CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
title
Approve the award of RFP 24-254, Energy Management Consulting Services, to Customized Energy Solutions, Ltd. for an amount not to exceed $74,950.00 and for a one-year term
body
DEPARTMENT: Electric Utility
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Groth, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
In 2007, the City of Naperville entered into a contract with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA), a not-for-profit organization, to supply the City with energy and services through September 30, 2035. IMEA was formed in 1984 and currently provides energy and services to 32 municipalities throughout the State of Illinois. The City's goal of this long-term contract was to provide stable energy prices to residents and businesses in the City.
When the City signed the contract with IMEA, the City required IMEA to participate in Prairie State Energy Campus as IMEA did not have enough capacity and energy to serve the City. During the period between 2007 and 2011, when Prairie State came online, the City procured energy from Goldman Sachs. During this period, IMEA was providing services to the City for compliance-related items as well as advising the City on legal, regulatory, and other matters; as they still do today. Over the past 17 years, IMEA has provided stable energy pricing to the City while performing many functions that the Utility is not staffed to handle on its own.
The City, with just over ten years left on the existing IMEA contract, must begin planning how to fulfill utility-required services and energy procurement beyond 2035. This timeline is critical because some options may take significant time to implement, just as the original IMEA contract took time to implement.
To help with this planning effort, the City issued RFP 23-240, Energy Management Consulting Services in December 2023, seeking consultants to help outline the options and risks associated with options regarding the services that IMEA currently provides including legal and regulatory, market settlement, capacity, and energy planning. The RFP was created with stakeholder input including NEST and CLEAN, however, this RFP did not yield any viable vendor proposals.
After receiving feedback from vendors that indicated some RFP holders could perform part of the scope but not the complete scope, staff split RFP 23-240 and re-issued it as two separate RFPs. RFP 24-082 Energy Supply Consultant and RFP 24-083 Energy Management Consultant. These two RFPs were released in February of 2024. In June of 2024, staff brought a recommendation of award to the City Council seeking to contract with two vendors to complete the work. The City Council voted against contracting with either vendor.
In September of 2024, the City Council directed staff to rebid the Energy Management Consultant scope of work with the goal of receiving additional bidders who could perform the scope of work. The Electric Utility issued RFP 24-254, Energy Management Consulting Services, to solicit proposals from experienced and qualified consulting firms to identify and evaluate options associated with providing energy management services and associated ancillary services for its municipal-owned electric utility.
DISCUSSION:
|
Advertisement Date: |
09/27/24 |
Notices Sent: |
263 |
|
Opening Date: |
11/05/24 |
Planholders: |
46 |
|
|
|
Proposals Received: |
03 |
Proposals were received from the following vendors:
|
EFW, Inc. |
EnerVision, Inc. |
|
Customized Energy Solution, Ltd. |
|
A selection team comprised of staff from the Electric Utility, Finance Department, and City Manager’s Office evaluated the proposals, which were scored based upon the criteria set forth in the RFP:
1. Capability, Capacity and Qualifications of the Firm (40%)
2. Suitability and Quality of the Approach/Methodology (30%)
3. Milestones and Deliverables (20%)
4. Outcomes to be Achieved (10%)
The vendor with the highest qualification score, Customized Energy Solutions, is recommended for award. The table below provides a summary of the final qualification scores:
|
Vendor |
Qualification Score |
|
Customized Energy Solutions, Ltd. |
90.2 |
|
EFW, Inc. |
60.9 |
|
EnerVision, Inc. |
49.1 |
Customized Energy Solutions (CES) is well qualified to perform this analysis as it is a PJM market participant with both generation and load interests. Under this contract, CES will provide the City with options and recommendations on how the City can best staff all the functions that IMEA currently performs for the City of Naperville including:
• Manage Energy, Capacity and Ancillary Services as Required by PJM
• RTO Registration, Billing, Reporting and Audit Support
• Ensure Policy Compliance with State and Federal Laws
• Provide Legal Representation with In-depth Utility Knowledge
In addition to providing options for the City of Naperville, CES will evaluate the cost, benefit and risk of each option in support of providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy delivery to the City. City staff expects to present this information to the City Council in the second or third quarter of 2025.
The anticipated completion date of the project is March 1, 2025; however, the contract term will run through December 31, 2025 to allow for follow-up discussions with staff and City Council after the report is published.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP#: N/A
The Energy Management Consultant is expensed to the Other Professional Services account listed below. The Electric Utility included $95,000 in the 2025 budget for an energy management consultant. The requested award is within the amount budgeted for this expense.
|
Account Number |
Fund Description |
Total Budget Amount |
|
40101300-531309 |
Electric Utility Fund |
$124,550 |