DRAFT_PIA-FOA-21-AFRL-0001_11June2021.docx.pdf

DRAFT__PIA-FOA-21-AFRL-0001 ****Subject To Change**** 11 June 2021

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE NEW MEXICO

Science, Innovation & Technology Partnership Intermediary Agreement (SITPIA)

DRAFT Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)

****This Is A DRAFT FOA****Subject To Change****

1. Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number: DRAFT_PIA-FOA-21-AFRL-0001

2. Federal Assistance Number (CFDA): 12.800 Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program

3. AFRL Contracting Office: Space Vehicles Directorate, RVKE

4. Announcement Type and Key Dates:

FOA Type DRAFT

DRAFT FOA Issue Date 15 June 2021

DRAFT FOA Issue Date 21 May 2021

DRAFT FOA Submission Deadline for Questions 25 June 2021, 02:00 PM EST

FOA Questions Email To Sara Telano, AFRL/RVKE, Contracting Specialist sara.telano@us.af.mil Karina Zubiate. AFLR/RVKE, Contracting Specialist karina.zubiate@spaceforce.mil

FOA Issue Date TBD

FOA Submission Deadline for Proposals TBD

This is a five year open Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) accepting proposals from the date of publication for award of Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA), subject to the availability of funds.

The Government reserves the right to enter into one, multiple or no agreements pursuant to this announcement. Once the FOA has reached the five year period and/or funds are no longer available, the announcement will be modified to reflect the announcement as closed. This FOA will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure awards are pertinent to the Government’s needs and ceiling values.

Proposals may be submitted any time from the FOA issue date, until the FOA submission deadline for proposals on XXXX, 2021, 02:00 PM EST. At this time, due to Government availability of funds, the

Government will not accept proposals after XXX, 2021. Should funds become available, this FOA will be modified to allow for the submission of future proposals.

Proposals will be evaluated as they are received. All proposals must be submitted electronically through the Grants.gov government-wide electronic portal at https://www.grants.gov/. No hard copy submissions will be accepted.

mailto:sara.telano@us.af.mil mailto:karina.zubiate@spaceforce.mil https://www.grants.gov/

5. Registration Requirements:

There are several one-time actions that must be completed in order to submit an application in response to this FOA (e.g., obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number from Dun &

Bradstreet (D&B), register with the System for Award Management (SAM.gov), and register with

Grants.gov). Recipients who are not currently registered with SAM.gov and/or Grants.gov should allow sufficient time to complete registration. It is suggested that the registration process be started as soon as possible. Questions relating to the Grants.gov registration process, system requirements, or application submission must be directed to Grants.gov at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov.

Table of Contents Section I-Funding Opportunity Description 4

A. Summary 4

B. Background 4

C. Program Description 4

D. Authorizations 6

Section II- Federal Award Information 6

A. Funding Amount and Period of Performance 6

B. Place of Performance 7

C. Minimum and Maximum Award Size Estimates 7

D. Type of Award Instrument 8

Section III- Eligibility Information 8

A. Eligible Applicants 8

B. Foreign Entities 9

C. Cost Sharing or Matching 10

D. Other 11

Section IV- Application and Submission Information 11

A. Address to Request Application Package 12

B. Content and Form of Application Submission 12

C. Unique entity identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 19

D. Submission Dates and Times 19

E. Intergovernmental Review 20

F. Funding Restrictions 20

G. Submissions From Successful Recipients 21

H. Other Submission Requirements 21

Section V - Application Review Information 21

A. Criteria 21

B. Review and Selection Process 24

C. Notice of Selection and Awards 25

Section VI- Federal Award Administration Information 26

A. Federal Award Notices 26

B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 26

C. Reporting 27

Section VII- Federal Awarding Agency Contact(s) 28

A. Questions 28

B. Contacts 28

Section VIII- Other Information 29

Section IX- Appendix, Attachments, and References 30

Section I-Funding Opportunity Description

A. Summary

The Department of Defense (DoD) Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Kirtland Air Force Base, New

Mexico, is seeking innovative applications from interested Recipients to enter into a five-year

Partnership Intermediary Agreements (PIAs).

AFRL anticipates a total of $75,000,000.00 of Federal funding under this Funding Opportunity

Announcement (FOA). The Government (AFRL) is seeking unclassified proposals that do not contain proprietary information. Proprietary information is defined as information that is not public knowledge and that is viewed as the property of the holder. The Government reserves the right to enter into one, multiple or no agreements pursuant to this FOA.

B. Background

The AFRL Tech Outreach Branch (RDOX) leads tech transfer and STEM education outreach activities for AFRL/RD and AFRL/RV in New Mexico. The Government is seeking Partnership Intermediary Agreements (PIAs) with entities that facilitate joint projects and accelerate technology transfer between the lab and the commercial market. These intermediaries help companies to identify federal technologies that can be licensed and commercialized; and work to increase the likelihood of successful cooperative activities between the lab, small businesses, academia and industry.

The Government has an interest in entering into one or multiple Partnership Intermediary Agreement(s), under the authority of 15 U.S.C. 3715, with a Partnership Intermediary, as defined in 15 U.S.C. 3715 (c), to provide services that stimulate and promote technology development, and outbound and inbound transfer of technology (T2).

C. Program Description

The Government seeks to fund the most creative, comprehensive, and impactful innovation-accelerating

Recipients that support the DoD mission and can engage with other innovative-accelerating and entrepreneurially-focused organizations (both public and private). These organizations are critical to the growth of an innovation economy and help accelerate the launch, growth, and scale of businesses, ultimately resulting in the commercialization of new technologies and business models, and development of specialized skills, industries, and technology sectors of jobs in the United States.

The Government encourage applicants to create programs and/or projects that bolster Research and

Development (R&D) innovation, increase the maturity and market readiness of DoD relevant technologies to prepare them for transfer and commercialization that support DoD needs, through regional engagement, including with other private actors—both for- and non-profit—as well as with educational institutions, small business firms, state and local entities that may provide additional resources. Thought this FOA, AFRL seeks to support the following Program Goals and Objectives:

i. Program Goals. AFRL’s goals for this program are:

1. Transfer technology developed for the AFRL into Commercial Markets.

2. Transition commercial and academic innovation for AFRL.

3. Foster partnerships between AFRL, industry, and academia.

4. Inspire and support the next generation of technology leaders in the United States.

5. Support and develop innovation internal and external to AFRL.

ii. Program Objectives. AFRL’s program objectives are:

1. Patent and intellectual property (IP) management—assist with the development and execution of licenses and the development or management of patents and the broader IP portfolio including, but not limited to:

Intellectual property – develop strategies and campaigns that provide a legal and proper assignment of rights pertaining to the technologies developed in the course of innovation research and development.

Plan, develop and/or implement tech marketing campaigns.

Venture capital – successfully access and secure venture capital opportunities for small business and non-traditional companies.

2. Technology and market research—conduct technology and market landscape or forecast studies to identify future directions for specific technologies, and provide broad situational awareness regarding the origins and development of a particular technology domain or industry including, but not limited to:

Tech scouting – access markets, extract pertinent technologies, and exploit opportunities to integrate existing technologies into the defense sector.

Horizon scanning – access markets, extract pertinent technologies, and exploit opportunities to integrate emerging technologies into the defense sector

T2 (into government) - develop strategies and campaigns as a conduit to assist in transferring dual-use technologies into government.

3. Collaboration spaces and business incubation—Establish and/or manage physical and virtual spaces that serve as a collaborative environment to engage with non-DoD researchers and businesses. Support commercialization of DoD entity technologies or adapting commercial technologies to meet DoD needs including mentorship and bridge opportunities for entrepreneurs/innovators to turn S&T into workable products and services.

4. Technology assessment activities — support organizations with technology demonstrations, showcases, industry days, design sprints, hackathons, workshops, and other events including, but not limited to:

Accelerators – support economic development through accelerated growth and maturation of entrepreneurs and non-traditional businesses in and around the defense industry.

Develop and implement a promotion and marketing plan for the effective technology transfer of AFRL-New Mexico’s technologies and to highlight collaborative activities to state and local governments, academia, and the private sector, etc.

Prize competitions—plan and implement prize competitions.

5. RDT&E collaboration activities—support organizations with the development, coordination, and problem-solving activities in support of RDT&E collaboration activities. Including, but limited to:

Support of IP management and government/industry/academia agreements

Conduct training on tech transfer processes and mechanisms

Execute annual tech transfer awards and recognition programs

6. Prototyping and manufacturing capabilities—support organizations with prototyping, facilitating development of prototypes, and advancing DoD’s manufacturing capabilities including, but not limited to:

Operating an on-base makerspace and supporting programming for a mobile makerspace.

7. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education outreach- Develop and manage K-12 STEM education outreach programs to inspire learners to consider STEM careers, including, but not limited to:

Executing the DoD Starbase program in New Mexico.

Executing the NDEP Career STREAM Program in New Mexico.

Executing K-12 STEM missions including Mission to Mars and Rocket Launch.

8. SBIR and STTR support programs—support the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs by performing technology scouting to identify and recruit small businesses to those programs.

9. Regional economic development – Engage with other entities in the region, such as universities and regional economic development groups, State, local State or local government, or a nonprofit entities, etc., to build their networks and contributions to the Space and Directed

Energy innovation ecosystems within AFRL.

NOTE: Recipients are required to respond to ALL the above Program Objectives as part of the Project

Narrative or Technical Volume.

D. Authorizations

The Government has an interest in entering into one or multiple Partnership Intermediary Agreements, under the authority of 15 U.S.C. 3715, with a Partnership Intermediary, as defined in 15 U.S.C. 3715 (c).

Awards made under this announcement will fall under the purview of 2 CFR Part 200 and DOD Research and Development (R&D) Terms and Conditions (March 2021).

The Government provides no funding for direct reimbursement of application development costs.

Technical applications and budgets (or any other material) submitted in response to this FOA will not be returned. This FOA is intended for applications that provide strategic solutions and that meet the evaluation criteria specified in this FOA.

The Government reserves the right to cancel this notice, either before or after the closing date. In the event the Government cancels this solicitation or a Recipient is not selected for an award, the

Government is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated with preparing or submitting an application to this FOA.

The Government will not issue paper copies of this announcement. A formal Request for Applications, solicitation, and/or additional information regarding this announcement will not be issued.

Section II- Federal Award Information

A. Funding Amount and Period of Performance

As previously stated, AFRL anticipates a total of $75,000,000.00 of Federal funding under this FOA, subject to the availability of funds. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the applications in response to this announcement and reserves the right to enter into one, multiple or no agreements pursuant to this FOA. Proposed efforts may vary in size and complexity, however, shall not exceed a period of performance of 60 months in length.

The anticipated Period of Performance as follow:

Technical Effort: 60 months from contract award date.

Final Reports: 3 months (after end of technical effort).

Total Effort: 63 months from contract award date.

The Government anticipates making awards that will run up to 60 months in length, comprised of multiple budget periods. The overall effort is expected to be made up of numerous projects, and program or project continuation will be contingent upon several elements, including satisfactory performance and Go/No-Go decision review. At the Go/No-Go decision points, the Government may evaluate Recipient’s performance, schedule adherence, the extent to which milestone objectives are met, compliance with reporting requirements, and overall contribution to the program goals and objectives. As a result of this evaluation, AFRL may, at its discretion, authorize the following actions:

1. Continue to fund the program/project, contingent upon the availability of funds;

2. Recommend redirection of proposed effort;

3. Place a hold on Federal funding, pending further supporting data; or

4. Discontinue funding because of insufficient progress, change in strategic direction, or lack of funding.

The Government expects projects to be completed within the proposed performance period. Any requests for no-cost extensions must be fully justified and submitted no later than 60 days before the end of the period of performance. All requests shall be approved by the Grants and Agreements Officer in coordination with the designated Program Manager.

The anticipated period of performance for five year proposals is:

01 November 2021 through 30 October 2026.

B. Place of Performance

Anticipated places of performance include but are not limited to AFRL’s Air Force Materiel Command

(AFMC), installations located at:

Directed Energy Directorate (RD), Kirtland AFB, NM

Space Vehicles Directorate (RV), Kirtland AFB, NM

C. Minimum and Maximum Award Size Estimates

The Government anticipates a total of $75,000,000.00 of Federal funding under this FOA, subject to the availability of funds. The Government reserves the right to fund, in whole or in part, any, all, or none of the proposals submitted in response to this FOA. Proposed efforts may vary in size and complexity, however, shall not exceed a period of performance of 60 months in length.

Floor (i.e., the minimum amount for an individual award made under this announcement): There is no floor for this FOA, however, Recipients should carefully consider their proposed cost for total period of performance of five-years.

Ceiling (i.e., the maximum amount for an individual award made under this announcement): The maximum amount for a proposed effort will be $55,000,000.00. Applicants for larger amounts may be considered based on funding availability.

The Government 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 and is subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Before the expiration of the initial budget period(s), the Government may perform a performance and/or Go/No-Go decision review.

D. Type of Award Instrument

Awards will take the form of a Partnership Intermediary Agreement, subject to the availability of funds.

Any assistance instrument awarded under this announcement will be governed by the award terms and conditions that conform to DoD’s implementation of OMB guidance in 2 C.F.R. 200, Uniform

Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards; 32 C.F.R., National Defense, DoD Research & Development General Terms and Conditions (March 2021) located at: https://www.onr.navy.mil/work-with-us/manage-your-award/manage-grant-award/grants-terms-conditions, and FAR Part 31, Contract Cost Principles.

Section III- Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

To be considered for 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.

Applicant Eligibility. To be eligible to apply under this FOA, the applicant must:

1. Be a Public and State controlled institutions of higher education in the State of New Mexico; and

2. Have a strong graduate education program with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research.

The FOA goals and objectives include promoting a skilled and productive U.S. workforce, spurring economic development, job creation, support, R&D innovation, technology transfer, technology assessment activities and assist in transferring dual-use technologies into government. AFRL is seeking proposals from New Mexico Public or State research universities that share AFRL’s desire to improve

New Mexico’s education landscape, have a legacy of operating in New Mexico, have insights into the unique NM education and economic development ecosystems, and have broad and deep contacts and connections in the state of New Mexico.

Sub-recipient and/or Sub-awardee Eligibility. The following types of domestic entities are eligible to participate as sub-recipients or sub-awardees under this FOA:

1. Institutions of higher education;

2. For-profit entities;

3. Non-profit entities;

4. State, local and tribal governments; and https://www.onr.navy.mil/work-with-us/manage-your-award/manage-grant-award/grants-terms-conditions https://www.onr.navy.mil/work-with-us/manage-your-award/manage-grant-award/grants-terms-conditions

5. Small Business enterprises.

Per 15 US Code 3715(c) “Partnership Intermediary” defined:

For purposes of this section, the term “partnership intermediary” means an agency of a State or local government, or a nonprofit entity owned in whole or in part by, chartered by, funded in whole or in part by, or operated in whole or in part by or on behalf of a State or local government, that assists, counsels, advises, evaluates, or otherwise cooperates with small business firms, institutions of higher education as defined in section 1141(a) 1 of title 20, or educational institutions within the meaning of section 2194 of title 10, that need or can make demonstrably productive use of technology-related assistance from a

Federal laboratory, including State programs receiving funds under cooperative agreements entered into under section 5121(b) of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 278l note).

Defense laboratories, military universities, and warfare centers, as well as other Department of Defense and civilian agency, are not eligible to receive awards under this FOA and must not submit proposals in response to this FOA. Federally Funded Research & Development Centers (FFRDCs), including

Department of Energy National Laboratories, are not eligible to receive awards under this FOA.

However, teaming arrangements between FFRDCs and eligible principal Recipients are allowed so long as they are permitted under the sponsoring agreement between the Government and the specific

FFRDC. Please note, the Recipient, if successful, shall 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 Recipient and the FFRDC contractor.

To prevent the bias and unfair competitive advantage resulting from conflicting rules, Recipients must identify in their application any organizational conflict of interests which may exist. If a Recipient has an actual or potential organizational conflict of interests, the application must identify the organizational conflict of interests and the mitigation plan to address it.

NOTE: If the application does not meet these eligibility requirements, the application will be considered ineligible and removed from further evaluation. AFRL will not make eligibility determinations about 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.

B. Foreign Entities

Foreign entities will not be considered for this award. All prime recipients receiving funding under this

FOA must be incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a state or territory of the United

States.

Information Regarding Non-U.S. Citizens Assigned to AFRL’s Programs or Projects. In an effort to continue improving AFRL’s security posture, better manage risks to the critical mission areas, and better align contractor access requirements, AFRL will not allow individuals who are non-U.S. citizens to work within AFRL facilities or to have access to US Government IT networks, unless a waiver requested has been granted by the Grants and Agreements Officer. Individuals requiring access to USAF bases, AFRL facilities, and/or access to U.S. Government Information Technology (IT) networks in connection with the work on the proposed effort must be U.S. citizens. For the purpose of base and network access, possession of a permanent resident card (“Green Card”) does not equate to U.S. citizenship. This requirement does not apply to foreign nationals approved by the U.S. Department of Defense or U.S.

State Department under international personnel exchange agreements with foreign governments. It also does not apply to dual citizens who possess U.S. citizenship, to include Naturalized citizens.

In the event a Recipient is unable to hire a U.S. citizen due to a rare, highly-specialized, needed expertise, a waiver request must be submitted from the organization to the Grants and Agreements

Officer. Any waivers to this requirement must be granted in writing by the Grants and Agreements

Officer prior to providing access. Specific format for waiver request will be provided upon request from the Grants and Agreements Officer. The above requirements are in addition to any other contract requirements related to obtaining a Common Access Card (CAC).

For purposes of the paragraph above, if an IT network/system does not require AFRL to endorse a

Recipient’s application to said network/system in order to gain access, the organization operating the IT network/system is responsible for controlling access to its system. If an IT network/system requires an

U.S. Government sponsor to endorse the application in order for access to the IT network/system; AFRL will only endorse the following types of applications; consistent with the requirements above:

(1) Contractor employees who are U.S. citizens performing work under this award.

(2) Contractor employees who are non-U.S. citizens and who have been granted a waiver.

Please note that, any additional access restrictions established by the IT network/system owner apply.

C. Cost Sharing or Matching

Cost Sharing or Matching is required. The applicant's cost share requirement will be based on the total cost of the project and must come from non-federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law. Every cost share contribution must be allowable and allocable under the applicable federal cost principles, and must be verifiable upon submission of the application.

The Prime Recipient(s) is free to determine how best to allocate the cost share requirement. Cost share may be provided by the prime recipient, sub-recipients, sub-awardees, or third parties (entities that do not have a role in performing the scope of work). Vendors/contractors may not provide cost share. The amount contributed by individual contributors may vary, as long as the cost share requirement for the project as a whole is met.

Recipients may choose from the following cost share options:

Options Minimum Requires Cost Share

Option 1 10%

Option 2 15%

Option 3 20%

Applicants are encouraged to refer to 2 CFR 200.306, DoD Research & Development General Terms and

Conditions (March 2021), and FAR Part 31, Contract Cost Principles, for additional cost sharing information.

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

D. Other

System of Award Management (SAM): To be eligible for an award, the Recipient must be registered in the System of Award Management (SAM) before submitting its application; provide a valid unique entity identifier in its application; and continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a Federal awarding agency. Organizations are now required to send a notarized letter with their Employee Identification Number (EIN) in conjunction with the SAM registration process. If the organization does not have either an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Tax Identification Number

(TIN), allow at least 2 weeks to receive this information from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Recipients should allow 3 to 4 weeks to complete the entire SAM registration process. If a Recipient has not fully complied with the requirements by the time the AFRL is ready to make a Federal award, the

AFRL may determine that the Recipient is not qualified to receive a Federal award and use that determination as a basis for making a Federal award to another Recipient. Additional information and step-by-step registration directions are detailed in the SAM User Guide and other General Services

Administration (GSA) training materials in the Help area at https://www.sam.gov/.

Profit or Fee: Profit or fee is unallowable under this FOA.

Project Abstract: A project abstract is required with the application and must be publically releasable as specified by this document.

White papers or Letter of Intent: White papers or Letter of Intent are NOT required or encouraged for this FOA and will NOT be reviewed.

Section IV- Application and Submission Information

The Government seeks only Full Applications that meet the eligibility requirements of Section III -

Eligibility Information. AFRL will not consider or review ineligible applications. Full Applications submitted under this FOA must seek to address unclassified efforts. No classified applications shall be submitted.

Full Applications must conform to the following content and form requirements, including maximum page lengths (described below) and must be submitted via Grants.gov. AFRL will not review or consider applications submitted after the applicable deadline, or incomplete submissions. AFRL will not extend deadlines for Recipients who fail to submit required information and documents due to server/connection congestion.

The application must conform to the following requirements:

Must be submitted in Adobe PDF format unless stated otherwise;

All pages must be formatted to fit on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with margins not less than one inch on every side, with font not smaller than 11 point;

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;

Page numbers must be included in the footer of every page; and https://www.sam.gov/

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 Recipients exceed the maximum page lengths indicated below, AFRL will review only the authorized number of pages and disregard any additional pages.

AFRL urges Recipients to carefully review their application and to allow sufficient time for the submission of required information and documents. Applications that pass the initial eligibility review will undergo comprehensive technical merit review according to the criteria identified in Section V-

Application Review Information of the FOA.

NOTE: Titles given to the Applications should be descriptive of the efforts and should NOT be a copy of the title of this announcement.

A. Address to Request Application Package

Recipients shall be aware of the following:

● Applications will be reviewed only if (1) are received electronically through https://www.grants.gov/; and (2) meet the eligibility requirements of Section III - Eligibility

Information.

● All relevant material and announcements and/or information to this FOA will be made available at https://www.grants.gov/. It is the responsibility of the Recipient to check Grants.gov for updates.

● Recipients are responsible for making sure the application is submitted, received, and validated by

Grants.gov before the application deadline. If application package is submitted late, the application will be ineligible for consideration.

● The Government will not issue paper copies of this announcement. A formal Request for Proposals

(RFP), solicitation, and/or additional information regarding this announcement will not be issued.

B. Content and Form of Application Submission

i. Component Pieces of The Application

Through Grants.gov, applicants must complete the mandatory Grants.gov forms in accordance with the instructions provided on the forms and the additional instructions below. Files/documents that are attached to the forms must be in Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf) unless otherwise specified in this announcement.

ii. Required Forms/Documents

All Recipients, including sub-recipients or sub-awardees, must complete the mandatory forms and any applicable optional forms (e.g., SF-LLL- Disclosure of Lobbying Activities) in accordance with the instructions provided below.

1. Application for Federal Assistance SF-424 (Research and Related)

In Grants.gov, complete this form first as the forms are designed to fill in common required fields across other forms. Complete all of the required fields in accordance with the “pop-up” instructions on the form. This form is also mandatory for all sub-Recipients or sub-recipients as summarized in

Subsection 12. below.

2. Project/Performance Site Location(s)

In Grants.gov, indicate the primary site where the work will be performed. If a portion of the project will be performed at any other site(s), identify the site location(s) in the blocks provided. If there are more than two site locations (i.e. sub-Recipients), attach a single file titled “Additional Site

Locations.pdf” with the relevant information and click on “Add Attachment,” at the bottom of the

Project/Performance Site Location(s) form to attach.

3. Project Abstract

The project abstract must contain a summary of the proposed activity suitable for dissemination to the public. It should be a self-contained document that identifies the name of the Recipient, the

Project Director(s), the project title, the objectives of the project, a description of the project, milestones listed by year (is applicable), technical approaches, anticipated outcome of the effort, if successful, and impacts on DoD capabilities.

This document must not include any proprietary or sensitive business information as the

Government may make it available to the public after awards are made. The project abstract must not exceed one (1) page when printed using standard 8.5" by 11" paper with 1" margins (top, bottom, left and right) {single spaced} with font not smaller than 11 point. The project abstract must be marked by the Recipient as “Approved for Public Release”.

4. Project Narrative or Technical Volume to include:

The project narrative or technical volume must not exceed 30 pages, including cover page, table of contents, charts, graphs, maps, photographs, and other pictorial presentations, when printed using standard 8.5" by 11" paper with 1 inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) [select single or double spaced]. EVALUATORS WILL REVIEW ONLY THE NUMBER OF PAGES SPECIFIED IN THE PRECEDING

SENTENCE. The font must not be smaller than 11 point. Do not include any Internet addresses

(URLs) that provide information necessary to review the application because the information contained in these sites will NOT be reviewed.

Recipient’s applications must consist of a clear description of the strategy, technical approach and justification being proposed. Do not include proprietary or confidential information. This section should describe the relevance of the proposed effort to the goals and objectives of the FOA.

EXCLUDED from the Project Narrative or Technical Application 30 pages limit are: Statement of

Work (SOW), budget justification workbook, resumes, and letters of commitment or support.

The Project Narrative or Technical Volume must include the following sections:

Section/Page Limit Description

Cover Page (1 Page Maximum)

The cover page must include the following information:

FOA Number: XXXXXXXXX

Proposed Title of Application

Identity of prime Recipient and complete list of sub-Recipients, if applicable

Technical contact (name, address, phone, email address)

Administrative/business contact (name, address, phone, email address)

Proposed period of performance (identify both the base period and any options, if applicable)

Total proposed budget (identify both the base period and any options, if applicable)

Table of Contents (2 Page Maximum)

A listing of the sections within the application, including corresponding page numbers.

Project Schedule and Milestones (2 Pages Maximum)

A summary of the schedule of events and milestones (Gantt Chart or similar). The Recipient must provide a detailed schedule for the entire proposed effort, including task and subtask durations, milestones, and go/no-go decision points, etc. The Recipient should provide appropriate milestones throughout the program or project to demonstrate success, where success is defined as technical achievement rather than simply completing a task. To ensure that milestones are relevant, Applicants should follow the SMART rule of thumb, which is that all milestones should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.

Program or Project Overview

The Program or Project Overview must contain the following information:

Background: The Recipient should discuss the organization’s background, including its history, successes, and current operating status (i.e., the technical baseline) relevant to the proposed effort.

Goals and Objectives: The Recipient should explicitly identify the targeted improvements and the critical success factors in achieving these goals and objectives.

Impacts: The Recipient should discuss the impact that the Government funding would have on the proposed effort. The Recipient should specifically explain how DoD funding, relative to prior, current, or anticipated funding from other public and private sources, is necessary to achieve the proposed goals and objectives.

Program Description The Program Description must contain the following information:

Relevance and Outcomes: The Recipient should provide a detailed description of the program, including the principles and objectives that it will pursue during the project. This section should describe the relevance of the proposed program to the Goals and Objectives of the FOA (Section I-Funding Opportunity Description). The Applicant should clearly specify the expected outcomes of the project.

Feasibility: The Recipient should demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed program and capability of achieving the anticipated project goals, including a description of previous work done and prior results.

Innovation: The Recipient should describe specific innovation of the proposed program, the advantages of proposed program over current and emerging programs, etc.

Management Plan The Recipient must detail the organization’s proposed management plan. This may include, but is not limited to:

The overall approach to and organization for managing the work.

The roles and responsibilities of each team member.

The technical and management aspects of the management plan, including systems and practices, such as financial and project management practices.

The approach to project risk management to include:

o Financial/Cost risk and mitigation o Technical risk and mitigation o Other

A description of how project changes will be handled.

How communications will be maintained among project team members.

Technical Qualifications and Resources

The Recipient’s must detail the organization’s daily operational plan on the proposed effort. This may include, but is not limited to:

Where applicable, relationships and communication plan with any sub-recipients, sub-awardees, consultants, or collaborators of the proposed effort.

Describe the team’s unique qualifications and expertise, including those of key sub-recipients, sub-awardees, consultants, etc.

Describe the team’s existing equipment and facilities that will facilitate the successful completion of the proposed project; include a justification of any new equipment or facilities requested as part of the project.

This section should also include relevant, previous work efforts, demonstrated innovations, and how these enable the applicant to achieve the project objectives.

Describe the time commitment of the key team members to support the project.

For multi-organizational or multi-director projects, describe succinctly:

o The roles and the work to be performed by each Project Director and Key

Participant o Business agreements between the applicant and each Project Director and Key Participant o How the various efforts will be integrated and managed o Process for making decisions on scientific/technical direction o Publication arrangements o Intellectual Property issues o Communication plans

Regional Engagement Strategy and Implementation Plan

The Recipient’s must provide a regional engagement strategy with an implementation plan. The plan must include a description with all available evidence to support how the Recipient will foster a sustainable innovative and entrepreneurial environment through regional engagement. Elements of the plan may include, but are not limited to:

Partnerships and/or working relationships with regional entities—including state and local government as well as private sector entities (including for- and non-profits).

Access to prototyping, testing, and demonstration facilities.

A unique value proposition and description of the applicant organization’s structural advantages in implementing the regional engagement plan (i.e., how the organization is built to be successful within a respective region).

A description of the plan’s potential to be transferable to other innovation-accelerating organizations/regions.

A description of how the plan will yield an improvement in the organization’s offerings as a resource to local and regional entrepreneurs and innovators, and how it will boost the regional innovation ecosystem’s productivity.

The primary risk factors the Recipient anticipates mitigating or overcoming to successfully implement the regional engagement strategy.

Performance Measurement Plan

The Government considers it critically important to track Recipient’s performance metrics during the award period. Therefore, the Recipient must provide to the Government data on the performance metrics of the propose effort. The Government will use this data to measure the performance of the awardee in terms of productivity and output throughout the duration of the program. Example of performance measurements, may include, but are not limited to:

Number of companies served and types of technologies, including names and locations.

Number of technologies vetted

Number of mentors or entrepreneurs-in-residence placed with clients

Number of partnership agreements facilitated: Between the awardee and AFRL, universities, state and local entities, and other private companies (both for profit and non-profit) and/or between the awardee’s member startups and AFRL, universities, state and local entities, and other private companies (both for profit and non-profit)

Revenue generated by companies before and after being served

Number of patents awarded

Number of patents and disclosures filed

Number of jobs created or retained by client or graduated companies (full time, part time), including in low-income communities and among under-represented entrepreneurs

Metrics and Evaluation. Discuss the metrics and evaluation plans for the proposed effort. Metrics and evaluation components may include, but is not be limited to: Anticipated data collection/results and format in which proposed metrics and evaluation data will be shared with the Government.

Go/No-Go Decision Plan

The Recipient must provide project-wide go/no-go decision plan. A go/no-go decision plan is a risk management tool and a project management best practice to ensure that, for the current phase or period of performance, technical success is definitively achieved and potential for success in future phases or periods of performance is evaluated, prior to actually beginning the execution of future phases. Unless otherwise specified in the FOA, the minimum requirement is that each project must have at least one project-wide go/no-go decision point for each year (12-month period) of the project.

The Recipient should also provide the specific technical criteria to be used to make the go/no-go decision. In addition to describing the go/no-go decision plan in the SOW and including them in the Project Schedule and Milestones schedule.

The Government may review the Go/No-Go plan at any time during the life of the Award.

Statement of Work (Not part of the 30

The SOW is an outline of specific aims of the proposed effort that establishes the milestones during the performance period of the award. The SOW should contain sufficient detail to be informative as a page limit, but not exceed 10 pages) standalone document. Please note, the SOW will be incorporated into the award in lieu of incorporating the entire technical proposal. The SOW must not include any proprietary information. The SOW should fully describe the work to be accomplished and how the Recipient will achieve the milestones, will accomplish the final project goal(s), and will produce all deliverables. It is the Recipient’s responsibility to prepare an adequately detailed task plan to describe the proposed effort and the plan for addressing the objectives of this FOA. At a minimum the SOW shall include the following areas:

Goals and Objectives: Concise detailed description of the specific activities to be conducted over the life of the proposed effort.

Task and Subtasks: Typically, structured with a hierarchy of performance period (approximately annual), task and subtasks, which is typical of a standard work breakdown structure (WBS) for any project. Each task and subtask is to have a task summary that describes the objectives, what work is to be accomplished, and relationship to project deliverables or expected results.

Schedule and Milestones. Appropriate schedule and milestones should be incorporated into the task and subtask structure.

Projected deliverables and/or expected results.

NOTE: The SOW should support the proposed cost associated within the Budget Justification Workbook

Merit Review Criteria Discussion

The section should address each of the merit review criteria listed in Section V-Application Review Information. Provide sufficient information so that reviewers or evaluators will be able to evaluate the application in accordance with these merit review criteria.

Appendix 1 – Resume File (Not part of the 30 Page Limit)

Provide a resume for all personnel having a major role, to include sub-recipients, sub-awardees and/or consultants if they meet the definition of major role. A major role is any individual who contributes in a substantive, measurable way to the execution of the proposed effort. The biographical information for each resume must not exceed 2 pages when printed on 8.5" by 11" paper with 1 inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) [select single or double spaced] with font no smaller than 11 point and should include the following information, if applicable:

Education and Training. Undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training; provide institution, major/area, degree, and year.

Professional Experience. Beginning with the current position list, in chronological order, professional/academic positions with a brief description.

Provide the Resume File as an appendix to the Project Narrative or Technical Volume. Do not attach as a separate file.

5. Budget Justification Workbook (Not part of the 30 Page Limit). Applicants are required to complete the Budget Justification Workbook. The Prime Recipient must complete each tab of the Budget Justification Workbook for the project as a whole, including all work to be performed by the prime recipient and its sub-recipients and contractors, etc. The data fields in the

“Instructions” tab of the Budget Justification Workbook will auto-populate as the applicant enters information into the Workbook. Applicants must carefully read the “Instructions” tab provided within the Budget Justification Workbook.

Applications must include a cost proposal detailing direct labor (personnel), fringe benefits, travel, sub-recipients/subcontracts, consultants, equipment, materials and supplies, and other direct costs and indirect costs. The cost proposal, must provide a narrative explaining and justifying budget figures in enough detail so the Government can determine reasonableness. It must include all figures, calculations, and supporting documentation for determining cost allowance, allocation, and reasonableness. Justifications for costs must be explicitly stated.

Recipients must categorize funds by year and provide separate annual budgets for projects lasting more than one year. Recipients must use the attached Budget Justification Workbook to complete their budgets. Recipients must provide a separate budget justification workbook for all sub-recipient or sub-awards that are expected to perform work.

Save the Budget Justification Workbook(s) as a separate file and click on "Add Attachment" on the Attachments form provided in Grants.gov.

6. Letters of Commitment or Support (Not part of the 30 Page Limit). Submit letters of commitment from all sub-recipient, sub-awardees and/or third parties who will be contributing a portion of any required cost share. If applicable, provide letters of support from all sub-recipients, sub-awardees, and consultants having a role in the proposed effort. The information for each letter of support must not exceed 2 pages when printed on 8.5" by 11" paper with 1 inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) [select single or double spaced] with font no smaller than 11 point and should include the following information, if applicable:

● Relationship and role in the proposed effort.

● Extend of support in the proposed effort.

Provide the Letters of Commitment or Support as a separate file and click on "Add Attachment" on the Attachments form provided in Grants.gov.

7. SF-424A Detailed Budget Information – Non Construction Programs (If applicable)

Complete the budget form attached to this announcement in accordance with the SF-424A

Instructions provided in the document; each tab has detailed instructions. The Recipient must provide a separate budget for each year of support requested. The form will generate a cumulative budget for the total period of performance. The Recipient may request funds under any of the budget categories as long as the item and amount are necessary to perform the proposed work, meet all the criteria for allowance under the applicable Federal cost principles, and are not prohibited by the funding restrictions in this announcement.

8. Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (If applicable)

If applicable, provide a copy of the latest negotiated indirect cost rate agreement. An entity that has never received a negotiated indirect cost rate, may elect to charge a de minimis rate of 10% of modified total direct costs (MTDC) which may be used indefinitely. If chosen, this methodology once elected must be used consistently for all Federal awards until such time as an entity chooses to negotiate for a rate, which the non-Federal entity may apply to do at any time. (See 2 CFR 200.414 for detailed information).

Save the rate agreement as a separate.pdf file and click on "Add Attachment" on the Attachments form provided in Grants.gov.

9. Systems of Award Management Lobbying Form/Certification Regarding Lobbying

Recipients and sub-Recipients may not use any Federal funds to influence or attempt to influence, directly or indirectly, Congressional action on any legislative or appropriation matters.