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What changes did the DOE make between the 2024 and 2025–2026 guidance documents overall?
Executive summary
The available documents in the search set do not provide a direct, side‑by‑side comparison of a DOE “2024” guidance document and the DOE “2025–2026” guidance document, so a definitive catalog of changes between those two specific DOE guidance releases is not possible from these sources alone (not found in current reporting). However, related DOE materials in the set show (a) the FY2026 budget request describing a $46.3 billion discretionary request, a 7% cut from FY2025 enacted levels [1], and (b) DOE guidance files noting adoption or alignment with external standards (e.g., HUD/USDA referencing future IECC/ASHRAE versions subject to DOE determination) and updates tied to OMB’s Uniform Guidance revisions [2] [3] [4].
1. No direct “2024 vs 2025–2026” comparison is available — here’s what the record shows
A targeted comparison you asked for — explicit DOE “2024 guidance” versus a DOE “2025–2026 guidance” and a list of changes between them — is not present in the retrieved documents; the set contains related DOE items (budget briefings, external agency rule adoptions, and FAQs) but not a single pair of guidance documents labeled and compared for those exact years (not found in current reporting). The closest materials include the DOE FY2026 Budget in Brief summarizing budget shifts [1] and DOE‑hosted FAQs about Title 2 (2 CFR) updates and how they affect DOE recipients [3].
2. Budget and priority shifts are prominent in 2025/2026 DOE public materials
DOE’s FY2026 Budget in Brief states the Department requested $46.3 billion in discretionary budget authority for FY2026, a decrease of $3.5 billion (7%) from FY2025 enacted levels; that reflects a material resource change that would shape program guidance, priorities, and implementation across 2025–2026 [1]. If your question concerns operational emphasis or program scale, the budget decline is the clearest concrete change in the retrieved DOE materials [1].
3. Guidance about external standards and code adoption appears in 2024 filings
HUD and USDA materials cited in the Federal Register indicate those agencies updated their final determination to say future versions of building energy codes (including the 2024 IECC) will be deemed to meet notice requirements only “subject to a positive efficiency determination by DOE” — which shows DOE’s determinations function as gatekeepers for later code adoptions even when the adopting agency’s text changes [2]. That item demonstrates an ongoing DOE role in evaluating and endorsing model codes rather than a discrete internal guidance change between two DOE guidance documents [2].
4. DOE grant and awards guidance reflects OMB’s Uniform Guidance revisions
DOE internal FAQs and OCED materials flag that OMB revised 2 CFR (Uniform Guidance), and DOE’s FY25 Title 2 FAQ summarises implications for DOE financial assistance recipients; those DOE materials instruct recipients to review Uniform Guidance changes and note DOE guidance does not supersede federal law [3]. External analysis (Plante Moran) documents substantive Uniform Guidance changes — for example, raising the single audit threshold from $750,000 to $1,000,000 — which DOE recipients must navigate and which would show up as practical changes in DOE grant‑related guidance and implementation [4] [3].
5. Administrative and process shifts in 2024–2025 appear in campus/agency trackers
Third‑party trackers (e.g., Dartmouth’s federal updates) report operational memos such as the DOE Office of Science ending the PIER plan requirement for proposals and a January 2025 memorandum affecting issuance of documents until review by a presidential appointee — items that imply procedural changes affecting guidance development, review, or issuance timetables across 2024–2025 [5]. These suggest structural changes to how DOE produces and circulates guidance, even if the search set lacks a labeled “2025–2026 guidance” to contrast [5].
6. What we cannot reliably say from these sources
The set does not provide the specific texts of a 2024 DOE guidance document and a 2025–2026 DOE guidance document for direct comparison, so we cannot enumerate clause‑level edits, directive shifts, or regulatory language changes between them (not found in current reporting). We also cannot claim that any particular program rule or regulatory standard was added, removed, or materially altered by DOE guidance between those years unless it is explicitly described in these documents (not found in current reporting).
7. How to get a definitive, documented comparison
To produce the exact change list you want, the sources needed are the two DOE guidance documents themselves (full texts or Federal Register/DOE web postings for “2024 guidance” and “2025–2026 guidance”), plus any DOE change logs, redlines, or Federal Register notices that announce changes. The present search set lacks those paired guidance texts; obtaining them (or pointing me to their URLs) would let me extract and compare substantive edits, additions, and removals line‑by‑line.
Limitations: This analysis relies only on the retrieved documents above; assertions are cited to those items and I do not infer changes outside what they report [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].