In addition to the guaranteed energy savings requirements common in any EPC contract, the smartEPC contract model integrates a number of innovative performance-based criteria to ensure a comprehensive management of the building performance and the related costs of ownership/occupancy. This includes among others:

• A condition-based maintenance, with condition assessment of the entire building and all the technical installations (according to the Dutch standard NEN 2767), being the basis for the optimization of the cost and quality of the maintenance.
• The comfort and satisfaction score (ComfortMeter), which brings comfort and productivity of the occupants at the heart of the contract;
• The building value concept (based on the NEN2767 condition scores monetization):
  • Allowing to quantify and monitor the « building value » of the technical installations all along the contract and to fix the « returned » value as well as to calculate the « added » value at the end of the contract ;
  • Providing opportunities for extensive or deep renovations, even with contracts of limited terms;
  • Creating the opportunity to include buildings with leases of various terms;
  • Creating the opportunity for co-investment between the owner and the tenant.
• A third party building certification (Breeam In Use), with its own performance scores, enlarging the possibilities of performance requirements to be included in the scope of the contract.
• These criteria are linked to bonus and penalty-project requirements and make smartEPC a 100% performance and output-driven contract model. The smartEPC contract model is in practice a completely "energy, maintenance, comfort, building value and third party building certification performance contracting" model.

Fig.: smartEPC, an innovative model for energy, comfort, maintenance, building value & third party building certification performance contracting

The smartEPC model also offers a comprehensive set of standardized EPC procurement and contracting documents, tools and guidance materials to be used for each stage of the project preparation, the tendering process and the contract follow-up. Developed by Energinvest for Fedesco, the Federal Energy Services Company, this set of standardized documents, tools and guidance materials are currently used in various EPC projects at national and local levels in Belgium and abroad. Here again, smartEPC differs from traditional EPC tendering models by privileging a main award criterion based on the Net Present Value (NPV) of all costs and benefits of the contract (energy savings, maintain & repairs costs, building value costs and/or benefits) that simplifies and facilitates the awarding of the contract. It also incorporates a pragmatic approach for carrying out routine and non-routine adjustments and Measurement and Verification (M&V) of the energy savings, in accordance with the IPMVP (International Performance Measurement and Verification) protocol.

Finally, smartEPC offers a Total Cost of Ownership/Occupancy (TCO) management tool that allows managing efficiently and with clear predictability the financial contributions of all the co-contractors and/or beneficiaries of the contract, in various configurations from as simple as one single owner/occupier to more complex ones involving multi-tenants, owners, buildings and/or lease terms.

In practice, the smartEPC methodology does not differ much from a traditional EPC contract implementation, and consists of three phases: project drafting, project tendering, and project implementation and follow-up.

The drafting phase puts all buildings included in the EPC project onto a level playing field where performance can be measured, managed and compared. This is typically achieved through multi-disciplinarily and integrated benchmarking, technical inventory, condition assessment, walk-through audits and certification methodologies, which yield energy, comfort, building value and certification performance ratios as well as a cost building model allowing to perform various EPC feasibility analyses.

This in-depth analysis allows exploring and evaluating actionable opportunities for performance improvements and cost savings to be translated in an EPC draft-project following several scenarios (from cost-effective retrofit to comprehensive refurbishment). This first phase provides decision makers with the needed information to design the final draft of the EPC contract, including:

• Estimation of the costs and benefits of the EPC contract as well as the cost allocations between the co-contractors and/or beneficiaries for each scenario.
• Estimation of the financial requirements (Opex and Capex) and the adequate financing instrument for each scenario, including third part financing assessment.
• Establishment of the metrics and performance ratios that will embody the core requirements of the EPC contract for each scenario.

In the tendering phase, the project team defines the final requirements of the EPC contract and consolidates the various project data within the set of standardized smartEPC tendering documents. A multidisciplinary team of legal, technical and financial experts assists and facilitates the project team in the crucial milestones of the tendering process, such as the bidders selection, the bidders information sessions, the receipt and analysis of offers, the negotiation with the best bidders up to the BAFO (Best and Final Offer), the design of the M&V Plan and the final EPC contract drafting to be awarded. For projects including third party financing, Energinvest will also assist the project team in the financial terms negotiation with the BAFO bidder, or in structuring and negotiating of the contract with a third part investor.

The third phase of smartEPC relates to the contract implementation and follow-up. Here again, a multidisciplinary team of legal, technical and financial experts assists and facilitates the project team in the crucial milestones of the contract implementation, such as the detailed engineering and works planning approvals, the works supervision up to the final acceptance and commissioning, the establishment of the first year annual breakdown and the control/validation of the first year Performance KPIs as well as the first year Measurement & Verification report.

• Contract Drafting
• Contract Tendering
• Contract Implementation
• Contract Follow up

1. Provides customer-Specific benchmark and cost models to evaluate technical and financial feasability of an EPC Contract and estimates savings and capital improvements.
2. Guides senior management decision making for operating budget and capital planning estimates.
3. Facilitates the tender process with ready to use tender documents, tools and procedures.