CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of Change Order #1 to Contract 21-354, Grant Application Assessment - Preparation and Submittal Services, to West Monroe Partners for an additional 12 months
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DEPARTMENT: Electric Utility
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Groth, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
On November 5, 2021, the U.S. Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Act). This bipartisan legislation is designed to invest in the nation's infrastructure, including funding for roads and bridges, rail, transit, ports, airports, electric grid, water systems, and broadband, among other priorities.
The City Council awarded Contract 21-354, Grant Application Assessment - Preparation and Submittal Services, to West Monroe Partners in November 2021 for a 13-month term through December 31, 2022. The purpose of this contract is to partner with a consultant to vet the Electric Utility’s shovel-ready projects for grant applicability, review the grant submission requirements and prepare the grant submissions.
DISCUSSION:
When the West Monroe contract was developed, the City had identified seven Electric Utility projects to be included in the five grant applications:
1. Distribution automation upgrades
2. Substation communications upgrades
3. Fiber upgrades
4. DERMS system
5. Battery installation
6. Distribution asset hardening and undergrounding
7. EV charging infrastructure
Each of the seven projects was refined by the West Monroe team based on eligibility and scoring criteria guidance provided by the Department of Energy (DOE) over the last 12 months. Six projects will be included in grant applications that will be prepared by West Monroe per the contract.
The purpose of this change order is to modify the scope of services within the contract and extend the contract for an additional 12 months through December 31, 2023.
The “five grant applications” deliverable within the contract will be modified to “three concept papers and three grant applications.” The reason for this change stems from a recently released DOE rule that requires a concept paper to be submitted before submitting a grant application with the intent to “encourage” or “discourage” an applicant from submitting a full application. A “discouragement” would indicate the DOE’s lack of programmatic interest in the proposed project and would be unlikely to be selected for award negotiations.
West Monroe led the development of three concept papers that were submitted on December 16, 2022. The DOE reviewed and scored all the concept papers, and on February 2, 2023, Naperville received an official statement from the DOE “encouraging” Naperville to submit all three full applications.
Given the positive DOE feedback, the plan is to proceed with three applications with projects 1-3 in the above list bundled into a Grid Flexibility application, project 4 as a separate Grid Flexibility application, and projects 5-6 as a Grid Resiliency application. Project 7 (EV Charging Infrastructure) aligns with a state-level funding opportunity that Naperville will pursue separately and is not in the scope of the West Monroe contract.
The 12-month extension is requested to allow West Monroe Partners to complete the revised scope of services.
A no-cost change order is recommended to extend the contract completion date to December 31, 2023, and change the deliverable definition as outlined above to reflect the latest DOE requirements.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP#: N/A
The requested change order is an extension of time only and does not change the approved contract value.