ICP Protocols bring a level of standardization to the inherently complex world of energy efficiency. Core to our approach is the development of a standardized documentation package to allow owners, investors, insurers and others to validate underwriting criteria. ICP is also undertaking the creation of an ICP workflow which leverages project developers, software producers, and quality insurance providers to create ICP Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ projects.
The Software Provider Credential program has been created to ensure that standardization can be achieved at scale through automation. Credentialed providers' applications allow developers and others to bring ICP compliant projects to market quicker and with fewer resources. The introduction of an ICP Virtual Documentation Package as specified in the guidelines will enable the standardization of documentation assembly, access, and verification and is a key enabler to reduce transaction costs, speed underwriting, and increase investor and building owner confidence. Conforming application will also be able to facilitate the workflow required to originate Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ projects through an automated and secure process.
The ICP Software Provider Credential has been developed with the invaluable feedback of the market, various stakeholder segments, and especially our software providers. ICP is working alongside the providers in the program to bring the combination of automation and standardization to the industry providing significant and synergistic benefits for project development. We encourage any and all organizations involved in the origination of projects to review our Credentialed Software Providers' info-page hosted on this site (sites can be found in the navigation menu under this page). Software providers who have committed to meeting the program's requirements in 2014 include:
Software Provider Credentialing Guidelines
The Software Provider Credential is designed to assure that a provider's product (software/application either installed or web-based) can support the requirements of the ICP Performance Protocols and ICP System. Specifically, qualifying products must enable managed and easy access to all of the required documentation as well as support the ICP workflow for creating ICP IREE™ Projects. It should be noted that ICP is seeking to create facilitated workflow that is streamlined and in general consistent with ICP methodology in a general sense, however, software providers will have significant flexibility to design the optimal technology, user interfaces, and formats to accomplish this.
The ICP Software Provider Credential guidelines are:
Documentation Management: Software should provide a means to access a Virtual Documentation Package or VDP (user interface screen, tab, layout, folder structure, etc based on provider’s discretion) providing access to the documentation specified by the ICP Energy Performance Protocols. Access should be controlled so that various parties in the process (developers, owners, QA providers, lenders, underwriters) can access the documentation in a secure fashion that they are permissioned to view
Document Organization: The VDP should be organized in such a manner that users can easily locate necessary files according to the ICP Project Lifecycle (as depicted in http://www.eeperformance.org/project-framework.html)
Document Association: The documentation required by the ICP Energy Performance Protocols is summarized as documentation elements and viewable at (http://goo.gl/HRTep1). Conforming application’s must allow users to easily access each identified data element. How this is accomplished (Screen, UI widget, folders, checklists, tags, etc.) will be left to the software provider’s discretion.
Document Verification: Applications should enable a workflow allowing for QA Providers (or other authorized reviewer) to designate that a project conforms to the ICP specifications. Upon such designation the project data and documentation should be “locked” to prevent retroactive changes..
Financial Metrics Representation. Proposals and other documentation generated by software that includes financial calculations (such as cash flows, ROI, SIR, etc.) must accurately reference savings calculations based on the ICP protocols and be calculated accurately in accordance with industry standards.
Logo Use: Logo shall be hyperlinked to the Self-Qualification form posted on the ICP website, when used in digital format.
