Frequently Asked Questions

In addition to the government use license to subject inventions, the government shall also retain a license to copyrighted software developed under the award.  However, these licenses to the government do not place software created under the award in the public domain.  If the software was in the public domain, then no licenses would be needed. 

The licenses to the government protect the government from having to pay to use intellectual property that was developed with federal funds.  The licenses are for government purposes and are limited to software created under the award.  The licenses do not extend to versions or improvements of the software made after the award.  The licenses do not apply to services and support that may be offered with the software.

The government licenses should not interfere with the awardees’ ability to use and commercialize the software, including licensing the software for a royalty to non-government customers.

Refer to page 36 of the FOA

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1.                 Prime Recipients for Project Team

Only Project Teams^[1] led by independently incorporated startup businesses are eligible to apply for funding.  The startup business designated as the Prime Recipient must incur at least 60% of expenditures under the project, as measured by the Total Project Cost.  Failure to clearly demonstrate this qualification may lead to a determination that the team is not eligible for award. 40% of the award funds could be spent by a domestic or non-domestic entity, the rationale for the distribution of funds would need to be clearly articulated. The work would need to be performed within the U.S. per Section III.A.5 “Performance of Work in the United States.”  Expenditures incurred for the use of facilities, including laboratories, by Prime Recipient personnel counts towards the Prime Recipient’s share of the Total Project Cost.     

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The highlighted test does not require the non-prime applicant entities to be start-up businesses.

The award will include the terms of the government licenses.  Specifically, the award will contain the following government license for the subject inventions: “With respect to any subject invention in which the Recipient retains title, the Federal Government shall have a non-exclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice or have practiced for or on behalf of the U.S. the subject invention throughout the world.”  In addition to a government purpose license for any subject invention under award, the government will also have a license to any copyrighted software developed under the award.  The award will contain the following license: “For such copyrighted data, including computer software, the Recipient grants to the Government, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in such copyrighted data to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government.”

While the Solar Program will retain the right to request any data, including software, generated under the awards, it does not intend to take possession of or request delivery of any software developed under the awards.  In the event software developed under an award was delivered to DOE, an awardee may mark the software as protected.  As will be set forth in the awards, an awardee may mark software a “protected data” and DOE will agree not to disclose, publish or disseminate outside the Government for 5-years. 

See the attached document “Attachment D-IP Provisions – Revised” (located on the previous page in the required documents section of this FOA, see: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/FileContent.aspx?FileID=949df1fe-6c89-4dda-9994-122e962644ac). Due to the unique structure of the Incubator Program there is a point to clarify:

The Incubator Program is open to start-up businesses.  Due to the way DOE defines a start-up(less than 500 employees excluding the employees of affiliated or parent companies), in some cases a start-up may NOT be a small business as the term is defined in IP law (specifically by Bayh-Dole).

CDSB-1003 applies only to small businesses (less than 500 employees including the employees of affiliated or parent companies).  It contains the patent right clause that allows the awardee to take title to subject inventions in accordance with Bayh-Dole.

CDLB-1003 is used for businesses that are not “small” (greater than 500 employees).  It includes the patent rights clause that DOE takes title to the inventions unless DOE waives its rights to subject inventions in accordance with the Non-Nuclear Energy Act.

Under this program, a small business or a non-profit organization will receive the CDSB-1003 clause set.  All other recipients will receive CDLB-1003 and can receive similar terms to CDSB-1003 through a patent waiver (if granted).

A: The FOA states that “[a]n Applicant may submit a single and self-sufficient application for Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 1S, Tier 2 and Tier 2S awards.   Each application must be for a completely different platform and product family.”

Since a concept paper is different than a “single and self-sufficient application,”  this interpretation allows for more than one concept paper per tier. However,  as stated in the FOA (see page 7) applicants may submit only one full application per tier. This means the applicant will need to choose a single concept to propose for each tier at the full application stage regardless of DOE input.

 The full spectrum of technologies and non-hardware solutions relevant to the conversion of sunlight into electricity will be considered for funding. Please see the “Areas of Programmatic Interest” section of the FOA for further information.

 All reviewers must sign Non-Disclosure Agreements which bind them to not divulge the information they may learn during the reviews.   Proprietary information is not available under a FOIA request and DOE requests input from applicants whose applications have been marked as proprietary to review their document in order to recommend redaction of certain information. DOE is responsible for  protecting proprietary information.

 The DOE Buildings Technology program can be found at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ .

 The Incubator program is designed for innovative concepts that will reduce the cost of installed solar systems. This program is not for achieving incremental advances on products that already exist in the marketplace.  An example second generation concept would be adding a 4th junction onto a 3 junction device using a similar technology that was previously used for the 3 junction device.  New embodiments of existing technologies could be considered if the technology is being used for a different purpose.

 A sub-recipient is an entity that performs work on the award for the prime recipient and is accountable to the recipient for use of the funds provided. A minimum of 60% of the award funds must go to the prime recipient. The remaining 40% may be distributed to sub-recipients to help perform that work required to complete the award. Contractors are vendors that do not perform substantial project work, but merely provide goods or services as they would to any other customer as part of their normal business.

The slides will not be provided.  A summary of the webinar is outlined below. The information provided in the webinar only summarizes the FOA and does not supplement or take precedence over the FOA text posted on EERE Exchange.  Please consult the FOA for further information.
The Incubator Program:  
     The goal of the SunShot Initiative is to reduce the cost of solar energy (hardware, installation, and associated soft costs) by 75% to $1/W for utility scale installations by the end of the decade. This is equivalent to a levelized cost of energy of approximately $0.05-$0.06/kWh at utility scale making solar energy competitive with traditional energy sources without the aid of subsidies. 
     To facilitate the accomplishment of this goal, the Incubator program looks to invest in companies which have an idea or prototype whose introduction to the market could lead to a significant decrease in the costs associated with solar energy. This round of Incubator funding has a broad scope and covers both hardware and non-hardware costs of systems that convert sunlight into electricity.  Areas of programmatic interest include, but are not limited to:
    Photovoltaics                  Concentrating Solar Power
    Balance of Systems        Plug-and-Play Wiring and Installation Techniques
    Power Electronics           Energy Storage
    Tools to address Non-Hardware Costs   

The SunShot Incubator Program is an aggressive pay for performance program focused on helping solar startups rapidly refine and commercialize promising, proven technologies and ideas.
The program seeks to accelerate the commercialization of solar energy products and solutions that dramatically lower the cost of solar power.

Focus on Deliverables
The Incubator uses a deliverable-based funding structure
Payment is only made when a deliverable is verified by a third party
Deliverables must be verifiable though a mechanism that the Applicant proposes and represents significant progress
Construct deliverables carefully.  See the FOA for details about deliverables (pg.54)
Reports are NOT acceptable deliverables
Deliverables:
     In the Statement of Work, which is part of the Full Application and further negotiated after selection, the awardee and DOE will agree on a series of deliverables which will be delivered over the course of the award.  A specific payment is associated with each deliverable (portion of the awarded money from DOE) that will be made once the deliverable is verified by DOE or a third party. Deliverables must be verifiable through a mechanism that the applicant proposes and represent significant progress towards achieving the project objective. Deliverables are meant to be aggressive but should not be unattainable; therefore deliverables should be constructed very carefully. Reports are NOT acceptable deliverables.

Key Deadlines for this Funding Announcement:
     Concept Papers Submission: 5 PM ET, March 5, 2013
     Technical support e-mail: EERE-ExchangeSupport@ee.doe.gov
     Expected Date of Concept Paper Notification: 5 PM ET, April 2, 2013
     Submission Deadline for Full Applications:  5 PM ET, April 30, 2013

Please triple check your entries in EERE Exchange
    Submissions could be deemed non-compliant due to an incorrect entry
    Make sure you hit the submit button
    Any changes made after you hit submit will unsubmit your application and you will need to hit the submit button again
    Follow formatting criteria and page lengths stated in the FOA. Extra material will be REDACTED OR REMOVED and will NOT be provided to reviewers. Sections that exceed page length maximums will be redacted even if overall application is within page limits

Proprietary/Confidential Information
The DOE does not release proprietary/Confidential information
The header and footer of every page that contains confidential, proprietary, or privileged information must be marked as follows: “Contains Confidential, Proprietary, or Privileged Information Exempt from Public Disclosure.”
Every line and paragraph containing proprietary, privileged, or trade secret information must be clearly marked using double brackets i.e. [[text]]
DO NOT use highlighting, it is very difficult to read many applications marked using highlighting.
You will be contacted in the event of a FOIA request and be allowed to redact proprietary material. See pg. 86

Awards:
Hardware Development
Tier 0 $500,000 12 months ≥ 20% Cost Share 
Accelerate transition from a proof-of-concept of all critical components to an early stage functional prototype
Tier 1 $1,000,000 12 months ≥ 20% Cost Share 
Accelerate transition of early stage functional prototype to manufacturing and commercially relevant prototype made in the lab
Tier 2 $4,000,000 18 months ≥ 50% Cost Share 
Develop the manufacturing processes and equipment to move from fully developed lab prototype to pilot-scale production.

Non-Hardware Development (Soft Cost/ Software)
Tier 1S $500,000 12 months ≥ 20% Cost Share 
Accelerate transition of proof-of-concept or business plan to alpha capability and early customer trials.
Tier 2S $2,000,000 18 months ≥ 50% Cost Share 
Transition alpha capability through beta launch and full commercialization.

Cost Share
Tier 0 ≥  20% of Total Project Cost
Tier 1(S) ≥  20% of Total Project Cost
Tier 2 (S) ≥  50% of Total Project Cost
Awardee Cost Share = Awardee Contribution / (DOE Contribution + Awardee Contribution)
Cash or in-kind contributions
Cost share shall be incurred in equal installments over the life of the award
All expenditures must be allowable, allocable, and reasonable in accordance with the applicable Federal cost principles see FAR 31.201-4

What is “allocable”? (FAR 31.301-4)
A cost is allocable if it is assignable or chargeable to one or more cost objectives on the basis of relative benefits received or other equitable relationship. Subject to the foregoing, a cost is allocable to a Government contract if it:
(a) Is incurred specifically for the contract;
(b) Benefits both the contract and other work, and can be distributed to them in reasonable proportion to the benefits received; or
(c) Is necessary to the overall operation of the business, although a direct relationship to any particular cost objective cannot be shown.
An applicant may NOT use the following sources to meet cost share obligations:
     Revenues or royalties from the prospective operation of an activity beyond the project period
     Proceeds from the prospective sale of an asset of an activity
     Federal funding or property (e.g., Federal grants, equipment owned by the Federal Government)
     Expenditures that were reimbursed under a separate Federal program.
     Project Teams may not use the same cash or in-kind contributions to meet cost share requirements for more than one   project or program. 
The Prime Recipient of the award must incur at least 60% of the awarded funds and corresponding cost share. The Prime Recipient must expend 100% of the total project cost in the United States. However, applicants may request a waiver of this requirement where their project would materially benefit from, or otherwise requires, certain work to be performed overseas.
 
Criteria Weighting for Concept papers:
Applicants should carefully read and address the scoring criteria stated in the FOA.
For Concept Papers, the scoring criteria are broken into 2 equally weighted sections:
    Overall Project Plan  - 50%
    Impact of the Proposed Project on the Goals of the SunShot Initiative – 50%
Reviewers will only consider the specific criteria stated in the FOA when evaluating application materials.
DOE will encourage the most promising applicants to take on the requirement of drafting a full application and discourage (but not disallow) those that are not as likely to receive an award from doing so.
By discouraging the submission of a Full Application, DOE intends to convey its lack of programmatic interest in the proposed project and to save Applicants the considerable time and expense of preparing a Full Application for a proposed project that is unlikely to be selected for award negotiations.

Double brackets should be used only around information which is proprietary, not entire paragraphs or sentences that contain pieces of proprietary information.

For example: “Our company will be working with [[company B]] to develop a coating with [[99.9%]] transmission.”

Pursuant to 10 CFR 600.318, cooperative agreements may not provide for the payment of fee or profit to recipients or subrecipients.  If you receive an award, DOE will reimburse you for your actual costs provided that they are allowable, allocable, and reasonable.  Profit is not a reimbursable cost that can be charged an award under this FOA. 

However, if any program income is earned as a result of an award, it may be, but is not required to be, used to help meet your cost share requirement.  Program income means gross income earned by the recipient that is directly generated by a supported activity or earned as a result of the award. Program income includes, but is not limited to, income from fees for services performed, the use or rental of real or personal property acquired under federally-funded projects, the sale of commodities or items fabricated under an award, license fees and royalties on patents and copyrights, and interest on loans made with award funds. Interest earned on advances of Federal funds is not program income. Except as otherwise provided in program regulations or the terms and conditions of the award, program income does not include the receipt of principal on loans, rebates, credits, discounts, etc., or interest earned on any of them.  See 10 CFR 600.302.

The cost principles that apply to commercial organizations are found in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 31.2, which can be found here: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%2031_2.html#wp1095552

FAR 31.205 discusses the allowablility of selected costs for commercial organizations.  The list is long, but not exhaustive.  Other costs not listed here may be allowable on a case-by-case basis. All costs included in an applicant’s proposed budget will be reviewed for allowability, allocability, and reasonableness and are subject to negotiation.

The cost principles applicable to non-profit organizations are contained in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-122, which can be found here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a122_2004  See specifically, Attachment B – Selected Items of Cost.

The cost principles applicable to state, local, and tribal governments are contained in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-87, which can be found here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a087_2004  See specifically, Attachment B – Selected Items of Cost.

The cost principles applicable to educational institutions are contained in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-21, which can be found here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a021_2004  See specifically, Section J. General Provisions for Selected Items of Cost.

The cost principles applicable to hospitals can be found at 45 CFR Part 74, Appendix E, “Principles for Determining Costs Applicable to Research and Development Under Grants and Contracts with Hospitals”  available here:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/whatsup/tea21/grantman/html/29d_OMB_CostPrnHosp_45CFR_Prt74.html

There is no prohibition in the FOA against using a contractor as the Principal Investigator (PI).  An applicant’s team will be evaluated under the scoring criterion entitled, “Capability and Resources of the Applicant/Project Team”.  (See Pages 73-79 of the FOA for additional information regarding scoring criteria and program policy factors.) However, if your application is selected for negotiation, all proposed costs, including contractor cost, will be reviewed and DOE reserves the right to request additional budget documentation as necessary to complete a thorough budget review.  Proposing all labor cost as contractor cost will not avoid the documentation and justification of cost that is required during the budget review phase. 

Also, please remember that the prime recipient must incur 60% of the total project cost.  Failure to meet this requirement may result in your concept paper/application being deemed non-compliant and eliminated from further review. 

Finally, there is no requirement to include indirect costs in your budget proposal.  Applicants may opt to not charge indirect costs to the project and to not seek reimbursement for indirect costs.  

Tier 0 is NOT for basic research or exploratory work. As an entrance criteria to Tier 0 you should be able to demonstrate you have reached technology readiness level (TRL) 3:

Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of concept.  Active R&D is initiated.  This includes analytical studies and laboratory studies to physically validate analytical predictions of separate elements of the technology.  Examples include components that are not yet integrated or representative.

Ultimately it is your task to make the case that will be able to go from where you are now to the entrance criteria to Tier 1 (a functional prototype made with lab processes proving there are no ‘show stoppers’ ) in the 12 month project period (~October 1, 2013-October 1, 2013). If this is not possible then your project is likely too early stage for this program. Also, remember you will need to hit deliverables and demonstrate measurable progress to be reimbursed for your work. If the work you propose is to early stage for you to feel comfortable committing to steady progress this may not be the right program for your project.

The use of foreign-made equipment and products is not prohibited.  However, if you receive an award it will include a provision that provides, “It is the sense of the Congress that, to the greatest extent practicable, all equipment and products purchased with funds made available under this award should be American-made.” 

Please also note that 100% of project costs must be incurred in the United States.  So while it is possible that the use of foreign-made equipment and products may be purchased under an award, they must be purchased in the United States.
Finally, please also note that all costs, including equipment cost, will be evaluated for technical necessity, allowability, allocability, and reasonableness. 

The DOE regulations on cost share and matching for for-profit organizations can be found at 10 CFR 600.313.

10 CFR 600.313(a) sets forth the requirements of acceptable contributions.  One of those requirements is that the contribution, whether it be cash or in-kind, are not paid by the Federal Government under another award unless authorized by Federal statute to be used for cost sharing or matching.  There is no such prohibition against using state or local funds to meet cost share requirements, however if those funds were received by the state or local government through a federal award, they cannot be used as a cost share contribution for an award under this FOA.

It is possible, but not guaranteed, that a third-party contribution from a state or local government may have a favorable impact on the success of an applicant’s proposal.   In addition to the scoring criteria, DOE may consider program policy factors while determining whether to encourage submission of Full Applications and in selecting applicants for negotiation.  A third-party contribution from a state or local government may help establish an applicant’s financial stability and current financial status.  See Pages 78-79 of the FOA for additional information regarding program policy factors. 

The value of the use of real property for a project may count toward cost share, and are subject to the valuation methods set forth in 10 CFR 600.313(b).  The method of determining the value of the prime’s property contribution is found at 10 CFR 600.313 (b)(1).  The method of valuing property donated by third parties is found at 10 CFR 600.313(b)(4).  All cost share contributions are subject to the applicable cost principles and must be allowable, allocable and reasonable.

Budgets should be constructed based on actual cost. Personnel costs are an acceptable cost share contribution. DOE regulations on cost sharing and matching for for-profit organizations are found at 10 CFR 600.313.  If your application is selected for negotiation, you may be asked to document your proposed personnel cost by submitting payroll data, employment contracts, or other salary documentation.  Proposed personnel costs should be verifiable from this documentation, whether on an hourly or percentage of time basis. Proposed rates should be based of historic/actual rates, to the maximum extent possible.   Please note that annual salaries chargeable to the project are capped at $200,000 per individual as described on Page 39 of the FOA.  Should you receive an award, it is the recipient’s obligation to track the time worked on the project and the value of that time.  You must be able to track project costs separately from additional activities in which you may be involved. 

If you do not have an approved rate agreement from a federal agency, and you wish to contribute cash for indirect costs as your cost share contribution, it is an applicant’s responsibility to submit and acceptable indirect rate proposal.  If your application is selected for negotiation, your proposed indirect costs will be reviewed, and additional information/documentation may be required.  All cost share contributions are subject to the applicable cost principles and must be allowable, allocable and reasonable.

A foreign entity is allowed to apply so long as they meet the eligibility requirements for a foreign entity and submit, and have approved, the proper waiver requests (Section III.A.4 and Section VIII.I.).

However, any foreign entity that would like to apply should be aware of the following:

Section III.A.5 Performance of Work in the United States
“EERE requires all work under EERE funding agreements to be performed in the United States – i.e., prime recipients must expend 100% of the total project cost in the United States….

The DOE Contracting Officer has discretion to waive this requirement if he/she determines that it will further the purposes of this FOA and is otherwise in the best interest of the [US] Government.” 

Section I.E Project Performance Targets
“For all hardware tiers discussed below, Applicants must describe their plans to expand commercial manufacturing capacity in the United States following completion of the demonstration. In particular, the recipient should identify the specific products and technologies that it will manufacture in the U.S., including any plans for licensing the products or technologies to other entities that will also manufacture in the U.S.”

Section IV.C Content and Form of Concept Paper
Business Plan/ Commercialization Strategy
o “(Mandatory) Statement of intent to manufacture resulting products or processes in the United States.”

Section IV.D Content and Form of Full Application
Project Narrative- Business Plan
o “(Mandatory) Statement of intent to manufacture resulting products or processes in the United States and justification for why this should be believed.”

Finally, the Applicant should be aware of the scoring criteria which should be addressed in the Concept Papers and Full Applications and will be considered by reviewers:

Section V.A.1 Criteria for Concept Paper
• “Contribution to Domestic Manufacturing (hardware only): Degree to which the project will strengthen the competitiveness of domestic PV manufacturing and translate into increased long-term PV and supply chain manufacturing and employment in the United States.  Extent to which those expectations are supported by a realistic, factually supported, financially sound implementation approach.”

Section V.A.2 Criteria for Full Application
• “Contribution to Domestic Manufacturing (hardware only): Degree to which the project will strengthen the competitiveness of domestic PV manufacturing and translate into increased long-term PV and supply chain manufacturing and employment in the United States.  Extent to which those expectations are supported by a realistic, factually supported, financially sound implementation approach.”

In addition to the EERE Exchange registration requirement discussed in Section IV.J.1 of the FOA that must be accomplished before a concept paper can be submitted, Section IV.J.2. lists four registration process requirements that must be met before a potential awardee can receive federal funds.  Applicants must register and receive a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and register with the System for Award Management (SAM).  Applicants selected for negotiation must register with FedConnect and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (FSRS).  These additional registration requirements may take several weeks to months to complete, and without them, an applicant is not eligible to receive federal funding. Applicants are encouraged to complete these registration requirements as early in the application process as possible.

Yes. An applicant should try for any funding available which will help their business, however, getting one award cannot depend on receiving another.

 It is up to the applicant to decide how much money they need for their project and how much cost share they can afford. It is also up to the applicant to decide on which Tier best describes the current state of their product. If DOE decides that a different tier is more appropriate, DOE may move the award when selecting for negotiation at which time the applicant may decide if they would like to proceed with the negotiation around the project in the new tier.

The Government would not normally obtain a license to a patent filed prior to the award.  There is one exception that should be noted.  The Government obtains a license to any invention that was either conceived or first actually reduced to practice under the award.  “Actually reduction to practice” is a patent law term of art and means the first working construction (i.e., embodiment) of the invention or the first successful performance of the invention.  The filing of a patent application is not an actual reduction of practice.  Therefore, even if a patent application was filed prior to the award, if the first working construction of the invention or the first successful performance of the invention is under the award, the Government obtains a license to that invention and any patents that cover that invention.

Under this program, DOE does not obtained rights to the pre-existing software (i.e., software that was developed at private expense outside of the award).

As long as the software was not developed with project funds (i.e., federal funds or cost share funds), DOE does not obtain rights to the software. 

The Full Application Webinar will take place on April 16 from 3-5 PM EST.

An applicant may consult with outside experts prior to submitting their full application as they see fit, however, any expenses that are incurred to do this will not be eligible for reimbursement by DOE. As stated in Section IV.H.2. of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), “DOE will not reimburse any pre-award costs incurred by Applicants before they are selected for award negotiations.”

If a deliverable is hit ahead of schedule (such as the third deliverable is also able to pass for the fourth deliverable) the awardee will be reimbursed for the expense of achieving the deliverable. Awardees are not punished for doing well. There is the opportunity to reallocated funds to another area of the project laid out in the Statement of Project Objectives (subject to approval). DOE will not penalize an awardee for achieving a deliverable early; instead, the funds may be used to further the project development in another area. The specific area in which the funds will be used will be decided on by the awardee and DOE.

There are no limits on what capital costs can be incurred in any proposal, but for any cost to be reimbursable, it must be allowable, allocable and reasonable in accordance with Federal Cost Principles.

No, there is not a maximum. However, the applicant should propose expenditures that are reasonable for completing the proposed project.

Please see Section IV.D.9 for information regarding the Other Sources of Funding Disclosure.   The FOA provides that the Other Sources of Funding Disclosure should be in word form and included in the body of the application narrative as an appendix. 

Please see Section IV.D.10 for information regarding the Disclosures of Eligibility Determination.  The FOA provides that the Disclosures of Eligibility Determination should be in pdf form.  The Disclosure of Eligibility Determination may be included in the body of the application narrative as an appendix.

Presumably, yes, subject to the valuation methods and cost share requirements found in 10 CFR 600.313,DOE’s regulations on cost sharing for financial assistance agreements with for-profit organizations.  10 CFR 600.313(a) provides that all cost share contributions must meet all of the following criteria:

(1) They are verifiable from the recipient's records.

(2) They are not included as contributions for any other federally-assisted project or program.

(3) They are necessary and reasonable for proper and efficient accomplishment of project or program objectives.

(4) They are allowable under § 600.317.

(5) They are not paid by the Federal Government under another award unless authorized by Federal statute to be used for cost sharing or matching.

(6) They are provided for in the approved budget.

(7) They conform to other provisions of this part, as applicable.

Yes. This funding could be used toward cost share provided the funds the state provided were not provided to the state by the federal government.

Yes, provided the awardee can supply sufficient documentation for the standard billing rate which is being reduced as part of an in-kind contribution and are otherwise in accordance with 10 CFR 600.313.

As long as the costs are included in the approved project budget, Applicants can invoice for money spent from the time of award up to the time of deliverable confirmation. If a capital expenditure is made during that time, which is relevant to the project, it may be eligible for reimbursement.

It is the expectation that 100% of the total project cost, including cost share contributions, is expended in the USA. As long as no federal funds are expended nor cost share contributions incurred outside of the United States,a foreign entity waiver request is not needed.

Yes. All parties that take part in the review have to sign strict non-disclosure agreements. With regard to the dissemination of information should a Freedom of Information Act request be made please refer to Section VIII.E of the FOA which states: “In the event of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, proprietary information is not made available. If DOE receives a FOIA request seeking an application, DOE will contact the applicant and ask them to provide a copy of the file with their proposed redactions. These redactions will be reviewed by a DOE legal representative to ensure that the applicant only redacted items which were in fact proprietary, and to make the final determination.  The application would then be returned to the applicant for approval. This process would be repeated until all parties agree on what information is proprietary.”

Also, please review Section VIII.E. of the FOA for instructions on how to properly mark submissions as confidential, proprietary, or privileged information.

Budget documents should be submitted for FFRDCs. Please refer to section IV.D. 6 and IV.D.7 of the FOA for more information on how FFRDCs will be handled with regard to the budget. 

No. Applicants may propose working with a company in any country around the world that has a capability not found in the USA. However, as stated in FOA Section III.A.5,

“EERE requires all work under EERE funding agreements to be performed in the United States – i.e., prime recipients must expend 100% of the total project cost in the United States.

Applicants and prime recipients may request a waiver of this requirement.  Applicants must include a written waiver request in the Full Application.  Prime recipients must submit any waiver requests in writing to the DOE Contracting Officer for this FOA.  The DOE Contracting Officer has discretion to waive this requirement if he/she determines that it will further the purposes of this FOA and is otherwise in the best interest of the Government.”

If you are selected for negotiations, you will be asked to provide third-party commitment letters from your cost share partners setting forth the amount of their contributions.  Once a cooperative agreement has been awarded, the Prime Recipient is ultimately responsible for meeting all cost share obligations  Prime Recipients must be able to meet and document cost share contributions at each deliverable during the project period.

The Applicant, not the foreign vendor, would have to request a waiver under this scenario.  Please see Section III.A.5 of the FOA, which states,

EERE requires all work under EERE funding agreements to be performed in the United States – i.e., prime recipients must expend 100% of the total project cost in the United States.

Applicants and prime recipients may request a waiver of this requirement.  Applicants must include a written waiver request in the Full Application.  Prime recipients must submit any waiver requests in writing to the DOE Contracting Officer for this FOA.  The DOE Contracting Officer has discretion to waive this requirement if he/she determines that it will further the purposes of this FOA and is otherwise in the best interest of the Government. If you would like to request a waiver see Section VIII.I.  

Answers follow question subparts below.  Instructions for the SF-424 may be found at http://www.grants.gov/assets/SF424Instructions.pdf

Block 3. Date received.

- What date is this asking for?  Leave this field blank.

Block 4. Applicant Identifier

- Is this our Control number? No.  Leave this field blank.

Block 5a. Federal Entity Identifier

- What is this?  Leave this field blank.

Block 5b. Federal Award Identifier

- What is this? Leave this field blank.

- Is section E required?  This section may be left blank.

11. CFDA Title

- I understand the CFDA number to be 81.087... What is the title?  Renewable Energy Research and Devlopment

13. Competition Identification Number

- Is this required?  If so, what is this?  You should enter DE-FOA-0000838, SunShot Incubator Program

14. Areas Affected by Project (Cities, Counties, States, etc.):

- Is this required?  If so, is a suitable answer, "Project not specific to a particular area but is not of the nature to affect an area".  This data element is intended for use only by programs for which the area(s) affected are likely to be different than the place(s) of performance.  Add an attachment to enter additional areas, if needed.

19. Is Application Subject to Review By State Under Executive Order 12372 Process?

- What is the appropriate answer to this question for applications to SunShot? Program is not coverd by E.O. 12372.

Answers follow question subparts below.  Instructions for the SF-LLL may be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/grants/sflllin.pdf

Does this form need to be filled out if none of our employees lobby? Yes, it is a mandatory form.

Block 7. Federal Program Name
- I'm aware that the CFDA number is 81.087.  In addition to to this, is the description to be included "SunShot Incubator Program"?  Yes,that is the appropriate description to include in Block 7.

Block 8. Federal Action Number, if known:
- Is this the FOA? Yes, please include FOA Number DE-FOA-0000838 in Block 8.

- Should we leave box 10 a & b blank? If you do not have registered lobbyists to identify, you can leave Blocks 10a and 10b blank or enter “Not applicable”.

When completing the Environmental Impact Questionnaire, only include potential environmental impacts of the funded project, including work performed by subrecipients and contractors.

Technically there is no limit; however applicants should only mark the information that is truly proprietary. Should a Freedom of Information Act request be made the entire document cannot usually be redacted. Please refer to Section VIII.E of the FOA for more information on how Freedom of Information Act requests are handled.