Natural Gas: Opportunities for Federal Cost Savings Through Competitive Purchases

Abstract

Changes in federal regulations affecting the sale, purchase, and transportation of natural gas in the late 1970s and early 1980s have provided the federal government with greater opportunities to purchase natural gas from sources other than a single public utility serving a local area. By purchasing natural gas from a variety of sources, such as at the wellhead where natural gas is produced, users are afforded opportunities to shop for the most competitive prices and reduce their natural gas costs. Because of the large dollar amount that federal agencies spend for natural gas-over $500 million annually-and the potential opportunity to reduce costs, we initiated this review of natural gas purchases by military and civilian facilities to determine (1) the extent to which competitive procurements are used by federal facilities, (2) actual and potential cost savings of selected facilities that have been or could be buying competitively, and (3) why competitive procurement may not be more widely practiced.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1990
Accession Number
AD1177453

Entities

People

  • Allen R. Walter
  • Barbra A. Chiapella
  • Francis J. Kovalak
  • J. D. Peach
  • James A. Fowler
  • Judy A. England-joseph
  • Robert F. Stephens

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accounting
  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Alternative Fuels
  • Consumers
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Economic Development
  • Geographic Regions
  • Governments
  • National Governments
  • Natural Gas
  • Pipelines
  • Procurement
  • Public Utilities
  • Transportation
  • United States
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Engineering.
  • Government and Public Administration Law.