The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) portfolio of cutting-edge scientific and production assets is supported by a broad array of general purpose infrastructure that enables the use and operation of those assets. While DOE has made significant investments in mission facilities over the years, much of the supporting infrastructure, including office space, laboratory space, and utilities, is at or beyond its useful service life.

The Sustainability Performance Office (SPO) launched the DOE Facilities and Infrastructure Restoration and Modernization (FIRM) program to modernize this infrastructure and to address the estimated $6 billion in deferred maintenance across the DOE complex. The DOE FIRM Program encourages the use of public-private partnerships with the goal of obtaining at least $125 million per year in private investment for infrastructure improvements at DOE sites through energy performance contracts in 2018 and 2019.

Public-private partnerships like performance contracts transform DOE’s infrastructure need into jobs and investment opportunities for the private sector, allowing improvements to be made at no cost to the taxpayer. The recent award of DOE’s third generation indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) energy savings performance contracts provides an excellent opportunity for DOE – and the federal government as a whole – to increase the use of this contracting mechanism and to integrate it into the planning and budgeting process.

Since 1999, performance contracting has been used to install more than $500 million worth of equipment at DOE sites. As a result, DOE's energy use has been reduced by 6.4 million MMBTU per year (~20% of current energy use).

Current projects include:

  • Largest federally owned wind farm, the 11.5 MW facility at the Pantex site in Amarillo, Texas
  • 20 MW biomass-fueled cogeneration facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina
  • Numerous conventional lighting, boiler and chiller upgrades, HVAC improvements, and upgraded building automation systems at sites throughout the complex.

For more information, contact SPO.