The U.S. Department of Navy is seeking at least 37 million gallons of drop-in biofuels to power its F-76 marine diesel and JP-5 shipboard jet fuel supply in the upcoming Inland/East/Gulf Coast bulk fuels solicitation released by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Energy on June 9, 2014. Bids are due by July 9, 2014 and deliveries of fuel will start April 1, 2015. The Inland/East/Gulf Coast is the single largest bulk fuels acquisition program, and is valued in excess of $3.5 billion.

This announcement comes as the U.S. Navy continues to increase operational readiness and mission effectiveness by reducing its reliance on petroleum.

The biofuels the U.S. Navy is seeking will be able to be blended in a range of 10 to 50 percent with conventional petroleum products and must meet all military fuel specification properties which make handling requirements and performance indiscernible to the end user. Currently, two biofuels pathways have been tested and qualified for use in Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, ships, vehicles and equipment and efforts are underway to adopt more pathways.

DLA will purchase the biofuel blends only if they are cost competitive with their conventionally-derived counterparts. However, $27.2 million in US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds, capped at 71 cents or less per neat biofuel gallon, are available to defray any additional costs that may exist for fuels derived from domestic feedstocks on a USDA-approved list.

More details can be found at https://www.fbo.gov, solicitation number SP060014R0061.