DA COE FOA Pre-Proposal QAs.docx

FY24 DATA ASSIMILATION

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

FOA # FOAAFRLAFOSR20240005

Pre-Proposal Q&A’s

Q1: I am trying to access this grant announcement (FOAAFRLAFOSR20240005) but when I click "apply" it takes me to an empty page.

A1: Per the Grants.gov frequently asked questions:

https://gditshared.servicenowservices.com/hhs_grants?id=hhs_kb_form&view=hhs_sp_kb_view&sys_id=099b93e187304294c62a0d470cbb352b&table=kb_knowledge

“Why do I receive BAD REQUEST, blank page or other error when clicking on the APPLY button If you receive a BAD REQUEST, blank page or other errors when clicking on the APPLY button, it indicates that you don't have the necessary roles. If you are an organizational applicant, please make sure you have added the organization's Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) as an organization profile to your Grants.gov account. If you are an individual applicant, please make sure you have added an Individual profile to your account.

If you are not the Electronic Business Point of Contact (EBIZ POC), please also ensure that your organization's EBIZ POC has registered with Grants.gov and added the UEI as a profile to their Grants.gov account and ask them to assign roles to your account.”

Q2: I am working with a PI putting together a proposal for the AFRL Data Assimilation Center of Excellence. We were planning to have the proposal budget start January 1, 2025. Can you please let me know if that is appropriate, or if we should choose another date?

A2: Please reference pg. 17 of the FOA which states, “The award start date is determined at the time of the award but is most likely projected for a mid July 2024 start date.”

Although this requirement is still subject to the availability of certified funds from the Financial Management Office, FY23 & FY24 RDT&E funding has been set-aside to support resultant award(s). Since the FY23 RDT&E (2-year) funds set-aside require a period of performance start date for the project within their period of availability for obligation (FY23 and FY24), the period of performance on any resultant award(s) will need to occur before FY24 end, or, before September 30, 2024, to meet the bonafide needs rule for the use of the FY23 funds.

Q3: In Section 5.iii(c) on p.36 of the updated FOA, you ask us to include, as part of the Project Narrative, a description of all current and pending research support for each key personnel, including abstract, title, objectives, approach, proportion of time, amount, budget, agency, dates, etc. But then just below this requirement, you also ask us to attach forms that include this information to Section D.V.7 R&R Senior / Key Person Profile Form. My question is, given that this information should be attached to the Senior / Key Person Profile Form, do we really need to also include it in the Project Narrative text? Each Current & Pending support form for each key personnel can easily run 5 pages. With our 6 team members, that would fill up nearly the entire 35-page limit of the Project Narrative. We are planning to mention in the Project Narrative synergistic activities of each key personnel that would complement the proposed CoE and point to the Current & Pending forms. What we would like to avoid doing is repeating, in the Project Narrative, all of the detailed information that will be attached to the Senior / Key Person Profile Form.

A3: The list of Current and Pending support for the PI and other Key Personnel referenced in Section 5.iii(c) on pg. 36 should be attached to the Senior / Key Person Profile Form, which the solicitation discusses further in Section 6 on pg. 38. The Current and Pending support to be attached to the Senior / Key Person Profile Form and referenced in the Project Narrative is not included in the thirty-five (35) single-sided page count for the Project Narrative.

Q4: Are DA methods that provide posterior pdfs of model formulations of interest to the COE?

A4: A key objective of this CoE is to explore multiple DA approaches with common sets of reference models. The improvement of such models through model parameter optimization or other means is definitely not within the scope of this CoE. Further, such model improvements or variations may introduce confusion and become distractions from the CoE key objectives. Therefore, any out-of-scope plan to evaluate model accuracy or optimize model parameters must be strongly justifiable in the context of available simulation tools and test data, supporting and not distracting from the key CoE objectives (please see additional guideline 2 on page 14 of AMD2 of the FOA document). The primary technical objectives for this FOA remain as stated on pages 12-14. If there are additional aspects or methods that would enhance the applicability of multifidelity or ROM modeling, the proposal must explain the logic clearly, demonstrating that the primary objectives will be served by such an approach.

Q5: Are there any recommended benchmark realistic propulsion and aerodynamics problems for the demonstration of the proposed techniques? For example, is the air force rotating detonation rocket engine configuration sufficient for the final demonstration or more complex large-scale problem are sought?

A5: As stated on page 13 of AMD2 of the FOA, a central element is the “Demonstration of two or more targeted engineering problems of interest listed above, preferably one for high-speed aerodynamics and the other for propulsion”. While the AF – RDRE configuration is indeed of interest, proposals must address practical aspects of computed and observed data.

Q6: Does the list of references count toward the 35-page limit? On page 26 of the FOA, entries 8 and 9 in the table seem to suggest that the list of references does not count. On page 38, however, item 6 seems to suggest that the list of references counts.

A6: The Bibliography and References Cited is not included in the page count. Pg. 38 item 6 has been corrected to state this.