CITY OF HOBOKEN
ADDENDUM TO RFP DOCUMENTS (RFI)
RFP 21-06 HOBOKEN CITYWIDE ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION INFRASTRUCTURE
This Addendum #1, dated November 16, 2021 is issued to modify the above mentioned RFP and is hereby made part of the RFP documents. Please attach this Addendum #1 to the original documents in your possession and ensure same is included in your proposal.
Questions and answers:
Q1. The City of Hoboken, New Jersey is seeking a qualified vendor or team of vendors to contract with the City to provide turnkey electric vehicle charging station services, including the purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance of electric vehicle supply/ service equipment (electric vehicle charging stations) within the public right-of-way. Based on the statement above from the bid package. Who owns and maintains ownership of the stations after installation?
A1. Vendor, or team of vendors, will assume maintenance and ownership of EV charging stations after installation.
Q2. Do you have a set of drawings, or an items list put together for this job that you would be able to send over?
A2. I may be misunderstanding the question, but we don’t have any drawings for the EV charging stations since the selected vendor would supply those as part of the permit / approval process outlined in the RFP.
Q3. What is the exact quantity of chargers that are going to be being installed and put in?
A3. Vendors should submit the quantity of chargers they plan to install as part of their proposal for meeting the minimum RFP requirement that all Hoboken households are within a 5-minute walk of a level 2 or level 3 charging station in the public right-of-way.
Q4. In terms of SBE, DBE, MBE, etc are there any percentage goals set already for this job?
A4. The City of Hoboken does not have percentage goals for SBE, DBE, or MBE firms for this program.
Q5. Does the city intend to have no out of pocket expenses on installation/ make ready cost?
A5. Vendors are encouraged to submit a realistic cost proposal that includes any installation and make-ready costs if they are expected to be paid for by the City of Hoboken. The City is ultimately seeking the most competitive proposal that minimizes the program costs to the City, including installation and make-ready costs.
Q6. Does the city intend to have no ownership of charging stations? Vendor owned/operator charging models tend to have much higher usage cost than traditional ev charging to offset implementation cost and equipment. In this project cost upfront cost are substantial. This can drastically affect adoption and cost savings associated with EV's specifically around level 2 charging.
A6. Vendors are encouraged to submit a competitive proposal that minimizes costs to the City and charging station users.
Q7. Can the city provide Charging as a service model, lease, or purchase options for this project?
A7. The City is open to proposals that include charging as a service models.
Q8. The vendor shall propose a mix of state-of-the-art level 2 and level 3 electric vehicle charging stations. Can you give guidance of how many L2 and L3 (what capacity? indoor- outdoor?) chargers are in the RFP? Some locations can support L3 but on the lower end of 50kwh unless we dig in and ask the utility to upgrade its service to certain locations.
A8. The vendor should use their expertise to propose an appropriate mix of level 2 and level 3 charging stations to meet the program requirements outlined in the body of RFP.
Q9. The RFP states: the operation and maintenance shall be at no cost to the City. Also, Vendors are strongly encouraged to submit proposals that include a revenue share agreement with the City. and lastly, The vendor shall submit a cost proposal that minimizes costs to the City. so the question is what does the city of Hoboken want the vendor to propose?
A9. Per the evaluation criteria of the RFP, vendors shall receive higher scores for proposals that minimize costs to the City.
Q10. If the city pays some of the cost then why it wants money back? can we propose no profit sharing and no cost to the city?
A10. The vendors may submit proposals that include no costs to the City, some costs to the City, a revenue share proposal, or some combination. Vendors will receive higher scores for proposals that minimize costs to the City.
Q11. The initial term of the contract is two (2) years from the date of award, with three separate one (1) year extensions at the sole discretion of the City of Hoboken. does the city take into account the lengthy process of locations approved by the city council? only after approval can we start actual design planning and they will take time, can you please elaborate on this.
A11. Contract terms are dictated by Local Public Contract Law. The city will do its best to expedite legislative and permit approvals in order to expedite the project rollout.
Q12. The City may terminate the contract for convenience by providing 60 calendar days advance written notice to the Vendor. what is convenience means???
A12. Convenience means that the City may terminate the contract for any reason, without cause.
Q13. Vendors should propose electric vehicle charging stations and related equipment that respects the historical character of Hoboken’s residential neighborhoods when possible. The example from Baltimore was made as a custom solution and the charging equipment is slower than L2. what exactly the city expects to get? Unless we will have to make one specifically to the city. Please elaborate and give another example, we were not able to get any info from the Baltimore vendor for the project.
A13. The example from Baltimore is representative of a charging station that reflects the historical character of the surrounding neighborhood. It doesn’t represent a specific charging station model the City is requiring. The City understands that the requirements in the RFP may not make the example from Baltimore feasible, but the City would like charging stations to respect the historic character of neighborhoods whenever possible.
Q14. Does the city have any preference and did the city do any electric mapping for the garages for high-level DCFC? if not can you please elaborate on the needs and which location is preferred by the city for fast charging?
A14. The City is requesting vendors to propose a mix of level 2 and level 3 charging stations and is relying on the vendors’ expertise to propose which locations are more appropriate for a specific type of charging station.
Q15. The city is asking that all charging stations be placed within a 5 minute walk of any household. Studies show that the average person can travel one-quarter of a mile in five minutes. Should the selected vendor assume that charging stations must be placed in no more than one-quarter of a mile radius from any household?
A15. Yes. All households should be within approximately 0.25 miles of an electric vehicle charging station.
Q16. Upon expiration or termination of the agreement, selected vendor will remove the electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS), signage, and striping. In addition to the previously mentioned, will capping and securing the remaining infrastructure satisfy the restoration of the site to previous conditions requirement noted in bullet point 6 of 2.6?
A16. Upon contract expiration or termination, the City reserves the right to request the contracted vendor to remove the EVCS, signage, and striping, and restore the site of the EVCS to the previous condition or better.
Q17. In order to determine how many stations are required to satisfy the household distance required as defined in 2.3, can you please clarify that all existing EVCS located within the city boundaries, including privately owned stations, are to be considered?
A17. Only city-owned charging stations at Garage B, Garage D, and on First Street, between Washington Street and Court Street, should be considered. Privately-owned stations should not be considered to satisfy the household distance required.
Q18. Is it the city’s intent to have the selected vendor broker revenue stream for both power and parking?
A18. The City is open to revenue share proposals for energy use, time, or right-of-way utilization. Vendors should use their industry expertise to craft revenue share proposals that they think will be the most competitive.
Q19. Can you please elaborate on the city’s expectations for supporting parking enforcement of non-EVs from using the parking spaces? How does the city wish for this to be monitored?
A19. Vendors should use their expertise to propose creative interventions to help the City maximize compliance of EV charging space utilization. Support for regulating proper use of EV charging spaces may include such technologies as in-street sensors, camera systems, or other technology.
Q20. In what capacity, if any, will the city provide support in conducting public outreach, as noted in 2.3.3?
A20. The City will assist the vendor with public outreach through various channels that may include Nixle community alerts, press releases, and social media. Additionally, the City will assist the vendor with soliciting public feedback on the proposed locations.
Q21. What do the asterisks (*) under “Management Criteria” and double asterisks (**) under “Other” refer to in the Evaluation Criteria?
A21.The asterisks are typos and do not refer to anything not listed in the Evaluation Criteria.
Q22. What is a “managed electrical vehicle charging station” as noted under “Charging Network” of the Evaluation Criteria?
A22. “Managed electrical vehicle charging station” is referring to the electric vehicle charging stations that would be part of the publicly accessible network within the public right-of-way.
Q23. Does the Proposer own the charging stations after installation and for the life of the agreement?
A23. It is the City’s preference that the proposer/vendor owns the charging stations after installation for the life of the contract term.
Q24. If so, can revenue from charging sessions be used to support Operations & Maintenance costs?
A24. Yes.
Q25. Are all installations to be completed on City-owned property? (appears so, just verifying)
A25. All installations are to be completed within the public right-of-way. Some locations may be on City-owned property while others may be on County-owned property.
This addendum will be published in the newspaper and posted on the City of Hoboken website to ensure compliance. There are no other changes to the RFP documents as part of this addendum.
The City will not accept questions/RFI at this time as the RFI deadline is November 15, 2021.
Submission deadline remains the same on December 1, 2021 at 11:00 AM prevailing time.
ATTEST:
Date: November 16, 2021
Jennifer Mastropietro, QPA Purchasing Agent
FOR HOBOKEN
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT OF ADDENDA
RFP 21-06 – HOBOKEN CITYWIDE ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION INFRASTRUCTURE
The undersigned bidder hereby acknowledges receipt of the following addenda:
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Addendum#1 November 16, 2021
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