DE-FOA-0001637: Fiscal Year 2017 BIOMASS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (BRDI) | DE FOA 0001637

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0001637

DE-FOA-0001637 is the Fiscal Year 2017 Funding Opportunity Announcement for the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI), a joint program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The central purpose of the opportunity is to strengthen U.S. energy independence by accelerating research, development, and demonstration efforts that expand domestic bioenergy feedstocks, biofuels, and biobased products. In practical terms, BRDI is intended to move biomass-based technologies and supply chains forward in ways that make them more competitive, more scalable, and more sustainable, while also helping diversify the nation’s overall energy portfolio.

The program is rooted in federal authorities that specifically encourage the growth of a U.S. biomass-based industry, including the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The FOA emphasizes that funded projects should contribute to economically viable and environmentally responsible renewable biomass solutions. That includes improving how biomass is produced and harvested, increasing the availability and performance of renewable fuels and biobased products, and generating the analytical understanding needed to support sound investment and deployment decisions.

For FY 2017, USDA and DOE announced up to $9 million in total funding available through BRDI, with awards made as cooperative agreements. Cooperative agreements generally signal an expectation of substantial federal involvement during the period of performance, such as technical collaboration, regular reporting, and active project stewardship, rather than a hands-off grant structure. DOE’s portion of funding is explicitly subject to annual congressional appropriations, which is a standard caveat for federal funding that can affect final award amounts or timing.

Applicants are allowed to propose work in any or all of three legislatively mandated technical areas. Area A, feedstocks development, focuses on the front end of the bioeconomy: developing or improving sustainable biomass supplies (for example, crop residues, energy crops, forest resources, algae, or other renewable biomass sources), along with practices that address yield, logistics, cost, environmental impacts, and reliability of supply. Area B, biofuels and biobased products development, targets the conversion and product side of the pipeline, supporting technologies and processes that turn biomass into fuels and non-fuel biobased products, including work that improves efficiency, reduces costs, increases product quality, or enables new pathways. Area C, biofuels development analysis, supports analytical efforts that help evaluate biofuels development, such as techno-economic analysis, life-cycle assessment, sustainability and market analysis, and other decision-support studies that clarify tradeoffs and identify the most promising options for deployment.

Eligibility is broadly open, with the FOA indicating an unrestricted applicant pool subject to any clarifications in the full announcement. The agencies specifically invite participation from for-profit companies, universities, nonprofit organizations, and national laboratories, reflecting BRDI’s emphasis on cross-sector collaboration and applied outcomes. The administering office listed is the Department of Energy, Golden Field Office, and the funding activity category spans agriculture and energy, consistent with the joint USDA-DOE structure.

In terms of expected award size and volume, individual awards were anticipated to range from $500,000 to $2,000,000, with an award ceiling of $2,000,000. DOE anticipated making roughly 1 to 6 awards, while USDA anticipated about 3 to 14 awards, indicating that multiple projects could be supported across different parts of the biomass-to-products value chain. The FOA number is associated with CFDA 81.087, aligning it with DOE assistance listings.

The application process was managed entirely through DOE’s EERE eXCHANGE system. Applicants had to register and create an account in that portal and submit materials there in order to be considered. The FOA used a two-step timeline with a concept paper deadline of July 7, 2017 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time, followed by a full application deadline of September 22, 2017 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time, which was also the original closing date. The FOA directed applicants to the EERE eXCHANGE website for the full announcement text, detailed submission instructions, and guidance on where to send questions about the opportunity’s technical content versus questions about the mechanics of submission.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the agriculture, energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DE-FOA-0001637: Fiscal Year 2017 BIOMASS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (BRDI)" 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 Jun 05, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 22, 2017 Submission Deadline for Concept Papers 07/07/2017 500pm ET Submission Deadline for Full Applications 09/22/2017 500pm ET. (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 $2,000,000.00 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 0001637

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: