The Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program recently announced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville’s Energy Savings Performance Contracting team as a 2015 Federal Energy and Water Management Award winner for its work using third-party financed acquisition projects that support the Army in meeting energy and water reduction mandates, the President’s Performance Contracting Challenge (PPCC) and renewable energy mandates.
Team members Jason Bray, Priya Desai, Lisa Harris, Robert Mackey and Wesley Malone are scheduled to receive the award on behalf of the ESPC team during a ceremony in Washington, District of Columbia, later this year.
The Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), in conjunction with the Federal Interagency Energy Policy Committee annually recognizes individuals and organizations for significant contributions to energy and water efficiency within the federal government.
According to Michael Norton, the chief of the Energy Implementation Branch, this is the second consecutive year the Energy Division ESPC team has been presented with a Federal Energy and Water Management Award.
“It has to do with our standardized and streamlined acquisition processes and our dedicated and experienced project delivery team (PDT),” Norton said. “The thing that makes us, Huntsville Center and the Army, different from the other organizations that award ESPC projects is that we have a centralized project management ‘one-stop-shop.’”
The Huntsville Center’s ESPC process is recognized throughout the federal government as an efficient and streamlined acquisition process.
In FY14, Huntsville Center’s ESPC program awarded 16 projects with a capital investment of $243 million for Army and Navy projects that will have an annual savings of $39 million. Down 31 percent from the previous year, this is a guaranteed energy savings of 984,104 British Thermal Units (MBTUs) and 73 million gallons of water.
During FY14, two ground breaking projects for the Army were developed by Huntsville Center’s ESPC team. A $44 million project at Letterkenny Army Depot (LEAD) was the largest ESPC task order ever awarded by Huntsville Center. The LEAD project has a guaranteed energy savings of 130,438 MBTUs and 25,654,000 gallons in water savings.
This means the ESCO has guaranteed, based on the Energy Conservation Measures they implemented, these savings will be met annually for the life of the contract, said Jason Bray, ESPC project manager.
“Letterkenny was one of those installations … the facilities were relatively old, so when you think of those 1950s, 1960’s buildings … it’s been a long time since they have been upgraded,” Bray said. “They needed a lot of improvements and they are finally getting that opportunity and its showing with the amount of savings they are going to see.”
Additionally, the Mobile District project on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was the first USACE civil works ESPC awarded by Huntsville Center. The Mobile District project has a capital investment of $2.5 million, and it broke the barrier for Huntsville Center to perform more USACE civil works projects in the future.
Center efforts in FY14 contributed to the Army exceeding its goal of $384 million by $114 million, or 29.7 percent, for a total of $498 million.
Huntsville Center’s ESPC team, which includes Project Management, Contracting, Office of Counsel, Engineering, and the Department of Energy ESPC PDT, will also receive the USACE Sustainability Green Dream Team Award for their strategic partnership with the DOE FEMP.
The collaboration between Headquarters, USACE and the DOE FEMP in FY14 resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding that provided the framework to better support federal agencies in meeting the PPCC.
The partnership resulted in an improved generation of Huntsville’s ESPC Multiple Award Task Order Contract that was awarded in May. The immediate and long term outcomes include: Process improvements such as combining the feasibility study and proposal into one singular effort, standardized contract language for third generation ESPC MATOC and third generation DOE FEMP Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity, and added cyber security requirements into the base contract.