We plan to conduct a pre-proposal
conference in late August," said Tonju Butler, the procurement
contracting officer in Huntsville
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through its
Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, has issued a
Multiple-Award Task Order (MATOC) Request for Proposal (RFP) for $7
billion in total contract capacity to procure reliable, locally
generated, renewable and alternative energy through power purchase
agreements. The $7 billion capacity would be expended for the
purchase of energy over a period of 30 years or less from renewable
energy plants that are constructed and operated by contractors using
private sector financing
"One year ago I authorized the Energy Initiatives Task Force (EITF).
The announcement of this acquisition vehicle by the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers demonstrates EITF's progress and the Army's commitment
toward installation energy security, mission readiness and
resilience," said Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh. "We believe
the Federal Renewable and Alternative Energy contract will provide
the Army with an important means to achieve its goal of one gigawatt
of renewable energy projects by 2025."
"Development of this acquisition has included significant industry
and government coordination to draw from the various experiences and
lessons learned throughout," said Col. Nello Tortora, former
commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and
Support Center, Huntsville. "We received and analyzed more than 900
comments from industry in response to our draft Request for
Proposal, and have responded to those comments through a series of
frequently asked questions."
The solicitation for the Renewable and Alternative Energy Power
Production for DoD Installations is posted on the Federal Business
Opportunities Website at www.fbo.gov or http://go.usa.gov/Gd6. It
will be available for 60 calendar days. Comments can be submitted to
the ProjNet Website at http://www.projnet.org/projnet in accordance
with the instructions stated in the RFP Executive Summary section.
"We plan to conduct a pre-proposal conference in late August," said
Tonju Butler, the procurement contracting officer in Huntsville.
"Details on the conference and how to register will be released once
plans are finalized."
In late February, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and
Support Center, Huntsville, issued a request for comments on the
draft RFP. The original 900 industry comments are posted on the
ProjNet Website at http://www.projnet.org/projnet. Those comments
can be accessed if a vendor registered and received a key to
accessing that Website in the draft RFP.
"We have taken all the comments received from interested parties
into consideration and answered them keeping in mind our
regulations," Butler said. "The frequently asked questions with
answers are available on www.fbo.gov."
It is the intent of the government only to purchase the energy that
is produced, and not to acquire any generation assets. The
contractors will finance, design, build, operate, own and maintain
the energy plants. The government will contract to purchase the
power for up to 30 years in accordance with the terms and conditions
stipulated in site or project specific agreements resulting from
task orders awarded under multiple Indefinite Delivery
(ID)/Indefinite Quantity (IQ) contracts. Project locations may be on
any federal property located within the U.S. including Alaska,
Hawaii, territories, provinces or other property under the control
of the U.S. government for the duration of contract performance.
"Contracts will be awarded to both large and small businesses
according to four different renewable energy technologies: solar,
wind, geothermal and biomass," said Sarah Tierney, the project's
contracting specialist. "Task orders will be executed against the
basic ID/IQ contracts, using fair opportunity procedures established
in the Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 16."
These contracts are one of the contract vehicles that will help
support the EITF in its efforts to plan and execute a cost-effective
portfolio of large scale renewable energy projects on Army
installations by leveraging private sector financing. The Army's
development of large scale renewable energy projects is critical to
achieving installation energy security, mission effectiveness and
resilience objectives while supporting the DoD's goals to enhance
installation energy security and reduce installation energy costs.
Energy security and sustainability are operationally necessary,
financially prudent and mission critical.
By awarding the contracts, the Army will have a streamlined process
to develop large scale renewable energy projects that uses private
sector financing. This approach will help speed overall project
development timelines to ensure the best value to the Army and
private sector.
The Army is moving forward to address the challenge of energy
security and sustainability to ensure the Army of tomorrow has the
same access to energy, water, land and natural resources as the Army
of today. The DoD has the goal to produce or consume 25 percent of
its total energy use from renewable sources by year 2025.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center,
Huntsville, executes Army programs and specialized missions
worldwide that require unique technical expertise, large
acquisitions and centralized program management. Huntsville's
involvement in the Army's energy program began in the early 1980s
with the program management and technical oversight for the Energy
Engineering Analysis Program. The Center continued to gain energy
experience through the development and award of the DoD's first
shared energy savings contract.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center,
Huntsville, continues to provide unique energy solutions for third
party contracting, Energy Savings Performance Contracting, Demand
Side Management, utility privatization, Energy Conservation
Investment Program, Utility Monitoring and Control Systems, heating
ventilation and air conditioning, energy assessments, and energy
planning.
Huntsville's energy team has been recognized for outstanding
achievements with multiple federal energy and water management
awards, Vice Presidential Hammer awards and U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers project delivery awards.
Source: The US Army