BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE LAW (BIL) ASSISTING FEDERAL FACILITIES WITH ENERGY CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES (AFFECT) ADVANCING NET-ZERO FEDERAL FACILITIES | DE FOA 0003026

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003026

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies (AFFECT) program is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding opportunity designed to help federal agencies plan, upgrade, and deliver projects that reduce energy and water use and move federal buildings toward net-zero performance. The opportunity is run through DOE's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) and is structured as a Federal Agency Call (FAC), meaning federal agencies compete against each other and are scored using technical review criteria described in the solicitation. The underlying authority traces back to the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and the National Energy Conservation Policy Act (NECPA) requirements in Section 543 (42 U.S.C. 8253), which set energy and water conservation expectations for federal facilities. In practical terms, DOE is using this grant mechanism to accelerate compliance with federal sustainability mandates while also building a pipeline of replicable net-zero building approaches across the federal portfolio.

This specific AFFECT round is funded by Section 40554 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), better known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Under that provision, Congress authorized $250 million (FY 2022, available until expended) to support the grant program authorized under 42 U.S.C. 8256(b). FEMP indicates it intends to award the full $250 million through this BIL AFFECT FAC. Individual awards can be as large as $10,000,000, and DOE anticipates making around 100 awards, signaling an emphasis on broad portfolio impact rather than a small number of mega-projects. The opportunity is listed as discretionary grant funding in the energy and IIJA activity categories (Assistance Listing/CFDA 81.117) and is administered by DOE's Golden Field Office. The posting date is April 20, 2023, with an original closing date of November 27, 2024.

The program is explicitly tied to federal leadership and climate goals laid out in statute and executive direction, including NECPA as amended by the Energy Act of 2020, Executive Order 14057 (federal sustainability and clean energy economy), and Executive Order 14008 (whole-of-government climate response). DOE is looking for projects that do more than produce one-off savings; the emphasis is on creating "showcase" net-zero facilities and/or multi-site deployments that can serve as models the rest of the federal government can copy, scale, and standardize over time. In other words, projects are expected to contribute to a long-term strategy for a net-zero federal building portfolio, not just incremental improvements.

Applications must align with one of three topic areas that cover the full lifecycle of net-zero delivery. Topic Area 1 focuses on assistance with net-zero buildings opportunity development, which generally means early-stage work that helps agencies identify, scope, analyze, and prepare viable net-zero projects (for example, planning, assessments, energy and water studies, and other pre-implementation development steps that make later construction or deployment possible). Topic Area 2 supports modifying existing projects for net-zero buildings, aimed at situations where an agency already has a planned project underway but needs additional funding or technical work to elevate it to net-zero performance (such as redesign, added measures, or integration changes that shift a conventional upgrade into a net-zero solution). Topic Area 3 targets new or in-development net-zero buildings projects, which is the most direct path to implementation and deployment, supporting agencies that are ready to execute net-zero projects at individual sites or across multiple facilities.

Eligibility is aimed at federal agencies (the solicitation notes "Others" in the standard field, but clarifies eligibility in additional text), consistent with the program's purpose of helping agencies meet federal energy and water mandates. Awards are made competitively, and proposals are evaluated against technical review criteria referenced in the funding announcement. Overall, the opportunity is essentially a large BIL-funded push to help federal agencies turn net-zero goals into tangible building projects, using grant funding to move from planning to redesigned upgrades to fully developed net-zero deployments, while producing examples that can be replicated across the federal government.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy, infrastructure investment and jobs act (iija) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE LAW (BIL) ASSISTING FEDERAL FACILITIES WITH ENERGY CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES (AFFECT) ADVANCING NET-ZERO FEDERAL FACILITIES" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.117.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 20, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 27, 2024. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $10,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 100 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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