Are the Feds Concocting Performance Bonuses for Green Companies?
Pay for performance. It’s arguably been absent from government contracting for at least 200 years. But that could change soon. Amory Lovins, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, indicated that the federal government is contemplating a compensation plan in its federal building programs that will lead to bonus payments, or penalties, to contractors on green buildings and retrofits. “Performance-based fees. We may soon see this adapted by some federal agencies,” he said. Some people have begun to build performance fees into their construction contracts and many others have suggested increasing their scope and use. The difference here is that Lovins is about as well connected in the green world as anyone. Thus, if he says that federal agencies may adopt it, he’s probably hearing it from fairly high up. (Lovins spoke at the Scaling Up conference sponsored by the Asia Society in San Francisco last week.) These programs work as follows: A contractor agrees to erect a
