Deadline
-
TBD
November 16, 2023
5:00 pm
ET

Shared Principles For Community Collaboration

Information

Description

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) and Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), in collaboration with its newly established Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA), called ENERGYWERX, will identify local organizations located in specific OCED project host communities interested in convening and leading logistics for multi-stakeholder engagement processes for federal projects.

This effort will assist selected energy demonstration project communities to engage with government and selected OCED project performers in a process to share their priorities and concerns across multiple workshops and forums. The selected organization(s) will be responsible for coordinating the event logistics and conducting engagement with local groups to support the process, which will be led and facilitated by a third-party entity identified by the Department of Energy. Activities may last up to a year and will include coordination with a range of groups –including third-party facilitators, local industry partners leading projects, local community groups, and Department of Energy officials – as well as event planning and relationship building with local groups.

Objective

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) and Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), in collaboration with its newly established Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA), called ENERGYWERX, seeks to identify local organizations located in OCED project host communities interested in convening and leading logistics for multi-stakeholder engagement processes for federal projects. Selected local organizations will have the skills, resources, and expertise in event planning and convening multi-stakeholder initiatives or civic engagement processes and serve as a trusted community entity.

OCED is committed to collaborative engagement between OCED, project performers, and host communities throughout the demonstration project lifecycle. For the recently selected Direct Air Capture demonstration projects, OCED plans to use an in-depth community engagement and collaboration process based on Shared Principles for Community Collaboration. ‘Shared Principles’ is a locally co-created framework that informs the engagement approach throughout an OCED-funded project lifecycle. This effort seeks to support the development of Shared Principles via a Participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) conducted by a third-party entity, by identifying local organizations that can support the coordination of event logistics and conduct engagement with local groups to support the pTA process.

In particular, the objective of this effort is to provide logistical and coordination support, including: drafting and sending event invitation lists and text, identifying event venues, attending events, providing light refreshments, paying participating honorariums, and managing childcare arrangements during specific Shared Principles events.

This effort advances OCED’s mission of delivering clean energy demonstration projects at scale in partnership with the private sector to accelerate deployment, market adoption, and the equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system.  

Selected organizations will dedicate a staff member(s) to support coordination, logistical planning, and engagement with local groups to support the Shared Principles pTA process.

  • Organizations should be based in one of the two communities hosting designated OCED energy projects where the ‘Shared Principles’ engagement process will take place – Calcasieu Parish, LA and Kleberg County, TX. Organizations will have connections to diverse types of local stakeholder organizations with a wide range of interests and objectives, including the local chambers of commerce, environmental and/or environmental justice groups, advocacy groups, elected leaders, faith-based organizations, and other community-based groups.
  • Organizations should commit to knowledge sharing with other selected performers, e.g., through regular calls and/or meetings. 
  • The selected organization(s) will serve as the event logistics coordinator and collaborate, as appropriate and as approved, with other performers who have been selected to facilitate and lead the events and the OCED team so that there is communal learning from each other. 
  • Selected organizations are responsible for verifying and meeting childcare standards and requisite licenses in compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. Selected organizations shall oversee all aspects of on-site childcare during Shared Principles event. Upon DOE approval, selected organizations may work with an approved sub-contracted entity to provide these services. In such a case, a sub-contracted organization will meet all childcare license and certification requirements and selected organizations will maintain oversight and responsibility over this service.

To be added to the teaming partner list click here: Childcare Facilities Teaming Partner List (wufoo.com)

To view the childcare teaming partner list, click here: Childcare Teaming Partner List | Wufoo

Password: shared (all lowercase)

Event Updates

Important Dates

DOE Announcement

Objective Strategic Session (OSS) Webinar

How to Participate

  • Review the General Overview and Objective: See Above
  • Download the Capabilities Overview Template: Click Here to Download
  • Complete the Submission Form & Upload Completed Template: Click Here to Submit (NLT November 17, 2023, 5:00 PM ET)

Office Hours (OH) Q&A Webinar

Submission Deadline(s)

Process Details

Timeline(s)

Phase 1– Submissions Open [October 16, 2023 to November 17, 2023]: Interested respondents must complete a submission form (for Government review only) no later than November 3, 2023, 5pm ET. Submitters must download, complete, and upload a Capabilities Overview (maximum of 2 pages). The list of criteria is listed on the Capabilities Overview Template, found at the bottom of this webpage.

Phase 2– Government Review and Down select [November 17, 2023 to December 1, 2023]: DOE will down select respondents/submissions with the highest likelihood of satisfying their needs. All respondents will receive a selection or non-selection notification o/a November 20, 2023.

Phase 3 – Path Forward [December 4, 2023 to December 14, 2023]: Subsequently, selectees will participate in a discussion with DOE SMEs to learn more about the scope of work determined by DOE. The intent is for selectees to receive a formal Business-to-Business (B2B) Research and Development Agreement (RDA) and Statement of Effort (SOE) as a sub-award (15 U.S. Code, Section 3715) from ENERGYWERX. However, after discussions with DOE, successfully negotiated awards may fall under (but are not limited to) alternate mechanism of awards/interactions with any combination of these categories:

  • Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (15 U.S. Code, Section 3710a)
  • OTA for research or prototype projects (10 U.S. Code Sections 4021, 4022): An award under 10 U. S. Code, Section 4022 may result in the further award of a follow-on production agreement without additional competition based on successful prototype completion. DOE may make this follow-on production award even if all successful prototype criteria are not fully met during the prototype project. 
  • Procurement for experimental purposes (10 U.S. Code Section 4023) 
  • Prizes for advanced technology achievements (10 U. S. Code Section 4025) and/or prize competitions (15 U.S. Code 3719)
  • FAR-based procurement contract

Phase 4– Effort Underway [December 2023 to October 2024]: Throughout the work, DOE seeks that selected organizations work closely with the DOE team, including attending and coordinating logistics for events associated with the Shared Principles pTA process. This would be a highly collaborative, fast-paced engagement model. Materials would be created in partnership and conversation with DOE stakeholders – with additional research and analysis supplementing where needed. The goal would be to produce as much useful content in time for key DOE decision points as possible with the option to finalize work products after that date. In addition, DOE encourages (as needed) check-ins via email, when possible (info@energywerx.org), to provide feedback & guidance and share learnings and insights.

Deep technical subject matter expertise is not required as background. If your organization has an interest in participating in the workshops or forums stemming from this effort, we invite you to reach out expressing interest and abstain from applying to this opportunity. Any sub-recipient, sub-awardee, or current team member of the relevant DOE projects is ineligible to apply for this opportunity.

Resources from Webinar(s)

Coming soon.

Slide Deck(s)

Coming soon.

Transcript(s)

Coming soon.

Video Recording(s)

Coming soon.

Webinar Q&As

Coming soon.

Eligibility & Review Criteria

Frequently Asked Questions

May an FFRDC or a National Lab apply?

DOE will not directly fund National Labs*/FFRDCs via this Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) Opportunity; however, FFRDCs (e.g. DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration national laboratories) may participate as a Selectee’s subrecipient.  The FFRDC effort, in aggregate, shall not exceed 10% of total federal share of the project, and ENWX and DOE will not be involved in, nor assist in, these activities.  Selectees will receive full funding through a Business-to-Business (B2B) Agreement with ENWX.  Selectees are solely responsible for funding and executing necessary agreements with subrecipients.  

*Caveat:  NLs may be Voucher Providers and may apply, but if selected, DOE will manage the work and pay the NL directly through the existing funding mechanism.

‍What are Smart Manufacturing and high-performance computing?

For the purposes of this opportunity:

“Smart Manufacturing” means advanced technologies in information, automation, monitoring, computation, sensing, modeling, artificial intelligence, analytics, and networking that can -

  • simulate manufacturing production lines;
  • operate computer-controlled manufacturing equipment;
  • monitor and communicate production line status; and
  • manage and optimize energy productivity and cost throughout production;
  • model, simulate, and optimize the energy efficiency of a factory building;
  • monitor and optimize building energy performance;
  • model, simulate, and optimize the design of energy efficient and sustainable products, including the use of digital prototyping and additive manufacturing to enhance product design;
  • connect manufactured products in networks to monitor and optimize the performance of the networks, including automated network operations; and
  • digitally connect the supply chain network.16

“High-Performance Computing” means the use of supercomputers, sophisticated models, and/or large data sets to study and solve complex scientific and technological challenges.

What exactly is a “small- and medium-sized manufacturer”?

The term “small- and medium-sized manufacturer” (SMM) means manufacturing firms:

  • classified in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) as any of sectors 31 through 33;
  • with gross annual sales of less than $100,000,000;
  • with fewer than 500 employees at the plant site; and
  • with annual energy bills totaling more than $100,000 and less than $3,500,000
Who is eligible to receive funding?

Refer to Section III.G.2. Eligibility Requirements in the Solicitation Overview.

An application’s prime recipient must be one of the following eligibility entities, else the application will be considered ineligible and removed from further evaluation:

  • State entity;
  • State-funded university; or
  • State-funded community or technical college
Are applicants required to provide cost share?

Yes, cost sharing is required under this solicitation. Applicants are required to provide at least a 23.1% cost share, i.e. applicants need to fund a minimum of 23.1% of the total project cost. Cost share can come from any non-federal source, i.e. cash on hand, philanthropy, corporate investment, etc.

What is the difference between "cost sharing" and "cost match"?

Refer to the Cost Share handout for more detail and examples.

  • While the terms “cost sharing” and “cost matching” are sometimes used interchangeably, there is an important distinction between them. DOE uses “cost sharing” to indicate that the non- federal share is calculated as a percentage of the Total Project Cost. On the other hand, for “cost matching”, the non-federal match is calculated as a percentage of the federal funds only, rather than the Total Project Cost.
  • The statutory language that authorizes the State Manufacturing Leadership Program requires proponents to provide at least 30 percent cost match. For the purposes of this solicitation, the 30 percent cost matching requirement has been converted to an equivalent 23.1 percent cost sharing requirement
What are the acronyms SMM, HPC, and SLMP?
  • SMM = small- and medium-sized manufacturers
  • HPC = high-performance computing
  • SMLP = State Manufacturing Leadership Program
  • IAC = Industrial Assessment Center
  • ITAC = Industrial Training and Assessment Center
  • TA = Technical Assistance
Why did the solicitation come down mid-January?

The solicitation was temporarily taken down while DOE and ENERGYWERX confirmed that the language was consistent with recent Executive Orders.

What is an Opportunity?

Understanding Opportunities

An opportunity is a favorable circumstance or situation that allows for the potential to achieve a goal or benefit. In various contexts, opportunities can arise in business, education, and personal development. Recognizing and seizing these moments can lead to significant advancements in one's career or personal life.

Types of Opportunities

  • Career Opportunities: Job openings or promotions that can enhance your professional journey.
  • Educational Opportunities: Programs or courses that provide knowledge and skills.
  • Networking Opportunities: Events or platforms that allow you to connect with others in your field.

Questions

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact ENERGYWERX: info@energywerx.org

Note: Please submit one (1) form on behalf of your organization.

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