U.S. Army releases final RFP for $7 billion in renewable energy contracts

In August 2012, the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for $7 billion in total contract capacity to procure large-scale (10 MW or greater), reliable, locally generated, renewable and alternative energy. 

The Army will award multiple Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contracts (or Multiple-Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC)) for qualified bidders in four renewable energy technologies: solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass. Under this process, a company must first establish its qualifications and be selected as a “qualified” contractor. Then it will be given the opportunity to compete for a task order for a specific project. Failure to be selected in the first round precludes a company from competing for specific projects and task orders. Only bidders qualified for a particular technology in the first round will have the opportunity to compete for projects for that technology in the second round.

Upon being awarded a contract for a specific project (a task order), a company will be responsible for developing, financing, designing, building, operating, owning and maintaining the generation assets. Project locations may be on or near any federal property located within the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, territories, provinces or other property under the control of the U.S. government.

The government intends to purchase the energy that is produced for up to 30 years through site or project-specific power purchase agreements or other contract equivalent. These site-specific contracts will be firm fixed-priced. In addition, pursuant to current Army policy, the ownership of the renewable energy credits (RECs) resulting from renewable energy generated “on-site” will be determined on a case-by-case basis.  The Army has not indicated how it will treat RECs for energy generated near, but not on, government-owned installations.

To the extent possible, the government intends to complete the National Environmental Policy Act environmental review process and secure environmental permits for a project prior to issuing a site-specific task order. Contractors will be responsible for securing all other remaining licenses, permits, and approvals for developing the generation facility, and for satisfying financial and regulatory requirements, utility interconnect, and all electrical, metering and technical requirements.

Akin Gump
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