Question 1:
Questions regarding Personnel Preference for Funding Opportunity Announcement number DE-FOA-0000823
1)Can the PI’s do the majority of the work or is it strongly preferred to have graduate students and PhD candidates doing the research work?
2)If research work will be done with personnel from a national lab is it preferable to have them as a consultant or co-PI on the proposal?
3)If listed as a co-PI what is the minimum and maximum percentage of personnel funds that should be allocated to the co-PI in comparison to a PI?
4)Is having a multi-institutional team (more than one university) a strong factor in determining eligibility and qualifications?
Answer 1:
1) There is no recommendation as to the level of effort or amount of effort for the PI on an award to this FOA.
2) DOE does not recognize the role of co-PI on awards. There is only one technical point of contact for each award.
3) See 2 above.
4) DOE will not comment on the competiveness of differently structured efforts. DOE assumes the technical content and approach to be the main determiner of project structure. Please see the review criteria in Section V of the FOA.
Question 1:
Can the PI on DE-FOA-0000823: Building Technologies Innovations Program, work part -time for the company performing the majority of the work?
On SBIR proposals there is typically a requirement that the PI be employed by the company at least 51% for every day of the funding period.
Answer 1:
While there is no specific requirement to the percentage/amount of time the Principal Investigator serves on the project, it may be considered in the evaluation of the strength of the Performance team and/or, if selected, discussed during the negotiation process.
Question 1:
When awards are made for FOA823, will summaries be posted?
Answer 1:
No, DOE will publicly announce the actual awards made under the 0823 FOA
Question 1:
When completing the Full Application for FOA 823 we will need to send a Contractor Authorization letter. To whom do we address the letter and what is their full contact information? I could not locate this information in the FOA.
Answer 1:
The authorization does not need to be addressed to anyone in particular, but should be included in the application package.
If needed, please just address the authorization to the
Golden Field Office
1617 Cole Blvd.
Golden, CO 80401
Question 2:
We’re confused regarding the last bullet point on Page 12. “Cost share for university, non-profit entities and national labs, whether participating as a prime recipient or sub-recipient, is 0% of total project costs”.
Is this saying:
- A proposal composed only of these entities is not required to cost share at all?
- Project costs for these qualifying 0% cost share entities is subtracted from “total Project costs” and the remainder requires 20% from the non-qualifying partner?
- The qualifying entities do not cost share and the entire 20% of total project costs must come from non-qualifying partners?
While National labs are prohibited from cost sharing, universities and non-profits are not. Are you saying universities cannot cost share?
Answer 2:
The Cost Share requirements for institutions of higher education, FFRDC’s, National Labs and non-profit organizations have been waived for this FOA. Other types of entities, such as for-profits are responsible for their own required cost share.
In the event that a project includes sub-recipients that are not the same type of entity as the prime recipient, then the applicability of the cost share waiver is dependent upon each sub-recipient type. For Example, If a non-profit is the prime applicant, and partners with a for-profit as a subrecipient, the for-profit would still be required to provide cost share for their portion of the project. That being said, no entity is prohibited from contributing cost share, this FOA only waives the requirement for those applicable entities.
Question 6:
Are datacenter energy efficiency technologies, such as advanced thermal management of servers, of interest for this solicitation - assuming they meet the minimum efficiency improvements of 20% for existing building and 50% for new construction?
Answer 6:
Only during the Concept Paper phase of this FOA, will DOE provide a response to each Applicant, either encouraging or discouraging them from completing an application.
Question 8:
The Concept paper due date is April 1 at 5pm. The Application due date is May 28 at 5pm. When will PIs receive notice that their concept papers have been selected so that they will know to submit a full application?
Answer 8:
At this time, DOE plans to notify applicants about concept papers within the week of April 22nd.
Question 9:
If the budget amount in the letter of intent is revised prior to the submittal of the concept paper, so that the concept paper has a different budget amount from the letter of intent, is that acceptable? Is it acceptable for the concept paper and the full application to have differing total budget amounts, also due to a revision? What financial information is required to be submitted with the concept paper?
Answer 9:
Budget revisions between application phases (Letter of Intent, Concept Paper, Full Application) are allowed. Please see Section IV.B.3 of the FOA for the Concept Paper requirements.
Question 10:
Will an individual be named as the Project Director/ Principal Investigator in one Letter of Intent, and the participator on another Letter of Intent?
Answer 10:
Yes, an individual can be named as the Project Director/ Principal Investigator in one Letter of Intent, and the participator on another Letter of Intent
Question 12:
Could you please clarify what is meant by "innovative technologies and approaches"? Does this phrasing indicate that a proposal describing an architectural or engineering design process for achieving the desired energy use reduction goals would be competitive under this FOA?
Answer 12:
This type of approach may be considered under this FOA. Unfortunately, DOE will not be able to clearly encourage or discourage applicants until the Concept Paper phase.
Question 13:
If I have a project that’s $375k/yr for 2 years (the maximum for FOA 823), cost share 20% would be $75k/yr. If a partner organization accepted that (in allowable in-kind contributions and other forms), could ORNL still issue any portion of the $375k to the organization? E.g. Ignoring tax and other overhead, we keep $300k in-house and subcontract $75k to the partner organization…so they effectively are incentivized/subsidized by government funds to match their contribution for participating?
Answer 13:
Additional clarification is needed to answer this question.
Please keep in mind that the maximum DOE amount for an individual award made under this announcement is $750K in total (i.e., $375K/year for two-year projects, or $750K for one-year projects) – this does not include cost share. Please see section II.C of the FOA. In addition, required cost share for national labs, whether participating as a prime recipient or sub-recipient, is 0% of total project costs. The amount of cost share required depends on the types of partner/sub organizations and their portion of the award. Please see section III.B of the FOA.
Keeping these items in mind, can you please re-submit your clarifying question.
Question 14:
Full application due by 5-28-13
The web site describes what must be included in the full application but I don’t see similar instructions for the letter of intent. Could you explain further? What feedback will be given to submitter of a the letter of intent? DOE’s likely interest? A list of competing letters of intent?
Answer 14:
The instructions for the Letters of Intent are included in the FOA.
The purpose of the letters of intent is to allow DOE to gauge the response to the FOA and allow better review (of the concept paper and full application) planning. The Letter of intent is not reviewed and no feedback from DOE will be provided. However, a Letter of Intent must be submitted in order to submit a Concept Paper or Full Application.
Question 15:
Is it acceptable to change the lead PI on the concept paper from the PI listed in the Letter of Intent?
Answer 15:
Yes, it is acceptable to change the PI listed in the LOI and Concept Papers, as long as that individual is not listed on any other LOI or Concept Paper.
Question 16:
On page 14 of FOA DE-FOA-0000823, under B.1 Letter of Intent Required - it reads that in the LOI we are to state "the amount of DOE funds requested". The LOI form on the website has no place to put this amount and I can't find where or if I am suppose to attach a PDF file of the LOI. Can you tell me where this amount is to go?
Answer 16:
Please include the amount of funding in the LOI text.
Question 17:
We are looking to submit an LOI for the 823 call, centered on smart window technology. Which topic area should this be classified under (1-18 topics)?
Answer 17:
DOE would consider this to be under the Fenestration topic.
Question 18:
May a project with a duration between 12 and 24 months (such as a 16 month long project) be proposed? The solicitation appears to imply that only 12 month or 24 month projects will be accepted and not durations in between.
Answer 18:
Yes, a 16 month project duration is acceptable.
Question 19:
I had trouble submitting my Letter of Intent to the Exchange system during the indicated time period. Will this prevent me from submitting a Concept Paper for this FOA?
Answer 19:
When an attempt is made to submit a Letter of Intent, a control number is assigned. As long as you received a control number in the Exchange system for the submission, you will be able to submit a Concept Paper and Application. Please contact the Exchange help desk for help as to if editing the existing submission is possible.
Please keep in mind that the purpose of the letter of intent is to provide DOE with some measure of the interest in this FOA and allow better planning of the application review process. The Letter of Intent is not a reviewed document but is required in order to submit a Concept paper and Full Application.
Question 20:
Please provide the url or other location for the Summary Slide Template for a Concept Paper
Answer 20:
The document is in Exchange for download along with the FOA.
Question 21:
I think that I do have a control number: 0829-XXXX
Is this correct?
Answer 21:
Valid control numbers for this FOA will contain 823, rather than 829.
Question 22:
By accepting the award of a government grant, will is restrict COMPANY’s ability to limit the subcontractor on the project from selling the IP developed on the project to competitors? For example, in a normal private agreement, COMPANY would require the subcontractor not to shop that IP developed in the project to competitors for a certain period of time or could otherwise restrict its use. However, if the project receives government funding in this case, will it in any way limit COMPANY in its ability to restrict the subcontractor? This is a separate concern from the normal government use or licensing rights that the Federal government might take in IP generated under a sponsored project, where the government has rights in both the subcontractor’s and COMPANY’s IP. Are there any special provisions with regard to the ability of the Prime to restrict the IP rights of a sub if the subcontractor is a small business or university?
Answer 22:
Intellectual property rights under DOE financial assistance awards are set forth at 10 CFR 600.325 Appendix A. Under DOE Awards, awardees and subawardees that are domestic small businesses, nonprofits, or educational institutions, may elect to retain title to their subject inventions. Awardees that do not fall into those entity types, such as large businesses, may be able to elect title to their subject inventions if they obtain patent waivers pursuant to 10 CFR 784.
Question 23:
On page 9 of the FOA "maximum DOE amount is $750,000 total". When I go on the website for the Concept Paper, under tab "Funds and Cost" the drop-down box for cost range offers choices between $250k - $10m. What is the maximum funding permitted?
Answer 23:
See section II, C of the FOA. The FOA takes precedence over the information in the system.
Question 25:
The on-line letter of intent did not have a space to insert project cost information. The responses to questions 14 and 19 state that letters of intent are not reviewed, but are only to gauge interest in the various topic areas. But the answer to question 16 stated that submitters should include requested funding into their letters of intent.
We did get project numbers for our letters of intent; do I need to somehow revise our letters of intent to include funding information, or should we just save that until the concept paper phase?
Answer 25:
No LOI revisions are necessary to be eligible to submit a concept paper.
Question 26:
In the team members tab for the concept paper submission it asks for the % effort. Does the % effort need to be an exact match to the % of the budget?
Answer 26:
To DOE, any numbers provided at the concept paper stage are estimates and may not be as accurate as those provided in the full application.
Question 27:
We are confused by the second bullet point in Section III, B. Cost sharing, "Cost share for university, non-profit entities, and national labs, whether participating as a prime recipient or sub-recipient, is 0% of the total project cost.". If the prime contractor is a for-profit entity with a national laboratory sub-recipient, is the 20% cost share requirement applicable to only the for-profit portion of the project or is it applicable to the total (for-profit and sub-recipient portions). For example, the for-profit estimates costs of $220,000 and the national laboratory sub-recipient estimates costs of $80,000, is the required 20% cost share $44,000 or $60,000.
Answer 27:
Duplicate question, see above.
Question 28:
Question: I understand that following submitting the Concept Paper by 4/1/13, the DOE will provide notice of whether the applicant is encouraged or discouraged to submit a full application. Will you tell me by what date that notice will occur?
Answer: At this time, DOE plans to notify applicants about concept papers within the week of April 22nd.
Question: I understand per Section IV.H.2. (page 27) that all the registrations/numbers are not required in order to submit an Application, however, what are mandatory that we have in place at the point of the on-line submission of the Concept Paper? and then again at point of on-line Application?
Answer 28:
Answer: In order to apply at any phase in this FOA, you would need to register and create an account on EERE Exchange at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/. The other registration requirements are not required in order to submit an Application, but rather necessary in order for a potential applicant to receive an award under this announcement.
Question 29:
I sent this inquiry a couple of days ago and have yet to hear back. Will you please let me know when the DOE will provide notice of whether the applicant is encouraged or discouraged to submit a full application for DE-FOA-0000823.
Answer 29:
This question has been previously answered.
Question 30:
Can you please provide expecting timing for when the FOA-823 requests for Full Applications will be announced, in advance of the May 28 submission deadline? We submitted a Concept Paper on March 16, and would like to keep our team updated, thanks.
Answer 30:
This question has already been answered. Please see previous question and answer.
Question 31:
Seeing as this FOA 0823 did not require a Pre-Application, please let me know if during the on-line Application process we will be prompted to provide section items 4.2 - 4.6 shown in the EERE eXCHANGE user Guide EERE's Online Application Portal.
Answer 31:
Please see the FOA (Section IV) for all instruction regarding what documents are required for a full application.
Question 32:
As per the FOA, there are instructions under IV.C.9. to include the Letters of Commitment as part of the Appendix to the Narrative. However, the Summary of Required Forms/Files on page 24 indicates a separate file name for Letter of Commitment File. Should both be done, ie. append the Letters to the Project Narrative and upload a single file for the Letters?
Answer 32:
Please submit the letters of intent as a separate file only.
Question 33:
In reading through the FOA 823 Application instructions, an “Environmental Impact Questionnaire” is required with the application. The instructions say complete the form online at http://www.eere-pmc.energy.gov/NEPA.asp. I visited that site today and there are several links to several forms, none of which are called “Environmental Impact Questionnaire” Which form do we use?
Answer 33:
Please fill out and submit the form entitled PMC 111.1, R&D Environmental Questionnaire, located directly at
https://www.eere-pmc.energy.gov/procurenet/FinancialAssistance/Forms/Procurenet/PMC111_1-R&D%20Environmental%20Questionnaire.doc
Question 34:
In response to FOA-0823, I submitted a concept paper (control number #0823-1668) entitled "Adaptive Model Predictive Control of Building Energy" in the topic area of Controls. I wonder if you have reviewed the concept papers and we should start preparing the full proposal or not.
Answer 34:
DOE intends to provide feedback to the applicants with regard to if their application is encouraged or discouraged during the week of 22 April. The results will be posted shortly.
Question 37:
For prior RFP's, are summaries posted somewhere?
Answer 37:
No, Past FOA awards have similarly been announced. Please see the EERE website for all public announcements.
Question 38:
According to the submission site, there is a required form called Technical and Financial Data (excel). I don’t see that file posted under the View Required Application Documents. Also, this was not a file listed in the table on page 24-25 of the FOA. Can you tell me what this form is and where I can access it?
Answer 38:
Please follow the FOA with regard to required submittals.
Question 39:
On page 17 of FOA it states that “the project narrative must not exceed 17 pages for 1-year projects or 18 pages for 2-year projects.” However, when adding up the allowable page counts indicated next to each section on the instructions – pages 18 through 20, for 2-year projects, 19 pages are allowed. Which page limit should we follow?
Answer 39:
Please use the 19 page limit and respective section page counts specified in the table on pages 18-20 for all applications.
Question 41:
Page 5, paragraph 3, of the DOE-FOA 0000823 document specially references the Annual Energy Outlook 2010. We have located the 2013 Annual Energy Outlook report. Is this report sufficient for use?
Answer 41:
It is acceptable to use the 2013 Annual Energy Outlook report as a basis for your application.
Question 42:
Item 10, on Page 22 “Budget for DOE Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) Contractor File”. We have followed the link provided to obtain “DOE Order 412.1, Work Authorization System” and “DOE O 412.1, Field Work Proposal”; however, we have found that no documents exist under “DOE Budget Forms” except a sample PDF file. Could you please advise.
Answer 42:
The Labs should have access to these documents. The Sample PDF is what we have available.
Question 43:
In preparing for our submission to the DE-FOA-0000823, Topic: 14. Combined heat and power for buildings, we have assumed that, because we are in partnership with a 501C3 foundation which is exempt from the 20% matching obligation and because the foundation is assuming 49% interest while our company is assuming 51%, we are assuming that our company's obligation is 20% of 51%. Is this assumption correct?
Answer 43:
It is unclear what you mean by “interest”. The amount of cost share required depends on the types of organizations and their portion of costs for the award. Please see the example previously posted.
Question 44:
Page 5, paragraph 3, of the DOE-FOA 0000823 document specially references the Annual Energy Outlook 2010. We have located the 2013 Annual Energy Outlook report. Is this report sufficient for use?
Answer 44:
Yes, the use of the 2013 version of the Annual Energy outlook Report is acceptable for this FOA.
Question 45:
The cost share information provided, and answers to the questions (2, 3 and 13) seem to provide incomplete information. In this case, we are a university, non-profit, or national laboratory and are the prime submitter. Our sub-tier partner is a for profit entity. For a $300,000/yr submission to the FOA (2-year) project, $50,000/yr is going to the sub, and remaining $250,000/yr is staying at the university, non-profit or national laboratory. Based on our interpretation of the FOA language, our sub-tier will provide 20% cost share on their $50,000, which would sum to $12,500/yr. There are no other partners in our proposal. The $12,500/yr cost share will provide 4% of the total allowable costs for the project ($300,000/yr), when the FOA asks for 20%. Would this submission be counted as non responsive because the amount of cost share is less than 20% of the total allowable costs for the project? Or would our $12,500/yr in cost share be acceptable because only the amount of funding going to the private entity requires 20% cost share?
Answer 45:
The application should be found responsive, regarding the Cost share, as long as the for-profit sub is providing at least the required 20% cost share on their portion of the work/costs.
Question 46:
Upon beginning our submission, on the Funds and Costs tab we entered the amount of our projects, which is between $250,000 and $999,999.99. After entering this information, the tabs says "This FOA does not require Cost Share contribution. Please see section III.B of the FOA". This information appears to contradict section III.B as we have a for-profit entity as a sub-tier partner. Please clarify which guidance (that on the Funds and Costs tab or that in section III.B that we should follow.
Answer 46:
Please follow the information found in the actual FOA document.
Question 47:
The FOA does not specifically state that subcontractors requesting over $100,000 have to submit the budget justification file, but the budget justification cover page does say this. Does just the lead institution have to complete this, or are subcontractors requesting over $100,000 required to provide the budget justification form?
Answer 47:
Please follow the submission requirements in the FOA for the initial application.
Question 48:
I am preparing a full proposal in response to FOA-0823 after I received the encouragement message from DOE for our concept paper on April 29.
We partnered with a large for-profit company and it took us long time to get approval of the project as well as cost sharing because of time-consuming regulations in typical large companies. I wonder if it would be possible that you extend the full proposal submission deadline for one week. This will help us and also other institutions to prepare well-written proposals.
Answer 48:
The FOA deadlines will not be extended.
Question 49:
I am preparing a full proposal in response to FOA-0823. I understand that there is a page limit of 18 pages for 2-year proposal for the narrative file. I also noticed in the FOA there are guidelines for example 2 pages for Performance team. I wonder it would be fine if we follow the 18 page limit but for the internal sections, we control by ourselves. For example in the performance team section of narrative I use 21/4 page, thus I use 1/4 page less in other places?
Answer 49:
As it states in the FOA, ALL of the components of your Project Narrative must be within the Narrative page limits specified in IV.C. Evaluators will review only the number of pages specified in the preceding sentence.
Question 50:
I am preparing a full proposal in response to FOA-0823. I understand that there is a page limit of 18 pages for 2-year proposal for the narrative file. I also noticed in the FOA there are guidelines for example 2 pages for Performance team. I wonder it would be fine if we follow the 18 page limit but for the internal sections, we control by ourselves. For example in the performance team section of narrative I use 21/4 page, thus I use 1/4 page less in other places?
Answer 50:
As it states in the FOA, ALL of the components of your Project Narrative must be within the Narrative page limits specified in IV.C. Evaluators will review only the number of pages specified in the preceding sentence.
Question 51:
Below are the required documents that are listed on the Upload and Submit Screen; this differs from the list on pp. 17-25 of the FOA. Nowhere in the FOA is a file named “Technical and Financial Data” mentioned. Could this be a misprint? Could you please comment/confirm the items below in red type?
1. SF424 – Application for Federal Assistance
2. Project Summary/Abstract File
3. Project narrative file, including required appendices
4. Summary slide
5. Bibliography and Reference files, if applicable
6. Resume file
7. SF424A Excel – Budget Information for Non-Construction programs (prime applicant)
8. PMC 123.1 Budget Justification file
9. SF424A – Sub award Budget file (if applicable)
10. PMC 123.1 Budget Justification (s) – not sure how this differs from # 8;
11. Budget for FFRDC Contractor File
12. Authorization from Cognizant Contracting Officer for FFRDC
13. Environmental Questionnaire
14. SF-LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities, if applicable
15. Technical and Financial Data -
16. Waiver Request: Foreign Entities and/performance of Work in the US, if applicable
Answer 51:
Items 9 (SF424A – Sub award Budget file), 10 (PMC 123.1 Sub award Budget Justification), and 15 (Technical and Financial Data), found on the upload page of the Exchange system, are sometimes used in other FOAs, but are optional on this FOA.