Over the past two years there has been a significant push to expand federal energy related contract opportunities in many business segments within local, state and federal government agencies. The recent federal stimulus plan has been an added incentive to boost these efforts with many agencies scrambling to identify both energy efficiency and power generation specific projects. The added complexity to these initiatives is a where to locate these opportunities in the maze of existing acquisition forecasts and new stimulus oriented procurement websites.

Some agencies are identifying these opportunities as “sustainable or green projects”—making the identification of specific needs somewhat difficult to identify. In other cases, these projects are still mingled within the traditional O&M or construction programs. Several agencies are making a concerted effort to “peel away” these projects and clearly identify these opportunities within their plans.

A recent review of the US Veterans Administration’s stimulus plan related to energy conservation and power production opportunities provides a good overview of specific projects by the applicable VA region. Projects are listed clearly showing whether there is a LEED or other consulting requirement, small or large power project, etc. Several other agencies are ramping up similar well defined programs but the actual timing of some of the larger projects can be confusing and frustrating. Sullivan’s Energy Project MGR in their Denver, CO Office, Adrienne Barnes, attended an industry day at the U.S. Army’s National Training Center, Ft Irwin, earlier this year to learn more about a large solar power project they plan to build on the installation. During the industry day it became clear that the project will take several years of planning and development before a shovel with hit the ground. After the industry day, Adrienne stated; “I believe the agencies that focus on LEED certification /energy efficiency and facility power upgrades will be able to leverage the stimulus money more rapidly and also gain significant cost savings in the power consumption. These larger projects are promising but the lead time is not realistic, especially for smaller firms that cannot operate within a 3-5 year sales cycle. Overall, DoD has done a good job as well in creating a clear list of opportunities within the DoD Recovery plan with many of the projects listed in the ‘E for Energy’ category”. A key focus of Sullivan’s energy program efforts will continue to focus on LEED certification support and implementation, energy auditing, facility energy upgrades and a special focus on plasma ARC Technology. Dr. Marco Fiorello, Sullivan’s lead scientist for their plasma arc technology focus has been working with state and federal agencies, specifically in high density metropolitan areas to develop trash to energy solutions that just cannot be addressed by some of the more conventional renewable energy sources. He recently stated: “This market has a huge potential to meet many of our nations state and local landfill crisis’s—a situation where they are running out of space and our plasma arc technology can help to address this concern in a cost effective and land use sensitive way.”

Sullivan’s CEO, Steve Sullivan, recently commented,” I personally believe this industry is still in development and many current and future political and regulatory drivers will end up establishing the final set of rules for this industry. The key now is to focus on energy projects and opportunities that make economical sense for our client and our firm, while still providing a springboard for future growth in a better defined business environment. I remember when folks were very enthusiastic about ethanol production opportunities in the midwest well before the food chain impact was seriously considered. I think that in the mix of energy production opportunities, we still have some ‘ethanol-like’ scenarios that still have not played out yet.…”