T3009 Bid Amendment 5 - Answers to Questions and Modifications to Bid Solicitation 9.22.26.docx

MIKIE SHERRILL

Governor State of New Jersey

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

DIVISION OF PURCHASE AND PROPERTY

PROCUREMENT BUREAU

33 WEST STATE STREET

P. O. BOX 230

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 08625-0230

AARON BINDER

State Treasurer

DR. DALE G. CALDWELL

Lt. Governor

AMY F. DAVIS, ESQ.

Acting Director https://www.njstart.gov

September 22, 2026

To: All Interested Bidders

Re: Bid Solicitation #26DPP01204 T3009 – BPU Clean Energy Program Administration and Management Services

Quote Submission Due Date: October 7, 2026 (2:00 p.m. Eastern Time)

Bid Amendment #5

The following constitutes Bid Amendment #5 to the above referenced Bid Solicitation:

· This Bid Amendment includes:

Answers to questions; and Revisions to the Bid Solicitation.

Please note that for all additions, deletions, clarifications and/or modifications to the Bid Solicitation, please refer to the Revised Bid Solicitation titled “T3009 Revised Bid Solicitation 9.22.26“ and hereafter referred to in this document as the “Revised Bid Solicitation”. The modifications to the Revised Bid Solicitation Sections are as follows:

· Section 3.13.14, Certification of Non-Involvement in Prohibited Activities in Russia or Belarus pursuant to P.L. 2022, C. 3 of the Bid Solicitation has been modified;

· Section 3.18, Mobilization Plan of the Bid Solicitation has been modified;

· Section 3.19.2, Staffing Plan of the Bid Solicitation has been modified;

· Section 4.1.1, Transition of Existing NJCEP Programs and Functions to Contractor has been modified; and

· Section 4.2.1.4, Programs Transitioned to the Utilities.

· An Optional Pre-Quote Conference was held on July 7, 2026. The following firms were in attendance:

· Effortless Financial;

· Guidehouse;

· InClime Solutions;

· Resource Innovations;

· TRC; and

· Tri-State Energy.

It is the sole responsibility of the Bidder to be knowledgeable of all of the additions, deletions, clarifications, and modifications to the Bid Solicitation and/or the New Jersey Standard Terms and Conditions relative to this Bid Solicitation as set forth in all Bid Amendments.

All other instructions, terms, and conditions of the Bid Solicitation shall remain the same.

Bid Solicitation #26DPP01204 T3009 – BPU Clean Energy Program Administration and Management Services Answers to Questions

Where applicable, each question references the appropriate Bid Solicitation section.

Section Reference Question (Bolded) and Answer

When trying to open a Portable Document Format (PDF), I am receiving an error message and am unable to access the PDF. How should I proceed?

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Should I check that I have properly completed and attached all of the required documents with my submitted Quote?

Yes. Prior to the Quote Opening Deadline, a Bidder should review the documents comprising the submitted Quote to ensure that all of the required documents have been completed and attached. Often times, a Quote is deemed non-responsive because a Bidder fails to attach a required form or attaches a blank form. To review a submitted Quote, a Bidder should log into NJSTART and review each document attached to the Quote submission. Instructions on how to review a submitted Quote can be found in the Quick Reference Guide entitled How to Review a Submitted Quote, which is available on the NJSTART Vendor Support Page under Vendor Reference Guides.

Please be advised that all Quotes shall be submitted electronically through NJSTART.

As stated in Bid Solicitation Section 2.2, Exceptions to the State of NJ Standard Terms and Conditions SSTC, questions regarding the State of New Jersey Standard Terms and Conditions and exceptions to mandatory requirements MUST be posed during the Electronic Question and Answer period and shall contain the Bidder's suggested changes and the reasons for the suggested changes. Moreover, as stated in Bid Solicitation Section 3.11, Bidder proposed terms or conditions that conflict with those contained in the State of New Jersey Standard Terms and Conditions may render a Quote non-responsive.

The Contract “award date” and the “effective date” denote different milestones. These terms are not used interchangeably and are not the same date.

The Contract “award date” refers to the date the Contract is awarded to the successful Bidder. The “effective date” is defined as the date of the initial project launch meeting.

The Contract “effective date” is the date of the first Project Launch meeting.

Yes, analytical or historical progress reports are considered fully compliant with reporting deliverables if they are updated on a 24-hour batch cycle.

3.9, Disabled Veterans’ Business Set-Aside Contract, and 3.13.8.1, Small Business And/Or Disabled Veterans’ Business Subcontracting Set-Aside Contract The first page of the RFP has check boxes checked for small business set-aside for sub-contracting only for goods and services I, II, and III and for Disabled Veteran Owned Business. Section 1.1 also states "This is a Contract with set-aside subcontracting goals for New Jersey Small Business Enterprises and Disabled Veterans' Businesses. Please refer to Bid Solicitation Section 3.13.8.1 - Small Business and/or Disabled Veterans' Business Subcontracting Set-Aside." Section 3.13.8.1 also reinforces this. However, sections 3.8, Small Business Set-Aside Contracts and section 3.9, Disabled Veterans' Business Set-Aside Contract both state "Not applicable to this procurement" Can you verify that this Bid Solicitation does have a small business and disabled veteran owned business set-aside?

Yes, in accordance with Bid Solicitation Sections 1.1 and 3.13.8.1, this Bid Solicitation has subcontracting only set-aside goals for Small Business Enterprises (SBE) and Disabled Veterans’ Businesses (DVB). This Bid Solicitation is not a designated full or partial SBE/DVB set-aside for Bidders, meaning that the Bidders are not required to be registered SBEs and/or DVBs in order to be eligible for Contract award, therefore Sections 3.8 and 3.9 are not applicable as stated in the Bid Solicitation.

As indicated at the first page of this Bid Amendment, the following vendors were in attendance to the Optional Pre-Quote Conference on July 7, 2026:

1. Effortless Financial;

2. Guidehouse;

3. InClime Solutions;

4. Resource Innovations;

5. TRC; and

6. Tri-State Energy.

The State does not have a preference between maintaining the legacy IMS and migrating historical data into an established Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) platform. The State is open to either approach, provided the proposed solution effectively meets the functional, technical, security, data integrity, performance, and long-term supportability requirements identified in the solicitation. Bidders should describe the rationale for their recommended approach, including any assumptions, risks, implementation considerations, and benefits.

The State would prefer a vendor-managed cloud SaaS deployment.

and Bid Solicitation Section 4.1.1, Transition of Existing NJCEP Programs and Functions to Contractor The document references both a 60-day Mobilization Period and a 120-day Transition Period. Please clarify the distinction between these two periods. In addition, please explain the difference between the Mobilization Plan and the Transition Plan as used in this agreement.

The Project Launch Meeting initiates the sixty (60) day mobilization period. During the mobilization period, the Contractor is expected to undertake the initial activities necessary to prepare for and support the transition of the NJCEP Programs. The remaining sixty (60) Calendar Days allow the Contractor to complete the transition activities necessary to become fully operational by the end of the sixty (60) Calendar Day Transition Period, which in total is 120 Calendar Days from the Project Launch Meeting. Please refer to Bid Solicitation Section 3.18 – Mobilization Plan for more information.

Following award, the Contractor must submit a detailed Transition Plan within thirty (30) Calendar Days of the Project Launch Meeting, in accordance with Revised Bid Solicitation Section 4.1.1- Transition of Existing NJCEP Programs and Functions to the Contractor, the Transition Plan builds upon the Mobilization Plan and provides a comprehensive roadmap for the sixty (60) Calendar Day Transition Period, which commences following the completion of the sixty (60) Calendar Day Mobilization Plan period. The Transition Plan must describe how the existing NJCEP will be transitioned to the Contractor and demonstrate that all necessary transition activities will be completed within sixty (60) Calendar Days of the end of the Mobilization Plan period.

The State does not have selection criteria or a list of pre-qualified firms to be utilized for Local Government Energy Audits (LGEA) or other activities requiring engineers. Additionally, in accordance with Revised Bid Solicitation Section 3.19.2- Staffing Plan, the Bidder shall submit a staffing plan categorizing its personnel performing the LGEA into the following classes:

A. Engineer;

B. Certified Energy Auditor (certification from the Association of Energy Engineers);

C. Laborer;

D. Technician;

E. HVAC Specialist; and F. Administrative Support.

See Section 3.19.2 of the Revised Bid Solicitation.

Firms subcontracted for assistance with the conduction of LGEAs must be listed on the Subcontractor Utilization Plan form in accordance with Revised Bid Solicitation Section 3.13.8- Subcontractor Utilization Plan.

The Project Launch Meeting sets the 120-day period in which the awarded Contractor must be fully operational. The Mobilization Plan identifies the Bidder’s anticipated mobilization activities during the first sixty (60) Calendar days following the Project Launch Meeting. It provides an initial overview of how the Bidder intends to mobilize its resources and prepare to assume the responsibilities of the Contract. The transition plan is due to the SCM within thirty (30) Calendar days of the Project Launch Meeting and provides a detailed plan on how the Contractor plans to become operational within sixty (60) Calendar Days after the completion of the initial sixty (60) day mobilization period. Please refer to Revised Bid Solicitation Sections 3.18 – Mobilization Plan and 4.1.1 – Transition of Existing NJCEP Programs and Functions to Contractor.

Section 3.24, Experience with Contracts of Similar Size and Scope Can the State please clarify exactly what objective documentation, milestone commitments, or verifiable past performance records a Bidder must provide in its Bid Solicitation response to receive full points and completely satisfy the Bid Solicitation requirements regarding the feasibility of their ability to complete the transition?

Please refer to Revised Bid Solicitation Section 3, Quote Submission Requirements, which outlines all Quote submission requirements. Further, please refer to Revised Bid Solicitation Section 3.18, Mobilization Plan, and Section 3.24, Experience with Contracts of Similar Size and Scope.

The Bidder should include the level of detail it determines necessary to assist the Evaluation Committee in its review of the Bidder’s Quote.

The State seeks near real-time data. To that end, data as of the close of the previous business day is acceptable.

The Bidders can review the current registration forms along with checklists posted on the Remote Net Metering webpage. (https://cleanenergy.nj.gov/programs/solar/remote-net-metering)

The Bidders can also review the Monthly Solar Activity Reports that are posted on Clean Energy Website for a reference of the type of data points to record, maintain and track for each project. (https://cleanenergy.nj.gov/resources/solar-activity-reports)

These reports will offer the Bidders an example of the data points that should be collected and tracked for the programs. The data points that the current program administrator collects will be provided to the Bidder during the data transfer.

and Bid Solicitation Section 4.5, NJCEP Evaluations Section 4.2.2 - This section states: "Prepare short, mid- and long-term plans, including a schedule of evaluations, for each NJCEP Market Sector." Further, Section 4.5 on page 27 states: "In consultation with the SCM and additional entities indicated by the SCM, the Contractor shall develop within 6 months of the contract award and annually update a plan for an ongoing, continuous cycle of program evaluations. The Contractor shall confirm, with the entities indicated by the SCM, that the data being collected within the IMS is sufficient to meet evaluation requirements." Evaluation plans and schedules are currently prepared by the Board's Statewide Evaluation contractors (SWE) and the program administrator's role is limited to ensuring the collection of required data and providing data to the evaluation contractors selected by the Board. Please clarify the role of the selected Contractor in the development of a schedule for and the performance of evaluations.

The Statewide Evaluator ("SWE") will be responsible for planning, coordinating, and overseeing the work effort within the evaluation plan. The State expects the Contractor to work directly with the SWE to plan the timing of impact evaluations and process assessments. Additionally, there may be field or market studies planned within the sectors with which the Contractor will develop contacts. The Contractor may be called upon to provide introductions to relevant market actors.

The Evaluation Statewide Team ("EST") will be responsible for conducting the evaluation of Contractor-administered programs. The State expects the Contractor to work with the EST to ensure program processes are made transparent, program data is shared, and findings are considered and contextualized for the EST. The EST and the Contractor, together, will compile and socialize the formal evaluation plan. The EST will work with the SWE to ensure the planned evaluations are of significant rigor.

The NJBPU will define with whom program data should be shared, and Office of Information Technology (OIT)/Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (OHSP) requires that data be shared/secured in accordance with its classification. In most cases, this means using secure file transfer, secure web services, or similar. Please refer to Revised Bid Solicitation Section 6, Data Security Requirements – Contractor Responsibility, for more information on data security.

See the Answer to Question #18.

A. All expenses, grants, and other initiatives funded through the NJCEP with SBC dollars; and B. Data collected through the State's ESIP and Division of State Energy Services.

Since ESIP/Division of State Energy Services is run directly through the State, what information is the Contractor responsible for collecting and reporting on?

Section 5.5 references “Substitution of Staff” and the State’s understanding is that the correct and intended section related to this question is Section 4.4 that addresses “Data Collection and Reporting.”

The Program Administrator provides support for the Energy Savings Improvement Program (ESIP) and State Energy Services (SES) through the State Facilities Initiative (SFI) and Local Government Energy Audits (LGEA). The Program Administrator will assist in tracking information related to the SFI. This includes developing, reviewing and tracking the SFI workbook for SFI projects. The Program Administrator may be asked to provide assistance with TRM calculations or logging of savings, and may also help share data gathered including meter mapping, building information, and energy calculations.

Additionally, the LGEA team provides additional "add-ons" for State facilities like Solar or Electric Vehicle (EV) feasibility during an LGEA. Post audit, the Program Administrator has provided an Excel sheet that lists out the Energy Conservation Measure (ECMs) so that agencies can track if they considered, and/or implemented the ECM. The Program Administrator may be asked to provide assistance in filling out building information gathered in the audit into an excel workbook provided by the State.

The State is open to exploring an option where the data is batched from an external, secure read only source of the data, updated on a mutually agreed upon interval. The data must be treated in accordance with its classification, and the transfer of the data from repository to business intelligence tools must be secure.

and Bid Solicitation Section 4.12, Information Management System Will the State permit bidders to deploy a read-only replication or caching layer to accelerate report generation speeds without modifying the underlying core Information Management System production database?

The State is open to this, but the Bidder should expect this modification to be reviewed by OIT/OHSP before allowing it to be deployed.

Historic AHT is eight (8) minutes for Comfort Partners and four (4) minutes for 866-NJSMART. NJSMART receives the highest volume of calls from 10am-12pm, averaging thirteen (13) calls per hour. Comfort Partners receives the highest volume of calls at 11am with an average of fourteen (14) calls.

The standard day usage is approximately three (3) concurrent users. The peak day usage is 5-7 concurrent users.

Applications are processed in a separate SaaS software. Certain application data is migrated into IMS. At any moment, approximately eight (8) EE applications and approximately 2,367 solar registrations are in the queue for review.

Third-party security audits are not required to validate compliance. Please refer to Revised Bid Solicitation section 6.2- Compliance, for all compliance requirements.

Yes, the Procurement Efficiency Program is applicable to this Bid Solicitation. However, as specified by Section 5.11(B), Pass Through Lines (Price Lines 60-65) as shown on the State-Supplied Price Sheet shall not be subject to the Procurement Efficiency Program Fee (1%).

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