Request for Quote (RFQ) 2025026031 - NREL MMW RO-DI System Request A and Request B.pdf

Reference Guide II-009, Exhibit A (Rev. 09/2020) Page 1 of 7

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Managed and Operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC

Request for Proposals (RFP) Number 2025026031

“NREL MMW RO-DI System, Request A and Request B”

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)

READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY

This solicitation is being conducted under the procedures for competitive subcontracts established by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). NREL will award a subcontract based on the following:

LOWEST PRICE (COST), TECHNICALLY ACCEPTABLE SELECTION

All Statement of Work (SOW) requirements being met and with the lowest evaluated price (or cost)

Issue Date: 8/28/2025 Due Date: 9/29/2025 Time Due: 5 PM Mountain Time

Technical questions must be received in writing no later than 9/11/2025

Written questions concerning this solicitation document and its requirements will be answered in writing.

In response to technical questions, NREL will issue an amendment to this solicitation document that will formally provide all the questions and answers. All recipients of the solicitation document will receive responses to questions.

1. Solicitation Type Lowest Price (Cost), Technically Acceptable Selection Firm Fixed Price, Purchase Order

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for this solicitation are:

Code Classification Size Standard 221310 Water Supply and Irrigation Systems $41M

Amounts shown in the table above represent the corresponding small business size standard for each NAICS. Dollar amounts are reflective of total annual receipts. (“Annual receipts” of a concern means the annual average gross revenue for the last three fiscal years.)

Reference Guide II-009, Exhibit A (Rev. 09/2020) Page 2 of 7

SUBMIT OFFERS TO AND REQUEST INFORMATION FROM THE NREL RFP CONTACT

BELOW

2. NREL RFP Contact Janelle DiGregorio, Subcontract Administrator National Renewable Energy Laboratory 15013 Denver West Parkway, MS: RSF030 Golden, CO 80401

Email: Janelle.DiGregorio@nrel.gov

Electronic copies of forms and appendices can be found at:

http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/standard-terms.html

Procurement Forms | NREL

3. Project description:

The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC has entered into Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308 with the Department of Energy (DOE), an agency of the U.S. Government, for the management and operation of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (hereinafter called “NREL”). All references to “NREL” in this solicitation shall mean the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

This purchase will secure a new reverse osmosis (RO) and deionized (DI) water purification system for the Multimegawatt (MMW) Electrolysis project at the Flatirons Campus at NREL. This system is required to provide clean water for the electrolyzers that are part of this project. This RO/DI system will be sized to support up to 10 MW of electrolysis capability and will be vital to the production of clean water for this installation and subsequent experiments for the next 15+ years.

This system will have multiple operating modes to allow the necessary operational flexibility required at Flatirons. This includes the ability to fill the system directly with tanked in water or treated water from the NREL Flatirons water treatment plant.

This purchase will be bid with two purchases. The first request for bid is titled: NREL MMW RO- DI System Specs (Request A). The second request is titled: NREL MMW RO-DI Container Specs (Request B). Offerors can respond to Request A and provide just a RO-DI water system, or they can respond to Request A and B and provide a RO-DI water system inside of a container. To be considered for Request B, offerors must submit a quote for Request A. Bids submitted only for Request B will not be considered. NREL reserves the right to only select a quote submitted for Request A, regardless of whether an associated Request B is submitted. If NREL selects a quote for Request A from an offeror who did not provide a quote for Request B, the containerization process will be handled separately.

Please see Attachment 1 - Technical Specifications - MMW RO-DI Requests A-B, Attachment 2 - RO-DI_SystemSpecs_R2, and Attachment 3 - RO-DI_ContainerSpecs_R2.

4. Delivery Expectation: Targeted Delivery by March 2026.

5. Competitive negotiated subcontract using Lowest Price (Cost), Technically Acceptable

Selection https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/forms.html

Reference Guide II-009, Exhibit A (Rev. 09/2020) Page 3 of 7

This solicitation shall be conducted using Lowest Price (Cost), Technically Acceptable Selection that results in an award based on the lowest evaluated price (cost) of all technically acceptable offers.

Lowest Price (Cost), Technically Acceptable Selection is based on the premise that value is expected to result from award based on a technically acceptable offer with the lowest evaluated price (cost).

The Statement of Work in this Request for Proposals serves as NREL’s baseline requirements that must be met by each offer.

Selection will be made on the basis of the lowest evaluated price (cost) of offers meeting or exceeding the baseline requirements of the statement of work.

NREL may discuss price (cost) with offerors, especially when more than one technically acceptable approach is received that may satisfy NREL’s needs.

6. Evaluation process

NREL will evaluate offers in three general steps:

Step One—Initial Evaluation An initial evaluation will be performed to determine if all required information has been provided and the offer is technically acceptable to meet the basic requirements as outlined in the statement of work. At NREL’s discretion, discussions with offerors will be held as necessary. Offerors shall be notified if their offer is determined to be technically unacceptable and the reasons for rejection will be provided. Technically unacceptable offers will be excluded from further consideration.

Step Two—Price (Cost) Evaluation After an offer is evaluated as technically acceptable to meet the baseline requirements, NREL will evaluate the price (cost) to determine the reasonableness and award to the lowest price offer.

Step Three—Selection Based on the technical acceptability and price (cost) suitability of the offers, NREL will exercise one of the following options:

(a) Select an offer and award the subcontract to the lowest price (cost), technically acceptable offer without discussion;

(b) after discussion, select an offer, and award the subcontract;

(c) make no award.

7. All interested Offerors must submit a Quote that includes the following:

a. Official Quote: A responsive quote will be based on Attachments No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3.

The Quote must be valid for 180 days from the date of the offer.

As a federal government contractor, NREL is obligated to request all applicable discounts available. If GWAC pricing is available, please provide your GWAC number. Please identify discounts offered to NREL in your quote.

Reference Guide II-009, Exhibit A (Rev. 09/2020) Page 4 of 7

b. Cover Letter: Letter indicating acceptance of Attachment No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 and NREL standard terms and conditions, Appendix B-8, Standard Terms and Conditions for Subcontracts and Purchase Orders for Commercial Items, dated 1/23/2023, found at:

https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/assets/pdfs/appendix-b-8-subcontracts-purchase-orders-commercial-items.pdf will be applicable to the purchase order. State any changes with reason to the terms and conditions. The letter shall include a statement declaring whether the product being delivered is a domestic end product (as such term in defined in FAR 25.003.

c. The submitted offers shall not contain any Restricted Intellectual Property or the

Development of any Intellectual Property.

d. Completed and signed Representations and Certifications for Commercial Items and Services

– Subcontracts/Purchase Orders (see link above).

e. Confirmation of your Company’s Registration in the System for Award Management (SAM).

NREL requires all vendors to be registered under SAM at www.SAM.gov.

f. NREL recognizes that international shipments may be subject to additional charges related to tariffs following award of a firm fixed-price purchase order. Accordingly, to appropriately adjust costs associated with tariff changes applied after the award of the purchase order, offerors must:

• Identify on the quote the country from where each item will be shipped;

• Clearly itemize tariff costs, based on the applicable tariffs as of the date the proposal is due, with the pricing for the scope of work outlined in this solicitation.

• State whether the clause titled Duty Free Entry in Appendix B Standard Terms and Conditions http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/standard-terms.html is applicable to this procurement; and

• State whether the offeror will be the importer of record.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.229-3, the applicable tariff rate in effect at the time of purchase order award may change upon arrival at the United States port of entry. As such, the price of the purchase order resulting from this solicitation may be increased by the amount of any after-imposed tariffs, provided that the subcontractor/vendor warrants in writing that no contingency or other financial reserve for these increased tariffs or rate increases has been included in the original price of the purchase order. Additionally, the price of the subcontract/purchase order may be decreased by the amount of any after-relieved tariffs.

No adjustments, increases or decreases, shall be made to the price of the purchase order unless the adjustment amount exceeds $250.

Following selection and before award, NREL may reconsider its selection if a change to applicable tariffs results in a domestic item being the lowest price offer.

Failure to identify tariff costs in the proposal may result in the rejection of your offer, with no further consideration for an award.

8. This solicitation requires the submittal of electronic proposals.

https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/assets/pdfs/appendix-b-8-subcontracts-purchase-orders-commercial-items.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/assets/pdfs/appendix-b-8-subcontracts-purchase-orders-commercial-items.pdf http://www.sam.gov/

Reference Guide II-009, Exhibit A (Rev. 09/2020) Page 5 of 7

This solicitation does not commit NREL to pay costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal in response to this RFQ.

“Notice for Handling Proposals:

This proposal shall be used and disclosed for Alliance/NREL and Government evaluation purposes only. Any authorized restrictive notices which the Offeror places on this proposal shall also be strictly complied with. Disclosure of this proposal outside the Government, Alliance/NREL, Alliance/NREL consultants, or other national laboratories personnel for evaluation purposes shall be made only to the extend authorized by, and in accordance with, the procedures in DEAR 915.207-70 and, as applicable stated in the procurement solicitation document for source evaluation and selection process.

Upon completion of the evaluation, the evaluator shall certify in writing to the Source Evaluation Team Chairperson that all copies of this proposal have been destroyed and/or deleted from any electronic device, medium or storage location with the exception of those retained in the procurement file or in the case of successful offeror(s) in the project management file.”

9. 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.

b. 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.

c. 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 Paul White, Advocate for Commercial Practices, at (303) 384-7575. NREL will address each concern received from an offeror on an individual basis.

Reference Guide II-009, Exhibit A (Rev. 09/2020) Page 6 of 7

d. Prohibition on use of certain telecommunications and video surveillance services or equipment per the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act Section 889(a)(1)(B)

In accordance with the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act Section

889(a)(1)(B), NREL is prohibited from contracting with any offeror that uses, and/or whose lower-tier subcontractor(s) use, covered telecommunication equipment or services as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as a critical technology of any system, on or after 08/13/2020, unless an exception applies or a waiver is granted. This includes such equipment or services from five Chinese companies: Huawei, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision, and Dahua Technology.

e. Compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (found at 29 U.S.C. 794d)

The requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act apply to NREL’s procurement of all electronic and information technology (EIT) and any development, maintenance, or use of

EIT.

10. Solicitation provisions

The following solicitation documents are attached:

▪ Attachment 1 - Technical Specifications - MMW RO-DI Requests A-B) dated 8/27/2025

▪ Attachment 2 - RO-DI_SystemSpecs_R2

Attachment 3 - RO-DI_ContainerSpecs_R2

11. 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 and forms that are listed below are applicable to this solicitation and resulting award:

Appendix/Form

NREL Standard Terms and Conditions: Appendix B-8 (1/23/2023);

NREL Representations and Certifications SAM Commercial Items and Services

(Purchase Orders) for Subcontracts and Purchase Orders for Commercial Items and Services;

Attachment 1 - Technical Specifications - MMW RO-DI Requests A-B) Attachment 2 - RO-DI_SystemSpecs_R2 Attachment 3 - RO-DI_ContainerSpecs_R2 http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/forms.html

Reference Guide II-009, Exhibit A (Rev. 09/2020) Page 7 of 7

12. 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.

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 will be provided by the NREL Subcontract Administrator upon notification of award. Please do not include an ACH form with your response to this RFP.

Please email your proposal to me by 9/29/25 by 5:00 pm mountain time to the following email address: Janelle.Digregorio@nrel.gov. As stated above, technical questions are due by 9/11/25.

Sincerely, Janelle DiGregorio Subcontract Administrator, Simplified Acquisition Team NREL Acquisition Services

Attachments:

Attachment 1 - Technical Specifications - MMW RO-DI Requests A-B) Attachment 2 - RO-DI_SystemSpecs_R2 Attachment 3 - RO-DI_ContainerSpecs_R2 mailto:Janelle.Digregorio@nrel.gov

SUBMIT OFFERS TO AND REQUEST INFORMATION FROM THE NREL RFP CONTACT BELOW