Frequently Asked Questions

It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project adequately addresses the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.  DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the application review process.  Applicants may propose novel methods that are not specifically listed in the FOA to achieve the specific goals of the FOA.

Please refer to Section III.A., Eligible Applicants, in the FOA.  It is referenced here for your convenience:

An eligible applicant is: 1) a legal entity established pursuant to United States Federal or State laws, with operations in the United States or its Territories or 2) a foreign legal entity having a place of business in the United States or its Territories.  An eligible entity must be able to demonstrate that its use of DOE funds will be in the economic interests of the United States, including, for example: creation of domestic manufacturing capability; use of American products, materials or labor; payment of United States taxes; or United States technological advancements.  

Eligible applicants include but are not limited to: (1) institutions of higher education; (2) National Laboratories; (3) nonprofit and for-profit private entities; (4) State and local governments; (5) consortia of entities (1) through (4). If applying as a consortium, one member of the consortium that is an established legal entity must be designated as the lead applicant.

Nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995 are not eligible to apply or to be a sub-recipient to an eligible applicant.

It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project adequately addresses the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.  DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the application review process.  Applicants may propose novel methods that are not specifically listed in the FOA to achieve the specific goals of the FOA. 

Please refer to Section III.A, Eligible Applicants, in the FOA.  It is referenced here for your convenience:

An eligible applicant is: 1) a legal entity established pursuant to United States Federal or State laws, with operations in the United States or its Territories or 2) a foreign legal entity having a place of business in the United States or its Territories.  An eligible entity must be able to demonstrate that its use of DOE funds will be in the economic interests of the United States, including, for example: creation of domestic manufacturing capability; use of American products, materials or labor; payment of United States taxes; or United States technological advancements.  

Eligible applicants include but are not limited to: (1) institutions of higher education; (2) National Laboratories; (3) nonprofit and for-profit private entities; (4) State and local governments; (5) consortia of entities (1) through (4). If applying as a consortium, one member of the consortium that is an established legal entity must be designated as the lead applicant.

Entities that do not meet this eligibility criterion are not eligible to apply as the prime applicant.  However, entities not meeting this criterion are allowed as subrecipients to an eligible applicant provided that, in aggregate, not more than 20% of the total estimated DOE funding is provided to entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria.  Furthermore, the Application should clearly explain the necessity of including ineligible entities in the project team to accomplish the project objectives and  how such use of DOE funds will be in the economic interest of the United States.

Nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995 are not eligible to apply or to be a sub-recipient to an eligible applicant.

No, the presentation(s) and publication(s) do not have to include proprietary data. The intent is to publicize the innovative technology being developed with DOE financial support. Any transfer of proprietary data and technology know-how from the developer to a prospective user would be based on negotiations and agreements between them.

No.  DOE will not sign a non-disclosure agreement with a recipient. However, all personnel involved with the review of the Applications (federal employees, government contractors, and outside subject matter experts) are obligated to protect and not disclose proprietary information (see 18 USC 1905) and they sign a Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement with DOE that they will use the information presented in the Applications for review purpose only. Please see the Funding Opportunity Announcement regarding how to mark propriety information in the Application.

There is no Letter of Intent template.  Please refer to Section IV.B for information required in the Letter of Intent.  In eXCHANGE, "concept paper" is the same as the Letter of Intent that is required for this FOA. In order to submit a Letter of Intent in the eXCHANGE system for this FOA, you must click the action button that states "Create Concept Paper" after filling out your Letter of Intent required information.

Please refer to Section II, C "Maximum and Minimum Award Size " of the Funding Opportunity Announcement for funding thresholds.

If a project involves work at TRL 2-3 as well as 4-6, the Applicant should show a breakdown of the proposed activities and budget by TRL into separate project phases (i.e. TRL 2-3 work should have a separate budget from TRL 4-6 work).  For Phase I involving TRL 2-3 activities in the first 2 years of the project, the maximum DOE share is not to exceed $1,000,000.   For Phase II involving TRL 4 activity to be performed in the third year of the project, the maximum DOE share is not to exceed $9,000,000 minus Phase 1 DOE share.  Therefore, the maximum DOE share is not to exceed $9,000,000 for the entire project.  Applicants should propose a budget that is consistent with the proposed activities and duration.

While the goal of this FOA is to improve basic process/materials for use in multiple products, it is acceptable that the process or material to be improved be part of a proprietary design/product, provided the product is used widely to accomplish energy productivity improvement goals.

Please see Sections VIII.F and VIII.G for intellectual property rights specific to your kind of organization.

The FOA seeks to fund specific projects. Your center as an organization or its member companies can submit multiple applications for separate projects

This FOA is not an SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) solicitation.  

It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project adequately addresses the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.  DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the application review process.  Applicants may propose novel methods that are not specifically listed in the FOA to achieve the specific goals of the FOA. 

There is no Letter of Intent template.  Please refer to Section IV.B of the FOA for a list of information required in the Letter of Intent.

When submitting your Letter of Intent, the "Abstract" field in eXCHANGE should contain a brief description of your project as described in Section IV.B #7 of the FOA.

Even if your technology addresses two subtopics equally, you have to choose and designate only one subtopic in the Letter of Intent and in the Application. Please indicate in the Project Summary and at appropriate places in the Project Narrative, the applicability to the second subtopic. After completing the initial compliance review of the Application, DOE will determine whether the Application fits better with the designated subtopic or the other subtopic for merit review and evaluation.

Contact information and program assignments for the Industrial Technologies Program can be found here: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/about/contacts.html

The B&R code will be provided upon selection once selected projects are assigned to particular portfolios. 

If an Application proposes development of a technology that would potentially meet the goals of more than one subtopic, only one Application should be submitted.  Applicants should not submit multiple applications based on the same concept but under different subtopics.

Even if your technology addresses two or more subtopics equally, you have to choose and designate only one subtopic in the Letter of Intent and in the Application. Please indicate in the Project Summary and at appropriate places in the Project Narrative, the applicability to the other subtopic(s). After completing the initial compliance review of the Application, DOE will determine whether the Application fits better with the designated subtopic or the other subtopic for merit review and evaluation. 

The FOA goal for Subtopic 2C is stated on page 8 of the FOA - develop and manufacture materials for energy systems at significantly lower cost (at least 50% reduction in finished product) with improved functional properties. It is up to prospective applicants to interpret and translate this goal in terms of specific functional properties, benefits, cost basis, economic feasibility etc. based on the nature of the product and the intended market. 

Development and manufacture of a lower cost and higher functionality component (to replace an incumbent component), that becomes an integral part of an energy system in an industrial application, will be considered consistent with the above FOA goal.

The primary focus of this FOA is on actual energy savings, regardless of the form of energy.

DOE does not provide feedback on Letters of Intent.  Also, it is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project adequately addresses the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.  DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the application review process.  Applicants may propose novel methods that are not specifically listed in the FOA to achieve the specific goals of the FOA. 

DOE does not plan to publish or post the Letters of Intent or a List of Organizations submitting an Application in response to this FOA. DOE would release a List of successful awardees with a brief description of their project when the selections have been finalized. Although DOE does not plan on publishing or posting the Letters of Intent, Letters of Intent may be releasable to the public through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Upon receipt of a FOIA request that includes the Letters of Intent, the Letters of Intent will be reviewed and a determination will be made, by DOE, on whether any parts of the Letters of Intent fit into an exception to FOIA including 'trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.'  Any part of a Letter of Intent that does not fit into an exception to FOIA shall be released to the requesting party.  Therefore, while parts of the Letters of Intent may be protectable from FOIA, Applicants should be aware that the Letters of Intent may be releasable through FOIA and should plan accordingly.  Applicants are encouraged not to include any proprietary information in the Letters of Intent unless necessary and, if so, the proprietary information should be marked as such.

If an Application proposes development of a technology that would potentially meet the goals of more than one subtopic, only one Application should be submitted.  Applicants should not submit multiple applications based on the same concept but under different subtopics. 

Even if your technology addresses two or more subtopics equally, you have to choose and designate only one subtopic in the Letter of Intent and in the Application. Please indicate in the Project Summary and at appropriate places in the Project Narrative, the applicability to the other subtopic(s). After completing the initial compliance review of the Application, DOE will determine whether the Application fits better with the designated subtopic or the other subtopic for merit review and evaluation. 

This FOA will fund only research and development work (TRL 2 through 6) and not demonstration work (TRL 7 and above).

It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project adequately addresses the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.  DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the application review process.  Applicants may propose novel methods that are not specifically listed in the FOA to achieve the specific goals of the FOA. 

Unfortunately, DE-FOA-0000560, “Innovative Manufacturing Initiative”, is a competitive solicitation and private discussions while the announcement is open are prohibited.  

 Please refer to Section III.A of the FOA for further information on eligible applicants.

This FOA will support only research and development work at TRL 2 through 6. It will not support basic research work (TRL 1) or demonstration work (TRL 7 and above). DOE reserves the right to determine TRL level of any proposed work.

If a proposed project involves work at TRL 2-3 as well as 4-6, the Applicant should show a breakdown of the proposed activities and budget by TRL into two separate project phases (i.e. Phase I,TRL 2-3 work should have a separate budget from Phase II, TRL 4-6 work).   

1)  While energy savings in both manufacturing and end use are important, the main focus of the FOA is on manufacturing.

2)   If a project involves work at TRL 2-3 as well as 4-6, the Applicant should show a breakdown of the proposed activities and budget by TRL into separate project phases (i.e. TRL 2-3 work should have a separate budget from TRL 4-6 work).  If an Applicant is proposing parallel activities, there must be a good justification as to why they should not be in series. For Phase I involving TRL 2-3 activities, the maximum DOE share is not to exceed $1,000,000.   For Phase II involving TRL 4-6 activities, the maximum DOE share is not to exceed $9,000,000 minus Phase 1 DOE share.  Therefore, the maximum DOE share is not to exceed $9,000,000 for the entire project.  DOE reserves the right to determine TRL of any activity.

If a subrecipient performs work estimated to be more than $100,000 or 50% of the total work effort (whichever is less) then that subrecipient is required to submit a budget and budget justification regardless of whether the work is being funded through cost sharing or by DOE.  Additionally, if a subrecipient is providing any cost share (either in the form of cash or an in-kind contribution) then that subrecipient must provide a letter of commitment.

Yes.

1) For submission of Letter of Intent, use the Concept Paper buttons on the EXCHANGE website. Answer the questions on the main page and other tabs, as appropriate. In the Abstract box, provide a brief one paragraph description of the project. Prepare a separate Letter of Intent (LOI) document that provides all the requested information found in Section IV.B of FOA. Upload this LOI to EXCHANGE under the 'Upload and Submit' tab. Be sure to note the Control Number, as it will be required later to submit the Application.

2) Provide name(s) of anticipated team member organizations (not the participating key personnel).

If the consortium members have different, unrelated ideas in innovative manufacturing or materials, they should form different teams and submit separate Applications for each distinct project. However, it is possible that the success of a proposed project is dependent upon development of both a manufacturing process and a material. In that case, only one Application should be submitted for the complete technology. Even if your technology addresses two or more subtopics equally, you have to choose and designate only one subtopic in the Letter of Intent and in the Application. Please indicate in the Project Summary and at appropriate places in the Project Narrative the applicability to the other subtopic(s). After completing the initial compliance review of the Application, DOE will determine whether the Application fits better with the designated subtopic or the other subtopic for merit review and evaluation.

Only one Letter of Intent is required for each Application. 

Recipients and Sub-Recipients that receive funding under this FOA are eligible for a waiver of the cost share requirements for projects at TRL 2 and 3:  institutions of higher education, U.S. National Laboratories, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and non-profit organizations (as defined in 10 CFR 600.3). Please refer to Appendix C and Section III.B of the FOA for cost sharing requirements.

Section IV.C.3 of the FOA provides an explanation of what should be included under "Project Partners" section of the Project Narrative. "Project Partners" may be included under Merit Review Criteria discussion. Cross referencing may be used to avoid unnecessary duplication and save space.

Please refer to the section "What Qualifies For Cost Sharing" in Appendix C of the FOA.

The Applicant should determine the best approach to provide any relevant information in the Project Narrative that would help Selection Official evaluate the Application under "Other Selection Criteria." Cross referencing may be used to save space."

The lead organization that submits the LOI and gets the Control Number has to submit the Application as the lead for the team. Team members may be added or deleted.

Merit Review Criterion 2 in Section V.A.2 is titled "Potential Energy, Economic, Environmental, and Market Benefits for US Manufacturing Industries."  As the title indicates, the focus is on US manufacturing industries. The potential benefits could come in the manufacture of the target product directly or by its use in manufacture of other products, or both, depending upon the particular material/process to be developed."

In-kind costs for the project can be considered as cost sharing, as long as the costs are allowable under the cost principles applicable to the type of entity incurring the costs.  Please see Appendix C in the FOA for the references to the applicable cost principles.  All costs for the project need to be accounted for in the budget.

Yes 

In general, DOE has certain rights to any invention conceived of or actually reduced to practice under an award, referred to as a 'subject invention.'  DOE's rights depend, in part, on whether an applicant is a large business, small business, or a non-profit organization.  The filing of a patent application is only considered a constructive reduction to practice under U.S. patent laws.  Therefore, it is possible that an applicant's invention could be considered a subject invention even when the applicant filed a patent application on the invention prior to the award.

DOE anticipates notifying Applicants selected for award in December 2011 and start making awards in February 2012.

Please refer to the eligible applicant criteria located in Section III.A of the FOA.

Teaming arrangements are encouraged. The PI has to be from the primary Applicant organization.  An Applicant can submit more than one Application under one or more topic(s) of interest provided they are based on distinct concepts.

The project budget included with the Letter of Intent is an estimate only.  There are no budget variance parameters between the Letter of Intent and the final application. 

Please refer to Section IV.H of the FOA.  For further instructions, please refer to the "EERE eXCHANGE User Guide" which can be accessed at the "Manual " section in the left-hand margin at the following link: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/

If cost share is required, you must have a letter from each third party contributing cost share stating that the third party is committed to providing a specific minimum dollar amount of cost share.  All Letters of Commitment must be attached as an Appendix to the Project Narrative File and submitted with all other required application documents.  Please refer to Section III.B and Appendix C for cost share information and Section IV.C.7 for information required in the Letters of Commitment. 

The cost share waiver applies only to the work and budget of the types of organizations eligible for the waiver, and not to the work and budgets of other team member organizations who are not included in the waiver.  See Appendix C and Section III.B for the applicable cost sharing requirements, cost share waiver information and how cost share is calculated.

The FOA has been issued by the Industrial Technologies Program of EERE. ITP will evaluate, select and fund projects that best meet the FOA goals discussed in Section I of the FOA based on the Merit Review Criteria and Program Policy Factors listed under Section V of the FOA and availability of funds.

1) It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project adequately addresses the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.  DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the application review process.  Applicants may propose novel methods that are not specifically listed in the FOA to achieve the specific goals of the FOA.

2) Costs related to equipment will not be prohibited unless the costs are not adequately justified, or if they are unallowable according to the applicable Cost Principles.  For a reference to the applicable Cost Principles for each entity type, please see Appendix C of the FOA.  As stated in Section IV.C.7. of the FOA, the applicant must, as part of its budget justification, " Provide a list of equipment and cost of each item providing a basis of cost such as vendor quotes, catalog prices, prior invoices, etc., and briefly justifying its need as it applies to the project objectives.

No, there is no limit to either the dollar amount or percentage of project funds that may be subcontracted by the primary applicant to a subcontractor that meets the eligibility requirements in Section III.A of the FOA.  Not more than 20% of the total estimated DOE funding can be provided to entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria. 

No, the Innovative Manufacturing Initiative DE-FOA-0000560 was NOT initially published under the heading Fuel Cell Technology Program. Please review the FOA for its scope.

DOE will not be holding a teleconference or Q&A session for this FOA.  Please submit any questions to the mailbox indicated in the FOA.

Please refer to Section IV.B for information required in the Letter of Intent.  In eXCHANGE, "concept paper" is the same as the Letter of Intent that is required for this FOA. In order to submit a Letter of Intent in the eXCHANGE system for this FOA, you must click the action button that states "Create Concept Paper" after filling out your Letter of Intent required information.

Please refer to the Section IV.H for instructions regarding registration procedures.

Prior Modifications in Grants.gov will not reflect the closing date or Letter of Intent date change on the Synopsis page.  However, the modified date change is reflected when accessing the Announcement from the Grants.gov home page via the hyperlink to the Announcement.   Also, the Description section of the Synopsis page (using this same hyperlink) will reflect the modified dates along with the amended FOA which can be located at the eXCHANGE hyperlink: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov

While the eligibility language does not explicitly list Laboratories of Federal agencies other than DOE as eligible entities, DOE's intent is to have the funding opportunity announcement open to all types of entities, including other Federal agency Laboratories. While non-DOE Laboratories are not excluded from eligibility, the Laboratory must establish that it is authorized to carry out the activities under the proposed project and accept funds from another agency. If a non-DOE Laboratory applies as a lead applicant, the Federal agency sponsoring the Laboratory must authorize in writing the use of the Laboratory on the proposed project and this authorization must be submitted with the application.  The following wording is acceptable for this authorization: “Authorization is granted for the _____________ Laboratory to participate in the proposed project.  The work proposed for the laboratory is consistent with or complementary to the missions of the laboratory and will not adversely impact execution of the DOE assigned programs at the laboratory. THIS LABORATORY IS AUTHORIZED TO PERFORM THE WORK PROPOSED IN THE APPLICATION SUBMITTED UNDER DOE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT # DE-FOA-0000560 BY THE FOLLOWING STATUTORY AUTHORITY [insert Statute name, citation, and section]____________.”  DOE reserves the right to contact the applicant to further clarify whether the applicant has the necessary authority.

DOE will fund the Laboratory through an interagency agreement with the agency.

The FOA has a provision for cost share waiver for certain types of organizations for TRL 2-3 activities, but not for TRL 4-6 activities. That is why separate budgets are required. If your organization and your team partners are not eligible for any cost share waiver for any TRL activity, and you are proposing same cost share level (%) for all your TRL 2-5 activities that you plan to complete in one year, then you need not submit separate budget forms for the TRL 2-3 and TRL 4-5 activities.

Under Merit Review Criterion 3 in Section V.A.2 of the FOA, the parenthetic statement in the third bullet indicates what kind of Project Management Plan information the Applicant should submit for evaluation. The FOA does not ask for a separate Project Management Plan document. The Applicants should use their judgment as to whether to provide this as a separate section of Project Narrative or at appropriate places in other sections. Cross referencing may be used to save space. The Project Narrative is limited to 25 pages and the Project Management Plan information has to be included within that limit.

There are no pre-established thresholds related to percentage caps or money expended for capital equipment.  Costs related to equipment will not be prohibited unless the costs are not adequately justified, or if they are unallowable according to the applicable Cost Principles.  For a reference to the applicable Cost Principles for each entity type, please see Appendix C of the FOA. 

While it is not required to be registered in all required systems before the Letter of Intent is submitted, we strongly suggest that all required registration materials be submitted to the respective entities as soon as possible.  Please refer Section IV.H of the FOA:

      Beside the eXCHANGE registration system, which does not have a delay, these registration requirements could take several weeks to       process and are necessary in order for a potential applicant to receive an award under this announcement. Therefore, although not      required in order to submit an Application through the EERE eXCHANGE site, all potential applicants lacking a DUNS number, or not      yet registered with CCR or FedConnect should complete those registrations as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, DE-FOA-0000560, “Innovative Manufacturing Initiative”, is a competitive solicitation and private discussions while the announcement is open are prohibited. 

A complete project should be proposed, with all required tasks, within the budget and time limit specified in FOA. There are no application limitations based on the potential award of other grants. 

1. The Applicant has to be a legally established entity. Refer to Section III.A for Eligibility Information.

2. There can be only one lead Applicant.

3. Refer to Section III.B and Appendix C in the FOA for information about what qualifies as cost share.

4. Even if your technology addresses two subtopics equally, you have to choose and designate only one subtopic in the Letter of Intent and in the Application. Please indicate in the Project Summary and at appropriate places in the Project Narrative, the applicability to the second subtopic. After completing the initial compliance review of the Application, DOE will determine whether the Application fits better with the designated subtopic or the other subtopic for merit review and evaluation.

Please refer to Section II.A of the FOA.

Percent of effort is based upon the budget. 

In-kind costs for the project can be considered as cost sharing, as long as the costs are allowable under the cost principles applicable to the type of entity incurring the costs.  Please see Appendix C in the FOA for the references to the applicable cost principles.  All costs for the project must to be accounted for in the budget.

The maximum DOE share is for the entire project.  Applicants should propose a budget that is consistent with the proposed activities and duration.  All funding is subject to the availability of annual appropriations.

If an Application proposes development of a technology that would potentially meet the goals of more than one subtopic, only one Application should be submitted.  Applicants should not submit multiple applications based on the same concept but under different subtopics.

Even if your technology addresses two or more subtopics equally, you have to choose and designate only one subtopic in the Letter of Intent and in the Application. Please indicate in the Project Summary and at appropriate places in the Project Narrative, the applicability to the other subtopic(s). After completing the initial compliance review of the Application, DOE will determine whether the Application fits better with the designated subtopic or the other subtopic for merit review and evaluation. 

Unfortunately, DE-FOA-0000560, “Innovative Manufacturing Initiative”, is a competitive solicitation and private discussions while the announcement is open are prohibited. 

For submission of Letter of Intent, use the Concept Paper buttons on the EXCHANGE website. Answer the questions on the main page and other tabs, as appropriate. In the Abstract box, provide a brief one paragraph description of the project. Prepare a separate Letter of Intent (LOI) document that provides all the requested information found in Section IV.B of FOA. Upload this LOI to EXCHANGE under the 'Upload and Submit' tab. Be sure to note the Control Number, as it will be required later to submit the Application.

Key Personnel" means individuals who will have significant roles in planning and implementing the proposed Project on the part of the Applicant and Participants, including FFRDCs.

Team Members" are entities collaborating on the project.

Please refer to the Cost Principles applicable to your organization. References to the cost principles are found in Appendix C in the FOA.

A:1

An Applicant can submit more than one Application under one or more topic(s) of interest provided they are based on distinct concepts.  Please refer to Section IV.B and C for further guidance.

A:2

In-kind costs for the project can be considered as cost sharing, as long as the costs are allowable under the cost principles applicable to the type of entity incurring the costs.  Please see Appendix C in the FOA for the references to the applicable cost principles.  All costs for the project need to be accounted for in the budget.

The regulations on the proper method of marking proprietary information in a proposal has recently be revised.  In view of this revision, Applicants may follow the instructions as set forth in the FOA in Section VIII(D) or as set forth in 10 CFR 600.15.  Under 10 CFR 600.15, Applicants may mark the proprietary information using brackets, highlighting, or other identification means (see 10 600.15(b)(ii)(B)) (May 9, 2011).

All applications will be evaluated against all merit review criteria and sub-criteria shown in Section V.A.  All sub-criteria (bullets) under a particular criterion are of equal importance.

If funds originate from a Federal source, these funds are not allowed as cost share.  If proposed, the Applicant would have to prove it has lost its Federal status (e.g. documentation from the State Comptroller).

You will receive an immediate response indicating that your Letter of Intent was received once it has been submitted via Exchange.  Once the Letter of Intent deadline passes, DOE will verify that all information required in Section IV.B is provided in the uploaded Letter of Intent.  If DOE verifies compliance with Section IV.B, you will be able to access the “Full Application” section of Exchange and upload your completed application documents.

While the eligibility language does not explicitly list Federal agencies as eligible entities, DOE's intent is to have the funding opportunity announcement open to all types of entities, including other Federal agencies. While other Federal agencies are not excluded from eligibility, the agency must establish that it is authorized to carry out the activities under the proposed project and accept funds from another agency. If a Federal agency applies as a lead applicant, a cognizant Contracting Officer from the federal entity must submit a signed legal opinion that lists its statutory authority to carry out the proposed project, explains how it would meet the statutory authority under the proposed project, and explains the authority by which the agency can accepts federal funds from another agency (i.e., explain how accepting the award would not be considered supplanting funds). The opinion should include the following acknowledgement, "THIS AGENCY IS AUTHORIZED TO PERFORM THE WORK PROPOSED IN THE APPLICATION SUBMITTED UNDER DOE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT # DE-FOA-0000560 BY THE FOLLOWING STATUTORY AUTHORITY [insert Statute name, citation, and section]____________.” DOE reserves the right to contact the applicant to further clarify whether the applicant has the necessary authority.

If the federal agency applies as the prime or as a sub-recipient, DOE will fund the federal agency through an interagency agreement with the agency.

You will receive an immediate response indicating that your Letter of Intent was received once it has been submitted via Exchange.  Once the Letter of Intent deadline passes, DOE will verify that all information required in Section IV.B is provided in the uploaded Letter of Intent.  If DOE verifies compliance with Section IV.B, you will be able to access the “Full Application” section of Exchange and upload your completed application documents.

The goal of this FOA is to support research and development of innovative manufacturing processes and materials (TRL 2-6) but not their commercial demonstration and deployment (TRL 7 and above). The minimum 20% cost share determination is based on this.  The usage of terms “pilot” plant or “prototype” plant to designate a smaller size “model” of a commercial plant is organization dependent.  For the purpose of this FOA, verification of use and /or optimization of an innovative material or manufacturing process, under a relevant environment (one machine in a manufacturing plant, a slip stream in a chemical plant, an independent small plant integrating various systems of the new technology, etc. ) would be considered a TRL 6 activity. In contrast, TRL 7 activity will include operation of an integrated system of a sufficient size to minimize scale up risk, to generate early manufacturing data for the commercial plant, to demonstrate system reliability, to produce prototype products for market acceptance, etc.  A significant amount of automation is expected at the completion of TRL 7 if the cost model for full scale ramp requires it.  Round the clock production (at least for a relevant duration) is expected to discover any unexpected issues that might occur during scale up and ramp. Supporting information includes results from the full-scale testing and analysis of the differences between the test environment, and analysis of what the experimental results mean for the eventual operating system/environment. Final design is virtually complete.   The goal of TRL 7 is to retire engineering and manufacturing risk.  To credibly achieve this goal and exit TRL 7, scale is required as many significant engineering and manufacturing issues can surface during the transition between TRL 6 and 7.

Federal Financial Assistance provided by this Funding Opportunity Announcement will issued in the form of an Assistance Agreement, not a Contract (see section II.A of the FOA). Reimbursement of actual costs will only include those costs that are allowable and allocable to the project as determined in accordance with the applicable cost principles prescribed in 10 CFR 600.127, 10 CFR 600.222 or 10 CFR 600.317. In specific regards to Fee or Profit, no increment above actual costs may be paid to a recipient or subrecipient under a DOE Financial Assistance award or subaward.

As noted in the FOA, any awards funded pursuant to the FOA are subject to annual appropriations.  Currently, we are unaware of our final budget based under Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 funds, as Congress must still finalize the budget for DOE and the Industrial Technologies Program (ITP).

The main purpose for extending the due date for submission of Letter of Intent (LOI) is to give the prospective Applicants ample time to firm up their teaming arrangements and budget plans. However, the LOI information is for planning purpose only. Even after submission of LOI, an applicant may make changes, to its teaming arrangement, work distribution, and budget if it becomes necessary.

The FOA clearly states that only TRL 2-6 activities will be funded. Thus, TRL 6 activities are eligible but TRL 7 activities are not. Please see FAQs for clarification on TRL 6 and 7 activities. Only the activities proposed in the Application will be approved for funding if an Application is selected for award. Please refer to Section IV.G for information regarding Pre-Award costs.

 1. There is no limit on the number of partners and/or contractors. 

 2. Also, there is no limit to either the dollar amount or percentage of project funds that may be subcontracted by the primary applicant to a subcontractor that meets the eligibility requirements in Section III.A of the FOA.  Not more than 20% of the total estimated DOE funding can be provided to entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria. 

3. In-kind costs for the project can be considered as cost sharing, as long as the costs are allowable under the cost principles applicable to the type of entity incurring the costs.  Please see Appendix C in the FOA for the references to the applicable cost principles.  All costs for the project need to be accounted for in the budget.

By accepting Federal funds under this award, the Prime Recipient/Consortium Lead agrees to be responsible for any subrecipient/Consortium Member cost share requirements if the subrecipient/Consortium Member does not meet its cost share requirements.

(1) It is highly recommended that each applicant consult independent legal counsel to determine the best means to protect its interest in any intellectual property, including the filing of any patent application.  From DOE's perspective only, the filing of a patent application on a particular invention prior to an award will not impact whether DOE has rights to it.  The government will have certain statutory rights in any subject invention which is any invention that is conceived of or first actually reduced to practice under a DOE award regardless if a patent application was filed on the invention prior to the award. 

 Again, an applicant should consult its legal counsel to figure out how to best protect its interest in any intellectual property it intends to use in connection with an award.  For more information regarding intellectual property rights and DOE awards, please see Section VIII(F) of the FOA 'Intellectual Property Developed under this Program.'

(2) DOE typically does not ask for proprietary data that was generated outside of the award at private expense.  If delivery of such proprietary data is necessary, DOE will provide the necessary marking or notice requirements and DOE would protect the proprietary data from public disclosure.  All data first generated under the award are not considered proprietary data and DOE has unlimited rights to it.  However, for this FOA, DOE through the special protected data statute has agreed to protect certain data first generated under the award from public disclosure for 5 years from the date the data were generated.  Please see Section VIII(F) of the FOA 'Intellectual Property Developed under this Program" for more information.

You will receive an immediate response indicating that your Letter of Intent was received once it has been submitted via Exchange.  Once the Letter of Intent deadline passes, DOE will verify that all information required in Section IV.B is provided in the uploaded Letter of Intent.  If DOE verifies compliance with Section IV.B, you will be able to access the “Full Application” section of Exchange and upload your completed application documents.

Refer to Section IV.B for information required to be contained in the Letter of Intent.

Letters of Intent should be uploaded in Adobe PDF format.

There is no "Product Description" required field.

Please refer to Section IV.G for information regarding pre-award costs.

Please refer to Section II.E for information regarding the period of performance and an explanation of budget periods.  If the application is selected for an award, length of budget periods will be discussed in the negotiation stage.    

The costs of proposed individual components that will be purchased to build the prototype system should be grouped under Equipment or Supplies following the guideline provided in Appendix D of the FOA. If the purchased cost of a "component" is more than $5,000 and its expected useful life is more than one year, it is considered an Equipment.

Costs related to equipment will not be prohibited unless the costs are not adequately justified, or if they are unallowable according to the applicable Cost Principles.  For a reference to the applicable Cost Principles for each entity type, please see Appendix C of the FOA.  As stated in Section IV.C.7. of the FOA, the applicant must, as part of its budget justification, "Provide a list of equipment and cost of each item providing a basis of cost such as vendor quotes, catalog prices, prior invoices, etc., and briefly justifying its need as it applies to the project objectives."

Applicants may include Indirect costs in their proposed budget. However, indirect costs must be allowable in accordance with the applicable Federal cost principles referenced in 10 CFR Part 600.  The cost principles for commercial organizations are in FAR Part 31.   

There is no limit on the number of submissions from a single organization.  However, applicants should not submit multiple applications based on the same concept but under different subtopics. 

Please refer to Appendix C, Cost Share Information, Cost Share Waiver:

“In the event that a selected project includes subrecipients that are not the same type of entity as the prime recipient, then the applicability of the cost share waiver is dependent upon the entity type of each subrecipient.  

 Recipients and subrecipients not eligible for the cost share waiver as defined above must provide at least 20% of that Recipient or subrecipient’s allowable project costs (i.e. the sum of the DOE share and the Recipient or subrecipient’s share of allowable costs equals the allowable project cost) which must come from non-Federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law.”

Technology Readiness Levels are used by many organizations. While they generally use same 9 levels (TRL 1 - 9) to identify progress from basic research stage to fully commercialized status, the detailed definition of each TRL may vary based on the industry, process and/or product. The cited link to BNL uses examples based on PV cells. Since the Industrial Technology Program covers a wide range of processes, products and technologies, it has adopted the broad, high-level TRL definitions used by EERE, but not detailed definitions or examples used by other programs. The IMI FOA is very broad in scope, addressing both materials and manufacturing processes, but it will support only applied research and development activities through a meaningful integrated system stage (TRL 2-6). The FOA will not support basic research (TRL 1) and will not support commercial demonstration plants aimed at retiring engineering and market risks (TRL 7). Please refer to previous FAQs under this FOA for further discussion on difference between TRL 6 and TRL 7.

It is suggested that the Applications include all planned activities at all acceptable TRLs for the total duration of the project and present the total estimated budget. Decision points, critical review criteria, or go/no-go criteria that show how the project will progress from one level to the next should be quantifiable to the largest extent possible and discussed in the Project Narrative.

If a subrecipient performs work estimated to be more than $100,000 or 50% of the total work effort (whichever is less) then that subrecipient is required to submit a budget and budget justification regardless of whether the work is being funded through cost sharing or by DOE.  Additionally, if a subrecipient is providing any cost share (either in the form of cash or an in-kind contribution) then that subrecipient must provide a letter of commitment.  In-kind support must be valued (see Appendix C – Cost Share Information, What Qualifies For Cost Sharing) from an FFRDC and applied to the applicable cost share requirements regardless if money is or is not transferred from DOE (or the lead organization) to the FFRDC.

Pre-applications are not being accepted for this FOA.  It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project adequately addresses the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.  DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the application review process.

Please refer to Section III.A, Eligible Applicants, in the FOA.  It is referenced here for your convenience:

 An eligible applicant is: 1) a legal entity established pursuant to United States Federal or State laws, with operations in the United States or its Territories or 2) a foreign legal entity having a place of business in the United States or its Territories.  An eligible entity must be able to demonstrate that its use of DOE funds will be in the economic interests of the United States, including, for example: creation of domestic manufacturing capability; use of American products, materials or labor; payment of United States taxes; or United States technological advancements.  

Only the following Recipients and Sub-Recipients that receive funding under this FOA are eligible for a waiver of the cost share requirements for projects at TRL 2 and 3:  institutions of higher education, U.S. National Laboratories, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and non-profit organizations (as defined in 10 CFR 600.3).  Note that the waiver applies only to the work and budget of these four types of organizations, and not to the work and budgets of other team member organizations who are not included in the waiver. Please also refer to Section III.A of the FOA for information regarding eligibility. 

Letters of Intent will be used by DOE to plan for the merit review process. The Letters do not commit an applicant to submit an application.  However, applicants must submit a Letter of Intent by the Due Date to be eligible to submit a Full Application. 

As stated in section III.A of the FOA, non-profit or for-profit entities authorized to act on behalf of a consortia of state and/or local governments, are eligible to apply as the lead applicant.

For the full application, it is permissible to change the budget, partners and points of contact from what was originally proposed in the letter of intent.  The final proposal participants must still meet the eligibility requirements set forth in section III.A of the FOA, but do not need to match the letter of intent exactly.

 While the eligibility language does not explicitly list Federal agencies as eligible entities, DOE's intent is to have the funding opportunity announcement open to all types of entities, including other Federal agencies. While other Federal agencies are not excluded from eligibility, the agency must establish that it is authorized to carry out the activities under the proposed project and accept funds from another agency. If a Federal agency applies as a lead applicant, a cognizant Contracting Officer from the federal entity must submit a signed legal opinion that lists its statutory authority to carry out the proposed project, explains how it would meet the statutory authority under the proposed project, and explains the authority by which the agency can accepts federal funds from another agency (i.e., explain how accepting the award would not be considered supplanting funds). The opinion should include the following acknowledgement, "THIS AGENCY IS AUTHORIZED TO PERFORM THE WORK PROPOSED IN THE APPLICATION SUBMITTED UNDER DOE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT # DE-FOA-0000560 BY THE FOLLOWING STATUTORY AUTHORITY [insert Statute name, citation, and section]____________.” DOE reserves the right to contact the applicant to further clarify whether the applicant has the necessary authority.

1)  Please refer to 10 CFR Part 600.122, 10 CFR Part 600.221, 10 CFR Part 600.312 and Sections II.B and II.E of the FOA.  All funding is subject to the availability of annual appropriations.

2)  Please refer to 10 CFR Part 600.134. or 10 CFR part 600.232, or 10 CFR Part 600.321 depending on your particular entity classification.

In aggregate, not more than 20% of the total estimated DOE funding may be provided to entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria in Section III.A of the FOA. This limit applies to all entities that do not meet the eligibility criteria.

Yes.

This FOA requires 20% or higher cost share for all projects.  Certain Recipients and Sub-Recipients that receive funding under this FOA are eligible for a waiver of the cost share requirements for projects at TRL 2 and 3 only.  Please see Section III.B.2 for more information regarding the cost share waiver.

.

This FOA will only fund projects at levels TRL 2 through TRL 6.  Please refer to Section I of the FOA for additional information.

You will be able to access the “Full Application” section of Exchange once the Letter of Intent deadline of 9/1/2011 has passed.  This does not prevent you from working on the required application documents, as listed in Section IV.C of the FOA.  Once the Letter of Intent deadline passes, you will be able to upload your completed application documents to Exchange if you have submitted a Letter of Intent.

Yes 

Please see Appendix C in the FOA for cost share information and requirements. 

Please keep current on FOA Amendments and FAQs. The due dates for submission of LOI and Application have been revised. DOE does not provide feedback on Letters of Intent. Once the Letter of Intent deadline passes, DOE will verify that all information required in Section IV.B is provided in the uploaded Letter of Intent.  If DOE verifies compliance with Section IV.B, you will be able to access the “Full Application” section of Exchange and upload your completed application documents. 

Please refer to Appendix C – Cost Share Information in the FOA. 

DOE does not have a preference concerning the type of entity indentified as the lead or prime applicant.  Please refer to Section III.A of the FOA for additional information regarding eligible applicants. 

Please see Sections VIII.F and VIII.G in the FOA for intellectual property rights specific to your kind of organization. 

For the purpose of the IMI FOA, in context of its goal to solicit applications from all qualified organizations in the US, and the offering of a cost-share waiver for early stage (TRL 2-3) work only to "not for profit" organizations, NASA Research Center and similar other federal government research centers will be treated as a "national laboratory" and "FFRDC" even if they do not formally have such designation.  Such applicants, either as prime or sub-recipient, will have to submit authorization letters from their Agency, similar to those required for "national laboratory" and "FFRDC" as described in Section III.C of the FOA. 

Please refer to Section III of the FOA for Eligibility requirements and Cost Share Waiver information.

DOE does not have enough information at this time to determine whether a secrecy order would be required for a patent directed to a particular device.  Please see the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)Chapter 100 Secrecy, Access, National Security, and Foreign Filing for more information regarding this topic.  It is recommended that you consult with independent legal counsel to determine the likelihood that a secrecy order would be used for your proposed device.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), DE-FOA-0000560 “Innovative Manufacturing Initiative,” is to solicit Applications for funding cost-shared research and development of innovative manufacturing processes and materials technologies to advance the clean energy economy by increasing industrial and manufacturing energy efficiency, deliver the breakthroughs that the Nation needs to significantly reduce energy and carbon intensity throughout the economy over the coming decades, and revitalize existing manufacturing industries and support the development of new products in emerging industries. 

Unfortunately, DE-FOA-0000560, “Innovative Manufacturing Initiative”, is a competitive solicitation and DOE personnel cannot provide any additional information outside the goals, objectives, and Merit criteria listed in the FOA. 

Application Identifier:  The Control Number received after confirmation that the Letter of Intent was successfully submitted. 

Federal Entity Identifier:  Leave blank

Funding Opportunity Number is:  DE-FOA-0000560 

1. In subtopic 2B, "energy transfer equipment" is any equipment that transfers energy from one form/process/equipment to another form/process/equipment.  A heat exchanger is an example of energy transfer equipment. 

2. Prospective Applicants should use their judgment regarding "life cycle energy consumption" based on what they are proposing to develop or replace. 

There can be only one lead organization per application.  Only one letter of intent should be submitted per application. 

Please see OMB Circular A-133 §___.210 Subrecipient and vendor determinations.  This section can help potential applicants to classify their contracts as vendors or subrecipients. 

As noted in the FOA, any awards funded pursuant to the FOA are subject to annual appropriations.  Currently, we are unaware of our final budget based under Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 funds, as Congress must still finalize the budget for the DOE and the Industrial Technologies Program (ITP). 

Percent of effort is based upon the Lead Organization's proposed budgeted dollars as a percentage of the proposed total budget. 

For the purpose of the IMI FOA, in context of its goal to solicit applications from all qualified organizations in the US, and the offering of a cost-share waiver for early stage (TRL 2-3) work only to "not for profit" organizations, NASA Research Center and similar other federal government research centers will be treated as a "national laboratory" and "FFRDC" even if they do not formally have such designation.  Such applicants, either as prime or sub-recipient, will have to submit authorization letters from their Agency, similar to those required for "national laboratory" and "FFRDC" as described in Section III.C of the FOA. 

Question #1

Please refer to Section II.E of the FOA.  Proposed projects should have a period of performance of up to three (3) years from the date of award.  Please note that this FOA is to support R&D projects and not commercial plant construction projects.

Question 2

Please refer to FAQs, as this question has already been answered.

Question 3

Please refer to Section II.E of the FOA.

Please refer to Section III.A, Eligible Applicants, in the FOA.  It is referenced here for your convenience:

An eligible applicant is: 1) a legal entity established pursuant to United States Federal or State laws, with operations in the United States or its Territories or 2) a foreign legal entity having a place of business in the United States or its Territories. 

Having an industrial partner is not a mandatory requirement, however, applicants are encouraged to review Section V, Application Review Information.

As specified in Section III.B.2 of the FOA, only the budget for work at TRL 2 -3 will be eligible for a cost share waiver.

Instructions for providing a budget justification to support the SF424a can be found in Section IV.C.6 and Appendix D.  It is up to applicants to determine the format to provide this information.  You may use the standard PMC 123.1 Budget Justification, but this form is not mandatory.

DOE cannot predetermine the allowability of particular costs or budget items prior to award selection.  It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project and project costs adequately address the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.

A total of approximately $120 million in DOE funding is expected to be available for all the awards made from this FOA.  Approximately $25 million is expected to be available to start the projects in FY 2012, with additional funding expected to be available later in FY 2012, FY 2013 and FY 2014.  All funding is subject to the availability of annual appropriations.

This FOA requires 20% or higher cost share for all projects.  Cost share is based on the total allowable costs for the project. (i.e., the sum of the Government share, including FFRDC contractor costs if applicable, and the recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project) and must come from non-Federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law.  In accordance with the Cost Share Waiver granted by the Acting Assistant Secretary for EERE for this FOA, the following Recipients and Sub-Recipients that receive funding under this FOA are eligible for a waiver of the cost share requirements for projects at TRL 2 and 3:  institutions of higher education, U.S. National Laboratories, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and non-profit organizations (as defined in 10 CFR 600.3).

Please refer to Appendix C and Section III.B of the FOA for more information on cost sharing. 

1.  As specified in Section III.B.2 of the FOA, only the budget for work at TRL 2 -3 will be eligible for a cost share waiver.

2.  DOE cannot predetermine the allowability of particular costs or cost share items prior to award selection.  Refer to Section III.B and Appendix C in the FOA for information about what qualifies as cost share. 

Applicants must register through the EERE eXCHANGE system before submitting an Application.  Please refer to the "REGISTRATION AND APPLICATION SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS" in the FOA.  A “User Guide” for the EERE eXCHANGE can be found on the EERE website https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx after logging in to the system.

Section IV.C provides information regarding submission of the actual application.  Applicants should not submit the SF-424 with the letter of intent.  Please refer to Section IV.B for information required in the Letter of Intent.

Development of a technology for utilization in two market applications would be considered one concept and so only one Application can be submitted. However, activities for both market applications and corresponding project team members can be combined into one Application, provided the proposed duration and budget are still within FOA limits. Development of two alternative technologies to serve the same goal and market application would be considered two different concepts, and two separate Applications would be allowed.

Anticipated team members" refer to subrecipients/partners that will perform part of the work.

Unless prohibited by state law or any other restrictions tied to the funding, state funds are permitted as cost share.  However, if these funds originated from a Federal source, then the funds are not allowed as cost share unless the Applicant could prove it has lost its Federal status (e.g. documentation from the State Comptroller).

Costs related to equipment will not be prohibited unless the costs are not adequately justified or if they are unallowable according to the applicable Cost Principles.  For a reference to the applicable Cost Principles for each entity type, please see Appendix C of the FOA.  For more information regarding cost share, please refer to Section III.B and Appendix C. 

Cost sharing from "national laboratories" is permitted if the funds originate from a non-federal source or if otherwise allowed by law. 

This FOA seeks Applications to select and fund research and development (R&D) projects at TRL 2-6.  This FOA requires 20% or higher cost share for all projects based on their nature of work (research and development).  Please refer to Section III.B for more information regarding cost share requirements.

A complete project and budget should be proposed, with all required tasks, within the budget and time limit specified in FOA.

"All technical and management aspects of the proposal (Application) should to be presented within the various sections of the Project Narrative and within the prescribed page limit."  Refer to Sections IV and V for more information.

 Currently, there are no plans to extend the letter of intent or application due dates.

You must provide a separate budget (SF 424A) for each year of support requested and a cumulative budget for the total project period.  Please refer to Section IV.C.5 in the FOA and the Instructions for the SF-424A on the document.

Budget dollars do not have to be spread evenly among budget periods but should be commensurate with the activities for that budget period.

Using the Concept Paper buttons on the EXCHANGE website, answer all questions on the main page and other tabs.  In the FAQ, Number 2 quoted in your question was referring to the Letter of Intent that is uploaded to EXCHANGE under the 'Upload and Submit' tab.  This document should contain all of the information required by Section IV.B of the FOA.

 Even after submission of LOI, an applicant may make changes, to its teaming arrangement, work distribution, and budget if it becomes necessary.

Unfortunately, DE-FOA-0000560, “Innovative Manufacturing Initiative”, is a competitive solicitation and private discussions while the announcement is open are prohibited.  DOE will not be providing feedback on Letters of Intent.

List the team members in the letter of intent you anticipate as part of your future application.  Even after submission of LOI, an applicant may make changes, to its teaming arrangement, work distribution, and budget if it becomes necessary.

Please check the box that states that you are eligible for the cost share waiver

The CFDA Number for this FOA is  81.086 in the Industrial Technologies Program within the Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office.  The prime recipient's budget should contain any subrecipient costs. 

The SF-LLL must be provided if applicable. 

For more information on the Industrial Technologies Program, see http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/

This FOA seeks Applications to select and fund research and development (R&D) projects at TRL 2-6.  DOE will not be providing feedback on Letters of Intent.

There is no specified tool to be used for calculation of energy savings because of the variety of technologies covered by the FOA. The prospective Applicants should use a tool that they believe is most appropriate for their project. In all cases, the Merit Review Criteria will apply for both the magnitude and timing of potential energy savings and validity of assumptions to make these projections.

Under this FOA, DOE anticipates awarding Financial Assistance cooperative agreements.  Under a cooperative agreement, Bayh-Dole would apply to a domestic small business firm subcontractor or a non-profit organization subcontractor regardless of the type of entity of the prime contractor.  "Small business firm" and "nonprofit organization" are defined at 35 USC 201.  A "not-for-profit entity" is not the same as a "non-profit organization." 

We are currently evaluating all Letter-of-Intent submissions.  Applicants will be notified once evaluations are complete.

DOE anticipates making awards that will have period of performance of up to about three (3) years from the date of award. 

Yes. Please refer to Section IV.H.2 in the FOA for more information.

Only complete this form if it is applicable to your organization.

Please refer to Section IV.C for required application forms/files.

Please refer to Section IV.C for required application forms/files.

As noted in Field 21, by signing the 424 application, Applicants certify to the statements contained in the list of certifications and assurances.  Please refer to Section IV.C for required application forms/files.

The maximum award amount is $9 million.

This award is not funded by ARRA.

Only Amendment 003 is available.

Reimbursement of actual costs will only include those costs that are reasonable, allowable and allocable to the project as determined in accordance with the applicable cost principles prescribed in 10 CFR 600.127, 10 CFR 600.222 or 10 CFR 600.317. In specific regards to Fee or Profit, no increment above actual costs may be paid to a recipient or subrecipient under a DOE Financial Assistance award or subaward.

Uploading and submitting Letters of Intent are two separate functions.  After uploading the Letter of Intent, you must then click the Submit button.  Applicants must submit a Letter of Intent by the Due Date to be eligible to submit a Full Application.

Please refer to the Instructions for the SF-424A on the document.

The control number provided at the time the letter of intent was submitted is unique to that entity (lead Applicant) and, therefore, any subsequent documents must be submitted by that entity.

Refer to Section III.B and Appendix C in the FOA for information about what qualifies as cost share.

The Project Narrative must include a Merit Review Criteria Discussion.  The Merit Review Criteria for this FOA includes evaluation of both the project objectives and the project management plan. It is up to the Applicants to decide how best to address Merit Review Criteria depending upon the nature of the project.

Indirect rates are unique to each organization.  Applicants may include Indirect costs in their proposed budget. Indirect rates must be supported by an approved Federal Rate Agreement or Rate Proposal, and must be in accordance with the applicable Federal Cost Principles.  Please see Appendix C in the FOA for the references to the applicable cost principles. 

An invitation is necessary to submit additional documents.

Please refer to Amendment 4 of the FOA for modified dates.

Funding is only allowable for those TRL levels noted in the FOA.

This FOA requires 20% or higher cost share for all projects.  Certain Recipients and Sub-Recipients that receive funding under this FOA are eligible for a waiver of the cost share requirements for projects at TRL 2 and 3 only.  The cost share waiver applies only to the work and budget of the types of organizations eligible for the waiver, and not to the work and budgets of other team member organizations who are not included in the waiver. Please refer to Appendix C and Section III.B of the FOA for cost sharing requirements.

It is recommended that the budget be broken down by one-year budget periods.

Although DOE does not plan on publishing or posting the Concept papers, Concept papers may be releasable to the public through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Upon receipt of a FOIA request that includes the Concept paper, the Concept paper will be reviewed and a determination will be made, by DOE, on whether any parts of the concept paper fit into an exception to FOIA including 'trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.'  Any part of a Concept paper that does not fit into an exception to FOIA shall be released to the requesting party.  Therefore, while parts of the Concept paper may be protectable from FOIA, Applicants should be aware that the Concept paper may be releasable through FOIA and should plan accordingly.  Applicants are encouraged not to include any proprietary information in the Concept paper unless necessary and, if so, the proprietary information should be marked as such.

All applicants that submitted a timely Letter of Intent were invited to submit a Concept paper.

Executive compensation benchmarks can be found at the following web address:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/procurement_index_exec_comp/

This link also provides additional information on executive compensation.

Generally, vendors do not provide cost share.  However, if a budget is submitted with vendor cost share, the cost share must be allowable and will be subject to further negotiation with DOE.

 Please refer to Section III.A., Eligible Applicants, in the FOA.

The TRL levels of the proposed project can be changed in the Concept Paper. The TRL levels should be consistent with the scope of proposed project activities. Only proposed projects within TRLs 2 and 6 will be considered responsive to the FOA.

The FOA asks for designation of only one Principal Investigator (PI) and that person must be from the Primary Applicant. Other significant contributors should be designated as key personnel and they can be from the same organization or sub-recipient organizations.

No, an application will not be rejected based on the TRL in the Letter of Intent.  However, please refer to the evaluation criteria for the Concept Paper in Amendment 004 of the FOA.

Following completion of the concept paper phase, applicants will be notified as to whether they are encouraged or discouraged to submit a full application.  DOE anticipates notifying applicants before the end of October 2011.

You must have submitted a Letter of Intent by the deadline to eligible to submit a Concept paper.  After you log in, go to 'My Submissions' and click 'edit' next to your control number.  Edit the tabs as necessary, and upload the Concept Paper in the Upload and Submit tab.

Team members may be added or deleted in the Concept Paper without explanation.

1) No formal action is required to withdraw.

There can be only one lead applicant.  For the Concept Paper, it is permissible to change the budget and team members from what was originally proposed in the letter of intent.

The Budget Justification and the SF-424A are two separate documents.  Please refer to Section IV.C for required application forms/files.

1.       Yes

2.       Yes, but only one concept paper per Control number is allowed.  Applicants should not submit multiple applications based on the same concept but under different subtopics.

3.       Yes

The applicants can edit the abstract they  entered in the Abstract box when submitting the Letter of Intent as they see fit. The Abstract should briefly describe the proposed project as presented in the Concept Paper.

Both terms – technical merit and level of innovation – are standard terms commonly used in the research and development community, and they are intended for the same meaning for the Concept Paper.

Yes, as long as the Concept Paper is submitted by the same lead entity that submitted the Letter of Intent.  Please only submit one Concept Paper per project (i.e. do not do anything with the control number you choose not to use going forward). 

Changes are allowed to award amount, current TRL level, partnering organizations and project duration as long as they remain consistent with the requirements in the FOA. 

If a project involves work at TRL 2-3 as well as 4-6, the Applicant should show a breakdown of the proposed activities and budget by TRL into separate project phases (i.e. TRL 2-3 work should have a separate budget from TRL 4-6 work).  The maximum DOE share for a TRL 2-3 project is not to exceed $1,000,000 and the maximum DOE share for a TRL 4-6 project is not to exceed $9,000,000.  

Yes

1)      You do not need to make changes to the previously submitted LOI.

2)      No additional action is necessary since the cost share waiver box was selected.

3)      Please refer to the Cost sharing or matching section in 10 CFR 600 applicable to your entity.

The lead organization that submits the LOI and gets the Control Number has to submit the Application as the lead for the team. Title, team members and scope can be changed for the Concept Paper submission.

After the Concept Paper has been submitted, and assuming the team is encouraged to submit a full application, the Total budget and scope of the project must remain the same, because that was the basis for evaluation of Concept Paper. The teaming arrangement can be changed, but only if there is a situation beyond the control of the prime (for example, a partner company gets bought and the new owner does not want to participate). The budget allocation can be changed as the work gets better defined during the preparation of the full application.

DOE cannot predetermine the allowability of cost share prior to award selection.  Refer to Section III.B and Appendix C in the FOA for information about cost share. 

There is no concept paper template.

It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the Concept Paper and adequately address the evaluation criteria.

1)  Budgets should match respective TRL activities.

2) Cost share is based on the total allowable costs for the project. (i.e., the sum of the Government share, including FFRDC contractor costs if applicable, and the recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project)

3) No.

No, the lead applicant must remain the same.

DOE does not anticipate extending the deadline for full applications at this time. 

Refer to Amendment #4 of the FOA for submission guidance.

1. All Letters of Support must be attached as an Appendix to the Project Narrative File. 

2. The SF424A Budget form and the Budget Justification must include both Federal (DOE), and Non-Federal (cost share, both cash and in-kind) funds, thereby reflecting TOTAL PROJECT COSTS proposed. Please refer to the instructions on the SF424A Budget form.  There is a column for Non-Federal portion.  Please refer to Appendix D for instructions on the Budget Justification.

By accepting Federal funds under this award, the Prime Recipient/Consortium Lead agrees to be responsible for any subrecipient/Consortium Member cost share requirements if the subrecipient/Consortium Member does not meet its cost share requirements.

No. The Cover page should only have the information that was requested to be put on the Cover Page. The Narrative should not start on the Cover Page.

The information is not contrary.  The FOA indicates that the Concept paper budget figures must match the same figures that will be entered into eXCHANGE by the applicant when they submit the Concept paper.

DOE anticipates notifying applicants in the beginning of November.

Section D is for forecasted funds for the First year broken down by quarters and Section E is for subsequent year totals (not by quarter).  These sections should be filled out for the individual year budgets and left blank for the cumulative.

Scientific and technical merit, innovation, feasibility are all standard terms commonly used in research and development community and they are intended for the same meanings in evaluation of the Applications of this FOA. It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project adequately addresses the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.

 Currently, there are no plans to extend the application deadline.

 1)  This includes any District that will be affected by the cooperative agreement.

2)  These dates are selected by the applicant. 

3.)  Item 18 is funding for the entire Project Period

4.)  Cost share from subrecipients is included in 18b “Applicant”

1)      Please refer to Section IV.G for information regarding Pre-Award costs

2)      International travel costs must allowable, allocable, and reasonable, must be within the scope of the project, and are subject to DOE approval.  Please refer to the applicable Cost Principles for each entity type in Appendix C of the FOA. 

3)      Applicants will be notified via email when the decision is available in eXCHANGE.

Only Letters of Commitment may be attached as an Appendix to the Project Narrative File.

Currently, DOE has no plans for modifying the award dates.  

DOE cannot predetermine the allowability of particular costs or budget items prior to award selection.  It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements of the FOA and determine if their proposed project and project costs adequately address the FOA goals, objectives and Merit Review Criteria.

Please refer to the Project Management website at: https://www.eere-pmc.energy.gov/Forms.aspx for a savable PDF SF424.

The deadline for submissions is currently under review..

1.       Please refer to Section VI.B for Administrative requirements.

2.       Please refer to Section IV.C.9 for subcontractor budget information.

3.       Cost shared items should be identified in the budget justification and the commitment letter.

4.       Consultant wages must be reasonable and verifiable.  Please refer to the Cost Principles applicable to your organization for additional information on consultants.

Please see Section VIII – Other Information (D) Proprietary Application Information of the Funding Opportunity Announcement regarding the use and treatment of proprietary information in the application.  In response of a FOIA request, the application would be reviewed to determine what sections of the application, if any,  are exempted from FOIA under one of the statutory exemption categories, e.g., trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential (5 U.S.C § 552(b)(4)).

Under the facts provided and assuming the team is encouraged to submit a full application, cost share can be increased to meet the FOA requirements, but total DOE share and scope must remain the same.

The SF424A is the budget form and the SF424 is the application.  Both forms can be found on the DOE Recipient web site at: https://www.eere-pmc.energy.gov/Forms.aspx

Please see Amendment 005 on Exchange for revised due dates

Please refer to the Status of your paper by logging into EXCHANGE and viewing the information under your control number for this FOA.

The comments provided in the email sent to applicants via Exchange on November 8 constitute your debriefing.  No further comments regarding the Concept Paper will be provided. 

To access the encourage/discourage decision information please log in to EERE Exchange then in the My Submissions table click on the control number.  This will return the Concept Paper Details page.  Scroll down to the Concept paper Response section to find the Concept Paper Review response.

DOE will not be releasing the number of applications that received “Encourage” or “Discourage” recommendations. 

After the Concept Paper has been submitted, and assuming the team is encouraged to submit a full application, the Total budget and scope of the project must remain the same, because that was the basis for evaluation of Concept Paper. The teaming arrangement can be changed, but only if there is a situation beyond the control of the prime (for example, a partner company gets bought and the new owner does not want to participate). The budget allocation can be changed as the work gets better defined during the preparation of the full application. 

All Letters of Commitment must be attached as an Appendix to the Project Narrative File.

Please see Section V.A.1.  If an application fails to meet the eligibility requirements as submitted, it may be deemed non-responsive and eliminated from full Merit Review.

 Please refer to Section IV.C.8 in the FOA for subrecipient budget requirements.

Because this is a competitive solicitation, DOE cannot predetermine the suitability or viability of a proposal in advance of the application review process. 

Please refer to Section V.A for criteria that will be considered in evaluation of applications under this FOA.

Instructions for providing a budget justification to support the SF424a can be found in Section IV.C.6 and Appendix D.  It is up to applicants to determine the format to provide this information.  You may use the standard PMC 123.1 Budget Justification, but this form is not mandatory. 

The teaming arrangement can be changed, but only if there is a situation beyond the control of the prime (for example, a partner company gets bought and the new owner does not want to participate).

After the Concept Paper has been submitted, and assuming the team is encouraged to submit a full application, the Total budget and scope of the project must remain the same, because that was the basis for evaluation of Concept Paper.

Yes. 

Because this is a competitive solicitation, private conversations between DOE personnel and applicants are prohibited.  Please note that a “discourage” rating does not prevent an applicant from submitting a full application. 

Yes, it is permissible to correct a budget discrepancy between the Concept Paper and Exchange to reflect the accurate number as listed in the Concept Paper.

Please refer to the instructions on the form.  Required items are identified with an asterisk.  Neither of these items are required.

Please refer to Section IV.C.7.  Only the Letters of Commitment described in this section are required and will not count towards the Project Narrative page limit.  Applicants should use their judgment as to whether to provide additional letters in the Project Narrative.

Follow the instructions under Section IV.C, as stated below: 

If your organization is submitting more than one Application to different topic areas, you must identify an application number and the Topic Area Number at the end of each file name.

Please refer to Section III.C.Value/Funding.  Field Work Proposal and other documents will be requested from successful applicants during award negotiation.  The authorization and authority statement must be included in the application as an Appendix to the Narrative. 

Please refer to Section II.E for information regarding the period of performance and an explanation of budget periods. It is recommended that the budget be broken down by one-year budget periods. 

DOE cannot pre-determine if individual circumstances are “beyond the control of the prime” until after reviewing the explanation submitted with the application.  It is up to prospective applicants to review the requirements and justify the change.

 Please refer to the instructions on the form.  Required items are identified with an asterisk.  Federal Entity Identifier is not required for new applications. 

CAGE code is a five-character code which identifies companies doing, or planning to do business with the federal government and is assigned through the CCR.

Please refer to “Section VIII – Other Information (F) Intellectual Property Developed under this Program” of the Funding Opportunity Announcement regarding intellectual property rights under an award.  A domestic small-business or a non-profit organization has the right retain title to its subject inventions under the award (or sub-award) in accordance with the Bayh-Dole Act.  DOE has the right to title to any subject invention of a large business or a foreign entity unless DOE waives its rights.  Therefore, a large business or a foreign entity sub-awardee must petition for a DOE patent waiver to take title to its subject invention.  Otherwise, DOE can take title with the sub-awardee having a royalty free non-exclusive license to the subject invention.      

Costs related to equipment will not be prohibited unless the costs are not adequately justified, or if they are unallowable according to the applicable Cost Principles.  For a reference to the applicable Cost Principles for each entity type, please see Appendix C of the FOA.  DOE cannot predetermine the allowability of particular costs or budget items prior to award selection.

This FOA is issued by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Golden Field Office.

Because this is a competitive solicitation, private conversations with DOE personnel are prohibited.

The Principal Investigator must be from the Prime.  A change of PI is permissible but justification must be provided in the application.

The cost share waiver applies only to the work and budget of the types of organizations eligible for the waiver, and not to the work and budgets of other team member organizations who are not included in the waiver.  See Appendix C and Section III.B for the applicable cost sharing requirements, cost share waiver information and how cost share is calculated.

Please see Amendment 005 of this FOA.

1.       Submit the LOC as an appendix to the Project Narrative and not as a separate PDF.

2.       Scan or merge the subrecipient budget documents into a single .PDF file.  Scan or merge the subrecipient budget justification documents into a single .PDF file.  Then upload these two documents in the appropriate document upload field in EERE Exchange.

3.       The Abstract field should contain a brief description of your project.

4.       Location of work refers to the location(s) where the project work will occur.  Percentage of work is based on budget.

Q1.: Yes, if a proposed project involves work at TRL 2-3 as well as 4-6, the Applicant should show a breakdown of the proposed activities and budget by TRL into two separate project phases in the budget and budget justification.

Q2:  Yes.

Recipients not eligible for the cost share waiver must provide at least 20% of that Recipient’s allowable project costs (i.e. the sum of the DOE share and the Recipient’s share of allowable costs equals the allowable project cost).

There is no modification #7.  Please refer to EXCHANGE for the most recent amendment which currently is Amendment 005.

The right to title to a subject invention (i.e., an invention conceived or first actually reduced to practice) is controlled by statute.  Domestic small business firms and non-profit organizations have the  right to retain title to its subject inventions pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 202.  Title to subject inventions of foreign or large business firms vest with DOE unless DOE waives its rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 5908.  If a subject invention is jointly invented by a domestic small business firm or a non-profit organization and a large business firm, then the subject invention would be jointly owned by the domestic small business firm or the non-profit organization (provided it elects to retain ownership) and DOE unless DOE waives its rights.   In such a situation, the large business firm would petition to have DOE waive its rights in favor of the large business firm not the small business firm or the non-profit organization.  Therefore, provided that a waiver was granted, the small business firm or the non-profit organization (through 35 U.S.C. 202) and the large business firm (through the DOE waiver) would be joint owners of the subject invention.       

 Changing the DUNS number will not have any impact on the application process.  Please refer to Section VI.B for Administrative Requirements of this FOA.

Please refer to Section IV.C.8 and Section IV.C.9 for subrecipient budget and budget justification requirements.  Please refer to Section IV.E for submission information.

The amount of cost-share required by “non-eligible” entities is (at a minimum) the difference between the “total project cost” less any “eligible cost-share waiver entities’” total proposed budget. 

 $100 total project cost

-$60 done by a non-eligible entity (e.g., for profit)

______________________

$40 for TRLs 2-3 (waiver eligible)

                $20 of the $40 by a waiver eligible entity

                $20 remainder by another non-eligible entity

______________________

 $100 total project cost -$20 (waiver eligible entity) = $80

Therefore, the minimum cost share requirement for the non-eligible entities is $16 (20% of $80 = $16)

DOE anticipates notifying Applicants selected for award in February 2012 and start making awards by March 2012.

You must provide a separate budget (SF 424A) for each year of support requested and a cumulative budget for the total project period.  If a project involves work at TRL 2 - 3 as well as 4 - 6, the Applicant should also show a breakdown of the proposed budget (SF 424A)  by TRL (i.e. TRL 2-3 work should have a separate budget from TRL 4-6 work). Save the information in a single file.

No

There is no required format.  It is up to applicants to determine the best format for the rate proposal.  A sample rate proposal can be found here: https://www.eere-pmc.energy.gov/Forms.aspx.  The proposal should be included in the budget justification documents. 

The Prime’s SF424A and Budget Justification should contain total project costs including subrecipient costs.

Scan and merge these documents or use separate sheets for each subrecipient within the same excel document.

Requests for application extensions cannot be accepted. 

"Institution” refers to the lead organization. 

The applicant can put the control number and organization name in the file name, but eXCHANGE will use the control number and organization name that has been entered in eXCHANGE.  Do not use brackets in the naming convention of your document.

EXCHANGE has been modified to allow for uploading PDF versions of sub-recipient budgets.

Please try to re-submit in PDF format.  EXCHANGE was updated to accept budgets in PDF format.

Due to potential confidentiality issues, the prime applicant may submit the sub-tier’s pricing data in aggregate form.  Should the applicant be selected for negotiation of award, DOE will work directly with the sub, with the prime applicant’s approval, to obtain detailed budget information.  

Print the document, then scan and upload.

The Total budget and scope of the project must remain the same, because that was the basis for evaluation of the Concept Paper.

The maximum DOE share for a TRL 2-3 project is not to exceed $1,000,000 total. 

Please refer to the FOA via EERE EXCHANGE for the information you requested.  This Funding announcement will not be posted in 2012.

Please contact the owner of the submission and request that person share permissions to their EERE Exchange account.  Also see section 6 of the EERE Exchange Applicant User Guide.

No, team members can only be replaced under the circumstances as noted in question #386.

The right to title to a subject invention (i.e., an invention conceived or first actually reduced to practice) is controlled by statute.  Domestic small business firms and non-profit organizations have the  right to retain title to its subject inventions pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 202.  Title to subject inventions of foreign or large business firms vest with DOE unless DOE waives its rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 5908.  If a subject invention is jointly invented by a domestic small business firm or a non-profit organization and a large business firm, then the subject invention would be jointly owned by the domestic small business firm or the non-profit organization (provided it elects to retain ownership) and DOE unless DOE waives its rights.   In such a situation, the large business firm would petition to have DOE waive its rights in favor of the large business firm not the small business firm or the non-profit organization.  Therefore, provided that a waiver was granted, the small business firm or the non-profit organization (through 35 U.S.C. 202) and the large business firm (through the DOE waiver) would be joint owners of the subject invention.       

Currently, there are no plans to re-post this opportunity in 2012.

Please refer to the FOA.

Please refer to the FOA.

 Due to the large number of applications received, the review process has taken longer than expected.  DOE expects to complete its review and announce selections in March 2012. 

Unfortunately, we are not able to narrow the selection window at this time.

Unfortunately, we are unable to discuss award status prior to selections.