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

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["ADMINISTRATIVE QUESTION AND ANSWER LOG"]
["DE-FOA-0001378 - DOE TRAINEESHIP IN POWER ENGINEERING (LEVERAGING WIDE BANDGAP POWER ELECTRONICS) "]
["Question #","Date Submitted","Topic","Question","Answer"]
[1,"2015-07-23","Eligibility","Is it possible to include the traineeship of a post-doc, who is a US Citizen, towards the objectives of this FOA?","No, post-docs are not to be included in the traineeship program. The traineeship program is only to support graduate students currently pursuing a degree.  See sections I.A.1.a. and I.A.1.b. of the FOA.   "]
[2,"2015-07-28","Application Content/Format","Are you looking at the system level or device level or prefer to have both?","The proposed traineeship program should comprehensively cover power electronics including leveraging of wide bandgap semiconductors, which would include both the system level and the device level."]
[3,"2015-07-28","Eligibility","Can we team up with another institution or is one institution preferred?  In the case that different sites of the same university system (for example: University of XX at XX and at XX), would the team from two sites be considered one institution?","The proposed project team could include another U.S. based institution of higher education; however, the application must designate one individual U.S. based institution of higher education to serve as the Prime Recipient should the application be selected for negotiation of award. The applicant and the proposed project team would need to satisfy the requirements of Section III.A of the FOA, including the partnership requirements set forth in Sections III.A.2 and I.A.2.g. of the FOA. If the intent is to implement the traineeship program at both institutions, each participating institution must be otherwise eligible to apply on their own and each participating institute must separately meet the program partnership requirements in Section I.A.2.g. of the FOA. Be sure to clearly explain the relationship and roles of each institution as it relates to the proposed traineeship program and how each institution will contribute to the goals of the FOA.  Also, each individual award, including those with proposed teaming arrangements, are subject to the funding limits specified in Section II.A.1. of the FOA. "]
[4,"2015-07-27","Eligibility","Is the intent to restrict Foreign Nationals from participating in, or accessing , the research?","The traineeship program does not restrict Foreign Nationals from participating in or accessing research that a graduate student receiving a traineeship is participating in. However, only graduate students that meet the requirements in section I.A.2.f. of the FOA may receive funding under this traineeship."]
[5,"2015-07-27","Eligibility","Is the intent of the FOA to be a training program for U.S. citizens only,  versus supporting Fundamental research where restrictions on Foreign National participation would not apply.","The traineeship program is limited to supporting student trainees who are U.S. citizens and enrolled full-time in a graduate program pursuing a Ph.D. or a Master’s degree relevant to power engineering.  See section I.A.2.f. of the FOA.  "]
[6,"2015-07-28","Eligibility","Is the partner DOE lab or partner industry partner expected to pay for the student’s internship while at that location OR does the University/grant pay the student’s costs (through stipend and travel) while on summer internship (for example)?","Student internship and training costs should be included in the Applicant's proposed budget.  See Section I.A.3. of the FOA.  The $55K per student per year assumes 12-month student participation, a $30-35K stipend per year, and no more than $2-3K for traineeship-related travel per student per year.  The remainder should provide for associated costs to carry out the scope of the training program, including partnership costs, limited equipment, program evaluation efforts, and/or support for tuition and fees for the student.  Student participation costs in excess of $55K (if any) should be covered by the Applicant or partner with non-federal cost share dollars.  Note that cost share is not required under the FOA.  "]
[7,"2015-07-30","Application Content/Format","Are indirect costs allowed in the budget provision of $55k per student? Does the $35k stipend per student include fringe benefits for the student (such as health insurance costs, etc.)?","Indirect costs are allowed in the budget provision of $55k per student.  Organizations with a federally approved indirect rate must apply indirect costs according to their indirect rate agreement. Organizations without a federally approved indirect rate must submit an indirect rate proposal. See Section 1.A.3. of the FOA for specific budget requirements. Regarding indirect costs, the FOA has been modified to address this issue. Please see the FOA document Modification 0002 posted to the Exchange website."]
[8,"2015-07-30","Application Content/Format","Can the award amount be used to support continuing students who are already in the PhD program, working in wide bandgap power electronics disciplines?","Yes, continuing students can be included.  "]
[9,"2015-07-31","Eligibility","Must the PhD/MS students obtain their degrees only in the electrical engineering discipline?","PhD/MS students may obtain their degree in any discipline that supports the field of power engineering leveraging wide bandgap power electronics.  "]
[10,"2015-07-31","Labs/FFRDCs","To effectively involve national laboratory partners, can these partners receive direct funding through this program? For example to support semester or summer internships of our graduate students.  We assume yes, since there are instructions on page 25 of the FOA requiring the use of the DOE FWP form for DOE/NNSA FFRDC budgets, but we are interested in clarifying any restrictions on funds/budget categories that can be requested for these partners.","Any potential DOE/NNSA FFRDC partners will be funded directly from DOE. The funding will go towards activities under their Management and Operations contract. When developing the Field Work Proposal (FWP) with the FFRDC, the applicant can receive any clarifications on funds and budget categories from the FFRDC.  DOE expects Lab costs to be minimal as the intention is to only fund costs associated with the internships at the lab.  Also, DOE funds from this FOA should not be used to fund the actual research efforts at the Lab. "]
[11,"2015-07-31","Application Content/Format","Can faculty and scientists from national laboratories develop new courses on WBG applications on power engineering? If yes, how should this type of activities be budgeted?","As stated in Section I.A.1.e., \"Traineeship awards may provide limited support for staff time for new curriculum development (up to 10% of the overall award).\"  This may be done in collaboration with national laboratory staff.  Their time and other expenses must be included in Field Work Proposal (FWP) from the national laboratory."]
[12,"2015-07-31","Application Content/Format","Can non/FFRDC partners/subawardees (including other universities/institutions) receive direct funds to assist with the program? This would likely include costs for hosting students for a portion of the program and/or curriculum development assistance.","Non-FFRDC partners and subawardees may receive funding under these awards to assist with the program.  However, only DOE/NNSA FFRDCs will be funded directly from DOE.  All other partners and subs will receive funds through the Prime Recipient.  The Prime Recipient will request payment through the DOE award and then administer the funds to each sub per a sub agreement."]
[13,"2015-07-31","Application Content/Format","The call for proposals states that the maximum amount to be budgeted for each student is $55,000 per year.  Does this include the cost of overhead?  If the students each receive $35,000 in stipends plus $2,000 in travel, and tuition support (this will be approximately $9,000 for tuition and fees) for a total of $46,000. Can the remaining $9,000 per student per year be used for expenses for materials and supplies/curriculum development expenses, and does the $55,000 total include the overhead on the materials/development costs?","Indirect costs are allowed in the budget provision of $55k per student.  Organizations with a federally approved indirect rate should apply indirect costs according to their indirect rate agreement. Organizations without a federally approved indirect rate must submit an indirect rate proposal. See Section 1.A.3. of the FOA for specific budget requirements.  Expenses for materials and supplies/curriculum development expenses are also included in the $55K budget provision.  Regarding indirect costs, the FOA has been modified to address this issue. Please see the FOA document Modification 0002 posted to the Exchange website."]
[14,"2015-07-31","Application Content/Format","Page 7 of the FOA notes that DOE funded Traineeship awards generally will not support institutional personnel salaries, but limited funds could be used for staff time to pay for development of curriculum, workshops, or courses.  Would it be acceptable to budget up to 1 month of summer salary (and fringe benefits) for principal investigators to complete these tasks and to complete other requirements for carrying out the scholarship program?  If this is not acceptable, what is DOE/EERE’s preferred method for universities to recover those costs?","As you noted on Page 7 of the FOA, limited staff time can be included in the budget for the project.  See also Section I.A.1.e., where it is stated \"Traineeship awards may provide limited support for staff time for new curriculum development (up to 10% of the overall award).\""]
[15,"2015-08-01","Eligibility","For the specific purpose of satisfying section I.A.2.g.i of the FOA, partnership with a DOE National Laboratory, can you let me know if any of the DOE labs shown at http://energy.gov/maps/doe-national-laboratories qualifies?","As stated in Section I.A.2.g.i., “Universities may propose to partner with one or more DOE national laboratories to incorporate program elements that enhance the quality of the training program and specifically address the power engineering (leveraging wide bandgap power electronics) training.”  Applicants need to identify DOE national laboratories and proposed elements at that laboratory that can enhance the specific training program proposed by the university.  "]
[16,"2015-08-03","Application Content/Format","On page 3, under item 1b (required traineeship program elements) it says “5-10 new students per year beginning in the fall of 2016, with a total of 10-20 students per year supported in the year(s) subsequent to the first year”. On page 8, under item A1 (estimated funding) it first says “five-year award not to exceed $5.0 million in total Federal funding”. These two items seem to make sense in conjunction with each other. However, section A1 then goes on to say “it is anticipated that awards will be in the range of $2.5M over 5 years, supporting 9-10 students per year for 5 years”. This seems contradictory to the other two statements, both in terms of the number of students being trained each year and in the total amount of the award. Could you please clarify both how many students should be supported in each of the five program years and what the total award target should be?","DOE's preference is for awards at the $2.5 million level over 5 years to support 9-10 students per year.  The FOA does provide the option for awards at the $5.0 million total federal funding if a higher number of students are being supported.  Applicants may propose a program at either of these funding levels (or in between) that best suits their university and meets the other objectives of the FOA.  "]
[17,"2015-08-03","Eligibility","Could you clarify the eligibility criteria? Section I.A states a Master’s OR doctoral  training program shall be implement. However, section I.A.2.f.iii states the eligibility criteria to be U.S. based university granting Masters AND Ph.D. degrees.  Just to confirm, if a university does not offer a PhD program, it is not eligible to be a prime recipient.","The Applicant must have an accredited college or school of engineering that is an integral part of its institutional structure and have a graduate degree program granting Masters or Ph.D. degrees in power engineering or an equivalent curriculum.  The FOA was modified to clarify that a Masters or Ph.D. degree program is needed to be eligible.  Therefore, if a school only has a Masters degree program in power engineering, it is eligible to apply as long as it meets the other eligibility requirements of the FOA (See Section III.A of the FOA)."]
[18,"2015-08-03","Eligibility","I want to submit a proposal for this call. But, I have a question that in our university we have only a Master's program. I want to submit for a traineeship program for Master's graduate students only. I wonder if this is legal because we do not have PhD program yet?","Please see response to Question #17 above."]
[19,"2015-08-03","Application Content/Format","I just finished creating a record for the Letter of Intent for the DOE Traineeship in Power Engineering program. After clicking the \"Create Letter of Intent\" button, I was expecting to be directed to a page where the letter could be uploaded.  I know that I also have to send the letter by e-mail. However, EERE Exchange said that my Letter of Intent had been completed.  My question is in regards to being able to update information on the Letter of Intent record.  I did not include a formal abstract or title (only placeholders), and I would like to be able to add partner organizations to the record.  I wanted to create the record ahead of time to make sure I had the control #.  I was not intending to submit the record at that time.  Will this be a problem, or can I make updates to the record before the Friday deadline? ","The application process will include two phases: a recommended Letters of Intent phase and a Full Application phase. Applicants need to create a Letter of Intent record in EERE Exchange by selecting the ‘Apply’ button next to the FOA; populating the required information; and selecting the ‘Create Letter of Intent’ button at the bottom of the record. The Letter of Intent is not uploaded to the EERE Exchange website. The  Applicant must create a separate Letter of Intent document for email submission to EERE, and the Applicant control number must be included in the Letter of Intent document submitted via email. Letters of Intent must be submitted via email to the following email address: AMOTraineeship@ee.doe.gov. Once the Letter of Intent Full Application is submitted in EERE Exchange, Applicants may revise or update the record application until the expiration of the applicable deadline.  However, if you make changes to the Letter of Intent information in Exchange, please be sure to hit the “Create Letter of Intent” button again in order to ensure the revisions are submitted."]
[20,"2015-08-04","Eligibility","Our University has an established Power Engineering Program in our department and grant M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering to our students specializing in Power. I was wondering if your funding opportunity requires universities to grant both M.Sc. and Ph.D., or granting M.Sc. alone is sufficient for eligibility?","Please see response to Question #17 above."]
[21,"2015-08-04","Application Content/Format","I want to develop an advanced experimental platform for power electronics teaching and research. Please let me know if the FOA will consider such projects or not. In addition, please clarify the ownership of the project outcome/prototype?","As stated in Section I of the FOA, applications should target support for two years of a graduate student’s Ph.D. level training, but could also support graduate students pursuing a terminal Master’s degree if the Master’s degree requires a thesis project.  The traineeship awards may provide limited support for staff time for new curriculum development (up to 10% of the overall award).  It is the responsibility of applicants to clearly demonstrate how the proposed activities is responsive to the objectives of the FOA, including, any proposed use of curriculum development support to create an experimental platform.  Should you be selected for award, the ownership of project outcomes will be negotiated within the Intellectual Property Provisions of the grant. The standard DOE financial assistance intellectual property provisions applicable to the various types of recipients are located at: http://energy.gov/gc/standard-intellectual-property-ip-provisions-financial-assistance-awards  "]
[22,"2015-08-04","Eligibility","Could a possible team for this project involve multiple universities.  That is one lead university plus a second university plus the DOE National Laboratory?  Any information about the practicality of this arrangement would be helpful.","Please see response to Question #3 above."]
[23,"2015-08-05","Labs/FFRDCs","How will the Labs be funded if they are partnering with universities? Is the (university) prime expected to budget for Lab involvement and consider that in their cost share?","The university applicant should include any laboratory costs in their proposed budget.  DOE funds provided to the laboratory to support the laboratory's part of the proposed scope are part of the overall federal budget for the project and therefore subject to the federal funding limits for new awards under the FOA (see Section II.A.1).   DOE laboratory partners will be funded directly from DOE.  See Response to Question 10 and FOA Sections IV.C.8 and IV.C.9.  Note that non-federal cost share is not required in response to this FOA.  "]
[24,"2015-08-05","Labs/FFRDCs","Are the Labs expected to fund any student internships/involvement from existing and future projects?  If so, the Labs will need to know so they can budget accordingly as well.","Please see responses to Q6 and Q10.  Student internship and training costs should be included in the Applicant's proposed budget.  See Section I.A.3. of the FOA. "]
[25,"2015-08-06","Eligibility","Our highest degree offered is a Master's, can we still apply for this grant?","Please see response to Question #17 above."]
[26,"2015-08-10","Eligibility","We have a potential industry partner (Company X) for this proposal. The department of Company X that we want to directly collaborate with has NASA funded research projects related to power engineering.  Are they eligible to be a partner? If the NASA funded projects don't make them eligible for collaboration, are they eligible if other departments of Company A have DOE projects related to power engineering?","DOE cannot make eligibility determinations in advance, or advise whether an application should be submitted. The intent of the FOA is for students in the training program to be actively involved with one or more research efforts, or engaged in the other activities described in Section III.A.2 of the FOA, as part of a partnership with entities receiving funding from DOE or DOD.  Your application should explicitly describe how the partnership requirements described in the FOA is satisfied.  "]
[27,"2015-08-10","Eligibility","We have discussed with a DOD Research Lab who is interested in partnering with us to respond to this FOA. It's not clear to us if this is possible since it is not a DOE lab nor a non-federal organizations. Would this lab fall under the non-DOE/NNSA FFRDC category specified under the eligibility requirements section in the FOA? We are partnering with a DOE lab and a non-federal organization in addition.","As long as the partnership requirement in Section III.A.2. of the FOA is met, other partners may be included in the application as long as they further the overall objectives of the FOA. The Federal agency must authorize in writing the use of the Research Lab on the proposed project and this authorization must be submitted with the application. The use of a Research Lab must be consistent with its statutory authority.  Funding for another Federal agency or its FFRDC (if proposed) would be through an interagency agreement under the Economy Act or other statutory authority."]
[28,"2015-08-11","Application Content/Format","The guidelines state that, \"The $55K per student per year assumes...a $30-35K stipend per year...\". If my institution has a policy that grant-funded students cannot be paid more than the normal stipend rate, which is less than $30K, is it allowable to budget the lower rate or does DOE require we pay trainees at least $30K?","Universities should follow their own institution policies regarding stipends, and if those differ from the FOA stipend figures, then this should be explained in the application."]
[29,"2015-08-11","Application Content/Format","Are travel costs for subrecipient institution personnel to travel to the lead institution allowable?","Travel costs are allowable if they are allocable to the project and follow the regulations for the entity type. Costs must be in accordance with the entity’s written travel policy. Please refer to 2 CFR 200.474 for complete information on travel and airfare costs."]
[30,"2015-08-12","Application Content/Format","I’m working on a proposal preparation and it is a five-year proposal. I only see three budget periods from the EERE 159 Form downloaded from EERE Website. Is there any 5-year period EERE 159 Budget Form available?","The Workplan section of the FOA (Section IV.C.2.) requests approximately annual performance periods and associated with go/no-go decision points; the budget periods should align with decision points.  A 5-year budget form is now available on the Exchange website for your use.  Note the budget form was recently updated from EERE 159 to EERE 335.1 which allows for 5 budget periods to be proposed.  The EERE 159 form may be modified to add columns to include the 5 budget periods.  Either form is acceptable to submit with your application.  "]
[31,"2015-08-12","Cost Sharing","We are considering offering voluntary cost share in our proposal budget.  We understand this is not a requirement of the FOA but is encouraged.  Page 13 of the FOA states, “Applicants are required to provide written assurance of their proposed cost share contributions in their Full Applications.  Upon selection for award negotiations, Applicants are required to provide additional information and documentation regarding their cost share contributions. Please refer to Appendix B of the FOA for guidance on the requisite cost share information and documentation.” We are happy to provide written assurance of our proposed cost share contributions, but we were unable to find any additional guidance in Appendix B regarding how that should be documented in the full proposal.  Would a letter verifying the cost share source and amount from our AOR suffice as written assurance?  If so, should this be included in the technical proposal PDF? Please confirm it will not count toward the 20-page limit.","The funding amount that is indicated on Block 18. b. of the SF-424 Application Form serves as the primary applicant's cost share contribution. The authorized signature of this form serves as certification of applicant cost share. However, if selected for award negotiations, EERE may require additional information to verify the source of funding and allowability of the applicant cost share. If the cost share funding will come from an entity other than the prime applicant a Third-Party Cost Share Letter(s) is required. This should be a separate pdf document and will not count towards the 20-page limit of the technical proposal."]
[32,"2015-08-13","Application Content/Format","We are applying for funding opportunity number DE‐FOA‐0001378 and would like to inquire if there are any budget restriction on the F&A rate.","Please see response to Question 7 above."]
[33,"2015-08-13","Application Content/Format","It is a five- year proposal. I only see three budget periods from the EERE 159 Form downloaded from EERE Website. Is there any 5-year period EERE 159 Budget Form available?","Please see response to Question 30 above."]
[34,"2015-08-13","Application Content/Format","From the FOA, The $55K per student per year assumes 12-month student participation, a $30-35K stipend per year, and no more than $2-3K for traineeship-related travel per student per year. I am not quite sure whether $30k is the FIRM minimum stipend requirement (mandatory requirement) or just a rough stipend amount for the participating students. For my institution, 12 month stipend for a Graduate student is $2,226/mon ×12=$26,712 which is lower than $30-35K. Please advise if it is okay?","Please see response to Question 28 above."]
[35,"2015-08-14","Application Content/Format","Would it be acceptable to budget up to 1 month of summer salary for principal investigators for course development and annual workshops? Page 7 of the FOA, limited staff time can be included in the budget for the project.  Section I.A.1.e. stated \"Traineeship awards may provide limited support for staff time for new curriculum development (up to 10% of the overall award).\" Is that okay if the total budget  for principal investigators for course development and annual workshops (including PI summer Salary, Fringe Benefit and related F&A) is less than 10% of the overall cost? Could you please confirm if PI Summary salary  is acceptable to be STAFF TIME? ","As stated in the FOA, up to 10% of the overall award funding may be support staff time to new curriculum development.  It is up to the applicant to propose to DOE how this will be accomplished and how this supports the overall traineeship program at the university.  A principle investigator's summary salary would be considered by DOE to be costs associated with \"staff time\".  "]
[36,"2015-08-18","Due Dates","Is there a possibility that you may extend the deadline of Sep 3, 2015?","At this time, no extension for the September 3, 2015 due date is anticipated. If an extension is considered necessary, a modification to the FOA will be processed and uploaded to the EERE Exchange website. "]
[37,"2015-08-18","Application Content/Format","Everywhere in the guidelines the only form mentioned is EERE159. At the web site the only form for the Budget Justification that is available is EERE335. Do I understand this correctly, that I should use the new form, EERE335, for the submission? Does the same rule apply to the subawardees?","See response to Question 30 above. And, yes, the same applies for subrecipient(s) budget(s) that exceed $250K over the entire project period."]
[38,"2015-08-18","Cost Sharing","The FOA indicates that it supports graduate students for 2 years. Usually, a PhD program takes 3 to 4 year to finish.  We intend to provide support for the graduate student beyond their 2 years of support by the DOE.  Could that be claimed as volunteer cost share?  For years 3 and 4, graduate students will be supported through non-federal GRA (graduate research assistantship) or non-federal GTA (graduate teaching assistantship).","The intent of the FOA is to support a 2-year traineeship program for Masters and PhD students.  Therefore, financial support provided beyond this period would not be considered as cost share for the purposes of awards made under this FOA. While cost sharing is not a requirement of the FOA, non-federal cost share proposed to support the 2-year traineeship period would be considered as voluntary committed cost share and would become a binding requirement of the Federal award.  Applicants may describe how the 2-year traineeship program fits within an overall Masters or PhD program at the university to include planned support after the students complete in the initial 2-year period.  All project costs, including proposed cost share, must be reasonable, allowable and allocable to the scope of the DOE project, per 2 CFR 200.  Based on the information provided, it is unclear if after the 2-year traineeship program, the graduate student will continue to work on activities defined in the scope of the DOE project.   If not, the costs associated with that graduate student after the 2 years, would not be allocable to the project and therefore, would not be allowable as cost share. "]
[39,"2015-08-20","Cost Sharing","To clarify Question 38: Typically, research work and dissertation topic of a PhD student are defined to be the same. Therefore, if a PhD student that is supported through the DOE grant needs one or two more years of (GTA/GRA) support from the host university to complete his/her degree with a dissertation on activities defined in the scope of the DOE project, then, Is the complementary GTA/GRA support considered as cost share?","Please refer again to Answer 38.  Based on the provided information, we cannot make a clear determination if this cost share would be allowable.  Please understand that cost share is not a requirement of this FOA and any cost share funds proposed would become a binding requirement of the Federal award.  "]
[40,"2015-08-20","Application Content/Format","I recently became aware of your FOA for graduate students working wide bandgap semiconductors. I understand that the letter of intent deadline has passed. Can we still submit for the full application submission even so? If not, will there be another submission window for this FOA? Your kind reply would be very much appreciated.","The submission of a Letter of Intent is not a requirement of the Full Application.  Therefore, you may still submit a Full Application.  However, per the FOA, DOE uses the Letters of Intent for planning purposes, so it is requested that a Letter of Intent still be submitted to the email Mailbox (AMOTraineeship@ee.doe.gov), even though the submission deadline has passed."]
[41,"2015-08-20","Application Content/Format","I see that this question has been asked in several ways on the FAQ’s (question9, 10 and 16) but I remain somewhat confused regarding how the $55,000/student is calculated. In particular does the overhead associated with student participation costs count toward this cap?","Yes, the overhead (Fringe and Indirect costs) associated with student participation should be included in the $55,000/student. However, all Applicants with a federally approved indirect rate must apply indirect costs according to their indirect rate agreement. Applicants without a federally approved indirect rate must submit an indirect rate proposal. See Section 1.A.3. of the FOA for specific budget requirements.  Student participation costs in excess of $55K (if any) should be covered by the Applicant or partner with non-federal cost share dollars. Regarding indirect costs, the FOA has been modified to address this issue. Please see the FOA document Modification 0002 posted to the Exchange website."]
[42,"2015-08-21","Cost Sharing","Can you please explain what is meant by \"Project Teams may not use independent research and development (IR&D) funds to meet their cost share obligations\" page 12, 3rd paragraph?","IR&D costs are costs incurred by an organization for research that is not specific to a project. Cost share must be allocated specifically to the proposed project and per regulations, IR&D funds are only allowable, in certain circumstances, for For-Profit entities."]
[43,"2015-08-21","Labs/FFRDCs","Are we understanding correctly that the money the partnered DOE National Laboratory requests in NOT considered part of the total award but is funded separately? I.E. when we prepare the budget this money for the DOE National Lab will NOT be included in the total?","The budget for the FFRDC should be included in the total project costs, but will be funded directly by DOE. The funds should be listed separately under the FFRDC section of the Contractual tab in the Budget Justification. "]
[44,"2015-08-21","Application Content/Format","Does the $55K per student per year include all eligible costs? For example, are the student stipend, travel cost, tuition cost, indirect cost, fringe benefit cost and the 10% allowed for support staff time for curriculum development part of the $55K per student per year requirement? Are some of the costs outside of the $55K per student per year cost requirement, i.e. indirect costs?","Please see responses to question 7, 16, 28, 35 and 41. Regarding indirect costs, the FOA has been modified to address this issue. Please see the FOA document Modification 0002 posted to the Exchange website."]
[45,"2015-08-21","Application Content/Format","Should the cost of the project for all activities equal $55K per student for 9-10 students?","See response to question 16."]
[46,"2015-08-21","Application Content/Format","Are mentor costs allowed?","Please see the following Sections of the FOA:  I.A.1.c., I.A.2.a. and I.A.2.f."]
[47,"2015-08-24","Application Content/Format","Is it allowed to add partners after the letter of intent?","Yes, partners may be added after the Letter of Intent of was submitted to DOE.  We do request your submit a revised letter to the to the following email address: AMOTraineeship@ee.doe.gov, and also update the partners in the EERE Exchange website.  See response to Question 19.  "]
[48,"2015-08-24","Application Content/Format","There are at least two questions in the FAQ’s regarding this program with the answers indicating that F & A can be charged on the stipend and trainee costs and instructing applicants to refer to their F & A agreement.   With the changes that came in the issuance of the Uniform Guidance, it appears to me that F & A would be excluded from the trainee costs entirely as the Uniform Guidance instructs participant support costs to be excluded from the MTDC, over which F & A is calculated.  I find this in section § 200.68 Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC) of the UG.  With this information, should we exclude participant support costs, including  the stipend, travel and other student costs, from the MTDC and therefore the F & A calculation?","The FOA has been modified to address this issue. Please see the FOA document Modification 0002 posted to the Exchange website."]
[49,"2015-08-25","Labs/FFRDCs","As a National Laboratory supporting a University in response to this FOA, we need to know the Budget and Reporting Number, associated Headquarters Organization and Headquarters/Operations Office Program Manager (name and phone number) for our field work proposal.  Please respond with this information ASAP because we need to submit our field work proposal to our local site office.  ","The Budget and Reporting Number is not required at this time and will be provided if the application is selected for negotiation for award.  The Headquarters Organization is the EERE Advanced Manufacturing Office.  You can simply put Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Office for the name and number.  "]
[50,"2015-08-25","Application Content/Format","On page 4, under section 1. Required Traineeship Program Elements, line item e. reads: “Applications for graduate traineeships should clearly describe the planned curriculum for graduate training, and describe any proposed new curriculum development where new courses, workshops, etc. are needed as part of the traineeship program of study. Traineeship awards may provide limited support for staff time for new curriculum development (up to 10% of the overall award).” Should this be interpreted that the 10% limitation applies to new proposed activities needed as part of the traineeship program of study and therefore, the 10% stipulation only applies for new curriculum development and not established programs?","As stated in the FOA, traineeship awards may provide limited support for staff time for new curriculum development (up to 10% of the overall award).  This applies to new curriculum development and not to other activities including established programs.  "]
[51,"2015-08-27","Application Content/Format","What can be included in the modified total direct costs (MTDC) for the indirect costs in the project budget?","Per 2 CFR 200.68, an Applicant’s Modified Total Direct Cost base must exclude equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs and the portion of each subaward and subcontract in excess of $25,000.  Therefore, the Applicant’s indirect rate cannot be applied against the portion of the budget designated to tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs or stipends. Per 2 CFR 200.75, participant support costs are defined as direct costs for items such as stipends or subsistence allowances, travel allowances, and registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with conferences, or training projects. Please see section Section 1.A.3. of the FOA modification 0002 posted to the Exchange website. Also, please see revisions to the responses above highlighted in yellow."]
[52,"2015-08-28","Labs/FFRDCs","Could you please tell me to whom the CO authorization letter should be addressed for the subject FOA?  ","Correspondence should be addressed to \"DOE Contracting Officer\"."]
[53,"2015-08-31","Application Content/Format","For the purposes of calculating F&A (indirect) costs, are GAs considered trainees or participants?  Typically we would not consider a GA a participant and therefore their stipend and travel would be subject to F&A (tuition would not).  However, because this is a traineeship program, must we exclude the GA stipend, travel, and materials from F&A?  In other words, are all costs Participant Support costs and therefore not subject to F&A?","Please see response to question 51 above. Additionally, please consult your accounting department and/or your cognizant Federal agency for guidance on what can be included in your indirect costs."]
[54,"2015-09-02","Application Content/Format","I have a question about the Subawardee Budget Justification. We have two subawardees with two Subawardee Budget Justification forms. There seems to be space for only one Subawardee Budget Justification form to be uploaded in EERE Exchange. Should I put the other as an Appendix/Other attachment? ","In Exchange, under the “Upload and Submit” tab, there is a section at the bottom to “Upload New Additional File”.  Please upload additional subawardee budgets there."]

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