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["Technology Commercialization Fund Lab Call - Questions/Answers (DE-LC-000L093 )"]
["Updated: April 26, 2022"]
["#","Date Asked","Topic","Question","Answer"]
[1,"2022-02-15","Eligibility","What sites are considered eligible for this TCF?","See Section II.A.i for eligibility for the lab call. Additionally, all eligible National Laboratories are listed in Appendix C of the lab call.  "]
[2,"2022-02-17","Timeline","Is there a time frame to expect the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) TCF announcement?","The BETO announcement is expected in the next few weeks. A list of DOE Programs participating in TCF lab calls and the call and estimated date of the call is provided in Appendix B."]
[3,"2022-02-20","Partners","Can DOE Technology Commercialization fund appropriations be used by labs to partner with foreign entities with a product in development stage?","Teaming partners are determined solely by the National Laboratories. All partnerships between the labs and outside partners must comply with individual lab requirements under their M&O contracts."]
[4,"2022-02-22","Partners","If an organization is interested in partnering on TCF Topics outside of this lab call should they register by using the teaming list described in this lab call.","The optional teaming list described in Section I.C  is designed to expedite external partnerships in support of this lab call.  "]
[5,"2022-02-22","Partners","When will the Teaming Partner List be made available? ","As stated is Section I.C., the Teaming Partner List will be posted to Exchange when the first organization requests inclusion in the list. It will be updated regularly. "]
[6,"2022-02-22","Reporting","How will DOE be collecting data from labs on the new Impact Tracking metrics described in II.A.ii?","See Section II.A.ii, Full Application Requirements, regarding Impact Tracking. "]
[7,"2022-02-22","Process","Does a proposal need to align with needs of an office participating in this call?","The topics listed in this lab call do not require any specific technology types. These topics address core needs to improve commercialization of national lab developed technologies. "]
[8,"2022-02-22","Process","Will each lab participating in a multi-lab funded project be funded directly under a work authorization?","Please see Section 2.B.ii Selection for Award Negotiation. "]
[9,"2022-02-22","Cost Share","Can cost share be split amongst multiple partners? ","Please see Appendix A for additional information regarding cost share. "]
[10,"2022-02-22","Topics General","Will specific technology development or TRL levels be funded under the current call?","Please see Section I.D Topic Area Descriptions, Topic 4, Technology Specific Partnerships. "]
[11,"2022-02-22","Eligibility","Is this lab call only for DOE lab sites, plants, or can non-profits and other entities apply?","As stated in Section II.A.i, only DOE labs and sites are eligible to be the prime applicant. To the extent possible and appropriate, DOE also seeks multilab projects that involve industry engagement or industry partners as well, to enhance the “market pull” aspects of the commercialization programming. "]
[12,"2022-02-22","Process","Will a recording of the webinars and the presentation deck be available? ","The National Lab TTO webinar was recorded and was made available to the National Lab TTO points of contact identified in Appendix C. The presentation deck from the National Lab TTO Webinar has been posted publicly to Exchange.  "]
[13,"2022-02-22","Process","Where can I find the solicitation? ","The lab call is posted to Exchange: https://ott-exchange.energy.gov/."]
[14,"2022-02-22","Process","Where can I find the Q/A? ","The Q/A will be posted to Exchange: https://ott-exchange.energy.gov/."]
[15,"2022-02-22","Process","Where can I find a list of labs?","Appendix C in the lab call has a list of labs and points of contact. "]
[16,"2022-02-22","Process","Will project funding be allocated by the funding program or will the funding be in all in one pot for distribution?","Please see Section 2.C.ii Selection for Award Negotiation. "]
[17,"2022-02-22","Process","What information should organizations interested in teaming with a lab provide? ","As stated in Section I.C. of the lab call, any organization that would like to be included on this list should submit the following information in Excel format to TCF@hq.doe.gov with the subject line “Teaming Partner Information”: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Expertise, Brief Description of Capabilities, and Applicable Topic and Subtopic."]
[18,"2022-02-22","Process","What information should an organization provide if they contact a lab directly?","DOE does not require any specific structure for this."]
[19,"2022-02-22","Cost Share","Can cost share be in kind or must it be direct?","Please see Appendix A for additional information regarding cost share. "]
[20,"2022-02-22","Cost Share","Will projects with 0% cost share be considered? ","Please see Section I.C Cost Share. Each proposal that applies to a subtopic (b) may propose to meet less than 50% of total project cost-share funds requirement."]
[21,"2022-02-22","Cost Share","Does non-federal funding originating from the M&O contractor qualify as industry cost match?","Please see Appendix A regarding acceptable contributions. "]
[22,"2022-02-22","Process","How will program offices participate in funding decisions?","Participating programs offices will be involved in reviews, lab presentations and selection recommendation. The participating  offices have been involved in all steps of the lab call to date."]
[23,"2022-02-22","Partners","Do labs take equity from partnerships? ","Each lab will choose who they partner with on any proposals. As such, DOE will defer to the labs as far as any requirements. The lab call does not place any restrictions."]
[24,"2022-02-22","Concept Slide","Is including all the external partners required in the concept slide? ","No."]
[25,"2022-02-22","Partners","Who qualifies as an outside partner?","Please see Section II.A.i on Partners."]
[26,"2022-02-22","Process","If a proposal is partnered between two labs which Labs, which TTO office will be submitting the proposal?","That can be determined by the participating labs. The lab call does not place any restrictions."]
[27,"2022-02-22","Process","Are there requirements for funding division for multiple lab proposals?","Funding division and other aspects of lab or partner participation in a proposal should be determined by those participating in the application. The lab call does not place any restrictions."]
[28,"2022-02-22","Process","Could potential future TCF lab calls include the programs participating in this call? ","Please see Section I.D, Topic Area Descriptions, Topic 4. Moving forward, OTT and all DOE program offices expect to learn from this new FY22 approach and will incorporate lessons learned into future fiscal year TCF approaches and lab calls."]
[29,"2022-02-22","Cost Share","What are Subtopic a and Subtopic b?","Please see Section I.C., Cost Share."]
[30,"2022-02-22","Partners","Can National labs collaborate with Universities on jointly developed technologies?","Please see the responses to Questions #10 and #11 above. "]
[31,"2022-02-22","Topic 6","For topic six must the proposal be about general methods or can a specific technology be proposed as an example or case study?","Applicants can decide how they would like to best propose meeting the goals and objectives of each topic area."]
[32,"2022-02-22","Cost Share","What is the measure used to determine if cost share will be waived? ","Please see Section I.C Cost Share."]
[33,"2022-02-22","Eligibility","Is this funding only for the concept stage or is it also for the prototype stage?","Please see the response to Question #10 above."]
[34,"2022-02-22","Eligibility","Can non-labs receive funding through the lead?","Please see the response to Question #27 above."]
[35,"2022-02-22","Process","Some DOE programs are not included in this call. Should applicants wait for the calls from technology specific programs?","Please see Appendix B for all Offices intending to issue technology specific lab calls. Applicants can decide which lab calls are most appropriate for their proposals."]
[36,"2022-02-22","Eligibility","Are external partners eligible to be the lead applicants? And receive funding from the DOE if selected? Or will funding be negotiated between partners and labs post award?","Please see the responses to Questions #11 and #27 above."]
[37,"2022-02-22","Topic 3","Could you clarify the statement on Topic 3:  It is highly encouraged that labs partner with external organizations on proposals for this topic.","DOE highly encourages labs to partner with external organizations and private companies, as such partners may have deep knowledge and experience performing many of the activities described in the topics, some may have already built needed components under many of the topic areas, and some may help advance DOE’s DEI goals."]
[38,"2022-02-22","Eligibility","How can individual inventors with a prototype ready apply for this?","Please see the response to Question #10 above."]
[39,"2022-02-22","Process","How will non-participating offices run TCF?","Please see Section I.A. Background and Context."]
[40,"2022-02-22","Process","How will the participating Program Offices be funding the awarded project if the proposals are to be about general methods/tools?","Please see Section 2.B.ii Selection for Award Negotiation. "]
[41,"2022-02-22","Process","Will there be funding beyond year 3 of the project? Or are labs expected to fund activities beyond year 3?","Please see Section II.B.i regarding Merit Review and Selection Process. Criterion 1 includes a factor regarding long-term viability of the project. The categories and relative ranking criteria listed in this section will be used to evaluate submissions."]
[42,"2022-02-22","Partners","If an idea requires partnership with DOE program office for implementation (not at the proposal stage) - are such ideas welcome?","Please see Section II.A.ii Full Application Requirements for how to describe relationships between the proposed project and DOE. "]
[43,"2022-02-22","Process","In the table of proposed budgets, are those just proposed such that other budgets can be negotiated? Why is there less funding in additional years? Can the distribution of funds over the project timeline be negotiated too?","The Budget per Project table in Section I.C. Available Funding should be followed for the suggested budget per project; however, it is not required to be followed. The table reflects DOE’s interest in funding multiple labs to address shared commercialization challenges. Single-lab solutions are of interest; however, to be selected for larger funding amounts, this table suggests that labs should collaborate and the proposed solutions must be applicable across the collaboration. The budget size, tasks, and scope of proposed projects can be adjusted by DOE during selections and negotiations."]
[44,"2022-02-22","Partners","How does one create a technology agnostic program when potential partners are tied to a specific technology?","Topics address core needs to improve commercialization of national lab developed technologies, not to commercialize a specific technology. Applicants may wish to partner with external organizations and private companies, with a deep knowledge and experience performing the activities described in the topics, such as incubators, accelerators and private funders that are technology agnostic. "]
[45,"2022-02-22","Partners","How does an organization connect/partner with a lab to be able to apply for this opportunity?","The Teaming Partner List described in Section I.C is designed to expedite external partnerships in support of this lab call. In addition, a list of National Lab TTO points of contacts is available in Appendix C of lab call.  "]
[46,"2022-02-22","Partners","Can partners receive funding?","Please see the response to Question #27 above."]
[47,"2022-02-22","Topic 1","Is Topic 1 meant to produce general methods and/or tools for \"needs-assessment\" or can the proposal be to perform the needs-assessment for a specific technology?","Please see the response to Question #31 above."]
[48,"2022-02-22","Process","If the idea proposed might require housing costs or travel expenses for the initiative to be successful — are those allowable costs to include into a proposed budget? \n","Please see Section II.A.ii Full Application Requirements, Proposed Base Budget and Options. The recommended budget should be broken down by cost category (for example, personnel, travel, equipment, supplies, contractual, indirect, etc.). The lab call does not provide a restrictive list of accepted expenses, but all expenses must comply with any individual lab requirements under their M&O contracts."]
[49,"2022-02-22","Process","Is there a maximum award threshold for the project proposal?  ","Please see Section I.C. Budget per Project. "]
[50,"2022-02-22","Topics General","Is there a limit on the number of months or years to make the project impact?","Please see Section II.B.i regarding Merit Review and Selection Process. Criterion 1 includes factors focusing on impact. The categories  and relative ranking criteria listed in this section will be used to evaluate submissions."]
[51,"2022-02-22","Process","Do the proposals have to be relevant to the program offices participating in this call? For example, if R&D in XYZ area has been traditionally funded by VTO, would a proposal targeted that industry be funded by this call, even though VTO is not participating.","Please see the response to Question #7 above."]
[52,"2022-02-22","Process","Which Offices are participating in the Combined Lab Call? ","Please see Section I.A. Background and Context."]
[53,"2022-03-01","Timeline","Can the TCF Concept Slides and the TCF Full Proposal deadlines be extended? ","No extensions to the currently posted deadlines will be made at this time due to DOE's requirement to obligate fiscal funds within the fiscal year and the delay in releasing this lab call this year. Additionally, concept slides are optional. The goal is to provide up to two rounds of feedback to the labs via the concept slides and presentations. These are not required and labs have until April 29, 2022 to submit a full application. "]
[54,"2022-03-17","Review","Will there be a variety of reviewers for the full proposals for TCF (for example, reviewers from the energy programs), or will reviewers be only members of OTT and NA10.1?","Please see Section II.B.i regarding the Merit Review and Selection Process. Selection of winning proposals will be determined based on available funding and input from DOE and external reviewers. OTT selects outside reviewers with the goal of having reviewer perspectives represent both relevant and diverse view points for all projects."]
[55,"2022-03-21","Process","Is it possible for non-lab partner organizations to participate during the \"Lab Presentations to DOE\"?  ","Prime labs can choose who they’d like to present and are welcome to invite other labs and non-lab partners to their presentation. Partner lab and non-lab partner participation in the presentation and Q&A portion will be at the discretion of the prime lab. Labs and non-lab partners are not permitted to listen in on other concept slide presentations unless invited by the prime lab. "]
[56,"2022-03-31","Process","The solicitation states in the Technical Narrative Work Plan section, “A detailed WBS is requested separately.” Is this referring to once a project gets awarded?","The detailed WBS will not be counted in the 15-page limit and should be included in the application as an appendix."]
[57,"2022-03-31","Process","Will full proposals have to fill out all of the info requested in the EERE Exchange (i.e. Financials, Performers, Project Plan, Project Milestones, Risks, Modalities/TRL). Some of the budget info requested through the Exchange is asking for different/conflicting info then what is requested in the technical volume’s budget section (asking funding by FY versus by task). ","DOE will only be reviewing and evaluating the budget information in the application. Any high level information submitted for the Exchange system is for application tracking purposes only. "]
[58,"2022-03-31","Process","Do you have a suggested template for the budget info requested in the technical volume?","No template is provided. Please see section II.A.ii.8 for a description of the budget elements to be included with the application."]
[59,"2022-04-05","Process","Will we be able to submit a pdf version of the proposal that includes graphics?  The text-based submission portal doesn’t allow graphics and may create problems in explaining certain concepts clearly.","Yes, graphics are allowed in the full application. Graphics are counted towards the 15-page limit. The Exchange system allows for any kind of pdf uploads. Please see section II.A.ii for the full application requirements. "]
[60,"2022-04-07","Process","Can DOE provide a template or more detailed guidance on the components required for the WBS?","Please talk with your lab's TTO office to determine what WBS approaches your lab has used for DOE applications previously. OTT is fine with any of the WBS formats or approaches used with DOE before. Additionally, if what was done previously does not work well for your proposed idea, feel free to propose a WBS that you think communicates your idea clearly."]
[61,"2022-04-07","Process","Does \"budget period\" refer to a quarterly or yearly timeframe? Can it be defined by the proposer?","Budget period is not defined in the lab call so it can be defined by the proposer. It is recommended that when using something besides a standard twelve-month time frame to explain why in the proposal. Please see section II.A.ii.8 for a description of the budget elements to be included with the application."]
[62,"2022-04-07","Process","Can you confirm that any lab ORTA POC listed in Appendix C of the FOA is eligible to submit proposals within the Exchange system? ","Yes, any ORTA POC listed in Appendix C of the FOA is eligible to submit proposals within the Exchange system. See section II.A.i for eligibilty information."]
[63,"2022-04-07","Process","Will funding come directly to the labs from OTT or will it come from the individual DOE program offices supporting this call - for example - if a project is funded, will a lab receive multiple \"pots\" of funding? ","The current funding approach is structured as potentially multiple pots of funding per project awarded. OTT will be working with the participating Program Offices to simplify the process as much as allowable. Please see Section II.B.ii for a description of the type of award instrument."]
[64,"2022-04-07","Process","Regarding a prior Q&A provided by DOE that any high-level information submitted for the Exchange system is for application tracking purposes only, can you confirm that labs can leave the following exchange sections blank/or with TBD: financials, performers, project plan, risks, modalities/try, project impacts? ","Correct, any information provided in Exchange itself is for tracking purposes only, however, please fill in the fields that apply as best you can so that DOE is able to track the applications themselves."]
[65,"2022-04-07","Process","Is there a template or required format for the budget? ","There is no template or required format. Only the elements described in Section II.A.ii.8 are required."]
[66,"2022-04-07","Process","In the Exchange system, the financial section asks for costs. Should this reflect total cost including cost share or DOE provided lab funding only?","Yes, the financial section should reflect 100% of the total project cost. Therefore, please include any cost share.  "]
[67,"2022-04-07","Partners","Is anyone besides cost share providers required to submit a Letter of Commitment (LOC)?","Yes. Please see Section II.A.ii.9 and II.B.i.Criterion 3. If applicable, submit letters of commitment from all subrecipient and third-party cost-share providers. If applicable, also include any letters of commitment from partners/end users (1-page maximum per letter; these are not counted in the 15-page limit)...Participation—The level of participation by project participants, as evidenced by letter(s) of commitment and how well they are integrated into the work plan. "]
[68,"2022-04-24","Process","Exchange doesn’t let you select more than one topic area, how should multiple topic proposals be submitted?","As stated in Section II.A.ii.Title Page ...all topics and subtopics that the team believes are addressed by the proposal should be listed on the title page and the interconnectedness should be highlighted in the proposal itself. The proposal will be reviewed and evaluated under all respective topics indicated.\""]
[69,"2022-04-24","Eligibility","Exchange does not list KCNSC, Nevada National Security Site, Pantex Plant, and Y-12 (noted in the solicitation) are not listed as options for laboratory partners. ","Details of lab and non-lab partners should be included in the application itself. Please see Section II.A.ii for the full application requirements. DOE will only be reviewing and evaluating the partner information in the application. Any high level information submitted for the Exchange system is for application tracking purposes only. "]
[70,"2022-04-22","Eligibility","Does a TTO officer need to be the PI or co-PI of the proposal?","No."]
[71,"2022-04-22","Eligibility","We understand that if awarded, the funds will come to the lab through the existing work authorization process. To whom the fund will be authorized? In the event the PI is not with the TTO office, will the fund be authorized to the PI's division/department or the TTO office?","DOE defers to the accounting processes of the labs for distribution of awarded funds in a manner consistent with established DOE accounting processes. Please see Section II.B.ii. "]

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