Buckley ESPC kicks off

  • Published
  • By Kevin Elliott
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, in cooperation with the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, released a request for proposals recently for an energy savings performance contract at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado.

AFCEC is asking interested energy service companies, or ESCOs, for a "fence-to-fence" review of possible energy conservation measures across the entire base, to maximize energy savings opportunities.

"There are plenty of energy and waters savings opportunities in this project," said Sidney Mohseni, ESPC project manager at AFCEC. "Many bases like Buckley are operating with outdated faucets and shower heads, high gallons-per-flush commodes and urinals. There is still a lot of high-intensity discharge and sodium lighting that can be upgraded. These are ready-made types of upgrades for an ESPC."

During a site visit scheduled for this month, ESCOs will be able to examine several representative buildings on the base in order to create a preliminary assessment of the project and offer their ideas for energy savings.

"We give the ESCOs the energy conservation measures that we [the Air Force] think are most valuable," said Les Martin, ESPC program manager at AFCEC. "But the companies are free to find others and bring us their ideas." 

According to the RFP, proposals from interested ESCOs are due to AFCEC no later than noon CST Aug. 20.

ESPCs are third-party financed contracts that require no upfront cost to taxpayers. The ESCOs are responsible for securing financing for the projects, completing the energy upgrades, and maintaining the systems over the life of the contract, from 10 to a maximum of 25 years.

The Air Force pays for ESPCs from utility cost and operations and maintenance savings generated by energy-efficiency upgrades.