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["INSTRUCTIONS"]
[1,"All questions pertaining to this funding opportunity announcement should be emailed to DE-FOA-0003223@netl.doe.gov. "]
[2,"All questions pertaining to Infrastructure Exchange should be emailed to InfrastructureExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov. Include FOA name and number in subject line."]
[3,"All questions and answers pertaining to this FOA will be posted on Infrastructure 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-FOA0003223 - Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) 40125b Cybersecurity for Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D)"]
["Question #","Date Submitted","Topic","Question","Answer"]
[1,"2024-01-18","Eligibility","Is this funding opportunity open to small business?","Please refer to FOA Section III.A for information on eligibility. DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential applicants prior to the date on which Full Applications to this FOA must be submitted."]
[2,"2024-01-22","Registration Requirements","Could you please confirm if the project is currently active? If so, could you provide details on how we can submit our proposal or application?","The Funding Opportunity Annoucnment (FOA) application period is open from 01/17/24 to 03/18/24 at 5:00PM EST. To apply to this FOA, applicants must register with and submit application materials through Infrastructure eXCHANGE at https://infrastructure-exchange.energy.gov/. Please refer to page iii of the FOA for instructions as to how to register and create an account on INFRASTRUCTURE eXCHANGE."]
[3,"2024-01-23","Technical Topics","We have a question related to Topic Area 2 – Enhancing Cybersecurity for Inverter-Based Resources regarding the phrase: \n\n'an IBR system including inverters, inverter controllers, and inverter control systems'\n\nWe'd appreciate clarification on 'inverter controllers' and 'inverter control systems'.\n\nDo the authors of Topic Area 2 also request for these external control system's cybersecurity to be addressed by proposals or are they more focused on the inverter's own embedded controller?","All applications must propose a solution to advance the cybersecurity of Inverter-based Resources (IBR) and their power management systems. It is left to the applicants to suggest how to best accomplish this goal and describe how specific IBR components and/or systems would be improved by the developed applications and technologies."]
[4,"2024-01-25","Other","Will there be multiple rounds of funding for this opportunity?","There is one round of funding attached to this Funding Opportunity Announcement."]
[5,"2024-01-26","Application Content/Format","The required font is Calibri, but my working computer does not have it installed as it is not a Windows machine. Is there an alternative acceptable font to use?","Size 12, Times New Roman is acceptable."]
[6,"2024-01-26","Application Content/Format","In Section IV.A it is stated that references must be included as footnotes or endnotes, but in Section IV.C.iv it is stated that there is a separate bibliography that does not count towards the 20 page Technical Volume limit. Please advise on how to properly add references/citations","Per Section IV.A. please include references in footnotes or endnotes. A separate bibliography may be included as applicable (not included in page limitation)."]
[7,"2024-01-26","Eligibility","Can the independent 3rd party red team be paid through the federal funds? How independent does the relationship need to be with the RD&D team of the project?","Vendor and Sub-Recipeint costs are allowable for in-scope related services. Federal funds may be budgeted for these services. Independent red teams may be internal and are not required to be contracted out; however, the independent third party used to red team test must not involve anyone from the project development team or otherwise have knowledge of what the team is working on."]
[8,"2024-01-31","Application Content/Format","Are the project specific costs of planning and executing the Community Benefits Plan an allowable direct expense?","Please refer to FOA Section IV.C.vii Budget Justification Workbook as it pertains to costs associated with the Community Benefits Plan."]
[9,"2024-01-31","Application Content/Format","Assuming proper justification are travel to and registration costs for MSI or other events related to the planning and execution allowable direct expenses or will this have to be captured as indirect cost?","All listed travel must be necessary for performance of the Statement of Project Objectives. Relevant travel should be captured in the \"travel tab\" as a direct cost within the budget justification workbook. Please refer to FOA Section IV.C.vii."]
[10,"2024-01-31","Application Content/Format","Is there any guidance on a suggested budget amount for the planning and execution?","DOE does not provide applicant budget formulation guidance as it pertains to dollar amounts."]
[11,"2024-02-08","Labs/FFRDCs","Could you clarify if FFRDCs will be funded via a NFSPP or an FWP?","The prime recipient and FFRDC are responsible for entering into an appropriate subaward that will govern, among other things, the funding of the FFRDC portion of the work from the prime recipient under its DOE award. Please refer to FOA Section III.F.i. for the specific requirements regarding how FFRDCs will be funded."]
[12,"2024-02-13","Other","Will the Government provide the decision criteria for Go/No-Go to the awardees?","The prime recipient is to develop the criteria used at the Go/No-Go decision point. Please refer to the Go/No-Go Review (Section VI.B.xiii.) and the SOPO Template (Appendix G, para. C)."]
[13,"2024-02-13","Other","If an awardee moves into phase 2, will the Government provide any funding prior to the completion of the demonstration?","All Cooperative Agreements awarded from this Funding Opportunity Announcment will fully fund both project phases."]
[14,"2024-02-14","Foreign Entities/Work","Regarding the foreign national participation language, we anticipate having foreign nationals working on this program.  Will DOE require approval of all FNs at the pre-award stage or post-award?","If applicant is selected for award, foreign national (FN) screening will take place during negotiations and prior to award. Please see FOA Section VI.B.iii for additional FN guidance.   "]
[15,"2024-02-14","Application Content/Format","In the solicitation under the Technical Volume it says that “a sample Technical Volume Cover Page is included as an attachment to this announcement”.  However, I couldn’t find a template anywhere.  Can you please send the template that is required?","The Technical Volume Cover Page has been uploaded as an attachment found in the Announcement Documents section of DE-FOA-0003223 available on Infrastructure eXCHANGE."]
[16,"2024-02-16","Application Content/Format","Is the budget justification Excel sheet associated with this call expected to be split into Phase 1 and Phase 2 activities? Can a budget Excel sheet template from a prior DOE call be utilized? ","When completing the Budget Justification Workbook, phase 1 and phase 2 activies should compiled into 1 budget period.  Budget periods 2-5 may be left blank. Please use the provided template as found in the application forms and templates section available on Infrastructure eXCHANGE. Please refer FOA section II.A.i for further detail relating to cost share requirements for phase 1 and phase 2."]
[17,"2024-02-19","Other","Can the Government please clarify whether the Business Point of Contact is intended to be contractual (Authorized Negotiator) or technical (Engineering Manager) in nature?  ","The Principal Investigator (PI) and the Business Point of Contract (BPOC) can be the same individual; however, the BPOC should have adiquate knowledge as it pertains to the applicant's accounting systems, fringe, and indirect cost accounting practices."]
[18,"2024-02-19","Other","If the Business Point of Contact is intended to be a Contracts POC , are applicants still required to provide all of the other documentation required for \"key personnel\", such as a resume and signed declaration of current and pending support, for the Business Point of Contact?","Yes. The Business Point of Contact (BPOC) is considered \"Key Personnel\" which requires submission of the documents addressed in FOA Section IV.C.v. "]
[19,"2024-02-27","Cost Sharing","We are considering the option of “Use of equipment” as a in-kind cost-share contribution. What is the policy in terms of accounting the value of “use of equipment”? ","Use of Equipment is an allowable in-kind cost share contribution. In-Kind cost share contributions must be specified in the project budget, verifiable from the prime recipient’s records, and necessary and reasonable for proper and efficient accomplishment of the project. As all sources of cost share are considered part of total project cost, the cost share dollars will be scrutinized under the same federal regulations as federal dollars to the project.  Pleases see FOA Sectin III.B.iii for additional information."]
[20,"2024-03-05","Application Content/Format","Please advise if the Budget Justification Worksheet is required for the subcontractors?","Subrecipients shall submit a separate Budget Justifiaction Worksheet describing all project costs and calculations when their total proposed budget exceeds either (1) $250,000 or (2) 25% of total award costs. Please refer to FOA section IV.C.x."]
[21,"2024-03-05","Application Content/Format","Please advise if there is a template available for the Subrecipient Budget Justification?","Subrecipients should utilize the same template Budget Justification Workbook as the prime recipient. Please refer to FOA section IV.C.x."]
[22,"2024-03-15","Application Content/Format","Our proposal includes Outreach costs (0% cost share requirement). There are no options in the Funds and Costs tab to enter Outreach costs . How can we accurately enter our Outreach related costs which do not carry a minimum cost share requirement into our proposal?","FOA Section II.A.i starting on page 9, states \"Cooperative Agreements that result from this FOA will be structured to include the research/ development and demonstration efforts as two separate phases.....Accordingly, applications need to be prepared so that research and development (Phase I) and demonstration (Phase II) tasks (along with associated budget estimates) are segregated and can be readily identified.\" The expectation is to have a total of 2 phases: the first phase is research and development (20% cost share) and the second phase is demonstration (50% cost share). It is advised that the applicant focus and align their approach with the requested Phase format."]

{"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"]
["Pre-Application"]
["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"]