Summary: As the nation's single largest user of energy, the federal government has emphasized energy conservation through legislation and executive orders. Under performance contracting, an agency enters into a multiyear agreement with an energy service company, which installs improvements in government buildings. The company assumes all up-front capital costs and, in return, receives a portion of the annual savings attributable to the improvements for the duration of the contract. Performance contracting allows the government to cut energy costs without appropriating funds and without incurring capital costs for energy-efficient upgrades. This report discusses (1) the civilian agencies that have awarded energy savings performance contracts, (2) the characteristics of firms that the Energy Department has listed as qualified for performance contracts, (3) the firms that submitted project proposals but were not awarded contracts and the reasons why, and (4) the responsibilities of the federal civilian agencies involved in performance contracting and the administrative costs they incurred through their participation.
