Avoid These 3 Common Mistakes in Your Energy Procurement Bid Submission
As a developer of renewable energy projects, you are aware of the importance of a high-quality bid submission. At a time when state and federal governments are setting massive renewable goals, and seeking large-scale projects to help meet that demand, responding to Request For Proposals (RFPs) is, now more than ever, an essential part of large-scale Renewable Energy development. RFPs are an essential tool to collect, evaluate, and determine the most competitive solutions.
1. Price vs. Non-Price Components
Bid price is often the heaviest weighted component of a bid submission in energy procurements. It is essential to governments to get the most competitive rates for additional energy supply on behalf of their rate payers. However, bid price alone cannot win a contract. Typically, procurements include non-price components that are a mix of mandatory requirements and rated criteria. It is critical to your submission to ensure that the mandatory requirements are met, and the rated criteria are strategically fulfilled to maximize scoring. Strategically approaching the rated criteria is your opportunity to differentiate your bid submission and add credibility to your development team. The non-price components are where you can highlight your experience and capability in renewable energy development, which support your claims for successful and timely development of your project.
2. Long Lead Time Deliverables
Without fail, there will be an aspect of the procurement which requires early engagement in order to deliver a final product prior to the bid deadline. Whether it is advanced progress in interconnection, permitting, site control, or other, your success will be tied to how well you can meet and exceed the requirements of the procurement. Without a central bid manager, long lead time items may be missed until it is too late to act. In addition, missing the early engagement in a procurement is doing a disservice to your development team. Typically, there will be a deadline for questions, after which your review and identification of inconsistencies or confusion in the procurement document may not be received. The Q&A period is your opportunity to request clarification and highlight amendments that could benefit your projects.
3. Dedicated Resource
Large-scale renewable energy development requires significant input from multiple people within the development team. Without a dedicated resource acting as the central bid manager, the multiple moving parts of the bid submission will not be compiled smoothly and might lead to discrepancies from one section to another. A central bid manager is beneficial in identifying information gaps and opportunities. It is critical that a dedicated resource owns the bid development and submission process.
Your development team has sunken a significant development cost into your project by the time a bid submission is made. You’ve secured land contracts, conducted interconnection screening, budget analysis, resource assessment, preliminary engineering… not to mention internal time and resources. Depending on the size of the RFP, you are likely spending over $100,000 on internal and external costs to create your bid response. As an organization that has invested a considerable amount of time and money into the initial development of your project, you want to ensure that you’re putting your best foot forward. Having a dedicated person who understands the intricate RFP requirements, performs quality control reviews on submission documents, and ensures the timely submission of your response is critical for a successful RFP submission.
Compass can lead the way to a successful bid submission by being a central point of contact and a source of information and strategic advice to ensure all requirements are met and exceeded. If you’d like support on your next RFP, please feel free to reach out directly to myself:
Rachelle Lynne-Davies, P.Eng.
Associate Director
Compass Energy Consulting