Attachment 5_Previous QnA.pdf

Question Response

What documentation will the Offeror proposal require from

NREL and/or the NREL collaborators to support their participation in the project?

Offerors may provide a letter of commitment from the partner national lab and/or national lab collaborator(s) to demonstrate their participation in the project.

If awarded, will the NREL collaborators be paid directly from

NREL or will an Offeror subaward to NREL be required?

For evaluation purposes, Offerors are to propose national lab support as lower‐tier subcontractor(s) in their proposal, including when NREL is the participating DOE national laboratory. In any case, national lab support will be reimbursed directly by DOE, and as such the Offeror shall not include any costs associated with national lab subcontract administration in their proposal.

Can you please clarify if the $850,000 max budget corresponds to what NREL would fund or to the max budget overall (including price participation)? And are the 20% minimum price participation calculated based on NREL’s contribution or on the project total?

The $850,000 in funding available from NREL corresponds to the NREL‐funded portion of the budget. It does not include price participation amount. For example, if the Offeror proposes 20% price participation, the total budget would be

$850,000 in NREL support + $170,000 in Offeror price participation for a total budget of $1,020,000.

Per the solicitation: “Project Summary Slides: Completion of the 2‐slide PowerPoint project summary slides (see

Attachment 4). These shall NOT contain proprietary information and are intended for distribution at workshops, meetings, and other public events.” So what the team would be looking for is a two (2) slide template or example that they could use to summarize their RFP response.

Please see Attachment 4 to the RFP. The “two (2) slide template” refers to the last two slides included in Attachment

4.

Can you please confirm that an organization incorporated in the U.S. but majority owned by a foreign entity can be a

Prime?

The Prime and its lower‐tier subcontractor(s) must be incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a State or territory of the United States.

Would the lead company be responsible for the 20% of NREL budget?

Please review Section 3 of the RFP [Section 4 of 2024 RFP] wherein price participation is discussed. A minimum of 20% price participation is required for an award. Price participation is defined as a percentage of the total allowable and allocable costs under the subcontract, which may be met by contributions by the Subcontractor and by contributions from the Subcontractor’s lower‐tier subcontractors or suppliers at no cost to NREL. For example, if a proposal is submitted totaling $300,000.00, a minimum of 20%, or

$60,000.00 of the $300,000.00, would be required in price participation.

Do materials for cell interconnection in the module qualify as not being cell level technology?

Cell interconnects are considered a module component and are within scope for this RFP.

What do you see as a reasonable split in efforts between industry and the national labs?

The team makeup and resource allotment should be driven by project needs.

Attachment 5: “Previous Round(s) Questions and Answers ‐ Energy Materials Network Consortium for Durable Module

Materials Program: Design Testing, and Production of Advanced Materials Innovative Project Opportunity”

Are we permitted to contact any NREL/Sandia/ etc.

researcher to discuss ideas that may be pertinent for the

DuraMAT proposal?

National Laboratory personnel that are not directly involved in the management of this RFP may be contacted. Those involved in the management of the RFP, if contacted, will identify themselves as such and request that you contact a suitable National Laboratory employee. The list of DuraMAT capability leaders identified on the DuraMAT website is one place to identify suitable contacts and these capability leaders can provide additional contacts, if needed. It is not required that you go through a capability leader. The capability leaders are initial points of contact that can make introductions if it is not already known who to contact for a proposed project.

Additionally, please refer to Section 3d of the RFP.

Is it acceptable if the prime recipient does 20% of the work and a government lab they are working with does 80% of the work?

Yes, as long as the requirements of the RFP are met including the minimum 20% price participation. Please note that the

Subcontractor’s and lower‐tier subcontractor’s price participation amounts shall not be funded by federal contracts and/or grants.

Can the team include a member of a DuraMAT affiliated university research consortium?

Yes, the teams may include participation from US universities.

Is there continuous funding after this one year of de‐risking? No.

Do people that receive funding in previous years have an advantage when re‐applying the next year over new companies?

No.

What is the anticipated frequency of this solicitation type? Annually.

Do you have any idea on how many applicants there are going to be?

No.

Does a startup company need a supporting letter from big solar companies?

No.

Are there any strategic advantages to proposing for a lower amount of funds?

No.