Opportunity: Utilities Management Support Services

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has a requirement for the acquisition of expert public utility management support services for the Berkeley Site Office (BSO) of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science (SC), on behalf of DOE contractor-operated facilities in northern California, specifically the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and related sites. Broadly stated, these services will relate to (a) utility requirements and sources, (b) acquisition of utility services, (c) management of utility assets, and (d) protection of utility rights and advancement of utility interests. "Utility" is defined to primarily be electric power. The BSO currently has a contract in place which expires on June 30, 2016. A determination has been made that there is a continuing requirement for these services. Electric power arrangements for the DOE Labs are roughly as follows: Total Lab loads are approximately 100 MW of capacity and approximately 800 GWh of energy per year. Power is supplied from the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) / Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) Central Valley Project (CVP) Preference Power allocation, take-or-pay purchase contracts via WAPA, and to a lesser degree supplemental purchases off the market. WAPA has statutory rights for transmission over the California-Oregon Transmission Project (COTP) for the benefit of the DOE Labs, and WAPA has provided a tieline linking LLNL to WAPA's Tracy Substation. DOE Labs' power is scheduled via WAPA and treated conjunctively. Collectively, the labs and DOE have formed an Electric Power Consortium (the consortium) with the primary objective of delivering reliable power to the laboratories at the lowest overall cost. The BSO has overall responsibility for managing the consortium on behalf of DOE. The consortium operates a power rebilling system among the Labs to allocate costs in an equitable manner. Interested parties should have direct experience related to the all facets of utility management, including research; planning; technical, economic and market analyses; acquisition, including cost and price analyses, terms and conditions, and support for negotiation discussions; systems management, including preparation and maintenance of power requirements schedules, rebilling algorithms and procedures; and support for intervention with utility regulatory bodies and courts, including the preparation and presentation of testimony as expert witness. A five year contract is contemplated with one twelve month base period and four twelve month option periods. The estimated Direct Productive Labor Hours (DPLH) is 2,150 hours per year for each of the five years. This acquisition is set-aside for small business with an applicable North American Industry Classification Code (NAIC) of 541618 and a size limit standard of $2.5M. There has only been one bidder for the past two competed contracts for these services due to the specialized nature of this work. It is recommended that the contracting officer explore the feasibility of completing a sole source award due to the lack of sources and the satisfactory performance of the incumbent contractor. Funding is provided by each laboratory through an inter-entity work order. The laboratories have been provided an estimate for funding requirements in FY 16 the first year of award and funding will be made available to award the contract.