(a) The Department, in cooperation with the Maryland Energy Administration, shall establish standards and procedures, including energy conservation performance guidelines, for evaluating the efficiency of the design for any proposed State-financed or State-assisted building construction.

(b) The standards shall be based on materials developed by the Department, in cooperation with the Maryland Energy Administration, and on the best currently available methods of evaluating design efficiency, including methods developed or used by:

(1) the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal agencies;

(2) the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and

(3) professional societies.

(c) The Department, in cooperation with the Maryland Energy Administration, shall update the standards and procedures by March 1 of each odd-numbered year.