Scope of work
After the 3 year contract term, what are the Consultant’s responsibilities?
The Consultant will have no responsibilities after the 3 year term of the contract is complete. If all funding is utilized and at least 20 ADUs are completed before the end of the contract, the contract term may be shorter than 3 years.
Is it correct to assume that the HERS rating (and associated hours/costs) are not part of the ADU Accelerator Implementation technical assistance scope of work?
HERS rating services are not part of the technical assistance scope of work. However, because it is required that designs will qualify for Mass Save’s all electric new construction incentive, there will be either a $15,000 (ENERGY STAR next gen) or $25,000 (passive house) Mass Save incentive that could be utilized to offset HERS rating services by the property owner. HERS rating services could be proposed as additional scope as a part of the RFP, if there is budget and time to do so based on an applicant’s approach to the scope of work.
Will MassCEC provide a list of approved raters?
Many manufacturers may recommend a HERS rater that is familiar with their design. In addition, MassCEC may work with NEHERS to create a list of HERS raters active in Pioneer Valley that are qualified that the Consultant may provide to property owners as part of technical assistance.
Most modular housing manufacturers partner with local builder representatives, so availability of different modular products may be predicated on the existence of local builder representatives. May onboarding or connecting prospective local builder representatives to manufacturers or other builder outreach and/or technical assistance be a billable component of Phase A and/or Phase B?
Yes, we anticipate that the selected consultant would establish relationships with manufacturers and builders that can build ADUs, as well as sell and deliver ADUs to property owners in the Pioneer Valley. This would be a billable component. Please include your strategy for doing this in your application.
Some local builders may already be partnered with modular manufacturers and offer services redundant to those named in the RFP, including permits and construction administration services. Should a property owner receive initial technical assistance from the Consultant and choose to collaborate with a builder who offers TA services, would that property owner be countable and billable as part of the project?
Where a property owner selects a modular manufacturer and/or builder that offers services redundant to those named in the RFP, the Consultant should act as an outside advisor to the property owner as necessary. The Consultant and the property owner should also consider moving the hours allotted to them to other areas of technical assistance as needed. In each case, only the hours of technical assistance provided to the homeowner by the Consultant would be countable and billable. You may include in your application a proposed approach for this situation, including a reduced number of hours for property owners overall and/or a reallocation of budget to other areas of technical assistance and/or the ADU Accelerator.
We are already providing feasibility studies, technical assistance, and building ADUs. We could use a portion of available funds to expand our scope of work, possibly including creating either a website like Sonoma/Napa ADU resource center, a new non-profit that provides technical support and engages many builders, creating a revolving loan, and/or building additional ADUs. Are any of these scenarios more acceptable and/or desirable than others?
Yes, a portion of the funds could be used to expand the scope of work if less time and budget is needed for creating feasibility studies and technical assistance planning. Creating a more comprehensive website like the ADU resource centers nationwide, creating a revolving loan or other financial tool, and/or building additional ADUs beyond the goal of 20 are legitimate options. Please propose any additions to the scope of work and their anticipated outcomes and budgets in your application.
In Phase A, what does “consultation with MassCEC staff” entail for designing the ADU Accelerator and ADU Resource Center?
This may include, but is not limited to, a kickoff meeting with MassCEC, monthly meetings until initial content for the ADU Resource Center is developed, providing draft content to MassCEC for review, and quarterly meetings until at least 20 ADUs are built with property owners enrolled in the ADU Accelerator.
Property owner characteristics, site feasibility, and screening
May property owners with limited equity and/or access to financing be deprioritized or excluded from TA services based on a low likelihood of accessing sufficient resources to build?
This may be a method of screening and/or technical assistance proposed by the TA Provider.
Are property owners required to live onsite?
No.
Would property owners qualify if they intend to subdivide, condominiumize, deploy land leases, or otherwise facilitate means of joint ownership?
Yes.
May property owners be incorporated entities such as LLCs or 501(c)(3) entities?
Yes.
We currently do a low cost feasibility study that checks for basic feasibility based on the unique site costs including utility hookups, but using a standard building cost. Do you envision that the feasibility studies under this RFP would provide full detailed design and associated costs?
Feasibility studies may include a range of approaches. A feasibility study should be considered one method of screening properties, so property owners and the Consultant do not spend large amounts of time on properties with poor ADU development potential. Feasibility studies may also be used to calibrate development cost expectations for the property owner. A contribution from the property owner may be considered to gauge the seriousness of the property owner in pursuing development of an ADU. A contribution from the property owner from $50 to $500 towards the feasibility study is appropriate depending on the level of analysis and design.
Are there specific or target populations intended?
No.
What factors should guide the TA Provider’s development of eligibility and prioritization criteria for property owners receiving technical assistance?
The highest priority for screening is determining if a property is a good candidate for adding an ADU (room within setbacks, zoning, utility hookups possible, etc). It is also very important that owners have the financial capacity to complete the project.
Program goals and objectives
What benchmarks or standards will the goal to “reduce the time it takes to construct an ADU” be measured against?
Reducing the time it takes to construct an ADU may include progress over the course of the ADU Accelerator (e.g. improved timelines from the first ADU built to the last), comparison to ADU timelines in Massachusetts municipalities and in other states, and comparison to the average construction timelines for other all-electric housing in the state.
By what benchmarks or standards is “cost effective” defined?
Proposals may be compared for amount of impact (e.g. number of ADUs directly developed, amount of public information and tools available after the grant period, leveraged impact from lenders and manufacturers, scaling accomplished) as compared to grant amount.
Why was Pioneer Valley selected for this RFP?
Pioneer Valley communities are facing a housing shortage. As compared to some other regions in the Commonwealth, this region tends to have larger lot sizes that can accommodate ADUs easily, and the density that ADUs provide tends to be appropriate to the scale of these communities. Barriers that often crop up in other regions, including expensive stormwater requirements, lack of access to water and sewer infrastructure, cumbersome design requirements or height limitations tend to be less prevalent in this region. The goal is to test this technical assistance approach in a region where there can be successes and learnings that can be scaled elsewhere.
Would it be considered an advantage to design a system that could expand statewide? Is there a preference for one ADU center that would be statewide vs multiple smaller regional centers?
Yes, we hope that this system will expand statewide. Both statewide and smaller regional center approaches are welcomed.
Would it be attractive if we built all these faster?
Yes, as accelerated a timeline as possible for delivering 20 ADUs is desired. This may be one factor considered during selection.
ADU Accelerator materials and data
Who owns Intellectual Property (e.g., architectural plans, marketing materials, website content) created for the ADU Resource Center, and are there restrictions on the TA Provider’s use of these materials post-project?
The Consultant will be expected to create the ADU Resource Center content and marketing material. Content including general guides, marketing material, cost estimates, and forms developed will be licensed in perpetuity to Massachusetts and MassCEC. Any and all inventions that are conceived of, or first reduced to use, solely by Grantee prior to or during the course of the Project shall be the sole property of Grantee. See sample contract language in the application documents. Goals of this initiative include making information accessible to the public after the grant period is complete.
What are the specific requirements for the Final Report to evaluate the ADU Accelerator’s outcomes?
We anticipate the Final Report to be less than ten pages, with case studies, lessons learned, and best practices. MassCEC would like to also receive any anonymized data collected through the ADU Accelerator that is useful to the Commonwealth in accelerating ADU adoption in Massachusetts. MassCEC may also provide the Consultant with a template to include ADU case studies on the Building Performance Exchange website.
Is it anticipated whether pre-application and property/owner screener tools will be dynamic web forms/applications, or simply written narrative outlining guidelines?
Pre-application and property owner screening tools should be forms, so that MassCEC and the Consultant can collect information about interested property owners to the extent possible, to inform ADU policies and resources. However, these forms may be simple. Please suggest an approach in your application form.
Is it anticipated whether the TA Provider or Mass CEC will develop the web infrastructure (vs web content) for the ADU resource center and web page, as well as any other online resources? If Mass CEC is to develop infrastructure, what level of resources can Mass CEC dedicate to webpage development? How long is the website to remain up for?
The Consultant will be expected to create the ADU Resource Center content. MassCEC will have the right to make use of and disseminate the content and forms developed under the grant. Please see sample contract language in the application documents. The goals of this initiative include making information accessible to the public after the grant period is complete.
Please propose your approach to web page infrastructure for the ADU Resource Center in your application. MassCEC will review the budget and proposed approaches to assess the best approach and how MassCEC resources may supplement as needed.
How important is it that the infrastructure we create (marketing resources, pipeline process, feasibility study parameters, financial screening tools, etc) are left in place for future feasibility studies and ADUs to be built? We suspect the system we expand will continue to generate ADUs at scale beyond the 20.
Very important. This infrastructure will remain for public use and for potential future pilots in other areas of the state.
Outreach to property owners, municipalities, and other stakeholders
Are the cities and towns of the Pioneer Valley aware that they will be asked to support or collaborate on this project? Will MassCEC help to facilitate the consultant's outreach to these municipalities?
MassCEC is beginning outreach to Pioneer Valley communities about the ADU Accelerator and will help facilitate outreach to municipalities for the Consultant. Applicants should indicate whether they have existing relationships and networks to leverage in the Pioneer Valley. The Consultant may propose collaborating with one or two municipalities to reach the 20 ADU goal (i.e. it is not a requirement that the Consultant collaborate with all communities in Pioneer Valley or customize content on the ADU Resource Center page for individual communities in the Pioneer Valley).
Is there a database already prepared of interested property owners in Pioneer Valley, or is the webpage & local outreach intended to allow the consultant to develop this database?
The webpage and local outreach, as well as outreach by MassCEC, is intended to allow the selected Consultant to develop leads for property owners in Pioneer Valley interested in building an ADU. MassCEC will assist with outreach as much as possible. Please propose an approach to this in your application. Applicants should indicate whether they have existing relationships and networks to leverage in the Pioneer Valley.
Does MassCEC provide a list of approved financing resources for property owners, or must the TA Provider identify and vet these resources?
Some lists of lenders and financial resources in this space have already been compiled by MassCEC and partners. For example, Mass Housing Partnership has convened lenders (both banks and credit unions) to explore how they can contribute to financing ADU production. MassCEC may provide introductions to relevant banker and credit union trade associations as appropriate.
ADU models and options
We are a builder who already does feasibility studies and have already built many modular detached ADUs in the Pioneer Valley; is it okay for us to build all 20 new ADUs, or do we need to propose a system that will engage multiple builders?
The selected Consultant needs to propose a system that will engage multiple manufacturer designs. Curated manufacturer designs profiled on the ADU Resource Center should seek to provide a range of price points, size, layout, and design styles of at least 6 manufacturers. The ADU Resource Center does not need to be comprehensive of every panelized or modular manufacturer in the Northeast with ADU options. The Consultant should seek to have at least 5 different manufacturers as part of the 20 built projects.
Does MassCEC have a database of prefab all-electric ADU mfrs in the northeast? Or is developing this database also in the scope of the ADU Accelerator?
The Consultant will research and choose ADU manufacturers to feature as options on the ADU Resource Center website. MassCEC is aware of several designs and manufacturers with all electric options under 900 square feet (please see incomplete list below). Finalized curated options for listing on the ADU Resource Center should provide a range of price points, size, layout, and design styles of at least six manufacturers. The options featured on the ADU Resource Center do not need to be comprehensive of every panelized or modular ADU manufacturer in New England.
- Brightbuilt
- Inegrity ADU
- B. Public Prefab - Cabino
- Reframe ADU
- Rare Forms/New Frameworks Casitas
- Flora
- Terra
- Agua
- Cabinita
- Unity Homes
- Vermod ADU designs
