RFN

Request for Needs

EfficiencyOne

Quality Assurance – Inspection and auditing services (residential)

RFN2018-0106

Referenced to RFP 2018-0106

RFN Issued Date: February 9, 2018

Deadline for RFN Response: February 23, 2018

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1: RFN OVERVIEW

PURPOSE OF THE RFN

HOW EFFICIENCYONE WILL USE RESPONSES FROM PARTICIPATING VENDORS

SECTION 2: NOTICE OF INFORMATION SESSION

WHEN AND WHERE/HOW TO ATTEND THE INFORMATION SESSION

AGENDA

SECTION 3: RFN INSTRUCTIONS

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Point Of Contact

GENERAL INFORMATION

DUE DATE

SECTION 4: RFN RESPONSE FORM

APPENDIX A: DRAFT Scope of Work

1Efficiency Nova Scotia Services

1.1HomeWarming Service

1.2Home Energy Assessment Service

1.3New Home Construction Service

1.4Green Heat Service

2Scope of Work: Quality Assurance Site Inspector

2.1Qualifications, Experience and Resources

2.2General Requirements

2.3Performance Requirements: QA Site Inspection

2.3.1HomeWarming Service

2.3.2Home Energy Assessment Service

2.3.3New Home Construction Service

2.3.4Green Heat Service (Optional)

2.4Deliverables

3Scope of Work: Quality Assurance Auditor

3.1Qualifications, Experience and Resources

3.2General Requirements

3.3Performance Requirements: QAA File Assessment

3.4Deliverables

APPENDIX B: HomeWarming Site Visit Survey Map

APPENDIX C: Home Energy Assessment Site Visit Survey Map

APPENDIX D: New Home Construction Site Visit Survey Map

Appendix E: Level 2 QA File Assessment Checklist for V.10.51 (Existing Homes)

Appendix F: Level 3 QA File Assessment Form

Appendix G: Level 2 QA File Assessment Checklist for V.10.51 (New Homes)

Appendix H: Quality Assurance Audit Summary of Findings

APPENDIX I: Anticipated Procurement Schedule for the Eventual RFP

TARGET PROCUREMENT SCHEDULE (Subject to Change)

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SECTION 1: RFN OVERVIEW

EfficiencyOne, official Licensee of the Province of Nova Scotia, is an independent, non-profit organization and franchise holder of” Efficiency Nova Scotia”. Activities under this QA Inspections and Auditing Serviceswill occur publicly under the “Efficiency Nova Scotia” name. However, contracts activities will be performed by EfficiencyOne, and as such this RFN references “EfficiencyOne”.

EfficiencyOne will be issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for QA Inspections and Auditing Services. In preparation for the RFP, EfficiencyOne is issuing this Request for Needs (RFN) to obtain feedback from Vendors (i.e. Contractors; Consultants; Organizations; etc.) with experience in providing the following services:

Quality Assurance Program Overview

EfficiencyOne’s quality assurance (QA) program plays an important role in ensuring that Service Organizations (SOs) provide services to our customers that satisfy our requirements and expectations.

The QA program accomplishes the following:

  • Verifies documentation based on agreed-upon standards and requirements;
  • Identifies areas for continual process improvement;
  • Addresses compliance issues where SOs did not meet expectations;
  • Recognizes SOs who consistently perform to a high standard; and
  • Delivers products and services that meet EfficiencyOne’s customer and stakeholder standards.

The QA program allows EfficiencyOne to remedy specific issues observed before the energy savings and applicable rebates are scrutinized through annual evaluation and verification.

The upcoming RFP is being issued to identify qualified companies/consultants to provide:

  1. QA Site Inspection services; and/or
  2. Quality Assurance Auditor (QAA) services.

These QA Site Inspection and QAA services are needed for:

(i)Existing houses participating in the Efficiency Nova Scotia HomeWarming service;

(ii)Existing houses participating in the Efficiency Nova Scotia Home Energy Assessment service; and

(iii)New home constructions participating in the Efficiency Nova Scotia New Home Construction service.

(iv)Optional Services for QA Site Inspectors: Successful proponents may occasionally be asked to conduct home visits to verify the eligibility and compliance of heating system installations under the Efficiency Nova Scotia Green Heat service. These visits will typically be located near the Site Inspector’s base of business/home or near other site inspections they are conducting for EfficiencyOne’s QA program. Acceptance of these additional opportunities is not mandatory.

The intent is to award Standing Offer Agreements to multiple Proponents for each of these QA Site Inspection and QAA services. It is anticipated that the initial term of any resultant agreement will be from the contract signing date until December 31, 2019 with an option to renew the Standing Offer Agreement for one (1) additional year at EfficiencyOne’s sole discretion.

A full draft Scope of Work is provided in APPENDIX A of this RFN with additional supplemental information provided in Appendices B, C, D, E, F, G and H. Interested Vendors are requested to review the draft Scope of Work and then answer the questions listed in Section 4 of the RFN Response Form.

PURPOSE OF THE RFN

EfficiencyOne is interested in providing a comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date scope of work for the QA Inspections and Auditing Services. Therefore, the purpose of this RFN is to engage feedback from interested Vendors regarding EfficiencyOne’s Scope of Work for these services, in order forEfficiencyOne to include pertinent background information that enables Vendors to prepare an accurate proposal.

HOW EFFICIENCYONE WILL USE RESPONSES FROM PARTICIPATING VENDORS

The information obtained from this RFNwill be used to develop the final Request for Proposal (RFP) for this service.

EfficiencyOne intends to answer applicablescope-related questions that are submitted by Vendors during this RFN process, within the final RFP. All questions and information requests pertaining to the Scope of Work will be listed in the final RFP along with EfficiencyOne’s respective answers. Any questions/requests EfficiencyOne is unable to fulfill will be clearly indicated in the final RFP. The intent is to answer as many questions/requests as possible in an effort to reduce uncertainty in the final RFP scope of work. Please submit your scope related questions on or before Feb 16, 2018 at 4:00 pm Atlantic Time (AT).

Responses to questions pertaining to the RFN process will be provided throughout the RFN process.

EfficiencyOne intends to consider other scope-related recommendations that Vendors submit for inclusion within the final RFP. The intent is to understand whether EfficiencyOne’s scope is reasonable and realistic, and then make appropriate adjustments if needed. All consideration of scope-related recommendations will be determined in EfficiencyOne’s sole discretion. However, EfficiencyOne intends to establish a fair, level playing field within the final RFP scope of work that does not unnecessarily exclude Vendors from competing in the RFP stage.

A response to this RFN is NOT mandatory in order to participate in the future RFP.

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SECTION 2: NOTICE OF INFORMATION SESSION

WHEN AND WHERE/HOW TO ATTEND THE INFORMATION SESSION

EfficiencyOne will host an Information Session on:

Friday, 16 February 2018

1:30 – 2:30 PM, Atlantic Time (AT)

Participation will occur via webinar and teleconference. The webinar and teleconference can be accessed as follows:

Audio Connection:

Toll Free Access: (866) 886-0869

Conference Code: 3409496772

WebEx Meeting:

Meeting link:

Meeting number: 801 336 060

  1. Follow the “Meeting link” (provided above) and you should be directed to a screen similar to the one below. Fill in the applicable information and click the “Join” button when it turns green.

  1. Once you have selected the green “Join” button you will likely be directed to a screen like the one below. From this screen select “Run a temporary application” by double-clicking. Once you have done this an executable file will pop up at the bottom left of your screen (see red arrow below). Double click on this executable file.

  1. The below image will pop up. When it does click on the “Run” button.

Note: Your screens may look different than the ones above depending on the web browser you are using (these screen shots were taken using Google Chrome), however the steps to join the meeting should be similar.

AGENDA

The agenda of the Information Session will include:

  1. Review of the RFN
  2. Discussion of the draft Scope of Work and Q&A with attending Vendors.
  3. Discussion of the anticipated RFP release date, procurement timeline, procurement approach and evaluation process.

*Note: Vendors are strongly encouraged to send members of their operations team to this Information Session (rather than only sending Business Development, Marketing, and/or Sales representatives)

SECTION 3: RFN INSTRUCTIONS

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Interested Vendors should submit their RFN responses via email (in Word document format) to the Point of Contact listed below. RFN responsesare required to follow the format and page limitations contained in Section 4. Please limit responses to the required page limits and formats specified for each question of Section 4. Submissions that do not adhere to these requirements will not be considered. Do not provide any additional or supplemental information (such as brochures, handouts, etc.).

Point Of Contact

All questions, inquires, or communications regarding this RFN must be directed to the Point of Contact listed below. No communications shall be directed to other personnel from EfficiencyOne.

  • Point of Contact:

GENERAL INFORMATION

EfficiencyOne does NOT plan to share theRFNresponsessubmitted byVendors nor make any responses public. However, Vendors are discouraged from submitting trade secrets or confidential information. Information provided from Vendors will be used to inform the Scope of Work. Questions pertaining to the project/service or Scope of Work will be listed in the RFP, but the name of the Vendor that submitted the question will not be listed.

EfficiencyOnetakes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information supplied in this RFN and will not be responsible for costs incurred in responding to this RFN.

DUE DATE

Time Table for Responses:

Issue Date of RFN / 12 February 2018
Information Session / 16 February 2018, 1:30 – 2:30pm AT
Deadline for Questions / 19 February 2018, 4:00 pm AT
Submission Date / 23 February 2018, 4:00pm AT

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SECTION 4: RFN RESPONSE FORM

Please respond to the questions in this section. You are encouraged to be open and candid in your responses.

  1. Is the Scope (as drafted in APPENDIX A) realistic and achievable? If not, what changes you would recommend and why?

(Please indicate Yes/No to the questions listed below)

A / The anticipated procurement schedule shown in APPENDIX I at the end of this document is reasonable / Yes / No
B / The draft Scope of Work provided in APPENDIX A is clear for Vendors to prepare an accurate proposal with minimal cost contingency. / Yes / No
C / The description of EfficiencyOne’s existing/current systems, documents, templates, and procedures is clear. / Yes / No
D / The roles and responsibilities of the selected Vendor/Service Provider are clear regarding the delivery of the QA Inspections and Auditing Service. / Yes / No
E / EfficiencyOne may choose to interview the following individuals during the RFP Evaluation stage. The intent is to interview the key personnel from each Vendor’s project team that would be assigned to work with EfficiencyOne.
Are these the most critical project team roles?
  • Site Visit Inspector
  • Quality Assurance Auditor
/ Yes / No

If you answered “No” to any questions (A-E) listed above, please provide justification and recommended alternatives.

(2 pages maximum)

.

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  1. What information should be included in the final Scope of Work to enable your firm to submit an accurate proposal (with minimal uncertainty and contingency included in the cost)?

Please be as specific as possible. You are encouraged to provide a bullet point list of information requested. EfficiencyOne intends to fulfill as many of these requests as is possible.

(2 Pages Maximum)

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  1. Are there any requirements or aspects of the current Scope of Work that should be changed, adjusted, or revised? Please provide justification as appropriate.

(1 Page maximum)

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  1. Are there any requirements that should be added to the current scope of work? Please provide justification as appropriate.
  2. Note: EfficiencyOne is interested in adopting best practices and leveraging continuous improvement initiatives, where they make sense. Are there other options, alternatives, new practices/technologies, or innovative ideas that should be considered in the Scope of Work and subsequent RFP evaluation process?
  3. Insert descriptive bullet points as needed (i.e. to mention specific aspects/functions/technologies/functionality EfficiencyOne wants to assess for their Scope of Work)

(1 Page maximum)

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  1. Are there any requirements or aspects of the current Scope of Work that are too prescriptive, overly burdensome, or outside of industry norms? Provide justification as appropriate.

(1 Page maximum)

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  1. In general, are there any requirements that you have seen from other related industry RFP’s that had the effect of limiting competition or unnecessarily resulted in an uneven playing field?
  2. Please only provide the situation; the organization name and exact details are not necessary. The purpose of this question is to help ensure EfficiencyOnedoes not unnecessarily limit participation in the RFP for this service.

(1 Page maximum)

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  1. Are there specific items (internally) that EfficiencyOne can begin working on now to facilitate a more efficient transition/implementation once the service is awarded?
  • Bullet point lists are encouraged.

(1 Page Maximum)

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  1. Based on the current Scope of Work, what is the most realistic budget allocation?
  2. Per QA site visit inspection
  3. Per QA file rebuild audit

(1 Page Maximum)

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  1. What is the best approach to evaluate cost/fee structures as a part of the proposal package?
  • Please describe your company’s typical cost categories (i.e. cost per site visit, cost per QA file rebuild audit, cost for travel/mileage, etc.). Clearly indicate the payment structure for each cost category (i.e. lump sum, period/duration-based, unit costs, etc.)

(2 Pages maximum)

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APPENDIX A:DRAFT Scope of Work

This attachment provides a draft Scope of Work. EfficiencyOne intends to update this Scope of Work based upon feedback questions received during the Request for Needs stage. All updates will be incorporated into the final Request for Proposal, which is anticipated to be release in early March, potentially as early as March 2, 2018.

DRAFT OF THE ANTICIPATED SCOPE OF WORK

FOR THE

Quality Assurance - Inspections and Auditing Services (Residential)

1Efficiency Nova Scotia Services

1.1HomeWarming Service

The HomeWarming service is offered across the province and provides energy efficiency assessment and retrofit services at no cost to eligible homeowners on lower incomes. This service’s objectives are to significantly and permanently save energy and money for homeowners on lower incomes, increase home comfort, educate participants about energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

An initial assessment is conducted to establish the home’s energy use and determine retrofit options within the scope of the service, which are primarily insulation and draft proofing. The home also receives an initial EnerGuide rating to indicate its overall energy efficiency. Service Organizations (SOs) then provide the applicable EfficiencyOne staff members with their recommend retrofits.

EfficiencyOne staff review these recommendations and determine which retrofits are approved for implementation. The SO then completes the approved work and performs a final assessment to verify which upgrades have been completed and provide a final EnerGuide rating.

1.2Home Energy Assessment Service

The Home Energy Assessment service encourages homeowners to improve the energy efficiency and comfort of their home while reducing its environmental impact. The primary objective of this program is to result in significant and permanent energy savings for homeowners. Home Energy Assessment was developed specifically to help homeowners identify and invest in smart efficiency upgrades that will result in significant energy savings. Eligible upgrades include insulation, draft proofing, ENERGY STAR® windows and doors, heat recovery equipment, and space and water heating equipment.

Initial and final energy assessments are provided to eligible existing houses at a reduced cost to the homeowner. The initial assessment establishes the home’s initial energy use and helps homeowners prioritize energy conservation options. The home also receives an initial EnerGuide rating to indicate the overall energy efficiency of the home. The homeowner can complete any or all of the recommended upgrades. Energy efficient upgrades are completed by the homeowner or contractor(s) of the homeowner’s choosing. A final assessment is performed to verify what upgrades have been completed, provides a final EnerGuide rating, and allows Efficiency Nova Scotia to calculate energy savings and verify what financial incentives should be issued. Incentives are either in the form of rebates or low interest financing.

1.3New Home Construction Service

The New Home Construction service provides expertise and recommendations to participants building a home in Nova Scotia. These recommendations pertain to initiatives that can be implemented during construction that will minimize the energy consumption of the home once it is operational. These recommendations and resulting reduced operating costs produce lasting savings which make New Home Construction homes a more affordable option for Nova Scotians.

This Efficiency Nova Scotia service helps to incorporate energy efficient technologies into the building design with an initial energy assessment to evaluate the home’s building plans. A Registered Energy Advisor is assigned to the home by one of our applicable SOs, and the Registered Energy Advisor makes recommendations to incorporate energy efficiency technologies into the build. The home must be built, and a follow up energy assessment completed, within 12 months of application approval for the builder/homeowner to receive the associated incentives.

1.4Green Heat Service

The Green Heat service provides financial incentives to electrically heated homeowners who are installing heating equipment to supplement their electricity consumption. Participants manage product procurement and installation and Efficiency Nova Scotia verifies eligibility and issues rebates or facilitates low interest financing options. Participants can choose between rebates and low interest financing to help cover the cost of new equipment and installation.

2Scope of Work: Quality Assurance Site Inspector

2.1Qualifications, Experience and Resources

EfficiencyOne is looking for site inspectors that:

  • Have experience/knowledge of the Efficiency Nova Scotia HomeWarming, Home Energy Assessment, and New Home Construction services;
  • Have experience/knowledge of Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) HOT2000 energy modeling software and associated labels (i.e. EnerGuide, ENERGY STAR®, and R2000);
  • Have education, training and experience in building science, energy efficiency, and knowledge of common insulation techniques, types of insulation, R values of building materials, installation of windows and doors, ducting, mechanical systems, a home as a system, air quality issues, and residential construction techniques;
  • Have education, training and certification, such as:
  • NRCan Registered Energy Advisor;
  • national home inspector certification;
  • registered home inspector; and/or
  • comparable memberships and associations as applicable;
  • Are a registered business able to operate in Nova Scotia;
  • Have Nova Scotia Workers’ Compensation Board coverage;
  • Possess computer equipment (tablet, laptop or office computer) to complete electronic upgrade surveys, either during or following Site Inspections;
  • Have the skill and ability to use the secure cloud based service storage service Sync ( to share information with EfficiencyOne; and
  • Are able to provide inspection services on an as-and-when needed standing offer basis.

Note: EfficiencyOne does not and will not guarantee Site Inspector(s) a specified number or any number of site inspections.

2.2General Requirements

Site Inspectors will be responsible for activities including, but not limited to, the following: