§4547.2. Procedures

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a political subdivision shall provide adequate public notice of the request for proposals for performance-based energy efficiency contracts by advertising in its official journal at least once a week for three different weeks. The first advertisement shall appear at least forty-two days before the last day that proposals will be accepted. In addition, written notice shall be mailed to persons, firms, or corporations who are known to be in a position to furnish such services at least forty-two days before the last day that proposals will be accepted.

B. The request for proposals shall indicate the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors and shall clearly define the criteria to be used in evaluating the proposals and the time frames within which the work must be completed. Fifty percent of the total weighted evaluation criteria of the proposal shall be determined by shortest payback, maximum savings, scope of the work, quality of the product, cost of maintenance, and quoted amount of the energy conservation measure (hereinafter referred to as ECM) selected.

C. Every request for proposals shall include the following mandatory provisions:

(1) Each ECM shall be listed separately and for each such proposed ECM the energy savings, operational savings, total savings, cost and payback shall be provided separately. Energy Conservation Measure (ECM) also means measures that are applied to existing buildings that improve energy efficiency and are life cycle cost effective. Operational savings means reduction of actual budget line items currently being expended or savings realized from the implementation or installation of energy cost savings measures.

(2) Detailed scope shall be provided for each ECM proposed, which describes each piece of equipment proposed and provides details for all services proposed.

(3) The required maintenance that must be performed to guarantee the savings forecast shall be described in detail for each ECM proposed and the cost of maintenance, if included in the proposed contract.

D. Award shall be made to the responsible offerer whose proposal is determined by the using agency of the governing body of the political subdivision to be the most advantageous, taking into consideration price and the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals.

E. Written or oral discussions shall be conducted with all responsible offerers who submit proposals determined to be reasonably susceptible of being selected for award.

F. A request for proposals or other solicitation may be cancelled or all proposals may be rejected if it is determined that such action is taken in the best interest of the political subdivision.

G. For any systems, including, but not limited to, facility automation and control systems proposed pursuant to this Chapter, there shall be provided full capabilities to operate, maintain, repair, update, reconfigure and engineer changes necessary to accommodate facility or operational changes or incorporate new energy savings control strategies. Such shall be available to the using political subdivision or its designee. There is no requirement under this law to provide any political subdivision with access to the operating system of the contractor. However, the user interface software must provide for all capabilities listed in this Section.

H. Each proposal shall clearly identify any and all responsibility of the political subdivision, if any, under the guarantee for each ECM including, but not limited to, operating hours, maintenance requirements, and operating protocols.

Acts 1988, No. 592, §1; Acts 2006, No. 814, §1, eff. July 1, 2006.