biddoc.pdf

RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call Page 1 of 34

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call

RFP DUE: 3:00 PM MT (Mountain Time), November 6, 2026

The City of Fort Collins is requesting proposals from qualified Professionals to provide substation engineering services across the full range of the Substations & Grid Tech team's needs, from routine design and studies to urgent field troubleshooting. The awarded Professional would function as an extension of the team, capable of quickly mobilizing for field support (troubleshooting, outage response, commissioning) as well as providing office-based engineering, studies, and document review.

As part of the City’s commitment to sustainability, proposals must be submitted online through the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System (RMEPS) at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/city-of-fort-collins. Note: please ensure adequate time to submit proposals through RMEPS. Proposals not submitted by the designated Opening Date and Time will not be accepted by RMEPS.

All questions should be submitted, in writing via email, to Beth Diven, Senior Buyer at bdiven@fcgov.com, no later than 3:00 PM MT on October 26, 2026. Please format your e-mail to include: RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call in the subject line.

Questions received after this deadline may not be answered. Responses to all questions submitted before the deadline will be addressed in an addendum and posted on the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System webpage.

Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System hosted by BidNet A copy of the RFP may be obtained at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/city-of-fort-collins.

This RFP has been posted utilizing the following Commodity Code(s):

918-42 Engineering Consulting 925-29 Electric Utility Protection and Control Engineer 925-31 Electrical Engineering (Inc. Cogeneration Design Services) 925-32 Electronic Engineering 925-33 Engineer Services, Professional 925-34 Energy Management Engineering 925-36 Engineering Services (Not Otherwise Classified) 925-37 Facilities Design Services, Engineering

Prohibition of Unlawful Discrimination: The City of Fort Collins, in accordance with the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 252, 42 US.C. §§ 2000d to 2000d-

4) and the Regulations, hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively ensure that any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises will be afforded full and fair opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, or national origin in consideration for an award.

The City strictly prohibits unlawful discrimination based on an individual’s gender (regardless of gender identity or gender expression), race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, age

Financial Services Purchasing Division 215 N. Mason St. 2nd Floor PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522

970.221.6775 fortcollins.gov http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/city-of-fort-collins

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40 years or older, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, or other characteristics protected by law. For the purpose of this policy “sexual orientation” means a person’s actual or perceived orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality.

The City also strictly prohibits unlawful harassment in the workplace, including sexual harassment. Further, the City strictly prohibits unlawful retaliation against a person who engages in protected activity. Protected activity includes an employee complaining that he or she has been discriminated against in violation of the above policy or participating in an employment discrimination proceeding.

The City requires its Professionals to comply with the City’s policy for equal employment opportunity and to prohibit unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation. This requirement applies to all third-party Professionals and their subcontractors/subconsultants at every tier.

Public Viewing Copy: The City is a governmental entity subject to the Colorado Open Records Act, C.R.S. §§ 24-72-200.1 et seq. (“CORA”). Any proposals submitted hereunder are subject to public disclosure by the City pursuant to CORA and City ordinances. Professionals may submit one (1) additional complete proposal clearly marked “FOR PUBLIC VIEWING.” In this version of the proposal, Professionals may redact text and/or data that it deems confidential or proprietary pursuant to CORA. All pricing will be considered public records subject to disclosure under CORA and as such pricing cannot be redacted from the “FOR PUBLIC VIEWING” version of the proposal. Failure to provide a public viewing copy will be considered a waiver of any claim of confidentiality under CORA without regard to how the applicant’s proposal or certain pages of the proposal are marked confidential, proprietary, or similar. Such statement does not necessarily exempt such documentation from public disclosure if required by CORA, by order of a court of appropriate jurisdiction, or other applicable law. Generally, under CORA, trade secrets, confidential commercial information and financial data information may not be disclosed by the City. Proposals may not be marked “Confidential” or ‘Proprietary’ in their entirety. By responding to this RFP, Professionals hereby waives any and all claims for damages against the City for the City’s good faith compliance with CORA. All provisions and pricing of any contract resulting from this request for proposal will be public information.

Professionals Registration: The City requires new Service Providers/ Professionals receiving awards from the City to submit IRS form W-9 and requires all Service Providers/ Professionals to accept Direct Deposit (Electronic) payment. If needed, the W-9 form and the Vendor Direct Deposit Authorization Form can be found on the City’s Purchasing website under Vendor Reference Documents. Please do not submit these documents with your proposal, however, if you take exception to participating in Direct Deposit (Electronic) payments please clearly note such in your proposal as an exception. The City may waive the requirement to participate in Direct Deposit (Electronic) payments at its sole discretion.

Sales Prohibited/Conflict of Interest: No officer, employee, or member of City Council, shall have a financial interest in the sale to the City of any real or personal property, equipment, material, supplies or services where such officer or employee exercises directly or indirectly any decision-making authority concerning such sale or any supervisory authority over the services to be rendered. This rule also applies to subcontracts with the City. Soliciting or accepting any gift, gratuity favor, entertainment, kickback or any items of monetary value from any person who has or is seeking to do business with the City of Fort Collins is prohibited.

Collusive or Sham Proposals: Any proposal deemed to be collusive or a sham proposal will be rejected and reported to authorities as such. Your authorized signature of this proposal assures that such proposal is genuine and is not a collusive or sham proposal.

https://www.fortcollins.gov/Business/Bids-and-Contracts

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The City of Fort Collins reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to waive any irregularities or informalities.

Utilization of Award by Other Agencies: The City of Fort Collins reserves the right to allow other state and local governmental agencies, political subdivisions, and/or school districts to utilize the resulting award under all terms and conditions specified and upon agreement by all parties. Usage by any other entity shall not have a negative impact on the City of Fort Collins in the current term or in any future terms.

The selected Professional shall be required to sign the City’s Agreement prior to commencing services (see sample attached to this document).

Sincerely, Jake Rector Purchasing Director

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I. BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE / OVERVIEW

A. Objective The City of Fort Collins, Light & Power Department (Light & Power) is seeking to establish an on-call relationship with qualified Professional engineering firm(s) to provide substation engineering services across the full range of the Substations & Grid Tech team's needs, from routine design and studies to urgent field troubleshooting. The awarded Professional would function as an extension of the team, capable of quickly mobilizing for field support (troubleshooting, outage response, commissioning) as well as providing office-based engineering, studies, and document review.

Because this is an on-call arrangement rather than a single-site project, work may be assigned at any of the City's substation sites or in support of new substation development, and the scope, schedule, and location of individual assignments will vary.

B. Background The City of Fort Collins Light & Power Department (Light & Power) owns and operates the electric distribution system serving the City of Fort Collins, including a network of 7 distribution substations, and receives wholesale power and transmission service from Platte River Power Authority (PRPA), a joint action agency serving Fort Collins, Estes Park, Longmont, and Loveland. Light & Power's Substations & Grid Tech team is responsible for the design, construction, protection, control, and maintenance of the City's substations, and regularly requires supplemental engineering support to meet workload, respond to field issues, and maintain specialized expertise in protective relaying, SCADA, and substation design. Light & Power is responsible for 16 230kV/13.8kV and 115kV/13.8kV 50MVA power transformers serving 124 feeders.

II. SCOPE OF PROPOSAL

A. General Scope of Services The following is a general list of services that may be requested under this on-call Agreement. Individual Work Orders will define the specific scope, schedule, and fee for each assignment. This list may not be all-inclusive, and not all listed services will necessarily be used.

1. Substation Design & Construction Support

a. Physical and electrical design, including layout, grounding, and lightning protection.

b. Material specification and procurement support.

c. Construction oversight, inspection, and commissioning support for new substations and substation upgrades.

d. Design packages may include, but are not limited to:

• Conduit and cable design

• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) design

• 3D models/renders for equipment layout and clearance verification

• Permitting support

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• Drawing and schematic review, development, or modification

• Design, document, and specification review of substation projects prepared by the City, Platte River Power Authority (PRPA), or others.

• Assistance with specification development and review to support City RFP submissions and procurement of substation equipment and materials.

• Independent design review and verification of substation engineering packages prepared by others.

2. Planning, Studies & Field Support

a. Load flow, short circuit, and arc flash hazard studies and mitigation.

b. Protection coordination and sectionalizing studies.

c. Generation/distributed energy resource interconnection studies, as applicable.

d. Rapid on-site troubleshooting and emergency field response.

e. Commissioning support and field engineering during outages and equipment changeovers.

3. Protective Relaying & Control

a. Relay settings and coordination studies for new installations, system upgrades, and legacy relay systems.

b. Relay panel design, material specification, and fabrication/installation packages.

c. North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Protection and Control

(PRC) compliance support, including interval testing and maintenance program development.

d. Coordination with PRPA on protection settings and coordination studies at shared interconnection points.

e. Event analysis for root-cause investigation and resolution of equipment failures and/or system interruptions.

f. Relay testing, calibration, and commissioning.

4. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)

a. RTU or logic controller programming, configuration, and commissioning.

b. Integration of substation SCADA data with the City's control systems, and support for expanding remote monitoring and control capability.

c. Communication systems engineering, including WAN/LAN network design, serial communications, and substation communication protocols such as DNP3, Modbus, and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories proprietary protocols.

d. Cybersecurity support for substation control and communication systems, including secure network architecture design and review for SCADA, RTU, and relay communications; implementation of access controls, network segmentation, and secure remote access methods; vulnerability assessments and patch management guidance for RTUs, relays, and network infrastructure; and support

RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call Page 6 of 34 aligned with NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection standards where applicable, IEC 62443, NIST guidance, and other applicable industry standards.

5. Substation Preventative Maintenance

a. Development and execution of substation preventative maintenance programs, including inspection schedules, condition assessments, and equipment lifecycle planning.

b. Field support for routine and predictive maintenance activities, including infrared/thermographic inspections and routine equipment servicing.

c. Power transformer testing and diagnostics, including insulation resistance, power factor (Doble) testing, turns-ratio testing, Sweep Frequency Response Analysis (SFRA) and dissolved gas analysis (DGA) interpretation.

B. Response Expectations This is an on-call arrangement without a fixed project schedule; deliverables and schedules will be defined for each Work Order assignment. For emergency field support requests, as determined by the City (e.g., equipment failure, protection misoperation, or outage response), the Professional shall acknowledge the request via predetermined communication channel within thirty (30) minutes and have the ability for qualified personnel to be on-site at the affected City facility within two (2) hours of notification during normal business hours. For emergencies outside normal business hours (evenings, weekends, and holidays), the Professional shall describe its after-hours response process and committed on-site response time in its proposal; a two (2) hour after-hours response is preferred. For urgent, non-emergency requests, the Professional shall confirm receipt and provide an estimated response/mobilization time within two (2) hours of notification during normal business hours.

C. Expectations of the Professional

1. Provide qualified, appropriately licensed engineering support, as required, throughout the complete substation lifecycle, including:

a. System planning, assessment, and project development.

b. Conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design reviews.

c. Equipment specification, procurement, factory testing support.

d. Construction, commissioning, and energization support.

e. Operation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and condition assessment.

f. Equipment modification, modernization, replacement, and system expansion support.

g. Support of substation decommissioning.

2. Support the City’s technical review and compliance activities throughout each lifecycle stage, including design reviews, document reviews, specification reviews, construction submittal reviews, commissioning documentation, and record-drawing reviews.

3. Provide responsive and reliable local support, including:

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a. On-site troubleshooting and emergency field response, with qualified personnel on-site within two (2) hours of notification for emergencies, as described in Response Expectations.

b. Field engineering and commissioning support during planned and emergency outages, equipment changeovers, system upgrades, and new installations.

c. Personnel with direct working familiarity with the City’s electric distribution system and PRPA’s generation and transmission systems, recognizing the frequent technical and operational coordination required between the two organizations.

D. Qualifications & Experience

1. Minimum Qualifications The qualified Professional engineering firm must demonstrate the ability to have qualified personnel on-site at City substations within two (2) hours of notification for emergency requests during normal business hours, as described in Response Expectations, through an office or field staff located within a reasonable distance of Fort Collins, Colorado.. The Principal Professional Engineer for each discipline must be registered as a Professional Engineer (P.E.) in the State of Colorado.

2. Preferred Qualifications & Experience Prior experience providing engineering services directly to Fort Collins Light & Power and/or Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) or comparable governmental agencies is preferred. Additional preferred qualifications include: a minimum of three (3) similar on-call or as-needed engineering services agreements with public or investor-owned electric utilities in Colorado or the surrounding region; demonstrated experience with protective relaying, SCADA/logic controller programming, and substation design; and staff who are NERC PRC/compliance-trained. Additional preferred experience includes: programming and commissioning SEL (Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories) relay and Real-Time Automation Controller (RTAC) platforms; power transformer testing and diagnostics; substation preventative maintenance program development; arc flash, short circuit, and protection coordination studies for municipal or cooperative electric utilities; and experience with generation/distributed energy resource interconnection studies.

E. Anticipated Schedule The following represents the City’s target schedule for the RFP. The City reserves the right to amend the target schedule at any time.

• RFP issuance: October 16, 2026

• Question deadline: 3:00 PM MT on October 26, 2026

• Final Addendum Issued: October 30, 2026

• Proposal due date: 3:00 PM MT on November 6, 2026

• Interviews (tentative): Early December 2026

• Award of Contract (tentative): December 2026

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F. Interviews In addition to submitting a written proposal, the top-rated Professionals may be interviewed by the RFP assessment team and asked to participate in an oral presentation to provide an overview of the company, approach to the project and to address questions.

The evaluation criteria for the oral interviews will be the same as the criteria for the written evaluations and is included in Section IV.

Instead of traditional in-person interviews for the optional interview session, the City may opt to use alternate methods including, but not limited to remote interviews through a platform such as Microsoft Teams.

G. Travel & Expenses Subject to the terms of the applicable Work Order, reasonable expenses may be reimbursable per the current rates found at www.gsa.gov. Professional will be required to provide original receipts to the City for all travel expenses.

H. Subcontractors/Subconsultants Professional will be responsible for identifying any subcontractors and/or subconsultants in their proposal. Please note that the City will contract solely with the awarded Professional; therefore, subcontractors and/or subconsultants will be the responsibility of the Professional.

I. Current standards All work and/or materials must meet current standards in force by recognized technical and professional societies, trade and materials supply associations, institutes and organizations, bureaus and testing laboratories, and national, federal, state, county, and local laws, codes and ordinances.

J. Safety Practices, Safety Documentation and Training Professional(s) shall comply with all engineering, safety, and operating requirements concerning installation of equipment in or around utility facilities; obtaining access facilities; and adhering to operating rules and requirements involving safe contact with utility equipment and water, gas and power lines, and confined spaces. Professional(s) shall adopt Utility's minimum safety standards as the baseline requirements.

K. Fees, Licenses, Permits The successful Professional shall be responsible for obtaining any necessary licenses, fees or permits without additional expense to the City. All vehicles and equipment shall be properly licensed and insured, carry the appropriate permits and be placarded as required by law.

L. Laws and Regulations The Professional agrees to comply fully with all applicable local, State of Colorado and Federal laws and regulations and municipal ordinances to include American Disabilities Act (ADA).

M. Work Orders The awarded Professional(s) will be required to sign the City’s Work Order Type http://www.gsa.gov/

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Agreement, a sample of which is attached as Section VI for reference purposes. In the event that the City has agreements with multiple Professionals for the Work, the City reserves the right to request proposals for individual Work Order assignments from the awarded Professionals or assign Work Orders directly to a Professional at its sole discretion. Selection for individual Work Orders may be based on, but not limited to, availability, approach, prior experience, firm capability, and cost.

Individual Work assignments will be requested and agreed to utilizing the City’s Work Order (included in the Agreement). Each Work Order must include a start and completion date, total cost and a Scope of Work. Subsequent supporting documentation pages may include a project schedule, deliverables, hours, cost detail supporting total cost, and personnel details. Fees outlined in the Work Order will conform with those stated in the Agreement.

No Work Order over $7,500 will be considered valid until signed, at a minimum, by the Professional, project manager and Purchasing Department representative. Depending on the cost and nature of the Work, additional signature authorization may be required. Any changes to the dates, cost or scope of any Work Order must be agreed upon in writing utilizing the City’s Change Order (included in the Agreement) and will not be considered valid until signed, at a minimum, by the Professional, project manager and Purchasing Department representative.

N. Invoicing and Payment Invoices should be emailed monthly to invoices@fortcollins.gov with a copy to the Project Manager. The cost of the work completed shall be paid to the Professional each month following the submittal of a correct invoice by the Professional indicating the project name, Purchase Order number, task description, hours worked, personnel/work type category, hourly rate for each employee/work type category, date of the work performed specific to the task, percentage of that work that has been completed by task, 3rd party supporting documentation with the same detail and a brief progress report.

Payments will be made using the prices stated in the Work Order and Agreement. In the event a service is requested which is not stated in the Work Order and/or Agreement, the Professional and the City will negotiate an appropriate unit price for the service prior to the Professional initiating such work.

The City pays invoices on Net 30 terms.

III. PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL

Please limit the total length of your proposal to a maximum of fifty (50) 8 ½ x 11” pages (excluding cover pages, table of contents, dividers and Acknowledgement form). Font shall be a minimum of 10 Arial and margins are limited to no less than .5” for sides and top/bottom.

Extended page sizes, such as 11” x 17”, count as a single page and may be used for detailed pricing. Links to other files or websites shall not be permitted. Proposals that do not conform to these requirements may be rejected.

Professionals are required to provide detailed written responses to the following items in the order outlined below. The responses shall be considered technical offers of what Professionals propose to provide and shall be incorporated in the contract award as deemed appropriate by the City. A proposal that does not include all the information required may be deemed non-responsive and subject to rejection.

Responses must include all the items in the order listed below. It is suggested that the mailto:invoices@fortcollins.gov

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Professionals include each of the City’s questions with their response.

The City of Fort Collins shall not reimburse any firm for costs incurred in the preparation and presentation of their proposal.

A. Cover Letter / Executive Summary The Executive Summary should highlight the content of the proposal and features of the program offered, including a general description of the program and any unique aspects or benefits provided by your firm.

Indicate your availability to participate in the interviews/demonstrations on the proposed dates as stated in the Schedule section.

B. Professional Information

1. Describe the Professional’s business and background

2. Number of years in the business

3. Details about ownership

4. An overview of services offered and qualifications

5. Size of the firm

6. Location(s) of offices. If multiple, please identify which will be the primary for our account.

7. Primary contact information for the company including contact name(s) and title(s), mailing address(s), phone number(s), and email address(s).

C. Scope of Proposal

1. Provide a detailed narrative of the services proposed if awarded the contract per the scope above. The narrative should include any options that may be beneficial for the City to consider.

2. Describe how the Professional would potentially manage several projects at different sites and with different levels of expertise required to ensure each project’s timely and professional completion.

3. Describe the methods and timeline of communication the Professional will use with the City’s Project Manager and other parties.

4. Describe how the Professional will meet the two (2) hour emergency on-site response time during normal business hours, including the location of responding personnel, the number of qualified staff available to respond, and how requests are received and dispatched. Also describe the after-hours, weekend, and holiday emergency response process and the committed on-site response time.

5. Describe the way in which the Professional develops and maintains project schedules for projects and the scheduling software proposed to be used for sequencing tasks and scheduling. Please also address how the Professional works to overcome challenges.

6. Provide details on the Professional’s commitment to quality and attention to detail.

Explain the processes your team will use to assure delivery of a high-quality finish product.

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7. Describe how projects would be managed and who would have primary responsibility for timely and professional completion.

8. Include a description of the software and other analysis tools utilized for project cost estimation.

9. Identify what types of work and services, if any, may be subcontracted.

D. Firm Capability and Assigned Personnel Provide relevant information regarding previous experience related to this or similar projects, to include the following:

1. Provide an Organization Chart/Proposed Project Team: An organization chart containing the names of all key personnel and subconsultants with titles and their specific task assignment for this Agreement shall be provided in this section.

2. Provide resumes for each professional and technical person to be assigned to the project, including partners, subconsultants, and subcontractors. Please limit resumes to one page.

3. A list of qualifications for your firm and qualifications and experience of the specific staff members proposed to perform the services described above.

4. References. Provide a minimum of three similar projects with public agencies in the last 5 years that have involved the staff and subcontractors/subconsultants proposed to work on this project. Include the owner’s name, contact name, email and phone number, subconsultants on the team and a brief description of the work. The Professional authorizes the City to verify any and all information contained herein and hereby releases all those concerned providing information as a reference from any liability in connection with any information provided.

5. Provide any information that distinguishes Professional from its competition and any additional information applicable to this RFP that might be valuable in assessing Professional’s proposal.

E. Sustainability/TBL Methodology In concise terms (no more than two pages), please describe your organization’s commitment to sustainability and supporting values.

Each element of the TBL sustainability criteria will receive equal consideration in determining the final Sustainability/TBL score.

1. Address how your firm strives to incorporate all three aspects (social, environmental, and economic) of Triple Bottom Line (TBL) sustainable practices into the workplace. Provide examples along with any metrics used to measure success within your firm.

2. Also provide examples of how your firm has incorporated all three aspects of TBL sustainable practices in previous similar projects on which your firm has been the prime Professional.

Some examples are provided below:

a. Environmental – Experience delivering projects / programs focused on environmental health priorities in the areas of climate resiliency, water quality and watershed protection, regulatory performance, management systems, RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call Page 12 of 34 air quality, renewable energy, sustainable building and design, construction materials management, and solid waste reduction.

b. Economic – Experience working and delivering projects with an emphasis on strategic financial planning, job creation, business development, asset management, various project delivery methods, value engineering, regional partnerships, transparency, stakeholder engagement, strategic investments, aging infrastructure, repurposing of existing facilities, and competing financial priorities.

c. Social - Experience working and delivering projects, programs, and/or initiatives that support Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion throughout your firm’s workplace, including leadership, and supply chain. Examples of this may be demonstration of working within cultural and language gaps, development of diversity programs, diverse project teams, equitable opportunity vendor supply chain, and how your firm has applied an equity lens to processes such as recruitment, hiring, purchasing, career pathways, salaries, and staff engagement.

F. Cost and Work Hours In your response to this proposal, please provide the following:

1. Schedule of Rates: Provide a schedule of billing rates by category of employee and job title to be used during the term of the Agreement. This fee schedule will be firm for at least one (1) year from the date of the Agreement. The fee schedule will be used as a basis for determining fees should additional services be necessary. A fee schedule for subconsultants/subcontractors, if used, shall be included.

Overhead, profit, general & administrative expenses shall not be separately priced and shall be included in the rate schedule(s) line items.

2. All indirect costs with the exception of travel are to be included in the hourly labor rates.

Travel expenses may be reimbursable per the Agreement and current rates found at www.gsa.gov. Professional will be required to provide original receipts to the City for all travel expenses.

G. Sample Agreement Included with this request for proposals is a sample Agreement that the City intends to use for obtaining the services of the Professional. The Professional is required to review this Agreement and indicate any objections to the terms of the contract. If revisions to the contractual terms are requested, provide suggested revisions.

H. Acknowledgement The Acknowledgement form is attached as Section V. Complete the attached form indicating the Professional hereby acknowledges receipt of the City of Fort Collins Request for Proposal and acknowledges that the Professional has read and agrees to be fully bound by all of the terms, conditions and other provisions set forth in the RFP.

IV. REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

A. Proposal and Interview Criteria Professionals will be evaluated on the following criteria. This set of criteria will be the http://www.gsa.gov/

RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call Page 13 of 34 basis for review and assessment of the written proposals and optional interview session.

At the discretion of the City, interviews of the top-rated Professionals may be conducted.

The rating scale shall be from 1 to 10, a rating of 1 doesn’t meet minimum requirements, a rating of 5 means the category fulfills the minimum requirements, and 10 exceeds minimum requirements in that category.

WEIGHTING

FACTOR CATEGORY STANDARD QUESTIONS

2.0 Scope of Proposal

Does the proposal address all elements of the RFP? Does the proposal show an understanding of the on-call engineering services objectives? Are there any exceptions to the specifications, Scope of Work, or agreement? Are there other qualified personnel available to assist in on-call engineering services if required?

3.0 Firm Capability &

Assigned Personnel

Does the firm have the resources, financial strength, capacity and support capabilities required to successfully complete the project on-time and in-budget? Has the firm successfully completed previous projects of this type and scope? Do the persons who will be working on the project have the necessary skills and qualifications? Are sufficient people of the requisite skills and qualifications assigned to the project? Availability and ability to meet response time. Are there other qualified personnel available to assist in on-call engineering services if required? Does the team have hands-on experience with the City’s installed platforms? Are proposed staff licensed in Colorado and NETA-certified where applicable? Does the firm maintain test equipment suitable for the services proposed?

1.0 Sustainability/TBL

Methodology

Does the firm demonstrate a commitment to Sustainability and incorporate Triple Bottom Line methodology in both their Scope of Work for the project, and their day-to-day business operating processes and procedures?

Does the firm demonstrate a commitment to all three aspects (social, environmental, and economic) of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) methodology of sustainability for this project and in their company value system as evidenced by their day-to-day business operating processes, practices and procedures?

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WEIGHTING

FACTOR CATEGORY STANDARD QUESTIONS

2.0 Cost

Do the proposed cost and work hours costs compare favorably with the Project Manager's estimate current market rates and trends? Are the sample Work Order estimates reasonable in hours, labor mix, and total cost?

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V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This form may not be redlined and must be submitted with your proposal. Failure to adhere to these requirements may result in your proposal being rejected.

Professional hereby acknowledges receipt of the City of Fort Collins Request for Proposal and acknowledges that it has read and agrees to be fully bound by all of the terms, conditions and other provisions set forth in the RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call and sample Agreement except as otherwise noted. Additionally, Professional hereby makes the following representations to City:

a. All of the statements and representations made in this proposal are true to the best of the

Professional’s knowledge and belief.

b. Professional commits that it is able to meet the terms provided in this proposal.

c. This proposal is a firm and binding offer, for a period of 90 days from the date hereof.

d. Professional further agrees that the method of award is acceptable.

e. Professional also agrees to complete the proposed Agreement with the City of Fort Collins within 10 days of notice of award. If contract is not completed and signed within 10 days, City reserves the right to cancel and award to the next highest rated firm.

f. Professional acknowledges receipt of addenda.

g. Professional acknowledges no conflict of interest.

h. Professional acknowledges that the City is a governmental entity subject to the Colorado

Open Records Act, C.R.S. §§ 24-72-200.1 et seq. (“CORA”). Any proposals submitted hereunder are subject to public disclosure by the City pursuant to CORA and City ordinances. Professionals may submit one (1) additional complete proposal clearly marked “FOR PUBLIC VIEWING.” In this version of the proposal, Professionals may redact text and/or data that it deems confidential or proprietary pursuant to CORA. All pricing will be considered public records subject to disclosure under CORA and as such pricing cannot be redacted from the “FOR PUBLIC VIEWING” version of the proposal.

Failure to provide a public viewing copy will be considered a waiver of any claim of confidentiality under CORA without regard to how the applicant’s proposal or certain pages of the proposal are marked confidential, proprietary, or similar. Such statement does not necessarily exempt such documentation from public disclosure if required by CORA, by order of a court of appropriate jurisdiction, or other applicable law. Generally, under CORA, trade secrets, confidential commercial information and financial data information may not be disclosed by the City. Proposals may not be marked “Confidential” or ‘Proprietary’ in their entirety. By responding to this RFP, Professionals hereby waives any and all claims for damages against the City for the City’s good faith compliance with CORA. All provisions and pricing of any contract resulting from this request for proposal will be public information.

Legal Firm Name:

Physical Address:

Remit to Address:

Phone:

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Name of Authorized Agent of Firm:

Signature of Authorized Agent:

Primary Contact for Project:

Title: Email Address:

Phone: Cell Phone:

NOTE: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IS TO BE SIGNED & RETURNED WITH YOUR PROPOSAL.

Official Purchasing Document Last updated 4/2025

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VI. SAMPLE AGREEMENT (FOR REFERENCE ONLY – DO NOT SIGN )

MASTER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

WORK ORDER TYPE

This Master Professional Services Agreement (Agreement) made and entered into the day and year set forth in the Agreement Period section below, by and between the CITY OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, a Colorado Municipal Corporation (City) and , a(n) [enter state] [business type] (Professional).

WITNESSETH:

In consideration of the mutual covenants and obligations herein expressed, it is agreed by and between the parties hereto as follows:

1. Scope of Service. The Professional agrees to provide Services in accordance with any project Work Orders for 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call, issued by the City.

Such Work Orders will be incorporated into this Agreement. A blank sample of a Work Order is attached hereto as Exhibit A, consisting of one (1) page and incorporated herein.

A general Scope of Services is attached hereto as Exhibit B, consisting of [# of Pages] and incorporated herein. The City reserves the right to independently solicit any project rather than issuing a Work Order to the Professional for the same pursuant to this Agreement.

Irrespective of references to certain named third parties within this Agreement or any Work Order, the Professional shall be solely responsible for performance of all duties hereunder.

The term Service as used in this Agreement shall include the Services and deliverables contained in any Work Order issued by the City.

The City may, at any time during the term of a particular Work Order and without invalidating the Work Order, make changes to the scope of the particular Service. Changes shall be agreed upon in writing by the parties by Change Order, a sample of which is attached hereto as Exhibit C, consisting of one (1) page and incorporated herein.

2. Work Order Schedule. The Services to be performed pursuant to this Agreement shall be performed as specified on each Work Order. Time is of the essence. Any change in schedule must be agreed upon in writing by the parties hereto via a Change Order.

3. Changes. The City may, at any time during the term of the Agreement, make changes to the Agreement. Such changes shall be agreed upon in writing by the parties.

4. Agreement Period. This Agreement shall commence , 2026 (the Effective Date) and shall continue in full force and effect until , 2027, unless sooner terminated as herein provided. In addition, at the option of the City, the Agreement may be extended for additional one (1) year periods not to exceed four (4) additional one-year periods. Renewals and pricing changes shall be negotiated by and agreed to by both parties only at the time of renewal. Written notice of renewal shall be provided to the Professional no later than thirty

(30) days before Agreement end. Should written notice of renewal be delayed, the parties

RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call Page 18 of 34 agree that this Agreement may automatically extend on a month-to-month basis until a renewal is completed. Upon expiration of the final renewal term, the Agreement may continue but not to exceed one (1) year if required to complete any active Work Orders in accordance with Section 8-186 of City Code.

5. Early Termination by City. Notwithstanding the time periods contained herein, the City may terminate this Agreement at any time without cause or penalty by providing at least ten (10) calendar days written notice of termination to the Professional.

In the event of early termination by the City, the Professional shall be paid for Services rendered up to the date of termination, subject to the satisfactory performance of the Professional 's obligations under this Agreement. Professional shall submit a final invoice within ten (10) calendar days of the effective date of termination. Payment shall be the Professional's sole right and remedy for termination.

6. Notices. All notices provided under this Agreement shall be effective immediately when emailed or three (3) business days from the date of the notice when mailed to the following addresses:

Professional: City: Copy to:

Attn:

Email Address

City of Fort Collins Attn:

PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 Email Address

City of Fort Collins Attn: Purchasing Dept.

PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 purchasing@fcgov.com

All notices under this Agreement shall be written.

7. Compensation. In consideration of the Services to be performed pursuant to this Agreement, the City agrees to pay the Professional on a time and reimbursable direct cost basis as designated in Exhibit D, consisting of [# of Pages], attached and incorporated herein. At the election of the City, each Work Order may contain a maximum fee, which shall be negotiated by the parties hereto for each Work Order. Partial payments based upon the Professional’s billings and itemized statements are permissible as defined in the applicable Work Order.

The amounts of any partial payments shall be based upon the Professional’s City-verified progress in completing the Service(s) to be performed pursuant to the Work Order and upon approval of the Professional’s direct reimbursable expenses. Payment shall be made following acceptance of the Services by the City.

Itemized invoices shall be emailed to invoices@fcgov.com with a copy to the Project Manager. The cost of the Services completed shall be paid to the Professional following the submittal of a correct itemized invoice by the Professional. The City is exempt from sales and use tax. The City’s Certificate of Exemption license number is 09804502. A copy of the license is available upon written request.

mailto:purchasing@fcgov.com mailto:invoices@fcgov.com

RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call Page 19 of 34

The City pays undisputed invoices on Net 30 days from the date of the invoice submittal to the City or, for disputed invoices, Net 30 days from the date of City Project Manager’s approval.

8. Design and Service Standards. The Professional warrants and shall be responsible for the Professional quality, technical accuracy, accessibility requirements under ADA and Public Accommodations and Technology Accessibility sections below, timely completion and the coordination of all Services rendered by the Professional, and the Project Instruments as defined in the Project Instruments and License section below. The Professional shall, without additional compensation, promptly remedy and correct any errors, omissions, or other deficiencies from such standards.

9. Indemnification. The Professional shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the City and its officers and employees, to the maximum extent permitted under Colorado law, against and from any and all actions, suits, claims, demands, or liability of any character whatsoever claimed by the Professional or third parties against the City arising out of or related to this Agreement (not limited to contract, tort, intellectual property, accessibility, or otherwise).

This obligation extends to reimbursement of the City's costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.

10. Insurance. The Professional shall maintain insurance in accordance with Exhibit E, consisting of one (1) page, attached hereto and incorporated herein.

11. Appropriation. To the extent this Agreement, or any provision in it, requires payment of any nature in fiscal years subsequent to the current fiscal year and constitutes a multiple fiscal year debt or financial obligation of the City, it shall be subject to annual appropriation by the Fort Collins City Council as required in Article V, Section 8(b) of the City Charter, City Code Section 8-186, and Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution. The City shall have no obligation to continue this Agreement in any fiscal year for which there are no pledged cash reserves or supporting appropriations pledged irrevocably for purposes of payment obligations herein. Non-appropriation by the City shall not be construed as a breach of this Agreement.

12. Project Instruments and License.

a. Upon execution of this Agreement, the Professional grants to the City an irrevocable, unlimited and royalty free license to use any and all sketches, drawings, as-builts, specifications, designs, blueprints, data files, calculations, studies, analysis, renderings, models, plans, reports, and other Work Order deliverables (Project Instruments), in any form whatsoever and in any medium expressed, for purposes of constructing, using, maintaining, altering and adding to the project, provided that the City substantially performs its obligations under the Agreement. The license granted hereunder permits the City and third parties reasonably authorized by the City to reproduce applicable portions of the Project Instruments for use in performing the Services or construction for the project. In addition, the license granted hereunder shall permit the City and third parties reasonably authorized by the City to reproduce and utilize the Project Instruments for similar projects, provided however, in such event the Professional shall

RFP 10349 Substation Engineering Services On-Call Page 20 of 34 not be held responsible for the design to the extent the City deviates from the Project Instruments. This license shall survive termination of the Agreement by default or otherwise.

b. Upon payment under each applicable Work Order, Project Instruments rendered by the Professional shall become the City’s property. The Professional shall provide the City with the Project Instruments in electronic format in a mutually agreed upon file type.

13. City Project Manager. The City’s Project Manager will be shown on the specific Work Order and shall make, within the scope of the Project Manager’s authority, all necessary and proper decisions with reference to the Services requested under the applicable Work Order.

All requests for contract interpretation, change order and other clarification or instruction shall be directed to the City Project Manager.

The initial City Project Manager for this Agreement is [Enter Name] and can be reached at [Enter Email] or [Enter Phone]. The City Project Manager is subject to change by the City.

14. Project Status Report. Project status reports may be required by Work Order and shall be submitted to the City Project Manager. Failure to provide any required status report may result in the suspension of the processing of any invoice.

15. Independent Contractor. The Services to be performed by the Professional are those of an independent contractor and not of an employee of the City. The City shall not be responsible for withholding any portion of the Professional's compensation hereunder for the payment of FICA, Workers' Compensation, unemployment insurance, other taxes or benefits or for any other purpose.

16. Personal Services. It is understood that the City enters into this Agreement based on the special abilities of the Professional and that this Agreement shall be considered as an Agreement for personal services.