Heating Oil Supply RFQ - Amendment 2.doc

CONFIDENTIAL

Attachment A

This Document Contains Proprietary Information

State of Maine

Request for Quotations

#18P- 13101000000000000275 – Amendment 2 Heating Oil for State Facilities for the 2013-2014 Heating Season Bid Specifications and Information

Scope and Purpose

This Request for Quotations (RFQ) is to select one or multiple vendors to provide various heating fuels, including #2 heating oil, bio-fuel, and K-1 kerosene, to selected State of Maine facilities. The terms “heating oil” or “heating fuel” will be used interchangeably within this RFQ to cover all of the fuels mentioned above.

For the purposes of this RFQ, the State reserves the right to (1) negotiate with one or more prospective Bidders; (2) negotiate additions and/or modifications in the volumes of heating fuels at any time; and (3) terminate its further participation in the RFQ or negotiation process with any or all prospective Bidders.

Location of Facilities and Fuel Usage

A list of the State facilities that are included in this RFQ are provided in Attachment A. Bidders must be able to deliver to all sites within a specific region, not a limited amount of sites of the Bidder’s choosing. Bidders may bid on one, several, or all regions. Awards will be made for each specific region. The State has been broken down into seven (7) geographic regions, as follows:

Some of the locations on Attachment A are in the process of moving to an alternative source of fuel (primarily, natural gas). These specific locations have been highlighted on Attachment A in either red or purple. The red highlighting equates to priority facilities that are anticipated to burn alternative fuel within this heating season. The purple highlighting equates to buildings that may burn alternative fuel within this heating season. It is anticipated, however, that these locations will have dual burner capability, and may still order heating oil throughout the year in the same manner as other State facilities that only use heating oil. The State will not seek to lock-in or commit to a set number of gallons for these intended dual burner locations.

The State’s requirement is for 100% of the actual heating oil usage at each facility. Note: the usage figures shown in Attachment A are estimates of annual usage based on historic use at the facilities. The amount that the vendor is responsible for selling and delivering is not the volume shown, but is 100% of actual usage during the term of the contract. The State’s estimates are no guarantee of future usage. The winning Bidder will be responsible for ensuring that an adequate amount of fuel is available at each of the facilities throughout the term of the contract, and for arranging all deliveries as required.

Bid Submission

Bidders must submit their bids in the State of Maine’s electronic procurement system: “Vendor Self Service” (VSS). More information on this system can be found at the following internet link: http://www.maine.gov/purchases/venbid/rfq.shtml Bids must be submitted prior to 2:00 pm local time on October 29, 2013. Please note: this is a revision from the original submission date of this RFQ.

Interested Bidders may submit bids for multiple regions and fuel types. All bids, regardless of region or fuel type, however, must be presented on Attachment B, “Price Quotation Form”, as provided with this RFQ.

Bidder Questions and Answers

All Bidder questions regarding this RFQ must be submitted through the VSS “Questions and Answers” link on the “Solicitation Details View” page. All answers to written questions will be provided at that same location. It is the Bidder’s responsibility to log in to view all questions and answers posted there. Answers obtained from any other source will not be valid for this RFQ process.

Questions can be submitted up to and including October 17, 2013, but any submitted thereafter may not be answered prior to this RFQ’s bid submission date (noted above).

Contract Duration and Start Date The State is interested in entering into a one-year contract for the purchase and delivery of fuels to each of its facilities shown in Attachment A. The State seeks to take its first deliveries in November 2013.

Pricing Pricing for all deliveries under the anticipated one-year contract will be based on a “Margin-Over-Rack” price. For the purposes of this RFQ process, the “Margin-Over-Rack” pricing method is defined as follows: participating vendors will be paid for deliveries based on a proposed and agreed monetary margin per gallon over a variable wholesale “rack” price. The rack price will be based on the information provided by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS, for reference, see www.opisnet.com). The elements that make up the set monetary margin are clearly listed within Attachment B, the Price Quotation Form, provided with this RFQ. The margin and all of its elements will be fixed for the duration of the contract resulting from this RFQ. More specifics on pricing structures are provided below, in the “Heating Oil Types and Details” portion of the RFQ.

Other than for its dual burner locations, as noted above, the State reserves the right to negotiate and make arrangements with a selected Bidder to lock-in a price on a certain date, if it is in the best interest of the State to do so.

The submitted Price Quotation Form will be the official record of a vendor’s bid, and will be the price used when contracts are developed and awarded. Additional costs proposed after submission of the bid will not be allowed and may result in disqualification from the award process.

The contracted vendor will be required to include, with each invoice submitted, a daily OPIS report documenting the rack price.

ATTENION INTERESTED BIDDERS:

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF ATTACHMENT B, “PRICE QUOTATION FORM” (PROVIDED WITH THIS RFQ). ALL PRICING INFORMATION MUST BE SUBMITTED ON THE PRICE QUOTATION FORM AND MUST BE ATTACHED TO THE BID SUBMISSION IN THE STATE’S VENDOR SELF SERVICE (VSS) SYSTEM.

Bid Evaluation and Award Decision

Bidder selection will be based on the best value to the State of Maine, and awards will be made by region and by fuel type. For the purposes of this RFQ, best value will be defined as: (1) a Bidder being eligible, upon bid submission, to legally provide heating oil within the State of Maine; and (2) a Bidder offering the lowest price fixed margin (on Attachment B) to cover the applicable facilities.

Heating Oil Types and Details Each Bidder must indicate its proposed Margin-Over-Rack values for each region by entering a Margin-Over-Rack price on Attachment B, the Price Quotation Form, and submit a separate Price Quotation Form for each fuel type or region where the Bidder seeks to provide goods and services.

· #2 Heating Oil

The “rack” price for #2 heating oil will be set equal to the closing “low” rack price as reported by OPIS on the date immediately preceding the delivery date for either Portland or Bangor, depending on the location of the facility (and the designated rack – either Portland or Bangor – has been defined on Attachment A for the State’s applicable facilities under this RFQ). As an example, assume the closing “low” rack price on December 15, 2013, is $3.00/gallon for Portland. For deliveries made to the State of Maine Inland Fish and Wildlife facility in Casco, Maine, on the next day, December 16, 2013, the rack price for all deliveries to the Casco facility would be $3.00/gallon. This will be the rack price regardless of what the prices may have been for any other date or price category. The State of Maine’s #2 heating oil should be priced and dyed for non-road usage.

· B5 Bio-Fuel

The rack pricing structure for purchasing B5 bio-fuel shall be the same as that which is described above for #2 heating oil. For background information, in the past, the State has used B5 bio-fuel heating oil at the Cross State Office Building in Augusta, among other facilities. In the future, the Cross State Office Building intends to use natural gas as its primary heating fuel source, but it may need to use B5 bio-fuel on an emergency basis. In the event that the State needs to order B5 bio-fuel, the State will seek to purchase it on a Margin-Over-Rack basis, as described above. If a vendor is interested in bidding to provide this fuel, please note the specification requirements listed below:

Product must be BIO B5 MIX heating fuel, must meet ASTM D6751-03 standard and any Federal rules and regulations and must be a certified product.

· #2 heating oil used to mix with bio-fuel to yield B5 must have sulfur content no greater than 0.35%.

· Bio-fuel must be delivered already blended, with quality checked and certified by the supplier.

· The final blended fuel should have a required set of specified cold weather handling characteristics. The tank location for the Cross State Office Building is in a vault and maintains a temperature level on average of 50 degrees Fahrenheit, though it may be colder during the winter months.

· Deliveries must be made between the hours of 5:00 pm and 6:00 am, Monday through Friday, or at any time on weekends. This is necessary to accommodate traffic and parking in the vicinity of the tank.

· K-1 Kerosene

Several State facilities listed in Attachment A require K-1 kerosene as the primary heating fuel. The rack pricing structure for purchasing K-1 kerosene shall be the same as that which is described above for #2 heating oil. Below are general specifications for this fuel requirement:

· Specific gravity (water = 1) 0.81

· Flash Point 120 d56

· Boiling Point (F) min350

· Vapor pressure (mmHg)

· Vapor Density (air-1) 6.0

In addition to the general specifications listed above, the finished product shall exhibit good filterability and shall be essentially free of all foreign contaminants including, but not limited to soaps, gels, emulsive materials, and reactive materials, such as metals and inorganic basic or acidic compounds.

Additional State Facilities

The State has intended to include all of its applicable facilities in Attachment A. If the State finds that certain facilities were inadvertently omitted from inclusion in this RFQ after contracts have been awarded, then the State expects to be able to include these facilities under the same terms and conditions as the included facilities.

Payment Terms

After contracts have been awarded and heating oil is being supplied, the State of Maine seeks to pay a monthly bill for usage at each delivery point, based on the pricing structure described above. All payments made by the State to the selected Bidder will have payment terms of net 30 days from receipt of an accurate and accepted invoice.

All invoices will include the contract number. All invoices MUST be submitted within 36 hours of delivery. Only original invoices will be paid. Statements will not be accepted in lieu of an invoice for payment. There must be one invoice with delivery ticket number to be paid for each delivery. A daily OPIS report must accompany the invoice from each contracted vendor.

In addition, the State of Maine is requiring vendors to accept credit cards as a potential form of payment for the procurement of goods and services under contracts resulting from this RFQ. The pricing offered to the State of Maine shall be the final price to the State regardless of payment method. No surcharge (e.g. for credit card use) or other compensation will be allowed.

Quarterly Reporting

The vendors awarded a contract through this RFQ process must provide the points of contact listed below (or a delegate identified by the Director of the Division of Purchases) with a quarterly summary report, including contract year-to-date total of actual deliveries made to all accounts during the previous quarter. Reports are due 15 days after the end of each quarter, on January 15, April 15, July 15 and October 15.

Division of Purchases

Bureau of General Services Terry Demerchant

Bambi Tefft 111 Sewall Street

111 Sewall Street

9 State House Station

77 State House Station

Augusta, ME 04333

Augusta, ME 04333

Terry.L.Demerchant@maine.gov

Bambi.L.Tefft@maine.gov Contract Extension

For the contract resulting from this RFQ, the Director of the State of Maine Division of Purchases may extend the contract period beyond the indicated expiration date with the consent of the selected Bidder. During the term of the contract, the Director may also extend contract pricing to other State facilities that may not be listed on Attachment A, again, with the consent of the selected Bidder.

Additional Instructions

· Statement of Vendor Qualifications

As noted above, all Bidders must be eligible, upon bid submission, to legally provide heating fuels to facilities within the State of Maine. The State reserves the right to require a Bidder to demonstrate qualifications, and to reject any Bidder that either fails to do so or is deemed unacceptable by the State.

· Quotation Costs

All costs associated with developing and submitting a quotation in response to this RFQ, or in any subsequent discussions or negotiations, will be borne by the Bidder.

· Bid Rejection The State, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to reject any or all bids and quotations received in response to this RFQ.

· Municipalities

The selected Bidder(s) may be asked to extend the same terms to other governmental units in the State of Maine, where possible.

· Subcontractors

Subcontracting with another vendor to cover a selected Bidder’s region is permitted, however, the selected Bidder / prime contractor is expected to manage every facet of the subcontractor relationship. In the event of a contractual or delivery issue, the State intends to focus its communications to the prime contractor for issue resolution, as applicable.

Attachments

Attachment A – List of State Facilities and Regions Attachment B – Price Quotation Form