Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Vermont Public Utility Commission (“Commission” or “PUC”) is soliciting bids for an equity consultant to provide an independent evaluation of the PUC’s internal and external operations, policies, and procedures for equity, to begin immediately upon execution of a contract pursuant to this request for proposal (“RFP”). The Commission is a covered agency under Vermont’s Environmental Justice Act (“Act 154”). As such, the Commission will be required to consider cumulative environmental burdens and access to environmental benefits when making decisions about the environment, energy, climate, facilities and infrastructure, and associated funding. The Commission seeks to implement a long-term, successful diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy. To begin, the Commission will engage in internal learning with an examination of the Commission’s actions, current policies and procedures, and existing operational structures that produce inequities. This will be followed by an external effort that applies lessons from the internal work and develops concrete, outward-facing goals for public engagement, statewide efforts involving the Commission, and our substantive work.
