Except for HPS or under Regulation .02D and E of this chapter, a utility shall procure the electricity needed to provide service under this subtitle during the service periods stated in COMAR 20.52.02 only through a competitive wholesale bidding process approved by the Commission. Model Request for Proposals and Utility Bid Plan. A utility shall base the competitive bidding process required by this regulation on the model request for proposals and a utility bid plan approved by the Commission. The model request for proposals shall include a provision designed to eliminate a bid proposal for residential standard offer service that contains a price anomaly. The model request for proposals may be altered by a utility bid plan only if it is necessary to conform to utility specific conditions. Utility Bid Plan. A utility bid plan shall include: A bidding schedule; A description of the power supply blocks on which potential suppliers shall bid; Bid price formats; The time period during which the power will need to be supplied for each power supply block; Bid submission instructions and format; and Bid evaluation criteria. A utility may include in its bid plan reasonable credit requirements, cash collateral, or other assurance of the bidder's ability to perform, as approved by the Commission. A utility shall evaluate a qualified bid in a nondiscriminatory manner based on: The contents of the bid submissions as specified in the model request for proposal; and The utility bid plan. A utility shall select qualified bidders based on the criteria established in the model request for proposals and the utility bid plan. Commission Review. As provided by Commission order, the Commission shall review all utility-selected bid proposals as a condition of any final contract. If the Commission uses a consultant for this purpose, the consultant is subject to strict confidentiality requirements established by the Commission in consultation with the utility. If a utility's competitive bid process under this regulation does not provide sufficient electric supply to meet the utility's full load requirements, the Commission by order may provide a process to ensure that a utility obtains all the electricity supply needed to serve the unmet electric load requirements. The processes established under §D of this regulation may include: A requirement that the utility file with the Commission a proposed alternate means of supplying the otherwise unserved load within 20 days of the utility determining that the load is unserved; or A requirement that the utility purchase the necessary electricity and other required services through the PJM market until the Commission approves another means for procuring supply to serve all of its electric load requirements. The result of the competitive bidding process under this regulation is confidential and subject to the confidentiality requirement established by the Commission in consultation with the utility. The utility and selected bidders shall enter into a full requirements service contract for each power supply block contained in the utility bid plan. The Commission shall approve the terms and conditions of the full service contract required under §A of this regulation. Public Utilities Article, §§2-113, 2-121, 5-101, and 7-510, Annotated Code of Maryland Effective date: June 7, 2004 (31:11 Md. R. 857)