Who this guide is for
You’re about to buy lighting controls as part of a renovation, an LED retrofit, a new building, or the replacement of a system that never worked. Maybe a contractor has already handed you a proposal. The decision to get right is what to require before anyone bids, so the bids you get are comparable and the system you end up with is one you can live with for fifteen years.
Decisions to make before you buy
Most disappointing controls projects were decided by default. Nobody chose; the first proposal chose for them. Make these decisions deliberately and write them down.
- Who owns the system after handover? Facilities, IT, a service provider, or a combination. The answer drives protocol choices, network design and training, so put it in the RFP.
- Which architecture? Room-based networked controls, luminaire-level control with a sensor in every fixture, or a wired system. Each fits different buildings, and our NLC vs. LLLC article walks through the tradeoffs.
- What does the lighting have to talk to? A BMS that will use occupancy for HVAC setback, a demand response program, an analytics platform. Every connection needs a protocol and a points list, and every unscoped connection becomes a change order.
- Which incentive program, and when? TVA EnergyRight requires pre-approval before work starts, and most programs require DLC-listed products. The schedule has to put the application ahead of the purchase order.
- Which code applies? Energy-code adoption varies across Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama, and renovations can trigger control and functional-testing requirements. Confirm the edition with the authority having jurisdiction before you write the specification.
- What data do you want, and who gets to see it? Energy by zone for M&V, occupancy for space planning, fault alerts for maintenance. Decide now, because sensor choices and data rights follow from it.
- How long does it have to last? Fixtures last fifteen years or more; network electronics and software usually don’t. Decide how firmware, security patches and an eventual migration will be handled.
Write the RFP around performance, not part numbers
A proprietary specification (“Brand X system, model Y, no substitutions”) hands the outcome to one manufacturer and its rep. A loose performance specification (“provide an energy-saving lighting control system”) hands it to whoever bids lowest. Neither protects you.
Use a basis of design with defined performance instead. Name a product family as the reference, then define “or equal” with the clauses above. Anyone can substitute a product that meets them, and everyone prices the same scope. Attach the sequence of operations, too. Without it, bidders guess what the system should do, and the lowest bid is usually the one that guessed least.
How to compare bids
Bids that look alike on the summary page rarely are. Before comparing prices, put them on the same footing:
- Build a responsibility matrix. For every task (device addressing, programming, functional testing, BMS integration, network configuration, training, incentive documentation), mark who does it in each bid. “By others” means by you.
- Count the commissioning days. One factory startup day for a 100,000 sq ft building is not commissioning.
- Read the exclusions first. The most expensive line in a controls bid is often a sentence in the exclusions.
- Check quantities against the drawings. Sensor counts, gateways and software licenses should match the design, not a rule-of-thumb ratio.
- Score the answers to the questions above before you open the price, so the number doesn’t color the reading.
Build the schedule backward
Many controls problems start as schedule problems. Work back from the date the system has to be working:
- Functional testing and training need time after installation and before occupancy. In an occupied building, that usually means after-hours work.
- Installation follows product delivery, and lead times for networked controls vary by manufacturer and season. Ask every bidder for current lead times in writing.
- Incentive pre-approval comes before any order is placed, and review times vary by program. Confirm the current timeline with program staff rather than assuming last year’s.
- Bid review and clarifications take longer than anyone plans. Leave time to send the questions above and read the answers properly.
- The RFP itself needs the sequence of operations and a points list attached, so design has to be finished before it goes out.
If the dates don’t fit, cut scope, not testing. An untested system usually costs more to fix in its first year than the testing would have cost.
Red flags
- “Commissioning” that turns out to mean startup. Ask what is tested, against which document, and what you receive afterward.
- “Open” with no protocol named. Open to what, at which boundary?
- Data export “available on request,” or only for an added fee.
- Cloud-only operation, with no local control if the internet connection or the vendor’s service goes away.
- No admin credentials at handover. If the vendor keeps the credentials, you’ve bought a service contract, not a system.
- Substitutions during submittals of products that aren’t on the DLC QPL, or aren’t the exact listing your incentive application named.
- Pressure to order before pre-approval, to “hold pricing” or “protect the schedule.”
- Exclusions such as “programming by others,” “integration by others” or “network by owner” with nobody named to do the work.
- No sequence of operations, or one copied from a catalog with the wrong space types.
- Firmware support described as “ongoing,” with no term and no process.
After award: keep the clauses alive
Clauses only help if someone enforces them. Review submittals against the specification, not just for completeness. Witness a sample of the functional tests yourself or through an independent commissioning agent. Tie retention or final payment to the deliverables: signed test logs, the configuration report, the database backup and credentials, and completed training. Then store all of it somewhere you control. We keep it in the owner’s Lytbit Ledger workspace and export it as PDF and CSV, so the records outlive any vendor relationship, including ours.
Where we can help
We write controls specifications and RFPs as part of controls design, review bids line by line, and act as the independent commissioning party after award. We don’t represent a manufacturer, so our only interest is that the system you buy does what the drawings say. If an incentive is part of the plan, our incentive management service keeps the application ahead of the purchase order. And if you’re mid-RFP, send us what you have; we’ll tell you what we’d add before it goes out.
