Question 1:
The solicitation for this program indicates "The biomass fuels may be unprocessed or minimally processed (e.g.size or moisture content changes, densification, but not altered thermally, chemically, or biochemically)" Can you please clarify if you consider biogas via the digestion of unprocessed crop-wastes as an eligible fuel? Further, the solicitation excludes animal by-products as a "primary fuel". How do you distinguish between primary and secondary fuels? As a hypothetical, if the feedstock was a mixture of crop waste and animal by-products (likely manure), would these co-feeds be acceptable if the animal by-products were less than half by mass or volume?
Answer 1:
As stated in the FOA, "research, products, and materials for this FOA must be relevant for cookstoves fueled by wood or crop wastes." Biogas from any combination of crop wastes or animal by-products is not considered a relevant fuel for this FOA.
Animal by-products are not considered to be a relevant fuel.
Question 2:
We are a social enterprise based in India engaged in the research, manufacture and marketing of energy efficient cookstoves - including biomass cookstoves. {Information removed}Is this solicitation only applicable for US based organizations? Can we make an application that will be considered valid?
Please let us know.
Answer 2:
As outlined in the FOA under Section III Eligibility Information, A. Eligible Applicants, “All types of entities are eligible to apply for this announcement, except nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995. Eligible applicants include but are not limited to: (1) institutions of higher education; (2) National Laboratories and Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) contractors; (3) nonprofit and for-profit entities; (4) State and local governments, (5) Indian Tribes and Tribal Energy Resource Development Organizations (TERDO); and (6) consortia of entities (1)-(5) above. If applying as a consortium, an established member of the consortium must be designated as the lead applicant.
A foreign legal entity may be proposed as a team member on a domestic entity’s application, but may not incur more than 20% of total allowable project costs. Eligible foreign legal entities include but are not limited to: (1) institutions of higher education; (2) nonprofit and for-profit private entities; and (3) consortia of entities (1) through (2). If the foreign team member is a consortium an established member of the consortium must be designated as the point of contact.”
Question 3:
My company is interested in DE-FOA-0000709: Technology Research, Development, and Tools for Clean Biomass Cookstoves. We’ve done previous work on military cookstoves that run on {Information removed}, the biomass application is new for us. It seems that this is a fairly mature topic/community given the previous SBIR topics for this application and the January 2011 workshop. Is there anyone that we could get in touch with to bounce technical ideas off of and to discuss potential teaming arrangements? We have some ideas but don’t want to develop a full proposal for something that might have already been done.
Answer 3:
Regrettably, DOE does not engage in private discussions concerning specific applications of potential applicants. All questions must be submitted to the FOA mailbox and answered in a public manner. Additionally, the DOE cannot make recommendations or suggestions to applicants. Projects selected for negotiations will be based on criteria listed in Section V – Application Review Information.
Question 5:
In terms of the DOE-FOA , are agwaste pellets considered minimally processed fuels?
Answer 5:
Pellets that are produced from agricultural waste through size, moisture content changes or densification only, are eligible for the Funding Opportunity Announcement. Cases where pellet production thermally, chemically, or biochemically alters the agriculture waste will be considered non-responsive for the FOA.
As stated in the FOA: "Using the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Unified Bioenergy Terminology, relevant fuels for this FOA include direct, indirect, and recovered woody and herbaceous biomass and agricultural by-products. The biomass fuels may be unprocessed or minimally processed (e.g. size or moisture content changes, densification, but not altered thermally, chemically, or biochemically)."
Question 6:
Please send links to where I can see any prior work done on this subject of cookstoves, something I can use as a template for design in the appliation
Are you also looking for a supply of fuel sent from here in the U.S.? This is something I worked on with IDB, UN, and World Bank. Or, the machinery to make this fuel on site .
Answer 6:
The DOE does not provide information on prior work for the topic of a FOA, and cannot make recommendations or suggestions to applicants.
The FOA states that applications should include "Identification of relevant fuels in the geographical region(s) of focus, including local availability." While this does not explicitly include or preclude importing fuels from the US, the goal of affordability as outlined in the FOA should be considered.
Question 7:
We are working on a proposal in response to the DE-FOA-0000709. We have a foreign partner, but it is not clear if we need to submit with the proposal any documents that confirm our partnership, such as agreement, letter of intent, etc. Could you please let us know if any special documents are required to confirm our partnership and, if yes, are there any special formats requirements for these documents.
Answer 7:
In the Project Narrative, applications must include "Roles of Participants: For multi-organizational or multi-investigator projects, describe the roles and the work to be performed by each participant/investigator, business agreements between the applicant and participants, and how the various efforts will be integrated and managed." "If cost share is required, you must have a letter from each third party contributing cost share (i.e., a party other than the organization submitting the application) stating that the
third party is committed to providing a specific minimum dollar amount of cost share." Additionally, the eXCHANGE system requires a list of Team Members and their contributing percentage of effort.
Question 8:
I'm trying to understand the cost sharing requirements for DE-FOA-0000709. Could you please tell me which of the following interpretations is correct, or whether some other cost-share is required? Thanks in advance for your help.
Option 1, less restrictive: A US institution of higher education is applicant and a second US institution of higher education is one of the subcontracts. Those institutions can request cost share waivers. A foreign non-profit is also a subcontract; for their part of the budget 20% cost share is required. If the foreign non-profit's costs for the project are $120,000, then $20,000 of that is required as cost-share. This cost share must appear somewhere in the whole project's budget, not necessarily within the subcontract budget of the foreign non-profit.
Option 2, more restrictive: A US institution of higher education is applicant and a second US institution of higher education is one of the subcontracts . Those institutions can request cost share waivers. A foreign non-profit is also a subcontract; for their part of the budget 20% cost share is required. If the foreign non-profit's costs for the project are $120,000, then $20,000 of that is required as cost-share. This cost share must appear somewhere in the subcontract budget of the foreign non-profit.
Answer 8:
Recipient/subrecipient cost share is not restricted to their portion of the work only. For example, cash contributions of cost share may go towards any other project costs.
Also, please note that Foreign Entity Team Members have a cost share requirement of 20%, calculated against the Total Project Cost. For example, if the Federal share is $80,000, then the Recipient cost share of 20% is equal to $20,000, for a Total Project Cost of $100,000 (80%/20%).
Question 9:
1) With regard to cost share for a foreign entity team member, the FOA indicates that “Cost share requirement percentages are based on total allowable project costs.” Would the cost share requirement be 20% of the total project costs for that foreign entity only or the combined project costs of all the partners?
2) Can foreign entities request reimbursement for overhead expenses? If so , is the rate capped?
Answer 9:
1) The cost share requirement for foreign entities is 20% of the total project costs for that foreign entity only.
2) All entities, (foreign or otherwise), are expected to follow their overhead rate agreements.
Question 10:
We need a clarification/confirmation about Topic Area 1 "Applied research and development for products with auxiliary devices, including fans, sensors, and controls."
Would the following be considered valid technologies for this topic area?
· a new improved biomass combustion technology (not a rocket), which does not require a fan or other auxiliary devices?
· auxiliary devices which reduce emissions, IAP, and fuel consumption in indoor/cold regions, such as space-heaters and water-heaters?
Answer 10:
Thank you for your interest in the requirements of the Department of Energy. The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) posted at the EERE eXCHANGE website is comprehensive and designed to allow prospective applicants to assess their proposed projects versus the requirements and criteria of the FOA. We cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the merit review process. It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and assess the merits of their proposed project to determine whether to submit an application.
Question 14:
I am applying to the FOA DE-FOA-0000709, CFDA Number: 81.087
On Page 50, First paragraph, Last sentence.
"The tables are available in Excel format as an attachment to the FOA"
I do not find these Excel format forms. Can you give me more information on how to find
them or send the Excel forms.
Answer 14:
This has been corrected in eXCHANGE. The templates for both of the tables: “Table A1 – Clean Cookstove Emissions, Efficiency, and Cost Baseline Performance Summary”, and” Table A2 – Clean Cookstove Emissions, Efficiency, and Cost Performance Targets Summary” have been added to eXCHANGE.
Question 15:
Is there a way for a subawardee to submit its budget details (SF424A, PMC123.1, Rate Schedule) directly rather than passing it to its prime for submission? This is particularly applicable if the prime could be a potential competitor in the future. We could still provide the prime with the totals and other details necessary to complete their forms.
Answer 15:
Prime Applicants and Sub-recipients have two options. Applicants can sign confidentiality agreements with Subcontractors/Team Members, stating they will maintain the confidential information (i.e. salary and indirect rate information) in a confidential manner, and only share the information with the Department of Energy.
The second option is that the subcontractors can submit this information directly to the question mailbox for each FOA, if necessary. However, we will need a letter from the Prime Applicant to give the Subcontractor permission to submit the information separately and give the Department of Energy permission to speak to the Subcontractor directly should we have any questions.
Question 16:
We have a few questions regarding FOA DE-FOA-0000709:
Tables A1 and A2 in Appendix E indicate that applicants should provide highly detailed performance targets for all metrics of the HEH protocols, or justify the use of other protocols. Our question is to what extent reviews will instructed to consider proposed alternative protocols and approaches. For example, the HEH protocols do not provide any means to measure emissions performance in homes, which is likely the most critical performance for judging whether a stove is "clean". For example, WBT 4.1.2 is the only protocol on the PCIA website which provides an approach to measure emissions performance (CCT and KPT only provide protocols for measuring fuel consumption metrics), yet achieving tier 4 emissions performance with the WBT means very little if stoves do not achieve similar emission performance in homes during normal operational conditions.
It is not clear what the purpose of providing performance on the "Traditional Stove" is in tables A1 and A2. The table on page 5 states that stoves should be developed to meet the Tier 4 IWA guidelines, which are the aspirational goal regardless of the baseline technology. Please clarify if the performance of "traditional stoves" is something that will be considered by reviewers.
Is "Total hydrocarbon g/MJ" in Tables A1 and A2 a metric that will be considered by reviewers. This is not a metric measured as part of the HEH protocols nor is it part of the IWA.
Many thanks for your time in considering these questions.
Answer 16:
For Applicants for Topics 1 and 2, Tables A1 and A2 are provided to facilitate applicants in proposing performance and cost baselines and targets. Applicants are asked to complete these tables as they apply to the proposed project. It is expected that relevant data will be provided where possible. Applicants may also propose additional or alternate protocols or metrics. Reviewers will be asked to evaluate "The potential of the project to (a) achieve immediately implementable cookstoves with improved performance and affordability (Topic Areas 1 and 2) OR (b) to achieve or facilitate breakthroughs that will lead to major performance improvements that can contribute to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves’ goal of 100 million homes adopting clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020 (Topic Areas 1 – 3)." Data and proposed targets for proposed technologies allow reviewers to assess the likely performance of proposed technologies. Data about traditional technologies may be used to provide context to evaluate the need for proposed technologies. In addition, the information in these tables provide the foundation for DOE to monitor progress and impact of selected projects. Thus, applicants have the opportunity to provide data beyond what is required by standard protocols or by the International Organization for Standards International Workshop Agreement.
Question 17:
I am preparing a proposal in response to DE-FOA-0000709 (“Technology Research, Development, and Tools for Clean Biomass Cookstoves”) and have a question.
One of my collaborators is a foreign entity. The foreign entity is requested reimbursement of indirect costs. However, it does not have an established rate agreement with any US federal agency. It does have an indirect rate agreement with the Department of Science and Technology of their country, which is the equivalent of NSF in the US. Can the foreign entity use this rate for calculating its indirect costs request?
Answer 17:
If there is not a current, federally approved rate agreement negotiated and available, the prime recipient or subrecipient, (whose budget exceeds $100,000) preparing this form shall submit an indirect rate proposal in the format provided at the following website, or a format that provides the same level of information and which will support the rates being proposed for use in performance of the proposed project. Go to https://www.eere-pmc.energy.gov/forms.aspx and select Sample Rate Proposal.
Question 18:
We have foreign consultants on our team. Their only participation are as consultants. Are they required to contribute 20% cost share? We are a domestic small business so our cost share is nil. Thank you.
Answer 18:
Foreign entities have a 20% cost share requirement for costs incurred by that foreign entity. However, any eligible entity may pay that cost. If foreign entities incur $0, then cost share would be $0.
Question 19:
I plan to respond to the RFP in Task Area 2. I wonder if you could confirm the following two points:
a) field testing- one would have to identify a few households were to conduct tests and receive logistic assistance (translators, etc.) to understand users' reaction to the stove design;
b) manufacturing and commercialization plan- We would need to initiate discussions with potential manufacturers in the country where testing/distribution is planned to conceive a plan for the manufacturing of the stove to scale, with the goal of developing sustainable markets for production and distribution.
The current RFP would not require either large scale testing (order of hundreds of households) or manufacturing to scale (merely a realistic plan to achieve it). Is my interpretation correct?
Answer 19:
Applications for Topic Areas 1 and 2 must span applied research, development of improved stove designs and testing of prototypes in the laboratory and field to ensure performance and usability. The FOA will not cover work to scale up manufacturing and field testing, but applicants are required to identify manufacturing and implementation partners and submit a manufacturing and/or commercialization plan for future work.
Question 26:
Because of no option for "outside the U.S", I used our home office {Information removed}. when I submitted my application last evening ( May 22). I just now read your email about the new option of "outside U.S." but it is after 5:00 p.m. EDT.
However, the proposal makes it clear that the work location is in {Information removed}. Is there anything I should do at this time?
Answer 26:
No, it is documented that the system was corrected late in the application process. This will not count against the application.