DE-FOA-0002165: Notice of Request for Information (RFI) on Water Security Grand Challenge Resource Recovery Prize | DE FOA 0002165

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002165

DE-FOA-0002165 is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Request for Information (RFI) focused on shaping a potential future prize competition under the Water Security Grand Challenge. The core idea behind the potential prize is to increase resource recovery from municipal wastewater treatment plants across the United States, especially small-to-medium-sized facilities, and to reduce overall treatment costs by extracting more value from wastewater streams. DOE frames this as both a cost and energy-efficiency opportunity: if wastewater plants can recover more usable products (such as energy carriers or nutrients) and operate more efficiently, they may lower the long-term cost of treatment while improving system performance.

The RFI is specifically seeking public input on how DOE should design the prize competition, including its objectives, rules, success metrics, and incentives. DOE is signaling interest in novel, systems-based solutions rather than isolated technology demonstrations. The concept emphasizes multidisciplinary teams and practical implementation planning, meaning the competition would likely reward approaches that combine technology, engineering design, operational strategy, and end-use market alignment. DOE is encouraging collaborative teams that could include wastewater treatment plants, engineering and design firms, technology developers, and "resource customers" who can use recovered products (for example farmers who can use nutrients, or electric and gas utilities that could integrate recovered energy products). A key theme is holistic planning at a community scale or watershed scale, implying that strong proposals would account for local conditions, stakeholders, and pathways to actually use or sell recovered resources.

It is important that this announcement is not a funding opportunity and not a request for grant applications. DOE explicitly states it will not pay for information submitted to the RFI, and no projects will be supported as a direct result of responding. The agency also notes that it may or may not issue a future Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) or prize competition based on what it learns through these responses. In other words, the purpose here is market research and program design: DOE is collecting perspectives to decide whether and how to run a prize, and what competition structure would best drive real-world resource recovery adoption at smaller municipal plants.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is issued by DOE (Golden Field Office) and is listed on the EERE Exchange website. The opportunity category is discretionary, the activity category is energy, and it is associated with CFDA number 81.087. Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning any entity type may provide input, subject to any clarifications in the full text. Submissions had to be emailed to WaterResourceRecoveryPrize@ee.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on October 23, 2019, with the subject line including "Water Security Grand Challenge Resource Recovery Prize." DOE required responses as email attachments in Microsoft Word (.docx) format, limited to 20 pages with 12-point font and 1-inch margins. For attachments over 25MB, compression (such as a zip file) was recommended to ensure delivery. Only electronic submissions were accepted.

Overall, DE-FOA-0002165 is best understood as an invitation to help DOE design a targeted prize competition aimed at accelerating practical, community-anchored resource recovery strategies for small and mid-sized municipal wastewater treatment systems. It is a planning and feedback mechanism, not a mechanism for awarding funds, and it serves as a step that could inform a later prize or related competitive program if DOE determines there is sufficient value and feasible design options based on stakeholder input.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DE-FOA-0002165: Notice of Request for Information (RFI) on Water Security Grand Challenge Resource Recovery Prize" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 23, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 23, 2019 Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to WaterResourceRecoveryPrize@ee.doe.gov no later than 500pm (ET) on October 23, 2019. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email.. (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.

Apply for DE FOA 0002165

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