2017_BAA_Announcement_Qs_and_As.docx

2017 BAA Announcement Qs and As

1. What is a BAA? Is this a grant, cooperative agreement or contract?

The BAA is a Broad Agency Announcement and is used to request white papers. From the resulting white papers, proposals may be requested and then contracts will be awarded to the Offerors that are evaluated to provide the CDC the best value for the service areas listed in the BBA. All terms and Conditions will follow Procurement rules and regulations.

2. What is the 12-month ceiling amount?

The funding amount to be obligated will depend on the project requirements and number of awards to be made. Concentration should be on the project requirements.

3. This is only open to domestic applicants right?

This is open to any prospective Offeror that can legally provide services to the US Government and which the US Government receives the direct benefit. Offerors are registered for all contract awards in System for Award Management (SAM).

4. Can award recipients carry over unused funds from a single year?

Contracts are funded for a specific Period of Performance. Funding from one contract period cannot be “carried over”. Carryover is “grant and COAG” language.

5. If you have an idea of ceiling limits for these, it would be greatly appreciated.

The funding amount to be obligated will depend on the project requirements and number of awards to be made. Concentration should be on the project requirements for the white papers.

6. Also, it begs the question – are their limits on the number of institutional or individual PI submissions for each subtopic?

No, however, each Offeror must be registered in SAM

7. Do you know what the potential and process is for option years on our current projects? We put in some potential projects in our original grant from last year but are unsure as to whether we should do new projects for the BAA and keep the other ones for option years or some other combination.

1st, these are contracts not grants. Please do not believe they work the same way. If your current contract has options years built into the award then the option can be exercised and the “potential projects” that were included in the option period can move forward. If there were no options included in the award they will not be accomplished under the current contract.

8. Can foreign vendors apply?

Non-U.S .Citizen Participation:

If the proposed research (or a portion of the proposed research) requires access to critical technology, sensitive unclassified information, For Official Use Only material, or intelligence material, non-U.S. citizens may participate in the resultant contract (or portion of the resultant contract) only if special written permission is granted by the Contracting Officer. The Contracting Officer will require the review and concurrence of the CDC Foreign Disclosure Officer (FDO) before granting this permission.

If the proposed research (or a portion of the proposed research) requires access to classified information (i.e., confidential or secret), non-U.S. citizens may participate in the resultant contract (or portion of the resultant contract) only if a Limited Access Authorization (LAA) is granted. A LAA can be granted only in the event that there are no U.S. citizens that can perform the effort. Granting of LAAs is not anticipated under this Broad Agency Announcement.

If any non-U.S. citizen requires access to CDC buildings, or other Government facilities, special written permission must be requested and obtained from the Contracting Officer and Security Officer through the resultant contract’s Technical Point of Contact. Requests shall specify purpose, duration, frequency, and location (specific room, lab, etc.).

9. What if the proposed research does not fall into the above categories (i.e., is non-sensitive)? Does that mean non-US citizens may participate and these permissions are not required?

Yes, however, any and all prospective Offerors must be registered in the US Government’s System for Award Management (SAM) in order to be able to receive an award. Here is the SAM website: https://www.sam.gov/portal/SAM/#1

10. The BAA asks for a one-year stand-alone proposal with options for subsequent years. Is it possible to apply for a 3-5 year period instead, since analyzing the above data longitudinally cannot be done in one year?

BBA Contract Awards are designed to utilize applied research to develop innovative solutions for the Government. Projects typically last 1 to 2 years. The CDC has other Contracting mechanisms to provide research solutions that require longer periods of performance.

11. But could you tell me about whether or not I can hire someone from a foreign institution?

You may, however, you/awardee is responsible to ensure individuals hired do not provide a potential threat to the US Government and/or any of its personnel.

12. Also it is not clear in this RFA about the budget for 12 months, and as the area 4.3 is really vast, based on the available amount the scope of work can be tuned?

Please provide white paper based on the scope of the requirement for 4.3.

13. We are interested in submitting for the continuation. For this, should we submit the white paper as a request for continuation/extension of current activities, or as a brand new, stand-alone application? I am happy to do either.

The BAA notice posted this year is for projects beginning this year.

14. I’m curious about how strictly you are interpreting “clinical societies and other relevant organizations” for this application? We are (obviously) not a society, but our Center has a long standing track record of training MDs and PharmDs on both AR and ASP. We get solicitations from people all the time asking to train with us (and are limited by our ability to fund trainees). So, wondering if a Center like ours could be considered as a “relevant organization”.

If you feel your Center meets the requirements of “other relevant organizations” and you are registered in SAM for all contract awards, submit your white paper.

15. So these seem to be up to $700,000 for one year. Is that the typical amount requested and does that include indirects?

White Papers do not discuss funding amounts. If you are selected as one of the potential Offerors based on evaluation of your white paper, we will request a proposal. At that point, you will provide a business proposal which will include all supporting pricing/costs.

16. It is not clear in this RFA about the budget for 12 months and if extendable to 24 months based on our study design.

Define your project and the time required for completion in your white paper.

17. In terms of eligibility would a small business be eligible? Can you elaborate more on "minimum standards pertaining to financial resources?"

18. Small Businesses are eligible to submit white papers hence the reason for the NAISC and Size Standard. An Offeror must have the financial capabilities to perform the services and pay their employees in accordance with the Department of Labor requirements and the Service Contract Act. If you do not have sufficient financial resources on hand you must demonstrate you have the ability to carry a line of credit with a bank or other financial institution to cover the costs of the award.

19. Section 3.3 "Novel strategies to address community onset invasive Staphylococcus aureus. Does novel strategy imply management strategy or would a new therapeutic be eligible? For example, the use of bacteriophages (bacteria-specific viruses) to reduce and prevent S. aureus.

Response: As far as novel strategies, the intention is for novel strategies to prevent infection.

20. Our project was funded for a BAA in FY16. Please address how to frame the white paper for a continuation project.

There are no “continuation projects”. There could be a new project that uses data from the Government.

21. Please address the issue of a coexisting need for no-cost extension (for an FY16 BAA award) and consideration of continuation funding/work (fuding for FY17 BAA award).

Please concentrate on the FY 2017 BAA requirements for white papers.

22. What is the expected maximum budget for the project per year? We were assuming similar to the prior year.

The funding amount to be obligated will depend on the project requirements and number of awards to be made. Concentration should be on the project requirements.

23. It appears that we may apply for a 24 month contract period so that years 1 and 2 and their deliverables would all be in this current proposal. Is this correct?

White Papers should define your project and the time required for completion.

24. A prospective applicant asked if there was any way to get an idea of what range of funding was given out last year to help them determine how large or small of a project it would likely be reasonable to shoot for.

The range of funding to be obligated will depend on the project requirements and number of awards to be made. Last year’s BAA and funding was based on something different. Concentration should be on the project requirements.

25. As we discussed, we’re interested in hearing more about the “Rights in Data and Publication” section on page 37 of the BAA.

Our academic institution (probably like many others) will not agree to a contract with restricted publication language. We have dealt with this issue on prior CDC contracts, however (via SHEPheRD), and are wondering if this issue would be modifiable as it has previously been. For example, in our last SHEPheRD contract, we ultimately agreed to language such as the following:

The Contractor has the right to publish scientific and technical articles based on or containing data generated under the contract and published in academic, technical or professional journals, symposia, proceedings or similar works (re FAR 52.227-14c).

Release and use restrictions: Before the Contractor submits a paper or abstract for publication or otherwise intends to publicly disclose information about data produced under the Contract, COR shall be provided thirty (30) days to review the proposed publication or disclosure before submission to assure that proprietary/Confidential Information is protected. The publication or other disclosure shall be delayed for up to thirty (30) additional days upon written request by COR as necessary to preserve U.S. or foreign patent or Intellectual Property rights. Also, the Contractor agrees to delay any disclosure including publication, presentation, or distribution on the results of the work of any contract project, the results of which are intended for a multicenter publication by the participating contractors. The Contractor agrees to abide by the manner and timing of the publication that is mutually agreed to prior to initiation of the study. If such publication has not been submitted for publication within twenty-four (24) months of the date of completion of editing of the final data set, the Contractor will have the right to publish independently.

Will these type of modifications be allowable for these BAAs?

If, after white papers are evaluated, your academic institution is selected as a potential awardee, clauses that are in question may be negotiated.

26. Does each entity involved with a single white paper submission need to be registered on SAM.GOV, or only the lead organization?

Response: Just the Offeror (lead organization) needs to registered in Sam.gov

27. What is the approximate maximum budget for these proposals?

The funding amount to be obligated will depend on the project requirements and number of awards to be made. Concentration should be on the proje

28. Can potential offeror’s FOIA the white paper review process?

No, white papers are Source selection material and are not releasable.

29. As you may have heard, we have offeror’s that want to request a no-cost extension for an FY16 BAA award and they also want to apply for a new FY17 award to continue work from the FY16 award. Based on guidance from you, I told the program folks that this is not allowable. But now program is asking-- if the no-cost extension is due to external factors (e.g., IRB approval delays, supply issues) would OAS consider awarding a no-cost extension for the FY16 BAA award and a new award under the FY17 BAA to continue work funded under the FY16 BAA?

FY 16 awards are stand-alone contracts. FY 17 BAA awards will be stand-alone contracts for FY 17. If a FY16 contract cannot be completed then the CO must be contacted. If the FY 16 award was completed an award under the FY 17 BAA is possible since all the work required under the FY16 BAA award was completed.