RFP 8843 - Market Data & Analytics - Technical Specifications_Final_041025RFP # 8843 1
RFP # 8843
Scope of Work & Technical Specification for Market Data & Analytics Services
1. Introduction
This Scope of Work & Technical Specification ‘SoW’ describes the requirements for utility grade
and wholesale energy market participant standard real-time energy data and analytics services
to be purchased by The City of Denton for Denton Municipal Electric, (DME). The service shall be
used in the existing DME Administration Building located at 1659 Spencer Road, Denton, Texas
76205. The commissioning of the new service must be carefully coordinated with DME support
staff. The scope of service shall be finalized upon the selection of the winning bidder.
2. Scope
DME is seeking proven vendors that have a commercially available, utility and wholesale market
participant grade ERCOT real-time information and data analytics service as defined in this
document. DME is not interested in services that are either “in-development” or unproven. The
respondent submission shall accurately describe their understanding of the objectives and scope of
one or more of the requested product and service. The respondents shall clearly specify any service
or services in the SoW which they are unable to provide in response and bid to this RFP.
Respondents shall also provide an outline of how the bidder will meet the requirements of the
scope of work/service requested. It is anticipated that the scope of service will include, at a
minimum, the following:
a) Total cost of real-time market data and analytics service (3-year term, total cost and by
year)
b) Required implementation time
c) Short on-site or web-ex demonstration of services, if requested
d) Meet minimum technical specification outlined below
e) Provide both data and graphical displays with extraction of data via web interface, e.g.
csv and/or API
3. Prospective Proposers General Responsibilities
The prospective proposers shall assume responsibility for the design, fabrication, and startup of
the new service. The vendor obligations shall include, but not be limited to, the responsibilities
in the following list, and those required performing the service functions described in the
Specification:
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a) Delivery, maintenance and management of any user/password protected website or web
interface including ftp.
b) Delivery of any Operating System software and application software to operate the data
analytics service(s) shall be noted and outlined.
c) Integration of all vendor-supplied hardware and software if applicable.
d) Provide Training of DME personnel sufficient for use and navigation of service.
e) User’s guides, electronic “help” services/assistance, and other documentation.
f) The vendor shall be responsible to provide support and warranty services for the duration
of the services contract.
g) Support services must include day-time support (Monday through Friday during normal
business hours), help desk, problem resolution, and subscription for vendor software
patches. DME would prefer 24/7 vendor support function.
4. DME General Responsibilities
DME shall supply the following items and services as part of the new service:
a) Windows based desktop computers (currently operating Windows 10/11)
b) Meeting room facilities
c) Internet Access
5. Technical Specification/Requirements
This section describes the technical requirements and functionality to be supported by the
market data & analytics service.
The City of Denton requests that all vendors provide access to all services from password
protected internet websites with the capability to sustain multiple users at one time. In order to
be considered for evaluation, vendors offering multiple services must give mutually-exclusive,
individual pricing for each service and where both feasible and responders are willing, a separate
pricing (alternative pricing) with identifiable detail, for combining multiple services. The City does
encourage vendors to give alternative pricing where subscription to multiple services can enable
an overall discount.
It shall be noted that the proposal will be judged by its conformance to the functional
requirements of this section. Any exceptions, where the proposer cannot perform a requested
task or service, must be listed and detailed by the proposer as an Attachment to their RFP
response. The City reserves the right to award multiple vendors for the services outlined in this
document.
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5.1 ERCOT Market Data and Analytics Services
DME is seeking proven commercially available, utility and wholesale market participant
grade real time energy market data and analytics services that provides data and analytics
to support real time and short-term commercial decision-making and understanding of
fundamental information impacting energy and associated product markets, specifically in
ERCOT. Real-time is defined as continuous rapid update and not periodical, less frequent
than hourly updates as applicable.
A. Real-Time & Day-Ahead ERCOT Market Data & Congestion Monitoring
Provide interactive Real-Time (and where applicable, Day-Ahead) ERCOT market data,
power infrastructure graphical data, and congestion data, including:
1. Real-time geographical tracking of resource data for different types of power plants
(coal, gas, batteries, renewables, etc), with indicators for data quality and
percentage of nameplate generation in real-time
2. Real-time geographical tracking of power flows across bulk transmission lines
(345kV, 138kV, 69kV), including congestion/constraint monitoring
3. Real-time notifications for resource outages, sudden changes or forced derates in
operating output of resources, major transmission outages, major frequency
deviations and other critical impacts across the ERCOT grid
4. Access to live Settlement Point Prices and Locational Marginal Pricing data across
ERCOT
5. Ability to view impacts of congestion at user defined nodes and paths, with detailed
breakdowns of constraint drivers (generation/load shift factor impacts, line outage
shift factor impacts, etc)
6. Real-time monitoring of resource mix, grid balancing (e.g. online reserves, PRC, 5
minute response gen, etc), storage deployment, ancillary services deployments, DC
tie flows, frequency, and load across ERCOT
7. Access to historical data, at a minimum, for the data listed above, but preferably the
ability to access all historical data provided by the service
B. Predictive Analytics & Forecasting of Real-Time & Day-Ahead ERCOT Market
Data
Provide advanced forecast analytics, to the extent possible for Section 5.1-A listed
above, including:
1. Tools to forecast RT & DA nodal pricing in ERCOT
2. Tools to anticipate future congestion/constraints on the ERCOT transmission
system, with detailed breakdowns of constraint drivers
3. Forecasted ancillary services awards & prices
4. Current and forecasted outages, with the ability to filter outages by ERCOT Load
Zone
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5. Forecasting of ERCOT grid level supply and demand, including generation output
forecasting at individual generators and loads (where applicable)
6. Access to historical data, at a minimum, for the data listed above, but preferably
the ability to access all historical forecasted data and analysis provided by the
service
C. Visualization of Real-Time & Day Ahead ERCOT Market Data & Analytics
DME seeks mapped visualization of ERCOT nodal market data and analysis as defined
in Sections 5.1-A and 5.1-B above, including:
1. Real-time power flows across the grid, with overlays for transmission constraints,
direction of congestion, transmission & generation outages, generation levels, and
nodal pricing
2. User-configurable dashboards displaying key market metrics such as System-
wide/Hub/Load Zone pricing, transmission constraints, grid load, combined
renewables, ancillary services deployments, resource mix, etc.
3. Ability to easily create user-defined graphical displays of all historical RT & DA
ERCOT market & forecasted market data provided by the service
D. Reporting of Real-Time & Day Ahead & Forecasted ERCOT Market Data &
Analytics
DME seeks power market publications and reporting of ERCOT short-term market
dynamics, at a minimum daily (business day), to support current day and next day
power market trading and risk management, to include the following discussions:
1. Potential weather impacts
2. System and regional load forecasts
3. Price impacts due to major generation outages and renewable generation
forecasts
4. Major transmission bottlenecks, transmission outages and their potential impacts
to system, regional and, where applicable, nodal pricing
5. Price impacts due to abnormal or rapid deviations to forecasted grid conditions,
particularly in hours of historical volatility (e.g. duck curve hours)
6. For any summary reports provided, DME requests access to the analysts creating
the reports via email, phone, or teleconference
7. DME requests the vendor provide a robust and documented API allowing for
customized and automated data reporting from the Market Data & Analytics
Services described in this RFP
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6. DME Prospective Proposer Presentation & Trial Period
The purpose of the prospective proposer presentation & trial period is two-fold:
A. The prospective proposer will be given up to two hours to demonstrate the pertinent
points of their service. This is generally known as the “sales presentation” and allows
DME to get a broad overview of the services provided.
B. In addition, staff may request a trial (up to two weeks) to further evaluate and
understand the product’s effectiveness for DME’s needs.
7. Evaluation Criteria
The City of Denton will evaluate the submission in accordance with the selection criteria
and will rank the firms on the basis of the submittals. The City of Denton, reserves the
right to consider information obtained in addition to the data submitted in the response.
The selection criterion is listed below:
a) Delivery/Project Schedule (FACTOR: 5%).
Ability to timely start and complete project. This includes the schedule to complete
project and may include ability to meet required milestones of completion. For
supplies, the estimated delivery after receipt of order.
b) Compliance with specifications, quality, reliability, characteristics to meet stated
or implied needs (FACTOR: 50%)
Compliance with the stated specification(s) coupled with the quality and reliability
of the goods and services such as fitness for use that meets or exceeds Owner’s
expectations and the characteristics of the product or service that bear on its ability
to meet the stated/implied needs.
A. Real-Time & Day-Ahead ERCOT Market Data & Congestion Monitoring (20 points)
B. Predictive Analytics & Forecasting of Real-Time & Day-Ahead ERCOT Market
Data (10 points)
C. Visualization of Real-Time & Day Ahead ERCOT Market Data & Analytics (15 points)
D. Reporting of Real-Time & Day Ahead & Forecasted ERCOT Market Data & Analytics (5 points)
c) Indicators of Probable Performance under contract (FACTOR: 15%).
Indicators of probable performance under the contract to include: past vendor
performance, financial resources and ability to perform, experience or
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demonstrated capability and responsibility, references, and the vendor’s ability to
provide reliable maintenance agreements and support.
d) Price, Total Cost of Ownership (FACTOR: 30%).
The price of the items, to include total cost of ownership, such as installation costs,
life cycle costs, and warranty provisions.
The total possible score of the submissions shall be scored and weighted as indicated above,
items a) – d). Based on the outcome of the computations performed, each submission will
be assigned a raw score. The assigned weight will then be applied to these scores to
calculate an overall score for each submission for completion of the final scoring process.