Question 1:
I am writing in regards to the Next Generation Photovoltaic Technologies III program with FON: DE-FOA-0000990, and have questions about the program’s informational webinars listed online here: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/#FoaId82902975-056c-4137-a4e4-c7eb6950c54a
Are there any registration requirements to attend? And where could I access the link to the webinar? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Answer 1:
The system requirements for the
November 25th webinar as well as the link to register are posted on
EERE Exchange at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/#FoaId82902975-056c-4137-a4e4-c7eb6950c54a
Question 1:
Dear Program Manager,
I have a quick question for the FOA Next Generation Photovoltaics Technologies III DE‐FOA‐0000990. I have submitted a concept paper to this call. The FOA stated that the expected date for the concept paper result notification was 21st February. Now it is one week past and I have not heard the outcome of my submission. I just wanted to make sure that I have not missed the notification email. Please let me know.
Answer 1:
Thank you for your interest in the Department of Energy, Next Generation PV Technologies III Funding Opportunity Announcement. Encourage / discourage decisions for Concept Papers were released with the reviewer comments in EERE Exchange on 2/21/14 and notification was sent to the submitter’s email address. You may need to contact your institution’s administrative office if they submitted your application and you cannot log into EERE Exchange and access your application. If you have the login information for the account that your application was submitted under and you still cannot access your comments, please contact the EERE Exchange helpdesk at eere-exchangesupport@hq.doe.gov .
Question 2:
I understand that the requirement to be eligible to request funding as a Prime Recipient or Subrecipient for the NEXT GENERATION PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGIES III is that the person be a U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.
I have a faculty member who anticipates receiving his permanent residency by the end of January. Would he still be able to submit a concept paper and full proposal?
Answer 2:
The University is considered
the prime applicant. Per Section III.A of the FOA, “For‐profit entities,
educational institutions, and nonprofits that are incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a
particular State or territory of the United States are eligible to
apply for funding as a Prime Recipient or Subrecipient.”
If the faculty member wishes to deviate from normal procedures
and apply as an individual, without connection to the university, he or she
should include a statement regarding eligibility in the Concept Paper
application. As long as permanent residency is established by the Full
Application due date (March 24, 2014), the faculty member will be considered
eligible to apply as an individual.
Question 3:
I am interested in the "NEXT GENERATION PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGIES III" program with the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number: DE‐FOA‐0000990". I am faculty at public University. Am I eligible for submitting a proposal to this program? If yes, can I request a 100% cost-share waiver?
Answer 3:
Yes, you are eligible to submit a proposal to the FOA,
per Section III.A, which states " For‐profit entities, educational
institutions, and nonprofits that are incorporated (or otherwise formed) under
the laws of a particular State or territory of the United States are eligible
to apply for funding as a Prime Recipient or Subrecipient."
No, you may not request a 100% cost share waiver.
However, you may be eligible for cost share of 10%, instead of the normal 20%
requirement. The requirements for the reduced cost share are listed in
Section III.C of the FOA:
·
The Prime Recipient is a domestic institution of
higher education; domestic nonprofit entity; FFRDC; or U.S. State, Local, or
tribal government; and
·
That entity performs more than 50% of the
project work, as measured by the Total Project Cost.
Question 4:
I experienced technical difficulties when I attempted to participate in the Next Gen 3 FOA Webinar 1. Will a recording of the webinar be made available?
Answer 4:
The slides from the webinar are
posted online at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/#FoaId82902975-056c-4137-a4e4-c7eb6950c54a
under the “FOA Documents” section.
Question 5:
The FOA references 4 budget periods. I presume it doesn't mean a program has to be 48 months long? For example, can it be 24 months (2 budget periods) at $1.5M?
Answer 5:
Yes, you may propose fewer than 4 budget periods. The FOA stipulates a maximum of 4 budget
periods (see Section II.A.2) and each budget period must be 12 months long (see
Section IV.E.4).
Question 6:
In reviewing the documentation to compete for funding under this FOA, I thoroughly reviewed the cost sharing calculations. I noticed that there is not a process to apply for a waiver for the recipient’s share of the cost like some of the FOA’s previously released.
I believe that my project rises to the level of special consideration to have my share of the cost waived and usually there is a process that documents the intent to ask for cost share waiver. How should I proceed with submission?
Answer 6:
The only cost share waiver
available for this FOA is a reduction in cost share from the normal 20%
requirement to a 10% requirement. This reduced cost share is only
available if the applicant meets the following two conditions:
1.
The Prime Recipient
is a domestic institution of higher education; domestic nonprofit entity; FFRDC;
or U.S. State, Local, or tribal government; and
2.
That entity performs
more than 50% of the project work, as measured by the Total Project Cost.
EERE will determine if you meet
the conditions above by reviewing your SF-424 Application for Financial Assistance
(condition #1, entity type) and your PMC 123.1 Budget Justification (condition
#2, 50% effort). If you meet the conditions above, the waiver will
automatically be granted. There is no separate cost share waiver
application.
Question 7:
Do all participants listed have to remain the same for the Concept Paper and the Full Application? Can names be added or dropped from one stage to the next?
Is there more weight given to having an industry partner a participant in the research versus having them identified and connected to carry on the commercialization stage?
Answer 7:
No, all participants listed in the Concept Paper do not need to
remain the same for the Full Application. You may drop or add names from
one stage to the next.
EERE will evaluate full
applications on their commercialization plan (see Criterion 2, Section V.A.2)
and their project team (see Criterion 3, Section V.A.2). In addition,
“the level of industry involvement and demonstrated ability to commercialize
energy or related technologies” is a
program policy factor (see Section V.C.1), which means that the Selection
Official may give greater weight to applications that exhibit this program
policy factor. It is the applicant’s responsibility to determine how and
at what stage an industry partner’s participation best supports these
evaluation criteria.
Question 8:
I am with [a government-owned, government-operated laboratory], and we’re interested in proposing on the above referenced funding opportunity announcement with a university partner. However, we’d like to get more information on how our participation affects the cost-sharing arrangement, and whether or not we’re eligible to receive funds.
While we are a government-owned, government-operated laboratory, we are a working capital funded activity and thus are not funded by appropriation funds. We’re interested in how this funding structure affects the cost-sharing aspect of the FOA.
Answer 8:
Non‐DOE Government‐Owned,
Government‐Operated laboratories (GOGOs) are eligible to apply for funding as a
Subrecipient, but are not eligible to apply as a Prime Recipient (see Section
III.A.2). Your university partner would need to apply as the Prime
Recipient, and you could receive funding through a subrecipient arrangement,
however, your scope of work may not be more significant than the scope of work
to be performed by the prime applicant (see Section III.E.2.v).
In terms of cost sharing, as
long as your cost share is paid from a non-federal source it is allowable (see
Section III.B.4).
In addition, you must provide
the university prime applicant with written authorization from the Federal
Agency that owns your laboratory, and this authorization must be included in
the university’s application (see Section III.E.2.i).
Question 9:
I am writing with regards to the Concept Paper requirements for the Next-Gen III FOA (DE-FOE-000090). The list of mandatory Concept Paper compliance criteria on p. 20 of the FOA includes "Cost share met?" as one of the criteria. However, the Concept Paper content requirements on p. 21 do not list anything about budget information. Is a budget required as part of the Concept Paper? If not, how should we verify that the cost-share requirement will be met?
Answer 9:
When you fill out the Concept Paper application in Exchange,
Federal Share and Non-Federal Share should be entered on the “Funds and Costs”
tab. If you meet the requirements for a reduced cost share requirement,
you must certify to this by checking the applicable box in that tab.
Question 10:
My PI would like me to participate in the Webinar for this proposal. I see there are two dates listed for the webinar. Can you tell me if these two different webinars or the same one repeated?
Answer 10:
There are two different
webinars. The first webinar covered the whole application process, and
the slides are posted online (see Q&A #4). The second webinar will be
tailored specifically to the Full Application phase of the process.
Question 11:
I would like to get some clarification on the following:
1. Can a University can partner with a small business to apply for this proposal?
2. Can two academic institutions + small business apply?
3. Letter of Intent: Can the team be slightly different or expanded from what is proposed in the letter of intent?
4. Letter of Intent: Can the budget be different from what is provided in the letter of intent?
Answer 11:
1.
Yes, however you must designate one partner as
the Prime Applicant. The other partner would be a subrecipient.
2.
Yes, however you must designate one partner as
the Prime Applicant. The other partners would be subrecipients.
3.
Yes
4.
Yes
Question 12:
A researcher from our Institution is interested in submitting to the subject referenced solicitation. In preparing for the submission a question arose, Can a private company be used as a subcontractor?
Answer 12:
Yes, a private company may be used as either a subrecipient or a
subcontractor/vendor.
Question 14:
Our project team is led by a university with 35% of the total project costs, an FFRDC with 35% of the project costs and an industry partner with 30% of the project costs. So combined, the university and FFRDC have 70% of the total project costs. Is this team eligible for the reduced 10% cost share?
Answer 14:
To qualify for the cost share
waiver the Prime Recipient must be a domestic institution of higher education,
domestic nonprofit entity, an FFRDC or a State, local, or tribal government AND
that entity performs more than 50 percent of the project work, as measured by
the Total Project Cost.
As the prime entity here will
not be performing 50 percent of the project work, the award would not qualify
for the blanket cost share waiver, however the applicant, if selected for award
could seek a cost share waiver outside of the blanket cost share waiver.
Question 15:
Is a letter of commitment regarding cost sharing required in the concept paper submission?
Are there specific expectations regarding the implementation of cost-sharing (i.e. whether it is applied to salary, equipment, etc.)?
Answer 15:
No, a letter of commitment is not required in the concept paper
submission, however, the full application does require letters of commitment
from any third party providing cost share.
Cost sharing may be provided in any cost category (salary,
equipment, etc.), as long as the proposed costs are reasonable, allowable and
allocable to the project and meet the criteria outlined in 10 CFR 600.123, 10
CFR 600.224, or 10 CFR 600.313. Please see Section III.B.3 of the FOA for
further details on cost share types and Section IV.J.1 of the FOA for
information on allowable costs.
Question 16:
We are preparing to submit an LOI for the NextGenPV FOA DOE-0000965, however, the EERE Exchange lists this as only a RFI and no link to apply. However, the EERE Funding Opportunities page and solicitation description show the FOA as open to applications, with the LOI due December 19. Which is correct?
Answer 16:
The Next Gen III FOA is # DE-FOA-0000990, located at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId82902975-056c-4137-a4e4-c7eb6950c54a. Please use that record in Exchange to submit
your letter of intent (LOI). The Next
Gen III RFI # DE-FOA-0000965 is no longer active, and has been placed in the
EERE Exchange archives.
Question 17:
I am a first year assistant professor who is very interested in the Next Gen PV Technologies III FOA. However, I also recognize that as a first year professor, my chances of success in this funding competition will go up significantly in future years as my lab expands and develops early results.
Is it expected that this funding call (Next Gen PV) will be repeated in the next few years?
Answer 17:
DOE cannot release information about upcoming Funding
Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) until they are publically posted. DOE
representatives are not able to disclose future funding opportunities or plans.
Please check the Grants.gov website at http://www.grants.gov
periodically for new FOAs. To receive notifications of newly posted FOAs that
fit your organization’s needs, please visit http://www.grants.gov.
Email subscriptions can be set up on Grants.gov in the “For Applicants” section
by clicking “Find Grant Opportunities” then clicking “Email Subscription”.
Question 21:
With regard to the eligibility criteria stated in the “Next Generation Photovoltaic Technologies III” FOA (DE‐FOA‐0000990), it states that “A foreign entity may receive funding as a Subrecipient.” However, later in the document within the “Funding Restrictions” section (Section IV.J.3) it states that “EERE requires all work under EERE financial assistance agreements to be performed in the United States,” followed by “There may be limited circumstances where it is in the interest of the project to perform a portion of the work outside the United States. To seek a waiver of the Performance of Work in the Unites States requirement, the Applicant must submit an explicit waiver request in the Full Application.”
As such, my question is does the requirement of work being performed in the US apply to foreign subrecipients, or only foreign prime recipients, and must the waiver be filed regardless? Additionally, is there a limit on the amount of funding that can be provided to a foreign subrecipient (assuming the granting of a successful waiver, if necessary)? Can EERE provide some idea as to how difficult the granting of such a waiver would be?
Answer 21:
The requirement of work being performed in the US
applies to all participants on the project: both prime recipients and
subrecipients. There is not a specific limit on the funding amount that
can be provided to a foreign subrecipient, however, the Applicant must
demonstrate to the satisfaction of the EERE Contracting Officer that the
funding level is appropriate, and that a waiver would further the purposes of
this FOA and is otherwise in the interests of EERE and the United States.
EERE cannot comment on the difficulty of granting a waiver, because success is
dependent on the strength of the rationale provided by the applicant.
Please see Section IV.J.3 for details on requesting a waiver.
Question 22:
I am planning to submit a concept paper for this FOA. The limit is 3 pages for the concept paper. If references are included, should they also be within the 3 pages?
Answer 22:
Yes. As stated in
Section IV.A of the FOA, references must be included as footnotes or endnotes
in a font size of 10 or larger and can be included in the margin at the bottom
of the page. Footnotes and endnotes are counted toward the maximum page
requirement.
Question 23:
Our Congressman wishes to submit a letter of support for our upcoming submission for a Concept Paper to the following: Next Generation Photovoltaic Technologies III; Funding Organization: SunShot Initiative/Solar Energy Technologies Office; Funding Number: DE-FOE-000090.
How do we best go about this since the page limit for the concept paper is 5 pages, and we will hit that limit, not including the support letter.
Answer 23:
As stated in Section IV.E.2
of the FOA, letters of support should be included in the Full Application, not
the Concept Paper. Attach any letters of support as an appendix to the
Technical Volume (1 page maximum per letter). Letters of support do not count
towards the Technical Volume page limit.
Question 24:
We are planning to submit a Nextgen III concept paper on Jan. 3. The tentative PI of that particular pre-proposal has recently accepted an offer [at our organization], but the appointment officially starts on Jan. 6. So, formally the PI is not yet an [employee of our organization] at the time of submission. Can this PI be listed as belonging to our organization in the concept paper? Should we add an explanatory note to that effect?
Answer 24:
Yes, you may list the PI as belonging to your
organization. In addition, you may make changes to the team members
between the Concept Paper stage and the Full Application stage, as stated in
Q&A # 7.
Question 25:
I have just founded a company that will be developing the next generation of solar paneling designed specifically with implementation and installation in mind. This project is exactly within the parameters of the Sunshot Initiative, specifically Next Generation Photovoltaic Technologies. Unfortunately, I have missed two of the deadlines. I would be able to meet the final proposal deadline wherein I would present a full detail of the project along with my company's initial research into viability and marketability. Please let me know if there is any sort of waiver that can be given regarding the past two deadlines and any truncated deadline schedule that I could meet.
Answer 25:
Unfortunately, the deadline to submit a Concept Paper for DE-FOA-0000990 Next Generation Photovoltaic Technologies III has already passed. As stated on the cover page of the FOA, only applicants that submit a Concept Paper by the deadline are eligible to submit a Full Application. Please visit www.grants.gov or www.EERE-exchange.energy.gov to search for open funding opportunities.
Question 26:
Our PI is very excited to take the next step and submit a formal proposal, but we want to be sure that we understand our fiscal responsibility for this proposal/award. On page 13 of the solicitation it states,
“Project Teams may not use independent research and development (IR&D) funds to meet their cost share obligations. Project Teams may not use the same cash or in-kind contributions to meet cost share requirements for more than one project or program”
Could you please explain in more detail what the above quote means? Any information you can give me would be a great help.
Answer 26:
This statement means that any Independent research and development (IR&D) activities that fall within the four categories as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulations Part 31.205-18 (see IR&D definition below) may not be used towards cost share obligations, unless specifically stated as an allowable cost under a negotiated rate agreement. Additionally, any costs that have been used in other projects may not be used as cost share contributions under this Funding Opportunity Announcement.
From Federal Acquisition Regulations Part 31.205-18
“Independent research and development (IR&D)” means a contractor’s IR&D cost that consists of projects falling within the four following areas: (1) basic research, (2) applied research, (3) development, and (4) systems and other concept formulation studies. The term does not include the costs of effort sponsored by a grant or required in the performance of a contract. IR&D effort shall not include technical effort expended in developing and preparing technical data specifically to support submitting a bid or proposal.
Question 27:
1) In the Milestone summary table, how are "anticipated date" and "anticipated quarter" different since they both seem to be measured in units of quarters from the project start.
2) In the Milestone summary table, what is desired in the verification process column. There is not much room here in this summary form. Could you give me an example?
3) In the review criteria 2: it refers to midpoint deliverables but these are not referenced elsewhere.
4) In the example work breakdown structure, it refers to deliverables as D1, D2, D5. Is there supposed to be a list of deliverables someplace other than in this task summary or task details. Do you want deliverables other than reports and papers? Are deliverables meant for this proposal?
Answer 27:
1) Question: In the Milestone summary table, how are "anticipated date" and "anticipated quarter" different since they both seem to be measured in units of quarters from the project start.
Answer: For this program, DOE has not requested specific dates for milestone completion so please only state the quarter that you will reach each specific milestone. These 2 columns can be condensed into a single column.
2) Question: In the Milestone summary table, what is desired in the verification process column. There is not much room here in this summary form. Could you give me an example?
Answer: Please detail how the verification of the milestone will accomplished including who will make the measurement (3rd party or your lab), what measurement technique or instrument will be used, and what is the specific metric that will be reached.
3) Question: In the review criteria 2: it refers to mid-point deliverables but these are not referenced elsewhere.
Answer: The mid-point deliverables referenced in this criterion refer to go/no-go decisions points. There must be at least one such decision point per year of the project.
4) Question: In the example work breakdown structure, it refers to deliverables as D1, D2, D5. Is there supposed to be a list of deliverables someplace other than in this task summary or task details. Do you want deliverables other than reports and papers? Are deliverables meant for this proposal?
Answer: In the task summary, please indicate how each task supports the specific research milestones. Specific deliverables beyond the financial and technical reporting requirements are not required.
Question 28:
I have some questions about the amount of software that can be funded for the development of the hardware products we are proposing. The FOA states "Work that will exclusively cover models or software development" is an area specifically not of focus for this program and will not be reviewed. I would appreciate knowing if work that has modeling prior to hardware development is allowed. Is there a percentage level of time/money that should be spent on hardware and modeling/software in order to meet the requirements of not exclusive? I would appreciate speaking to someone pertaining to this.
Answer 28:
Modeling and software that are used to support the objectives of the program as listed in Section I.B can be proposed. However, projects that exclusively work on software, and thus, would not physically demonstrate improvements in photovoltaic technologies are not of interest for this program. Exact percentages are not specified in the FOA and applications will be reviewed according to the merit review criteria listed in Section V of the FOA.
Please submit further questions to DOEnextgenPV@go.doe.gov . All questions related to this FOA must be submitted via email.
Question 29:
We were wondering when is the official start date of the NextGen III awards, for budget planning purposes.
Answer 29:
Projects are expected to be awarded by 9/30/2014; however, projects may start at an earlier date contingent on the finalization of award negotiations.
Question 30:
On page 23 of the FOA in the table at the bottom of the page it states that the "Summary/Abstract for Public Release" should be in a ".ppt" or ".pptx" format; should this not be ".pdf" format?
And then I have the opposite question for the next entry in the table: it states that the "Summary Slide for Public Release" should be in a ".pdf" format; should this not be ".ppt" or ".pptx" format? Especially because in the table at the top of the page it states this should be in "Microsoft PowerPoint format."
Answer 30:
The "Summary/Abstract for Public Release" and "Summary Slide for Public Release" will be accepted as part of the full application submission package in either a PDF (.pdf) or PowerPoint (.ppt. or .pptx) format as noted in the most recent modification.
Question 33:
Beginning on page 29 the solicitation PDF states that the Technical Volume may not be more than 21 pages, including the cover page, table of contents, and all citations, charts, graphs, maps, photos or other graphics, and must include all of the following information to not exceed 21 pages: Cover Page (1 pg); Project Overview (1 pg); Technical Description (8 pgs); Workplan (6 plus 1 for Milestones Summary); and Technical Qualifications and Resources (4 pgs.) The solicitation states that the 21 page limit would include a Table of Contents; however, a TOC is not listed in the table of page limits. Could you please advise?
Answer 33:
The table of contents is not a mandatory document; however, if a table of contents is included in the Technical Volume, it will count as part of the 21 page limit.
Question 34:
Can you propose a 2.5 year period? On page 31 of the FOA, section 4 Budget Justification it says: "each budget period in the application must be 12 months?"
Answer 34:
A 2.5 year period of performance/budget period may be proposed to complete project tasks; however, period of performance/budget periods must not exceed a 12 months.
Question 35:
The EERE Exchange upload protal will not accept .pdf files for the Summary/Abstract for Public Release and Summary Slide for Public Release.
Answer 35:
The Summary/Abstract for Public Release and Summary Slide for Public Release .pdf file extensions have been fixed on the EERE Exchange upload portal.
Question 36:
What should be the file name of SF-424A?
Answer 36:
Please use the following naming convention for the SF-424A: ControlNumber_LeadOrganization_SF424A.
Question 37:
We are currently putting together a submission for the NextGen-III FOA in response to an 'encouraged' white paper. I am finding it impossible to provide all of the information requested in the 'Workplan' section and stay anywhere near the 6pg length limit. We are down to two options:
1. Skip subtask descriptions in the work breakdown structure or
2. Submit the workplan as is and exceed the 6pg limit.
Answer 37:
A submitted Workplan may not exceed the six page limit as stated in the FOA. Pages in excess of the six page limit will not be reviewed. Please see page 29 of the FOA for an Example Work Breakdown Structure.
Question 38:
1) The FOA doesn't require a SOPO but the portal still has an area to upload this "required" file. A previous question/answer confirmed a SOPO is not required but does a dummy file need to be uploaded to allow the submission to process properly?
2) The FOA doesn't mention an SF-424A but the file template is included in the application package, a previous question/answer addressed how to name this file and there is an area to upload the "required" file in the portal. Is this file required? If not, does a dummy file need to be uploaded to allow the submission to process properly?
Answer 38:
1. The EERE Exchange site has been revised to not require that a Statement of Project Objectives be submitted as part of an application package. However, a Technical Volume must be submitted as part of the application package. The Technical Volume must include a Workplan as stated on page 26 of the FOA. Please note that Workplan should contain Project Objectives (See first bullet listed in the Work plan section on page 26).
2. The SF-424A must be included as part of an application package under this Funding Opportunity Announcement. The EERE Exchange site has been revised to upload the SF-424A as part of the application package. The SF-424A can be found on the EERE Exchange site under the FOA number in the Required Application Documents section.
Question 39:
1. Can cost share partners be changed between the Concept Paper and Full Application phases?
2. Can National Laboratories contribute towards the cost share requirement?
3. Can an extension be granted to find a new cost share partner who dropped out between the Concept Paper and Full Application phase?
Answer 39:
1) Cost share partners can be changed between the Concept Paper and Full Application phases.
2) In terms of cost sharing, as long as your cost share is paid from a non-federal source it is allowable (see Section III.B.4).
3) Extensions to the Full Application deadline will not be granted.