SOURCES SOUGHT
X -- Request for Information (RFI) for Economical Storage of Gasoline Blendstock in the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve
- Notice Date
- 6/20/2018
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 493190
— Other Warehousing and Storage
- Contracting Office
- Strategic Petroleum Reserve Project - Strategic Petroleum Reserve Project MGT
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- DOE-FE-RFI-JD001
- Archive Date
- 7/6/2018
- Point of Contact
- Douglas MacIntyre,
- E-Mail Address
-
douglas.macintyre@hq.doe.gov
(douglas.macintyre@hq.doe.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Background The Department of Energy (Department) established the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve (NGSR) in 2014, following Superstorm Sandy in 2012, under the auspices of Section 151 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) (42 U.S.C 6245), which authorizes the broader Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), and Section 171 of EPCA (42 U.S.C. 6249), which authorizes the Secretary of Energy to contract for the storage of petroleum product owned by the United States in storage facilities other than those of the SPR. The Department executed four storage service contracts to support the establishment of the NGSR as a regional refined petroleum product reserve in the Northeast (i.e., the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey). The NGSR currently comprises 1 million barrels of gasoline blendstock. The current NGSR storage contracts expire in December 2018. The Department provides operational oversight of the NGSR, to include contract management, independent product quality and quantity assurance certifications, annual audits, establishment of sales procedures and a sales platform, and coordination with each of the NGSR storage contractors to ensure availability and accessibility of the NGSR. The NGSR storage contractors are responsible for maintaining both the quantity and quality of the refined product, to include any seasonal changeover of NGSR gasoline blendstock that is required to comply with requirements under the Clean Air Act. Additionally, the NGSR storage contractors are obligated to ensure that their specific facility is available in the event that a release from the NGSR is required, to include meeting the Department's release requirements in the aftermath of an event that disrupts commercial electric power. In addition, the NGSR storage contractors are required to provide detailed information on inventories, activities, and distribution capabilities at the request of the Department if conditions exist for a potential release. Request for Information With the existing NGSR storage contracts expiring at the end of December 2018, the Department is requesting information or ideas regarding the most economical method to maintain a stockpile of 1 million barrels of gasoline blendstock in the Northeast for use in a Presidentially-declared emergency consistent with section 161 of EPCA (42 U.S.C. 6241). Currently, the NGSR is commingled in commercial storage, with the Department entering into agreements for the storage and maintenance of gasoline blendstock. Specifically, the Department is interested in the following questions: 1. Are there any methods that are more economical and/or more operational than commingling the NGSR's gasoline blendstock within commercial storage under lease agreements that allow the Department to store 1 million gallons of gasoline blendstock in the Northeast to respond to a Presidentially-declared emergency consistent with section 161 of EPCA (42 U.S.C. 6241)? 2. Are there any financial arrangements that the Department should pursue to reduce the total cost of storing 1 million barrels of gasoline blendstock in the Northeast to respond to a Presidentially-declared emergency consistent with section 161 of EPCA (42 U.S.C. 6241)? 3. Currently, the lease agreement requires that companies are responsible for rotating seasonal grades of gasoline blendstock. As such, the price being charged the Department reflects all anticipated costs and risks associated with maintaining a seasonally acceptable reserve for the term of the contract. Are there methods to avoid financial risks during the seasonal product rotation and other industry management practices, such as allowing an "agent" or other entity to serve as the buyer or seller of the product? Essentially, is there a method that allows the Government to avoid risk, be it positive or negative, and allows another entity to assume the positive or negative risk? Are there operational practices that will allow the reserve to be more efficiently managed? The Department is very interested in novel or new contract methods to de-risk its portfolio. The Department is interested in ideas that allow the Government to meet all legal requirements contained in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.) while lowering the total cost of storing 1 million gallons of gasoline blendstock in the Northeast. Please provide your ideas and answers to the questions above to Douglas MacIntyre, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Petroleum Reserves, at douglas.macintyre@hq.doe.gov or at the address below by no later than closing date of this RFI. Douglas MacIntyre Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Petroleum Reserves Room 3G-024 Forrestal 1000 Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20585
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOE/HCA-016/AwardOffice-96/DOE-FE-RFI-JD001/listing.html)
- Record
- SN04961742-W 20180622/180620231013-fdd1d63380b6fb70916624c03a05a355 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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