Project Background
Section 78.1 of the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 and Ontario Regulation Reg 53/05, Payments Under Section 78.1 of the Act set out the OEB's authority to set payment amounts for Ontario Power Generation (OPG) nuclear generation facilities and certain hydroelectric generation facilities, including the form, methodology, assumptions and calculations used in setting payment amounts. As a general matter, OPG will apply for “payment amounts” that allow it to recover its costs to operate and maintain its generation facilities (“Payment Amounts”). A significant component of these costs is the total compensation OPG pays to its employees. The drivers of these costs can be broken into two broad categories: the compensation paid to its employees (inclusive of base salary, bonuses, overtime, pensions, etc.), and the number of employees it retains (i.e. its staffing levels).
OPG filed its 2027-2031 Payment Amounts application in December 2025. This application includes proposals with respect to the recovery of staff compensation costs and benchmarking studies on staffing levels and compensation. OPG has filed staffing level and compensation benchmarking studies in all of its previous payment amount applications.
During the 2022-2026 period, compensation costs represented, on average, 46% of OPG's requested revenue requirement. OPG’s compensation levels have been a key focus amongst parties in previous proceedings, including: EB-2016-0152 and EB-2020-0290. Vendors should review the records of previous proceedings in order to understand the level of work that may be required in order to appropriately analyze the evidence, prepare interrogatories, and provide the other Services and Deliverables listed in Section 2.3.
This RFP is issued concurrently with five (5) Requests for Services (RFSs) related to the OPG Application. Vendors that bid in response to this RFP, who also may be interested in submitting Bids in response to the RFSs, should consider their capacity to provide services in response to this RFP as well as the RFSs, taking into account the anticipated volume and pace of work. Vendors should be prepared to work in coordination with the other vendor(s) selected to support OEB staff on OPG’s application and demonstrate previous successful experience of collaboration with other vendors or consultants.
Purpose and Objectives
The purpose of this procurement is to retain an expert who will assist OEB staff in its review of OPG's 2027-2031 Payment Amounts application, specifically OPG's staffing levels, compensation, and corporate cost allocation evidence (with a focus on OPG's staffing and compensation benchmarking studies).
Scope of Work and Requirements
A Vendor is required to provide adequate testing of OPG's staffing levels, compensation, and corporate cost allocation evidence (particularly with respect to OPG's staffing and compensation benchmarking studies).
As required, the successful Vendor will provide the following Services and Deliverables:
Deliverable 1 - Interrogatories (expected date of late February / early March 2026)
Deliverable 2 - Technical Conference (expected date of April 2026)
Deliverable 3 - Expert Report (expected date of April 2026)
Deliverable 4 - Interrogatories on Expert Report (expected date of May 2026)
Deliverable 5 - Oral Hearing Preparation (expected date of July 2026)
Deliverable 6 - Oral Hearing Testimony (expected date of July 2026)
Deliverable 7 - OEB Staff Submission (expected date of August 2026)
**Please Note** The timelines are subject to change depending on the schedule approved by the OEB hearing panel.
Full details of the RFS document is available only through MERX at www.merx.com or 1-800-964-6379, MERX reference number 0000310599.
