow the City of Georgetown to accept some responsibility for maintenance of hardware to lower on-going maintenance costs will be considered advantageous;  Sufficient qualified and experienced engineering, design, installation and service personnel to satisfy any engineering or service problem that may arise during the installation, warranty, and maintenance periods; and  References showing previous implementations of proposed AMI systems.

System Suitability The vendor will be evaluated on the suitability of its system with respect to the following factors.  Does the system meet all the functional needs of City of Georgetown?  Does it provide a system that will be easy to deploy and easy to use?  Will it automatically adapt to changing environmental conditions without manual intervention?

 Does the system offer high levels of reliability, fault tolerance?  Does the vendor offer industrial-grade equipment for outdoor environments?  Will it be easily expandable without replacement?  Will the system be user maintainable? Does the vendor offer tools for user administration and management? The items just quoted represent general evaluation topics. The technical evaluation will consider each of these topics in detail.

Price Price evaluation will be based upon the vendor’s base price and any proposed options that may be judged by the City of Georgetown to be necessary for a complete and working system that meets the intent of this RFP. However, the resulting award will not be solely based on the lowest price.

Quality All equipment or supplies provided in response to this RFP will be new, or if any component has been remanufactured, it must be warranted by the manufacturer as new. The items must be the manufacturer's latest model and represent the best of currently available technology.

Project Manager The vendor will designate a project manager who will serve as the point of contact for the City of Georgetown and be responsible for the system installation. The vendor's project manager will be named immediately upon contract signing. System Installation The vendor will be responsible for complete and timely installation and change-outs of all equipment. The vendor may utilize the services of equipment suppliers or service agencies to do the physical installation, but this does not relieve the vendor of any responsibility for the installation. If City staff is proposed for installation and/or change outs, the staff numbers and hours should be clearly indicated in the Price Proposal. The vendor's project manager will remain the contact for any installation issues or problems and shall provide 24 hour/7 day week accessibility throughout the implementation process. The proposal shall include a strategy for meter change outs, including defining the salvage value and recycling of existing meters and impact, if any, to pricing proposal.

System Acceptance Upon completion of field installation and training of City of Georgetown personnel, the contractor will certify that the system is ready for acceptance. The contractor will be required to demonstrate all system functions to the City of Georgetown's satisfaction. Any problems found during this demonstration will be immediately corrected by the contractor after which time the City of Georgetown will verify the corrections have been made and accept the system. The contractor will then perform final system testing. Upon completion of the final system testing, the contractor will certify that the system has passed the final system test criteria. Final system test criteria include:

 End-to-end throughput testing from spot locations within the coverage area;  Verification of security functionality; and  Validation of link and network fail-over mechanisms.

Demonstrations The City of Georgetown may require on-site demonstrations of the proposed system. All demonstrations conducted at the City of Georgetown’s site will be the responsibility of the Bidder. The City of Georgetown may also require visits to existing Bidder installations, at the sole expense of the Bidder for travel accommodation expenses for the City of Georgetown personnel.

Contractual Requirements 1.0 Force Majure: The contractor shall not be liable for any excess costs if the failure to perform the contract arises out of causes beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the contractor. Such causes may include, but are not restricted to acts of God or of the public enemy, acts of Governments in either its sovereign or contractual capacity, fires, floods, epidemics, quarantine restrictions, strikes, freight embargoes, and unusually severe weather; but in every case the failure to perform must be beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the contractor. 2.0 Governing Law: Except to the extent that this agreement may be governed by any federal law, including federal bankruptcy law, this Agreement shall be governed by, constructed and interpreted under, and enforced exclusively in accordance with the laws of the State of South Carolina, and the courts in the State of South Carolina shall have jurisdiction with respect to any dispute arising hereunder. 3.0 Offerors Qualifications: Offeror must, upon request of the City, furnish satisfactory evidence of its ability to furnish products or services in accordance with the terms and conditions of this proposal. The City of Georgetown Finance Department reserves the right to make the final determination as to the offeror’s ability to provide the services requested herein. 4.0 Offeror Responsibility: Each Offeror shall fully acquaint him/herself with conditions relating to the scope and restrictions attending the execution of the work under the conditions of this proposal. It is expected that this will sometimes require on-site observation. The failure or omission of an offeror to acquaint him/her with existing conditions shall in no way relieve him/her of any obligation with respect to this proposal or to the contract. 5.0 Affirmative Action: The contractor will take affirmative action in complying with all federal and state requirements concerning fair employment and employment of the handicapped, and concerning the treatment of all employees, without regard or discrimination by reason of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or physical handicap. 6.0 WMBE Statement: It is the policy of the City of Georgetown to provide minorities, and women equal opportunity for participating in all aspects of the City’s contracting and procurement programs, including but not limited to employment, construction projects, and lease agreements consistent with the laws of the State of South Carolina. It is further the policy of the City of Georgetown to prohibit discrimination against any person or business in pursuit of these opportunities on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex,

9 City of Georgetown Request for Proposal age, handicap, or veteran status. It is further the policy of the City of Georgetown to conduct its contracting and procurement programs so as to prevent such discrimination and to resolve any and all claims of such discrimination. 7.0 Termination: Subject to the Provisions enclosed, any contract resulting from this proposal may be terminated by the City provided a thirty (30) day advance notice in writing, by the City Administrator or his designee, is given to the contractor. 8.0 Convenience: In the event that this contract is terminated or canceled upon request and for the convenience of the City without the required thirty (30) day advance written notice, then the City shall negotiate reasonable termination costs, if applicable. 9.0 Cause: Termination by the City for the cause, default or negligence on part of the contractor shall be excluded from the foregoing provisions; termination costs, if any shall not apply. The thirty (30) day advance notice requirement is waived and the default provision listed herein shall apply. 10.0 Default: In case of default by the contractor, the City reserves the right to purchase any and all items/services in default in open market, charging contractor with any excessive costs. SHOULD SUCH CHARGE BE ASSESSED, NO SUBSEQUENT PROPOSALS OF THE DEFAULTING CONTRACTOR WILL BE CONSIDERED UNTIL THE ASSESSED CHARGE HAS BEEN SATISFIED. 11.0 Prime Contractor Responsibilities: The contractor will be required to assume sole responsibility for the complete effort as required by this RFP. The City will consider the contractor to be the sole point of contact with regard to contractual matters. 12.0 Subcontracting: If any part of the work covered by this RFP is to be subcontracted, the offeror shall identify the subcontracting organization and the contractual arrangements made therewith at the time of the offer. All subcontractors must be approved by the City. The successful offeror will also furnish the corporate or company name and the names of the officers of any subcontractors engaged by the offeror. 13.0 Ownership of Material: Ownership of all data, material and documentation originated and prepared for the City pursuant to this contract shall belong exclusively to the City of Georgetown. 14.0 Compliance with State & Federal Requirements: State and Federal requirements that are more restrictive than these set forth herein shall be followed by the contractor. 15.0 Contract Amendments: Amendments to any contract between the City and the contractor must be reviewed and approved in writing by the City of Georgetown City Administrator or his designee. 16.0 Assignment: No contract or its provisions may be assigned, sublet, or transferred without the written consent of the City of Georgetown Finance Department. 17.0 Records Retention & Right to Audit: The City shall have the right to audit the books and records of the contractor as they pertain to this contract. Such books and records shall be maintained for a period of three (3) years from the date of final payment under the contract. The City may conduct performance audits of the contractor, as determined necessary by the City. Pertaining to all audits, the contractor shall make available to the City, access to its computer files containing the history of the contract performance and all other documents related to the

10 City of Georgetown Request for Proposal audit. Additionally, any software used by the contractor shall be made available for auditing purposes at no cost to the City. 18.0 Independent Contractor Status: The parties hereby agree that Contractor is an independent Contractor of the City and that nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to place the Parties in a relationship of employer/employee, partners, or joint ventures. Neither party shall have the right to obligate or bind the other in any manner. Each party agrees and acknowledges that it will not hold itself out as an authorized agent with the power to bind the other Party in any manner. Each Party shall only be responsible for any withholding taxes, payroll taxes, disability insurance payments, unemployment taxes, or other similar taxes or charges with respect to its activities in relation to performance of its obligations of this Agreement. 19.0 Representations of Contractor: Contractor represents warrants and covenants that: A. In providing the services Contractor shall utilize the care and skill ordinarily used by members of Contractor profession practicing under similar circumstances at the same time and in the same locality; B. All employees provided by Contractor (Employees) to the City shall have the qualifications, skills and experience necessary to perform his/her job in accordance with the requirements of this Agreement. The City may request the removal of any Employee for good cause; and C. Contractor is a business, validly existing and in good standing under the Laws of the State of South Carolina. 20.0 Indemnity Provision: Contractor agrees to and shall indemnify and hold the City harmless from and against all liability, loss, damages or injury, and all costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees and costs of any suit related thereto), suffered or incurred by the City, arising from or related to this Agreement or Contractor’s performance hereunder. 21.0 Insurance: Contractor shall keep and maintain general automobile liability insurance in the amount of $1,000,000 per occurrence for each vehicle, $2,000,000 in the aggregate for all vehicles which Contractor brings into City property or uses in any manner in the provision of the Services, including transportation to and from the site(s) where the Services are rendered; and Contractor further agrees that Contractor shall maintain general liability insurance in the amount of at least $1,000,000 per incident/occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate for all incidents/occurrences during the contract period; and Contractor agrees that Contractor shall maintain Professional Liability Insurance in the amount of $1,000,000. In no event shall the Contractor serve as a self-insurer for the purpose of Workers Compensation Insurance. Contractor shall provide Workers Compensation Insurance, Automobile Liability Insurance, General Liability Insurance and Professional Liability Insurance Endorsements, if applicable, to the City. All insurance related questions should be directed to the City Risk Manager, Cindi Howard @ (843) 545.4005. 22.0 Bid Security: Each Proposal must be accompanied by a certified check or by a bid bond in an amount equal to or at least five (5%) percent of the amount of the bid to guarantee that the successful bidder will, within twenty (20) days from the date of contract approval, enter into a contract with the Owner, and execute to the Owner bonds as required. If for any reason whatsoever, the Bidder withdraws from the competition after the bids have been opened, or refuses to execute the required contract and bonds, if his bid is accepted, the Owner may retain the amount of the certified check, or proceed on the bid bond. The surety on the Bid Bond shall

be a surety company authorized to do business in South Carolina. Attorneys-in-fact who sign bonds must file with each bond a certified and effectively dated copy of their power of attorney. Bonds and surety thereon shall be subject to approval by the attorney for the Owner. Non- compliance with this requirement mandates that the City reject the bid. 23.0 City Business License and Permits: The successful firm, prior to execution of the contract, must possess or obtain a City of Georgetown Business License and applicable permits. Such license and permits must be maintained throughout the duration of the contract. The fee for the business license is based on the amount of the contract with the City, if the vendor is not currently doing other business inside the City limits. If the vendor is currently doing other business within the City limits of the City of Georgetown, and does not possess a business license, then the fee for the license is based on total gross receipts from customers within the City limits. Contact Debra L Bivens @ (843) 545.4036 to determine the exact amount or to ask other pertinent questions regarding doing business in the City of Georgetown. 24.0 Performance Bond and Payment Bond: When construction contract is awarded the following bonds shall be delivered by the successful bidder to the City and shall become binding on the parties upon execution of the contract: A. A Performance Bond shall be in an amount equal to one hundred ten percent (110%) of the contract amount. B. A Payment Bond for the protection of all persons supplying labor and material to the contractor or its subcontractors for the performance of the work shall be in an amount equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the contract amount. Original documents are required. Copies will not be accepted for any reason. Special Instructions 1.0 Intent to Perform: It is the intent and purpose of the City of Georgetown that this request permits competition. It shall be the offeror’s responsibility to advise the City of Georgetown Finance Department if any language requirements, etc. or any combinations thereof, inadvertently restricts or limits the requirements stated in this RFP to a single source. Such notification must be submitted in writing and must be received by the City of Georgetown Finance Department within fifteen (15) days of the date of issue. A review of such notifications will be made. Notification may be sent to the attention of Bonnie L. Infinger at 120 North Fraser Street (29440), PO Drawer 939 (29442), Georgetown, South Carolina. 2.0 Receipt of Proposal: The proposal must be submitted no later than the date and time specified in the Request for Proposals. Offerors mailing proposals should allow a sufficient mail delivery period to insure timely receipt of their proposals by the issuing office. Any proposals received after the scheduled opening date and time will be immediately disqualified. 3.0 Preparation of Proposal: 3.1 All proposals should be complete and carefully worded and must convey the information requested by the City. If significant errors are found in the offeror’s proposal, or if the proposal fails to conform to the essential requirements of the RFP, the City will be the judge as to whether that variance is significant enough to reject the proposal.

3.2 Proposals should be prepared simply and economically, providing a straightforward, concise description of the offeror’s capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. Emphasis should be on completeness and clarity of content. 3.3 Each copy of the proposal should be bound in a single volume where practical. All documentation submitted with the proposal should be bound in a single volume. 3.4 If your proposal includes any comment(s) over and above the specific information requested in our RFP, you are to include this information as a separate appendix to your proposal. 4.0 Award: Any award resulting from this request shall be to the responsive and responsible offerors whose proposal is determined most advantageous to the City, taking into consideration cost, when required, and the evaluation factors set forth herein; however, the right is reserved to reject any and all proposals received and in all cases, the City will be the sole judge as to whether an offeror’s proposal has not satisfactorily met the requirements of this RFP. 5.0 Right of Non-Commitment or Rejection: This solicitation does not commit the City of Georgetown to award a contract, to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of the proposal, or to procure or contract for the articles of goods or services. The City reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals received as a result of this request, or to cancel in part or in its entirety this proposal if it is in the best interest of the City to do so. Copyright and Patent Rights The vendor warrants that there are no existing claims of violation and vendor has no knowledge of any potential claims of violation of copyrights or patent rights in products being proposed in this bid as of the date of bid submittal. City of Georgetown requires indemnification by the vendor of any claim or action brought against City of Georgetown based upon a claim that the software or hardware provided by the vendor violated any copyright or patent rights.

2. General System Requirements Background

Existing Communications and Network Infrastructure • The vendor will provide a licensed FCC protected band to be used for remote metering system. • The area covered is approximately 7 square miles and includes approximately 5,100 utility customers (residential and business). • The system will be backhauled to an existing fiber network.

System Requirements This section describes the system sizing, configuration and performance requirements for the City of Georgetown. These are considered to be minimal requirements; vendors are encouraged to identify areas in which their proposal exceeds the requirements.

System Capacity and Scalability The system shall utilize leading technology and architecture to ensure compatibility with all identified meter types and models. Preference will be given to systems with two-way communication for both electric and water. The system shall be capable of leak detection and outage management. The system will have the ability to read meters equipped with absolute encoder high resolution registers equipped with leak detection, reverse flow detection, and tamper detection. The City plans a seven (7) square mile area to include approximately 5,300 electric meters of varying size (single phase and poly phase) and 5,500 water meters of varying sizes.

Installation

The vendor will be responsible for complete and timely installation and change-outs of all equipment. The vendor may utilize the services of equipment suppliers or service agencies to do the physical installation, but this does not relieve the vendor of any responsibility for the installation. If City staff is proposed for installation and/or change-outs, the staff numbers and hours should be clearly indicated in the Price Proposal. The vendor's project manager will remain the contact for any installation issues or problems and vendor shall provide 24 hour, seven day per week service response availability to the City.

Reliability and Fault-tolerance The system shall offer high levels of reliability and deliver no less than 99% accuracy of all meters in the system. The system shall provide for automatic fail-over protection at multiple levels, including the connection to the fiber network. The system as proposed must provide protection against local environmental disrupters, including transient power failures, and resiliency for interference. This protection must operate automatically and not require manual intervention.

Network Topology Vendor shall specify the topology of the proposed system. Identify the number of device options and backhaul connection points.

Hardware The devices and related equipment shall support multiple power configurations. It shall offer easy and straightforward mounting. The hardware shall be industrial-grade and designed for outdoor environments. New equipment is preferred; retrofit pricing may be included as an alternative.

Network Management The system shall offer an application for centralized management control. The application shall be fully compliant with the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) network management standard. The vendor shall specify how such application provides central

14 City of Georgetown Request for Proposal management and control over the network. The vendor shall also describe the system monitoring, logging, troubleshooting, and diagnostics capabilities.

Security The system shall offer the highest-level of security at multiple layers utilizing proven, industry- standard security technologies. The vendor shall describe the operation of each security layer, as well as the encryption scheme(s) used.

3. Compliancy Table A compliancy table will further facilitate the City of Georgetown in the overall evaluation of each vendor's proposal. Please use a compliancy table in responding to the requirements and questions regarding functions, features, and reporting capabilities. If your response falls in Category M or F, where an additional fee is necessary, this additional fee must be quoted and added to the Price Detail. You must include these in the appropriate cost detail section of your proposal under a separate heading marked, "Additional Fees".

Response Category E Requirements will be met by vendor’s existing software/hardware. M Requirement will be met by the projected installation date through proposed modifications to existing software/hardware. F Requirement will not be met by the projected installation date but will be met by a planned, future version release. X Requirement cannot be provided. City of Georgetown strongly recommends the vendor respond to each application. An omitted response will be scored the same as a response code of X (requirement cannot be provided).

4. Projected Implementation The vendor will provide a project implementation plan with appropriate Gantt charts or similar representations of the milestones and timing of the implementation. The project duration anticipated for this installation is 4 (four) months from contract signing to system acceptance. If the vendor’s proposed schedule should exceed (or fall shorter than) this duration, please include an explanation of the variance. The schedule will highlight important milestone dates with adequate description of what these tasks include. Include a Gantt chart depicting the installation from project start through final acceptance.

5. Warranty/Maintenance Requirements The vendor will indicate the warranty period for both system hardware and software components, which the City requests information for at least five (5) years. The vendor will also describe the different maintenance/support plans available after the warranty period. Provide cost details on included and extended warranty/maintenance plans for all facets of the system. Ensure that all appropriate costs are included in the Price Proposal.

The vendor will outline any ongoing City of Georgetown IT Department responsibilities in regards to maintenance, upgrades, and system monitoring.

6. Training Requirements The vendor will provide a training plan identifying the minimum number of training hours that will be provided as a part of the base package. The plan will identify the actual training hours and describe the size and assumed skill levels of each group. The courses should indicate whether the location will be on-site and off-site training. The vendor will provide cost information for additional training that is available. Please make sure that all cost totals are also included on the Price Proposal.

7. Documentation During Implementation the vendor will provide a full set of documentation required to operate and maintain the proposed system including hardware, software, computer operations, and training and operations users and reference guides. The vendor will provide one electronic version on portable media and one paper master copy from which the City of Georgetown may make in-house copies.

8. Price Proposal The following should be provided so that a fair evaluation of the system proposed can be accomplished:  Equipment/Hardware Price (including retrofits if applicable)  Software Price  Other/Miscellaneous Hardware/Software  Installation and Integration Price – Vendor is required to provide separate line item pricing proposed for water and electric meters  Warranty/Maintenance Price  Training Price The vendor should supply a complete list of all components proposed.

AMI System Project Price Proposal

Ref EQUIPMENT/HARDWARE Estimated Unit Charge TOTAL No. Quantity 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

Ref SOFTWARE Estimated Unit Charge TOTAL No. Quantity

Ref OTHER Estimated Unit Charge TOTAL No. HARDWARE/SOFTWARE Quantity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

INSTALLATION AND Estimated Unit Charge TOTAL INTEGRATION-Water & Quantity Electric 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

INSTALLATION AND Estimated Unit Charge TOTAL INTEGRATION- Water Quantity Only 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ref WARANTY MAINTENANCE Estimated Unit Charge TOTAL No. Quantity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ref TRAINING Estimated Unit Charge TOTAL No. Quantity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ref OTHER Estimated Unit Charge TOTAL No. Quantity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Specifications

9. A. System Architecture

1. System must provide a full communications system to each end-point device. 2. Each network entry/exit device must support numerous endpoints to minimize backhaul communication requirements for connectivity to the host. 3. System must support remote on-demand meter readings for data and system health checks. System shall support multiple monthly billing schedules and provide on-request reads as needed for billing or other customer service needs. 4. System must support remote activation of service connects and disconnects to selected electric meters. 5. Bidder shall fully describe the complete field network and all hardware, software, and communications necessary for the backhaul of metering data.

6. The system shall support automatic registration of meters on the network. All radios in the meters and network shall be programmed to validate the unique location of the device or components. 7. The system shall be self-healing in its communications. 8. Time accuracy for electric meter interval data, time of use demand periods shall be synchronized. 9. The system shall provide necessary interfacing for importing/exporting billing data with New World Systems Logos .Net Solution. All associated costs should be included in the pricing proposal. 10. The system must interface with an outage reporting system similar to AllCall and have the ability to notify staff of any issues via email or text message.

10. B. Host Station Requirements

1. Bidder’s proposal shall include a complete host station to provide meter-reading services that include the following: a) Web browser based user interface for remote system access; b) Operating system Microsoft Windows XP or higher is preferable; c) System security allowing various classes of users or operators to be established with password protection and operator-specific access to system functionality or data; d) Monthly remote meter reading of any desired billing quantity (energy,TOU, demand); e) Daily meter readings with billing data, status, voltage, and outage account data; f) Ability to support one-shot or periodic meter reading schedules to obtain specific meter data sets from each meter; g) Tier, 4 Season Time of use meter reading with remotely re-programmable rates at any meter; h) Block demand meter reading on total energy; i) Load Profile Interval meter reading; j) On-request meter reading with real-time response of data from the meter; k) Real time power outage and restoration status data; l) Tamper alarms; m) Meter statuses and alarms; n) On-site voltage; o) Reverse energy; p) On-request control of optional service connect and disconnect switches, with remotely programmable demand-limiting option; and

q) Ability to read residential, commercial, and industrial meters.

2. Bidder shall fully describe the Host Station computer hardware and software, including: a) Hardware requirements (recognized commercially available manufacturers are preferred); b) Operating system (Microsoft Windows XP or higher is preferred); c) Database (an SQL database profile is preferred); d) Graphical User Interface (a web browser based interface is required); e) File formats for data import and export (XML or similar industry standard interfaces are preferred); f) Ability to support remote procedure calls or Application Program Interfaces for interface with third party applications; g) Any third party software necessary for system operation (ex. billing software and outage reporting software) including pricing; h) LAN or WAN connections for remote meter reading and enterprise system connection; and i) Environmental requirements. 3. Bidder shall fully describe the network monitoring functions including:

a) Provision for management of the Concentrator/Routers including configuration;

b) Optimization of Meter assignment to the Router/Concentrator;

c) Management and download of any Router/Concentrator operating software upgrades;

d) Provision for an alarm processing configuration and management including the ability to assign alarms to specific events and to communicate the alarm conditions to designate single or multiple individuals;

e) Results of alarms, events and activities recorded and logged to provide support and troubleshooting function; and

f) Reporting that is selectable and printable by the system operator.

11. C. Metering and Collecting Unit Specifications

Electric Meters 1. All electric meters shall be electronic type with internal AMI communications module with a readily-visible front display of all billing data including energy, demand and time-

of-use consumption. Bidder shall advise their display capabilities including number of digits, decimal placement, etc. for standard billing quantities. 2. Meter display shall indicate direction of rotation (energy flow), provide means for standard optical accuracy testing and display and report key meter status indications. 3. An interface must be available for accuracy testing or remote meter programming activities. All meters should have the capability to be programmed from the host. 4. Remote metering data shall be obtained directly from the meter’s electronic registers. Consumption or billing data read remotely from the meter shall also be readable at the meter display. 5. Meters and system shall provide advanced kWh energy measurement options, including energy in (delivered), energy out (received), summed energy, and net energy metering options. 6. All meters will monitor reverse kWh energy flow and flag the user in the event of increased registration. 7. Meters must enable prepay solutions, as well as Home Area Network (HAN) (ex. Zigbee based). 8. Residential meters shall allow for remote implementation and reading of consumption, demand, Time-of-Use (TOU), and load profile data collection, without on-site visits for reprogramming or meter change-outs. 9. At a minimum all meters shall support block demand metering and include remote demand reset capability. 10. Meters shall support multiple TOU schedules to be programmed and remotely downloaded to each meter. 11. For load profiling, it shall be possible for meters to read and store interval data collectable at programmed times. 12. The system shall provide the meter’s line side voltage information for each meter site. 13. Meters shall provide outage/blink counts. 14. Meters shall provide status indications of key metering functions such as processor check-sum errors, memory errors, memory overflow, etc. 15. Bidders shall describe the meter and system’s capability to monitor power outages and power restoration status. 16. An optional remote service disconnect/connect feature shall be available that is incorporated under the meter cover so that the appearance is exactly the same as an AMI meter without the remote disconnect/connect feature – i.e. no collar device. The meter shall support remote control of the disconnect switch, ability to monitor the status of the switch contacts, and shall include the ability to offer a demand limiting feature in lieu of a disconnect command. Disconnects shall not be closable in the event of detection of voltage on the load side of the meter and shall advise the host operator if this condition exists.

17. Commercial meters shall support remote reading of real total energy, demand, and time of use metering quantities. Meters shall optionally support reactive energy, demand and TOU, bidirectional metering for real or reactive quantities, and provide four channels of load profile interval data. 18. Meter communication devices shall be located under the meter cover and meet all applicable requirements of ANSI C12.20. 19. Software for support or programming of the electronic meter shall be compatible with PCs using Microsoft Windows or XP operating systems and allow use of a standard optical probe for local meter interface.

Water Meters 1. Bidder shall describe its AMI solution for water metering. Two way systems are preferred. 2. Solutions that interface with absolute encoder registers are required. 3. General requirements are to provide monthly meter readings of consumption data, with daily reads of consumption data. 4. Larger water meters may require collection of interval consumption data on a daily basis. 5. Bidder shall describe how the system can provide and monitor for leak, broken pipe, and backflow detection. 6. Pricing proposal should include lid change outs necessary to ensure proper operation of the system. 7. System shall monitor for meter failures, leakage detection, cut connections to AMI water module. Bidder shall describe other capabilities of their proposed system. 8. Bidder shall provide new water meters with AMI modules. 9. System shall have a minimum 10 year service life and proposal shall include a maintenance/replacement plan to maintain proper operation.

12. D. Additional System Functionality The City of Georgetown desires a system that can provide for both current and future capability. Bidder shall describe its abilities to provide the following functionality: 1. Critical tier or real-time electricity pricing; 2. Customer displays for energy, messaging for rates or real-time pricing, etc.; 3. Demand side management or direct load control; 4. Pre-pay metering with customer display; 5. Integration with the City of Georgetown New World Systems Logos .Net Solution; 6. Description of any other functions that may provide added value/services;

7. Strategy for meter change outs, including defining the salvage value and recycling of existing meters and impact to pricing proposal; and 8. New equipment pricing (preferably), retrofit pricing as an alternative.