Notice of Intent (NOI) for Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) FY 2021 Multi Topic FOA DE-FOA-0002396 | DE FOA 0002416

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002416

The Notice of Intent (NOI) titled "Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) FY 2021 Multi Topic FOA" signals the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its Golden Field Office, planned to release a forthcoming Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) focused on bioenergy and related energy technologies. An NOI is essentially an early heads-up rather than the full set of instructions for submitting an application. In practice, it alerts potential applicants that a competitive funding opportunity is coming, gives basic administrative details, and encourages organizations to begin planning partnerships, technical approaches, and required registrations ahead of the formal FOA release. The underlying program office here is BETO, which typically supports research, development, demonstration, and scale-up efforts that improve the performance and economics of bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts, often with an emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening domestic energy and manufacturing pathways.

From the published listing, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding under an "Other" funding instrument type, within the Energy funding activity category. It is associated with CFDA number 81.087, which is commonly used for DOE financial assistance programs. The opportunity is described as "multi topic," meaning it is expected to contain multiple topic areas under one umbrella FOA rather than a single narrowly defined technical target. Multi-topic BETO FOAs often include separate topic areas or subtopics that may span feedstock development and logistics, conversion technologies (thermochemical, biochemical, and hybrid routes), separations and upgrading, biorefinery integration, enabling technologies, and sometimes data, analysis, or sustainability components. The NOI itself does not provide those topic details in the text you provided, but the multi-topic label indicates applicants would likely need to align their proposed work with one specific topic area and its metrics once the full FOA is released.

Eligibility is listed as "Unrestricted," meaning the opportunity is broadly open to many entity types, subject to any additional eligibility language that would normally appear in the full FOA. In DOE FOAs, that often includes U.S.-based universities, national laboratories (with lab-specific rules), for-profit companies, non-profits, state and local governments, and sometimes tribal entities, with consortium arrangements being common for applied energy technology projects. The NOI stage is also a cue for applicants to anticipate typical DOE compliance and readiness requirements that appear in the full solicitation, such as having a DUNS/UEI (depending on the system in use at the time), SAM registration, and the capacity to meet DOE reporting, cybersecurity, and financial assistance terms.

Key administrative dates and figures in the listing include a creation date of March 10, 2021, and an original closing date of May 10, 2021. Because this is an NOI, that "closing date" can reflect the end of an informational posting window or an anticipated timeline rather than a final application deadline for awards, since NOIs generally do not result in direct awards by themselves. The listing also shows an award ceiling value of 2 and expected awards of 0. Those numbers are not very informative in an NOI context and may reflect placeholder values in the portal record rather than a real funding plan. The more meaningful funding amounts, number of awards, and project periods are typically spelled out in the full FOA, including expected ranges by topic area and any cost-share requirements (DOE applied energy FOAs often require cost share, particularly for later-stage or demonstration work, but the exact percentage and applicability depend on topic and technology readiness level).

There is a minor inconsistency in the identifiers provided: the title references FOA number DE-FOA-0002396, while the "FundingOpportunityNumber" field is listed as DE-FOA-0002416. In government postings, this can happen when an NOI references one solicitation identifier but the portal record is created under another number, or when a revised or related FOA number is used. For anyone planning to apply, the practical takeaway is to verify the correct FOA number and final solicitation documents on the DOE/EERE exchange or Grants.gov entry associated with the final released FOA to ensure the application is submitted under the correct announcement.

Overall, this NOI is best read as an early planning notice that DOE BETO intended to open a competitive, multi-topic funding call in FY 2021. The actual technical scope, submission requirements, evaluation criteria, budget and project period expectations, and any topic-specific eligibility or cost-share rules would be provided in the full FOA that follows the notice.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent (NOI) for Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) FY 2021 Multi Topic FOA DE-FOA-0002396" 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 Mar 10, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 10, 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.

Apply for DE FOA 0002416

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