ESC and US DOE Complete Performance Contracting Cooperative Agreement

June 4, 2015

Facilitating Public Sector Energy Savings Performance Contracting through Statewide Public-Private Partnerships.

The Energy Services Coalition (ESC) announced today that it has finalized a three-year cooperative agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) for its "Facilitating Public Sector Energy Savings Performance Contracting through Statewide Public-Private Partnerships" program.

A time-tested procurement tool, Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) is a significant agent of marketplace change. ESPC enables building owners to use future energy savings to pay for up-front costs of energy-saving projects, eliminating the need to dip into capital budgets.

The cooperative agreement calls for the ESC to provide outreach programs to states across the nation by providing technical assistance to help build capacity for performance contracting. Through its expanding network of State Chapters, the ESC will enable the sharing of successful program strategies and projects through workshops, conference calls, conferences, on its website and in press releases and media communications.

Tom Walther, ESC's president, stated, "We are pleased to have completed this agreement, renewing our partnership with DOE to help accelerate and increase energy efficiency and building upgrades through energy savings performance contracting. With the support of DOE and on behalf of the 30 state chapters participating in the ESC, we look forward to being able to educate, promote, and enhance performance contracting programs and awareness in partner states throughout the country -- and expanding these educational opportunities to others as the market grows."

The accelerated program design practices developed and promoted by the ESC, and implemented at the state level over the past decade, are viewed as one of the best means to reach a large number of public sector facility end-users. These best practices came about with the support of the DOE, that allowed the ESC and its partners to study why some state programs were putting more performance contracting projects in the ground faster than other states. It was from that examination that the ESC came up with its nationally recognized 10 Key Attributes for what makes ESPC programs successful.

Since its inception, the ESC 10 Key Attributes have proven to accelerate the success of programs in a number of ways; speed, reliability and oversight to help insure the quality and integrity of every project. Under the new cooperative agreement, the ESC will be re-examining these Key Attributes and updating the program recommendations based on new information assembled through interviews, analysis and direct observations.

"Preparation of the ESPC market has been years in the making and is poised to double by the end of the decade," said Jim Arwood, ESC Executive Director. "The ESC, with the Department of Energy's support, is ready to put its expertise to work to spur more investments in ESPC projects at the state and local level across the county."