Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002065
The Department of Energy, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), issued a discretionary funding opportunity called "Industry Partnerships for Cybersecurity of Energy Delivery Systems Research, Development, and Demonstration" (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0002065). The overall goal is to strengthen the reliability and resilience of the nations energy infrastructure by supporting practical cybersecurity research, development, and demonstration efforts aimed at energy delivery environments. In other words, the program is geared toward improving how well the electric and other energy delivery systems can withstand, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber threats, with an emphasis on solutions that can be validated in realistic settings rather than remaining purely theoretical.
Funding is provided through cooperative agreements, which typically means DOE expects an active role during the life of the project (for example, technical direction, review checkpoints, and coordination to ensure the work aligns with program goals). The opportunity is categorized under energy and science and technology research and development, and it is associated with CFDA number 81.122. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning it is open to any type of applicant entity, as long as they meet any additional eligibility conditions described in the full announcement text. The opportunity was created on May 9, 2019, with an original application deadline of July 8, 2019. DOE anticipated making about five awards, with an award ceiling of $3,000,000 per project, indicating mid-sized, multi-partner technical projects that can progress beyond early-stage concepts.
The announcement is organized into three topic areas that reflect common and high-impact cybersecurity needs in operational energy environments. Topic Area 1, "Real Time Intrusion for Energy Delivery Control Systems," focuses on technologies and approaches that can detect intrusions or malicious activity as it happens in energy delivery control systems. This is aimed at operational technology (OT) environments where traditional enterprise IT security tools are often a poor fit due to strict uptime requirements, legacy equipment, specialized protocols, and safety and reliability constraints. Work under this topic would generally be expected to improve real-time visibility, monitoring, and detection for industrial control systems, potentially including methods that reduce false positives, recognize abnormal control behavior, and provide actionable alerts quickly enough to support effective response before disruptions occur.
Topic Area 2, "Self Healing Energy Delivery Control Systems," centers on capabilities that allow control systems to maintain or quickly restore safe and reliable operation even when parts of the system are compromised, malfunctioning, or under attack. The idea behind self-healing is not just detection, but resilience: technologies that can automatically isolate affected components, reconfigure operations, fail over to trusted modes, validate integrity, or otherwise continue delivering energy services while limiting the impact of an incident. In practice, projects in this area would likely involve automation, robust system architectures, adaptive controls, recovery mechanisms, and validation techniques designed for the real operational constraints of energy delivery systems, where downtime can be costly and unsafe.
Topic Area 3, "Innovative Technologies that Enhance Cybersecurity in the Energy Sector," is broader and is meant to capture emerging or novel approaches that do not fit neatly into the first two categories but still materially improve cybersecurity for energy systems. This could include new security architectures, methods to secure communications and devices used in the field, advanced analytics, secure-by-design approaches for industrial environments, or technologies that improve system assurance and trust. The emphasis on innovation suggests DOE was looking for forward-leaning concepts that can be developed and demonstrated with industry partners so they can eventually transition into real deployments across the sector.
Across all three areas, the framing around "industry partnerships" and "research, development, and demonstration" signals that DOE wanted solutions that are both technically rigorous and practically adoptable by energy stakeholders. The focus is not only on creating new cybersecurity ideas, but on maturing them into validated capabilities that can improve the resilience of critical energy delivery infrastructure in the face of evolving cyber threats.Apply for DE FOA 0002065
- The Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory in the energy, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Industry Partnerships for Cybersecurity of Energy Delivery Systems Research, Development, and Demonstration" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.122.
- This funding opportunity was created on May 09, 2019.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 08, 2019. (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 $3,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
- 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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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the name of this funding opportunity?
The funding opportunity is titled "Industry Partnerships for Cybersecurity of Energy Delivery Systems Research, Development, and Demonstration."
What is the Funding Opportunity Number (FOA number)?
The Funding Opportunity Number is DE-FOA-0002065.
Which agency is offering this opportunity?
The opportunity is issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).
What is the overall goal of the program?
The goal is to strengthen the reliability and resilience of the nation's energy infrastructure by supporting practical cybersecurity research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) focused on energy delivery environments.
What does "energy delivery environments" mean in the context of this FOA?
Based on the announcement description, this refers to operational settings where energy is delivered and controlled (for example, electric and other energy delivery systems), particularly the control system environments where uptime, safety, and reliability constraints shape what cybersecurity solutions can be used.
What kind of projects is DOE looking to fund under this FOA?
DOE is looking to fund practical cybersecurity RD&D efforts that can be validated in realistic settings, rather than remaining purely theoretical. The emphasis is on solutions that help energy systems withstand, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber threats.
What is the funding instrument used for awards under this opportunity?
Funding is provided through cooperative agreements.
What does it mean that awards are made through a cooperative agreement?
A cooperative agreement typically means DOE expects an active role during the project period. The description indicates this may include technical direction, review checkpoints, and coordination to ensure the work aligns with program goals.
How is this opportunity categorized?
The opportunity is categorized under energy and science and technology research and development.
What is the CFDA number associated with this program?
The CFDA number listed is 81.122.
Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning it is open to any type of applicant entity, as long as the applicant meets any additional eligibility conditions described in the full announcement text.
When was this funding opportunity created?
The opportunity was created on May 9, 2019.
What was the original application deadline?
The original application deadline was July 8, 2019.
How many awards did DOE anticipate making?
DOE anticipated making about five awards.
What is the maximum award amount per project?
The award ceiling is $3,000,000 per project.
What do the expected number of awards and award ceiling suggest about project scale?
With about five anticipated awards and a $3,000,000 ceiling per project, the FOA points toward mid-sized, multi-partner technical projects that can move beyond early-stage concepts into development and demonstration.
How is the FOA structured?
The announcement is organized into three topic areas that reflect common and high-impact cybersecurity needs in operational energy environments.
What is Topic Area 1?
Topic Area 1 is "Real Time Intrusion for Energy Delivery Control Systems."
What types of solutions fit under Topic Area 1 (Real Time Intrusion)?
This topic focuses on technologies and approaches that detect intrusions or malicious activity as it happens in energy delivery control systems. The description emphasizes operational technology (OT) constraints such as strict uptime requirements, legacy equipment, specialized protocols, and safety and reliability requirements. Examples of expected outcomes include improved real-time visibility and monitoring, reduced false positives, recognition of abnormal control behavior, and actionable alerts fast enough to support effective response before disruptions occur.
Why does the FOA call out OT environments for Topic Area 1?
The FOA notes that traditional enterprise IT security tools are often a poor fit for OT environments due to operational constraints (uptime, legacy devices, specialized protocols, and safety/reliability considerations). Topic Area 1 is framed to address those realities directly.
What is Topic Area 2?
Topic Area 2 is "Self Healing Energy Delivery Control Systems."
What does "self-healing" mean in this FOA?
In this FOA, self-healing focuses on resilience in addition to detection. It refers to capabilities that allow control systems to maintain or quickly restore safe and reliable operation even when parts of the system are compromised, malfunctioning, or under attack.
What kinds of capabilities are emphasized under Topic Area 2 (Self Healing)?
The description highlights approaches such as automatically isolating affected components, reconfiguring operations, failing over to trusted modes, validating integrity, and continuing delivery of energy services while limiting incident impact. It also points toward automation, robust architectures, adaptive controls, recovery mechanisms, and validation techniques that work within real operational constraints where downtime can be costly and unsafe.
What is Topic Area 3?
Topic Area 3 is "Innovative Technologies that Enhance Cybersecurity in the Energy Sector."
What types of projects are appropriate for Topic Area 3 (Innovative Technologies)?
Topic Area 3 is broader and intended for emerging or novel approaches that do not fit neatly into Topics 1 or 2 but still materially improve cybersecurity for energy systems. The description mentions potential areas such as new security architectures, methods to secure communications and field devices, advanced analytics, secure-by-design approaches for industrial environments, and technologies that improve system assurance and trust, with an emphasis on development and demonstration with industry partners.
How should an applicant choose between the three topic areas?
Based on the topic descriptions: choose Topic Area 1 if the core contribution is real-time intrusion detection in energy control systems; choose Topic Area 2 if the core contribution is resilience and maintaining/restoring operations through self-healing behaviors; choose Topic Area 3 if the approach is novel and impactful for energy-sector cybersecurity but does not primarily fall into real-time intrusion detection or self-healing.
What does the FOA mean by "industry partnerships"?
The framing suggests DOE wanted collaborations with industry stakeholders so solutions are not only technically rigorous but also practically adoptable and capable of transitioning into real deployments across the sector.
What does the FOA mean by "research, development, and demonstration" (RD&D)?
Within the provided description, RD&D signals an intent to move beyond ideas and prototypes toward capabilities that are matured and demonstrated, including validation in realistic operational settings.
Is this FOA focused on theoretical cybersecurity research?
No. The description explicitly emphasizes practical solutions that can be validated in realistic settings, rather than remaining purely theoretical.
What outcomes is DOE trying to achieve across all topic areas?
Across all three topic areas, the FOA is aimed at improving how well energy delivery systems can withstand, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber threats, ultimately improving resilience of critical energy delivery infrastructure.
Does DOE indicate an emphasis on deployment or transition to real-world use?
Yes. The description emphasizes industry partnerships and demonstration, and it notes an interest in solutions that can be validated and eventually transition into real deployments across the energy sector.
Where does DOE expect solutions to be validated?
The description emphasizes validation in realistic settings (as opposed to purely theoretical work), indicating that projects should demonstrate effectiveness in environments representative of real energy delivery operations.
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