Interested in Applying?
FEMP strongly recommends that firms contact Douglas Eisemann for guidance before preparing—or submitting—an application to the DOE Qualified List of ESCOs.
The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) established the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Qualified List of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 1992, as amended, and 10 C.F.R. § 436.32. The DOE Qualified List of ESCOs is composed of about 120 firms that have submitted applications and have been approved by the DOE qualification review board.
Companies approved for the DOE Qualified List of ESCOs are eligible to compete for the mechanisms used to implement energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) with federal agencies.
For example, inclusion on the DOE Qualified List of ESCOs is a requirement for ESCOs to compete for DOE's indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, ESPC ENABLE, under the General Services Administration's Multiple Award Supply Schedule (MAS) SIN 334512, U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC), and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs IDIQ ESPC.
Applications for the DOE Qualified List of ESCOs are accepted throughout the year. Each ESCO on the list is required to recertify each year.
To be considered for the DOE Qualified List of ESCOs, applicants must upload a completed copy of DOE Form 415.1 and associated documents to eProject Builder.
DOE Qualified List application requirements, instructions, and guidance are provided below.
Completing the Form
New applicants must complete pages 1–9 only. Pages 10–12 are for annual recertification purposes only and should not be completed by new applicants.
Carefully review the requirements provided in the application guidance box below, as the stated requirements are essential for application approval.
Application Guidance
- All questions in DOE Form 415.1 must be completed with special attention to the two project descriptions or case studies that demonstrate design and build experience with ESPCs or energy conservation measures (ECMs) (item 14, page 3) for which the applying ESCO has financial responsibility.
- Provide a complete and thorough description of the technology categories and ECMs implemented through each project, including the size and scope of each ECM (item 14.2, page 3).
- The projects must have been completed by the applicant firm as the prime contractor with overall financial responsibility for the design and construction of each project. Experience in design only, or experience in construction only, is not sufficient for qualification. Construction management or construction administration experience without financial responsibility for the construction is insufficient for qualification. Projects performed by company personnel at previous employers are not approvable.
- The project implementation price or investment value for each project must be $1 million (U.S. dollars) or greater. The project descriptions should demonstrate the applicant firm’s ability to successfully design and implement projects of the scope and characteristics generally required by ESPC projects for the federal government. Illustrative examples of representative federal facilities include office buildings; warehouses; scientific, technical, and medical centers; and military installations.
- There should be no more than five years from the start of each project's performance period or commercial operation date.
- The two projects must have a sufficient post-installation performance period for which energy savings or utility demand reduction has been measured. Typically, the post-installation performance period should be one year or more.
- The project description must include a clear explanation of the measurement and verification (M&V) methodology that was used (item 14.2, page 3), the entity that performed the M&V, and the amount of measured energy and cost savings (items 14.12 and 14.14, page 3).
- The responses for items 14.12 and 14.14 (page 3) must include the measured energy savings or utility demand reduction and the energy cost savings in energy units and in U.S. dollars.
- The project description should include other pertinent information about the project, such as utility rebates or rate adjustments, or state tax incentives, if applicable, and the ESCO's role in obtaining them (item 14.16, page 3).
- Personnel qualifications must be in the form of resumes (item 16.a, page 5). Resumes should be provided for representative personnel that develop and implement ESPC projects or ECMs. Labor categories or job titles of the firm's professional and skilled trade personnel should be provided for item 16.b, page 6. These resumes and labor categories should demonstrate the applicant firm's ability to design and implement the ECMs listed and described in item 14, page 3.
Submitting Client Questionnaires
Submit two client questionnaires (the template is provided on pages 8 and 9 of DOE Form 415.1).
Each client questionnaire should directly correspond to one of the two project descriptions identified in item 14. Project Experience and be completed and signed by the respective client for each project (i.e., case study).
Marking Sensitive Data
If you include data in your application that you do not want disclosed to the public for any purpose or used by the government except for evaluation purposes, please provide the following information.
- Prepare a title page marked with the following legend:
"This application includes data that shall not be disclosed outside the government and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed—in whole or in part—for any purpose other than to evaluate this application. If, however, this firm is selected for placement on the Qualified List as a result of—or in connection with—the submission of this data, the government shall have the right to duplicate or use the data. This restriction does not limit the government’s right to use information contained in this data if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to this restriction are contained in sheets [Insert numbers or other identification sheets]."
- Mark each sheet of your data you wish to restrict with the following legend:
"Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this application."
DOE reserves the right to determine the confidential status of the information and to treat it accordingly under 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1004.11.
Uploading Application Materials
DOE Qualified List of ESCOs application documents should be uploaded to the eProject Builder platform. eProject Builder is a secure web-based data entry and tracking system for ESPC projects.
eProject Builder standardizes data collection for ESPC projects, and enables ESCOs and their customers to securely:
- Upload, track, and access ESPC project information for the life of the contract.
- Quickly generate data for project and portfolio reports.
- Develop project scenarios using standardized amortization calculations.
- Benchmark new ESPC projects against historical project data.
You must request an eProject Builder account to upload your application documents. If you're new to eProject Builder, request an account.
Required Files
You must upload these four required files:
- DOE Form 415.1: DOE Qualified List of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) Application and Annual Recertification Form.
- Client questionnaire for project #1.
- Client questionnaire for project #2.
- Resumes for firm personnel (single file).
Optional Files
You may upload any of these five optional files:
- Introductory cover letter.
- Title page with DOE non-disclosure statement.
- Supplemental information for project #1.
- Supplemental information for project #2.
- Other firm documentation for the qualification review board.
Project Data Templates
Using the Non-Calculating Template 3.3.4, you must input project data into eProject Builder for your two reference projects (i.e., case studies). The Non-Calculating Template 3.3.4 is available from the Data Templates section of the eProject Builder Help webpage.
Instructions for the input process are provided in the eProject Builder 3.0 User Guide, Getting Started Guide, and DOE Qualified List User Guide.
Some project data specific to the ESPC project financing methodology may not be applicable for non-ESPC projects.
About eProject Builder
eProject Builder is managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on behalf of DOE.
To help you get started with the platform, more information is available on the eProject Builder Help, Documentation, and Training webpage under Training Documentation, including a DOE Qualified List User Guide.
Evaluation Process
A qualification review board (QRB) evaluates applications for the DOE Qualified List of ESCOs. As per 10 C.F.R. § 436.32(b), based on statements of qualifications received and any other relevant information, the QRB selects firms for inclusion under the following circumstances:
- The company has provided ESPC services or services that saved energy or reduced utility costs for at least two clients, and the company possesses the appropriate project experience to successfully implement the technologies that it proposes to provide.
- Previous project clients provide ratings that are fair or better.
- The company, or any principal of the company, has not been insolvent or declared bankruptcy within the last five years.
- The company, or any principal of the company, is not on the list of parties excluded from procurement programs (in other words, has not been debarred by the federal government) under 48 CFR part 9, subpart 9.4.
- There is no adverse information that warrants the conclusion that the company is not qualified to perform energy savings performance contracting.
Please allow at least three months to complete the evaluation process.