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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-0001640- SunShot Technology to Market (Incubator Program Round 12, SolarMat Program Round 5)"]
["Question #","Date Submitted","Topic","Question","Answer"]
[]
[1,"2016-11-14","Application Content/Format","The FOA states that only one Full Application can be submitted for each topic area.  Can more than one concept paper be submitted?","As noted in Section III F of the FOA Applicants may only submit one Full Application for each topic area of the FOA.  The same rules apply to topic areas for concept papers.  Only one concept paper per topic area will be accepted."]
[2,"2016-11-17","Cost Sharing","Maximum DOE contribution: The upper-bound on the funding opportunity is $2M over 2 years with a 50% cost share. Does this mean that DOE's maximum contribution is $1M (with $1M from internal funds and a total project spend of $2M), or $2M (with $2M from internal funds and a total project spend of $4M)? ","The maximum award values and cost share requirements noted in Section I B. Table 1.  If a recipient was to propose $2,000,000 project with in funding with a 50% cost share requirement, the project would be funded $1,000,000 cost share and $1,000,000 on Federal Funds. "]
[3,"2016-11-17","Intellectual Property","Is there a requirement to make public the data we collect, the software we develop, or industry trade secrets? If we won a DOE grant, would we still be able to claim full IP ownership in follow-on funding rounds with VC firms?","Please see Section VI B. xiii regarding Intellectual Property Provisions."]
[4,"2016-11-17","Application Content/Format","Is it possible to modify project scope 1 year into an award, and what is the process for doing so?  If we can't modify project scope, and can no longer satisfy project objectives, would the DOE pull back funds for the remainder of the project? Would the DOE also claw back funds that were used to meet previously accomplished milestones? ","DOE understands that the product development cycle does not happen linearly or in a market vacuum. That being the case, awardees do have the ability to pivot but only within the bounds of the negotiated Statement of Project Objectives of the award with approval of DOE (technical project manager and contracting office). The Statement of Project Objectives are negotiated between DOE and the awardee and are based on the scope of the proposed application. Any modification to the award must have adequate rationale for the change and be agreed to by DOE staff, and most importantly the contracting officer. DOE may also choose to deny such a request.\n\nIf you cannot come to agreement on a change to the project scope and/or are unable to continue the project, the remaining funds on the award would be deobligated and returned to DOE. DOE would not claw back funds paid to the awardee prior to the point at which it was determined that the award could not continue, only unspent funds get removed from the award.\n"]
[5,"2016-11-22","Application Content/Format","We have already formed an account but have not been able to locate the templates or instructions/requirements for for LOI or concept paper. Can you please send us to a link for each of the respective documents?","Please see Section IV B. regarding content for the LOI and Concept Paper."]
[6,"2016-11-28","Registration Requirements","Do we need to have our SAM registration completed prior to submittal of concept paper or prior to full application? ","Please see Secition Iv. G regarding SAM registration."]
[7,"2016-11-28","Application Content/Format","The FOA says the last bullet should be, \"Technical Topic.\" How in depth should my description of our technical topic be for the letter of intent? I could give you a three-sentence version or a three-page version.","Please see Section IV B. regarding content for the Concept Paper."]
[8,"2016-11-22","Application Content/Format","Do we initially have to pitch the whole financial breakdown when we apply?","Please refer to section IV C and IV D which outline the necessary submission for Concept Papers and Full Applications."]
[9,"2016-11-22","Cost Sharing","Is the cost-share restricted to direct funding match ? Or can in-kind make up the entire 20%?","Please see Section III B iii of the FOA regarding Cost Sharing."]
[10,"2016-11-22","Application Reviews","Are the reviewers in industry? If so, how Do you determine that they can be an impartial judge and their decision will not be affected by wanting to limit potential direct or indirect competition?","Applications that are determined to be eligible will be evaluated in accordance with this FOA, by the standards set forth in EERE’s Notice of Objective Merit Review Procedure (76 Fed. Reg. 17846, March 31, 2011) and the guidance provided in the “Department of Energy Merit Review Guide for Financial Assistance,” which is available at: http://energy.gov/management/downloads/merit-review-guide-financial-assistance. "]
[11,"2016-11-22","Eligibility","A Chinese solar manufacturer is eligible for applying through their U.S. subsidiary, correct? ","Please refer to Section III A iii of the FOA for more information pertaining to foreign entity eligibility."]
[12,"2016-11-22","Technical Topics","Can you clarify what you mean by only one application per topic area? Does that mean first come, first serve?","As noted in Section III F of the FOA Applicants may only submit one Full Application for each topic area of the FOA.  The same rules apply to topic areas for concept papers.  Only one concept paper per topic area will be accepted. If an applicant submits more than one Full Application/Concept Paper to the same topic area, EERE will only consider the last timely submission for evaluation."]
[13,"2016-11-22","Application Content/Format","If the budget is assessed as high, will the application be immediately turned down or is there A negotiation process where cost share can be adjusted?","Please see Section IV D. v regareding budget preparation. "]
[14,"2016-11-30","Due Dates","Is it still possible to submit a letter of intent for the third-round SunShot T2M opportunity?","Please see section IV. B, i regarding LOI's."]
[15,"2016-12-02","Application Content/Format","Can you confirm that no letters of support are needed at the concept paper stage? Are they required at the full application stage?","Please see Section IV. D. ii of the FOA."]
[16,"2016-11-30","Technical Topics","I have a question regarding the new solar tech-to-market FOA (DOE-FOA- 0001640).  There is a bullet under “applications specifically not of interest” that says:\n• Products or solutions for systems which do not tie to the grid (i.e. wholly off-grid applications and portable power.\nI was wondering if the clause above disqualifies this particular market.","Technologies and solutions proposed should impact the cost and/or deployment of solar electricity generation on a grid which serves multiple customers in the United States. That being the case, solutions for grids which may be remote or not connected to the dominant North American interconnects are allowed."]
[17,"2016-12-05","Technical Topics","Is this program for PV only or it can also be solar thermal application products/manufacture?","Please see section I.A of the FOA for Areas of Interest."]
[18,"2016-12-07","Application Content/Format","Should letters of support from proposed team members be included with the concept paper? ","Please see Section IV. C regarding required content and limitations on Concept Papers."]
[19,"2016-12-07","Application Content/Format","How detailed should the use of funds, project plan and timeline be within the concept paper?","It is up to the recipient to determine the level of detail applied to their appliication or concept paper, keeping in mind that each is subject to specific page limits setforth in the FOA."]
[20,"2016-12-07","Due Dates","What registrations are required before the concept paper? Is the registration of an EERE Exchange account registration enough, or are all registrations outlined in section VI B I 1-6 of the FOA required?","Please see Section VI B regarding registration requirements. As noted it is the responsibility of the applicant to address each requirement."]
[21,"2016-12-07","Technical Topics","With regard to the Concept Paper contents, the FOA states (p. 31):\n \nApplicants are required to describe succinctly:\n• ...\n• (Mandatory) How the target outcomes support the SunShot Initiative goal in $/W and/or LCOE;\nWe would like to propose a concept that does not directly address $/W costs or LCOE, but instead addresses SETO's goals as stated in the FOA:\n \n3. Expand the domestic market for solar to be a significant fraction (tens of percents) of our nation's electricity generating capacity.\n \n4. Enable the integration of hundreds of GW of solar on the nation's grid.\n \nHow can we comply with the above-stated Mandatory concept paper requirement, since, while responsive to SETO's stated goals, our concept does not support $/W or LCOE cost reductions?","If the application does not directly address the LCOE or $/W goals of the FOA, the applicant can state as much, describe any secondary impacts on LCOE or $/W, and use the allotted pages to discuss how they are addressing the other goals of the funding opportunity."]
[22,"2016-12-06","Team Members","We have two related questions concerning our SunShot application:\n\nCan the Lead Organization change the 'Lead Organization Percent Effort' between the Concept Paper stage and the Full Application stage?\n\nAssuming the Lead Organization is encouraged to submit a Full Application, is the Lead Organization applicant allowed to change the sub-recipient, or add a sub-recipient when submitting the Full Application?  ","No, the Lead Organization must remain the same once a concept paper is submitted.  If an organization submittes a full application they change their team memebers, but the prime/lead applicant must remain the same."]
[23,"2017-01-24","Application Reviews","Will comments for Concept Paper decisions be published?","Concept Paper decisions have been updated with comments from Concept Paper reviews."]
[24,"2017-01-24","Cost Sharing","We may need to do baseline testing of materials prior to receiving notification on whether our proposal has been accepted for funding. If our proposal is accepted for funding, can we use the costs associated with this baseline testing toward our 20% cost-sharing requirement even though the testing was conducted prior to award?","Please see Section IV.K.ii of the FOA regarding pre-award costs, and Section III.B regarding Cost Share."]
[25,"2017-02-03","Due Dates","Is the deadline changing at all in response to current DOE budgetary uncertainties for the coming fiscal year?","No.  The deadline remains the same as per the dates posted in the FOA."]
[26,"2017-02-07","Application Content/Format","May companies change tiers from concept paper to full application?","An applicant is allowed to change tiers betweeen concept paper and full application phase, but it is up to the awardee to determine the proper tier for their proposed work at the time the full application is due. "]
[27,"2017-02-13","Allowable Costs","How should web based services be categorized that are directly tied to the project we are applying for?  Examples - web hosting services, development tools and libraries charged annually, etc.)? ","Please see Section IV.K of the FOA.  It is the applicant's responiblity to determine cost allocation based on their accounting system."]
[28,"2017-02-15","Application Content/Format","Can you please provide what the start and end date for each budget period is?\nBudget Period 1\nBudget Period 2\nBudget Period 3\n","These date are all TBD, until such time an award is fully negotiated should a applicant be selected for award negotiations."]
[29,"2017-02-10","Application Content/Format","Where can we obtain the underlying assumptions built into the 2020 and 2030 SunShot LCOE goals? Specifically, we are looking for the assumptions used to calculate LCOE for:\n\n- O&M costs\n- System Losses (soiling, shading, snow, mismatch, wiring, connections, light-induced degradation, nameplate, age, availability)\n","For the SunShot 2020 goals a vision study was written to cover the rationale for their selection. The SunShot Vision Study can be found here: https://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/sunshot-vision-study. The Appendices of the report covers assumptions used in the models the report is based on and provides references to other relevant models used as part of this work. The SunShot 2030 goals build off and update the work of the original vision study. "]

{"sheet":"Admin Pick List","index":2,"n_rows":17,"n_cols":1,"rows_kept":17,"cut":false,"hidden":true,"merged":[]}
["Pick List"]
[]
["Registration Requirements"]
["Webinar"]
["Eligibility"]
["Allowable Costs"]
["Team Members"]
["Labs/FFRDCs"]
["Foreign Entities/Work"]
["Cost Sharing"]
["Due Dates"]
["Application Content/Format"]
["Intellectual Property"]
["Data Management"]
["U.S. Manufacturing Plan"]
["Application Reviews"]
["Technical Topics"]