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Program Overview
Welcome to the Colorado Governor's Energy Office Multifamily Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Department of Energy, and administered by Energy Outreach Colorado. The Governor's Energy Office Weatherization Program is a federally funded program managed by the GEO that seeks to improve the comfort, safety and energy efficiency of Colorado's low-income housing stock. You have been invited to complete a WAP application for the 2010-2011 funding cycle.
This WAP program overview will provide all of the details necessary to decide if submitting a WAP application is right for your property. If you believe you have eligible properties in need of weatherization work, please continue reading and indicate that you understand the program rules, expectations and benefits when prompted. Access to the WAP application will be granted after you have reviewed the overview information.
Program Benefits to Participants and their Tenants
The purpose of WAP is to increase the energy efficiency of dwellings owned or occupied by low-income persons, reduce their total residential expenditures, and improve their health and safety. Priority is given to those properties serving especially low-income persons who are particularly vulnerable such as the elderly, persons with disabilities, families with children, high residential energy users, and households with high energy burden.
This is an Investment in your property. Most multi-dwelling buildings have a huge potential for energy savings. Even buildings that were built in the 70s typically demonstrate considerable savings just from efficiency upgrades. Gas and electric prices are not getting any cheaper, energy consumption is not going down, and the equipment operating in your building is losing efficiency with each passing year. This program is able to continue receiving funds year after year because of its commitment and proven track record for saving energy which helps everyone. Your commitment of time and resources to participate in the program will be recovered through the capital improvements made, reduced utility and operation and maintenance costs, and increased tenant comfort and satisfaction.
PROGRAM PROCESS AND TIMELINE:
Please note that although the program process and timeline have been provided below for the 2010/2011 program year, they are subject to modification. Federal or State policy revisions, process improvements, or other such occurrences may have an impact on the program's implementation. All clients will be informed of any such required changes. In addition, there may be minor flexibility of dates due to some projects proceeding more quickly or slowly than others.
July 1 - August 13, 2010
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READ AND PREPARE FOR APPLICATION
a. Read ALL program information, rules, sample contracts and forms, expectations and program benefits, and prepare for online application submittal. These are accessible to you under the "Required Reading" tab once you have created an application login.
b. Gather required documentation to complete the application and demonstrate building and tenant eligibility, utility usage information, and health & safety conditions.
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SUBMIT APPLICATION AND RETAIN DOCUMENTATION
a. In order to access the online application, you must acknowledge that you have read and understand all program rules and requirements, and agree to full participation and compliance if selected for the program.
b. Once you submit your online application; maintain a file of all documents referenced and/or submitted with your application, as these will be examined if you are pre-selected as a potential candidate for the program. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
Application period will close August 13 at 11:59pm
August 16 - September 24, 2010
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APPLICATION SCORING AND PRELIMINARY SELECTION
Energy Outreach Colorado (EOC) will review and provide a preliminary score for all applications based on objective criteria. EOC will pre-select the highest-scoring projects to receive site visits and notify all applicants of their selection status. Projects that are not pre-selected are no longer eligible for funding and must reapply for funding in the next fiscal funding cycle.
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SITE VISITS
Site visits will be conducted at pre-selected projects to visually verify and document the building condition, potential health and safety concerns, energy-saving potential, and any special considerations.
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FINAL SELECTION
An independent committee of industry professionals will review and provide a final score for all proposed projects and select the awardees (clients). Projects not awarded at this stage will be waitlisted for the remainder of the program year; should there be adequate funding available to do additional units EOC will notify these projects, in prioritized order until funding is depleted, to move ahead with the program.
September 27 - November 12, 2010
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ENERGY AUDITS
a. Previous audits completed through other programs are not valid for this program. Full-scale Department of Energy-approved energy audits and building modeling will be conducted on all awarded projects. These audits will produce a prioritized list of energy-efficiency measures (EEMs) that may be funded through the program, based on a database of cost estimates.
b. All EEMs must meet a "savings-to-investment ratio" (SIR) of 1 or greater, meaning that the measures will recoup their installation cost through energy savings within the life of the measure. The prioritized list produced by the audit will determine, in order, which energy saving improvements should be installed based upon energy costs, installation cost, and savings over the life of that measure. Clients are required to install measures in order of the priority list.
c. All measures meeting an SIR of 1 or greater must be installed unless a legitimate technical issue exists and is approved by EOC. Should clients decide not to have a particular measure installed, other measures lower on the priority list may not be installed. The only exception to this rule is that measures not meeting an SIR of at least 1 may be cost-shared to bring them to a 1 or greater if the client wishes to include them in the project.
d. EOC will review the results of the audits with clients, discuss preliminary project budgets and potential cost-sharing requirements, and provide bid specifications for all EEMs on the prioritized list.
November 8 - December 31, 2010
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PROCUREMENT
a. Clients are responsible bfor conducting a formal procurement process per federal and state requirements for the designated EEMs. Templates and tools to assist with procurement compliance are provided.
b. Clients are responsible for selecting the contractors of their choice and submit the selected bids to EOC for final project budget planning. SIRs are initially calculated based on cost estimates; SIRs will be re-calculated with actual bid costs to determine the final project scope and budget.
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DETERMINE PROJECT SCOPE OF WORK
All measures meeting an SIR of 1 or greater must be installed unless a legitimate technical issue exists and is approved by EOC; clients are not allowed to choose which measures will be installed. The only exception to this rule is that measures not meeting an SIR of at least 1 may be cost-shared to bring them to a 1, if the client wishes to include them in the project.
January 3 - January 28, 2011
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CONTRACTS
a. Upon agreement and funder approval of the final project scope and budget, clients will enter into contract with EOC. A sample contract is provided; applicants should read and understand this contract prior to submitting an application for the program.
b. Clients will subcontract directly with the vendors/suppliers for the approved work; neither EOC nor the State will be a party to the construction subcontracts.
c. Federal and state regulations require specific language to be included in the subcontracts. A template vendor contract will be provided to assist clients with compliance.
January 3 - May 13, 2011
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MANAGEMENT OF EEM INSTALLATIONS
a. Clients will be responsible for scheduling, management and oversight of all vendors and subcontractors. EOC, GEO or DOE staff may visit the projects at any time to ensure work is progressing satisfactorily
b. Davis-Bacon Act
- i. Most work funded by the Weatherization Program is subject to federal Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) wage requirements and reporting. Clients will be responsible for informing subcontractors of DBA requirements, ensuring DBA compliance, and submitting complete and accurate reports to EOC in a timely manner.
c. Lead-Safe Weatherization
- i. Compliance with EPA Lead-Safe Renovation, Repair and Painting rules are required for all project buildings constructed pre-1978. A Certified Renovator must be utilized for any work that may disturb lead paint.
d. Health & Safety (H&S) issues:
- i. The cost of some H&S issues may be covered by the program; others may be covered at only 50% of cost. Still others may trigger a "walk-away" situation if conditions are severe and/or outside the scope of the program.
- ii. Any H&S repairs, whether funded by the program or not, must be addressed prior to weatherization work beginning.
January 3 - May 13, 2011
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COMPLETION, INSPECTION, PAYMENT
a. Upon completion and successfully passing local code inspection (when applicable) of an individual EEM installation, EOC staff will perform a quality control inspection. If all work was completed satisfactorily, clients will submit invoices for reimbursement of completed work, along with all supporting documentation, to EOC for reimbursement.
b. "Progress payments" or "construction draws" will NOT be available from EOC; all work must be funded by the Client until each individual EEM is completed in full and inspected. EOC will process reimbursement requests for completed/inspected EEMs and issue payments within 15 business days.
c. The State and/or Department of Energy also have the right to request access to units or buildings to conduct random quality and compliance inspections.
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EDUCATION
There are 3 components of energy education required as part of the program:
- i. Tenant education
- ii. Client staff education
- iii. Vendor/Subcontractor education
EOC is working to develop educational programs and materials for each of these audiences. Participation in these programs is required, and may include attending workshops and/or webinars, on-site training, distribution of materials, etc.
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