SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The 100,000 public K-12 schools across the United States (U.S.) contain the classrooms, libraries, cafeterias, playgrounds, and gyms where 50 million students learn, eat, build friendships, and exercise. As the second largest sector of public infrastructure spending in the U.S., public K-12 schools are also a center of our communities, serving as voting and polling locations, emergency shelters, and community gathering places. The significant under-investment in energy improvements at American schools, however, results in unnecessarily high utility costs and contributes to unhealthy and uncomfortable environments for students, teachers, and staff.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Pub. L. 117-58), American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) (Pub. L. 117-2), and 2021 Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) (Pub. L. 116-260, Div. M), provide tens of billions of dollars in new funding to U.S. K-12 public schools for facility and transportation improvements. Strategic use of this funding will help remedy the historic inequity of school facilities investments, reduce school energy expenditures, help schools lead the nation in solving the climate crisis, and create good-paying union jobs.

Through this RFI, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) seeks input regarding the implementation of Section 40541 of the IIJA, which provides $500 million for grants for energy improvements ^[1] at public school facilities. DOE aims to facilitate substantial additional investment, prioritize schools with high needs, minimize administrative burden, and build enduring capacity in local educational agencies (LEAs) and the states to maximize impact equitably and efficiently. DOE is seeking information amongst these six categories of questions:

1. Capacity Development for Local Education Agencies

2. Needs Assessments

3. Criteria and Metrics

4. Workforce

5. Leveraging Funds

6. Partnership Structures

The RFI is available at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/​.

Confidential Business Information: Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person submitting information that he or she believes to be confidential and exempt by law from public disclosure should submit via email, postal mail, or hand delivery two well-marked copies: One copy of the document marked “confidential” including all the information believed to be confidential, and one copy of the document marked “non-confidential” with the information believed to be confidential deleted. Submit these documents via email or on a CD, if feasible. DOE will make its own determination about the confidential status of the information and treat it according to its determination.

Signing Authority: This document of the Department of Energy was signed on April 1, 2022, by Kelly J. Speakes-Backman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document with the original signature and date is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in the Federal Register .

87 FR 20828