Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Metering System and Integration Services RFP

CITY OF PELLA MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC UTILITY
Pella, Iowa
Request for Proposals
ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE (AMI)
METERING SYSTEM AND INTEGRATION SERVICES
Prepared by:
City of Pella Municipal Electric Utility
Funded in part by the
Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA)
and the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program
(Authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act)
RFP Release Date: April 20, 2026
Proposal Due Date and Time: 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, 2026
Submission Location:
Pella Municipal Electric Utility
222 Truman Rd
Pella, Iowa 50219

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
Section 2 Project Objectives and Evaluation Framework ............................................................... 4
Section 3 Minimum Technical and Functional Requirements ...................................................... 8
Section 4 Instructions to Proposers......................................................................................................13
Section 5 Terms, Conditions, and Grant Compliance .....................................................................17
Appendix A Proposal Pricing Schedule ....................................................................................................19
Appendix B Critical Energy Infrastructure Non-Disclosure Agreement .....................................24

SECTION 1: Introduction
The City of Pella Municipal Electric Utility is undertaking a system-wide Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI) modernization project to improve reliability, operational eficiency,
billing accuracy, and grid resilience for all electric customers within the City of Pella. This
project is funded in part through the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) under
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program, authorized by
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). As such, all equipment, procurement
processes, documentation, and reporting requirements must comply with applicable
federal regulations, including Build America, Buy America (BABA) provisions, federal
procurement standards, and DOE program guidance.
The goal of this AMI project is to replace approximately 5,300 existing electric meters
across residential, commercial, and industrial accounts with modern, IP-based, fully
integrated AMI metering technology. The new system will leverage the City's existing
Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network where available and utilize secure wireless
connectivity where iber backhaul is not directly accessible. The AMI system shall be
designed to operate without routine reliance on external communication enclosures,
bolt-on radios, collectors, or neighborhood gateway devices, and shall instead incorporate
all primary communication functions-wired or wireless-behind the meter glass as part
of the factory-sealed design. However, in limited cases where the City's FTTP network is not
available to provide a direct IP backhaul path for a speciic geographic area, the use of
external communication devices may be permitted. Any such devices shall be used solely to
provide network connectivity in FTTP-limited areas, shall interface directly with the
utility's IP infrastructure, and shall not rely on cellular, proprietary radio systems,
third-party network backhaul, or serve as multi-meter collectors or neighborhood
communication hubs.
For planning and evaluation purposes, the City has prepared supplemental GIS reference
data identifying approximate electric meter locations, iber ONT locations, and streetlight
infrastructure to assist proposers in understanding the system environment.
Because this project utilizes federal funding, the City of Pella has engaged in due diligence
with the DOE BABA-MAX Technical Assistance program to evaluate domestic availability of
AMI metering solutions. DOE's technical assistance indicated that very few commercially
available AMI electric meters currently meet BABA domestic content thresholds for
residential and commercial deployments, and that the limited BABA-compliant industrial
metering equipment available is neither technically suitable nor inancially practical for
widespread deployment across the City's service territory. Accordingly, the City intends to
submit a BABA non-availability waiver request, supported by DOE's documented indings.
Vendors responding to this RFP must provide all required domestic-content documentation
and shall support the City's BABA waiver submission as needed.
AMI meters and ield equipment will be installed by Pella Municipal Electric Utility
personnel. The successful vendor will be responsible for providing all system integration
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services, including head-end software coniguration, communication system integration,
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meter provisioning support, cybersecurity coniguration, training, and commissioning. The
resulting AMI system must provide reliable interval data collection; outage and restoration
notiications; voltage and power quality metrics; event logs; secure irmware maintenance;
and seamless communication across residential, polyphase, and transformer-rated
metering installations.
As part of the City's operational requirements, the AMI system must fully integrate with the
City's existing Civic Systems / Caselle Clarity Utility Billing System. The AMI system must
deliver monthly, per-meter time-segmented energy usage, including on-peak, off-peak, and
mid-peak watthour consumption in accordance with Caselle's data import speciications.
The system must also provide timestamped 15-minute interval peak demand
measurements (kW) for customers who qualify for demand-based billing, ensuring
accurate demand determination and billing in accordance with the City's established rate
structures. In addition, the system must capture and report reactive power (kVAR), power
factor, and related power-quality metrics to support load monitoring, system diagnostics,
and evaluation of customer demand characteristics during on-peak and off-peak periods.
Standard Class 200 Form 2S meters supplied under this project must include a remote
disconnect capability, fully integrated behind the meter glass, to support service
connection, disconnection, and reconnection functions. The AMI system must also support
bi-directional, detented watthour measurements for accurate accounting of both delivered
and received energy for customers with distributed generation, including solar and other
behind-the-meter renewable technologies. Vendors must provide secure, automated
data-exchange worklows that ensure dependable synchronization between the AMI system
and the City's billing platform to maintain accuracy in billing, rate structures, time-of-use
programs, and distributed-generation settlements.
In support of customer engagement and transparency, the AMI system shall include or
support a secure, web-based and mobile-accessible Customer Interaction Portal that
provides near real-time visibility into electric usage, time-segmented energy consumption,
demand values, and available power-quality information. The portal shall operate
independently of the City's existing Civic Systems / Caselle Clarity Utility Billing System.
The portal shall also be capable of displaying water-usage data once the City deploys
compatible water-metering technologies, including interval or daily water-consumption
history and usage trends. Customers shall have the option to enroll in automated alerts for
both electric and water usage, including high-usage notiications, abnormal-consumption
alerts, potential leak-detection alerts, continuous-low warnings, or other exception-based
conditions derived from AMI data. Although water-system integration is not included
within the scope of this project, the AMI system and customer portal shall be designed and
evaluated for compatibility with future water-metering endpoints, including ERT-based
devices, to support seamless integration in subsequent phases of system deployment.
The AMI system shall be designed to support future demand-response (DR) and
demand-voltage response (DVR) programs as part of the City's long-term
grid-modernization and resiliency strategy. While implementation of DR or DVR programs
is not included within the scope of the current project, the system architecture must be
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capable of securely supporting utility-initiated load and voltage-response strategies based
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on real-time and interval metering data. This includes the ability to communicate with
customer-side load-control devices or devices with voltage-responsive functionality, such
as air-conditioning condenser controls, electric water heaters, electric vehicle supply
equipment (EVSE), and other controllable or responsive loads. The AMI platform shall
support standards-based, IP-connected control and veriication worklows delivered over
utility-owned network infrastructure and shall enable future customer participation,
notiication, and reporting through the AMI head-end and customer-interaction portal
without requiring fundamental changes to the deployed system.
All metering devices furnished under this speciication shall be factory-tested and certiied
for accuracy by a NIST-traceable source. Meter accuracy veriication shall follow the testing
principles established in Iowa Administrative Code 199-21.6, including evaluation at
intermediate and maximum load points and determination of meter error using the
algebraic average of these test results. The vendor shall provide complete electronic test
data for each meter, including serial number, test points, and percent error at each point, in
a standard digital format such as .csv or .xlsx suitable for the City's internal
quality-assurance and recordkeeping processes.
This speciication establishes the minimum technical, performance, cybersecurity,
interoperability, and integration requirements for the procurement of the City's
next-generation AMI metering system. The City seeks a long-term, scalable,
standards-based solution that enhances operational capability, improves grid monitoring,
supports future automation and resiliency initiatives, and aligns with DOE's grid resilience
objectives.
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SECTION 2: Project Objectives and Evaluation Framework
2.1 Project Objectives
The Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project is intended to modernize the City of
Pella's electric metering capabilities, enhance operational eficiency, strengthen grid
resilience, improve customer engagement, and support future multi-utility integration. The
City seeks a system that enables secure, reliable, and scalable two-way communication
between meters and utility systems while leveraging the City's existing Fiber-to-the-
Premises (FTTP) network where available. The system must support accurate time-
segmented billing, demand measurement, enhanced power-quality monitoring, improved
outage management, and near real-time customer-facing usage information through an
independent customer interaction portal.
The AMI system must reduce the operational burden of manual meter reading, accelerate
outage detection and service restoration, improve billing accuracy, and create a foundation
for future automation and distributed energy resource (DER) integration. The project must
also prepare the City for future multi-utility data consolidation by enabling eventual display
of water-usage data and alert functionality for water services within the customer portal.
The architecture shall be designed for high reliability, long-term supportability, and
compatibility with future expansion of smart-grid, load-management, and distributed-
generation initiatives.
2.2 Vendor Response Requirements
Vendo rs must submit a comprehensive proposal that includes, at minimum:
1. Technical Speciications describing all proposed meters, communication methods,
hardware, irmware, security features, data reporting capabilities, and
customer-portal functionality.
2. System Architecture Documentation detailing communication pathways (e.g., FTTP,
Wi-Fi, mesh), head-end components, data management systems, customer-portal
architecture, and cybersecurity controls.
3. Implementation Plan, including proposed timelines, resource requirements,
commissioning procedures, training programs, and support structure.
4. Integration Plan describing how the system will interface with Caselle Clarity Utility
Billing, how future water-meter data would be ingested or displayed, and how
customer alerts will be conigured.
5. Testing Documentation, including NIST-traceable factory test procedures, adherence
to Iowa Administrative Code 199-21.6 principles, and sample test reports in .csv or
.xlsx format.
6. Cybersecurity and Data Governance Plan describing authentication, encryption,
irmware security, IPv6 support, and ongoing update procedures.
7. Customer Portal Demonstration or Documentation showing capabilities, interface
options, alerting features, and future multi-utility support readiness.
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8. Warranty and Support Documentation, including standard warranty terms,
extended coverage options, support response times, escalation procedures, and
software-maintenance provisions.
9. Cost Proposal, including itemized pricing for meters, software, licensing, integration,
training, support, and any optional features or add-on modules.
10. BABA Documentation, including domestic-content declarations and any supporting
materials needed for the City's BABA non-availability waiver request.
11.A narrative description of the system's readiness to support future
demand-response (DR) and demand-voltage response (DVR) programs, consistent
with Sections 1 and 3 of this speciication.
Failure to provide complete documentation may result in disqualiication.
2.3 Mandatory Requirements
The following requirements are mandatory. Proposals that do not meet all mandatory
requi rements will not be evaluated further.
1. Behind-the-Glass Integrated Communications: Standard residential and
commercial/industrial meters must include factory-integrated, behind-the-glass
communications hardware capable of establishing a secure IP connection using
Wi-Fi and supporting mesh routing where needed.
2. FTTP-Compatible Architecture: The system must operate with the City's existing
FTTP network wherever available, without reliance on cellular networks,
proprietary backhaul systems, neighborhood collectors, or multi-meter gateway
devices.
3. Remote Disconnect Capability: Standard Class 200 Form 2S meters and Form 12S
network meters must include fully integrated remote disconnect/reconnect
capability.
4. Caselle Clarity Compatibility: The system must support automated delivery of
monthly time-segmented energy usage and timestamped 15-minute demand values
in a format compatible with Caselle Clarity Utility Billing.
5. Power-Quality Measurement: Meters must support measurement and reporting of
kVARs, power factor, and other relevant power-quality metrics.
6. Distributed-Generation Support: Meters must support detented, bi-directional
energy measurement for net-metered and customer-owned DER installations.
7. Customer Portal Requirement: The system must include or support a secure,
standalone customer portal capable of displaying electric usage and future
water-usage data, along with conigurable alerting functions.
8. NIST-Traceable Accuracy Testing: All meters must be factory-tested by a
NIST-traceable source, with accuracy veriied at intermediate and maximum load
points consistent with the testing principles of Iowa Administrative Code 199-21.6.
9. Electronic Test Data: Vendors must provide per-meter test reports in .csv or .xlsx
format.
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10.Cybersecurity Standards: The system must support IPv6, encrypted
communications, secure irmware updates, and industry-standard security
practices.
11.No Prohibited Architectures: The system may not rely on collector-based AMI
designs, multi-meter gateways, or externally mounted radios except in geographic
areas where FTTP is not available.
12.Implementation and Training Support: Vendors must provide comprehensive
integration, coniguration, commissioning, and training services.
2.4 Scored Evaluation Criteria
Proposals that meet all mandatory requirements will be evaluated according to the
following weighted criteria:
Evaluation Category Points
Technical Compliance & Meter Performance 25
Communication Architecture, Network Integration, and 20
Future Grid-Interactive Capability
Customer Portal Features & User Experience 10
Cybersecurity, IPv6, and Data Integrity 10
Integration with Caselle Clarity & Future Water Data Support 10
Vendor Experience, Product Maturity & Reliability 10
Implementation Plan, Training & Support Services 10
Total Cost of Ownership 5
Total Possible Points 100
In evaluating communication architecture and network integration, additional
consideration will be given to systems that demonstrate readiness to support future
grid-interactive capabilities, including demand-response (DR) and demand-voltage
response (DVR) strategies, without reliance on cellular networks, proprietary backhaul
systems, or fundamental changes to the deployed AMI platform.
In evaluating system architecture, integration, and overall technical approach, additional
consideration may be given to solutions that support full on-premises deployment within
City-owned infrastructure with minimal reliance on external or vendor-hosted services.
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2.5 Scoring Methodology
Proposals that satisfy all mandatory requirements identiied in Section 2.3 will be
evaluated using the weighted scoring criteria described in Section 2.4. Points will be
assigned based on demonstrated compliance, technical merit, completeness, clarity of
documentation, alignment with project objectives, and overall value to the City. All scoring
determinations will be based exclusively on the information contained in each vendor's
written proposal. No negotiations, price adjustments, best-and-inal offers (BAFO), or
material revisions to proposals will be permitted after the proposals are opened.
The City may request written clariications strictly for the purpose of resolving minor
ambiguities or conirming information already provided in a proposal. Such clariications
shall not result in changes to pricing, scope, technical approach, or contractual terms.
Failure to respond to a clariication request may result in a proposal being deemed
non-responsive.
The City intends to award the contract to the highest scoring proposal, based on the criteria
noted in section 2.4. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, waive
informalities, or cancel the solicitation if determined to be in the best interest of the City
and consistent with applicable grant requirements.
2.6 Proposals are Public Records
All proposals submitted in response to this RFP shall become the property of the City of
Pella and will not be returned.
Under Chapter 22 of the Iowa Code, "Examination of Public Records", all records of a
governmental body are presumed to be public records, open to inspection by members of
the public. Proposals submitted in response to this RFP shall be considered public records.
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SECTION 3: Minimum Technical and Functional Requirements
This section deines the minimum technical, functional, and performance requirements for
the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system proposed for the City of Pella
Municipal Electric Utility. All requirements in this section are mandatory unless explicitly
noted otherwise. Proposals that fail to meet these minimum requirements may be deemed
non-responsive.
3.1 Meter Hardware Requirements
All meters furnished under this project shall be utility-grade devices designed for North
American electric-utility service and shall comply with applicable ANSI, IEEE, and UL
standards.
Met*e rs must support, at a minimum, the following forms and classes:
* Single-phase self-contained meters including Form 2S Class 200 and Form 2S Class
* 320
Network meters including Form 12S Class 200 and Class 320
* Polyphase self-contained meters including Forms 12S, 14S, 15S, and 16S in Class
200 and Class 320
Transformer-rated meters including, but not limited to, Forms 3S, 4S, 5S, 9S, and 36S
All self-contained meters shall be ringless socket compatible. Standard Class 200 Form 2S
meters supplied under this project shall include an integrated remote service
disconnect/reconnect switch located behind the meter glass. Transformer-rated meters are
not required to include disconnect capability unless otherwise speciied by the City.
Meters shall be capable of operating reliably across environmental conditions typical of the
City of Pella and shall meet applicable accuracy requirements under ANSI C12.20, as
appropriate for meter class and application.
3.2 Integrated Communications Architecture
The AMI system shall utilize an IP-based communications architecture designed to leverage
the City's existing Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure wherever available. All
standard meters shall include factory-integrated communication hardware located behind
the meter glass as part of a sealed meter design.
Meters shall be capable of establishing secure IP communications using wireless
connectivity, including Wi-Fi, and shall support peer-to-peer or mesh capabilities to allow
meters without a direct backhaul path to communicate through nearby meters with
available connectivity.
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