HomeMy WebLinkAbout15 Attachment 1 - Community Wide Broadband Initital Scoping 2022 RFPREQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
FOR
Truckee Donner Public Utility District
Community -Wide Broadband Initial Scoping Study
PROPOSAL DUE — 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Contact Person: Shanna Kuhlemier (530) 582-3980
Truckee Donner Public Utility District
11570 Donner Pass Road, Truckee, CA 96161
1.0 Purpose
The Truckee Donner Public Utility District (District) intends to solicit professional consulting services
from a firm highly skilled and experienced in the area of community broadband market assessment and
development, for the purposes of evaluating the current state of broadband services within the District's
service territory (greater Truckee, California area), perform a preliminary needs assessment and gap
analysis in terms of readily available technologies and infrastructure, identify potential local, State, and
Federal funding sources, and make a recommendation to the District's Board of the most beneficial path
forward in pursuing community -wide broadband.
2.0 Project Background/Description
The District completed a comprehensive strategic planning process in 2021, which identified four
initiatives for the District to explore, including community broadband. The Truckee Donner PUD Board
of Directors created a TDPUD Community -Wide Broadband Committee with the task to make a
recommendation to the Board on how best to pursue community -wide broadband. The Committee
looked into the supply-side, demand -side, funding, and models that exist today for broadband and
focused on the needs and opportunities 10-years out. The Committee made a presentation to the
District's Board in March, 2022 (see Attachment A).
The Committee recommendation was essentially that the District should: pursue community -wide
broadband, given our access to existing assets and local government/utility position; evaluating where
our community's current and future needs are not being met, consider four potential models (ownership,
private equity, partnership with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and/or open access) as
implementations which could meet those needs. The committee further recommended that the District
consider doing an initial scoping study to fully vet the market, demand, models, and funding against the
goal of community -wide broadband. The District's General Manager created a Community Broadband
Task Force consisting of a subset of the Committee who are supporting this Request for Proposals
(RFP) process.
The District has been providing reliable and safe electric and water service to the greater Truckee
community since 1927. The District serves —15,000 customers in the greater Truckee, California area
and is a community -owned, not for profit, and locally governed Special District or Public Owned Utility
(POU). The District's electric utility operates over 200 miles of overhead and underground electric
distribution power lines and water mains. The District does own the vast majority of the overhead power
poles but is a member of the California Joint Pole Association and only controls fully the electric portion
of the poles.
The District has made significant investment in Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA),
including more than60 miles of fiber throughout the community (with another 40 in planning) connecting
District substations, wells, pump stations, and associated electric and water equipment. The District also
monitors over 30,000 endpoints with the majority being electric and water meters at each customer's
site. The District has built significant communications infrastructure for operational purposes and in
addition to acquiring access to four long -haul fibers between Reno, Nevada and Sacramento, California
with a drop in Truckee.
For the last five years, the District has maintained an agreement with Plumas Sierra Telecom (PST), a
subsidiary of Plumas Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative, leasing dark fiber to PST, allowing them to offer
fiber broadband services in Truckee. While this has been successful in securing some larger accounts,
notably those in close proximity to District owned fiber, the District and PST have not seen a significant
take rate, and the significant initial cost per customer is currently a barrier to PST achieving community -
wide broadband. The District's service territory is within a broadband market with significant local,
embedded providers including Cable (Suddenlink), DSL (AT&T, Lake Tahoe Online via Sonic), Fiber
(PST and AT&T), Cellular (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile), and P21VIP over RF (Oasis). Technically, Truckee
has very few 'underserved' areas and, while the service territory includes a relatively significant low-
income population, Truckee is not formally considered disadvantaged by the State of California. It is
important to note that, while not considered disadvantaged, Truckee does have pockets that are
identified by the State of California as 'underserved'. In addition, there are a large number of Truckee's
residents and visitors that, due to the geographically -limited options, the actual bandwidth available, the
reliability (especially during extreme winter storms and power outages), and the customer service, feel
that the current provides are woefully inadequate.
The District's service territory is situated in a mountainous, high -Sierra environment. The service territory
is --44 square miles and ranges between 6,000-8,500 feet of elevation. The region is heavily forested
with predominantly large pine trees and the subsurface conditions can be challenging. The region is also
a very popular tourist destination with Lake Tahoe a short 20 minutes away and majority large number
of the homes are either vacation homes or short-term rentals. It is not uncommon for the population to
double or triple during a weekend or holiday which creates large swings in the number of broadband
users and the demand on the system.
The District is looking for a dynamic and creative firm/team of experienced professionals to build upon
the significant work on broadband already done by the District and our community. The goal is to move
the District towards the consideration of a community -wide broadband project, which then will be fully
studied in the next step. Key deliverables would include an analysis of the current market and
opportunities, recommendation on the best model(s) for the District to pursue, and potential funding for
the subsequent feasibility study/business case and potential community -wide broadband project. The
District is anticipating funding this initial scoping study. As time is of the essence, the District is looking
for a quick turn around on this initial scoping study.
3.0 Instructions to Proposers
3.1 RFP Schedule
The estimated RFP timeline is as follows:
RFP issued
June 10, 2022
Deadline for questions, clarifications
5:00 PM June 27, 2022
Proposals due
1:30 PM July 12, 2022
Consultant selection and contract preparation
Week of July 18, 2022
Contract awarded
Week of August 1, 2022
Commencement of services
August, 2022
Completion of Services / delivery of report
Goal is before December 7, 2022
3.2 Questions and Clarifications
Written questions regarding this RFP may be submitted by mail or e-mail on or before 5:00 PM
June 27, 2022 to:
Shanna Kuhlemier
Truckee Donner Public Utility District
11570 Donner Pass Road
Truckee, CA 96161
shannakuhlemier(@tdpud.orq
Please indicate correspondence in the subject line so as not to confuse it with a sealed Proposal.
3.3 Addenda
Interpretations or clarifications considered necessary by the District will be in the form of an
addendum to the Request for Proposal, and when issued, will be on file with the District.
All addenda will be distributed to each known person holding the Request for Proposal, but it
shall be the Proposers responsibility to make inquiry as to the addenda issued. All such addenda
shall become part of the Request for Proposal and all Proposers shall be bound by such
addenda, whether or not received by the Proposers.
The District will not be bound by any information, explanation, clarification, or any interpretation,
oral or written that is not incorporated into an addendum to the Request for Proposal. No
response will be made to inquiries received after the RFP Questions Deadline.
3.4 Submission of Proposals
All proposals shall be submitted to:
Shanna Kuhlemier
District Clerk and Assistant to the General Manager
Truckee Donner Public Utility District
11570 Donner Pass Road
Truckee, California 96161
530-582-3980
Proposals must be received no later than 1:30 PM July 12, 2022.
Late submittals will not be accepted
The Proposer shall submit THREE (3) hard copies of the proposal in a sealed envelope labeled
"Community -Wide Broadband Initial Scoping Study" and addressed as noted above or submit a
proposal electronically to shannakuhlemier(a_tdpud.org with the subject "Community -Wide
Broadband Initial Scoping Study".
A Consultant may not submit multiple proposals for this RFP. Consultant may list various options
associated within their proposal.
3.5 Presentation to the District's Scoring Committee
Upon review of the written proposals, certain Consultants may be required to make a
presentation to the District's scoring committee. The presentation can be done in person or via
Zoom. The format will be a 60-minute presentation/interview which will be scheduled during the
week of July 18 — 22, 2022. The costs associated with pre -award presentations shall be borne
by the Consultant.
3.6 Rights of the District
The District reserves the right to accept or reject, in total or in part, any Proposal.
While each proposal will be considered objectively, the District assumes no obligation to accept
or take action on any proposal. All proposals must be complete, including cost information and
with the signature of a Proposers' representative authorized to bind the company. Proposals will
be considered incomplete if they do not bear the signature of an agent of the Proposer who is
in a position to bind a contract.
The proposal can be withdrawn at any time, if requested in writing, until the deadline date, at
which time it will be considered firm.
Nothing contained in this RFP shall create a contractual relationship between the Proposer and
the District. The Consultant assumes the responsibility for all costs incurred in responding to
this RFP. It is understood and agreed that the District assumes no liability for the Consultant's
costs incurred in responding to this RFP.
4.0 Scope of Work
The District intends that a single Consultant will be the point of contact for the purposes of this RFP and
this project.
4.4 Required Services
The services required include but are not limited to the following tasks:
Comprehensive market and customer demand analysis: Provide a description of how
you would approach and execute assessing the current state of the broadband market in
Truckee along with an analysis of the demand for community -wide broadband
improvements. The District is interested in exploring, in the context of current and future
markets, what levels of service, costs, and control is the community interested in seeing
the District pursue. Based upon this information, what service models will the community
support? Please indicate the methodologies and process to arrive at statistically valid data
along with any suggested steps to assess the current market and engage potential
customers who want to actively participate in this process.
High-level assessment of District fiber, communications, and electric/water utility
assets along with technologies that could be leveraged to deliver last -mile
connectivity: The District is uniquely positioned to enable community -wide broadband
and could leverage existing assets and resources either directly or through partnership.
There are also numerous technologies available for the last mile that provide a range of
performance, costs, and benefits.
Investigation and evaluation of potential funding sources, both public and private,
at the local, State, and Federal level. The District is seeking funding sources to support
a future business case/feasibility study that could come out of this initial scoping study
along with a funding plan for a project to pursue community -wide broadband should the
Board and/or community choose to do so.
Evaluation of the four community -wide broadband models currently being
considered by the Board, along with the possibility of recommending other viable
models, considering the market and demand analysis, existing assets, potential
funding sources, and the overall costs/benefits of the potential model/project(s).
The four models are: Ownership Model, Open Access Partnership, Public/Private, and
Co-Op/ISP. Understanding the pros and cons and model efficacy for each opportunity to
enable community -wide broadband is critical. The District would also like to compare
these opportunities against the `do nothing' or `business as usual' option. Additionally, the
District is seeking professional recommendations for beneficial service models not
identified in the RFP. Key criteria to be considered in evaluating each potential
model/project include:
• The speed of the broadband services (up/downstream & latency measurements)
• Paths toward future upgrades, preserving infrastructure investment;
• The costs to implement;
• The time to implement;
• Potential regulatory, market, or legal challenges/barriers;
• Amount of public support;
• Amount of local control;
• Risks and unknowns; and
• Ability to fund the project.
Recommendation to the District Board on the best model/project(s) to respond to
customer needs and achieve the goal of community -wide broadband: Final report
and in -person presentation to the District's Board in Truckee, California.
A timeline to complete the study and present to the Board before December 7, 2022:
Please note that this timeline is a goal is based on a sense of urgency given the dynamic
state of broadband and funding. Alternate timelines may be proposed if the Consultant
believes that this would produce a better outcome.
Provide to the District monthly accounting described in 4.2 Submittals.
4.5 Submittals
Consultant must provide to the District the following documentation by the tenth (101") day of
each month:
• Consultant will be responsible for billing the District monthly for all communications and
outreach services and materials. Invoices must include an itemized list of all time and
materials along with a description of the services provided.
5.0 Proposal Requirements
The intent of the RFP is to encourage responses that clearly communicate the Proposer's understanding
of the District's requirements and its approach to successfully provide the services on time and within
budget. To facilitate the comparative analysis and evaluation of all proposals, it is required that the
proposals are submitted in the format prescribed. The formats are designed to ensure that information
essential for a comprehensive evaluation is submitted in a consistent manner.
5.4 Letter of Proposal Submission
The Proposer shall submit a letter (two page maximum) including information that should be
highlighted from the Proposal or key information for the selection committee to consider that are
not covered in the Proposal requirements. The letter should include the company name,
company address, and name, address and telephone number of the contact person who will be
authorized to make presentations for the firm. The letter must bear the signature of a person
with binding authority for the firm. Any attachments referenced in the Letter of Proposal do not
count towards the two page maximum limit.
5.5 Company Information and Qualifications
Provide a general overview of the company, the local organization, and proposed project team.
Include a description of the Proposers qualifications and previous experience on similar or
related projects. Include a brief description of the firm's financial stability, capacity and
resources. Include proposed days/times that the Consultant will typically be available to respond
to District requests.
5.6 Cost Proposal
Provide the proposed cost for the defined services. Submit your fees lump sum quote. Please
quote your hourly rate for your various staff who may be working on this contract and any other
costs associated with your proposal.
5.7 Supplemental Information
Supplemental information may include examples of procedures, data collection, reporting forms
and overall implementation of similar projects. Include references for Consultant's products and
services in this section. The overall Consultant Proposal should cover the Selection Criteria in
Section 6.0.
6.0 Selection Criteria
The District will review and evaluate all properly submitted proposals that are received on or before the
deadline. The District will then select the proposal that is "Most Advantageous" to the District in
considering the criteria and weighting factors set forth below:
• Broadband Scoping and Implementation Experience 30%
• Results, Efficiency, and Capacity 15%
• Work Samples/Quality of Proposal 15%
• Understanding and Access to Funding 10%
• Understanding and alignment with the District's Mission and Strategic Plan 10%
• References and presentation 20%
• Lump sum cost proposal: The Consultant shall provide, on a separate section, a lump sum
cost proposal to perform the scope of work with any caveats or conditions clearly denoted along
with a timeline to complete the work. Consultants are encouraged to supplement the lump sum
cost with time and material rates. Proposal will be evaluated first for performance and then for
costs.
6.4 Local Preference Procurement Policy: A 5% local preference shall be applied towards the
fee component when scoring the proposal. In order to qualify for the above local preference, a
Consultant or business must either 1) be a District rate payer in good standing for the past six
months, or 2) receive District power or water at their business location for the past six months;
paid by a third party.
7.0 Award of Contract
A response to this RFP is an offer to contract with the District based upon the Scope of Work and the
District's standard Professional Services Agreement, a copy of which is included in Attachment B.
The District reserves the right to negotiate the final terms and conditions, prior to award, for modifications
to scope, price, and/or schedule. If the District and the highest ranked Consultant are unable to negotiate
a Contract, the District reserves the right to negotiate with successively lower ranked Consultant until a
Contract is made or all negotiations are terminated.
8.0 Additional Contract Terms and Conditions
The Consultant's response to this RFP, addenda and additional responses to questions will be made a
part of the contract with the District. Unless otherwise stated by the Consultant in the response to this
RFP, the Consultant agrees to the Agreement terms in Attachment B.
Attachments
A- TDPUD Community Broadband Committee Presentation March, 2022
B- Agreement for Professional Services