State of Wisconsin RFB response 9-17-2021-ananda.pdf

State of Wisconsin Request for Bid No: NGNF1-DB, Natural Gas and Supply Management Services

Response to potential bidders’ questions, exceptions, additions, and clarifications 9/17/2021

Potential bidder’s questions that are similar are referred to the previous response.

Questions (Q), Response (R)

Potential bidder #1:

Q1: Section 3.1.5 Invoicing: The section indicates that all invoices shall be based on actual usage and not nominated usage. The Xcel accounts are currently billed on nominations with the imbalance appearing on the utility statement. Seeking confirmation that bill on nominations are still acceptable for these accounts.

R1: Yes, 3.1.5 Invoicing, sub section C. has been revised to “All invoices, except areas 9 & 10 (Xcel) shall be based on actual usage and not nominated usage. Invoices should be received no later than the 10th business day of the month following delivery via mail & e-mail. All Xcel accounts shall be billed on nominations with the imbalance shown in the utility statement.

Q2: Area 1: Hill Farms. Not currently included in the 2022 RFB. Previous communications explain that this plant will be retired and replaced with a new smaller plant that will not have a backup fuel system. Can you confirm this facility has been added to the State’s firm RFB and should be excluded off this Secondary RFB?

R2: The Hill Farms heating plant is not included in Area 1 and it is being retired and replaced with a new smaller plant that will not have a backup fuel system. The new facility may be incorporated in the future.

Q3: Area 2: Prairie Du Chien. In previous State RFBs, this facility required a small portion of its gas to be delivered on a Primary Firm basis. This current bid is requesting all secondary gas to be delivered to PDC. Can you confirm the discontinuance of the PF service to PDC?

R3: No, Prairie du Chien CI needs 10 dth per day of primary firm capacity. The RFB will be updated to include 10dth per day of primary firm capacity. “Prairie Du Chien Correction Institution where 10 MMBtu/day primary firm at the Prairie Du Chien city gate is required.”

This information will be published in Addendum #1.

Q4: Question concerning delivery options for Stanley CI. With the tariff changes made by We Energies can you still deliver either ANR or Viking gas to Stanley CI on non-constraint days?

R4: According to their tariff, the Stanley CI facility is located in a WE Energies pooling area that only allows Viking deliveries, so Viking shall be referenced for area 5A within the RFB. Stanley will be moved to area #5A. This will be WGC for the utility with Viking as the delivering pipeline.

Starting Apr 1, 2021, this pool could only accept Viking delivery Q5 Area 5: The Stanley facility is in a utility pooling area that only allows Viking (VGT) deliveries. Seeking confirmation that VGT should be referenced for Area 5.

R5: The Stanley facility has been removed from Area 5 and placed separately under Area 5A

Potential bidder #1 & #2:

Q6: Area #5. This is the only area where the 2022 Forecast differs from the requested Load to

Quote. See below…I’m seeing a difference between the forecast and quote of 73,909. Was that your intent?

Area 5: 2022 Forecast (page 40 in RFB) says 676,590 dth annually. In attachment 2, page 6, total load to quote for Area 5 is 750,499. Please explain how the State wants suppliers to proceed with providing a quote.

R6: Area 5 2022 Forecast and the load to quote shall be the same. It will be corrected and will be shown in amendment #1. If there are any differences between the forecasted load and the load to quote all quotes shall be based on load to quote.

Q7: Area 11: (Specifically University Wisconsin Superior): Are any special balancing agreements in place between the customer and the utility? Is this facility being billed on nominations or being billed on actual consumption? Are you being balanced as a direct connect off Northern Natural Gas pipeline or being balanced behind the utility Superior Water, Light & Power? Are any special balancing agreements in place between the customer and the utility? Are you currently utilizing an End Use Allocation agreement for balancing?

R7: No, there are no special balancing agreements in place with SWL&P (utility). The utility does not offer any balancing service. Balancing is with the pipeline. The facility is billed on actual usage.

Balancing is currently done with the pipeline. The utility is not responsible for any of UW Superior’s imbalances.

Potential bidder #3:

Q8: Please confirm you are requesting pricing to the city gate, not to the burner tip?

R8: All pricing for load to quote shall be at the city gate.

Q9: What are you requesting in days payment?

R9: All bids must be based on payment terms as defined in the RFB. “Contractor shall accept payment from Authorized User by check or electronic funds transfer. Payment will not be made until the product or service is determined to meet all Requirements and deliverables and has been accepted by the State. (Refer attachment DOA-3054, section 11.0)” Net 30.

Q10: Please confirm suppliers may bid on only some of the 12 Areas? Suppliers do not need to bid all on areas?

R10: Yes, bidders bid on the areas of their choosing.

Q11: Will you please provide the service location address in excel?

R11: No, bidder should be able to convert pdf format to excel spread sheet

Potential bidder #4:

Q12: Over the past five years, has the State of Wisconsin been charged utility balancing fees for each of the Areas? Please list any areas (or facilities) that were not charged balancing fees over the last five years.

R12: The State of Wisconsin pays all balancing fees as per utility and pipeline tariffs.

Q13: Over the past five years, how has the gas in excess of or below monthly contractual volumes (cash out gas) been priced to the State of Wisconsin? Is the cash out price mechanism currently tied to published indexes such as Platt’s Gas Daily, or are these cashed out quantities charged / credited to the State at the supplier’s cost; that is, the supplier’s own derived cash out price?

R13: They are based on current market conditions based on the supplier.

Q14: Over the past five years, has the State of Wisconsin been supplied with Secondary Firm or

Interruptible gas supply for all of its bid areas? If it’s a different reliability by area, please list how each bid area was supplied; that is, with either Secondary Firm or Interruptible gas.

R14: ANR and Viking area with secondary firm. NN areas with interruptible.

Q15: How is Secondary Firm gas supply defined in the State of Wisconsin’s current contract(s)? What will be the definition of Secondary Firm gas supply for this RFB term if different from past years?

R15: Nominating at points other than the primary points of capacity.

Q16: How many times has the State of Wisconsin’s facilities been interrupted gas supply in the past five years? If the State was interrupted in the past five years, were any of those curtailments of gas for economic reasons?

R16: Some facilities have been interrupted multiple times over the past 5 years some have seen no interruptions. The State of Wisconsin cannot be interrupted for economic reasons.

Q17: Moreover, if any facilities were curtailed in the past, was the State of Wisconsin credited back money for the contractual volumes that were curtailed? Otherwise, if the State of Wisconsin did not get credited back completely for those volumes that were curtailed and sold off, then was there a sharing arrangement in place with your supplier for the curtailed gas that was sold off.

R17: The gas was credited back at current market prices.

Potential bidder #4:

Q18: Will you accept Dual billing for this RFP, bills from both us and the local utility? We do not offer single billing.

R18: No, the supplier must provide combined billing. A single bill including the gas supplier and utility bills.

Q19: Are you tax exempt?

R19: Yes, State of Wisconsin is tax exempt.

Q20: Please confirm to exclude from bid prices State Sales Tax, Gross Receipt Taxes (GRT), or Commercial

Activity Taxes (CAT)?

R20: Yes, State of Wisconsin is exempt from all State taxes above.

Q21: Would you pay the cost to liquidate forward positions, should there be a termination that is not due to a breach of contract by the supplier?

R21: Yes.

Q22: Have you ever exercised the termination for convenience for natural gas supply contracts?

R22: No.

Q23: Please confirm you are requesting full plant requirements, 100% swing?

Should there be any change in law, tariffs or regulations that alters a suppliers cost to serve (e.g.: a new tax) will the buyer allow the supplier to alter their contract price?

R23: yes, 100% swing for plant requirements.

Yes, because of any changes in law.

Q24: Please confirm contract extensions will be done at a mutually agreed upon price?

R24: Yes, contract extensions will be done at a mutually agreed upon price.

Q25: Please confirm accounts would be added at a mutually agreed upon price?

R25: Yes, accounts would be added at a mutually agreed upon price.

Q26: What day and time are you requesting bidders to hold the prices in our price proposal firm until you make the award?

R26: The bidder will have the opportunity to refresh their price after contract is signed and the state will have the right to verify the new price and switch supplier if another supplier offers a lower price.

Q27: When will you execute the contracts?

R27: As soon as possible after the bid is awarded.

Q28: Are you requesting executable pricing? Will you allow prices to be refreshed?

R28: See R26.

Q28: What are you requesting for days in payment terms?

R28: Net 30, Refer attachment DOA-3054, section 11.0

Q29: Will you disclose what product you are currently on?

R29: Not required to bid. This question is not pertinent to the RFB.

Q30: Who is the current supplier?

R30: Not required to bid, This question is not pertinent to the RFB.

Q31: 1.5 Modifications of Contract. Please confirm the month-to-month extension up to 6 months will be at a mutually agreed upon price?

R31: Yes.

Q32: 1.7 Cooperative Purchasing Services. Please confirm Municipalities will be added at a mutually agreed upon price?

R32: Yes.

Q33: 3.1.4.b. Natural Gas Management. Does the State expect Seller to adjust contractual volume to the daily nominations provided to vendor by the 20th’s day of the month before the delivery month, or is this just information for balancing purposes?

R33: There may be days when a facility may not be using gas. It is the supplier’s responsibility to manage deliveries to minimize any balancing costs.

Q34: 3.1.6. j. Pricing. This text is not clear, please provide clarification on what you are requesting?

R34: If NYMEX is fixed it would be fixed price plus basis. If not NYMEX LDS plus basis. Reference to sub section as 3.1.6.c, to show possible fixed NYMEX pricing.

Q35: Standard Terms and Conditions - 6.0. PRICING AND DISCOUNT. Please elaborate on the governmental discounts you are referring to? Also, we would like clarification on what increases you are referring to in 6.2?

R35: Standard terms and Conditions are part of the contract, DOA-3054. If you wish to make any changes, include it in your bid.

Q36: Facility: Milwaukee County HOC is account number 7611-000-000 incorrect, it has six zeros?

R36: Account numbers will be verified after the contract is signed.

Q37: Facility: Racine County Jail is account number 7611-110-8632 incorrect, it should be ten digits?

R37: Account numbers will be verified after the contract is signed.

Potential bidder #5:

Q38: Is the address below where we should FedEx our proposal?

David Bender RFB # NGNF1-DB – Natural Gas Department of Administration Division of Facilities Development 101 East Wilson Street, 7th Floor Madison WI 53703 There are two addresses in the RFB, so wasn’t sure.

R38: Yes, this delivery address is mainly for UPS, FedEx & hand delivery.

Q39: Area 5. Facility: Wisconsin Veterans Home Utility Account #: 6851-927-598. This is located in the WPS utility, NOT WGC as listed in the RFP. Please clarify?

R39: The Wisconsin Veterans Home is served by Wisconsin Gas Company (WGC). WPS is the electric utility serving the WI VA Home.

Q40: AREA 5 has the same utility account number 1851-890-126 for both Red Granite Correctional

Institution and Milwaukee County Domes.

R40: Account numbers will be verified after the contract is signed.