Final FY24 FOA Q&A Round 2 5-10-2024.pdf

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Question No. Question Text Government Response FOA Reference

12 I work at the University of XXXX, and have a colleague who works in a different department at XXXX who has been the PI on an IC CAE grant running from 2019-2024.

Am I eligible to apply for the current solicitation or am I not eligible since the University of XXXX has been a IHE for an IC CAE grant over the last 5 years?

Yes, as long as the applicant is not an active FY22 grant recipient meaning the grant was initially awarded in 2022.

See Section III. Eligibility

Information

13 I am seeking clarification on the budget for this grant opportunity. It is my understanding that we need the following documents:

-Summary Budget/Cost Table

-Written Detailed Budget/Cost Narrative (No page limit)

-Detailed Budget/Cost Tables for base year and option years

There is a budget template available on the grants.gov announcement for this opportunity. Is that summary budget/cost table requirement? And then the following two required documents (written detailed budget/cost narrative and detailed budget/cost tables) are documents we create independently?

Yes, the Excel budget template provided separately on the "Related Documents" tab on grants.gov is a sample format for required detailed budget. The written, detailed budget/cost narrative or budget narrative is a self prepared, created document in addition to the detailed budget Excel.

See Section IV.B, Volume III

Budget

14 We are seeking some clarification on the 2024 IC CAE grant:

In addition to the three required volumes, the application must include the eligibility criteria checklist, application submission checklist, budget/cost tables (provided separate fillable forms), and all applicable SF424 forms, such as the Application for Federal

Assistance (SF-424), Assurances for Non-construction Programs (SF-424B), Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs (SF-424A), Budget Narrative Attachment Form, and Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL). These forms can be found at grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-mandatory-family.

Can you confirm that the specific forms listed above are the only applicable SF 424 forms?

We have two partner institutions will they need to complete their own set of SF 424 forms to include with our email submission?

Yes, the specific SF-424 forms listed are the applicable SF-424 forms required. The applicable SF-424 forms are required from the lead applicant, not required and optional from the subrecipient(s).

See Section IV.B

15 Can non-profit institutions be sub-recipients of the ODNI-FOA-24-01 award? In our proposal, we are looking to use a non-profit to market and organize the symposium. Yes, as long as the the eligibility requirements are otherwise met. Section III. Eligibility

Information

16 In reviewing the FOA for the Intelligence Community Centers for Academic Excellence (IC CAE) Program, I was unable to determine if Co-Principal Investigators are allowable under this program. Can you provide me with this information? Yes - Co-Principal Investigators are allowed See Section IV.B

17 The eligibility states that the PI must be “on the faculty” of the lead IHE – does that mean only tenure-tracked faculty? or can it mean the Director or Manager or non-tenure tracked faculty at an academic center such as ours?

Can we combine pathways II (LCTL) and III (STEM) as a Pathway IV program? Or does Pathway I (Intel/National Security) need to be part of a Pathway IV proposal?

Do you need the Program Overview required components (e.g. UEI, CAGE Code, etc.) from the subrecipient consortium partner as well as the Lead Institution?

Understand you need the following from the Lead Institution – do you also need these from our consortium institution:

The application must include the eligibility criteria checklist, application submission checklist, budget/cost tables (provided separate fillable forms), and all applicable SF424 forms, such as the Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424), Assurances for Non-construction Programs (SF-424B), Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs (SF-424A), Budget Narrative Attachment Form, and Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL). These forms can be found at grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-mandatory-

- Yes, PIs must be employed by the university; there is no requirement for the PI to be tenured or tenured-tracked; Applicant must select one of the four pathways, and then elect to weave in elements of other pathways (e.g., LCTL and STEM).

- Yes , the program overview components are required from lead and sub-recipient(s).

- The applicable SF-424 forms are required from the lead applicant, not required and optional from the subrecipient(s). Except, a signed letter in the application, on official letterhead, from a senior official from the consortium member’s (e.g., President, Chancellor, Provost, or other appropriately designated official) acknowledging the institution’s commitment to supporting the IC CAE program and the detailed budget/cost table template

(provided separate fillable Excel on "Related Documents" tab on grants.gov) along with the detailed budget narrative are required from the subrecipient(s).

See Section I.C, Section III and Section IV

18 Does the lead institution pay for the cost of the other consortium members to attend the annual IC CAE PI Summit? Where is the summit being held next, and how many days does it run?

Can we add line items to the budget template? Specifically student scholarships, under Participation Support? And additional lines under Other Direct Costs, such as computer services, etc.?

- Attendance to the annual IC CAE PI Summit is funded through the grant. Consortium partners will determine how funding is dispersed. IC CAE PI Development Summit details to be determined.

- A budget template was provided and uploaded separately on the "Related Documents" tab on grants.gov, it can be adjusted or additional budget line items can be added as needed. It was provided as a sample format.

See Section 1.D

19 In regards to ODNI-FOA-24-01, are there any limitations in applying more funding for the students above and beyond “Objective 9: Use of Grant Funds to Create Scholarships for ICCAE Scholars?” We understand we’re allowed to allocate up to $50k annually for scholarships not to exceed $5k for each individual scholarship, but are there any limitations in being able to offset additional costs above and beyond the $50k with direct benefit for the scholars, including but not limited to their travel, registration expenses, etc. Or should all scholar costs be assumed within the $50k annual allotment?

Use of grant funds to create scholarships is limited to $50K annually for scholarships, not to exceed $5k for each individual scholarship; however, the grant proposal can include additional other related scholar costs as a separate from the scholarships (e.g., travel, registration fees, etc.)

See Section I.D

20 Could you please confirm that the $2,500,000 total funds for each award under the FOA above is total costs? (Direct plus indirect) Yes, the total estimated budget of $2,500,000 included direct and indirect costs projected to fund each award for 9 years of performance.

See Section IV.B.VOLUME

III

21 This FOA does not mention Tribal-serving institutions (TCUs), which is a bit surprising given the history of Native contributions to the intelligence community (e.g. Navajo code-talkers). Would TCUs be eligible MSI partners for this opportunity? As reflected in the FOA, all Institutions of Higher Education (including Native American, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and all MSIs) are eligible to participate in the IC CAE

Program and receive funding through the consortium model, provided the consortium includes one of the four named MSI categories.

See Section III.Eligibility

Information

22 We are interested in becoming an IC CAE, but are confused about objective 1. The following language suggests that we can apply as a single IHE lead. We are AANAPISI, and we are eligible for that. The confusion is whether we must have a consortium to apply as a single IHE lead. If yes, what is the difference between the two (1 and 2) below?

Also, is consortium preferred? Does the consortium have to be in the same state, or can we cross state boundaries?

OBJECTIVE 1: CONSORTIUM AND SINGLE IHE The application shall reflect 1) a consortium of two or more IHEs, of which at least one must be an HBCU, PBI, HSI, and/or AANAPISI-designated MSI or, 2) a single IHE lead from one of the four MSI categories. The lead institution shall be responsible for UNCLASSIFIED 10 UNCLASSIFIED reporting, facilitating, and managing program activities, grant administration, and consolidated reporting across the consortium. The application must provide, for each member of the consortium the following data:

AANAPISIs have the option to apply as a single grant recipient or as part of a consortium.

There is no preference over a single award versus a consortium. Consortium partners do not have to be located in the same state.

23 We are interested in either pathway III or the integrated approach combining Pathway I and Pathway III. Do we have to satisfy Objective 4, which seems more aligned with Pathway II?

Do all students in the program need to take a language course (objective 4)? Or do we just need to offer it as an option for any interested students?

We are interested in either pathway III or the integrated approach combining Pathway I and Pathway III. Is satisfying Objective 8 mandatory for all students? Again, can we just offer it as an option for interested students?

Page 22 of the RFP mentions Appendix E and Acknowledgements in the second paragraph under the title: Volume I: Program Intent. However, these two items are not available in the RFP. Where can we find these two items?

Most of the items in Appendix D, are PDFs. Is it OK to insert PDFs into ODNI-24-FOA 01_Vol_I_Yourschoolname.docx, which is a word doc?

Do the additional forms need to be submitted separately or as part of volume I. On page 21, item 5: Additional Forms/Requirements suggests submitting the forms separately which is contrary to what is mentioned in the previous paragraphs in the RFP. Please clarify if the intent is to submit these forms separately from volume I.

Volume III is the budget that includes both an Excel file and budget narrative (a word doc). However, RFP is asking a word doc (ODNI-24-FOA-01_Vol_III_Yourschoolname.docx). How do you expect us to combine the Excel budget and the narrative (word doc)?

Can we submit the excel file and the narrative separately in Volume III?

- Applicant packages should address all objectives.

- No, all students in the Program do not need to enroll in a foreign language course.

Applicant institutions should include a description of their foreign language courses, if applicable.

- Students are not required to participate in study abroad/cultural programs.

- The references to "Appendix E" and "Acknowledgement" have been removed. See FOA

Amendment #2.

- Acceptable file formats are Word, PDF, and Excel, which are listed in Section IV, Page

21.

- The documents may be provided separately within the Volumn 1 submission or all together in a ZIP file.

- Please note, in Section IV, Page 21 the file naming conventions listed are SAMPLE file names, and other file types are permissiable.

See Sections I.D, Section IV

(FOA Amendment #2)

24 Regarding the Eligibility Criteria Checklist and the Application Submission Checklist, are those documents supposed to be signed by the University’s Grants Officer or ODNI’s Grants Officer? - These documents will be signed by the ODNI Grants Officer. See Appendix D

25 How do we submit the consortium members’ budgets? We assume they’re subawards in the prime applicant’s budget. Do we also provide a SF-424A for each consortium member’s budget, with their own budget justification? Or do we provide the consortium members’ full budgets and budget narratives within the prime applicant’s budget narrative? Is there/are there required naming conventions for each document?

Do you want the signed letters from each consortium’s senior official as one combined PDF? What should it be named?

Do we submit all the other required documents, i.e., eligibility criteria checklist, application submission checklist, budget/cost tables, and all applicable SF 424 forms, as one combined PDF? As separate documents? Is there/are there required naming conventions for each document?

- Consortium members' budgets are subawards, whose full detailed budget tables and budget narratives will be captured within the prime applicant’s detailed budget tables and budget narrative; the consortium members' full detailed budget tables and budget narratives shall be provided in addition to the lead applican's detailed budget and budget narrative.

The SF-424 is only a required submission for the lead applicant and optional for the subrecipient(s). There are no mandatory naming conventions for documents within the volume submissions, only for the volume submission themselves.

- Signed AIA letters may be combined or kept as separate files. For example, a naming convention could be: ODNI-24-FOA-01_Vol_I_AIA_Letter_YourSchoolName.

- Other required documents may be combined or kept as separate files. For example, a naming convention could be: ODNI-24-FOA-01_Vol_I_AIA_Letter_YourSchoolName or readable otherwise.

See Section IV.B.VOLUME

III, Section IV

26 I have a faculty member interested in submitting to the above FOA but the “Apply” button is not active in Grants.gov (see below). Applications shall be emailed directly to dni-foa-24-01@iarpa.gov. The application submission instructions can be found in FOA Section IV. APPLICATION &

SUBMISSION INFORMATION.

FOA Section IV; Pages 20, 28

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27 I am working on this FOA and I have a question regarding the SF424 Non-construction budget. The form is for proposals no longer than 5 years. Given this proposal is 9 years long, should we submit 2 different budget forms? The intent of the submission of this form is to aggregate all 9 years worth of budget projections within the form. In Section A,B,C, please capture the aggregate values of all 9 years together. In Section D and E, please provide the estimated budgets for the first 5 years. Additional SF-424 Budget Form isn't required and optional.

See Appendix D

28 Is PDF format acceptable for all contents of Volumes I, II, and III?

Should the eligibility and application checklists and letters from institutional officials be included in Volume I or as separate files in the emailed zip file for submission? If they are to be included in Volume I, should they be included before or after the program overview and program narrative content?

On the checklists, at the bottom of each, there is an area for “Eligible (check), Not Eligible (check), Comments and GO signature.” This is for your office’s use, and we do not complete and sign that section, correct?

Should the standard grants.gov forms (SF-424, etc.) be included in one of the volumes or should they be individual files included in the zip drive of all application contents? Are digital signatures (i.e. DocuSign) acceptable for those forms?

Should the budget spreadsheet Excel file be included as a separate file in zip drive of all application contents or should be included as printed pages in Volume III or both?

- PDF, Word, Excel are acceptable formats for application submissions.

- Application Checklists, Eligilibity Checklists, and Signed AIA letters may be combined or kept as separate files. They may be placed together within the volume I submission or individual or zipped file where best fit.

- These documents will be signed by the ODNI Grants Officer.

- Other required documents may be combined or kept as separate files. DocuSign is an acceptable signature method for submissions.

- Please include the detailed budget Excel file as an separate attachment within the Zipped file, but feel free to include it within your budget narrative as well.

See Section IV, See Appendix

D

29 We had a question regarding the use of the SF 424 A Budget form, since it only allows data for up to 4 years, how do we enter the budget information for years 5 - 9.

Should we combine the budget information for all remaining years and enter into the year 4 budget category?

The intent of the submission of this form is to aggregate all 9 years worth of budget projections within the form. In Section A,B,C, please capture the aggregate values of all 9 years together. In Section D and E, please provide the estimated budgets for the first 5 years.

See Appendix D

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