Section 455.20 - Contents of State PlanEach State shall develop and submit to DOE a State Plan for technical assistance programs and energy conservation measures, including renewable resource measures and, to the extent appropriate, program assistance, and/or marketing. The State Plan shall include:
(a) A statement setting forth the procedures by which the views of eligible institutions or coordinating agencies representing such institutions, or both, were solicited and considered during development of the State Plan and any amendment to a State Plan;(b) The procedures the State will follow to notify eligible institutions and coordinating agencies of the content of the approved State Plan or any approved amendment to a State Plan;(c) The procedures the State will follow to notify eligible institutions and coordinating agencies of the availability (each funding cycle) of funding under this program and related funding available from non-Federal sources to fund technical assistance programs and energy conservation measures consistent with this part;(d) The procedures for submittal of grant applications to the State;(e) The procedures to be used by the State for evaluating and ranking technical assistance and energy conservation measure grant applications pursuant to § 455.130 and § 455.131 , including the weights assigned to each criterion set forth in §§ 455.131(c)(1), (c)(2), (c)(3), (c)(4) and (c)(5) . In addition, the State shall determine the order of priority given to fuel types that include oil, natural gas, and electricity, under § 455.131(c)(2) ;(f) The procedures that the State will follow to insure that funds will be allocated equitably among eligible applicants within the State including procedures to insure that funds will not be allocated on the basis of size or type of institution, but rather on the basis of relative need, taking into account such factors as cost, energy consumption, and energy savings, in accordance with § 455.131 ;(g) The procedures that the States will follow for identifying schools and hospitals experiencing severe hardship and for apportioning the funds that are available for schools and hospitals in a case of severe hardship. Such policies and procedures shall be in accordance with § 455.132 ;(h) A statement setting forth the extent to which, and by which methods, the State will encourage utilization of solar space heating, cooling and electric systems, and solar water heating systems;(i) The procedures to assure that all financial assistance under this part will be expended in compliance with the requirements of the State Plan, in compliance with the requirements of this part, and in coordination with other State and Federal energy conservation programs;(j) If a State is eligible and elects to use up to 100 percent of the funds provided by DOE under this part for any fiscal year for program and technical assistance and/or up to 50 percent of such funds for marketing:(1) A description of each activity the State proposes, including the procedures for program operation, monitoring, and evaluation;(2) The level of funding to be used for each program and the source of those funds;(3) The amount of the State's allocated funds that the State proposes to use for each;(4) A description of the non-Federal financing mechanisms to be used to fund energy conservation measures in the State during the fiscal year;(5) A description of the evaluation/selection criteria to be used by the State in determining which institutions receive funding for energy conservation measures;(6) The procedures for assuring that all segments of the State's eligible institutions, including religiously affiliated institutions receive an equitable share of the assistance provided both for program and technical assistance, marketing, and energy conservation measures;(7) A description of how the State will track: the amount of total available funds by source; the amount of funds obligated against those funds; and any limits on types of institutions eligible for particular funding sources; and(8) The procedures for assisting institutions which initially receive program, technical, or marketing assistance (as part of the State's special program(s)) in later participating in the State's program(s) to provide energy conservation measure funding;(k) The requirements for an energy audit or an energy use evaluation, and the requirements for qualifications for auditors or persons who will conduct energy use evaluations in the State;(l) With regard to energy conservation maintenance and operating procedures:(1) The procedures to insure implementation of energy conservation maintenance and operating procedures in those buildings for which financial assistance is requested under this part;(2) A provision that all maintenance and operating procedure changes recommended in an energy audit pursuant to § 455.20(k) , or in a technical assistance report under § 455.62 , or a combination of these are implemented as provided under this part; or(3) An assurance that the maintenance and operating procedures will be implemented in the future, or a reasonable justification for not implementing such procedures, as appropriate;(m) The procedures to assure that financial assistance under this part will be used to supplement, and not to supplant, State, local or other funds, including at least:(1) The screening of applicants for eligibility for available State funds;(2) The identification of applicants which are seeking or have obtained private sector funds; and,(3) Limiting or excluding (at the option of the State) the availability of financial assistance under this part for funding particular measures for which funding is being provided by other sources in the State (such as utility rebates) together with any requirements for potential applicants to first seek other sources of funding and document the results of that attempt before seeking financial assistance under this part and a description of the State's plan to assist potential applicants in identifying and obtaining other sources of funding;(n) The procedures for determining that technical assistance programs performed without the use of Federal funds and used as the basis for energy conservation measure grant applications have been performed in compliance with the requirements of § 455.62 , for the purposes of satisfying the eligibility requirements contained in § 455.71(a)(3) ;(o) The State's policy regarding reasonable selection of energy conservation measures for study in a technical assistance program including any restrictions based on category of building or on groups of structures where measures may, or may not, be appropriate for all the structures and any additional State requirements for the conduct of such a program;(p) The procedures for State management, monitoring, and evaluation of technical assistance programs and energy conservation measures receiving financial assistance under this part. This includes any State requirements for hospital certifications from a State agency with descriptions of the review procedures and coordination process applicable in such cases. If there is no school facilities agency in the State, or if the existing agency does not certify all types of schools, it also includes any State requirements for an alternative review and certification process for schools;(q) The circumstances under which the State requires an updated technical assistance program report to accompany an application for an energy conservation measure grant and the scope and contents of such an update;(r) A description of the State's policies for establishing and insuring compliance with qualifications for technical assistance analysts. Such policies shall require that technical assistance analysts be free from financial interests which may conflict with the proper performance of their duties and have experience in energy conservation and:(1) Be a registered professional engineer licensed under the regulatory authority of the State;(2) Be an architect-engineer team, the principal members of which are licensed under the regulatory authority of the State; or(3) Be otherwise qualified in accordance with such criteria as the State may prescribe in its State Plan to insure that individuals conducting technical assistance programs possess the appropriate training and experience in building energy systems;(s) The circumstances under which the State will or will not consider accepting applications for technical assistance programs or energy conservation measures which were included in earlier approved grant awards but which were not implemented and for which no funds were expended after the original grant award;(t) A statement setting forth:(1) An estimate of energy savings which may result from the modification of maintenance and operating procedures and installation of energy conservation measures;(2) A recommendation as to the types of energy conservation measures considered appropriate within the State; and(3) An estimate of the costs of carrying out technical assistance and energy conservation measure programs;(u) For purposes of the technical assistance program pursuant to § 455.62 :(1) A statement setting forth uniform conversion factors to be used by all grant applicants in the technical assistance analysis for conversion of fuels to Btu equivalents. For the conversion of kilowatt hours to Btus, the State may use 3,413, representing consumption at the consumer's end, or 11,600, representing consumption at the producer's end, or may assign 3,413 to some types of energy conservation measures and 11,600 to other types of measures in which case the State shall specify the conversion factor to be used for each type of measure, providing a rationale and citing the sources used in making this decision, and the State shall always apply the specified factor consistently to all ECMs of a particular type;(2) A statement setting forth the cost-effectiveness testing approach to be used to evaluate energy conservation measures pursuant to § 455.63 . States may select either the simple payback approach or the life-cycle costing approach. Only one approach may be used for all technical assistance programs in the State. If the State elects to use the life-cycle costing approach, it must specify, consistent with § 455.64(g) , whether it will use DOE-provided or its own energy cost escalation rate or annual discount rate, together with any other procedures required to be used (in addition to those specified in § 455.64 ) ; and(3) A statement setting forth that 50 percent (or a higher percent) of total cost savings (used in calculating cost effectiveness pursuant to § 455.63(a)(1) for simple payback, or § 455.64(c) for life-cycle costing) must be from the cost of the energy to be saved.(v) For any coordinating agency, a description of how it will operate including but not limited to:(2) Type of institutions covered;(3) Application processing procedures;(4) Whether TA applications, ECM applications, or both are covered;(5) Intended schedule for soliciting and processing applications;(6) Any special provisions for religiously affiliated institutions;(7) Nature of subagreement to be used with institutions;(8) Whether TA or ECM contractors selected by the coordinating agency will be offered incident to, or as a condition in, subagreements; and(9) Other significant policies and procedures;(w) If a State elects to allow credit toward the cost share for an energy conservation measure for the costs of technical assistance programs, technical assistance program updates, or energy conservation measures previously incurred and wholly paid for with non-Federal funds, the policies regarding such credit, including any time limits for the age of the earlier-funded work being proposed for credit; and(x) The limit to the Federal share to be provided to applicants in the State if a State elects to provide less than a 50 percent Federal share to its applicants that do not qualify for severe hardship.