First Posting of Questions & Answers as of 22 May 2020 - FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2020-0004.docx

FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2020-0004 Posted 22 MAY 2020

First Posting of Questions & Answers (Received before the deadline of 29 JUNE 2020)

A1: Being a “Co-PI” or “sub PI” on a prior DoD funded awarded does not count as being a “PI” for the purposes of the subject FOA.

For the DEPSCoR FOA-AFRL-AFOSR 2020-0004, the Applicant/Principal Investigator (PI) must be a full-time faculty member who has never served as a PI on a prior DoD-funded award. If they have previously been part of a team or a sub, they are still eligible to apply as the Principal Investigator under the DEPSCoR FOA as long as they were NOT the Principal Investigator.

The Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) is an investigator who will provide mentorship to the Applicant and has served as a PI on a DoD-funded research award actively between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2020. They must have been listed as the PI on the previous DoD-funded award to serve as a collaborator under the DEPSCoR FOA.

The Applicant and Collaborator are eligible to apply to this announcement if both IHE are located in an eligible State/Territory as listed in the FOA.

A2: Being a “Co-PI” on a prior DoD funded awarded does not count as being a “PI” for the purposes of the subject FOA.

Page 6 identifies the roles for the, “1) Applicant/Principal Investigator (PI), henceforth referred to as Applicant, a full-time faculty member who has never served as a PI on a prior DoD-funded award and 2) Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator (co-PI), henceforth referred to as Collaborator, an investigator who will provide mentorship to the Applicant and has served as a PI on a DoD-funded research award actively between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2020.

Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) must be an investigator who will provide mentorship to the Applicant and has served as a PI on a DoD-funded research award active between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2020. If your previous awards are active in the timeframe noted, you would be eligible to serve as a collaborator.

A6: To apply in the role of the “Applicant / Principal Investigator” it states on pg. 2 of the FOA that you need to be “a full-time faculty member who has never served as a PI on a prior DoD-funded award”. If you served as the PI on the $50k grant, than you could not apply to the announcement in the “Applicant / Principal Investigator” role, but you could apply as a “Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator” collaborating with an “Applicant / Principal Investigator”. The other eligibility criteria that would need to be met is to be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member with an appointment at an IHE in a DEPSCoR eligible state/territory.

Q7: Since the YIP award would have you serving as the PI on a DoD funded research program between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2020, you would be eligible to apply under the FY20 DEPSCoR announcement in the role of a Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator on a collaboration with an Applicant/Principal Investigator. The other eligibility criteria that would need to be met is to be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member with an appointment at an IHE in a DEPSCoR eligible state/territory.

The IPA agreement assigns me a position within the government. The government reimburses the University for a portion of my time spent performing in that position. My position within the government is Research General Engineer. It doesn’t sound like this meets the letter of your criteria.

I have had several contracts since 2013 that were for the US Army but were awarded through task order contracts through their SETA contractors. I was listed as PI on all of those and they were funded by the DoD but the contracts weren’t directly with the government. Do these meet the requirements?

A8: The terms of the IPA agreement as you’ve outlined would not meet the eligibility requirements of the Collaborator role in the FOA.

If you served as a co-Principal Investigator on a sub-award through the SETA contract which received DoD funding, you would not meet the eligibility requirements of the Collaborator role in the FOA. You could consider applying in the Applicant/Principal Investigator role instead.

1. One of my tenured faculty members has an AFOSR DURIP award as his only DoD award. Is he eligible to be a Collaborator/Co-PI for this FOA?

1. Another of my tenured faculty members has a DARPA research award. Is he eligible to be a Collaborator/Co-PI for this FOA?

A9: Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator (co-PI), is an investigator who will provide mentorship to the Applicant and has served as a PI on a DoD-funded research award actively between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2020. If a researcher is listed as the PI on one of the awards listed and the award was/is active in the timeframe listed above then they would be eligible as a collaborator under the DEPSCoR FOA.

A10: For the DEPSCoR FOA-AFRL-AFOSR 2020-0004, the Applicant/Principal Investigator (PI) must be a full-time faculty member who has never served as a PI on a prior DoD-funded award. If they have previously been part of a team or a sub, they are still eligible to apply as the Principal Investigator under the DEPSCoR FOA as long as they were NOT the Principal Investigator.

The Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) is an investigator who will provide mentorship to the Applicant and has served as a PI on a DoD-funded research award actively between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2020. They must have been listed as the PI on the previous DoD-funded award to serve as a collaborator under the DEPSCoR FOA.

The Applicant and Collaborator are eligible to apply to this announcement if both IHE are located in an eligible State/Territory as listed in the FOA.

While I see from I.B in the FOA copied below that the PI (Applicant) is limited to one white paper submission, are there any limits on how many white papers in which the Collaborator may be involved?

Multiple colleagues have reached out to me regarding serving as the Collaborator, so I need to know whether I will need to decline some collaboration requests.

"The Applicant is permitted to submit only one DEPSCoR white paper per this FOA. Each white paper is permitted a single Applicant and a single Collaborator."

A12: Please reference the response provided in A11.

A13: The eligibility requirement states that the Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) must have served as a PI on a DoD-funded research award active between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2020.

A14: Please reference pg. 39 of the FOA which states, “Full proposal packages will only be accepted from collaborations invited to submit proposals.” Pg. 56 of the FOA outlines submission dates and times for the schedule of events. Pg. 59 of the FOA identifies the date for White Paper Selection and NonSelection Notices which will notify an Applicant via email whether their white paper is/is not selected for a full proposal submission for this year’s DEPSCoR funding opportunity. Reference pg. 30 of the FOA which states, “The Basic Research Office anticipates approximately $7.2 million in total funding will be made available for this program to fund approximately twelve (12) awards up to $600,000 (total cost) each. Each award will be funded up to $200,000 (total cost) per year for three (3) years in the form of a grant. Awards are subject to funding availability.”

Reference pg. 6 of the FOA which states the PI, “…henceforth referred to as Applicant, a full-time faculty member who has never served as a PI on a prior DoD-funded award…” and pg. 7 of the FOA which states, “The Applicant is permitted to submit only one DEPSCoR white paper per this FOA. Each white paper is permitted a single Applicant and a single Collaborator.” Also reference pg. 33 which states, “As the Applicant and Collaborator, both must hold a tenured or tenure-track position with your IHE, otherwise your proposal must include a letter from your IHE stating that you will be considered for a tenured or tenure-track position if you currently hold a short term appointment.”

Reference pgs. 31-32 of the FOA which states, “Though this is a collaboration between the Applicant and Collaborator, the Applicant’s IHE will submit the proposal. The Applicant and Collaborator are eligible to apply to this announcement if both IHE are located in an eligible State/Territory. States/Territories are deemed eligible to submit proposals for DEPSCoR research grants based on meeting both of the following criteria:

Falls into a specific range of DoD R&D S&E funding to IHE in that State/Territory as defined in legislation1

AND

Contains an advanced degree granting program in science, mathematics, and/or engineering.”

The Applicant’s IHE must meet the requirements outlined in the FOA for each Applicant submission. More than one eligible Applicant can apply for this opportunity through their IHE located in an eligible State/Territory.

A15: There are no citizenship requirements or restrictions for this FOA. The Applicant/Principal Investigator (PI), must be a full-time faculty member who has never served as a PI on a prior DoD-funded award. Tenured or tenure-track faculty members with appointments at Institutions of Higher Education in eligible States and Territories listed in the FOA are eligible to apply for this opportunity.

A16: The Basic Research Office will fund up to $300k, for up to three additional DURIP awards per Service (ARO, ONR, and AFOSR) for researchers in DEPSCoR-eligible States/Territories. Proposals don’t have to be valued at the maximum amount of $300k for the DEPSCOR-eligible state funding.

Please note: The Basic Research Office fund ceiling of $300k for DURIP awards is a separate pot of funds available for award from the ARO, ONR, and AFOSR fund ceiling for DURIP awards which has a range between $50K and $1.5M (unless the proposal qualifies for one of two exceptions).

A17: Please see the Eligibility Information section of the FOA for details on this.

1. Employment Requirement As the Applicant and Collaborator, both must hold a tenured or tenure-track position with your IHE, otherwise your proposal must include a letter from your IHE stating that you will be considered for a tenured or tenure-track position if you currently hold a short-term appointment. You are not eligible to submit a white paper or proposal if you do not meet this requirement.

1. Employment Requirement As the Applicant and Collaborator, both must hold a tenured or tenure-track position with your IHE, otherwise your proposal must include a letter from your IHE stating that you will be considered for a tenured or tenure-track position if you currently hold a short-term appointment. You are not eligible to submit a white paper or proposal if you do not meet this requirement.

If you don’t meet the employment requirement above, there are always additional funding opportunities throughout the year on the AFOSR, ARO, and ONR sites.

The websites are:

AFOSR: http://www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl/afosr ARO: https://www.arl.army.mil/business/broad-agency-announcements/ ONR: https://www.onr.navy.mil/en/work-with-us/funding-opportunities