Request for Qualifications 

The U.S. EPA has awarded a Cooperative Agreement to the University of New Mexico’s Southwest Environmental Finance Center (SW EFC) for the project entitled, “Training and Technical Assistance for Rural, Small and Tribal Municipalities and Wastewater Treatment Systems for Clean Water Act Prevention, Reduction, and Elimination of Pollution, Priority Area 1: Acquisition of Finance/Funding” (the Project).  The agreement runs through 8/31/2026 and includes the following team members in addition to SW EFC: Syracuse University EFC, University of Maryland EFC, Wichita State University EFC, Michigan Technological University EFC, EFC West, Moonshot Missions, WaterNow Alliance, and Morgan State University (Collectively, “the Team”). The Team will also include up to two private firms (Firms) that will be selected through this request for qualifications. Selected Firms will be engaged for a minimum of one year (Year 1) and may be engaged for subsequent periods through the end of the Project.  This selection process is being used under EPA procurement rules for small purchases procedures.   

The overall scope of the Project is to have more communities engaged in a discussion of their infrastructure needs and how those needs can best be met. That might include operation and maintenance changes, internal capacity building, increasing the understanding of and improving financial health, assessing available funding, addressing energy efficiency and/or climate change, and developing an application for funding.  

 In addition, we have set our own goals for this Project including a focus on small, under-resourced, BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color), isolated, tribal, traditionally underserved, and rural and urban disadvantaged communities and promoting “shovel-worthy” rather than just “shovel-ready” projects. We will also be building a lasting legacy with our work to ensure projects are sustainable over the long term. We intend to work closely with state funding and regulatory agencies throughout the entire project. 

The components of the work will include training and technical assistance to assist small, rural, tribal, disadvantaged, and underserved communities in developing infrastructure projects and applying for funding when that is the best option. The major activities include community outreach, community engagement, project development, building capacity, assisting with finance and funding, and application development, creating tools and resources, and evaluating success.” 

Training topics include, but are not limited to:

Accessing Infrastructure Funding Affordability/ Customer Assistance; Assessing Your Utility’s Financial Position; Asset Management; Board/Elected Official Training; Build America, Buy America; Capital Improvement Planning & Financing; Collection System Asset Management and Rehabilitation; Communication to the Public; Davis-Bacon Act; Effective Utility Management (adapted from EPA’s Effective Utility Management, 2017); Energy Management; Engaging the Public in Decision Making; Environmental Reviews; Equipment Repair and Replacement; Financial Management; Financial Metrics for Your Utility; Leadership and Communication Rates and Fiscal Planning; NPS Management Program Plans; Preliminary Engineering Reports; Working with Engineers; Regionalization and Partnerships; Collaboration Strategies; Security/Cybersecurity; State Revolving Fund Process; Water Efficiency (I/I); Water Reuse or Recycling; Workforce Issues, Working with Consultants and Engineers, Understanding an NPDES Permit, Wastewater Math, and Fund Management. 

Scope of Potential Activities: 

Selected Firm(s) will provide assistance with funding applications and/or implementing green infrastructure, particularly in communities who have been left out of the conversation. Such assistance may cover any or all of the components referred to in the scope above, but should focus on helping systems and the communities they serve develop, champion, and finance equitable, community-driven, shovel-worthy projects that prioritize greener approaches, balanced budgets, and long-term viability, and include system training and guidance on mission-critical aspects of the infrastructure funding process including relevant aspects of technical, financial, and programmatic management.   

Selected Firms will provide training (in-person and virtual) and technical assistance to wastewater systems on any of the training topics listed previously or similar topics that the Firm believes will be beneficial to small wastewater system operators, managers, decision-makers or owners. These additional topics should be described within the response to this RFQ. If training topics are proposed that are not currently listed in the training topics identified above, the Team will approve the topic before the selected Firm(s) creates or delivers the training. (In other words, selection of the Firm does not constitute an approval of these additional topics) 

Firms may also engage directly with the communities that shovel-worthy projects will serve to facilitate communication and community buy-in and support long-term project success. Firms would share their expertise with communities via remote or in-person meetings.  In addition, Firms may be asked to share information that would be useful to a wider audience via blogs, podcasts, or other durable resource (guidance, white paper, etc.).   

Selected Firms will also have the opportunity to develop tools and/or resources that would benefit a small wastewater system understand Acquisition of Finance or Funding or leverage existing tools and expertise to that end.   

The support for communities under this specific RFQ is intended to focus primarily on two topics 1) assisting with funding packages at any stage from initial concept development through application to managing the funding after it is received and 2) helping communities understand the green infrastructure opportunities available to them, helping them integrate these solutions into their projects, understanding future operation and maintenance considerations, and assisting with funding or financing for this type of project. A Firm may choose to bid on one or both of these topics. 

In your response, please include the following:  

• Company Description 
• Portions of the Scope of Work your Firm is Qualified For/Interested In Providing: Please indicate if you will be proposing for items 1 or 2 or both discussed above and which of the longer list of activities and potential topics you would like to provide from the lists below. Please note that every Firm must include evaluating success in their proposed scope of work. (This is an evaluation of the success of the Firm’s activities, not the overall project with all Team members.) Please be as specific as possible how you would evaluate success of your work.  

Be as detailed as possible regarding the number of activities you are able to take on (i.e., how many communities could be included in the community outreach; how many trainings in person and/or virtual you will provide; how you will evaluate success, etc.) 

• Activities:
  • community outreach 
  • community engagement 
  • project development 
  • building capacity 
  • Training (Virtual or In-person) 
  • assisting with finance and funding 
  • application development 
  • creating tools and resources to specifically include blog posts covering relevant topics 
  • evaluating success – MANDATORY 
•  Training Topics Include: 
  • Accessing Infrastructure Funding  
  • Affordability/Customer Assistance 
  • Assessing Your Utility’s Financial Position 
  • Asset Management 
  • Board/Elected Official Training 
  • Build America, Buy America 
  • Capital Improvement Planning & Financing 
  • Collection System Asset Management and Rehabilitation 
  • Communication to the Public 
  • Davis-Bacon Act 
  • Effective Utility Management (adapted from EPA’s Effective Utility Management, 2017) 
  • Energy Management 
  • Engaging the Public in Decision Making 
  • Environmental Reviews 
  • Equipment Repair and Replacement 
  • Financial Management 
  • Financial Metrics for Your Utility 
  • Leadership and Communication 
  • Rates and Fiscal Planning 
  • NPS Management Program Plans 
  • Preliminary Engineering Reports 
  • Working with Engineers 
  • Regionalization and Partnerships 
  • Collaboration Strategies 
  • Security/Cybersecurity 
  • State Revolving Fund Process 
  • Water Efficiency (I/I) 
  • Water Reuse or Recycling 
  • Workforce Issues 
  • Working with Consultants and Engineers 
  • Understanding an NPDES Permit 
  • Wastewater Math 
  • Fund Management 
  • Other (Please specify) 
• Programmatic Capability and Experience related to the areas chosen from scope of work 
• Please describe your Firm’s capabilities and experience from past work activities for each activity and topic you include in your response.  
• Describe your geographic service area. This is a national project, including all 50 states and U.S. Territories. Which states and territories are you able to assist communities or train if it is not the entire country? Specify the percentage of virtual versus in-person service you anticipate providing (e.g., “80% of the work is anticipated to be virtual, with the final 20% in person”). 
• Bio-sketches for key project team members describing experience/expertise/qualifications, staff knowledge, and resources or the ability to obtain them, to successfully achieve the goals of the projects. (This should be less than 3 paragraphs per team member.) Also describe your staff’s ability and experience to work in disadvantaged communities of all types. If any of your staff speak other languages, please indicate which languages and whether they are written or spoken. 
• Three references for similar work.  

Budget and Schedule:  

For any Firm selected under this solicitation the budget will not exceed $125,000 for Year 1 with an option to continue for an additional period not to exceed the end of the Project with up to $125,000 more. The total budget per selected firm is capped at no more than $250,000, but there is no guarantee of $250,000. 

• Indicate what budget you would request to do the scope of work activities you would include in the first and second year of this project. This can be a total amount or based on number of systems or any other way you wish to present it.  
• This is a 3-year project. Indicate if you are willing/interested/able to participate for the whole 3 years under a no-cost extension if you have not previously used the entire $250,000 budget. 

Selection Process: 

• The SW EFC is looking to select between 1 or 2 firms under this solicitation based on the qualifications of those firms submitting responses.  
• Selections will be based on the range of activities the entity is able to complete and the firms experience in these areas. 
  • Range of Activities Proposed under Scope of Work – 13 points 
  • Geographic Coverage 5 points 
  • Experience – 22 points 
  • References – 10 points