13. Bid Evaluation Criteria and Weighting

Each of the utilities has proposed RFP bid evaluation criteria that differ from one another. (See Section 6.) Moreover, with the exception of SCE, which presents a 50/50 overall weighting of price and non-price evaluation criteria, none of the utilities present information on how the various bid evaluation criteria will be weighted to arrive at the selection of a winning bidder.

The utilities and ORA believe that presenting such point assignments or weighting information prior to receiving the bids will encourage "gaming" and potential manipulation of the evaluation process by bidders. Contractors' Coalition argues that without such information, a bidder cannot put together a responsive bid proposal. Latino Issues Forum also testified in support of a bid process that makes public the weighting of bid evaluation criteria.

Contractors' Coalition proposes a two-step bid evaluation process, whereby bidders are first screened to ensure that they meet the qualification requirements of the utility, and then the winning bidder is selected from that pool based on price considerations. The utilities oppose this approach, arguing that it neglects to evaluate total contractor capability and would place undue emphasis on price.

We believe that the utilities should have flexibility in developing their bid evaluation criteria for the low-income energy efficiency program, as long as they are consistent with the program goals articulated by this Commission and the Legislature. We have afforded the utilities such flexibility in the past, and there is no evidence to indicate that a change in policy is warranted at this time. However, the utilities are on notice that their performance in administering the low-income energy efficiency program will be subject to review, whether such outsourcing occurs via competitive bid or other methods. As discussed in Section 19 below, we will monitor the costs and non-cost performance of this program closely. Should we determine that either aspects of the program are out of line, we may take a more hands-on approach to the competitive outsourcing process in the future.

With regard to revealing the points and weighting of bid evaluation criteria to bidders prior to the bid, we believe that there are good arguments on both sides of the issue. We will leave that decision to the discretion of the utilities, until further notice. In any event, the utilities should provide the weighting applied to bid evaluation criteria to bidders, upon request, after the bid selection process has been completed.