DOE National Labs Have World-Class Facilities You Can Use

How to access billions in specialized equipment through the Lab Partnering Service.

Most Companies Don't Know That.

When people hear "DOE National Labs," they think licensing. Patents. Technologies sitting on a shelf waiting for someone to commercialize them.

That is one piece of the picture. But it is not the most valuable one for most companies.

The Department of Energy owns 20 national laboratories with billions of dollars in specialized equipment, testing infrastructure, and research facilities. Many of these facilities are open to outside users. Companies can access them for testing, prototyping, certification support, pilot-scale production, and collaborative R&D.

The entry point is the Lab Partnering Service at labpartnering.org . It is free to use and gives you searchable access to every lab, facility, expert, technology, and patent across the entire DOE complex.

Most companies have never heard of it.

What Is the Lab Partnering Service? The Lab Partnering Service (LPS) is an online platform run by DOE's Office of Technology Commercialization. It launched in 2018 and provides a single access point to all 20 national labs and their facilities.

You can search by lab, by capability area, by technology, or by expert. Each lab profile shows the number of experts, facilities, technologies, stories, and patents available. Sandia alone lists 150 experts, 77 facilities, 196 technologies, and over 4,200 patents. Argonne has 153 experts and 74 facilities. Lawrence Berkeley has 688 listed technologies. Idaho National Laboratory lists 188 technologies and 1,381 patents.

The numbers are large. The real value is in what sits behind them.

Facilities, Not Just Patents User Facility: Yes means the facility is open to outside researchers and companies. Industrial and academic partners can access the equipment, instrumentation, and personnel to conduct their own research. Non-proprietary work, where results will be published, is typically available at no cost. Proprietary work is available on a full-cost-recovery basis.

User Facility: No means the facility is not designated for general outside access, but you may still be able to work with it through other partnership mechanisms like CRADAs or Strategic Partnership Projects.

This distinction matters. A "User Facility: Yes" designation means the lab has already set up the legal and operational infrastructure to bring outside companies in. The process is streamlined. You are not negotiating from scratch.

What You Can Actually Do With Lab Facilities Testing and validation. If your product requires testing against specific standards, environmental conditions, or performance thresholds, national labs have equipment that most private testing facilities cannot match. Think materials characterization, high-voltage testing, thermal cycling, radiation exposure, or chemical analysis at scales that commercial labs simply do not offer.

Prototyping and pilot production. Several labs have advanced manufacturing facilities with industrial-grade 3D printing, nanomanufacturing, electrochemical fabrication, and scale-up production capabilities. PNNL's Applied Process Engineering Laboratory is a startup-friendly user facility where entrepreneurs can access engineering-scale space and chemical, biological, and electronic labs.

Certification support. If your technology needs to meet federal, industry, or international standards, lab testing data carries weight. Working with a national lab on validation and characterization can strengthen your path to certification.

Collaborative R&D. If you have a technology challenge that requires expertise your team does not have, labs have subject matter experts across hundreds of disciplines. You can access them through CRADAs, Strategic Partnership Projects, or Agreements for Commercializing Technology (ACT).

How to Partner: The Mechanisms DOE has multiple partnership mechanisms, each designed for a different scenario.

User Facility Agreements (UFA) are the fastest path in. Standardized agreements expedite access to designated user facilities. Non-proprietary research is typically free. Proprietary research is full-cost-recovery. Access generally begins with an invitation from a lab employee or through a peer-reviewed proposal.

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) are for collaborative R&D where both parties contribute. The company benefits from lab expertise and capabilities. The lab benefits from the company's commercial perspective and market knowledge. IP arrangements are negotiated up front. You can get up to an exclusive license on inventions that arise from the work.

Strategic Partnership Projects (SPPs) are fee-for-service contracts. You pay the lab to perform a defined scope of work using its unique facilities, equipment, or personnel. You get the rights to inventions and data, subject to a government-use license.

Agreements for Commercializing Technology (ACT) are a newer, more flexible tool designed to be faster and more business-friendly. Currently available at select labs including PNNL, INL, LLNL, BNL, NREL, and ORNL.

Technical Assistance to Small Business is exactly what it sounds like. Lab personnel respond to inquiries from small businesses seeking to solve a specific problem or improve a product or process.

How to Use LPS: A Practical Walkthrough Step 1: Browse the labs. Go to labpartnering.org/labs. You will see all 20 national labs listed with counts of experts, facilities, technologies, and patents. Click into any lab to explore.

Step 2: Search facilities by capability. Once you are inside a lab profile, click on Facilities. Each facility listing shows its capability areas (energy storage, advanced materials, manufacturing, etc.), whether it is a User Facility, and a description of what it offers.

Step 3: Look for "User Facility: Yes." This is your fastest path to access. These facilities have standardized processes for bringing outside companies in. Contact information is right on the page.

Step 4: Reach out through LPS. Every lab profile has a Contact button. LPS routes your inquiry to the lab's Technology Transfer Office, which will direct you to the right person. You do not need to know who to call. The system handles routing.

Step 5: Explore technologies and patents. While you are there, browse the available technologies and patent portfolio. LPS includes a visual patent search tool covering over 25,000 published patent applications and issued patents from DOE and DHS-funded R&D over the last 17 years.

Why This Matters for Small Businesses Most small businesses assume national labs are only for large defense contractors or universities with existing relationships. That is not the case.

Labs have streamlined engagement processes specifically for SBIR and STTR firms. DOE's Office of Science has published an approved, non-negotiable Strategic Partnership Project template for SBIR/STTR companies to use at 11 national labs, including Argonne, Brookhaven, Idaho, Los Alamos, NREL, Oak Ridge, PNNL, and Sandia.

If you are an SBIR awardee, you can subcontract with a national lab to access its facilities and expertise as part of your Phase I or Phase II work. If you are not an SBIR awardee, User Facility access and Technical Assistance to Small Business are available regardless of your funding source.

The Lab Partnering Service also connects to the DOE Technology Commercialization Fund's Teaming Partner List. If you are considering partnering with a lab on a CLIMR proposal, LPS is where you research which lab has the facilities and expertise that match your capability.

The Bottom Line The DOE Lab Partnering Service is one of the most underused tools in the federal innovation ecosystem. It gives any company, from a two-person startup to a defense prime, searchable access to 20 national labs, hundreds of facilities, thousands of experts, and tens of thousands of patents.

The facilities are the overlooked asset. World-class testing. Prototype-scale manufacturing. Certification-grade analysis. Collaborative R&D with leading researchers. All accessible through standardized agreements with clear IP terms.

Start at labpartnering.org . Browse the facilities. Look for "User Facility: Yes." Make contact. The infrastructure is already built. The question is whether you know it is there.