Critical Water Issues Prize Competition RFI | DE FOA 0001899

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0001899

The Critical Water Issues Prize Competition RFI (DE-FOA-0001899) is a request for information issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Golden Field Office, to collect stakeholder feedback on how DOE might use challenges and prize competitions to tackle major water problems tied to long-term access to low-cost water supplies. The central idea is not to fund research projects right now, but to learn what technical hurdles, non-technical obstacles, and practical deployment barriers are most likely to block affordable water solutions over the long run, and which of those barriers are well-suited to being addressed through a structured competition format. DOE is specifically exploring prizes and challenges as innovation tools that can attract a wide range of solvers, including industry, researchers, entrepreneurs, and even members of the general public, by using competitive rules and offering financial and/or non-financial rewards to winners or finalists.

This announcement is explicitly not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and does not accept applications or proposals for funding at this time. Instead, DOE is using the RFI to shape what a future prize or challenge might look like, and possibly to inform a future FOA. DOE also notes that the RFI is not meant to gather broad input on the department's wider research and development portfolio for affordable water; the focus is narrower and centered on identifying prize-appropriate problems and competition structures that could realistically unlock progress on critical water issues.

Eligibility is essentially open (unrestricted), meaning any type of entity can submit input as long as it meets any additional eligibility clarifications in the full announcement. Because this is an RFI rather than a funding competition, the typical grant details like expected number of awards are listed as zero, and the award ceiling information is not practically applicable in the way it would be for a standard grant or cooperative agreement. The funding instrument type is categorized as "Other," consistent with the emphasis on challenges and prize competitions rather than traditional financial assistance awards.

For participation, responses had to be submitted by email as a Microsoft Word attachment to waterprizerfi@ee.doe.gov, with a submission deadline of 5:00 pm EDT on May 14, 2018. DOE directed interested parties to the EERE Exchange website (https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/) for the full text and instructions. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a listening and design phase: DOE is gathering practical, real-world feedback to determine which critical water barriers could be most effectively accelerated through prizes and challenge-based innovation, and how a future competition could be structured to produce usable, scalable solutions.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Critical Water Issues Prize Competition RFI" 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 Mar 13, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 14, 2018. (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 0001899

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