07225-RFI.pdf

Request for Information (RFI)

Contract #07225- Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, and Renewables

Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) Page 1 of 5 Rev. 08/14/2024

May 19, 2025

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, and Renewables

ANNOUNCEMENT

The State of Washington is in the process of developing specifications for Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, and Renewables and is requesting input from the business community. The current statewide contract 08721 will expire on December 31, 2026.

BACKGROUND

This statewide contract is for Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, and Renewables throughout Washington State. Customers use this contract to procure the specified delivery of fuel from the awarded Contractor in a cost-effective, efficient manner. This statewide contract is used by State Agencies and qualifying organizations who have signed the Contract Usage Agreements (CUA). A list of CUA members is available at CUA Members.

Scope:

The scope of this statewide competitive solicitation includes Gasoline, Diesel, Biodiesel, Renewable Gasoline, and Renewable Diesel, and their delivery from rack location to the purchaser’s delivery location within the State of Washington.

Sales: Current sales approximate $118,000,000 annually.

QUESTIONS

Enterprise Services is particularly interested in the following topics as they relate to gasoline, Diesel, Biodiesel, Renewable Gasoline, and Renewable Diesel, and our draft requirements for these fuel types:

1. Fuel Delivery. The current contract 08721 for Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, and Renewables has a “Range of Miles” fee and a “ Drop Fee for All Miles”. The delivery fee for any deliveries in the 0-65 miles range of the applicable rack has been included in the OPIS Low +/-bidder's rate.

There are fuel site locations throughout the state; some sites are more frequent and generally closer to the Interstate 5 corridor (I-5), while others are much further from the rack locations. We hope to make delivery fees more appropriate to each site. With the current “Range of Miles” fee and “Drop Fee for All Miles” structure, a short distance from the rack location pays more than a longer distance. For smaller orders, the current delivery pricing is extremely expensive.

https://apps.des.wa.gov/DESContracts/Home/ContractSummary/08721 https://apps.des.wa.gov/DESContracts/Home/MCUAListing https://apps.des.wa.gov/DESContracts/Home/ContractSummary/08721

Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) Page 2 of 5

What delivery pricing structure or alternative would you recommend to accommodate both smaller and larger orders? Should the contractor be permitted to pull fuel from a different rack location rather than the main one specified in the contract?

2. Tiered pricing. We are considering a tiered pricing approach to accurately reflect fuel pricing. The following is an example of potential pricing tiers:

a) Full load (11000 gallons fuel)

b) 9000-11000 gallons fuel

c) 7500-9000 gallons fuel

d) 5000-7500 gallons fuel

We would prefer pricing tiers that match the capacity of fuel delivery trucks. What are the pricing tiers you would recommend that match your fuel carrying and delivery capacity?

3. Capacity. Please detail your fuel truck capacity for the state of Washington. Based on the current sales ($118,000,000 annually), would your company be able to deliver across the state at this level?

4. Fuel Pricing. Enterprise Services is currently utilizing “With CAR OPIS Low” rate as the base rate of fuel and the contractor’s adder for the current fuel cost. This change has been made to the contract when the Clean Commitment Act and Clean Fuel Standard came into effect in 2023. To increase transparency concerning the compliance costs associated with the cap-and-invest program and the Clean Fuel Standard, we are considering the “OPIS Low+ Cap-at-Rack (CAR)”cost + “Clean Fuel Standard” cost + fixed margins for each fuel type. This will allow purchasers to understand the compliance cost of programs, while contractors will be encouraged to absorb some of the compliance cost to become more competitive. Please indicate your thoughts on the above fuel cost calculation. What would make fuel cost more competitive?

5. Wet Fueling (mobile fueling, or fleet fueling). What, if any, wet fueling options are available? If wet fueling is available, what is the capacity, fees, pricing, availability, and after-hours scheduling?

6. Regions/OPIS rates. The Department of Enterprise Services is currently utilizing “With CAR OPIS Low +/-“ for fuel pricing. Please indicate (in the table below) which OPIS rates and OPIS city racks you would recommend for gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, and renewable fuels.

https://ecology.wa.gov/Air-Climate/Climate-Commitment-Act/Cap-and-invest https://ecology.wa.gov/Air-Climate/Reducing-Emissions/Clean-Fuel-Standard

Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) Page 3 of 5

Regions and their counties: Indicate which OPIS rates would be best used for each county

Indicate which OPIS city rate

EXAMPLE: Northwest 1: King, San Juan, and Snohomish

OPIS Low / OPIS Average Anacortes

Olympic: Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, Pierce, and Thurston

Northwest 1: King, San Juan, and Snohomish

Northwest 2: Island, Skagit, and Whatcom

North Central: Chelan, Douglas, Grant, and Okanogan

Eastern: Adams, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, and Whitman

Southwest: Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat, Lewis, Pacific, Skamania, and Wahkiakum

South Central: Asotin, Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Kittitas, Walla Walla, and Yakima

7. Insurance Requirements. The current statewide contract 08721 for Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, and Renewables has the following insurance requirements:

o Commercial General Liability Insurance- no less than $5,000,000 per occurrence and $5,000,000 general aggregate.

o Workers’ Compensation Insurance- no less than $1,000,000 for each accident for bodily injury by accident, $1,000,000 for each employee for bodily injury by disease, and $1,000,000 for bodily injury by disease policy limit.

o Transportation Pollution Liability Insurance- no less than $20,000,000 per occurrence and $40,000,000 aggregate.

o Contractor’s Pollution Liability Insurance- a combined single limit per occurrence of no less than $5,000,000.

Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) Page 4 of 5 o Commercial Automobile Liability Insurance- no less than $5,000,000 per accident.

However, what types of insurance coverage are common standards in this industry for other Washington public entity customers, and what limits does your company have for each type of insurance coverage listed above?

8. Hydrogen fuel. Should hydrogen fuel be included in this statewide competitive solicitation, or should Enterprise Services request bids for hydrogen fuel as a separate competitive solicitation? Please provide your recommendation and explain the reasons behind your recommendation.

9. Added Value. Please identify areas of value-added service that you provide related to fuel delivery.

10. Features. What features and capabilities not available on the current contract 08721 for Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, and Renewables might you propose for a new contract?

11. Sustainability Practices. The Washington State Legislature and Governor have enacted or ordered Washington state agencies, through their procurement of goods and services, to consider or prefer goods and/or activities that either promote environmental sustainability or reduce adverse environmental impacts (e.g., greenhouse gas reduction).

This includes purchasing products that contain recycled material, products that do not contain Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and non-mercury added products. Does your business provide fuels that might meet any of these priorities?

What other products and sustainability best practices would you recommend that DES consider?

12. Barriers. Please identify any barriers for your business to bid on this opportunity.

13. Other Feedback. Provide any information you believe is relevant for DES to consider in developing a competitive solicitation for Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, and Renewable.

RFI PROCESS

Responses to this RFI should be submitted electronically to the RFI Coordinator listed below no later than June 2, 2025.

PLEASE NOTE: There is no related meeting to attend with this RFI.

Businesses may also contact the RFI Coordinator via email to set up a time to discuss this solicitation and provide answers to the RFI questions directly to DES. Please be aware that the RFI Coordinator may have limited time, and this would not be a discussion of the proposed solicitation. This meeting would be focused on DES learning more about the industry and advice on the solicitation.

Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) Page 5 of 5

Information about the status of this competitive solicitation can be found on the DES Planned Procurement page.

A response to this RFI is not a mandatory requirement for participation in any subsequent solicitations released by the State of Washington. The results of this RFI may be used in the development of future solicitations. All business community communications concerning this RFI must be directed to the RFI Coordinator:

Shapoor Naveed

RFI Coordinator

Dept. of Enterprise Services

PO Box 41411

Olympia, WA 98504-1411

Mobile: 360-701-1897

DESContractsTeamMaple@des.wa.gov

PUBLIC RECORDS

All documents (written and electronic) submitted to Enterprise Services as part of this RFI are public records. Unless statutorily exempt from disclosure, such records are subject to disclosure if requested. See RCW 42.56, Public Records Act. Enterprise Services strongly discourages businesses from unnecessarily submitting sensitive information (e.g., information that businesses might categorize as ‘confidential,’ ‘proprietary,’ ‘sensitive,’ ‘trade secret,’ etc.). For this RFI, no information considered confidential or proprietary should be included.

NO OBLIGATION TO CONTRACT

Release of this RFI in no way obligates the state of Washington to award a contract.

TO SUMMARIZE

The state of Washington appreciates your thoughts and input and would also welcome any additional thoughts and comments related to this commodity.

https://apps.des.wa.gov/DESContracts/Home/PlannedProcurement.

https://apps.des.wa.gov/DESContracts/Home/PlannedProcurement.

mailto:DESContractsTeamMaple@des.wa.gov http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=42.56