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["INSTRUCTIONS"]
[1,"All questions pertaining to this funding opportunity announcement should be emailed to agrivoltaics@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-FOA0002697 - Foundational Agrivoltaic Research for Megawatt Scale (FARMS)"]
["Question #","Date Submitted","Topic","Question","Answer"]
[1,"2022-05-06","Technical Topics","Is there a size limit on the acres a farm needs to be to apply for this grant?","Please see section I.B. of the FOA regarding Topic Areas"]
[2,"2022-05-06","Technical Topics","Does the farm need to be using REGEN AG methods at the time they apply for this grant? If they are just starting using REGEN AG on their farm, can they still qualify?  Does the farm need to apply as a TEAM? IE a farm that qualifies who is set up to work with an existing + qualifying Solar Installation Company?","The DOE does not provide evaluation on applications or teams prior to review of concept papers and applications.  It is up to the recipient to determine how/what they will submit as part of their application."]
[3,"2022-05-06","Eligibility","We were wondering whether State Offices could apply for this as well?\nWe’re looking at a potential partnership with our State Department of Agriculture, and maybe including other organizations that are not State government. ","Please see section III of the FOA regarding eligibility. "]
[4,"2022-05-05","Eligibility","For the FARMS FOA (DE-FOA-0002697), are DOE/NNSA FFRDCs eligible to be a subrecipient?","Please see section III of the FOA regarding eligibility. "]
[5,"2022-05-17","Other","The Letter of Intent requires the inclusion of the level of effort by the lead organization (in %).  What are is the minimum level of effort (in %) required by a lead organization?","The Lead Organization must have the highest percentage of work and incurred cost as part of the team."]
[6,"2022-05-12","Application Content/Format","Can you clarify what is \"not of interest\" in terms of technological innovation? There is a \"not of interest\" category that involves new product development. Yet, technological innovation is sought for in the FOA. How we propose significant technological innovation and not be classified as “not of interest”? What kind of technological innovation must we avoid?","Please see Section I of the FOA for Area's of Interest.  The DOE will not make determinations on applilcations prior to the submission of Concept Papers, or Applications.  It is up to the applicant to decide if their proposal will be of interest and then choose to submit for review and possible selection."]
[7,"2022-05-16","Labs/FFRDCs","As a domestic, non-profit entity, would an FFRDC (performing more than 50% of the work as prime recipient) qualify for the waiver on 10% cost share?","Please see section III of the FOA regarding eligibility & cost sharing.  It is up to the applicant to determine if their orgainzation meets the definition of noted types of organizations which are eligible for the cost share waiver.  "]
[8,"2022-05-13","Application Reviews","For the judging process will our application be divided into one of the three areas of interest or will all submissions be judged under the single topic area? Additionally, should our application focus on one of the three areas of interest, or can the focus be on recommendations from all the areas of interest?","Please see Section V of the FOA regarding how applications will be reviewed.  It is up to the applicant to determine how they would like present their submission in application.  The DOE will not make determinations on applications prior to the submission deadline.  "]
[9,"2022-05-18","Other","The FOA describes a 24-48 month timeline for funding budgets, but the solar industry at-large is experiencing significant headwinds regarding supply chain shortage in addition to the tariff investigation at Department of Commerce. If the intention of the FOA is to study projects that are less “boutique,” designed to be more cost effective, and not currently being studied,  then there are currently projects being permitted that fit these parameters, but construction likely would not begin on these projects until Spring 2023 due to the aforementioned supply issues.","Per the timeline in the FOA document, DOE expects to announce project selections in November 2022. This means that after negotiations, projects would not start until early 2023. Precise timelines will be discussed with selectees during the negotiation process."]
[10,"2022-05-17","Application Content/Format","Page 20 & 21 of the solicitation states $1M as the minimum award size.  Can awards of less than $1M be issued to winning proposals?","The FOA notes anticipated minimum and maximum award size.  The DOE always reserves the right to select a project for negotiation that is below the anticpated minimum if the project depending on the merit review scoring.  "]
[11,"2022-05-17","Technical Topics","The solicitation's goal is \"to accelerate the deployment of agrivoltaic systems in the United States by supporting innovative research projects\" (pg. 8), but in section C \"Applications Specifically Not of Interest:  Projects focused on the design, prototyping, and field testing of novel agrivoltaic hardware products\" are prohibited.  Could you provide additional clarification in the distinction between innovative research and the prohibition of submitting application for designing, prototyping, and field testing novel agrivoltaics?","The goal of this FOA is to enable scalable, replicable agrivoltaics. As a result, DOE is focusing on the use of already-existing hardware products to construct agrivoltaic systems, rather than attempting to develop new types of modules, racking, and other hardware. Development of new hardware projects is a better fit for other funding opportunities, such as our Small Business Innovation Research program."]
[12,"2022-05-12","Webinar","If a for-profit organization is listed as a partner for multiple applicants, will it reduce the chances that more than one of the applicants could receive funding?","No"]
[13,"2022-05-12","Webinar","Is there some sort of point system for ranking applications? If so can you share how applications will be scored?","Please see section V of the FOA."]
[14,"2022-05-12","Webinar","Should proposals be a minimum size? such as 1mw or larger?","Please see section I of the FOA . "]
[15,"2022-05-12","Webinar","Are controlled indoor farm environments in scope for this FOA?","Please see section I.B. of the FOA regarding Topic Areas"]
[16,"2022-05-12","Webinar","Is there some way to effectivly combine this grant application with the USDA's Climate-smart Commodity Grant? Is there a best practice or verifying this dual grant submission concept?","No, applicant may NOT blend funding from other Federal Agencies.  The DOE will also not fund duplicative work which is being funded under another Federal Agency."]
[17,"2022-05-12","Webinar","Would university agricultural farm research settings be of interest or only active farms/farmers?","Please see section I of the FOA."]
[18,"2022-05-12","Webinar","Are foreign companies with significant US offices or operating presence eligible for the grant award?","Please see section III regarding eligibility. "]
[19,"2022-05-12","Webinar","what equipment types are allowable in the budget?","Please see 2 CFR 200 subpart E for the cost principles.  Award specifics will be dealt with during negotiations.  "]
[20,"2022-05-12","Webinar","If Anyone has an existing seed grant from USDA, can we apply to this to extend to bigger scale with new directions?","No.  A recipient may not use Federal Funds from another agency to cost share on another award. "]
[21,"2022-05-12","Webinar","Can you clarify the 20% cost share ratio? ","Please see Apendixes A & B of the FOA on cost sharing."]
[22,"2022-05-12","Webinar","Would intellectual rights and licensing be assigned to the inventors or need to be shared?","Please see section VIII of the FOA."]
[23,"2022-05-18","Other","Will projects be able to add/modify partners between the June 1 letter of intent and June 22 concept papers? ","Make of a team may be changed until the application deadline.  Once an application is submitted and the submission deadline has passed team members by be changed and adjusted as many times an applicant wishes.  "]
[24,"2022-05-18","Technical Topics","Do solar projects have to be new or can projects include/incorporate existing solar projects to explore questions of impact and how to get to scale? ","Please see section I of the FOA."]
[25,"2022-05-18","Application Content/Format","Will project leads get feedback and/or indications to submit next round between June 1 submission of letter of intent and June 22 submission of concept papers deadlines? ","No"]
[26,"2022-05-23","Other","Is the FARMS funding opportunity considered to be a cooperative agreement or a grant? \nIf a cooperative agreement, what level of staff involvement from US DOE should a project team anticipate? Similarly, if a cooperative agreement is with the prime recipient, would sub-recipients be considered extensions of the cooperative agreement, or would they be grant recipients of the award? ","Please review section II.B of the FOA."]
[27,"2022-05-22","Application Reviews","Are multiple Letters of Intent required if we intend to submit multiple concept proposals?","Please see section III.F of the FOA."]
[28,"2022-05-22","Application Content/Format","Is there an expectation that we will build an experiment at the 1 MW scale, or can we do a demonstration at a smaller scale which provides modeling to demonstrate scalability?","Please see section I of the FOA."]
[29,"2022-05-27","Registration Requirements","I'd like to inquire whether it's possible to submit a letter of interest next week with X as the Lead Organization, and to subsequently change the Lead Organization with X being changed to a supporting role prior to the next deliverable.","Teams may be changed throughout the process until the Application deadline.  It is up to the recipient to determine how they wish to structure their team."]
[30,"2022-05-27","Application Content/Format","Can any portion of the total budget be allocated for equipment (ie solar and balance-of-system parts) and/or for site prep, inspection fees, permitting (ie soft costs)?","Please see 2 CFR 200 subpart E for the cost principles.  Award specifics will be dealt with during negotiations.  "]
[31,"2022-05-27","Other","Do we have to include all team members for now? Can we add or remove any team members during the concept proposal or full submission?","Teams would need to be finalized as part of the Full Application as this review criteria in the FOA."]
[32,"2022-05-27","Application Content/Format","Our team includes socioeconomic, agriculture, and environmental researchers and we were hoping to suggest bringing their expertise together to study the multiple facets of one solar installation. Is this considered a \"single concept\" or many?","An applicant must submit one LOI for each planned Concept Paper and subsequent Application.  An Concept Papers created after the LOI deadline will be considered non-compliant and not reviewed during the Concept Paper review."]
[33,"2022-05-27","Application Content/Format","As the Letter of Intent is required to be submitted by June 1st, is there any instruction to prepare the LOI? ","Please see section IV.C of the FOA."]
[34,"2022-05-25","Application Content/Format","Do we submit the LoI through the EERE website, or by email? Is a standard LoI sufficient or does it have to be in a certain format?","Please see section IV.C of the FOA."]
[35,"2022-05-31","Application Content/Format","I was trying to submit the letter of intent. FOA indicates the Abstract should not be more than 200 words, but the online submission system shows 4000 characters. What is the right information? ","Please see section IV.C of the FOA."]
[36,"2022-05-26","Eligibility","Do you have to be a research institution for the DOE FARM Grant?","Please see section III of the FOA."]
[37,"2022-06-09","Other","If a research university is the lead on a FARMS grant which involves installing a solar array on a privately owned farm, who will own the equipment after the end of the grant. Must it be sold to the farmer at fair market value?","Please review 2 CFR 200 Subpart D regaarding Closeouts.  The DOE is unable able to make specific determinations on how equipment would be handled at this phase of award process.  A decision on dispostions of equipmment would only be issued when a project is winding down and preparing for closeout.  "]
[38,"2022-06-09","Other","Can a single company be included as a project member on more than LOI/concept paper/application? This would not be the principal investigator, just a team member. We also do not care about winning/being chosen for both, but we want to maximize our chances of being a part of a project/funding. ","It is up to the applicant/team to determine who is included as part of the project.  Please see section III.F of the FOA.  "]
[39,"2022-06-06","Application Content/Format","Are photographs allowed in the concept paper?  ","Please see section IV of the FOA regarding content for submission.  "]
[40,"2022-06-06","Application Content/Format","Can any portion of the total budget be allocated for equipment (ie solar and balance-of-system parts) and/or for site prep, inspection fees, permitting (ie soft costs)?","Please review 2 CFR 200 Subpart E for cost principles regardinng allowability of costs on a project.  The DOE cannot make prior determinations on proposed costs of a project."]
[41,"2022-06-05","Technical Topics","Does the FARMS Office, SETO, or EERE, provide a succinct definition of “technology”, which may be used by teams submitting a Concept Paper for this program?","Please see section I of the FOA."]
[42,"2022-06-01","Cost Sharing","I had a question about the cost share \n\nTotal project: 30M\nfed funds: 2M\ndebt and equity: 28M\n\nputting the cost share 93% private and 7% fed funds\n\nI wanted to confirm this cost share is acceptable to the reviewing committee ","Please see section III.B regarding Cost Sharing."]
[43,"2022-06-02","Other","Is there a publicly available archive of winning concept papers and grant winner applications, on any topic within the DOE or solar? ","https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-energy-research-database\nThis database provides a map of the DOE EERE SETO Office project from past FOA's.  Any information about specific project beyond the information from the above site will need to be requested for FOIA."]
[44,"2022-06-20","Labs/FFRDCs","Please advise if this will be allowed OR if the lead national lab submitting the proposal will be required to handle all the subcontracting to all non-lab partners. ","It is up to the applicant/team to determine who is included as part of the project.  Please see section III.F of the FOA.  "]
[45,"2022-08-04","Technical Topics","Is development of a proprietary software proposed by a small business entity in alignment of the FARMS FOA goals?","Please see section III.G of the FOA.  "]
[46,"2022-08-04","Application Content/Format","If the Applicant concept paper received a “discouraged” response, will the DOE still accept the full application if it addresses the aspects identified as weaknesses in the concept paper feedback?","It is up to the applicant/team to determine if the wish to pursue the full application after receieving their concept paper feedback.  "]
[47,"2022-08-04","Application Content/Format","Based on past experience, how likely (i.e. never happens, possible, likely if all feedback is addressed) is it for an applicant that received a “discouraged” response to receive a grant by submitting a full application?","DOE does not track this information."]
[48,"2022-08-04","Application Content/Format","Will the reviewers assigned to review the full application be the same as those assigned to review the concept paper, and will they see or be influenced by the decision (encouraged / discouraged) that was made over the concept paper?","This information is not for public release."]
[49,"2022-08-04","Application Content/Format","Would it be possible to discuss the feedback received on the concept paper on a brief call? Specifically, some of the feedback is conflicting and we would appreciate an opportunity to better understand, for instance, how well the concept itself stacks up against DOE’s goals since feedback stated it is both broadly applicable as a strength and possibly not broad enough as a weakness (solar and corn/soybean co-location).","Please see secton VII of the FOA."]
[50,"2022-08-04","Application Content/Format","Can the Applicant make a correction over the title of the project for the full application (that is, can the title for the full application differ from the title in the Letter of Intent and the Concept Paper)?","Yes"]
[51,"2022-08-04","Application Reviews","To what extent is project maturity considered in the evaluation process?","Please see secton V of the FOA."]
[52,"2022-08-05","Cost Sharing","As a domestic non-profit, would public institutes of higher education be eligible for the 10% cost share?","Please see sectioon III.B of the FOA."]
[53,"2022-08-15","Application Content/Format","We were discouraged to submit a full proposal. We examined through the review comments and found there is a good chance to address most of them. Would you recommend we submit a full proposal in this case? ","It is up to an applicant if they wish to submit an application based on their concept paper review.  "]
[54,"2022-08-15","Cost Sharing","We wanted to seek assurance and confirmation that such verification shall suffice for that primary eligibility determination by DOE as the federal sponsor.","The DOE will not provide review or assessment of appolications prior to the Merit review.  Further DOE will not provide an prior assessment as to whether or not an  applicant meets the criteria for the cost share waiver.  It is up to the applicant to determine if they meet the requirements and provide documenation indicating/proving they are eligible.  "]
[55,"2022-08-10","Cost Sharing","We are looking to incorporate the solar facility infrastructure costs as in kind match where the research will take place and have questions about what would be allowed.  \n•\tSince agrivoltaics doesn't happen without a large solar array, can the project lease the infrastructure on the site from the project owner, who is also a project partner?  The idea is that  the array owner would contribute the lease costs to the grant as match until match requirement met, and then the infrastructure would be leased using project funding after this.\n•\tAlternatively, since the solar farm is being built in the 2022-2023 summer construction seasons, and the FOA states that successful grant applicants will be announced in the late winter of 2023.   Can we count the amount that the site developer spends on construction labor and/or O&M for the solar farm as the in-kind match? ","Please review 2 CFR 200 regarding allowable project costs.  Any costs which pre-date selection of a project may not be charged to a project or used a costs share."]
[56,null,null,"In the proposal guidelines it says resumes are limited to 2 pages however,  the guidelines give the link for the NSF/ SciEnCV which those are 3 pages. ","The noted NSF template will be accepted as it is a suggested format posted in the FOA."]
[57]
[58]
[59]
[60]

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