22-RFQ-01 - Responses to Offeror Questions 12 Aug 2021.pdf

Telephone: 312-793-0263 . Fax: 312-814-0926 . www.illinois.gov/ipa

Program Administrator Solicitation Illinois Power Agency Adjustable Block Program

Request for Qualifications

22-RFQ-01

Responses to Offeror Questions August 12, 2021

Question 1:

Is the Agency under a procurement or regulatory obligation to put the Adjustable Block Program Administrator out to bid?

Agency Response Section 1-75(c)(1)(M) of the Illinois Power Agency Act authorizes the Agency to:

[R]etain one or more experts or expert consulting firms to develop, administer, implement, operate, and evaluate the Adjustable Block program described in subparagraph (K) of this paragraph (1), and the Agency shall retain the consultant or consultants in the same manner, to the extent practicable, as the Agency retains others to administer provisions of this Act, including, but not limited to, the procurement administrator. The selection of experts and expert consulting firms and the procurement process described in this subparagraph (M) are exempt from the requirements of Section 20-10 of the Illinois Procurement Code, under Section 20-10 of that Code.

The process of retaining a procurement administrator referenced in this provision is conducted through a Request for Qualifications/Request for Proposals process with the resulting contract subject to approval by the Illinois Commerce Commission.

While the incumbent Program Administrator was selected in 2018 with a term for up to five years, as described in the Request for Qualifications:

Pending legislation would substantially revise and expand the Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard, including the Adjustable Block Program. This RFQ is being issued in anticipation of the enactment of that legislation and the expected significant expansion of the ABP, both in terms of the scope of the Program’s responsibilities and the volume of project applications to be processed. The Agency seeks a Program Administrator with resources and experience sufficient to manage the next phase of the Program.

Additionally, regardless of the outcome of any legislative action, the Agency views this RFQ and subsequent RFP as an opportunity to update and better align the role, expectations, and duties of the Program Administrator with the actual operational experience of the program to date.

Question 2:

Will the Agency consider adding the following NIGP Code for the final solicitation:

NIGP 91897 Utilities: Gas, Water, Electric Consulting

This question is in reference to Page 10 of the RFQ (Section I-15) which states, “MINORITY, FEMALE, AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITY PARTICIPATION AND UTILIZATION PLAN: Any subsequent RFP solicitation is expected to contain a 20% goal to include businesses owned and controlled by minorities, females, and persons with disabilities in the State’s procurement and contracting processes.”

The Agency is in the process of identifying applicable National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (“NIGP”) codes for use in the development of the specifications for the Business Enterprise Program Utilization Plan requirement that will be part of the subsequent Request for Proposals. As part of that process the Agency will take this request into consideration.

Question 3:

Page 5 of the solicitation listed multiple procurement platforms. Which platform will the Agency be using for this bid?

This question is in reference to page 5 of the RFQ (Section I-2) which states, “PUBLISHED PROCUREMENT INFORMATION: Although this solicitation is exempt from the Illinois Procurement Code, the Agency will use State websites, in addition to other resources, to disseminate information about this solicitation. The State publishes procurement information, including updates, on the Illinois Procurement Bulletin (www.bidbuy.illinois.gov/), Illinois Public Higher Education Procurement Bulletin (www.procure.stateuniv.state.il.us/), Transportation Procurement Bulletin (idot.illinois.gov/doing-business/procurements/index) or the Illinois Capital Development Board Bulletin (www2.illinois.gov/cdb/procurement/Pages/default.aspx). The Agency will also post this solicitation and related documents and announcements to its website (www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa).

Procurement information may not be available in any other form or location. Offeror is responsible for monitoring the Bulletin selected by the Agency for this procurement. The Agency will not be held responsible if Offeror fails to receive the optional e-mail notices.”

The Agency will publish additional RFQ related procurement information, including updates and/or addendums (as necessary) using the State of Illinois Procurement Bulletin Bid Buy platform (www.bidbuy.illinois.gov/) as well as the Agency’s website (www.illinois.gov/ipa).

http://www.bidbuy.illinois.gov/ http://www.illinois.gov/ipa

Question 4:

Page 6 of the solicitation requests that the e-mail submission contain the RFQ response in Word or PDF attachments. Is it acceptable to instead email a secure link (which holds the Word or PDF attachments) to maintain our organization's security standards?

This question is in reference to page 6 of the RFQ (Section I-6) states, “INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF QUALIFICATIONS: Responses to this RFQ must be submitted either: (1) By e-mail sent to the e-mail address listed above. The e-mail should have a subject line with the Solicitation title, and Offeror’s name. The e-mail should contain as attachments (in PDF or Word format): Section 1 – Submittal of Qualifications Check List; Section 2 – Technical Proposal.”

The Agency will accept RFQ submission documents via secure email link. However, the State of Illinois has strict cyber-security protocols and therefore cannot guarantee access to and/or usage of the secure email link referenced in the question. Offerors considering using a secure link should contact the Solicitation Contact listed in Section I.3 of the RFQ prior to the due date to test and confirm that the secure link will be accessible by the Agency.

Question 5:

The RFQ Instructions for Submitting Qualifications (p. 5) state that text fields must be completed in the forms for Section 1 (Qualifications Check List) and Section 2 (Technical Proposal). In addition to such “text fields,” the forms include “check boxes” that must be selected. Please clarify whether respondents should include the PDF forms in their own format for response to the RFQ.

This question is in reference to Page 5 of the RFQ (Section I-1) which states, “HOW TO ENTER INFORMATION: Type information in the text fields provided. Text fields are indicated by the instruction “Click here to enter text.” in red font. If the information requested does not apply to the Offeror, then enter “N/A” into the text field. Please enter the requested information or N/A into every red text field. If appropriate, provide a brief explanation of why the field in not applicable.”

Offerors may submit a response to the RFQ as PDFs in their own format so long as they contain the same content as Sections 1 and 2, or they may request a Word version of the RFQ from the Solicitation Contact listed in Section I.3 to fill out. For Section 1 please be sure to check all applicable boxes, and in Section 2, please respond “Yes” or “No” to each item in Section 2.5, provide the “Offeror Statement of Qualifications” requested in Section 2.6, and responses to the three items listed in Section 2.7. The responses to Section 1 and Section 2 must each be signed and dated.