I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4939 
To provide for a comprehensive interdisciplinary research, development, and 
demonstration initiative to strengthen the capacity of the energy sector 
to prepare for and withstand cyber and physical attacks, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 6, 2021 
Mr. BERA (for himself and Mr. WEBER of Texas) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 
and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to 
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for a comprehensive interdisciplinary research, 
development, and demonstration initiative to strengthen 
the capacity of the energy sector to prepare for and 
withstand cyber and physical attacks, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grid Security Research 
and Development Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Nation, and every critical infrastruc-
ture sector, depends on reliable electricity. 
(2) Intelligent electronic devices, advanced ana-
lytics, and information systems used across the en-
ergy sector are essential to maintaining reliable op-
eration of the electric grid. 
(3) The cybersecurity threat landscape is con-
stantly changing and attacker capabilities are ad-
vancing rapidly, requiring ongoing modifications, ad-
vancements, and investments in technologies, proce-
dures, and workforce development to maintain secu-
rity. 
(4) It is in the national interest for Federal 
agencies to invest in innovative cybersecurity re-
search that informs and facilitates private sector in-
vestment and use of new and advanced cybersecurity 
tools and procedures to protect information systems. 
(5) The number of devices and systems con-
necting to the electric grid is increasing, and inte-
grating cybersecurity protections into information 
systems when they are designed and built is more ef-
fective than modifying products after installation to 
meet cybersecurity goals. 
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(6) An understanding of human factors can be 
leveraged to understand the behavior of cyber threat 
actors, develop strategies to counter threat actors, 
improve cybersecurity training programs, optimize 
the design of human-machine interfaces and cyberse-
curity tools, and increase the capacity of the energy 
sector workforce to prevent unauthorized access to 
critical systems. 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO DIVISION Z OF THE CONSOLI-
DATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021. 
Title VIII of division Z of the Consolidated Appro-
priations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260) is amended by 
inserting after section 8012 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 8013. ENERGY SECTOR SECURITY RESEARCH, DEVEL-
OPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 
with appropriate Federal agencies, the Electricity Sub-
sector Coordinating Council, the Electric Reliability Orga-
nization, State, tribal, local, and territorial governments, 
the private sector, and other relevant stakeholders, shall 
carry out a research, development, and demonstration pro-
gram to protect the electric grid and energy systems, in-
cluding assets connected to the distribution grid, and asso-
ciated supply chains, from cyber and physical attacks by 
increasing the cyber and physical security capabilities of 
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the energy sector and accelerating the development of rel-
evant technologies and tools. 
‘‘(b) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.—As part of the ini-
tiative described in subsection (a), the Secretary shall 
award research, development, and demonstration grants 
to— 
‘‘(1) identify cybersecurity risks to information 
technology and operational technology within, and 
impacting, the electricity sector, energy systems, and 
energy infrastructure; 
‘‘(2) develop methods and tools to rapidly detect 
cyber intrusions and cyber incidents, including 
through the use of data and big data analytics tech-
niques, such as intrusion detection, and security in-
formation and event management systems, to vali-
date and verify system behavior; 
‘‘(3) assess emerging cybersecurity capabilities 
that could be applied to energy systems and develop 
technologies that integrate cybersecurity features 
and procedures into the design and development of 
existing and emerging grid technologies, including 
renewable energy, storage, and demand-side manage-
ment technologies; 
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‘‘(4) identify existing vulnerabilities in intel-
ligent electronic devices, advanced analytics systems, 
and information systems; 
‘‘(5) work with relevant entities to develop tech-
nologies or concepts that build or retrofit cybersecu-
rity features and procedures into— 
‘‘(A) information and energy management 
system devices, components, software, firmware, 
and hardware, including distributed control and 
management systems, and building manage-
ment systems; 
‘‘(B) data storage systems, data manage-
ment systems, and data analysis processes; 
‘‘(C) automated and manually controlled 
devices and equipment for monitoring and sta-
bilizing the electric grid; 
‘‘(D) technologies used to synchronize time 
and develop guidance for operational contin-
gency plans when time synchronization tech-
nologies, are compromised; 
‘‘(E) power system delivery and end user 
systems and devices that connect to the grid, 
including— 
‘‘(i) 
meters, 
phasor 
measurement 
units, and other sensors; 
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‘‘(ii) distribution automation tech-
nologies, smart inverters, and other grid 
control technologies; 
‘‘(iii) distributed generation, energy 
storage, and other distributed energy tech-
nologies; 
‘‘(iv) demand response technologies; 
‘‘(v) home and building energy man-
agement and control systems; 
‘‘(vi) electric and plug-in hybrid vehi-
cles and electric vehicle charging systems; 
and 
‘‘(vii) other relevant devices, software, 
firmware, and hardware; and 
‘‘(F) the supply chain of electric grid man-
agement system components; 
‘‘(6) develop technologies, including information 
technologies and operational technologies, that im-
prove the physical security of the electric grid, in-
cluding remote assets; 
‘‘(7) integrate human factors research into the 
design and development of advanced tools and proc-
esses for dynamic monitoring, detection, protection, 
mitigation, response, and cyber situational aware-
ness; 
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