Professional Advisory Services to Support OFGEM’s OFTO Team

Tender description

OFTO licences, granted through the competitive process, confer certain rights and responsibilities on OFTOs, including the right to a regulated revenue stream for a defined period in return for provision of transmission services. Through the tender process, interested parties have the opportunity to bid to become an OFTO. The offshore transmission assets that the OFTO takes ownership of are acquired at a transfer value determined by the Authority. Following transfer of ownership, the OFTO owns and manages the transmission assets (including the cables and associated connection equipment) between the offshore point of connection with the generator and the point of connection with the onshore network. Following the transfer of ownership, the OFTO is required to comply with the licence conditions. The revenue stream also includes mechanisms which adjust the OFTO’s regulated revenue stream for certain ‘pass-through’ items. The Income Adjusting Event (IAE) is one such ‘pass-through’ revenue adjustment mechanism for costs and expenses that have arisen during the revenue term, for example, due to fault or failure of the system (subject to defined pre-requisites), or at the Authority’s discretion. The Authority is responsible for the decision-making when such claims are made. Other policy development and enforcement actions may also be required during the revenue stream. This procurement is seeking expert consultancy services to support decision-making and policy development for all such requirements in the regime. Lot 1: Financial Advisors The primary responsibility of the financial advisors, is to assist Ofgem in running an efficient tender and transaction process. This will include preparatory work in advance of the Tender Rounds and evaluating bid submissions in coordination with other appointed technical and insurance advisors. This is to ensure that the most economically advantageous tender is selected. The Preferred Bidder (PB) will then proceed to the transaction stage where Ofgem will require further support to aid the process to Licence Grant (LG) and Financial Close (FC). Effective transfer of knowledge on each stage of the process along with general advice on lessons learned is also required. All advisors will work collaboratively in the EPQ (Enhanced Pre-Qualification) and ITT (Invitation to Tender) stages. The financial advisor will be fulfilling the role of Lead Evaluator for both the stages, acting as a single point of contact for the Authority, bringing together all of the evaluation sections/reports into final integrated reports. Further information can be found in the ITT document Lot 2: Technical Advisors The primary responsibility of the technical advisors, is to assist Ofgem in running an efficient tender and transaction process. This will include preparatory work in advance of the Tender Rounds and evaluating bid submissions in coordination with other appointed financial and insurance advisors. This is to ensure that the most economically advantageous tender is selected and the Preferred Bidder (PB) will then proceed to the transaction stage where Ofgem may require further support to aid the process to Licence Grant (LG) and Financial Close (FC). Effective transfer of knowledge on each stage of the process along with general advice on lessons learned is also required. All advisors will work collaboratively in the EPQ (Enhanced Pre-Qualification) and ITT (Invitation to Tender) stages. The financial advisor will be fulfilling the role of Lead Evaluator for both the stages, acting as a single point of contact for the Authority, bringing together all of the evaluation sections/reports into final integrated reports. It is expected that all Advisors supporting specific tender processes will coordinate the production within the timescales communicated by Ofgem. In order to achieve this, the lead evaluator will likely set earlier deadlines by which they require all outputs for them to present integrated reports. Lot 3: Insurance Advisors The primary responsibility of the Insurance advisors, is to assist Ofgem in running an efficient tender and transaction process. This will include preparatory work in advance of the Tender Rounds and evaluating bid submissions in coordination with other appointed technical and financial advisors. This is to ensure that the most economically advantageous tender is selected and the Preferred Bidder (PB) will then proceed to the transaction stage where Ofgem may require further support to aid the process to Licence Grant (LG) and Financial Close (FC). Effective transfer of knowledge on each stage of the process along with general advice on lessons learned is also required All advisors will work collaboratively in the Enhanced Pre-Qualification (EPQ) and Invitation to Tender (ITT) stages. The financial advisor will be fulfilling the role of Lead Evaluator for both the stages, acting as a single point of contact for the Authority, bringing together all of the evaluation sections/reports into final integrated reports. It is expected that all Advisors supporting specific tender processes will coordinate the production within the timescales communicated by Ofgem. In order to achieve this, the lead evaluator will likely set earlier deadlines by which they require all outputs for them to present integrated reports.