Questions and Answers: HVAC Compliance Tracking System Business Needs and Functional

Questions and Answers: HVAC Compliance Tracking System Business Needs and Functional Requirements Request for Proposals (RFP-16-403)

Q1: Would being awarded this contract preclude a party from bidding on later work taking place as a result of this contract? (For example, software development.)

A: Probably. Note that this is a correction to the response given in the pre-bid conference.

The State Contracting Manual, Volume 1, Chapter 7, Section 7.10, Subsection A, Item 3 states:

“Consultants are prohibited from bidding on, or being awarded a contract that is required, suggested, or otherwise deemed appropriate in the end product of a previous consulting contract with them. See Public Contract Code Section 10365.5 to determine applicability.”

Public Contract Code Section 10365.5 states:

“(a) No person, firm, or subsidiary thereof who has been awarded a consulting services contract may submit a bid for, nor be awarded a contract for, the provision of services, procurement of goods or supplies, or any other related action which is required, suggested, or otherwise deemed appropriate in the end product of the consulting services contract.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to any person, firm, or subsidiary thereof who is awarded a subcontract of a consulting services contract which amounts to no more than 10 percent of the total monetary value of the consulting services contract.

(c) Subdivisions (a) and (b) do not apply to consulting services contracts subject to Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 4525) of Division 5 of Title 1 of the Government Code.”

Q2: Will you release the pre-bid conference slide show and list participants prior to publishing the questions and answers?

A: The slide show and a list of parties interested in forming partnerships to apply for this RFP are available at http://energy.ca.gov/contracts/efficiency.html#RFP-16-403.

Q3: Does the Commission expect the contractor team and CAM to hold to the specific hours estimated by task in the RFP given that this is a work authorization-driven contract? In other words, what happens if the estimated hours are exceeded for a specific task, or if the overall budget is exceeded?

A: For proposals, the estimated hours provided in the RFP are intended as rough guidance; bidders are expected to propose appropriate levels of time commitment for each task. The total budget for a proposal may not exceed the $500,000 available for FY 16/17. For the executed contract, refer to Exhibit B, Section 9 for information regarding budget reallocations. Specifically, “The budget reallocation only involves moving funds between tasks or categories. The total Agreement Amount and the total budget of any work authorizations must remain unchanged. Increasing the total amount of the Agreement requires a formal amendment.” The estimated hours for a task may be exceeded as long as the contractor does not claim reimbursement that would violate budget requirements.

of 6 RFP 16-403 Q4: How will the Commission manage the non-small business preference requirement?

A: The Energy Commission will track the overall Small/Micro Business amount to ensure that the 25% requirement is met. This will not be done by Work Authorization (WA) because any given WA may or may not include Small/Microbusiness participation.

Q5: Will the contractor be required to document the 25%+ allocation for the non-small business preference?

See Section V. Business Participation Programs (Preferences/Incentives) regarding non-small businesses on page 42.

Note: Each listed CA certified SB must perform a “commercially useful function” in performance of the contract as detailed in Government Code section 14837(d)(4)(A)-(B).”

Q6: What happens if the technical work doesn’t dictate the particular skill set of the small business to the level estimated once the work authorizations are drafted and executed?

A: The contractor will be held accountable to its commitment over the life of the agreement. If this commitment seems unlikely to be met, or the contractor is deemed by the Energy Commission to be negligent in meeting its commitment, the Energy Commission will take the steps necessary to address the problem (such as issuing a Stop Work Order, or terminating the agreement).

Q7: Who is accountable for monitoring the required ‘spend’ to the small business entity?

A: The Contractor.

Q8: Do the signatures on the administrative forms need to be original ‘wet’ signatures?

A: This is not a requirement, but is preferred.

Q9: How will you objectively reduce the likelihood for influencing the final budget score by a proposer specifying the utilization of staff at a lower classification than the work may require, thereby creating an unreasonable benchmark score against which all other costs are evaluated? Is there any adjustment, allowance, or credit for using more skilled and experienced staff where needed within this budget attachment? If so, where is the information located in the RFP?

a. As an extreme example, if proposer A uses the classification ‘admin assistant’ and other low rate staff for 60% of the total work across all tasks, the bidder will have a nice low score and the competitors may be 30% or more off another proposer’s total cost, which may cost a more responsible bidder the award. Is there any technical review of the chosen classification during the scoring of the cost?

of 6 RFP 16-403 b. Once awarded, will the Commission contract manager be allowed to request a higher level of staff to work on tasks that the bidder has stated will be performed by a lower classification?

A: The evaluation of each proposal will thoroughly address the quality of the proposal with respect to each technical evaluation criteria and the consistency of the budget proposal with the technical proposal. The winning bidder will be expected to deliver quality work with the staff and budget level provided in the proposal. The Commission contract manager will be responsible for ensuring that a quality product is delivered within the proposed budget.

Q10: What does “Maximize the benefits of compliance tracking to state and local agencies and to the market itself” mean?

A: Local building departments and the Contractors State License Board are expected to benefit from compliance tracking. Other state and local agencies affected by contractor non-compliance with permitting and other laws also may benefit from the tracking system. One example might be the Board of Equalization and local agencies responsible for ensuring that sales tax is being collected. The market itself is expected to benefit from information about industry-as-a-whole compliance on a regional basis, both to assist the industry to manage its own performance and to provide consumers with information related to industry performance.

Q11: Is there supposed to be a relationship between a potential sales registry created as a result of this RFP and the compliance registry for Title 24 documentation, or are they entirely separate?

A: There would be an expectation for the tracking system to link up with all relevant, existing sources of data to minimize redundancy of the tracking system, so certainly the HERS provider data registries would be a source of verifying that field verification has been accomplished, and the data in the registries would logically feed into the tracking system.

Q12: Why is this RFP just for residential? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to track all sales? There is overlap between residential and non-residential equipment, and we are concerned about contractors purchasing non-residential equipment to avoid being included in the tracking system.

A: Residential installations have been the focus of attention since the 2008 Strategic Plan for Reducing the Impact of Air Conditioners was prepared. This includes the importance of compliance with the Building Energy Efficiency Standards field verification requirements. This will be the scope of this RFP. The SB 350 provision to ensure contractor compliance with performance standards has a broader scope, but this is the first step.

Q13: SB 1414 says, “By January 1, 2019, the Energy Commission, in collaboration with local building officials and other key stakeholders, is required to approve a plan that promotes greater permit compliance with associated HVAC sales and installations. The bill also authorizes the commission to adopt regulations consistent with the findings of that plan.” Is this RFP intended to support SB 1414?

A: SB 1414 passed a year after SB 350 and calls for the Energy Commission to develop a plan for a wide range of initiatives the Energy Commission or the state as a whole might take to

of 6 RFP 16-403 improve Standards compliance. It’s quite possible that the plan might include some discussion of the conclusions are related to the business needs and functional requirements of the tracking system, but the SB 1414 plan will be a separate activity.

Q14: Given the importance of this system to work for all stakeholders, what kind of engagement would you expect the contractor to have with the affected stakeholders? Is the Commission open to providing funding to somehow make representatives of these entities available to provide significant engagement with any successful bidder, or is it more appropriate to include these stakeholders on the bidder's research teams?

A: The RFP details the tasks and calls for engagement of both the users and the people who will be supplying information and exploration of existing electronic and manual systems in the marketplace. So the RFP very much expects contact and insightful involvement of different entities involved in the process. The RFP provides a detailed list of experience and qualifications that are expected to be covered by the team. The RFP does not make specific conclusions about how a team will propose to accomplish engagement of users and key actors from whom data will be acquired.

Q15: What are the main gaps in the information available from the studies identified in the RFP that this study is to fill?

A: The papers and related documents that are available provide information that is relevant to HVAC compliance tracking. In some cases, it is the full subject of the paper; in others, it is a partial aspect of the paper. The questions that are called to be answered in this RFP are not, in most cases, thoroughly addressed in the papers. Any bidder needs to look at the papers and see what information and thoughtful ideas are in them, but the work of identifying the business needs and functional requirements are not addressed in depth in those papers.

Q16: How does this differ from serial number tracking?

A: To achieve the goals of this RFP, there must be some approach to tracking equipment through the steps in compliance. The applicant could develop a strategy of what is the best way to track the equipment through the compliance steps. The RFP does not necessarily envision something different from what has been termed serial number tracking, but it does not limit the possibilities to only that approach.

Q17: Does the Energy Commission intend to make the tracking system mandatory?

A: Yes, the expectation would be for the tracking system to be required once it is developed and adopted by the Commission.

Q18: Does the Energy Commission anticipate working with the utilities to develop this tracking system?

A: The Energy Commission would expect a wide range of stakeholders, including the utilities, to provide input into the development of the tracking system.

of 6 RFP 16-403 Q19: Does the Energy Commission have assurances from other state agencies and organizations that may be relied on to provide tracking data that they will cooperate in this project and eventual implementation of the system?

A: This RFP is the first step to develop the business needs and functional requirements for a tracking system. No assurances have been made regarding participation in this project by other state agencies or organizations.

Q20: Do the estimated labor hours for each task include development of the plan memo?

A: Yes, a Task Plan Memo is a required first step for each task, and the estimated labor hours for each task are expected to include this.

Q21: The RFP mentions the reporting needs of the general public; what type of needs does the Energy Commission anticipate the general public will place on the tracking system?

A: The general public could benefit from aggregated information regarding the performance of the contracting industry in pulling permits and achieving compliance with the performance standards. It may be determined that this information should be provided at a regional level.

Q22: It appears the bulk of the work completed will be on a part-time basis, given this is time and materials (T&M) and is driven by specific tasks and hours allocated. Are there any positions (for example the Senior PM or oversight role) that would be on a full-time basis? Or is the team structure/time allocation to be determined by each vendor?

A: Each proposal must include a team structure and time allocation appropriate for each task.

Q23: Is remote work an option for any of the tasks or roles or does all work need to be completed on site?

A: The winning bidder is not expected to complete all work on site at the Energy Commission.

Q24: Is it the intent of the Commission to create a solicitation for the next phase of the work?

A: It is likely that the next phase of the work of developing an HVAC compliance tracking system, to accomplish the business needs and functional requirements determined under this RFP, would be conducted under a subsequent solicitation.

Q25: What is the Commission’s vision for the work allocation? Will there be one work authorization for each task or will there be several? As you know the administrative costs increase dramatically based on the number of work authorizations issued, the number of scope versions requested before the authorization is issued, and the Prime’s responsibility to see that the work products conform to the expectations – which may involve several iterations.

A: The Commission anticipates a limited number of work authorizations, perhaps three. This would be negotiable with the successful proposer.

of 6 RFP 16-403 Q26: Other than the CAM, how many staff at the Commission will be directing/contributing to the technical work? How many staff will be reviewing the work products created from each work authorization? How does the Commission plan to accommodate the fluid and real time nature of the work within strict budget limits?

A: The Commission Agreement Manager (CAM) and Work Authorization Manager (WAM), with review and input from other Energy Commission staff, will direct the contractor in performing the work of the contract. Energy Commission staff will review work products, and will provide feedback and guidance to ensure quality performance of the contractor in the work described in the contract and work authorizations. The CAM and WAM are responsible for guiding the completion of the contract within the time available and budget limits.

Q27: How many public meetings does the Commission expect to host during the proceeding?

A: The Energy Commission anticipates conducting one public workshop to review and seek public input on the business needs and functional requirements conclusions resulting from this project.

Q28: Will the findings from this phase directly impact the subsequent phases? For example, if there is support for the database/software development to occur in phases, would the subsequent solicitation reflect this?

A: The business needs and functional requirements determined under this RFP are expected to be used for later stages of development of the HVAC compliance tracking system.

Q29: The classification descriptions, with only a few exceptions, require a degree as ‘minimum’. In this industry there are many contractors, suppliers and subject matter experts who may not possess such a degree or the degree may be in progress. In addition many business analysts are not required to have a degree, though one is helpful. Can we propose additional experience or document ‘or equivalent’ in lieu of the degree for the classifications we are proposing? This approach is in line with the classifications used for utility program work.

A: The “Educational Requirements” tab of Attachment 7 lists the job titles and classifications that must be used for team members in the proposals, along with examples of typical education and experience for each job title or classification. The education and experience listed are examples only, and proposed team members are not required to meet the listed qualifications, provided that they have appropriate experience to perform the tasks to which they would be assigned.

Q30: Is the number of hours for each task listed in the RFP supposed to be an acceptable range for the project budget?

A: As stated in the footnote on Page 12 of the RFP, “The “Estimated Total Hours” and “Estimated General Classifications” included in this scope of work are only estimates or suggestions by Energy Commission staff, and are included only to provide basic guidance to applicants.”

of 6 RFP 16-403