DE-FOA-0002491_ Questions and Answers Rev 1_06-15-2021.pdf

U.S. Opportunities for Uranium Production Technology Development Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0002491

Questions and Answers

Date: 06/15/2021 Rev. 1 (added Question 3b)

# Question Answer 1 Value Funding. Should the prime applicant include FFRDC/NL’s estimated costs for the project in the proposal or will the FFRDC/NL do that through another mechanism? Is the FFRDC/NL cost part of a Grant total?

Yes, the prime applicant should include the FFRDC/NL estimated costs in its proposal. The FFRDC/NL costs are part of the project total costs. (See Section III.B. Value/Funding and Section IV, 9.

Budget for DOE National Laboratory Contractor or FFRDC/NL and Letter of Authorization from Cognizant Contracting Officer)

2 Cost-share. In line with the question 1, does this mean that the prime applicant’s proposal shall include a complete budget with all of the prime applicant’s direct costs, the private contractor’s costs, and FFRDC/NL costs to compare this amount against the Cost Sharing in Section III.C?

Yes, the prime applicant shall include all project costs in the project budget. Cost share is based on total allowable project costs which includes the prime applicant, subrecipients, and FFRDCs/NLs. (See Section III. B. Cost Share and Section VIII.E.

Understanding Cost Sharing Requirements)

3a Scope of Work. How does Scope of Work under Section III.B compare with Section III.C Cost Sharing? The Scope of Work specifies that the Scope of Work performed by the NL contractor cannot be more “significant” than the Scope of Work performed by the Applicant. What does “significant” refer to? How is the scope of work measured? If Scope of Work is measured in dollars, how does the Applicant distinguish between Scope of Work at <50% and the Cost Sharing of at least 20% in Section III.C?

Significant means the FFRDC/NL cannot perform more than 49% of the work. Work is measured by total project costs.

The 20% cost sharing is based on total project costs. The applicant shall provide at least 20% of the total project costs as cost share. The FFRDC/NL costs are included as part of the Federal cost share because the DOE/NNSA directly funds the FFRDC/NL.

For example, in Section VIII.E., Understanding Cost Sharing Requirements, Example 2:

• The FFRDC is 20% of the work

($60,000 FFRDC costs compared to $300,000 total project costs).

# Question Answer

• The 20% recipient cost share is

$60,000 or 20% of total project costs of $300,000. DOE’s share is $240,000 ($300,000 total project costs minus $60,000 recipient cost share). The $240,000 includes the $60,000 that DOE directly funds the FFRDC and $180,000 DOE will reimburse the recipient for allowable project costs.

3b

Hypothetical example: A project is proposed that the entire budget is $1,000,000.00. This amount represents the entire Scope of Work in monetary terms. The company proposes to contribute $550,000.00 of company funds to the project. This would represent 55% of the Scope of Work and a 55% Cost Share. The National Laboratory portion of the entire budget is $450,000.00 or 45% of the scope of work. As such the proposed company cost share exceeds 20%. Given these metrics, would the DOE Grant allow for the $450,000.00 to be paid to the National Laboratory?

Yes. In this hypothetical example, the National Laboratory could be funded for $450,000.

Recipient cost share paid with company funds is 55% or $550,000 of $1,000,000 total project costs. Required cost share is at least 20%.

The Federal cost share directly funded to the National Laboratory is 45% or $450,000 of $1,000,000 total project costs.

Based on total project costs of $1,000,000, the National Laboratory performs 45% or $450,000 of the work.