Questions and Answers 1-13-20.pdf

Questions and Answers: 75D301-20-R-67845

2020 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): Development and Demonstration of Mine Safety and Health Technology

Q1. I am interested in submitting a concept paper entitled " XXXXX" for recent NIOSH broad agency announcement. In this project, we propose to XXXXXXX. Attached is the project summary for the proposal we plan to submit as a concept paper for Jan. 15th deadline. I am writing to get your feedback whether the proposed topic fits the interests of this NIOSH BAA 2020. I look forward to hearing from you.

A1. The technical team will not review any submissions prior to the required documents under the BAA Announcement.

Q2. a. Is there a limit to the number of submissions that an organization may submit as the entity priming efforts?

b.Is there a limit to the number of submissions that an organization may be submitted supporting as a subcontractor?

c. Finally, is there a limit to the number of combined submissions where an organization is either a prime or subcontractor?

A2. Based on the scenarios outlined and the background, there is no limit for 1, 2 or 3. If a concept paper is submitted by an entity with a subcontractor and the subcontractor submits a separate concept paper with the same focus area, we wouldn’t throw both out but would evaluate them independently – if we moved either to a full proposal, we would ask pointed questions. If the subcontractor on one concept paper submitted a totally different focus area concept paper, there would be no issues at all – we don’t care they are a subcontractor on another project.

While I’m not going to go back and look, I believe we have received as many as 5 concept papers from the same entity previously, all with different focus areas.

Q.3 A. We are putting together a concept paper for the 2020 NIOSH BAA that’s quite different than anything we have done in the past.

Basically, the research would explore XXXXXX. My questions are as follows:

1) Has NIOSH funded or directly performed research in this arena before?

2) If so, can you help me find some papers on it?

3) If not, would you help me gauge the level of interest in such a project?

B. Last year, my team submitted a proposal to the NIOSH BAA. The proposed project was to XXXXXX.

We thought the proposal was very responsive to the NIOSH BAA, but it was not funded. Unfortunately, we did not get any reviews back from NIOSH. The proposal title was “XXXXXXXXXX.”

Would this project still be of interest to NIOSH? We wanted to gauge the interest of NIOSH before submitting the Concept Paper.

C. I’m writing regarding the above BAA. My team is preparing a concept paper however we generally use X for all technical documents. The resulting concept paper /proposal would be a .pdf as opposed to .docx as produced using Word. Is a .pdf acceptable for submission of the concept paper and subsequent proposal if requested?

A3. Unfortunately, we are not permitted to release proposal information from offerors that have not received an award from NIOSH, in addition, proposal information from awarded offerors may not be disclosable as some/all information may be confidential and proprietary. We are also not able to release the names or information of offerors that have proposed. We are limited on what we can provide as a response to the questions, due to the nature of procurement integrity and FOIA rules. Yes, it is a delicate balance and it may seem that we are not being cooperative, but we are limited with what information we are permitted to release. If a concept was not funded, feedback from NIOSH could have been requested when such notification was received, and we would be happy to provide any feedback as we are able to release. At this time, we’re are only able to review a specific project idea at the time concept papers are due. PDF format is acceptable.

Q4 . The “General Formatting Requirements” list “Copies - One (1) original and five (5) additional hard copies” and “Electronic file submission – Files must be submitted as a MS Word document with the exception of the cover page”. Are we required to submit both hard copies and electronic copies or just one?

A4. Offeror’s are requested to submit hard copies as well as electronic copies.

Q.5 I have a question regarding the page limit of preproposal in response to broad agency announcement number 75D301-20-R-67845.

I was wondering if a collaboration letter from my collaborator can be included as an appendix in the proposal and if this will be counted towards the page limit?

A5. It may be included, however, per the instructions: Concept Paper Content (not to exceed 10 pages excluding the cover page, concept papers exceeding the 10-page limit may not be evaluated).

Q6. The instructions on formatting (p5) are a bit unclear to me. Do you want one document or file, or the cover page separate from the actual concept paper?

A6. The cover page is not included in the ten (10) page limitation and can be included in one document or file.

Q7. Is an electronic submission acceptable (presumably submitted to you)? Or, do we also need to mail hard copies to the address noted (p17)?

A7. Electronic and hard copy submissions are requested.

Q8. My question is in regarding to BAA #, “Development and Demonstration of Mine Safety and Health Technology. We plan to submit a Concept Paper in response to this.

The documentation indicates that references should be included (p. 8). But, is a reference list included in the 10-page limit for Concept Papers.

A8. Per the instructions: Concept Paper Content (not to exceed 10 pages excluding the cover page, concept papers exceeding the 10-page limit may not be evaluated). References are considered content.