RESIST Grid Disruptions - Grant Compliance

This post extends to your Firm an invitation to submit a quote for a federal grant administration and compliance project for Delaware County Electric Cooperative, Inc. Project under Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP):“Resilience to Intense Storm and Invasive Species-Triggered Grid Disruptions” (RESIST Grid Disruptions)Federal award: $27,384,724Cost match: $9,128,243Total award: $36,512,967 The bid packet includes (1) Instructions to Bidders; (2) RFQ Overview; (3) Fee Proposal worksheet; (4) Scope of Work Bid Specifications; and (5) a Sample Contract. Bids must be received no later than Tuesday, August 11, 2026, by 3PM. For all related documents and instructions, please visit: https://dce.coop/RESIST-RFQ Scope of Work and Quote Specifications Project Summary Delaware County Electric Cooperative with headquarters in Delhi, NY (hereinafter called “DCEC”) is interested in obtaining quotes for federal grant compliance and grant management for a series of projects (together called the RESIST Grid Disruptions or “RESIST Projects”). The RESIST Project is in the final process of being definitized and awarded a grant from the Department of Energy (“DOE”). The RESIST Projects will utilize a DOE grant in the federal award amount of $27,384,724 plus a cost share of $9,128,243 for a total project cost of $36,512,967. DCEC is seeking a qualified grant management contractor, (hereinafter called the “Bidder” or “Contractor”) to provide the necessary compliance and grant management services to complete the project. The project consists of a series of upgrades to rural electrical grid infrastructure across New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. This Contract, and the bids submitted, will be broken in two phases: A) an initial lump sum “Setup Phase” and B) ongoing compliance assistance billed on a time-and-materials basis. This document, along with all attachments, presents the necessary information and forms for Bidders to submit quotes. Project Specifications All compliance is to follow CFR guidelines unless otherwise approved by the DCEC, including but not limited to the following: 2 CFR 184; 2 CFR 200; 2 CFR 300; 2 CFR 910; as well as 29 CFR parts 1, 3, and 5 (i.e., Davis-Bacon Act). Project Details and Desired End State The RESIST Projects are the result of collaboration between six Rural Electric Cooperatives across New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. All projects will center on electrical grid upgrades that include advanced metering infrastructure, data system upgrades, line upgrades and grid hardening, ROW management contracts, as well as the training to monitor and implement the new technologies deployed. The two key needs to be addressed by the successful bidder are (1) Compliance assistance with procurement, reporting, audits, environmental concerns, and grant implementation and (2) Setup of a decentralized, standardized record-keeping system. The larger RESIST Project contemplates that the six Cooperatives will operate and make purchases together on some projects, while other projects are unique to a single Cooperative. Each Cooperative will perform its own “first-level” administration and record-keeping on RESIST project expenditures, while DCEC acts as the project lead. Therefore, the successful bidder will help implement a system that utilizes native programs and allows each Cooperative to collect and store expenditure data, in-kind contributions, expense allocation, and deconfliction so that DCEC and the other Cooperatives may compile and submit required reports (with the successful Bidder’s assistance) to the DOE with the least “repackaging” of information possible. This is a five-year project. However, the majority of the compliance work will occur in the “Setup Phase” of the first 12 months, with on-going support as needed throughout the duration of the project. Services Required SETUP PHASE – LUMP SUM CONTRACT 1. Assist in drafting and implementing written policies and contract documents for all Cooperatives that comply with the procurement procedures in 2 CFR 200, including but not limited to 2 CFR.318-327 and 2 CFR 200.439, as well as: a. Perform, facilitate, and otherwise ensure compliance with DOE required advertisement placements for bids, employment, or similar DOE-required initiatives. b. Consulting on specific questions that may come up related to a specific purchase, bid process, or planned expenditure. 2. Ensure applicable DOE and CFR requirements are followed by Cooperative personnel, and passed to any subcontractors, sub-awardees, or pass-through entities performing work on the RESIST Projects by helping to draft a set of contract templates that may be used throughout RESIST Project. 3. A key aspect of this RFQ is the consortium nature of the award. Some sub-projects are individual to one Cooperative, while other sub-projects will be applicable to some or all the Cooperatives together. Although DCEC is the lead awardee and will perform a portion of the award-level administration, each Cooperative will perform its own day-to-day record keeping. 4. The successful Bidder will help implement a system where the six Cooperatives can track, categorize, and budget expenses and in-kind contributions through a decentralized yet standardized compliance and accounting and record-keeping system. 5. The compliance and accounting system should: a. Utilize native programs whenever possible. b. Allow for line-item billing. c. Allow each of the six Cooperatives to compile, track, assess, and retain grant expenditures (including matching funds, cost sharing, and in-kind contributions) made for sub-projects that apply to only their Cooperative. i. Conversely, this system must also allow for expense tracking and deconfliction for sub-projects that are specific to a subset of some the Cooperatives. I.E., there will be some projects for which bulk purchasing, joint construction bids, or ROW contract bids are advantageous, and therefore the compliance system must be able to track and assign those joint purchases to each Cooperative’s own ledger. d. Allow the expenditure data from each Cooperative to be easily aggregated for audit purposes without manual “repackaging” of each Cooperative’s data. e. Allow for expenses to be easily associated with receipts or other proof of expenditure, so that during an audit, an expense can be matched easily with its associated receipt or other proof of expenditure document. i. The system must also track in-kind contributions from each Cooperative, especially including hours worked by Cooperative personnel. f. Allows for comparison of budget vs. actual expenditures. g. Complies with 2 CFR 200 as well as other DOE federal funding requirements. h. Has written procedures that comply with the above. ON-GOING COMPLIANCE PHASE – TIME AND MATERIALS CONTRACT 6. Assist with document preparation and review for compliance meetings, audits, or other specific compliance questions as needed, especially relating to compliance with the bidding process for larger contracts. 7. Assist with compliance activities, including but not limited to those relating to: a. Davis Bacon Act; b. Buy America Build America Act; c. Environmental permitting and required environmental studies (NEPA, NYS DEC, or other relevant agencies at the federal, state, and local levels in NY, PA, or NJ); d. Federal CFR procurement requirements; and e. Other compliance requirements associated with federal grants as needed.