The Part 1 Proposal is a Bidder’s opportunity to submit comments on or propose modifications to the Standard Pre-Bid Letter of Credit for a Company that is due with the Part 2 Proposal.

In relation to possible disclosures that you may be required to make to regulators, we cannot assess what these disclosures may be and whether such disclosures may or may not constitute “disclosing information relating to your Proposal”. We can note that this provision is limited to the time prior to the Illinois Commerce Commission decision on September 18, 2020. We can also note that this condition to draw on the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit relates to the undertakings otherwise made by the Bidder in the Part 2 Proposal. In the Part 2 Proposal, the Officer of the Bidder certifies that, other than for purpose of arranging for the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit or communications with Advisors (if any), the Bidder has not disclosed, and will not otherwise disclose, publicly or to any other party any information relating to its Proposal, which could have an effect on whether another party submits a Proposal for this procurement event, or on the contents of such Proposal that another Bidder would be willing to submit. The RFP Rules note that such information includes, but is not limited to: the fact that the Bidder is submitting a Proposal for this procurement event; the Bidder’s Bids; the Bidder’s number of blocks bid for any Product, any Combination, or for any bundle of Products and Combinations; the Bidder’s estimation of the value of a Product or Combination; the Bidder’s estimation of the risks associated with providing supply under the applicable supplier contract; and the Bidder’s preference for bidding on specific Products or Combinations.

Bidders may complete Inserts by digitally signing the Insert and providing along with the Insert an additional document or information that verifies the identity of the signatory. For Inserts that require the signature to be notarized, notarization is not required if the Insert is digitally signed. The signature line for the Notary Public may be left blank.

The additional documentation or information referenced above may include: (i) a certificate of completion if the signatory uses DocuSign; (ii) a Final Audit Report if the signatory uses Adobe Sign; (iii) evidence that the digital signature has been certified by the signatory using a document signing certificate; or (iv) other documentation or information produced by a commercially available software that can be used by the Procurement Administrator to verify the identity of the signatory. Digital signatures without a document or information verifying the identity of the signatory are not acceptable; signature images and other electronic signatures are not acceptable.

A Bidder is required to pay the Bid Participation Fee once for all 2020 Procurement Events.

The executed Pre-Bid Letter of Credit for AIC Capacity Products must be submitted to AIC and to the Procurement Administrator as an electronic PDF file via electronic means.

Under the terms of the (AIC) Capacity Agreement, payments to Seller will be reduced if the Compliance Zone ACP is greater than the Source Zone ACP where the Compliance Zone is LRZ4. If the amount of the payment reduction is greater than the unadjusted payment, then Seller (not Buyer) will have to pay Buyer under the (AIC) Capacity Agreement. We provide 2 examples below to illustrate this point.

For purposes of the below example, the “ACP” refers to the Auction Clearing Price from the MISO Planning Resource Auction (“PRA”) and the Compliance Zone is LRZ4. The examples below are hypothetical. The results of the 2021/2022 MISO PRA are not yet available.

Example 1: Where the adjustment results in a reduced payment from Buyer to Seller.
No. of ZRCs won by Seller: 25 ZRCs from Zone 3
Average Winning Bid Price under the (AIC) Capacity Agreement: $18/MW-day
Payment to Seller = $18 x 25 ZRCs x 365 days = $164,250
MISO 2021/2022 PRA Results:
LRZ 4 ACP = $20/MW-day
LRZ 3 ACP = $6/MW-day
Adjustment to Payment = – ($20 – $6) x 25 ZRCs x 365 days = – $127,750
Adjusted Payment = $164,250 – $127,750 = $36,500

Example 2: Where the adjustment results in payment from Seller to Buyer.
No. of ZRCs won by Seller: 25 ZRCs from Zone 3
Average Winning Bid Price under the (AIC) Capacity Agreement: $10/MW-day
Payment to Seller = $10 x 25 ZRCs x 365 days = $91,250
MISO 2021/2022 PRA Results:
LRZ 4 ACP = $20/MW-day
LRZ 3 ACP = $6/MW-day
Adjustment to Payment = – ($20 – $6) x 25 ZRCs x 365 days = – $127,750
Adjusted Payment = $91,250 – $127,750 = – $36,500  (i.e., payment from Seller to Buyer)

Under the terms of the (AIC) Capacity Agreement, payments to Seller will only be adjusted to reflect an increased payment if the Source Zone ACP is greater than the Compliance Zone ACP where the Compliance Zone is LRZ4. For purposes of the below example, the “ACP” refers to the Auction Clearing Price from the MISO Planning Resource Auction (“PRA”) and the Compliance Zone is LRZ4. The example below is hypothetical. The results of the 2021/2022 MISO PRA are not yet available.

No. of ZRCs won by Seller: 25 ZRCs from Zone 3
Average Winning Bid Price under the (AIC) Capacity Agreement: $10/MW-day
Payment to Seller = $10 x 25 ZRCs x 365 = $91,250
MISO 2021/2022 PRA Results:
LRZ 4 ACP = $6/MW-day
LRZ 3 ACP = $20/MW-day
Adjustment to Payment = ($20 – $6) x 25 ZRCs x 365 = $127,750
Adjusted Payment = $91,250 + $127,750 = $219,000

Yes, this is correct. Only ZRCs from outside the compliance zone are subject to payment adjustments under the term of the (AIC) Capacity Agreement.

The Procurement Administrator aims to respond to questions within five business days. While the proposal windows for a procurement event are open, the Procurement Administrator aims to respond to questions regarding that procurement event within two business days.  Bidders may follow up if they have not received an answer within these time frames at Illinois-RFP@nera.com.

Bid assurance collateral must be provided in the form of a letter of credit.  The Bidder must either use the Standard Pre-Bid Letter of Credit provided as an Appendix to the RFP Rules, or the Bidder must submit a Pre-Bid Letter of Credit that incorporates only those modifications to the Standard Pre-Bid Letter of Credit approved by a Company and posted to the procurement website.

A Bidder may provide comments on or propose modifications to the Standard Pre-Bid Letter of Credit for a procurement event that are non-material in nature, or that clarify the intent of the Standard Pre-Bid Letter of Credit, or that are advantageous to both the Company and the Bidder.  Comments are solicited during the Part 1 Window, which opens on August 12, 2020.  The Standard Forms have changed in that presentation of the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit must be made electronically.  The Procurement Administrator will work with any Bidder that submits comments ahead of the Part 1 Window to have those comments reviewed by the Companies as soon as practicable.

A Bidder may, in its Part 1 Proposal, provide comments on or propose modifications to the Standard Pre-Bid Letter of Credit for a Company.  A Bidder provides such comments by submitting a redline in Microsoft Word by email or by upload to the application website by the Part 1 Date, Thursday, August 20, 2020. The Pre-Bid Letters of Credit are posted to the Final Materials page of the Block Energy and Capacity section of the website.

Please note that for the upcoming Fall 2020 procurement events, the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit for a Company, due with the Part 2 Proposal, must be submitted electronically. Also, instead of requiring a statement from the Issuing Bank to accompany the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit as was done in the prior procurement events, the required statement confirming that the electronic PDF file serves as the operative instrument has been incorporated into paragraph 16 of the Standard Pre-Bid Letters of Credit.

There will not be a comment process with regard to the supplier contracts for the Fall 2020 BEC RFP.  The final supplier contracts will be posted on Friday, July 10, 2020.

The collateral requirement under each of the (AIC) Confirmation Agreement and the ComEd Energy Master Agreement will be for the credit exposure under the contract, which is based on a Mark-to-Market methodology. For the ComEd Energy Master Agreement, this methodology is described in Schedule 3 (MtM Calculation) to the Collateral Annex.

For each of the (AIC) Confirmation Agreement and the ComEd Energy Master Agreement, please refer to the front portion of the (AIC) Confirmation Agreement and Cover Sheet of the ComEd Energy Master Agreement, respectively, for amendments and elections to the EEI Collateral Annex and paragraph 10 to the Collateral Annex.

The Pre-Bid Letter of Credit must be in the form of the Standard Pre-Bid Letter of Credit for a Company or incorporate only modifications approved by the Company and posted to the procurement website. Any bidder can use any of the modifications on the list of acceptable modifications on an optional basis.

The Procurement Administrator will be soliciting comments on the Standard Pre-Bid Letter of Credit for a Company.  A Bidder provides such comments by submitting a redline in Microsoft Word of the Standard Pre-Bid Letter.  A Bidder provides comments by email or by upload to the application website.

In the event that a Company does not receive sufficient eligible bids—that is, bids which are consistent with the rules, that meet or beat the benchmark, and that are approved by the Commission—to satisfy its target, the Company may procure a quantity less than its target for a given month and segment.

A bank that has a rating of “A-“ from Fitch is not acceptable as an Issuing Bank for the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit.  As specified in Paragraph 14 of the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit, if a bank is rated by Fitch, the bank must be rated “A” or better.

A bank issuing the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit must be able to make the following certification:
We, the Issuing Bank, certify that as of the Date of Issuance of this Letter of Credit our senior unsecured debt is rated “A” or better by S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) if rated by S&P, “A2” or better by Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) if rated by Moody’s, and, “A” or better by Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”) if rated by Fitch. We hereby certify that our senior unsecured debt is rated by at least two of S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch. If affiliated with a foreign bank, we further certify we are a U.S. branch office of such foreign bank and that as of the Date of Issuance of this Letter of Credit, our senior unsecured debt meets the ratings requirement of this paragraph.

This certification is included as Paragraph 14 of the Pre-Bid Letter of Credit.

Thus, the Issuing bank must be a U.S. bank or a U.S. branch office of a foreign bank. Further, the bank has to satisfy specific minimum ratings from the main rating agencies. If the bank you are considering meets these requirements, then it will be acceptable to the Companies.

The online Part 2 Form becomes available no later than when the Part 2 Window opens  on Wednesday, August 26, 2020. At that point, bidders can use the login credentials issued by the Procurement Administrator to access the online Part 2 Form.

The attention lines in Annexes 1 and 3 use “Standby Letter of Credit Unit” as an example and placeholder for the name of the department or unit to which would be directed a drawing certificate or certificate of cancellation at the Issuing Bank. The department or unit named in the attention lines of Annexes 1 and 3 are expected to be consistent with each other as well as consistent with any such unit or department named elsewhere in the letter of credit (e.g., in Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 3). The acceptable modifications document for ComEd provides some examples of alternative department or unit names; these examples are not meant to be an exhaustive list of the names that are acceptable.

Yes, the online notary service available through notarize.com may be used.

A personal check through the e-pay system is acceptable. Please provide the Procurement Administrator the name of the person who submitted the payment so that the payment is credited to the appropriate entity submitting a Part 1 Proposal.

An Insert with a computer-generated signature from DocuSign is acceptable as long as the certificate of completion produced by DocuSign to verify the identity of the signatory is also provided.

When an Insert requires a signature, it must be completed either by: (i) printing, signing, and scanning the Insert; or by: (ii) digitally signing the Insert and providing along with the Insert an additional document or information that verifies the identity of the signatory. In some cases, it will be required that the signature of an Insert that is not digitally signed be notarized.

A digital signature together with an additional document or information that verifies the identity of the signatory is an “Acceptable Digital Signature”. Additional documentation or information may include: (i) a certificate of completion if the signatory uses DocuSign; (ii) a Final Audit Report if the signatory uses Adobe Sign; (iii) evidence that the digital signature has been certified by the signatory using a document signing certificate; or (iv) other documentation or information produced by a commercially available software that can be used by the Procurement Administrator to verify the identity of the signatory. Digital signatures without a document or information verifying the identity of the signatory are not acceptable; signature images and other electronic signatures  are not acceptable.

If the latest available quarterly financial data is provided in your most recent audited annual financial information, no additional information is required.  Please indicate in your online Part 1 Form that the quarterly information contained within your most recent audited annual financial information is the most recent quarterly financial data.

A previously qualified Bidder is generally eligible to participate in an abbreviated process to submit the Part 1 Proposal.  Please see the RFP Rules for a description of this abbreviated process.  Some information has been retained in the online Part 1 Form.  A previously qualified Bidder must update this information as necessary.  A Bidder that resubmits the information without any changes is certifying that the information is correct and up-to-date.

The identification of the Parties in the Supplement is correct.

Each of AIC, ComEd, and MEC is an Adhering Party (but not a Regulated Entity) under the ISDA 2018 U.S. Resolution Stay Protocol (“ISDA Stay Protocol”).  A supplier that is a “Regulated Entity” under the ISDA Stay Protocol has the option to execute the Supplement by mutual agreement of the Parties.  In this context, “Regulated Entity” is a defined term under the ISDA Stay Protocol and does not take on its meaning in ordinary language.

Please consult the list provided here (https://www.isda.org/protocol/isda-2018-us-resolution-stay-protocol/adhering-parties) to determine whether an entity is a Regulated Entity under the ISDA Stay Protocol.

The Fill and Sign function in Adobe does not offer additional documentation to confirm the identity of the signatory and is not acceptable. However, the “Certificates” function in Adobe Acrobat, together with the “certify (visible signature)” option, does allow an individual to validate and for others to confirm the identity of the signatory.

Under the supplier contract, there is no generation source specified for purposes of meeting  the obligations. A Product in the procurement of Block Energy is a constant quantity of energy to be supplied to a Company at the delivery point specified by that Company in either the On-peak Segment or the Off-Peak Segment of a specific month. The Target for a Product is expressed in number of 25 MW blocks.

In order to bid, a Bidder must meet the qualification requirements described in Sections IV and V of the RFP Rules. Notably, as fully described in Section IV, the Part 1 Proposal requirements include, but are not limited to, being a member of PJM in good standing (either as an Affiliate Member or as a Voting Member as those terms are defined by PJM) and/or a Certified Market Participant in MISO (as this term is defined by MISO).  This requirement must be met as of the opening of the Part 1 Window.

Under the supplier contract, there is no generation source specified for purposes of meeting  the obligations. A Product in the procurement of Block Energy is a constant quantity of energy to be supplied to a Company at the delivery point specified by that Company in either the On-peak Segment or the Off-Peak Segment of a specific month. The Target for a Product is expressed in number of 25 MW blocks.

In order to bid, a Bidder must meet the qualification requirements described in Sections IV and V of the RFP Rules. Notably, as fully described in Section IV, the Part 1 Proposal requirements include, but are not limited to, being a member of PJM in good standing (either as an Affiliate Member or as a Voting Member as those terms are defined by PJM) and/or a Certified Market Participant in MISO (as this term is defined by MISO).  This requirement must be met as of the opening of the Part 1 Window.