DE-FOA-0002549: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION | DE FOA 0002549

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002549

DE-FOA-0002549 is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Golden Field Office notice labeled as a Request for Information (RFI), focused on the manufacturing sector and specifically on how to speed up the adoption and integration of smart manufacturing technologies along with energy management practices. In practical terms, this is not a conventional grant competition seeking proposals for funding; it is a market and stakeholder input-gathering effort where DOE is asking organizations and individuals to share insights, evidence, and ideas about what works (and what does not) when trying to modernize manufacturing operations with digital, connected, and energy-aware tools and practices. The overarching aim is to identify actionable pathways that could help manufacturers more quickly deploy technologies and management approaches that improve productivity, resilience, and energy performance.

The opportunity is categorized in federal listings as a discretionary grant-related posting under the Energy funding activity category (CFDA/Assistance Listing 81.086), but the key detail is that it is an RFI rather than an announcement of available funds. That is reinforced by the posting details showing expected awards of zero, which typically indicates DOE is not planning to make awards from this notice. The listed "Award Ceiling: 2" should not be interpreted as an actual promise of grant funding; in RFI contexts, those fields sometimes appear because of standardized forms, even when no awards will be issued.

Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning the DOE was open to receiving input from essentially any type of entity, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications that may have been contained in the full text of the RFI. This generally signals that DOE wanted broad participation from the manufacturing ecosystem, such as manufacturers of different sizes, technology providers, industrial energy service companies, utilities, national laboratories, universities, workforce and training organizations, state and local governments, industry associations, and other stakeholders with relevant experience. RFIs like this are commonly used to collect perspectives from both adopters and solution developers so the agency can understand real-world constraints, incentives, gaps, and deployment conditions.

The substance of the RFI centers on two connected themes: smart manufacturing technologies and energy management practices. "Smart manufacturing" commonly refers to the use of sensors, controls, industrial internet of things (IIoT), advanced analytics, automation, digital twins, cybersecurity practices, and interoperable data architectures to improve the way industrial facilities operate. Energy management practices typically include structured approaches to measuring, managing, and continuously improving energy performance, often leveraging standards-based management systems, energy monitoring and targeting, operational controls, maintenance strategies, and integration of energy considerations into production scheduling and decision-making. By pairing these themes, DOE is signaling interest in approaches that do not treat energy as a standalone engineering concern, but instead embed energy intelligence into core manufacturing workflows and digital transformation efforts.

The phrase "identifying pathways to accelerate the uptake and integration" is important because it implies DOE was seeking more than a catalog of technologies. The agency likely wanted input on deployment pathways, which usually includes barriers and enabling conditions such as up-front costs and financing structures, availability of skilled labor, change management challenges, data quality and interoperability, cybersecurity and intellectual property concerns, vendor lock-in risks, uncertainty about payback, production downtime constraints, and differences between subsectors (for example, batch vs. continuous processes). It also implies interest in strategies that move beyond pilots and demonstrations into scalable, repeatable adoption models, particularly for small and medium-sized manufacturers that may lack dedicated engineering staff or capital budgets for digitization.

Administratively, the notice was created on June 16, 2021 and had an original response deadline of July 30, 2021. Because it is an RFI, respondents would typically submit written feedback rather than a full application package, and DOE would use those responses to shape future program decisions. The most common outcomes of an RFI are refinements to DOE priorities, the design of subsequent funding opportunity announcements, the development of technical assistance programs, the creation of public-private partnerships, and adjustments to how DOE frames performance targets and evaluation metrics for future solicitations.

In summary, DE-FOA-0002549 is best understood as an information-gathering action by DOE to learn from the field about how to speed up deployment of smart manufacturing and energy management in U.S. manufacturing facilities. It is open to broad participation, tied to DOE industrial efficiency and competitiveness objectives, and structured to inform future policy, program design, and potential future funding opportunities rather than to directly award grants under this specific notice.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DE-FOA-0002549: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.086.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 16, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 30, 2021. (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 $2.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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