26-001 - RFP - Scheduling Coordinator and CRR Management Services

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
For
Orange County Power Authority
Scheduling Coordinator Services and Congestion
Revenue Rights Management
Solicitation Number: 26-001
RESPONSE DUE
by
5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
on
April 24, 2026
For complete information regarding this project, see RFP posted at
www.ocpower.org or contact OCPA at the email address listed below.
Thank you for your interest!
sviramontes@ocpower.org
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A. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION
Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) is seeking proposals from qualified firms
(Consultants) to provide scheduling coordinator ("SC") and congestion revenue rights ("CRR")
management services ("Services"). This solicitation is not intended to create an exclusive
service agreement and multiple awards may be made. Qualified firms may provide a proposal
for scheduling coordination services, CRR management services, or bundled scheduling
coordinator and CRR management service. OCPA retains the ability, at its sole discretion, to
add qualified Consultants at any time.
1. BACKGROUND
OCPA is a California joint powers authority created by a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) on
November 20, 2020, as a Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) in Orange County. OCPA
provides several benefits to its participating customers including:
* Providing electric power at competitive costs with reduced carbon emissions
* Procuring energy with a priority on the use and development of local renewable
resources
* Stimulating local job creation through various program development
* Promoting personal and community ownership of renewable resources
* Stabilizing long-term electricity rates for residents and businesses
OCPA is governed by a board of directors (Board of Directors or Board) consisting of elected
representatives from each participating jurisdiction. The JPA authorizes OCPA with the
rights and powers to set rates for the services it furnishes, incur indebtedness, and issue
bonds or other obligations. OCPA was established for the acquisition of electric power for its
service area as well as to provide other benefits to the residential, commercial, industrial,
and agricultural customers in communities located within the cities of Buena Park, Fullerton,
and Irvine. City of Fountain Valley has joined OCPA, and retail service to its customers will
start in April, 2027. OCPA is continuing to engage with other cities and jurisdictions.
In April 2022, OCPA began providing service to approximately 32,000 commercial, industrial,
and agricultural customer accounts and in October 2022, OCPA initiated the second
enrollment phase, enrolling all residential customers accounts. OCPA currently serves over
178,000 residential and commercial customers.
OCPA's objectives are to (1) provide electric generation rates that are competitive to the
generation rates offered by the incumbent electric utilities, (2) offer a default product that is
compliant with all California state mandates, (3) offer voluntary products that represent its
members' preferences including a 100% renewable energy product, (4) expand local and
regional resources, and (5) enrich and grow the OCPA community by building partnerships,
engaging residents and business, raising awareness of energy choices, and advocating for
our customers' needs.
The Business Plan and other key documents for OCPA are available online at:
https://www.ocpower.org.
2. TERM OF AGREEMENT
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The Agreement is expected to have a term of three (3) years with the option to extend for up
to two (2) additional one (1) year terms. OCPA is not required to state a reason if it elects
not to extend.
3. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND GENERAL EXPECTATIONS OF THE
CONSULTANT
* All proposers should have a valid business license for the City in which they operate.
* All Consultants must have the technical expertise, breadth of experience, and
availability to support OCPA's energy and customer program needs.
* The firm proposing services must be able to demonstrate experience working with
California based public agencies or municipalities.
* Due to the nature of OCPA's operations, a non-disclosure agreement will need to be
signed in relation to any information the Consultant may be privy to regarding OCPA
customer information.
B. SERVICES REQUESTED
The Services sought under this RFP are set forth in more detail in Exhibit A, attached hereto
and incorporated herein by this reference. Notwithstanding the inclusion of such Services in
Exhibit A, the final scope of Services negotiated between OCPA and the successful Proposer
shall be set forth in the Professional Services Agreement ("Agreement") executed by and
between OCPA and the successful Proposer. A copy of the Agreement is attached hereto as
Exhibit B and incorporated herein by this reference.
C. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
OCPA will establish a Consultant Selection Panel ("Panel"). This Panel will evaluate the
proposals based solely on the information provided, in accordance with the proposal evaluation
criteria outlined below.
OCPA reserves the right to invite short-listed Proposers for a pre-selection interview if deemed
necessary.
Following the assessment of proposals and/or interviews, the Panel will rank the proposals. The
Panel will then recommend the best fit Proposer to the Board of Directors for potential
contracting. The Board of Directors retains the final authority to approve and enter into a contract
with the selected Proposer. OCPA reserves the right to not select any proposals from this RFP.
Only digital submissions will be accepted. Please submit all proposals via www.bidnetdirect.com,
which is a free platform to applicants. If bidnetdirect.com creates a hardship, please email
submissions in PDF format to sviramontes@ocpower.org by the established deadline.
Submissions in other digital formats will not be accepted.
OCPA requires that proposals consist of the following minimum requirements to ensure the
proposer has a comprehensive understanding of the project and such that OCPA has a complete
understanding of the proposer's ability to meet OCPA's needs.
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1. CONTENT AND FORMAT OF PROPOSAL
a. Executive Summary: (limit: 1 pages) Summarize the content of your firm's proposal
in a clear and concise manner
b. Table of Contents
c. Identification of Proposer: (limit: 1 pages)
i. Legal name and address of the company.
ii. Legal form of company (partnership, corporation).
iii. If company is a wholly owned subsidiary of a "parent company," identify the "parent
company."
iv. Name, title, address and telephone number of the proposed representative to
contact concerning the Proposal Submittal.
v. California Business License Number
d. Staffing Resources: (limit: 3 pages)
i. Firm Staffing and Key Personnel
i) Provide the number of staff to be assigned to perform the Services and the
names/discipline/job title of each as well as your firm's capacity to provide
additional personnel as needed.
ii) Identify three (3) persons that will be principally responsible for working with
OCPA. Indicate the role and responsibility of each individual. If the Proposer
is chosen as a finalist, these principal individuals must attend the interview and
in-person presentation.
iii) Describe proposed team organization, including identification and
responsibilities of key personnel. Please include one-page resumes.
iv) Provide brief biographies of individuals that will be working directly with OCPA.
ii. Subcontractors/Subconsultants
i) The Proposer shall identify functions that are likely to be subcontracted and
identify the subcontractor / sub-consultant that is anticipated to perform each
function, if known at this time.
e. Fiscal Stability: (limit: 1 pages- not including supporting documentation)
i. The Proposer should provide evidence of corporate stability including:
i) A current report from any commercial credit rating service such as Dunn and
Bradstreet or Experian; or
ii) Latest audited financial statement and/or annual report that has been certified
by a CPA. This information will remain confidential and is not subject to public
disclosure.
f. Experience and Technical Competence: (limit: 12 pages)
i. Experience
i) The Proposer shall provide a description of how the Proposer's experience,
technical and professional skills will meet the goals and fulfill the general
functions identified in this RFP.
ii) Describe the past experience of the staff to be assigned to perform the
Services in performing similar services.
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iii) The Proposer shall state the number of years the firm has conducted business.
Proposer must have at least four (4) years' prior experience in providing the
required scope of Services for public clients.
iv) The proposer shall provide a detailed transition schedule, both qualitatively and
with a gantt chart, providing assurance to OCPA of no disruption to the SC and
CRR services proposed with the transition to start by the middle of June 2026
and transition completion by September 30, 2026.
v) Provide five (5) references regarding the Proposer's experience and
performance in providing similar services. Include the following information:
(1) organization name, contact name, phone number, e-mail address; and (2)
project size and description, if applicable, and description of services.
vi) Describe the firm's local experience and knowledge of OCPA's operations.
ii. Project Specific Experience
i) The Proposer shall provide a description of the three (3) most relevant service
contracts held by the firm within the last five (5) years, one (1) page per project,
to include:
(1) Role of the firm
(2) Dollar value of the services
(3) Dollar value of the fee
(4) Description of services
(5) Staffing
(6) Duration of providing services
(7) Relationship to client
(8) Contact name, position, entity name, telephone number, fax number and
e-mail address for each project.
ii) If any of the following has occurred, please describe in detail:
(1) Failure to enter into a contract or professional services agreement once
selected or awarded the contract.
(2) Withdrawal of a proposal as a result of an error.
(3) Termination or failure to complete a contract prior to the expiration of the
contract.
(4) Debarment by any municipal, county, state, federal or local agency.
(5) Involvement in litigation, arbitration or mediation.
(6) Conviction of the firm or its principals for violating a state or federal antitrust
law by bid or proposal rigging, collusion, or restrictive competition between
bidders or proposers, or conviction of violating any other federal or state
law related to bidding or professional services performance.
(7) Knowing concealment of any deficiency in the performance of a prior
contract.
(8) Falsification of information or submission of deceptive or fraudulent
statements in connection with a contract.
(9) Willful disregard for applicable rules, laws or regulations.
Information regarding any of the above may, at the sole discretion of OCPA,
be deemed to indicate an unsatisfactory record of performance
iii) Scheduling Coordinator Questions
(1) Out of which of your firm's offices would the following functions be
managed?
(a) Real-time energy imbalances
(b) CAISO settlement functions
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(2) What settlement software would your firm use to manage OCPA's
settlements?
(3) Ability to draw upon multi-disciplinary staff to address the Services
requested in this RFP.
(4) Description of in-house resources (i.e., computer capabilities, software
applications, security protocols, modeling programs, etc.).
(5) Describe how firm would coordinate with OCPA's portfolio manager and
portfolio management consultant to align with OCPA's broader hedging
strategies, including data sharing, strategy development, approvals, and
division of responsibilities.
(6) Provide OCPA qualitative and quantitative responses on the strategies
that your firm will implement to reduce short-term error costs and MAPE.
Please provide the corrective action process for exceeding thresholds
and describe your continuous improvement methodology.
(7) Please provide your firm's unique service offering(s) in detail, including
any added value services with actual use cases and market examples
where applicable, preferably specific to scheduling coordination in
CAISO. Added value services may include, but are not limited to
operational and strategic support across the following areas: short term
portfolio risk assessment/balancing strategy and execution; and
optimization of energy and storage resources, settlement reconciliation
and dispute resolution, and attributes based on market conditions and
regulatory developments. Please note that any offer proposed in this
subsection may or may not be included in the base scope of work and
may be included in the final agreement as optional scope of work with
final negotiated pricing. Include a pricing structure for the unique service
offerings in the proposal, should the offerings be selected as an optional
item in the final agreement.
(8) Provide your firm's operational process and protocol for volume transfers
and validation, including how volumes are received, confirmed, and
submitted to CAISO, and reconciled against actual contract volumes and
invoices.
(9) Describe how you would coordinate with a separate asset scheduling
coordinator to support effective scheduling, including data exchange,
operational alignment and responsibilities. Additionally, describe your
firm's system compatibility and platform integration capabilities, including
any proprietary or third-party tools used for scheduling, data exchange,
and CAISO market interface. Also, how your systems would integrate or
accommodate if used by separate CRR scheduling coordinator or OCPA
internal systems.
(10) Please provide information and process on how your firm will
manage CAISO margin call obligations and CAISO collateral on behalf of
OCPA
iv) Congestion Revenue Rights Questions
(1) Confirm whether your firm is certified and listed with CAISO in a role that
allows it to perform the proposed CRR services, and describe any relevant
registrations, market access, or third-party relationships needed to perform
the work.
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(2) How many years has your firm managed CRRs in CAISO?
(3) For how many load-serving entities, CCAs, utilities, or public agencies have
you managed CRR portfolios?
(4) Describe your recommended CRR management strategy for a CCA with a
retail load portfolio and growing contracted resource portfolio.
(5) Describe your CRR optimization approach. How would you develop and
adjust nomination, allocation, and auction strategies to maximize hedge
effectiveness and risk-adjusted portfolio value? Additionally, describe your
firm's forward strategy and approach for adapting CRR and congestion
hedging in response to CAISO market regionalization, including expansion
of EDAM and WEIM and how it may affect hedge/CRR strategy.
(6) Describe how you would mitigate day-ahead congestion exposure through
CRR strategy. Please provide examples of CCA clients where this has
been implemented.
(7) What internal or third-party analytical tools do you use for CRR valuation,
congestion forecasting, scenario analysis, and bid development?
(8) Describe how you would coordinate with a separate load scheduling
coordinator to support effective CRR management, including data
exchange, operational alignment on congestion hedging strategy and
division of responsibilities. Additionally, describe your firm's system
compatibility and platform integration capabilities, including any
proprietary or third-party tools used for scheduling, data exchange, and
CAISO market interface. Also, how your systems would integrate or
accommodate if used by separate CRR scheduling coordinator or OCPA
internal systems
g. Proposed Method to Accomplish the Work: (limit: 2 pages) Describe the technical and
management approach to providing the Services to OCPA. Proposer should take into
account the scope of the Services, goals of OCPA, and general functions required.
Include a draft schedule of tasks, milestones, and deliverables that will provide for
timely provision of the Services. In reviewing the scope of Services and goals
described in Exhibit A, the Proposer may identify additional necessary tasks and is
invited to bring these to OCPA's attention within the discussion of its proposed method
to accomplish the work
h. Fee Proposal: (limit: 1 pages) Please provide a lump-sum, not-to-exceed fee proposal
for the scope of Services. The fee proposal shall include hourly rates for all personnel
for "Additional Services" (as such term is defined in the Agreement attached hereto as
Exhibit B).
i. For the purpose of evaluation, provide fee proposal separately for scheduling
coordination and for CRR management.
ii. For CRR management proposal may include a performance-based revenue
sharing fee structure for OCPA consideration. However, proposer must also
include a flat fee for any performance-based structure to be considered. In
addition, this structure will only be considered after OCPA locational basis
exposure is hedged.
i. Insurance: (limit: 1 page, not including supporting documentation) See the Agreement,
attached hereto as Exhibit B, for a description of the insurance requirements.
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j. Litigation: (limit: 1 pages) Provide litigation history for any claims filed by your firm or
against your firm related to the provision of any services in the last five (5) years.
k. Other Information: (limit: 1 pages) This section shall contain all other pertinent
information regarding the following:
i. Demonstration of record of staffing tasks efficiently and completing projects on
time and within the allocated budget.
ii. Description of community involvement.
iii. Description of any previous involvement with OCPA.
2. EVALUATION CRITERIA
The proposals submitted in response to this RFP shall be evaluated for award based on the
criteria set forth below. Consultants should submit information sufficient for OCPA to easily
evaluate proposals with respect to the selection criteria. The absence of required information
may cause the proposal to be deemed non-responsive and may be cause for rejection.
The Panel will select the proposal that offers the greatest value to OCPA based on an analysis
of the following criteria:
a. The firm is independent and properly licensed to practice and authorized to do
business in the State of California.
b. The firm has no conflict of interest with regard to any other work performed by the
firm for OCPA.
c. Proposal is clear, complete, and conforms to all RFP requirements.
d. Content, clarity, and completeness of the proposal.
e. Proposer's & team member' experience and performance.
f. Team members' experience and performance.
g. Fee proposal.
h. References from comparable engagements
i. Proposal describes clear methodology and strategies where applicable
j. Proposal includes description of any value-added services
It is OCPA's intent to select a firm evidencing demonstrated competence and professional
qualification sufficient to perform the Services. As outlined in the Evaluation Criteria, the
decision to award the contract will consider multiple factors, prioritizing what's best for OCPA.
It is important to note that OCPA will not necessarily award the contract to the lowest bidder.
OCPA reserves the right to reject all proposals, select by proposal review only or interview as
needed. Certain firms may be selected to make a brief presentation and oral interview after
which a final selection will be made. The successful proposer will be selected on the basis of
information provided in the RFP, in-person presentations, and the results of OCPA's research
and investigation.
Upon selection of a firm, OCPA will endeavor to negotiate a mutually agreeable professional
services agreement with the selected firm. In the event that OCPA is unable to reach
agreement, OCPA will proceed, at its sole discretion, to negotiate with the next firm selected
by OCPA. OCPA reserves the right to contract for services in the manner that most benefits
OCPA including awarding more than one contract if desired.
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3. RFP SCHEDULE
The tentative schedule is as follows:
Release of RFP March 26, 2026
Deadline for Question Submittal April 1, 2026
Posting of Responses to Questions April 8, 2026
Proposals Due April 24, 2026
Board Approval based on OCPA evaluations June 8, 2026
Notification of Board decision June 10, 2026
Contract Begins June 15, 2026
The above scheduled dates are tentative and OCPA retains the sole discretion to adjust the
above schedule. Nothing set forth herein shall be deemed to bind OCPA to award a contract
for the above-described professional Services, and OCPA retains the sole discretion to cancel
or modify any part of or all of this RFP at any time.
D. TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
a. Incurring Cost
This RFP does not commit OCPA to award or pay any cost incurred in the submission of
the proposal, or in making necessary studies or designs for the preparation thereof, nor
procure or contract for services or supplies. Further, OCPA will not reimburse the proposer
for any costs incurred in responding to this RFP.
b. Claims Against OCPA
Neither your organization nor any of your representatives shall have any claims whatsoever
against OCPA or any of its respective officials, agents, or employees arising out of or relating
to this RFP or these RFP procedures, except as set forth in the terms of a definitive
agreement between OCPA and your organization.
c. Guarantee of Proposal
Responses to this RFP, including proposal prices, will be considered firm and irrevocable
for ninety (90) days after the due date for receipt of proposals.
d. Basis for Proposal
Only information supplied in writing by OCPA in connection with this RFP should be used
as the basis for the preparation of Proposer's proposal.
e. Form of Proposals
Proposals must be submitted electronically by e-mail and must be received by OCPA prior
to the deadline.
f. Amended Proposals
Proposers may submit amended proposals before the Deadline to Submit Proposals. Such
amended proposals must be complete replacements for previously submitted proposals and
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must be clearly identified in a written format.
g. Withdrawal of Proposal
Proposers may withdraw their proposals at any time prior to the Deadline to Submit
Proposals. The Proposer must submit a written withdrawal request signed by the Proposer's
duly authorized representative addressed to and submitted to the Contact.
h. No Late Responses
To be considered, proposals must be received electronically via bidnetdirect.com by the
date and time reflected on the cover page.
i. California Public Records Act (CPRA)
Pursuant to Michaelis, Montanari, & Johnson v. Superior Court (2006) 38 Cal.4th 1065,
proposals submitted in response to this RFP may be held as confidential by OCPA and shall
not be subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Cal. Government Code
7920.000 et seq.) until after either OCPA and the successful proposer(s) have completed
negotiations and entered into an Agreement or OCPA has rejected all proposals. All
correspondence with OCPA including responses to this RFP will become the exclusive
property of OCPA and will become public records under the California Public Records Act.
Furthermore, and notwithstanding any other provision of this RFP, OCPA will have no
liability to the proposer or other party as a result of any public disclosure of any proposal or
the Agreement.
If a proposer believes that a portion of its proposal would be exempt from disclosure under
the California Public Records Act, the proposer must mark it as such and state the specific
provision in the California Public Records Act which provides the exemption as well as the
factual basis for claiming the exemption. For example, if a proposer submits trade secret
information, the proposer must plainly mark the information as "Trade Secret" and refer to
the appropriate section of the California Public Records Act which provides the exemption
as well as the factual basis for claiming the exemption. Although the California Public
Records Act recognizes that certain confidential trade secret information may be protected
from disclosure, OCPA may not be in a position to establish that the information that a
Proposer submits is a trade secret. If a request is made for information marked
"Confidential", "Trade Secret" or "Proprietary", OCPA will endeavor to provide proposers
who submitted the information with reasonable notice to seek protection from disclosure by
a court of competent jurisdiction at the proposer's sole expense.
j. Confidentiality
All data and information obtained from or on behalf of OCPA by the Proposer and its agents
in this RFP process, including reports, recommendations, specifications, and data, shall be
treated by the Proposer and its agents as confidential. The Proposer and its agents shall
not disclose or communicate this information to a third party or use it in advertising, publicity,
propaganda, or in another job or jobs, unless written consent is obtained from OCPA.
Generally, each proposal and all documentation, including financial information, submitted
by a consultant to OCPA is confidential until a contract is awarded, when such documents
become public record under State and local law, unless exempted under CPRA.
k. Electronic Mail Address
Most of the communication regarding this procurement will be conducted by electronic mail
(e-mail). Potential Proposers agree to provide the contact with a valid e-mail address to
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