Administration of the Urban Community Energy Fund.

Descriptions

Administrative development project services. To procure a contractor to set up and manage the £10 million Urban Community Energy Fund until 2018, with the possibility of an extension. The fund will be capitalised over several years with the exact profile to be confirmed.The Urban Community Energy Fund should provide grants of up to approximately £20,000 and loans of up to approximately £130,000 (exact amounts will be determined by the Euro to Sterling exchange rate) to community energy organisations in England who demonstrate that the meet the fund criteria (which are to be confirmed). The key aim of the Urban Community Energy Fund is to provide a route to early stage at risk finance for community energy groups in England for energy generation projects, as will be defined in the fund criteria.In order to apply for a grant or loan from the Urban Community Energy Fund organisations will have to:— Show the organisation is a community group as defined within the fund (exact criteria to be confirmed);— Submit a business case related to the project that are requesting funds for, with this business case to be assessed by the fund administrator.In high-level terms, the Administrator will be required to –— develop an administration methodology;— develop a digital service (website) for users of the Fund;— develop supporting material, for example application forms, for the Fund;— develop a register to track State Aid declarations by applicants to the Fund;— develop a mechanism for administering the repayment of loans from the Fund;— show the ability to provide advice to applicants to the Fund;— show compliance with good financial practices;— show an understanding of State Aid rules;— show an understanding of community energy;— show an understanding of the energy technologies covered by the fund (see the technologies in the existing Rural Community Energy Fund);— show understanding of Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and their interaction with grants;— outline how they will assess applications for grants;— outline how they will assess the more details applications for loans;— achieve these requirements in time for the Fund go-live in September 2014.These high-level requirements are expanded upon in the Invitation to Tender.DECC would also expect the Contractor to provide –— Project management services for the project to ensure high quality outputs to time and budget;— A service that is flexible and can adapt to potential future changes to the Fund in response to DECC's requirements.We would expect the Contractor to fulfill the following obligations when developing a solution that meets DECC's requirements. However, the Tenderer should not be limited to the requirements listed below. If they can suggest different approaches to achieve the same or similar outputs, then these will be considered. The following requirements have been separated out into the categories of ‘set-up' and ‘ongoing responsibilities' as a reflection of the dual nature of the project:Set-up:a. Design a process for administering the grant application process;b. Design a process for administering the loan application process;c. Put in place a register of grants awarded for state aid purposes;d. Design a secure, robust, reliable online system for managing applications to the Fund, for sign-off by DECC. This must hold data securely. This must include as minimum a web-based application portal;e. Provide a web-based homepage for the Fund, to include FAQ's, information on the fund including eligibility criteria and a link the application portal – it is expected this will be delivered on the Gov.UK domain and the development should meet the Government Digital Services) Digital by Default service standard;f. To provide project management services to ensure high quality outputs to time and budget.Administration:a. An initial desk-based assessment of applications from which recommendations can be made to DECC as to which organisations should receive grants and/or loans.b. Enable applicants to be clear on eligibility requirements and obtain all the necessary information in relation to applying for grants and loans;c. Handle queries and complaints about the Fund effectively;d. Handle with any enquires about submitted applications professionally;e. Inform applications of the outcome of their application;f. Help unsuccessful applications understand how they may improve their application;g. Provide audits of grants and loans, as required, to ensure money has been spent appropriately;h. Set up an internal appeals process for addressing outstanding issues specific to the Fund not addressed to the customer's satisfaction, disputed applications etc.;i. Provide accurate and timely reporting in a format agreed by DECC on the operation of the Fund to enable DECC to carry out a review of the scheme stage by stage in light of market developments.j. Provide facilitation and stakeholder engagement services, including attending Industry Advisory Groups run by DECC, answering questions and providing feedback to members of the public, either online or by telephone.This contract will run for three years with an option to extend for a further one year.This requirement is a new service and may be subject to changes / additional requirements throughout the duration of the contract.