Project Align - Utility Organizational Readiness, Billing and Data Integrity, Water and Sewer Rate Study, and System Development Fee Study

CITY OF LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
PROJECT ALIGN
Utility Organizational Readiness, Billing and Data Integrity,
Water and Sewer Rate Study, and System Development Fee Study
Accuracy | Long-term Sustainability | Integrity | Governance | Next-Generation
RFP number 10-26-0001
Issue date Monday, October 12, 2026
Questions due Monday, October 26, 2026, 5:00PM
Response to Questions/
Wednesday, October 28, 2026, (Addendum issued by 5:00PM if needed)
Addendum Issued (If needed)
DOWNLOAD RFQ &
https://cloud.lexingtonnc.gov/s/G8ZzWWhcejodjBL
ADDENDUMS LINK:
Proposals due Monday, November 2, 2026, 4:00PM
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION LINK: https://cloud.lexingtonnc.gov/s/WfMQoqGFXZGRiaE
Procurement contact Britt Smith, Purchasing Officer
Project Lead David Lambert, Assistant City Manager
City address 28 W. Center Street, Lexington, NC 27292
Anticipated commencement November 2026
The City reserves the right to revise the schedule by written addendum.
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Invitation
The City of Lexington invites proposals from experienced consulting firms or multidisciplinary teams to support
Project ALIGN, a forward-looking utility organizational readiness and financial strategy initiative. The selected
consultant will help the City strengthen the systems, processes, policies, organizational structure, financial
practices, data controls, and management tools needed to remain responsive as service demands, infrastructure
needs, customer expectations, technology, and regulatory requirements evolve.
The engagement includes utility operational and organizational assessment, end-to-end process mapping, policy
and SOP development, centralized utility billing and data integrity, water meter reading and billing controls, a
focused sanitation billing review for trash and recycling, third-party billing and data exchange controls, a
comprehensive water and sewer rate study, a system development fee study, stormwater billing and financial
analysis, and implementation support. For Stormwater, the City is particularly interested in a billing and fee
framework that is equitable, administratively workable, legally supportable, understandable to customers, and
sustainable over time. The City seeks a team that can connect financial analysis with the day-to-day processes
that create customer accounts, deliver utility service, generate bills, exchange data, allocate costs, and support
management decisions.
The City expects an implementation-oriented engagement. Recommendations should be translated, where
appropriate, into usable reports, queries, reconciliations, process maps, policy drafts, SOPs, financial models, data
cleanup assistance, training, and transition steps rather than a report-only product.
1. Project Purpose and Strategic Context
Project ALIGN is intended to prepare the City's utility and support functions for the next stage of organizational and
financial maturity. The City is seeking an independent, practical review of how work is organized, how information
moves, how financial decisions are supported, and how customer and development activity becomes utility service
and billing.
The project is not a financial statement audit, forensic investigation, or individual employee performance review.
The consultant should identify and preserve practices that are working well, identify opportunities to improve
consistency or scalability, and help the City establish a more documented, resilient, and responsive operating
model.
The City's management objective is to verify that authorized revenues are applied consistently, ensure account
and billing data remain accurate, place responsibilities and controls where they can be sustained, understand the
cost and revenue requirements of the water and sewer utilities, update system development fees in accordance
with applicable law, and establish a clear basis for future management and governing-board decisions.
1.1 Desired Organizational Characteristics
* Clear ownership of processes, decisions, data, and customer outcomes.
* Consistent external service experience for residents, businesses, developers, and partner organizations.
* Documented internal handoffs that remain effective despite staff turnover, growth, or changes in
technology.
* Financial and operational information that allows management and the governing board to distinguish
operating needs, capital needs, reserves, cost allocation, rate requirements, and development-related cost
recovery.
* Policies and SOPs that reflect actual operations, define responsibilities, and support timely decisions.
* An organizational structure that places functions, authority, staffing, and accountability where they can
best support utility operations and customer service.
* Reusable management tools, reports, reconciliations, and controls that City staff can maintain after the
engagement.
1.2 Functional Scope
The functional scope is centered on the City's centralized utility billing and the departments and utility operations
that create, maintain, use, or rely on billing and customer data. The engagement will primarily involve Electric,
Natural Gas, Water, Sewer, Stormwater, Sanitation (trash and recycling billing), Finance, IT, Customer Service,
and related utility administration functions. Other functions may be included where a process or data handoff
materially affects utility service, account accuracy, billing, collections, development activity, or operational
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responsiveness. Sanitation is included only for billing accuracy and related service-to-account handoffs, not a
comprehensive collection operations or rate study.
The City performs utility billing internally for most customers. Certain customers or service areas are billed through
another agency or external entity. The consultant shall evaluate the data exchanges, responsibilities, timing,
reconciliation, exception handling, and communication required between the City and those entities so that
customer, service, usage, rate, and billing information remains complete and synchronized.
The review should consider how billing and customer data support operations as well as financial reporting.
Recommendations should help field and utility operations receive timely, reliable information and ensure that
operational changes, service status, meter activity, development activity, and other relevant events are reflected in
billing and customer records.
1.3 Lexington Utility Context
The following background is provided to assist respondents in understanding the scale and operating environment
of the engagement. Respondents should validate material assumptions during the project.
* Utility Enterprise. The City owns and operates water, wastewater, electric, and natural gas utility systems
and administers a stormwater utility program. Utility services represent a significant portion of the City's
overall financial operations. The FY 2026-27 City budget identifies approximately $97 million associated
with business-enterprise services, including electric, natural gas, water resources, and stormwater.
* Water and Wastewater. The Water and Sewer Operating Fund is operated as a self-supporting enterprise
fund. The City operates two water treatment plants with approximately 9.3 MGD of combined capacity,
serves approximately 9,015 retail water customers, and maintains approximately 200 miles of water
distribution mains. The City also operates a regional wastewater treatment facility with approximately 6.5
MGD of permitted capacity, serves approximately 9,658 retail wastewater customers, and maintains
approximately 200 miles of gravity and pressurized sewer mains, together with pump stations and related
infrastructure. The approved FY 2026-27 Water and Sewer operating budget is approximately $21.2
million. Because Project ALIGN includes a comprehensive water and sewer rate study and System
Development Fee analysis, respondents should anticipate a more detailed financial, rate, capital,
customer-classification, and demand analysis of these systems.
* Electric. Lexington is a municipal public-power provider serving residential, commercial, and industrial
customers. The City's most recently published departmental performance measures report approximately
20,190 electric customers and 1,331 miles of electric line for FY 2023-24. Lexington has participated in
North Carolina public power since 1904, and electric system operations have been managed in
partnership with ElectriCities of North Carolina since 2018.
* Natural Gas. Lexington has operated a municipal natural gas system since 1954 and provides residential,
commercial, and industrial service throughout much of Davidson County. The City's most recently
published departmental performance measures report approximately 10,176 customers, 525 miles of
natural gas main, and 293 miles of service line for FY 2023-24. The City's gas rate structure includes
multiple residential, commercial, and industrial classifications.
* Stormwater. Lexington operates a municipal stormwater program and is a federally designated NPDES
Phase II community. The program is administered through the Public Services function and supports
drainage infrastructure, regulatory compliance, maintenance, street sweeping, and related stormwater
responsibilities. Stormwater charges are administered through the City's utility billing environment rather
than through a county property-tax billing process. The City's billing framework uses an Equivalent
Residential Unit (ERU) methodology, with non-residential charges based on impervious area. This
structure creates important account-management questions involving parcel data, ownership and tenancy
changes, inactive utility accounts, billing continuity, exemptions and adjustments, and coordination among
Stormwater, GIS, Customer Service, Finance, and other functions.
* Sanitation Billing. Trash and recycling services are included for a focused review of applicable charges,
service records, account coverage, and coordination between Sanitation and centralized billing.
Respondents should confirm the City's current fee structure and service eligibility rules during the
engagement.
* Centralized Utility Billing and Customer Service. The City centrally administers utility accounts and
customer service across multiple utility services. Most utility billing is performed directly by the City;
however, certain customer populations and services involve billing or data exchanges with outside entities.
Project ALIGN is intended to evaluate the reliability of these interfaces, establish clear data ownership and
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reconciliation practices, and ensure that operational changes consistently result in accurate customer
accounts and billing.
* Billing Environment. Water and wastewater services are billed monthly using base and consumption
charges with inside-city and outside-city distinctions. Electric and natural gas services have multiple
customer and rate classifications, while Stormwater introduces property- and impervious-area-based billing
considerations that differ from traditional metered utility services. The City currently uses Cayenta as its
utility billing system. Recommendations, controls, reports, rate structures, and operating procedures
should be implementable within the City's existing billing environment unless the consultant separately
identifies a future technology or system recommendation.
2. Scope of Services
2.1 Organizational Readiness and Operating Model
* Assess whether the City's current operating model is positioned to support reliable utility administration,
responsive customer service, growth, major capital investment, economic development activity, technology
changes, and evolving regulatory or legislative requirements. The assessment shall focus on functions and
organizational design rather than individual employee performance.
* Review functional responsibilities, reporting relationships, spans of responsibility, decision rights, staffing
roles, backup coverage, and separation of duties across the functions included in ALIGN.
* Identify areas where responsibility is unclear, duplicated, fragmented, overly dependent on an individual
position, or separated from the information needed to perform the work.
* Evaluate whether selected functions should remain decentralized, be coordinated through a centralized
utility administration function, be centralized elsewhere, or be assigned to a different department or
organizational level.
* Recommend structural or functional changes where they would improve accountability, service
responsiveness, financial stewardship, process continuity, or management capacity.
* For significant recommendations, provide rationale, organizational implications, likely staffing or budget
effects, sequencing, and practical transition steps.
* Identify governance routines that should be established or strengthened, such as recurring cross-
functional reviews, rate-change controls, billing exception reviews, capital and reserve reviews, data
governance routines, or management dashboards.
2.2 End-to-End Process Mapping and Future-State Design
Develop clear, usable process maps that show both how the City's utility processes are experienced externally and
how work occurs internally. The process mapping shall not be limited to a narrative description. The City expects
visual, editable flow charts suitable for staff training, management review, and future process improvement.
At minimum, the consultant shall develop current-state and recommended future-state maps for the principal utility
customer and development-to-billing processes. The mapping should address new service, development or
redevelopment, changes to existing service, meter or account changes, billing, adjustments, service issues, third-
party data exchanges, and closure or termination where material. Use shared maps for common processes, with
utility-specific variations or exception paths where material; separate complete map sets for every utility are not
required. The sanitation review may be incorporated into the shared service-to-billing workflow.
View Required content Purpose
External service journey What a resident, business, developer, Create a clear picture of the customer-
contractor, or partner must do; required facing experience and identify
information; points of contact; expected opportunities to make the City easier to
communications; key decisions; status navigate and more responsive.
updates; and the transition from
request or development activity to
active service and billing.
Internal operating workflow Department and role swimlanes Show how work actually moves across
showing intake, approvals, field activity, departments and systems and
GIS updates, meter or asset records, establish accountability for each
account setup, rate or class handoff.
assignment, billing, review, exceptions,
financial posting, data exchange, and
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escalation. Identify systems, records,
controls, decision points, timing, and
handoffs.
External-to-internal crosswalk Connect each major external step to Make visible where the customer
the internal actions required to fulfill it, experience depends on internal
including the responsible function and coordination and create a common
expected service standard. operating model across departments.
Future-state maps shall identify recommended ownership, service standards, controls, records, system
touchpoints, data responsibilities, and escalation paths. The consultant shall provide maps in editable source
format and publication-ready format.
2.3 Policy, Procedure, and SOP Framework
* Review written policies, procedures, practices, forms, and informal operating conventions that govern the
processes within ALIGN.
* Create an inventory of relevant policies and procedures and identify conflicts, gaps, outdated provisions,
inconsistent terminology, or areas where actual practice is not adequately documented.
* Recommend edits to existing policies and prepare proposed redline and clean versions for City
consideration where changes are warranted.
* Identify areas where a new policy is appropriate and draft proposed policy language for City review.
* Develop or revise SOPs for material recurring processes, including roles, triggers, required inputs, step-by-
step actions, decision points, controls, approvals, documentation requirements, escalation, backup
responsibility, and evidence of completion.
* Develop practical forms, checklists, templates, or job aids where they would improve consistency or
reduce dependence on institutional knowledge.
* Identify which documents require administrative approval, governing-board action, legal review, or other
formal adoption.
2.4 Billing, Revenue Integrity, and Data Assurance
* Evaluate whether customer, account, meter, service, rate, and billing data are accurate and whether
authorized rates and charges are consistently translated into customer accounts and bills.
* Reconcile authorized rate schedules, effective dates, account classifications, billing-system rate tables,
meter or multiplier factors, service status, and actual billing logic on a risk-based basis.
* Analyze account, meter, usage, billing, adjustment, collection, and related operational data to identify
material exceptions such as missing or inactive accounts, unusual zero or low bills, classification
anomalies, unusual credits, inconsistent factors, duplicate or incomplete records, and incomplete data
handoffs.
* Review the controls used to establish and maintain accounts, apply rate changes, maintain meter factors,
process adjustments, update service or property information, and confirm that field or operational activity
becomes an appropriate customer record and bill.
* Quantify material financial opportunities or exposures where reasonably determinable, while clearly
distinguishing preliminary estimates, validated amounts, amounts authorized for billing or recovery, and
recurring revenue protection.
* Recommend and, where practical, assist with development of reusable exception reports, reconciliations,
management dashboards, periodic data-validation routines, and review practices with assigned ownership
and frequency.
* Provide guidance on specific reports, queries, data-cleanup activities, and other practical tools needed to
establish and maintain reliable utility data.
* Assist City staff with approved data cleanup, process, configuration, documentation, reporting, or control
improvements and perform follow-up testing to confirm that selected changes operate as intended.
* Independently recalculate representative customer bills using authorized rates and source data, and
compare expected charges with actual billing-system results. Include material rate changes, inside-city
and outside-city classifications, meter multipliers, estimated reads, deduct meters, and applicable trash
and recycling charges. For estimated reads, compare the current method with a reasonable alternative
using selected accounts and periods where actual reads are available. Use a City-approved test
environment where available, or independent calculations from authorized extracts. Document test cases,
assumptions, expected and actual results, discrepancies, and corrective actions; expand testing only as
justified by findings and authorized scope.
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2.4.1 Water Meter Reading and Billing Accuracy
* Reconcile the water meter inventory, reading system, active service records, and billing accounts. Identify
installed and active meters, meters expected to be read each billing cycle, and meters successfully read,
validated, and used for billing. Document scheduled and actual reading frequency by reading method and
cycle, including manual, drive-by, or automated methods where applicable, and distinguish automated data
collection frequency from the reading used to generate a bill.
* Review missed, stale, estimated, rejected, and repeated zero reads; unusually high or low usage; inactive
meters with usage; and active services without a corresponding billed reading. Evaluate how exceptions are
identified, reread or investigated, approved for estimation, corrected, and carried forward to resolution.
* Use risk-based samples to trace source readings through transfer, validation, consumption calculation, and
billing. Verify meter and account identifiers, read dates and billing periods, units of measure, multipliers, meter
size, and replacement or rollover handling. Review existing meter testing and replacement practices and
recommend targeted physical testing where records indicate possible meter accuracy issues; consultant field
testing or systemwide meter testing is outside the base scope.
* Provide a reusable reconciliation by billing cycle showing expected reads, successful reads, validated reads
used for billing, estimated bills, missed or stale reads, and unresolved exceptions. Define each measure and
denominator, assign review and correction responsibilities, and recommend reporting frequency and escalation
thresholds. These counts should reconcile with meter and account records rather than assume one customer
equals one meter.
2.4.2 Sanitation Billing for Trash and Recycling
* Compare available trash and recycling service, route, and container records with billing accounts using
electronic matching where practical and targeted samples. Verify applicable fees, customer classifications,
billable service or container counts where relevant, and the treatment of new service, changes, exemptions,
and terminations. Identify eligible services not billed, duplicate or incorrect charges, and charges inconsistent
with current service.
* Recommend a simple recurring reconciliation and exception report, with responsibility for notifying billing of
service changes and confirming corrections. Incorporate findings into the existing billing controls and SOP
deliverables. A sanitation cost-of-service study, rate redesign, collection route optimization, and staffing or fleet
assessment are outside the base scope.
2.5 Third-Party Billing and Interagency Data Management
* Document the current data flow between the City and any outside agency or entity that bills utility
customers or maintains information used for billing. Identify the authoritative source for each key data
element, required exchange frequency, responsible party, validation method, exception process, and
escalation path. Review applicable agreements, memoranda, service arrangements, and documented
business rules with outside entities to determine whether responsibilities for account creation, usage data,
rate updates, adjustments, collections, ownership changes, and reconciliation are clear and consistent with
actual practice.
* Evaluate whether the City can independently reconcile customers, services, usage, rates, adjustments,
amounts billed, collections, and changes received from or transmitted to outside entities.
* Recommend reports, file controls, certifications, reconciliations, and periodic reviews needed to maintain
confidence in the data.
* Recommend improvements to data formats, transfer practices, responsibilities, documentation, and
response protocols so discrepancies can be identified, researched, corrected, and communicated promptly
and operational staff can rely on the information when responding to service needs.
2.6 Comprehensive Water and Sewer Rate Study
The water and sewer rate study is a required core workstream. It shall be coordinated with the broader ALIGN
review so that rate recommendations reflect validated billing assumptions, appropriate operating and capital costs,
customer usage, debt obligations, reserve considerations, growth, and the City's current and planned capital
program. The detailed financial forecasting required in this subsection applies to the water and sewer rate study
and is not intended to require an equivalent multi-year forecast for every utility included in Project ALIGN.
2.6.1 Financial and Rate Sufficiency Analysis
* Review historical and current operating expenses, revenues, customer and usage data, meter sizes,
customer classes, current rate schedules, debt service, depreciation, capital needs, financing plans,
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contractual obligations, and growth assumptions. Review the timing, cost, and funding assumptions for
planned capital improvements and coordinate those assumptions with available master plans, capital
improvement plans, engineering studies, and other relevant technical information.
* Provide a ten-year forecast of revenues, operation and maintenance expenses, and capital
improvement costs sufficient to evaluate long-term rate sufficiency and identify a recommended five-
year rate structure.
* Evaluate whether projected revenues will support appropriate reserves, debt and bond coverage
requirements, cash flow and working capital needs, and planned capital funding.
* Where grant, loan, debt, capital timing, or other financing assumptions remain uncertain, evaluate
reasonable alternative scenarios and identify the resulting effects on revenue requirements, debt
coverage, reserves, cash flow, and customer rates.
* Assess the performance and sustainability of the current rate structure under current conditions and
projected growth demands.
* Consider the City's ability to satisfy relevant ranking or financial requirements for potential funding
sources, including Department of Water Infrastructure applications where applicable.
2.6.2 Cost of Service and Rate Design
* Determine the water and sewer revenue requirements and evaluate allocation of costs among
applicable customer classes and rate components, including fixed, capacity, commodity, volumetric,
and other material cost drivers.
* Review customer-class definitions and nonstandard service arrangements that may require distinct
billing, rate, or cost-of-service treatment, such as master-metered or shared-meter accounts,
multifamily or mixed-use properties, large commercial or industrial accounts, deduct or submeter
arrangements, and other atypical configurations identified during the study.
* Evaluate the existing rate structures and develop practical alternatives, which may include flat,
uniform, increasing block, decreasing block, hybrid, or other structures appropriate to Lexington.
Evaluate alternatives for cost-of-service alignment, revenue stability, administrative simplicity,
customer understandability, billing-system compatibility, and applicable City policy objectives, including
conservation or affordability where directed by the City.
* Compare proposed rates to selected surrounding and similarly situated utilities for context, while
emphasizing Lexington's own cost and revenue requirements as the basis for recommendations.
* Evaluate representative customer bill impacts and identify the operational and billing-system changes
required to implement recommended rates.
* Ensure recommended rate structures are compatible with the City's existing Cayenta utility billing
environment and can be clearly explained to customers.
2.6.3 Electronic Rate Model and Implementation
* Develop an editable electronic rate model in Microsoft Excel or another City-approved format.
Compatibility with established public-sector water and wastewater rate analysis methodologies is
preferred.
* The model shall allow City staff to update consumption patterns by customer classification; major
operating cost categories; debt service; capital costs; depreciation; growth assumptions; financing
sources; reserves; and applicable rate inputs. The model shall be structured for practical annual
updates and allow staff to revise capital project timing, cost, and duration and evaluate debt coverage
or similar financial metrics without rebuilding the core model.
* The model shall integrate expected revenue from the recommended water and sewer rates and permit
practical scenario testing.
* Install or transfer the completed model to the City, provide documentation and assumptions, and train
at least two designated City staff members in its use.
* Provide a preliminary report and recommended rates for City staff review, incorporate comments into
the final report, and present final findings to City staff and to City Council if requested.
* Assist with approved rate-table implementation and verification in the City's existing billing
environment. The City retains authority to adopt rates and effective dates.
* Coordinate, as directed by the City, with engineering, capital-planning, and other technical consultants
so that rate and system development fee analyses use consistent project scope, timing, cost, capacity,
financing, and growth assumptions.
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2.7 System Development Fee Study
The consultant shall update the City's water and sewer system development fees in accordance with the Public
Water and Sewer System Development Fee Act of 2017, N.C.G.S. Chapter 162A, Article 8, as amended, and
other applicable requirements.
* Review the City's current system development fee methodology, fee schedule, capital improvement
information, system assets, capacity information, debt and financing information, growth assumptions, and
other data necessary to complete a legally supportable fee analysis.
* Calculate and recommend updated system development fees using an appropriate statutory methodology
and clearly document assumptions, calculations, credits, capacity considerations, and supporting data.
* Coordinate the system development fee analysis with the water and sewer rate study so that capital
assumptions are consistent and costs are not inappropriately duplicated between revenue mechanisms.
* Prepare the technical documentation, schedules, and explanatory material needed for City review and any
required statutory process.
* Present the system development fee analysis and recommendations at a regularly scheduled City Council
meeting or other public meeting if requested.
2.8 Stormwater Billing, Administration, and Financial Sustainability
* Evaluate the City's stormwater utility as a stand-alone billing and financial function, including billing
completeness, parcel and account coverage, applicable billing units or ERUs, exemptions and
adjustments, collection practices, financial sustainability, reserves, capital needs, and rate sufficiency. The
analysis shall specifically address how stormwater charges are created and maintained within the City's
utility billing system rather than through a county property-tax billing program.
* Review and help the City articulate the principal policy and program goals that should govern the
stormwater utility, including equity, administrative practicality, legal supportability, revenue sufficiency,
customer understandability, and long-term maintainability.
* Evaluate the program cost basis, revenue requirements, fee structure basis, and allocation methodology
supporting the stormwater charge. Assess whether the current approach remains fair and supportable
across applicable property types and recommend practical alternatives where warranted.
* Map the full stormwater account lifecycle from identification of a billable property or change in impervious
area through account creation, assignment of the charge, billing, collection, delinquency, property transfer,
and account closure or change.
* Evaluate and recommend a consistent method for associating stormwater charges with the property while
administering the charge through utility billing. Address owner-occupied and tenant-occupied properties,
including which party is billed, how ownership and occupancy changes are identified, and how the City
maintains continuity of the property-related stormwater obligation when utility customers change.
* Review the administrative and legal mechanics applicable when utility service is disconnected, terminated,
transferred, or otherwise inactive. Recommend procedures for ensuring that stormwater charges continue
to be assessed and accumulated as appropriate, remain traceable to the affected property, and are not
inadvertently discontinued because another utility service ends.
* Review the process for property transfers and recommend a clear method for identifying outstanding
stormwater amounts, communicating balances, updating ownership information, and determining how
unpaid charges are handled when property changes hands, subject to applicable law and City policy.
Identify legal or policy questions requiring City Attorney review rather than assuming authority that has not
been established.
* Develop recurring stormwater reconciliation and exception reports designed to identify newly developed or
altered properties, properties without an active utility account, owner or tenant changes, inactive accounts
still subject to stormwater charges, unusual or missing ERUs, exemptions, adjustments, and other
conditions that could affect billing completeness or accuracy.
* Develop a five-year stormwater operating and capital financial plan and practical rate or fee alternatives as
warranted. Recommend a clear, systematic billing and collection framework that can be implemented and
maintained through the City's utility billing environment.
* For any recommended stormwater fee, billing, policy, or administrative changes, provide implementation
assistance that may include billing-system integration guidance, draft ordinance or fee-schedule language,
policy and procedure revisions, customer or public communication materials, Council presentation support,
and coordination with City staff and legal counsel.
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* Prepare practical stormwater implementation and maintenance guidance identifying recurring data
updates, review cycles, reports, responsible roles, exception handling, and periodic validation needed to
keep the fee and account base accurate after implementation. Provide a defined period or allowance for
on-call implementation assistance if proposed by the City.
2.9 Other Utility Financial Assessment
Evaluate the principal revenue, expense, reserve, capital, and financial sustainability considerations of Natural Gas
and Electric using existing financial information and recent or ongoing rate evaluations. Review those evaluations
for material gaps and implications for ALIGN rather than duplicate completed analysis. Identify material future
pressures, opportunities to improve financial planning or cost recovery, and areas where a separate detailed study
may be warranted. A full class cost-of-service and rate-design study for these utilities is outside the base scope
unless separately authorized.
2.10 Implementation, Change Management, and Verification
* Implementation assistance is required. The City does not intend to receive a report that simply identifies
opportunities and leaves implementation undefined.
* Maintain an implementation register identifying recommendation, owner, priority, dependency, target date,
City decision required, status, and evidence of completion.
* Facilitate working sessions with affected departments to validate future-state processes, resolve
ownership questions, and build practical adoption of new procedures.
* Where rate, fee, ordinance, or customer-facing policy changes are proposed, recommend an appropriate
communication and engagement approach and assist with staff, stakeholder, customer, or governing-
board presentations as requested.
* Provide training for designated staff on new or revised SOPs, process maps, management controls,
financial models, reports, and review routines.
* For selected billing or rate-table changes, verify agreed test cases before production use and confirm
results after implementation within the negotiated support allowance. City staff shall approve production
changes and final customer charge or credit calculations and communications. The consultant shall
provide supporting calculations and findings for those decisions.
* Conduct follow-up verification of selected implemented changes and provide an unresolved-items and
next-steps register at closeout.
* Provide a practical transition roadmap for recommended organizational or structural changes, including
sequencing, communications, role clarification, and interim operating arrangements.
2.11 Technology and Scope Boundaries
The City does not intend this RFQ to procure a replacement customer information system, enterprise resource
planning system, or utility billing platform. The consultant shall work with existing systems and vendors as
practical; recommend reports, queries, interfaces, data-management practices, and cleanup activities that improve
accuracy and operational responsiveness; and identify technology gaps or future needs where relevant. Additional
engineering or other regulated professional services require written City authorization and compliance with
applicable procurement and licensing requirements. Where legally permissible and approved by the City, these
services may be retained through a consultant-managed subcontract. Substantial software purchases, systems
integration, and construction remain subject to separate authorization and applicable procurement requirements.
2.11.1 Efficient Scope and Cost Controls
Use existing City studies, financial models, policies, GIS records, and available system reports wherever reliable.
Reuse validated data and assumptions across workstreams. Base billing and meter-read transaction testing on the
most recent twelve complete billing months available at kickoff, supplemented by current account and configuration
records and known unresolved exceptions from earlier periods. This limit does not restrict historical financial
information needed for the rate, system development fee, or stormwater analyses. Broader historical transaction
review requires separate City authorization.
Perform electronic completeness and exception screening across available records where practical, then use risk-
based samples for detailed account tracing and manual validation. Propose the sampling approach, priorities, and
coverage for City approval and disclose limitations. An account-by-account audit, full manual parcel or meter
inventory, new field surveys, and new engineering or capacity studies are outside the base scope. Recommend
additional work separately when material findings justify expansion.
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Keep implementation support bounded and reviewable. Include a stated allowance of hours and sessions for
priority reports, SOPs, selected corrections, staff training, and follow-up verification within the base fee. Identify the
work the consultant will perform, the work City staff or existing vendors will perform, and the proposed closeout
date. Include up to two consolidated City review rounds per deliverable and combine workshops and presentations
across workstreams where practical, while retaining required statutory processes. Additional cleanup, vendor
programming, ongoing on-call support, or review rounds require written authorization.
Use remote meetings where practical, combine kickoff and planning activities, and consolidate necessary site
visits. Identify travel assumptions and reimbursable expense limits; reimburse approved travel only as incurred and
documented within the negotiated ceiling. Any additional or optional service shall have a separate scope and not-
to-exceed price before authorization.
Extensive individual account reviews beyond the base screening, representative testing, and included
implementation allowance shall be separately authorized in batches. Before each batch, agree on the account
population, review period, tasks, completion criteria, and maximum hours or fee. No work beyond a batch ceiling
may proceed without written authorization from the designated City representative. Before requesting another
batch, report accounts completed, unresolved cases, findings, hours and cost used, and remaining authorized
budget. Required base-scope work remains covered by the base fee.
2.11.2 Specialized Support and Engineering Subconsultants
The consultant may identify, recruit, and propose qualified engineering firms or other specialized subconsultants
needed to support the engagement. Where approved by the City and permitted by applicable procurement and
professional licensing requirements, the consultant may contract directly with, manage, and pay the approved
subconsultant. The consultant shall remain responsible for coordination, schedule, integration of findings, and
performance of its contractual obligations.
Before retaining an engineering subconsultant, the consultant shall submit the proposed scope, qualifications,
applicable individual and firm license information, selection method, deliverables, schedule, and proposed
contracting structure for City approval. The City shall determine the applicable procurement procedure before
solicitation or selection and shall approve the scope and compensation before work begins. The consultant may
administer a City-approved selection process, but City approval alone does not constitute a statutory exemption.
Engineering services shall be performed through a contracting structure that satisfies North Carolina professional
3.
licensing requirements and under the responsible charge of an appropriately licensed professional engineer.
Required Deliverables
The negotiated base scope shall produce usable management tools, editable documents, implementation support,
and decision-ready financial analysis. Final formats and milestones may be refined during negotiations, but the
following outcomes are expected.
Deliverable Minimum content
1. Organizational readiness Current operating model, strengths to preserve, role and accountability findings,
assessment organizational risks, and prioritized recommendations for structure, staffing
responsibilities, governance, or functional placement.
2. Process architecture package (all Current-state and future-state external service journey maps, internal swimlane
utilities) workflows, and external-to-internal crosswalks, including centralized billing and
third-party data handoffs. Include ownership, systems, records, controls, service
standards, decision points, and escalation paths. Provide editable source files
and publication-ready versions. Shared maps with material utility-specific
variations are acceptable; include sanitation service-to-billing handoffs.
3. Policy and SOP package (all Policy and procedure inventory, recommended edits, redline and clean policy
utilities) drafts where warranted, new policy drafts where needed, SOPs, responsibility
matrix, checklists or templates, and implementation or approval pathway.
4. Account accuracy and data- Assessment of account and billing data accuracy; prioritized cleanup
management package (all utilities) recommendations and assistance; reusable exception reports, reconciliations,
queries, dashboards, review calendar, and assigned control owners; and a
documented approach for keeping data accurate over time. Include water meter
inventory and read-to-bill reconciliation, reading frequency and exception
controls, and the focused trash and recycling billing review described in Section
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