Town of Orange NOIA - FINAL.pdf

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

Department of Environmental Protection Address: 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900, Boston MA 02114 | Phone: 617-292-5500

Maura T. Healey Governor

Kim Driscoll Lieutenant Governor

Rebecca Tepper Secretary

Bonnie Heiple Commissioner

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A BEST VALUE GRANT

Purpose of Notice: In accordance with the State Comptroller’s Policy on State Grants, Federal Sub-Grants and Subsidies, dated November 15, 2024, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (“MassDEP”), on behalf of its Clean Energy Results Program (“CERP”), is publishing this Notice of its Intent to Award (“NOIA”) a Best Value Grant to the Town of Orange (“Town”, “Orange”, or “Grantee”) in the amount of $188,345. As described in further detail below, the purpose of this grant award is to fund energy efficiency upgrades to the aeration system at the Town’s wastewater treatment facility (“WWTF”), which is the largest source of energy consumption at the facility. This project, which will be funded, in part, by this award, is expected to save the Town and the WWTF approximately $15,059 in electricity costs and 77,701 kWh in energy usage, annually. This reduction in energy cost and use is consistent with the goals of CERP’s competitive Gap Energy Grant program.

MassDEP is publishing this Notice to facilitate the completion of the Town’s WWTF project under a prior grant award that expired. Pre-construction design challenges and approvals, public procurement processes, and other delays, have prevented the original project from being completed in a timely manner.

Accordingly, MassDEP is issuing this NOIA to facilitate the issuance of a Best Value Grant to the Town, to facilitate the completion of performance contemplated by the prior Gap Energy Grant award. Upon expiration of the posting period for this NOIA, it is MassDEP’s intent to enter into a new grant award contract with the Town, so that the project can be completed on or before April 30, 2026.

Background to Current Notice:

In 2022, CERP, a government-led energy and environmental partnership between MassDEP, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (“DOER”), and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (“CEC”), issued a total of $8,100,000 in awards through the Gap Energy Grant Program (“Gap III”) through a competitive grant process. See COMMBUYS Bid number: BD-22-1045-BWR00-BWR01-75906; Id: DEP-BWR-NOI-FY23-CERP-GAP III GRANT.

The purpose of the Gap III Grant Program was to “fill the gap” in funding available to public https://www.commbuys.com/bso/external/bidDetail.sdo?docId=BD-22-1045-BWR00-BWR01-75906&external=true&parentUrl=bid municipal, district, and authority-owned water and wastewater plants, as well as eligible nonprofit multifamily affordable housing organizations, nonprofit agricultural food producing organizations, and small businesses engaged in food distribution and processing, to mitigate the costs associated with energy-savings projects.

In 2022, the Town of Orange applied for a Gap Energy Grant to support necessary energy efficiency upgrades to its aeration system at their WWTF. The aeration upgrades include the replacement of the aeration systems’ two positive 50 horsepower (“HP”) displacement blowers with energy efficient 35 HP hybrid mixer/turbo blowers. The installation of these energy efficient blowers will directly address the largest contributor to energy consumption at the WWTF. After evaluating, reviewing, and scoring all proposals, CERP awarded the Town $188,345 in support of this project. The parties executed a grant award contract with an expiration date of October 31, 2025.

Name of Selected Grantee: Town of Orange, Massachusetts

The Grant Amount: $188,345.

The Purpose of the Grant funding: This Best Value Grant will facilitate the completion of work begun under a Gap III Grant award to the Town, that is intended to improve energy efficiency and provide cost effective improvements to the WWTF.

The Scope of Grant Performance to be Achieved or Funded Under the Grant: As previously described, the purpose of this Best Value Grant is to provide the Town with funding to complete the energy efficiency improvements to their WWTF. The issuance of this award will provide the Town with additional time to complete the project.

The Duration of the Grant: The duration of this grant shall run from the effective date of the grant award contract entered into by the parties, through April 30, 2026.

Justification why this Best Value Grant Award is Fair, Reasonable, and in the Best Interests of MassDEP and the Commonwealth: As noted above, CERP is a government-led energy and environmental partnership between MassDEP, DOER and CEC, created so that MassDEP’s regulatory authority could be leveraged to support and assist the other agencies in their efforts to promote clean energy and energy efficiency. To achieve these goals, CERP developed a streamlined “Gap Grant” program intended to help municipalities, and in 2022 was offered to eligible nonprofit multifamily affordable housing organizations, nonprofit agricultural food producing organizations, and small businesses engaged in food distribution and processing, to implement energy efficiency and clean energy projects with the intent of reducing their operating costs, stimulating the local economy, and improving the environment. The Gap Energy Grant Program’s ongoing investment in clean energy and energy efficiency projects is a means by which eligible entities are able to complete projects that align with these goals. The Gap Energy Grant Program incentivizes direct investment in clean energy and energy efficiency projects by helping to lower operating costs and to reduce carbon footprints. These cost savings can then be reinvested into organizations’ other capital needs and assets.

As previously noted in the Background to Current Notice section, this Best Value Grant is being awarded to facilitate the upgrades to the Town’s WWTF aeration system, which is the largest energy consumption source at the WWTF, and for which the Town previously received a Gap III Energy Grant. A combination of circumstances, including pre-construction design challenges and approvals, public procurement processes, and other delays, have prevented the original project from being completed in a timely manner. The Town, despite its best efforts, was unable to complete the project within the timeframe provided by its original grant award contract. Facilitating the completion of this project through a Best Value Grant will ensure that the Commonwealth’s investment in the project is not lost. Moreover, as previously noted, this project is expected to provide significant future cost and energy savings.

In light of these factors, as well as the fact that the project is nearly complete, MassDEP does not believe that an open, competitive grant process would be an efficient use of administrative staff resources, nor would it promote effective grant disbursement. Instead, the Department seeks to issue this NOIA, to facilitate the completion of the Town’s project in a transparent and efficient manner.

Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, MassDEP believes this Best Value Grant award is fair, reasonable, and in the best interest of the parties and the Commonwealth.