Request for Proposals: Substation Management Console
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City of Seattle
Request for Proposal
RFP No. SCL-3407
TITLE: Transmission Substation Management Console
Closing Date & Time: 01/07/2015@3pm PST
TABLE 1 – SOLICITATION SCHEDULE
Solicitation Schedule / DateRFP Issued / 11/21/2014
Pre-Proposal Conference / 12/02/14 @9am PST
Deadline for Questions / 12/10/2014
Sealed Proposals Due to the City / 01/07/2015 @3pm PST
SMC Demonstrations (Finalists) / 3/16/2015-03/20/2015*
Announcement of Successful Proposer(s) / 03/31/2015
Anticipated Contract Agreement / 04/30/2015
*Estimated dates
The City reserves the right to modify this schedule at the City’s discretion. Notification of changes in the response due date would be posted on the City website or as otherwise stated herein.
All times and dates are Pacific Time.
PROPOSALS MUST BE RECEIVED ON OR BEFORE THE DUE DATE AND TIME AT THE LOCATIONS SHOWN IN SECTION 9.8.
MARK THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR MAILING PACKAGE INDICATING RFP# SCL-3407:
NOTE: By responding to this RFP, the Proposer agrees that he/she has read and understands the requirements and all documents within this RFP package.
1. INTRODUCTION
The City of Seattle (the City) on behalf of Seattle City Light (SCL,) a City department, seeks to establish a blanket contract for a standard transmission substation management console (SMC.) The SMC will consist of hardware and software and be provided to the City as a single integrated package. Through this contract the City anticipates purchasing two redundant SMCs for each of its 16 existing substations over the next three to ten years with possible other purchases for future substation construction and use by other operational units.
The City desires to procure the most appropriate SMC system from a single qualified Vendor (Proposer) at a firm, fixed price. The City prefers to purchase a system that is in use by other similar electrical utilities and is proven to operate effectively. Although the City is requesting proposals for complete systems, including hardware, software, and services that include any and all third-party components, the City may choose not to acquire all optional system components.
The City seeks a Vendor that provides ongoing support for its product. The selected vendor will work with SCL staff to configure and install the units in the first selected substation; the City expects that SCL will be able to perform all subsequent configurations and installations at remaining substations.
The City intends to award to the highest ranked Vendor that will assume financial and legal responsibility for the contract. Proposals that include multiple vendors must clearly identify one Vendor as the “prime contractor” and all others as subcontractors
2. PURPOSE
The purpose of this RFP is to:
1. Establish a blanket contract for a SMC that:
· Meets the specified current SMC technical and functional requirements for SCL, as outlined in the Technical and Functional Specifications contained in Section 10.
· Is flexible enough to meet future substation functional requirements.
· Provides a high level of availability, security, and reliability.
· Is scalable and configurable, allowing SCL to meet current and future needs of a variety of substations without extensive customization.
· Positions SCL to take advantage of future technology to continuously improve the performance and efficiency of substation operations.
· Allows direct access to the data for export, report, and query generation.
· Supports a high degree of integration with other applications, such as EMS and a historian database.
2. Enter into a long-term business relationship with a SMC Vendor that:
· Has a history of successful implementation of comparable projects with electric utilities of similar size and complexity as Seattle City Light.
· Has a long-term commitment to the SMC business.
· Has long-term viability as a company.
· Commits to long-term customer support on a 24 hour per day, 7 day per week basis.
· Has a product enhancement strategy that factors in customer needs and wants.
3. Background
Seattle City Light (SCL), a department of the City of Seattle, is a municipally owned and operated electric utility which provides generation, transmission, and distribution services. City Light serves approximately 400,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Seattle and adjacent jurisdictions, making it the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States, based on energy sales.
As part of its existing network, City Light maintains 16 transmission substations in the greater Seattle area. At each substation, City Light currently uses conventional remote terminal unit (RTU) technology to monitor digital and analog points and to control equipment from the System Operation Center (SOC). Schweitzer Engineer Laboratories (SEL) provides the standard relays; standard revenue meters are Schneider ION 8650’s. There are no communications protocols used within substations. The RTUs link to the SOC via Telegyr 8979 protocol.
SCL intends to install a new, server-based communications and monitoring system (a substation management console or SMC) in each substation. The SMC is expected to consist of a console (“hardware”), operating system and communication protocols, and user interface (“software.”).
The SMC will be acquired in order to facilitate the following:
1. Increased data availability from new Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) such as digital meters and relays.
2. Improved alarm management. Elimination of multiple alarms on the same point.
3. Increased reliability of the alarm system by replacing outmoded signaling devices with video displays.
4. Preparation for the implementation of “Smart Grid” technology such as distribution automation, advanced metering, and voltage control management systems.
5. Implementation of secure remote access to information from outside the station for both engineering and maintenance purposes.
6. Implementation of on-line condition monitoring.
SCL is currently in the process of updating its Energy Management System (EMS). SCL expects that the new SCADA protocol between the EMS and the stations will be DNP3.0, either IP-based or serial. A future option of using IEC61850 protocol for EMS communications is also desirable.
4. OBJECTIVES
City Light expects to acquire dual (primary and back-up) substation management consoles for each of its sixteen substations with the potential for additional units for future substations and other operational uses. Each will be based on an appliance or other dedicated computing hardware platform at the substation which will gather information from a network of sensing devices (IEDs) within the substation and send that data to other computer systems outside the substation.
Functions are expected to include:
· Data concentration/protocol conversion as the IEDs are queried, data gathered, protocols converted, and information sent to the EMS
· Human/machine Interface (HMI) within the substation
· Security and reporting through access logging and control
City Light strongly prefers a single console to perform all three of these functions. However, if that is not technically practical, City Light will entertain solutions comprised of multiple components. City Light desires to purchase the computing hardware and software from a single vendor who will deliver the hardware loaded with required firmware and software.
A summary of City Light’s functional and technical objectives for the Substation Management Console are outlined below. The Vendor must respond to all of the requirements listed in the embedded spreadsheet Technical and Functional Response in Section 10. Should there be a conflict between the summary contained in Section 4 and the requirements in Section 10, Section 10 shall prevail.
4.1 SCADA and Substation Automation
The Substation Management Console should function as the substation SCADA gateway and data concentrator. It should be capable of interfacing and communicating with a wide variety of IEDs in the substation, such as RTUs, protection relays, meters, PLCs, sensors, event and fault recorders, etc. It should unify all operational data for the power system network and all non-operational data for analysis and planning purposes.
The SMC should function as a protocol converter. It should have a comprehensive suite of communication protocols for interfacing with enterprise or host systems such as the EMS and historical databases, as well as IEDs in substations.
4.2 Protection and Control Data Management
The SMC should function as a data concentrator, acquiring operational information from the protective relays. It should be capable of integrating legacy relays from various manufacturers using industry standard protocols and specific relay vendor proprietary protocols, especially those from Schweitzer Engineering Labs, as those are the relays SCL currently uses. The SMC should also enable remote access to relays using their native software via virtual connection or pass through. It should support user defined, preset configurations of virtual connections to IEDs, simplifying remote access to the devices.
4.3 Remote Access for Engineering and Maintenance
The SMC should support secure remote access to substation data, information, graphical interfaces, IEDs, and other subsystems and connected devices. Connection to IEDs should be made via virtual connection or pass through using the IED’s native software. It should have configuration tools for setting virtual connection parameters during system set up and for managing virtual connections in production.
The SMC should enable users to launch IED software through managed authentication and connect to the designated IED. The SMC should communicate to IEDs for both real-time and non-operational data using the same communication port or port binding.
4.4 Human Machine Interface
The SMC should have an integrated human machine interface (HMI) for presenting and displaying data and information to users. The SMC should support inbound access from a client workstation with a dedicated connection located within the substation. It should support concurrent multiple user access and both real time and historical data access and processing. The substation HMI should have integrated cyber security features consistent with the requirements for IT and Cyber Security.
4.5 IT and Cyber Security
At a minimum the SMC should have cyber security features and functions that comply with the latest security definitions, measures and standards set out by the North America Electricity Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC/CIP) standards, including the upcoming version 5 standards.
The SMC should be capable of operating independently with comprehensive cyber security features and functionalities, as well as operating in conjunction with remote access management, logging and other centralized security services. The SMC should have the ability to provide local access to IEDs through the SMC in the event of communication loss with the central directory service.
4.6 Integrated On-line Condition Monitoring
The SMC should have the ability to retrieve data files, in various formats, from condition monitoring equipment and other IEDs, and forward them to client applications.
4.7 Integrated Video Monitoring and Analytics
The SMC should have the capability to interface with a digital video recorder (DVR). While the DVR system is an independent sub-system, the SMC should be the user interface and access point for launching and controlling the DVR server. The SMC should be capable of acquiring discrete alarms, as well as video data, from the DVR system and presenting them on a video display with appropriate resolution.
4.8 Redundant System Architecture
The SMC should be fully redundant, with redundant server architecture, synchronized databases between the two SMC servers and have hot standby failover switching.
4.9 Programmable Logic
The SMC should have an integrated, programmable logic application that enables users to customize automation processes, data conversion and computation, animation displays, and other automation needs. The user programming interface should meet IEC-61131-3 standards with its user programming interface.
4.10 Time Synchronization
The SMC should have an internal real-time clock, and should be capable of performing time synchronization.
The SMC should be capable of receiving a time synchronization signal from a host system via a protocol such as DNP3.0, and synchronizing its internal clock to that signal. It should also be able to synchronize its internal clock directly from a GPS clock. It should be able to distribute time synchronization signals to IEDs via serial communication channels or over Ethernet using IEEE 1588 V2 protocol.
4.11 Operating System, Databases, and Software
The SMC should use secure embedded operating systems. The SMC should have real-time and historical databases for storing information. The SMC should run on hardware source from different manufacturers and be available in multiple hardware configurations based on performance requirements. The SMC should have application software that can be integrated with the SMC computer hardware to form an embedded SMC system.
4.12 SMC Hardware Platform
The SMC should be delivered by the vendor loaded on a hardware platform. The hardware should meet utility substation hardened, in conformance with IEC 61805-3, IEC 61850-3, and IEEE 1613.
4.13 User Configuration and Maintenance Interface
The SMC should have a utility software application for system configuration and maintenance. The SMC should come with packages for setup, configuration, engineering, development, maintenance, testing, and troubleshooting tools in one integrated system. Access to the SMC server for users of the utility software must meet the authentication and authorization requirements specified in Functional and Technical Requirements Section5: IT and Cyber Security Requirements, including granular access control applied to utility software functionality.
5. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
The following are minimum qualifications that the Vendor must meet in order for their proposal submittal to be eligible for evaluation. You must complete and submit with your proposal the Minimum Qualifications form in Section 10 of this RFP, to clearly show compliance to these minimum qualifications. The RFP Coordinator may choose to determine minimum qualifications by reading that single document alone, so the submittal should be sufficiently detailed to clearly show how you meet the minimum qualifications without looking at any other material. Those that are not clearly responsive to these minimum qualifications shall be rejected by the City without further consideration:
· SMC manufacturer must have been in the business of providing substation management console hardware and software to the electric utility industry for a minimum of 5 years.
· SMC configuration being proposed must be operating to provide substation management functions described in Section 4, Objectives, in at least 2 North American electric utilities serving 200,000 customer accounts or more or peak demand greater than 1,000 MW. Both implementations must have been operational for at least 6 months and the Proposer must provide the names of the identified utilities and a description of what was implemented for each.