Department of Energy (DOE) requests third highest budget increase among agencies for FY 2025

The DOE request for $51B discretionary funding ranks it as the third highest departmental increase for FY 2025 with a 7.3% increase over the FY 2024 annualized Continuing Resolution of $47.9B. The request includes a historic investment in the President’s National Defense Strategy, the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), and advancements in critical and emerging technologies.

Top FY 2025 funded programs include:

• $19.9B for Weapons Activities.
• $10.6B in DOE climate and clean energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment programs including the following investments under the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Program:

• $502M for Vehicle Technologies Office
• $500M for Advanced Materials/Manufacturing and Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonation Offices
• $318M for Solar Energy Technologies Office
• $280M for Bioenergy Technologies Office
• $199M for Wind Energy Technologies Office
• $179M for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

• $8.5 billion across DOE for the Clean Energy Innovation Pipeline to provide research and development of commercial clean energy products, such as offshore wind, industrial heat, sustainable aviation fuel, and grid infrastructure.
• $5.9B for Production Modernization to support production capabilities for nuclear weapons components critical to weapon performance.
• $5.1B for Stockpile Management for stockpile modernization, stockpile sustainment, weapons dismantlement and disposition, production operations, and assurance of nuclear enterprise.
• $3.3B for Infrastructure and Operations to maintain, operate, and modernize the NNSA infrastructure.

The Department’s Information Technology request for $5.5B includes a historic $1.9B for advancing critical and emerging technologies such as biotechnology and biomanufacturing, quantum information sciences, exascale high-speed computing, and AI/ML. The cybersecurity investment is $971M.

Additional IT Funding highlights include:

• $8.6B for the Office of Science, advancing toward the authorized level in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act to support cutting-edge research at DOE’s 17 National Laboratories and partner universities to build and operate world-class scientific user facilities.
• $27.1 million to focus on expanding the commercial and public impact of DOE research investments and enabling technology commercialization that supports the missions of the Department.
• $455 million for supporting the advancement of AI technologies and the development of foundational models to support new science, energy, and national security applications.
• $5 million to fund the recently established Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies (CET) that will coordinate efforts, support AI governance, and provide oversight across the Department.

Major DOE Increases and Decreases

Contracting Outlook

Continued emphasis on AI/ML will provide opportunities in multiple venues in addition to the obvious Information Technology-related work. Research and development and accuracy evaluation processes could open doors for administrative work such as technical editing, program training, coding, and verification. Cybersecurity remains at the forefront of the Department's investments. As such, subcontracting activity could increase, especially under large Management and Operations contracts as prime contractors adopt mandated processes. Contractors may also see an uptick in spin-off contracts related to CHIPS Act-related activities at the national laboratories. Climate research and Clean Energy Pipeline investments may offer limited contracting opportunities. However, with the bulk of work awarded as grants through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, it’s more likely future efforts will be awarded the same way. Nevertheless, the significant increase and historical investments in DOE’s FY 2025 budget will continue to provide ample contract-related work in the year ahead.