Request for Proposals_2015 Residential Solar Loan Application Portal

 MASS SOLAR LOAN PROGRAM
Request for Proposals for Application Portal Services
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015-MSL-01
Posting Date: 4/14/2015
A. OPPORTUNITY SUMMARY
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (“MassCEC”) is requesting proposals from vendors
(“Vendors” or “Applicants”) to provide an interactive online application portal and online project
management system (“Application Portal”) that will help facilitate the implementation of the Mass Solar
Loan Program (the “Program”). The Application Portal will provide a platform for streamlined
submittal of both technical and loan support applications, for accurate tracking, review, and approval by
MassCEC administrators. The Application Portal will provide unique permissions for approved entities,
including but not limited to, MassCEC, DOER, solar photovoltaic (“PV”) installers (“Installers”), and
banks and credit unions (“Lenders”). MassCEC anticipates selecting one (1) Vendor to partner with
under the Program.
B. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (“DOER”) has partnered with MassCEC to launch
Mass Solar Loan Program, a residential solar loan program to help facilitate greater access for
Massachusetts residents to directly own solar PV projects. The goal of the Program is to stimulate local
Lenders to provide financing for homeowners that wish to install solar PV on their residence or
residents that wish to purchase a portion of a community shared solar project.
The Program will facilitate attractive loans for borrowers and provide sufficient risk mitigation to
lenders through: 1) an interest rate buy-down; 2) moderate income loan support; and 3) a loan loss
reserve. Please see www.masssolarloan.com for more details regarding the Program.
MassCEC will manage the Program, which will include dispersing interest rate buy downs for approved
projects, moderate income loan support payments (if applicable), and managing a loan loss reserve for
borrowers with certain credit scores. MassCEC will additionally provide technical oversight and
management of the program, and will collect project and financial information related to solar PV
projects and associated loans.
The Application Portal will provide a three phased portal for projects participating in the Program. As
outlined in Figure 1, each application phase will have role based permissions to allow different
approved entities to view and/or have access to edit fields in the corresponding application phase. As the
Program Central Administrator, MassCEC will have full access to view and modify applications at all
application phases.
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015‐MSL‐01 Request for Proposals 1 Phase
Phase Name
Approved Entity Permissions
1
Technical Application
Installer (edit), Lender (partial view)
2
Loan Support Request
Lender (edit), Installer (status view only)
3
Project Completion Disbursement
Installer (edit), Lender (partial view)
Figure 1. Mass Solar Loan Application Phases and Approved Entity Permissions
Each application phase will also have numerous application statuses. The Sample Application Portal
Workflow (Attachment C) offers a model of statuses by application phase, and the corresponding project
entity and Application Portal requirements. It is understood that some of the features may not be
available. Features considered to be ‘optimal,’ versus required are noted in Attachment C as ‘(opt)’ and
are further clarified in Section I. Scope of Work. MassCEC will work with the selected Vendor to
finalize the work flow within the Application Portal.
C. BUDGET
Mass Solar Loan Program will utilize $30 million of Alternative Compliance Payment (“ACP”) funds to
provide credit enhancement for unsecured consumer loans. The budget to pay the Vendor for the
Application Portal will be taken from the Program budget. Respondents may offer budget proposals in
a different format than is noted below, as long as the budget fully provides for an itemized budget and
cost schedule.
Figure 2 represents the loan volume DOER anticipates will be served under the Program.
Year
Anticipated Number
of Loans Closed and
Registered
Year 1
1800
Year 2
2200
Year 3
2400
Figure 2. Anticipated Number of Projects that Receive Loan Support
Figure 2 includes the number of projects that are expected to be approved for a loan and receive loan
support under the Program. It is possible that one third of all initial applications will ultimately not move
beyond the first project Technical Application phase. Applicants should note that Figure 2 contains
estimates only. It is anticipated that more Technical Applications will be submitted than will
ultimately result in approved loans. Applicants should therefore account for the fact that the true
volume of Technical Applications under the Program may be significantly higher than what is
shown in Figure 2.
MassCEC anticipates contracting with one (1) Vendor under this RFP for approximately three (3) years,
though given demand for the Program, the timeframe may be longer or shorter.
Applicants must submit a budget in compliance with the following specifications:
1) A FIXED COST for website development and launch;
2) An ANNUAL COST for maintaining the website and providing program evaluation and
reporting; and/or
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015‐MSL‐01 Request for Proposals 2 3) A VARIABLE COST (if applicable) per Technical Application submittal/management, and if
there is a loan approval and subsequent closure, the additional cost associated with the credit
enhancement for each loan.
All Applicants must submit a completed budget spreadsheet in order to be considered for the
RFP. The template can be found in the Scope of Work Budget (Attachment B).
D. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS
MassCEC and DOER are seeking a qualified Vendor to provide an Application Portal to facilitate the
application submittal and management processes for the Program.
Applicants may be individuals, sole proprietors, professional contractors, companies with multiple
employees, or may be a team of such entities.
Applicants must demonstrate the following qualifications, at a minimum:
 Experience with implementing and maintaining online application portals;
 Experience with clean energy incentive programs (preferred);
 Submit a proposal that meets all of the threshold review criteria outlined in Sections J - K below
in order to be considered complete; and
 Provide a complete proposal by 11:59 pm ET on May 6
E. ESTIMATED TIMELINE
Below is an estimated overview of the RFP process and subsequent Mass Solar Loan Program timeline.
Mass Solar Loan Application Portal Schedule*
Estimated Date
RFP for Application Portal Vendor Released
Deadline to submit Application Portal RFP Questions
MassCEC to post Application Portal FAQ document
April 14, 2015
April 20, 2015
April 22, 2015
RFP for Application Portal proposals due
MassCEC to announce Vendor for Application Portal
Contracting with Application Portal applicant
Development of platform
Application Portal launched for new applications
May 6, 2015
Mid May, 2015
Mid May, 2015
May – June, 2015
Late June – Early July,
2015**
2015 – fully subscribed
At least one year after
Program is fully
subscribed
Receipt of applications
Management of Program Data
* Note that this is an estimated schedule and dates may be subject to change.
**Applicants that are able to expedite the build-out of the Application Portal will be given additional
consideration.
F. APPLICATION DEADLINE:
Responses to this RFP must be received electronically by MassCEC no later than May 6, 2015 at 11:59
pm ET. Only complete responses received by this deadline will be considered. MassCEC at its sole
discretion may determine whether an individual application is complete.
The submission must be in electronic form, including a scanned Signature and Acceptance Form
(Attachment A), submitted via email to [email protected]. “Application Portal Proposal”
must appear in the email subject line.
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015‐MSL‐01 Request for Proposals 3 G. ANTICIPATED TERM OF CONTRACT
A final contract is subject to successful negotiation of a final budget and scope of services. MassCEC’s
selection of an Application Portal Vendor pursuant to this RFP does not mean that MassCEC accepts all
aspects of the proposal, modifications to which may be requested and agreed to during contract
negotiations. It is anticipated that the contract will commence around early May, 2015 for a period of
approximately three (3) years, though depending on the demand for the Program it could be shorter or
longer. After the Program is fully subscribed, MassCEC must retain all of the data associated with the
Program. The contract will be reviewed during its course and may be extended at the sole discretion of
MassCEC.
H. QUESTIONS AND CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please submit all questions to [email protected] by April 20, 2015. “RFP for Application
Portal” must appear in the email subject line. MassCEC will work to post timely answers to questions
on www.MassSolarLoan.com.
I.
SCOPE OF WORK:
MassCEC requires that certain functionality exists in the Application Portal in order to effectively
administer the Program. Additionally, there are less critical functions that are optional, but could
provide MassCEC the opportunity to streamline the administrative process. Applicants that can offer
both the required and optional functionality features will be highly competitive.
It is expected that the Application Portal will be ready for launch by late June to early July, 2015.
Applicants that are able to expedite the build-out of the Application Portal will be highly competitive.
Vendors must be able to offer an Application Portal that has the following functionality:

Only allow approved entities (qualified Installers and Lenders), MassCEC and DOER to access
the portal;

Provide for the intake and action upon all application information and documentation for Phases
I, II and III (as outlined in Figure 1) from the appropriate entities through a customer-facing
webpage;

Allow for applications to have branching process flows (and associated status labels) as laid out
in Attachment C (Sample Application Portal Workflow);

‘Contextual forms’ capability which will enable certain questions to appear depending on prior
information provided or selected;

Allow Installers to select project equipment, including solar PV modules and inverters; from a
regularly updated list of equipment, as approved by the California Energy Commission or
subsequent list of similar quality, as approved by MassCEC;

Restrict the edit and view functions within the portal for eligible entities, based on application
phase and status;

Electronic signature capabilities;

Prevent application submission until required application components are complete, including,
but not limited to:
o
Required project information fields
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015‐MSL‐01 Request for Proposals 4 o
Appropriate signatures
o
Standard required documentation uploaded
o
Additional documentation that is required, if certain application fields are selected

Automatically calculate preliminary loan support amounts, based on fields selected and
information input;

Allow MassCEC staff to review applications in all statuses, track workflow and status, make
formal approvals to entities, and enable MassCEC to build custom data reports;

Automatically interface with approved entities by email regarding status of application, missing
application information, and approval/rejection through template or custom emails, including
auto-population of applicable project and contact information;

Automatically generate unique application numbers, electronic award documents and emails, and
additional electronic communications depending on the application status;

When a loan is executed by a Lender, allow that Lender to search for a Technical Application
based on the application number and another unique identifier.

Allow the Lender to change the project status once the specific application is identified, resulting
in that application no longer being searchable by other Lenders;

Ability to limit the number of applications an entity may submit;

Either provide an Application Program Interface (API) compatible with MassCEC’s Microsoft
CRM system for awarding and payment, or produce a customizable export of application
information for import. The interface should be compatible with other award management
systems with little or no modification.

Ability to sort applications by status, unique application number, specific entity and other project
application fields;

Meet high standards for information security, as personal and confidential information may be
exchanged (note, this will not include borrowers’ social security numbers or income information);
and

Allow MassCEC access to open and close the Application Portal, provide approved entities with
access to the Application Portal, and put any entity on hold at any time.

Ability to download application information and supporting documents after program closure.
Optional Application Portal features may include:

Allow MassCEC staff to make some changes or updates to the Application Portal directly (for
example managing the list of eligible entities, edit required fields, edit communication, or edit
application workflow), without requiring any assistance, or minimal assistance from Vendor;

Ability for eligible entities (other than MassCEC) to have the ability to generate basic reports that
can be restricted to specific fields/projects;

Batch processing functionality whereby multiple application statuses or data points can be
updated or changed. This feature would help to reduce the number of individual project status
changes MassCEC will need to process;

Automatic email functionality based on project deadline dates;
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015‐MSL‐01 Request for Proposals 5 
Viewing permissions of uploaded documents, generated documents, and emails for an application
by the appropriate entities;

Data field specific cross-referencing abilities between new and previously submitted applications.
Cross-referencing would pertain to applications both within the Program and under previous
MassCEC incentive programs (for example Commonwealth Solar II);

Enable MassCEC to access the Program data for a significant period of time after the Program is
fully subscribed.
J. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS:
Proposals must contain the following:
1.
Executive Summary: Applicants should provide a summary of their organization, their
qualifications, and their proposed approach for working with MassCEC.
2.
Statement of Qualifications: All responses must include a statement of qualifications,
experience, and description of the Applicant firm or individual and its/their history. The
response should specifically indicate the individual’s or firm’s current and historical expertise in
providing the required Application Portal services.
3.
Staff Qualifications: All responses must include resumes of key individuals who would be
providing services in developing and maintaining the Application Portal.
4.
Proposed Work Plan & Budget: Based on the Scope of Work outlined in Section C, submit a
proposed work plan that includes a timeline and associated budget per item. Budgets should be
provided using Attachment B (Scope of Work Budget). Please provide a schedule that delivers
the final product tested and ready for launch by late June to early July, 2015. If the Applicant
does not anticipate being able to meet this deadline, please provide a date the Applicant expects
to be able to deliver the product. Please also include a plan for hosting sensitive/confidential
documents and information within the Application Portal.
5.
References: All responses must include references from at least 3 clients of the Applicant, and
preferably clients who have utilized the Applicant on matters related to the proposed Scope of
Work. Please provide a brief description of the services provided. The references must include
a contact person, a full address, and a phone number.
6.
Rate sheet submission: Please include a detailed list of rates of all team members working on
this project. (Attachment B)
7.
Signature and Acceptance Form: Please include a signed copy of the Signature and
Acceptance Form. (Attachment A)
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015‐MSL‐01 Request for Proposals 6 K. EVALUATION CRITERIA
All proposals must meet the Program objectives, relevant Scope of Work (as outlined in Section I), and
RFP Requirements (as outlined in Section J). Proposals will be evaluated on the general criteria below:
1.
Services to be Provided: Does the Applicant plan to provide services commensurate with the
product requested by MassCEC? Please note that Applicants that can demonstrate more
expeditious implementation of the Application Portal, or provide a greater number of optional
items outlined in the Scope of Work will be strongly considered.
2.
Experience and Qualifications: Does the Applicant have documented experience in providing
the requested services? What is the quality of the Applicant’s performance on similar past
products or their achievements related to proposed work? How was the quality evaluated?
3.
Overall Quality of Proposal: Does the Applicant demonstrate an understanding of the
concepts and requirements underlying this proposal? Does the proposal represent a good overall
value? Does the proposal offer some or all of the features that are considered beneficial for the
function of the Application Portal and the Program? Was the Applicant’s proposal timely,
complete and reasonable?
L. GENERAL REQUEST FOR RESPONSE CONDITIONS
1. MASSACHUSETTS CONLIFCT OF INTEREST LAW
Individuals performing the services on behalf of the Firm for MassCEC may be considered to be
“special state employees” subject to the provisions of the Massachusetts Conflict of Interest law
(M.G.L.c.268A). As such, if the Firm is engaged by the MassCEC, the Firm’s engagement letter
must, among other things, contain an agreement to abide by and continue to be in compliance with the
Conflict of Interest law for the duration of the contract, and specifically address information
confidentiality.
2. NOTICE OF PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
As a public entity, MassCEC is subject to Massachusetts’ Public Records Law, codified at Chapter 66
of the Massachusetts General Laws. Thus, any documentary material, data, or other information
received by MassCEC from an applicant is a public record subject to disclosure. Materials that fall
under certain categories, however, may be exempt from public disclosure under a statutory or
common law exemption, including the limited exemption at Massachusetts General Laws Chapter
23J, Section 2(k) regarding confidential information submitted to MassCEC by an applicant for any
form of assistance. If you wish to declare an exemption from public disclosure for any documentary
material, data, or other information to be submitted to MassCEC, you must file for an exemption
using a form to be provided by MassCEC at the time of declaration.
As required, MassCEC discloses names and payment amounts of contractors, and any other
information it may deem reasonably necessary on Open Checkbook, the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts’ online database of state spending.
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015‐MSL‐01 Request for Proposals 7 3. CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS
Upon MassCEC authorization to proceed with the proposal, MassCEC and the Application Portal
provider will execute a contract which will set forth the respective roles and responsibilities of
parties.
4. WAIVER AUTHORITY
MassCEC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to waive minor irregularities in submittal
requirements, to request modifications of the application, to accept or reject any or all applications
received, and/or to cancel all or part of this Solicitation at any time prior to awards.
5. DISCLAIMER
This RFP does not commit MassCEC to award any funds, pay any costs incurred in preparing an
application, or procure or contract for services or supplies. MassCEC reserves the right to accept or
reject any or all applications received, negotiate with all qualified applicants, cancel or modify the
RFP in part or in its entirety, or change the application guidelines, when it is in its best interests.
RFP ID: MassCEC 2015‐MSL‐01 Request for Proposals 8