The Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity seeks an external consultant to assess how the Joe Biden administration’s Justice40 program has affected economically underserved communities, according to recently published procurement documents.
The small business contract has a one-year base period and a one-year option period. The base period will stretch well into 2024, the year of the next presidential election. Interested bidders must submit their offers by Aug. 24 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to the solicitation.
DOE has piloted Justice40 at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In 2022, the agency said that its ongoing cleanup of the nuclear weapons lab qualified as a Justice40 program, under the White House’s guidelines.
The Biden White House created Justice40 in 2021 with Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” The program attempts to steer 40% of the overall benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged areas.
Republicans in Congress, who hold a majority in the House of Representatives, have broadly targeted programs such as Justice40 for cuts.
The House Appropriations Committee in June passed a 2024 Energy and Water appropriations bill that would deny some $180 million in funding the White House requested for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management to carry out Justice40 programs.
