Following the auction, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Federal Trade Commission, will have 30 days in which to complete an antitrust review of the auction. In the event BOEM accepts a high bid, it will send unsigned copies of the lease form to each winning bidder, who will have 10 days to sign and return the lease, file required financial assurance, and pay the balance of the winning bid.
Once BOEM executes the lease, the lessee will have six months to submit to BOEM a Site Assessment Plan for BOEM’s environmental and technical review and approval. Within the Site Assessment term of the lease, the lessee must submit a Construction Operations Plan (COP), which provides details of the proposed project (e.g., turbine layout, size). BOEM will conduct an environmental (likely an Environmental Impact Statement, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act) and technical review of the COP. Once a COP has been approved, the Lessee must submit a Facilities Design Report and a Fabrication and Installation Report to BOEM. The lessee can start constructing absent BOEM objections to these reports.