More than 30 representatives from companies selected as the 14 Energy Service Contractors (ESCO) for the third Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) met with U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville representatives at the Training Conference Center on the University of Alabama Huntsville campus June 17.
An ESPC is one of the acquisition vehicles an installation can use to meet the Army’s 30 percent energy and 15 percent water reduction goals without upfront capital costs.
The one-day-long post award conference allowed Huntsville Center representatives and opportunity to review the terms of the Energy Savings Performance Contract MATOC with the ESCO representatives.
“This was a long time in the works,” said Porcha Porter, ESPC project manager.
“We had an original MATOC (Multiple Award Task Order Contract) that was $900 million, and now this MATOC increases our capacity for awards up to $1.5 billion which means we can get out and get more work done in the field for the installations and agencies needing the service.”
Porter said the greatest benefit of the conference is bringing the entire team together to begin working out the details of the MATOC.
“Today we have the ESCO representatives here with the Huntsville Center ESPC team—the engineers, the contracting officers, the project managers, the office of counsel—to gather additional information and go over Huntsville Center’s expectations. The conference also provides the ESCO representatives an opportunity to ask specific questions of us.”
American Development Institute LLC of Smithfield, Rhode Island, is the sole small business receiving a contract under the ESPC III MATOC and one of the ADI representatives, John Rizzo, said the conference was very useful as the company begins its processes to meet contract requirements.
“Our roots are in (previously) helping a lot of the larger ESCOs, and it’s important for us to step out and be recognized as a small business that can be recognized in this industry,” Rizzo said.
“As the Center representatives went through the details of the contract, from legal issues to monitoring and verification to safety and training, they have been very informative and accommodating, and I think we’ll see that same support as we get more involved in the projects.”
Porter said ESCOs are key partners in the ESPC program as they provide the capital and expertise required to make comprehensive renewable energy and water efficiency improvements on installations or facilities supported by the MATOC in exchange for a portion of the generated savings. That business model allows the installation or facility to then focus appropriated funds on other mission critical requirements.
“Agencies often don’t have funding for upgrading facilities so the real benefit of ESPC is that we have this tool available to partner with these companies for third party financing. In today’s fiscal environment, many installations are seeing declining budgets and upgrading facilities to meet federal energy reduction goals is quite challenging,” Porter said. “Third party financing through the ESPC provides a viable solution for the installation and is a win-win solution for the government.”
Under terms of the ESPC MATOC, implementation and development costs are financed for up to 25 years, allowing for the replacement of older systems with newer, more efficient systems. The ESPC MATOC also provides savings guarantees through mandatory measurement and verification and the savings guarantees must exceed payment each year.
Huntsville Center is the Army’s leader in ESPC, awarding more than 80 percent of the total ESPC contracts servicing customers at more than 30 sites around the world. As the program continues to grow, Porter said more customers are coming to Huntsville Center looking to the ESPC as a solution to meet energy reduction requirements.
“Huntsville Center has proven itself a leader in the ESPC realm for getting these projects implemented in the field. The benefit we’ve developed from our (ESPC) program and process is getting recognized and we’re getting more interest from other agencies and organizations.”