BACKGROUND: In fiscal year (FY) 2005, Fort Knox used 869,000 mcf of natural gas at a cost of $6.9 million; in FY 2006, the total use was approximately 866,000 mcf at a cost of $9.9 million. Fort Knox purchases its natural gas through a Defense Ene rgy Support Center (DESC) contract that pools customer requirements so as to leverage volume buying power. The current marketer charge is approximately $.50 per mcf. There is also a $.0487 transportation charge per mcf. Additionally, the natural gas goe s through a pipeline owned by Louisville Gas and Electric (LG&E) of approximately 3.5 miles for which Fort Knox is charged an annual fee of $218,700.00. Fort Knox uses much higher levels of natural gas during winter months than during summer months. For t Knox obtains its electricity from Meade County RECC, Nolin RECC and Louisville Gas and Electric. In FY 2005, Fort Knox used a total of 195 million KWHs at a cost of $7.7 million. Similar usage and cost was experienced for FY 2006. Natural gas from Dev onian shale is believed to be located throughout the Fort Knox military reservation. Natural gas from Devonian shale is considered an alternative, non-conventional, and clean energy source. Because of its continuing production, long-term well production life, and biogenic source, it is often also considered a renewable energy source. PURPOSE: The purpose of this RFI is to determine if there is credible interest in the development of a system to drill, extract, compress and transmit natural gas on the Fort Knox installation for use on the installation under the provisions of 10 U.S.C. 2394 which permits contracts for periods of up to 30 years for the provision and operation of energy production facilities on real property under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense. This RFI is not a solicitation or Request for Proposal/Quote. Proposals/quotes or any other formal offers will not be accepted or considered by the Government in response to this RFI. No contract will result from this RFI or any information submitted in response to it; however, the Government may use the lack of re sponse from the RFI in determining the availability of qualified and responsible entities to perform the requirements described herein. Fort Knox seeks to contract with a qualified and responsible entity to drill an unspecified number of wells for natural gas. Each well location would be approved in advance by Fort Knox. The contractor would also be required to construct a gas cleaning and compression facility that would receive the gas produced on Fort Knox, process it to the point of direct use, and fe ed it into Fort Knox gas lines. Fort Knox is particularly interested in determining if entities would bear the cost of drilling, production, compression, and transmission and provide natural gas to Fort Knox at a discounted rate below what Fort Knox would otherwise pay. Extracted natural gas would first be used to meet the natural gas demand on Fort Knox. Any excess natural gas would be provided for other DoD use or generation of electricity on Fort Knox. The Government is seeking responses from intere sted parties as a result of this announcement. The Government is soliciting interested parties only at this time. No awards will be made from this announcement; however, all information received may be used for evaluation of future awards. The Governmen t specifically reserves the right to meet its requirements through a Utilities Energy Savings Contracting (UESC) (also referred to as a Demand Side Management) project under 10 U.S.C. 2865 without further notice. SUBMITTAL CONTENTS: Interested entities shall provide a white paper (no more than 25 pages in length, single space, 10 or 12 font) describing their capabilities to meet the above described requirements. The statement of interest shall include as a minimu m the following components: (1) what experience, if any, you currently have in drilling, extracting, and de livering for end user consumption natural gas from Devonian Shale deposits; (2) financial capacity in excess of $10,000,000.00 you have to develop multiple well-heads, transportation piping, and gas compression facilities; (3) your proposed rate structure for providing natural gas extracting on the Fort Knox installation to Fort Knox and other DoD entities; (4) a statement as to willingness to assume all risk and costs associated with developing multiple well-heads, transportation systems, and gas compressi on facilities necessary to provide Fort Knox with 800,000 mcf of natural gas from Devonian Shale per year within five years of contract start; (5) information concerning experience with environmental issues and compliance regarding extraction of natural ga s from Devonian Shale deposits and (5) contact information, to include name, email address, phone number, and fax number. Elaborate proposals or detailed pricing information is not required and should not be submitted. The Government will not award a con tract based on this Request for Interest nor will participants be reimbursed for any costs associated with preparing and/or submitting responses. SUBMITTAL PROCEDURES: Interested parties shall submit their statement of interest on company letterhead to: Mr. Steven Fries, Army Contracting Agency Southern Region, Fort Knox Directorate of Contracting, 199 6th Ave Ste 250, Fort Knox, KY 40121-5720 no later than April 5, 2007. Responses to this announcement must be in writing and should be emailed to
[email protected] or faxed to Steven Fries at 502-624-5869 or 502-624-7165. Questions should be addressed to
[email protected] no later than March 28, 2007. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.