Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies (AFFECT) Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Federal Agency Call (FAC)

A: This FAC is available to federal agencies ONLY, including sub-agencies (5 U.S.C § 551(1)).

• Only facilities that are owned by the U.S. federal government are eligible (42 U.S.C. § 8253).
• This FAC is not limited to domestic facilities (Section III.A of the FAC).

A: For a project at a government-owned, contractor-operated facility to be eligible, the application must be submitted by the cognizant Federal Contracting Officer and the following requirements must be met (see Section III.A of the FAC):

1. The federal agency must pay the utility bills.
2. The agency must receive the benefits of the reduced utility bills.
3. In the case of a performance contract, pay the ESCO/utility.

A: Applicants selected for an award will have the opportunity to discuss and negotiate project-specific deliverables and a timeline for funding distribution as noted in section II.D of the FAC.

• Once the funds have been distributed to the applicant, how they are further distributed and managed will be subject to the recipient agency's policies and procedures.
• It is recommended that an applicant consult with their agency contracting officer and project team.

A: Per section III.D of the FAC:

• "FEMP will not make eligibility determinations for potential applications prior to the date on which applications to this FAC must be submitted.
• The decision whether to submit an application in response to this FAC lies solely with the applicant."

A. Under an ESPC, payments to an ESCO must come from savings that result from the ESPC and must be from funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the agency for the payment of energy, water, or wastewater treatment expenses, including related operations and maintenance (O&M) expenses and repair and replacement (R&R) costs.  (42 U.S.C. §§ 8287(a)(1) and 8287a)  To the extent an ESPC avoids the need to spend funds on energy, water, wastewater, or related O&M or R&R expenses, such avoided costs are savings under an ESPC. Savings from avoided costs can include grant funds that otherwise would have been spent on energy, water, wastewater, or related O&M or R&R expenses.

The authority for AFFECT awards (42 U.S.C. § 8256(b)) expressly provides that funding will be provided in the form of competitive "grants" to assist agencies in meeting their requirements under 42 U.S.C. § 8253. Under 42 U.S.C.  § 8253 agencies are statutorily directed to implement certain energy- or water-saving measures using performance contracting.  (42 U.S.C. § 8253(f)(4))  To the extent that implementation of energy- or water-saving measures are addressed by an ESPC, the cost of such implementation is avoided by the ESPC and therefore savings. Accordingly, funds made available through an AFFECT grant can be applied as avoided cost savings.