On December 4, 2014, the House passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (“NDAA FY 15”) which is now up for debate in the Senate.  While the original House version of NDAA FY 15 contained a number of provisions relating to the procurement of biofuels, these biofuels provisions were substantially modified in the amended version of the bill that the House passed last week after an agreement was made with the Senate to align the House and Senate versions of the bill.

Summary of the changes

• Section 314.  Section 314 of the House-passed NDAA FY 15 would require the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the military department concerned to submit to the congressional defense committees a business case analysis at least 30 days before entering into a contract for the “planning, design, refurbishing, or construction of a biofuel refinery, or of any other facility or infrastructure used to refine biofuels.”  The prior version of this provision in the House bill — Section 317 — would have required the Department of Defense to obtain congressional authorization before entering into such a contract, and drew criticism from the Obama Administration which stated  that such a provision “would inhibit the development of a diverse, cost-competitive energy supply that enhances American energy security.”  The Senate committee-reported bill had contained no similar provision.  As such, the original House version of the provision appears to have been softened by dropping the requirement for congressional authorization after negotiations with the Senate.   
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