DE-FOA-0003126 Wholesale Electricity Market Studies and Engagements Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).docx

Department of Energy (DOE) Grid Deployment Office (GDO)

Wholesale Electricity Market Studies and Engagements

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number: DE-FOA-0003126 FOA Type: Initial Assistance Listing Number: 81.254

CLOSING DATE 1

DE-FO1-0003126

CLOSING DATE 2

DE-FO2-0003126

CLOSING DATE 3

DE-FO3-0003126

· Applicants must submit a Concept Paper by 5:00pm ET on the due date listed above to be eligible to submit a Full Application.

· Applicants must designate primary and backup points-of-contact in eXCHANGE with whom GDO will communicate to conduct award. To apply to this FOA, applicants must register with and submit application materials through the Clean Energy Infrastructure eXCHANGE at eXCHANGE: Funding Opportunity Exchange (energy.gov), DOE’s Office of the Under Secretary for Infrastructure’s online application portal. If an application is selected for award negotiations, it is not a commitment to issue an award. It is imperative that the applicant/selectee be responsive during award negotiations and meet negotiation deadlines. Failure to do so may result in cancelation of further award negotiations and rescission of the selection.

Template Version: 06/23/2021

Table of Contents

Questions about this FOA? GDO_FOA3126@hq.doe.gov Problems with Infrastructure Exchange? Email infrastructureexchangesupport@hq.doe.gov Include FOA name and number in subject line.

iv

Funding Opportunity Description

Background and Context

Background and Purpose

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is issuing, on behalf of the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). Awards made under this FOA will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds authorized under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328).

Building a grid that can deliver affordable and reliable electricity to all Americans is a top priority of the Biden Administration. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. signed and implemented the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that provide once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure. These investments provide the backbone for a more sustainable and resilient economy through enhancing U.S. competitiveness in the world, diversifying regional economies to include supply chain and manufacturing industries, creating good union jobs, and ensuring stronger access to economic and other benefits for underserved communities.

Creating more efficient and flexible wholesale electricity markets that will support a more resilient and reliable grid will be critical as new load and generation come online. Functioning wholesale markets provide a platform for energy trading and the integration of electric resources into the grid. Efficient, fair, and transparent market constructs are thus foundational to transitioning to a clean, reliable, and equitable electric grid.

Additional renewable resources, distributed energy resources (DERs), and transmission infrastructure upgrades or build-outs are increasingly being deployed to cost-effectively meet clean energy goals. This requires maintaining, modernizing, and investing in the U.S. power grid at all levels from distribution to the bulk power system. GDO is developing programs that make these historic investments. The Department is deploying programs to support a more resilient and reliable grid to protect against the increasing number of extreme weather events that cause energy supply disruptions by investing in innovative efforts to upgrade and build out the transmission system and connecting regions and working with existing clean dispatchable generating facilities to maintain grid reliability. Wholesale electricity markets need to accommodate and even incentivize these changes in the energy industry to maintain a reliable, resilient, affordable, and equitable grid.

This FOA will assist applicants—States, Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs)/Independent System Operators (ISOs, and domestic entities that have partnered with States and/or RTOs/ISOs--to perform analytical studies on critical market issues or convene stakeholders to address issues facing developing or existing wholesale markets. GDO suggests five (5) broad analytical priorities for proposed projects: 1) seams between markets, 2) regional resource adequacy, 3) market design and price formation, 4) regional footprint studies, and 5) integrated regional planning approaches.

a. Topic Areas (Areas of Interest)

Congress has directed GDO to provide States and regions with technical and financial assistance related to developing, expanding, and improving wholesale electricity markets so that markets can contribute to an affordable, reliable, resilient, and equitable electric grid.[footnoteRef:2] This FOA is open to all applicants that meet the eligibility criteria in Section III.A of this FOA. GDO seeks proposals that will build State and RTOs/ISO capacity, which can be shared with other regions, particularly capacity building related to engaging in market design reform efforts and stakeholder planning processes at a regional level. Therefore, multi-state or multi-region coalitions are encouraged. [2: H.R. COMM. ON APPROPRIATIONS, 117 CONG., 2d SESSION, PUBLIC LAW 117-328 LEGIS. TEXT AND EXPLANATORY STATEMENT, 922 (Comm. Print Book 1 of 2, Divisions A–F).]

Topic Area 1: Analytical Studies Market concepts that GDO considers ripe for analytical studies are outlined below. Proposed projects can draw from elements of any one of the five concepts in this FOA or may include areas of analysis not contemplated in this FOA. If submitting an application that covers multiple topic areas, separate applications must be submitted each area. GDO’s market analysis priorities include the following:

1. Seams: “Seams” refers to differences in wholesale electricity market designs, rules, and planning timelines and approaches between neighboring wholesale electricity markets. These differing market rules, timelines, or configurations can reduce the overall efficiency of the grid and prevent interdependent markets from optimizing physically possible and economic electricity flows, resulting in increased consumer costs. Applications may propose to study how seams impact wholesale electricity prices and resulting retail consumer prices in geographic regions that fall within different RTOs/ISOs and other organized markets, such as day-ahead markets (DAM). Proposed analytical studies may also identify impacts that result from inefficiencies of moving electricity across market seams. Proposals may also analyze existing joint operating agreements and inter-regional dialogues to identify reforms and propose best practices that could mitigate or resolve differences across seams, between market footprints, such as from differing system operations, transmission access scheduling, pricing models, transmission tariffs, and any other issues that create inefficient economic transactions of capacity and energy between markets and increase costs to consumers. Applications may also collate and analyze best practices to mitigate seams. Seams studies may include the study of seams between non-RTO/ISO entities, including DAMs, differences in resource adequacy programs between RTOs/ISOs or non-RTO/ISOs, and how seams between the electricity and natural gas markets impact reliability and/or consumer costs.

2. Regional resource adequacy: Project applicants may develop a study on how accelerated deployment of renewable resources and retirement of existing resources impact resource adequacy metrics (e.g., planning reserve margins) and may analyze the role that clean dispatchable resources such as hydropower, pumped-storage hydropower (PSH), geothermal, and nuclear power plants have on resource adequacy. For example, proposals may focus on specific resource adequacy characteristics or specific resource contributions, such as:

· Applicants may propose to analyze the replacement generation capacity for closed plants and the impact such a transition in the generation fuel mix would have on regional resource adequacy and grid reliability, including how regional planning reserve margins can be met post-retirement, what changes to the existing transmission system could accommodate the interconnection of likely replacement generation resources, and the effects of these generation portfolio changes on consumer prices.

· With respect to hydropower, proposals could include efforts to model hydropower's contributions to resource adequacy under various climate, water, and policy scenarios, and could also seek to improve the detailed representation of hydropower capabilities (e.g., hourly generation flexibility, multi-day to seasonal storage) in existing models and tools.

· With regard to the role that renewable resources or DERs have in potentially replacing retiring dispatchable generation, projects may develop methodologies to measure the accreditable capacity provided by DERs to wholesale markets and methodologies that might better link distributed and wholesale market systems.

3. Market design and price formation: The high penetration of renewable resources with low or zero marginal energy costs has raised new questions about how energy market designs may need to evolve to ensure stable compensation for needed generation resources. Analysis could include how market design related to energy price formation or ancillary services may be improved to provide more stable pricing while incentivizing efficient investment in new generating capacity and exit decisions. Applications may propose to analyze what new product categories and ancillary services may need to be created to allow system operators to schedule, dispatch and pay for capacity to meet reliability and consumer needs and whether scarcity pricing approaches adequately incentivize adequate resource procurement. Applications may also analyze how existing market design should change or how new market proposals may be designed to accommodate the changing resource mix in an increasingly zero marginal cost environment.

4. Regional footprint studies: Footprint studies of regions where there are emerging market concepts or market expansions being contemplated may be proposed to analyze the economic impact that different regional market configuration options would have on States, utilities, and consumers. Utility rate and consumer impact studies could allow utilities and States to make more informed regulatory and policy decisions about these options. Regional footprint analysis could include multi-state stakeholder convenings to consensus-build on governance structures available in or appropriate for differing market footprints.

5. Integrated regional planning approaches: Planning regions (both inside and outside organized markets) do not necessarily perform integrated resource and transmission planning, particularly at a regional or multi-state level. Yet, there is a growing recognition that planning systems for new generation, transmission, and distribution are largely siloed. Internal interconnection queue processing improvements are needed for a clean energy transition and DERs that are subject to state authority but which participate in wholesale markets need to be planned for both within States as well as regionally. Increased linkages between integrated resource planning at the State and utility level, procurement of clean generation resources, and individual transmission interconnection processes with regional wholesale market operations would improve market reliability. Study methodologies to affect such linkages across siloed generation, transmission and distribution planning functions and to create effective, integrated, long term, regional planning may include:

a. Impact of FERC Order 2222 compliance on distribution systems: As additional distributed resources (i.e., generation, storage, and/or load assets sited on electrical distribution networks) participate in RTO/ISO markets pursuant to FERC Order 2222, dispatch patterns may cause new or unexpected conditions on the distribution network such as local (non-coincident) distribution peaks, frequency excursions, or voltage deviations. In different areas, this may lead to restrictions imposed by distribution grid operators on distributed resource participation in wholesale markets, incursion of distribution-related capital costs to compensate for wholesale market participation-related conditions, or both. Studies may evaluate distribution system impacts associated with DERs' participation in wholesale markets and suggest best practices (including technological, regulatory, and other improvements) for enabling wholesale market DERs participation that minimizes capital or reliability/power quality impacts on the distribution system. Studies may also discuss the capabilities needed by distribution grid operators or utilities to enable participation while minimizing negative impacts on the grid.

b. Interconnection queues: An increase in planned generation projects, particularly clean generation projects incentivized by the IRA, have caused backlogs in interconnection queues in RTOs/ISOs and transmission operator queues across the country. FERC recently adopted new regulations to improve generator interconnection processes. Transmission owners, RTOs/ISOs, generators, and other stakeholders have all proposed additional potential interconnection queue reforms that could be pursued above and beyond FERC’s new rules. GDO is interested in proposals to analyze interconnection queue management methods that could help further alleviate backlogged queues. Projects may analyze best practices or new processes for increasing certainty, reducing study times, allocating interconnection capacity, and maintaining grid reliability and safety.

c. Interregional Transmission Planning: Interregional transmission capacity needs are expected to grow in the coming years as the clean energy transition progresses and regions seek to integrate more low-cost clean energy resources across longer distances. Increasing interregional transmission capacity can also provide resilience and reliability benefits, especially in reducing risks from extreme weather events by delivering energy from where it is available to where it is needed. Despite these growing needs, few interregional transmission projects have been built in the U.S. in the past decade. There are several reasons for the lack of interregional transmission projects, such as a lack of formal interregional planning processes, regional planning processes that take a narrow view of project needs and benefits, and over reliance on generator interconnection processes to expand the grid to accommodate changing resource needs. GDO is interested in proposals for interregional planning efforts that would support more robust interregional transmission planning and project identification. Interregional planning proposals could seek to develop new metrics and flexible cost allocation methods to account for all project benefits across regions and develop a full range of future scenarios that consider a variety of needs across multiple regions.

Topic Area 2: Education and Convenings GDO intends to facilitate State (individually or in collaboration with other States), public interest organization, and utility convening and education programs, which can be replicated to benefit additional States and RTOs/ISOs. Accordingly, DOE seeks applications for multi-state stakeholder educational efforts or convenings to consensus-build on market structures or reforms available in or appropriate for differing regions related to wholesale electricity markets. Convenings on wholesale electricity markets must involve more than one State and/or RTO/ISO. This convening topic area may include multi-state efforts to organize new wholesale markets, including developing or expanding DAMs. Education on wholesale electricity markets could include activities such as developing informational materials on wholesale markets for State agencies, including utility commissions and State energy offices.

All work under GDO funding agreements must be performed in the United States. See Appendix B.

Applications Specifically Not of Interest The following types of applications will be deemed noncompliant and will not be reviewed or considered:

· Applications for proposed development or deployment of technologies (e.g., electric generation, transmission, or distribution innovations to be deployed on the grid).

· Applications by domestic entities that do not include States and/or RTOs/ISOs as a partner.

· Applications that broadly analyze, educate or convene on other related topics, such as climate change broadly, demand forecasting for market areas, legal interpretations of market rules, or anything beyond the primary purpose of analyzing wholesale electricity market design and operations.

Authorizing Statutes The programmatic authorizing statute is the Energy Act of 2020 which amended the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17381 et seq.). Section 8002 directs the DOE to study grid architecture and scenario development (42 U.S.C. § 17384a). Additionally, funding was appropriated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328) for technical and financial assistance to states and regions to develop market governance, planning and policy, and regulatory development assistance related to the formation, expansion, or improvement of grid regions to ensure a clean, reliable, resilient, and equitable grid.

Awards made under this announcement will fall under the purview of 2 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 200 as amended by 2 CFR Part 910.

Award Information

A. Award Overview

1. Estimated Funding GDO expects to make a total of approximately $9 million of federal funding available for new awards under this FOA, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. GDO anticipates making approximately 6 to 14 awards under this FOA. GDO may issue one, multiple, or no awards. Individual awards for Topic Area 1 and Topic Area 2 may vary between $0.5 million and $3 million.

GDO may establish more than one budget period for each award and fund only the initial budget period(s). Funding for all budget periods, including the initial budget period, is not guaranteed. Before the expiration of the initial budget period(s), GDO may perform a down-select among different recipients and provide additional funding only to a subset of recipients.

1. Period of Performance GDO anticipates making awards that will run from 1 year up to 3 years in length, comprised of one or more budget periods. Project continuation will be contingent upon several elements, including satisfactory performance and Go/No-Go decision review. At the Go/No-Go decision points, GDO will evaluate project performance, project schedule adherence, the extent milestone objectives are met, compliance with reporting requirements, and overall contribution to the program goals and objectives. As a result of this evaluation, GDO may, at its discretion, authorize the following actions: (1) continue to fund the project, contingent upon the availability of funds appropriated by Congress for the purpose of this program and the availability of future-year budget authority; (2) recommend redirection of work under the project; (3) place a hold on federal funding for the project, pending further supporting data or funding; or (4) discontinue funding the project because of insufficient progress, change in strategic direction, or lack of funding.

B. GDO Funding Agreements

i. Grants GDO anticipates issuing grants to provide financial support to prime recipients.

ii. Funding Agreements with Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDCs) In most cases, FFRDCs are funded independently of the remainder of the project team. The FFRDC then executes an agreement with any non-FFRDC project team members to arrange work structure, project execution, and any other matters. Regardless of these arrangements, the entity that applied as the prime recipient for the project will remain the prime recipient for the project.

Eligibility Information To be considered for substantive evaluation, an applicant’s submission must meet the criteria set forth below. If the application does not meet these eligibility requirements, it will be considered ineligible and removed from further evaluation.

Eligible Applicants

Consistent with the definitions in 2 CFR 200.1, and for the purposes of this FOA:

· “Recipient” means an entity that receives a grant directly from DOE. That is, the Recipient and DOE are the parties to the grant agreement. Recipients are often referred to as prime recipients.

· “Subrecipient” means an entity that receives a subgrant from a prime recipient to carry out part of a DOE grant. That is, the recipient and subrecipient are the parties to the subgrant agreement. The prime recipient maintains responsibility for management and monitoring of the subrecipient’s work, including compliance with DOE grant requirements.

1. Individuals

U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents may apply as prime recipients provided that they have partnered with a State and/or RTO/ISO on the application, and they may be included as subrecipients on any applications to this FOA.

1. Domestic Entities

These entities are eligible to apply as prime recipients either individually or in partnership with other domestic entities or subrecipients:

· States

· RTOs/ISOs

These entities are eligible to apply as prime recipients, provided they include a State or RTO/ISO as a partner on the application/project team:

· For-profit entities,

· Tribal entities,

· Educational institutions, and

· Nonprofits

To be eligible to apply for funding as a prime recipient or subrecipient, entities must also be incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a particular state or territory of the United States and have a physical location for business operations in the United States. Nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995 are not eligible to apply for funding.

These entities are only eligible to be included on an application or project team as subrecipients:

· DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to apply for funding as a subrecipient but are not eligible to apply as a prime recipient.

· Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to apply for funding as a subrecipient but are not eligible to apply as a prime recipient.

· Federal agencies and instrumentalities (other than DOE).

1. Foreign Entities Foreign entities are not eligible to apply.

1. Incorporated Consortia Incorporated consortia, which may include domestic entities, may apply as prime recipients provided that they have partnered with a State and/or RTO/ISO on the application, and they may be included as subrecipients on any applications to this FOA. For consortia incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a state or territory of the United States, please refer to “Domestic Entities” above.

Each incorporated consortium must have an internal governance structure and a written set of internal rules. Upon request, the consortium must provide a written description of its internal governance structure and its internal rules to the GDO Contracting Officer.

1. Unincorporated Consortia Unincorporated Consortia, which may include domestic entities, may apply as prime recipients provided that they have partnered with a State and/or RTO/ISO on the application, and they may be included as subrecipients on any applications to this FOA. Unincorporated consortia must designate one member of the consortium to serve as the prime recipient/consortium representative. The prime recipient/consortium representative must be incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a state or territory of the United States. The eligibility of the consortium will be determined by the eligibility of the prime recipient/consortium representative under Section III.A. of the FOA.

Upon request, unincorporated consortia must provide the GDO Contracting Officer with a collaboration agreement, commonly referred to as the articles of collaboration, which sets out the rights and responsibilities of each consortium member. This agreement binds the individual consortium members together and should discuss, among other things, the consortium’s:

· Management structure;

· Method of making payments to consortium members;

· Means of ensuring and overseeing members’ efforts on the project;

· Provisions for members’ cost sharing contributions; and

· Provisions for ownership and rights in intellectual property developed previously or under the agreement.

Cost Sharing Applies to Topic Area 1: The cost share must be at least 5% of the total allowable costs for research and development projects (i.e., the sum of the government share, including FFRDC costs if applicable, and the recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project) and must come from non-federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law. (See 2 CFR 200.306 and 2 CFR 910.130 for the applicable cost sharing requirements.)

Applies to Topic Area 2: Due to the nature of the work under Topic Area 2 being education/outreach, cost sharing is not required for this Topic Area.

To assist applicants in calculating proper cost share amounts, GDO has included a cost share information sheet and sample cost share calculation as Appendices A and B to this FOA.

1. Legal Responsibility Although the cost share requirement applies to the project as a whole, including work performed by members of the project team other than the prime recipient, the prime recipient is legally responsible for paying the entire cost share. If the funding agreement is terminated prior to the end of the project period, the prime recipient is required to contribute at least the cost share percentage of total expenditures incurred through the date of termination.

The prime recipient is solely responsible for managing cost share contributions by the project team and enforcing cost share obligation assumed by project team members in subawards or related agreements.

1. Cost Share Allocation Each project team is free to determine how best to allocate the cost share requirement among the team members. The amount contributed by individual project team members may vary, as long as the cost share requirement for the project as a whole is met.

1. Cost Share Types and Allowability Every cost share contribution must be allowable under the applicable federal cost principles, as described in the FOA. In addition, cost share must be verifiable upon submission of the Full Application.

Project teams may provide cost share in the form of cash or in-kind contributions. Cost share may be provided by the prime recipient, subrecipients, or third parties (entities that do not have a role in performing the scope of work). Vendors/contractors may not provide cost share. Any partial donation of goods or services is considered a discount and is not allowable.

Cash contributions include, but are not limited to: personnel costs, fringe costs, supply and equipment costs, indirect costs and other direct costs.

In-kind contributions are those where a value of the contribution can be readily determined, verified and justified but where no actual cash is transacted in securing the good or service comprising the contribution. Allowable in-kind contributions include, but are not limited to: the donation of volunteer time or the donation of space or use of equipment.

Project teams may use funding or property received from state or local governments to meet the cost share requirement, so long as the funding was not provided to the state or local government by the federal government.

The prime recipient may not use the following sources to meet its cost share obligations including, but not limited to:

· Revenues or royalties from the prospective operation of an activity beyond the project period;

· Proceeds from the prospective sale of an asset of an activity;

· Federal funding or property (e.g., federal grants, equipment owned by the federal government); or

· Expenditures that were reimbursed under a separate federal program.

Project teams may not use the same cash or in-kind contributions to meet cost share requirements for more than one project or program.

Cost share contributions must be specified in the project budget, verifiable from the prime recipient’s records, and necessary and reasonable for proper and efficient accomplishment of the project. As all sources of cost share are considered part of total project cost, the cost share dollars will be scrutinized under the same federal regulations as federal dollars to the project. Every cost share contribution must be reviewed and approved in advance by the Contracting Officer and incorporated into the project budget before the expenditures are incurred.

Applicants are encouraged to refer to 2 CFR 200.306 as amended by 2 CFR 910.130 for additional cost sharing requirements.

1. Cost Share Contributions by FFRDCs Because FFRDCs are funded by the federal government, costs incurred by FFRDCs generally may not be used to meet the cost share requirement. FFRDCs may contribute cost share only if the contributions are paid directly from the contractor’s Management Fee or another non-federal source.

1. Cost Share Verification Applicants are required to provide written assurance of their proposed cost share contributions in their Full Applications.

Upon selection for award negotiations, applicants are required to provide additional information and documentation regarding their cost share contributions. Please refer to Appendix A of the FOA.

1. Cost Share Payment GDO requires prime recipients to contribute the cost share amount incrementally over the life of the award. Specifically, the prime recipient’s cost share for each billing period must always reflect the overall cost share ratio negotiated by the parties (i.e., the total amount of cost sharing on each invoice when considered cumulatively with previous invoices must reflect, at a minimum, the cost sharing percentage negotiated). As FFRDC funding will be provided directly to the FFRDC(s) by DOE, prime recipients will be required to provide project cost share at a percentage commensurate with the FFRDC costs, on a budget period basis, resulting in a higher interim invoicing cost share ratio than the total award ratio.

In limited circumstances, and where it is in the government’s interest, the GDO Contracting Officer may approve a request by the prime recipient to meet its cost share requirements on a less frequent basis, such as monthly or quarterly. Regardless of the interval requested, the prime recipient must be up-to-date on cost share at each interval. Such requests must be sent to the Contracting Officer during award negotiations and include the following information: (1) a detailed justification for the request; (2) a proposed schedule of payments, including amounts and dates; (3) a written commitment to meet that schedule; and (4) such evidence as necessary to demonstrate that the prime recipient has complied with its cost share obligations to date. The Contracting Officer must approve all such requests before they go into effect.

Compliance Criteria Concept Papers, Full Applications, and Replies to Reviewer Comments, if applicable, must meet all compliance criteria listed below or they will be considered noncompliant. GDO will not review or consider noncompliant submissions, including Concept Papers, Full Applications, and Replies to Reviewer Comments that were: submitted through means other than Infrastructure eXCHANGE; submitted after the applicable deadline; and/or submitted incomplete. GDO will not extend the submission deadline for applicants that fail to submit required information by the applicable deadline due to server/connection congestion.

1. Compliance Criteria

Concept Papers Concept Papers are deemed compliant if:

· The Concept Paper complies with the content and form requirements in Section IV.D. of the FOA; and

· The applicant successfully uploaded all required documents and clicked the “Submit” button in Infrastructure eXCHANGE by the deadline stated in this FOA.

Full Applications Full Applications are deemed compliant if:

· The applicant submitted a compliant Concept Paper;

· The Full Application complies with the content and form requirements in of the FOA; and

· The applicant successfully uploaded all required documents and clicked the “Submit” button in Infrastructure eXCHANGE by the deadline stated in the FOA.

Responsiveness Criteria All “Applications Specifically Not of Interest,” as described in the FOA (Section I.B.), are deemed noncompliant and are not reviewed or considered.

Other Eligibility Requirements

1. Requirements for DOE/NNSA and non-DOE/NNSA Federally Funded Research and Development Centers Included as a Subrecipient DOE/NNSA and non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs may be proposed as a subrecipient on another entity’s application subject to the following guidelines:

Authorization for non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs The federal agency sponsoring the FFRDC must authorize in writing the use of the FFRDC on the proposed project and this authorization must be submitted with the application. The use of a FFRDC must be consistent with its authority under its award.

Authorization for DOE/NNSA FFRDCs The cognizant Contracting Officer for the FFRDC must authorize in writing the use of the FFRDC on the proposed project and this authorization must be submitted with the application. The following wording is acceptable for this authorization:

Authorization is granted for the Laboratory to participate in the proposed project. The work proposed for the laboratory is consistent with or complementary to the missions of the laboratory, and will not adversely impact execution of the DOE assigned programs at the laboratory.

Value/Funding The value of and funding for the FFRDC portion of the work will not normally be included in the award to a successful applicant. Usually, DOE will fund a DOE/NNSA FFRDC contractor through the DOE field work proposal (WP) system and non-DOE/NNSA FFRDC through an interagency agreement with the sponsoring agency.

Cost Share Although the FFRDC portion of the work is usually excluded from the award to a successful applicant, the applicant’s cost share requirement will be based on the total cost of the project, including the applicant’s, the subrecipient’s, and the FFRDC’s portions of the project.

Responsibility The prime recipient will be the responsible authority regarding the settlement and satisfaction of all contractual and administrative issues including, but not limited to disputes and claims arising out of any agreement between the prime recipient and the FFRDC contractor.

Limitation on Number of Concept Papers and Full Applications Eligible for Review

An entity may submit more than one Concept Paper and Full Application to this FOA, provided that each application describes a unique, scientifically distinct project and provided that an eligible Concept Paper was submitted for each Full Application.

Questions Regarding Eligibility of Applications GDO will not make eligibility determinations for potential applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the applicant.

Application and Submission Information

Application Process The application process will include two phases: a Concept Paper phase and a Full Application phase. Only applicants who have submitted an eligible Concept Paper will be eligible to submit a Full Application.

At each phase, GDO performs an initial eligibility review of the applicant submissions to determine whether they meet the eligibility requirements of Section III. of the FOA. GDO will not review or consider submissions that do not meet the eligibility requirements of Section III. All submissions must conform to the following form and content requirements, including maximum page lengths (described below) and must be submitted via Infrastructure eXCHANGE at https://infrastructure-exchange.energy.gov unless specifically stated otherwise. GDO will not review or consider submissions submitted through means other than Infrastructure eXCHANGE, submissions submitted after the applicable deadline, or incomplete submissions. GDO will not extend deadlines for applicants who fail to submit required information and documents due to server/connection congestion.

A Control Number will be issued when an applicant begins the Infrastructure eXCHANGE application process. This control number must be included with all application documents, as described below.

The Concept Paper, Full Application, and Reply to Reviewer Comments must conform to the following requirements:

· Each must be submitted in Adobe PDF format unless stated otherwise;

· Each must be written in English;

· All pages must be formatted to fit on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with margins not less than one inch on every side. All pages must use Calibri typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 12 point or larger (except in figures or tables, which may be 10 point font). A symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters, but the font size requirement still applies. References must be included as footnotes or endnotes in a font size of 10 or larger. Footnotes and endnotes are counted toward the maximum page requirement;

· The Control Number must be prominently displayed on the upper right corner of the header of every page. Page numbers must be included in the footer of every page; and

· Each submission must not exceed the specified maximum page limit, including cover page, charts, graphs, maps, and photographs when printed using the formatting requirements set forth above and single spaced. If applicants exceed the maximum page lengths indicated below, GDO will review only the authorized number of pages and disregard any additional pages.

Applicants are responsible for meeting each submission deadline. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their Concept Papers and Full Applications at least 48 hours in advance of the submission deadline. Under normal conditions (i.e., at least 48 hours in advance of the submission deadline), applicants should allow at least 1 hour to submit a Concept Paper or Full Application. Once Concept Paper or Full Application is submitted in Infrastructure eXCHANGE, applicants may revise or update that submission until the expiration of the applicable deadline. If changes are made to any of these documents, the applicant must resubmit the Concept Paper or Full Application before the applicable deadline.

GDO urges applicants to carefully review their Concept Papers and Full Applications to allow sufficient time for the submission of required information and documents. All Full Applications that pass the initial eligibility review will undergo comprehensive technical merit review according to the criteria identified in Section V.A.ii. of the FOA.

1. Additional Information on Infrastructure eXCHANGE Infrastructure eXCHANGE is designed to enforce the deadlines specified in this FOA. The “Apply” and “Submit” buttons will automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. Should applicants experience problems with Infrastructure eXCHANGE, the following information may be helpful.

Applicants that experience issues with submission PRIOR to the FOA deadline: In the event that an applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the applicant should contact the Infrastructure eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (infrastructureexchangesupport@hq.doe.gov). The Infrastructure eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the Infrastructure eXCHANGE system administrators will assist applicants in resolving issues.

Application Forms The application forms and instructions are available on Infrastructure eXCHANGE. To access these materials, go to https://Infrastructure-eXCHANGE.energy.gov and select the appropriate funding opportunity number.

Content and Form of the Concept Paper To be eligible to submit a Full Application, applicants must submit a Concept Paper by the specified due date and time.

1. Concept Paper Content Requirements GDO will not review or consider ineligible Concept Papers (see Section III. of the FOA).

Each Concept Paper must be limited to a single concept or technology. Unrelated concepts and technologies should not be consolidated into a single Concept Paper.

The Concept Paper must conform to the following content requirements:

· The proposed activity, goals and planned methodologies, including software;

· Or, the proposed stakeholders to be included in any convening and the goals or discussion topics to be set for those convenings;

· How the proposed analytical approach or convening process would address the knowledge gaps, limitations, and challenges facing the electricity industry;

· The funding being requested, in US dollars ($) and the impact that GDO funding would have on the proposed project.

· Whether the Project Team has the skill and expertise needed to successfully execute the project plan;

· Whether the Project Team includes States and/or, RTOs/ISOs;

· Whether the applicant has prior experience which demonstrates an ability to perform tasks of similar risk and complexity;

· Whether the applicant has worked together with its teaming partners on prior projects or programs; and

· Whether the applicant has adequate access to data and software tools necessary to accomplish the effort and/or clearly explain how it intends to obtain access to the necessary data.

· Applicants may provide graphs, charts, or other data to supplement their Description.

GDO makes an independent assessment of each Concept Paper based on the criteria in the FOA. GDO will encourage a subset of applicants to submit Full Applications. Other applicants will be discouraged from submitting a Full Application. An applicant who receives a “discouraged” notification may still submit a Full Application. GDO will review all eligible Full Applications. However, by discouraging the submission of a Full Application, GDO intends to convey its lack of programmatic interest in the proposed project in an effort to save the applicant the time and expense of preparing an application that is unlikely to be selected for award negotiations.

GDO may include general comments provided from reviewers on an applicant’s Concept Paper in the encourage/discourage notification posted on Infrastructure eXCHANGE at the close of that phase.

Content and Form of the Full Application Applicants must submit a Full Application by the specified due date and time to be considered for funding under this FOA. Applicants must complete the following application forms found on the Infrastructure eXCHANGE website at https://infrastructure-exchange.energy.gov/, in accordance with the instructions.

Applicants will have approximately 30 days from receipt of the Concept Paper Encourage/Discourage notification on Infrastructure eXCHANGE to prepare and submit a Full Application. See page 1 of FOA for Full Application due dates (i.e., FOA Closing Dates).