QA CFE round 1 73123.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 38 KB Posted
- Attached to
- Carbon Pollution-Free Electricity (CFE) Specialized Support Services for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- PBS-CFE2-0002
About this file
This document contains questions and answers related to a solicitation for Carbon Pollution-Free Electricity (CFE) Specialized Support Services for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). The General Services Administration (GSA) is seeking advisory services to assist in developing strategies and executing power purchase agreements to meet carbon reduction goals for federal agencies in accordance with Executive Order 14057. Key details include that the period of performance is one year starting September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2024, with pricing to be provided for four labor categories and a maximum of 6,800 hours. Offerors are to submit technical and price proposals by August 18, 2023, with past performance questionnaires from references due by August 15, 2023. The selected contractor will provide support developing forecasts, identifying project opportunities, stakeholder engagement, contract negotiation assistance, and evaluating potential projects.
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Other files for this federal contract opportunity
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| QA CFE round 2 081023 .pdf | ||
| CFE SOW Support Contract final v6.pdf | ||
| Attachment A QA Template.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| CFE SOW Support Contract final v4.pdf.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment C Past Performance Questionaire.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment B BPA Price Quote Template.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet |
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Text version
Sheet1
| Questions and Answers for CFE Support Services | ||||
| 7/31/23 | ||||
| # | Section # | Offeror's Questions | GSA's Answers | |
| 1 | 1.2 | EO 14057 specifies that 50% of applicable electric load be matched with 24/7 CFE, settled hourly, by 2030, and 100% by 2035. Section 1.2 references "new projects." Does that mean that an existing resource (e.g., nuclear) may not be included in hourly supply? | Any existing resource must meet the vintage requirement per EO14057. Vintage requirement is the assest must have been placed in service on or after October 1, 2021, either as a new resource or as new capacity at an existing resource modified to increase output. If the generation resource has been modified to increase output, only the amount of new capacity can count towards CFE. | |
| 2 | 1.2 | Has the GSA identified objectives in terms of installed capacity and/or electrical production? If so, does the GSA expect procurement to occur over multiple phases and years? | GSA has not indentified objectives in terms of installed capacity and/or electrical production. GSA's objective is to have 100% of our electric load to be CFE by the year 2030. GSA expects procurement to occur over multiple phases or years until goals are met. | |
| 3 | 3.1 (2) | What is meant by "bridge EACs" and "bundled EACs"? | This is defined in the implementing instructions for E.O.14057 at Section 4.2.6. | |
| 4 | 3.1 (6) | Does the term "balancing authorities" refer only to organized wholesale markets, or does it also mean standalone BAs? If the latter, does the GSA require a contractor to have "extensive experience" in all 31 BAs in the U.S.? | Yes it refers to both in reference to the questions. However please refer to EO14057 Implementing Instructions for definition of Balancing Authorities. To the extent possible contractor is perferred to have experience in all BA's. | |
| 5 | 3.1 (7) | Is it correct to assume that any storage resources used to fulfill the CFE requirement must be charged with 100% CFE, settled hourly? | Yes. | |
| 6 | 3.1 Task 1 | Does GSA have an existing power market pricing model they use for electricity cost forecasts, or would they look to a vendor to provide their own recommendation on electricity cost forecasts? | We currently rely on independant market research, S&P Global and the NREL Cambium Models. The expectation is the vendor will provide market based data to support electricity cost forecasts and any related recommendations. | |
| 7 | 3.2 (3) | Does the GSA expect to propose "green tariffs" to utilities in standalone BAs that do not currently have such tariffs, and that regulatory approval would take place within one year? | All options will be considered, but we have no definite answer at this time. | |
| 8 | 3.2 (4) | How does the GSA define "potential PPA projects"? | Potential PPA projects means, "projects that are possible to implement and meet all requirments in accordance with FAR regulations and in meeting the goals of E.O. 14057." | |
| 9 | 3.2 Task 4e | What sort of assistance would GSA imagine needing with contract negotiation/execution (e.g., preparation, in the meetings, legal, etc.)? | GSA anticipates needing assistance such as developing and preparing negotiation strategies, document review, general advice as to industry terms, economic implications during negotiation, risk mitigation, and developing financial priorities. Although GSA anticipates these needs in general, we would like to hear what additional assistance the contractor is able to provide. | |
| 10 | 3.3 (3) | Does the GSA envision a targeted RFP approach, or an RFP process that involves numerous development companies? | All options will be considered, but no definite answer at this time. | |
| 11 | 3.3 (5) | The reference to evaluation of operating projects seems to imply that the GSA expects to execute PPAs within one year (9/1/23-8/31/24) and for the projects to have achieved commercial operation within one year. Is that correct? If not, what is the GSA's timeline for RFPs, execution of agreements and commercial operations? | GSA does not have a timeline for execution of PPAs. For the issues of achiveing commercial operation with one year that will be address based on the proposed projects and exisiting strategies. All projects proposed and the execution will be in accordance to budgetary approval. | |
| 12 | 3.3 Task 3 | Does GSA have a team to drive stakeholder engagement for Federal Agencies that will be impacted by PPA effort? If so, can you describe the size and capability of the team? | GSA's Carbon Pollution-Free Electricity, Clean Energy Division works closely with the White House Council on Environmental Quality. | |
| 13 | 3.3 Task 3.4 | Given the period of performance is only 1 year, does GSA have any goals or expectations on number of PPA procurements that will be completed within the year? | No we have no expectations at this times. | |
| 14 | 4.0 | On page 10 of the RFP, GSA provides a list of labor categories anticipated to perform the SOW. In the "Labor Category Table" below on pages 10-12, there's a second table that details different types of typical personnel by labor category. Some labor categories reflect more than one typical position. Notably, the "Sr. Level Analyst or SME" reflects two positions identified as Key Personnel. Will GSA please confirm if the "Base Year Estimated Hours 9/1/2023-8/31/2024" are intended to reflect estimates for each labor category - inclusive of all positions? Or does GSA intend for these estimates to apply for each position under each labor category? | GSA wants pricing only for the four identified labor categories. The estimated hours are the total hours for pricing the GSA labor categories. Table 2 reflects the type of labor categories that the offeror could map to GSA's labor categories. | |
| 15 | 4.0 | Will GSA confirm the estimated hours have been included for evaluation purposes only and that offerors may potentially propose more hours than the potential maximum of 6,800 hours indicated in the "Base Year Estimated Hours 9/1/2023-8/31/2024" column? | The estimated hours have been included for evaluation purposes only. | |
| 16 | 4.0 | Are offerors permitted to propose additional labor categories (by adding additional rows) in Attachment B CFE Support Price Template? | GSA wants pricing only for the labor categories we requested. You may map any of your additional labor categories to the GSA labor categories. | |
| 17 | 4.0 | Will GSA confirm the resultant contract award, based on the inputs included in Attachment B CFE Support Price Template, will result in Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract type, and not a Firm-Fixed-Price Level-of-Effort (FFP-LOE) contract? | This will be Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract. | |
| 18 | 4 | The qualifications for the Regulatory Expert state that the key personnel candidate requires a 'bachelor’s degree in economics'. Would the Government also consider dropping the economics requirement and expanding bachelor's degrees to other fields like engineering, or political science? | GSA will accept expanded bachelor degrees, if the experience over shadows the degree and the experience clearly meets the intent of the Regulatory Expert. | |
| 19 | 6 (b) | "Sleeve PPAs" in a vertically integrated regulatory structure generally mean the off-taker is the jurisdictional utility pursuant to a tariff. Does GSA have a different contractual arrangement in mind? | No, GSA anticipates this as well, but is open to alternative solutions. | |
| 20 | 7 | Does "Retail Markets" mean "Retail Choice Markets"? If so, does the sleeve concept mean the GSA is the off-taker but an electric generation supplier is the sleeve? | Retail Markets is being used synonymous with Retail Choice Markets. For the second half of the question, see the answer to question 18 above. | |
| 21 | 14 | Would offerors be allowed to use a font smaller than size 12 Times New Roman for captions describing tables and graphs? | No font smaller than 12. | |
| 22 | 14.2 & 14.3 | Section 14.2, Technical Evaluation Factor 2: Corporate Experience, states, "The Offeror shall demonstrate previous experience, within the last seven (7) years, with assisting Government agencies or companies with tasks similar in scope to the requirements identified in Section 3.0 of this RFP". Will the Government also accept past performance references from 'Government agencies or companies' in section 14.3 Technical Evaluation Factor 3: Past Performance, or are they limited to Government references? | GSA will accept past performance references from both Government and Companies, as asked in section 14.3 and Technical evaluation Factor 3. | |
| 23 | 14.3.2 | Please confirm that completed past performance questionnaires must be received August 15 which is three days before proposal due date of August 18. | Completed past performance from the reference POC must be submitted by August 15, 2023. | |
| 24 | 16 | In evaluation factor 3, the RFP says, "Maximum of fifteen (20) pages in Technical Proposal" - should this be 15 or 20 pages? | Evaluation Factor 2 should read "Maximum of twenty (20) pages in the Technical Proposal." |
Evaluation Factor 3 should read "Maximum of fifteen (15) pages in the Technical Proposal."
Also correction on page 26 to read,"The technical proposal should consist of the Offeror’s statement of qualifications demonstrating the Offeror’s Technical Approach Offeror’s to the SOW requirement (maximum 15 pages), the Offeror’s Corporate Experience (maximum 20 pages) and the Offeror’s Past Performance (maximum 15 pages)."
Also change on page 29 to read, "The limit for this factor is 15 pages."
| 25 | NA | Will GSA protect privileged information and commercially sensitive data that may be reflected in responses to the CFE Support Services RFP? How can RFP respondents identify confidential information that should not be disclosed if GSA receives a related FOIA request? | GSA will protect privileged information and commercially sensitive data. The Contractor may mark the deliverables to indicate its authorship, provided, however, that it shall not include any markings inconsistent with the Government’s unlimited rights. The Contractor agrees that the Government may release any deliverable in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, subject to any right to object or to request redactions that the Contractor may otherwise have under the Act or under applicable agency regulations. |
| 26 | NA | If a CFE Support Services RFP respondent/subcontractor were to collect brokerage fees from energy project developers on sucessfully executed power purchase agreements, would this constitute a conflict of interest at GSA? In other words, would the aforementioned respondent/subcontractor be eligible to both a) deliver objective market insights under the scope of the current RFP, and b) collect a fee for impartial operation of a neutral CFE acquisition platform in a potential subsequent RFP? | At this time GSA believes this constitutes a conflict of interest. A Risk Mitigation Plan may be asked for if legal determines that will suffice in the future. |
| 27 | SOW | The solicitation title "Federal Government Carbon Pollution-Free Electricity Technical and Strategy Support Solicitation" in the SOW is different from the solicitation title "Carbon Pollution-Free Energy (CFE) Specialized Support Services for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)" posted in SAM. Please confirm which title shall be used in the proposal. | The correct title is "Federal Government Carbon Pollution-Free Electricity Technical and Strategy Support Solicitation." |
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