ICF, Cadmus win EPA support contracts

ICF Consulting Group and The Cadmus Group are gearing up to start work on companion contracts to help the Environmental Protection Agency expand its programs that promote energy efficiency. The contracts cover the upkeep of the information systems supporting the EPA's programs and the development of software to help private-sector program participants.

The contracts potentially worth $93 million together involve the operation and enhancement of information systems that support the EPA's Green Lights Energy Star and Allies programs through which the EPA recruits companies to manufacture energy-efficient equipment and works with businesses and homeowners to deploy such products. In addition EPA contractors will develop software that companies and individuals could use to help themselves decide the best methods to save energy.

Elizabeth Roberts an EPA contracting officer said the agency has not yet settled on the first tasks it will assign the vendors adding that she could not provide any details beyond the initial statement of work concerning what the contract would entail. According to the work statement vendors will among other tasks create or upgrade program databases and write software for analyzing information collected in those databases.

Scott Fletcher a project manager with ICF said he expects some of the work will involve upgrades to several systems and software products his company developed under an earlier contract with the EPA. Fletcher said he expects the new contract which is worth up to $64 million to ICF over five years to emphasize information technology more than in the past.

ICF Washington D.C. maintains a dial-up database of participants in the Green Lights program which encourages installation of energy-saving lighting. ICF also supplies software that participants can use to project the savings they would achieve with different lighting equipment and to report the results of their "upgrades" to the EPA. Finally the firm maintains a database of financing sources for new lighting projects.The Cadmus Group a Waltham Mass. environmental consulting firm has also done past work with the EPA on a range of subjects said David Alexander the company's president and chief executive officer.

Cadmus' expertise is in geographical information systems and software to audit energy use Alexander said. But he added "We provide a full array of [IT] service to EPA."