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["INSTRUCTIONS"]
[1,"All questions pertaining to this funding opportunity announcement should be emailed to commercialcodesfoa@ee.doe.gov "]
[2,"All questions pertaining to EERE Exchange should be emailed to EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov. Include FOA name and number in subject line."]
[3,"All questions and answers pertaining to this FOA will be posted on EERE Exchange within this spreadsheet."]
[4,"DOE will attempt to respond to a question within 3 business days, unless a similar question and answer has already been posted in this spreadsheet. "]
[5,"All questions should be submitted not later than 3 business days prior to the application due date. Questions submitted after this date will not be answered."]
[6,"Questions are assigned a number in accordance with when they are reviewed by DOE.  "]
[7,"Questions are assigned a topic area by DOE when reviewed."]
[]
["TIPS"]
[1,"Applicants may sort questions and answers in the question tabs of this spreadhseet by selecting the drop-down box arrow on the column headers and selecting any of the listed attributes."]
[2,"Applicants may search for questions and/or keywords by holding CTRL+F on the keyboard and typing in a phrase or keyword."]

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["ADMINISTRATIVE QUESTION AND ANSWER LOG"]
["BTOLMR0001532 Buildings Technology Office Codes"]
["Question #","Date Submitted","Topic","Question","Answer"]
[1,"2016-03-02","Eligibility","Requesting info on what is involved in getting money for these studies.","Please read the full funding opportunity announcement document found on DOE's EERE Exchange website"]
[2,"2016-03-02","Eligibility","Does the “funding Opportunity for Commercial Energy Codes Field Studies” apply to new (in design) industrial buildings?","No.  The current FOA targets commercial buildings, as defined by the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and Standard 90.1.  "]
[3,"2016-03-02","Eligibility","May this apply to smart grid project developments? ","No.  The current FOA is limited to the purpose and activities identified in the announcement, which is focused on data gathering, and does not include any construction activities.  "]
[4,"2016-03-03","Eligibility","For Topic Area 2, Low-Rise Multifamily, will the study be limited to new construction, as the residential energy code field study was? Or, can the project team include existing multifamily buildings in their study?","Similar to the residential field study, it is anticipated that the study will be limited to new construction.  "]
[5,"2016-03-03","Technical Topics","Should the applicants only consider buildings from the climate zones listed in this Table (on page 8).  For example, does DOE want to do any study for buildings in zone 3A within this FOA?  Or is this table just an example for the budget purpose?","Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.  "]
[6,"2016-03-03","Technical Topics","Is the number of buildings (e.g., 40 for office) required? Or this number is just a place holder? ","These estimates are provided for planning purposes.  Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.   "]
[7,"2016-03-05","Technical Topics","Page 8: the table is a sample plan, rather than required climate zones and minimum number of buildings in each zone, correct? So the proposer can choose to propose buildings in climate zones not listed in the table, and building types not listed in the table?","These estimates are provided for planning purposes.  Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.   "]
[8,"2016-03-05","Application Content/Format","Page 8: what the total number of buildings (or range of number of buildings) DOE is looking for from each proposal? Is there a minimum total number of buildings each proposal has to meet?","Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.  "]
[9,"2016-03-05","Application Content/Format","Page 8:  does the proposal have to cover buildings from at least two states, or one state that cover 2 climate zones qualify?","Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.  Applicants may propose to cover multiple climate zones within a single state, or may propose different states. "]
[10,"2016-03-06","Eligibility","Do I understand correctly that a city or state in Climate Zone 4-C (Pacific Northwest) would not be eligible to participate in this study?","Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.  Climate zone 4C is excluded from the target sample under the current funding opportunity.      "]
[11,"2016-03-07","Technical Topics","WILL THE SELECTED GROUP FOR THIS FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT, DEVELOP THE MEANS OF ENERGY SAVINGS AND THEN IMPLEMENT IN THE FIELD, OR IS THE EMPHASIS ON ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTING A PREDETERMINED METHODOLOGY FOR FIELD USE?  ","The methodology for Topic Area 1 will be developed in cooperation with DOE and PNNL during the early stages o the project.  The final methodology will then be implemented through a field study, targeting an agreed upon sample of buildings.  "]
[12,"2016-03-07","Application Content/Format","FOR HOW LONG OF PERIOD OF TIME IS THIS STUDY EXPECTED TO TAKE PLACE?","EERE anticipates making awards of up to 36 months in length.  Please see page 15, Section II, A, ii."]
[13,"2016-03-07","Data Management","WHAT COMPLETED, WHAT INFORMATION, AND IN WHAT FORM IS THAT INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED BACK TO DOE?","The methodology for Topic Area 1 will be developed in cooperation with DOE and PNNL during the early stages o the project.  The final methodology will then be implemented through a field study, targeting an agreed upon sample of buildings.  Reported data, and the format of such data, will be determined as part of the project based on the final methodology.  "]
[14,"2016-03-07","Application Content/Format","Can applicants submit individual states for single climate zones?  For example, can an applicant submit only a Climate Zone 5A study?","Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.  Applicants may elect to propose activities in only a single state or a portion of the identified climates.    "]
[15,"2016-03-07","Eligibility","Are the Climate Zones noted on the table on Page 8 fixed?  Are other Climate Zones of interest?","Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.  The specified climate zones (in the table) are of primary interest under the current opportunity announcement.  "]
[16,"2016-03-07","Technical Topics","Are the Climate Zones noted on the table on Page 8 to be applied to Topic Areas 2 and 3?","The table on page 8 of the opportunity announcement applies only to field studies proposed under Topic Area 1.  Proposals for Topic Areas 2 & 3 are not limited to these climate locations and building types, and will be considered on a competitive basis.  "]
[17,"2016-03-07","Eligibility","Are the population limits given for Topic Area 3 – cities between 50,000 and 250,000 – hard limits or general guidelines?  Would a city between, say, 250,000 and 300,000 be acceptable?","These population categories are provided as guidance, and do not necessarily imply hard limitations.  However, effort will be made to ensure comparability across selected projects based on this initial guidance.  "]
[18,"2016-03-07","Application Content/Format","For Topic Area 1, is it the intent of the FOA to have a single applicant survey buildings in all the climate zones listed (2A, 3B or 4B, and 5A) or may a single applicant apply to survey buildings in only one or two of those climate zones?","Applicants should plan their activities (e.g., budgeting) based on the guidance and table embedded under the 'Services Desired' heading of the Opportunity Announcement.  Final climate locations and coverage will be further negotiated and  confirmed through the selection process.  Applicants may elect to propose activities in only a single state or a portion of the identified climates.    "]
[19,"2016-03-07","Technical Topics","Please clarify for topic area 1 Commercial Field Study whether DOE/PNNL will provide the DOE approach adapted to building types to be included in this study or if the contractor will need to do that. On pg. 7, it says “The Applicant will work with DOE and PNNL to implement the DOE approach,” and “The bulk of the Applicant work will be field data collection.” On page 5, the text says “The first and largest topic area for this FOA is to develop and test a methodology…” It is not clear if the latter language refers to the overall effort (i.e., DOE and PNNL along with the applicant) or if the applicant is expected to develop as well as test the methodology.","The methodology for Topic Area 1 will be developed in cooperation with DOE and PNNL during the early stages o the project.  The final methodology will then be implemented through a field study, targeting an agreed upon sample of buildings.  Under all topic areas, applicants should anticipate working with DOE during the early stages of the project to finalize and agreed upon protocol.  "]
[20,"2016-03-08","Technical Topics","Can you better define geographically contiguous and include quantitative requirements?  For example, consider two cities in the Midwest, Fargo, ND and Cincinnati, OH.  They are over 900 miles apart and are three climate zones apart (7 and 4), but would not meet DOE's stated criteria for geographically non-contiguous since they both are Midwest.  Yet Cincinnati and Athens, GA (which would meet the given requirements for geographically non-contiguous – one being Midwest and one being Southeast) are only one climate zone apart (4 and 3), and are less than 500 miles apart.  The intent of the geographically non-contiguous requirement is not clear from the terms given in the FOA.","Applicants may propose any combination of local government partners they wish, and should provide justification for their selection as part of the proposal (based on the merits of each and relative to the referenced description provided in the opportunity announcement).  "]
[21,"2016-03-08","Application Content/Format","Are fees or profit allowed under this FOA?","Fees and profit are allowed only for vendors working on the project.  These vendors would be listed in the contractual section of the budget.  The prime and subwardee(s) or subrecipient(s) may not collect fees or incur any profit, but if any profit (program income) is incurred then this must be contributed back to the project as cost share."]
[22,"2016-03-09","Application Content/Format","Topic Area 3 specifies (p. 13) “geographically diverse” local governments.  Is Climate Zone diversity also a consideration here?","Yes, climate zone diversity is desirable."]
[23,"2016-03-09","Funding","Is any clarification available as to the level of funding that might be expected for Topic Area 3 that might help tailor the work scope?","Awards for each topic area are estimated to vary between $400,000 - $2,800,000.  Please see page 15, Section II. A. i. of the FOA document for more information."]
[24,"2016-03-09","Cost Sharing","Would it be permissible to count the use of data collected or developed under commercial contracts as allowable in-kind contributions as it relates to cost-sharing?","The value of data is subjective so it cannot be used as a cost-share. Please see page 21, Section III. B. iii. of the FOA document for more information."]
[25,"2016-03-10","Application Content/Format","Would a proposal that focuses on performance path be considered nonresponsive even if it otherwise adequately addresses key categories including data collection, other analysis and research, education and training, and strategic planning and collaboration?","A proposal focused on the performance path would be considered nonresponsive as the intent of the research is to identify areas of non-compliance which can be improved. Requirements under the performance path vary and thus the results could not be generalized."]
[26,"2016-03-11","Application Content/Format","Is there a limit on how many data sets, or key item observations, can be obtained from a single development?  It would seem that some data, can be consistent within a single development, while other data can be more varied.  Is there guidance on which key items would still be representative even if collected from a single development?","For Topic 2, the number of observations from particular developments will not be known in advance. All data collection will be based on a random sample from all appropriate multifamily buildings in a state. This is the same approach that was used in the DOE Residential Field Study which is referred to in the FOA."]
[27,"2016-03-11","Application Content/Format","I'm attempting to access the report (referred to as \"the DOE Approach\") found on page 7 and receive a message saying “url not found” is there an alternate way to access the report?  ","Yes.  Please copy and paste this link in your browser: http://www.pnnl.gov/publications/       Then in the \"Formal Report Number\" field enter in the last 5 digits of the link found in the FOA document.   For the DOE Approach report, please enter 24979 in the Formal Report Number field and click \"search\"."]
[28,"2016-03-11","Application Content/Format","For Topic Area 3, could a local organization be comprised of many local governments across a contiguous region who have entered into a common energy policy?","Yes, however DOE would ultimately work with only a few of those governments. Funding for this project is insufficient to be spread across a large number of cities."]
[29,"2016-03-14","Application Content/Format","To conserve space in the Technical Volume 9 pages limit for Topic Area 3, is it acceptable to combine the Cover Page and Table of Contents on one single page?","Yes. "]
[30,"2016-03-18","Data Management","Is the data collected as part of this studied required to be identified (assigned to a specific address or building owner) or can it remain anonymous?","The data sent to DOE and PNNL by the contractor will contain no personally identifying information. Published information will never contain personally identifying information."]
[31,"2016-03-18","Eligibility","Is there a specific age range or building size that you are looking to include in this survey? Are there specific building sizes (1m sqft and larger, for example) that are too large to be included?","Building should have been permitted under the current state energy code. Extremely large builidings would not be of interest unless they were similar to smaller buildings in terms of construction and system types. The goal of the project is to be able to apply the results and methodology more broadly so unique buildings would not be helpful."]
[32,"2016-03-18","Application Content/Format","Is there a specific checklist/scope that you can provide of the data that you would like to collect?","The best source of scoping is the report described in the FOA available at http://www.pnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-24979.pdf"]
[33,"2016-03-18","Application Content/Format","The opportunity mentions that some analysis may be required as part of the scope, can you elaborate as to what type of analysis you are looking for?","The possible analyses will be determined by the data that is collected so cannot be specified here. You can assume that these can be conducted using standard statistical techniques used with building characteristics data."]
[34,"2016-03-22","Eligibility","Can you confirm the only eligible climate zones are those listed in the opportunity announcement? Being 2A, 3B (alternate 4B), and 5A? ","Confirmed."]
[35,"2016-03-22","Eligibility","In respect to Topic Area 3, would the awarded firm ever be restricted from providing future energy efficiency work (audits, analysis, performance contracts) with the pilot program municipality candidates","No."]
[36,"2016-03-23","Data Management","In a given ASHRAE Climatic zone, Is the intent of this project to study buildings that are scattered uniformally over the climatic zone so that the field data can be normalized?","No. While some variation in location would be beneficial we do not expect a uniform distribution across climate zones."]
[37,"2016-03-23","Eligibility","Does DOE have a preference of the minimize gross area/ size of buildings should be studied?  Would this include LEED certified / silver/gold/platinum buildings?","There is no official minimum but we would like the buildings to represent the typical range of sizes seen in each climate zone for each building type. All buildings permitted under the current state code would be considered but we would not want a sample biased towards high-performing buildings."]
[38,"2016-03-23","Webinar","Have other announcements have been made related to this solicitation? ","No."]
[39,"2016-03-23","Eligibility","Will existing buildings qualify for the field study? ","Buildings must have been permitted under the current state energy code."]
[40,"2016-03-25","Data Management","Is the intent to have the data collected on a building or an observed measure basis?  In other words, if 50 observations are required for 120 retail buildings, is the intent to have all 6,000 measure level observations (50 x 120) collected from only 120 buildings, or will the 6,000 measure level observations be collected from as many retail buildings as required until the 6,000 observation requirement is met? If data is collected on an observed measure basis, is there a limit on the number of site visits that can be conducted at a given building?","Data will be collected on a building basis. For budgeting purposes in the application, there is no set number of observations that need to be obtained. Assume that each building will be visited one time."]
[41,"2016-04-05","Application Content/Format","When  completing the information about congressional districts for the program/project  do you want the district for the organizations or for the location of field work?","Block 16. of the SF 424 provides a field for the Applicant's Congressional District and a field for the Program/Project Site Congressional District. "]
[42,"2016-04-06","Data Management","Does the response for FAQ #40 also apply to Topic Area Two (Low-Rise Multifamily)? It seems that it may not be possible to achieve enough data sets/observations by only allowing one visit per building in relation to multifamily buildings.","For purposes of the application, assume one visit per building and that sufficient buildings will be available to achieve the designated number of observations."]

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["Pick List"]
[]
["Registration Requirements"]
["Webinar"]
["Eligibility"]
["Labs/FFRDCs"]
["Funding"]
["Foreign Entities/Work"]
["Cost Sharing"]
["Due Dates"]
["Application Content/Format"]
["Intellectual Property"]
["Data Management"]
["Non-FOA Related"]
["U.S. Manufacturing Plan"]
["Application Reviews"]
["Technical Topics"]