Project Background
The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) oversees the energy sector in Ontario. We license and regulate over 650 electricity and natural gas companies. We are a trusted and reliable source of information for energy consumers.
The OEB approves municipal franchise agreements (franchises) and grants certificates of public convenience and necessity (certificates) to natural gas distributors, and licences to electricity distributors, which authorizes them to construct and operate natural gas and electricity distribution systems in a given area in Ontario. Part of the OEB’s mandate is to facilitate competition and the rational expansion of natural gas and electricity transmission and distribution systems. One way to do this is to provide information about where certificates, franchises and licences have been granted in a more user-friendly format, such as an interactive online map.
The OEB currently has PDF copies of all the written certificates and franchises it has granted Enbridge Gas Inc. (and its predecessors), EPCOR Natural Gas Limited Partnership, OM Limited Partnership, Metalore Resources Ltd., and all licences granted to electricity distributors. All of the franchises and most of the certificates/licences follow municipal boundaries. However, a number of the certificates/ licences that have been granted include specific lots and concessions within municipalities or cover former municipalities that have now been annexed or amalgamated into the current municipalities. The work is to map out all the areas covered by the franchises and certificates/licences that the OEB has granted to natural gas and electricity distributors in Ontario. This will involve finding the boundaries of former municipalities, as well as lots and concessions, to the extent necessary. The OEB plans to separately map out a layer for franchises, another layer for certificates, and one for licences and make the relevant documents accessible. The OEB also intends to integrate the map with existing document management and Customer Relations Manager (CRM) software.
Objectives
- Identify the certificate, franchise, and licence areas in each municipality that have been awarded to a distributor (or multiple distributors, if applicable) based on copies of the respective certificate/franchise decisions and licences issued by the OEB.
- Identify GIS data from certificates, franchises and licences that will need to be stored in our Pivotal CRM system. (i.e. What data do we need to store to define what to include in shapefiles).
- Advise OEB of data issues - (i.e. can one attribute consist of multiple polygons/cities with unconnected space in between).
- Create shapefiles that map out and delineate these certificate, franchise and licence areas within municipal boundaries (as applicable), including separately identifying areas granted to different utilities.
- Enable users to be able to access information on the actual certificate, franchise or licence by clicking on the relevant area on the map (e.g. summary information on the certificate/franchise/licence should appear in a pop up, and a link to the PDF of the decision granting the certificate or franchise should become accessible).
- Develop a map webpage design that allows for easy search capabilities, fully responsive across multiple devices (desktop, tablet, mobile), compatible with all modern browsers, with a quick load time.
The term of the assignment is for two (2) years.
Purpose and Scope
The OEB is looking to engage a vendor to create a desktop, tablet and mobile-friendly mapping site that will enable OEB staff and members of the public to access information about where natural gas have been granted certificates and franchises and where electricity distributors have been granted licences. The map will also link to the relevant documents on the OEB’s document management software Micro Focus Records Manager Webdrawer. The map should tie-in to the OEB’s CRM software, Pivotal, and display the certificate/franchise/licence summary information as updated in Pivotal. The map must allow for the capability to easily update the franchise, certificate, licence and/or municipal boundaries on a quarterly/semi-annual/annual basis, by either the vendor or a third party. The vendor will be retained for the next two years to maintain and update the map as needed as part of this RFP. The map should be embeddable in the OEB’s website. The OEB’s preferred tool is the cloud-based ArcGIS Online system, but the OEB will consider proposals involving other tools that can also fulfill its requirements and are considerate of cost and system capabilities.
Full details are in the RFP document, which is available only through MERX at www.merx.com or 1-800-964-6379, MERX reference number 0000180391.
