Biomass Project for U.S. Forest Service Plumas National Forest Supervisor's Office

1. BACKGROUND: The Forest Service is seeking any viable and qualified potential contractors that have performed or have the capability to perform the design, implementation, financing, measurement and verification (M&V) services for an Energy Savings Performance Contract Biomass project as outlined below in Paragraph 2, "PROPOSED PROJECT INFORMATION." The Forest Service submitted a "Notice of Intention" to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), "Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies (AFFECT)" Program, too, for this work, under Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number: DE-FOA-0000901. (Please be advised that the Forest Service submitted Notices of Intention to DOE for this Regional Office Solar PV project, as well as two Biomass projects on the Plumas National Forest, and for Off-Grid Solar PV projects located on various Region 5 Forests). This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only, in light of the Funding Opportunity Announcement mentioned in the above paragraph. It does not constitute a Solicitation and is not to be considered as a commitment by the Government. All firms responding to this sources sought notice are advised that their response to this notice is not a request that will be considered for contract award. All interested parties will be required to respond separately to any Solicitation posted as a result of this Sources Sought Notice. The information from this market research is for planning purposes only and will assist the Government in planning its acquisition strategy. This is strictly Market Research and the Government will not entertain questions concerning this Market Research. Response is strictly voluntary; no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this Notice or any follow-up information requests. 2. PROPOSED PROJECT INFORMATION: The proposed project will construct a biomass-fired thermal energy system to provide renewable heating and cooling energy to nine buildings at the Plumas National Forest, Forest Supervisor's Office (SO) compound, in Quincy, California. The installation will utilize a wood chip-fired boiler providing heating and cooling directly to the structures. The dual heating and (absorption-chiller) cooling use for biomass energy is innovative, and will allow the Quincy project to serve as a prototype for many other Federal locations which experience high cooling loads. In addition to saving energy and utility costs, the project will utilize locally-sourced biomass gathered from the Plumas National Forest during the course of normal fire load reduction activities, further reducing costs and increasing air quality through a reduction in open-air waste burning. A detailed feasibility study recently completed for the project demonstrates energy savings, technical viability, and overall cost savings for the project. This project will greatly aid the Forest Service in progressing toward Federal energy reduction and sustainability goals, as it encompasses nine structures. Renewable biomass energy will replace reliance on costly propane and heating oil fuels and increased air quality will result from a reduction in open-air waste burning. The U.S. Forest Service Plumas National Forest Supervisor's Office is a combined office/equipment maintenance complex with multiple buildings located at 159 Lawrence Street, Quincy, California. The nine buildings planned for this project include: Main Office (Forest Service Building #2000); Dispatch (#2301); Maintenance Garage (#2101); Garage/Vehicle Wash (#2100); Workshop & Engineering (#2300); Storage (#2202); Warehouse (#2201); Engineering (#2200); and Natural Resources Office (#2001). Proposed Biomass Heating and Cooling Scenario #1: Campus Wide Heating and Cooling This scenario aims to cover all heating and cooling loads at the Supervisor's Office campus with a combined biomass boiler and water-fired chiller. The model selects the optimum boiler size so that the maximum amount of the propane and heating oil consumed on-site will be covered by biomass (usually around 90%). Cooling energy provided by electricity is assumed to be 30,000 kWh/yr with an average A/C unit coefficient of performance (C.O.P.) of 3.0, and requires further verification. Scenario 1 assumes a centrally-located boiler/chiller would provide hot water and chilled water via underground pipes (4-pipe) to new air handlers in each of the conditioned spaces on the Supervisor's Office campus. A 4-pipe system (separate hot water and chilled water distribution piping) would allow for simultaneous heating and cooling of different buildings at the Supervisor's Office campus, which is something that occurs with the existing system, based on interviews with occupants. While this could cause inefficiencies if both heating and cooling energy are applied to different zones of the same building at the same time, the different buildings have widely varying thermal comfort profiles, and the ability to provide heating and cooling simultaneously could be advantageous. Alternately, a 2-pipe system could supply both hot and chilled water to each of the conditioned spaces, with a twice per year seasonal changeover from heating to cooling. This would enable significant cost savings on distribution pipe installation and possibly controls as well. To meet the heat demand of all nine of the Supervisor's Office campus buildings, a biomass boiler rated at 750 MBH should cover 90% of current heating needs. This means that a new propane-fired "peaking" and low-load boiler would meet 10% of annual heat demand, on average; most of this demand would occur on extremely cold ("peak") days and during the "shoulder" seasons of spring and fall, when outside temperatures are still cool, but heat is only required for a few hours in the morning or evening. During these times, a propane or oil boiler can be a more efficient heat source, as they can fire up and down within minutes, whereas the biomass boiler system may require 30 minutes to an hour to warm up from a cold start. To meet the estimated cooling demand from all nine buildings, a water-fired chiller rated at 240 MBH should cover approximately 87% of cooling needs, with existing electric air conditioners or new compression chiller meeting the remaining 13% of cooling needs. In a 4-pipe system, concurrent cooling/heating is possible, allowing some zones to be chilled while others remained heated. In a 2-pipe system, the system would supply either heating or cooling exclusively. With this option, the cooling demand would only require the biomass boiler's low-fire (~32% output) setting to run. 3. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: The place of performance for this potential project is the U.S. Forest Service, Plumas National Forest, Forest Supervisor's Office, 159 Lawrence Street, Quincy, California, 95971-6025. 4. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: The Government does not intend to rank submittals or provide any reply to interested firms. This Sources Sought Notice is for Market Research, Planning, and Informational purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) nor does it restrict the Government as to the ultimate acquisition approach. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any costs incurred in preparation of a response to this Notice. Your response is requested no later than 1600 Pacific Time on 10 February 2014. Please send responses by email to Renee Jewell at reneejewell@fs.fed.us and to Erin Saelens at elsaelens@fs.fed.us. Responses should be limited to seven (7) pages or less and must include the following information: