Over the past 15 years, the team at TerraVerde and I have completed over 310 energy project procurement assessments and request for proposals.

We have created the scope and managed competitive procurement for solar, battery, energy efficiency, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure on behalf of more than 145 school districts, city governments, water & sanitation agencies in California.

We have distilled our key learnings through this process into 10 findings, which we are sharing in this post.


Are you interested to install solar, battery, and electric vehicle charging projects? Reach out to hello@terraverde.energy to schedule an Energy Workshop with our team.


There is an information asymmetry problem!

Before delving into our findings, it is crucial to address a fundamental challenge: information asymmetry.

What do we mean by information asymmetry problem?

There is an information asymmetry between public agencies and the solar, battery, and electric vehicle charging providers.

Public agencies are focused on operating their businesses, like managing water infrastructure, operating education campuses, or keeping a police and fire station on the ready state.

Deploying on-site energy infrastructure like solar, battery, and electric vehicle charging requires subject matter expertise and experience.

Every project is a miracle!

There is a saying that every project is a miracle.

There are many challenges and puzzle pieces that need to come together at the right time and place to complete a project: right sizing solar for cost savings, navigating permitting, integrating batteries into and with existing facilities for resiliency & redundancy, and obtaining interconnection approval from the utilities.

These challenges, if not assessed in advance and de-risked in the contract, gives the contractors and installers a knowledge advantage over public agencies which can expose them to cost overruns via change orders.

Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.

TerraVerde is here to solve the information asymmetry problem for public agencies tackling energy infrastructure projects. Archimedes said, “Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.”

TerraVerde as an owner’s representative energy consulting firm, creates and manages comprehensive requests for proposals on behalf of public agencies to deploy projects.

A key value add of our work is in creating and managing requests for proposals (RFPs) for our public agency clients. We then support our clients to select a contractor, negotiate the contract, manage the contractor through installation, and oversee the system operations to ensure benefits are received by our clients.

A request for proposal is the lever. And we stand with our clients throughout the entire lifecycle of an installation to create a knowledge balance that makes miracles happen.

This is how we solve the information asymmetry problem for public agencies who want to deploy energy infrastructure.

Our Top 10 Findings

Here is our list of findings! Number 6 is surprising, and happens often…showing why RFPs create value for public agencies.

1-Transparency is Key: What public agencies are looking for the most from an RFP is transparency in the process.

2-Robust Proposal Process: Public agencies want a reliable and defensible proposal process that can withstand a protest.

3-Preparation Matters: Most of the work for a successful RFP is done before it is released, including educating the market to be ready to respond to the RFP, especially in projects where customization is needed.

4-Proposal Comparison: Levelizing proposals correctly for comparison will make or break a procurement process.

5-RFP Positioning: A well-positioned RFP with clear project specification draws multiple qualified respondents with competitive pricing. The selection comes down to which company demonstrates to be a better partner for the public agency.

6-Cost Understanding: In most RFPs, there are respondents who miss the cost proposal by as much as twice the average cost of other respondents. The contractors who pursue sole sourced projects and think public agencies will rate or tax base an infrastructure project at any cost typically avoid responding to RFPs.

7-Respect for Process: RFP respondents respect an organized process that provides transparency. That is why after every RFP, I meet with each respondent, and review how their proposal compared to others.

8-Cost Savings: The most important thing public agencies care about is saving money on their electric bill and avoiding future cost escalation.

9-Smooth Construction Management: The second most important thing public agencies care about is to select a firm that can manage a smooth construction process. No surprises!

10-Long-term Partnership: The third most important thing public agencies care about is a partner that can be there for the long run to provide reliable operations and maintenance.

TerraVerde Energy is here to guide you through a streamlined procurement process that brings transparency and delivers results. Reach out to hello@terraverde.energy for an Energy Workshop.