Request for Facilitation Support for the U.S. Department of Energy: Energy Future Grants Program Technical Assistance Cohorts

The DOE is seeking organizations with the capacity and knowledge to support grantees of the $27 million Energy Future Grants Program. The main objective is to provide relevant TA on the selected projects and engage disadvantaged community groups. Prior to starting work with the organization(s), DOE will have established the cohorts and initial subject-matter expert pairings through a barriers workshop. However, the organization(s) will extend upon that outreach to bring together the best minds of industry, academia, and government entities to collaborate and support EFG grantees. The organization(s) will serve as the facilitator of the technical assistance cohorts, thus monitoring the progress of the grantees and any barriers to the progress. The organization(s) will connect grantees with the most appropriate subject-matter experts for the necessary modeling and analysis for their program.

Selected organization(s) will work with DOE to assess topic area cohorts and connect grantees with subject-matter experts relevant to the topic area cohorts. These organizations will establish a working relationship with cohorts to foster the internal growth of knowledge and capacity to adequately conduct planning activities for future program deployment.

The selected organization(s) will ensure connection with the appropriate tools and organization for necessary modeling and analysis. The organization tracks the quarterly reporting to DOE based on defined and agreed upon metrics and desired outcomes for EFG. Selected organization(s) will also provide unique and effective collaboration support for cohorts allowing participants to exchange ideas and information in an innovative environment.

An eligible applicant is an organization or team of organizations, including but not limited to the following:

• Non-profit organizations
• Community-based organizations or networks
• Environmental justice organizations or networks
• Local or tribal government networks
• Private organizations
• Academic institutions
• Civic and philanthropic organizations
• Group or coalition of the above entities

Ineligible entities for this solicitation are:

• Individuals
• Foreign Entities
• National Labs
• Sub-recipients of Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002870: Energy Future Grants (EFG) Creating a Community-Led Energy Future

If you are interested in being added to the teaming partner list and having your information shared with respondents, please click here to complete this form no later than April 10, 2024. To access the list of teaming partners, please click here and use the password: EFGTEAMING

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How to Participate

1. Review the resources from the Informational Webinar/Objective Strategic Session on March 7, 2024 from 3:00-4:00 PM ET‍
2. Review the resources from the Informational Office Hours Session on April 3, 2024 from 3:00-4:00 PM ET‍
3. Complete Submission Here: Click Here to Submit (Submissions are due NLT April 10, 2024 @ 3:00 PM ET)

Breaking News: DOE Announces $27M for the Energy Future Grants - Click Here to Read More

Informational Webinar/Objective Strategic Session (March 7, 2024): Join ENERGYWERX and DOE for an informational webinar on the Energy Future Grants Program on March 7, 2024 from 3:00 -4:00 PM ET.

Office Hours (April 3, 2024): ENERGYWERX and DOE will host open office hours for potential candidates. Participants are encouraged to come prepared to ask questions. The session will take place on April 3, 2024 from 3:00-4:00 PM ET.

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Submissions are due NLT April 10, 2024 at 3:00 PM ET

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Submissions Open (February 26, 2024 to April 10, 2024): Interested utilities must complete a submission form (for government review only) no later than April 10, 2024 at 3:00 PM ET. Submitters must download, complete, and upload a capabilities overview (maximum 2 pages). The list of criteria can be found on the capabilities overview template, found at the bottom of this webpage.

Informational Webinar/ ObjectiveStrategic Session (March 7, 2024): Join ENERGYWERX and DOE for an informational webinar on the Energy Future Grants Program from 3:00-4:00 PM ET

Office Hours (April 3, 2024): ENERGYWERX and the EFG team will host open office hours for potential applicants. Participants are encouraged to come prepared to ask questions. The session will take place on April 3, 2024 from 3:00-4:00 PM ET.

Complete Submission Here: Click Here to Submit (Submissions are due NLT April 10, 2024 @ 3:00 PM ET)

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1. The degree to which the applicant demonstrates substantial expertise and a successful track record working with and/or engaging state, local, and tribal governments and possesses strong existing networks within state, local, and/or tribal governments.
   - Number and quality (e.g., goals met, efficacy of evaluation processes, quality of stakeholder engagement, distribution of benefits, demonstrated implementation of energy justice principles) of successful projects.
   - Demonstrated ability to advance their clients/stakeholders into the next steps of achieving their program goals.
2. The degree to which the applicant demonstrates substantial expertise and experience with clean energy topics across the Energy Future Grants Program topic areas:
   - Transportation
   - Power
   - Buildings
   - Strategic or Cross-Cutting
3. Whether the applicant possesses additional specialized experience or skills that would support the delivery of the Energy Future Grants Program technical assistance, including but not limited to tribal or energy justice expertise.
4. Whether the applicant has access to and/or can offer specialized networks and/or communications platforms for grantees to engage with other relevant tools, stakeholders, or peers undertaking similar projects.
5. Demonstrated ability to communicate technical information to state, local, and/or tribal government practitioners with varying abilities and levels of expertise.
6. The extent to which the applicant demonstrates substantial expertise and a successful track record of administering and facilitating interactive virtual meeting series and building community through peer learning opportunities.
7. The extent to which the applicant understands and has experience with grant management processes, especially at the federal level.
8. The indicated willingness of the team to work in close collaboration with DOE for the estimated duration of the entire grant period (1 year partnership).
9. Demonstrated ability to create easy-to-understand materials, resources, and presentations.
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What is the Energy Future Grants Program?

The Energy Future Grants (EFG) Program, issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP), is a new annual, competitive program. EFG will provide financial and technical assistance to support innovative – novel or early action – clean energy planning to benefit disadvantaged communities.

Energy Future Grants provides $37 million total in financial assistance in two phases to advance:  

1. Partnerships: Create multi-jurisdictional partnerships between local, tribal, and/or state governments, with a goal of at least 3-4 partners per team.  
2. Communities: Develop deployment-focused clean energy plans in the transportation, building, and/or power sectors to meet community needs.  
3. Innovation: Prioritize innovative (novel or early action) approaches that maximize access to affordable clean energy across sectors, markets, and geographies.

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What are the two phases of EFG?

Phase 1: $27 million over a year in the current funding opportunity.

• In Phase 1, selected awardees will receive approximately $500,000 for a 1 year award period to provide design support and ensure engagement is inclusive of all jurisdictions and aligned with the needs of disadvantaged communities. Examples, led by the prime applicant, may include stakeholder engagement meetings, planning workshops, financial or economic analyses, or grid modeling. In addition, ongoing communication within teams is expected. Phase 1 activities will be limited to planning and outreach.  

Phase 2: Successful Phase 1 awardees will compete for awards of up to $1 million in a down select process.  Approximately $10 million total will be awarded for a 12-to-24-months award.

• Whereas Phase 1 will fund planning efforts, Phase 2 will allow teams to fund work needed to make plans deployment ready – such as analyses that inform decision-makers or address community-identified issues. Examples include zoning and siting studies for renewable energy in multiple counties or statewide, building engineering studies for affordable housing retrofit work in a city or region, or capacity expansion modeling to inform deployment of EVs across cities.

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What is the Energy Future Grants Program Technical Assistance Cohorts?

This solicitation is for the EFG Program TA Cohorts. The organization(s) selected through this application process will be supporting the cohorts of the Energy Future Grants awardees. EFG has not yet selected awardees that applied to the Energy Future Grants Funding Opportunity Announcement, which closed November 10, 2023.

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Which phase(s) will the selected organization(s) be supporting?

Program will evaluate applications based on the outlined duration of 12 months.

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What is the funding level for this solicitation?

Up to $900,000 will be awarded for this effort across all selected organizations, with DOE anticipating 1 to 4 organizations being selected for the effort. Award amounts will be contingent on the work you are selected to perform as outlined in the opportunity announcement and your prepared capability statement (part of the application).

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To apply, is it required be an expert in all of the topic areas?

Your application should support the level of expertise and experience that your organization has and can realistically provide. To the greatest extent you can align with the topic areas or focus in on a specific topic area outlined in the evaluation criteria; expertise in all three areas is beneficial, but not a requirement.

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Is there a character count for the application?

There is a 1,000 word count limit for each section, with a 500 word count limit for the core capabilities section and a 500 word count limit for the section describing your organizations approach to organizing cohorts

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