Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 250 / Thursday, December 29, 2011 / Notices 81919 

DATES: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 from 

12:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. & Wednesday, 

March 14 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: SERDP Office Conference 

Center, 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 

804, Arlington, VA 22203. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jonathan Bunger, SERDP Office, 901 

North Stuart Street, Suite 303, 

Arlington, VA or by telephone at (703) 

696–2126. 

Dated: December 22, 2011. 

Aaron Siegel, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2011–33340 Filed 12–28–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Limited Public Interest Waiver Under 

Section 1605 (Buy American) of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice of Limited Waiver. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a 

determination of inapplicability 

(unreasonable cost waiver) of section 

1605 of the American Reinvestment and 

Recovery Act of 2009 (Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions) to the 

Commonwealth Utilities Corporation’s 

(CUC) located in the Commonwealth of 

the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), 

recipient of the EECBG grant DE– 

EE0000762, for 5 diesel engine radiators 

to be installed at the CUC’s main power 

plant located in Saipan, CNMI. This 

waiver applies only to this project. 

DATES: Effective Date: December 6, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christine Platt-Patrick, Weatherization 

and Intergovernmental Program, Office 

of Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy (EERE), (202) 287–1553, 

buyamerican@ee.doe.gov, Department of 

Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC 

20585. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

authority of the Recovery Act, section 

1605(b)(3), the head of a Federal 

department or agency may issue a 

‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a 

waiver of the Buy American provisions) 

if the application of section 1605 would 

represent an ‘unreasonable cost.’ The 

authority of the Secretary of Energy to 

make all inapplicability determinations 

was re-delegated to the Assistant 

Secretary for Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy (EERE), for EERE 

projects under the Recovery Act, in 

Redelegation Order No. 00–002.01E, 

dated April 25, 2011, for EERE Recovery 

Act projects. 

Pursuant to this delegation, the Acting 

Assistant Secretary has determined that 

application of section 1605 restrictions 

represents an ‘unreasonable cost’ for the 

project described herein. 

Specifically, this unreasonable cost 

determination waives the Buy American 

requirements for the diesel engine 

radiators needed for the Commonwealth 

Utilities Corporation’s (CUC) located in 

the Commonwealth of the Northern 

Mariana Islands (CNMI), recipient of the 

EECBG grant DE–EE0000762, for 5 

diesel engine radiators to be installed at 

the CUC’s main power plant located in 

Saipan, CNMI EERE has developed a 

robust process to ascertain in a 

systematic and expedient manner 

whether or not there is domestic 

manufacturing capacity for the items 

submitted for a waiver of the Recovery 

Act Buy American provision. This 

process involves a close collaboration 

with the United States Department of 

Commerce National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST) 

Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

(MEP), in order to scour the domestic 

manufacturing landscape in search of 

producers before making any 

nonavailability or unreasonable cost 

determinations. 

The NIST MEP has 59 regional centers 

with substantial knowledge of, and 

connections to, the domestic 

manufacturing sector. MEP uses their 

regional centers to ‘scout’ for current or 

potential manufacturers of the 

product(s) submitted in a waiver 

request. In the course of this interagency 

collaboration, MEP has been able to find 

exact or partial matches for 

manufactured goods that EERE grantees 

had been unable to locate. As a result, 

in those cases, EERE was able to work 

with the grantees to procure Americanmade products rather than granting a 

waiver. 

Upon receipt of completed waiver 

requests for the product in the current 

waiver, EERE reviewed the information 

provided and submitted the relevant 

technical information to the NIST MEP. 

The MEP then used their network of 

nationwide centers to scout for domestic 

manufacturers. 

In addition to the MEP collaboration 

outlined above, the EERE Buy American 

Team worked with labor unions, trade 

associations and other manufacturing 

stakeholders to scout for domestic 

manufacturing capacity or an equivalent 

product for the 5 diesel engine radiators 

contained in this waiver. EERE also 

conducted significant amounts of 

independent research to supplement 

MEP’s scouting efforts. 

As a result of EERE’s efforts and 

MEP’s scouting process, a quote was 

obtained from the only domestic 

manufacturer that has the capabilities to 

produce a similar item. That quote is 

reflected in the price cited infra, and 

supports the finding that this item, if 

purchased domestically, will increase 

the total project cost by more than 25%. 

This ARRA supported project 

involves the Commonwealth Utilities 

Corporation’s (CUC) main power plant1. It was built in 1979 with the 

installation of four 7.2MW–18V 40/54A 

diesel engines. Four larger 13.0MW–18V 

52/55B engines were installed in 1990. 

Over the years, radiator fin corrosion 

and fouling have deteriorated to a point 

where inadequate cooling limited 

generator loads to just 60% of design 

capacity. 

Radiator deterioration on engines #5 

and #6 were so advanced (generators derated to 30% of design capacity), the 

radiator sets on both engines were 

replaced in 2009. The performance of 

these new radiator sets since 2009 can 

be described as excellent. 

The 40% reduction in loading 

capacity on engines #1,2,3, 7 and 8 have 

cost the Utility severely in terms of fuel 

efficiency and cost, which unfortunately 

continues to be passed on to the ratepayers. This 40% loss in engine 

capacity plus the unavailability of 

engines 5 and 7 in 2008—resulted 

rolling blackouts and the eventual 

collapse of power plant-1 in 2008. 

In mid 2008, CUC contracted a rental 

generator company to supply 15MW of 

generators for a period of 12 months at 

a total cost of $6,000,000 dollars. 

Power plant-1 rehabilitation work 

began in 2009 and although surplus 

power is now available—the 60% load 

limitation on engines 1,2,3, 7 and 8 is 

costing CUC and its rate-payers dearly, 

in terms of fuel efficiency and cost. 

The diesel engines utilized in the 

facility are designed to operate between 

70% to 100% of name plate rating. Fuel 

efficiency is at its maximum at this load 

range. De-rated gen-sets 1,2,3,7 and 8 

currently operate at an average fuel 

efficiency of 14.0 kWh per gallon of 

diesel. Engines operated between 70% 

to 100% load do so at a higher fuel 

efficiency of 15.0 to 15.6kWh per 

gallon—a 7% better fuel consumption. 

CUC’s power plant-1 burns an average 

of 1,000,000 gallons of diesel per month. 

Radiator replacement on engines 1,2,3,7 

and 8 will enable CUC to increase the 


wreier-aviles on DSK3TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
81920 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 250 / Thursday, December 29, 2011 / Notices 

load on the affected generator sets to 

70% or higher of nameplate rating, and 

thereby reduce fuel consumption by 

approximately 70,000 gallon per month. 

This represents a saving of $246,000 per 

month or $2.96m per year at the current 

fuel price of $3.52 per gallon. This 

saving will automatically be passed on 

to the rate-payers as required by the rate 

setting process. 

With the ability to operate generators 

at loads of 70% or more, fewer 

generators need to be on-line to supply 

demand. This will result in lower 

running hours per engine and as a 

result, lower maintenance cost per year. 

Savings in engine maintenance cost as 

a result of the radiator replacement 

project is expected to be at least 

$876,000 per year. 

Power plant-1 continues to be CUC’s 

main power plant on the main island of 

Saipan. This radiator replacement 

project will reduce fuel consumption 

and overall engine run hours—by 

allowing generator loads to be operated 

at optimum levels. This in turn will 

reduce fuel and maintenance cost and 

provide some relief to rate payers in the 

CNMI, by way of electricity rate 

reduction. 

If for some reason the design of the 

radiators is ineffective, the current 

radiators are in such a severely decayed 

state that they cannot be reconnected 

one de-commissioned. If the project 

does not proceed on schedule, or if 

there is any flaw in the design, CNMI 

may be forced to resort to back-up 

power, similar to the 2008 scenario. 

The project to replace the radiators 

involves two 13.0MW–18V 52/55B and 

three 7.2MW–18V 40/54A diesel 

engines. $2,400,000 dollars in ARRA 

grant funds are allocated to the project. 

The proposed price of the only US 

manufacturer to come forward with a 

bid was $3 million dollars, including 

freight to Saipan. The proposed price by 

the manufacturer of the radiators used 

in the prior installation was $2,167,060. 

The total installation cost for the 

radiators is approximately $225,000. 

In addition to the price concerns, the 

only US bidder revealed that its largest 

previous project was for engines with 

continuous rating of less than 2.0MW. 

In addition, the foreign manufacturer is 

the supplier of choice for the 24 island 

countries who are members of the 

Pacific Power Association. All these 

island utilities have similar type of 

temperatures and salty environment as 

in the CNMI. All 24 island countries 

operate diesel engines to generate 

electricity. 

CFR 2 176.110, entitled ‘‘Evaluating 

proposals of foreign iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods’’, states that if ‘‘the 

award official receives a request for an 

exception based on the cost of certain 

domestic iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods being 

unreasonable, in accordance with 

§ 176.80, then the award official shall 

apply evaluation factors to the proposal 

to use such foreign iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods.’’ 

Per that section, the total evaluated 

cost = project cost estimate + (.25 × 

project cost estimate). 

The total cost of the project including 

the foreign manufactured radiators is 

$2,317,060. The total evaluated cost is 

$2,392,060 + (.25 × $2,392,060) or 

$2990075. The minimum cost for the 

project with US collectors is $3,225,000, 

a cost increase of 34.8%. Thus, the 

diesel engine radiators needed for this 

project that are domestically 

manufactured will increase the cost of 

the overall project by more than 25 

percent. 

In light of the foregoing, and under 

the authority of section 1605(b)(3) of 

Public Law No. 111–5 and the Redelegation Order dated April 25, 2011, 

with respect to Recovery Act projects 

funded by EERE, on October 24, 2011, 

the Acting Assistant Secretary issued a 

determination of inapplicability 

(unreasonable cost waiver) of section 

1605 of the American Reinvestment and 

Recovery Act of 2009 (Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions) to the to the 

Commonwealth Utilities Corporation’s 

(CUC) located in the Commonwealth of 

the Northern Mariana Islands(CNMI), 

recipient of the EECBG grant DE– 

EE0000762, for 5 diesel engine radiators 

to be installed at the CUC’s main power 

plant located in Saipan, CNMI. This 

waiver applies only to this project. 

This waiver determination was made 

pursuant to the delegation of authority 

by the Secretary of Energy to the Acting 

Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy with respect to 

expenditures within the purview of his 

responsibility. Consequently, this 

waiver applies only to EERE projects 

carried out under the Recovery Act; and 

only to this project specifically, waiver 

requests, even for the same or similar 

items, will be handled individually, 

because individual factors apply to each 

project. 

Authority: Pub. L. 111–5, section 1605. 

Issued in Washington, DC on December 6, 

2011. 

Henry Kelly, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. 

Department of Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–33407 Filed 12–28–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Nationwide Categorical Waivers Under 

Section 1605 (Buy American) of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice of Limited Waivers. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a 

nationwide limited waiver of the Buy 

American requirements of section 1605 

of the Recovery Act under the authority 

of Section 1605(b)(2), (iron, steel, and 

the relevant manufactured goods are not 

produced in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality), 

with respect to Recovery Act projects 

funded by EERE for (1) Multi-colored 

Full Wave Rectified strands of 5mm, 

conical shaped LED mini bulbs in 

molded sockets with 4′′ spacing between 

bulbs, UL listed with a minimum 50,000 

hour lamp life; (2) Ancillary items 

needed for a T–12 to T–8 retrofit, 

including the ballast disconnects, 

ancillary wiring and welding materials 

where needed, and the spacing clip to 

accommodate T–8 bulbs into a T–12 

fixture; and (3) Roof integrated flat plate 

collectors producing 1250 btu/square 

foot, where the installation requires a 

roof integrated solar collector to meet 

local historic preservation or local 

building standards. 

DATES: Effective Date: 9/12/2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Benjamin Goldstein, Energy Technology 

Program Specialist, Office of Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

(EERE), (202) 287–1553, Department of 

Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC 

20585. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

authority of American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery 

Act), Public Law 111–5, section 

1605(b)(2), the head of a Federal 

department or agency may issue a 

‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a 

waiver of the Buy American provision) 

if the iron, steel, or relevant 

manufactured good is not produced or 

manufactured in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality 

(‘‘nonavailability’’). The authority of the 

Secretary of Energy to make all 

inapplicability determinations was redelegated to the Assistant Secretary for 


wreier-aviles on DSK3TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES