NRECA Research is excited to announce the potential opportunity for co-ops to enhance their cybersecurity posture though the Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance (RMUC) Program, within the Department of Energy (DOE). NRECA Research has submitted two concept papers under the RMUC Advanced Cybersecurity Technology (ACT) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and is asking our members to consider joining us for the full application phase.
See below for details and instruction on how to sign-up. This information is also available in this advisory:
IMPORTANT: NRECA Research is only permitted to use awarded RMUC funding for cooperatives participating in the application. We strongly encourage our members to sign-up to participate and benefit from this cybersecurity opportunity!
NRECA conducted a webinar on Monday, April 29 to review the RMUC Proposals and answer questions. It is available now On Demand: View the Webinar
[well]Status Update: DOE has invited NRECA Research to submit a Full Application for both the SPARK and TICCC-TAC concepts. NRECA Research is now in development of both applications. We encourage organizations to submit their Letter(s) of Commitment by the deadline of May 3, to ensure as many organizations are included as possible.[/well]
Proposal Overviews
Topic 2
Trusted Industrial Control Cybersecurity Community – Threat Analysis Center (TICCC-TAC) This project proposes to create a four-pronged program with our participating utilities to seed the peer-to-peer ecosystem within the NRECA Research Threat Analysis Center (TAC) with an active community of utility users, while also achieving economies of scale in program cost. Participating utilities will be granted user seats in the Threat Analysis Center with no additional cost above the cost share requirement and will be invited to nominate a member of their staff for the Personnel Sharing Program where cooperative personnel are trained to be a TAC analyst and the cooperative is reimbursed for the personnel time spent working in the TAC.
- Period of Performance: 4 years
- Requested Budget: $3 million
- Cooperative Cost Share Requirement: $50-$300 per year
Topic 3 Strategic Program for Advancing Rural Knowledge (SPARK)
This project will curate a portfolio of training options available to rural electric utilities at no cost, organized into three main topic areas to address diverse aspects of cybersecurity. The first focus is on foundational cybersecurity training, ensuring that participants grasp essential principles and baseline security practices. The second area delves into niche cybersecurity training, with a specific emphasis on the topic of operational technology (OT) along with distributed energy resources (DER) security. The third and final area centers around education regarding information sharing, collaboration and fostering public-private partnerships, crucial components in the collective defense against cyber threats.
- Period of Performance: 3 years
- Requested Budget: $2 million
- Cooperative Cost Share Requirement: NO cost share
How to Sign-Up
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Click Sign-up button below: You will be directed to the sign-up questionnaire.
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Fill out the Questionnaire: The questionnaire will provide options to sign up for one or both Topic proposals. If you have any concerns about your organization’s eligibility due to previous or additional federal funding applications, please reach out to
researchfunding@nreca.coop. Note that you must confirm participation or commit to the
NRECA Co-op Cyber Goals program as part of sign-up.
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Submit Letter(s) of Commitment: After submitting the questionnaire, you will be provided with a submission link and the text for the required Letter(s) of Commitment via the submission page and email (each Topic proposal requires a separate letter). Each Letter of Commitment must be:
- On your utility letterhead,
- Signed by an authorized representative of the utility.
- All Letters of Commitment must be submitted no later than
May 3, 2024.
- Save letter in Portable Document Format (PDF) with the naming convention of 'topic{X}_{coopname}_{stateabbr}.pdf'. Example: topic2_happyvalleyrea_mo.pdf
Sign-Up Here to Participate:
[button title="Sign%20Up" link="%2Fprograms-services%2Fgovernment-relations%2Finfrastructure-resource-hub%2FPages%2FSecure%2FRMUC%2FRMUC-ACT-FOA-Sign-Up.aspx" /]
