The Michigan Public Service Commission seeks a consultant to perform an independent third-party audit and review of the distribution systems, including all equipment and operations, of Consumers Energy and DTE Electric. The audit must be comprehensive and consist of two distinct parts that may be conducted in any order or in parallel.
Part 1 involves a physical audit of existing installed infrastructure to determine whether records match actual conditions. This includes physical measurements of distribution infrastructure at statistically significant sample locations, assessment of infrastructure condition by age and visual inspection, inventory of service transformers, identification of underground and overhead facilities, comparison of operations and maintenance costs, and compliance assessment against national electrical safety codes. The contractor must compare the companies' distribution system conditions to similarly situated utilities in Michigan and other states with similar climates.
Part 2 consists of an audit of each company's programs and processes, including emergency preparedness, storm restoration, distribution system maintenance, and investment planning. The contractor must review internal organization and staffing, emergency preparedness programs, storm restoration processes, planning and maintenance procedures, failure analysis investigations, asset management programs, infrastructure upgrade project selection, maintenance program management, document management and training, and identify capital and operations and maintenance programs to reduce outages and improve safety.
Key dates include: RFP issue date March 13, 2023; pre-proposal meeting March 17, 2023 at 11:30 AM EST; deadline for submitting questions March 22, 2023 at 1:55 PM EST; answers posted March 29, 2023 at 4:00 PM EST; proposal deadline April 25, 2023 at 1:55 PM EST; anticipated contract begin date September 1, 2023. The contractor must complete all work within one year of receiving the order. Proposals must include detailed project plans with timelines and milestones, identification of statistically significant samples for audits, comparable utilities for benchmarking analysis, key personnel resumes, subcontractor information if applicable, pricing for both parts of the audit, and demonstrated experience with similar utility audits.