The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) implements a team approach to verify chemical, biological, and thermochemical technologies for funding opportunity announcement (FOA) award recipients.
The Bioenergy Technology Verification Team includes DOE representatives, FOA award recipients, and a smaller verification team coordinated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and typically featuring NREL employees. However, sometimes independent engineers or other non-NREL national lab employees may be called upon for specific expertise or when NREL has a conflict of interest with the awardee. The award recipients must be actively involved to complete a successful verification process.
To prepare your application, see FOA verification requirements.
NREL Verification Team
NREL works with award recipients to collect and analyze relevant technical performance and techno-economic analysis data and provides recommendations or advice regarding the interpretation of the analysis results and proposed next steps for the research. NREL coordinates with the DOE technology manager and does not act without prior approval.
The NREL verification team specifically works with all stakeholders to ensure key performance metrics are aligned with expectations, project objectives, FOA objectives, and portfolio objectives. This team has expertise in the relevant technical subject matter as well as process engineering and techno-economic analysis.
U.S. Department of Energy
The DOE team considers, reviews, and may implement recommendations made by the NREL verification team to address a project’s scope or milestones and makes any final Go/No-Go decisions. The DOE team makes all final decisions on contractual agreements and administration of awards.
Award Recipient Team
The award recipients prepare and share any requested materials to facilitate the verification process. They consider the analysis and any recommendations or advice provided by the verification team. All decisions that involve the administration and management of the award, such as available funds and granting of continuations or extensions, are negotiated between the award recipient and DOE.
All communication and correspondence between NREL and the award recipient will include the principal investigator(s) and DOE representatives. NREL and the principal investigator(s) verify contact information for all parties (e.g., phone, email, and mailing address) at the start of the technology verification process.