Request for Proposals: Design/Build Contractor for Cleveland Solar Energy Projects

1.1 Introduction

The City of Cleveland (“City”) is the owner and operator of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (“CLE”) through its Department of Port Control (“DPC”) and of Cleveland Public Power (“CPP”) through its Department of Public Utilities (“DPU”). Through the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Climate Justice (MOSCJ), the City is soliciting design-build services from qualified solar photovoltaic (“PV”) providers to design, engineer, build, and construct a turn-key installation of two (2) DC ground-mounted solar PV projects at the former landfill sites outlined below. The two sites should have a combined DC capacity of approximately 10 megawatts (“MW”), split between the former Kolthoff (~7.0 MW DC) and Bradbury/West 11th (~3.0 MW DC) landfills.

Securing these services will help the City to make progress towards achieving the goals of its recently updated Climate Action Plan (CAP), which include achieving net zero emissions and reaching 100% clean energy by 2050. Additionally, CLE recently released a comprehensive Sustainability Management Plan (SMP), which establishes objectives and actions that CLE will commit to implementing throughout airport operations and capital projects.

Qualified firms either singly or in joint venture or other legal arrangements (collectively, the "Firm," “Contractor,” “Consultant,” or "Respondent") must have the requisite, demonstrated competence and experience in, and a thorough knowledge of, the services required for the Project, included, but not limited to designing, planning, scheduling, permitting and constructing complete solar PV systems and interconnections, provide project financial analysis  have knowledge of local utilities, demonstrate ability to comply with all relevant federal rules and requirements,  have experience applying for and securing federal tax credits (i.e. Investment Tax Credit (ITC)), and provide options for system monitoring and maintenance, post-construction.

Selection criteria will include a combination of price, qualifications, experience, background, and ability to meet the City of Cleveland’s Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) goals. The selection committee will include representation from different City departments, including DPU, DPC, and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Climate Justice (MOSCJ). It is our intention to finalize the selection process and enter into an initial design contract by the end of June 2026 in order to adhere to the timelines for both the grant and the ITC. It is expected that installations and interconnections should be completed no later than December 31, 2027, in order to meet the ITC in-service date requirements. Please refer to Exhibit H for a full list of federal requirements for ITC eligibility.

The City of Cleveland expects the prime contract holder for the Design-Build Services contract to provide team leadership for all services procured through this contract with the City. Rather than hire “hands-off” managers of large and diverse teams, the City expects the prime contract holder to actively manage their sub-consultants and sub-contractors to ensure the best outcomes for the City.

Background

1.2. Background

The City is soliciting statements from qualified Firms, with demonstrated experience in providing professional design/build services, to include a full range of demonstrated competence and experience in designing, planning, scheduling, permitting and constructing complete solar PV systems, including interconnection, provide project financial analysis,  have knowledge of local utilities, demonstrate ability to comply with all relevant federal rules and requirements,  have experience applying for and securing federal tax credits (i.e. Investment Tax Credit (ITC)), and provide system monitoring and maintenance.

This RFP is an invitation to submit statements to MOSCJ outlining, in detail, a proposal to design and construct two landfill solar power generation facilities, as outlined in the RFP below. These facilities at the following two locations, or other locations within the City of Cleveland subject to the federal grant guidelines and approval by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), will serve the following purposes:

1. W.11th and Spring Road Landfill, formerly known as the Bradbury Landfill, for the benefit of CPP customers by reducing costs and risks associated with market procured Power Supply; and be co-located onsite with a future  park area with an educational kiosk about solar power generation, the design and construction of which will be issued through a separate procurement process;
2. Kolthoff Road Landfill, for the benefit of offsetting operational power costs for CLE.

The Design-Builder will submit a single bid to complete the solar installations at both sites, but the Firm should outline two separate project approaches and project teams to meet the separate scopes of work outlined in Section 2.

Project Details

• Department: Mayor's Office of Sustainability
• Department Head: Sarah O'Keeffe (Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-03-19T21:00:00.000Z
• Answers Posted By: 2026-03-27T21:00:41.492Z
• Pre-Proposal Meeting: 2026-03-09T19:00:25.808Z — CDPH Department Operations Center & Training Room: 75 Erieview Plaza, Cleveland, Ohio 44114, US. Entrance is through 65 Erieview Plaza, please stop by security to sign-in and for conference room directions. Webex Meeting Link: https://cityclevelandoh.webex.com/cityclevelandoh/j.php?MTID=m73726b522e054e655356eab865414a14 Join by meeting number • Meeting number (access code): 2318 559 8708 Meeting password: Sustainability Join by phone: +1-415-655-0003

Meetings & Milestones

Addenda

• Addendum #1 (released 2026-03-06T20:17:02.809Z) —

  Please note that this Addendum #1 is being released to provide just the UPDATED WebEx Meeting information for the Pre-Proposal Meeting (Non-Mandatory), that is still scheduled for Monday March 9, 2026, 3:00pm ET, and as a hybrid meeting w/ in-person attendance option. Refer attachment for updated WebEx Link and Meeting#

• Addendum #2 (released 2026-03-27T20:52:13.097Z) —

  Addendum #2 is being released primarily to:

  • Answer questions that were raised during the Non-Mandatory Pre-Proposal Conference conducted on Monday, March 9, 2026 at 3:00PM EDT, Site visits on Wednesday March 18, 2026 8AM – 12PM, as well as questions that were submitted via OpenGov or emailed to the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability.
  • Attach a separate copy of the Phase II Property Assessment for the Kolthoff Road Landfill site.
  • Provide the in-person and WebEx signups for both the non-mandatory meetings, as well as a 2-pager info sheet for the site visit.

Evaluation Criteria

• Quality of Proposal & Proposal Acceptance (30 pts) —

  Quality of Proposal includes Organization of the Team, Specific Approach to this Project, Ability to Perform the Scope of Services, Capacity to Perform Work, including consideration for current City project workload, and Special Commendations as defined in the “Proposal Submission Requirements” section of this RFP.

  Proposal Acceptance: The City reserves the right to accept proposals, in whole or in part, to reject any or all proposals or portions thereof, to waive irregularities, informalities, and technicalities, to re-issue or to proceed to obtain the services(s) desired otherwise, and to negotiate separately, as necessary, to serve the best interest of the City of Cleveland. The Director may, at his/her sole discretion, modify or amend any provision of this notice, or the RFP. Firms whose proposals are not accepted will be notified in writing. For this Request for Proposal, the proposal must remain valid for 180 days after submission.

• Credentials of Key Personnel (25 pts) —

  Credentials of Key Personnel includes qualifications and experience of the Project Team, particularly the project manager and construction general contractor, who will be the lead person on this project, and their prior experience and demonstrated ability to perform the scope of work.

• Demonstrated Ability (20 pts) —

  Demonstrated history of successful relevant projects to meet proposed schedules and budgets.

• Proposed Schedule (10 pts) —

  Proposed Schedule to complete the work according to the timeline outlined in the RFP, including a commitment to meet the ITC deadlines outlined herein.

• Compensation / Fee (10 pts) —

  This item will be reviewed after the evaluations of qualifications have been completed.

• OEO Compliance (5 pts) —

  In Accordance with the City’s goal of increasing the level of certified Cleveland Small Business, Minority Business Enterprise, and Female Business Enterprise participation in City contracts, the Consultant shall strive to meet the following subconsultant/ subcontractor participation goals:

  For the Design (professional architecture, engineering, and preconstruction services) portion of the contract:

  • 10% Certified CSB
  • Note that firms which are CSB/MBE or CSB/FBE are eligible for CSB participation and are strongly encouraged.

  For the Construction portion of the contract:

  • 15% Certified MBE
  • 7% Certified FBE
  • 8% Certified CSB
• Interviews (Optional) (10 pts) —

  Based on preliminary scoring of point-based items described above the City may create a short list of Design-Build Teams and conduct interviews as warranted. Further instruction will be provided to the shortlisted Teams when notified of the forthcoming interview.

Submission Requirements

• Design Build Services Proposal (required)
• Design Build Fee Proposal (required)
• City Required Forms —

  Use fillable versions that have been provided herewith, to fill and upload

• Vendor Entry Form (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• Fillable W-9 (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• NON-COMPETITIVE BID CONTRACT STATEMENT FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2026 (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• AFFIDAVIT (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• NOTICE TO BIDDERS AND OEO SCHEDULES (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload. COMBINE ALL FOUR SCHEDULES INTO A SINGLE PDF.

• Northern Ireland Fair Employment Practices Disclosure —

  INSTRUCTIONS: Pursuant to Codified Ordinance Sec. 181.36, the information requested on this page must be supplied by all contractors and any subcontractors having more than a fifty percent (50%) interest in the proposed contract prior to any contract being awarded by the City of Cleveland.  Any contractor or subcontractor who is deemed to have made a false statement shall be declared to have acted in default of its contract and shall be subject to the remedies for default contained in its contract.  For failure to cure such a default, the contractor or subcontractor shall be automatically excluded from bidding for the supply of any goods or services for use by the City for a period of two (2) years.

• CHECK WHICHEVER IS APPLICABLE: (required)
• By confirming, the proposer affirms that they are in compliant Northern Ireland Fair Employment Practices. (required)
• Northern Ireland - Proof of Compliance for Option 2 and/or Option 3 (required)
• Bid RFIs and Addendums
• Confirm you have received, reviewed, accepted, and incorporated all RFP RFIs, questions, and answers. (required) —

  If applicable. State "yes" even if there were no RFIs or questions.

• Confirm you have received, reviewed, accepted, and incorporated all Addendums?. (required) —

  If applicable. State "yes" even if there were no Addendums.

• Is this a single stage or two-stage RFP? (required)
• Is there a Pre-Proposal Meeting or Site Visit? (required)
• Possible Separate Bid Packages (required)
• Applicable language for OEO (required) —

  The default is OEO language, however, the Airport may have a different requirement.