Solicitation_-_Lease-Finance_of_HPC_for_NREL.pdf

July 10, 2018

To: All Potential Offerors

SUBJECT: Solicitation No. RHK-8-82255 for “Lease to Purchase Agreement for High Performance Computer System”

The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC (Company), the Managing and Operating contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is in the process of acquiring a high-performance computer (HPC) system referred to as the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) High Performance Computer (HPC)-2 (“Eagle System”).

The Company has entered into a separate Agreement for the Eagle System technical support, and hardware and software maintenance with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). The Eagle System will be housed in the ESIF Building, 15257 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401 on the 3rd Floor Data Center on the South Table Mountain (STM) Campus.

The Company is issuing a solicitation for lease financing of the Eagle System. Lease financing is not required for the technical support, hardware and software maintenance that are provided directly by HPE.

This solicitation is a 100% set-aside for small businesses.

The Company will establish a single Master Lease-to-Purchase (MLTP) Agreement with the successful offeror for the lease of the equipment to the Company. This is a two-step process. First, the Company will establish the MLTP Agreement with the selected party, establishing the core terms and conditions as well as fixed origination fees and lease factors with a total ceiling of $30,000,000.00. Secondly, prior to acceptance of the equipment, the Company will issue a Lease-To-Purchase (LTP) Order against the MLTP. Should the Company require leasing for other projects, this MLTP agreement and LTP Orders will be used in a similar manner.

Step 1: MLTP Agreement

The MLTP Agreement is attached for review. Execution of the MLTP Agreement does not guarantee any future lease financing agreements. No additions, deletions, or changes to the language will be allowed.

Step 2: LTP Order

Equipment associated with the Eagle System is to be leased and acquired through a LTP Order. This LTP Order will outline the anticipated delivery schedule and establish the applicable factors (payment schedule, etc.), for the lease term. A draft LTP Order is attached for review.

Equipment deliveries and installation are scheduled for August 2018. The Company anticipates that there will be one acceptance event approximately November 2018. The anticipated schedule and lease stream values are described in the following table:

TABLE 1

Description Planned

Acceptance Date Planned Value of Each Acceptance

Anticipated Lease Term

A Eagle System 11/2018 $ 23.6 million 48 months

1. Request for Proposal:

In accordance with the terms of the MLTP Agreement, please provide a proposal for the rate factor and any origination fees proposed.

The terms of the MLTP and LTP Order allows the Company to make additional principal payments throughout the lease term and realize the overall savings of those payments. In addition, the Company can pay off the lease early without fee or penalty. The Company expects to receive annual funding per government fiscal year in support of the lease. Once the funding is fully available for a given fiscal year to the Company, instead of making monthly payments, Company may want to make a lump sum payment for that current fiscal year. Offeror’s proposal shall include a method to recalculate the remaining future lease payments based upon the flexibility described herein and allowed for in the MLTP and LTP Order.

2. Basis of Award – Price Comparison

(a) An award resulting from this solicitation will be made to the responsible offeror submitting the lowest-priced offer that meets all specified requirements and qualification criteria.

(b) The Qualification Criteria:

1. Past Experience: Within the last four (4) years, the Offeror or Offeror’s team shall have been a part of one or more successful lease agreements with a value and/or complexity that is comparable to this action.

(c) We may solicit information concerning Offeror’s record of performance and use it in evaluation.

3. Technical and Business Management Proposals

(a) To aid in our evaluation, Offeror’s proposal must be in two separate parts, a Technical Proposal and a Business Management Proposal.

(b) Format for Technical Proposal.

The Technical Proposal should not exceed 15 pages. The Technical Proposal must be in the following format:

Table of Contents:

1) Cover Page: Provide NAICS codes for which the Offeror is registered in the System for Award Management as a small business. If there are exceptions, the Offeror shall specifically identify any requested changes here.

2) The Offeror shall provide references for past performance of lease arrangements of similar value and complexity. If possible the Offeror shall include examples where the Offeror and any proposed teaming partner were involved. The contact information needs to include, name, company, project name, value, phone number and an email address.

3) The Offeror shall provide a confirmation that they are committed to this action. If the Offeror is teaming with other parties, the other parties shall be identified. The Offeror and any team members shall provide separate letters of commitment to this effort.

(c) Format for Business Management Proposal.

The Business Management Proposal shall identify the amount of the adder (or mark-up) to the lease payments. The adder can be in the form of a charge added on to the monthly lease payment or as an up-front fee. Any additional fees or charges shall also be identified.

The Proposal shall identify the costs for the Insurance requirements as a separate item of lease pricing cost and provide priced options in the proposal for awards with and without insurance. In addition, the proposal shall provide the details related to a refund of insurance costs if the Company decides to pay off the lease early.

4. Solicitation Provisions—full text provided

a) Late submissions, modifications, and withdrawals of offers

Offers, or modifications to them, received from qualified organizations after the latest date specified for receipt may be considered if received prior to award, and NREL determines that there is a potential price (cost), technical, or other advantage, as compared to the other offers received. However, depending on the circumstances surrounding the late submission or modification, NREL may consider a late offer to be an indication of the Offeror’s performance capabilities, resulting in downgrading of the offer in the technical evaluation process. Offers may be withdrawn by written notice received at any time before award. Offers may be withdrawn in person by an Offeror or an authorized representative, if the representative’s identity is made known and the representative signs a receipt for the offer before award.

b) Restrictions on disclosure and use of proprietary data

Offerors who include in their proposals proprietary data that they do not want disclosed to the public for any purpose or used by the government or NREL, except for evaluation purposes shall—

1) Mark the title page with the following legend:

“This offer includes proprietary data that shall not be disclosed outside the government or NREL and shall not be used or disclosed—in whole or in part—for any purpose other than to evaluate this offer. If, however, a subcontract is awarded to this Offeror as a result of—or in connection with—the submission of proprietary data, the government or NREL shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose the data to the extent required in the resulting subcontract. This restriction does not limit the government or NREL’s right to use proprietary data if obtained from another source without restriction. The proprietary data subject to this restriction are contained on pages [insert page and line numbers or other identification of pages] of this offer”;

and

2) Highlight (in yellow) the proprietary data on each page it wishes to restrict and add the following footer:

“Use or disclosure of proprietary data contained on this page is subject to the restriction on the title page of this offer.”

5. Disclaimer

NEITHER THE UNITED STATES; NOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY; NOR

ALLIANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, LLC; NOR ANY OF THEIR

CONTRACTORS, SUBCONTRACTORS, OR THEIR EMPLOYEES MAKE ANY

WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, OR ASSUME ANY LEGAL LIABILITY OR

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR USEFULNESS FOR

ANY PURPOSE OF ANY OF THE TECHNICAL INFORMATION OR DATA ATTACHED

OR OTHERWISE PROVIDED HEREIN AS REFERENCE MATERIAL.

6. Solicitation disputes

The General Accountability Office and the Department of Energy do not accept or rule on disputes for solicitations for Requests for Proposals issued by Management and Operating Contractors for the Department of Energy (operators of Department of Energy National Laboratories). Should an Offeror have any concerns regarding the NREL solicitation process or selection determination, the Offeror may contact Mark Barela, Advocate for Commercial Practices, at (303) 384-7559. NREL will address each concern received from an Offeror on an individual basis.

7. Pre-award On-site Equal Opportunity Compliance Evaluation (derived from FAR 52.222-24)

If a subcontract in the amount of $10 million or more will result from this solicitation, the prospective Subcontractor and its known lower-tier subcontractors with anticipated lower-tier subcontracts of $10 million or more shall be subject to a pre-award compliance evaluation by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), unless, within the preceding 24 months, OFCCP has conducted an evaluation and found the prospective Subcontractor and lower-tier subcontractors to be in compliance with Executive Order 11246.

8. Solicitation provisions—incorporated by reference—general access

This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. The following documents can be downloaded from http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/standard-terms.html and http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/forms.html or the NREL RFP Contact (see item 2) will make available upon request.

The documents that are listed below are applicable to this solicitation and anticipated award:

Appendices

NREL Standard Terms and Conditions: Appendix B-8 (12/15/2016);

NREL Intellectual Property Provisions: Appendix C-3 (3/26/2012);

NREL Terms and Conditions for Subcontracts in excess of $700,000.00

Appendix D (12/15/2016);

http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/standard-terms.html http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/forms.html https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/assets/pdfs/appendix_b-8_20161215.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/assets/pdfs/appendix_c-03_2012.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/assets/pdfs/appendix_d_20161215.pdf

9. Notice Regarding NREL Payments to Subcontractors

It is NREL’s standard practice to make all payments to domestic subcontractors via electronic (ACH) payments or to international subcontractors via wire transfers. Any Offeror receiving notification of an award under this solicitation must complete and submit a “Request for ACH/Wire Banking Information” form to the applicable NREL Subcontract Administrator prior to payment. Payments to subcontractors will be deposited directly into the subcontractor’s designated bank account in accordance with the banking account/wire transfer information provided on the form by an authorized company representative. An electronic (PDF) copy of the form can be found at:

http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/forms.html.

Please respond by 3:00 P.M. MST on July 24, 2018. Electronic proposals shall be submitted to the undersigned at brittany.decker@nrel.gov.

We ask that Offeror’s limit communications, regarding acquisition to those with a need to know. Please email the undersigned at brittany.decker@nrel.gov or phone 303-384-7387 with questions.

Sincerely, Brittany Decker SPC Team Manager, Acquisition Services, Office of the CFO, NREL

Attachments: Master Lease-to-Purchase Agreement Lease-to-Purchase Order http://www.nrel.gov/business_opportunities/related_docs.html mailto:brittany.decker@nrel.gov mailto:brittany.decker@nrel.gov