Posted on November 14, 2012 by CHAD MARRIOTT on the Stoel Rives RENEWABLE+LAW blog.

On November 14, 2012, the Defense Logistics Agency - Energy ("DLA-Energy"), in coordination with the Army Energy Initiatives Task Force, issued a solicitation for the procurement of electricity from a solar photovoltaic energy project to be located on or contiguous with land at Fort Detrick, Maryland (SP0600-13-0416, the "Solicitation").

DLA-Energy contemplates the award of a Firm-Fixed Price contract under the Department of Defense's long-term procurement authority set out in 10 U.S.C. 2922a. The contract will be for up to 26 years (one year for construction with a 25-year production term) at a price that does not exceed $0.0756 per kWh, compounded annually at 4.35%. That price includes the price for renewable energy credits ("RECs"), which the government intends to keep; however, REC-swapping will be permitted. DLA-Energy does not specify the size of the project to be constructed pursuant to the Solicitation, only that the government desires to purchase "the maximum amount of power that is economically and technically feasible" from a project "installed on 69.1 acres of non-landfill sites and, as an option, on the 10.4 acres of capped landfill sites" at Fort Detrick.

The Solicitation includes provisions similar to those incorporated into the Army's Multi-Award Task Order Contract solicitation that closed on October 5 (e.g., special purpose entities and novation to facilitate third-party financing).

The Solicitation can be found on the FedBizOpps website. DLA-Energy anticipates holding a pre-proposal conference at Fort Detrick, though the date has not yet been announced. Proposals are due no later than 2:00 p.m. EST on January 11, 2013.