AFCEC and OEA reach new milestone in partnership

  • Published
  • By J. Brian Garmon
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The Air Force Civil Engineer Center and the Office of Energy Assurance recently attended a historic energy savings performance contract preliminary assessment kick-off at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.

An ESPC is a partnership between federal agencies and energy service companies that provides energy savings, resiliency, and facility improvements with no up-front capital costs to the government. This ESPC represents the first collaborative project between AFCEC and OEA to reach the acquisition stage and is also the first to include NASA as a stakeholder.

“The partnership between AFCEC and OEA represents the future, utilizing energy savings projects to provide energy assurance and resiliency for the Air Force,” said Les Martin, chief of AFCEC’s Program Development division. “Combining expertise in the process will continue to set these projects up for success.”

OEA was established in February 2016 by the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force and serves as, “a storefront for strategic energy resilience, achieving mission assurance through energy assurance.”

“Our particular ESPC is unique. We are not only a Joint Base, but also are partners with the NASA Langley Research Center,” said Dan Porter, base energy manager at Joint Base Langley-Eustis. “There are issues and challenges that have not yet been encountered on other ESPCs. AFCEC and OEA aren’t just outside agencies who are just checking off a list then leaving us on our own. We feel as though we are all in this together and have shared interest in making this project successful for JBLE Langley, Eustis, and NASA.”

Porter was then asked what benefits the partnership between OEA and AFCEC brought to JBLE.

“Working with AFCEC and OEA on this and other projects feels like being in the right place at the right time,” said Porter. “OEA came to JBLE, observed and listened to us and our mission partners, then formulated courses of action tailored to our needs. When determining what avenue to pursue, AFCEC provided recommendations that helped us in our decision-making process. Once we decided to pursue an ESPC, AFCEC did the heavy lifting. After all, they had the experience of executing these contracts and knew what was needed to achieve our goals.”

In addition to the installation stakeholders, Energy Systems Group, the energy services provider selected to perform the assessment, was in attendance to ask and answer questions related to the project.

“The Air Force Civil Engineer Center and Office of Energy Assurance have worked closely together to drive this innovative approach, and ESG is honored to support the critical missions at Joint Base Langley-Eustis and NASA Langley,” said Steve Spanbauer, senior vice president of Energy Systems Group. “ESG will work closely with JBLE and NASA to develop and implement resilient solutions, including projects to reduce energy consumption, generate power, and upgrade energy infrastructure,” added Spanbauer. “Further, the goal of these projects is to pay for the upgrades with savings generated as a result of these solutions, which is good for the Air Force, NASA, U.S. business, and the U.S. taxpayer.”

Installations interested in pursuing energy cost-saving projects are encouraged to reach out to AFCEC through the Reachback Center at (888) 232-3721 or at AFCEC.RBC@us.af.mil.

“We have an entire team of engineers dedicated to supporting these projects,” added Martin. “Whether your installations are looking for guidance on the best path to pursue, technical expertise, or an experienced facilitator to help your installation through the process, we are eager to help.”