Frequently Asked Questions

A supercritical fluid would not be categorically rejected.

Eligibility to this FOA is restricted to domestic accredited institutions of higher education (see section III.A on page 15 of this FOA). Additionally, results of work performed under this FOA must be published in a relevant journal or other publicly available format (see section VIII.J on page 33 of this FOA). If a relationship with an industry partner can be worked within this framework, the proposal would be considered responsive.

1. This FOA is only open to universities that are teaming with other eligible universities as the prime applicant, therefore any application from U.S. Army would be ineligible.  If the university where you are employed as an Adjunct Prof. meets the eligibility criteria and were to apply to this FOA and list you as one of the university’s personnel who would be performing work on the University’s DOE award, it would be your responsibility to get approval from your federal employer to perform that outside work for the university.  DOE cannot speculate nor advise you on the legality of any outside work arrangements you may reach with your federal employer. 

2. It is not permissible to have a conversation with a DOE representative about potential or pending FOA applications nor to attempt to garner an opinion from a DOE representative as to the type of application that the DOE program would most like to see.  The reasoning for this is that this service cannot be provided to all potential applicants, and would therefore give an unfair advantage to the applicants that were able to secure time with DOE program officials or other DOE representatives for such a discussion.  

3. There is no preference in this FOA for applicants who utilize DOE (or other federal labs) as subrecipients or vendors.  The FOA criteria that focuses on the quality of lab facilities and lab capabilities is meant to address the lab facilities and lab capabilities of the universities that are teaming on the application. 

Please refer to Section III.A on page 16 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). This section was revised on Friday, February 24, 2012 to clarify that entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria may only be utilized as a vendor/subcontractor for testing purposes.

 Also, while there are no limitations to the amount a vendor/subcontractor can receive, please note that the “Capability of the proposing organization(s) to research and test a fluid with the characteristics...” is part of Merit Review Criterion 2 under Qualifications and Capabilities as stated  in Section V.A.2 Merit Review Criterion 2.2.a on page 29 the FOA.

DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of an application in advance of the merit review process.  It is up to prospective applicants to determine the level of required scale test loops.

DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of an application in advance of the merit review process.  It is up to prospective applicants to determine whether their ideas/applications are suitable for this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).  DOE cannot provide recommendations regarding individual researchers joining specific teams that have already or may apply to this FOA. It is the responsibility of prospective applicants to develop and form teaming arrangements in order to generate a proposal to this FOA.

DOE cannot provide recommendations regarding individual researchers joining specific teams that have already or may apply to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).  It is the responsibility of prospective applicants to develop and form teaming arrangements in order to generate a proposal to this FOA.

1. Please refer to Section III.A on page 16 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), which states that eligibility for award is restricted to domestic accredited institutions of higher education.  Entities that do not meet the restricted eligibility criteria may not apply as the prime recipient or as a sub-recipient. National Laboratories may not apply as prime recipient or sub-recipient, therefore a key researcher cannot be from a National Laboratory.

2. Please refer to Section III.A on page 16 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), which states that eligibility for award is restricted to domestic accredited institutions of higher education.  Entities that do not meet the restricted eligibility criteria may not apply as the prime recipient or as a sub-recipient. National Laboratories may not apply as prime recipient or sub-recipient.  This section was revised on Friday, February 24, 2012 to clarify that entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria may only be utilized as a vendor/subcontractor for testing purposes.

3. The certification that lighting will be upgraded to meet Federal efficiency standards only applies to the prime applicant.

1: Subrecipients are defined in Circular A-133 Subpart B__.210(b) Subrecipient and vendor determinations.

Characteristics indicative of a subrecipient are when the organization:

  (1) Determines who is eligible to receive what Federal financial assistance;

  (2) Has its performance measured against whether the objectives of the Federal program are met;

  (3) Has responsibility for programmatic decision making;

  (4) Has responsibility for adherence to applicable Federal program compliance requirements; and

  (5) Uses the Federal funds to carry out a program of the organization as compared to providing goods or services for a program of the pass-through entity.

 Entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria cannot apply as prime recipients or subrecipients.

 Vendor/subcontractor as defined in Circular No. A-133 means a dealer, distributor, merchant, or other seller providing goods or services that are required for the conduct of a Federal program.

 Entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria may only be utilized as a vendor/subcontractor for testing purposes.

2: National Laboratories may not apply as prime recipient or sub-recipient, therefore a principal investigator cannot be from a National Laboratory.

In general, the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) states that corrosion studies should be done to look at the fluid interactions with potential containment materials. An applicant may propose that the fluid be tested against existing barrier coatings for corrosion behavior as part of the corrosion studies, but developing new barrier coatings would fall outside the scope of the FOA.

 Please refer to Section III.A on page 16 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), which states that eligibility for award is restricted to domestic accredited institutions of higher education.  Entities that do not meet the restricted eligibility criteria may not apply as the prime recipient or as a sub-recipient. National Laboratories may not apply as prime recipient or sub-recipient.

DOE cannot provide recommendations regarding individual researchers joining specific teams that have already or may apply to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).  It is the responsibility of prospective applicants to develop and form teaming arrangements in order to generate a proposal to this FOA.

As stated in Section III.A on page 16 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), eligibility is restricted to domestic accredited institutions of higher education.  This eligibility restriction includes individuals who participate in the performance of the award under any form of arrangement.  Therefore, your proposed application would be deemed ineligible, would be found non-compliant and would not be merit reviewed if you were to apply with any ineligible organizations, individuals, team members, collaborators, consultants, subrecipients or other persons or entities listed as a participating person or entity (regardless of how you describe their role).  In short, any individual or entity that is listed as participating in the performance of the award must be from an eligible institution.  The exception in the FOA on page 16 only allows non-eligible national laboratories or FFRDCs to act in a limited capacity as a vendor of commercial testing services and still does not allow that commercial vendor/lab (or their employees) as a participant in the performance of work under these awards.

 As stated on page 21 of the FOA, "The applicant... must indicate who the PIs are at each research facility included in the proposal.  The use of multiple PIs for a project is required to participate in this FOA." The Coordination and Management plan needs to be included as part of the "Resume File." There is no page limitation on the "Resume File."

DOE cannot provide recommendations regarding individual researchers joining specific teams that have already or may apply to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).  It is the responsibility of prospective applicants to develop and form teaming arrangements in order to generate a proposal to this FOA.

The PMC 123.1 Detailed Budget Justification may be edited to allow for 5 budget periods. When editing the file please ensure that all formulas are correctly copied.

The cost share letter may be addressed to the U.S Department of Energy.

The PMC 123.1 Detailed Budget Justification may be edited to allow for 5 budget periods. When editing the file please ensure that all formulas are correctly copied.

The template for the Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO) can be found in Exchange in the Required Application Documents Section.

A1: As seen in Figure 3 on page 11 in the FOA, net pumping power rises by about 1.5% at 3 times the density of the currently used binary eutectic, or about 6000kg/m3.  This target was selected as the limit for density due to this increase in pumping power (and therefore cost).

A2: Other alloys can be considered for compatibility at high temperatures.  However, compatibility with nickel alloys must be considered as they represent a common alloy used in CSP receivers at this time.

The proposal must be submitted by a lead organization and the collaborators included as subawardees. However, as stated in Section IV.C.4 (page 20) of this FOA, the project narrative should describe the roles and the work to be performed by each participant/collaborator.  The applicant must indicate who the PIs are at each research facility.  The use of multiple PIs for a project is required to participate in this FOA.  The application must identify the Contact PI/Project Coordinator and provide a “Coordination and Management Plan” that describes the organization structure of the project as it pertains to the designation of multiple PIs.  Please refer to Section IV part C.5 (page 21) of the FOA for more information on the “Coordination and Management Plan.”    

As part of the application package, please include a copy of your organization's current fringe benefit rates and documentation that supports the calculation of these rates.

One of the goals of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to provide a heat transfer fluid for CSP that does not require a significant re-engineering of a typical CSP plant.  An incompatibility with nickel alloys would require a significant re-engineering of the receiver of a CSP plant, making it much more difficult to achieve the SunShot target of a 6cents/kWh system deployed by 2020.  With that said, achieving all of the FOA targets is extremely difficult for any fluid.  Proposals for fluids or fluid discovery programs will be judged based upon the degree to which each of the FOA targets can be met.

Any fluid that meets the targets given in solicitation (DE-FOA-0000567) will be considered.

 As stated on page 19 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement, the project narrative must not exceed 20 pages. The project narrative must include: Cover Page, Project Objectives, Merit Review Criterion Discussion, Project Timetable, Roles of Participants, Facilities and Other Resources, Equipment, Bibliography and References if applicable, and the Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO).

As stated in Section III.A on page 16 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), eligibility is restricted to domestic accredited institutions of higher education.  This eligibility restriction includes individuals who participate in the performance of the award under any form of arrangement.  Therefore, your proposed application would be deemed ineligible, would be found non-compliant and would not be merit reviewed if you were to apply with any ineligible organizations, individuals, team members, collaborators, consultants, subrecipient or other persons or entities listed as a participating person or entity (regardless of how you describe their role).  In short, any individual or entity that is listed as participating in the performance of the award must be from an eligible institution.  The exception in the FOA on page 16 only allows non-eligible national laboratories or FFRDCs to act in a limited capacity as a vendor of commercial testing services and still does not allow that commercial vendor/lab (or their employees) as a participant in the performance of work under these awards.

The funds will be directly sent to the FFRDC.

The exception in the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on page 17 allows non-eligible national laboratories or FFRDCs to act in a limited capacity as a vendor of commercial testing services. If the FFRDCs are acting in this capacity in the proposal structure, then the proposal is compliant. While there are no limitations to the amount a vendor/subcontractor can receive, please note that the “Capability of the proposing organization(s) to research and test a fluid with the characteristics...” is part of Merit Review Criterion 2 under Qualifications and Capabilities as stated  in Section V.A.2 Merit Review Criterion 2 on page 30 the FOA.

1.       The term "facilities" is the specific site (e.g. lab) where the work will be done for the project.

2.       The proposal must be submitted by a lead organization and the collaborators included as subawardees. The certification that lighting will be upgraded to meet Federal efficiency standards only applies to the prime applicant and not subawardees.

3.       Costs for lighting upgrades would not be part of a project’s scope and treated as direct costs. Costs for upgrades may be treated as indirect costs.

The eXCHANGE website has been revised to allow for additional files to be uploaded.

The eXCHANGE website has been revised to allow for additional files to be uploaded, you may use this option to upload vendor quotes and Indirect Rate Agreements as necessary.  Please label the subrecipient budget files appropriately.

The authorization letter should be addressed to Lalida Crawford.

The eXCHANGE website has been revised to correct this issue. Please re-upload the files.

The submission deadline has passed.  Any additional files submitted will not be accepted.

DOE anticipates making an announcement before the end of August.