Services

Performance Contracting can be a great tool to help your organization find new funding sources, achieve strategic plans sooner, achieve sustainability and “go green”, and increase operations staff efficiency.  It helps schools and universities improve learning environments, student outcomes, and lower operating costs.  It is also a rapidly growing tool to help cities, counties, and state and federal facilities, as well as hospitals.

PC-OR helps clients achieve more, reduce risks, and significantly reduce costs for Performance Contracting projects.  Many clients are busy and don’t want to add work to their plates, especially if it is complex.  PC-OR works on your behalf to ensure your interests are always first.  We take the mystery and worry out of performance contracting.  We reduce your work, helping your organization navigate the process like a pro.

PC-OR helps your organization investigate performance contracting, save 10-20% on project costs, and implement projects with better results, and stronger guarantees.  From initial concept and preliminary investigation through RFP’s, proposal evaluations, implementation, and verification, we expertly work to ensure your success in every stage of the project.  Our services include:

• Preliminary Planning
• Writing Requests For Proposals (RFPs)
• Proposal Evaluations
• Contract Review
• Commissioning Plan Review
• Measurement, Verification Planning, & Consultation

Preliminary Planning

This is the first and one of the most critical steps in ensuring great results.  Likewise it is a critical step in helping you achieve 10-20% lower project costs.  Although numerous vendors respond to RFP’s, the best vendors typically won’t respond to most RFP’s. PC-OR starts with the right approach to ensure that you will have the best vendors responding to your RFP.  We also ensure your Board is fully supportive of the process, has clear expectations for the results, and is prepared to follow through.  PC-OR helps you to decide if performance contracting is the right tool to meet your needs or if certain projects should be performed directly.

Writing Requests for Proposals (RFPs)

Many RFP templates exist. However, most are written by performance contracting companies (trying to skew results in their favor) or are typical “plan and spec” construction types.  Neither of these RFPs produce the best results and value in a performance contracting context.  Both typically result in the wrong companies responding and/or responses that don’t generate the full value afforded through performance contracting.

Legal consultants promote the enormous benefits of legal planning and incorporating language into the RFP’s and postings that “pre-negotiate” certain terms in their clients favor.  Similarly, PC-OR works to ensure RFPs and postings are written so as to ensure better proposals, that can be more easily compared, while still enabling vendors to generate creative solutions and alternatives that increase value, savings, and overall client benefits.

Good RFPs also help streamline the review process, saving many hours of review.  In addition, they can cut through frequent misrepresentations by vendors, thereby reducing client misconceptions, improving the selection process, and eliminating some unsuccessful projects.

Proposal Evaluations

PC-OR evaluates proposals, giving you and your board an objective opinion.  We evaluate the reasonableness of the recommendations from an engineering standpoint, review savings calculations, relative costs, assumptions, cash flows, commissioning approach, proposed measurement & verification, and guarantees.  We understand the frequent misperceptions created by vendors and help you see the real picture.

This step is extremely important since subtle issues can make huge differences in cash flows, especially when forecasting out 10-15 years.  With these time frames it is imperative that savings be real.  This is frequently overlooked since vendors “guarantee” the savings.  Vendor guarantees all seem strong on the surface. In reality, many “10 year guarantees” are substantially fulfilled on the day the final punch list is complete!  PC-OR helps you get a real guarantee and understand the risks.

Contract Review

Performance Contracts are lengthy and complex.  Contract review by PC-OR can help you avoid change orders and additional costs, improve commissioning and greatly reduce “call backs”, as well as ensure your savings are actually realized (or paid by the vendor)!  We review savings calculations, measurement approaches, baselines, and other engineering and business details that are critical to your results.

All performance contracts provide language that lets the Vendor off the hook for issues beyond their reasonable control.  PC-OR helps by minimizing these and identifying critical issues that can cause you to inadvertently void your savings guarantee.

Remember, the best results start with the right planning to ensure the best vendors are engaged from the beginning.  A great contract can only do so much to overcome a bad installation or Vendor that will not or cannot uphold their obligations.  To that end, good legal review is always recommended.

Commissioning Plan Review

Good commissioning makes sure the “bugs” are worked out and systems are functioning as intended.  PC-OR helps ensure your project is a success by ensuring the best commissioning approaches are used.  Many Vendors shortcut this process to reduce their expenses once a job is awarded.

Measurement, Verification Planning, & Consultation

Many states require that Measurement & Verification (M&V) follows the same guidelines as federal projects…the IPMVP (International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol.)  Although the standards are extensive, they allow multiple approaches which are not of equal value and are quite grey in interpretation.  Consequently, just claiming that “the procedure follows mandated IPMVP guidelines” does not ensure your savings will be appropriately measured or truly guaranteed.

PC-OR understands the importance of achieving your savings and having real guarantees.  We understand the multiple sources of your savings and which are at the greatest risk for actually being achieved.  This enables us to minimize your measurement costs while ensuring all savings are adequately measured.  Our review and recommendations help ensure your project success and put real teeth in the guarantee by your Vendor.