BAA: Establishing Consortia to Advance Energy-Water Security

The National Science Foundation is issuing a Broad Agency Announcement titled “Establishing Consortia to Advance Energy-Water Security” with solicitation number 49100426R0009 to advance American energy and infrastructure resilience by addressing vulnerabilities where water scarcity impacts energy production, baseload stability, and industrial water use, with a primary focus on the Colorado River Basin. This initiative aims to fund Phase 1 projects that develop multi-disciplinary consortia integrating researchers, regional partners, and industry stakeholders to innovate in areas such as AI-informed hydropower modeling, low-water cooling technologies, aquifer storage, grid-load management via water conveyance, closed-loop cooling for data centers, atmospheric water capture, and resource recovery from wastewater. Awards are anticipated to be up to $10 million per proposal, with a total funding pool of up to $50 million available across all Phase 1 awards. The solicitation requires a two-stage submission process: first, a white paper due August 10, 2026 at 12 pm EDT — extended from an earlier date — followed by invited full proposals. White papers must be no more than five single-spaced pages in 12-point Times New Roman with one-inch margins, excluding a one-page cover that confirms current SAM.gov registration, includes principal contacts, partner information, and the applicable priority outcome area. Full proposals, if invited, must be submitted as a single PDF and include a cover sheet, project description (15 pages), biographical sketches (3 pages each), data management plan (2 pages), budget justification (5 pages), and consolidated letters of collaboration. Evaluation is based on project merit and offeror capabilities, with preference given to entities located in EPSCoR jurisdictions and those able to partner with existing federal water and power infrastructure for real-world validation. The government may conduct past performance reviews prior to award and reserves the right to evaluate each proposal independently. All offerors must be registered in SAM.gov prior to submission, and non-small businesses expecting awards over $900,000 must submit a subcontracting plan per FAR 19.109. Certified cost or pricing data is required for proposals exceeding $2.5 million. Proposals involving information collection must comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and open-access or public-domain licensing is encouraged. FFRDCs cannot serve as the lead or perform more than 20% of the work unless they secure documented approval from their sponsoring agency