PEPCODCMD2017_Q A.doc

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Solicitation No. GS-00P-16-BSD-1217 Electric power supply PEPCO in DC and MD Q1. Given the July 4th holiday and vacation schedules, would GSA be willing to push back all the due dates in this solicitation by one week?

ANS: GSA may extended the due date for the submission of proposals to July 14 and to July 21 for pricing. Please register at FedBizOpps (www.fbo.gov) for the solicitation to receive updates.

Q2. Can you please provide the zip codes for the site list for the Pepco DC accounts and the city and zip codes for the Pepco MD accounts?

ANS: Exhibit 1 provides the city and zip codes for all accounts.

Q3. Can you please provide / confirm the bid groups for this solicitation?

ANS: Exhibit 1 delineates the DC and the MD pricing groups on separate tabs.

Q4. Will the GSA be providing award notifications and contracts by bid group or entity?

ANS: GSA will separately evaluate and award the PEPCO MD and PEPCO DC pricing groups. In the event the same supplier wins both groups, GSA will award only one contract.

Q5. Can you please identify which Pepco DC accounts are subject to a 12 month minimum stay provision if the enrollment window is missed?

ANS: Suppliers should assume that all accounts are subject to the 12 month stay provision if the enrollment window is missed.

Q6. If the incumbent supplier losses, to what extent will GSA facilitate communication between the incumbent and new supplier to ensure a smooth enrollment process and minimize the likelihood of being held captive by the 12 month minimum stay provision in Washington, D.C.?

ANS: GSA will encourage the incumbent supplier to work with the new supplier to ensure a smooth transition in the event the incumbent supplier does not win the follow-on contract. The winning supplier(s) should become familiar with PEPCO’s supplier support website and PEPCO’s monthly meter read schedules since some “JUNE” meter read dates may vary from year to year.

Q7. With regards to the extension provision, what if the two parties fail to agree to an extension rate, and the current supplier wishes to drop the customer(s) back to the utility? Does the GSA understand that some or all of their Pepco DC accounts may be subject to the minimum stay provision?

ANS: Extension of the contract is by bilateral modification only so if the supplier does not wish to extend the contract it will end when the contract term ends. GSA understands that if accounts are dropped they may be subject to the minimum stay provision.

Q9. RMR and FERC 745 apply to PJM transactions under current regulatory rules. Why are they described as items that should be handled as Change of Law billing items?

ANS: GSA agrees with this statement and has removed these pricing notes and made RMR and FERC Order 745 costs pass-through costs in Amendment No. 1.

Q10. Can you provide more details on the 7.5 MW cogen plant at the AOC site on N. Jersey? What are the plant’s specifications? How much of its output will the AOC site consume? Will it be net metered?

ANS: The AOC cogen plant will back feed the AOC Power Plant’s usage throughout the year. The data provided on the AOC tab of Exhibit 1 indicates that the cogen plant will produce approximately 55,000 MWhs per year of electric output with all but 5,000 MWhs internally consumed by the AOC Power Plant account. As indicated in Section A.22, it is the AOC’s intention to have the excess power net metered (i.e. delivered to up to 3 other AOC electric accounts) so that the net meter readings for accounts receiving the excess power are reduced by PEPCO. The net meter reads would be transmitted to suppliers.

Q11. The CPP Monthly Electricity Export in kWh table included in the Note 1 attachment to Exhibit 1, shows a May 2018 volume for export but 0 for June through September. Why is that?

ANS: During the summer, the AOC Power Plant’s usage is such that the account will more than consume all of the cogen output during those months and hence no exported volumes.

Q12. What happens in 2020 and 2021? Are there no exports in those years? The table does not include 2020 or 2021.

ANS: The AOC Power Plant usage and cogen exports in 2020 and 2021 are expected to be the same as in 2019.

Q13. Please explain what the volumes in the first table of the Note 1 attachment, entitled CPP Monthly Electric Use in kWh, represent.

ANS: The volumes in the CPP Monthly Electric use table represent the historic and projected usage for the AOC Power Plant electric account.

Q14. Section A.19 refers to the marketing of RECs generated on-site at GSA facilities. Please provide details on the renewable resources. Are these resources fully operational already?

ANS: The Amendment No. 1 version of Exhibit 1 has added columns with capacity details on solar arrays that GSA is aware of. If the array is under construction, then it is noted on spread sheet.

Q15. Are these accounts net metered?

ANS: None of the accounts with solar arrays is net metered.

Q16. Will the agency with the solar arrays own the SRECs the array produces?

ANS: Offerors are to assume that agencies with solar arrays under construction will not own any of the SRECs. Offerors are to assume agencies own the SRECs of arrays currently in operation.

Q17. Note 2 to pricing in Section C.2 states that the Government may fix capacity prices during the term of this contract. What does this mean and is it likely to occur?

ANS: It is possible that the Government may determine that fixing future capacity pricing may be in its best interests. What that would look like would be negotiated between the Contractor and the Government and it would be a mutual, bilateral negotiation. This is a standard contract provision which GSA has not utilized to date.

Q18. In prior GSA bids we have been allowed to utilize our existing annual Green-e audit as a substitute to comply with the requirements in the Annual Renewable Report detailed in section A.12. Please confirm this will be allowed for this RFP. We can provide more details on our Green-e audit process if needed.

ANS: GSA will accept the annual Green-e audit to meet the renewable reporting requirements of Section A.12. Offers should provide details on their annual Green-e audit in their proposal. If the Center for Resource Solutions develops a Federal Green-e standard, then GSA would expect the Contractor to transition its Green-e audit report to that product.

Q19. In Section C.2 General it states that “offered prices may vary during the fifty-three (53) month term”. Please confirm that this means a firm can offer different prices for each year or a combination of years.

ANS: Offerors may offer fixed energy prices for different periods throughout the contract term provided that the pricing does not overlap and we can evaluate it. For example a price could be offered for the June 2017 meter read date (MRD) to the May 2018 MRD and so forth out to the November 2021.

Q20. Please clarify how to interpret the usage data from Note 1 - CPP Monthly Electric Use in kWh. The first table labeled “CPP Monthly Electric Use in kWh” is the new monthly usage for account 0550194924327001814145? What does the export table represent and does that need to be applied in any way?

ANS: The account in question will have a 7.5 MW cogeneration facility installed and projected to be operational effective in June 2018. The new monthly usage for this account is reflected from June 2018 on. The monthly usage reflected for 2019 is the new monthly usage for this account over an entire year. All years after 2019 are estimated to be the same as the data provided for 2019. The export table represents the estimated amount of power that the cogen account will produce in excess of its internal needs on a monthly basis. The 2019 estimated export data should be representative of all future years.

Q21. Please confirm that the “Attachment 1 Attestation from Renewable Energy Supplier” and “Generator Registration Form and Attestation” forms are only required once a year for the respective current fiscal year of RECs being provided (and retired for GSA), as opposed to future REC fiscal year periods.

ANS: That is correct. The forms are only required once per fiscal year.