The Office of Electricity announced a RFI to solicit views on safeguarding the bulk-power system (BPS) supply chain from threats and vulnerabilities.
Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
July 8, 2020
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) announced a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit views on safeguarding the bulk-power system (BPS) supply chain from threats and vulnerabilities.
President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 13920 (EO), “Securing the United States Bulk-Power System,” on May 1, 2020. The EO directs the U.S. Secretary of Energy to work with Federal partners and the energy industry to secure America’s BPS. The Request for Information (RFI) will enable stakeholders, including industry and the public, to provide DOE with input and recommendations regarding the supply chain and economic analysis related to the first three pillars of the EO:
- Pillar 1: Prohibits any acquisition, importation, transfer, or installation of BPS electric equipment which has a nexus with any foreign adversary and poses an undue risk to the BPS, the security or resilience of U.S. critical infrastructure or the U.S. economy, or U.S. national security, or the safety and security of Americans.
- Pillar 2: Authorizes the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with heads of other agencies, to establish and publish criteria for recognizing particular equipment and vendors in the BPS electric equipment market as “pre-qualified” for future transactions and to apply these criteria to establish and publish a list of pre-qualified equipment and vendors.
- Pillar 3: Directs the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with heads of other agencies, to identify any now-prohibited BPS equipment already in use, allowing the government to develop recommendations to identify, isolate, monitor, and replace this equipment as appropriate.
The RFI is being conducted by the Office of Electricity. Please find the full Federal Register Notice HERE. Responses to this RFI must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. ET on August 7, 2020. The RFI provides instructions for how to submit comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at regulations.gov, email, and mail.
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