Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 199 - Utilities Division › Utilities and Transportation Divisions › Chapter 40 - Competitive Bidding Process › Rule 199-40.4 - Utility Affiliate Bids

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1)
General requirements.
Any bid prepared by an affiliate of the
				utility shall comply with the selection criteria specified in the RFP and with
				board rules governing affiliate transactions (199 lAC 31). The utility may not
				give preferential treatment or consideration to a bid prepared by an affiliate
				of the utility. To ensure a level playing field for all bidders, the utility
				shall comply with its standards of conduct as required by 199 lAC 40.4(2) and
				shall hire an independent evaluator to ensure compliance with the standards of
				conduct prior to the drafting of the RFP.
(2)
Standards of conduct.
Each utility must establish standards of conduct to ensure that all
				transactions between the utility and its affiliates are conducted on an
				arm's-length basis. The utility's standards of conduct shall be filed with the
				board prior to any solicitation under the utility's competitive bidding
				process. At a minimum, the utility's standards of conduct shall include the
				following:
a. The utility shall maintain full
				written records and notes of all communications between the utility and the
				bidding affiliate and between the utility and the independent evaluator, as
				well as all other bid-related communications.
b. The utility shall ensure that the bidding
				affiliate has access only to the same bidding information at the same time as
				other bidders.
c. The utility's RFP
				and evaluation team shall not share with the bidding affiliate any information
				regarding the request for proposals, standard contract, drafts of either
				document, information contained in those documents, or any information about
				the preparation of those documents unless and until such information is
				available to all other bidders in the solicitation.
d. The utility shall establish for each RFP
				and bidding process a single point of contact for all questions about bids and
				evaluations.
e. The utility shall
				keep in a secure location all requests for proposals and contract drafts,
				related bid documents, any analyses, notes, communications, evaluations and any
				other written material concerning the RFP, standard contracts, proposals, and
				all other documents related to the bidding process.
f. The utility's evaluation team members
				shall brief management regarding confidential information about the bidding
				process only on a need-to-know basis. Such briefings will not occur in general
				staff meetings or other group meetings.
g. The utility will make all pertinent
				employees aware of its procedures that must be followed between the public
				utility and the bidding public utility affiliate or division for
				confidentiality of RFPs, standard contracts, and other documents pertinent to
				the bidding process.
h. The utility
				shall not share resources with an affiliate bidder unless such resources are
				also made available to other bidders.
i. The utility shall not contract on behalf
				of an affiliate bidder for the provision of services and equipment that are not
				available to other bidders.
j. The
				utility shall not withhold information about Clean Air Act emissions allowances
				from potential bidders in order to circumvent or hinder the competitive bidding
				process.
k. Employees of any
				bidding affiliate are prohibited from participating in the evaluation
				process.