Town of Auburn Request for Home Performance Contractor Service

The Town of Auburn is governed by a five-member Select Board and Open Town Meeting. Daily operations for the  Town of Auburn are overseen by the Town Manager appointed by the Select Board. Planning and development in Auburn are governed by Massachusetts General Law, the Town Charter, and local bylaws and zoning regulations. Auburn is served by National Grid for electricity and Eversource for natural gas.

In alignment with Massachusetts climate goals, Auburn has a commitment to energy efficiency shown through the dedication to the Green Communities program, municipal aggregation and energy conservation measures instituted at municipal and school buildings. An HPC partnership would continue the work by providing expert education and support to residents to make their homes and businesses more efficient, clean and comfortable. Auburn seeks to ensure that all residents regardless of language, income, or housing status can access the benefits of energy efficiency improvements.

The program’s overall goal is to increase participation levels in Mass Save energy efficiency programs, specifically:

• Residential weatherization
• Heating and cooling (HVAC)
• General electrification

The Town of Auburn seeks a Home Performance Contractor (HPC) to provide marketing support, customer intake and triage, and direct service related to the ongoing campaign to promote and coordinate delivery of energy assessments, weatherization and HVAC upgrades in residential and business buildings. We seek vendors to leverage existing utility and state programs and create processes that remove barriers to serve all residents including but not limited to the following populations:

• Residents over the age of 65
• Renters and landlords
• Mobile home residents
• Residents whose primary language is not English
• Low- and moderate-income residents

There will be no financial relationship between The Town of Auburn and the HPC. It is expected that all activity executed by the HPC on behalf of the program will be funded through the HPC’s marketing budget with the assumption that The Town of Auburn and its co-branding will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the HPC’s marketing spend and provide access to new sets of customers.

Must provide a phone number and landing page that can be customized and modified as needed.

• Must have a field outreach team
• Support for multiple languages, namely, Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Polish, Armenian, Korean, French
• Must be able to deliver assessments under Level VI standards per U.S. Department of Energy
• Must have good standing with Better Business Bureau
• Must have liability insurance, indemnification requirements
• Must have history or experience partnering with cities and towns to drive electrification and energy efficiency adoption
• Experience in electrification and energy efficiency for 5 or more years preferred
• Must meet and collaborate via zoom or in person with the Town Energy Manager
• As needed; attend monthly board and committee meetings
• Must provide 3 references from communities previously or currently partnered with

Though residents will be allowed to access programs through any allowed pathway or vendor, The Town of Auburn will advise households to the selected HPC as the primary entry point for moderate income and market rate energy assessments. The selected HPC will have access to the logos and seals of The Town of Auburn for approved uses in order to conduct co-branded marketing and outreach efforts. All marketing pieces using The Town of Auburn names, logos or seals or referencing the affiliation must be approved by The Town of Auburn and their designated representatives.

Marketing efforts might include:

• Field marketing through tabling at public events
• Direct mail via letters or postcards to Auburn residents
• Digital advertising via search engines, social media, and online advertising
• Reverse 311 messages
• Print advertising
• Radio advertising
• Public displays such as banners or billboards
• Please note: All canvassing or soliciting shall be confined to the hours between 10:00am and 8:00pm.

The Town of Auburn will collaborate with the HPC on additional ideas to connect residents with energy efficiency services, such as mobilizing volunteer resources to support outreach efforts and introduce the HPC to key institutions in the town like houses of worship, neighborhood associations, community organizations, and encourage collaboration.

The HPC should maintain a call center capable of handling inbound calls and making outbound calls to interested residents identified by the communities’ campaign. The HPC should have customized protocols for scheduling energy assessments for all interested and qualified residents, including:

• Residents over the age of 65
• Landlords of 1–4-unit buildings
  • With multiple properties
  • With mixed income tenants
• Renters in 1–4-unit buildings
• Residents residing in non-permanent housing such as a mobile home
• Moderate income residents who are eligible for enhanced weatherization incentives

In addition, HPC must have a streamlined process to refer unqualified residents to appropriate programs / vendors including:

• Income-eligible customers
• Customers that live in buildings or associations with more than 4 units
• Customers that had program visits within 2 years and/or have completed all eligible weatherization measures but are interested in or qualified for HVAC upgrades

The HPC should design processes to deliver equitable service to all qualified customers that may include:

• A process for renters who desire to benefit from the program, but do not want to involve their landlord

The selected HPC must establish a process to get certain data points for all customers served, including data of those customers referred to other vendors, with the Town of Auburn or another organization it designates so that actions taken by customers served by the HPC can be attributed to the joint marketing campaign.

The selected HPC must establish a process to securely share customer contact information for all incoming customer leads within the Town of Auburn with the Town of Auburn, via the CFP lead vendor's Salesforce database. Customers must be informed in advance that their contact information will be shared with the Town of Auburn and the CFP lead vendor.

Town of Auburn staff may follow up directly with customers to capture their satisfaction with services and/or identify and remove barriers to accessing services.

The Town of Auburn asks that interested HPCs answer the following questions to address the above scope of work:

Please describe in detail the co-branded marketing and outreach efforts you’d propose in order to reach as many residents as possible:

1.1 Your company’s capacity to schedule and deliver energy assessments

1.2 The channels and methods you propose using as well as their frequency and volume

1.3 How you would leverage the brands and communication channels of The Town of Auburn in your marketing efforts

1.4 How you would make your efforts focused on or at least inclusive of the target populations of the campaign

2.1 Customer Intake: Please describe your intake process for identifying, serving, or referring the following groups who request your services in the field, online or by calling your call center. Please include details on when in the process you capture customer information and if and how these customers can schedule their own appointments online:

2.1.1 Landlords of 1–4-unit buildings

2.1.1.1 With multiple properties

2.1.1.2 With mixed income tenants

2.1.2 Renters in 1–4-unit buildings

2.1.2.1 Who are willing to coordinate with other tenants and/or their landlord

2.1.2.2 Who do not wish to coordinate with other tenants and/or their landlord

2.1.3 Residents who reside in non-permanent structures such as mobile homes

2.1.4 Moderate income households who are eligible for enhanced weatherization incentives

2.1.5 Income-eligible customers

2.1.5.1 Particularly low-income customers via the LVI model.

2.1.6 Customers that live in buildings or associations with more than 4 units

2.1.7 Customers that had program visits within 2 years and/or have completed all eligible weatherization measures but are interested in or qualified for HVAC upgrades of heat pump installations

2.2 Customer Service: During home energy assessments, please describe your process for making HVAC referrals

2.2.1 What criteria do you use to determine if a referral is made?

2.2.2 To which company(ies) do you make your referrals?

2.2.3 Are customers able or encouraged to set an appointment for an HVAC consultation during the home energy assessment?

2.2.4 At approximately what percentage of visits is an HVAC referral made?

2.2.5 Are referrals made specifically for heat pumps?

2.2.5.1 If so, approximately what percentage of referrals are made specifically for heat pumps?

2.2.6 What, if anything, do you do to ensure your HVAC referrals receive a price that is competitive with the market rate for similar equipment?

2.2.7 Approximately what percentage of referrals result in

2.2.7.1 A completed HVAC consultation?

2.2.7.2 A completed HVAC installation?

2.2.7.3 A completed heat pump consultation?

2.2.7.4 A completed heat pump installation?

2.3 Customer Experience

2.3.1 Please share processes you have for collecting customer feedback and provide any relevant metrics you have to demonstrate customer satisfaction.

2.3.2 Please provide a copy of your most recent utility contractor quality report. Feel free to provide any comments to explain the grades or improvement plans you may have.

3.1 Please see the data matrix below. Data will need to be shared with The Town of Auburn or another organization it designates at least on a monthly basis, but please indicate if you are able to share it more frequently. Indicate below for each data item if you are:

• Willing to share the data
• The data is not collected
• The data is collected but you prefer not share it
• Other

3.2 Please describe how you will inform customers that their contact information will be shared with The Town of Auburn and the CFP lead vendor.

4.1 Please include any other information you wish about your company’s qualifications to be selected as the vendor for this program

Proposal submissions will address:

• Relevant experience and qualifications
• Proposed marketing and outreach strategy
• Customer service and satisfaction record
• Plans to support the towns various populations including but not limited to those groups specified above
• Data sharing agreement
• Open response

• Proposals will be submitted electronically February 11, 2026 at 4pm
• Email submissions to: Energy Manager Juniper King
• Subject line: HPC RFP Submission – “Contractor Name”
• Questions should be submitted by February 4, 2026 at 4pm to Energy Manager Juniper King

• The Town of Auburn reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals.
• Selected contractor(s) will be required to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
• Contractors must comply with all federal, state, and local regulations, including insurance and non-discrimination requirements.

Contractors must provide proof of liability insurance as part of their response to this RFP.

The agreement will be effective for a fixed term of 3 years following the current CFP plan term.