DOE receives reimbursable work totaling $442 million

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) received funding for reimbursable work totaling $442 million during Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. Under Work for Others (WFO), DOE allows its national laboratories to be made available to solve problems for those outside of DOE on mission-related issues when these entities are unable to acquire the capability to perform the work elsewhere. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) performed approximately $232 million of the work. The remaining $210 million supported work was conducted at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE). 

Capitalizing on the DOE’s resources and capabilities, the WFO program provides an avenue for DOE to build research and development partnerships with other federal agencies, academia, and the private sector. In addition, the WFO program provides assistance and resources for accomplishing goals of national concern that might otherwise be unattainable.

“The Work for Others program leverages DOE’s national laboratories’ highly specialized and unique expertise and equipment not available elsewhere in the U.S. allowing important contributions to technology advancements in private industry and other federal agencies,” said DOE’s ORNL Site Office (OSO) Manager Johnny Moore. “The DOE national laboratories are national, science, technology, and engineering assets. These core capabilities should be made available to U.S. industries and universities to strengthen their technology base and improve their international competiveness.”

The WFO program services a diverse field of programs. During FY 2012, OSO approved 3,852 funding agreements that supported external entities. Federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Environmental Protection Agency supplied 92 percent of the funding received in FY 2012. The remaining eight percent of the total funding was used to fund projects carried out by non-federal entities such as private industry and universities. 

Highlights from this year’s work include:

• ORNL’s development of core metal combustor technology used in low-cost, low-emission clean cookstoves for the developing world
• ORNL developing and testing superhydrophobic coating technologies for military applications used by the Department of Defense
• ORISE continuing science education and research participation programs

-DOE-

Attachments:

• Low-Cost Cookstove
• ORISE 2012 Accomplishments
• Superhydrophobic Coatings Program