Title
RFP No. 2018-017 - Comprehensive Energy Consulting and Management Services.
(Authorize the City Manager to finalize and execute a contract with Tradition Energy through U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance.)
Body
Name of Department
Finance
Project/Budgeted Amount
$25,000
Sum of Bid/Bid Amount
Schedule of services is based on national usage.
The City has utilized Tradition Energy as its outside consultant for the purchase of electricity and management of its electricity accounts since 2008 through two different contract terms. The current contract was executed through U.S. Communities and will expire in June 2018.
The City is a member of various cooperative purchasing agreement programs within the State of Texas as well as nationally. Under these cooperatives, either the state or one of the participating local governments is the “lead agency” and bids the product or service. After completion of solicitation and selection of award, other local governments and municipalities are able to participate thus incentivizing proposers to submit a strong proposal enabling potential access to a large pool of prospects.
U.S. Communities is the leading national cooperative purchasing program providing world-class government procurement resources and solutions to more than 55,000 registered participants. With the current contract about to expire, U.S. Communities approached the City of Mesquite about continuing as the lead agency for an RFP for Comprehensive Energy Consulting and Management Services. The City agreed and an RFP was developed and publicized on December 13, 2017. Due to the potential national participation in the consulting and management services agreement, proposers were requested to respond to a wide range of services not all of which are applicable to City of Mesquite. Responses were opened on February 9, 2018, with two proposals being received. Upon clarification, Metco Engineering submitted a proposal for local consideration only, which disqualified them from the RFP solicitation. This resulted in only one qualified proposal from Tradition Energy. In addition to City staff, a team of outside officials was used to evaluate the response. The three government representatives were from the San Diego Unified School District, Great Valley School District in Pennsylvania and Onondaga County of New York. The Manager of Purchasing from the City of Mesquite and two representatives from U.S. Communities were also involved in the evaluation process but were non-scoring members of the team.
Based on evaluation criteria, scores were developed by the team with Tradition Energy scoring the highest total of 97.00 points out of a total of 100.
The City of Mesquite is currently utilizing the services related to management of electricity procurement and electricity account services. The Tradition Energy fee for this service is based on a fee per kWh in both the current contract and under this proposal and is billed through monthly electric bills. Mesquite will be able to utilize the pricing contained in this agreement for services in addition to electricity, if desired in the future. As the lead agency, the City of Mesquite will receive five percent of the U.S. Communities’ administration fee during the life of this agreement. The term of this agreement is one year with six additional one-year renewal options.
Financial Implications
The $25,000 cost is included in various department budgets for electricity and other funds where electricity is expensed.
Recommended/Desired Action
Staff recommends award to Tradition Energy through U. S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance.
Drafter
Ryan Williams
Head of Department
Debbie Mol