The Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity (RMUC) Program is a new program established by the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).  Section 40124 of the IIJA authorizes $250 million over a 5-year period to create the RMUC Program to help electric cooperative, municipal, and small investor-owned utilities protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats, and to increase their participation in cybersecurity threat information sharing programs.

Administered by the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), the program will support critical investments to harden utility systems, deliver crucial technical assistance, and provide cybersecurity training to the utility workforce. These investments will result in a more secure and resilient energy grid that is better prepared to match the challenging cybersecurity threats facing electric utilities.

The ACT 1 Prize was launched on August 30, 2023.  Winners of this competition will receive up to $8.96 million in cash prizes and cybersecurity technical assistance. For more information on how to compete for an ACT 1 Prize please visit the ACT 1 Prize program submission page on the American-Made Challenges website. For general information about the RMUC Program’s ACT Prize series, see the RMUC Program Prize Series page.

In addition to the ACT 1 Prize, CESER will be releasing a competitive funding opportunity announcement (FOA) later this calendar year.  When we have more information, we will send an update to this email list and post it on this website.

The RMUC Program is pleased to announce registration is now open for the first three CESER Cybersecurity Training events. This training series will offer six 3-day cybersecurity training opportunities for technical practitioners working in an electric utility. The training will focus on industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) cybersecurity and will include lectures and hands on exercises and challenges. Registration for these training events is free and open to electric utility staff. This training series is funded by the BIL. The dates and locations for the six trainings are:

• Buffalo, NY (rescheduled-see below)
• October 31-November 2, 2023, in Columbus, OH (Register Here)
• November 28-30, 2023, in Orlando, FL (Register Here)
• December 5-7, 2023, in Kansas City, MO (Register Here)
• January 17-19, 2024, in San Diego, CA
• January 23-25, 2024, in Dallas, TX
• April 23-25, 2024, in Buffalo, NY

Sign Up for Updates

To receive the latest news and updates about the RMUC Program, please send an email to CESER.RMUC@hq.doe.gov to be added to the RMUC Program distribution list.

The RMUC Program launch was held on August 18, 2022. Below is a video and copies of the transcript and slides that were presented.