Acquisition Letters (ALs) are issued under the authorities of the Senior Procurement Executives of DOE and NNSA. ALs are intended for use by procurement professionals of DOE and NNSA, primarily Contracting Officers, and other officials involved in the acquisition process. Only DOE and NNSA Contracting Officers make definitive interpretations of how ALs affect DOE and NNSA contracts and related procedures. ALs are effective upon issuance and until rescinded.
301 Congressional Notifications and Quarterly Reporting to the Appropriations Committees for Contract, Financial Assistance, or Other Transaction Actions
AL 2026-04
04/14/2026
What is the purpose of this AL?
The purpose of this AL/FAL/OTL is to provide information and guidance on the statutory requirements for Congressional notification (301 notification or the notification) and quarterly Congressional reporting (301 quarterly report or quarterly report) to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress (Appropriations Committees).
(a) The following actions require a 301 notification to be sent to the Appropriations Committees in accordance with the guidance provided in this AL/FAL/OTL:
All multi-year contract, financial assistance or OT agreements and actions (including any modifications where funds are allocated for new programs, projects, or activities not covered by a previous notification) using the budget authority made available in an appropriations act under the heading “Department of Energy – Energy Programs” (see definitions for list of programs) that are not fully funded at time of award regardless of dollar amount;
Pending award of a contract action (including a non-competitive action resulting from a Justification of Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6) totaling $1 million or more;
(3) Provision of nonoperational funding with competition restricted only to DOE National Laboratories (Laboratory Calls) totaling $1 million or more;
(4) Provision of nonoperational funding directly to a DOE National Laboratory totaling $25 million or more;
(5) Funding announcements, such as Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs), Requests for Applications (RFAs), Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) and other solicitations, that result in the award of discretionary grants, cooperative agreements, OT agreements, partnership intermediary agreements (PIAs), and/or prizes;
(6) For discretionary grant award or OT agreement, the announcement of selected applicants for negotiation of competitive financial assistance awards or OT agreements totaling $1 million or more (Note: For PIAs, a Congressional notification is required prior to the initial PIA being awarded and prior to program funding being added to the PIA by the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC));
(7) For formula and block grant programs, the announcement, release, or posting of the funding announcement, NOFO, and/or the annual program notice;
(8) Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending (CPF/CDS) awards totaling $1 million or more;
(9) Financial assistance awards (new, renewal or supplemental) and OT agreements totaling $1 million or more made non-competitively (awarded through the execution of a Determination of Non-Competitive Financial Assistance (DNFA) or similar justification for a Non-Competitive award of an OT agreement);
(10) Termination of an allocation, award, agreement, or DOE Laboratory Call in excess of $1 million; and
(11) Rescinding direct research funding, or other nonoperational funding, to a DOE National Laboratory in excess of $25 million.
Financial assistance awards and OT agreements totaling less than $1 million require quarterly reporting to the Appropriations Committees within 15 calendar days after the end of each quarter. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer will prepare the quarterly report and submit it to the Appropriations Committees.