Recent US Department Of Defense Solicitation For Up To $7 Billion Of Renewable Or Alternative Energy Utilizing Power Purchase Agreements

Keywords: US Department of Defense, solicitation, renewable energy, power purchase agreements, RFP

Under mandates that require the US Department of Defense (DOD) to produce or procure from renewable resources at least 25 percent of its total facility energy needs by 2025, the DOD, through the US Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Alabama (CEHNC), has recently issued1 and posted2 a solicitation (RFP) for up to $7 billion of renewable or alternative energy (RAE) generation over 10 years. The RFP calls for a two-step process.

As the first step, CEHNC intends to award multiple indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contracts to qualified and responsible respondents whose offers receive minimum acceptable evaluation ratings and whose price is realistic and reasonable. As the second step, task orders will be awarded using fair opportunity procedures discussed in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505 in addition to the competitive source selection procedures identified in DFARS 216.505-70. Task orders will be firm fixed-price. Prospective respondents should note that an award of a contract does not assure the recipient of any particular work, Only the second step task order does so. Respondents should expect to expend significant time and efforts in the first step without assurance of resulting task orders.

The government intends only to purchase energy produced, and not to acquire assets—contractors are to develop, finance, design, build, operate, own and maintain the energy plant. The government will contract to purchase the energy for up to 30 years in accordance with site/project specific agreements resulting from task orders awarded. The RFP states that the RAE sources that will be considered include solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and other alternative energy technologies, and provides the government with significant flexibility among these resource types.

The RFP includes small business set-asides for generation facilities less that 4 megawatts (MW) and for facilities between 4 and up to 12 MW (unless fewer than two letters of interest are received from small businesses, in which case the related task order will be open to unrestricted competition). For purposes of the RFP, a small business is a firm which, together with its affiliates, has less than 4 million megawatt hours (MWh)total electric generation in the prior fiscal year.

For generation facilities greater than 12MW, the RFP requires unrestricted...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT