EERE eXCHANGE: FAQs

Question 1: Would an innovative (low cost $0.50/watt, high performance 34% module efficiency) concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system be responsive to the SolarMat opportunity?
Answer 1:

Concentrated Photovoltaics (CPV) is a technology that is appropriate for SolarMat Topic Area 1 - Photovoltaics (PV).

Question 2: I am writing to request a slide deck or presentation on the SolarMat opportunity, either given during a DOE Webcast or some other format. Has DOE held a SolarMat Webcast yet, or is one scheduled? Please send me any slides or other background materials about this SolarMat FOA, apart from the solicitation itself. I appreciate your help with this request.
Answer 2:

There will be a webinar on Thursday March 14, 3:00 pm EDT. The link to register for the webinar is https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/409122913

The slides from the webinar will be posted on eere-exchange shortly after the webinar.

Question 3: Is it critical that registration to all entities (Grants.gov, SAM, etc…) be made prior to the submission of the concept paper?
Answer 3:

No, however, it is strongly recommended that potential applicants register to all systems specified on Page 2 of the FOA as soon as possible. EERE will not extend the submission deadline for Applicants that fail to submit required information and documents due to server/connection congestion.

Question 4: When cost-sharing, when does the award recipient need to confirm the cash is available? For example, we’d like to apply for $5M but cannot guarantee the total cash on hand at the time of the award (July 2013). Is it okay to assume we’d raise or allocate a portion of the matching funds over the course of the award?
Answer 4:

As specified in Section III.B.5 of the FOA Applicants are required to provide written assurance of their proposed cost share contributions in their Full Applications. Upon selection for award negotiations, Applicants are required to provide additional information and documentation regarding their cost share contributions. Please refer to Appendix B of the FOA for guidance on the requisite cost share information and documentation.

Question 5: Our company is in application phase for the SOLARMAT FOA. The concept paper requires a control number. I cannot find reference to a control number anywhere. Pls advise.
Answer 5:

Concept Papers must be submitted via EERE Exchange at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/. A control number will be issued when an Applicant begins the concept paper submission process. This control number must be included with the Full Application documents, as described in Section IV.D of the FOA.

Question 6: One of the designated requirements for consideration for this solicitation is a solar field cost of $75/m^2. Can you clarify what items are to be included in this estimate- in particular for a central receiver technology? Also, this raw cost/m^2 does not appear to consider technologies which operate at higher temperatures and cycle efficiencies thus perhaps needing fewer heliostats per generated kWh. If a proposal is submitted with a higher solar field cost, but can demonstrate that the balance of system and operating efficiency offsets the necessarily higher solar field costs will it be considered?
Answer 6:

The costs to be included are:

Materials of construction costs (i.e. steel, mirrors, drives, any field wiring, any wireless power, etc)

Labor costs associated with construction of the collector and placement of the collector in the solar field

Cost of construction of on-site manufacturing facility (if applicable)

Cost of using a mobile manufacturing platform, or if the platform is owned, depreciation cost of said platform (if applicable)

Any non-labor or non-raw material variable cost associated with using a mobile platform (i.e. electricity, compressed gases, water, etc.) (if applicable)

Cost of using an offsite manufacturing facility, or if the facility is owned, depreciation cost of said facility (if applicable)

Any non-labor or non-raw material variable cost associated with using an offsite manufacturing facility (i.e. electricity, compressed gases, water, etc.) (if applicable)

Any transportation costs for shipping a collector from an offsite manufacturing facility to the project site (if applicable)

Any other non-land and non-land preparation collector cost (if applicable)

The $75/m2 target is from Chapter 5 of the SunShot Vision Study, and therefore is assumed to be combined with higher temperatures and the resulting higher efficiency power blocks to reach the SunShot goal of 6 cents/kWh. Proposals to this FOA with costs greater than $75/m2 are welcome to submit full proposals to the SolarMat FOA. They will be judged against the merit review criteria, however, which includes the $75/m2 target for the solar field. Justification of higher cost for the solar field due to accessing higher temperature power cycles will not be favorably reviewed against the merit review criteria, though, due to the previously stated fact that this is already accounted for in the $75/m2 target.

Question 7: I would like to check whether concept papers are still being accepted?
Answer 7:

Concept Papers are due on March 22, 2013 at 5:00pm Eastern Standard Time. Please refer to Section IV for complete submission information.

Question 8: Is the submission of a concept paper mandatory?
Answer 8:

Only applicants who have submitted a compliant Concept Paper will be eligible to submit a Full Application. Concept Papers must be submitted via EERE Exchange at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/. A control number will be issued when an Applicant begins the concept paper submission process. This control number must be included with the Full Application documents, as described below. Applicants that fail to submit a concept paper will be deemed not responsive and will not be eligible to submit a full application.

Question 9: Can't log in.. can you send webinar... or how can I see it again?
Answer 9:

The webinar may be located at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/#FoaIdf5fdca25-5fe9-48f8-880d-912476bc2986 by clicking on “SolarMat Webinar Slides” under FOA Documents.

Question 10: Does a subcontractor need to have a DUNS prior to application or in the event of award? Does a subcontract need to complete a subcontractor SF424A in addition to the PMC123.1?
Answer 10: Subcontractors are not required to have DUNS numbers.
Subcontractors are not required to complete the SF424A in addition to the PMC123.1.

Question 11: The technical work plan instructions for the SOPO, state that the work plan for a two year project must be divided into 12 month performance periods. Can I divide my SOPO into 9, 9, and 12 month intervals instead of 12, 12, and 6? If I my project can logically be broken into 3 budget periods that are not necessarily 12 months each, how should I fill out the SF424A and PMC123.1 to correspond with my SOPO and planned milestones?
Answer 11:

It is acceptable to break a project into budget periods that are not 12 months in length if project organization makes more sense to do so.

Please complete the SF424A and PMC123.1 with each budget period in a separate column, regardless of length, so that budget periods can align in all of your documents.

Question 12: We are headquartered and incorporated in the US and will be the PRIME applicant for this FOA. We have a division abroad where we would like to do some of the modeling work and early prototype development. This work will be about 10% of the proposed amount. Is this possible? Is this the situation for the WAIVER?
Answer 12: As per the FOA Section III.A.3 a foreign division of a US based organization may complete work under this FOA as a subrecipient. A waiver is not necessary in this case.

Question 13: Would it be an option to use the program's funding towards research and resources in the EU? The final product will be developed in the United States despite the research being partially performed abroad. If this is not feasible, we will seek a domestic alternative.
Answer 13: Please refer to Section III.A.3 of the FOA for information regarding eligibility of foreign entities.

Question 14: Could you please finish the sentence under section IV. E. 10. that begins, “Letters of Commitment from parties participating in the project, exclusive of vendors, who will not be contributing cost share, but will be integral to the success of the project.”?
Answer 14: The sentence should read, “Letters of Commitment from parties participating in the project, exclusive of vendors, who will not be contributing cost share, but will be integral to the success of the project may be included.”

Question 15: I would like to include letters of support from entities who will not receive or contribute funds but who are stakeholders in the results of the project. They are aware of the project but agree that their involvement should begin after this project. They are not contributing cost share but as they are integral to the project's commercial success, would a Letter of Commitment/Support from them in the Commitments file be appropriate?
Answer 15: It is up to the applicant to determine the appropriateness of specific letters of commitment as only the applicant is aware of the full extent to which stakeholders will provide support. Please review Section V of the FOA which details the compliance and merit review criteria as well as the program policy factors which will be considered during review and selection. If a letter of commitment/support increases an applicant’s responsiveness to these criteria or factors then it would be appropriate to include that letter in an application.

Question 16: Does the FOA specify if the application is subject to EO 12372?
Answer 16: Please refer to Section IV.H of FOA which states, “This program is not subject to Executive Order 12372 – Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.”

Question 17: The primary Location for our work proposed is in a state not listed in the Office of M&B website SPOC list. What would be the appropriate response for #19 in the “Application for Federal Assistance SF-424” be?
Answer 17: As per the answer to question 16 above, you may leave #19 on the SF-424 blank.

Question 18: How long should milestone billing periods be? How is money awarded?
Answer 18: Funding will distributed be via reimbursement for costs incurred upon achievement of each milestone. Milestones may be set at intervals that are appropriate to the scope of work being done. Additionally, the project will be broken up into budget periods between which will be logical go/no-go decision points.

Question 19: Does the DOE intend to grant Protected Data Rights to awardees? Also, does the DOE intend to issue a class patent waiver?
Answer 19: DOE intends to grant 5 year data protection under this FOA. At this time, DOE does not intend to issue a class patent waiver for recipients under this FOA.

Question 20: In the bottom right corner of the summary slide template is the phrase “Population Impact”. What does this refer to?
Answer 20: You may delete the section of the slide labeled “Population Impact”.

Question 21: The Budget Summary states that “Applicants are required to estimate the potential materials and manufacturing costs of the proposed technology.” Could you please clarify how this information is different from the information provided in the Quantitative Impact Analysis so that I can address this appropriately? I’m confused on why eventual materials and manufacturing costs would impact the project budget as opposed to supporting the quantitative impact analysis.
Answer 21: In the Project Budget Summary, please disregard the statement that "Applicants are required to estimate the potential materials and manufacturing costs of the proposed technology." This was included in the FOA by mistake.

Question 22: We would like to submit Letters of Support from several U.S. manufacturers that would be positively impacted by the program. What individual at DOE and to what address should these letters be made out? Do we embed them as part of our Technical or Management proposal or can upload them as a separate PDF document?
Answer 22: As stated in Section IV.E.10 of the FOA, Letters of Commitment should be uploaded to EERE Exchange in in a single file titled “ControlNumber_LeadOrganization_Commitments”. Applicants must have a letter from each third party contributing cost share, however, the Letters of Commitment file may also include parties participating in the project, exclusive of vendors, who will not be contributing cost share, but will be integral to the success of the project. Letters of Support from parties not participating in the project will not be considered during the Merit Review.

Question 23: When can we expect feedback in the form or "encouraged" or "discouraged" on our submitted concept paper?
Answer 23: Encourage and discourage notifications were published via the Exchange website on March 29, 2013. Please log into Exchange to check the status of the review of your concept paper.

Question 24: Budget Information Form SF-424A 1. Section A. FOA DE-FOA-000086 does not require a functional or activity breakdown, correct? 2. Section A, line 1. What is the "catalog program title" we should enter here? 3. Sections D and E. For a proposed 36-month performance period, we fill out Budget period 1 in Section D and Budget periods 2 and 3 in Section Eb and Ec, correct? 4. Are we correct in assuming that the budget year begins with the DOE award rather than with calendar year or DOE fiscal year? Please clarify.
Answer 24:

1. Correct, it is not necessary for you to provide a functional or activity breakdown in Section A.

2. For catalog program title you may enter Solar Program.

3. Yes, that is correct.

4. Yes, that is correct.

Question 25: The solicitation states that the DOE intends to award Cooperative Agreements. Our team was proceeding on the assumption that this cooperative agreement would allow monthly invoicing as we have always had with EERE, and not a milestone payment type of reimbursement. We have frequently communicated estimated costs per milestone or task in proposals but have always been permitted monthly invoicing against these. Will monthly invoicing while making progress toward a milestone not be permitted under this cooperative agreement?
Answer 25: Awards resulting from this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will employ milestone-based reimbursements, not periodic reimbursement of incurred costs. An amendment to the FOA has been posted to EERE Exchange to further explain milestone-based payments. Please see Section II.H of Amendment No. 002 of the FOA.

Question 26: a. Since we submitted our Concept paper further research has revealed that we can reduce risk by requesting a larger cost-share (i.e. higher award amount) from DOE than we indicated. Can we change this request in our Full Application? b. Since we submitted our Concept paper further research has revealed that we can complete the project and improve results by reducing the period of time. Can we change the duration of our project in our Full Application? c. Are we allowed to change the cost share ratio in the Full Application from what we listed in the Concept paper?
Answer 26:

a. Yes, you may modify your budget prior to submitting your full application as long as you still meet the requirements of the FOA.

b. Yes, you may modify the duration of the project prior to submitting your full application as long as you still meet the requirements of the FOA.

c. Yes, you may modify your cost share ratio prior to submitting your full application as long as you still meet the requirements of the FOA.

Question 27: 1) My organization has analytical tools that support materials and failure analysis, and a staff of scientist that support these tools and the material characterization reports. How do we go about counting these capabilities as cost share for our FOA submission? 2) Would it be possible to have a short phone call on more general cost share questions related to FOA-862?
Answer 27: 1) Please refer to the 10 CFR 600, Financial Assistance Rules for informationa regarding valuation and documentation of cost share contributions for your specific type of organization. The 10 CFR 600 can be found at: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title10/10cfr600_main_02.tpl

2) The Solar Manufacturing Technology (SolarMat) FOA is a competitive announcement, and discussions with DOE regarding prospective applications while the announcement is open are prohibited. All questions must be submitted electronically via the SolarMat@go.doe.gov mailbox.

Question 28: DE-FOA-0000862 Section VIII.E. states that the Government may engage non-Federal reviewers in the merit review evaluation and that those reviewers sign conflict of interest and non-disclosure agreements prior to review. Is the conflict of interest self-determined by the reviewer or is there an independent determination of the reviewer's potential for conflict of interest? May we be informed of the identities of any non-Federal reviewers who review our application?
Answer 28:

Conflicts of interest are self-determined by reviewers. DOE does not typically disclose the identities of its non-federal reviewers.

Question 29: Funding Opportunity Announcement # DE-FOA-0000862 currently states, "It is anticipated that reviewer comments will be made available on June 4, 2013. Applicants will have two (2) business days from the time the comments are posted to prepare and submit a Reply to Reviewer Comments. Therefore, it is anticipated the due date for the Reply to Reviewer Comments is June 7, 2013." Does the DOE still expect to adhere to this schedule?
Answer 29: At this time the DOE does expect to adhere to this schedule.

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