Request for Proposals: ACT School Bus Deployment Technical Services

Through this solicitation, MassCEC is accepting applications for the position of one technical consultant, or a technical consultant team, to assist with the ACT School Bus Program and address the gap in technical knowledge impeding school bus fleets from electrifying. The technical consultant will support school districts that have been selected or are eligible for the U.S. EPA Clean School Bus and other federal funding opportunities, help MassCEC with the selection of deployment grantees, and help grantees with bus procurement, charging stations and infrastructure, and coordination with other project stakeholders.

Program Background

Under the ACT School Bus Program, MassCEC supports electric school bus deployment projects across Massachusetts by providing funding and technical assistance to school districts and transportation providers. In December 2022, MassCEC awarded funding and technical assistance to six public school districts across the Commonwealth under the first round of the ACT School Bus Fleet Deployment Program. These school districts are currently receiving technical assistance from a MassCEC-hired technical consultant team. In November 2023, MassCEC released an RFP for a second round of the ACT School Bus Fleet Deployment Program, incorporating learnings from the first round as the 2022 projects progress. The awardees from the second round of ACT School Bus will work with MassCEC’s current technical consultant team.   

In September 2023, the U.S. EPA released the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the 2023 EPA Clean School Bus Rebate. It is MassCEC’s intention to hire a technical consultant team to 1) provide deployment technical assistance to school districts that are eligible for the 2023 Clean School Bus Rebate, and 2) continue to provide technical assistance under ACT School Bus through future iterations of the ACT School Bus Grant Program.

Status
Open
Application Deadline

February 5, 2024

Questions? Contact

Consultant Selection Schedule

All dates are subject to change at MassCEC's discretion. 

PROCESS STEP

TIMING

RFP Released

January 8, 2024 

Questions Due

January 22, 2024

Answers to Questions Posted 

January 29, 2024

Proposals Due

February 5, 2024 by 4 pm ET

Applicant Interviews

February 2024

Selection Announcement

March 2024

Who's Eligible

MassCEC seeks proposals from consultants or professionals with expertise in medium-duty fleet electrification. Previous experience working with school districts is preferred.

An applicant or applicant team may consist of one or more individuals, sole proprietors, professional consultants, institutions, or companies with multiple employees. MassCEC encourages potential applicants to form a team if necessary to provide all the experience required for the program or one or more of its primary scopes. Proposals must be submitted by a single lead applicant and clearly identify any applicant team sub-vendors and their respective roles and experience.
 

Apply

Application Process

To respond to this RFP, submit a completed proposal in electronic form (one PDF file) via email to CleanTransportation@masscec.com. "ESB Deployment Technical Assistance Program" must appear in the email subject line. 

Send completed application to CleanTransportation@masscec.com

Q&A

Q1: How do Deployment Technical Assistance services differ from the Advisory Services Program?

The ACT School Bus Deployment Technical Assistance Program supports Massachusetts school districts that receive MassCEC’s ACT School Bus Fleet Deployment grants by providing hands-on project implementation and deployment assistance. Through this Program, the selected Consultant or Consultant Team will provide support through the initial deployment and operations phase. 

The ACT School Bus Advisory Services Program is not a formal funding opportunity for school districts, but rather an electrification road-mapping service for a cohort of up to 25 school bus fleets. The Advisory Services Consultant provides individualized full-fleet electrification plans for each of the enrolled fleets but does not assist with electric school bus deployment.
 

Q2: How do these Deployment Technical Assistance services differ from the services provided by the current Deployment Technical Assistance Consultant?

MassCEC expects the Technical Consultant selected under this RFP to continue to offer future ACT School Bus Fleet Deployment grantees the scope of services that the current Technical Consultant team is providing for the first two rounds of the Fleet Deployment Program. The scope of services outlined in this RFP incorporate lessons learned from MassCEC’s current Fleet Deployment programming. 

Q3: Is there a not-to-exceed budget amount?

MassCEC is not specifying a not-to-exceed budget for the Deployment Technical Assistance RFP.

Additional Funding Opportunities