31524 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 112 / Monday, June 14, 2021 / Notices 

DATES: Interested persons are invited to 

submit comments on or before August 

13, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Send your comments on 

this information collection request (ICR) 

by mail to Jeffrey Parrillo, 1849 C Street 

NW, Washington, DC 20240; or by email 

to PRA-DOI@ios.doi.gov. Please 

reference OMB Control Number 1084– 

0010 in the subject line of your 

comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request additional information about 

this ICR, contact Jeffrey Parrillo, 1849 C 

Street NW, Washington, DC 20240; by 

email to PRA-DOI@ios.doi.gov; or by 

telephone at 202–208–7072. Individuals 

who are hearing or speech impaired 

may call the Federal Relay Service at 1– 

800–877–8339 for TTY assistance. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA, 44 U.S.C. 

3501 et seq.) and 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), we 

provide the general public and other 

Federal agencies with an opportunity to 

comment on new, proposed, revised, 

and continuing collections of 

information. This helps us assess the 

impact of our information collection 

requirements and minimize the public’s 

reporting burden. It also helps the 

public understand our information 

collection requirements and provide the 

requested data in the desired format. 

As part of our continuing effort to 

reduce paperwork and respondent 

burdens, we are again soliciting 

comments from the public and other 

Federal agencies on the proposed ICR 

that is described below. We are 

especially interested in public comment 

addressing the following: 

(1) Whether or not the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether or not the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the 

burden for this collection of 

information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(3) Ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and 

(4) How might the agency minimize 

the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, including through the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology, e.g., permitting 

electronic submission of response. 

Comments that you submit in 

response to this notice are a matter of 

public record. We will include or 

summarize each comment in our request 

to OMB to approve this ICR. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

email address, or other personal 

identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Abstract: Regulations at 42 U.S.C. 

4601, Uniform Relocation Assistance 

and Real Property Acquisition Policies 

Act of 1970, as amended, require 

Federal agencies acquiring real estate 

interests to provide relocation benefits 

to individuals and businesses displaced 

as a result of the acquisition. Forms DI– 

381, Claim For Relocation Payments— 

Residential, and DI–382, Claim For 

Relocation Payments—Nonresidential, 

along with the associated Schedules A, 

B, C, and D, permit the applicant to 

present allowable moving expenses and 

certify occupancy status, after having 

been displaced because of Federal 

acquisition of their real property. 

The information required is obtained 

through application made by the 

displaced person or business to the 

funding agency for determination as to 

the specific amount of monies due 

under the law. The forms, through 

which application is made, require 

specific information since the Uniform 

Relocation Assistance and Real Property 

Acquisition Act allows for various 

amounts based upon each actual 

circumstance. Failure to make 

application to the agency would 

eliminate any basis for payment of 

claims. 

Title of Collection: Claim for 

Relocation Payments—Residential, DI– 

381 and Claim for Relocation 

Payments—Nonresidential, DI–382. 

OMB Control Number: 1084–0010. 

Form Number: Forms DI–381 and DI– 

382, associated Schedules A, B, C, and 

D. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents/Affected Public: 

Individuals and businesses who are 

displaced because of Federal 

acquisitions of their real property. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Respondents: 24. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 24. 

Estimated Completion Time per 

Response: 50 minutes. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Burden Hours: 20 Hours. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

Obtain or Retain a Benefit. 

Frequency of Collection: As needed. 

Total Estimated Annual Nonhour 

Burden Cost: This collection does not 

have a nonhour cost burden. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor and a person is not required to 

respond to a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. 

The authority for this action is the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 

Jeffrey Parrillo, 

Departmental Information Collection 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2021–12407 Filed 6–11–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4334–63–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

[Docket No. BOEM–2021–0033] 

Atlantic Wind Lease Sale 8 (ATLW–8) 

for Commercial Leasing for Wind 

Power on the Outer Continental Shelf 

in the New York Bight—Proposed Sale 

Notice 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed sale notice; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This document is the 

proposed sale notice (PSN) for the sale 

of commercial wind energy leases on 

the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the 

New York Bight. The Bureau of Ocean 

Energy Management (BOEM) proposes 

to offer for sale eight lease areas (Lease 

Areas) using a single factor ascendingbid auction. The PSN contains 

information pertaining to the areas 

available for leasing, certain provisions 

and conditions of the leases, auction 

details, lease forms, criteria for 

evaluating competing bids, award 

procedures, appeal procedures, and 

lease execution. The issuance of any 

lease resulting from this sale would not 

constitute an approval of projectspecific plans to develop offshore wind 

energy. Such plans, if submitted by the 

lessee, would be subject to subsequent 

environmental, technical, and public 

reviews prior to a decision on whether 

the proposed development should be 

authorized. 

DATES: Comments are due by August 13, 

2021. For prospective bidders who want 

to participate in this lease sale: Unless 

you have received confirmation from 

BOEM that you are qualified to 

participate in a lease sale in the New 

York Bight, your qualification materials 

must be submitted during the comment 


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period and must be postmarked no later 

than August 13, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may send written 

comments on the PSN in one of the 

following ways: 

• Electronically: http://

www.regulations.gov. In the search box 

near the top of the web page, enter 

‘‘BOEM–2021–0033’’ and click 

‘‘search.’’ Follow the instructions to 

submit public comments. 

• Mail or other delivery service: 

Enclose your comments in an envelope 

addressed to ‘‘Comments on New York 

Bight PSN,’’ Office of Renewable Energy 

Programs, Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, 45600 Woodland Road, 

VAM–OREP, Sterling, Virginia 20166. 

Qualification Materials: For 

prospective bidders who have not been 

qualified by BOEM to participate in a 

New York Bight lease sale, submit 

qualification materials, with due regard 

to the guidance provided at https://

www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyQualification-Guidelines/, to Luke 

Feinberg, BOEM Office of Renewable 

Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland 

Road, VAM–OREP, Sterling, Virginia 

20166, (703) 787–1705, or 

luke.feinberg@boem.gov. 

Instructions: All comments and 

qualification submissions must include 

the agency name (i.e., BOEM) and 

docket number (i.e., BOEM–2021–0033) 

for this PSN. All comments received 

will be posted without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided in the 

comment or submission. For detailed 

instructions on sending comments, see 

‘‘Public Participation’’ at section XX of 

the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. For 

treatment of confidential information, 

see ‘‘Protection of Privileged or 

Confidential Information’’ at section 

XXI of the 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Luke Feinberg, BOEM Office of 

Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 

Woodland Road, VAM–OREP, Sterling, 

Virginia 20166, (703) 787–1705, or 

luke.feinberg@boem.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

a. Call for Information and 

Nominations: On April 11, 2018, BOEM 

published a Call for Commercial Leasing 

for Wind Power on the OCS in the New 

York (NY) Bight (Call). The Call 

contained four proposed areas for 

development entitled ‘‘Fairways North,’’ 

‘‘Fairways South,’’ ‘‘Hudson North,’’ 

and ‘‘Hudson South’’ (the Call Areas). 

BOEM received over 130 comments 

from the general public, Federal 

agencies, State and local agencies, the 

fishing industry, industry groups, 

offshore wind developers, nongovernmental organizations, 

universities, and other stakeholders. 

The subjects receiving the most 

comments were commercial fisheries 

and navigation. Nine offshore wind 

developers submitted nominations in 

response to the Call. While each of the 

Call Areas received at least one 

nomination, the majority of nominations 

were concentrated in Hudson South. 

b. Area Identification: After the close 

of the Call comment period on July 30, 

2018, BOEM initiated the area 

identification (Area ID) process by 

reviewing the inputs received. Through 

the Area ID process, BOEM considered 

the following non-exclusive list of 

information: Comments and 

nominations received on the Call; 

information from the NY Bight 

Intergovernmental Task Force; input 

from New York, New Jersey, Rhode 

Island, and Massachusetts State 

agencies; input from Federal agencies; 

comments from relevant stakeholders, 

including the maritime community, 

offshore wind developers, and 

commercial fishing industry; state and 

local renewable energy goals; and 

domestic and global offshore wind 

market and technological trends. 

BOEM also considered multiple 

existing uses of the NY Bight in 

developing the Call Areas and 

subsequent Wind Energy Areas (WEAs). 

BOEM found that the uses that have the 

highest potential to interact with 

offshore wind development in the Call 

Areas are (i) commercial and 

recreational fishing; (ii) maritime 

navigation; and (iii) Department of 

Defense (DoD) activities. BOEM 

completed the Area ID on March 29, 

2021, by identifying the following five 

WEAs within the Call Areas: Fairways 

North, Fairways South, Hudson North, 

Central Bight, and Hudson South. The 

Area ID announcement and map of the 

WEAs are available at: https://

www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/ 

c. Environmental Reviews: On March 

29, 2021, BOEM published a notice to 

stakeholders (NTS) regarding its intent 

to prepare an environmental assessment 

(EA) to consider potential 

environmental consequences of site 

characterization activities (i.e., 

biological, archeological, geological, and 

geophysical surveys and core samples) 

and site assessment activities (i.e., 

installation of meteorological (met) 

buoys) associated with issuing wind 

energy leases in the WEAs. The EA also 

considers project easements associated 

with each potential lease issued and 

grants for subsea cable corridors in the 

NY Bight. As part of the EA process, 

BOEM sought comments on the issues 

and alternatives to be considered in the 

EA and received approximately 3,000 

comments, which can be found at 

http://www.regulations.gov, under 

Docket No. BOEM–2021–0021. 

Concurrently with its preparation of 

the EA, BOEM is conducting 

consultations under the Coastal Zone 

Management Act (CZMA). BOEM will 

initiate consultations under the 

Endangered Species Act (ESA) for ESAlisted species under the jurisdiction of 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 

under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act for 

lease issuance, site assessment, and site 

characterization activities concurrently 

with the EA. BOEM has initiated 

consultation for site assessment and site 

characterization activities for ESA-listed 

species under National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS) jurisdiction. These 

consultation documents will be 

available at: https://www.boem.gov/ 

environmental-consultations. 

BOEM prepared and executed a 

programmatic agreement (PA) to guide 

its consultations under section 106 of 

the National Historic Preservation Act. 

The PA provides for consultations to 

continue through BOEM’s decisionmaking process regarding the issuance 

of leases, rights-of-way grants, and 

rights-of-use and easements on the OCS. 

The PA also includes BOEM’s phased 

identification and evaluation of historic 

properties. 

The EA and associated consultations 

will be concluded before and inform 

BOEM’s decision whether to proceed 

with the final sale notice (FSN). BOEM 

will solicit comments on the EA before 

it is finalized. 

II. Area Proposed for Leasing: 

The areas available for sale are 

proposed to be auctioned as eight leases, 

Lease OCS–A 0537 through Lease OCS– 

A 0544: 

Lease area name Lease area ID Acres 

Central Bight ............................................................................................................................................................ OCS–A 0537 84,688 

Hudson South—B .................................................................................................................................................... OCS–A 0538 84,332 

Hudson South—C .................................................................................................................................................... OCS–A 0539 80,062 


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1The proposed width was calculated using the 

Permanent International Association of Navigation 

Congresses (PIANC) report (2018, March). 

Interaction Between Offshore Wind Farms and 

Maritime Navigation (MarCom WG Report No. 161– 

2918). ISBN: 978–2–87223–250–5. Pg. 24. 

Lease area name Lease area ID Acres 

Hudson South—D .................................................................................................................................................... OCS–A 0540 76,148 

Hudson South—E .................................................................................................................................................... OCS–A 0541 84,688 

Hudson South—F .................................................................................................................................................... OCS–A 0542 87,890 

Hudson South—A .................................................................................................................................................... OCS–A 0543 85,755 

Hudson North ........................................................................................................................................................... OCS–A 0544 43,056 

Total .................................................................................................................................................................. ........................ 627,331 

The proposed lease areas include the 

entirety of the Hudson North and 

Central Bight WEAs, as well as 

subdivided portions of Hudson South 

(A, B, C, D, E & F). Hudson South was 

subdivided so that each proposed lease 

area: 

• Is of roughly equal commercial 

viability and size; 

• includes transit corridors to account 

for vessel traffic patterns, fisheries, and 

DoD concerns; 

• is laid out in a manner to reduce 

wake effect; and 

• facilitates fair return to the Federal 

Government pursuant to the OCS Lands 

Act through robust competition for 

commercially viable lease areas. 

The proposed transit corridor 

locations were informed by a report 

based on a workshop convened by New 

York State Energy Research and 

Development Authority (NYSERDA), 

New York State Department of 

Environmental Conservation, and the 

Responsible Offshore Development 

Alliance (RODA). The workshop 

focused on an analysis of fishing vessels 

transit and traffic patterns. The width of 

the proposed corridors would be 2.44 

nautical miles.1 There are some 

locations where portions of a lease area 

overlap with a proposed transit corridor. 

No surface occupancy will be allowed 

within the areas of overlap. 

BOEM is aware of potential conflicts 

with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and 

DoD regarding Hudson North (OCS–A 

0544) and Lease Area A of Hudson 

South (OCS–A 0543). BOEM is working 

closely with USCG and DoD to ensure 

final lease areas are deconflicted and 

suitable for offshore wind development. 

For more information regarding the 

DoD’s evaluation, please see the 

December 15, 2020, letter from the DoD 

Military Aviation and Installation 

Assurance Siting Clearinghouse to 

BOEM posted on our website: https://

www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/stateactivities/dod-response-new-york-bightoffshore-call-areas. 

The Fairways North and South WEAs 

are not being considered for leasing at 

this time due, in part, to conflicts with 

the proposed USCG fairway, maritime 

traffic concerns, commercial fisheries, 

State preferences, marine protected 

species, and commercial viability. 

Additional detail on our analysis of 

these WEAs and potential conflicts can 

be found in the New York Bight Area 

Identification Memorandum Pursuant to 

30 CFR 585.211(b) (see pages 28–32). 

Fairways North and South may, 

however, be considered for a future sale 

and will be analyzed in the EA. 

A description of the proposed Lease 

Areas can be found in addendum ‘‘A’’ 

of each proposed lease, which BOEM 

has made available with this notice on 

its website at: https://www.boem.gov/ 

NY-Bight/. 

a. Map of the Area Proposed for 

Leasing: A map of the Lease Areas and 

GIS spatial files X, Y (eastings, 

northings) UTM Zone 18, NAD83 

Datum, and geographic X, Y (longitude, 

latitude), NAD83 Datum can be found 

on BOEM’s website at: https://

www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/. 

b. Potential Future Restrictions for 

Navigational Safety: 

i. USCG Navigational Safety 

Measures: Potential bidders should note 

that portions of the Hudson North Lease 

Area may not be available for future 

development (i.e., installation of wind 

facilities) because of navigational safety 

concerns. In accordance with the Ports 

and Waterways Safety Act, the USCG 

has published an Advanced Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), which 

includes traffic lanes in the vicinity of 

the New York Bight. This ANPRM 

included a shipping safety fairway to 

accommodate vessel traffic traveling 

across the Bight from the Delaware Bay 

area to east of Montauk. The shipping 

safety fairway overlaps with the 

proposed Hudson North Lease Area. 

The size and boundaries of the Hudson 

North Lease Area could change between 

now and the FSN, depending on the 

outcome of additional discussions 

between BOEM and USCG. BOEM may 

require additional mitigation measures 

upon review of a Construction and 

Operations Plan (COP) when the lessee’s 

site-specific navigational safety risk 

assessment is available to inform 

BOEM’s decision-making. 

In addition, in 2020, the USCG 

announced that it would conduct a 

Supplemental Port Access Route Study 

(PARS) for both the seacoast of New 

Jersey (study conducted by the Fifth 

USCG District) and the northern NY 

Bight (study conducted by the First 

USCG District) that, combined, would 

include the entirety of the NY Bight. 

These two PARS may result in 

additional east/west mitigation 

measures at the COP review stage. 

ii. Vessel Transit Corridors: 

Representatives of the fishing industry 

have requested that offshore wind 

facilities be designed in a manner that, 

among other things, provides for safe 

transit through facilities to fishing 

grounds, where relevant. BOEM has 

identified initial vessel transit corridors 

within the Hudson South WEAs and 

seeks comment on those corridors in 

response to this PSN. BOEM currently 

does not know if additional transit 

corridors will be necessary in the 

remaining Lease Areas, Hudson North 

and Central Bight. Bidders should be 

aware that a lease stipulation may be 

included in the FSN that addresses 

transit corridors, pending the outcome 

of additional discussions with 

stakeholders, including comments 

submitted in response to this PSN. 

c. Potential Future Restrictions 

Regarding Department of Defense 

Activities: Prospective bidders should 

be aware of potential conflicts with 

existing uses of the OCS by the DoD. 

BOEM coordinates with the DoD 

throughout our leasing process. A 

December 2020 letter from the DoD 

summarizes our most recent 

consultations and is available at: https:// 

www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/stateactivities/dod-response-new-york-bightoffshore-call-areas. 

i. Height Restrictions: Development of 

Lease Areas in the Hudson South WEA 

could adversely affect U.S Air Force 

Weather Divisions NEXRAD weather 

radar by limiting the ability to track 

tropical storms moving towards the 

region if turbine heights exceed 1,000 

feet. Mitigation may include restricting 

turbines in the Hudson South WEA to 

less than 1,000 ft. above sea level. The 


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exact restrictions could depend on site 

specific information, and BOEM is 

currently working with DoD to refine 

this evaluation based on the Lease Areas 

proposed in this PSN. 

ii. Air Surveillance and Radar: The 

North American Aerospace Defense 

Command (NORAD) mission may be 

affected by the development of the 

Lease Areas. BOEM will coordinate with 

DoD and the lessee to de-conflict these 

potential impacts through the COP 

review stage. Mitigation measures or 

terms and conditions of a plan approval 

may result. 

iii. Hudson South—A (OCS–A 0543): 

The Department of the Navy identified 

impacts to current and future training 

activities should the entirety of Lease 

Area Hudson South—A (OCS–A 0543) 

be developed. BOEM is continuing to 

work with DoD to evaluate the impacts 

and identify potential mitigation 

measures. However, bidders should be 

aware that portions of this Lease Area 

may not be available for development. 

Additional information will likely be 

published in the FSN. 

III. Participation in the Proposed Lease 

Sale 

a. Bidder Participation: Entities which 

are already qualified to participate in an 

upcoming sale through their response to 

the Call or submission of qualification 

materials are not required to take any 

additional action to affirm their interest. 

Those entities are listed below: 

Company name Company 

No. 

Avangrid Renewables, LLC ...... 15019 

East Wind LLC ......................... 15076 

EDF Renewables Development, Inc ............................... 15027 

Equinor Wind US LLC .............. 15058 

Horizon Wind Power LLC ......... 15081 

North River Wind, LLC ............. 15096 

RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, 

LLC ........................................ 15061 

PNE USA, Inc ........................... 15056 

US Mainstream Renewable 

Power Inc .............................. 15089 

US Wind Inc ............................. 15023 

Invenergy Wind Offshore LLC .. 15091 

All other entities wishing to 

participate in the proposed ATLW–8 

lease sale must submit the required 

qualification materials by the end of the 

60-day comment period for this notice. 

b. Affiliated Entities: On the Bidder’s 

Financial Form (BFF) discussed below, 

eligible bidders must list any other 

eligible bidders with whom they are 

affiliated. Affiliated eligible bidders are 

not permitted to compete against each 

other in the lease sale and must decide 

by the start of the auction which eligible 

bidder (if any) will participate. If two or 

more affiliated bidders participate in the 

auction, BOEM may disqualify some or 

all such bidders from the auction. 

BOEM considers two entities to be 

affiliated if (a) one entity (or its parent 

or subsidiary) has or retains any right, 

title, or interest in the other entity (or its 

parent or subsidiary), including any 

ability to control or direct actions with 

respect to such entity, either directly or 

indirectly, individually or through any 

other party; or (b) the entities are both 

direct or indirect subsidiaries of the 

same parent company. 

IV. Questions for Stakeholders 

Stakeholders are encouraged to 

comment on any matters related to this 

lease sale that are of interest or concern 

to them. BOEM has identified certain 

issues as particularly important in 

developing this lease sale and 

encourages comments on how to 

address these issues through lease terms 

or stipulations. 

a. Number, size, orientation, and 

location of the proposed lease areas. In 

this PSN, BOEM proposes eight Lease 

Areas in the NY Bight. BOEM is seeking 

feedback on the proposed number, size, 

orientation, and location and welcomes 

comments on which Lease Areas, if any, 

should be prioritized for inclusion, or 

exclusion, from this lease sale or future 

lease sales. 

i. Lease area size: During the April 

2021 NY Bight Intergovernmental Task 

Force meeting, BOEM received a 

comment suggesting that the proposed 

Lease Areas should be combined to 

create larger (∼160,000 acres) Lease 

Areas which would capture greater 

economies of scale. BOEM seeks 

comments regarding the preferred lease 

area size and if additional acreage 

beyond what is proposed is needed for 

commercial viability. 

b. Transit corridors: BOEM has 

proposed an orientation of Lease Areas 

in the Hudson South WEA that includes 

vessel transit corridors. BOEM 

welcomes comments on transit corridor 

attributes and the degree to which they 

meet potential users’ needs. 

Specifically, does the proposed 

orientation (length, width, etc.) facilitate 

continuance of existing uses? If not, (a) 

what are the additional costs of utilizing 

the proposed transit corridors, and (b) 

what orientation would better balance 

any competing needs of renewable 

energy developers and existing users? 

BOEM asks commenters to submit 

technical and scientific data in support 

of their comments. 

c. Benefits to Underserved 

Communities: The January 20, 2021, 

Executive Order 13985 ‘‘Advancing 

Racial Equity and Support for 

Underserved Communities Through the 

Federal Government’’ directs 

advancement of equity for all, including 

people of color and others who have 

been historically underserved, 

marginalized, and adversely affected by 

persistent poverty and inequality. The 

January 27, 2021, Executive Order 

14008 ‘‘Tackling the Climate Crisis at 

Home and Abroad’’ includes the goal of 

doubling offshore wind by 2030 while 

creating good jobs and ensuring robust 

protection for our lands, waters, and 

biodiversity. 

To the extent that it is consistent and 

allowable within BOEM’s statutory 

authority and applicable laws, BOEM is 

considering lease stipulations to direct 

benefits to underserved communities 

and to better develop the workforce 

needed to design, construct, operate, 

and maintain offshore wind farms. 

BOEM is soliciting information to 

develop lease stipulations concerning, 

but not be limited to: 

i. Workforce training and 

development. 

ii. contracting with and supporting 

the development minority- and womenowned businesses. 

iii. programs that promote and deliver 

environmental justice. The stipulations 

could, for example, mandate or 

encourage the use of instruments, with 

plan reporting requirements to show 

compliance. Alternatively, BOEM may 

offer incentives in the form of auction 

credits or credits towards rent and 

operating fee obligations for investment 

in the aforementioned categories where 

appropriate. These incentives could be 

in the form of a credit for the amount 

invested in existing State-run programs 

with similar goals or the establishment 

of new programs where appropriate. 

BOEM invites comment on the 

appropriate mechanisms, evaluation 

metrics, and valuation of these 

additional lease requirements. 

Commenters are encouraged to 

describe how these or similar measures 

would further development of the 

proposed Lease Areas and the purposes 

of OCS Lands Act, and provide 

references to any studies that support 

their recommendations. 

d. Creating a Domestic Supply Chain: 

To the extent that it is consistent and 

allowable within BOEM’s statutory 

authority and applicable laws, BOEM is 

also considering mechanisms such as 

lease stipulations, auction credits or 

credits towards rent and operating fee 

obligations that would incentivize a 

durable, domestic supply chain 

conducive to prompt and orderly 

development of the Lease Area and 

renewable energy development on the 

OCS. Commenters are encouraged to 


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describe how these or similar measures 

would further development of the 

proposed Lease Areas and the purposes 

of OCS Lands Act, and provide 

references to any studies that support 

their recommendations. 

e. Native American Tribes, Ocean 

User, and Stakeholder Engagement: In 

an effort to require early and regular 

lessee engagement with affected 

stakeholders, BOEM is proposing a lease 

stipulation that would require lessees to 

provide a semi-annual (i.e., every six 

months) progress report that 

summarizes engagement with ocean 

users potentially affected by proposed 

activities on the lease or proposed 

project easement. The progress report 

would identify and describe: All of the 

existing users; the lessee’s engagement 

with those users; efforts to avoid, 

minimize or mitigate any conflict 

between the existing users and the 

lessee; and any planned next steps to 

engage those users and address 

identified conflicts. The lease 

stipulation specifically would require 

coordination with the fishing industry 

and consideration of potential conflicts 

prior to proposing a wind turbine layout 

in the COP. BOEM seeks comment on 

this concept generally, as well as 

comment on the contents and timing of 

such reports. 

f. Limits on number of lease areas per 

bidder: BOEM recognizes the dramatic 

increase in market demand for offshore 

renewable energy development 

opportunities and the associated 

potential for higher lease sale prices. 

BOEM is proposing to allow each 

qualified entity to bid for only one lease 

in any given round and to ultimately 

acquire only one lease area from the 

auction. To the extent it reduces 

competition for individual leases, this 

would tend to decrease the overall 

bonus bids. However, a larger number of 

lessees would tend to increase 

competition for future energy 

procurements and drive down the cost 

of electricity to ratepayers. Additionally, 

BOEM sees value in increasing the pool 

of lessees to potentially have more 

diverse representation of developers. 

However, BOEM has also contemplated 

allowing an entity to bid for (and win) 

up to two lease areas. BOEM is seeking 

feedback on the proposed one-lease-area 

per bidder scheme and how different 

leasing scenarios may influence the 

advisability of such a limitation (e.g., 

number of lease areas offered, size of 

lease areas, etc.). 

g. Coordinated Engagement: BOEM 

has received feedback that the potential 

addition of eight new OCS wind lessees 

burdens stakeholders that have limited 

resources and that are already seeking to 

engage with existing lessees. BOEM 

seeks comment on methods to improve 

coordination and engagement among 

lessees, Federally recognized Tribes, 

ocean users, and stakeholders. 

Specifically, BOEM is soliciting input 

on how to improve the frequency, 

duration, sustainability, and 

collaborative engagement among these 

parties, as well as the preferred form it 

should take (in-person, webinar, 

facilitated meeting, etc.). 

BOEM recognizes its responsibility 

under Executive Order 13175 to conduct 

Government-to-Government 

consultations with Tribal governments. 

Any coordinated engagement between 

Federally recognized Tribes and lessees 

that may be required in a future lease 

would be in addition to BOEM’s 

responsibilities. To illustrate the intent 

of this question, one possible lease term 

to facilitate coordinated engagement 

could be to require lessees to hold 

coordination meetings at regular 

intervals throughout the year (i.e., 

quarterly, bi-annually, annually, etc.). 

These meetings would not substitute for 

Government-to-Government meetings 

between Tribes and Federal agencies. 

During these meetings, lessees would 

share information and updates about 

their activities with Federally 

recognized Tribes and stakeholders and 

solicit feedback/input from the Tribes 

about the lessee activities. 

h. Prescribed Layouts: Should BOEM 

consider prescribing uniform and 

aligned turbine layouts for Lease Areas, 

especially in the Hudson South WEA? 

Does the establishment of uniform 

turbine layouts negate the need for 

established transit corridors? 

i. Rent: BOEM is seeking feedback on 

a proposal to simplify the calculation 

for rental fees—specifically, rental fees 

for portions of the lease area not yet 

authorized for commercial operations. 

For leases issued in previous sales, rent 

is computed using a fraction of the total 

nameplate capacity of the project that is 

not yet in operation. The simplification 

would divide the area authorized for 

commercial operations into acreage that 

is ‘‘generating’’ and ‘‘non-generating’’ 

and use the ‘‘non-generating’’ acreage as 

the basis for the rental calculation. 

j. Industry Standards for 

Environmental Protection: Are there 

new industry standards (e.g., technology 

standards, vessel standards, etc.,) for 

environmental protection for any phase 

of development that BOEM should 

consider? 

V. Deadlines and Milestones 

This section describes the major 

deadlines and milestones in the auction 

process from publication of this PSN to 

execution of the lease pursuant to this 

sale. 

a. The PSN Comment Period: 

i. Submit Comments: The public is 

invited to submit comments during this 

60-day period, which will expire on 

August 13, 2021. 

ii. Public Auction Seminar: BOEM 

will host a public seminar to discuss the 

lease sale process and the auction 

format. The time and place of the 

seminar will be announced by BOEM 

and published on the BOEM website at 

https://www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/. No 

registration or RSVP is required to 

attend. 

iii. Submit Qualifications Materials: 

All qualification materials must be 

received by BOEM by the end of the 60- 

day PSN comment period August 13, 

2021. This includes materials sufficient 

to establish a company’s legal, 

technical, and financial qualifications 

pursuant to 30 CFR 585.106–.107. 

b. End of PSN Comment Period to 

FSN Publication: 

i. Review Comments: BOEM will 

review all comments submitted in 

response to the PSN during the 

comment period. 

ii. Finalize Qualifications Reviews: 

Prior to the publication of the FSN, 

BOEM will complete any outstanding 

reviews of bidder qualifications 

materials submitted during the PSN 

comment period. The final list of 

eligible bidders will be published in the 

FSN. 

iii. Prepare the FSN: BOEM will 

prepare the FSN by updating 

information contained in the PSN where 

appropriate. 

iv. Publish FSN: BOEM will publish 

the FSN in the Federal Register. 

c. FSN Waiting Period: During this 

period, qualified bidders must take 

several steps to remain eligible to 

participate in the auction. 

i. Bidder’s Financial Form: Each 

bidder must submit a BFF to BOEM in 

order to participate in the auction. 

BOEM must receive each bidder’s BFF 

no later than the date listed in the FSN. 

BOEM will consider extensions to this 

deadline only if BOEM determines that 

the failure to timely submit a BFF was 

caused by events beyond the bidder’s 

control. The BFF can be downloaded at: 

https://www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/. Once 

BOEM has processed a bidder’s BFF, the 

bidder may log into pay.gov and submit 

a bid deposit. For purposes of this 

auction, you must submit new BFFs 

rather than rely on any BFFs submitted 

for previous lease sales. Until further 

notice, you may submit your BFF 

electronically in PDF format to the 

OREP mailbox at renewableenergy@

boem.gov. Digital signatures, affixed to 


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paper and digital copies, are also 

acceptable until further notice. 

a. Please accompany your submission 

with a transmittal letter on company 

letterhead. 

b. BOEM would prefer that bidders 

use a company email address on their 

BFF. (See instructions below for more 

details.) 

c. The BFF must be executed by an 

authorized representative listed on the 

bidder’s legal qualifications. Each 

bidder is required to sign the selfcertification in the BFF, in accordance 

with 18 U.S.C. 1001 (Fraud and False 

Statements). 

d. BOEM will consider the date an 

emailed submission was sent to OREP’s 

renewableenergy@boem.gov mailbox as 

the official receipt (filed) date. 

ii. Bid Deposit: Each bidder must 

provide a bid deposit of $5,000,000. 

Should the FSN allow bidders to win up 

to two lease areas, a bid deposit of 

$10,000,000 would be required to bid on 

two leases. Bid deposits would be due 

no later than the date listed in the FSN 

to participate in the mock auction and 

the monetary auction. BOEM will 

consider extensions to this deadline 

only if BOEM determines that the 

failure to timely submit the bid deposit 

was caused by events beyond the 

bidder’s control. Further information 

about bid deposits can be found in the 

‘‘Bid Deposit’’ section of this notice. 

d. Mock Auction: BOEM will hold a 

mock auction that is open only to 

qualified bidders who have met the 

requirements and deadlines for auction 

participation, including submission of 

the bid deposit. Final details of the 

mock auction will be provided in the 

FSN. 

e. Conduct the Auction: BOEM, 

through its contractor, will hold a 

monetary auction as described in the 

FSN. The auction will take place no 

sooner than 30 days following 

publication of the FSN in the Federal 

Register. The estimated timeframes 

described in this PSN assume the 

auction will take place approximately 

45 days after publication of the FSN. 

Final dates will be included in the FSN. 

BOEM will announce the provisional 

winners of the lease sale after the 

auction ends. 

f. From the Auction to Lease 

Execution: 

i. Refund Non-Winners: Once the 

provisional winners have been 

announced, BOEM will provide the 

non-winners with a written explanation 

of why they did not win and return their 

bid deposits. 

ii. Department of Justice (DOJ) 

Review: DOJ will have 30 days in which 

to conduct an antitrust review of the 

auction, pursuant to 43 U.S.C. 1337(c). 

iii. Delivery of the Lease(s): BOEM 

will send three copies of the relevant 

lease to each winner, with instructions 

on how to execute the lease. The first 

year’s rent is due 45-calendar days after 

the winner’s receipt of the lease copies 

for execution. 

iv. Return the Lease: Within 10- 

business days of receiving the lease 

copies, the auction winners must post 

financial assurance, pay any 

outstanding balance of their bonus bids 

(i.e., winning monetary bid minus 

applicable bid deposit), and sign and 

return the three lease copies. The 

winners may request extensions to the 

10-day deadline, and BOEM may grant 

such extensions if BOEM determines the 

delay to be caused by events beyond the 

requesting winner’s control, pursuant to 

30 CFR 585.224(e). 

v. Execution of Lease: Once BOEM 

has received the signed lease copies and 

verified that all other required materials 

have been received, BOEM will make a 

final determination regarding its 

issuance of each lease and will execute 

each lease, if appropriate. 

VI. Withdrawal of Blocks 

BOEM reserves the right to withdraw 

all or portions of the Lease Areas prior 

to executing the leases with the winning 

bidders. 

VII. Lease Terms and Conditions 

BOEM has made available the 

proposed terms, conditions, and 

stipulations for the OCS commercial 

wind leases to be offered through this 

proposed sale. If and when a lease is 

issued, BOEM reserves the right to 

require compliance with additional 

terms and conditions associated with 

approval of a Site Assessment Plan 

(SAP) or COP. The proposed lease is on 

BOEM’s website at: https://

www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/. The lease 

includes the following seven 

attachments: 

1. Addendum ‘‘A’’ (Description of 

Leased Area and Lease Activities); 

2. Addendum ‘‘B’’ (Lease Term and 

Financial Schedule); 

3. Addendum ‘‘C’’ (Lease Specific 

Terms, Conditions, and Stipulations); 

4. Addendum ‘‘D’’ (Project Easement); 

5. Addendum ‘‘E’’ (Rent Schedule 

Post COP Approval); 

6. Appendix A to Addendum ‘‘C’’ 

(Incident Report: Protected Species 

Injury or Mortality); and 

7. Appendix B to Addendum ‘‘C’’ 

(Required Data Elements for Protected 

Species Observer Reports). 

Addenda ‘‘A,’’ ‘‘B,’’ and ‘‘C’’ provide 

detailed descriptions of lease terms and 

conditions. Addendum ‘‘D’’ will be 

completed at the time of COP approval 

or approval with modifications. 

Addendum ‘‘E’’ will be completed after 

COP approval or approval with 

conditions. After considering comments 

on the PSN and proposed leases, BOEM 

will publish final lease terms and 

conditions in the FSN. 

a. Required Plans for Potential 

Development of Executed Leases: 

Pursuant to 30 CFR 585.601, if site 

assessment activities will be conducted, 

the lessee must submit a SAP within 12 

months of lease issuance. If the 

leaseholder intends to continue its 

commercial lease with an operations 

term, the lessee must submit a COP at 

least 6 months before the end of the site 

assessment term. 

b. Revised Lease Stipulations: BOEM 

is proposing to add or revise the 

following lease stipulations or 

provisions as compared with previous 

commercial leases: 

i. Fisheries Communication Plan: The 

requirement for the Fisheries 

Communication Plan (FCP) has been 

amended to specify that the FCP must 

include discussions with fisheries 

stakeholders regarding any planned 

facilities within 120 days of lease 

execution. 

ii. Native American Tribes 

Communication Plan: BOEM has added 

a lease stipulation requiring the lessee 

to develop a Native American Tribes 

Communication Plan (NATCP). The 

NATCP would include a requirement 

for the lessee to designate a Tribal 

Liaison responsible for communicating 

with Federally recognized Tribes, to 

provide BOEM and Federally 

recognized Tribes with a draft NATCP, 

and to meet with Federally recognized 

Tribes to discuss the NATCP within 120 

days of lease execution. 

iii. Protected Species: In October 

2018, BOEM initiated ESA section 7 

formal consultation with the NMFS to 

update the project design criteria (PDCs) 

and best management practices (BMPs) 

to be more consistent with recent 

incidental harassment authorizations 

(IHAs) issued by NMFS under the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act for site 

survey and data collection activities. In 

January 2020, BOEM and NMFS agreed 

to convert the formal consultation to a 

programmatic informal consultation 

with NMFS limited to surveys and 

installation of met buoys associated 

with leases. Activities include 

geophysical and geotechnical surveys 

and the installation and 

decommissioning of met buoys in 

support of offshore wind energy 

projects. 


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Mitigation measures adopted during 

the consultation rely upon the most upto-date science and mirror those 

included in recent IHAs. Adopting these 

measures would reduce the number of 

requests by the lessee to modify its lease 

stipulations to be consistent with their 

respective NMFS-issued IHAs, which in 

turn reduces compliance burdens on the 

lessee and BOEM. Thus, BOEM 

proposes that the lease stipulations no 

longer specify exclusion zones for 

sound propagation from geophysical 

survey equipment, vessel strike 

avoidance measures, or protected 

species observer procedures. BOEM 

intends to finalize the programmatic 

informal consultation with NMFS before 

the FSN. 

iv. Site Characterization: BOEM has 

updated language regarding survey 

plans and pre-survey meetings (Section 

2.1 of addendum C to the proposed 

lease). BOEM recommends changing the 

requirement for a pre-survey meeting 

with the lessor to be at the discretion of 

BOEM. BOEM also recommends 

removing the requirement for the lessee 

to meet with BOEM prior to holding 

Tribal pre-survey meetings, which 

would allow more flexibility in 

scheduling Tribal pre-survey meetings, 

possibly holding them earlier and 

allowing for greater opportunity for 

Tribal input. 

v. Siting Conditions: BOEM has 

included lease stipulations that outline 

those situations where the lessee may 

not construct surface facilities. 

vi. Operating Fee: BOEM is proposing 

several simplifications to the operating 

fee. The changes include eliminating the 

inflation adjustment, moving from a 

weighted peak/off-peak power price to a 

simple hourly average, and eliminating 

the 10 percent limit to the capacity 

adjustment every five years. These 

changes are designed to simplify the 

operating fee calculation and will have 

minimal impact on the amount of 

operating fee revenues paid by 

developers. BOEM is also proposing to 

simplify the capacity formulation by 

utilizing the nameplate capacity in the 

Fabrication and Installation Report (FIR) 

rather than the COP for the operating fee 

calculation. 

vii. Project Labor Agreements: BOEM 

is proposing the addition of a lease 

stipulation which would require the 

lessee to make every reasonable effort to 

enter into a project labor agreement 

(PLA) covering the construction stage of 

any project proposed for the leased area. 

The proposed stipulation is responsive 

to Executive Order 14008, ‘‘Executive 

Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at 

Home and Abroad,’’ and would support 

BOEM’s achievement of the following 

OCS Lands Act factors: 

i. Expeditious and orderly 

development (43 U.S.C. 1332 (3)). 

ii. Safe operations conducted by welltrained personnel (43 U.S.C. 1332 (6)). 

iii. Any activity is carried out in a 

manner that provides for safety (43 

U.S.C. 1337(p)(4)(A)). 

iv. Fair return (43 U.S.C. 

1337(p)(2)(A)). 

PLAs may support the achievement of 

these goals—including expeditious 

development and potentially more years 

of receipt of operating fees—by assuring 

labor stability. 

viii. Stakeholder and Ocean User 

Engagement Summary: BOEM is 

proposing to require the lessee to 

include a stakeholder and ocean user 

engagement summary as part of its 

progress reporting requirements (see 

section 2.2 of addendum C of the lease). 

This summary would include a 

description of all existing users, 

engagement activities with those users 

during the reporting period, and a 

description of efforts to minimize any 

conflict between the existing users and 

the lessee. 

VIII. Lease Financial Terms and 

Conditions 

This section provides an overview of 

the annual payments required of the 

lessee that are fully described in the 

proposed leases and of the financial 

assurance requirements that would be 

associated with those leases. 

a. Rent: Pursuant to 30 CFR 

585.224(b) and 585.503, the first year’s 

rent payment of $3 per acre is due 

within 45-calendar days of the date the 

lessee receives the lease for execution. 

Thereafter, annual rent payments are 

due on the anniversary of the effective 

date of the lease (Lease Anniversary). 

Once commercial operations under the 

lease begin, BOEM will charge rent only 

for the portions of the leased area not 

authorized for commercial operations, 

i.e., not generating electricity. The 

fraction of the leased area accruing rent 

will be based on the fraction of the total 

nameplate capacity of the project that is 

not yet in operation. This fraction is 

calculated by dividing the nameplate 

capacity not yet authorized for 

commercial operations at the time 

payment is due by the maximum 

capacity of project approved in the COP. 

The annual rent due for a given year is 

then derived by multiplying this 

fraction by the amount of rent that 

would have been due for the lessee’s 

entire lease area at the rental rate of $3 

per acre. 

For example: For an 84,688 acre lease 

(the size of OCS–A 0537), the rent 

payment will be $254,064 per year if no 

portion of the leased area is authorized 

for commercial operations. If 514 

megawatts (MW) of a project’s 

nameplate capacity is operating (or 

authorized for operation) and if the 

approved COP specifies a maximum 

project capacity of 1,028 MW, the rent 

payment will be $127,032. This 

payment is based on the 514 MW of 

nameplate capacity BOEM has not yet 

authorized for commercial operations. 

For the above example, this would be 

calculated as follows: 514 MW/1,028 

MW × ($3/acre × 84,688 acres) = 

$127,032. If a COP does not propose 

commercial activities for the entirety of 

the leased area, rent for the portions of 

the leased area not included in the COP 

will be calculated at the rental rate of $3 

per acre. 

If BOEM approves the lessee’s 

application for relinquishment of a 

portion of its leased area, submitted 

within 45-calendar days following the 

date that the lessee receives the lease for 

signature, the lessee owes no rent 

payment on the relinquished portion of 

the lease area. Later relinquishments of 

any portion of the lease area will reduce 

the lessee’s rent payments starting in the 

year following BOEM’s approval of the 

relinquishment. 

The lessee must also pay rent for any 

project easement associated with the 

lease, commencing on the date that 

BOEM approves the COP (or 

modification thereof) that describes the 

project easement. Annual rent for a 

project easement that is 200 feet wide 

and centered on the transmission cable 

is $70 per statute mile. For any 

additional acreage required, the lessee 

must also pay the greater of $5 per acre 

per year or $450 per year. 

b. Operating Fee: For purposes of 

calculating the initial annual operating 

fee payment pursuant to 30 CFR 

585.506, BOEM applies an operating fee 

rate to a proxy for the wholesale market 

value of the electricity expected to be 

generated from the project during its 

first 12 months of operations. This 

initial payment will be prorated to 

reflect the period between the 

commencement of commercial 

operations and the Lease Anniversary. 

The initial annual operating fee 

payment is due within 45 days of the 

commencement of commercial 

operations. Thereafter, subsequent 

annual operating fee payments are due 

on or before each Lease Anniversary. 

The subsequent annual operating fee 

payments are calculated by multiplying 

the operating fee rate by the imputed 

wholesale market value of the projected 

annual electric power production. For 

the purposes of this calculation, the 


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imputed market value is the product of 

the project’s annual nameplate capacity, 

the total number of hours in the year 

(8,760), the capacity factor, and the 

annual average price of electricity 

derived from a regional wholesale 

power price index. For example, the 

annual operating fee for a 1,028 MW 

wind facility operating at a 40% 

capacity (i.e., capacity factor of 0.4) with 

a regional wholesale power price of $40/ 

MWh and an operating fee rate of 0.02 

would be calculated as follows: 

i. Operating Fee Rate: The operating 

fee rate is the share of imputed 

wholesale market value of the projected 

annual electric power production due to 

the Office of Natural Resources Revenue 

as an annual operating fee. For the Lease 

Areas, BOEM will set the fee rate at 0.02 

(i.e., 2%) for the entire life of 

commercial operations. 

ii. Nameplate Capacity: Nameplate 

capacity is the maximum rated electric 

output, expressed in MW, which the 

turbines of the wind facility under 

commercial operations can produce at 

their rated wind speed as designated by 

the turbine’s manufacturer. The 

nameplate capacity available at the start 

of each year of commercial operations 

on the lease will be the capacity 

provided in the FIR. For example, if the 

lessee installed 100 turbines as 

documented in its FIR, and each is rated 

by the manufacturer at 12 MW, the 

nameplate capacity of the wind facility 

is 1,200 MW. 

iii. Capacity Factor: The capacity 

factor relates to the amount of energy 

delivered to the grid during a period of 

time compared to the amount of energy 

the wind facility would have produced 

at full capacity during that same period 

of time. This factor is represented as a 

decimal between zero and one. There 

are several reasons why the amount of 

power delivered is less than the 

theoretical 100% of capacity. For a wind 

facility, the capacity factor is mostly 

determined by the availability of wind. 

Transmission line loss and down time 

for maintenance or other purposes also 

affect the capacity factor. 

The capacity factor for the year in 

which the commercial operation date 

occurs, and for the first six full years of 

commercial operations on the lease, is 

set to 0.4 (i.e., 40%). At the end of the 

sixth year, the capacity factor may be 

adjusted to reflect the performance over 

the previous five years based upon the 

actual metered electricity generation at 

the delivery point to the electrical grid. 

Similar adjustments to the capacity 

factor may be made once every five 

years thereafter. 

iv. Wholesale Power Price Index: 

Pursuant to 30 CFR 585.506(c)(2)(i), the 

wholesale power price, expressed in 

dollars per MW-hour, is determined at 

the time each annual operating fee 

payment is due. For the leases offered 

in this sale, BOEM is proposing to use 

the simple average of the spot price 

indices for NYISO New York City (Zone 

J). 

c. Financial Assurance: Within 10- 

business days after receiving the lease 

copies and pursuant to 30 CFR 585.515– 

.516, the provisional winners of the 

leases must provide an initial, leasespecific bond or other approved means 

of meeting the initial financial 

assurance requirements in the amount 

of $100,000. The provisional winners 

may meet financial assurance 

requirements by posting a surety bond 

or by setting up an escrow account with 

a trust agreement giving BOEM the right 

to withdraw the money held in the 

account on demand. BOEM encourages 

the provisional winners to discuss the 

financial assurance requirement with 

BOEM as soon as possible after the 

auction has concluded. 

BOEM will base the amount of all 

SAP, COP, and decommissioning 

financial assurance on cost estimates for 

meeting all accrued lease obligations at 

the respective stages of development. 

The required amount of supplemental 

and decommissioning financial 

assurance will be determined on a caseby-case basis. 

The financial terms described above 

can be found in addendum ‘‘B’’ of the 

leases, which BOEM has made available 

with this notice on its website at: 

https://www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/. 

IX. Bidder’s Financial Form 

Each bidder must fill out the BFF 

referenced in this PSN. BOEM has also 

made a copy of the form available with 

this notice on its website at: https://

www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/. BOEM 

recommends that each bidder designate 

an email address in its BFF that the 

bidder will then use to create an 

account in pay.gov (if it has not already 

done so). BOEM will not consider BFFs 

submitted by bidders for previous lease 

sales to satisfy this requirement for this 

auction. BOEM will only consider BFFs 

submitted after the deadline set in the 

FSN if BOEM determines that the failure 

to timely submit the BFF was caused by 

events beyond the bidder’s control. 

BOEM will only accept an original, 

executed paper copy of the BFF. The 

BFF must be executed by an authorized 

representative listed in the 

qualifications package on file with 

BOEM as authorized to bind the 

company. 

X. Bid Deposit 

Each qualified bidder must submit a 

bid deposit no later than the date listed 

in the FSN. Typically, this deadline is 

approximately 30-calendar days after 

the publication of the FSN. BOEM will 

consider extensions to this deadline 

only if BOEM determines that the 

failure to timely submit the bid deposit 

was caused by events beyond the 

bidder’s control. 

Following the auction, bid deposits 

will be applied against the high bonus 

bid obligation. If the bid deposit exceeds 

a bidder’s total financial obligation, 

BOEM will refund the balance of the bid 

deposit to the bidder. BOEM will refund 

bid deposits to non-winners once BOEM 

has announced the provisional winners. 

If BOEM offers a lease to a provisional 

winner who fails to timely return the 

signed lease, to establish financial 

assurance, or to pay the balance of its 

bid, BOEM will retain the provisional 

winner’s bid deposit. In such a 

circumstance, BOEM reserves the right 

to determine which bid would have 

won in the absence of the bid previously 

determined to be the winning bid and 

to offer a lease pursuant to this next 

highest bid. 

XI. Minimum Bid 

The minimum bid is the lowest bid 

BOEM will accept as a winning bid, and 

it is where BOEM will start the bidding 

in the auction. BOEM proposes a 

minimum bid of $100.00 per acre for 

this lease sale. 


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XII. Auction Procedures 

a. Ascending Bidding With Cash Bid 

Variable: As authorized under 30 CFR 

585.220(a)(2) and 585.221(a)(1), BOEM 

proposes to use an ascending bidding 

auction with cash as the bid variable for 

this lease sale. BOEM proposes to start 

the auction using the minimum bid 

prices for each of the Lease Areas and 

increase those prices incrementally 

until no more than one active bidder per 

Lease Area remains in the auction. 

During the April 2021 NY Bight 

Intergovernmental Task Force meeting, 

BOEM learned of interest in a sequential 

auction format. A sequential auction 

format would feature separate auctions 

for each of the Lease Areas, with one 

area’s auction completed before the next 

one begins. This auction method would 

introduce a random and opaque 

valuation for each area auctioned. 

Sequential auctions are strategically 

very complex for bidders because 

bidders need to make final bidding 

decisions for ‘‘early’’ lease areas without 

knowledge of ‘‘later’’ lease areas’ values. 

As a result, bidders are likely to overbid 

or underbid, and the relative prices for 

different lease areas will not reflect 

bidders’ relative valuations. 

Furthermore, sequential auctions do not 

accommodate substitutes or 

complements. Sequential auctions are 

also more likely to lead to 

gamesmanship and inefficient 

outcomes. 

In contrast, the simultaneous 

ascending clock auction, which BOEM 

has used in the past, allows the bidder 

to monitor bidding activity in real time, 

to adjust its bid and choice of lease 

areas, and to stop bidding in the auction 

accordingly. If the price for one area 

becomes too high, the bidder has the 

option to focus on a different lease area 

with a lower price. Simultaneous 

auctions allow for a rational and 

beneficial outcome for all parties 

involved. This method is highly 

regarded in the academic literature and 

serves as the best practice for optimal 

outcomes. 

b. The Auction: Using an online 

bidding system to host the auction, 

BOEM will start the bidding for Leases 

OCS–A 0537 through 0544, as described 

below. BOEM is proposing that bidders 

will be able to bid for one of the offered 

Lease Areas in each round of the 

auction, and ultimately acquire only one 

of the Lease Areas from the auction. 

However, BOEM is seeking input on this 

decision, and the auction format in 

which a bidder can bid on one or two 

Lease Areas is described below. 

i. If bidders are allowed to bid for and 

win only one lease area: The auction 

will be conducted in a series of rounds. 

At the start of each round, BOEM will 

state an asking price for each lease area. 

If a bidder is willing to meet the asking 

price for one of the Lease Areas, it will 

indicate its intent by submitting a bid 

equal to the asking price. A bid at the 

full asking price is referred to as a ‘‘live 

bid.’’ To participate in the next round of 

the auction, a bidder must have 

submitted a live bid for one of the Lease 

Areas (or have a carried-forward bid) in 

each previous round. 

As long as there are two or more live 

bids (including bids carried forward) for 

at least one of the Lease Areas, the 

auction moves to the next round. BOEM 

will raise the asking price for each of the 

Lease Areas that has received two or 

more live bids in the previous round. 

Asking price increments will be 

determined based on several factors, 

including (but not necessarily limited 

to) the expected time needed to conduct 

the auction and the number of rounds 

that have already occurred. BOEM 

reserves the right to increase or decrease 

bidding increments as appropriate. 

Generally, a bidder that submitted a 

live bid in the previous round is free to 

bid on one of the eight Lease Areas in 

the current round. However, an 

exception exists. A bidder may switch 

its live bid from one of the Lease Areas 

to another in the current round only if 

its bid from the previous round was 

contested—e.g., a bidder cannot switch 

from OCS–A 0537 to OCS–A 0538 

unless there was at least one other live 

bid for OCS–A 0537 in the last round. 

If the bid was uncontested in the 

previous round, the bidder cannot 

switch Lease Areas, and its previous 

round bid will be carried forward to the 

next round. If another bidder places a 

live bid on OCS–A 0537 later in the 

auction, BOEM will stop automatically 

carrying forward the previously 

uncontested bid on that lease area. The 

bidder that placed the previously 

carried forward bid is then free to bid 

on any of the Lease Areas in the next 

round at the new asking prices. 

A bidder remains eligible to 

participate in the auction if it submitted 

a live bid in the prior round or had a 

previously uncontested live bid carried 

forward by BOEM to the previous 

round. If a bidder decides to stop 

bidding further when its bid is 

contested, there remain circumstances 

in which the bidder could win (e.g., if 

the bid is ultimately selected in the 

winner determination that is described 

in detail below, or if the winning bid is 

disqualified at the award stage of the 

auction). If this happens, the bidder may 

be bound by its bid and thus obligated 

to pay the full bid amount. Bidders may 

be bound by any of their bids until the 

auction results are finalized. 

Between rounds, BOEM will disclose 

to all bidders that submitted bids: (1) 

The number of live bids (including bids 

carried forward) for each of the Lease 

Areas in the previous round of the 

auction (i.e., the level of demand at the 

asking price); and (2) the asking price 

for each of the Lease Areas in the 

upcoming round of the auction. 

A bidder is only eligible to continue 

bidding in the auction if it has 

submitted a live bid (or had a bid 

carried forward) in the previous round. 

In any round after the first round, 

however, a bidder may submit an ‘‘exit 

bid’’ (also known as an ‘‘intra-round 

bid’’). An exit bid can only be submitted 

for the same lease area as the bidder’s 

contested live bid in the previous 

round. An exit bid is a bid that is higher 

than the previous round’s asking price, 

but less than the current round’s asking 

price for that lease area. An exit bid is 

not a live bid, and it represents the final 

bid that a bidder may submit in the 

auction. A bidder may not submit both 

an exit bid on one of the Lease Areas 

and a live bid on a different one. During 

the auction, the exit bid can only be 

seen by BOEM, and not by other 

bidders. 

A lease area with only exit bids in a 

given round will not have its asking 

price raised in the next round because 

BOEM only raises asking prices when a 

lease area receives multiple live bids. As 

soon as each of the Lease Areas has one 

or zero live bids (including bids carried 

forward), the auction is over, regardless 

of the number of exit bids on each area. 

After the bidding ends, BOEM will 

determine the provisionally-winning 

bids for each lease area by a two-stage 

procedure. In Stage 1, the highest bid 

(live bid or exit bid) received for each 

lease area in the final round will be 

designated the provisionally-winning 

bid, if there is a single highest bid. In 

the event of a tie (i.e., if two or more 

bidders submitted identical highest exit 

bids for the same lease area), the 

selection of one of the highest exit bids 

will be deferred until Stage 2. 

In stage 2, BOEM will consider bids 

from all bidding rounds for Lease Areas 

that were not assigned in stage 1 by 

bidders who were not assigned one of 

the Lease Areas in stage 1. BOEM will 

select the combination of such bids that 

maximizes the sum of the bid amounts 

of the selected bids, subject to the 

following constraints: (1) Each lease 

area that received multiple highest exit 

bids in the final round (but no live bid) 

is assigned to one of the bidders that 

submitted the highest exit bid; (2) at 

most one bid from each bidder can be 


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selected; and (3) at most one bid for 

each lease area can be selected. If there 

is a unique combination of bids that 

solves this maximization problem, then 

these are deemed to be the remaining 

provisionally winning bids. If two or 

more combinations of bids tie by 

producing the same maximized sum of 

bid amounts, the auction system will 

select one of the combinations by 

generating pseudorandom numbers. The 

provisional winners will pay the 

amounts of their provisionally winning 

bids. 

ii. If bidders are allowed to bid for 

and win two lease areas: The auction 

will be conducted in a series of rounds. 

At the start of each round, BOEM will 

state an asking price for each of the 

Lease Areas. If a bidder is willing to 

meet the asking price for up to two of 

the Lease Areas (if eligible), it will 

indicate its intent by submitting a bid 

equal to the asking price for the selected 

Lease Areas. A bid for one or more of 

the Lease Areas at the sum of their full 

asking prices is referred to as a ‘‘live 

bid.’’ To participate in the next round of 

the auction, a bidder must have 

submitted a live bid for at least one of 

the Lease Areas (or have a carriedforward bid) in each previous round. 

As long as there are two or more live 

bids (including bids carried forward) for 

at least one of the Lease Areas, the 

auction moves to the next round. BOEM 

will raise the asking price for each of the 

Lease Areas that has received two or 

more live bids in the previous round. 

Asking price increments will be 

determined based on several factors, 

including (but not necessarily limited 

to) the expected time needed to conduct 

the auction and the number of rounds 

that have already occurred. BOEM 

reserves the right to increase or decrease 

bidding increments as appropriate. 

Each bidder is allowed to submit a 

live bid for up to two of the Lease Areas 

based on its ‘‘eligibility’’ at the opening 

of each round. A bidder’s eligibility is 

either two, one, or zero Lease Areas, and 

it corresponds to the maximum number 

of Lease Areas that a bidder may 

include in a live bid during a single 

round of the auction. A bidder’s initial 

eligibility is determined based on the 

amount of the bid deposit submitted by 

the bidder prior to the auction. To be 

eligible to offer a bid on one of the Lease 

Areas at the start of the auction, a bidder 

must submit a bid deposit of $5,000,000. 

To be eligible to offer a bid on two of 

the Lease Areas, a bidder must submit 

a bid deposit of $10,000,000. A bidder’s 

bid deposit will be used by BOEM as a 

down payment on any monetary 

obligations incurred by the bidder 

should it be awarded a lease. 

As the auction proceeds, a bidder’s 

eligibility is determined by the number 

of Lease Areas included in its live bid 

submitted in the round prior to the 

current round. That is, if a bidder 

submitted a live bid on one of the Lease 

Areas in the previous round, that bidder 

may submit a bid that includes at most 

one of the Lease Areas in the current 

round. If a bidder submitted a live bid 

that included two Lease Areas in the 

previous round, the bidder may submit 

a live bid that includes at most two of 

the Lease Areas in the current round. 

When a bidder authorized to submit two 

bids submits one live bid, the bidder’s 

eligibility is permanently reduced. 

Thus, eligibility in successive rounds 

may stay the same or go down, but it 

can never go up. 

Generally, a bidder that submitted a 

live bid in the previous round is free to 

bid on one or two (depending on its 

eligibility) of the eight areas in the 

current round. However, an exception 

exists. A live bid in the previous round 

is deemed to be uncontested if there 

were no other live bids by other bidders 

that included any of the Lease Areas in 

the live bid. (For example, suppose that 

a bidder placed a live bid for OCS–A– 

0537 and OCS–A–0538. If no other 

bidder placed a live bid that included 

either OCS–A–0537 or OCS–A–0538, 

then the bid is deemed to be 

uncontested.) If a bid was uncontested 

in the previous round, the bid will be 

carried forward to the next round, and 

the bidder cannot place any other bids 

in that next round. (However, 

continuing the example, once another 

bidder places a live bid that includes 

either OCS–A 0537 or OCS–A 0538 later 

in the auction, BOEM will stop 

automatically carrying forward the 

previously uncontested bid. Starting in 

the next round, the bidder that placed 

the previously carried forward bid is 

then free to place any live bid or intraround bid permitted by the rules, and 

the bidder is then not required to stay 

on either OCS–A–0537 or OCS–A– 

0538.) 

A bidder remains eligible to 

participate in the auction if it submitted 

a live bid in the prior round or had a 

previously uncontested live bid carried 

forward by BOEM to the current round. 

If a bidder decides to stop bidding 

further when its bid is contested, there 

are still circumstances in which the 

bidder could win (e.g., if the bid is 

ultimately selected in the winner 

determination that is described in detail 

below or if the winning bid is 

disqualified at the award stage of the 

auction). If this happens, the bidder may 

be bound by its bid and thus obligated 

to pay the full bid amount. Bidders may 

be bound by any of their bids until the 

auction results are finalized. 

Between rounds, BOEM will disclose 

to all bidders that submitted bids: (1) 

The number of live bids (including bids 

carried forward) for each of the Lease 

Areas in the previous round of the 

auction (i.e., the level of demand at the 

asking price); and (2) the asking price 

for each of the Lease Areas in the 

upcoming round of the auction. 

A bidder is eligible to continue 

bidding in the auction only if it has 

submitted a live bid (or had a bid 

carried forward) in the previous round. 

In any round after the first round, 

however, a bidder may submit an ‘‘intraround bid.’’ An intra-round bid is 

similar to an ‘‘exit bid.’’ An intra-round 

bid consists of a single offer price for 

exactly the same Lease Areas on which 

the bidder placed a live bid in the 

previous round. The single offer price 

must be greater than the sum of the 

asking prices for the Lease Areas bid on 

in the previous round and less than the 

sum of the asking prices for these Lease 

Areas in the current round. A bidder 

may not submit an intra-round bid in 

the current round if its previous round 

bid was uncontested. 

A bidder that has submitted a live bid 

for two of the Lease Areas in the 

previous round may choose to submit 

an intra-round bid in the current round 

(consisting of those two Lease Areas) 

and may also submit a live bid at the 

current round’s asking price on one of 

the Lease Areas in the bidder’s intraround bid or on another of the Lease 

Areas entirely. After a bidder submits an 

intra-round bid for two Lease Areas, all 

subsequent bids placed by the bidder 

can include at most one of the Lease 

Areas. A bidder that has submitted a 

live bid for one of the Lease Areas in the 

previous round may choose to submit 

an intra-round bid in the current round 

(consisting of that one lease area). 

Placing an intra-round bid that includes 

one of the Lease Area terminates the 

bidder’s ability to submit subsequent 

bids. 

Intra-round bids are not considered to 

be live bids for the purpose of 

determining whether to conclude the 

auction, for determining whether to 

increase the asking price for a particular 

lease area, or for disclosing the demand 

for a lease area. During the auction, an 

intra-round bid can only be seen by 

BOEM, and not by other bidders. 

For example, consider the case of a 

bidder who has bid on two of the Lease 

Areas in previous rounds and hence is 

eligible to continue bidding on two 

areas in the current round. Suppose that 

the asking prices for Hudson South E 

and F were $750,000 and $600,000 in 


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the previous round and are now 

$800,000 and $600,000 in the current 

round, respectively. These results reflect 

that in the previous round the bidder 

had competition for Hudson South E 

(because the asking price was increased 

in the current round), but not for 

Hudson South F. The bidder may only 

enter a single, intra-round bid for both 

areas that it bid on in the previous 

round. This single offer price must be 

more than $1,350,000 and less than 

$1,400,000. If the bidder wishes to 

continue to place bids in the auction, 

the bidder must also place a live bid for 

a single lease area in the same round. 

The bidder can satisfy this requirement 

by choosing to submit (along with its 

intra-round bid) a single live bid of 

$800,000 for the Hudson South E or a 

$600,000 bid for the Hudson South F 

area or a single live bid for any of the 

other Lease Areas. Alternatively, the 

bidder may choose not to submit any 

live bid, precluding the ability to place 

bids in future rounds. 

If the bidder had only bid on one of 

the Lease Areas in the previous round, 

it may be eligible to submit an intraround bid during the current round. If 

its previous round’s bid was for Hudson 

South E, the bidder could submit an 

intra-round bid for that area of more 

than $750,000 and less than $800,000, 

reducing its live bid eligibility to zero 

and precluding bids in subsequent 

rounds. Alternatively, if the bidder’s 

previous round’s bid was on Hudson 

South F, it cannot submit an intra-round 

bid (or any other bid), because the 

previous round’s bid was uncontested. 

In this case, since the bidder had no 

competition for Hudson South F, its sole 

bid of $600,000 from the previous round 

is automatically recorded by BOEM as a 

submitted live bid of the same amount 

in the current round. 

After the bidding ends, BOEM will 

determine the provisionally winning 

bids in accordance with the process 

described in this section. This process 

consists of two stages: Stage 1 and Stage 

2, which are described herein. Once the 

auction ends, nothing further is required 

of bidders within or between stages 1 

and 2. (In practice, the stages of the 

process will be determined by the 

auction software, which will analyze the 

bids, determine the provisional winners, 

and calculate the applicable prices.) 

• Stage 1 

In stage 1, a bidder with a live bid in 

the final round is provisionally assured 

of winning the Lease Areas included in 

its final-round live bid, regardless of any 

other bids. If all of the Lease Areas 

receive live bids in the final round, they 

are awarded to bidders with the live bid 

in stage 1, and the rest of this 

determination is not necessary. 

Otherwise, BOEM will select the 

combination of final-round bids that 

maximizes the sum of the bid amounts 

of the selected bids, subject to the 

following constraints: (1) A bidder must 

win all the Lease Areas included in its 

final-round live bid (if any); (2) either a 

bidder’s live bid or intra-round bid, but 

not both, can be selected; and (3) the 

selected bids must be feasible, in that 

each of the Lease Areas cannot be 

included in more than one of the 

selected bids. If there is a unique 

combination of bids that solves the 

maximization problem of the previous 

sentence, then these are deemed to be 

the qualified bids. If two or more 

combinations of qualified bids tie by 

producing the same maximized sum of 

bid amounts, the tie is broken by: First, 

bringing each of these combinations 

forward into the stage 2 and selecting 

the combination that produces the 

largest value in the stage 2; and second, 

if two or more of these combinations tie 

in producing the largest value, the 

auction system will select one of the 

combinations by generating 

pseudorandom numbers. If any of the 

Lease Areas is not assigned in stage 1, 

BOEM will proceed to stage 2 to attempt 

to assign the remaining Lease Areas. 

• Stage 2 

In stage 2, BOEM will consider bids 

from all bidding rounds to determine if 

the Lease Areas not awarded in stage 1 

can be awarded in stage 2. The 

combination of bids selected in stage 1 

are qualified bids. BOEM will select the 

combination of bids from all bidding 

rounds that maximizes the sum of the 

bid amounts of the selected bids, subject 

to the following constraints: (1) A 

bidder must win all Lease Areas 

included in its qualified bid (if any); (2) 

either a bidder’s live bid or intra-round 

bid from a single bidding round, but not 

both, can be selected; and (3) the 

selected bids must be feasible, in that 

each of the Lease Areas cannot be 

included in more than one of the 

selected bids. If there is a unique 

combination of bids that solves the 

maximization problem of the previous 

sentence, then these are deemed to be 

the provisionally winning bids. If two or 

more combinations of bids tie by 

producing the same maximized sum of 

bid amounts, the auction system will 

select one of the combinations by 

generating pseudorandom numbers. The 

provisional winners will pay the 

amounts of their provisionally winning 

bids. 

iii. Provisional winners: Provisional 

winners may be disqualified if they are 

subsequently found to have violated 

auction rules or BOEM regulations, or 

otherwise engaged in conduct 

detrimental to the integrity of the 

competitive auction. If a bidder submits 

a bid that BOEM determines to be a 

provisionally winning bid, the bidder 

will be expected to sign the applicable 

lease documents, establish financial 

assurance, and submit the cash balance 

of its bid (i.e., winning bid amount 

minus the bid deposit) within 10- 

business days of receiving the lease 

copies, pursuant to 30 CFR 585.224. 

BOEM reserves the right not to issue the 

lease to the provisionally winning 

bidder if that bidder fails to timely sign 

and pay for the lease or otherwise 

comply with applicable regulations or 

the terms of the FSN. In that case, the 

bidder would forfeit its bid deposit. 

BOEM may consider failure of a bidder 

to timely pay the full amount due to be 

an indication that the bidder may no 

longer be financially qualified to 

participate in other lease sales under 30 

CFR 585.106 and 585.107. 

BOEM will publish the provisionally 

winning bids and provisional winners. 

The bid results, including exit bids, will 

be published on BOEM’s website after 

review of the results and announcement 

of the provisional winners. 

c. Additional Information Regarding 

the Auction Format: 

i. Bidder Authentication: For the 

online auction, BOEM will require twofactor authentication. After BOEM has 

processed the bid deposits, the auction 

contractor will send several bidder 

authentication packages to the bidders. 

One package will contain the digital 

authentication tokens needed to allow 

access to the auction website. (Note: 

BOEM may decide to use software 

tokens instead of hardware tokens, in 

which case they will not be mailed or 

included in packages.) As a general 

practice, tokens are mailed to the 

primary point of contact indicated on 

the BFF. This individual is responsible 

for distributing the tokens to the 

individuals authorized to bid for that 

company. Up to three individuals can 

be selected to bid for each bidder. 

ii. Bidder Tokens: Bidders are to 

ensure that each token is returned 

within three business days following the 

auction. An addressed, stamped 

envelope will be provided to facilitate 

this process. If a bidder fails to submit 

a bid deposit or does not participate in 

the auction, BOEM will de-activate that 

bidder’s tokens and login information, 

and the bidder will be asked to return 

its tokens. Under certain circumstances 

(for example, if the authorized bidders 

are geographically dispersed and the 

ability for the primary point of contact 


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to timely distribute the materials is in 

question), BOEM may send all materials 

directly to the authorized bidders 

instead of the primary point of contact. 

The second package contains login 

credentials for authorized bidders. The 

login credentials are mailed to the 

address provided in the BFF for each 

authorized individual. Bidders can 

confirm these addresses by calling 703– 

787–1121. BOEM may also utilize 

separate email to provide login 

credentials. This package will contain 

user login information and instructions 

for accessing the Bidder Manual for the 

auction system and the Auction System 

Technical Supplement (ASTS). The 

login information, along with the 

tokens, will be tested during the mock 

auction. 

iii. Timing of Auction: The FSN will 

provide specific information regarding 

when bidders can enter the auction 

system and when the proposed auction 

will start. 

iv. Messaging service: BOEM and the 

auction contractors will use the auction 

platform messaging service to keep 

bidders informed on issues of interest 

during the auction. For example, BOEM 

may change the schedule at any time, 

including during the auction. If BOEM 

changes the schedule during an auction, 

it will use the messaging feature to 

notify bidders that a revision has been 

made and will direct bidders to the 

relevant page. BOEM will also use the 

messaging system for other updates 

during the auction. 

Bidders may place bids at any time 

during the round. At the top of the 

bidding page, a countdown clock shows 

how much time remains in the round. 

Bidders have until the scheduled time 

to place bids. Bidders should do so 

according to the procedures described 

in this notice and the ASTS. 

Information about the round results will 

be made available only after the round 

has closed; there is no strategic 

advantage to placing bids early or late 

in the round. 

The ASTS will elaborate on the 

auction procedures described in the 

FSN. In the event of an inconsistency 

between the Bidder Manual, ASTS, and 

the FSN, the FSN is controlling. 

v. Alternate Bidding Procedures: It is 

the responsibility of the bidder to 

ensure it has a working internet 

connection and backup procedures in 

place in case its internet connection 

goes down during the auction. Such 

backup procedures can include having 

redundant internet connections, having 

more than one individual authorized to 

place bids on behalf of the company, 

having one individual who is 

authorized to bid on behalf of the 

company located in a different site (with 

a different internet connection), and 

placing bids using a 4G mobile data 

connection as a backup. It is the 

responsibility of the bidder to test its 

backup procedures ahead of time. This 

can be done during the mock auction, 

for example. 

XIII. Rejection or Non-Acceptance of 

Bids 

BOEM reserves the right and authority 

to reject any and all bids that do not 

satisfy the requirements and rules of the 

auction, the FSN, or applicable 

regulations and statutes. 

XIV. Anti-Competitive Review 

Bidding behavior in this sale is 

subject to Federal antitrust laws. 

Accordingly, following the auction, but 

before the acceptance of bids and the 

issuance of leases, BOEM will ‘‘allow 

the Attorney General, in consultation 

with the Federal Trade Commission, 30 

days to review the results of the lease 

sale.’’ 43 U.S.C. 1337(c). If a 

provisionally winning bidder is found 

to have engaged in anti-competitive 

behavior in connection with its 

participation in the competitive bidding 

process, BOEM may reject its 

provisionally winning bid. Compliance 

with BOEM’s auction procedures and 

regulations is not an absolute defense to 

violations of antitrust laws. 

Anti-competitive behavior 

determinations are fact-specific. 

However, such behavior may manifest 

itself in several different ways, 

including, but not limited to: 

1. An express or tacit agreement 

among bidders not to bid in an auction 

or to bid a particular price; 

2. An agreement among bidders not to 

bid or not to bid on one of the Lease 

Areas; 

3. An agreement among bidders not to 

bid against each other; or 

4. Other agreements among bidders 

that have the potential to affect the final 

auction price. 

Pursuant to 43 U.S.C. 1337(c), BOEM 

will decline to award a lease if the 

Attorney General, in consultation with 

the Federal Trade Commission, 

determines that awarding the lease 

would be inconsistent with the antitrust 

laws. 

For more information on whether 

specific communications or agreements 

could constitute a violation of Federal 

antitrust law, please see https://

www.justice.gov/atr/business-resources 

or consult legal counsel. 

XV. Process for Issuing the Lease 

Once all post-auction reviews have 

been completed to BOEM’s satisfaction, 

BOEM will issue three unsigned copies 

of the lease to each provisionally 

winning bidder. Within 10-business 

days after receiving the copies, the 

provisionally winning bidders must: 

1. Sign and return the lease copies on 

the bidder’s behalf; 

2. File financial assurance as required 

under 30 CFR 585.515–537; and 

3. Pay by electronic funds transfer 

(EFT) the balance (if any) of the bonus 

bid (winning bid less the bid deposit). 

BOEM requires bidders to use EFT 

procedures (not pay.gov, the website 

bidders used to submit bid deposits) for 

payment of the balance of the bonus bid, 

following the detailed instructions 

contained in the ‘‘Instructions for 

Making Electronic Payments’’ available 

on BOEM’s website at: https://

www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/. 

BOEM will not execute a lease until 

the three requirements above have been 

satisfied. BOEM may extend the 10- 

business-day deadline for signing the 

copies of the lease, filing the required 

financial assurance, and paying the 

balance of the bonus bid if BOEM 

determines the delay was caused by 

events beyond the provisionally 

winning bidder’s control. 

If a provisionally winning bidder does 

not meet these requirements or 

otherwise fails to comply with 

applicable regulations or the terms of 

the FSN, BOEM reserves the right not to 

issue the lease to that bidder. In such a 

case, the provisionally winning bidder 

will forfeit its bid deposit. Also in such 

a case, BOEM reserves the right to 

identify the next highest bidder who has 

not won one of the other Lease Areas 

and to offer the lease to that bidder 

pursuant to its bid. 

Within 45-calendar days of the date 

that a provisionally winning bidder 

receives copies of the lease, it must pay 

the first year’s rent using the pay.gov 

Renewable Energy Initial Rental 

Payment form available at: https://

www.pay.gov/public/form/start/ 

27797604/. 

Subsequent annual rent payments 

must be made following the detailed 

instructions contained in the 

‘‘Instructions for Making Electronic 

Payments,’’ available on BOEM’s 

website at: https://www.boem.gov/NYBight/. 

XVI. Non–Procurement Debarment and 

Suspension Regulations 

Pursuant to regulations at 43 CFR part 

42, subpart C, an OCS renewable energy 

lessee must comply with the 

Department of the Interior’s nonprocurement debarment and suspension 

regulations at 2 CFR parts 180 and 1400. 

The lessee must also communicate this 


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requirement to persons with whom the 

lessee does business relating to this 

lease by including this term as a 

condition in their contracts and other 

transactions. 

XVII. Final Sale Notice 

The development of the FSN will be 

informed the EA, related consultations 

and comments received during the PSN 

comment period. The FSN will provide 

the final details concerning the offering 

and issuance of OCS commercial wind 

energy leases in the New York Bight. 

The FSN will be published in the 

Federal Register at least 30 days before 

the lease sale is conducted and will 

provide the date and time of the 

auction. 

XVIII. Changes to Auction Details 

The Program Manager of BOEM’s 

Office of Renewable Energy Programs 

has the discretion to change any auction 

detail specified in the FSN, including 

the date and time, if the Program 

Manager deems that events outside 

BOEM’s control may interfere with a fair 

and proper lease sale process. Such 

events may include, but are not limited 

to: Natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, 

hurricanes, floods, and blizzards), wars, 

riots, act of terrorism, fire, strikes, civil 

disorder, Federal Government 

shutdowns, cyberattacks against 

relevant information systems, or other 

events of a similar nature. In case of 

such events, BOEM will notify all 

qualified bidders via email, phone, and 

BOEM’s website at: https://

www.boem.gov/NY-Bight/. Bidders 

should call 703–787–1121 if they have 

concerns. 

XIX. Appeals 

The appeals and reconsideration 

procedures are provided in BOEM’s 

regulations at 30 CFR 585.225 and 

585.118(c). Pursuant to 30 CFR 585.225: 

(a) If BOEM rejects your bid, BOEM 

will provide a written statement of the 

reasons and refund any money 

deposited with your bid, without 

interest. 

(b) You will then be able to ask the 

BOEM Director for reconsideration, in 

writing, within 15-business days of bid 

rejection under 30 CFR 585.118(c)(1). 

The Director will send you a written 

response either affirming or reversing 

the rejection. 

The procedures for appealing final 

decisions with respect to lease sales are 

described in 30 CFR 585.118(c). 

XX. Public Participation 

BOEM does not consider anonymous 

comments: Please include your name 

and address as part of your submittal. 

You should be aware that your entire 

comment, including your name, 

address, and any other personal 

identifying information (PII) included in 

your comment, may be made publicly 

available. All submissions from 

identified individuals, businesses, and 

organizations will be available for 

public viewing on regulations.gov. 

In order for BOEM to withhold from 

disclosure your PII, you must identify 

any information contained in the 

submittal of your comments that, if 

released, would constitute a clearly 

unwarranted invasion of your personal 

privacy. You must also briefly describe 

any possible harmful consequence(s) of 

the disclosure of information, such as 

embarrassment, injury or other harm. 

BOEM is unable to guarantee that your 

PII will be protected from public 

disclosure because a court may 

determine that the benefits of disclosure 

about who may influence public policy 

outweigh possible harms. 

XXI. Protection of Privileged or 

Confidential Information 

BOEM will protect privileged or 

confidential information that you 

submit, as required by the Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) and 30 CFR 

585.113. Exemption 4 of FOIA applies 

to ‘‘trade secrets and commercial or 

financial information that you submit 

that is privileged or confidential.’’ 5 

U.S.C. 552(b)(4). If you wish to protect 

the confidentiality of such information, 

clearly mark it ‘‘Contains Privileged or 

Confidential Information’’ and consider 

submitting such information as a 

separate attachment. BOEM will not 

disclose such information, except as 

required by FOIA. Information that is 

not labeled as privileged or confidential 

may be regarded by BOEM as suitable 

for public release. Further, BOEM will 

not treat as confidential aggregate 

summaries of otherwise nonconfidential information. 

a. Access to Information (54 U.S.C. 

307103): BOEM is required, after 

consultation with the Secretary of the 

Interior, to withhold the location, 

character, or ownership of historic 

resources if it determines that disclosure 

may, among other things, cause a 

significant invasion of privacy, risk 

harm to the historic resources or impede 

the use of a traditional religious site by 

practitioners. Tribal entities and other 

interested parties should designate 

information that they wish to be held as 

confidential and provide the reasons 

why BOEM should do so. 

Authority: This PSN is published pursuant 

to section 8(p) of the OCS Lands Act (43 

U.S.C. 1337(p)) and the implementing 

regulations at 30 CFR part 585, including 

sections 585.211 and 585.216. 

Amanda Lefton, 

Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management. 

[FR Doc. 2021–12442 Filed 6–11–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P 

INTERNATIONAL TRADE 

COMMISSION 

[Investigation No. 337–TA–1167] 

Notice of Request for Submissions on 

the Public Interest; Certain 

Laparoscopic Surgical Staplers, 

Reload Cartridges, and Components 

Thereof 

AGENCY: U.S. International Trade 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that on 

June 8, 2021, the presiding 

administrative law judge (‘‘ALJ’’) issued 

an Initial Determination on Violation of 

Section 337. The ALJ also issued a 

Recommended Determination on 

remedy and bonding should a violation 

be found in the above-captioned 

investigation. The Commission is 

soliciting submissions on public interest 

issues raised by the recommended relief 

should the Commission find a violation. 

This notice is soliciting comments from 

the public only. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Benjamin S. Richards, Office of the 

General Counsel, U.S. International 

Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, 

Washington, DC 20436, telephone (202) 

708–5453. Copies of non-confidential 

documents filed in connection with this 

investigation may be viewed on the 

Commission’s electronic docket (EDIS) 

at https://edis.usitc.gov. For help 

accessing EDIS, please email 

EDIS3Help@usitc.gov. General 

information concerning the Commission 

may also be obtained by accessing its 

internet server at https://www.usitc.gov. 

Hearing-impaired persons are advised 

that information on this matter can be 

obtained by contacting the 

Commission’s TDD terminal on (202) 

205–1810. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 provides 

that, if the Commission finds a 

violation, it shall exclude the articles 

concerned from the United States: 

unless, after considering the effect of such 

exclusion upon the public health and 

welfare, competitive conditions in the United 

States economy, the production of like or 

directly competitive articles in the United 

States, and United States consumers, it finds 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1